Please ask me to be the emperor

When a dense formation is hit by intensive firepower, the instantaneous losses are heavy, and the blow to morale is devastating.

Human corpses and horse corpses were piled up like mountains.

Whether it is human life or horse life, it is worthless. As long as it is hit by a small projectile, it will either die or be injured.

The charge of the officers, soldiers and cavalry stalled, but then it aroused their ferocity.

Especially since most of Zu Kuan's subordinates were Yiding, many of them started to yell and curse in Mongolian.

"It's Tao bandits!" He Renlong and Bai Guangen's Duoyansui border troops naturally knew how powerful their opponents were.

When they were officers and soldiers, their opponents were invading and looting "bandits"; now they have become rebels, and their opponents have become officers and soldiers.

New grudges add to old grudges, and enemies become extremely jealous when they meet.

"Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!" The rebels also roared, and their morale was high.

After the first wave of officers and soldiers were repelled, the second wave struck again.

Contrary to what most people imagine, in the late Ming Dynasty, no matter the Ming army, the Jurchens or the Mongols, they were not ordinary people, and there was absolutely no possibility of being defeated in a wave.

Battles between the two sides often involve repeated battles until one side is unable to withstand it and retreats.

This time Zhang Shun led these battalions out, equipped with a lot of artillery. In addition to the standard eight "field guns" in each battalion, which were equivalent to about 12 pounds in later generations, he also specially carried eight more "golden guns" specifically for firing shotguns and sieges.

There are a total of twenty-four "field guns" and eight "golden guns" in the rebel camp. Zhang Shun divided them into two parts for use against the main force of charging cavalry.

The huge sound of artillery sounded again, and scores of officers and soldiers fell again.

Although the officers and soldiers who charged for the second time were well prepared, they still suffered huge losses.

Then the two sides collided and started fighting.

The soldiers on both sides were already numb. They fought desperately together without asking for reasons or faults.

Vent the hatred in your heart, vent the fear in your heart, vent your desire to kill.

For a moment, Zu Kuan seemed to have returned to the days when he followed the "ancestral generals" and went into battle to kill the enemy.

He couldn't help but led his personal guards to rush forward and fight with the rebels.

Li Chongzhen didn't even stop shouting, but at least he still maintained a trace of clarity.

"This can't go on like this!" Whether it is Li Chongzhen or any rational general, he will realize that it is an unwise choice to fight with cavalry and infantry in formation.

But things had come to this, and even another battalion general, Zu Kuan, had gone into battle, and he was helpless.

"Order those who are not good at riding and those who cannot go into battle to separate six to seven hundred pack horses and war horses. I will drive them to break the formation!"

Driving horses to break the formation is a common technique used by the Mongols.

When encountering a battle formation that cannot be broken, in order to avoid more casualties, the nomadic tribes with many horses will use horses to ride on them and charge into the Ming army's battle formation.

Now that the officers and soldiers could not defeat the rebels for a long time, they had to resort to the Mongols' killing moves.

Soon, Li Chongzhen's soldiers had prepared more than 600 war horses, and then selected dozens of Yiding people who were good at herding horses to drive them away. They also prepared 500 cavalry guards to guard against the rebels sending cavalry to stop them.

"What are they going to do?" Zhang Shun asked strangely as he watched a group of war horses gathering outside the formation.

Niu Jinxing shook his head to express his ignorance, while Wang Jinyi and Wukong looked at each other in confusion.

"No, they are going to charge into the battle!" Gao Guiying was shocked when he saw this. She had seen this kind of method when she was outside her hometown.

"How to break it?" Zhang Shun was surprised when he heard this.

The price of a war horse in the Ming Dynasty was usually around ten taels. When war broke out in the late Ming Dynasty, the price of horses increased, with each horse worth more than ten taels of silver.

The six to seven hundred war horses driven by the officers and soldiers were worth about ten thousand taels.

This is not a battle at all, this is clearly an attempt to kill the rebels with money.

In fact, according to the military law of the Ming Dynasty, damage to a war horse would also result in a certain fine of silver. It's just that the rebels are forcing them too much now, so they have to take this step.

"Dad, don't panic, just follow the method of dealing with cavalry and shoot them with fire blunderbuss and arrows!" Gao Guiying responded after hearing the words.

Only then did Zhang Shun understand that this was actually changing from blood for blood and life for life to blood for horse and life for horse.

War is really cold and merciless. He gave the order, and he didn't know how many people shed blood on the battlefield.

But if he didn't give the order, I'm afraid no one knows how many rebels would have died here.

Human life is just a number in his hands!

Zhang Shun looked up at the sky and ordered softly: "Order all muskets, artillery, and bows to be ready, and the horses to approach ten steps, and fire them together! Order all the rebel cavalry to prepare, detour around the flanks, and wait for the officers, soldiers, cavalry, war horses, and the rebels to collide. When the time comes, cut off the retreat of this group of cavalry and war horses, and be sure to encircle and annihilate them!"

The rebels were able to repulse this wave of attacks by the officers and cavalry with great difficulty. Before they could take a breath, they looked up and saw groups of war horses galloping towards them.

A war horse without a knight looks much "shorter" than a cavalry, but it is much faster.

When He Renlong and Bai Guangen saw this, they couldn't help but spit and cursed.

When they were officers and soldiers, they had the virtue of "tampering with bandits"; now that they have become rebels, the officers and soldiers have become of this virtue, and you can imagine how sad they feel.

"Hold on, don't move! Don't open fire casually!" The neat hollow square formation of the rebels had already become shapeless after experiencing wave after wave of impact.

Therefore, the middle and lower-level officers are also under great pressure. They can only vent their worries and fears through constant scolding.

After withstanding several waves of attacks from officers and soldiers, the panic in the hearts of the rebel soldiers subsided.

When the war horses, which were denser than the cavalry charge, rushed forward, the sound of firecrackers sounded like fried beans, mixed with the faint sound of bows and arrows.

It has to be said that Li Chongzhen's timing was very good. The artillery in the hands of the rebels had not yet had time to be loaded, so he could only watch the horses charging wildly, knocking down many soldiers and disrupting the formation of the rebels.

"Swordsman, give me the swordsman!" The officer in the rebel army shouted loudly, his throat already hoarse.

Wearing iron armor and covered in blood, the swordsmen and axemen took advantage of the moment when the horses and cavalry lost speed and rushed forward to kill them.

In fact, due to the value of the war horses, the rebel soldiers were reluctant to hurt the horses. It's just a last resort and a must.

In order to prevent someone from being greedy and ruining a big thing. Zhang Shun had promised the soldiers that "killing horses in battle is as good as killing the enemy, and the flesh of the dead horses will be distributed to the soldiers for enjoyment."

He Renlong had an idea and couldn't help shouting loudly: "Kill the horse to eat meat, kill the horse to receive the reward!"

Due to Zhang Shun's attention, although the rebel army's military pay and rations can still be guaranteed on time, forget about eating meat and drinking wine.

Many soldiers had not eaten meat for a long time, and their mouths suddenly salivated when they heard this, as if they could already taste the smell of meat.

Many rebels couldn't help but swallowed their saliva, and shouted: "Kill horses to eat meat, kill horses to receive rewards, and make achievements today!"

The morale of the rebels was slightly improved, and they didn't know how many horses were chopped down for a while.

However, due to the rampage of the war horses, the rebel formation was already in chaos.

Just as the rebels were preparing to reorganize their formation, they couldn't help but hear a burst of fighting. When everyone looked up, they saw hundreds of foot soldiers rushing up behind the horses.

It turned out that these knights who had lost their mounts were gathered together by Li Zhongzhen to use their last remaining strength.

Seeing the last few hundred people entering the battlefield, Li Zhongzhen showed a proud smile: Victory is at hand!