Chapter 340 The Death of Abate (7,000-word Chapter)
"You can't escape! Let the front army hold back! Otherwise, everyone will be driven down the river and trampled by the Nanbarbarians!"
Facing the collapse of the Qing army, Abatai, who was old and weak, screamed at the top of his lungs and even burst into tears. He desperately asked his two sons to stop the soldiers who wanted to flee and let them fight.
Yue Le's face was covered with black traces of gunpowder smoke, and blood and tears crisscrossed his face, creating gullies of black mud. He staggered to his father and asked solemnly:
"Father, the right army has completely collapsed, and the right side of the center army has been torn apart to the point that it cannot be maintained. We have no choice but to withdraw!"
Abatai almost didn't come up with a breath: "We must retreat in an orderly manner! We can't flee northward like this! If we really escape to Shaoshui, there are still ten or twenty miles to go! If we get separated, Cao turns into a dragon and takes advantage of these two."
If a crazy tiger chases and bites you for dozens of miles, at least half of you will die on the way!
If you want to retreat, you have to swim east across the Feishui River and cross the river on the spot to get rid of the pursuit! You need dead soldiers to hold the enemy in front of you and buy time for the friendly forces to wade across the river! Let the friendly forces on the east bank of the Feishui River respond!"
After hearing this, Yue Le didn't know how to refute, but Abatai's other son Bolo felt something was wrong, and he also burst into tears and admonished: "Father, don't do it! The Fei River is wider and deeper than the Peony River. Even if you can wade in the water, you will lose your helmet."
Abandon your armor, otherwise I, the Northerner, will probably drown!
If you abandon your armored troops and flee to the east bank, you will have no fighting power. What’s more, Ming warships can go up and down the Feishui River. Although there are not many Ming warships visible at the moment, they are enough to kill a large number of swimming soldiers! At the mouth of the Shaoshui River,
It was blocked by our army's fortification, and Ming army ships could not sail in. It is safe to wade through the water from there!"
Abate's face was ashen, his expression changed several times, but he still made a decision quickly:
"You all think so, and Zhu Shuren must also think so! The Ming army knew that before our army crossed Shaoshui River, it had blocked the channel from Shaoshui River to Feishui River, so they would naturally predict that our army would retreat even after the war.
Peony water!
That's why Zhu Shuren concentrated so many troops on land today and only sent a few warships to monitor the battlefield! He didn't expect that our army would dare to risk his life and sacrifice his life for the sake of difficulty! This is an opportunity! If it is delayed for a long time, the Ming army will fight in the rear
The ship got the news of the winner and rushed to help clean up the ship, and it was completely impossible to leave!"
Abatai was seriously ill and bedridden. Today he reluctantly came to supervise the battle in person. At this moment, he suffered a series of setbacks. He was so anxious that he was vomiting blood. Yue Le and Bolo were shocked when they saw it, and they quickly asked someone to carry their father away.
Walk.
But Abatai seemed to be having a flashback. His skinny old hand like chicken feet suddenly became strong, and he slapped Yue Lelai's arm that was supporting him away:
"Let go! My own body knows that I will not be able to survive Fengyang today. If I don't get angry to death, I will drown in the water or die of cold...
What's more, today's battle is like this. Will Dorgon let me go when I go back? I'm afraid Jierhalang will be too embarrassed to let me go. If I die in this battle, you can still get mercy and sympathy. Please organize it quickly.
The soldiers and horses are wading through the water, and I, the king, will personally cut off the queen!"
The Yueleboluo brothers were shocked. Knowing that their father was already determined to die, they tried to persuade him again, but Abata commanded his close personal guards to force them away.
Abatai coughed up blood for a while, and his face turned red. It seemed that coughing up blood had raised the blood pressure in his head and face and recovered. He calmly commanded a part of the reliable green battalion to set up the Queyue Formation against the water to intercept the Ming army's pursuit.
To gain time.
Historically, Abatai died of illness in March this year, but now he has survived until September. He is already in control and has a good attitude, and he can live an extra year and a half during happy events.
His physical condition may not be able to withstand any major changes at any time, and he knows it very well.
…
"What? The Tatars didn't even retreat to the north. There are so many people right here, jumping into the Feishui River to escape? Quick! Let all the warships that can rush along the river be intercepted. If they encounter the Qing soldiers swimming in the water, they can
Kill as many as you want! Shoot and fire arrows at the river as they please!"
Zhu Shuren, who was supervising the battle on the opposite side, was far away from the line of fire, and the target of the Qing soldiers swimming across the river was not large. Therefore, Zhu Shuren could only notice this situation when there was a wave of hundreds of soldiers escaping through the water in groups.
No one is a clairvoyant. Zhu Shuren also understood the geography of the battlefield before the war, and he also did adequate intelligence work. He knew that the Qing army had fortifications to cut off the estuary from Shaoshui to Feishui, so Ming ships could not enter.
Peony water.
Based on this stereotype, Zhu Shuren was convinced that even if the Qing army was defeated, the Qing army would only flee north across Shaoshui River and would not escape across Feishui River in an organized manner.
In this case, Zhu Shuren had limited troops after all. In this decisive battle, the total strength of the Ming and Qing sides was about the same. Zhu Shuren could not waste too many troops on the Feishui River, and should concentrate his main strength on the front as much as possible.
,concentrate superior forces.
All of this indeed resulted in the Ming army's interception being a little weak when this unexpected fighter plane appeared. But there was nothing that could be done about it. If the Ming army had seemed absolutely sure of interception from the beginning, then the Qing army would not have chosen this option.
An escape route.
Everything is a matter of trade-offs and tactics. How can there be a perfect plan before the war?
Even if it is a perfect strategy at the beginning, the enemy will change their moves after seeing your first step of a perfect strategy. How can it continue to be a perfect strategy?
All you can do is to go all out, do your best, and kill as many Tatars as you can.
But do your best and obey fate!
There were only a handful of Ming warships on the battlefield, and they immediately headed upstream despite the rain of arrows, regardless of the danger of being alone and being shot by crossbows and muskets from both sides, or even being bombarded by a small number of light Folan cannons by the Qing army.
, inserted directly into the Qing army's retreat through the water, and when they encountered the Qing soldiers wading with their helmets and armor removed, they aimed and sniped at close range.
I just hate that sailing against the current is slow and the efficiency of this kind of pursuit is not high after all.
On the main frontal battlefield, the land battlefield, the Ming army was not to be outdone, and became more and more courageous to take the lead, and violently surrounded the Qing army.
Cao Bianjiao's cavalry faced the Qing army's main formation, which had shrunk to the size of an iron barrel, and was unable to penetrate it for the time being. After all, the cavalry was not designed to carry the enemy head-on.
Even if the morale of the Qing army declined again and they were defeated, thanks to Abatai, the banner of the county king, he still stood there. Abatai himself personally supervised the battle and never retreated, more or less forcibly giving the Qing army a backbone.
The military laws of the Qing army were strict. If the leader of the army refused to retreat, the people below were not allowed to order him to retreat first. Even if he returned alive, he would be punished very severely, and his family might even be harmed.
It was difficult for Cao Bianjiao's cavalry to open a gap in the Qing army's main formation. Zhu Shuren did not hesitate and quickly sent a messenger on Pegasus to tell Cao Bianjiao to kill through the Qing army's main formation and break through directly to the north.
Don't worry about exposing your back to the Qing army. Let them go straight to Shaoshui and chase down as many of the Qing troops who fled north as possible - the kind of battlefield where people are chasing people north and stabbing deserters in the back is the best place for cavalry to play.
, the magical effect of expanding the results.
After Cao Bianjiao received the order, he finally gave up his obsession with "hunting down another Qing prince" and instead pursued the defeated and remnant enemies on the northern front. At the same time, he also avoided the Ming cavalry from suffering more casualties.
The troops fighting in the Moon Formation were very lethal to the cavalry. Didn't Liu Yu kill a large number of Northern Wei cavalry in this way?
After Cao Bianjiao released his hand, the frontal battlefield was left to Huang Degong who was slowly advancing, and Huang Fei and Lin were well developed.
The riflemen of the Ming army marched in large formations one after another. On the frontal battlefield where both sides had lost their mobility and space to maneuver, they openly took advantage of their range and shot down rows of peripheral infantry of the Qing army.
The main infantry of the Qing army's central army were mostly green battalions, a few were Han bannermen, and very few were Manchu and Mongolian infantry.
The range of the crossbows used by these people was far inferior to that of the Ming army's latest Wuchang-made rifles. After being shot at for a while, they couldn't help but try to launch a counterattack.
But it was impossible for the Qing army to win with cavalry counterattacks before, let alone this kind of pure infantry charge?
Apart from leaving corpses all over the ground and fleeing back again, and further disrupting their own position, it was impossible to achieve anything more.
With the collapse of panic, more and more Green Camp soldiers chose to directly throw themselves into the river and cross the Feishui River to escape. The Manchu and Mongolian war officers on the bank frantically slashed and killed those who entered the river, but they could not stop them at all.
And even if they swam to the surface, they still had to endure the indiscriminate shooting and killing by a small number of Ming army ships that patrolled and searched for people. After a while, the surface of the Feishui River was filled with scarlet red.
…
Zhu Shuren in the rear has been watching the battlefield closely with binoculars.
Seeing that Huang Degong, Huang Fei and others finally surrounded Abatai's main formation from at least two directions, leaving only a small opening on the north side unblocked, Zhu Shuren was also very satisfied.
This detail was also required by his fire line command. As the saying goes, don't contain it when you return to the army. Feishui is to the east, and the southwest and southwest sides are surrounded. If the north is also completely surrounded, it will be easier for Abate's army to fight to the death and stay on the north side.
With a small opening, the enemy can easily escape.
Moreover, even if you flee north, you can't escape directly from the encirclement. If you walk more than ten miles north, you have to cross Shaoxui, which connects Shaopi to Feishui. That geographical obstacle is enough to delay the deserters before they are hunted down and forced to land for a while.
.
Seeing that the battle situation has entered garbage time, as long as the rifle team slowly advances in stacked formations and peels off the layers layer by layer, Zhu Shuren feels relieved and begins to think about how to annihilate more enemies faster -
Annihilating the enemy is inevitable, the only difference is the time, and obviously the faster, the better.
Because the faster it is, the less time is left for the enemy to wade across the river, and the less time is left for enemy deserters to flee north. The number of enemies who ultimately escape the encirclement will be smaller.
Zhu Shuren observed for a while and found that Huang Degong's fighting was still a little slow. At least he had a way to speed up. After thinking about it for a while, Zhu Shuren once again asked the messenger to pass the military order to the front——
Zhu Shuren didn't want to interfere with the details of tactical command. His talent in this area was not as good as Huang Degong's, so he didn't know how to micromanage. Zhu Shuren was good at looking at the overall situation and political vision, so he knew the boundaries of his abilities. He just asked people to give Huang Degong a few words.
Slogans that strike your heart:
"Let the front troops shout: Those who are cut off by the Han army and surrendered will not be killed, but those who kill the Tatars who surrender will be spared and retained!"
After Huang Degong received the order, he felt that it was indeed reasonable, and immediately ordered the order to be passed down from level to level.
Guns and artillery fired on the battlefield, it was so chaotic, and complicated slogans had no singing power. Ordinary soldiers could only remember two sentences at most, and they had to be popular and contrasting. The two sentences Zhu Shuren ordered were very popular, and they didn't have two cups of tea.
Soon everyone started shouting.
On the opposite side, the Green Battalion infantry, which had been forced into a desperate situation and was used by Abatai to cut off the rear, finally had the idea of betrayal due to heavy casualties and a desperate mentality.
Some soldiers began to chop off their braids with knives, then dropped their weapons and leaned over to rush towards the Ming army. In order to prevent being hit by stray bullets, some soldiers even lowered their bodies or even rolled away from the battle line, just to reach the opposite side.
The Ming army brothers saw clearly that they were no threat.
There were certainly small-scale misunderstandings and misfires at the beginning, and it was not uncommon for deserters to trample each other.
But later, the Ming army also immediately made adjustments during the running-in process. For example, Huang Degong ordered the Ming army to advance and leave some corridors between each formation to allow enemies who had organized and surrendered to pass.
The mutual suspicion between the Manchu and Han soldiers in the Qing army's formation suddenly escalated to a higher level because of this incident. Some Manchu officers began to randomly kill Han soldiers who made the slightest movement out of fear, further detonating the gunpowder barrel.
This directly led to a close-quarters rebellion.
At this point, even the pro-army troops around Abatai knew that the situation was not going to work. Several of Abatai's confidant bodyguard officers came up and tried to escape with Abatai:
"My lord, please leave quickly! These green camp barbarians are indeed unreliable! My brothers can't stand it anymore!"
Among the three Manchu banners, the two white flags were severely damaged in the early cavalry battle and the hollow musket phalanx and fled back. Abatai had already allowed them to retreat, so the one who remained on the battlefield until the end was actually Abatai himself.
The blue flag.
Yue Le and Bolo always had a Jia La with them from Zhenglan Banner. Just now, Abatai asked his two sons to lead the team to organize the escape first, and each of them also took away a Jia La.
Therefore, the bodyguards left by Abatai at the moment are just one of the most elite Jia La from Zhenglan Banner. There are about two thousand people. In addition to the Mongolian Army Flag and Han Army Flag who he feels are absolutely reliable, there are about five or six thousand who are hardcore.
A confidant, an old thief who is usually fed by money.
After the Green Battalion, which filled the front line and was used as cannon fodder, rebelled and became chaotic on a large scale, the only thing Abata could rely on was the five thousand backbones around him.
Unfortunately, Abatai was about to run out of gas. Now that he saw a large area of his troops defecting to the enemy, he was even more shocked. He was so angry that he spurted out a mouthful of old blood. He fell unconscious for a long time. His subordinates quickly pinched him.
After being splashed with water, I finally woke up slowly:
"You can think of a way to break out of the encirclement on your own. It's my king's order to let you go in a roundabout way. I can't survive. If I die here, I will be regarded as a corpse shrouded in horse leather. Dorgon will not be able to liquidate the other robes of Zhenglan Banner for their incompetence in the battle."
Passed...ahem...poof..."
As he spoke, he handed over his seal and some other tokens to his subordinates, trying to give them physical evidence after breaking out of the encirclement and avoid being severely punished by military law. Just after saying this, he fainted again with blood spurting out.
Abatai's death completely shattered the last backbone of the Qing army. The guards around him were also divided. Some wanted to follow his orders and break out of the encirclement one by one, but some had blood-red eyes and a surge of recklessness and wanted to turn back.
Fight the Ming army desperately.
After about half an hour, the Qing army in Xi'an, Feishui, was completely wiped out except for those who escaped and broke out.
…
"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty! The main force of the Tatars was annihilated by us! In the end, more than 22,000 people from the Green Battalion formed an organized group and surrendered! They also helped us kill many real Tatars during the melee! This greatly eased the decisive battle for our Chinese army.
dead and wounded!"
"Cao turned to General Jiao Cao and chased him to the north. He also captured 5,000 or 6,000 enemy soldiers who fled north, and killed thousands of Zhenta and Mongolian soldiers. Together with the capture of the Chinese army, our army won this battle.
The total number of living prisoners is about 28,000!"
The joys and sorrows of life are not the same. While the Qing army collapsed miserably, the Ming army's morale was naturally high. The whole army was rejoicing and overwhelmed by the ecstasy of victory.
The battle results and battle losses of each department were quickly and roughly reported to Zhu Shuren.
All the generals were full of excitement. They were more and more impressed by Prince E's military strategy. They were also more in awe of Prince E's political vision and gentle attack skills.
They all felt that the prince had surpassed Yue Wumu and could be called the military god among the Han people.
Only Zhu Shuren himself was still so modest: "Hey, don't go too far. It's just a high-level building, attacking the mind first. The specific tactics are not all directed by the generals. It's because of your daily practice. You use your soldiers like your arms and your fingers.
What to do alone."
After being humble, Zhu Shuren patiently sorted out the results and losses compiled by each department.
The one that suffered the most losses in the battle was the infantry that stretched out its left wing to encircle it at the beginning. Because the two armies were still in a stalemate at that time, the Qing army's initial charge with two white flags was also very fierce, even though it eventually severely damaged and repelled the Qing army.
, but in this process, the Ming army definitely suffered a lot of casualties.
Huang Fei and Lin Cheng's troops each suffered two to three thousand casualties in the first stage, which was close to 20% of the troops. They were able to fight to the death without retreating and did not collapse.
It has to be said that in recent years, the troops' salary has been improved, they are well-trained, and repeated brainwashing has played an important role in educating the soldiers to recognize a few words and learn a little about patriotism and the principle that "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world."
In comparison, Cao Bianjiao's cavalry participated in the fighting throughout the battlefield and the final pursuit. The total casualties were only about 3,000, which was just over 10% of the total number of cavalry, which was normal.
The remaining main force of the Chinese army continued to fight bloody battles, with casualties of about five to six thousand. Although the total number of people was similar to that of the left-wing army, the total number of the Chinese army was more than double. From a percentage point of view, this casualty rate was also
Just sixty-seven percent.
The Ming army had suffered so many casualties, and the Qing army's losses were naturally at least several times that.
The total number of prisoners taken alive alone totaled 28,000, all of whom were Han. Because there were no Manchu and Mongolian prisoners left, or in other words, many Manchu and Mongolian soldiers who had the chance to become prisoners were all in the Green Camp. The Han soldiers wanted to surrender.
In the process of fighting, some people were killed and their heads were sacrificed to atone for their sins.
Huang Degong once shouted the slogan "Whoever kills the true Tatars and surrenders will be spared and retained", so who of the Han soldiers in the Green Camp who wanted to surrender would not want to accept a certificate of surrender? It would be normal for him to turn around and slash his original master with a knife.
There were about 10,000 to 20,000 Qing troops who were killed and eliminated on the main battlefield, and those who were seriously injured and killed were injured. Most of them could not find their bodies for the time being. They were either drowned and killed in the Feishui River, or they broke up and fled north.
When he arrived at Shaoshui River, he was chased and stabbed in the back by Cao Bianjiao's cavalry when he was crossing the river. They entered Shaoshui River without any body left.
In fact, in this kind of total collapse pursuit, the number of people who were stabbed in the back during the rout was far more than those who died in the battle. Therefore, the Ming army estimated that many people in the rivers around the battlefield were killed or driven down the river.
The total number of dead was at least 20,000.
In addition, the two white flags of the Manchus were severely beaten in the initial active attack.
After cleaning the battlefield, all the wounded were wounded, and a total of more than 4,600 corpses of Zhengbai Banner soldiers were found around Huang Fei's initial position.
On the initial position of Lin Chengcheng, more than 2,200 corpses of cavalrymen with white flags were also found.
Including the cavalry of the Two White Banners killed in the blocking and pursuit battles of Cao Bianjiao's tribe, it is estimated that the casualties of the Two White Banners exceeded 40% of their total strength.
Although this time they did not wipe out all the rebuilt two white flags like they did in the battle against Duduo, it was definitely a heavy loss. Who makes the cavalry highly mobile? On such a battlefield, the enemy can still escape if they cannot defeat it. The troops who flee first
There are friendly forces covering the retreat, so it is really difficult to destroy them all.
But no matter what, the two flags with a full strength of 20,000 people had permanent battle losses close to 9,000. The 11,200 people who fled back at least had some casualties who were slightly injured and did not fall off their horses. Even if they were recovered,
Injury will also reduce combat effectiveness to some extent in the future. It can be said that the two white flags have been completely defeated and it will be difficult to rebuild combat effectiveness.
Although the total population of the Eight Banners of the Qing Army was said to be between 200,000 and 250,000 in previous years. In addition to nearly 10,000 regular soldiers, each banner also had more than 15,000 to 20,000 "reserve men"
”.
However, the main men of the Liangbai Banners have already been wiped out once, so when Duduo died, the total number of men of the right age in the Liangbai Banners had dropped from more than 50,000 to more than 30,000. This time, nearly 10,000 were lost. Even if they are rebuilt in the future,
We also roped in all the men of the right age, so it was inevitable that there would be some mistakes.
If we say that the two white flags carried by Duduo back then were mainly elite young people in their twenties and thirties.
The two white flags Abatai brought today are generally young people of seventeen or eighteen years old, and middle-aged people in their thirties or forties.
Another half was lost this time, and next time we will be forced to replenish the full force, at least half of them will be children of fifteen or sixteen years old, and middle-aged and elderly people in their forties and fifties. Even if they are all "males of military age", their age is
They need to be sorted into three, six or nine grades and different batches.
If there is such a loss next time, don't replace the two white flags, or simply drag children under the age of fifteen, or old men over sixty, or drag women to the battlefield.
In addition, in addition to the two white flags once again playing the role of the most damaged part of the Manchu cavalry, the Zhenglan Banner of Abatai's direct line also suffered some losses.
The most elite Jia La, who was the trusted bodyguard led by Abatai himself, could not evacuate in time, so he turned against the surrounding Han soldiers in the green camp and fought with swords. In the end, he could not evacuate in time and was annihilated by the formation. All 2,000 of his men were killed.
.
In addition, two Jia La were slightly injured, with hundreds of casualties each. Therefore, the total number of people killed in battle and last hit by Zhenglan Banner was approximately close to 3,000, which is not too small, but better than that of the two white flags.
The Manchus and Three Banners suffered a total of more than 12,000 permanent battle losses, and some escaped with minor injuries. The Han and Mongolian armies were annihilated more than 40,000 in total, and 28,000 prisoners surrendered.
The total number of Qing troops in this battle was over 80,000!
Moreover, in terms of generals, the Qing army also suffered heavy losses. In addition to the death of Banbulshan at the beginning, Suksaha was injured, and Abatai died of anger, there were also several Beizi/Fuguo generals such as Ekeqin.
Middle-level generals died in battle,
Anyone who can be the general of Beizi/Fuguo must basically be the grandson or grandnephew of Nuerhachi, who is considered a relative of the Qing Dynasty. Who makes Nuerhachi have more descendants? There are more than fifteen sons.
The grandsons and nephews are all over 100, so it doesn’t matter if I kill a few more.
Although the total losses this time were less than those of three years ago when Duduo went to Jiangnan and the entire army of 110,000 people was wiped out, but in terms of losses in a single battle, today's battle of Feishui is probably even worse.
After all, Duduo's loss of 110,000 that year was due to the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Jinshan Temple, the Siege of Jiangyin, the Decisive Battle of Jiangyin, and four small-scale series of battles before and after. The total of those 110,000 was destroyed. In fact, the final
In the decisive battle of Jiangyin, the Qing army that was wiped out was only between 50,000 and 60,000, accounting for only half of Duduo's total losses.
Today's 80,000 yuan was completed in one day.
The total strength of the more than 120,000 Qing troops who fled back was only over 40,000.
Among them, there are more than 17,000 Manchu banner cavalrymen, more than 10,000 Mongolian bannermen, and the remaining Han bannermen and green battalions can only escape about 15,000.
It can be seen that the soldiers of the Green Camp were the ones who collapsed and surrendered the most. The Han army flags and Green Camp brought by this battle totaled 70,000 to 80,000 people, and only 15,000 were left in the end.
Most of the 28,000 surrendered prisoners of war were in a desperate situation. Once they heard that they were all Han people and could survive as long as they abandoned the dark side and surrendered to the bright side, they all unscrupulously turned their swords around and begged their old masters to survive.
With most of the main force of the Qing army destroyed, and the Ming army cleaning the battlefield and tallying the results, Zhu Shuren soon discovered a very funny tidbit -
A small group of officers of the Qing and Han banners, arrogant and powerful generals, were not satisfied with the treatment of being captured as surrendered soldiers. They tried to ask Zhu Shuren to offer their merits, saying that they killed Abatai, the king of Raoyu County of the Manchu Qing Dynasty!
Abatai was dead. This fact was of course certain. When the Ming army was cleaning the battlefield, they had already seized Abatai's mutilated body.
However, the specific process of death has not yet been determined.
Hearing that a surrendered general claimed military merit, Huang Degong, who was specifically responsible for cleaning the battlefield and gradually reviewing it, told Zhu Shuren privately:
"The general has already examined the circumstantial evidence. Many people say that Abatai was already critically ill and suffered a great defeat, so he vomited blood and died in the battle. He was not killed by anyone.
This group of Han soldiers who surrendered their flags happened to be closest to Abatai's central army. After fighting hand-to-hand with Abatai's personal guard Jia La, they captured Abatai's body in the chaos.
The one with the highest military rank among the surrendered troops happened to be a speculator, so he beheaded Abatai. He must have beheaded Abatai in order to beg the imperial court to reward him and put him in a better position."