The next day, the sky was dark, and the sound of bullhorns sounded in the northwest direction of Taizhuang, and the morning light on the wilderness had not yet dispersed, and the black Tatar cavalry had already emerged like ghosts.

Mongol cavalry in formation.

The Khalkha Prince, the Chahar Prince, the Tushetu Prince and other Mongolian princes gathered together, unlike the Korqin Tribe, these tribes are not very happy, especially the Chahar Department has been suppressed by Jiannu, because the Chahar Department is a direct descendant of Lin Dan Khan, and it is a descendant of the golden tribe on the steppe.

The submission of the Chahar tribes to Jiannu was completely forced by the situation, not willingly, but after all, the Jiannu had conquered the grassland, and the powerful Horqin tribe was Jiannu's eagle dog minions, and the Chahar tribes had to succumb to Jiannu's silver power and act as Jiannu's pawns to attack the Ming Dynasty.

Prince Chahar pointed to the front with the whip in his hand, and said to the rest of the Mongolian princes: "Everyone, the front is Taizhuang, Tanma reported that about 30,000 or so Nanming barbarians have been gathered there, and Dolgon sent people to say that the musket team of Nanming barbarians has rushed to Jining, and there is only a baggage team left, oh, there is also an artillery team, what do you think about this?" ”

The Khalkha prince said: "Who knows if what Dolgon said is true or false? ”

Prince Tushetu said: "Is it true or false, send a team of cavalry to test it, won't you know?" ”

Prince Chahar said: "Tushetu Khan, do you really plan to fight here with the Nanming barbarians?" ”

"Can you do it if you don't fight?" Prince Tushetu said angrily, "If we retreat without a fight, Dolgon will not be able to spare us." ”

"Tushetu Khan is right." The Khalkha prince said, "Since Dolgon has given the order, we want to fight this battle, and if we don't want to fight, we have to fight, so let's do it, the Chahar department has few troops, this time let our Khalkha warriors take the lead, if our Khalkha department loses the battle, we will change the Tushetu department, and finally it will be the turn of the Chahar department, what do you say?" ”

Prince Tushetu said, "Okay, that's it." ”

A sneer crossed the corner of Prince Chahar's mouth and he nodded indifferently.

The Khalkha prince turned his head and shouted: "Brother Libu, Aratai!" ”

The two Mongolian thousand-household chiefs stepped forward and replied loudly: "The end will be there." ”

The prince of Khalkha raised his horsewhip, pointed to the Taizhuang in the morning light ahead, and said loudly: "Lead the cavalry of the headquarters and immediately attack the town in front, remember, after entering the town, all people and animals will be killed!" ”

"Wow!"

The two Khalkha chiefs of thousands of households agreed with a bang, and each returned to the front of the cavalry formation of the headquarters, and said sharply: "The immortal sky is above, the great god of war Genghis Khan is above, the warriors of the Khalkha department, use the scimitar in your hands to cut off the heads of those Nanming barbarians in front of you, and use the blood of these untouchables to stain your robes red, kill ......."

"Kill, kill, kill, kill ......"

More than two thousand Tartar cavalry followed with a frantic shout.

He could not turn his horse's head with Altai, raise his scimitar and lead forward, and the Tartar cavalry swept forward like a flood that had broken the embankment, and swept towards the Taizhuang bathed in the morning light ahead.

■■■

Taizhuang, the garrison of the Central Army.

The 3,000 soldiers of the 10th Battalion of the new Central Army have already entered the rear of the car formation and are waiting for them, and the 10th Battalion of the new formation originally had 5,000 musketeers, of which 2,000 have been transferred to Tang Sheng's mixed battalion, transported by Shi Langshui's division, and attacked Yanjing from the waterway, so there are only 3,000 musketeers left in the 10th Battalion.

Although the officers and men of the newly formed 10th Battalion are all new recruits, the officers above the squadron leader level have all just graduated from the Nanjing Army Military University, and these officers and soldiers have not only experienced a hundred battles but have also received an excellent military academy education; in terms of officer standards, the 10th Battalion is far above the first, second, and third battalions.

Up to now, the Central Army has been equipped with a total of four musket battalions, of which the second musket battalion followed Zhao Xin and was stationed in Wuchang, and the other three musket battalions were in Taizhuang, but the first musket battalion only had 3,000 musketeers, and the other 2,000 people were stationed in Jining, forming a mixed battalion with 3,000 pikemen, so the musket team in Taizhuang actually only had two battalions and one outpost.

But even if there are only 11,000 musketeers, it is more than enough to deal with the 80,000 Tatar cavalry of the Khalkha, Tushetu, and Chahar coalition armies, after all, the Tatar cavalry is better than mobile surnames, and better at cavalry shooting, and if they really want to fight positional warfare, the threat of Tatar cavalry is not even comparable to that of light infantry.

In the wilderness ahead, thousands of Tartar cavalry swept in like a whirlwind of clouds.

On the open plain, the scene of the Tatar cavalry charging is still not shocking, especially those recruits who have never been on the battlefield, and their legs and stomachs will tremble when they see that kind of scene, but for the veterans of the Central Army, such scenes are already commonplace.

I think that when I was in the sea, the 200 cavalry of the Central Army dared to hedge against the 2,000 cavalry of Horqin, what kind of momentum was that? How heroic? And when it was in Sanbulachuan, less than 3,000 cavalry killed three in and three out of tens of thousands of Korqin cavalry, when did the veterans of the Central Army ever put these Tatar cavalry in their eyes?

However, at that time, they were not the central army, but just the border army of Datong Town.

The sound of hooves rumbled, the Mongolian cavalry looked menacing, its implementation speed was not fast, it was just an ordinary marching speed, although the endurance of the Mongolian horse was good, but before entering the attack distance, the Mongolian cavalry would not charge easily, after all, the time for the war horse to maintain a fast sprint was very limited.

With the sound of the horses' hooves like a tide, the Tartar cavalry finally entered a sprint distance of about two thousand paces.

Riding their horses and rushing to the front of Altai and Yeli Buge's raised scimitar forward, more than 2,000 Tartar cavalry behind him began to accelerate, and after a while, more than 2,000 Tartar cavalry had accelerated to extreme speed, rushing towards Taizhuang like a gallop and rushing to the defensive formation of the Central Army.

Wang Pu stood at the forefront of the shooting queue with a monocular in hand.

Kou Baimen, Nen Niang and Lu Liu, who were wearing military uniforms, were closely guarding Wang Pu's side, and the officers of the 10th Battalion of the Central Army also looked at Wang Pu in unison, quietly waiting for Wang Pu's military order.

Horses are thriving, iron hooves are churning, and the Tartar cavalry is approaching at an alarming speed.

Although the Tartar cavalry had discovered the three ravines outside the village and the car formation in front of the central army, they had no intention of stopping, because the Tartar cavalry was not a Jiannu iron cavalry, and they did not need to attack from the front, they only needed to pass in front of the central army and then shoot the enemy with their horses.

Wang Pu's eyes stared at this group of Tartar cavalry through the monoculars for a moment, this is just a small group of Tartar cavalry, no more than three thousand cavalry at most, just like this, the Tartar cavalry does not need the artillery support of the artillery battalion at all, and the firepower of the ten battalions alone is enough to defeat them!

"Order, ten battalions ready!"

Wang Pu finally gave the order, and the officers at all levels who had been staring at him for a long time gave orders, and a thousand soldiers of the 10th Battalion stepped forward to stand behind the semi-circular formation, and a thousand muskets had been raised in unison, and the muzzles of the black holes had been aimed at the Tartar cavalry sweeping in front.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

When the Tartar cavalry was still a hundred paces away from the circular car formation, the Ming Central Army opened fire first.

The distance of 100 paces has entered the effective range of the Central Army's muskets, while the effective range of the Tartar bow and arrow is only 80 paces, at this distance, the Tartar cavalry can only be beaten and cannot return fire, and what is even worse is that the Tartar cavalry did not know that the Ming army still left a musket team in the baggage team, and they simply lacked ideological preparation.

A dazzling red light flashed, followed by a violent gunfire, and the Tartar cavalry that was rushing forward was caught off guard like a cut weed, and the two armies fell on their backs in front of the two armies, and under the intensive fire of a thousand muskets, at least three hundred Tartar cavalry fell in a pool of blood.

The cavalry formation of the Tatar cavalry began to be confused in an instant, but under the effect of the habitual surname, it was still approaching the circular car formation of the Ming army, and a row of dense bullets came over, and more Tatar cavalry fell in a pool of blood, after paying the price of seven or eight hundred cavalry casualties, the formation of the Tatar cavalry had completely collapsed, and the panicked Tatar soldiers even forgot to release arrows at the Ming army, and fled on horseback......

As they fled, several hundred more Tartars were killed, and in the end, less than 800 of the more than 2,000 Tartars who attacked fled back to their positions.

In the Mongol formation.

Hearing the dense gunfire coming from the direction of Taizhuang, the Khalkha prince was first taken aback, and then said angrily: "Fuck Dolgon lied to us! How could the musket team of the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty rush to Jining, it is clear that they are still here, listening to the intensity of this gunshot, there are tens of thousands of people! ”

Prince Chahar pursed his lips and sneered, "This king has said a long time ago that Dorgon's words cannot be trusted. ”

"Fuck." The Khalkha prince scolded, "We have all let Dolgon play tricks, what now? ”

Prince Tushetu and Prince Khalkha turned their attention to Prince Chahar at the same time, although the status of the three is now the lowest among the three, but in terms of resourcefulness, the Prince of Chahar is the highest, and he is also the eldest son of the last Great Khan of the Great Mongol Empire, Lin Dan Khan.

Prince Ezhe of Chahar said: "Dolgon's heart to kill my Mongols is not dead, so his words are not credible, but the strength of Jianzhou Jurchen is far stronger than our Mongolia, and there are four tribes of Horqin as their jealous wings, and we must not confront it head-on at the moment, so we still have to obey Dolgon's military orders." ”

"Hey." Tushetu Khan smacked and said, "Speaking of which, don't you want to fight Taizhuang?" ”

"Not really." Chahar Prince Ezhe said, "The prerequisite for Dolgon to order us to intercept the Ming army's grain and grass is that the Ming army has a plan, so that the main force of the musket team rushes to Jining, but now that the Ming army has no plan, then we don't have to act completely in accordance with Dolgon's military orders, so we can completely besiege Taizhuang." ”

"Oh?"

"Besieging Taizhuang?"

Prince Tushetu and Prince Khalkha exchanged glances and asked in a low voice, "Is this okay?" ”

"It's already the best outcome." Ezhe said in a condensed voice, "If this king is not mistaken, this result is also what Dolgon wants, after all, as long as the Ming army can be divided and surrounded in Taizhuang and Jining, and the two Ming armies are not allowed to merge into one, it will be much easier to deal with them." ”

Prince Tushetu said: "The Ming army has a water division, what should they do if they flee to Jining by water?" ”

Ezhe said coldly, "That's Dolgon's business, not ours. ”

The prince of Khalkha said: "What if the Ming army forcibly breaks through the siege and goes north by land?" ”

Ezhe said: "From Taizhuang north to Jining, there are more than a dozen rivers across the way, although these rivers are not wide, but enough to block the Ming army from going north, we only need to burn the bridges erected on these rivers to prevent the Ming army's baggage team and artillery team from crossing the river, as long as the Ming army's baggage team and artillery team can not cross the river, the Ming army will not be able to move." ”

"Okay, then do it."

"We're going to split up and send troops to burn the bridges over the rivers along the way."

■■■

Taizhuang, in front of the Central Army.

Wang Pu's brows were twisted into knots again, and through the binoculars, he was surprised to find that the Mongolian Tatars in the distance had actually retreated, and after the failure of the tentative attack, these Tatar soldiers actually retreated!

I don't know when Liu Ru also came to Wang Pu's side, and asked in a condensed voice: "Strange, why did the Mongolian Tatars retreat?" ”

Wang Pu frowned and fell into deep thought.

Liu Ru muttered: "If Dolgon's strategic intention is to be our army's baggage team, then these Tartar soldiers should launch a fierce attack at any cost, but why did they hastily retreat after testing the attack?" Could it be that Dorgon's strategic intentions were not to be the baggage of our army? ”

"Report ......"

When Wang Pu and Liu Ru were puzzled, Jing Haibo Huang Degong suddenly came to the front of the battle out of breath, and said in a trembling voice, "Master Hou, it's not good, it's not good!" ”

"What's wrong?" Wang Pu's heart jumped, and he said in a condensed voice, "Speak slowly, what's wrong?" ”

Huang Degong swallowed his saliva fiercely and said in a difficult tone: "More than ten miles from Taizhuang, the Hanzhuang section of the canal has been cut off!" ”

"What did you say?" Wang Pu was taken aback when he heard this, he couldn't believe his ears, and lost his voice, "The canal is broken? How is this possible? ”

"Hey." Huang Degong said gloomily, "I also sent someone to investigate after the canal was cut off, and I learned that the original Hanzhuang section of the canal was slightly higher, and there used to be a Han River running through the canal and the Yellow River, after the canal was built, in order to ensure the water level of the canal, the Han River was cut off in the center, but a few days ago, I don't know who dug the embankment to dredge the Han River again, which led to a sharp drop in the water level of the Hanzhuang section of the canal, and now it is impossible to sail!" ”

Wang Pu said in a condensed voice: "Jiannu, this must have been done by Jiannu!" ”

"Jiannu?" Liu Ru was puzzled and said, "Can Jiannu know the hydrology and geography of Shandong?" ”

Wang Pu said coldly: "Of course, it is impossible for Jiannu to know the hydrology and geography of Shandong, but there are many former Ming officials from Shandong in Yanjing City, and it is enough for these damn Han Anniversaries to know." ”

Liu Ru thought for a moment, and suddenly his face changed greatly: "Master Hou, if the canal is really cut off, then our army will lose the benefit of the sailors, and the actions of the baggage team and artillery team will be seriously affected. ”

There is a sentence that Liu Ru didn't say, but Wang Pu had already heard it, once the canal channel was cut off, then the Central Army remaining in Taizhuang and the Central Army in Jining would be in danger of being divided and surrounded by Jiannu and the Mongol Tartars, especially the three battalions of the Central Army in Jining City, which would be completely in a desperate situation.

(To be continued)