The Nanliu River cuts the Yulin Basin in half, the basin is wide and flat, and the water is winding but not deep.

Out of the valley, apart from some hilly areas scattered in the basin, there are many flat areas that are convenient for cavalry charges.

When Zhong Wenxin's vanguard climbed the last ridge line, they were presented with Tatar battle flags covering almost the entire Yulin Basin.

In the final stages of the battle in the mountains, a loosening of the enemy's resistance was clearly felt.

On the one hand, this is probably because the Tatars have deployed a considerable part of their forces to Beiliu County in an attempt to reopen water transportation.

On the other hand, in front of Zhong Wenxin and Li Laiheng, in the telescope, the enemy army even gave way to the battlefield about 7 kilometers in front of the river valley, leaving only the downstream cavalry.

Li Laiheng carefully observed and said, "Jishiha wants to fight a decisive battle with us on the flat ground, so that he can invest his cavalry. ”

Zhong Wenxin stroked the hilt of his sword and asked, "Your Excellency, isn't it because we cut off the enemy's supply lines, resulting in the lack of Tatar troops to stop our attack?" ”

Li Laiheng shook his head, "What you said is also a possibility, but I feel that the Tartars have not used their full strength, and their retreat is more like a temptation." ”

"I don't understand."

"It's just a gut feeling, I've been fighting them for 18 years. I suspect that even though the water transport to the Beiliu River has been cut off, the Tatars' stored supplies in the camp will still last for a while, enough to fight a decisive battle with us. ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, it makes sense."

Zhong Wenxin decided to keep the other doubts in his heart.

"Bring me the map."

Li Laiheng waved his hand, and the knight wearing full-length armor behind him unfolded a large map of the battlefield on the spot.

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Yulin has developed into a commercial and trade center in Guangxi, and is an important salt transfer canal port in Guangxi.

There are two roads to the north of Yulin Prefecture City, one is to the northeast, and it flows to Wuzhou through the Beiliu River; One to the northwest, take the overland route to Guixian through Xingye.

"In the mountainous field, the large phalanx of Tatar spears and arquebuses was completely useless, while our flintlock pissiers were able to fight in a company formation, either by relying on the terrain or by bayonet hand-to-hand combat," Li explained. The Tatars were so badly beaten by your howitzers and rifled guns that they were barely able to fight back against the shots. But in the Yulin Plain ahead, they had fully managed field fortified positions, and the phalanx imitating the Spaniards could also give full play to their might. ”

Zhong Wenxin smiled: "Does Ji Xiha think that there is a chance in the flat land?" Obviously, the joint operation of our infantry and artillery in the mountainous area is the obstacle. ”

"But you only have 4 infantry battalions, and you have less than 1 kilometer of front when they are all deployed. The enemy had ready-made fortifications, and it was difficult for us to continue to use small troops in detours, and in such a battlefield we did not have a clear advantage in fighting the Tatars. ”

"What does the Duke mean?"

"Our goal is simple, at least to relieve the siege of Yulin City, so Ji Xiha can use a small number of troops, with barracks and artillery, to block your attack in the front, and then use the reserves hidden behind those valleys and hills to attack the flanks of the offensive formation."

Zhong Wenxin nodded, "Hiding cavalry in the woods or valleys, I took this class at the military academy. ”

"The tricks used by the Tatars on the battlefield in Liaodong."

"So how are we going to fight?"

Li Laiheng thought for a while, "Let's wait, first establish contact with Yulin City, and at the same time send mountain infantry to the two flanks for further reconnaissance, and the main force will temporarily stop here to build a position." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Li Laiheng said quietly, "This is like playing cards, in the first half of the game, Ji Xiha has experienced all kinds of difficulties, but he still has many big cards in his hand, even trump cards, he will think about all in at the right time and occasion." We cut off the water transport of the Beiliu River and advanced to the edge of the Yulin Basin, which is equivalent to opening four community cards, and now the winner or loser depends on our hole cards and Jixiha's hole cards, and the last community card. ”

"What do you mean by that last card?"

"Nanning Battlefield."

……

The relief forces temporarily stopped at the exit of the valley area, occupied several hills, and set up positions.

The northernmost hill of the battle line was 17 kilometers away from Yulin City in a straight line. The signal corps set up a communication pole on the top of the hill to establish visual signal contact with the defenders of Yulin.

To the relief of the siege, the troops were relieved that although Yulin City was riddled with holes, the defenders were still able to hold on.

Yulin Fortress is a solid large star fort constructed of 6 acute angular fortresses, with independent half-moon forts, triangular platforms, as well as complex canals, trenches, and woods composed of a defensive system, with a layer of anti-artillery earth embankment on the periphery.

The fortress has only now been stripped of its outer layer by the Tatars, and the main star fortress is still intact.

The defenders were close to a half-trained town, with more than 5,000 militia men, and although they had lost more than 1,000 men in the battle in the past six months, the remaining strength was still enough to cover most of the positions.

For such fortifications, the Tatars either destroyed the castle with a large number of heavy artillery, or besieged the city until it ran out of food, or expected the defenders to surrender voluntarily.

Yue Le brought most of the Hongyi cannons to the Zhaoqing front, leaving only 50 guns for Jixiha, and in the previous battle in the Nanliujiang Valley, the Tatars lost about 20 cannons.

The lack of artillery strength is a relatively obvious weakness of the enemy army, and it is precisely for this reason that Peng Youde, the chief soldier of Datong Town, who is responsible for opening up the communication line, has been unable to advance an inch for several days.

Even if the Shanxi Green Battalion approached the civil engineering city wall with the artillery positions outside Beiliu City, it was always easily repelled by the dense platoon guns and light artillery fire.

The enemy's loose arquebuses and cold-weapon attack lined up in front of the defenders' flintlock columns, and the firepower was very weak.

The enemy has an advantage in strength, but in the key breakthrough sections, the Beiliu detachment can always concentrate its forces and crush all enemy attacks with a salvo.

The superior forces can only take turns to attack, can not play a role, Shanxi Green Battalion fought like this for three days, morale fell to the bottom, the soldiers were forced out of the team by the commander, just the meaning of the team to close, Datong General Peng Youde has nothing to do about it.

The relief army occupied the line with infantry and engaged its own cavalry.

The coalition army had a total of nearly 3,000 cavalry, and the range of the impact was getting larger and larger, and the cavalry with mounted artillery raged in the basin, giving the enemy a great shock on the battlefield and mentally.

The green battalion soldiers at the head of three battalions in a row bombed the camp, and the clever ones ran into the mountains and fled, and the green battalion soldiers who retreated to the main camp of Jixiha were subjected to cruel military discipline, starting from the garrison and guerrilla attacks of the leading soldiers, and the rows were beheaded, and the heads were hung on the walls of the big battalion.

Hundreds of hideous heads kept the Green Battalion in order, and in order to avoid such incidents, Zishiha was forced to throw in his cavalry in advance and fight with the coalition forces.

The size of the cavalry battle quickly rose from dozens to hundreds, and then to thousands.

The dogfights of the cavalry not only opened the battle line to hedge, but also dismounted and relied on a certain hill to fight a row of guns.

The coalition forces had a certain advantage, but they did not always win victories, and there was a Sauron cavalry transferred from Heilongjiang under his command, which fought with the Cossacks all year round, and this army was quite combat-ready.

Because of the occupation of the commanding heights on the periphery, the plain area of Yulin was all under the surveillance of the coalition forces, and the enemy's movements and losses were in full view.

Lee looked at the battlefield coldly, dismissive of the rising casualty figures. There is water transportation from the Nanliu River behind him, but Jixiha does not, and if it continues to be consumed like this, the advantage of the coalition army will become greater and greater.

A week later, Nanning Zhan reported for duty.

More than 7,000 Ming troops and the Lingshan detachment under the command of Li Yuanyin chased the rout of the line Guoan and rushed into Nanning City, and the green battalion soldiers who lost all their baggage and artillery resisted very weakly.

Line Guoan committed suicide in Nanning City, and Quan Jie led more than 1,000 remnants of soldiers to flee directly north to Kunlun Pass, and more than 2,000 green battalion soldiers grabbed river boats and ran down the river.

Li Yuanyin sat in Nanning, and led 2,500 people led by Li Jianjie to oppress Kunlun Pass and establish a front to the north.

The Lingshan detachment was accompanied by 2,000 Ming troops to pursue along the river, Lianke Yongchun and Hengzhou, and the forward cavalry approached Guixian, and the only way to retreat that Ji Xiha ensured was shaken.

Li Laiheng left 1,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry and 1 infantry battalion to guard the camp, and moved 1,000 cavalry, Kuching hussar regiment, 3 infantry battalions and 3 artillery companies to the right bank of the Nam Liu River.

Early the next morning, a thick fog covered the battlefield, and Zishiha may have chosen a good weather to retreat.

Beginning with the main camp of Jishikha, the Tatar camp erupted in waves of commotion, and the footsteps of tens of thousands of horses marched like thunder.

Under the thick fog, Li Laiheng could not judge the situation on the battlefield, so he chose a more prudent approach.

The army marched forward along the ridge on the left flank, with field artillery and baggage on the inside, the main cavalry in the middle, the infantry on the outside, and the easternmost light infantry company and a small elite cavalry in a skirmish line.

After advancing 10 km, enemy flags and swords appeared from the fog, and the infantry turned to the right and opened fire into the fog.

The artillery was placed in the gap between the infantry battalion columns and fired heavy shotguns at the Yulin-Xingye official road, which had been measured in advance, because the line was very close, and the infantry of each artillery company also joined the infantry battle line to shoot.

The cavalry was not of much use in this kind of battle, and Lee Lai Heng had all the cavalry dismount, and the soldiers with muskets in the Kuching Hussar Regiment and the Lee Bu Horse Corps were shot, and the cavalrymen without guns were on guard near the riflemen with knives and guns.

At the beginning of the engagement, the enemy had firepower to counterattack, and although it was chaotic, it was quite numerous, and there were scattered charging units that hit the muzzle of the guns.

The battlefield was filled with the sound of artillery, gunfire, shouts of killing, and cries, and the sound of cold weapons striking each other came from a distance, and Li Laiheng did not remember that he had deployed his army in that direction.

Infantry loading, shooting, both flat and curved. In a normal battle, a soldier can fire a maximum of 20 to 30 rounds. Today's Qiongzhou Brigade broke the record, and the soldiers used up the spare flints, and basically fired more than 60 rounds of ammunition, and there were even people who ran out of bullets.

When there was no enemy in the near distance, the artillery battery raised the muzzle and fired ricochets into the distance. The 6 12-pounder guns of the heavy artillery company were simply the goddesses of the battlefield, and almost every shot drew cheers from the soldiers.

By noon, the fog had gradually lifted, and the soldiers had stopped firing and had a clear view of the Shura field they had created.

Both sides of the official road from Yulin to Xingye were densely covered with thousands of corpses.

Blood flowed on the ground, swords and spears stuck in the ground, broken military flags swayed in the wind, and horses that had lost their masters gnawed on blood-stained weeds.

Looking at the posture of the corpses and the dense area, it seems that the enemy troops had infighting and accidental injuries in the fog.

The enemy forces collapsed in the retreat, thousands of people were scattered in the basin, and a small number of others may have passed the fire blockade and withdrew from the basin.

Li Laiheng pursued in the direction of Xingye with his own cavalry, and the cavalry artillery company was assigned to the cavalry of the Li Division.

The infantry cavalry of the Qiongzhou Brigade evened out their ammunition against each other and launched a bayonet charge into the center of the Yulin Basin. After the defenders of Yulin saw the situation clearly, they also opened the door to kill.

One by one, the pigtailed soldiers on the battlefield knelt down and surrendered, raising their weapons high above their heads.

The coalition forces made a preliminary inventory of the battlefield, Yang Jie, the commander of the Green Battalion, was captured, and Ji Xiha, the general of Zhengnan, was lost, and the breakthrough may have been successful.

The Kuching Cavalry Regiment hurriedly rested and sent reinforcements to Heungh District.

The rest of the troops went northeast, crossed the Tianmen Pass, and defeated Peng Youde's Shanxi Green Battalion on the march.

Since the encirclement was not tight, a considerable part of the enemy troops who had abandoned their baggage and armor fled by land, and the backs of pigtailed soldiers were all over the mountains.

Zhong Wenxin quickly organized a mixed detachment, advanced by land and water, and pursued along the Beiliu River in the direction of Tengxian and Wuzhou.