I

No matter how much the cavalry harassed and harassed, they could only be disgusting, and it was the upright battle that decided the outcome.

When Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong led troops to surround Lu'an, Luo Rucai could only lead the cavalry to move back and forth between Shucheng and Lu'an, trying to cut off the Datong army's food transportation channel.

These cavalry could no longer run around. Although they were still wreaking havoc in villages and towns, their range of movement was restricted.

Luo Rucai only looked at the formation and equipment of the Datong Army, and knew that he would definitely not be able to fight. So he wanted to cut off the food roads, deplete the morale of the Datong Army, and wait for the opportunity to launch a fatal blow when the Datong Army was short of food.

"My lord, we found a food transport team ahead!"

"Go, the deal is coming!"

These old thieves are really capable. For nearly a month, they ate, drank and sacked all on the road. Go to bed at night, just put on a blanket, and it doesn't matter if you let the mosquitoes bite you.

Woke up during the day and rode wildly. When the horse was about to get tired, he quickly moved to a relatively safe area.

After resting, he ran out again, never staying too long. And only grabbing food for a day or two, can resist not grabbing goods, and try to keep your mobility as much as possible.

"The thieves are coming, line up!"

Three thousand civilian husbands and one thousand farmers and soldiers transported grain and grass with carts.

After Jiangxi was able to produce its own telescope, this equipment has been popularized to middle-level officers. In order to guard against cavalry, it is even specially equipped for food transport teams.

When Luo Rucai rushed forward with the cavalry, the trolleys had quickly formed into a formation.

There are grain trucks on the outside, farmers and soldiers on the inside, and civilian husbands on the inside.

Zhao Han upgraded his equipment every time, and those that were eliminated were distributed to farmers and soldiers. These farmers and soldiers were all wearing leather armor, and the peasants raised their shields one after another to avoid being shot by the cavalry's arrows.

"His mother!"

Luo Ru reined in his horse and stopped far away, feeling a little headache looking at the car formation.

The food transportation team of 4,000 people, facing the surprise attack of 2,000 cavalry, if it was replaced by the official army, it would probably have collapsed by this time.

But not only did the peasants and soldiers not collapse, the peasants did not run away, but they also took the initiative to gather the carts into a circle.

With a big wave of Luo Rucai's hand, the cavalry divided into two teams and charged towards the two sides of the food transport team. According to his experience, if he rushed within twenty or thirty steps, the enemy soldiers would definitely run away in fright.

"Don't look outside, bury your head and raise your shield to hide!" The officer of the food transportation team shouted.

In fact, the peasants were also afraid. There were shields on the grain trucks, and they all put the shields on them at the moment, squatting in the middle of the trucks and shivering.

As for those farmers and soldiers, not only were they wearing leather armor, but they were all wearing small round hats. This kind of round hat can not only block the sun, but also defend against arrows, which is cheap and useful equipment.

"Shhhhhhh!"

Luo Rucai saw that charging and threatening didn't work, so he ordered the cavalry to start shooting arrows.

The peasants and soldiers used the grain trucks as fortifications, squatted halfway behind the trucks with small round hats, and stretched out their long guns, waiting for the cavalry to come and die.

The cavalry fired arrows for two consecutive rounds. Although they caused damage, the effect was not great.

"Ah! My feet, my feet!"

"I've been hit by an arrow, I'm going to die!"

Several civilian husbands shouted in horror, but arrows penetrated through the gap between the shields.

The officers of the food transportation team shouted: "Don't move, don't shout! Whoever dares to move will take back the family's property. This is what was agreed before departure!"

After shouting several times in a row, the chaos in the car formation quickly stabilized.

Luo Rucai didn't order to release arrows anymore, and each cavalry only brought two quiver. Now that Lu'an is surrounded, they can't resupply nearby, and the arrows they use are one less.

"Rush again!"

Luo Rucai led the cavalry and charged again threateningly, but the chariot formation of the grain transportation team remained motionless.

Faced with such a situation, Luo Rucai finally went blind, and simply let the cavalry dismount to rest, and fed some salt water to restore the horse's strength.

After a while, Luo Ru led his troops into the distant woods.

The sun is shining directly in this place, even if people don't suffer from heat stroke, the horses will suffer from heat stroke.

By the way, wait for the grain transportation team to start again, and charge in the middle during the march.

Waiting left and right, the food transportation team actually stayed in place, and took out dry food and water to eat and drink on the spot.

All food convoys are ordered, and their first priority is to ensure safety.

The two sides are so exhausted.

It is very worthwhile for the Datong Army to be able to use a grain transportation team to hold back Luo Rucai's cavalry from raging in the area.

…

Lu Xiangsheng's war horse was not from Jeju, but Zhao Han collected it from wealthy households.

As long as the shoulder height exceeds 1.25 meters, the folks can sell it to the government. The government will not only give money, but also record credit. If you donate a few more qualified war horses, the government will directly share an extra mu of land!

This is a temporary policy and is only used when Zhao Han is short of horses.

Thousands of horses have been collected in this way, and they have been carefully bred since last year. Mainly in troughs, they are pulled out for a walk every day, and thrown to the training ground to let them get used to the sound of guns and guns.

Another 2,000 horses were transported from Jeju Island, and 3,000 war horses were gathered in Tongcheng, excluding those who died in the sea.

Two thousand cavalry and three thousand horses rushed towards Shucheng.

The chief will be Hu Dinggui, and the deputy will be Lu Xiangsheng. Zhao Han asked Hu Dinggui to listen to Lu Xiangsheng's opinions.

After arriving in Shucheng, the whole army rested temporarily, let the horses rest for a day, and at the same time determined the direction of the enemy cavalry through intelligence.

"Luo Rucai's old thieves are powerful, and many of them are the Ming frontier army," Lu Xiangsheng said to Hu Dinggui. "The frontier army at that time was much stronger than the current frontier army. They were able to cross the Great Wall and take the initiative to attack Mongolia."

In fact, this is nothing to brag about. The Mongolian soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty also pulled their hips. Huang Taiji has already surrendered many Mongolian tribes.

Hu Dinggui said: "Our horses are short, so I don't know if they can catch up."

Lu Xiangsheng smiled and said: "Our army's horses are short, but the enemy's horses are tall? Luo Ru has only rebelled for more than ten years, and has no supplies of grassland horses. He can only collect war horses in the Ming Dynasty. Maybe some good horses can be obtained, but most of the war horses They're all about the same as us.

Hu Dinggui also laughed: "There are many amazing horses in Jeju Island, all with a shoulder height of more than four feet five. I heard that there are hundreds more to be transported. It only takes three years to ride a good horse to kill thieves."

Lu Xiangsheng was a little surprised: "It's true that the shoulder height is more than four feet five?"

"There are four feet eight." Hu Dinggui said.

Lu Xiangsheng was a little excited when he heard this, and he said confidently: "In three to five years, you can lead cavalry across Mobei, and maybe you can achieve the feat of sealing wolves and living in Xuxu!"

A year ago, Lu Xiangsheng would not have such an idea.

But he saw Zhao Han's policy and the strength of the Datong army, and he was very sure that he could dominate the world, and even attack the grassland north like Hongwu and Yongle Dynasty did.

Two days later, news came that the enemy cavalry fled after robbing food in a certain village.

The whole army of Datong cavalry attacked and arrived at the location in half a day.

"Where did the thief go?" Hu Dinggui asked.

Both the mayor and the village chief came forward to speak, and the mayor said angrily, "The bandits have gone to the northwest. General, you want to avenge the people. Those bandits killed more than 20 villagers!"

"Don't worry, this bastard won't live long!" Hu Dinggui gritted his teeth.

Datong cavalry pursued along the horseshoe prints, and the enemy cavalry brigade must leave traces along the way.

And the people along the way will also provide information to the Datong Army.

After chasing for a while, he stopped to rest to ensure the physical strength of the horse at any time.

Two days later, the distance between the two sides was only a few miles.

"My lord, the enemy cavalry is coming!"

"withdraw!"

Luo Rucai is currently following the food delivery team.

He slowed down the speed of the three batches of food transportation teams before and after, and finally they simply got together.

The grain transportation team didn't dare to move, and Luo Rucai couldn't eat, so he stuck by a small river and stared.

Luo Rucai's cavalry withdrew, Hu Dinggui and Lu Xiangsheng immediately caught up, and the two sides kept a distance of two miles.

After rushing to a hillside in the remaining range of the Dabie Mountains, Luo Rucai ordered the whole army to rest and wait for work to charge the Datong cavalry.

He has already observed clearly that the number of cavalry on both sides is similar, and the quality of the horses is also similar.

And Zhao Han started his business in the south, and there was no cavalry before.

The two thousand cavalry in front of me must be a newly trained army, can they be compared with my old battalion of cavalry?

It's just the opponent's equipment that makes Luo Ru feel weird.

The military uniform is very strange, all cotton canvas. Clothes are clothes, trousers are trousers, and there are two rows of buttons on the chest.

There are no bows and arrows, only a firecracker and a saber.

"Woo woo woo~~~"

At Lu Xiangsheng's suggestion, Hu Dinggui ordered the horn to be blown to stop the advance.

The two sides confronted each other, one was on the hillside and the other was down the hillside.

Luo Rucai divided the cavalry into two, outflanked the Datong cavalry left and right, and shot arrows from a distance by taking advantage of the momentum of descending the mountain.

Hussars against light cavalry, as long as they are of equal size, they generally will not fight hand to hand. Instead, they shoot at each other at short and medium distances. It is possible to shoot at each other for an hour, and the fight starts when one side can't hold it (not afraid of muscle strain, the horse bow has a small tension and will not be fully drawn).

Therefore, the standard horse bow of the frontier cavalry of the Ming Dynasty has two barbs on the tip of the bow. Once your own arrows are shot, you can use the bow tip barb to pick up the arrow that fell on the ground, and shoot it back after getting the arrow.

"Dismount and light the match!"

The match made of ramie can last for 30-40 minutes, and the match must be replaced after burning out.

With the horse running at high speed, the matchlock burns faster, and it takes about 20 minutes to replace it—the flintlock is the destination of the dragoons.

Luo Rucai's cavalry was divided into two teams, and instead of rushing straight at the Datong cavalry, they passed by the Datong cavalry, intending to shoot an arrow as they passed by.

Within thirty steps is the best range for horse bows, but generally around forty steps will be used to shoot arrows.

Seeing that all the Datong cavalrymen dismounted and aimed their guns, Luo Rucai suddenly didn't know how to fight.

The shooting range of the firecracker is definitely far beyond the horse bow, and it will be a disadvantage for me to shoot it.

Taking advantage of the enemy's dismounting, he rushed over desperately?

There is not so much time to think about it on the battlefield, and the rogue cavalry has already made habitual actions.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Fifty steps away, the Datong cavalry opened fire one after another. After shooting, they immediately got on their horses and rushed towards the hillside.

Before the bandit cavalry had time to release their arrows, they were shot by two thousand firecrackers.

They were running at high speed, and the formation was very scattered, so they were not so easy to be hit, but they were still hit by 11 people at one time. Many of them aimed at the one in front, but the bullet hit the one behind.

Bows and arrows came from both sides, and 2 Datong cavalrymen were shot. At such a long distance, even without armor, it will basically not cause fatal injuries.

The positions of the two sides were exchanged, the Datong cavalry was on the slope, and the Rogue cavalry was down the slope.

After opening the distance, the Datong cavalry quickly dismounted and stood in place to load ammunition.

Now Zhao Han's firecrackers have generally used paper shell bullets. After stuffing the gunpowder, poke the paper shell in together to prevent the gunpowder from running around when shooting down.

Luo Rucai ordered the cavalry to charge again, and the Datong cavalry was condescending, and the shooting was even more enjoyable this time.

Hit 19 enemies at a time, and run away immediately after firing the gun.

"Rush up and fight!"

Luo Ru finally figured it out, he couldn't shoot at each other like before, he had to kill the enemy directly for hand-to-hand combat while it was too late to reload.

The two sides chased each other and fled, and came to the grain transportation team again.

The grain transport team was crossing the creek, about half way through. Seeing that the friendly army was being chased, the rest of the peasants and soldiers formed an formation immediately. Hu Dinggui led the cavalry to hide behind the spear formation, and the whole army quickly dismounted and reloaded the ammunition.

Luo Rucai was so angry that his teeth itch: "Damn it, there's no way to fight this, retreat back to Lu'an!"