When the general Ma Deyong, the Returning Army, released the tiger cannon and fought back against the official cavalry, the general Zhu Keqi of Fengxiang, Shaanxi, had a premonition that the opportunity had come. When he observed the enemy formation, he found that there were not many firearms in the Returning Army, and their main combat weapons were still combat swords and spears.

Therefore, in order to make a quick move, Ma Deyong used the tiger cannon in advance and did not achieve much results. Moreover, the west side of the Hui army battle formation was smashed by the live ammunition of the Flang machine cannon. Of course, the battlefield veteran Zhu Keqi would not miss this opportunity. While ordering the bird gun soldiers to line up and shoot at the open Hui army round formation, he ordered the three-eyed gunmen to squat on the ground and avoid the bird gun lead bullets.

When the official army's bird gun exploded happily, the back army's positions were killed and injured, even if Ma Deyong ordered the shield player to fill the gap that damaged the shield car. However, how could the wooden shield covered with cowhide resist the penetration of high-speed lead bullets? Under the attack of the official army's bird gun, the back army's shield player raised the wooden chip petals, stimulating the flesh and blood of the returning army.

When the official army's bird gun was loaded, the Hui army quickly transferred the undamaged shield from behind the formation to the front. Just when the Hui army moved forward to adjust the shield, the 2,000-eyed gunmen of the official army had already rushed to the front of the return army. These three-eyed gunmen were also veterans of the battle formation. They did not ignite the musket fuse until less than ten steps away from the returning army's position. Only "dong!dong!dong!" The sound of muskets came one after another and sounded in front of the returning army's position, and screams and wails were heard in the round formation of the returning army.

Even Ma Deyong, who was in charge of command in the formation, was also hit on his helmet by the three-eyed gun. Fortunately, the shooting distance of the three-eyed gun was limited, and Ma Deyong was only knocked out by the lead bullet. But his cousin was not as lucky as him. A lead bullet hit his left eye and died on the spot. Under the repeated attacks of the three-eyed gun and the bird gun, three thousand war soldiers fell on the position, and more than a thousand could not get up again.

The suffering of returning troops was not over yet. Seeing that the musket was performing its power, Zhu Keqi immediately ordered the sword and shield, and the spear followed up to attack and expanded the gap in the position of the return troops. On the battlefield, the close-fitting battle between cold weapons is always the bloodiest. Once the two sides of the war were attached together, it would be impossible to avoid fighting with their lives.

The Shaanxi government troops who went on this expedition were basically veterans on the battlefield who participated in the extermination of peasants' rebellion many times. Their combat skills were far higher than those of the peasant militia in the Huijun Guards. As soon as the official troops entered the Huijun army formation, the sword and shield hands immediately formed a tight frontal shield formation. The spearmen behind them held their spears high and stabbed them in a scattered manner.

The official saber and shield hold the shield in his left hand, and the four-foot sword in his right hand is higher than the top of his head and put it on the shield head. He buried his body half behind the shield without looking at where the enemy was, just stabbed forward with a knife. With the feeling of the knife behind the knife, the softness and lack of resistance means that the knife stabbed the enemy. After a long time of hard work, it can only be said that the knife stabbed the shield on the shield, so he had to withdraw the knife and stab it in other parts.

Even if the official soldiers are stabbed and injured by the other party, they dare not retreat. Years of war experience tell them that as long as they fall in hand-to-hand combat, even if you are not injured enough, they will be trampled to death by the chaotic abortion. The best way is to grit your teeth and persevere until you finally win. Perhaps there is still a certain chance of victory.

On the other hand, the performance of the Hui army's hand-to-hand combat was far inferior. The shield player had just been killed, and the spearman and the archer didn't know how to deal with it. The Hui army was more like a group of gangsters fighting. The grassroots officers were incompetent in command. They were extremely brave and personally rushed towards the official army that was attacking the position. The official army was protected by a tight shield formation, and the sword was not effective at slashing the enemy. Because of the outstanding target, it would attract the attention of the opponent's spear. As a result, the first Hui army to die in the circular formation were these brave officers.

Losing the cover of the strict military formation, the gap in the position of the Hui army was widening, and the Hui army archers also fought with their waist knives. At this moment, Zhu Keqi ordered the thousand bird gunners who had loaded the ammunition to replenish the rear of the official army's shield formation, and raised the bird guns to shoot the Hui army's large formation blindly. The innovative tactics of the official army achieved miraculous results, and the soldiers who fought to the death of the Hui army were killed and injured.

Soon, the position of the Hui army was divided into two pieces by the combination of the official army. It was obvious that both armies fighting hand-to-hand combat were trying their best to win. The official army led by Zhukeqi had obvious advantages in close combat, and the Hui army, which lost 70% of the officers, became less and less organized. As the chaos intensified, the Hui army inevitably collapsed.

Ma Tengyao, who had been paying attention to the situation of the war, thought of rescuing Ma Deyong at the first time. He sent Ma Dezhong to bring 5,000 infantry to support Ma Deyong. Mao Wuchen, the general who was watching the battle on the high platform, immediately sent 3,000 cavalrymen to block the official camp. Shang Chi, the official cavalry formed a red corps to face the rain of arrows shot from the return army, and broke the return army's infantry in one charge. The high-speed war horses flew away the return army's infantry, which also disrupted the return army's march formation.

The official cavalry rushed to the spears stabbed out by the reinforcements of the Hui army, and set up a spear forest at the Hui army's infantry position. After the official cavalry used up the spear, they drew out their combat swords and slashed at the Hui army's infantry. The Hui army infantry, whose formation was dispersed, were obviously not the opponents of the official cavalry. Once the formation was dispersed, they became panicked sheep and were quickly slaughtered by the official cavalry.

Ma Tengyao failed to achieve a plan, and ordered his brother Ma Tenghui to lead 10,000 Hui army infantry to attack from the east camp and launch an attack on the side of the official cavalry, intending to use the number of Hui army's troops to mobilize the official army to return to aid. Unexpectedly, the official army on Hujialing rushed out of the mountain and rushed to the flank of Ma Tenghui's 10,000 infantry, and instantly dispersed the reinforcements of the Hui army.

The rebel troops inserted between the official army Hujialing and Yangjiazhuang were completely separated and surrounded by the official army commanded by Zhu Keqi without the effective support of the army. Seeing that the situation was not good, Ma Deyong led the remaining troops to break north. When he set off in the morning, the team of 8,000 people finally returned to the Hui army camp with him in a broken armor.

After a day of battle, the return army commanded by Ma Tengyao suffered heavy losses, and one of Ma Tengyao's nephews was killed in battle; Ma Deyong was injured and his troops suffered almost all losses; the troops who went to rescue were killed and injured more than 7,000 people, and the return army suffered nearly 15,000 in one day. Facing the huge losses, Ma Tengyao was in great pain, and the combat power of the official army was much stronger than the peasant militias he led.

In the past, when the army returned to the army to capture the various garrisons in Ningxia, he basically relied on internal help. In addition, his opponents were basically the same farming and military households as the army, so he won consecutive victories. Ma Deyong wiped out the 5,000 support troops in Lanzhou, which was a great battle. Moreover, as soon as the war started, he defeated the 300th branch of the Lanzhou general Yu Wanquan, causing great chaos in the Lanzhou official army, and thus achieved a great victory in the annihilation of the Lanzhou official army.

Now he is facing the confrontation with the government army. The 30,000 government troops defeated more than 100,000 troops, making Ma Tengyao dare not underestimate the government army from then on. Ma Tengyao knew that since Zhang Ping'an, the commander of the Po Slave Army, defeated the Mongolian Kundu Khan last year, the Po Slave Army sold tens of thousands of troops to the Ming Dynasty, and then sold a lot of horses to the Ming border army one after another, which improved the dilemma of the Ming government army's lack of horses. Even the Ming Dynasty War Department, which mainly farmed, equipped the officers with horses.

This kind of head-on tactic should be in line with the appetite of the Shaanxi general Mao Wuchen. If he returns to the army and fights like this a few times, there is a danger of being wiped out. Ma Tengyao, who was in a fury, walked out of the command platform, slowly climbed up to the command platform standing in the camp, held the railing of the platform, and quietly looked at the opposite official army camp alone.

As night fell, the official camp lit a torch to light up the entire camp. It was obvious that the official army was performing martial arts and praising merits. After cleaning the battlefield, the officers and soldiers took the spoils seized from the battlefield and escorted the prisoners to gather in their tents. The auxiliary soldiers buried the pots to make rice, washed the blood-dyeing armor for the soldiers, and the war horses also felt the joy of victory, neighing and playing in the stables.

Ma Tengyao wore a marten cloak and looked at the government army camp opposite for one night. It was not until the morning of the next day that he was forcibly carried back to the commander's tent by his two younger brothers. Ma Tengyao, who returned to the commander's tent, looked tired, his beard was scattered, his eyes were bloodshot, and his two sword eyebrows were squeezed together. He took the hot porridge sent by his personal soldiers and slowly drank the pickles. Suddenly, Ma Tengyao stopped the chopsticks that reached out to the pickles, and his eyes couldn't stop swimming.

Two moments later, Ma Tengyao stood up and rushed out of the commanding tent and came to the command platform again. He carefully observed the terrain of the official army camp and let the strong wind blow through his back. An hour later, Ma Tengyao finally discovered the weakness of the official army camp. Perhaps this inconspicuous weakness was the key to returning to the army to win.

Ma Tengyao found a hill 150 or 6 meters high in the northwest corner of the Guanjun camp, less than a hundred feet away from the Guanjun camp. At this critical point, the official army did not send troops to defend. If they returned to control this place, they could launch a night attack on the official army camp at night. Ma Tengyao, who was determined, immediately returned to the tent and began to summon the generals to arrange the next step of attacking the official army camp.

...

On November 23, 2018, the fourth year of Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty, after careful preparation, the commander of the Hui army, Ma Tengyao, led the main force of the Hui army to launch a general attack on the Shaanxi officers and soldiers in the Ming Dynasty. The Hui army's combat goal was to occupy the nameless hills in the northwest corner of the official army.

The Hui army formed an array two miles north of the official army camp early in the morning, as if they were going to launch an attack on the north of the official army camp. Shaanxi General Mao Wuchen also felt that the Hui army's array was a bit strange. In theory, it was more appropriate for the Hui army to attack the south of the official army camp. Because the terrain on the south of the official army camp was smoother and more suitable for the attacking troops to develop their formation. Therefore, he dug many pits in the south of the camp, and the long-range attack weapon, general artillery brought by the official army was also mainly placed in the south.

In order to deal with the new offensive changes of the Rebellion Army, Mao Wuchen pulled out all the remaining thirty general artillery from the camp. He did not dare to move the general artillery in the south, because he was afraid that Ma Tengyao would make another army attack the official army camp from the south. Another reason was that the general artillery of the official army was fixed artillery positions, and it took a lot of time and manpower to build a gun position, which was very inconvenient to move.

The return army led by Ma Tengyao was very graceful. They lined up in the cold wind and waited for the official army to come out of the camp to build the general artillery position. Two hours later, the official army finally set up the general artillery. Another army with 20,000 people pushing a thousand shield chariot appeared in the back camp. They first slowly lined up the formation west of the return army, intending to protect the right wing of the army. Mao Wuchen, the general of Shaanxi who had been watching the battle, suddenly realized that this 20,000 troops must have other plans......... (To be continued)
Chapter completed!