On the 25th of April in the second year of Longwu, Ma Wei led the main army and the allied forces of various countries to Beqian and began a new round of attack.
The attack on Beqian needed to be relatively cautious, because from the mouth of the Japanese officials who took the initiative to surrender to Daqin, Beqian was a high-quality iron ore producer. It had been an important weapon producer for Japan for a long time, and it still was.
Places with metal mines were nominally under the direct jurisdiction of the central government, but in fact, it was managed by the internal officials sent by the emperor and controlled by the emperor himself. All the profits from the production went into the emperor's private funds. This was the reason why the royal family of Xiao Qin didn't need money from the national treasury.
Now that there were metal mines here, as one of the Emperor's trusted subordinates, Ma Wei naturally wanted to firmly control this place for the Emperor. As such, he naturally sent Great Qin's elites to attack, and they encountered quite strong resistance here.
Probably because they were unwilling to lose such a great benefit, the local daimyo and officials led an army of more than ten thousand people to resist and never retreat. Not only did they prepare more than ten thousand regular soldiers, they also coerced more than thirty thousand able-bodied men to be stationed here to protect the iron mine.
Ma Wei finally became a little interested and said that he would personally lead the attack. At the same time, he tactfully refused the desire of several vassal states to join forces and contribute to Daqin, saying that he would do it himself.
What a joke, those mobs were probably similar to the Japanese army in front of them. If they really fought, it was really hard to tell who would win and who would lose. At that time, if the allied forces of various countries suffered too much loss, Daqin would definitely give them a good lesson.
Forget it, we still want to save this money.
Ma Wei still decided to send troops to fight the battle himself. Of course, if the generals of the vassal states were willing to watch the battle, of course it was possible.
Let them watch the battle, let them see the strength and excellent equipment of the Daqin army, let them experience how civilized Daqin was.
This couldn't be better.
On the 25th, Ma Wei completed the preparation of the army. On the 26th, he personally led 8,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry to attack the Japanese army, which seemed to have nearly 50,000 people.
It wasn't that he underestimated the enemy, but he really didn't think that there was any need for him to pay attention to these mobs.
According to accurate intelligence, there were only about ten thousand people in the regular army, and the remaining thirty thousand were refugees who were temporarily armed. They didn't even have military uniforms, and they didn't have any fine weapons. Most of them were wooden sticks and bamboo spears, and there weren't many iron weapons at all.
As for the regular army of more than ten thousand people, there were probably only three to five thousand elites. The rest were pieced together to barely form an army. There was no need to mention the degree of organization, attack power, and fighting spirit.
Ma Wei didn't even know if they could survive the first round of Daqin's cannons.
Although the Japanese had also arranged some cannons in front of the formation, and they also had some firearms in their hands.
However, could they compare to Great Qin's Red Barbarian Cannons?
Under Ma Wei's command, twenty Red Barbarian Cannons lined up in front of the formation.
Then, they fired one after another.
Twenty heavy iron bullets wrapped in thick smoke and blazing heat fell from the sky, crashing to the ground under the horrified gazes of the regular soldiers and refugees. Then, they kept bouncing up, directly carving out a bloody path in the army formation.
Then came the second round of shooting.
After the first round, Ma Wei felt that there was no need for a third round, because the Japanese army on the opposite side had begun to retreat. He immediately ordered the infantry of the Qin Army to line up, and the cavalry to cover the flanks of the infantry formation, advancing together.
The infantry moved forward like a wall, and the cavalry followed closely on the flanks. The formation quickly attacked forward. The formation was neat and meticulous, reflecting the extremely high degree of organization and training of the Qin Army. Looking from above, it was like one black square after another, orderly and orderly, without any disorder.
Walking into the firing range of the French guns, the Japanese army seemed to have organized a counterattack, using cannons to fight back, but it didn't reach the formation of the Qin Army. Ma Wei ordered the formation of the Qin Army to stop, and then pushed the French guns out.
The black muzzles of fifty French guns pointed at the position of the Japanese army and fired.
There was no doubt that it was another thunderous strike, setting off a bloody storm. The quantity, quality, accuracy and speed of the cannons of the two sides were not at the same level. With one shot, the Qin Army had already fired a round of shots.
After firing three rounds in a row, Ma Wei ordered the French guns to retreat into the formation, and the Qin Army moved forward again.
The war drums rumbled, the flag was raised, and the Qin Army began to move forward.
They still advanced like a wall.
Without any hesitation.
The Japanese army on the opposite side could not form an effective defense. The cannons couldn't fire, the guns couldn't fire, and the bows and arrows couldn't be pulled. The ferocious momentum of the Qin Army seemed to have overwhelmed them.
Many people began to retreat, and then were pushed back by the troops in the rear to continue to fight like cannon fodder. Forced to do nothing, a Japanese army began to attack.
"Raise the guns!"
An officer ordered the gunners in the formation to raise their guns.
"Fire!"
When the Japanese army charged into the firing range of the muskets, the Qin army's musketeers opened fire without hesitation. The intense barrage of gunfire caused the group of people who were charging at the front to bleed and die. There was no way for them to get close to the frontlines.
The generals of the vassal states, who were standing beside Ma Wei and watching the battle, were all shocked. Although they had seen a lot of battles of the Qin Army along the way, it was the first time for them to see such a large-scale attack. The bigger the battlefield was, the more the organization of the army could be seen. This time was no exception.
The combat effectiveness of the Qin Army was just too strong.
The motley crowd on the opposite side retreated at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon began to harass the people at the back. The people at the back seemed to be the main force of the regular army, with military uniforms and weapons, not cannon fodder with bamboo spears and wooden sticks. But when faced with such a charge, it seemed that they could do nothing.
Therefore, their cavalry began to move.
About a thousand cavalrymen began to charge. It was estimated that this was the main force and last resort of the Qin Army. But the way the Qin Army charged was very interesting. The charge of the Qin Army was to kill the enemy first, but the charge of the Qin Army was to kill their own people first. They either stabbed or trampled the cannon fodder in their way to death, without any hesitation.
The cavalrymen of the Qin Army also moved.
Ma Wei gave the order. The war drums rumbled, and the infantry stopped moving. The cavalrymen on both sides gathered in front of the formation, and then began to charge in a rhombus formation.
Compared with the orderly charge of the Qin Army's cavalry, the Japanese cavalry on the opposite side appeared to be more or less disorderly. Perhaps they were orderly at first, but after being blocked by the cannon fodder, they became disorderly.
In a battle between cavalrymen, one also needed to pay attention to formation and order. If they just rushed forward without any regard for their lives, they would become a live target for the enemy.
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