Chapter 68: The Sacrifice of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty
At some point, the sun in the sky was covered by clouds, the sky became dark, and the cold wind blew, making people feel shivering.
The entire battlefield was littered with corpses, and the hot blood began to solidify, only to be trampled to pieces by footsteps, turning the ground red.
Lost.
Although his stomach was growling with hunger, Jia Yan brandished a long knife with a curled blade, his cheeks bulged, his eyes wide open, like a puffer fish: "Kill the enemy, don't let Jian Nu go -"
The enemy troops all over the mountains and plains are like a river after ebbing tide, retreating at an extremely fast speed.
But the Ming army pursued them closely, not wanting to let go of the fruits of victory.
He didn't know why he won or why Jiannu lost, but he knew clearly that he survived again and a rich reward was waiting for him.
On the city wall, Zhu Yixi, who witnessed all this, clutched the female wall tightly with both hands, with almost half of her body sticking out.
The generals behind him were shocked and hurriedly pulled him away.
"Win, win!"
Zhu Yixi shouted, his face turned red. He turned back and looked at the generals: "This battle to found the country is truly won."
"Fortunately, His Majesty is wise and powerful——"
All the generals knelt down one after another, with excitement on their faces.
If this battle is won, Jiannu may never dare to hold Ma Nanxiang back again.
After taking two deep breaths of air-conditioning, Zhu Yixi calmed down. He turned to look at the messy battlefield, feeling incomprehensible.
The battle lasted for more than two hours, from morning to afternoon, and both sides were exhausted.
The front army pressed forward step by step, the continuous firing of muskets, and the pressure of heavy infantry made the Qing army take a rare evasion.
Morale is on the verge of collapse.
At this time, the Mengba Banner's escape seemed to be the last straw that broke the camel's back, and the Manba Banner began to retreat.
In this way, the cavalry battalion followed closely, and then broke into the Qing army's formation, hoping to defeat the Qing army in a flanking attack.
At this time, the Qing army immediately sent out the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty to support them, and a stalemate began.
At this time, Zhu Yixi immediately used all his chips and sent all the troops to attack, hoping to completely overwhelm the stalemate Qing army.
Jierhalang also pressed forward desperately, trying to save the heavy armored infantry.
The two armies were like being in a millstone, flesh and blood being constantly crushed, and they fought extremely fiercely.
As a result, the Ming army had an advantage in terms of military strength, morale, and weapons, and it was slowly wasting away.
In this case, it is a matter of strength.
This is the upright method.
Jierhalang had no choice but to slump on the chair and murmured: "This is impossible, this is impossible, this is impossible, how could it be defeated?"
"General, the top priority is to preserve your strength."
Hauge stepped forward, his face solemn.
Luck Dehun, who was one step behind him, had a look of hatred on his face.
"good!"
Jierhalang gritted his teeth and said: "You go and command the cavalry to retreat from the battlefield. Luck Dehun, you lead the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Eight Banners of Han Dynasty."
"Yes!" Hauge left decisively.
Luckard watched his back. Just as he was about to leave, he was stopped:
"After the break, fight and then retreat. Don't try to fight back. This is a good opportunity for you to perform."
"this--"
Luckard had a look of surprise on his face.
Jierhalang said softly: "Someone needs to be responsible for the defeat..."
Luck Dehun immediately quickened his pace and left.
There is no doubt that Hauge, who offended the Regent, is the best scapegoat.
Although the Qing army was defeated, it did not collapse.
The Mongolian Eight Banners gritted their teeth and committed meritorious deeds to delay time, while the Han Eight Banners tried their best to perform for fear of taking the blame for the war.
The heavy infantry were heavily armored and could only stop halfway. Only the musketeers, who were lined up in columns, moved forward step by step with neat steps.
Therefore, even in the face of a hail of bullets, the musketeers finally slowed down a bit due to the fearless obstruction of the Mengba Banner and Hanba Banner.
Gu Hao
Taking advantage of this moment, Hauge led the heavy infantry who suffered heavy casualties in a hasty retreat, mounted his horse and left.
They were originally mounted infantry.
As soon as the heavy armored infantry fled, in less than a moment, the Han Eight Banners and the Meng Eight Banners were eager to retreat.
Luck Dehun killed dozens of people in a row before he could stop the collapse of the situation.
"Listen to my orders and form a military formation before we can retreat!"
As a result, a strange scene appeared on the battlefield:
The Han Eight Banners carrying shields kept retreating a hundred steps away from the Ming army.
On both wings, the Ming cavalry battalions (recharged light cavalry) were fighting with the cavalry of the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Man Eight Banners, and they were inseparable.
Finally, the central and rear armies detoured and attacked at all costs, causing the Qing army's already neat military formation to completely collapse.
"withdraw--"
Seeing that there were not many full eight flags, Luck Dehun immediately waved his riding whip and issued an order to retreat.
At this moment, Meng Baqi, who had been dawdling, was the first to leave the battlefield, flying away like an arrow from a string.
The Han Eight Banners were a little confused.
The cavalry naturally left without hesitation, but the infantry was stopped.
The Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty became victims.
The three of them, Shang Kexi, left without hesitation, sweating profusely.
"The sky is gray and we have lost again!"
Geng Zhongming shook his head and his body heaved up and down. He looked sideways and saw that the muddy ground made many cavalrymen stumble from time to time. He immediately became careful.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Shang Kexi's face was solemn: "The cavalry can escape, this battle is not a miserable loss, and the vitality is still preserved."
"But our Han Eight Banners suffered heavy losses."
Kong Youde gritted his teeth and said, "I'm afraid I won't survive half of it."
"Just leave the battlefield."
Shang Kexi said helplessly: "Oh! If Wu Sangui had tens of thousands more people, we would definitely not be defeated."
Who would have thought that if eighty thousand people fought against one hundred thousand people, they would be defeated? This is the elite force of the Qing Dynasty!
This Ming army is getting more and more powerful.
The three of them had incomprehensible thoughts, but they shut their mouths at the same time and focused on running away.
As for the Ming army, with insufficient cavalry, they could only try their best to defeat them, and it was difficult to retain all the Qing troops.
It was not until late at night that Li Jingwu reported the report with excitement:
"Your Majesty, this battle was a great victory. The Qing army left behind more than 15,000 corpses and a total of 7,000 prisoners. Especially the heavy armored infantry you mentioned, their corpses exceeded 5,000."
"This is a rare victory for the imperial court against Jiannu since Wanli. Long live your Majesty——"
"Long live your Majesty, long live the Ming Dynasty——"
After a day of fighting, the Qing army had only more than 10,000 casualties. It seemed like a small number, but in fact it was the reality.
As long as the Qing cavalry cannot be truly restrained, every battle will result in a defeat rather than a total annihilation.
However, the casualties were all elite Eight Banners, so the significance is still extraordinary.
"In the final analysis, there are still insufficient cavalry!"
Although the emperor was also very happy, his excitement was reduced a bit when he thought of the cavalry.
This was expected before the war, but he still found it difficult to accept it.
However, this further aroused Zhu Yixi's desire to form a large-scale cavalry.
Although firearms will be the mainstream on the battlefield in the future, cavalry still occupied a place until World War II.
To defeat a knight with a horse is the way to go.
"According to the report from the scouts, Jiannu had already arrived at Shanyang City after retreating more than thirty miles."