Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 143 The end of the old slave
"Amma, they only have more than 200 people. Do we want to break out?"

On the low hill of Azhemi Hills, looking at the intimidating Bohai Navy armored cavalry, Tuchaha also gradually calmed down from being panicked at the beginning.

When he waited and watched, he originally thought that this armored cavalry was followed by a large group of infantry, but now it seems that they must have collided with their own side alone.

With this small amount of troops, as long as they are willing to spend money, they can definitely break through.

"They don't have enough horsepower, so they don't dare to ride and shoot."

Xiyang Ha's eyes were vicious. After all, he was someone who had escaped from the Ming army many times without any injuries. He could see that the Ming army generals on the opposite side were recovering their power, because the main force of more than a hundred cavalry had not moved from the beginning to the end.

Xiyang Ha glanced at his tribe. At this moment, they were gathering at the foot of the hill like frightened birds. Many of the baggage vehicles originally used to set up the formation were also abandoned.

Xiyang Ha was confident of breaking through, so he ordered Tucha Ha: "Bring out all the draft horses in the hands of the tribe and let the men ride on them. I don't believe that my two thousand men can't deal with these two hundred armored horses!"

"Yes!" Tuchaha accepted the order very confidently, and then began to gather a large number of draft horses from his tribe and distributed them to the men wearing armor.

Seeing that almost everyone had gathered, Xiyangha began to summon the men with horses to fight.

In just a moment, the crowd was in commotion, and nearly a thousand Jurchen horse infantry on horseback appeared in front of the Bohai Navy.

For most of them, although they are a little nervous, they are absolutely confident.

This kind of confidence is not blind, but can be seen from the battles between both sides.

Although the Bohai Navy has a small number of people, everyone is wearing armor and holding sophisticated weapons. They are equipped with mounted bows, bows and long and short soldiers.

Looking at the Jurchen cavalry, except for the [-] armored cavalry in the front row, almost all of the leather-armored cavalry in the back rode horses. No matter the horse speed, weapons, or personnel quality, they could not compare with the Bohai Navy.

Even for the three hundred armored cavalry at the head of the battle, everyone could see how crude their equipment was.

I don't know if the iron plate armor forged by crude means can withstand the thrust of a Zhangsi spear.

"Amma, shall we rush?"

After the assembly was completed, Tu Chaha looked at the Bohai navy who was standing still in the face of the Jurchen cavalry who came forward, feeling a little guilty in his heart.

"No need to rush..."

Xiyang Ha looked at the Ming army in front of him. He could feel that this Ming army was very different from the Ming army that had surrounded and suppressed them before. This was the reason why he did not dare to attack.

"Let the man without horses take the lead in breaking out. If he dares to move, we will take action."

"Yes……"

Under Xiyang Ha's instructions, Tucha Ha began to arrange nearly a thousand infantry to lead the battle, escorting nearly [-] tribesmen in an attempt to break out.

"Your Highness, the thieves have begun to break out."

Yi Shiha came on horseback with a small flag of cavalry, his face was solemn, and his eyes looked to the west from time to time, obviously waiting for Fu Rang.

Just facing his solemnity, Zhu Gaoxu inserted the iron gun in his hand into the soil and took out the exaggerated riding bow on the side.

An ordinary riding bow weighs forty kilograms, but Zhu Gaoxu's riding bow already weighs a hundred kilograms, and the arrows it is equipped with are four feet long. The arrowhead is nearly half the size of a hand. It can be called a javelin.

Seeing him taking the bow, all the troops thought that they were about to confront him, so they took their bows and prepared arrows one after another.

However, when they were ready, Zhu Gaoxu ordered Yishiha: "You are here, wait for Xiyangha to come with the cavalry, then flank them and engage them face to face." After saying that, Zhu Gaoxu looked behind him:

"Come with two little flags and follow me to provoke me!"

"This..." Yi Shiha did not expect that Zhu Gaoxu would dare to step forward to provoke him in the face of such a weak situation, but he failed to stop him. Zhu Gaoxu led more than [-] cavalrymen with bows and advanced towards Xiyang Ha's headquarters.

"Amma, they are taking action."

Among the troops, Tuchaha pointed at Xiyangha and Zhu Gaoxu's more than [-] cavalry in the middle army.

Xiyang Ha was unmoved: "It's just a dozen or so people, they don't mean to do anything..."

"boom!"

Suddenly, the large banner beside Xiyang Ha suddenly broke, and pieces of wood flew into the air.

No one reacted to this sudden scene. By the time they reacted, Dahu had already fallen straight to the ground.

"What's going on!" Queen Ha of Xiyang shouted to the captain of ten who was guarding the big banner, but she saw the captain standing aside with his arms trembling, and there was a soldier lying on the ground.

"It's the arrow shot by General Ming!"

A voice sounded from the crowd, and Xiyang Ha wondered: "Arrow?"

Before he could react, a black shadow flashed past him.

"hiss!!!"

The sound of the horse's neighing came. It stood up high and fell down as soon as it raised its hoof. This time Xiyang Ha saw clearly what it was.

I saw that the horse's head was pierced by an exaggerated arrow two fingers thick, and the soldiers riding behind were shot through the face. One man and one horse were dead.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Xiyangha instinctively turned over and dismounted, fearing that he would become the next person to be shot.

There were many people like him, but they just lay on their horses. Only Tuchaha had the courage to raise his head.

Less than a hundred steps in front of them, they saw a man with a bow and an arrow standing in front of the more than twenty riders who had walked out of the Ming army earlier.

He was riding a big maroon horse, with an exaggeratedly large riding bow in his hand. He kept shooting arrows at himself, and every time he shot an arrow, someone fell down.

"Ama! It's the Ming army on the opposite side who is shooting arrows!"

"What?" Xiyang Ha, who was squatting on the ground, was startled and asked quickly: "They rushed over?"

"No, at least seventy steps away." Tuchaha was also frightened by the exaggerated distance. He quickly got off his horse and half-knelt beside Xiyangha.

"Seventy steps?" Xiyang Ha glanced at the corpses of a man and a horse behind him.

"Is this an arrow that can be shot at seventy steps?" This thought flashed through Xiyangha's mind. He wanted to be angry and think that Tuchaha was deceiving him, but when he heard the screams that kept coming from his ears, his His intuition told him that Tuchaha was not lying.

"Ama, send troops, if this continues, our morale will be gone!"

Tuchaha persuaded Xiyangha, and Xiyangha looked around after hearing the words. As expected, many soldiers lay on their horses in fear.

"rush!"

Xiyang Ha gritted his teeth and could only make this decision that went against his plan.

Seeing what he said, Tu Chaha immediately stood up bravely, took his bow and arrow, and shot the thunderous arrow in the direction of the Bohai Navy.

"Charge the Ming army!"

Tu Chaha shouted to the surroundings, and with the sound of the sound of thunder piercing the sky, many Jurchens who were too scared to get up also bravely rode their horses and started to rush towards Zhu Gaoxu.

"Your Highness! Donglu is leaving!"

More than [-] steps away, I saw the Jurchens urging their horses, and more than [-] cavalrymen who came to provoke Zhu Gaoxu shouted to him one after another. However, Zhu Gaoxu did not panic and continued to draw his bow and arrow.

Zhu Gaoxu led people to shoot arrows not to kill many people, but to dampen their morale and attract Xiyang Ha to send troops to fight with him, thereby interrupting their breakout.

Now that the goal has been achieved, he also kicked his legs lightly, signaling Chi Huan to go back.

As for himself, he continued to shoot arrows backwards, and almost every arrow shot through the Jurchen cavalry trying to chase them from behind like a javelin.

"Fire arrows!"

Xiyang Ha on horseback saw Zhu Gaoxu firing arrows while running away. He became angry and ordered the Jurchens around him to shoot arrows.

Under his order, thousands of Jurchens drew their bows and arrows, preparing to gather fire towards Zhu Gaoxu.

When they were fifty steps away, all the Jurchens let go of their strings, and a cloud of arrows hit Zhu Gaoxu and the others like black clouds destroying a city.

It is undeniable that the Jurchens have developed good archery skills in the white mountains and black waters, but the backward military industry cannot provide them with good bows and arrows.

Even though they were only fifty steps away, many of their arrows still couldn't reach Zhu Gaoxu and the others. Occasionally, a few arrows hit the Bohai Navy, but they only got stuck on the Mingjia, and did not even cause any flesh injuries. .

"The dog Tartars are coming after Grandpa!"

"With this archery skill, I can't even shoot a horse in the butt!"

"Hahaha……"

Zhu Gaoxu, with more than twenty provocative cavalry, kept taunting the Jurchens chasing behind him, while Zhu Gaoxu remained silent and only focused on shooting arrows.

After the two sides pursued for more than a hundred steps, Zhu Gaoxu fired all the 48 arrows in the two quivers on the left and right into the air. The casualties he caused caused all the Jurchens who were chasing him to slow down in horror.

Gradually, all of them stopped, and Zhu Gaoxu and the others rode their horses back to their camp in Yishiha.

Pulling the reins, Zhu Gaoxu made a circle and returned to the place where he inserted the gun. He put the riding bow in his hand into the bow bag and pulled out the Zhangliu iron gun.

"He has no arrows, don't be afraid!"

Tuchaha saw Zhu Gaoxu's move of withdrawing his bow and kept encouraging his men.

Encouraged by him and Xiyang Ha again, the Jurchens also began to pursue the Ming army.

Only this time, Zhu Gaoxu did not run again. Instead, he turned his wrist and leveled the Zhangliu Iron Spear, ready to go.

"Facial suddenness!"

"Beep--"

When Zhu Gaoxu shouted the military order of "face to face", the chief flag officer and hundreds of officials who had been waiting for a long time blew their wooden whistles, and more than a hundred Bohai elite cavalry rushed out like tigers and rabbits.

"rush!"

Seeing that the Ming army was preparing for a confrontation, Xiyang Ha also realized that this was an opportunity and urged the army to charge.

In the same face attack, even if the Jurchens are not good at bows and arrows, only one tenth of the arrows will succeed in the face attack, and this Ming army will die here.

"kill!"

The cry of killing rang out in the hills northeast of Dahei Mountain. Facing the attacks of thousands of Jurchens, more than a hundred Bohai Jingqi did not give in, but prepared their bows and arrows to attack.

Fifty steps, thirty steps, twenty steps...

The Jurchens had already begun to shoot arrows, but the Bohai Jingqi did not let go of their bow strings, even if they were hit by several or even ten arrows.

They are waiting for Zhu Gaoxu's whistle...

"Beep-"

A crisp and rapid whistle sounded, and in an instant more than a hundred armor-piercing arrows shot out of the string, and everyone jumped on their horses to take a detour.

When the two sides were about to encounter each other, they ran east and west, just for the sake of confrontation.

No one had time to look back, and they were all trying their best to avoid running into the enemy's ranks and being taken away by short soldiers.

This brief attack was just to test the riding and shooting skills of both sides.

Regarding archery, Xiyang Ha and other Jurchens have natural confidence.

But when they successfully retreated after the confrontation and prepared for a second confrontation, the scene on the hilly grassland stopped all of them from wanting to have another confrontation.

On the grassland where the two armies raised their bows and fired arrows at each other, dozens to hundreds of Jurchens lay scattered on the ground. However, their opponents, the Han people from the south, only dismounted a dozen of them.

What's even more terrifying is that most of the dozen or so people who fell off their horses are still alive. Although they were hit by arrows in the face, they covered their wounds with one hand and supported their bodies with the other to stand up.

On the other hand, none of the Jurchens who fell off their horses moved, and their heads were all pierced by the armor-piercing arrows the size of a baby's fist.Armor-piercing arrows were added to the front of the formation. This method was perfected by the Ming army 200 years later. It was later learned by Nurhachi to deal with the Ming army. Now it was used by Zhu Gaoxu more than [-] years in advance, and the objects he used were better than In the late Ming and Ming Dynasties, the Jurchens outside the Pass became even more impoverished.

"withdraw!"

Realizing that something was not going well, Xiyang Ha did not hesitate at all. He took the lead and retreated towards the Mulanda River.

All the Jurchens under Xiyang Ha seemed to have adapted to the fighting style of their own Khan, so after Xiyang Ha retreated, they followed Xiyang Ha's footsteps and began to retreat.

During this period, some people rushed towards the retreating team of women and children, but they could not take anyone away.

"Pursue slowly, don't chase too fast!"

Xiyang Hana's technique and mentality of oiling the soles of his feet, even Zhu Gaoxu could not react immediately, but paused for several breaths before ordering a slow pursuit.

Their horsepower was insufficient, and in order to avoid Xiyang Ha's false retreat, they could not pursue with all their strength.

But even so, they were able to follow the more than a thousand people in Xiyang Hana far away with their excellent military horses.

"Yi Shiha, lead the besieging brothers to hold back these women, children and infantry!"

While chasing, Zhu Gaoxu issued a military order to Yishiha. Although Yishiha was worried about Zhu Gaoxu, he knew that this was a military order and he could not disobey it.

"The last general takes orders!"

With his own men and horses, Yi Shiha withdrew from the pursuit team and continued to surround the hundreds of infantry and nearly [-] women and children with the remaining ninety cavalry who were originally responsible for the siege.

Seeing that they were abandoned, hundreds of infantry still wanted to fight to the death, forming a formation and heading towards the surrounding Bohai Jingqi.

But they didn't expect that the Bohai Jingqi would not fight them at all, but would just besiege them within a hundred steps of them.

Although the gaps in their siege were huge, they couldn't stop them from having horses, while the hundreds of tribesmen and nearly ten thousand tribesmen who were besieged had only cattle and sheep.

Yi Shiha didn't need to surround everyone, he only needed to hold them back, so he was even more worried about Zhu Gaoxu who was going to pursue them.

He looked in the direction of Zhu Gaoxu and the others, but saw that they had already walked away, and their figures were so blurry that they could hardly be seen.

"Drive! Drive!"

On the hilly grassland, Xiyang Ha and more than a thousand people were retreating furiously, making no move to save horsepower.

Since many of them were riding draft horses, people kept falling behind on the way to escape, but Xiyang Ha ignored them.

In his opinion, the most valuable thing around him is the three hundred armored knights riding the war horses, and everything else can be discarded.

"Today the Ming army used sharp weapons to bully me. I will definitely restore this situation in the future!"

Even though Xiyang Ha was gnashing his teeth and retreating, he did not forget to think about how to retaliate against the Bohai Navy.

It's just that his idea is difficult to realize because a river has appeared in front of him.

"The Mudalan River has arrived, cross the river!"

Xiyang Ha explained to Tu Cha Ha and the three hundred armored cavalry behind him. The other horse infantry who escaped with him were no longer in his eyes.

However, as if thinking of Zhu Gaoxu who was following closely behind him, Xiyang Ha reined up his horse in front of the magnolia flower and ordered the horse and infantry behind him: "Form up and cross the river, and the armored soldiers will cross the river first."

Worried that the horse infantry would overwhelm the armored soldiers and prevent them from crossing the river smoothly, Xiyang Ha prepared to leave the horse infantry behind.

But when he just said these words, he felt like the world was spinning and he fell backwards from the horse.

"Amma (the Great Khan)!"

Xiyang Ha only heard the people around him shouting to him. When he came back to his senses, he only felt pain in his chest and half of his body was numb.

"kill!"

The voice of the Han people...

Xiyangha tried his best to turn his head, but only saw his own soldiers and horses charging in the direction opposite to the Mudalan River.

As he had guessed, when he saw the Mudalan River, Zhu Gaoxu ordered the entire army to charge, preparing to completely consume the remaining horsepower here.

On the way to the charge, Zhu Gaoxu had already locked in who Xiyang Ha was through the actions of his predecessor Xiyang Ha and his son who issued orders many times.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu did not hesitate to take an arrow from the arrow pot on his side, opened his bow, and shot Xiyang Ha with one arrow.

Facing the [-] Jurchen armored cavalry and hundreds of horse infantry charging towards him, Zhu Gaoxu had no time to retrieve the arrows, so he simply hung up his riding bow and charged with an iron gun that was six feet long.

"Your Highness!"

In the confrontation between the two sides, arrows flew like locusts. Bohai Jingqi did not seem to expect that His Highness was not about to confront him, but to charge.

In the blink of an eye, it was too late to protect Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu rode alone into hundreds of Jurchen cavalry and was instantly overwhelmed.

"Kill that wise general!"

Tuchaha raised his bow and shot a Mingdi at Zhu Gaoxu. Regardless of whether the shot hit or not, he got off his horse and went straight to Xiyangha.

"Amma! How are you!"

Tuchaha knelt on the ground and picked up Xiyangha. At this moment, he could clearly see that the armor on his Ama's chest was severely deformed. There was also an armor-piercing arrow with an arrow the size of a baby's fist scattered on the ground next to him.

"pain……"

Xiyang Ha looked in pain, and then he realized that he might have been hit by an arrow.

The tall and brilliant general he had fought with in the short hill flashed through his mind, and as expected, he was defeated by him this time.

"I'll help you get on your horse and cross the river!"

Tuchaha looked at his own Ama who was still breathing, and immediately helped him up without slacking off, hugging him and lying on his horse.

Holding Xiyangha's horse and his own horse, Tuchaha went down to the Mudalan River regardless of the fighting army behind him.

"Uh!"

Screams came from behind. Tuchaha couldn't hold back his curiosity. He turned around and saw that Zhu Gaoxu, who had been swallowed up by the sea of ​​​​people before, suddenly stabbed left and right in his own formation, and the soldiers fell down wherever he passed. Back, no one can match.

Nearly a thousand people are a lot, but the only ones who can take action against Zhu Gaoxu are the four or five people standing in front of him. The people on the periphery can't deal with him except with their bows and arrows.

Weapons came from all directions, but they were smashed and thrown away by him with the six-foot-long iron spear. Every move and every move was directed at the opponent's front door. Countless people were killed, wounded, felled, and trampled on.

"Fire arrows!"

Seeing that they were incompetent, the timid Jurchens opened their bows and set arrows one after another. Dozens of arrows hit Zhu Gaoxu and Chi Huan like locusts from all directions, and they were all embedded in the bright armor.

Zhu Gaoxu held the horse rein with one hand and protected his face with arm armor, and charged down with an iron gun with the other hand. Facing the hail of spears and arrows, he safely penetrated all the Jurchen cavalry in front of him from the front and successfully broke through.

At this moment, both his men and his horse were hit by dozens of arrows. From the front, each man and his horse looked like an oversized hedgehog.

He did not turn back and charge again, but went straight to Xiyang Ha and his son who were crossing the river.

The tall horse moved at high speed, and Tuchaha, who saw this scene, hurriedly waded across the river.

However, the length of the Mudalan River could not hinder the father and son, and soon they staggered across the river successfully.

Tuchaha got on his horse, crawled on its back, and ran away with his horse's prone horse.

"go with!"

Chi Huan, who was wearing heavy armor, could not cross the Mudalan River, but Zhu Gaoxu stood on the stirrups, pulling the reins with one hand and holding an iron gun with the other. In an instant, his body bent like a big bow with iron tires. The spear was instantly projected.

"Boom!"

The distance of seven to eight feet was crossed in an instant, and the fifteen-pound gun passed through the neck of the horse carrying Xiyang Ha in an instant. The horse was killed instantly, and there was no time to even scream.

"Ama!"

Tuchaha shouted in fear, but his body honestly shook the horse's reins, and fled far away on his horse.

Zhu Gaoxu turned over and dismounted, pulled Chi Huan across the Mudalan River, walked to the horse corpse, pulled out the iron gun and looked down at Xiyang Ha, who was half-body pressed by the horse corpse.

At this moment, he was taking in less air and outgoing more air. Even if Zhu Gaoxu didn't take action, he probably wouldn't survive for long.

Putting the iron gun aside, Zhu Gaoxu pulled out the iron mace from his waist and smashed the arrow shafts stuck in the armor, and then inserted the iron mace into the belt around his waist.

"Woooooo-"

On the other side of the Mudalan River, the duller sound of horns and the sound of horse hooves sounded in the distance. Among the many Bohai flags, a flag with the word 'Fu' appeared.

Fu Rang, who had been waiting for a long time, finally appeared. He and hundreds of horse infantry rushed towards the Jurchen armored soldiers who were fighting with more than a hundred Bohai flags.

"The descendants do not kill!"

Zhang Chun and Yi Shiha remembered Zhu Gaoxu's words and sent reminders in Jurchen language to the Jurchen armored soldiers who were still resisting.

"Xiyang Ha has been captured!"

Across the Mudalan River, Zhu Gaoxu yelled at Fu Rang and others on the other side.

Hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Zhang Chun excitedly rode towards Zhu Gaoxu. Yishiha quickly conveyed the meaning and shouted in Jurchen language: "Xiyang Ha is dead, surrender without killing!"

Upon hearing that Xiyang Ha had been captured, the Jurchens instantly lost the strength to resist. After looking at each other and confirming that they had been surrounded by the Ming army, they simply dropped their weapons.

Some of them tried to resist, but Fu Rang, who came over, swung his spear and pierced his neck.

"Put away the weapons and let them take off their armor."

After stabbing to death a Jurchen who tried to resist, Fu Rang turned his horse's head and reined in the formation, standing between nearly a thousand Jurchens and the Bohai Jingqi.

He didn't understand the Jurchens, so he told Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha also conveyed it in the same way.

"Put away your weapons, take off your armor and surrender, we will not kill those who surrender!"

Yishiha conveyed Fu Rang's words. The few hundred remaining Jurchens looked at each other and the more than [-] Ming troops in full armor. In the end, they could only remove each other's armor under their supervision.

At this time, Zhang Chun also crossed the Mudalan River excitedly, rolling and crawling to come to Zhu Gaoxu, his eyes fixed on Xiyang Ha who was half-pressed by the horse corpse.

This Jilin City's great enemy for many years, the enemy who killed his father, finally appeared in front of him.

Zhang Chun's hands were shaking with excitement. He dreamed of the scene of him stabbing Xiyang Ha day and night, but he didn't expect this day to come so quickly.

He thought of thousands of ways to kill him in his dream, but when he actually saw Xiyang Ha, he couldn't think of anything.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing next to him, pulled out the long knife from his waist and handed it to his hand:
"I will take the head to the Governor's Mansion to report my merits to Jilin City. It is up to you to behead him."

"Your Highness..." Zhang Chun didn't know what to say. He took a deep breath and wanted to step forward to take action, but in the end he held back and turned around to bow to Zhu Gaoxu:
"Your Highness, the credit for capturing this man alive is greater than the credit for beheading him. Although the general hates this thief, personal grudges are nothing compared to the credit of the brothers in Jilin City. I would like to ask your Highness to capture this man alive and send him to Nanjing City. Please Your Majesty, please put this thief to death."

14-year-old Zhang Chuneng said this in front of Zhu Gaoxu, which surprised Zhu Gaoxu.

However, when faced with his words, Zhu Gaoxu still reached out and put his hand on his shoulder: "He looks like this, he will not survive in Nanjing, let's do it."

Zhu Gaoxu's words were true. He was hit by an arrow and was crushed by the horse for a long time. If Xiyang Ha could still survive, it would be called a miracle.

"Then the general will take action..."

Seeing that His Highness said this, Zhang Chun no longer resisted, slowly stepped forward, and looked at Xiyang Ha, whose face was covered in blood and stains, and slashed it with his sword.

"Pfft!"

(End of this chapter)