Chapter 270: The Battle of Meizi (III)

The battle started first at Lan Yu's rear army. Ping An led 5,000 iron cavalry like a sharp sword, splitting the unprepared rear army in half. Countless soldiers were even left with their bodies and heads. Undoubtedly, the cavalry was the natural enemy of infantry, especially for a long-distance infantry, the power of the cavalry was undoubtedly revealed. Ping An held a steel spear in his hand and yelled: "Ping Baoer is here, the deceased is here!"

He was like a god of killing, killing in a dense cluster of infantry. Wherever his steel spear passed, corpses were everywhere, blood flowing into a river, killing the dense enemy troops. He fought back and killed in. In front of him, it was no longer a human, but a mustard and tiled dog, and there was no power to resist him. The leader of the army, Ma Ming, was stabbed by his spear, and then cut off his head and shouted: "Those who surrender to me will not die, and those who block me will do this!"

Inspired by the commander, the five thousand cavalry were energetic. They divided into five teams and interspersed and divided into Lan Yu's rear army, invincible. They were killed and injured under the mace. In a moment, they rushed the enemy's formation into pieces. The sudden killing caused chaos in Lan Yu's rear army. Several commanders and generals organized soldiers to fight to the death at the beginning and ordered people to ask for help from Lan Yu. However, as the commander and generals of the rear army were killed, their morale was depressed and gradually could not resist. After a coordinated attack by the cavalry, Lan Yu's rear army collapsed in an instant.

"Give me your life! Get me your life!" The crying and begging for mercy on the battlefield was connected. The exhausted soldiers burst out with their last potential and ran to the fields desperately. Many soldiers took off their armor while escaping from their lives, and were unwilling to work hard for Lan Yu, who was declared rebellious by the court.

The cavalry began to ignite the fire and burn supplies. The blazing fire mixed with rolling smoke rose into the sky. Seeing that Lan Yu's army had been defeated, Ping An looked towards Qingmei Town and saw a bright rocket rising from the hills, which was particularly dazzling in the dark night sky. This was a signal of the beginning of the war. Ping An immediately shouted, "The whole army retreated!"

Five thousand cavalry evacuated the battlefield like a gust of wind, quickly disappeared into the dark night fog, leaving behind surrenders kneeling all over the ground. They stared at the enemy in a daze, and after a while, someone shouted: "Escape quickly!" The soldiers who reacted were fleeing one after another. Everyone understood in their hearts that this was their last chance to escape. After a moment, except for more than a thousand officers and soldiers and the casualties in the ground, all the 20,000 rear troops were defeated and fled.

At this time, the battle on the front battlefield had begun. Under Lan Yu's command, 200,000 troops quickly consolidated the army. They divided into three teams and rushed towards the Liaodong army on a ten-mile front. At this time, the sky was gradually turning white, and the sky was already tingling. The shadow of Qingmeigang in the distance was hazy, and a large area of ​​dark forest stood in the distance.

In the Liaodong position, three thousand tiger squat cannons and mother-child cannons have been waiting for a long time. This was the first artillery cavalry of the Ming Dynasty. It consisted of 10,000 people and 30,000 war horses. Due to transportation restrictions, all of their war horses did not bring, but only five thousand horses carrying cannons and breech horses. The three thousand cannons were divided into two rows and distributed on the front line that lasted several miles. According to the charge speed of the infantry, each cannon cannon fire six shells before reaching their retreat distance, while five hundred mother-child cannons cannon fire fifteen shells.

This is the trump card of the Liaodong Army. Under the sharp attack of three thousand artillery pieces, Qingmei Town will become a meat grinder. At this time, the drums on Qingmeigang were loudly sounded. This was the drum call for combat. The 100,000 Liaodong Army immediately entered the state of war. Half an hour later, a black army finally appeared in the distance, covering the sky and ignorantly, Lan Yu also made a desperate bet and prepared to fight the Liaodong Army under Qingmeigang.

At this time, a scout rushed to Lan Yu to report: "General, you have discovered that the Liaodong Army is three miles away."

Lan Yu looked at the hazy morning light. According to his experience, the brightness of this light was four hundred steps away, so the other party could not see his troops deployment clearly, but he knew very well that Li Weizheng had fewer troops, and the one who fought the first battle with him would definitely not be the infantry, but his superior artillery. This is why he refused to take the initiative to attack himself. Lan Yu sneered, and Li Weizheng could not help but think too simply.

He immediately turned around and asked, "Where is General Jiang Li?"

A burly Qiang general stepped forward and clasped his fists and said, "The last general is here!"

"When you are five hundred steps away from the enemy, you Qiang cavalry will fight the first battle. Remember, if you don't let the enemy's artillery shoot out, I will remember your first merit."

Lan Yu had fought with the Mongols for many years and knew the importance of cavalry, but he was unable to form cavalry in Sichuan. However, he found a way to recruit Qiang people from western Sichuan to form a cavalry guard, with a total of 6,000 people, commanded by the leader of the Qiang people, Jiang Li.

Jiang Li immediately received the order, "The last general will never let down the general's expectations."

Lan Yu nodded, and he looked at the shadow of the mountain in the mist, and couldn't help but smile proudly. God was also helping him. When the Liaodong army found that it was a cavalry rushing in, it was too late.

Lan Yu's idea was not wrong. He caught the Liaodong Army off guard by using the weather cover, but he didn't know that Li Weizheng had a clairvoyance that could see far away. This small negligence of details destined Lan Yujun's final failure.

On the hill, Li Wei was watching Lan Yu's army with a wide eye and concentrating on the attack. From the marching formation, Li Wei immediately judged that this army was the main force brought by Lan Yu from Guizhou. Although they were exhausted, their formation was still neat and not messy. They were walking in the front just now, but now they have become a cavalry formation with about 4,000 people. According to the information they visited, there were only 6,000 cavalry in Lan Yu's army, which were recruited from the Qiang people in western Sichuan. It should be this cavalry.

Judging from the arranged formation, Lan Yu is most likely to use this cavalry to lead the battle to weaken his artillery advantage. It seems that he also knows the power of the Liaodong Army artillery. Li Wei was putting down his eyes and ordered the commander around him: "Transfer my order and change the musket army to fight the first battle!"

Then he asked again: "Have the safe cavalry returned?"

"Report to the Lord, I'm back."

Li Wei nodded and added: "If the musket army cannot wipe out the enemy cavalry completely, then order the cavalry to fight."

"Abide by the order!"

The commander ran to order, and the drum sound changed, and it turned into two long and one short. This was the signal that the musketeers went to usher in the first battle. The drum sounded, and the brigade of musketeers walked from behind to the front row. There were a total of 20,000 people, and they were divided into three columns, with more than 6,000 people in each team, arranged in two rows. The soldiers began to check guns and fill in ammunition.

In the thin mist, they had heard the sound of horse hooves. It was sparse at first, but it suddenly accelerated hundreds of steps away. The dense sound of horse hooves hit the ground. The white mist was washed away, and the cavalry suddenly appeared three hundred steps away.

Ten thousand flintlock rifles were lifted up, and the black muzzles aimed at the speeding cavalry. With the sound of "Boom!" on the top of the mountain, ten thousand flintlock rifles suddenly erupted, and dense bullets roared towards the cavalry. A large number of Qiang cavalry rolled to the ground. Then the musketeers raised their guns and aimed at them. Another burst of gunfire sounded. More than a thousand cavalrymen who had rushed to two hundred steps away fell one after another. Then the front row of musketeers who had changed bullets and filled the medicines fired again. Two rows of musketeers rose one after another, and cooperated with the flowing water. After five or six rounds of shooting, there were only more than a thousand cavalry left. The Qiang cavalry was frightened by the sharp muskets of the Liaodong Army and shouted: "The magic is powerful!" They turned around and fled to their army.

Twenty thousand musketeers immediately retreated and gave the main battlefield to the artillery army. At this time, Lan Yu's face was pale and the cavalry was almost wiped out so quickly. A sense of fear that had never been seen in his heart. He immediately realized that he would definitely lose this battle. Lan Yu issued an order without hesitation: "Sound the army to retreat!"

As for the consequences of the army's retreat, he no longer cared about it. At this moment, Li Weizheng on the hill also found signs of Lan Yu's army's retreat. He immediately ordered: "Architecture shooting!"

Three thousand artillery fired at the same time, black shells shot out over the sky, and the deafening explosions exploded in rows behind the Lanyu army. Shackles flew across the sky, red flames soared into the sky, and the rolling smoke rushed straight into the sky. The Lanyu army was frightened by the fierce bombing of the Liaodong army. The fatigue of the body and the morale were sluggish, and the army's formation began to chaotic. They rushed to flee north, and Lanyu could not stop the orders after repeated calls. At this moment

The five thousand safe cavalry suddenly came from the side, extremely sharp, and suddenly tore the left wing's formation. The left wing army had no intention of fighting and collapsed instantly, as if it was like a snowball. The defeat of the left wing quickly led the entire army. The Lan Yu army suddenly lost control. They trampled on each other and rushed to escape. The 100,000 Liaodong troops then came to cover up. The 200,000 troops were defeated like mountains, with heavy casualties and countless surrenders.

In October of the second year of Jianwen, 100,000 Liaodong Army defeated Lan Yu's main army in Qingmei Town between Meizhou and Ziyang with a relaxed attitude. In this Meizi battle, the Liaodong Army beheaded more than 50,000 enemy troops and more than 100,000 surrendered. In the end, Lan Yu only fled back to Chengdu with only 50,000 remaining troops.

After the great victory in Qingmei Town, Li Weizheng did not continue to go north. He ordered Chongqing to leave only 20,000 troops to defend the city, and the remaining 80,000 troops immediately went north to Ziyang. Three days later, 80,000 troops arrived in Ziyang and joined Li Weizheng's army who arrived in advance. 150,000 troops surrounded Ziyang. The 30,000 Lan Yu front army trapped in Ziyang saw that the situation was hopeless, so they opened the city to surrender to the Liaodong army.

Since then, the Liaodong Army's front line has been moved to Meizhou to Ziyang, and has taken the initiative in the Sichuan battlefield. In early November, Li Weizheng ordered Zhang Yi, the remaining Hanzhong army to lead the army south to hunt Chengdu with the Liaodong Army.

On the tenth day of November, Zhang Yi, the Marquis of Heqing, came to Li Weizheng's camp under the escort of a hundred personal soldiers to pay homage to the governor.
Chapter completed!