Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 364

"Wang Cong, Wang Zhong, you lead the two thousand cavalry of the Chinese army to detour north to the north of Aqiu, and try to cut off Alutai's retreat as much as possible!"

"Chen Chang, Li Shi, you lead the Chinese army's two thousand cavalry to the south and go to the north of Aiqiu to cooperate with Wang Cong and Wang Zhong."

"Wang Yi, four thousand Chinese cavalry are marching forward in formation."

"Wang Rong, one hundred field cannons loaded with shotguns are arrayed behind Wang Yi."

"When Hu Qi gets close, Wang Yi and your cavalry will disperse to the left and right, and Wang Rong will attack Hu Qi with shotguns!"

On the river valley plain of Beishan Gorge, Zhu Di calmly issued various military orders.

The generals took orders one after another and divided their troops to prepare according to his instructions.

At the same time, more than 10,000 cavalry led by Xu Zengshou and Li Yuan also followed what Zhu Di said and began to fight and flee after the 20,000 Tatar cavalry were dispatched.

"Let Yungong and Li Yuan retreat to the north and expose the Chinese army's main position!"

After Xu Zengshou received the military order, he quickly asked the army to disperse to avoid giving Alutai the chance to notice.

Although he did not expect Zhu Di to be so vulnerable, Alitai still made safe arrangements based on experience.

"Capture the dragon!!"

When Xian Polo got the news, he rode in pursuit and had his horn blown.

Today, nineteen years later, they will capture the emperor of the Southerners alive less than five hundred miles away from the fishing sea, and use him as a good bargaining chip to maybe get back Modong and Monan.

Arrows rained down like rain. The buttocks of the Ming cavalry horses were protected by skirts and armor, so few arrows were hit. Even if they were hit, the arrows would not be able to frighten or seriously injure the horses because of the shielding of the skirts and armor.

"Roar! Roar!"

"Let Yexian Polo blow the horn and send a message to Alitai!"

"The horn sound of the whole army charging?"

Although it was a pursuit, the 20,000 Tatar cavalry still maintained a tight formation during the pursuit, not giving the Ming army any chance to counterattack.

When thousands of horns began to blow, the sound of the horns almost echoed throughout the entire valley, and gradually spread into the distance.

On the river valley plain, Ming troops in military uniforms and tens of thousands of Tatar cavalry riding Mongolian horses galloped and shouted on the plain, with dust flying and heroism rising to the sky.

In this formation, Alitai looked surprised. He did not expect that the Ming army was so vulnerable.

For a time, tens of thousands of Ming army cavalry fought and retreated, while Arutai's second son, Xian Polo, who was responsible for the pursuit, and many nobles led 20,000 cavalry to pursue Xu Zengshou and others.

Nineteen years ago, the Ming army defeated the royal court at Yuerhai in the south and captured nearly 3,000 people including Usahar Khan's wife, second son, princes and ministers.

Now that the horn sounds, it means that he should lead his army to attack Zhu Di's rear army.

Seeing that the distance between the two armies was getting closer, Zhu Di asked people to wave flags and convey flag messages.

Viewed from the air, the cavalry formation of more than 10,000 Ming troops collapsed. They could not even escape back to their own formation and could only flee to the wide area to the north.

At least in his eyes, the central army of the Ming army had been exposed and not mentioned. What was even more stupid was that the more than 10,000 cavalry of the Chinese army were divided into three parts.

But before they could sigh, the Ming army's cavalry began to turn their horses and run away left and right.

"Uuuuuu——"

Although more than 10,000 cavalrymen were retreating, their formation was already strict. This made Zhu Di frown and continued to pass the order: "This is a retreat, don't pay attention to the formation!"

The difference is that the pass, which is less than 200 paces wide, is now tightly blocked by tens of thousands of Tatar cavalry, and they are also trying to build rocks to block the Ming army that is about to be defeated.

There are more than 20,000 of them. The main formation of the Ming army is divided into three divisions. There are only four to five thousand people guarding the emperor's banner. There is no reason for them to be afraid of them.

The flag message was detected by the flag soldiers of the front army with binoculars, and they quickly conveyed the general's order to Xu Zengshou and others next to them.

Without a moment's hesitation, the Tatar cavalry, led by Yesian Polo, charged fiercely towards Zhu Di's emperor's banner.

"Mother, this is a retreat! You all, please spread out!"

"Buzz..."

"Yes!" Wang Yan on the side nodded and quickly asked the soldiers to play the flag.

The sound crossed the Ming army and reached the pass where the Ming army entered the Beishan Gorge.

Seeing that he could not catch up with them, Arutai's son Ye Xianbolo did not covet their heads, but set his sights on the Ming army's main formation.

"Yes!" Wan Hu next to him saluted, and quickly sent Tangqi to chase the 20,000 cavalry from his front and middle armies.

Countless Tatar cavalry armed with bows and arrows unfurled their bows and nocked arrows when they entered the Ming army's main formation within a hundred steps.

According to the cooperation between them in the past, this kind of loud trumpet sound only occurred on the premise that the enemy army was in disarray.

At this moment, they could almost clearly see the drawings on the emperor's banner, which were very beautiful.

Under his leadership, two thousand cavalry were left to prepare for the enemy, and the remaining eight thousand cavalry followed him and assaulted towards the valley plain.

The horses under their crotches are war horses that are a mixture of river horses and big food horses. Their endurance is not very good, but their speed is extremely fast, rushing towards the north like a torrent.

Looking at the emperor's banner fluttering in the wind in the distance, Ye Xianbo Luo roared with deep hostility: "Behead the southern soldiers and follow me to capture the dragon!"

The authorities were confused. Li Yuan, who was among the army, was unable to notice that the entire army was retreating. After receiving Zhu Di's military order, he quickly cursed.

"Altay, you lead two thousand people and continue to build stones here to prepare for the enemy. The rest will follow me to harass the southern rear army!"

Soon, after the military order was conveyed, the retreating formation of the front army began to loosen up. This scene was seen by Arutai on the short hill, and he couldn't help but smile:

"The cavalry that the Southerners spent fifteen years training can't even form a tight formation when retreating. It seems that I think highly of Zhu Di."

"Collapse..."

Before Yexian Polo could say what he wanted to say about the army's retreat, he saw that after the Ming army's cavalry retreated, carts were exposed behind them, with invisible things mounted on them.

"It's artillery..."

Ye Xianboluo felt nervous and quickly slowed down his horse.

As the second son of Arutai, he naturally knew what artillery was, but he also knew that artillery could only hit four to five hundred steps at most. If lead bullets were released at such a close range, they would kill hundreds of cavalry in the front row at most.

As long as they finish defeating them, the emperor's banner of the Ming army's main formation will be in his possession.

He retreated just to ensure his own safety...

"put!"

In the formation, after Zhu Di immediately mounted the artillery with his sword, Wang Rong waved the command flag in his hand, and a harsh whistle sounded in the formation.

In no particular order, all the gunners lit the artillery fuses in their formation.

At the same time, Wang Cong, Chen Chang and other four thousand cavalry from the left and right armies came out to attack Arutai on the short hill.

"You want to stop me just because of this?"

The movements of the Ming army were in the eyes of Yesian Polo. He thought that Wang Cong and Chen Chang's four thousand cavalry were preparing to block him after the bombardment, but he miscalculated.

When the artillery fuse burned out, the four thousand cavalry led by Wang Yi also withdrew to both sides of the artillery formation, while the Tatar cavalry rushed within fifty steps.

The Tatar cavalry opened their bows and fired arrows. Thousands of arrows fell like a sudden rain. However, almost at the same time, the artillery fuse burned out...

"Boom boom boom——"

Like a thunderstorm falling to the ground, a burst of thick smoke erupted around the artillery array, and tens of thousands of lead bullets were fired from the thick smoke.

The Tatar cavalry had just fired their arrows, switching between long spears and short knives in their hands to prepare for the capture of the flag. However, in just a few seconds, they felt that the world was spinning, and both men and horses fell to the ground.

"Hi~his!"

The horses whined, and the hail of shotgun shells almost enveloped all the Tatar cavalry in the front row. There were no fewer than a thousand people who fell off their horses.

Their casualties were nothing to the overall situation, but their fallen bodies became a stumbling block on the way for the army to charge.

Just like a domino effect, hundreds of horses and cavalry were implicated by the fallen horses and cavalry, and the deafening roar of the artillery frightened the horses under the Tatar cavalry, causing them to run around uncontrollably.

For a time, the whines of war horses and the screams of humans continued, and the entire battlefield was filled with a thick smell of sulfur.

"Come on!"

On the horseback, Xian Polo's horse was frightened like everyone else's horses, and drove him around uncontrollably.

Even though he waved his riding crop and hit the horse's butt hard, the fear caused by it prevented the horse from taking another step forward.

Just one round of shelling hit the entire team deeply.

The cavalry lost control one after another, and both the riders and the horses fell down.

After all, it was tens of thousands of people, and soon thousands of cavalry fell.

This noisy river valley plain seemed to have fallen into silence at this moment.

The scene of nearly 20,000 cavalry standing still, and the dull sound of cannons reached Arutai's eyes in the rear. He nervously tightened his riding whip because he saw the 4,000 Ming army cavalry launching a charge.

Just when he thought that these 4,000 cavalry were about to divide the 20,000 cavalry under his command, he did not expect that the 20,000 cavalry actually charged towards him.

"The cavalry's previous rout was a feint. Their target was me. Let Ye Xian Polo lead the cavalry back!"

Arutai knew that once his formation was in disarray, the attack momentum could no longer be maintained, and the previous retreat of more than 10,000 cavalrymen under Xu Zengshou was just a feint.

What they have to do now is not to wait for the horses to return to normal, but to use the frightened horses to quickly retreat to the low hill. Otherwise, when Xu Zengshou's cavalry attacks in full formation, the 20,000 cavalry will have to be left in front, not to mention the Ming army. There is a good chance that the hidden artillery will continue the bombardment after a short time.

Under the command of Arutai, the sound of ringing gold came out from the short hill, and the cavalry rushed all the way to Yexian Polo's main formation.

"Arquebus, take advantage of his illness and kill him!"

When the thick smoke dissipated, under Zhu Di's instructions, two thousand gunners had already set up large matchlock guns.

They put the matchlock on the gun carriage with two people assisting and one person shooting, squatted down and started to pull the trigger.

"Clap clap clap-"

However, at a distance of more than sixty steps, facing this overwhelming group of Tatar cavalry, the Ming Army musketeers did not need to aim at all.

The sound of roasting beans was accompanied by thick smoke on the battlefield, and they continued to harvest the Tatar cavalry whose formations had collapsed.

At the same time, Xu Zengshou, Li Yuan, Qiu Fu and others who adjusted their formation also led tens of thousands of cavalry from the front army to attack the Tatar cavalry that had collapsed.

At this moment, the roles of both parties reversed.

"kill!"

"My sons, make great achievements now!"

"Kill the prisoners!"

Tens of thousands of Ming army cavalry were mobilized and charged towards the nearly 20,000 defeated Tatar cavalry not far away.

Seeing that his side was constantly falling, Ye Xian Polo quickly blew the wooden whistle and ordered the entire army to retreat.

At this moment, he could no longer take care of everyone. He had never experienced such a war.

In the past, when fighting with the Oara tribe, they had never encountered a situation where thousands or even thousands of people were killed as soon as the war started, and it was even rarer that all the war horses were frightened. Now he could only rely on his own influence to lead the army back to the low hill as much as possible.

The wind blew in the river valley plain, and the originally green grassland turned ugly due to being trampled by a large number of cavalry.

The Ming cavalry marched forward bravely, their horses' hooves leaving deep footprints on the ugly grass, as if they wanted to crush the grassland completely.

"The rear army is accurate..."

Sitting on the horseback of the main formation, Zhu Di used a telescope to get a rough overview of the entire battlefield. When Zhu Neng was about to mobilize the rear army to completely surround Arutai, the sound of horse hooves was also heard from behind.

A group of Tangqi came on horseback. When they came to Zhu Di, they quickly got off their horses and bowed:

"Your Majesty, the rear army is attacked by Hu cavalry and cannot escape."

"Tell Zhu Neng to eat the Hu Qi in the rear army, and I will eat Arutai right away. Let him hold him back."

Seeing that he could not mobilize the rear army, Zhu Di gave an order and told Wang Rong, Wang Yi's son not far away: "The whole army will attack, and the artillery vehicles will follow. If you find a suitable position, bombard the Arutai headquarters for me!"

"I accept your order!" Wang Rong responded to Zhu Di in his loudest voice.

"The whole army attacks!"

Zhu Di pulled out the sword from his waist and pursued forward with Wang Yan and hundreds of cavalry beside him.

At this moment, Wang Cong and Chen Chang from the left and right armies had already led their cavalry to approach the Arutai headquarters in Aiqiu.

Although they only have 4,000 people, their goal is very clear, which is to block Alu's escape from Taipei through roundabouts.

Arutai and Wala have fought against each other for so many years, and they know very well how to use cavalry and how to take advantage of the situation.

Seeing that the two cavalry did not attack him, he quickly turned his horse's head: "The whole army retreats to the North Col and hold on to the North Col!"

Following his order, the Tatar cavalry abandoned the low hills and began to retreat toward the North Col, two or three miles away to the north.

His every move was noticed by Zhu Di, so when Zhu Di saw the movements of the Tatar formation through the telescope, he immediately gave orders to Wang Yan next to him.

"Tell Yungong and Qiu Fu to stop fighting and go straight to the pass in the north. Don't let Alutai escape!"

"Yes!"

In the chaos, Wang Yan led hundreds of cavalry to cover Zhu Di, constantly intercepting and killing small groups of Tatar cavalry who tried to kill Zhu Di.

It has to be said that compared to the Ulyanha cavalry, which collapsed at the first touch, the quality of the Tatar cavalry is much higher.

Even though the entire army suffered a loss of more than 10%, Xian Polo still led more than 10,000 cavalry to withdraw to the Aiqiu main formation. Only a few thousand Tatar cavalry were intercepted by Xu Zengshou and Qiu Fu because they did not retreat in time.

"Straight bitch!"

"Come on! Keep chasing!"

In the chaotic formation, 14,000 front and center cavalry led by Wang Yi, Qiu Fu, Li Yuan, Xu Zengshou and others surrounded the thousands of Tatar cavalry who could not retreat, and charged and killed them step by step.

Wang Rong followed Zhu Di's instructions and detoured towards the flank of the battlefield, preparing to find a suitable place to bombard Alutai.

Seeing Arutai withdrawing from Aiqiu, Wang Rong quickly led his two thousand cavalry to drive the horse artillery cart to Aoqiu.

In this valley plain, there is no place more suitable for artillery bombardment than the low hill previously occupied by Arutai.

"Surrender without killing!"

After receiving Zhu Di's military order, Wang Yi began to recruit the besieged Tatar cavalry instead, and many people put down their weapons after hearing this.

At this moment, they were surrounded by Ming army cavalry. If they wanted to survive, they had no choice but to surrender.

"Li Chi, keep an eye on them, the rest of the group will follow me towards the North Col!"

Wang Yi's eyes were never on the battlefield in front of him. Before Zhu Di's military order was conveyed, he had already learned about Arutai's intention to hold on to the northern pass based on Arutai's withdrawal from the short hill.

Because of this, while Xu Zengshou, Qiu Fu, and Li Yuan were still waiting for Zhu Di's military order, Wang Yi had already ordered Li Chi from his headquarters to watch for the surrender, and he took the remaining three thousand cavalry to chase north.

His sudden departure made Xu Zengshou and others panic. Fortunately, these thousands of Tatar cavalry had no idea of ​​fighting anymore, otherwise they might have caused a lot of casualties.

"Your Majesty sent an order to leave some of the cavalry to continue the encirclement, while the rest of the troops marched to the north!"

When Xu Zengshou and others had just stabilized their position, news came from Tangqi sent by Zhu Di. Only then did they know the reason why Wang Yi escaped from the encirclement.

Following Zhu Di's instructions, Xu Zengshou took the initiative to lead 3,000 cavalry to stay, while Qiu Fu and Li Yuan led the remaining 6,000 cavalry of the former army to follow and drive north.

Due to Zhu Di's advance arrangements, the Ming army's left and right armies advanced the fastest and occupied the northern pass one step ahead of Arutai.

"Dismount and line up, prepare arquebuses!"

The northern col is wider than the southern col, about three hundred paces, which is very suitable for the Ming army's four thousand cavalry to use line tactics. Therefore, when the team arrived here, Chen Chang began to give orders without thinking.

However, his order was questioned by Wang Cong, Wang Zhong and others: "The Musketeers have no means of defense. If Hu Qi insists on attacking, we can't stop him!"

"Let them resist the line of guns first!" Chen Chang, who was impatient, rarely raised his voice. Wang Cong and Wang Zhong could only frown when they saw this: "If they are broken through..."

"We'll take it upon ourselves!"

Before Chen Chang could say anything, Li Shi responded with his bad temper and quickly began to arrange the cavalry to dismount.

Almost as soon as they reached the pass, Alutai led the cavalry to approach, and the distance between the two sides was less than one mile.

"The whole army attacks!"

Although Arutai didn't know why the Ming cavalry dismounted, seeing that they were about to block the pass, he immediately ordered an assault.

Tens of thousands of Tatar cavalry began to charge, while the two thousand Jurchen soldiers of the Ming army dismounted in an orderly manner, led the horses to the rear and lined up at the same time.

Seeing this, Wang Zhong and Wang Cong could only order the entire army to dismount and form a line with Chen Chang's troops.

When they formed a square formation to block the pass, Arutai also led tens of thousands of cavalry to attack from 200 steps away.

"Beep--"

The wooden whistle sounded, and the soldiers in the first row knelt half on the ground and raised their ordinary matchlock guns.

Behind them there was a row of standing musketeers holding matchlocks, and the musketeers behind them were also sitting and preparing.

The three-hundred-step-long mountain col was blocked by the Ming army in a horizontal and vertical square formation of four hundred by ten. The first three rows of musketeers still had long spears at their feet.

When Arutai saw the spear on the ground, he couldn't help but feel nervous. But when the Ming army raised the matchlock gun, Arutai felt a little lucky.

"charge!"

He did not think that weapons that were less than a man's height could stop his cavalry charge. Even if the Ming army formed a temporary spear formation, it would at most cause more than a thousand casualties to his headquarters.

In order to recapture the North Col, it is worthwhile to pay some casualties by attacking them first.

"Uuuuuu——"

When the horn sounded for the Tatar army to charge, the eight Jurchen guards who had been trained for more than ten years responded calmly.

Years of training let them know how to cooperate in blocking the Tatar cavalry. They lined up their guns first, and then followed the team's whistle and grabbed their spears to line up. When the whistle sounded again, they would hold their spears flat and squat down to give them to the rear. The platoon brothers made room for shooting, and when the whistle sounded again, they stood up and formed a spear formation.

This sounds like a very simple coordination, but it is often invincible when dealing with pure cavalry troops.

"Buzzing..."

The sound of horse hooves became louder and louder. No matter how calm everyone was, they still couldn't help but sweating and their hands and feet became weak when facing the scene of tens of thousands of cavalry charging.

"Beep——"

When the whistle sounded, the musketeers in the first two rows without any hesitation lit their matchlocks and held them up with the help of their colleagues in the third row.

"Clap clap-"

There was a sound like fried beans, and many Tatar cavalry who were forty steps away from the Ming army fell down on the charging road.

Their corpses hindered the charge of the large cavalry. Many cavalrymen who were not good at horseback riding had to rein in their horses and were knocked down by the cavalry from behind.

Some cavalrymen with superb equestrian skills continued to charge towards the Ming army on their prancing horses. However, what they were about to face was still the tight volley of guns.

"Beep——"

The whistle sounded again. The Ming soldiers in the front row who had finished shooting squatted down. The second row behind them raised their matchlocks and fired. The sound of frying beans rang out again.

They repeated this until the third team was shot, and that group of Tatar cavalry with superb riding skills had also fallen on the charge road.

But at the same time, the large group of cavalry had trampled on the fallen corpses of their compatriots in front and approached the Ming army's main formation twenty steps away.

"Beep--"

Two rapid whistles sounded, and the first four rows of Ming soldiers immediately grabbed their spears from the ground and lined up in a moment.

The tail of Zhangsan's spear was inserted into the grass, and the horses of the Tatar cavalry in the front row were also frightened and prepared to stop.

At this distance, they could no longer stop and could only be squeezed forward by the cavalry from behind.

"boom!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Hi~his!"

For a time, the sounds of broken spears, wailing horses, and wailing soldiers continued to be heard. The Tatar cavalry and the Ming army infantry each fell to pieces.

"Mom! I just said I couldn't stand it!"

Wang Cong cursed and pulled out the golden melon hammer, while Wang Zhong also pulled out his weapon and prepared for short combat.

However, beside them, Chen Chang stretched out his hand to stop them: "No!"

"Don't worry, Chen Chang, don't think I'm afraid of you, I..."

"Uuuuuu——"

Before Wang Zhong finished his insults, the Ming army's horn sounded from further behind the Tatar cavalry.

"Huh, I told you no need."

Chen Chang responded calmly, but Li Shi raised his chin and looked at Wang Zhong and Wang Cong provocatively.

Obviously, all Chen Chang's preparations were based on the premise that his own reinforcements were about to arrive.

In other words, during the attack just now, he had already calculated the speed at which the rear cavalry could keep up.

"Kill the prisoners!!"

Similar to Chen Chang's estimate, Arutai's cavalry successfully merged with Yesian Polo's cavalry at this time, but more than 10,000 cavalrymen including Zhu Di, Wang Yi, Xu Zengshou and others who followed Yesian Polo in pursuit also came behind the army. .

At this moment, Arutai's less than 30,000 cavalrymen were blocked by the Ming army's less than 20,000 cavalry forces one after the other in this col, which was only three hundred steps wide and one mile long.

The outcome is decided...

(End of this chapter)