Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 162 Serious casualties
"withdraw!!"

Three souls were frightened. When Haragu and Toluhuchaer saw thousands of armored cavalry coming towards them, they did not think of others at all.

Except for the Ming Dynasty, no other force could pull out so many armored knights in such a short period of time.

"Retreat!!" He shouted hoarsely, and Harawu turned his horse's head and was about to flee south.

Not only him, but all the Wuliangha Qingqi followed him and fled south.

"Retreat!" Tuolu Huchaer also reacted. He called out to the remaining Tanma Red Army, but he did not flee in the same direction as Haragu. Instead, he fled toward the dead end of Jixi Fort.

For a time, the spears surrounding the Bohai Navy were withdrawn one after another, and all the Tanma Red Army followed Tuolu Huchaer and began to retreat.

The Bohai Navy got a breather, and Zhu Gaoxu also lost the opportunity to sink the boat, but this opportunity... he would rather not have it.

It seemed that his previous madness had been repaid, as his body seemed to have been drained of strength, and he sat down.

Not only him, but all the Bohai navy collapsed on the ground.

"Kill me! Don't let anyone escape!"

"Your Highness, please stay back, this place is dangerous!"

"I want to lead the way!"

"Your Highness... alas..."

In front of thousands of troops, Zhu Di took the lead. At this moment, he seemed more like a fierce general than Zhu Gaoxu, who could ride a thousand horses.

His bravery gave Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu and others a headache.

Helpless, they could only lead people to protect Zhu Di and guard his surroundings.

Their target was Haragu, who had the largest number of followers. He and thousands of Qingqi were chased by the Ming Army's armored cavalry, and were even flanked by Ming Army Qingqi on the left and right.

The qingqi on the left and right relied on their sufficient horsepower to pinch and squeeze Harawu's qingqi, but Harawu didn't care at all. He fled south with thousands of qingqi, leaving behind some entangled qingqi.

"Don't worry about these small fish and shrimps, kill the big fish in front of me!!"

Zhu Di waved his long sword, and the fire was bright in the dark night. The flags of Yanfu of the Ming Dynasty were fluttering in the dark night. Thousands of armored cavalry waved their spears and drew their bows to shoot arrows.

From north to south, they chased Haragu all the way to the south.

At this time, a group of Qingqi with nearly a thousand people came in front of Zhu Gaoxu and the others.

"May I ask who is the Prince of Bohai County!"

On horseback, a man taller and burlier than Zhu Gaoxu asked. Zhu Gaoxu also stood up after hearing the words: "I am Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Bohai County."

Hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, the man's pupils shrank, obviously he didn't expect Zhu Gaoxu to be so tall and tall.

He got off his horse and walked up to Zhu Gaoxu, but he was half a head taller than Zhu Gaoxu.

"Commander Miyun, the last general, has met with His Highness, Ping An!"

Ping An bowed, and when Zhu Gaoxu learned his name, he also looked at him subconsciously.

The current Northern Army general was indeed tall and burly. After seeing him, Zhu Gaoxu did not think that later historical data said that he weighed hundreds of kilograms.

With his size and build, it would be a waste if he couldn't lift anything weighing four to five hundred kilograms.

Zhu Gaoxu was sizing up Ping An, and Ping An was sizing up Zhu Gaoxu.

The difference is that Zhu Gaoxu knows that Ping An can fight, but Ping An doesn't know that Zhu Gaoxu is also good at fighting.

Because of this, when he saw Zhu Gaoxu holding a six-foot-long iron gun in his hand, his pupils shrank.

After dismounting and coming up to him, I saw that he was wearing double armor, and Ping An felt even more nervous.

The Ming army's Ming armor weighs 45 kilograms, and double armor weighs ninety kilograms. He has never seen anyone who can wear such heavy armor and go into battle to kill the enemy. He has never seen anyone in the army for more than ten years.

Thinking of this, he looked around and realized that there were countless fallen dead around him. Many of the corpses were in miserable state of death. More importantly, their armor plates were severely dented.

It is true that blunt soldiers can break armor, but there is a limit to this. At most, the armor will be slightly deformed and hurt the enemy's heart, but it will not be like the corpses around him, where the armor will be almost "dented" shape.

"This son has amazing courage..."

This thought flashed through Ping An's mind, and then he continued to Zhu Gaoxu: "Your Highness can harvest the enemy's heads and armored horses here, and the general will lead the army to chase the bandit soldiers who just fled into the river valley."

"General, wait..." Zhu Gaoxu stopped Ping An, and then told Ping An about the number of enemy troops in Hadal Ridge.

However, Ping An said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. Although His Highness King Yan only brought five thousand elite cavalry for this attack, Liaodong Dusi has sent more than four thousand soldiers to come here."

"After a while, the generals will pass. All we need to do is send troops to surround the thieves on the mountain."

"Thank you so much, General." Although he knew that he and Ping An would definitely fight each other in the future, Zhu Gaoxu was really grateful to Ping An at the moment.

"I will retire at the end." Ping An did not exchange too many greetings with Zhu Gaoxu. He did not form any cliques and tried his best to avoid getting close to the vassal kings.

After he turned around and mounted his horse, he led more than a thousand fine cavalry towards Jixi Fort in a short time.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also said to the more than [-] Bohai navy who were still able to move behind him: "Clean the battlefield to see if there are any other brothers alive, and ask Lin Su to send military doctors and horse-drawn carriages to treat the seriously injured brothers."

"Yes..." The faces of the more than three hundred Bohai navy showed the expression of surviving a disaster.

At Zhu Gaoxu's call, they began to clean up the battlefield, while the two cavalrymen took off their vests and armor and headed back to Jixi Fort.

Zhu Di was still chasing Halagu, but Natulu Huchaer arrived at the foot of Hadaling Mountain in advance with [-] cavalry, ordered all the army to retreat down the mountain, and prepared to break out on horseback.

Thousands of troops gave up on Hadaling, which was within easy reach, and faded away like the tide.

On the hillside of Hadaling, countless corpses were lying in the forest. Zhang Chun and Wang Yi were leaning against a tree, covered in blood.

The surviving Bohai Navy and Liaodong Army carried them down the mountain, and military doctors became a talent in short supply.

Hundreds of wounded were sent down the mountain one after another, and Jixi Fort was filled with wounded.

"rush!"

Tuolu Huchaer led thousands of Qingqi to break out, and clashed with Ping An, who led thousands of Qingqi head-on.

Without the pressure of the armored cavalry, even though the Ming army was all wearing armored light cavalry, they still couldn't stop the thousands of light cavalry from breaking through.

After leaving hundreds of people behind, Tuolu Huchaer led the Qingqi to successfully break through, and began to flee with Haragu in the south and north.

The Bohai Navy led by Zhu Gaoxu watched Tuolu Huchaer escape with his own eyes. Although he wanted to mount his horse and fight again, after the strength faded, the pain radiating from all over his body told him that his body had reached its limit.

Not only him, but also many Bohai armored cavalry soldiers.

This night, they had done well enough and completed well enough.

But when Tuolu Huchaer led three or four thousand light cavalry to successfully break through, Zhu Gaoxu saw the navy led by Yi Shiha coming down the river.

Looking at the four boats, Zhu Gaoxu asked himself whether he should take his brothers on board to expand the victory.

But when he looked down at nearly half of the five hundred armored cavalry who accompanied him to the battle, lying on the ground, he gave up this choice.

Even if he wanted to pursue him by boat, Tolu Huchaer was not stupid. He could go straight to the grassland instead of along the Songhua River.

Closing his eyes, Zhu Gaoxu took off his armor one by one.

"Your Highness!"

Yi Shiha led the navy to find a shoal and put down several small boats to dock.

Five or six military doctors and more than [-] retinues disembarked from the boat.

"It's too late in the end, please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Yishiha came running anxiously. After running to Zhu Gaoxu's side, he immediately looked at his current situation.

"I don't blame you, you came according to the time, it was me who didn't last until..."

Zhu Gaoxu responded with a frown, his armor filled with arrows.

Seeing this, Shiha quickly took off his armor, but there wasn't much blood on the robe under the armor.

But despite this, Yi Shiha could also guess the extent of Zhu Gaoxu's injuries from his frowning behavior.

Without delay, he opened a corner of Zhu Gaoxu's clothes, and sure enough, much of the flesh in the clothes had turned blue and purple.

"Doctor Zhang!!"

Yishiha turned around and greeted a thirty-year-old doctor who was running over. After hearing this, the doctor hurriedly came over and together with Yishiha untied Zhu Gaoxu's clothes.

The scene in front of them made them take a breath. At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu's upper body, especially the front, suffered more than ten wounds, which were basically lacerations caused by blunt force blows.

Doctor Zhang stretched out his hand and touched it gently. Zhu Gaoxu also felt the pain in his body at this moment, and soon a dense cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Fortunately, no bones were injured, just flesh injuries."

While rejoicing, Doctor Zhang took out the medicinal wine from the medicine box, poured it on his hands, and rubbed Zhu Gaoxu's wounds.

The pain made Zhu Gaoxu turn pale and clenched his teeth.

At the same time, other subordinates and soldiers who were still able to move began to help the wounded who were still alive on the battlefield into the small boat, and pulled them with horses towards Jixi Fort upstream.

The sky started to get gray, and before I knew it, it was already the sixth quarter of the year.

Zhu Di led his army and chased Harawu to nowhere, while Ping'an led more than a thousand Qingqi to kill and capture nearly a thousand intercepted Wuliangha Qingqi.

After Ping An dealt with those Qingqi, Zhu Gaoxu also put on the clothes again.

He first looked at the vaguely visible battlefield. Around the Bohai Navy, hundreds of Beibei corpses were lying on the ground, including Tanma Red Army and ordinary light cavalry.

The abandoned horses were gathered together by the Yishiha faction, and there were hundreds of them. Although most of them were just inferior horses, they were indispensable productivity for Jilin City.

"Let's go, we can go home..."

Sitting on Chi Huan's back, Zhu Gaoxu touched Chi Huan's neck, seeming to be talking to him, but also to everyone.They embarked on the return journey, leaving dozens of followers behind to collect the loot at the Ulyanha camp.

During this period, they passed by the place where Ping An and Tuolu Huchaer fought. There were many dead bodies, no less than a thousand people.

The Bohai Navy was already numb to such results. In the past few days of fighting, they had killed countless light soldiers like this.

They went to Jixi Fort, and gradually they saw Jixi Fort with the city gate open, and all the soldiers and retinues who had left the city.

Of the nearly 7000 people before the war, less than half of what was still standing now.

Beside them, Ping An and other Ming soldiers who dismounted and took off their armor also looked at them in admiration. Perhaps they saw the tragic situation on Hadal Ridge, or they learned about the tragedy of this battle from their mouths.

Zhu Gaoxu came on horseback. Although he seemed to have no injuries on the surface, he was in disharmony with Yi Shi. Doctor Zhang was very aware of his condition.

But even so, Zhu Gaoxu still pretended that nothing was wrong, rode up to Ping An, Lin Su and others, and got off his horse.

After he dismounted, Ping An also bowed in admiration and said: "I never thought that Your Highness could hold back the [-] cavalry of the Ulyanha tribe with less than [-] soldiers, and was able to kill more than thousands of enemies."

"Is my father here?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Ping An, and Ping An also nodded and said:
"Before the charge, His Highness King Yan asked me to lead more than a thousand cavalry to support His Highness, and I led more than [-] cavalry to pursue the main force of the Hu soldiers."

Having said this, Ping'an frowned: "I just never thought that Naha Lawu would actually use his main force to attack the mountain, which made the final general unable to intercept his main force."

Ping An may be blaming himself, or he may think that he failed to seize such a huge wealth. In short, no matter what, he is very upset at the moment.

Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised by this. The narrowest place in the Songhua River Valley is Jixi Fort. As long as you pass Jixi Fort, whether you go east or west, you will see broad hills or plains.

When Ping An led his troops to attack, Zhu Gaoxu expected that he would not be able to stop Tuolu Huchaer from breaking through.

However, he didn't have any special feelings about this. He was very satisfied to be able to survive with half of the men in Jilin City.

Moreover, Wu Liangha left tens of thousands of corpses in Jilin City this time, and I am afraid that the next three to five years will have to be used to restore vitality.

"How about the seizure of the horses?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Ping An, but Ping An's face looked a little ugly.

Zhu Gaoxu was a little puzzled, but Lin Su shamelessly stepped forward and bowed: "Hu Bing failed to take away some horses, and the general captured them all, about three to four thousand."

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu finally understood why Ping An's face was so ugly. Perhaps it was because when he was fighting with Tuolu Huchaer, Lin Su, the sixth man, led someone to capture the horse.

"General Ping is coming from a long way this time. I will select [-] medium-sized horses from these horses and send them to the general."

Although Ping An also seized a lot of horses, two hundred medium-sized horses are worth a lot of money. Therefore, after hearing this, Ping An was not as disgusted as he was at first. Instead, he bowed and thanked: "Thank you, Your Highness..."

"Can General Ping and the troops have food?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, but Ping An shook his head:

"To be honest, after my troops arrived at Wulianghatu City and learned that Halawu led a cavalry of [-] people to go south, His Highness King Yan rushed over with more than [-] cavalry."

"In six days, the army has traveled more than [-] miles and has not had a hot meal so far. Tonight, we have traveled day and night."

"His Royal Highness King Yan wanted to let the army have a cold meal before sending out troops, but he never expected to see His Highness being surrounded by Hu soldiers, so he ordered a surprise attack."

Six days, more than [-] miles...

After hearing Ping An's words, Zhu Gaoxu had to admire his father, but what he wanted to do at the moment was not to admire him, but to prepare for the food and housing issues for Zhu Di's more than [-] people.

"Yi Shiha, kill sheep and chickens, cook enough meals, and reward the brothers who come to help."

Zhu Gaoxu gave instructions to Yi Shiha, and then said to Ping An: "Jixi Fort only has one gate here. If we camp in the bay, it will be inconvenient to return in the future. It is better to simply tidy up the Hu Bing camp and let the army camp here today." Rest there?”

"I will listen to His Highness's arrangements." Ping An did not put forward any other opinions, but just took care of business.

But Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief because of his business-like manner.

If Ping An gets closer to him and the two of them get along better, he doesn't know how to face him in the future.

As for getting closer to Ping An, Zhu Gaoxu had never thought about it.

Historically, Zhu Di and he had a close relationship, but in the end, Ping An was not the one to kill, and did not let go at all.

Because of this, the people who contributed to the Jingnan did not want to see him after the Jingnan was over.

As for whether he really committed suicide because of Zhu Di's words "Ping Bao'er is still alive", this has not been verified. However, judging from the fact that Zhu Di still inherited the salary of Ping An's commander to Ping An's family after Ping An's death, Zhu Di should not As for being too cautious to kill a general that he can use.

However, it should be a fact that Ping An was squeezed out by the heroes of Jingnan. After all, just because Zhu Di is not careful does not mean that others are not.

Ping'an and the Yan army had several campaigns in the north. However, during the Jingnan War, he killed so many of his former comrades. It's strange that he was treated well.

"Zhu Yunwen..."

Zhu Gaoxu did not blame the people involved in the Jingnan incident. The only person he really wanted to blame was Zhu Yunwen.

He calmed down and endured the physical pain to signal everyone to enter the city. Ping An did not follow him, but said that he needed to arrange for the troops to rest, but Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that he did not want to get too involved with him.

He did not force this, but after agreeing, he led people up to the gate tower of Jixi Fort.

After going up to the city gate tower, he sat in his seat, still not showing any signs of injury. Yi Shiha watched worriedly, but did not dare to say anything.

Lin Su didn't know why, and he knew what Zhu Gaoxu wanted to ask, so he stepped forward and bowed: "Your Highness, the general just asked my brother to count the casualties, and he hasn't come out yet."

"it is good……"

Zhu Gaoxu forced a smile, then looked at the people following him, and asked worriedly: "Where are Zhang Chun and Wang Yi?"

"They are injured, but they are all minor injuries. Your Highness does not need to worry." Lin Su responded promptly. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu said nothing and instead called Yi Shiha to prepare meals. He was still waiting for the statistics of casualties and seizures.

Leaning on the chair, he gradually fell asleep from exhaustion while waiting.

Upon seeing this, the two officials guarding him slowly withdrew, closed the door, and signaled the soldiers around him to move less.

Zhu Gaoxu no longer knew what was going on in the outside world. At this moment, he was so exhausted that he had not even dreamed. He just felt like he had closed his eyes for a while.

When he slowly opened his eyes, he thought that at most a quarter of an hour had passed, but he didn't expect that the city gate tower had closed the door, and the sunlight poured in through the crack in the door.

"Cui Jun!" Zhu Gaoxu shouted, and the door was pushed open a moment later.

An eighteen or nineteen-year-old general flag officer was lying at the door, apparently sleeping just now.

"What time is it now? Isn't my father back yet?"

Cui Jun opened his eyes in pain, and after listening to Zhu Gaoxu's words, he glanced at the sundial next to the city gate tower, turned around and said: "Your Highness, it's three o'clock in the morning, and none of the brothers heard or saw His Highness King Yan coming back. "

"I understand. Ask Yishiha and the others to report the casualties to me."

Although he couldn't bear to disturb Cui Jun, Zhu Gaoxu was now eager to know the casualties of his brothers.

He didn't even think about it before he said it, Cui Jun staggered up and walked over with a booklet in hand.

"Your Highness, this is the document sent by Yi Zhangyin. The names, place of origin, and ages of the brothers who died in the battle are all on it. As for the seizures, they are still being tallied."

After Cui Jun finished speaking, he was about to go out. Zhu Gaoxu saw him but stopped him: "Lie on that wooden board and rest. I will go back to Jilin City in a little while."

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't bear to let him sleep on the floor at the door, so he ordered him to sleep on the wooden bed he had been sleeping on these days.

In the past, Cui Jun would definitely have refused, but at this moment, his mind was so confused that he nodded eccentrically, walked to the wooden bed, fell down and fell asleep.

Seeing him sleeping, Zhu Gaoxu also took a deep breath and opened the book heavily.

In this booklet, familiar names are written one by one.

Because his memory is so good, Zhu Gaoxu can remember almost all the brothers in the Bohai Navy. Therefore, as soon as he saw that person's name at this moment, the image of this person with a smiling face, bowing to him and calling "Your Highness" immediately appeared in his mind.

Just like that, he turned to the middle of the page...

[The Jilin Guard Formation has 370 and 490 men, the Shenyang Central Guard Formation has 240 and 870 men, the Junhu Formation has [-] and [-] men, and the Jurchen Tribes' Men's Formation has [-] and [-] men. 】

[170 people in the city were seriously injured, 430 were slightly injured, 170 horses were lost, and 94 were disabled...]

Looking at the numbers written in his hand, he saw that they were not names, but lives.

There are 860 eight armored soldiers on the battlefield, plus military households and Jurchen retinues, the total number of soldiers is 980.

There were 610 minor or serious injuries, and 270 armor-bearing military horses were killed or injured.

There were nearly [-] men in Jixi Fort, and more than half of the casualties made Zhu Gaoxu unable to breathe.

His original plan was ruined by this battle, whether it was the construction of Zhaozhou City, the annexation of the six Jurchen cities, or various other...all were ruined.

He looked at the end of the booklet where the battle losses were written. He saw that only 490 of the Shenyang central defenders survived, with nearly half of them dead and wounded. The Bohai navy in Jilin City, after adding the soldiers of Andong City and the three rear areas, only survived 110 people.

Even including the military households who had just arrived in Jilin City and the Jurchen followers who were studying in the academy, the number of soldiers in Jilin City was only over [-].

With this small number of troops, plus the military households from the south that have not yet moved here, Jilin City's military strength will not exceed [-].

"You must swallow all the Jurchens!"

Zhu Gaoxu had no chance to think about it. He had to eat the Jurchens hiding in Jilin Bay.

Only by eating them and leaving more than 2000 strong laborers and more than 3000 young people among them can Jilin City maintain a strength of about [-].

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu stood up slowly and walked out of the city gate tower in a low voice.

When he walked off the horse path and came to Jilin Bay behind Jixi Fort, many wounded people were being treated, and Yi Shiha and his men were killing sheep for cooking.

Zhu Gaoxu saw this and walked to Yishiha's side. Yishiha also realized it after he walked beside him and bowed hurriedly.

"No need..." Zhu Gaoxu supported him, then looked around and whispered to Yi Shiha:

"I want to go back to Jilin City. If my father comes back, you can say that I was injured and went back to Jilin City to recuperate."

"In addition..." Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the Jurchen men who were cooking mutton: "Find a way to win over these Jurchens and let them persuade their leader to stay in Jilin City."

Yishuha nodded, obviously understanding what Zhu Gaoxu meant.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also patted it, and then rode Chi Huan back to Jilin City alone...

(End of this chapter)