Xuanfu, Xuanhua City
"Dong dong..."
The drums as dense as raindrops roared like thunder, inspiring people, while the soldiers under the city defense were like ants, attacking Guancheng.
Along with the constant "swish" sound of arrows piercing the air, the screams of Jurchen bannermen could be heard from time to time up and down the city wall.
However, the Jurchen soldiers refused to retreat, and under the leadership of Hauge, they stormed Xuanhua City.
It can be said that the Jurchens' fearless courage has played a huge role in breaking the city in the past. However, they could not withstand such a fierce attack and the Jurchen soldiers climbed to the top of the city.
If you look from top to bottom, you can see Qing army flag soldiers wearing red infantry armor, pushing wooden ladders, holding round shields, and holding arrow stones, climbing towards the city wall. Occasionally, they were hit by the long forked poles of the Han army. Stab the general down.
The boiled golden juice was poured onto the Qing troops below. Suddenly, screams rang out, and the soldiers fell to the ground like dumplings, vomiting blood and died.
Occasionally, one or two brave Qing troops had just climbed onto the wall, but before they could gain a foothold, they were killed and driven away by the Han troops in groups of three or five.
It has to be said that Xuanfu City was built precipitously and steeply, and the city defense facilities were well-equipped, so it was not something that could be captured urgently.
Xie Zaiyi looked at the overwhelming Eight Banners soldiers in the distance, but there was a hint of solemnity on his stern face.
"Bring me my bow!"
Xie Zaiyi said, took out the bow and arrow from his bag, took out an arrow and put it on the bow, stretched the bow like a full moon, and shot at the Qing generals and soldiers who were attacking with ladders under the city wall.
"Pfft!"
A Jurchen leader who was riding a horse and commanding with a saber fell down in response, his neck was nailed by an arrow, and black-red blood gurgled out like spring water, dyeing the grass red.
"Whizzing……"
Xie Zaiyi fired five arrows in a row, each of which was sure to hit, and they were all Jurchens, middle and low-level generals. They fell off their horses and died on the spot!
After a while, Xie Zaiyi changed his arm and sniped at the incoming Jurchen generals. This time, he specifically shot at the Qing troops who were rushing forward bravely and with superb martial arts skills.
Soon, as Jurchen middle and low-ranking generals died one after another, Hauge, who was supervising the battle in the rear, had already noticed the person coming, and his fierce eyes were fixed on the Han general under the splendid red banner with the word "Han", with a look on his face. Gradually a feeling of hostility emerged.
At this moment, Xie Zaiyi also saw Hauge. Almost instantly, the two looked at each other like lightning, and they could tell that the other was a powerful enemy!
Xie Zaiyi took a deep breath, quickly picked up an arrow from his bag, drew the bow like a full moon, and shot towards Hauge under the flagpole.
"prick……"
A piercing scream sounded, and the arrows fired from the two-stone and five-doll bow carried high-speed kinetic energy, almost emitting a sonic boom.
At this moment, among the thousands of troops, the sounds of Jurchen and Han troops fighting could be heard from time to time. The moment the arrow left the bow, the world was quiet.
An awe-inspiring murderous intent was like a waterfall, shrouding Hauge as if across a great distance.
A warning sign suddenly occurred in Hauge's heart. Looking at the arrow, it was almost an instinct between life and death. He hurriedly leaned down. At the critical moment, the arrow was approaching like a meteor from the sky.
"prick!"
The feathers on the helmet were shot off, and then the arrow hit the forehead of a private soldier holding a flag behind him. The huge kinetic energy of the arrow took the person away from the horse, and the horse with a gravity imbalance made a "neigh" sound. , the front hooves are raised.
Hauge's face was ashen, lying on the horse's back, feeling inexplicably frightened.
Damn it, such magical power,
Xie Zaiyi secretly said it was a pity. He looked at the female general under the flagpole. He was afraid it was Prince Baylor or something like that.
After this arrow, he was alert and had no chance to shoot again.
At this moment, the two sides were shooting arrows and muskets from above and below across the tall wall. Blood mist exploded, and the sounds of screams and fighting intertwined, shaking the heaven and earth.
Until an hour later, Xuanhua City was worthy of being called the first city in the Nine Borders. After gaining the main defense from the Beijing camp, it remained unmoved under the fierce attack of the Jurchen soldiers.
Suddenly, at some point, the sky became overcast with clouds, and light rain began to fall.
The first spring rain in the spring of the 16th year of Chongping came unexpectedly. After a while, it rained down and washed the entire city wall, which also affected the loading of the fire cannons on both sides.
"Thank you, General, it's going to rain." Deputy General Ding Xiang looked at the Eight Banners soldiers galloping in the distance, looked up at the cloudy sky, and warned.
At this moment, it was nearly noon. After a period of offensive and defensive fighting, the sergeants on both sides were exhausted and hungry.
"Don't be careless. Keep the generals on the lookout and be on guard against Donglu attacking in the rain." Xie Zaiyi said in a deep voice.
"Dangdang..."
When Hauge and his troops were about to take advantage of the drizzle to continue to attack Xuanhua City, they heard the sound of gold ringing behind them. Hauge, who was supervising the battle with a knife, was stunned and looked at the increasingly dense rain. The dark sky cursed secretly and shouted loudly: "Retreat!"
When Hauge led the cavalry back, he looked at Yue Tuo who was riding a horse like a sculpture. Hauge frowned and asked in a loud voice: "Brother, why don't we go all out and take down the entire Guancheng."
Yue Tuo said: "Our army has recently arrived and has suffered a lot of losses. It is not suitable to attack the city in the rain. We will set up camp today and make plans tomorrow."
As he spoke, he looked at Hauge closely and asked, "You just led the troops to attack Xuanhua City. How did the Han army resist?"
Under the gaze of calm eyes, the irritability in Hauge's heart calmed down at this moment, and he shook his head and said: "It's not easy to fight, the city is high, the moat is wide and deep, and the Han army's firecrackers and bows are condescending, our army The casualties were huge.”
In fact, even in the past, when the Jurchens faced Xuandacheng, they would not be so stubborn that they would attack continuously.
Yue Tuo's face was solemn, he looked at Xuanhua City hidden in the rain and fog, and said in a low voice: "Just now I took a look at the offensive and defensive momentum of both sides. The defensive troops and horses in the town are very powerful, and the Han general is extremely brave. He is also a master of marksmanship, so he must be a general in the Beijing camp!"
Hauge's eyes were gloomy and he said coldly: "The general's shooting skills just now are amazing. I think Horqin's marksman is nothing more than that, but he actually wants to shoot me."
Yue Tuo looked gloomy and said, "Let's go back to the military tent to discuss matters first. There should be military news from Dushikou."
As he spoke, the sky was filled with heavy spring rain, and the sky was vast. Looking around, it seemed that the Xuanhua City Wall was even more majestic and steeper in the dark sky, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Yue Tuo's heart was filled with a thick layer of gloom, and he immediately entered the commander's tent.
The Manchu soldiers with blue flags and red flags had already begun to camp.
The first round of attack and defense between the two sides ended with the Qing army abandoning more than two hundred corpses, retreating to three miles outside Xuanhua City, and setting up camp.
In Xuanhua City, Xie Zaiyi saw that there was no movement from the Qing army, so he ordered the city gate guard, and then returned to the General Military Yamen under the escort of his personal guards.
At this moment, the brightly lit official hall was filled with military generals, crowded and worried faces.
"Thank you, General." All the generals in the hall saluted the young general with an upright figure and a broad mouth.
Just now, Xie Zaiyi used his magic shot to shoot at the Jurchen general school, and he frequently led his own soldiers to avoid the target, which undoubtedly won the respect of the former general of Xuanfu.
Xie Zaiyi ordered: "Let the kitchen prepare the food first. The generals have also seen the offensive and defensive situation with the Jurchens today. The Jurchen bannermen are not afraid of death. Everyone is fighting for the lead. On the other hand, our army has many people who are not afraid of the former. Xuanfu soldiers Seventy-eight out of ten.”
Some generals and commanders from Xuanfu Town in the Central Plains looked ashamed when they heard this.
Xie Zaiyi said: "The Jurchens came with less than 20,000 soldiers, and we have nearly 40,000 soldiers in Xuanhua City. The battle to defend the city can be fought like this. If Huang Taiji comes in person, will Xuanhua fall instantly?"
The generals below did not dare to say a word.
Xie Zaiyi said: "Two shoulders carry one head. Generals, know your shame and then be brave!"
All the generals clasped their fists and said yes.
Xie Zaiyi said: "It's already noon, the generals should have lunch first."
During the battle of Xuanfu attack and defense, Datong, which was three or four hundred miles away——
In the hall of the general military office, Jia Heng packed up, summoned the generals, and prepared to lead the mobilized soldiers out of the city.
Chen Xiao stared at the young man and said in a clear voice: "Military information came from the Xuan Mansion. The commander-in-chief Jiang Quan has been killed by Xie Zaiyi, and the Jurchen soldiers and horses also attacked the Xuan Mansion."
Jia Heng said: "There are 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and horses in Xuanhua City. In addition to the 10,000 cavalry troops from the Beijing camp led by Xie Zaiyi, there are a total of 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers and horses in front and behind. There should be no loss in defending the city. Let the scouts keep an eye on Xuanhua." Movement in the city.”
"General, the troops and horses have been ordered and we are going to fight immediately." At this time, a young general came from not far away and said with cupped fists.
Jia Heng looked at Chen Xiao aside and said, "Get ready to go."
However, the army had just left Datong City, seventy miles away. It was close to noon, and Jia Heng ordered the troops to take a break to eat and feed the horses with hay.
Suddenly, the sentries sent along the road hurried over to report, saying urgently: "General, Jurchen rangers were found in the northwest."
Naturally, Prince Zheng Jierhalang sent by Huang Taiji led his troops with the Xianglan Banner and the Han Army's Zhenghuang Banner, with about 11,000 horses, to attack Datong, blocking the way for Ezhe's troops to escape south.
The soldiers who were also monitoring Datong finally arrived at Datong after traveling day and night. Huang Taiji and Azig were marching towards Jining Haizi at this moment, preparing to further drive away Ezhe's main force.
Jia Heng's face paused slightly and he asked, "Let Master Pang lead the elite cavalry and engage the enemy in a test battle to find out the number of enemy troops and cavalry."
The Jurchens came in a hurry. This was to monitor the Datong town army to prevent E Zhe from being contacted.
Chen Xiao asked: "Let's fight first?"
Jia Heng looked gloomy and said: "First meet the enemy, defeat them, and then join E Zhe!"
At this moment, Prince Zheng Jierhalang also heard the military news that the frontline scouts had discovered the traces of the Han army. His dark face showed thoughts and asked: "But is it the main force of the Han army?"
The leader of the Xianglan Banner who came to report said: "Your Majesty, this is a large group of Han troops. It looks like there are ten or twenty thousand horsemen. It should be the main force of the Han army."
In fact, Jia Heng had previously mobilized 40,000 cavalry from Datong to meet E Zhe, divided into four groups, left, center and right, as well as Pang Shili's troops approaching from the northeast, but the scouts only saw one wing of Pang Shili from a distance.
Prince Zheng Jierhalang thought for a while and said in a deep voice: "Wudahai, take three thousand people to test the strength of the Han cavalry. If they are unable to fight, defeat them!"
This time, a big man with a beard clasped his fists and cupped his hands, and left as ordered.
He is the nephew of Nurhachi, the fourth son of Mulhaqi, and a genuine descendant of Aisin Gioro.
Prince Zheng Jierhalang said to the Han general Liu Zhiyuan on the side: "The armies maintain their formation and approach slowly."
In the front, Wu Dahai has led three thousand cavalry with blue flags and approached Pang Shili's cavalry. At this moment, he looked at it and felt a little shocked.
The Han army has so many cavalry?
At this moment, Pang Shili led the cavalry and noticed the soldiers with blue armor and blue flags. He raised his saber high and said: "Army, kill!"
With a roar, the soldiers behind him followed with flags raised. Although Wudahai felt that the opponent's Han army had many cavalry, he was not afraid of the large army from behind.
Instead, he roared angrily, called for his own soldiers, and led the Jurchen cavalry in blue cloth armor to charge forward. The lines of troops from both sides crossed each other, and the red and blue tides collided, like sea water meeting flames.
With almost no warning, the cavalry from both sides collided, penetrated, and fought together.
The Han army had more soldiers and the Qing army had fewer soldiers, but the momentum created by both sides was somewhat equal.
"Rumble..."
The roaring sound of the horses' hooves trampling across the grassland at high speed was deafening, while the sound of the collision of swords and guns and the "muffled" sound of the sword touching the flesh all came together at this moment.
At this moment, Pang Shili, holding the reins, had already fought with Wu Dahai. Both sides used long swords. Sparks shot out when the swords collided between their bodies. Wu Dahai's burly figure on the horse was shaken. , feeling some soreness in his arms, the tiger eyes under his thick eyebrows, looked at the yellow-faced general with shock and inexplicable shock.
When did the Han Dynasty have such brave people?
Pang Shili didn't say much, and swung his sword towards Wu Dahai to kill him. The two sides fought like a revolving lantern, with their swords heading straight for each other's vital points.
The surrounding cavalry from the Beijing camp also fought with the soldiers with the blue flag, with broken limbs and blood flying, and screams one after another.
Viewed from a high altitude at this moment, the Beijing camp's nearly 10,000 cavalry troops were able to divide and surround the Qing army's 3,000 cavalry troops into about ten regiments. This was the result of the two sides having penetrated each other three times and exhausted their horsepower.
The Jurchens did not feel intimidated by the small number of people, but instead had high fighting spirit. During the penetration, the formation never broke up. On the other hand, the Han army was worse, but it was not defeated by the Jurchens.
The outnumbered soldiers in the Beijing camp showed a firm resilience, and together with the Jurchen cavalry, they relied on their numerical advantage to strangle the cavalry at every level.
This is different from the Han troops we encountered before!
Half an hour after the two sides fought, this thought suddenly came to the minds of some of the leaders and assistant leaders of Jurchen Xianglan Banner.
If it were in the past, the Han cavalry would have been smashed to pieces by the three rounds of penetration just now, scattered in all directions, and became the Jurchens' lambs to be slaughtered.
But now...it's completely calm.
No matter how brave the Jurchens were, even if they were afraid of death, they were still human beings after all. Facing the stranglehold of the massive Beijing cavalry, as time passed, the initial fierce momentum of bravery and advancement gradually gradually The weak will come down.
The speed of the horse's charge has already slowed down, and the two sides began to fight, with the sound of horse hooves and the exchange of swords and guns.
After a while, the Jurchen cavalry could not bear the damage.
At this moment, Prince Zheng Jierhalang was also keenly aware of this trend of firmness and stability. He looked at the trembling Han and Qing armies in front, his brows furrowed and suspicion in his eyes.
"Your Majesty, the Han army has many soldiers and the cavalry is not dispersed. Our army is small and we need to send troops for reinforcements, otherwise we are in danger of being destroyed." Liu Zhiyuan, the commander of the Zhenghuang Banner of the Han army, frowned and said.
And it was this sentence that misled Jierhalang, who was hesitant to move forward.
Many times, when cavalry and armies compete, various formation changes often depend on the keenness and intuition of the cavalry generals.
For example, Huo Qubing is often an innate talent and instinct.
The Jurchens obviously cannot afford to lose Wudahai's three thousand Jurchen cavalry, so——
Jierhalang frowned, temporarily suppressing the doubts in his heart, with a gloomy look on his face, he weighed the pros and cons in an instant, and said loudly: "This is the main force of the Han army, attack with the whole army and defeat them!"
At this moment, if they retreat, the defeated army will shake the morale of the troops. As for increasing the troops a little bit, it is better to directly attack with the whole army to suppress the space of the Han army's front. Once the shaky Han army's formation is disrupted, they can win a big victory. !
This idea cannot be wrong.
However, Jierhalang's judgment at this moment was obviously biased, because not only did the main force of the Han army arrive, but... it came out in full force!
At this moment, the cavalry with the blue flag and the cavalry with the yellow flag of the Han army were divided into left and right wings and violently charged towards the Han army.
As soon as the two sides fought, the Han army where Pang Shili was located could not withstand it, and the formation was suddenly in chaos. Coupled with the strength of Wudahai who was trapped in the military formation, it almost formed an internal and external pincer attack.
The Han army led by Pang Shili was crumbling.
Until this moment, Jierhalang, who was leading the army through, completely dissipated the worry in his heart. He waved the saber in his hand and said: "Kill!"
If this Han army is wiped out, it will definitely be a great victory.
Under the slopes three miles away, Jia Heng also led 30,000 cavalry troops, divided into three directions: left, center and right. Among them were 6,000 cavalry troops led by Jiang Zining and Jiang Fan, the former commander-in-chief of Datong. As for the cavalry in the Beijing camp, they were on the left wing, because there would be no Jurchen enemies on the left in the direction of Ordos.
The three cavalry armies were just five miles apart to take care of them.
Jiang Fan said: "Father, the cavalry in the Beijing camp looks very capable."
The shouts of killing in the distance were almost earth-shattering, but the 10,000 cavalry troops from the Beijing camp were able to fight back and forth with the Jurchens. They have not been defeated for so long, and they are considered a strong army.
"General, General Pang has already fought with the main force of the Jurchen Xianglan Banner. Send someone to ask for help from the general!" At this time, Dong Qian came from afar and shouted loudly on his horse.
Jia Heng had put down the monocular telescope in his hand and stood on the hill. Compared with Jierhalang, he had somewhat misjudged the number and combat strength of the Han army's main force.
Jia Heng, through his telescope, almost estimated the number of Jurchen cavalry at seventy-seven or eighty-eight.
What came was the main force of the blue flag and the yellow flag troops. The total number of troops should be just over 10,000.
Further away, there is no ambush!
This is the war on the grassland. Sometimes the war breaks out hastily and suddenly, and many times there is no convenient location or any conspiracy.
It relies more on the strength and fighting will of both sides to fight back and forth. Whoever can't hold on will be defeated first, and now this is an encounter.
Jia Heng put down the telescope, excited, and said loudly: "Notify the left and right wings to encircle, I will lead the entire Chinese army to attack, and eat the Jurchens, the main force!"
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defeat the few with more and eat this Jurchen!
In other words, although the cavalry led by Pang Shili fought with three times the enemy's strength, they were still in a stalemate. Such "stretching" combat power still gave him some confidence.
To attack a small army with a large number of troops, to attack a partial army with the elite of the whole country, God will not take it, but you will be blamed for it!
And just when Jierhalang led the soldiers and horses with blue flags to approach, he had already keenly noticed something was wrong, because although the Han army's soldiers and horses numbered over ten thousand, they were by no means the Han army as they had initially thought. The main force of the army is more like a partial division!
At this moment, the cavalry led by Pang Shili was fiercely attacked by a large number of Jirhalang's female main force. The balance that originally had some upper hand gradually shifted towards the Qing army.
For a time, the generals of the Qing army with the blue flag and the Han army with the yellow flag were excited and morale high, and they were about to carry out a fatal blow.
Jierhalang slashed a Han army cavalry school with his sword, and the hidden worry in his heart grew bigger and bigger and finally turned into a fear.
After a while, the deafening sound of horse hooves, like the earth was shaking, came from miles away, and he secretly screamed something bad.
He was shocked and said: "This is the main force of the Han army. No, retreat! Retreat quickly!"
He made a prompt decision and ordered the guards around him to wave the flag and withdraw from the battlefield.
But it was too late. The high-speed cavalry had already rushed forward and was entangled with the cavalry led by Pang Shili. It was very difficult to escape in such a hurry.
Therefore, only the two or three thousand cavalry troops with the core of Jierhalang's central army did not fall into the formation and turned towards the north. After drilling through, Jierhalang detoured towards the north to divide the troops, and suddenly the cavalry on the left and right wings were left.
That is to say, the troops of Wudahai and Liu Zhiyuan were trapped in the formation.
At this moment, a large number of cavalry troops led by Jia Heng had already pressed forward. This was the elite of the cavalry army that Chen Han had spent more than ten years building in the capital since Longzhi.
Just like that, they surrounded and surrounded the Jurchen Xilan Banners who were fighting each other.
Jia Heng shouted deeply on his horse and said, "Where is Jia Fang, the guerrilla guard?"
Jia Fang, the guerrilla general of the Central Guard Army who was galloping aside, said loudly: "General."
"Lead the cavalry of our headquarters to chase the flag and prevent the soldiers and horses from approaching our army." Jia Heng shouted loudly.
This is a cavalry force that is outside the field. If two armies are fighting, it will easily come to the rescue. If the formation that was finally put together is broken through and broken, it will easily become a bad battle!
Hearing this, Jia Fang led the escort in pursuit of the Chinese flag in Jilhalang.
At this moment, looking from a high altitude, it can be seen that the cavalry of Pang Shili and Wu Dahai are entangled because of their exhaustion of horsepower, and the soldiers with the blue flag and the yellow flag are also trapped in it, making it difficult to escape.
The Jurchen cavalry on both wings can be said to be surrounding and cutting Pang Shili's cavalry. At this moment, Jia Heng's central army and the cavalry on both wings are compressing the Jurchen cavalry from the outside inward.
At the beginning, there were still two sides digging in, but after the soldiers and horses became entangled, the troops gradually dispersed and began to fall into ordinary fighting.
But after the cavalry led by Jia Heng arrived, they almost gave the Qing army, which was fighting in full swing, a slap in the face like Mount Tai.
Wudahai also noticed something was wrong and said: "Back off, go away!"
But Jierhalang was anxious, his eyes fixed on the torrent of cavalry that was like a raging river, and his heart gradually sank to the bottom of the valley.
Immediately, I felt my heart bleed as I looked at the blue-banner cavalry being cut up and strangled. These were all good men of the Qing Dynasty.
The deputy capital Tong Bayan on the side looked ugly and said in shock: "Your Majesty, this is the main force of the Han army, no less than 30,000!"
Jierhalang didn't know how, and he was annoyed at his previous recklessness. At this moment, he looked at the cavalry fighting in the distance and shouted loudly: "Quick, ring the gold, wave the flag, and break out!"
This was the Jurchen's military order after their own cavalry was surrounded by enemy formations. It meant to kill outwards, while there were supporting troops outside.
It can be said that this was the first battle between the Jurchen and Han cavalry. It was a hasty battle without any fancy tactics.
After the cavalry on both sides penetrated back and forth, they fell into a fierce battle.
If it were written in the history books of later generations, it would only leave an understatement: "On that day, the general Zhengpi led 40,000 cavalry to Jining Haizi, and met the Qing army's Jilharang Xianglan Banner and the Han army's Zhenghuang Banner. Engage with the enemy captives, defeat the Qing army, annihilate 4,000 enemies, capture 3,500, kill Wudahai, Beizi of the puppet Qing Dynasty, Jierharang Le's remnants of troops fled, which shocked Monan."
In fact, the subsequent results of the war were roughly a reflection of such historical writings.
Wudahai was beheaded by Pang Shili, and the 3,700 bannermen with blue flags were turned into ghosts in the first battle. The Han army's Zhenghuang flag was either dead or captured from the capital below Liu Zhiyuan.
And until the afternoon, at dusk, with the setting sun like blood, this unexpected battle finally came to an end.
Jierhalang responded to the 2,000 cavalry troops who had broken through and led more than 4,000 cavalry in a mad retreat to the northeast. Jia Heng sent soldiers to cover up the attack.
(End of chapter)
