bookbashuk Page 2575
Page 2575
They concentrated their attack on one point, sending out two hundred cavalrymen to launch four consecutive charges.
The sudden, rapid, and sandy charge had already induced the Ming army to fire their crossbows.
Pucha Huzhan's charge forced the Ming army to use only ordinary bows and crossbows to shoot at the enemy.
During the charge, Jurchen cavalrymen fell one after another.
When the Jurchen warhorses charged into the forest of spears, no matter how their masters urged them on, the warhorses would automatically slow down to save their lives.
But they couldn't stop the momentum, and the man and horse crashed heavily into the spear.
More than twenty Ming soldiers with long spears were knocked down on the spot, and several others were knocked down by cavalry spears.
Before Wang Yan could even give the order, the officers in the front row were already directing the replacements.
The scene of the attack was extremely brutal for both sides.
The fifth Jurchen elite force was attacked by Ming archers during their charge.
Although there were few casualties, they were already terrified. They slowed down before even reaching the front lines, then drew their bows, fired arrows, and swept past the enemy lines.
Morale is too low, they dare not charge into battle...
Otherwise, if the attacks continued, the Ming army's infantry formation would surely be breached.
Wanyan Zonghan's heart tightened; he knew he was doomed.
The Jin Dynasty's most valiant and skilled core troops were so frightened that they dared not charge into battle; the Jurchen warriors had lost their spirit.
The next few elite Jurchen troops dared not charge forward again. They fired an arrow and then fled around the enemy lines, only to be chased and shot at by the arriving steppe cavalry.
The bugle sounded again, and the Jurchen cavalry were recalled to regroup.
"Fifth squad, annihilate them all! Anyone who dares to disobey orders will suffer the same fate as them!"
Such strict military law was actually commonplace when Aguda first raised his army.
After several rounds of attacks, every Jin soldier fought to the death.
But when the same thing happened again, it aroused resentment among the Jurchen soldiers.
Even the generals felt that the killings should not be indiscriminate.
Who would willingly throw their life away in a battle they're destined to lose?
Subsequently, Wanyan Zonghan dispatched all his troops, leaving only his personal guards as reserves.
The Ming army on the other side had nearly a thousand elite cavalrymen who had not moved, which made Wanyan Zonghan afraid to send his personal guards into battle.
This time, the Jin troops no longer directly confronted the Ming infantry, but instead deployed their forces to drive away and kill the troublesome steppe cavalry, as well as the Ming elite cavalry that had already joined the battle.
This tactic has deviated from Wanyan Zonghan's original battle plan.
He wanted to take advantage of the Ming army's infantry's unstable foothold and exhaustion to immediately launch an attack and annihilate the Ming army.
But if we spend time engaging the enemy cavalry now, the enemy infantry can take the opportunity to recover their stamina.
After repeated attacks, more than two thousand steppe cavalrymen were defeated.
They were completely routed and chased far from the battlefield; they wouldn't be able to regroup and return anytime soon.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The sound of horses' hooves came from the south, startling the Jin soldiers, while the Ming army cheered and shouted.
However, the Jin army suffered heavy losses last night when they attacked Li Yanxian.
Wanyan Zonghan was in a hurry to return to salvage the grain supplies, but he was unable to take a large number of spare warhorses and packhorses with him.
When he sent men to burn the army's provisions, he only ordered them to make a couple of cuts on the warhorses and packhorses, and there was no time to kill all the horses.
Li Yanxian searched everywhere for injured and runaway warhorses and packhorses, after receiving Yue Fei's request for rapid reinforcements.
Immediately send spearmen, crossbowmen, and musketeers on horseback to reinforce.
Further troops followed, having abandoned their artillery and supplies, and were riding mules pulling carts toward this location.
"Wang Gui, lead the grassland cavalry to provide support and guide General Li's troops to seize the enemy's granary!" Yue Fei gave the order immediately.
Just as Wanyan Zonghan was about to order an attack, another Jurchen general suddenly fled.
However, Wanyan Hezhu led his troops to escape; this old fellow came from the Hesuguan Jurchen tribe.
Not only was his hometown captured by Zhu Ming, but few of his clan soldiers were also killed.
The army they currently command consists mostly of trained Jurchen slaves—these Jurchen slaves gained their freedom relatively early, so they are still very loyal.
Wanyan Hezhu led several hundred Jurchen cavalrymen in a frantic northward escape.
He dared not return to Liaodong, nor to Shangjing, and planned to seek refuge with the Mongol Khan Khabul.
He couldn't care less about his family; after all, he had his eldest son with him.
Wanyan Hezhu's desertion in the face of battle became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Immediately afterwards, hundreds more Jurchen cavalrymen fled in disarray.
They were already outmatched, and with Ming reinforcements arriving, even Wanyan Zonghan's high prestige couldn't suppress them!
Wanyan Mouyan urged, "Marshal, let's go quickly, or it will be too late."
Wanyan Zonghan gave a bitter laugh: "What can I do if I go back?"
Others could escape, but he had nowhere to go.
Even if he manages to escape back to Shangjing, he will be stripped of his military power by the Jurchen nobles—those guys hate him to the core.
Without military power, death is inevitable sooner or later.
He could also lead his remaining troops, kill Wu Qimai, and establish himself as emperor.
However, the remaining Jurchen troops in Shangjing would inevitably flee back to their tribes and would never submit to him as their master.
They might even join forces to fight him, turning against each other in the capital.
While Wanyan Hezhu could seek refuge with the Mongols, Wanyan Zonghan absolutely could not.
Chapter 3468 Run if you want to live
He was notorious in the northern deserts, and no Khan dared to take him in, fearing that he would become the second Yelü Dashi.
Yelü Dashi at least still had the righteousness of the Liao Dynasty to uphold. As long as he could subdue one or two tribes by force, the rest of the tribes would nominally submit.
And what about Wanyan Zonghan?
Even if he wipes out one or two northern desert tribes, it will only force more tribes to unite and attack him.
"Take care of yourself!"
After Wanyan Mouyan finished speaking, he turned and rode away, followed by his father's old subordinates.
"Army attack!"
The moment Wanyan Mouyan left, Wang Yan and Yue Fei simultaneously issued military orders.
Wanyan Zonghan said to his eight hundred personal guards, "Those who are willing to fight to the death with me, let's fight to our hearts' content today."
"If you want to live... run away now."
After he finished speaking, no one dared to leave.
Wanyan Zonghan gave a bitter laugh: "I'm not lying to you. If you want to live, run away quickly."
Finally, one Jurchen officer rode away, and then more and more soldiers fled.
The rest were all suicide soldiers.
More than 300 Jurchen soldiers chose to stay and die with Wanyan Zonghan.
They all came from a small Jurchen tribe and had no noble blood.
Promotions and rewards were granted solely based on military merit, and even ordinary soldiers were given fertile land and serfs.
Wanyan Zonghan was their god; they were not loyal to the Jin Dynasty, but to Wanyan Zonghan.
Observing the changes on the battlefield, the reinforcements sent by Li Yanxian did not attempt to occupy the granary.
Instead, it split into two: one part ran along the empty camp to the north to intercept the Jurchen deserters.
A portion of them headed straight west, attacking Wanyan Zonghan from behind.
Wanyan Zonghan was attacked from both sides, with steppe cavalry flanking him from both flanks.
He did not attack immediately, but took out his binoculars to observe carefully.
Suddenly, he looked at the Ming soldiers rushing from behind and saw many of them with musket barrels sticking out from behind their shoulders.
As if he had found his purpose before his death, Wanyan Zonghan raised his spear and said, "The southern bandits' musketeers have no chariot formation. Follow me and charge in to annihilate them all!"
The remaining three hundred or so Jurchen cavalry charged toward the direction of the Ming reinforcements.
The commander of this reinforcement was Shao Long, who ordered the entire army to dismount and form ranks.
At the same time, he waved a signal flag at Yue Fei, signaling him not to come over to help, but to quickly lead his cavalry to pursue the fleeing enemy.
Several cavalry generals did not actually want to leave; they all wanted to kill and capture Wanyan Zonghan to gain merit.
If it were the Song army fighting, chaos would most likely have broken out at this time.
Instead of chasing after the routed soldiers, everyone rushed to claim the greatest credit.
However, the Ming Dynasty had strict military discipline. When Yue Fei sounded the horn, all the cavalry generals led their troops to follow.
The grassland cavalry dared not engage in a direct battle with Wanyan Zonghan and instead followed Yue Fei to pursue the enemy.
Those fleeing Jurchen cavalrymen were much easier to deal with than Wanyan Zonghan!
Shaolong's mixed force numbered only a little over three thousand.
More than a thousand spearmen (with maces as their secondary weapon), more than a thousand crossbowmen (equipped with small shields and waist knives), and a thousand flintlock pistolmen (also equipped with waist knives).
The spearmen formed a circle on the outside, squatting and kneeling with their spears raised.
The flintlock musketeers and crossbowmen were mixed together and stood behind the pikemen, forming three concentric circles.
That is, a concentric circle array with four layers inside and out.
During the charge, Wanyan Zonghan could only see what was in front of him.
Seeing a forest of spears ahead and no enemy cavalry to protect him, he issued the order ahead of time.
Chapter 3469 Impacting the Ground Formation
Three squads of Jurchen cavalry charged from the front, while four other squads circled around to the sides.
He seemed to think that he could break through the enemy's formation by flanking them from the rear, where the Ming troops would be in a state of panic and instability.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
"Shhhhhhh!"
Bullets and crossbow bolts rained down in succession, and large numbers of Jurchen cavalrymen fell as they charged forward.
After the three-stage attack, less than seventy of the 150 Jurchen cavalrymen remained charging.
Furthermore, the formation was completely disrupted, with three or five riders here and seven or eight riders there.
They were also disturbed by the bodies of the fallen allies, which naturally slowed them down.
Some Jurchen cavalrymen seemed to have been awakened by the three-stage attack.
In a moment of madness, they accompanied Wanyan Zonghan to their deaths. They survived a hail of bullets and crossbow bolts, and suddenly a strong will to live emerged within them.
These guys stopped charging and instead turned and fled, pulling on the reins.
Some Jurchen cavalrymen were truly fearless in the face of death, resolutely charging towards the Ming army.
However, the recent delay caused the warhorse to slow down significantly.
When they reached the line of spears, the warhorses were unwilling to die. They either stopped abruptly or ran around the forest of spears.
The crossbows were cocked again and fired at the nearby enemy.
The first rank of flintlock musketeers had also reloaded and were firing at the scattered enemies—the Ming musketeers could now fire three to four rounds per minute.