Zu Zeqing said: "Mr. Hong, the Mingdog Cavalry has gone far away. This is a good opportunity for our army to break through. Look, there are a large number of Mingdog infantry coming to the south. If the Mingdog Battalion arrives, we will never have a chance to break through again! It is better to take advantage of the fact that there are few Mingdog people now, and our army launches a breakthrough and breaks the Mingdog formation in one fell swoop. After entering the mountainous area, the Mingdog Cavalry will not be able to play a role."

Hong Chengchou looked at the formation of the Ming army at the foot of the mountain and saw that the Ming army had only 40,000 people, so he nodded: "Break through!"

In fact, Zu Zeqing was not on Li Guodong's list of killings, because Zu Zeqing later followed Wu Sangui to fight against the Qing Dynasty, and was finally defeated and hid in the mountains. He was found by the Qing army. He and his son Zu Lianggen were punished by the car splitting. The other sons were all sent to Ningguta as slaves together with the Wu army's prisoners. For his final anti-Qing, Li Guodong would not kill him even if he caught Zu Zeqing.

Hong Chengchou ordered: "All soldiers are ready to go down the mountain and launch an attack on the Minggou formation!"

Among the 200,000 Qing troops, there were 100,000 combat soldiers. All of these 100,000 combat soldiers were pulled out to attack by Hong Chengchou, and the remaining 100,000 auxiliary soldiers were left on the mountain to wait. If the Qing army successfully broke through, 100,000 auxiliary soldiers would follow him down the mountain and escape; if the breakthrough failed, the combat soldiers would return to the mountain and the auxiliary soldiers would build fortifications.

This is actually because Hong Chengchou is considerate more comprehensively. He is worried that he will fall into Li Guodong's plan again, so he left a way out. If it really doesn't work, he can retreat to the mountain to stand for help.

This place is called Caohu Mountain. Although it is called Shan, the slope is not high. It is just hanging alone on a large open land. It is surrounded by flat ground, which is an excellent battlefield.

Forty thousand Ming troops lined up at the ferry leading to Baihe to block the Qing army's retreat. Among them, 30,000 brightly dressed flintlock gunmen were arranged in neat square formations, and they ordered the trumpets and drums. The neat steps were heard, and even the ground was slightly shaken by them.

Thirty thousand flintlock rifles were divided into sixty battalions, all of which were three horizontal formations, lined up in a row, and each battalion was only twenty steps apart. All flintlock rifles were inserted with sharp bayonets, and the muzzles pointed to the sky, and the bayonets were shining with dazzling lights.

The two wings of the flintlock rifleman are artillery formations, with five thousand artillery soldiers behind and five thousand armored soldiers in front. All kinds of cannons are set up, and the muzzles are pointed at the front. The ammunition truck and horses are not far behind the artillery. If they are approached by the Qing army, the gunners will immediately lead the ammunition truck and horses, and then they will move their positions after they fire a round of shotguns.

The artillery of the new army had 120 three-pound field guns. The correct use of this gun was a large musket that could maneuver quickly, with a relatively close range and ran away after the shooting. There were also some six-pound field guns and twelve-pound howitzers supported behind the infantry phalanx. These large-caliber cannons were used to bombard the Qing army's formations at a long range.

The armored grenades in front of the artillery positions are used to protect artillery.

Hong Chengchou stood on the observation deck, holding a monocular telescope, and scanning the Huai Army's front.

On the front several miles long, the Huai Army wearing black hats and red uniforms covered the entire front. The Huai Army in the camera was in a strict and powerful formation, and its movement was orderly, like moving bayonet forests, and roared in unison from time to time, "The Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and Restore the Capital!"

The roar of the Huai Army surged across the mountains and rivers, shocking people.

"Master Hong," Li Yong, general Li Yong stepped forward, "The last general saw that the Southern Barbarians had only musketeers and gunners, no spearmen, no archers, no cavalry, and even the number of knives players was very small. The only little bit of knives guarded their gunners. And their musketeers had almost no armor on their bodies, so it was not difficult to defeat Mingdog. As long as our army launched an attack in front of the bird gunners and archers, followed the bird gunners and archers with turtledog-footed guns and tiger squat cannons, and after getting closer, several rounds of volleys, they would definitely defeat Mingdog musketeers!"

Hong Chengchou nodded: "That's the arrangement, let the bird gunner and archer be in front, the turtledove-legged gunner and the tiger squat gunner follow closely, and the hand-to-hand combat troops are behind, and launch an attack on the Mingdog formation!"

"Kill the Ming dog!" Groups of Qing troops rushed down from the mountain and shouted loudly to attack the Ming army formation.

Watching more than 100,000 Qing soldiers descending the mountain and rushing towards their formation from a high point, the formation of the 30,000 Huai Army infantry was as towering as a mountain, waiting quietly for the Qing army to step forward.

When the Qing army was less than one mile away from its own side, Li Guodong ordered: "Fire the cannon!"

"Boom boom boom" Twenty six-pound cannons placed on both wings of the infantry phalanx made a deafening roar, and the shells flew about 500 steps and landed accurately in the Qing army's charge formation. These cannons were all adjusted in advance, and the shells passed over the infantry formation of their own side, and the landing location was exactly five hundred steps away.

Twenty scorching shells pierced into the Qing army formation, pulling out crooked flesh-and-blood alleys, flying everywhere, and screaming in terrible voices. Wherever the shells go, broken limbs and fragments of weapons flew into the sky. Each shell can take away the lives of at least a dozen Qing soldiers.

One round of artillery took away the lives of about four or five hundred Qing soldiers. However, for the Qing army, which had more than 100,000 people, the loss was just a drop in the bucket.

The six-pound field gunner who had shot the shells was immediately busy, cleaning the cannon chamber with a wet mop, then drying the cannon chamber with a dry mop, then loading the medicine bag and shrapnel, preparing to give a fatal blow with shrapnel after the Qing army approached.

The Qing army continued to rush forward. Within three hundred steps, only a series of earth-shaking cannons were heard. One hundred and twenty three-pound field cannons roared.

The roar of 120 three-pound field cannons far exceeded the roar of 20 six-pound cannons just now. One hundred and twenty solid shells swept over the iron armored soldiers' formation and smashed the Qing army's formation.

Rows of shells fell into the Qing army formation like hail, and immediately pulled out countless crooked blood paths. Although the penetration ability of the three-pound cannon was far less than that of the six-pound cannon, it was too large. According to the lives of each shell, more than a thousand Qing soldiers were beaten into pieces of flesh and blood in this round of bombardment.

"Run! We only lost more than 2,000 people! When we rushed forward, we won!" the Qing general shouted.

For the Qing army, which had more than 100,000 people, the loss was not more than 2%. The Qing army's maximum loss ability was about 20%, which was too early.

There were only 150 steps left between the two sides. At this time, the three-pound field cannons with extremely fast loading speed roared again, and another row of shells fell into the Qing army formation, taking away almost a thousand names. At the same time, the six-pound cannon also roared, and twenty shrunk shells flew out of the cannon chamber with a dull sound. After the shrunk shells wrapped in thin iron flew out of the 100 steps, they spread out fifty steps away from the Qing army formation. The iron beads inside swept through the Qing army formation like heavy rain.

The shrapnel bullets were extremely powerful. When a row of shells went down, the Qing army rushing in front immediately fell down. The Qing soldiers who were shot were beaten into a nest of Mafeng by heavy rain-like iron beads. The blood donated on their bodies was rushing wildly. The blood mist filled the clusters, forming a fountain.

This round of attacks from the shrapnel caused at least one thousand Qing soldiers to suffer casualties.

However, the Qing army could still bear this casualty because they had already rushed into a hundred steps.

The crackling sound of gunfire started, not the Huai Army was firing, but the Qing Army's bird guns and the turtledove-foot guns were firing.

"After all, they still couldn't change their habits when they were the Ming army. They were so far away that they fired guns!" Hong Chengchou frowned and muttered.

At this moment, Hong Chengchou saw that the formation of the Ming army's musketeers began to move. Thirty thousand musketeers were arranged in neat formations, so neatly that they were like a person, moving forward step by step.

Qing army archers shot arrows, and the tiger squat cannon and turtle dove-footed guns behind them spewed out flames. The Ming army was shot down, but the living Ming army still moved forward step by step, as if he was blind to the casualties of his comrades beside him.
Chapter completed!