Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 157: Victory over killing prisoners!
On the Mongolian battlefield,
"Flag Master!"

"Your Majesty!"

When the personal soldiers who were originally organizing a resistance saw that their master had been knocked off his horse, they no longer cared about fighting and just helped their master up and ran away.

Ezhe was fine, he was just hit in the arm.

The Zasak of Kharchin was not so lucky. A bullet hit his eye directly, and he screamed and scratched around.

People in later generations knew that once one eye was pierced, if the wound was not removed in time, the other eye would soon become unable to see clearly.

bang~
There were constant sounds of musketry firing towards them.
"Okay, that's how we fight. If anyone organizes a counterattack, beat the bastards off." Li Banghua also lost his gentle and refined image at this time and started swearing.

With the fall of Ezhe and Kharchin Zasak, the newly organized resistance collapsed.

The Qi family army smashed a gap in the Mongolian soldiers and hammered in little by little like a wedge.

However, the musketeers attacked from the other side, smashing the Mongolian soldiers one by one like they were blowing up balloons during the New Year.

Once an army exceeds a certain casualty rate, it will collapse, especially when its will is weak. This is why there are so many prisoners of war in major battles in history.

In the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu captured 200,000 prisoners of war in one battle. The casualty rate had a certain critical point.

At the moment, the Ming army was almost slaughtering the Mongolian soldiers one-sidedly, so even though it had not reached a critical point, they had completely lost the desire to attack and only wanted to survive.

"Run! Zasak has already run away. What are we still doing here?"

"Run~"

More than 20,000 Mongolian soldiers were in chaos and fled in all directions like hornets. Qi Zhenzong and his brothers in the Qi Family Army were already bloodthirsty when facing the fleeing soldiers.

He didn't care about anything else and just chased after the Tartars and hacked them, his knife soaked in blood.

"That feels great!" Qi Zhenzong cut off a head and stuffed it into the bag around his waist.

Although he was the chief officer, he also led the troops by example because he needed military merit. The Qi family army was so famous because of its military merit. If he wanted to restore the glory of his ancestors, he had to do so by military merit.

"The Mongolian princes and flag lords are trying to run away. Brothers, hurry up and don't let them get away!"

"Military merit, these are all great military merits. It's hard to say whether you will be crowned a king or a general, but you will definitely enjoy wealth and glory in the rest of your life, and your family will prosper~"

The Ming army knew all too well what it meant if an army was defeated, lost its command, and even lost its organization.

The number of kills is an increasing number, a military achievement visible to the naked eye.

It stimulated the Ming army to become more and more crazy.

With his adrenaline rushing, all the fatigue in his body was washed away, and he rushed forward again with a roar.

……

Behind the Mongolian army,
The Manchu, Mongolian and Korean coalition forces surged onto the river bank like a tide, but were blocked on the periphery and unable to break through.

The Ming army was like a steel Great Wall, constantly colliding with them.

boom!
There was a huge cannon blast, and the shells landed among the Eight Banners soldiers.

However, the artillery battalion of the Ming court freed up its hands and pointed its guns at the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry.

The defeat of the six Mongolian tribes was inevitable, and Qi's army and the musketeers had already engaged them in close combat. Using artillery could easily result in accidental casualties, so Cao Huachun ordered the artillery battalion to come and support Huang Degong and his men.

A cannonball landed right beside Yue Tuo, with such a huge force that his horse instantly fell to the ground, wailing miserably and unable to get up.

"Another artillery?" Dudu, the prince of Anping, had a buzzing sound in his head. He turned to Jirgalang and said, "Prince Zheng, the artillery of the Ming court has arrived."

Seeing that Jirgalang did not respond, he said again: "The defeat of the six Mongolian tribes is certain, we can't get ourselves involved!"

boom!
Boom~
The Ming court continued to fire artillery at them, and Du Du couldn't help but tremble all over.

Ever since the Battle of Tongzhou, he has had a psychological trauma about the Ming Dynasty's artillery. Now, whenever he hears about the Ming Dynasty's artillery, he can't help but tremble in his heart, fearing that if he is not careful, the Ming army's artillery will fall on his head.

Jirgalang gritted his teeth and saw that the gap left by the Ming army on the Mongolian soldiers was getting bigger and bigger. The Ming court's troops were like hoes, frantically eroding the combat power of the six Mongolian tribes. His eyes almost spit fire.

"Get out of my way!"

We must save the six Mongolian tribes.

He sees the strategic significance of the Monan grasslands better than anyone else.

After the Qing Dynasty drew on their best men, the six grassland tribes were able to gather more than 20,000 people, which was beyond his expectations. This was relative to their final foundation.

Once these people were defeated, Kalaqinliu would become a complete mess.

The Ming court could rest assured on the north side, which meant that the results of decades of efforts by the Qing court since the Nurhaci period would be destroyed.

So they couldn't retreat.

No matter how great the cost, we must rescue the Mongolian troops.

Jirgalang drew out his knife and slashed it on the neck of Dudu's horse, instantly separating the body. He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Anyone who talks about retreating is like this horse!"

Dudu got up from the ground covered in dust and looked at Jirgalang with fear in his eyes. His Adam's apple rolled and he dared not speak any more.

"kill!"

The entire battlefield turned into a meat grinder in the front and a bulldozer in the back, with both sides fighting back and forth.

The only difference is that the Ming army was weak just now, but now with the assistance of artillery, the morale of the Ming cavalry is even higher, while the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry are constantly attacked by artillery, and riots occur from time to time in the camp.

The battle continued for more than an hour.

The Manchu-Mongol army attempted to attack many times, but was repelled by the Ming army every time. On one occasion, they even broke through to within a hundred steps of the Mongolian remnants, but were all killed by the musketeers.

It was also at this time that the Qing army saw clearly that only one third of the six Mongolian tribes were left.

In one hour, more than half of the 20,000 people were killed.

Seeing this scene, Jirgalang was furious and cursed: "Why are they so weak? Twenty thousand people, even twenty thousand cattle and sheep, will be slaughtered in an hour."

He had done everything he should have done, and the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia could be said to have tried their best, but things went against his wishes and he was powerless.

……

At this time, the sky had begun to darken, and the sky was full of stars, but one could not see one's hand in front of one's face. The offensives of both sides were simultaneously suspended.

This is not the later era. There is no night vision equipment and the command methods are backward. Large-scale night battles are not supported at all. Even if both sides hold torches, it will not have much effect. If the distance is a little far, the opponent cannot be seen.

Even during the day, there were people who misread the command flags and ran away, so there was no hope at night. Even though the Ming army had a large number of "rocket rockets", Cao Huachun did not intend to use them.

After this great battle, the Ming army also needed to rest.

Both sides dispatched a large number of security personnel to prevent the other side from sending a small number of elite troops to carry out night harassment, sneak attacks, arson, etc., causing great chaos.

……

In the central army camp,

Cao Huachun, Li Banghua, Qin Liangyu, and the commanders of the four camps reunited. Huang Degong's helmet shone black in the candlelight, the color of the enemy's dried blood.

In this battle, he killed more than a dozen Tatars by himself.

In terms of numbers alone, the number of casualties was not as high as in the Tongzhou victory, but that time they were killing the fleeing soldiers, while this time it was a head-on charge against the Manchu Tartars, which is completely different.

The chief officers of the four camps all grinned and discussed the exhilaration of killing the enemy.

Li Banghua counted the battle reports submitted by the four major camps at this moment, "Commander-in-chief, in this battle, we killed 18,000 enemies, 15,000 Mongolian troops, and 3,000 Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners!"

"Eight thousand captured horses!"

"In addition, we also captured the Prince of Chahar and the Zasak of Kharchin, and there are another 3,000 prisoners..."

"Good!" All the generals cheered in unison.

"The issue of prisoners is a big problem." Cao Huachun glanced at Huang Degong. Since the Manchu Tartars were right beside him, he had no time and energy to arrange for the prisoners.

The reason why the number of heads beheaded from the six Mongolian tribes was 15,000 instead of 20,000.

Because this is a grassland, even if it is surrounded on all sides, it is impossible to be so tight that not a single person is missed.

Especially after it got dark, thousands of people eventually ran away.

"What about the casualties?"

Li Banghua was silent for a while, "Our cavalry suffered more than 4,000 casualties..."

Everyone's faces suddenly became extremely heavy and no one spoke.

four thousand!

The total number of deaths in just one battle was more than the last time the Manchu Tartars invaded the Pass.

Moreover, almost all of them died in head-on battles with the Eight Banners of Manchu and Mongolia, which indirectly verified the superb combat qualities of the Later Jin cavalry.

Moreover, the horses of the Later Jin Dynasty were endurable, sturdy, powerful, well-trained, of good size, and faster, making them suitable for training as war horses.

This is not something that can be changed overnight.

Cao Huachun was silent for a long time, then said, "Of course there is a gap, but the battlefield is never about taking advantage of one's strengths to make up for one's weaknesses, but about using one's strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses."

"Our advantages lie in artillery, firearms, and palm thunder. Next, all the troops must use firearms to the fullest extent and minimize casualties."

Four thousand people died in the first battle, and Your Majesty would have to pay 600,000 taels of silver in pension alone, not to mention the injured. Even Cao Huachun himself felt heartbroken when he calculated the amount.

His Majesty's words came back to his mind again: "How much does a cannonball cost? How much does a musket bullet cost? It's better than anything else if you lose fewer people."

In fact, before coming, Cao Huachun was secretly summoned by the emperor.

The emperor showed him two fingers.

Two million taels.

One third of the troops were killed in this battle, which made him feel more urgent. "The others can go back and rest first, Huang Degong stay."

After everyone left, Cao Huachun asked Huang Degong to sit down and said, "There is something I need you to do."

"Commander, what's wrong?"

"The matter of the prisoners should be handled according to the situation in Tongzhou. Tell the people below to handle it. We have to fight the Tartars, but we also have to leave some people behind to watch over these people. It's one thing to feed four thousand people, but what if they turn around and stab us..."

Huang Degong was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood what Cao Huachun meant. "Don't worry, Commander. Leave this matter to me. I will finish it before three o'clock in the morning."

"Done," Huang Degong said nonchalantly, but in a way that sounded extremely bloody.

In the great victory of Tongzhou, the thousands of prisoners were slaughtered by Huang Degong and his men. This time they were very skilled at it, and it was as easy as killing chickens and fish.

Cao Huachun patted Huang Degong on the shoulder and said, "You and Sun Yingyuan both came from the Yongwei Camp, but I ended up keeping you. Do you know why?"

Huang Degong remained silent, but Cao Huachun continued:

"Because Sun Yingyuan is smarter than you. He has his own ideas about fighting, but you are different. You can resolutely implement the orders of His Majesty and me. This is your chance to go one step further than Sun Yingyuan. Seize it firmly."

"At my age, after this battle, I don't know if I'll have the chance to lead troops next time, but you still have a bright future."

"Your Majesty, I will speak well of you, but you also need to know what is more important than what is less important. Don't do it yourself this time."

"Don't give the civil servants in the court a chance..."

Huang Degong nodded with a blazing gaze, bowed deeply, and said, "Thank you, Commander-in-Chief, for the promotion."

Cao Huachun sighed, "I hate that I was born too early, and I hate that the situation was too late. If I were five years younger, I wouldn't have to find a way out for myself~"

He will be sixty after the New Year. These days, after he is sixty, no one knows how long he can live.

So he had to leave a way out for himself. Sun Yingyuan was actually quite good, but in comparison, Huang Degong was more to his liking. He might not be smart, but he was not really stupid.

The power of the relationship is clear at a glance, while Sun Yingyuan, on the other hand, is only concerned about his own bottles and jars.

The key point is that Sun was born in the Beijing Camp, and his involvement with the nobles and civil officials in the court was much deeper than Huang Degong. Recently, His Majesty's attitude towards civil officials and nobles has obviously changed drastically.

Considering His Majesty's many policies, he finally set his sights on Huang Degong.

Of course, another reason was that the emperor valued Huang Degong more.

Cao Huachun looked at Huang Degong's back as he walked away with thunderous footsteps, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh, "Your Majesty is no longer the same as before, and the Ming Dynasty is no longer the same as before. These scholars are naturally no longer the same as before."

……

Before dawn the next day, the imperial city and its surroundings suddenly became bustling again. Tens of thousands of candidates and scholars came out from all corners of the capital and gathered towards the imperial city.

This is not in the future. A small city had more civil service examinations than it does now. Just arranging these people was a huge art. Fortunately, Zhu Changgan divided them into two sessions, morning and afternoon.

The questions in the morning and afternoon were different. Even so, the students were separated and a temporary examination room was set up on Chang'an Street. Each exam had several large questions.

The examination lasts two hours, which is much shorter than the imperial examination, but the number of questions is still quite large.

The scholars taking the first exam were a little confused when they saw it for the first time.

"What is loyalty to the emperor and patriotism?"

"What do you think of Hai Rui, Hai Gangfeng?"

"What is the difference between corruption and stealing the country..."

These questions are big and small, but the common point is that they are all extremely difficult to answer.

For these scholars who are familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, even if they have read "Selected Works of the Ming Emperor", it is still like watching fish swimming in a pond but not knowing how to catch them.

Everyone is scratching their heads...

(End of this chapter)