Following a few choking horn calls, the remaining Qing troops retreated from Guanxiacang in panic, leaving behind piles of corpses of their own clansmen that they had no time to take away.
The Ming army guards who closed the gates taunted the retreating Tatars wantonly. Some even stood directly on the battlements, faced those embarrassed guys, took off their pants and peed at them.
Everyone laughed heartily.
"Who told you to retreat!"
"Your Majesty, almost all of our battalion is dead. The Southern Barbarians are defending in a dangerous position. There are so many guns and cannons that we can't attack them at all. If we fight again, they will all be dead."
Not far from Guanxia.
Under the commander's banner, Boluo cursed angrily at the retreating general and whipped him hard with his riding crop. The general kneeled on the ground and gritted his teeth to endure the attack. He did not dare to evade and could only plead.
"I won't listen to this. Without my military order, you can't retreat even if all of you die. Someone is coming, push this guy who is greedy for life and afraid of death, and kill him."
Ignoring the man's pleas, Bolo threw the whip aside and gave orders.
Several generals came forward to plead, "Please spare this slave's life, Your Majesty. It's not because he is greedy for life and afraid of death, but Muling Pass is really difficult to attack. The Ming thieves have been on guard for a long time, and there have been many new reinforcements recently."
Firearms help with defense. Even if our Manchurian athletes are brave in front of this narrow pass, it will be difficult for them to use them."
"Deploy another five hundred people to prepare for the attack. Without orders, even if they are all dead, they are not allowed to retreat. Even if they are piled with corpses, they will be piled up to the city for me!"
"My lord, calm down and calm down!"
A group of generals panicked when they saw Bolo's temper. After the battle had been fought so far, there was actually no fight left, and they should have withdrawn long ago. But Bolo refused to admit defeat, and insisted on fighting here, attacking and fighting hard.
Secret attacks, feint attacks, night attacks, all kinds of methods were used, but the Ming army was able to defend it without leakage.
With the help of the Fudang Pass terrain, they had already lost nearly 2,000 people here.
For the Ten Thousand and Eight Banners who came from afar, this was an almost unacceptable heavy blow, especially if they continued to fight like this, they might be surrounded and they would not have much food and grass.
"Your Majesty, why don't you go to Laiwu first and then change to Jinan? We can't stay here any longer!"
Boluo still wanted to fight again. He also had the most elite Bagala camp in his hand, with 500 Bagala elites. But facing the copper- and iron-walled Muling Pass, Boluo did not dare to use these Manchurian troops.
Elite fight hard.
"Report!"
"Report to the general, the Ming army. The Ming army captured Yishui City and came to Daxian Mountain."
"But capture the Ming army in Yizhou?"
"It was Liu Shixun of Haizhou and Lu Xiangguan of Zhucheng. The two armies joined forces to capture Yishui City."
Several generals heard this and hurriedly advised, "Your Majesty, the Southern Barbarians have come to surround us from three sides. If we don't retreat, we will be surrounded."
"Surround, I asked him to come here to see if they can fight!" Bolo gritted his teeth.
"Your Majesty, think twice and go to Jinan first."
"That's right. We are not afraid that the thieves will attack us, but we are afraid that they will surround us without fighting. Then we will have no food to support us and it will be difficult to hold on."
The generals tried to persuade him, but Bolo could only sigh.
"At night, half of the troops at Bagala camp quietly left the camp and ambush in the valley. The rest of the troops retreated with great fanfare in the morning to lure the thieves to attack.
If they dare to attack, we will destroy them."
The generals felt that Bolo had lost his mind and gone crazy. He had used this trick several times before and deliberately pretended to retreat. In fact, there was an ambush. However, the Ming army did not fall for the trick. Even if they left, they would only send some night soldiers.
Take it over and inspect it carefully.
Although they felt that Bolo was irrational, military orders could not be disobeyed, and everyone was satisfied with being able to retreat.
If I stay any longer, I'm really worried about being surrounded.
the next day.
After the gate was closed, Meng Xian received a report from Wen Hu that the Tatars were moving outside the gate. The troops sent out to check the gate all night, and reported that the Tatars were retreating.
"The Tatars are playing this trick again? It's really difficult. How many times have they withdrawn their troops?" Meng Xian rubbed his gun and dismissed it.
"It seems like he really wants to run away this time." Wen Hu said with a smile. This officer who was extremely capable of committing crimes had managed to advance several levels with just one Muling Pass. He was promoted from being the commander of the team at night to being promoted back to the rank of Qian Commander.
Became a battalion deputy.
In fact, Meng Xian was also promoted due to the battle of Muling Pass. He was promoted from the front line to deputy general, but he still led the Left Association and still guarded Muling Pass. After the battle was over, he might be promoted to general.
This battle at Mulingguan was indeed a very good one. They captured the city first and blocked Bolo's 10,000-man troops from holding the pass for a long time. They even killed nearly 2,000 Bolo soldiers.
This military achievement was great enough, but the battle losses were relatively small. They managed to achieve a battle loss ratio of one to three, which was much less than the Tatar losses. These were the elites of the Eight Banners, and their merits were really worthless.
Although this is to take advantage by defending the city, the problem is that he has to face an opponent like Bolo who is willing to cooperate and sacrifice his life, especially when the opponent is one of the eight kings who assist the government.
Meng Xian is quite grateful to Bolo now and wishes he could stay longer.
"Really running? When has it not been true?" Meng Xian smiled.
"It looks like he really ran away, but there must have been an ambush along the way."
"Forget it," Meng Xian waved his hand, "It doesn't matter whether he really ran away or not, we have earned enough military exploits on Boluo. If he wants to run away, just run away. The Holy Father has repeatedly reminded us not to underestimate the enemy.
Be more careful, we have done enough good deeds, just don't make any more mistakes and capsize the ship."
"You really don't want to pursue me?"
"Forget it," Meng Xian shook his head, "You take Ye Bu Qing and hang him from behind, and see him off for me. Remember to keep your distance and be careful."
Although Meng Xian had killed two thousand Tatars in the battle with Bolo these days, he was deeply impressed by the bravery and ferocity of the Tatars. These people are really fierce. They can fight against such dangerous situations again and again.
He is not afraid of a bunch of people dying every time. Anyway, Meng Xian admires him very much.
If such a fierce Tatar really wants to pursue him, he may not be able to get a good advantage. Even if he still has about 4,000 soldiers in the pass now, plus other auxiliary soldiers, civilian braves and other tens of thousands of people, he really has to go out to fight.
, he probably can't be beaten, so he'd better be honest, accept it as soon as it's good, and let him go if he wants to leave.
Anyway, his mission is to defend Muling Pass, not to defeat Bolo.
The generals in charge supported Meng Xian's decision. Although they wanted to make great achievements again, they had fully seen the bravery of the Tatars of the Boluo tribe in the past few days.
Close the door tightly and stick to the dangerous point.
Only Wen Hu led the troops out of seclusion at night and followed him.
Half of Bolo's troops broke out of camp and retreated with great fanfare. He led the other half of the elite including Bagala quietly out of camp in the middle of the night and lurked in the valley halfway, enduring mosquito bites and staying up half the night. As a result, half of the troops passed by in the morning.
, but the Ming army did not appear.
It was not until noon that I saw a night tree coming over.
But they were cautious, sending out Ye in turns and not daring to pry carefully. They hid in the valley, but their traces were still discovered. Bolo was angry and sent Bagala to chase them, but Ye did not stop them but slipped well and escaped far away.
Bolo saw through the plan and had no choice but to order a retreat.
As soon as they left, the night army hung up from afar. Boro sent cavalry to drive them away, but they retreated. Anyway, they followed them like flies. It was very annoying, but it was helpless, so we had to let them hang behind.
.
Yishui City.
Commander-in-Chief Lu Xiangguan and General Anyang Liu Shixun joined forces in Yishui. There was no main force of the Qing army here, only some local camp soldiers and local warriors. When Boluo passed by before, they also forcibly confiscated a batch of grain and grass.
Two Ming armies came to attack, but the officers in the city ran away first, followed by the remaining local officials. The remaining officials found the local squires and recommended them to come out to take the lead in welcoming the Ming army.
Go down without a fight.
"General, Boluo has been defeated and is retreating from Muling Pass to Laiwu!"
Valley bloating
"This is a rare opportunity, intercept it quickly!"
Lu Xiangguan heard that Boluo had lost 2,000 men at Muling Pass and was now defeated, so he immediately decided to intercept him. Liu Shixun was hesitant. He was a naval general. After capturing Haizhou, he also led his troops northward to capture Yi first.
Zhou wanted to take Yishui again, but there was basically no fighting, so he hesitated.
But Lu Xiangguan believes that opportunities cannot be missed and will never come back, so the main thing is to intercept them.
"General Liu, Boluo has suffered repeated setbacks at Muling Pass, losing troops and generals. Now his morale is depressed and he is retreating in panic. Although there are still seven or eight thousand people, how can the newly defeated army fight? Moreover, this valley is dangerous and the Tatars
If you are eager to escape, you will not have the will to fight. Our two armies took advantage of the new victory and defeated the captives in one fell swoop. Even if they could not encircle and annihilate them, they could still tear off a few large pieces of meat."
"You can't just let them come and go as they please, right?"
"If you don't fight now if you have the chance, it will be difficult to fight in the future."
Liu Shixun was also persuaded. At this time, the two armies had more than 10,000 troops. Their strength was not inferior to Boluo's, and they were victorious in consecutive battles, so the two ordered an attack.
Early the next morning, meals were made at the fourth watch and troops were dispatched at the fifth watch.
The two armies left some auxiliary camps and Xiangyong in Yishui City, and the remaining nearly 10,000 troops marched northwest along the Yishui River Valley, intending to be the first to block Boluo's escape route to the east.
After marching for three days, they arrived at the foot of Shuhe Pagoda Mountain. They did not collect any reports at night. The Tatars had withdrawn from Muling Pass and were heading here.
Lu Xiangguan observed the terrain and chose to camp in Tashan, preparing to form a stronghold to intercept.
The two Ming armies began to set up camp on Tashan. As a result, the camp was just half-built when the Boluo army arrived in advance. Countless captives and horsemen galloped over the valley.
Facing the Ming army encamped on the mountain, they rushed forward without hesitation.
Without any hesitation.
Lu Xiangguan and others who were halfway in the camp had no choice but to form a formation to fight the enemy, and the two sides started fighting at the foot of Tashan.
As soon as they took over the formation, Lu Xiangguan and others found that the Tatars were extremely fierce and showed no sign of being defeated. They rushed towards the Ming army's positions, carrying bows, arrows, cannons, and holding shields. The musketeers and archers also continued to fight back.
, the two sides fought fiercely at the foot of Tashan for half a day.
In the end, gaps appeared in the Ming army's positions and they collapsed in several places.
Seeing this, Lu Xiangguan drew his sword and stood under his own military flag, shouting loudly, "Fight to the death and refuse to retreat. Anyone who crosses this flag will be killed!"
Under his orders, the defeated soldiers gathered here.
He quickly mobilized the artillery team and the gun team, used intensive firepower to defeat a group of cavalry that rushed up, and barely stabilized the position.
More and more Ming troops gathered and quickly rebuilt the defense line.
Horses, shields, spears, muskets, tiger crouching, etc. layer by layer.
Fortunately, there was still half a camp. Now that we had retreated to the mountain, we still had someone to rely on. Lu Xiangguan and others personally supervised the formation in front and urgently ordered the soldiers to repair the camp.
"Concentrate your guns and aim at the Tatars who are leading the charge. Those must be Baya La!"
The Ming army used artillery, muskets, and guns to block the Tatars who were leading the charge, and finally contained their offensive. Fortunately, the Ming army arrived half a day earlier and built half of the camp. Although they lost the battle, they were able to retreat in time.
After retreating to the camp and still on the mountain, the Qing army was at a disadvantage in attacking.
The Ming army tried its best to repair the fortress, but the Qing army did not give up and made several fierce attacks in an attempt to open a gap. However, Lu Xiangguan and others personally led the defense and fought to the death around several positions, concentrating firearms, bows and arrows to assist the defense.
After a day of fierce fighting, countless corpses were piled up inside and outside several gaps.
Both sides were furious, but the Ming army did not dare to relax. If they relaxed, the whole army would be wiped out. Fortunately, these were imperial soldiers. Although the armor was not as good as that of the Tatars, they were not the old Ming army, and their fighting spirit was still very strong.
In the face of this fierce battle, although they were scared, they could still keep a close eye on their superiors and their military flags. The officers would not retreat and the military flag would not fall down, but they still stood firm.
By nightfall, the fortress had been built very strong, and the Qing army's offensive began to weaken. They could no longer attack forcefully under the darkness, and receded like a tide.
Lu Xiangguan asked people to light a bonfire and put all their strength on guard. On the other side, he continued to build more forts and even started digging trenches in front of the camp and inside the camp.
Daybreak.
Bolo rode his horse to the camp at the foot of the mountain. Looking at the Ming camp on the mountain, his face changed drastically overnight.
"These are the imperial troops of the Ming Dynasty emperor? I thought the Ming army only dared to fight by guarding the city, but I didn't expect it to be so tenacious in the field. I didn't defeat them in one go yesterday. I was careless."
The other generals also felt very sorry. It would be very difficult to defeat this Ming army now.
And they may not have this chance.
Their casualties yesterday were not small, with thousands lost.
There are still nearly 7,000 people, but there are not many arrows, gunpowder, etc., especially there is not much food and grass.
They also had to worry about the Ming army at Muling Pass pursuing them.
Looking at the hedgehog-like camp, Bolo was very angry.
But also a little helpless.
He rode around three times, trying to find a loophole, but in the end he felt that the Ming army was determined to defend and they failed to capture it yesterday. It would be too difficult to capture it again today.
Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.
It's such a pity.
"Your Majesty, withdraw."
"Yesterday, in the battle, at least three thousand Ming troops were annihilated, and I felt relieved."
"There are still seven to eight thousand Ming troops on the mountain. Their soldiers are not weaker than mine. They have no way to retreat. They are determined to fight to the bitter end."
Bolo felt very angry in his chest.
We can't defeat Mulingguan, and we can't even win the field battle here.
Yesterday's desperate attack resulted in thousands of deaths, but the success fell short.
"When did the Ming army become so capable of fighting? The Ming army on this mountain clearly feels that it is far inferior to our Eight Banners. Their armor is not as good as ours, their bows and swords are not as good as ours, and they are inferior to us in every aspect. But why do they dare to fight so much?
?”
"Why?"
Even when he faced off against the most elite Guan Ning army outside the customs, Bolo didn't feel this way.
In yesterday's situation, the Ming army must have been defeated. After the first round of attack, they should have collapsed and then fled separately. The rest was a battle of pursuit and annihilation, but they just collapsed and then stabilized.
Bolo surrounded the camp for another day, trying to find some loopholes, but the Ming army kept reinforcing the fortress. Even on the third day, even morale felt much restored.
The Ming army even dared to send cavalry out of the camp to intercept their scout cavalry from approaching.
Seeing this, Bolo knew that the chance was gone.
After resting for a night, Bolo left camp on the morning of the fourth day.
On Tashan Mountain, Generals Lu Xiangguan and Liu Shixun looked at the retreating Eight Banners, but this time they no longer dared to pursue them rashly and could only let them leave.
"I underestimated the enemy in this battle. I will report it to His Majesty and take all responsibilities." Lu Xiangguan said to Liu Shixun.
"Why did General Lu say this? We fought this battle together, and we will shoulder the responsibility together if we lose."
"Hey, pack up and return to Yishui. Send more scouting horses. Be careful of the Tatars coming back with their carbine!"
