At night, there are clusters of bonfires in the Chinese army camp in Junggar Mongolia. The footsteps of the sergeants on night patrol are heavy and powerful. In the white military tents, the lights are brightly lit and the figures are looking forward to it.
Wen Chun asked: "Is there any movement of the main force of the Han army?"
Dorji shook his head and said: "The scouts haven't found the main force of the Han army yet, that is, they are still on the road. Xining is a long way from here. The Han army often carries a lot of baggage when marching, and the marching speed is not as fast as ours."
Wen Chun frowned, with a thoughtful look on his face, and murmured: "That shouldn't be the case. Is there any trick here?"
In fact, there was some separation in his heart. The confrontation and fighting in the past few days, the resilience and combat power of the Han army gave Wen Chun a bad feeling in his heart.
Seeing this, Dorji felt a little anxious and quickly advised: "Brother, the Han army can no longer hold on. Once their food routes are cut off, they will definitely not be able to hold on for long."
Under Wen Chun's thick eyebrows, his eyes flashed in the sunken gray-blue eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "I don't want to withdraw the troops and let people go to find out the main force of the Han army. We will stay for two more days to sharpen the strength of the Han army." From now on, we can attack the city on a large scale.”
Dorji pondered: "I see that the Han army is almost out of food. When we are defending today, our dispatch is obviously much slower."
Wen Chun thought for a while and said to Dorji: "Let's see if we can contact the internal intelligence in the city. Attacking the city like this will cause too many casualties."
In the past few days, the Mongolian tribes of the former Shazhou Guards had been attacking the city, and the Junggar Mongols and Heshuote Mongols also invested a small amount of troops. The casualties in the siege were heavy, which also made Wen Chun quite fearful.
Dorji said: "Then I'll ask those tribes later, but we can't get in, so we can only let the people in the city find a way to get out."
Wen Chun nodded and said: "If there are insiders creating chaos in the city, we can send the main force outside to attack. It will be much easier to capture the city."
Dorzi asked again: "Where is Uncle Batur now? It's time to lead the troops."
Wen Chun said: "If we go by the speed of the horses, it will probably take another month. Just wait patiently."
The city where Baturhun is located is more than a thousand miles away from Shazhou, or Hami.
After hearing this, Dorji said no more, left the Chinese army's tent, and went to find the tribal chief of the former Shazhou Guard to plan internal responses.
So, there was no more talking all night.
The next day, at dawn, the fiery red morning light appeared in the east, the sun jumped out of the ground, the morning light shone on the grass, and the autumn morning dew kept rolling under the breeze.
The Han troops and the Mongolian Tatar soldiers inside and outside the city began to have breakfast. Except for the bloody smell coming from the city in the distance, it really didn't make people feel that this was a battlefield.
The morning light shone silently on the vast land, and under the Shazhou Acropolis, a large number of soldiers and horses rushed forward, preparing to surround the Shazhou Acropolis.
Xie Zaiyi, who had just come from the wounded barracks with his soldiers, ordered Ding Fu to go up to the city wall and help defend the city.
With the siege of the city in the past few days, a lot of arrows and rolling logs and stones were used to defend the city. Some idle houses have been demolished and beams, wood and bricks were taken to defend the city.
As for the casualties, they were actually not bad. There were some wounded soldiers, but they were much less than those of the Fan tribe outside the city. The main concern was the consumption of food and fodder.
"Commander, flying pigeons pass the message." At this moment, Lieutenant General Wang Xun held a piece of paper in his hand and delivered it to Xie Zaiyi.
Xie Zaiyi reached out and took the paper. After unfolding it, he lowered his eyes and took a closer look. After a moment, his expression suddenly changed, and he crumpled the paper in his hand into a ball.
"Captain, what's wrong?" Wang Xun asked.
Xie Zaiyi's expression regained its expression and he said in a deep voice: "Nothing, pass on the order, the Commander-in-Chief will be here soon. Brothers, hold on to the city. Today we will have a battle with the Junggar cavalry to show off!"
As the "rumbling" sound of war drums sounded, the city gate of Shazhou Acropolis slowly opened, and Xie Zaiyi personally led the cavalry out of Shazhou Acropolis.
"Rumble..."
The deafening sound of iron hooves resounded violently on the grassland, smoke billowed, and flags covered the field. Nearly ten thousand cavalrymen in red uniforms, holding various sabers, looked like lions coming out of the gate, divided into three teams, and headed towards the Shazhou Acropolis. The Mongolians who were gathering outside to attack the city charged away.
One group on the left was led by generals Jia Fang and Jia Chang and four generals from the Beijing camp, and charged towards the south. The first group was led by Dong Qian, the governor of Guyong camp Ni Biao, and general Yang Lin, while Xie Zaiyi Leading several guerrilla generals from the Guyong Battalion, they directly attacked the enemy's central army.
Like three sharp swords, they stabbed the Mongolian Tatar soldiers and horses from three directions.
"Woooo..."
The desolate and distant horn sound sounded, and the army was assembled. The faces of Heshuote, Junggar soldiers and horses, and a large number of Ban tribesmen who lined up to attack the city today changed drastically when they saw this.
Dorji and Wen Chun were under a black wolf flag, and when they saw this scene, they were shocked.
"The Han army's food route was cut off and they could no longer hold on. They had no choice but to leave the city and attack fiercely. They were in a desperate situation." Dorji was stunned for a moment, looked into the distance, and said with joy.
Wen Chun nodded, with a little joy in his heart, and said loudly: "Brother Dorji, you lead your troops to the left wing, and I will run to the right wing, and attack them from both sides to annihilate them!"
It was obvious that the Shazhou Fan tribe in the middle had completely given up and could not care about them in the first place.
The Mongolian tribe, which numbered more than 8,000 and consisted of thirteen tribes, large and small, could easily become a rabble at this moment.
Dorji said loudly: "I will follow my elder brother and let my two brothers lead the army."
When Wen Chun heard this, he did not refuse.
Following Wen Chun's order, the black flags waved rapidly, and nearly 20,000 Heshuote and Junggar troops began to divide into two groups and attack the cavalry coming from the acropolis.
"boom!"
As the Han cavalry charged, it was like two torrents colliding, stirring up countless smoke and dust at this moment.
The sound of fighting and the sound of gold and iron suddenly met at this moment.
The soldiers and horses of the two sides collided, like an extremely sharp knife, tearing apart the entire cavalry team and cutting through the waves.
Xie Zaiyi held a big sword in his hand and rode on a horse, charging wildly. Wherever the blade passed, broken limbs and arms and blood flew everywhere, making him invincible.
As a result, the Mongolian tribes in the middle were completely unable to withstand the rapid momentum of the Han army. Under the attack of Xie Zaiyi's cavalry, they collapsed in a few breaths.
They began to flee in all directions.
At this time, Wen Chun looked at the invincible general in the middle and asked: "What is the origin of that Han general to be so brave?"
Dorji on the side said: "That Han general Xie Zaiyi is very famous among the Han army and is also an earl of the Han country. If he can be captured and killed, the Han army will definitely be defeated."
Wen Chun nodded, his face became a little solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "This person does have some abilities, let's ignore him for now!"
Dorji said loudly: "Brother Wenchun, send more generals to come forward and kill this Han general later."
Wen Chun did not respond, but drew his saber and shouted: "My sons, first charge away the Han army in front of you!"
At this moment, under the charge of the Han army forming a formation, the Shazhou Guards and the Chijin Mongolian Guards, who were the first to attack the city, could not resist at first. They were torn open by the saber and fled in all directions.
This move undoubtedly affected the subsequent military array to a certain extent, causing the military line to collapse a lot to the southwest.
At this moment, the cavalry armies of Heshuote Mongolia and Junggar Mongolia had already suffered some interference. Under the charge of the Han army, their positions were also somewhat disordered, and some lines began to fall into pieces.
Wen Chun's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He looked at the Mongolian tribesmen who were running away like headless flies. He was furious. He led a group of personal guards to form a cavalry army, encouraged the soldiers, and rushed towards Xie Zaiyi's troops. .
After Xie Zaiyi defeated the Mongolian tribes, he turned back and strangled Wen Chun, who was slightly stagnant.
The black torrent and the red flame torrent collided together, like water and fire meeting, and suddenly died with a "pop".
At noon, if you look down from a high altitude, the Heshuote Mongolian and Junggar tribes were scattered by the Han army's cavalry. However, due to the large number of troops and the desperate efforts of Wen Chun and Dorji, the main force did not collapse.
The shouts of killing from both sides were so deafening that they could be heard miles apart.
Wen Chun was riding on the horse. The felt hat on his head had already flown away. He was waving a bright saber in his hand. The saber was as curved as the moon in his palm. The blade passed by quickly, and suddenly a cloud of blood mist appeared. Galdan was also very brave, holding a long sword and killing Han soldiers one by one.
The Mongolian soldiers beside him also followed Wen Chun like an arrow, resisting the torrent of flames from the Han army.
Xie Zaiyi had already led his soldiers to kill a round. When he saw that group of specially dressed soldiers and horses, he didn't know that they were nobles of the Junggar Mongolian tribe.
With an angry shout, he hung the big sword in his hand on the saddle, took off the hard bow, galloped the horse, drew the bow like a full moon, and shot towards Wen Chun.
This kind of riding and shooting technique is actually quite difficult, because both parties are moving targets and are on a noisy battlefield.
"Whoosh!!!"
There was a sound of breaking through the sky, the bowstring made a violent cry, and the arrows shot through the air like meteors and meteorites.
Wen Chun was riding a horse when he suddenly felt a warning sign. He felt a chill coming from his back. Without thinking, he quickly lay down.
"prick!"
Almost instantly, the arrow whizzed past the ear, and immediately entered the flesh with a pop, followed by a muffled groan. A soldier general was fighting with a knife, and was immediately shot to the ground, and the horse's hoofs flew into the air. , making a neighing sound.
The surrounding soldiers quickly gathered around to protect Wen Chun, while Dorji's face was pale and he was still frightened.
Seeing this scene, Xie Zaiyi, who was on the horse, frowned and put down his bow and arrow.
The enemy general was much more vigilant than expected, and this was the first time he made a mistake.
Jia Fang, Dong Qian, Jia Chang and other generals also led their own troops and fought against Dorji and other generals.
"kill!"
The sound of killing shook the whole place, and the sound of weapons piercing flesh came and went.
One side struck preemptively and took advantage of the chaos caused by the Mongolian tribes to cover up the enemy. The other side had a large number of troops and extraordinary resilience. As the two sides fought, they were evenly matched at first, but the Han army gradually gained the upper hand.
At this time, Wen Chun became increasingly vigilant. He glanced at the Han general who had just arrived on horseback, and galloped his troops to attack the Han army. Knowing that he was too brave to resist, he no longer planned to challenge him in a duel. .
After Xie Zaiyi charged back and forth several times and achieved some results, because of the dusk and the bright moon in the sky, he ordered his men to ring gold and the cavalry group headed east.
At this moment, both sides were furious. Naturally, they would not open the city gate and return to the city after winning. They could only wander away from the battlefield, wait for dark, and then enter the city to rest.
After Xie Zaiyi led his more than 10,000 cavalry troops in a circle, they returned to the city from the east of the city.
In this battle, the Heshuote Mongols, Junggar Mongols, and Mongolian Fans suffered a total of three to four thousand casualties. Not only the Mongols, but also the Junggars and Heshuotes suffered many casualties.
If we include the one or two thousand casualties suffered during the multi-day siege of the city in the past few days, the original strength advantage was gradually offset at this moment.
…
…
When night fell, General Dorji, panting and holding the reins of his horse, entered the military tent and said to Wen Chun: "Brother, the Han army has escaped."
"If you can't catch up, send out ranger scouts to monitor the movements of the Han army. Don't worry about anything else. Just go back to camp and set up camp first." Wen Chun didn't look good, and seemed to be still frightened by the previous arrow.
Dorji said: "That's all we can do now."
"How about asking each department for casualties?" Wen Chun ordered a guard.
The guard took the order and went.
After a while, Wen Chun listened to the reports of losses from various ministries, and the expression on his unshaven face gradually turned gloomy.
It can be said that in this battle during the day, if he had not reacted in time and led his elite men to press forward, otherwise, if the main army failed to deal with it, it would have been defeated by the Han army.
These Han troops are really difficult to deal with.
Dorji, who was observant, was worried that Wen Chun would be discouraged, and said: "Brother, today's Han army, as the Han people say, is called a trapped beast still fighting. This is the last wave of struggle before the prey is finally hunted. Once it survives this period, it will Can wipe them out."
Wen Chun's eyes darkened slightly and he whispered: "The Han people are much more powerful than before. No wonder the Jurchens in Liaodong are not their opponents. The Jurchens are more ferocious than the wolves in the grassland."
Dorji said: "Actually, it's not that powerful. It's just that they were hiding in the city before and now they rushed out. We were unprepared. Today we were disrupted by the people from Shazhou."
Wen Chun thought for a while and said: "We will try to attack the city again tomorrow. If we really can't take the Shazhou Acropolis, we will return to Hami. The Han people have been here for so long, and reinforcements are almost on the way."
"Then just listen to brother Wenchun," Dorji said.
Wen Chun said: "Let's eat first."
At this moment, there were noisy sounds outside the military tent, and some occasional curses. Wen Chun in the military tent frowned and asked: "What's going on?"
A guard entered the military tent and reported: "The chiefs of various tribes are making a noise outside, saying they want to see Taiji."
"They still have the nerve to make a noise. In today's battle, how many warriors did we lose because of them?" Wen Chun said with a gloomy face and annoyance.
Today, if the Shazhouwei tribesmen had not fled in all directions after encountering the enemy and attacked Wen Chun's formation, there would not have been a huge defeat.
Wen Chun walked out of the military tent expressionlessly. At this moment, outside the military tent, pine oil torches crackled, and the fire was bright, reflecting the faces of more than a dozen Fan clan chiefs particularly clearly.
The noisy clan chiefs gradually calmed down when they saw Wen Chun's angry face.
But less than a moment of silence, a middle-aged man with a rough face, high cheekbones and deep eyes said loudly: "Taiji, our casualties this time are too heavy. We can't send any more troops to attack the city tomorrow. Our brothers need to Rest and recuperate, we can’t attack the city again.”
"Yes, there have been too many casualties in the past few days, and my men are no longer willing to attack the city with arrows."
For a moment, all the heads of the tribes present began to respond.
Whether it was the attack or defense in the past few days or today's decisive battle of the Han army out of the city, all the Mongolian tribes present suffered heavy losses. Some small tribes even suffered more than half of their casualties. Who could withstand this?
Dorji raised his arms and said: "Everyone, the Han people are already wild beasts in the trap. As long as we work harder, we can fight back the Shazhou Guard. After taking the Acropolis, we will not be in good hands, or you guys." People occupy it, can’t you withstand these casualties?”
All the clan leaders present looked at each other.
"But we can't continue fighting like this. Let our subordinates rest and rest." Someone said.
Wen Chun suddenly pulled out a saber from his waist and slashed it towards the flagpole on the side. With a click, the face of the clan leader present changed slightly and said: "Whoever wants to take a break, I will let him go down and accompany our Dzungar warriors who died in the battle today!" "
Everyone was shocked and silent for a moment.
Wen Chun shouted angrily: "Today the Han army only has ten thousand people, but we have been beaten and injured thousands of people, and we are almost defeated. When the main force of the Han army comes, are we going to flee?"
The heads of the Fan clan present had a look of shame on their faces when they heard this.
Wen Chun said: "The Han army is now in dire straits. As long as we use more strength, we can capture the Han army. Tomorrow, if the Han army leaves the city, our Junggar warriors will fight with them to the end. If they hide in the city, everyone will be defeated." The army is here to seize the city in one fell swoop."
The longer the delay, the closer the Han army got. He needed to capture the Shazhou Acropolis as soon as possible, and he could not finally fight the decisive battle with the Han people in Hami, which they had managed for so many years.
…
…
After Xie Zaiyi led his more than 10,000 cavalry troops in a circle, they returned to the city from the east of the city.
At this moment, in the official offices of Shazhou Acropolis, the lights were bright, and a group of cavalry generals from the Beijing camp, as well as Dong Qian, Jia Fang, Jia Chang, Xiao Lin, Wang Xun and other generals gathered together.
Xie Zaiyi was also reviewing the gains and losses of this troop dispatch with a group of generals.
It can be said that although the damage achieved was far greater than that of defending the city, it did not achieve Xie Zaiyi's goal, which was to defeat the cavalry of the Heshuote Mongolia and Junggar Mongolia.
Dong Qian said: "The Mongolian Tatars know that we don't have much food and our morale is high. If we continue like this, we won't be able to overwhelm them."
Xie Zaiyi looked at Jia Fang, Jia Chang and others and asked, "What do you think?"
Jia Fang said: "Captain, in today's battle, although our army defeated part of the Heshuote Mongolia, the main force of Junggar suffered few casualties. They fought bravely, even more bravely and skillfully than the Heshuote people, and will soon be as good as them." The Jurchens have become the elite Eight Banners."
As a young general who has played against the Jurchens, Heshuotes, and Junggars, I was deeply touched by the comparison.
"I feel the same way today. The combat power of the Junggar cavalry is superior to that of the Heshuote people, and they can compete with the Jurchen elite Eight Banners." Xie Zaiyi asked.
Jia Chang said: "Commander, it can be said that Junggar fights bravely. When encountering the enemy, they are not afraid, but have extraordinary fighting power."
In fact, the soldiers of the Junggar tribe were originally very brave, unlike Heshuote who began to degenerate and enjoy himself after taking over Qinghai. This tribe trained all year round in preparation for the desert war.
"The Junggars should be our most trusted enemy," Xie Zaiyi said.
Jia Chang's eyes were bright and he said loudly: "The flags of the Heshuote Mongolian and Junggar tribes are also different. In comparison, of the three coalition forces, only the Mongolian Fan tribe was vulnerable. Today, the Fan tribe coalition was defeated, which affected the Heshuote and Junggar tribes." The military formation at the Ministry of Defense should not be arranged like this tomorrow."
This Mongolian tribe is holding back Heshuote and Junggar, and will definitely change their formation tomorrow.
Xie Zaiyi said: "Tomorrow the Junggar tribe may be the sharp knife, and then it will be a tough battle."
Dong Qian thought for a while and said: "Our army does not have an advantage in terms of military strength. We can only accumulate small victories into big victories. The wars in the past few days have reduced our military disadvantage. It is better to defend the city and wait for reinforcements. When the time comes, we should cooperate internally and externally." , can also win with one blow.”
"It will take five days for Jieshuai's reinforcements to arrive, and we need to inflict more casualties on the Mongolian Tatars," Xie Zaiyi said.
On the battlefield, sometimes it is not something that individual bravery can overcome.
Wang Xundao: "Captain, please wait for the commander's troops first."
Xie Zaiyi said: "I was worried when I heard that the army was coming, and the two Mongolian troops fled to Hami. They will defend the city for the next two days, wait for their horses to rest, and then continue to go out of the city to attack in rotation. The Mongolian Tatars will definitely think that we are waiting for them. The trapped beast still fights, and even on the verge of death, it fights back.”
The generals nodded.
Xie Zaiyi said: "No matter what, we finally won today. Generals, go down and rest first."
After the generals went back to rest, Xie Zaiyi stood alone in front of the map hanging on the wall, lost in thought.
Although the Fei Ge Chuan Shu did not directly state the situation due to confidentiality reasons, it showed through the code words agreed in advance that Jia Heng had left the Chinese army and headed for the Hami Acropolis, and that the army would arrive later and allow Xie Zaiyi to lead the army to delay for a while. , buy time for Jia Heng.
"The danger to the Dzungars in the future will probably be no less than that of the Jurchens." Xie Zaiyi thought as he thought of the elite Dzungars fighting during the day, his eyes flashing coldly.
(End of chapter)
