Chapter 84

The calm prairie was disrupted by the approaching troops, the braying of mules, the shouts of the drivers, the heavy breathing of the soldiers, and the low curses of the officers, all of which intensified the tense atmosphere before the battle. Inside the circular formation, many of the new recruits, who had never been in combat before, were already so frightened that their legs were trembling. Da Niu was one of them.

"Remember... hide behind the wagons, the musketeers check your ammunition, and start loading! Keep your hands steady, don't panic, and wait for the command before firing. Whoever fires without permission, I'll stuff his head into his pants!"

The officer's voice echoed loudly behind Da Niu. The voice was hoarse and fierce, and Da Niu recognized it as the voice of the squad leader. He had heard that this squad leader had participated in a major battle with bandits half a year ago and had personally killed two of them, which led to his promotion.

At this moment, Da Niu felt a bit afraid, a rare emotion for him, who was known for his bravery. In the past, in Wuli Village, Da Niu was always the bravest and the best fighter among his group of friends, and people like San Bao and Tie Zhu all respected him. But today, Da Niu was unusually timid.

He secretly glanced to his left and saw Tie Zhu's slightly thin figure through the ranks of soldiers. At that moment, Tie Zhu was tightly gripping his musket, staring straight ahead, and did not notice Da Niu's gaze.

"What's wrong with me today? I'm actually afraid!" Da Niu couldn't help but hate his own cowardice. He then looked to his right and noticed that the other soldiers weren't much better than him; some of them were even trembling so much that their hands were shaking as they held their guns.

Feng Xiaoming stood behind the first row of soldiers, his heart pounding as he looked at the soldiers in front of him. For him, going to battle was like a bride getting into the bridal sedan for the first time; to say he wasn't nervous would be a lie. What worried him even more was that he noticed the first row of soldiers was already showing signs of instability. Many of them were tightly hugging the wagons, their bodies shaking, and they probably didn't even have the strength to fire their guns.

"No, this can't go on. If this continues, the soldiers' morale will collapse before the Tartars even attack!" Feng Xiaoming immediately realized this. He quickly walked to a soldier who was trembling the most and had thrown his musket aside, and kicked him hard on the buttocks, shouting, "You bastard, stand up for me! The Tartars are coming, what are you doing lying there? Waiting for them to cut you to pieces? I'll give you three blinks to pick up your musket, or I'll execute you on the spot!"

After saying this, Feng Xiaoming kicked the soldier a few more times until he picked up his musket.

Yueyang, who was watching from behind, frowned at this scene.

At this moment, Shun Bao, who had been patrolling the circular formation, walked up to Yueyang and said, "Young Master, this won't do. We have too many new recruits, and I'm afraid they will break down when the Tartars charge."

"Alas, I was too careless!" Yueyang sighed. Most of the people he brought for the wedding were new recruits who had only been in the army for two months, some even less than a month. They were naturally flustered by the sudden situation.

"Shun Bao, was I too careless?" Yueyang turned to Shun Bao.

Shun Bao was taken aback for a moment before saying, "Young Master, you can't blame yourself. We only came for the wedding, who would have thought we'd encounter such a situation in the territory of our father-in-law?"

Yueyang shook his head with a bitter smile. "No matter what, I was too careless. If I had been more cautious, we wouldn't be in such a passive position today. This is a lesson. If we hadn't all been equipped with muskets, we would have been in serious trouble today!"

As he spoke, the dust in front of them grew larger. Yueyang took out a telescope from his waist and looked ahead. It was an eight-power high-definition telescope that he had specially ordered. Through the telescope, Yueyang could clearly see several of their own cavalry, dressed in Gothic armor, galloping desperately toward their main formation, with hundreds of Tartar cavalry in white armor chasing them closely behind.

"Master, those are our scouts, and the Tartars are chasing them!" Shun Bao also saw this and pointed ahead, shouting.

"Those bastards!" Yueyang gritted his teeth in anger. These Tartar cavalry were too arrogant, daring to chase after them with only a few hundred men. After all, his main formation had a thousand infantry, and there were also a thousand cavalry outside the circular formation. Did they not fear being surrounded?

Yueyang didn't know that for the Tartars, this was normal. In recent years, the Tartar army had mostly won against the Ming army, which had fostered their arrogant and aggressive spirit. In battles with the Ming army, they often dared to charge with a few thousand men against tens of thousands of Ming soldiers and still emerged victorious. How could they not look down on the Ming army?

At this moment, the Tartar cavalry had already approached to within six hundred meters of the circular formation. Yueyang took a deep breath and was about to order the bugler to prepare for firing when he suddenly noticed that the speed of the Tartar cavalry was slowing down and eventually stopped.

Among the five hundred or so Tartar cavalry, Dor rode his warhorse at the front. He looked at the circular formation formed by the wagons and a sinister smile appeared on his lips. He turned and shouted to the back.

"Gelutu!"

A man dressed in double-layered cotton armor, with a neck guard flag on his back, rode up and shouted, "Yes, your lordship! What are your orders?"

Dor pointed ahead and said, "Gelutu, that's the Ming dogs' circular formation. Do you have the confidence to break it within half an hour?"

Gelutu sneered and said, "Your lordship, you're too generous to those Ming dogs. I can tear that formation to pieces in just two minutes!"

Dor, though filled with jealousy, still retained his military skills. He nodded and said, "Good, then I'll give you two minutes. My fourth sister and Zaisang should be arriving soon. You must break the Ming dogs before they get here, or it will be difficult to deal with them."

"Alright! You'll see!" Gelutu sneered and quickly began issuing orders...

"Hmm, what's going on? Why aren't the Tartars charging?" Yueyang muttered. To him, the situation was indeed strange. They should have taken advantage of the opportunity to charge and break the circular formation, but why did they suddenly stop? This didn't make sense!

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the stopped Tartar cavalry quickly formed a sharp, conical formation. From a distance, it looked like a sharp knife ready to pierce through, making everyone in the circular formation feel a strong sense of oppression.

Slowly, the conical formation began to move, slowly advancing toward the circular formation, creating a strong sense of pressure on everyone inside.

"Those Tartars, they're playing a psychological game." Yueyang sneered. At this point, if he still didn't understand the enemy's tactics, he wouldn't be fit for his role. He said in a low voice, "Shun Bao, order the front soldiers to prepare, and wait for my command to fire!"

"Yes!"

Shun Bao took a few steps forward and shouted loudly, "Front, first row, prepare, wait for the command, prepare!"

"Prepare..."

"Prepare..."

The circular formation echoed with the orders of the officers.

"Come on, I want to see if your Jurchen cavalry or my muskets are more powerful!" Yueyang's heart was also pounding. Although the troops were equipped with Minié rifles, this was their first time using them in combat, and the results would be seen today...

"Rumble..."

The sound of hooves began again, and the hearts of the new recruits in the circular formation almost leaped into their throats. If it weren't for the strict control of the officers behind them, many soldiers would have already fired.

"Stay steady, everyone stay steady, no one is to fire without orders!" The officers' shouts echoed throughout the formation.

The rumbling of hooves continued as the Qing army began their charge. Gelutu, riding