Chapter 18: The Revenge of Dord
After Cao Xin and Cao Yue broke up, they immediately started to act.
They used their snow camouflage and binoculars at a distance of at least five miles to effectively evade Jiannu's scouts.
Cao Xin is a very cerebral person, and he has followed Cao Wenzhao for many years, which has taught him to calm down. After separating from Cao Yue, he did not rush to act, but kept a certain distance from Jiannu's army to accompany him, and he had to wait until dark to act.
In this kind of weather, it is impossible for Jiannu to travel overnight, and they must camp. When the slaves were camped, it was the best time for them to sneak attack.
The hard work paid off, and after dark, they waited for the time to act.
Jiannu took possession of a village, killed its people, and seized their houses and food. This aroused the great anger of the hundreds of Ming soldiers led by Cao Xin. After the night operation began, they used the firearms in their hands to launch a frenzied revenge.
The men and horses led by Cao Xin were all marching with ski tools. Each of them carried at least 20 "fire dragon cannons", and when they rushed to the camp of Jiannu, a round of "dragon cannons" threw out their hands, and a large area of Jiannu on alert was blown up, and the flames from the explosion also ignited the nearby camp tent soaked in oil. Cao Xinye's subordinates, after throwing out the "fire dragon cannon", set fire to the camp tent of Jiannu with the torch in their hands.
Jiannu could not have imagined that in this weather, the Ming army would sneak near them and attack unknowingly, almost defenselessly. In the chaos, countless "fire dragon cannons" exploded in the camp of Jiannu, and many Jiannu who rushed out in a panic were killed and injured, and many tents were set on fire. After throwing out most of the "fire dragon cannons" along the perimeter of the Jiannu camp and blowing up the Jiannu camp, Cao Xin did not fight, and ordered the sergeants under his command to retreat as expected.
After Cao Yue left, Cao Xin formulated a thorough sneak attack plan, and the family troops of more than 100 people were divided into ten groups, each group of ten to twelve people, two groups responded, and eight groups participated in the sneak attack. The members of the group cooperated with each other, covered each other, never fell in love with the battle, and immediately retreated along the flat line after the first blow, not giving Jiannu a chance to pursue.
Cao Xin firmly remembered Cao Yue's instructions before leaving, even if he sacrificed their lives, he would never let the ski equipment fall into the hands of Jiannu. The process of making ski equipment is not complicated, and if Jiannu gets it, they will definitely be able to copy it, so that Jiannu will also have more tools for snow travel. Although this manufacturing technique will be learned by Jiannu as soon as possible, it is better to delay it as long as possible.
After throwing a "fire dragon cannon" that Cao Yue called a wooden-handled grenade and blowing up the Jiannu camp in a mess, Cao Xin also evacuated the area with his men and horses, and under the leadership of the receiving personnel, went to a selected resting place.
To Cao Xin's surprise, none of his companions were killed in this operation. Several wounded comrades, with the help of their comrades, were all safely evacuated, and no pair of ski equipment was lost. Such a brilliant record made everyone excited.
Cao Xin, like all the sergeants under his command, hoped that this great victory would be exchanged for Cao Yue's rich reward and recognition of them.
Cao Xin's raid brought great disaster to Jiannu. The casualties caused by the explosives thrown by the family members were not very large, at most only a few hundred Jiannu were killed or injured, but the explosion and the fire set by the Ming army brought huge trouble to Jiannu.
The north wind was strong at night, and the camp tents of Jiannu were coated with butter to protect them from rain and wind, and they were easy to ignite. The fire took advantage of the wind and burned so quickly that not only many tents were set on fire, but also the houses in the village. In addition to being busy defending against the enemy, Sergeant Jiannu was also trying to find a way to put out the fire. Fortunately, there were not many Ming troops attacking, and they did not fight, and they withdrew with just a stick of incense.
However, Jiannu was afraid that there would be a follow-up Ming army to sneak attack, and most of the men and horses were urgently assembled to defend against the enemy and pursue the enemy. But they turned the neighborhood upside down, and they didn't find a trace of the Ming army. The sneak attack of the Ming army seemed to have descended out of thin air, coming and going without a trace.
It was not until the middle of the night that the fire in the camp was extinguished, but the search continued until dawn.
The fire nearly burned down the house where Dodor lived, and he was devastated. The disgraced Duoduo heard that his subordinates had reported that they had not eliminated even a single Ming army, nor had they found any trace of the Ming army, and his nose was crooked.
On this night, Jiannu no longer dared to sleep peacefully, and many people's tents were burned down, and there was no place to hide from the bitter cold. In order to avoid freezing to death, many sergeants kept warm from burning houses until dawn.
It's been a long time since they've been in such a mess, and many have frozen to death during the night.
After daybreak, Duoduo continued to send elite cavalry to search for a larger area, but there was no trace of the Ming army at all. They had no idea where this Ming army came from, how it came, what means it used to evacuate, and how it came and went without a trace.
The casualty statistics also came out, there were more than 700 sergeants who died for various reasons, and nearly 1,000 were wounded, and not even a single body of Ming soldiers was found at the scene, that is, not a single Ming soldier died in the sneak attack. Such a result stunned everyone.
"If you don't raze Datong to the ground, this king vows not to give up!" After whipping and scolding several of his men, Dodor brandished his horsewhip and roared at the weather. "The king will draw his tendons, and skin him, and break him into pieces."
Duoduo was really angry, Leng might as well made a move with Cao Yue, but the other party's face didn't hit, he paid a heavy loss, he swore in public that he would never give up until Cao Yue's body was broken into ten thousand pieces. However, after calming down, Duoduo also thought of another level. The Ming army can launch such an attack, which shows that Cao Yue is not simple, and it is a bit unimaginable.
Without ability, it is impossible to organize a sneak attack in this way, and retreat with all his body.
Duoduo also thought of Dorgon's repeated reminders before leaving, and against Cao Yue, he couldn't be careless at any time.
Cao Yue led more than 1,000 people to dare to attack Shengjing and succeeded, and finally returned to Daming safely, which was not due to luck, but because of his courage and ability. Originally, Duoduo didn't agree with what Dolgon said, his nose and face were swollen after being beaten today, and he didn't know how he was beaten, and he began to look high at Cao Yue, and no longer thought that Cao Yue was lucky to succeed last time.
Duoduo also strictly ordered his generals to strengthen their vigilance, not to be careless at any time, and never let the Ming army succeed in a sneak attack.
Duoduo also ordered the whole army to speed up the march and strive to reach Datong before dark, and win the attack before Datong was prepared.
Today was attacked by the Ming army, Duoduo thought of another aspect, he thought that this was because Cao Yue was not ready to defend Datong, so he sent elite men and horses to attack the army he led, in order to slow down the march of the Qing army and buy time to deploy defenses.
He couldn't give Cao Yue a chance to calmly deploy his defenses.
Duoduo also strictly ordered that any Ming soldiers and civilians encountered along the way should be killed, all the villages were burned down, and all property was looted.
At the same time, he also sent the yellow flag general Aobai who followed him on the expedition, led 5,000 people to break away from the main army, and specially burned and looted the people in this area, he wanted to bring disaster to the Ming Dynasty.