The cavalry of the front battalion received the order to retreat, but retreat was not easy. The cavalry behind them continued to rush upward, and the cavalry in front tried to retreat but could not come back, causing chaos on the hillside for a while. With great difficulty, all the soldiers and horses turned their horses and headed down the gentle slope.
During the evacuation, thousands more soldiers and horses were shot and killed by the enemy above.
Seeing the opponent's retreat, orders were given repeatedly from the top of the mountain, and the tribal cavalry mounted their horses one after another. Several tribal chiefs had already made preparations for the opponent's retreat, which was to take the opportunity to rush and attack, attack the opponent's formation, and give the opponent a greater impact.
Kill.
Countless torches were lit, and shouts rose from the sky. The tribal cavalry howled and rushed down from the mountain pass, their bows and arrows buzzing in their hands, and they shot out like a rain of locust arrows, giving a meal to the Confederate cavalry who were hurriedly retreating below.
The Confederate soldiers and horses could only desperately escape from the slope at this moment. In this situation, it was impossible for them to turn their horses' heads to fight. The gentle slope from Niuwangling was only two miles long, and the horses could not gallop.
It's just a tea time, but this short tea time seems to be as long as a lifetime to the former battalion cavalry. Many people have indeed completed their lifelong journey here, and were shot and killed by the fierce pursuit of the tribal cavalry.
However, the tribal cavalry were obviously jealous and did not know how to give up when they were ready. They did not give up after chasing the gentle slope and continued to pursue them. Suddenly, a cavalry rushed out from the darkness in the slanting thorn.
The formation of the pursuing tribal cavalry was cut into two ends. The more than 5,000 tribal cavalry chasing at the front were cut out like a cake. The appearance of this cavalry also changed the battle from a bow and arrow chase mode.
It became a close combat mode.
The cavalry of the front camp who had fled in panic also came to their senses. They turned diagonally, turned their horses' heads and charged towards the battlefield down the slope. In this way, the three thousand tribal cavalry who were cut off immediately fell into the encirclement of the Southern Army.
Even though their horses were fast, they could not escape from the crack at this moment, and soon they fell into a hand-to-hand encirclement and suppression by the Confederate cavalry.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the tens of thousands of tribal soldiers and horses behind them made a decisive decision to give up the rescue and immediately evacuated up the slope. If there was any hesitation at this moment, they would be entangled by the opponent, which would in turn pay a greater price. No
By half an hour, all three thousand trapped tribal cavalry were wiped out, and no one escaped.
Until then, Han Desui, who was commanding the battle, breathed a sigh of relief. Under his command, the situation finally did not collapse. Although his side suffered more than 9,000 casualties in the battle, he finally regained some dignity.
He counterattacked and killed the opponent's three thousand troops. Although the three-to-one battle loss ratio is unacceptable, it is already a good result in the current situation. If he did not stop Han Zongchang's stupid behavior, he would blindly
If you charge up the mountain, you don't know how many of the 50,000 front camp soldiers and horses will be able to come back alive. If you don't let your 30,000 soldiers and horses wait for the opportunity to cut the battlefield on the side, the opponent is afraid that they will chase the front camp cavalry for several miles.
On the ground, our side will suffer more casualties and casualties.
At this moment, the most dangerous stage of retreat has been overcome, and the soldiers and horses can finally rest and breathe and stabilize their position.
In fact, the most sensible thing to do at this moment is to suffer a huge loss and withdraw the troops back to the camp, but of course Han Desui couldn't bear to suffer this big loss. Especially when his son caused such a big disaster, he had to deal with the aftermath. It would have been okay if it was done before.
, Han Zongchang is his only son. If he does not make amends, he will have to use military law to deal with it afterwards, and then Zongchang will have to move his head. Han Desui cannot let his only son
To save his son's life, he must make amends for his son. Therefore, there is only one way. To completely annihilate the enemy tonight and fight a turnaround, then in terms of reward and punishment after the war, Han Zongchang's behavior can be regarded as
The first battle to defeat the enemy began. Sparing his life would not make people dissatisfied.
To put it simply, if you want to understand military law and save your son's life, you have to turn this bad beginning into a perfect result. Only in this way can you get the best of both worlds.
From the beginning, Han Desui had actually thought about this, otherwise he would not have agreed to Han Zhang's suggestion of a full-scale attack. Han Zhang was still a knowledgeable person, and he must have known this, so he made the suggestion,
Han Desui was also embarrassed. The difference was that if he had to do this, he would have to pay more casualties of ordinary soldiers. But in order for Han Zongchang to survive, there was nothing he could do to kill more people.
"Pull up the siege equipment, catapults, and catapults for me. Use this mountain as a city to attack. Drive them down the mountain." Han Desui ordered loudly.
Although this is a stupid way, it is still the most feasible way to attack the mountain at this moment. Since the opponent dug pits, the cavalry charge suffered huge casualties. According to the cavalry who retreated, the pits were deep and wide, and there was more than one pit.
There may be as many as three or five. The entire Niuwang Ridge is several miles long from north to south, and the length of the pit should also be several miles. Even the flesh and blood of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses may not be able to fill it. No normal general would know this.
There are traps with deep trenches and wide trenches that have to be rushed upward, just like no one would fill the moat or trench with the flesh and blood of their own soldiers and horses when attacking a city. Of course, except for the fool Han Zongchang.
Han Desui's idea was that the other party was just using Niuwangling's geographical location as a stronghold. They had been operating here for many days, which could be seen from the trenches they dug. They were ready to take advantage of Niuwangling and follow them here.
They are fighting on their own side. In this case, driving them down the mountains is a critical approach. Once they leave the place where they have managed well, they will no longer have any advantage on the plains. Han Zhang's 50,000 cavalry have already
Once the opponent is driven off the mountain, they will fall into Han Zhang's hands. By then, it will be their end.
More than 500 catapults were pulled up the slope by horses. The catapults stopped walking halfway through, because although the gradient of the slope was relatively gentle, the catapults really could not shift their center of gravity too much. They had not yet reached the top.
After a few dozen steps, the slope was swaying and threatening to overturn. Although Han Desui wanted to use the sky carriage as a commanding height to suppress bows and arrows, he had to give up.
The catapult arrived about 200 steps down the slope of the mountain and entered the shooting range. But there was a problem, that is, there was no stone to throw. There was not even a decent stone on the grassland. Niuwangling was not a mountain either.
It was just a grassy slope with raised soil. Speaking of stones, there was not even a cobblestone as big as a fist. Catapults generally used local materials, and it was impossible to carry a large number of stone bullets with the army. However, this was not a problem for Han Desui, who ordered people
The excavated soil is packed in straw bags and compacted, and the catapult becomes an earth-moving vehicle. However, when a straw bag of soil hits a person, the weight is quite amazing and the force is quite strong. It is so stuffy that the head and even the neck may be damaged.
They will be broken and hit on the body, and the impact will also hurt people, but the effect is not as obvious as that of stones. At this time, one can only make do with it and make do with it according to local conditions.
‘earth dumper’
Start throwing bags of mud onto the mountain. The effect of the mud bag hitting the crowd on the mountain is really good. The person who is hit can be knocked unconscious, and it will cause internal injuries if it hits the body.
The ground also exploded like a cannonball. Although the splash of soil inside was not enough to hurt people, it caused a cloud of smoke and dust on the mountain ridge, blinding the eyes, and had the unexpected effect of disrupting the opponent's formation.
Under the bombardment of countless mud bags, the tribal soldiers and horses on the mountains were in chaos. Chief Tu Gusa was hit on the head by a bag of mud. Fortunately, he was strong and had a big head and thick neck, so he was not knocked unconscious. However,
Instead, his hard forehead exploded the mud bag, which made his mouth full of mud and his nose full of mud. Not only was the excavated mud contaminated by cow dung or horse dung, his head and face were full of stinky odor.
The smell was outrageous and the smell was extremely unpleasant. Angry, he rushed to Meng Sage's place in the middle of the mountain to discuss countermeasures.
Brother Meng Sa was not having a good time here either. The place where the mud bag hit him was filled with smoke and dust, and his mouth was filled with dirt and grass clippings. He was shouting at the top of his lungs to order his troops to stay still and try to avoid the flying mud bag.
"Brother Meng Sa, what should we do? These damn bastards are trying to fight with us. Aren't we passively beaten? Bows and arrows can't hit them. If we let them hit us like this, we will be buried by them all."
Are you done?" Tu Gusa hid behind the horse and shouted towards Brother Meng Sa.
Brother Mengsa was annoyed and said angrily: "How do I know what to do? Who would have thought that they would use this method? It is impossible to rush down. Although many of them were killed, they still have hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
Ma, that’s not possible. Damn, it’s really annoying.”
"Bah, bah, bah!" Bald Bone spat wildly at the mud in his mouth. The smell was so bad that he felt nauseous.
"Are you blaming me? Do you think I'm a coward and afraid of death? I can tell you, if you want to attack yourself, I won't go down and die." Brother Meng Sa said angrily.
"No, no, brother, there is mud in his mouth. How dare you curse your brother?" Tu Gu hurriedly explained: "You need the help of Jurchens to rush down. Damn it, Wanyan Agu didn't mean to fight.
Will their soldiers and horses arrive soon? There has been no news about them since yesterday, and the scouts can't find any trace of them. Could it be that these Jurchens have given up on us?"
Brother Mengsa frowned and thought for a while and said: "Probably not. Wanyan Aguda is a smart man. He should know that we are finished, and the Jurchens will be finished too. Only by joining forces can we survive, and they will not stand idly by. But
I suspect that he wants us to fight with Han Desui and Han Gang's troops, and then come to reap the benefits. This bitch is very mean-spirited, and I can only believe a third of what he says. I have to be more careful with him in the future, and I can't
Listen to him in everything."
Tu Gusha nodded and said, "That's true. But... what should we do now?"
Brother Mengsa mused: "Push it first. For a while, they seemed to have no intention of attacking upwards. Let's bite the bullet and push it first. Anyway, the mud bag is not very lethal, and not many brothers will be killed. Then.
Hold on for a while, if the Jurchens still don't take action, we will retreat down the ridge and make further calculations."
Bald Bones smacked his lips and frowned: "That's the only way it can be."
Before he could finish his words, a mud bag whizzed over and hit the ground between the two of them. The sudden burst of dirt and dust instantly enveloped the two of them. In the smelly dust, Brother Meng Sa and Tu Gu Sa covered their mouths.
