The shrill marching horn sounded, and Chen Wanlue, Ma Ning, Lai Nu, and Tujiang rushed out from all directions.
"Form up! Form a formation quickly!"
Hu Guozhu shouted for formation. It was too late. There were Qing soldiers everywhere, and among them thousands of Manchu and Mongolian cavalry were the most difficult to deal with. They galloped in the formation, and when they encountered the gathering Ming troops, they broke up and chopped them down.<
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When Xia Guoxiang saw a Tatar with a tiger tattooed on his forehead killing five or six of his own soldiers, he was furious and his horse rushed over. With the power of the horse, the sharp gun flashed, and this Eight Banners soldier from the savage Jurchen became
Lost the wronged soul.
"Bang", Meibo Zhangjing's mace arrived, attacked from behind, and his brains exploded. Xia Guoxiang turned over unwillingly and fell off his horse. At the last moment of his life, he saw that ferocious face.
"Brother Hu, Brother Wu, you two rush back quickly, I will cut off the rear," Wang Pingfan shouted.
Hu Guozhu and Wu Guogui glanced at Wang Pingfan in surprise. This man always liked to play power in Guan Ning's army, flattering Wu Sangui and rejecting other generals. Unexpectedly, he was willing to sacrifice himself for others today!
"Brother, be careful." The two of them didn't have time to think about it, so they said be careful and started to kill.
Wang Pingfan led hundreds of personal guards and advanced instead of retreating. They rushed wherever there were more Qing troops. He saw dozens of Qing troops galloping in the formation, flying domineeringly. He was furious, leaped on his horse and held a spear to greet them.
He stabbed one person with a spear and stabbed to death Qingmeile Zhangjing Tujiang. Seeing the bravery of the general town, the morale of his subordinates was greatly boosted. They chopped off the horse's legs and the riders, killing dozens of them in an instant.
He also killed several groups of Qing troops in succession, which dampened the Qing army's momentum.
Ma Ning, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, was furious and led thousands of horsemen to attack him with their swords raised. Although Wang Pingfan was a strong general, he was tired from long battles and could not stand up to the enemy, so he died in the rebellion.
Because of Wang Pingfan's desperate counterattack, Hu Guozhu and Wu Guogui gained a glimmer of hope, broke through the encirclement, and rushed to the bank of Han River.
On the shore, eight hundred soldiers and horses of Hu Guozhu's generals Wang Xu and Li Kuang were guarding the ship.
"The two generals boarded the boat first and left, and the last generals stopped the rear." The second generals formed a formation on the shore to cover Hu Guozhu, and Wu Guogui's remaining soldiers fled.
Ma Ning led five hundred cavalry in pursuit. Wang Xu and Li Kuang did not retreat but advanced to kill the Qing cavalry. The soil on the river beach was soft and the horses' hooves were stuck in the sand and they could not run fast. In one moment, more than a hundred cavalry were hacked and killed.
Ma Ning was so frightened that he did not dare to pursue him too closely, so he only shot arrows from a distance by the river beach.
Tu Hai's army was approaching. Wang Xu and Li Kuang saw that most of their defeated troops had boarded the boat. They looked at each other, shouted "Retreat", and ran to the boat with their men.
"Catch them and kill them all," Tu Hai was angry. With just a few hundred people, he failed to complete his plan to annihilate the Ming army. His usual calmness and calmness was gone, replaced by anger.
Wang Xu and Li Kuang ran very fast, but the Qing army failed to catch up.
"Shoot! Shoot them to death for this town," Ma Ning roared.
"Swish, swish, swish", arrows rained down.
The Ming army put up their shields, but not many of them were hit by arrows, and they gradually disappeared.
Seeing that his side had suffered such a big loss, Li Kuang couldn't help but be filled with anger. He sang a folk song from northern Shaanxi to ridicule the Qing army: "There are endless roads to cross and endless rivers. Archery can't hit Xun He's forehead. He will die every time.
Come on, let’s go up to Wangxiang Terrace for a while. We have a sheep belly handkerchief with three stripes of blue, and we’ll wait on the boat for him to come??”
??
Hu Guozhu and Wu Guogui fled back to the other side, counted their troops, and found that only three thousand of the ten thousand troops were left. The old foundation of Guan Ning's army was completely crippled.
The two of them knelt in front of Fan Youxian and cried loudly, "The last general is incompetent, please punish me by the general."
Fan Youxian hurriedly comforted him, "This is all caused by my commander's misjudgment. I didn't expect that there was an ambush here! Don't worry, two generals. I will replenish you as soon as the new troops from the rear arrive. Go down and rest first."
After the two generals retreated, Li Dingguo looked ashamed, "All these generals are not thinking carefully, and that is why they were defeated like this."
Fan Youxian hurriedly offered words of comfort, "Hongyuan does not need to blame himself. Victory or defeat is a matter of military strategists. We will just find ways to take revenge in the next battle."
The two were chatting when they suddenly reported that Gao Mingzhan, the governor of Shaanxi Province in the Ming Dynasty, had arrived with military supplies. Gao Mingzhan was originally the governor of Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty. After returning to the Ming Dynasty, he fell in love with the Ming army general Li Chengjue and was transferred to the governor of Shaanxi Province.
Fan Youxian and Li Dingguo hurriedly called Gao Mingzhan to enter the tent.
Li Dingguo asked: "Gao Futai, you have been an official in the Qing court for a long time, do you know who the Qing army commander Tu Hai is?"
"Reported to the Duke of Qin, this Tuhai belongs to the Zhenghuang Banner of Manchuria. He was born in Ma Jia, one of the eight major surnames, and has lived in Suifenhe for a long time. This man was smart and studious since he was a child. He was able to draw inferences about anything he studied. He was proficient in Chinese studies and was familiar with military books. He was the pseudo-emperor Shunzhi.
The famous man in front of you. The false emperor wanted to appoint him as a scholar of Hongwen Academy, but he was afraid that the ministers would not obey, so he ordered a heavy punishment. The ministers all said that Tuhai was not guilty. But the false emperor said that Tuhai was a very human being, and if he could not be punished severely, he would be punished severely.
He can only be reused and directly appointed as a bachelor of Hongwen Academy and a minister of political affairs."
As soon as these words came out, Fan Youxian and Li Dingguo looked at me and I looked at you, silently.
After a while, Fan Youxian spoke: "The Puppet Emperor thinks so highly of this person, it seems that this guy must be something special."
Li Dingguo also said: "Gao Futai said that Tu Hai is good at figuring out people's hearts and drawing inferences from one instance. It seems that this guy has figured out our fighting style! This battle was not unjust." After thinking about it, he asked Gao Mingzhan:
"Has this Tuhai ever fought in a war before?"
"As far as I know, this is his first expedition."
"Hmph, although this guy took advantage today, it is his first time leading an army and he is inexperienced. I have a plan." Li Dingguo suddenly sneered.
"Oh, what's Hongyuan's clever plan?"
"Tonight, we will cross the river from Xiashui to the Yangtze River."
Fan Youxian was shocked: "The risk of crossing at night is very high, and our army has suffered a new defeat and its morale has been dampened, so we may not be able to win."
Li Dingguo said: "Because of the high risk of crossing at night, there are not many battle records in this aspect in the book, which Tu Hai never thought of. He is a scholar leading the army. He only knows that our army's morale has been exhausted and needs time to recover, but he does not know that it is strong in a hundred battles."
An army can be defeated and fought repeatedly. I have surveyed the water conditions and found that the water is gentle and can be crossed at night."
Fan Youxian was tempted, "According to Hongyuan's opinion, who would be better to send at night?"
Li Dingguo said proudly: "Our army has been newly defeated. If we want to restore morale, we must go there in person. The general will be willing to go!"
"Bah!" Fan Youxian was so shocked that his tea bowl fell to the ground, "How could this happen? Hongyuan, you are the deputy commander of the army!"
"The general has made up his mind, please let the commander-in-chief make it happen." Li Dingguo couldn't afford to kneel down.
"Hey! I know Hongyuan is resolute and will not give up on something he is sure of. No matter what, I will follow Hongyuan, but I need to be more careful!"
??
The night of this day was quiet.
Li Dingguo led Jin Tongwu, Dou Mingwang, Wang Hui and Chen Jian to board the boat.
In ancient times, there were few people crossing at night. The main reason was that it was dangerous. It was easy to crash into ships, run aground on rocks, and deviate from the target.
Li Dingguo ordered every ten boats to be connected with ropes and iron chains, and no lights were allowed to be lit, and they were rowed to the other side in batches. A considerable part of the 20,000 troops were rushed downstream, and a small number hit the rocks and sank.
"Gugu", "Gugu", "Gugu"??
The Ming troops who landed followed the agreed code and learned three bird calls to gather.
Li Dingguo only gathered 10,000 soldiers and horses from Jin Tongwu, Wang Hui and other generals. Dou Mingwang and Chen Jian's 10,000 soldiers and horses were not found. They may have deviated from the route.
He looked at the time. It was Yin time (three o'clock in the morning), and he was sleeping soundly.
No matter what, let’s fight! Once the war starts, Dou Mingwang and Chen Jian will naturally know the position of this commander.
Li Dingguo led his troops to sneak to the camp of Jiang Yi, the Qing general who was guarding Xiashui Crossing.
They had just won a battle and had a celebratory drink. The Qing army was completely unprepared and didn't even have many sentry posts.
Jin Tongwu killed the soldiers at the camp gate with one sword, and his men rushed into the Qing stronghold, killing people and setting fires. Jiang Yi was beheaded before he could get up, and most of the five thousand Qing troops were wiped out.
As soon as he saw the flames soaring into the sky and Dou became famous, Chen Jian immediately found Li Dingguo's location and came to meet him.
"Array", following Li Dingguo's military order, the Ming army began to set up formations on the riverside to cover their own troops crossing the river.
At this time, it was already dawn, and Fan Youxian led his army to cross the river one after another.
When they heard that the Ming army had occupied Xiashui Crossing and Jiang Yi was killed, Tu Hai was frightened and hurriedly led his army to seize it. Unfortunately, the Ming army's formation was already formed and could not be broken through. More and more Ming troops landed, gradually becoming a vast ocean.
Governor Tuhai could not do anything. He sighed deeply and led his army back to Nanzheng City.
