Chapter 321 The Destruction of Four Thousand Armored Cavalry
Liu Mu swung his sword and cut the man and horse in front of him into two pieces. He wiped the blood from his face and looked at Lan Qi who rushed up the mountain again.
"Get back from both sides!"
After Liu Mu defeated the first line of Qing troops with thousands of cavalry, he did not continue to defend the position. According to the plan, the Ming army set up a triple formation and laid out three lines of defense. Liu Mu was only the first line of defense. As long as the attack was similar,
He can retreat behind the third line of defense and then regroup to form the fourth line of defense.
When fighting against cavalry, the most terrifying thing about cavalry is their impact and penetration.
But now the Fushan formations can greatly slow down the impact of their cavalry, and they can even use this terrain to continuously extend the three-fold formation into four and five stacks.
Xu Erxian led three thousand cavalry to the place where the front line was defeated. Corpses were everywhere, blood flowed all over the ground, and the hillside covered with rocks and soil was actually slippery with blood.
"Chase!"
Xu Erxian did not intend to let the Ming army run away, but soon countless Ming troops appeared in front.
There are still three columns of horse-repelling walls in front, and then three columns of infantry formations for defense.
"General, the thieves are cunning and arrayed on the mountain. They are already on guard. We are disadvantaged in attacking from above. Why don't we retreat first and surround ourselves at the foot of the mountain. When the king arrives with his chariots and infantry battalion, we can then use artillery and infantry to siege?" a general said.
Something was wrong with the momentum, so I quickly persuaded Xu Erxian.
But Xu Erxian has already taken the lead at this time, or he has suffered too much losses because he underestimated the enemy. He urgently needs victory at this moment to wash away the responsibility of the defeated army. If he stops now, he can certainly encircle and annihilate the Ming army more securely, but his failure is also
It can't be washed.
"If we retreat now, we will be defeated. The elite of the Ming army are all in the first formation. If the first formation collapses, it will definitely not be able to hold on in the second formation. If we continue to charge, victory will be achieved.
It’s in front of you.”
The second formation of the Ming army was Yongwei Town.
The person who commanded the Yongwei Town was Zhu Shengli, who was nicknamed Little Tiger among the army back then. He was the adopted son of a tiger and the great-nephew of Li Zicheng.
This man followed a tiger to pay homage to Zhu Yihai and was left with the prisoner. He was considered a hostage. However, the prisoner admired the little tiger very much and gave him a surname and a baron. He even entrusted him with important tasks. Now he is the commander-in-chief of Yongwei Town.
official.
Standing in front of the formation, he didn't talk too much.
"You all saw the performance of Warrior Town just now. They fought very well. Most of the officers and even brothers in Warrior Town came from our Yongwei Town. Our Yongwei is the number one town in the imperial camp. Don't lose your courage.
The people who protect you can do it!"
"war!"
There were five thousand soldiers in Yongwei Town, but they faced three times the number of enemies in Warrior Town just now.
Five thousand infantry against three thousand armored cavalry.
Fortunately, Zhang Mingbin and others quickly made tactical adjustments after seeing the Qing army's desperate concentration of cavalry to attack this road.
Send gunners and artillery to reinforce the brave guards.
The cavalry were also ordered to be on standby on both wings for flank support.
On the mountain, there are endless guns and cannons.
Zhu Shengli ordered the large shields to be at the front and the spearmen at the back.
A shield wall like the Great Wall was erected in front of the formation.
Three thousand cavalry rushed over the mountain, and the shield wall remained motionless as a mountain, covering the Qing army with guns and artillery. When the Qing army broke through the resistance and rushed to the front of the formation, they failed to do the same as last time.
Leap into the Ming army formation.
Because the Ming army occupied a high place and set up a large shield, the Qing cavalry attacked with their backs and could not jump into the Ming army's formation. When they rushed to the shield wall, they could only stab them with guns, chop with knives, or directly use their war horses.
Collide.
"shield!"
Zhu Shengli was once a member of Li Zicheng's Three Walls cavalry. The tens of thousands of cavalrymen at Three Walls were much more powerful than this.
As a three-wall cavalry who had been invincible in battles, he knew very well what the advantages of cavalry were. The greatest advantage of cavalry was speed. It could outflank, maneuver and attack, and it could directly penetrate enemy formations.
But these all require speed and terrain.
It's best to fight on the plains, where the scene is big and the action is good.
But on this mountain, it's impossible to run, let alone collide, and it's difficult to outflank them.
The formation position chosen by Zhu Shengli was still on a relatively steep section. Once the shield wall was erected, it would be like a city wall blocking the cavalry.
The artillery mounts fired condescendingly from a high place behind, and the musketeers and archers also fired arrows from the high ground behind the shield wall.
The cavalry was blocked and unable to pass.
Xu Erxian led his troops three times and advanced three times. The shield formation was like a mountain and remained motionless.
The three thousand cavalry slowly crowded into the front of the formation. At this time, orders were issued from the mountain. Zhang Mingbin commanded the Jinwu cavalry to swoop down from the mountain and flank the Qing cavalry from both sides.
After Jinwu Cavalry joined the battle, Zhu Shengli also took the initiative to open the shield wall.
Since the Qing cavalry had stopped and formed a block, there was no need to be afraid. The Yongwei infantry jumped out and dived to pounce on the Qing cavalry.
Three people in a group.
One person holds a shield to protect two comrades, and then the other two people, one cuts the horse and the other cuts the man.
The Qing army was forced to dismount and fight on foot. They were in the same situation as the thousand men before. They couldn't rush through and couldn't go around. They were squeezed into a ball. On the uneven hillside, there were many shrubs and trees that hindered their feet.
He could only dismount and fight on foot.
He stretched his bow and let go of arrows, and stabbed with his lance.
But if the cavalry really dismounts and fights on foot, especially in this kind of terrain, it is not as good as the infantry.
Seeing that the battle had completely turned into a melee, the soldiers on the last line of defense, as well as Liu Mu's Warrior Town, the first line of defense that had just retreated, also shouted loudly to surround them and join the battle group.
As a result, more than 20,000 people started fighting on Xifu Mountain.
The two sides were shouting at each other and fighting in a heap.
The artillerymen are still supporting the battle and showing off their power.
After nearly an hour of melee, the Qing cavalry had been divided into groups. At this time, Xu Erxian had long regretted it, but it was difficult to escape after being caught in the melee.
Although he ordered a breakout over and over again, the cavalry could not even mount their horses.
The mountains and plains were filled with Ming troops, and they were surrounded by five times as many Ming troops.
Especially the first line of thousands of cavalry was defeated too quickly and suffered heavy casualties. They were actually fighting with three thousand cavalry, but after being divided and surrounded, they were forced to mix into close combat, and the power of the cavalry was completely unable to be used.
Guns and cannons and arrows are like rain falling.
The Qing army could only fight and retreat, trying its best to rush down the mountain, but countless men and horses fell at every step.
Although Fushan Mountain is not high, fighting and escaping at the same time adds a lot of difficulty. After more than an hour of melee, the Qing army had completely collapsed, and everyone was scrambling to escape. In the end, it became a harvest battle in which the Ming army chased and killed the Qing army.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The Qing cavalry soldiers could not find their commanders, and the knights could not find their mounts. They ran for their lives, trampling each other to death, and countless people died when rivers flooded and ditches were filled.
They finally managed to escape down the mountain, but they were still being chased by teams of Jinwu cavalry, leaving them with nowhere to escape.
When they were exhausted from running, the auxiliary soldiers from Luqiao Town rushed out to block the way. The auxiliary soldiers could easily defeat these tired horseless Qing troops, tie them up and capture them.
The Ming army searched everywhere.
Of the four thousand Qingqi, not even one of them could escape. Even some hungry people from Luqiao Town eventually participated in the hunt and chase, and dozens of them were actually captured.
The Qing Cavalry Commander Xu Erxian disguised himself as a soldier and hid in the mountains, but was eventually found.
Zhang Mingbin and others had never thought that they could win so completely. They thought they could use the Qing army to underestimate the enemy and be satisfied with annihilating part of them, but they actually won completely.
The four thousand Qing cavalry, even the Han army's flag cavalry, were not ordinary green battalions after all.
Not to mention a full four thousand.
Xu Erxian was still a general military officer.
The capture was also very good. The Qing army was completely wiped out, and their mounts, armor, weapons, etc. basically fell into the hands of the Ming army.
These Qing cavalry were carried one by two. Except for those who were dead, disabled and useless, the rest were recovered. There were more than 6,000 horses.
There are four thousand sets of cotton armor alone.
Although these armors were blue Tatar armor with red edges, the soldiers and horses from several towns who participated in the battle had already distributed the spoils. They took half of them and handed over the remaining half to the supervising state.
The four towns were given 2,000 sets of cotton armor, and each family received 500 sets.
Liu Mu and Zhu Shengli were a little dissatisfied, thinking that they contributed the most, while Jinwu's cavalry and navy did not contribute much. However, Zhang Mingbin insisted that the four families should be divided equally. After all, everyone was fighting together, but he also agreed to share more in terms of weapons, etc.
They are two towns.
Then Zhang Mingbin used his share of weapons, etc., and came back in exchange for some war horses.
Overall, the four towns are quite satisfied with each other.
A family of 500 suits of cotton armor, more than 800 war horses, and various weapons are enough to arm an elite battalion.
"How to deal with these Tatars?" Zhu Chenggong asked.
"I think it would be better to kill them all. These are Tatars from Liaodong. They are not ordinary green camps. They cannot be recruited and retained." Zhang Mingbin said.
Shen Wenzhong was hesitant.
"After my preliminary interrogation, it is true that most of them are Liaodong and Han military flags, and some even passed through Dongjiang earlier, but I think it is inappropriate to just chop them down. These people are all cavalry, and they are quite elite."
"You are so elite, how come you can't defeat us with four thousand elite cavalry?"
"That's also because they underestimated the enemy and were careless. It was mainly because the generals made mistakes. Didn't those cavalry also cause us a lot of casualties?"
In this battle, the Ming army's 20,000 soldiers fought against 4,000 Qing cavalry. In the end, more than 500 people died and there were even more casualties.
The Qing army lost 1,800 people in battle and the rest were captured. However, many of the 1,800 people who died in battle were killed while escaping, or were killed after surrendering or being captured.
About a thousand people died directly in the battle.
"It's better to escort him back to Huai'an and hand him over to the prison state. If he can be reformed and surrendered so that he can be used by me, that would be good."
An excellent cavalry cannot be trained in three to five years.
"The vacancies for those killed and disabled in each town can be filled first by selecting from the town's auxiliary troops."
"Then let's just withdraw like this?"
no answer.
Having just won such a big victory, it is normal for them to give up when things are good, but they still have some unfinished business.
"You said, since we have wiped out all these cavalry, the Tatars behind will not know that the cavalry is gone. We have also captured their armor, flags, etc., then we can put on their clothes and armor and pretend to be these cavalry, and return
Yutai, or simply set up an ambush here, and then attack Shang Kexi's remaining 4,000 steps of camp, there should be a good chance, right?"
Eight hundred people were killed and more than a thousand disabled, but the strength of the Ming army was still there.
Zhu Shengli’s proposal made everyone present feel excited!