Chapter 122: The First Battle of the Mongol Cavalry

When Li Jing and the others returned to the camp, Liu Yun and Liu Chenghuang were sweeping the battlefield.

The first thing to clean up the battlefield is to check whether there are any Mongolian soldiers who are not dead, and if there are still angry, make up for it. After Zhang Zhimu's encouragement at noon, these people were in full swing at this time. Liu Yun and Liu Chenghuang also wanted the soldiers to be a little more bloody, so they also encouraged them. Tell them not to leave a single mouth alive.

When Li Jing arrived, Chen Yufeng also rode down the hillside.

Chen Yufeng first asked Liu Yun to arrange for someone to get some water to drink and some food for the rescued Han compatriots. In one day, these compatriots, who had suddenly gone through so many changes, kowtowed to Liu Yun's soldiers. They knew that they were saved, and they also knew that if they were taken to the grassland, they would end up as slaves, and then life would be worse than death, and they would basically not live long before they would be tortured to death.

Some of the captives were caravan coachmen and camel drivers, some were taken from other villages, and some were taken on the road. Chen Yufeng asked who was the owner and shopkeeper of the caravan. But one of the coachmen said they were all killed. It turned out that when the proprietors saw that they had been caught, they wanted to live, so they told the Mongols that they had given them all the goods, and that they only needed to spare their lives. When the Mongols understood through the translation, they asked the proprietor to pick out all their own people, and the proprietor thought that now his own people would be alive. As a result, the Mongols killed him and the people he singled out. He also didn't want to think about it, these Mongols had already robbed the caravans, and did he still need him to give them to them?

After counting, a total of more than 2,000 Mongolian war horses were captured this time. Thirty wagons and fifty camels. It's a big caravan. There are also more than 200 rescuers.

Chen Yufeng asked the soldiers to cut down the wooden poles of many dead trees, pile them in several piles, and then drag the corpses of the Mongolian soldiers to the wooden poles. Since there was no fire oil, Chen Yufeng asked Liu Yun to pour out some ** on the wood, and then a little fire, and several piles of Mongolian soldiers' corpses were cremated. This was learned from Zhang Zhimu, so that the burned corpse would not cause pollution. Chen Yufeng told the soldiers: "Our own land cannot be polluted by these animals. ”

It should be said that this battle could not have gone any further. This was especially puzzling for those who had been captured by the Mongols. These wolf-like Mongols, even the Ming army was afraid, how could they be so unbeatable in front of them. So they were like gods for Chen Yufeng's cavalry.

Chen Yufeng's side fought very smoothly, but Zhang Zhimu's side encountered big trouble.

As soon as Chen Yufeng led the people away, Zhang Zhimu ordered all the personnel to cut down the trees. Originally, this time, Lu Chengxiang brought a lot of big axes and machetes with steel blades, which were all processed by Li Yunhe and others, and they were ready to be transported to Zhangjiakou to be sold. This time, Lu Chengxiang took it out and asked everyone to use it to cut down trees. After the trees were cut down, they were dragged to the front by horses. Lu Chengxiang was ruthless, and took out all the hemp ropes and ropes that were ready to be sold, and everyone began to resist the horse again.

The sweat on Lu Chengxiang's round face came down, and he muttered, "Use it all, it's okay." Wait for them to get some more horses and earn them back. Lu Chengxiang was a little distressed, but he would comfort himself and felt that it was appropriate to exchange for a few more horses.

The horse was placed in front of the carriage. In this way, the fast horse rushed over, and beyond the first rejection of the horse, it could not overcome the obstruction of the carriage defense. Because the horse's speed decreases when crossing the first line of defense, without speed, it is not easy to cross the second line of defense.

But before Zhang Zhimu and the others had finished arranging the defense line against horses, the sentry sent out from outside came back in a panic to report that they had found a group of Mongolian cavalry coming in this direction. For fear of being discovered by the Mongol cavalry, he came back when he saw it from afar, but he didn't see how many people there were. It is estimated that there are several hundred.

Zhang Zhimu hurriedly ordered all the personnel to stop cutting down trees and do the work of rejecting horses, and all entered a combat state.

Ouyang He carefully assigned the personnel, and each of them arranged the position of the battle and the fan that they focused on defending when shooting. In the end, the forty people left behind by Li Jing rode horses and stood behind Zhang Zhimu and the others.

Yang Jing proposed that he lead forty people to go out first and go around behind the attackers and sneak attack them. Ouyang He said wait and see.

The information sent back by the sentry is indeed true, this time there is really a group of Mongolian cavalry arriving.

Last time, Li Jing's reconnaissance detachment let go of the Mongolian soldier, but he was actually seriously wounded. I went back to the camp and told the story intermittently. The leader of the Mongol cavalry, a man of ten thousand households, was furious when he heard this, and immediately sent five hundred cavalry to chase after this small group of men and horses who dared to kill the Mongol warriors. Although he had heard that the squad was very capable of fighting, he still thought that his cavalry was exaggerating. Despite this, he still sent five hundred cavalry to pursue this small group of men and horses. The 500 cavalry chased for a long time and found a trace of this detachment. A thousand households who led the team knew that he was chasing in the wrong direction, but he thought that since he came out, he would not go back empty-handed, and take a turn to see if there was anything to fish, and he could also find some Han people to vent his anger. When they turned to the vicinity of Zhang Zhimu's camp, Zhang Zhimu's sentry spotted them. In fact, they also found sentinels, these cavalry on the steppe, although fierce, but more sophisticated. They didn't bother the sentry, who went back to report the news, and the horseshoe prints they left behind brought their scouts to the camp. The scout went back and said that he had found a caravan camp, and the thousand households were happy to thank the immortal heaven. It seemed to him that he had found a treasure trove, and such a camp was for them as it had been prepared for them. As a result, he made a fatal mistake, and the enemy made him bury the five hundred cavalry.

According to the tactics of the Mongol cavalry, they should shoot with bows and arrows first, and only rush forward when most of the opponent's personnel have been wiped out and there is no fighting spirit. But this thousand households did not treat this caravan as an army at all. In his eyes, the army of the Ming Dynasty also collapsed in one rush, not to mention a caravan, he had to settle the battle when it was still dawn. So he decided to rush into the camp and kill all the people in the camp. After he formed several horizontal formations according to the tactics of the Mongolian cavalry, he shouted: "Warriors on the steppe, in front of you is the camp of the Han people who killed our Anda, and the time has come for Changshengtian to watch us and avenge our Anda." All the men of the Han people here are killed, and the women are all yours. Come on. ”

The Mongol cavalry roared with agitation and shouted loudly as they rode their horses forward, and by the time they approached the camp about three hundred meters, their horses had already rushed forward. But when they came within 300 meters, the horses began to fall one by one. It's really a personal flip. As more and more horses fell, this Qianhu suddenly realized that the other party was prepared, but at this time, it was impossible to stop the horse team. All five hundred horses rushed over, and soon the cavalry, who had not fallen, had already rushed in front of the horses. Horses and horsemen who are good at riding the reins of the horse are over the rejection of the horse. However, not all horses can get past the rejection, and some of them crash into the rejection of the horse, and the result is either that the horse's leg is broken, or the rider is lifted over the rejection and thrown to the ground. At this time, Ouyang He would not let them collide in vain, and as soon as the speed of the horse's impact decreased, he ordered to fire. At this time, more than 300 muskets were pointed at the Mongol cavalry on their horses at close range and opened fire. The horsemen on the horses were beaten down one by one, and they were not knocked down, and the musketeers could not reach the musketeers with their sabers and spears, and by the time they remembered to shoot arrows, they had no chance. Despite this, some Mongol cavalry crossed the line of defense arranged by the horses and carriages. Some of those who crossed the rejection but did not cross the carriage were basically horses crashing into the carriage and throwing people over the carriage and falling into the defensive circle. At this time, those who were about to raise their shields saw that the shields were useless, so they all drew their blades and cut down the Mongolian soldiers who fell in. But the few horsemen jumped in, and the cavalry wounded a few of them. Yang Jing, who was watching the battle from behind, rushed over with a spear as soon as he picked up his horse. Basically, one by one, they picked off these Mongolian soldiers who came to the storm. Zhang Zhimu felt that Yang Jing was a person who could fight with his brain, he did not fight with brute force with every opponent, and every time he saw him kill people, it was like playing, understatement, and with one stroke, the other party would fall off the horse.

Zhang Zhimu looked back at the forty people left behind by Yang Yulin and Li Jing beside him, these people did not look a little nervous. It's like watching a sports game that has nothing to do with you, and you don't grow angry. Zhang Zhimu knew that this was the real warrior. Seeing that Yang Jing was also back, Zhang Zhimu applauded Yang Jing and praised his performance just now. Yang Jing was also very happy to show his face. Yang Yulin saw Zhang Zhimu applauding Yang Jing, and she was also very happy.

Ouyang He said: "Yang Jing, you take these forty people out from the side, go around behind them, intercept them, and don't let any of them go." ”

Yang Jing was overjoyed when he heard this. When the forty men heard that it was finally their turn, they were also very happy. There is also a sense of making them happy, they all want to go out with Yang Jing and Yang Daxia to see his Yang family's marksmanship, which was learned from their ancestors and the Yang family.

The cavalry on the horse was soon out of sight, but the cavalry who fell off the horse was undiminished, and he still had to come up with his sword and fight hard. At this time, Ouyang He ordered the infantry to attack. These tried-and-tested 300 infantry were replaced with shotgun shots. The dismounted cavalry were their opponents, beaten like a sieve.

The Qianhu who commanded in the back did not have any interest in these warriors of his, and when several guards around him were picked off by Yang Jing, and when the Yang family held a gun against his neck, he actually dropped his weapon and surrendered.

When cleaning the battlefield, Zhang Zhimu roughly counted about three or four hundred war horses that were trapped in the horse pit and broke their legs. Yan Boju looked at the distressed Zhizhi beside him, and shouted in his mouth: "I said Zhimu, you can't think of some other way, you see that this injury is all good horses."

Zhang Zhimu smiled and said, "It's a pity. But I don't have anything else to do now than for them to rush over and cut off our heads. ”

Lu Chengxiang shouted to the coachmen who came to help clean up the battlefield: "Drag the dead and wounded horses back first, immediately put on the pot, and cook the horse meat." Otherwise, the hot Pegasus meat will soon spoil and will cool down to jerky tomorrow. ”

In the end, the result of cleaning up the battlefield was that only more than 500 uninjured horses were captured, and more than 500 were either wounded or dead. Only one of the captives was brought back by Yang Jing. This guy is no longer what he was when he surrendered, and he has been struggling and scolding. Lu Chengxiang knew a little Mongolian language, and Zhang Zhimu asked him: "You are already afraid of death and surrendered, why are you not honest now." The captive suddenly said, "I am not surrendering, but waiting for Lord Wanhu to come and send Mongol warriors to save me." You let me go. When our Mongol warriors arrive, we will kill you all. ”

Zhang Zhimu was a little impatient with him, and said to Lu Chengxiang, asking him if he didn't want to surrender, but this guy said: "I am a Mongolian warrior, and I will not surrender." Zhang Zhimu waited for him to say this, and ordered him to be pulled out and cut down.

As a result, when someone pulled him out, the guy started shouting to surrender again. Zhang Zhimu said: "This kind of person is no longer qualified to surrender. Chopped. ”

By the time Chen Yufeng and the others returned with the team, the battlefield in the camp had already been cleaned up.

When Chen Yufeng heard that there was also a fierce battle in the camp, he gasped in shock. He said, "It's dangerous." ”

Then Chen Yufeng also told them how they annihilated the more than 800 Mongolian cavalry. and told all the loot that had been taken.

Lu Chengxiang said: "I looked at the goods that were snatched back. They are all furs bought in Zhangjiakou and ready to be shipped back. The people who carried the goods were hired by the owners of the caravan. But the owner has been killed, so I think we'll send someone to transport these goods back. We just have to pay for the feet of these coachmen and camel drivers. ”

Chen Yufeng also said: "I think tomorrow morning, I will send someone to send them away." When they arrived in Datong, when Li Wei sent the grain back to Yaogang, he escorted them back. ”

Yan Boju hurriedly said, "Don't forget to drive these war horses back." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "This matter is decided, tomorrow Liu Chenghuang will select a hundred cavalry to escort the rescued caravan to Datong, where they will wait for Li Wei and them." Hurry up and you'll be there in one day. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "The key now is how to deal with that large group of Mongolian cavalry. ”

Ouyang He said: "The current situation is in our favor. These two groups of cavalry were annihilated very cleanly, and the Mongolian army of that brigade did not know that their two groups of men and horses had been annihilated. If they don't see anyone going back today, they won't be in a hurry, and tomorrow they won't see anyone go back, so they will be suspicious and send someone out to look for them. At least we have one day tomorrow to prepare. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Ouyang is right, tomorrow we will have one day to make good use of the current favorable terrain and repair the fortifications." We have water on this hill, and we are not afraid of them besieging us. Besides, they did not dare to besiege us for a long time, because they were also afraid that a large number of Ming troops would come to encircle and suppress them. ”

Ouyang He said: "In today's battle, although we won the Mongolian cavalry carelessly, it was too late to find out that we were prepared. But it also tests the tactics we've been working on before. That is, as long as we can delay the impact speed of the Mongol cavalry, we can give full play to the advantages of our muskets. We'll fix the fortifications again tomorrow. If the Mongol cavalry comes to attack, it is best to send people to lead them to attack if they do not come. Take advantage of this vantage point and use our advantage to eliminate them. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "I basically agree with Mr. Ouyang's opinion, but the large force of Mongolian cavalry is not exactly like today's light cavalry, and there will be forty percent of their heavy cavalry. And although the Mongol cavalry was good at fighting, they would first take advantage of their bows and arrows, first killing and injuring their opponents in large numbers before letting go. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "I looked at the equipment of the captured Mongolian cavalry, and almost each of them had two hard bows and three large leather bags of bows and arrows. There are two types of arrows: a thinner bow for long-range shots and a broad-edged bow for melee combat. In addition, he carried an axe and a bundle of rope with each of them. We bring too few shields, tomorrow we have to find a way to solve this problem. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Tomorrow, in addition to continuing to dig the small pit that traps the horse's leg and setting up a few more obstacles to keep away the horse, we will also carry out earthwork and build a trench to trap the horse. Also, we haven't used Ballista and ** today. When we set up tomorrow, we will also consider taking advantage of these advantages that we have. ”

They also mentioned some ways to slow down the cavalry and give full play to the advantage of firepower.

Early the next morning, Liu Chenghuang arranged a reliable person to escort the caravan to Datong. In order to take care of some women and children, Zhang Zhimu arranged for two steel spring carriages to follow back.

But there were more than 100 people, who said that they would not follow anything, and they said that their village had been burned. There is nowhere to go, so you have to follow Zhang Zhimu and them to fight the Mongolian soldiers, and you must avenge your relatives.

When Zhang Zhimu asked, he found out that there were several people from different villages here, and their villages were all burned. The Mongols killed everyone they thought was useless. This is how their own relatives were killed.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Just stay." "I arranged them all to Lu Chengxiang, and let them help repair the fortifications first.

After breakfast, the fortifications began to be repaired according to the design.

This time, there were more people, and they were all arranged to cut down trees first. Since the Mongol cavalry each carried an axe, with these captured axes it was much faster to cut down trees.

First of all, three lines of defense were repaired with a rejection horse. Each rejection horse was nailed to the ground with a wooden stake, which not only increased the resistance of the rejection horse, but also did not fear being dragged away by the Mongol cavalry. With three rejections of horses, it is possible to effectively contain the impact of the cavalry. Because if you jump over a rejection, your speed will inevitably be affected, and if you jump over the second one, your speed will have dropped. It is even more difficult to jump the third rejection horse. As long as the cavalry slows down before rejecting the horse, the musket will play its role. When the horses were finished, they began to dig trenches, where musketeers could dodge the damage of their bows and arrows, and they could also shoot at the enemy in a horizontal manner. Even if the enemy cavalry attacked, it was difficult for the cavalry on horseback to use their blades to threaten the people in the trenches. The men in the trenches, on the other hand, could shoot their muskets at their immediate targets.

This work was completed in the morning. Zhang Zhimu saw that there was still time, so he discussed it with everyone. The Mongols were particularly good at copying the two sides, so it was better for us to show weakness on both sides, and to build a fence like a horse fence with wood on both sides, and to shoot into it on all sides, and set up a trap like Weng Cheng in the city defense. Everybody said, it's a good idea.

Ouyang He said: "We still have manpower, so we will dig a few larger horse traps in front of the main position, and nail some wooden stakes next to the horse traps and tie them to tripping horses. ”

Zhang Zhimu suddenly remembered that he could also build a few towers, and send a few good marksmen above him, so that the gunners could shoot condescendingly. Liu Yun said that he could also send a few crossbow minemen to go up, so that the range of the crossbow mines could be longer.

After the plan was decided, more than 1,000 people worked in full swing, and even the camel drivers who pulled the camels came to help.

Li Jing and Liu Chenghuang sent out a lot of scouts, but the scouts were released far away, and they never found anything abnormal. But on this day, Zhang Zhimu's fortifications were almost finished.

There was no longer a need for horse-drawn carriages to act as roadblocks, and the wagons and goods were hidden in the woods along with the camels.

That night, Zhang Zhimu and others discussed, if the Mongolian cavalry found out here tomorrow, we could also deal with it. But it's better to wait another day, and then our work will be better.

Ouyang He said: "We don't know the information of the Mongols, no, tomorrow we must send scouts to the vicinity of the Mongol camp to find out their movements." That's how you know what to expect. ”

Li Jing said: "I will go back to sleep in a while, and before dawn I will take a small detachment to sneak in front of the Mongolian camp to try to learn more about the situation of the Mongolian cavalry." ”

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By the way, I recommend "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty", similar to this article, it is also a "technology flow" through the novel, but it takes place in the Southern Song Dynasty, Yashan, Anti-Yuan, Restoration, and European World Wars.