I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 336 Shooting
"Use the bows to diffuse the fire!" Dayan Khan said after thinking for a while as he looked at the Ming army formation in the distance.

The first round of probing was not without effect. Dayan Khan keenly discovered that the Ming army's equipment rate of infantry bows was not high, and the soldiers were not so proficient in using infantry bows.

So he prepared to use the more powerful bow and arrow to attack the Ming army formation.

The military order was passed down quickly.

Garu was a cavalryman from the Tumed tribe of the Tatars. With the help of his companions, he put on his chain mail, took a bow from his horse, hung two bags of quivers on his body, one bag of light arrows and one bag of heavy arrows, and then hung a scimitar on his waist.

Don't think that Mongolian cavalry only carry horse bows. They have many different combat methods and carry many kinds of weapons to deal with various situations. The infantry bow is one of them. They often dismount and use infantry bows to attack the enemy.

Garu was in a very relaxed mood. All the actions since he went south had gone smoothly. He believed that the Ming army on the opposite side would be shaken by their harassment, and by then he might be able to seize the armor of the Ming army on the opposite side.

Thinking of this, he remembered the various spoils he had looted, including a beautiful Ming woman. However, in order to assemble quickly, he threw all the spoils away. Thinking about it now, he still felt very sad.

Thinking of this, he became even more angry towards the Ming army on the opposite side.

In front of Garu was the centurion of their hundred households, who was also putting on armor. He hurried over to help him tidy up the silver-white centurion armor. He was very envious of the centurion's armor, which was shining silver and very strong. He believed that nothing could penetrate it.

The centurion gave Garu a big smile, revealing his yellow and messy teeth, and then patted Garu's shoulder with all his strength.

Garu felt even more excited, but he still remembered the main thing. He took out his deer antler ring, put it on his right thumb, and gently pulled the bowstring to adjust the position of the ring.

There were more than 4,000 light-armored archers who dismounted and prepared to shoot with bows like Garu, forming a square formation of archers. They lined up in four rows, forming a wide formation with thousands of people in each row.

They came to the front, Garu was in the second row, and behind the archers' phalanx were teams of Mongolian cavalry, who were guarding against the attack of the Ming army's central cavalry.

These actions of the Mongols were clearly seen by the people on the high platform in the center of the Ming army.

"What are the Mongols trying to do?" Zhu Houzhao was a little confused about the Mongols' actions.

Jiang Jiangong was also full of confusion, and then an idea flashed in his mind, "General, the Mongols don't think that the effective range of our muskets is only forty or fifty steps, right?" Zhu Houzhao thought about it seriously and felt that only this could explain the strange behavior of the Mongols.

"It seems to be true. Interesting." Zhu Houzhao nodded and continued to pick up the telescope to observe the Mongolian archers' phalanx.

"General, do you want to use artillery?" Jiang Jiangong asked.

"No need. The line of those archers is too thin. The killing effect of artillery is not very good. And if artillery is used, I am afraid that the Mongols will be scared away." Zhu Houzhao said firmly. He is now very confident and calm.

At this time, the drum sounded, and Garu held the combined bow in his left hand and walked forward with his companions. After they walked for a while, the Mongolian cavalry in the back row also began to move forward slowly, and the sound of iron armor plates colliding with each other could be heard. People on the front line moved, and the dense armor and helmets reflected countless light spots under the morning sun.

Some scattered Mongolian cavalry still refused to give up. Some of them, holding three-barreled muskets seized from the Ming army, rushed to fifty or sixty steps and fired at the opposite side. They ran around in the middle to lure the Ming army to shoot, but the Ming army line was quiet and no one shot.

The Mongolian army slowly advanced to a hundred steps. The Ming army on the opposite side shouted loudly. A row of black muskets were placed on the shield wall, with the black muzzles pointed at this side. Still no one opened fire. The Ming army only showed their heads wearing Ming helmets. Garu saw a fluttering red tassel behind the shield wall in the gap between the people, and felt a palpitation for some reason.
A horn sounded, and the centurion in charge of commanding the archers shouted, and Garu and others stopped at the same time. This place was about seventy steps away from the Ming army's formation. According to the Mongolian experience, the Ming army's firearms had no lethality at this distance.

Garu stepped back a little, picked up a sharp-headed light arrow skillfully, clamped the tail of the arrow between his thumb and index finger, held the bowstring with the ring on his right thumb, pressed his index and middle fingers on his thumb, raised his left hand with the arrow pointing diagonally into the air, and began to slowly pull the bowstring with his right hand. The other lightly armored archers around him also took the same posture, and the bamboo frame of the composite bow made a continuous creaking sound.

With the sound of a desolate conch shell, the sound of countless bowstrings vibrating like cotton balls was heard on the battle line, like a huge swarm of bees flying by, and dense arrows rose into the sky at the same time.

Garu suddenly loosened his thumb, and the bowstring slid along the smooth surface of the ring. The energy stored in the bamboo frame was instantly released at the tail of the arrow, and the light arrow flew out rapidly with the buzzing sound of the bowstring. The birch arrow shaft twisted in the air due to the huge force, twisting like a snake. After it flew over the first section, the birch shaft slowly stopped twisting, and the arrow body became stable under the balance of the tail feathers. It and thousands of other light arrows cut through the air, merging into a sound like wind blowing through the woods.

When it passed the highest point and began to dive towards the Ming army's position, a whistle sounded from the Ming army formation below.

The flames of the Ming army's front shield wall were connected into one, accompanied by explosions and thick white smoke. From the air, it was like a white smoke dragon appearing out of thin air. More than a thousand bird guns were fired at the same time. The mass-produced bird guns now equipped by the new army were no longer the originally produced bird guns with a caliber of only 10 mm.

Zhu Houxuan thought that the 10mm caliber bird gun was still a little weak, so after a period of experimentation, he increased the caliber of the mass-produced bird gun to 15mm. In fact, this caliber of the matchlock gun has already touched the threshold of medium and heavy matchlock guns.
Lead bullets with a diameter of 15 millimeters flew over a distance of seventy steps in an instant, easily tearing through the archers' cotton armor and chain mail, deforming and disintegrating in their bodies, forming a cavity effect. The blood of the wounded spurted out of the body through those holes, turning into streams of blood arrows.

The centurion in front of Garu was hit. His expensive armor was not able to stop the cheap lead bullet at all. He struggled desperately on the ground, holding his stomach, and screamed inhumanly. His intestines were smashed by the lead bullet, and the blood that flowed out was mixed with the colorful color of feces.
(End of this chapter)