The north wind was bitter, and when the Ming and Jin armies retreated, the entire hilly and highland was already covered with corpses, and blood stained the entire plain.

The Ming army withdrew to Xishan Fort and Beishan Fort respectively, while the Jin army gained this hilly plain, albeit at a heavy cost.

“……”

When the fighting temporarily stopped, Huang Taiji commanded women and children to rush to the hilly plains to clean up the corpses, pull out the armor and stomach, burn the corpses of his own dead soldiers, and let his relatives carry their ashes in water bladders and wait for the breakout.

In order to prevent the plague, a large number of corpses were burned, so that the already gloomy sky was even more gloomy, and the billowing smoke and snowflake-like ashes fell, and suddenly a desolate atmosphere filled the plain.

I don't know who started crying first, so that the crying of the follow-up blockbuster continues.

Huang Taiji was stationed on the Ma Plain, and the scene he saw in front of him may not be erased in the memory of his life.

Today's battle may be able to enter the top ten major battles in the history of ancient warfare with the number of beheadings in a single day.

"The ...... counted"

Dai Shan, Mang Gurtai, Zilharang, Dolgon, Duoduo and others rode to Huang Taiji's side.

They were like frosted eggplants, and their spirits were languishing.

"The Ming army left the corpses of 2,347 people, and we ......"

Dai Shan paused, and seemed to be a little eager to speak, but finally he stubbornly said:

"There are more than 9,200 people in the two yellow flags, more than 13,000 Mongolian rangers, more than 3,200 people in the two white flags, more than 13,200 people in the two red flags, more than 11,000 people in the fourth battalion of the Han Dynasty, and more than 300 people in the two blue flags."

"The front, middle, and rear armies are less than 50,000 ......"

After Dai Shan's words were finished, the surrounding atmosphere instantly froze.

It must be known that before they crossed the river, the army still had more than 66,300 men.

In just one day and one night, or even one day, they lost a quarter of their soldiers and horses, who can accept this?

"Beep-"

When the atmosphere was low, the whistle of the sentry riders sounded, and a team of sentry horses rode up, and when they came to everyone, the sentry horses turned over and dismounted, and saluted Huang Taiji:

"Great Khan, Ming Dog built fortifications in Xishan Fort and Beishan Fort, Yulin Guard cavalry withdrew to the east mountain road, Tiance Guard cavalry guarded the river valley, and there were three cavalry teams of 2,000 people in the southern mountain road to defend it."

"They're going to trap us?" Mang Gurtai looked at Huang Taiji worriedly, obviously without soldiers and horses, he had no right to speak.

However, Huang Taiji did not blame Mang Gurtai, but asked:

"Who is stationed at Fort West and Fort North? What about Wulipu? ”

"Look at the flag, Xishan Fort and Wuli Fort are both Shence Guards, but Beishan Fort is Cao Wenzhao himself, and Cao Bianjiao is also camped on the highlands and hills, and the two sides are each other's horns."

The sentry returned the information he had found one by one, which made Huang Taiji's face very unpleasant.

"Let's go, let's take a look!"

In order to make specific arrangements, Huang Taiji led people to the front line, and the first thing to check was the layout of Xishan Fort.

They used a clairvoyant mirror to observe the battlefield on the plain three miles away from Xishan Fort, only to see that next to Xishan Fort in the distance, barbed wire, horse rejection, and sheep's horn walls were all brought to the battlefield, and less than 2,000 Ming troops were squatting in the trenches and waiting, and there was still a faint smoke in the rear.

In their rear, there are about fifty or so artillery pieces, which are estimated to have been arranged here by Cao Wenzhao.

Next to the artillery position, a cart of pickled heads was placed.

The expressions of the heads of the cart were different, and the Ming army did not deliberately close their eyes for them, as if for the sake of display, they were oriented in the direction of the Jin army, and they were creepy......

Huang Taiji looked furious, but didn't say anything, but immediately went to Beishan Fort, and then turned back to Wuli Fort, and the rear army to observe.

He could judge very decisively that after this day's bloody battle, the Ming army had changed its policy and was ready to adopt the tactics of defending and besieging the Jin army.

"How much grain and grass do we have, and how long will we have enough to eat?"

After perceiving Cao Wenzhao's intentions, Huang Taiji asked Jierharang, and Jierharang hurriedly replied when he heard this:

"The rear army was attacked and disturbed, and the Ming army burned a lot of heavy grain and grass, but we suffered a lot of casualties, and it was really enough to eat for five months."

"Five Months ......"

Hearing this time, Huang Taiji calmed down a little.

It's only March 18 now, and it's only August 18 in five months, and Beishan has not yet entered winter, and there is still hope for a breakthrough.

"Send all the collected nails to the healthy women in Jianzhou."

Huang Taiji had nothing to do, and was ready to pull some of the stronger women in the Jianzhou Jurchens into the battlefield.

No one has any objections to this, because they all know that the women of Jianzhou are also very good at fishing and hunting, and they may not be able to defeat the Ming army with short soldiers, but there is no problem with sudden faces.

The war has reached such a point that it is inevitable that women will go to war.

When they die, children under the age of thirteen will also go to war, and this is war......

"In this position, the artillery of the Ming army's various stone forts can't hit us, so we can rest all night."

Huang Taiji looked at the getting late sky, and could only be stationed on the complex terrain of hills, highlands, plains, and river valleys.

They had to keep men in the valley, because there were no wells in the hills, and there was a small river in the valley.

Even if the Ming army dug up the small river, the abundant groundwater in the river valley could ensure that more than 300,000 people could drink water.

Thinking of this, Huang Taiji looked at Xishan Fort in the distance, and his mood was extremely heavy......

"Our army lost 3,179 killed and 8,327 wounded, of whom 1,437 were seriously wounded."

"In today's fierce battle, the total number of troops lost is 4,616."

In Beishan Fort, when Cao Wenzhao took a hot bath and sat in the main seat of the hall of the small courtyard of the hundred households in the fort, Cao Bianjiao lowered his head and looked back on today's battle situation.

In the fort, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, Liu Bian, Shen Chaofeng and other six guard commanders were there, and the thirty thousand households who were present at the six guards were also listening in the courtyard outside the house.

When the number of dead and wounded was reported, everyone couldn't help but twitch the corners of their eyes.

Before the war, the strength of the Ming army in the river valley totaled 33,500 people, but after the war it was sharply reduced to more than 28,500 people, in addition to the dead and wounded soldiers, there were nearly 300 missing soldiers.

It is probably difficult for these missing soldiers to survive, so it is really calculated that the Ming army has 5,000 dead in battle.

5,000 people were killed in a single day, which was placed four years after the Apocalypse, and it can be said that all the military governors did not dare to bear the casualties.

Not to mention Cao Wenzhao, it is the governors of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, including Zhu Youzhen, if anyone hits such casualties in a single day, he will have to degrade himself by at least three levels.

Fortunately, there are more than 12,000 heads in the hands of the Ming army, plus some corpses that have not been harvested on the battlefield, it is estimated that it can reach 156,000, otherwise with this number of deaths, Cao Wenzhao and the Jin army would have to be seized on the first day of the battle.

In terms of battle loss ratio, Mingjin basically reached a battle loss ratio of 1 to 3, and the casualties on both sides were one-sixth and one-quarter of their own respectively.

However, if you remove the 11,000 or 2,000 people killed by the Shen Ce Guard, in fact, the battle loss ratio between the Ming and Jin sides is at most 1.2:1.

This kind of combat ratio made Cao Wenzhao a little uncomfortable, although they were outnumbered, he still couldn't help but depreciate himself:

"In this battle, Jianyu can take out tens of thousands of birds, this is something I didn't expect, I will go up to His Highness and degrade myself by three levels."

"Uncle, this is not a crime of war, the Jin army is already outnumbered, our army has a lot of outnumbered attacks, and it can behead tens of thousands, which is already good......" Cao Bianjiao couldn't help but comfort, but he also knew that self-depreciation was inevitable.

What he was worried about was that Cao Wenzhao would collapse, causing the war to be delayed.

Fortunately, Cao Wenzhao was not as fragile as he thought, after all, he also followed Zhu Youzhen to fight the Battle of Fuliao, and experienced the big battle of 60,000 captives and more than 200,000 Ming troops, and knew that the dominance of the battlefield was still on their side.

Therefore, Cao Wenzhao raised his hand and signaled Cao Bianjiao not to speak, but to look at Liu Bian:

"Apocalypse Eleven type rifle, how many Divine Guards are there?"

"There are two thousand six hundred in total, and only one thousand have arrived on the battlefield at present, and there are still 1,600 scattered in the hands of the Divine Guardians of various stone forts, the time is too short, I don't have time to gather them, so I will first bring a thousand people to ambush Mang Gurtai."

Liu Bian explained why he only brought a thousand people to the battlefield, and by the way, after explaining, he also explained:

"Although there are 2,600 rifles, there are only 154,000 rifle rounds."

"On average, each soldier has less than 60 rounds of ammunition......"

"Divert our gunpowder and bullets to the gods." When Cao Wenzhao heard this, he directly ordered without saying anything, and Liu Bian hurriedly explained:

"Chief soldier, the bullets of the Apocalypse Eleven are different from those of the rifle."

Saying that, Liu Bian explained the difference between the two bullets, and Cao Wenzhao and the others couldn't stop frowning after listening to the explanation.

"In other words, even if these two thousand six hundred people get together, they can only fight a tough battle?"

Although Cao Wenzhao was a martial artist, Zhu Youzhen often asked him to read books, especially basic mathematics books such as "Yanshan Arithmetic".

He didn't see much of it, but he still saw a third of it, so he could easily figure out a number.

After the production of pocket watches, Zhu Youzhen unified the written time of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the year, month, day, twelve hours, eight quarters, fifteen minutes, sixty seconds and other units.

Liu Bian said that the Shence Guards could shoot 10 bullets a minute, and the less than 60 bullets could only last 6 minutes.

In other words, the Divine Guards could only be dispatched to the battlefield for six minutes.

Such a short period of time can be said to be insignificant for a battlefield that can easily fight for several hours.

"Although it can only be fought once, this one can have 154,000 bullets, and even if only one-tenth hits Jianyu, it can kill 15,000 Jianyu."

Faced with Cao Wenzhao's concerns, Liu Bian said proudly: "What's more, in today's battle, our army fired 60,000 rounds of bullets and killed tens of thousands of Jianlu, and 154,000 rounds of ammunition can kill at least more than 20,000 Jianguo." ”

In fact, Liu Bian was a little modest in what he said, if he was to fight the Jin army head-on with the two thousand six hundred people under the cover of the army, then the number of Jin troops they could kill could reach 30,000 or more.

However, Cao Bianjiao next to him also took the opportunity to say:

"In today's battle, tens of thousands of Jianyu were beheaded, and I am afraid that Huangtaiji dog jumped off the wall in a hurry, which will let women and children go into battle."

"It's not impossible...... Cao Wenzhao also nodded thoughtfully.

After a moment of silence, he looked up at Shen Chaofeng: "Guo Sangdai, they are still a few days away from here?" ”

"Two days at least!" Shen Chao responded with a gesture, and Cao Wenzhao also looked at Liu Bian again:

"Didn't Beizhili arrange the supply of bullets?"

"It was arranged, and the officials of the Ordnance Institute replied in February that all the 420,000 rounds of ammunition produced before February 12 had arrived on the battlefield." Liu Bian answered first, and then explained the response;

"The people from the Ordnance Bureau said that the machinery and equipment of the Ordnance Bureau are insufficient, and at the moment it is only 10% of the estimated production capacity, so it can only produce 10,000 rounds of ammunition and 80 rifles per day."

"After the outbreak of fighting in early March, the squire in charge of the Ordnance Bureau wrote to me."

"From 13 February to the beginning of March, 170,000 rounds of ammunition and 1,360 rifles produced in the first place have been escorted north."

"After that, every ten days, the Ordnance Bureau will escort no less than 100,000 rounds and 800 bullets and rifles to the north."

"But ......" Speaking of this, Liu Bian was also a little upset:

"Three thousand five hundred miles from the Ordnance Bureau to this place, no matter how fast the convoy is, two horses and one cart, it is only eighty miles a day, and now only eighteen days have passed, I am afraid that they have not even arrived in Taining County, and it will take at least a month to reach the battlefield."

The logistics were too long, and the war broke out in a hurry, so that many military supplies did not keep up, which was the disadvantage of the Ming army in this battle.

In Zhu Youzhen's original plan, if the war broke out on the first day of June, with the continuous increase of machinery and equipment, the Ordnance Bureau's production capacity could barely reach one-third of the estimated level, and at least three guards of equipment and no less than three million rounds of ammunition could be produced in five months, ensuring that each soldier had 200 rounds of ammunition in his hand.

As a result, the war broke out four months ahead of schedule, and the production capacity of the ordnance station was only one-tenth of the predetermined capacity, and it was already the result of three shifts to equip 2,600 rifles, not to mention bullets.

It is not difficult for the armaments institute to make metal fixed ammunition, after all, the primer has already been made, and although black powder is not as powerful as smokeless powder, it is enough to propel the warhead.

The reason why Shen Cewei is not equipped with metal fixed ammunition is that the difficulty lies in the lack of mechanical equipment.

The mechanical equipment for metal fixed ammunition was developed only in the middle of last year with the success of the firing gun, and the equipment is still being calibrated and tested, and it will have to wait at least until the end of the year to put it into the factory.

If it is built by hand, it is too laborious, and the time for a person to build a metal fixed bullet is enough for him to make ten rounds of paper shell fixed ammunition, so Zhu Youzhen uses paper fixed ammunition to make the transition.

Although the paper fixed ammunition will leave a large amount of residue in the chamber after use, for the current Ming army, the number of bullets on their side will not last at that time and will run out.

In other words, the current shotgun is actually a mutilated version, because it lacks a metal fixed load.

But even so, in the bloody battle of Beishan, it still shined, which made both the Ming and Jin armies fearful.

Its appearance represented the end of the era of cold weapons.

As long as 50,000 soldiers are equipped with firing pistols and abundant ammunition, these 50,000 people can even defeat the more than 900,000 Ming troops who are currently known as invincible on the battlefield in a province.

Brave generals such as Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when they thought of the courage to fire guns during the day.

After the firing gun appeared, Cao Bianjiao rushed straight into the Jin army's array, forcing Huang Taiji's bravery to fade in an instant.

"Let's hold on for the time being, tomorrow Huang Taiji should try to see which direction is easier to break, let's defend it first, hold it until Guo Sangdai arrives, and then launch a general attack."

Cao Wenzhao absentmindedly issued a military order for the meeting, and Liu Bian and others responded one after another, and then saw that he had no other arrangements, so they retreated one after another.

After everyone retreated, Cao Bianjiao said to him:

"Uncle lamenting the power of the rifle?"

"No......" Cao Wenzhao touched his hair: "I'm thinking that Huang Taiji is really a difficult opponent." ”

"If Sun Jinglue and Mandu Governor and Hong Jingluo are here, or if His Highness personally commands them, I am afraid that Huang Taiji will be defeated today."

"Against him, I still can't command the army after all, I'm afraid that the reason why His Highness only sent seven guards and horses to me to command is also out of my ability."

Cao Wenzhao is very clear about his ability, although he says that he can command eight guards, but in fact, his ability to command four or five guards at most, no matter how much, he can't see it.

Just as Huang Taiji was keenly aware of the loopholes in his command today, he let Dolgon lead his troops to break through.

If it weren't for the timely reaction of the rear row of foot fighters, the front row of foot fighters would have been attacked on the flank, and the four thousand foot men in front would have been wiped out.

Zhu Youzhen's thoughts, Cao Wenzhao understood, to put it bluntly, he was exercising him.

Zhu Youzhen cultivates people in a step-by-step manner, whether it is Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, Sun Chuanting, or he Cao Wenzhao and others......

Once Zhu Youzhen wants to train them, he will generally let them start from the bottom generals.

When they can master these soldiers and horses, Zhu Youzhen will slowly add them.

This cultivation method is very simple, and many kings are also using it, but they are not as good as Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen will flexibly find opponents for generals.

For example, Cao Meng, Sun Shoufa, Liu Bian, Shen Chaofeng and others who were directly upright were basically civilian-style generals who were trained from the Ping White Lotus Sect with Zhu Youzhen, as well as the first and second sweeps of the north.

If the potential of this general has been tapped, he will be appointed to important positions in the mainland, such as Fan Ming, Liu Daocheng and others, who once served as the fourth cavalry guard.

Cao Wenzhao knew that Zhu Youzhen wanted to use Huang Taiji to temper himself, and he also had enough self-confidence before the war, but unfortunately, he was too far away from Huang Taiji.

He can be sure that if today's battle is commanded by Sun Chuanting, Man Gui, and Hong Chengchou, then Huang Taiji will be eaten at least 20,000 soldiers and horses, and it can even be said that today is a decisive battle.

"Being able to command 30,000 soldiers and horses is already considered a famous general, and my uncle doesn't have to be humble."

Cao Bianjiao was comforting Cao Wenzhao, and Cao Wenzhao also looked at him when he heard this, and said with relief:

"Looking at it today, Jiao'er, your potential is immeasurable, and I am afraid that you will become the pillar of the country in the future."

Cao Wenzhao can see clearly that his nephew is very highly regarded by His Royal Highness, and at present, except for Li Ding, Cao Wenzhao has not seen His Highness so concerned about anyone.

"My nephew is ashamed to be a ......" Cao Bianjiao humbled himself when he heard this, which caused Cao Wenzhao to chuckle.

Just after chuckling, Cao Wenzhao looked left and right, and then said:

"Tomorrow, you will lead more than 2,000 cavalry to be stationed in the hilly plains northeast of the river valley, and I will lead the troops to garrison Beishan Fort."

"Tomorrow, Huang Taiji will inevitably lead troops to explore the castles, and it will take another day for the remaining 1,600 riflemen of the Shence Guard to reach the battlefield."

"I will give Liu Bian an order tomorrow to transfer 1,000 riflemen to support Wuli Fort, and the remaining 600 will be stationed in Xishan Fort."

"You ordered the Yulin Guard and the Tiance Guard, as well as the cavalry of the Guards to guard the other river valleys."

"As long as I defend it well, even if I can't defeat Huang Taiji on the frontal battlefield, I can trap them by defending to the death."

Cao Wenzhao's words were a little demoralizing, because he admitted that he couldn't beat Huang Taiji, and he also admitted that the Ming army couldn't beat the Jin army when he took the initiative to attack, which made Cao Bianjiao a little surprised, but soon Cao Bianjiao reacted.

The Divine Guard's rifles were sharp, but they were short on ammunition, only 154,000 rounds.

It seems that 154,000 rounds of ammunition will not be a problem against the Jin army, which has 50,000 to 60,000 people.

But the problem is that the Jin army does not only have 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers and horses, they also have more than 200,000 women and children.

Once the Jin army chooses to attack with women and children and consumes the ammunition of the Shen Ce Guard, the Shen Ce Wei can only engage with the Jin Army after the ammunition is exhausted.

Cao Bianjiao has no doubt about whether the Jin army will use women and children to break through.

For many Jin troops, it is impossible for them to agree to break through with their relatives, but what will happen to the women and children of the Jin army who died on the battlefield today?

Men are the pillars of support, whether at home or outside, or on the battlefield.

Women and children with men have to rely on, and they can not go to war, but without the protection of men, women and children become lambs.

Huang Taiji can use their children to persuade them to go to war, so that they can exchange their flesh and blood for the future of their children.

In terms of the number of people killed in today's battle, the Jin army can pull out at least 20,000 to 40,000 healthy women, and they are enough to consume Shence Guard's ammunition.

Although this will have an indelible blow to the morale of the Jin Army, the problem is that the Jin Army is already a trapped beast, and tens of thousands of healthy women who have nothing to do with it have died, for the Jin Army men who still have families, no matter how unbearable they are, they can only make peace with their hearts for the sake of their families and their own lives.

What happens to the women of the defeated side in a war? No one knows better than the healthy women in the Jin army, after all, they have witnessed the fate of many tribal women.

As long as the children survive, they will go to the battlefield even if they are afraid, and trade their lives for those bullets or two.

"Huang Taiji ......"

Cao Bianjiao's heart sank, he didn't want to believe his uncle's words, but his reason told him that as a person in power, Huang Taiji was very likely to do this, but he didn't believe it.

In fact, when Cao Wenzhao was talking to Cao Bianjiao, Huang Taiji had already started to do it......