Dragon Sea Empire

Zhang Panheng stopped Zheng Zhihu and asked him to send back the Han captives from the Eight Banners who were forcibly driven to work as coolies.

Zheng Zhihu looked at Zhang Pan suspiciously, and said in disbelief, "Brother Zhang, these are all servants who have taken refuge in the Tartars, why do you..." He kicked a Han soldier of the Eight Banners on the ass as he spoke. , holding the whip high in his hand, Zhang Pan immediately flashed over and stood in front of Zheng Zhihu. Zheng Zhihu's young and strong body couldn't help but take a step back, and Zhang Pan's tall and thin figure protected several wounded Han soldiers.

Zhang Pan said sharply: "They are all Han people, all of us from Liaodong,"

Zheng Zhi raised his head vigorously, expelled a strong breath from his nostrils, and nodded: "Understood, from Liaodong, you are also from Liaodong,"

Zhang Pan said: "If the soldiers of the Eight Banners attack, everything here will be destroyed. These women, children, old, weak and injured people will not be able to escape at all. Let them go back to the camp, brother Zheng..."

Zheng Zhihu smiled coldly: "Okay, for your sake, I will let go those who can't do the heavy work, and those who can do the work must stay. As you can see, we need all the manpower urgently,"

……

The dispute between Zheng Zhihu and Zhang Pan was interrupted by the continuous explosion of conch ships, fireworks and rockets. The second general attack of the Eight Banners soldiers started today. The city wall made weird noises in the wind, and the soldiers of the Chinese Army who were standing at attention in the field, wearing single clothes, felt a bit of coolness.

The Eight Banners soldiers attacked again with the whole army. This time Nurhachi directly sent the Zhenghuang Banner and Xianghuang Banner troops under his direct control to the battlefield.

After the fierce battle just now, one-tenth of the rapid-fire firearms of the Chinese Army broke down and were not repaired in time, but even without this one-tenth failure rate, the Eight Banners soldiers still could not approach the Chinese Army's position. The army is in the front line, and the cavalry is in the back. However, the infantry and cavalry of the Eight Banners are distinguished according to their combat effectiveness and equipment. Most infantry are mounted infantry, and some have one man and two horses.

The Zhengbai flag and Xiangbai flag no longer rushed straight up, but played a game of turning the wheel in front of the Chinese army. They shot arrows at the Chinese army's positions in circles. Some people were shot down by bullets, but the soldiers of the Eight Banners still enjoyed it. .

Nurhachi personally supervised the attack on the southern wing phalanx. The situation was not optimistic. Although the number of Chinese soldiers in the phalanx was small, they were all armed to the teeth, plus 40 lightning-strike honeycomb guns and more than 40 light field guns that fired shotguns. , Firepower like a storm blocked Nurhachi's elite troops a dozen steps away from the position, and they could no longer move forward. However, they insisted on not retreating, and tried their best to circumvent the two wings of the Chinese army and surround them behind them, but they were always waiting in strict formation. The Chinese Army firmly blocked the formation. In some places, the Eight Banners soldiers broke into the Chinese Army formation, but they were immediately cut off by rapid-fire guns. The Eight Banners warriors who rushed into the formation were isolated and helpless. Army reserve soldiers swarmed up and beat him to death.

The Eight Banners soldiers fought to the death without retreating, and the Chinese army stubbornly defended. This stalemate lasted from noon to evening.

After Nurhachi personally supervised the formation and charged twice, Abatai and several Eight Banners generals tried their best to block him behind the formation. Just like that, a few thunderbolt rockets flew around Nurhachi, killing him Several Baal soldiers.

Relying on his 40 years of combat experience, Nurhachi found that the hollow phalanx on the southern wing of the Chinese Army was weak in firepower, but once the Eight Banners soldiers began to attack the hollow phalanx head-on, they immediately discovered that it was a trap. The artillery arranged in the center of the phalanx , There are so many rapid-fire guns, and the intensive firepower smashes the attacks launched by Nurhachi's most powerful troops time after time.

After the Eight Banners soldiers rushed to kill several company-level commanders on the front line - Niu Lu Ezhen was injured, Nurhachi personally asked them about the battle they had witnessed. From their reports, Nurhachi concluded that in the fierce battle with the Chinese Army, It is almost at the cost of ten to one to pay for human life.

Nurhachi sighed, and ordered the whole army to withdraw and return to camp.

As the sun was setting, a group of dark clouds rushed over the dense forest in the west, bringing heavy rain to the surrounding areas of Hetuala City.

The Zhengbai Banner troops led by Huang Taiji were gradually retreating. He suddenly had an idea and planned to take advantage of the heavy rain to raid the Chinese Army's position.

But he didn't know: the Chinese army used flintlock muskets, not the matchlock guns of the Ming army. They are generally designed with a fire door cover, and the bullets are ammunition packed in fixed paper, which can prevent rain to a certain extent. The cannon uses a flintlock matchlock to fire, and it is not afraid of rain.

Huang Taiji turned around and launched an attack without Nurhachi's order. The result was very sad. The Eight Banners soldiers on other fronts had already retreated. The entire Chinese Army front turned all its firepower on Huang Taiji's troops. In the attack, nearly 1000 people were killed and injured.

When Huang Taiji returned to the Zaotu Mountain camp dejectedly, Mang Gurtai was kneeling in front of Nurhachi and crying, "We can't fight any more, Father Khan, Zhenglan Banner has already killed fifteen Niu Luerzhen today, my two The famous Merle Erzhen all died in battle, and they are all your own grandsons."

The stout Yuetuo was covered in blood, and was helped in by two soldiers. He also knelt in front of Nurhachi and shouted: "Grandfather, let the brothers take a breath. I don't have any regular Niu Luerzhen under my command. The strongest fighters all died in front of the pirate army, and the pirate army is not human, but a devil who kills without batting an eye."

Today, more than half of the Xiangbai Banner was killed or injured, a total of 4600 people died in battle. Among them, 10 pure Manchurian cattle were almost wiped out. , the one with the highest status.

On April 1544, 4, in the Battle of Cereso, Italy, the light cavalry and infantry of the French army defeated the Spanish cavalry-based army with mobile warfare. More than 11 Spanish troops died and another 6000 were captured. The army died less than 3200 people. This battle once again verified that the infantry at that time—whether it was musketeers or Swiss and German mercenary spearmen could defeat any cavalry attack. Likely to bring a decisive victory across the board.

Afterwards, Turkey defeated the Egyptian Mamluk cavalry group with artillery fire, proving once again that with the assistance of firearms, the infantry guarding a fixed preset position can block the cavalry attack and defeat the cavalry. When the cavalry broke through the positions again and again, the European cavalry in the same period could no longer break down the enemy infantry units with firearms alone.

Nurhachi knew nothing about these major events in military history. He was superstitious about his cavalry's riding and shooting skills. Although he realized that the Chinese army's firearms were powerful, he thought that a simple cavalry assault could destroy the enemy's preset firearms position.

As a result of Nurhachi's ignorance and superstitious belief in the power of cavalry, nearly 20000 of his soldiers under the Eight Banners were killed or injured in one day under the city of Hetuala.

His heart ached, he lost his usual composure, and walked back and forth in the big tent impatiently.

The Chinese Army suffered a total of more than 3500 casualties in today's battle. Yan Siqi already felt that there was not enough manpower, and planned to transfer the militia battalion in Hetuala City to the front line in the next day's battle.

In the evening, Zhang Pan commanded the light cavalry to launch a night attack, and the Eight Banners soldiers also sent people to harass the Chinese army's position. The sound of "bang, bang, bang, bang" in front of the formation of the two armies almost never stopped throughout the night.

Yan Siqi worked all night, dispatching gunpowder and bullets to enrich the central front, and also called all the officers to discuss the strategy of tomorrow's battle. Everyone agreed that tomorrow should be the time to counterattack.

The two Western mercenary officers of the heavy cavalry couldn't hold back for a long time, and they unanimously demanded to use heavy cavalry to attack in the first battle tomorrow.

In the early morning of the next day, the soldiers of the Eight Banners swarmed again shouting in the mist. All the scenes of the first day's battle were repeated again, and the soldiers of the Eight Banners suffered heavy casualties.

Zhang Pan suddenly issued an order for the cavalry to dispatch, and the heavy cavalry, like an iron wall, suddenly broke out of the southern wing of the Chinese army and rushed towards Zaotu Mountain. Jumped on the horse and rushed to the South Castle, "Damn you Liaodong nerd, I haven't issued a counterattack order yet, 1"

After the parapet fortification outside the South Castle, he saw Zhang Pan who was preparing to set off, and there was already a large infantry reserve team chasing in the direction of Zaotu Mountain.

"Zhang Pan, are you crazy? Why are the cavalry attacking now?" Yan Siqi reined in his horse in front of Zhang Pan, and raised his hand to signal that his soldiers were ready to pounce on him at any time.

Zhang Pan saluted Yan Siqi without fear, and then said calmly: "The Eight Banners attacking the southern wing of our army no longer has Zhenghuang Banner and Border Yellow Banner soldiers."

Yan Siqi put down his hand, and said coldly: "So what, maybe Nurhachi regards his directly-administered troops as a reserve team again..."

"No, we captured two Han people. They were the coat-coated flag slaves of the Eight Banners Banner Village, but now they are wearing Zhenghuang Banner uniforms, and they were put on just this morning, because the losses of the Zhenghuang Banner soldiers yesterday were not great. ,So I……"

Yan Siqi called out sensitively: "No, this old boy Nuqi wants to escape," he immediately said seriously, "Why didn't you report it?"

"My messengers have been dispatched to your central position..." Zhang Pan explained, he actually dispatched all the cavalry first, and then sent someone to notify Yan Siqi.

Yan Siqi immediately interrupted him: "I'll talk about this later, hurry up, send out the signal for a general attack, seize the opportunity, and the whole army counterattacks." He turned back and said to his personal guards: "You are all cavalry, immediately head towards Zaotu Mountain. Chase the past, leave me alone, you can get an island in the South Seas if you capture Nuqiu."