The Ming army began to retreat on a large scale. Chang Yu led his own soldiers to personally command the cavalry in the rear. He did not dare to be careless about this, for fear that one mistake would lead to a rout.
There are two things that generals fear most in the dark night. One is being chased, which can easily lead to a situation of being defeated for thousands of miles. The second is being attacked. A camp with tens of thousands of troops can be overwhelmed by a few thousand people. To be precise,
Scared.
Therefore, Chang Yu was extremely cautious and commanded the cavalry behind the formation to cover the retreat of the infantry.
Fortunately, the thieves were chasing after them with loud thunder and light rain. After all, it was already dark and they had fear in their hearts. In addition, they were already exhausted from the fight just now, and in front of them was the Ming army's cavalry. They were just bluffing, waiting for the cavalry to come forward.
Come to support.
Niu Yong, Wang Yongkui and other two wings of troops and Zhou Yuji's main force gradually joined together and retreated northward. In the dark, windy and snowy night, the soldiers fled for their lives in a panic.
There are tens of thousands of corpses in the Zhengnan River, most of them are thieves and refugees. After all, the previous battle situation for the officers and soldiers was favorable and the casualties were not heavy. They only suffered from the cannon fodder and the thieves who charged into the battle.
Li Guo swept the river coldly and looked up to the north. The sound of killing over there was still loud, but it was completely dark and there was no firelight. It could be seen that the Ming army was in a hurry and did not have time to light the torch when they fled.
"Praying mantis blocks the car!" Li Guo snorted. Just as he was about to say something to Zhang Nai beside him, a messenger rushed over.
"Report, general, there is an ambush in front of the Ming army!"
Ambush? Li Guo was stunned and glanced to the north. However, he couldn't see anything clearly in the dark, but the sound of killing was indeed much louder than before: "How many people and horses are there?"
“It’s dark and I can’t see clearly, but I estimate there are more than 20,000 to 30,000 people!”
So where is the back-up force left here? Li Guo suddenly realized that during the previous battle, he also saw that the number of officers and soldiers was more than 30,000 at most, but when they cheated and beat him in the afternoon, it was clearly 40,000-50,000 troops. He wanted to retreat to Taiyuan with the seriously wounded soldiers, but he didn't want to
It was actually an ambush.
"P's ambush!" Li Guo yelled, "Send the order and continue the pursuit!"
They were all experienced drivers. Li Guo instantly guessed that this was just the officers and soldiers reserving manpower to stay behind in order to retreat.
Suddenly, two groups of officers and soldiers shot out from both sides, causing the thieves' pursuers who were already bluffing to be frightened and stopped in their tracks.
It was during this gap that the officers and soldiers who had participated in the retreat finally became less embarrassed and began to slowly integrate and retreat in an orderly manner.
"Mr. Factory, please withdraw to Taiyuan first, and then you will be in the rear!" Zhou Yuji hurried over with his own soldiers to take over Chang Yu's command of the rear.
Chang Yu shook his head and looked at the lights in the distance. Yes, the torches of the traitor army have been lit: "The thieves will definitely not let us retreat to Taiyuan easily, but our family does not intend to let them stick to it, Mr. Zhou
, the army needs you to take command, leave this kind of vanguard thing to our family, we are good at this!"
Zhou Yuji stared at Chang Yu. The little eunuch was sweating. Although he looked tired, he still had a strong fighting spirit. In actual combat, he couldn't understand how a slave from the palace could be so warlike!
"Be careful, firstly, don't be too eager to fight, and secondly, don't show off your ability to engage him in close combat." Zhou Yuji told Chang Yu, then stopped talking nonsense, turned around and left with his soldiers.
After Zhou Yuji left, Chang Yu looked solemnly at the bandit soldiers who were less than a mile away. The torches stretched for several miles, so he could deduce that there were at least 30,000 soldiers!
"Sir, what are the thieves doing? Are they confronting us?" Zhou Tianpeng asked curiously from the side.
"Confrontation? What good thing do you want?" Chang Yu snorted coldly: "They were just a little frightened and thought we were setting up an ambush. Our family can be sure that they will attack before they can have a cup of tea..."
"Then shall we fight or... withdraw?" Duan Wuhu swallowed his saliva and asked.
"Fighting and retreating at the same time" Chang Yu felt a little regretful, or a little angry! Twice in a row, his little cleverness was easily destroyed by intruders. In the morning, he tried to lure Li Guo into the city to be surrendered and stabbed him secretly but failed. Fortunately, he still took possession of it.
A little cheaper.
In the evening, he wanted to engage in a sniper battle, stab him and run away, and achieve a quick victory. However, the bandits doubled his strength and used cannon fodder to defeat his little plan. Now it is like a dog-skin plaster that sticks to his body and cannot be thrown away.
It seems that I am still very stupid and naive, thinking that I am awesome after traveling through time, and thinking that I can control the thieves with a little cleverness. In fact, these bandits have been able to mediate with the imperial court for more than ten years and challenge the Ming Dynasty.
How many capable ministers and generals in the dynasty are still alive and kicking, are they not good people, and none of them have become spirits.
We should retreat directly to Taiyuan in the afternoon without engaging in this sniper attack. Not to mention how embarrassing the retreat is now, and the situation is still very difficult.
But if we withdraw directly and let the bandits have a smooth journey to the gates of Taiyuan City, we are really unwilling to do so.
But if all the swarms retreat at this time, the bandit army will surely pursue them closely. It is estimated that by the time the officers and soldiers in Taiyuan City have been defeated, there will be very few left.
But leaving people and horses in the rear is just like using a small number to meet a large number. It is impossible to resist forcefully, but it has to be carried in order for the large army to retreat.
"It's so dark?" Zhou Tianpeng turned his head and glanced behind him, then looked at the rebel camp on the opposite side, where the flames were blazing into the sky. "Sir, why don't we also light the torches?"
When Chang Yu heard this, he turned around and glanced back. It was really dark, and the wind and snow were so fast that it was impossible to see anyone three steps away.
In this case...
"Need not!"
A smile appeared on Chang Yu's lips, the best cover in the dark night. I believe that the bandit army did not rush over at this time because they did not know the truth.
After waiting for a while, something seemed to be going on in the rebel camp. The torches were moving back and forth, but they did not launch a charge as Chang Yu had expected.
Could it be that they were really frightened by themselves, or were they planning to fight with them, unable to resist the cold and then retreat first and then pursue them?
Instead of doing this, why not give him a counter-trick? A bright light flashed in Chang Yu's heart.
Take the initiative and charge him!
The thieves had previously pursued the victory, but their morale was exhausted and it was mostly a bluff. Then the cavalry crossed the river to join the pursuit. However, suddenly the Ming army came out with two supporting troops. In addition, it was a snowy and dark night, so they only dared to pursue casually.
After the formation, the general will dispatch his troops and generals before making a decision.
At this time, the torches in the rebel formation were brightly lit, and the Ming army was so dark that they did not know what was real. It was better to mobilize the cavalry immediately and take the opportunity to charge. They could definitely catch them off guard or even retreat!
Actions are worse than thoughts, so Chang Yu told Duan Wuhu and others about the plan. Everyone thought it was feasible, so they immediately mobilized men and horses, prepared bows and arrows, and charged into the formation with mounted archery!
Cavalry archery is definitely a powerful attack formation, with thousands of horses galloping and thousands of arrows firing. No matter what the opponent's formation is or how stable the position is, it will suffer a heavy blow and even be defeated in an instant!
The Qing soldiers were the best at this type of fighting. The Manchus were good at riding and shooting, but the Ming army, which was a farmer and herder, was relatively weak. This is why the Ming army always easily defeated the Manchu and Qing troops once they encountered it.
One of the main reasons for the defeat.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty still had many frontier armies that could withstand it. For example, the Guan Ning cavalry imitated the Qing soldiers and built a cavalry regiment that was good at riding and archery warfare.
Unfortunately, the usual tactics of the inland Ming army were to use archers to attack from a distance first, then the cavalry to attack, and the infantry to follow. They were far from proficient in the art of cavalry and archery!
But at this time, the blind man beat the dog and danced wildly. Chang Yu's purpose was to use the cavalry to scatter the pursuers. Regardless of whether the cavalry was proficient in mounted archery, he distributed all the bows and arrows in the army to the cavalry in preparation for the charge.
Unexpectedly, just as they were getting ready, the sound of ringing gold suddenly came from the opposite side!
The bandits have withdrawn their troops!
Chang Yu was stunned!
The arrow is on the string, but it won't let go!
The bandit army has always been in pursuit, why did it suddenly stop advancing? Chang Yu was stunned for a moment, but he suddenly realized it.
With the wind and snow in the sky, the dark night, and such a naughty man as myself, the other general may not dare to take risks!
Withdraw! Withdraw quietly and slowly!
Chang Yu also immediately ordered to slowly evacuate to Taiyuan under the cover of wind and snow!
On the river bank, on the earth platform where Zhou Yuji had previously commanded the battle, Li Guo's face was ashen. He didn't know whether he was angry or cold, but it was extremely ugly.
Looking at the dark night in the north, he felt unwilling to do so. It would be difficult to extinguish the anger in his heart without killing Chang Yu. Previously, he was so determined to pursue him that he even issued a military order.
However, when Ren Jirong and Ma Chongxi came to persuade him, he slowly calmed down.
It was windy and snowy, it was dark and nothing could be seen, and the officers and soldiers were extremely cunning. Since they dared to engage in a sniper battle, they naturally had backup options. If they were careless, something might happen to them. Then think about that despicable and treacherous man who always has a smirk on his face.
Li Guo couldn't help but trembled at the death of the eunuch, so he gritted his teeth and ordered to withdraw his troops.
It's just that if his military order had been issued for two or three minutes at night, the outcome might have been different.