There is a famous assertion in the classic work on war theory, "On War", that defense is a more effective form of warfare than offense.

Under the guidance of Wang Kefan, the Chu army has always adhered to this tactical thinking, and firmly implemented it in actual combat, even when launching an offensive at the strategic level, it must try to seize the key points and force the opponent to take the initiative to attack at the tactical level, so as to focus on the enemy, try to give full play to the advantages of defense in cold weapon combat, and finally achieve victory.

Chen Tai was alone in Tongcheng and had to attack Tushan in order to protect the Junshui River crossing, but this was a death trap carefully prepared by Wang Kefan. Layers of barricades slowed down the Qing army's charge, and the spear array composed of infantry withstood the crazy impact of the elite of the Eight Banners, and the three-dimensional crossfire network composed of artillery, bows and arrows and firearms continued to harvest the lives of the Qing army.

Every time the Qing army launched an attack, the surging crowd was like a surging wave, the sky and the earth changed color, and it seemed to be indestructible, but the hillside in front of it was like a wide sandy beach, quietly sucking the sea water into it, the waves became smaller and smaller, lower and lower, and the last wave gently hit the embankment, and retreated weakly after a roundabout.

From morning to noon, Chen Tai launched three attacks in a row, but the formation of the Chu army did not move at all!

Within 500 paces from the halfway point of the hill, there were corpses and wounded soldiers of the Qing army everywhere, the lightly wounded had already withdrawn with the large army, and the seriously wounded were tossing and wailing on the ground, crying and asking for help from their companions, and the rangers of the Qing army did not dare to enter the range of bows and arrows, but only dragged away the corpses of their comrades. When they saw the wounded soldiers who were seriously injured, they directly mended the knife to give them a good time.

"Lord Zhang Jing, you can't attack anymore!"

Zhang Yingxiang's men suffered heavy casualties. In a fit of anger, his speech became much more direct: "Nanban must have rehearsed this formation, they have cannons on the top of the mountain, bows and arrows on the mountainside, and fire guns on the hillside. Before the Erlang people could kill Nanban, they had already lost more than half of their ......"

He is similar to Jin Shenghuan and Xu Yong, and he turned out to be Zuo Liangyu's general. Later, he was appointed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty as the chief soldier of Nanyang, and he was also a veteran general who had experienced a hundred battles, and he knew that he could not fight to the death with the Chu army at the moment, so he came to persuade Chen Tai. But we're just halfway there. Chen Tai suddenly waved his hand, his face was extremely gloomy, and he quickly closed his mouth.

"What then? Are these sons dead in vain? Chen Tai's eyes were almost on fire, the Qing army's will to fight was very tenacious, and they continued to charge despite the enemy's fierce blows, until the battle loss ratio exceeded fifty percent before it collapsed, so that the three attacks suffered heavy casualties, and the loss of more than a thousand people.

“……”

Zhang Yingxiang was speechless. At this time, there is no doubt that the army should be withdrawn, but that way. It is equivalent to accepting the fact that the battle was lost, and half of the casualties in the early 1,000s were the Eight Banners and the Heavenly Blessing Soldiers, who would bear such a big crime? If he proposes to retreat, he will probably become the scapegoat that everyone expects to appear.

Chen Tai stared at the left flank of the Chu army, where was Ma Jinzhong's troops: "Try again, you feint from the front, I will send elite cavalry to attack the flank of the Southern Barbarians, this earth mountain is only strong on the front, and the side may not be able to withstand the cavalry rush!" ”

"Yes." Zhang Yingxiang agreed a little reluctantly, a feint attack is also an attack, his troops are not many, and at least hundreds of people will be lost if he attacks again.

Chen Tai glanced at him and said coldly: "If this battle is lost, the five thousand troops will be folded by the Junshui River, I will order the Bayala soldiers to fight, and then help you with two hundred heavenly blessing soldiers...... If you can't get in front of the antlers, don't come back! ”

"The last general dares not to fight to the death! If you can't attack the Southern Barbarian Formation, you will definitely come to see you! Zhang Yingxiang's heart sank, Baya soldiers are the essence of the Qing army, Chen Tai is going to make a bloody investment, and he has to follow desperately.

One hundred Baya soldiers urgently assembled, and finally sorted out the belly with a saddle sheath, and then whistled, and killed Ma Jinzhong's flank, when the head of a triangular weaving gold dragon flag, the yellow flag is inlaid with red edges, representing that they are the Baya soldiers with yellow flags, from the white mountain and black water all the way, this flag carries too much glory, whether it is the Qing army or the Ming army, it represents the invincible attack.

Break it all in one go!

Unlike the Tushan guarded on all sides, Ma Jinzhong's headquarters was located on the periphery of the Chu army, and his flanks were not protected by friendly troops.

"Damn, are you all pussies? Fight for Lao Tzu! Ma Jinzhong was furious.

The speed of those Baya soldiers was too fast, and they were obviously rushing towards his Chinese army, but when they came to the front of the formation, they suddenly changed their direction and slashed into the soft part of the Ming army's formation, and their troops were suddenly disrupted. Nearly 5,000 men and horses were defeated by a hundred Bayala soldiers, Ma Jinzhong was annoyed and ashamed, and rushed to those Bayala soldiers with his own army, trying to regain some face.

What made him extremely angry was that after those Bayara soldiers broke the formation, they didn't even look at him anymore, and even stopped casually, letting the snorting war horses rest for a while, and snorted from time to time.

"Stride, stomp!"

Ma Jinzhong was about to launch the order to charge, but there was a more dense sound of horses' hooves behind him, and he looked back to see that there were 400 cavalry of the Eight Banners killed from behind, they were the Alyha Chaoha soldiers and the Kabush Xianchaoha soldiers, and when the Bayala soldiers broke through the enemy formation, they took over the rest of the work.

The abdomen and back were attacked by the enemy, Ma Jinzhong's formation was chaotic, and the fallen flowers were killed.

Hundreds of cavalry of the Eight Banners roared up the hillside, the triangular woven golden dragon flag waved in the wind, and hundreds of war horses were like thunder.

Defending this side of the hill was a part of the Tongcheng battalion, and when the Qing army attacked Ma Jinzhong's camp, Wang Kefan also transferred the Gongyi battalion, which served as a reserve.

Ace vs. ace, who can win?

Compared with the front slope, there is no artillery on this side of the hill, but the Chu army also has its own secret weapon. The cavalry of the Eight Banners rushed to the barricade, inevitably reducing their speed, and with a wave of Wang Kefan's command, a hundred grenadiers suddenly rushed up from behind the hillside.

Each grenadier carried several of the latest bamboo generals from the repair shop, and the gunpowder leads were carefully concocted to control the accuracy of the explosion time to the second level, and the bamboo generals made a net pocket with rope, which was drawn into circles on the top of the grenadiers' heads, and then suddenly swished and flew out like a chain ball.

The top of the hill was condescending, and the grenadiers threw their distances greatly, and landed accurately in the antler formation seventy paces away, only to hear the explosions repeatedly, the horses neighed, and the brave and invincible Bayara soldiers fell in a pool of blood.

But how could Baya Lama be discouraged? They braved the blows of bows, arrows, firearms and native grenades to continue to charge, removed the antlers, cut down the horse rejecting rifles, and rushed into the spear formation of the Ming army.

On the slope of the hill in front, the green battalion soldiers and the heavenly blessing soldiers also made a desperate bet and killed into the Ming army, all the Qing soldiers knew that the victory or defeat of this battle would determine their own life and death, rather than being chased and killed on the way to escape, it was better to defeat this difficult Ming army in a desperate battle. But the soldiers of the Chu army also knew better that this was the last madness of the Qing army, as long as this attack was repulsed, there would be no suspense about the outcome of the battle of Tongcheng, and the boiled duck wanted to fly, impossible!

Defense is a more effective form of warfare than offense.

After more than ten minutes of comparable attrition, the soldiers of the Eight Banners gradually became powerless, and the offensive became weaker and weaker, and finally showed defeat.

In the rear of the Qing army, the corners of Chen Tai's mouth twitched a few times, and two words were squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Mingjin!"

If you don't retreat in time, you will be wiped out.

As the sound of gongs resounded across the battlefield, the Qing army retreated down the hillside in a swarm, and the cavalry of the Eight Banners took away all the lightly wounded with their horses, and there were more than 20 Bayara soldiers guarding the golden dragon banner and trying to collect the scattered remnants at the foot of the mountain.

On the top of the mountain, there was a sudden cannon sound, the flag waved, and the Gongyi battalion shouted that it jumped over the barricades, killed down the hillside, and went straight to the Baya Lalong Banner, and a team of Xiliang cavalry also came from the side, blocking the back road of the Qing army.

"Brothers, let's go too! Seize the Bayara Dragon Banner and let the military gate see how powerful we are! Ma Jinzhong waved the horse chopping knife in his hand vigorously, and the captain of his own soldiers rushed forward with two hundred personal soldiers, just blocking the Bayara soldiers who wanted to protect the dragon banner and escaped.

Seeing that the cavalry of the two hundred Ming army was blocking the way, not only did they not turn around and retreat, but surrounded the standard-bearer in the center, and then stepped forward on their horses, drawing their tiger tooth knives and preparing to meet them.

The two teams of men and horses suddenly collided together, and after one staggered, they swept away, only a dozen corpses fell, among which there were more than a dozen Ma Jinzhong's personal soldiers, but there were also three Bayara soldiers who fell off their horses. After rushing out forty or fifty paces, Ma Jinzhong's personal army turned around and turned back, and the horses' hooves kicked up a thick dust, wrapping the Bayara Dragon Banner in the middle again.

The captain of the pro-soldier is the first warrior under Ma Jinzhong, the division is famous, the martial arts are strong, after cutting down a Bayala soldier and going straight to the dragon banner to kill, there are suddenly two tiger tooth knives in the face of the head chopping down, one slashing people, one slashing horses, the pro-soldier captain did not have time to parry, he fell to the side and fell off the horse.

His war horse was slashed by the tiger's tooth knife, and the blood spurted more than two feet high, but the captain of the pro-soldier flicked it on the ground, and suddenly jumped up half a man high, and the steel knife in his hand plunged into the belly of a Baya soldier.

"I'll leave it to you." He turned over and pounced on the opponent's warhorse, shouted at his companions behind him, left another Baya soldier, rushed to the dragon banner, cut down the Qing army flag bearer with a single sword, and then stretched out his left hand to grab the dragon flag.

As soon as he was overjoyed, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm, and the dragon flag was taken back by the other Bayara soldiers, and his severed hand was still clutching the flagpole. (To be continued......)