Chapter 397: The Great War Begins

The movement outside didn't even wake up Li Meng, who was asleep, and the shotgun fire of the two-pounder cannon and the one-pounder cannon was followed by the fire of the gun, which completely knocked back the cavalry of the Eight Banners, who thought they had a plan.

Tan Tai, the commander of the Yellow Banner, died directly in the shelling, and the battalion of the Manchu and Mongolian army, which was originally preparing to follow the night attack on the side of the camp, quickly stopped, and the cavalry that followed the night attack with the two yellow flags barely contained the momentum of the mount before rushing in, and finally turned back.

But these two yellow flag cavalry who quickly withdrew almost didn't even enter their own camp, because the camp gate was already about to be closed, and the entire camp was mobilized to defend the camp, in case the Ming army on the opposite side took the opportunity to attack in, tossed for a long time, and did not see any movement in the Ming army camp on the opposite side, but seeing that the sky was about to dawn, I am afraid that I would have to prepare for the battle during the day.

The Manchurian and Mongolian troops, who had been tired all day, did not rest well after such a fuss at night, and many people felt even more tired.

The camp of the Jiaozhou battalion always has such a place that looks careless and weak, making people feel that they can break through this gap, but behind the gap in this defensive circle, relatively strong firepower is generally set up, and a large part of the vigilant mobile troops at night are placed here.

This is a psychological trap, people who can come out in the evening to rob the camp generally have speculative adventures in their hearts, and there is such a gap, which will always attract people to take the bait.

The cavalry of the two yellow flags crashed into this trap, and the idea of the old battalion of the Jiaozhou battalion was to learn from Chen Liu's Huaiyang army, where the battle with the fifth battalion of the Gezuo, the two sides stationed in the camp confronted, always between the robbery camp and the anti-robbery camp, the battle was fierce, and each other was full of tricks.

The sound of gunfire and the charge of the cavalry with two yellow flags. There is indeed a lot of momentum, and many soldiers in the resting ground around that gap have been awakened, but there are strict rules on who should react and who should not act, and each battalion has a corresponding task and scope of duty, and it is very difficult to disturb the whole battalion of the Jiaozhou battalion.

After this blow, the morale of the Tartar battalion was even lowered. The identity of Tan Tai, the capital of the Zhenghuang Banner, is different from that of other nobles in the banner, he is a general of the Emperor Huang Taiji, and in the era of Nurhachi, he has made great contributions in the southern and northern wars.

Who would have thought that he lost his life in tonight's night attack, this is the first senior general to die after encountering this strange Ming army, and the bannermen of the two yellow flags are also the most elite group of flags, and they have also lost a lot at night. Everyone has come to the conclusion that tomorrow's battle will probably be even more difficult.

This is already the situation, there is no longer any idea of going out to rob the camp, and there are still people who are cautious to talk to Abatai. Is it a suggestion that the whole army flee to the north while it is dark, if it were not for the imminent battle the next day, Abatai really had the idea of drawing his knife and cutting him.

The Manchurian and Mongolian armies are so large. If you retreat north at night, not to mention the panic in your heart, the darkness at night, the slightest disturbance is the tragedy of the whole army's dispersal, in the Ming country, the Manchu and Mongolian soldiers scattered to the surrounding areas, what to do after being alone, the end will definitely be a dead end. It's undefeated and defeated.

The current plan is to rest as much as possible, wait for the decisive battle of the next day, fight to the death, and maybe have a glimmer of life.

The thirty cavalrymen with the blue flag with more than a hundred horses galloped towards the west of the confrontation between the two large battalions, and it was too dangerous to move directly to the north, so it was better to move horizontally first, and then turn to the north. The likelihood of success is slightly greater. Abatai did not sleep, but stood on the watchtower and watched the messenger go away. He could also hear and perceive the timely response of the Ming army's battalion, and cavalry pursued it.

This kind of hope is better than nothing, hoping to be able to return to the customs to report the news, but what can I do if I report the letter, Shengjing can still send reinforcements to come here to rescue the can't succeed, I am afraid that it will be the destruction of my own army, and the banner owners of several flags are happy to see it, Abatai thought of this, and couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly.

I didn't sleep well this night, not only the Tartar army, but even the Dengzhou army twenty miles away from the Tartar army was also difficult to sleep, but this was not because of danger, but because of excitement, and the next day I could participate in the big battle, with the excitement of the headquarters led by the marshal.

On the morning of the second day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the whining of the copper horn kicked off the prelude to the day, the light of day appeared, the generals of the Eight Banners and the Eight Banners of Mongolia began to gather in each battalion, but there were still people who were tired last night, and they fell asleep at this time, but it was impossible to continue to sleep again.

It is said that the commander of this army will always mobilize and agitate the soldiers below at such a critical moment, but Abatai, Yue Le, Tu Lichen and others are all in a low mood and full of solemnity, who can take care of this.

The attention of the Manchu and Mongolian generals was on the opposite side of the Ming army camp, after the copper horn sounded, followed by the rumbling drums, at this time, the entire Ming army camp began to turn from quiet to noisy, until the entire camp boiled.

The meal should be before the drum sounds, and under the rhythm of the drums, the camp gate of the Ming army camp is open, and the soldiers rush out and line up in front of the camp.

Compared with yesterday's battlefield, the terrain of Dongguang County is not so flat, and the location where the Jiaozhou battalion chose to camp is a slightly sloping slope.

The army led by Li Meng was arrayed on the top of the slope, and the Tartar soldiers and horses gathered their soldiers and horses yesterday, and they were extremely tired, and they camped directly around the military station, and they did not expect that there would be an advantage in the terrain.

But for large troops, this subtle unhabit caused by flat and sloping ground may lead to the scattering of the entire army's formation, the rapid arrival of soldiers' exhaustion, and other side effects, and for a veteran like Abatai, he certainly will not ignore this kind of problem.

It's just that yesterday, I retreated in a hurry, and I couldn't care about anything......

Banner exhibition. The sound of war drums, the infantry queue of the Jiaozhou battalion slowly poured out, each battalion arrived at the predetermined position, the whole team was on standby, and followed the foot soldiers out of the ground, it was the artillery team of the Jiaozhou battalion, and the artillery of different sizes was dragged out, and the right wing and the Chinese army were placed in a part.

See these artillery. The generals of the Tartars gasped from top to bottom, there are so many artillery pieces of the Ming army, and there are almost more than 60 cannons in large and small ways, how can this battle be fought?

The last thing that appeared in front of everyone was the cavalry team and Li Meng's personal team, the cavalry team didn't seem to move fast, not much faster than Fang Cai's foot soldiers, but the neatness of the whole team was not much more chaotic than Fang Cai's foot soldiers, see here. The horror in the hearts of all the Tartar generals who saw this scene was even more powerful than the artillery they had just seen, because the horse team had made such a performance, this was already a first-class elite.

And looking at this posture, it is clearly the appearance of heavy cavalry. That's the strongest soldier on the battlefield.

When the cavalry team finished standing, Li Meng, who was covered in silver armor and dressed in blood-red coats, was surrounded by the pro-soldiers, from right to left. Begin to march along the front.

His dress is extremely conspicuous, of course, as long as the whole body armor on his body is polished, it has the effect of silver armor, and the blood-red big coat behind him is also that dazzling eye, walking in front of the army, he is the loyalty of the crowd, and the pro-soldiers behind him are wearing ring-arm iron armor, the waist is straight, and the riding spear in his hand is erected. The Jiaozhou battalion commander Li Meng in front of him is more and more powerful.

A night's sufficient sleep, the fatigue of the road has disappeared a lot, now Li Meng is in good spirits, before leaving the camp, he also deliberately packed up his beard, which makes people look more energetic, Li Meng slowly controlled the horse forward, holding up the rhythmic sound of horses' hooves behind him. Look at your own soldiers. My heart is full of pride.

As for the Tartar soldiers and horses who also came out on the other side, he didn't care about it at all. Li Meng was already extremely confident at this time, with such soldiers and horses in his hands, he couldn't go anywhere in the world, Zhao Neng's battle situation over there had already been a rough description of the intercepted sentry cavalry, and Zhao Neng's Dengzhou army responded to the mistake of fighting more with less, and still played such a battle example, what about his old battalion soldiers and horses.

Of course, it was no problem, Li Meng raised his left arm and beckoned to the queue of soldiers beside him, Li Meng and the pro-soldiers behind him were mighty and majestic, which made the morale of the old battalion of the Jiaozhou battalion to a higher level, and everyone's hearts were surging and their blood was boiling.

"Mighty and mighty! Handsome and mighty!! ”

Wang Hai, who was behind Li Meng, shouted loudly when he was halfway there, and the soldiers standing there responded in unison, Li Meng shook the reins slightly, the speed of the horse increased, he clenched his fists, waved his arms, and shouted:

"My Jiaozhou battalion, Wansheng!!"

The shouts were like a tide, and the army responded, with a momentum like a rainbow, and even the pro-soldiers behind Li Meng shouted along:

"Wan Sheng! Wansheng!! Victory !! ”

The whole battlefield was filled with their shouts, and the Tartar army on the opposite side was quiet and abnormal, no one spoke or made a sound, only the occasional shouting and scolding of the generals was considered some movement, and many of the full-fledged officer leaders found that the soldiers and their subordinates were different from yesterday, and they could no longer turn around the command as expected, and they were all there to respond passively.

The appearance of the soldiers, the leader of the officers who are full of Meng is also dejected, the big battle during the day, the disturbance at night, it is really exhausting and abnormal, not to mention looking at the posture on the other side, compared to the strange Ming army yesterday, I am afraid that it is only strong and not weak, at least it will not be too bad.

Yesterday's battle was fought with more and less, and in the end it was still the same situation, and today with less and more, what kind of ending will there be, and no one will have any high morale when they meet such an ending.

"Daluhua, Luhutai, you go back to the camp and bring out all the soldiers and horses left behind!"

Abatai did not hold the horsewhip in his hand at this time, but put it on the handle of the knife, his expression was extremely cautious, if it was the first time he met this Ming army, without yesterday's energy, Abatai would definitely preach loudly in the army, for example, these soldiers and horses are all tricks, we are full of Mengjian riding into it, it will definitely be broken up or something.

After yesterday's hard fighting, if we preach like this today, it will definitely have a very bad counterproduct, so I simply won't say it, but the leaders of the various banners, the leaders and the nobles are all gathered around and explain these words in advance, which is today's battle. If you rush away, if you can't rush away, we'll all die here.

This is the way to go to the mourning army to win, put to death and then reborn, the general Abatai is grateful to the Ming army generals yesterday, if he did not cut off the captives of the Korean, Mongolian, and Han armies, I am afraid that the morale of the army on his side has long been dispersed.

Now that I know that even if I surrender, I will be killed, and there is only one way left to fight to the death. You must know that the minions of the Korean, Mongolian, and Han armies yesterday will be much closer to the Ming army than the Manchurian Eight Banners and the Mongolian Eight Banners anyway.

Daruhua and Luhutai were both generals who led their troops to stay in the camp, and some heavy grain and grass were placed in this camp.

Seeing the dozens of cannons on the other side, all thoughts disappeared. Even if you go back to the camp to defend it, what can you do, can the opponent's artillery still not be able to bombard, just let the whole army out of the camp and fight.

The choice given to the Tartar army at the moment is in addition to fighting to the death. Still fighting to the death, there was no other choice at all, and the general Abatai was ordered to tilt his head and look at the gap between the two armies, whether it was left or right. All left room for a large force of cavalry to escape.

But seeing that the number of cavalry on the other side is also large, if he runs away rashly, the tired soldiers face the opponent's horse team after a night of full rest, and are covered and pursued by others, I am afraid that the end will be extremely troublesome, he sighed in his heart, and there is only one way to go.

Under the pressure of the opponent's front, the ordered general Abatai could not even complete the calmly arrangement. And the troops under his command are only the Manchurian cavalry.

The formation of the general Abatai was that the Manchurian Eight Banners and the Mongolian Eight Banners were on the right flank, while the remaining Han Eight Banners and the Mongol stragglers who followed them on the steppe were on the left flank. The distinction between the troops belonging to the Manchus and those not belonging to the Manchus is clear. When the time comes, you don't have to influence each other to escape.

The cheers of the Ming army on the opposite side were higher and higher, and Li Meng rode his horse around in front of the formation. This is the return to the position of the Chinese army, the entire morale has been mobilized, and the next thing is to start fighting.

Li Meng and a personal soldier beside him gave a few orders, and the personal soldier hurriedly rode to the right flank of the army, and after a commotion on the right flank, more than 1,000 cavalry came out of the ranks, first galloping sideways from right to left, and began to adjust the formation and position in the process of the horses running.

By the time the more than 1,000 horsemen reached the center, they had already become three teams of 300 cavalry, and the rest of the cavalry were still scattered behind.

The leading officers of the more than 1,000 cavalry raised and put down the spears in their hands, which was regarded as a salute to the commander Li Mengdi, and then raised the spears and drew a few circles in mid-air.

These cavalry, which had just stopped, began to move forward, each team of three hundred cavalry, this formation was opened, each column was fifty people, each team was six columns, and these three teams were not in front and back, but side by side, in the same row of one hundred and fifty cavalry, such a formation, the width is very large.

Being seen in the eyes of others, it is equivalent to directly pressing over, quite terrifying, everyone's cavalry still maintains an upright appearance, the horses are in a state of trot, the stride is very small, and the queue is quite neat.

For a while, the battlefield was quite quiet, and the Manchu soldiers and horses were dumbfounded, thinking that the Ming army was actually using this posture to fight at the beginning, and it was said that it should be bombarded with artillery or pressed forward by the infantry line, and the first step was the posture of the cavalry rushing into formation, which was too confident.

If you are so arrogant, you must have the ability to be arrogant, and the officers and soldiers who are full of eight banners have left yesterday's arrogance behind and are cautious and abnormal to deal with the opponent's attack.

"Lu Hutai, take your people, beat these Han dogs back, and take the jackpot first!"

At the beginning of the war, the first skirmish contact has a great impact on the following battle, and the so-called good start is half the battle, which is what it means.

The army of the Tartars has only admitted that the firearms and foot soldiers of the Ming army in front of them are indeed strong, but when it comes to cavalry, these warriors who have been on horseback since childhood will not admit that their skills are inferior to others anyway.

Lu Hutai is a leader of the two red flags, and at the time of the first battle, he can't use the Mongolian cannon fodder that followed him on the grassland, but he still has to go to the elite, and the hundreds of cavalry of the Zhenghong Banner and the Mongolian Eight Banners formed a team of nearly 1,500 or so, shouting out of the array.

The distance between the two sides was a little farther than the distance between the Dengzhou Army and the troops of the Manchurian Eight Banners yesterday, almost a mile or more. The horses of the Jiaozhou battalion were jogging in formation, and they had to run some distance to reach it, and Zuo Ling Lu Hutai buttoned up his pointed leather helmet hood, and shouted sullenly, and the brigade behind him also moved.

Facing the Ming cavalry on the opposite side, Lu Hutai led the Manchurian cavalry not in formation, but in the form of a straggler queue slowly moving forward.

Lu Hutai turned around and shouted a few words loudly, after the more than 1,500 cavalry he led left the formation for a distance. Gathered slightly, then hula scattered, and suddenly went forward, it looked like a chaotic appearance, but the distance between the cavalry and the cavalry was very large, and the formation was extremely loose.

The cavalry lined up in a neat queue and fought hard, although it would be effective, but both sides would suffer heavy casualties. Moreover, the morale of the soldiers and horses in front of him was low, and Lu Hutai felt in his heart that if he had to talk to the other party, he might not be able to face it directly, and his own soldiers and horses would be scattered.

It's better to line up and go around. The flanks and rear of the opposing team, the opponent is a cavalry formation and a posture, which will definitely not be scattered, and the direction of action will not be easily changed for the flank and rear attacks. When the other party kills to a certain extent, it can naturally be killed.

This is the first time that the armies of the two sides have fought each other today, and they have sent a small force to try each other's catties, but at the moment, it seems that the cavalry of the Jiaozhou battalion lined up in a neat line is going to suffer, and the straggler front is getting wider and wider, and it seems that the cavalry team of the Jiaozhou battalion is about to be wrapped in it.

It is said that after this distance, the cavalry of the Jiaozhou battalion should also accelerate slightly. If the horse has been pacing slowly like this, if it suddenly accelerates, it will not be able to run at all, there must be an acceleration process, and the body can be completely accelerated to the maximum.

But until now, the cavalry of the Jiaozhou battalion has maintained a slow pace of progress, as if this is not a battlefield at all. It's a school field for training.

The slower the action. Lu Hutai led more than 1,000 light cavalry to feel more and more bottomless in their hearts, the Ming army they have encountered in the past few days is really strange. It makes people can't figure out the reality at all, and all kinds of responses on the battlefield are completely tactics that do not follow the routine, and when they fought inside and outside the gate in the past, they had never seen such a Ming army.

In the main formation of the Manchurian army, Abatai had already begun to prepare for the next wave of battle, the cavalry of the brigade was lined up in formation, ready on the left and right flanks, and the officers and leaders were all in place, waiting for the commander's order, ready to enter the battle at any time.

Such an unhurried forward, that is to say, if you step forward to outflank the attack, the opponent can easily turn to the enemy, and the assault and attack of the light cavalry on the flank will lose its suddenness, and the opponent can calmly counterattack to meet the battle.

But since the attack, you always have to go forward to fight, since the Ming army is holding a cavalry spear and has always been ready to charge the battle, then use long-range weapons to attack.

Lu Hutai gave a loud order there, since the cavalry had dispersed, what he could order was the same direction as his side, the cavalry of Manmeng put down their blades, took out their bows and arrows, and controlled the horses, anyway, the cavalry of the Ming army did not move in a hurry, and they would not worry about running away.

If you want to maintain the accuracy of cavalry archery, you must make your mount as free of bumps as possible, according to the weapons of the Ming army, draw the bow and shoot arrows at a distance of thirty or forty steps, and after shooting, you should be able to withdraw calmly.

The scattered Tartar cavalry, centered on the slow-moving cavalry of the Ming army, suddenly converged, some with bows and arrows, others armed with scimitars and spears, ready to attack.

The leader of the cavalry of the Ming army shouted, and the horse team immediately stopped, and the ironclad cavalry on the horse all drew a fire gun from the jacket on the side of the saddle, sawed the fire gun with a short barrel, and did not need the horse to turn, the person on the horse turned with the fire gun, pulled the trigger, and shot.

The effective range of the fire gun with a short barrel is between fifty and sixty steps, which is enough on this battlefield, and the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry who came over on all sides did not expect that these Ming cavalry with spears did not come to hand-to-hand combat, but took out the fire gun, and when they rushed over, no matter how fast or slow, they were all quick and sudden.

But when they arrived at the front, the scattered soldiers were concentrated in several directions, and when they saw the other party raising their firearms, it was too late to turn around.

There is no accident, the fire gun was fired as expected, and the cavalry who rushed to the front were knocked over from their horses, and the fire guns of this era, after the first round of fighting, were burned with fire sticks, and there was no longer any threat, this truth and the Manchurian soldiers and horses who had been fighting with the Ming army for many years certainly knew.

The cavalry in the front row fell from their horses screaming, but the soldiers behind did not feel fear, but kicked the horses in the belly with the heels of their riding boots, urging the horses forward, and when they reached the front, they could be slashed in hand-to-hand combat.

The square team was arranged closely, the distance between the cavalry and the cavalry was very close, and after the peripheral firecrackers were finished, the cavalry of the Jiaozhou battalion in the inner circle handed out the firecrackers with good ammunition, and checked the firerope before handing them out, and blew to see if it was burning, and the second round of firecrackers was fired again.

The Tartar cavalry behind did not stop the horse at all, and was still preparing to attack from the front, who would have thought that the soldiers of the Ming cavalry team picked up the second fire gun again, and it was loud again.

The cavalry under Lu Hutai just felt extremely aggrieved, everyone felt that they had been robbed of their beloved things when they were children, but they couldn't get it back anyway, this is really too bullying, how can there be a second firearm taken out, is there still a fight!?

The Tartar cavalry in the back did not dare to continue to move forward no matter what, and some people bet that the Ming army could not have a third firearm to take out, some rushed forward, some retreated, and were in a mess, but the Ming army's queue had depth both horizontally and vertically, and the firecrackers wanted to fight, and the ones in the inner circle were handed to the outer circle.

In the third round, or more precisely, the cavalry of the Jiaozhou battalion on the outer edge fired the third firearm, whether it was the forward or backward Tartar cavalry, the beaten person turned on his back, and the screams were continuous, and no one wanted to bet on whether the other party could come up with the fourth firearm.

Fortunately, the formation of the Tartar cavalry had become evasive, and it was quite easy to turn around, and for a time they rushed out in a chaotic manner.

The fourth fire gun was passed to the Jiaozhou battalion cavalry who were shooting on the periphery, and some unlucky ghosts did not run out of range, but were still hung by the fire gun, and fell directly from the horse on the back of the sky, and the body was dragged by the horse on the ground and continued to run forward.

There are also desperate Tartar cavalry approached, within the effective range, the bow and arrow in the hand shot out, but the bow and arrow hit the Ming cavalry ring arm iron armor, can not penetrate this layer of defense at all, the distance between the two sides is the nearest thirty-five steps, the Jiaozhou battalion did not have any losses, the Manchurian cavalry of the Tartars killed and wounded more than 400 people.

The formation was in chaos, and as soon as the small troops of the two sides came into contact, the cavalry of the Tatars was already defeated, but the main army of Abatai's army had no time to take care of some of them, and the Manchu and Mongolian soldiers and horses of more than 20,000 people suddenly began to stir up and chaos.......