The ambush suddenly appeared and caught the Ming army by surprise.
After the rain of arrows, the Eight Banners soldiers who were ambushing on the hillside also took advantage of the situation and rushed out.
The Ming army, led by He Shixian, also fought against the Jianlu. For a moment, the metallic sound of weapons clashing and the neighing of war horses resounded throughout the valley.
Most of the two thousand Ming troops were wearing armor, especially half of them were He Shixian's elite servants, so their combat power was still very strong.
Many Ming soldiers who were hit by arrows were only wounded, but they still continued to fight with the Tatars despite their injuries.
However, the Ming army responded in a hurry and was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. They quickly fell into a disadvantage and lost almost half of their casualties in a short time.
The battlefield was littered with fallen horses and corpses of soldiers from both sides.
He Shixian, who had been hit by several arrows, was almost awake from the wine at this time.
He understood that he was now surrounded by the Tatars, and it might be difficult to escape this time.
At this time, the deputy general said: "Commander He, we have been ambushed by the Tatars. We will hold the Tatars back. You can quickly lead the remaining elite servants to break out."
A few months ago, He Shixian and Li Xianzhong's Liaodong cavalry cooperated to annihilate thousands of Zhenghongqi outside Crow Falcon Pass.
Since then, he has been targeting the Liaodong Cavalry and constantly arming his servants.
Outside Fushun Pass, his main servants also fought against Yue Tuo's Xianghongqi many times and did not lose.
I thought I could shine on the battlefield like Li Xianzhong, but now it seems that it is just a dream.
It was obvious that the previous Eight Banners soldiers were not their main force, and they had fallen into the trap of luring the enemy.
He said: "Vice General Zhang, find a way to stand out and tell the follow-up troops to return to Crow Falcon Pass quickly and don't rush in without any light troops!"
Then he looked in the direction of Liaoyang and said: "I, He Shixian, have a great trust, so why would I go back to see Yuan Jinglue? Today I can only die to serve the country and atone for myself!"
After saying that, He Shixian led the elite servants around him to kill the Tatars.
The cavalry under He Shixian are also elites of the Ming army, especially the servants under his command are also quite powerful.
Although they were trapped in a tight siege, they still fought hard under the leadership of He Shixian without any fear.
He actually charged back and forth in the encirclement of the Eight Banners and killed many Tatars.
He Shixian himself kept waving the sword in his hand in the formation, killing several Niu Lu Ezhen who were standing in the red flag.
Even Daishan had to sigh: "Although this man is brave and foolhardy, he is also a rare warrior!"
He Shixian's brave performance had long attracted the attention of the Tatar archers, and more and more armor-piercing heavy arrows were inserted into his body.
Even though he was wearing iron armor, he couldn't bear it. In the end, He Shixian was hit by more than forty arrows and died of exhaustion.
After He Shixian was killed in battle, the morale of the Ming army also began to decline.
Faced with the Tatars' persuasion to surrender, they responded directly by killing the enemy.
Lieutenant General Zhang even led his men to conduct several attacks in an attempt to break out and report. Unfortunately, in addition to the two red flags, Mang Gurtai's Zhenglan Flag and Tonghuang Taiji's Zhengbai Flag had also joined the battle.
In the end, all the two thousand Ming troops died in the battle, and no one surrendered!
The tenacious fighting of the Ming army also caused a lot of casualties to the Tatars. In addition to the losses in the previous attack on Xindiian Fort, the Han army killed more than 1,500 people, and the Eight Banners soldiers also paid a price of 500 people.
However, after cutting off the most elite "arrowheads" of the Ming army, the remaining battle became much easier to fight.
Soon the Han soldiers captured Xin Dien Fort and lit up the turrets of Xin Dien Fort.
The following Ming army infantry also stepped up their march after seeing the smoke.
Daishan and others had already seen the densely packed Ming army infantry not far away.
Huang Taiji said: "Baile, according to the intelligence, there are more than 20,000 Ming army infantry. The mountain road here is not wide, and the Ming army is seven or eight miles apart, so we cannot set up an ambush."
Daishan understands Huang Taiji’s meaning. The brave one wins when they meet on a narrow road!
Most of He Shixian's two thousand men were his elite servants, and their armor coverage was relatively high, so the battle was quite fierce.
According to intelligence, most of the infantry of the Ming Army were chieftain soldiers from the southwest. They were equipped with very few cloth armors, and iron armor was even rarer.
The Eight Banners powerful force only needs to take advantage of its cavalry!
At this time, the subsequent infantry of the Ming army were very close to the new fort, but they soon stopped.
Because a group of cavalry wearing red, blue, and white armors appeared neatly in front of them. Only one person saw He Shixian's head on the tip of his spear and shouted: "He Shixian is dead, why don't you wait?" Don’t you surrender quickly?”
Then a large number of Jianzhou cavalry galloped out, and the vibration of countless horse hooves made the whole earth tremble.
General He has been beheaded?
The Ming army fell into panic immediately.
Peng Yuanjin, the commander of the Xuanwei Division in Yongshun, Huguang, quickly ordered his subordinate troops to form formations to meet the enemy.
Most of the soldiers under the Shunxuanwei Division were Miao soldiers. They had responded to the Ming Dynasty's call many times to participate in countering rebellions and made many meritorious deeds.
Peng Yuanjin knew that the road here was narrow, and there were a large number of Ming troops blocking the road behind him. If he retreated at this moment, not only would he not be able to escape, but he would also be killed by Jianzhou's cavalry, which would eventually lead to a complete rout of the Ming army.
Soon his trumpeter blew his horn!
Upon hearing the trumpet, the Yongshun Miao soldiers quickly formed a formation, with the shield bearers in front and the pikemen behind.
At this time, Jianlu's arrows shot into the Ming army's formation.
There were not many armored soldiers in the Yongshun army, so the Tatars still shot down many people with their bows and arrows, causing a little chaos.
The infantry of the Ming army had not yet completed their formation, and Jianzhou's heavy cavalry had already arrived.
The loose formation of these Miao soldiers could not stop the impact of Jianzhou's heavy cavalry.
The heavy armored cavalry composed of Bai Bai Ya La rushed into the formation easily.
These Miao soldiers were also known for their ferocity, and soon their spearmen stabbed these Eight Banners soldiers regardless of their own safety.
After all, the Yongshun Army was a battle-hardened force, and the Miao soldiers were also experienced. Knowing that they could not penetrate the heavy armor of the Eight Banners soldiers, they directly stabbed their horses.
For a moment, the neighing of the war horses resounded throughout the mountain road, and many Eight Banners cavalrymen fell off their horses.
However, the equipment gap between the two sides was too huge. These Miao soldiers wearing civilian clothes and leather armor were no match for the Eight Banners soldiers wearing triple heavy armor.
The Miao soldiers' crossbows could not penetrate the heavy armor of the Eight Banners soldiers.
Although the Yongshun Army resisted desperately, it only slightly delayed the attack of the Eight Banners soldiers.
At this time, Mang Gurtai, who was fighting in front of the battle, discovered Peng Yuanjin who was directing the Miao soldiers to fight. Wearing a suit of fish scale armor, he still stood out among the Miao soldiers.
Mang Gurtai picked up his three-stone bow, calmly selected an armor-piercing arrow, fully drew the bow string, and locked his eyes on Peng Yuanjin.
Then he calmed his breathing and released the bowstring.
The armor-piercing arrow was shot from the bowstring, piercing the sky. One arrow shot through Peng Yuanjin's chest, and he immediately fell off his horse.
The Miao soldiers were originally at a disadvantage, but the death of their own leader accelerated their collapse.
The leaderless Miao soldiers began to fight in a chaotic manner.
Finally they got timid, some started to run away, and it turned into an outright rout.
Mang Gurtai showed a proud smile at this time.
Once the infantry starts to run away from the cavalry and exposes its back to the opponent, it is completely over.
Next comes the cavalry's favorite part of the chase.
They can whistle, wave the weapons in their hands, and choose the way they like to kill the enemy without worrying about their own casualties.
The battle quickly turned into a massacre. The Eight Banners cavalry chased the Ming army and killed them all the way, while the Han army soldiers were behind looking for fish that had slipped through the net.
The following Ming troops were also overwhelmed by the defeated troops and disrupted their formation, making it almost impossible to form effective resistance.
That is to say, the gunners of the Guan Ming Army in Fushun used the terrain to give certain effective kills to the Eight Banners cavalry, but they were soon killed by the cavalry rushing up from them.
It can be said that the Ming army was defeated thousands of miles away. The entire mountain road was covered with corpses of the Ming army. The Eight Banners soldiers in Jianzhou pursued them directly to the foot of Crow Falcon Pass before giving up.
Fortunately, it was almost dusk at this time, and many Ming troops were able to escape the pursuit of the Eight Banners soldiers.
When He Shixian left the pass, the total number of Ming troops was 22,000. As a result, there were only more than 6,000 Ming troops who fled back to Crow Falcon Pass.
Fushun Pass General He Shixian and deputy general Zhang Kuifa died in the battle; Peng Yuanjin, the commander of the Xuanwei Division in Yongshun, Huguang, Peng Xiangqian, the Xuanwei Division of Baojing, and Ran Yuelong, the commander of the Xuanwei Division of Youyang, all died in the battle.
When the news that He Shixian was killed in battle and that most of the Ming army who had left the Pass reached Liaoyang, Liaodong Manager Yuan Yingtai's face turned ashen.
He was at a loss, and he was even worse than Yang Hao after learning about the defeat of Sarhu.
At any rate, Yang Hao knew to block the news as soon as possible, isolated the defeated soldiers in the military camp, and then quickly notified the surviving two southeastern armies to retreat.
Now Yuan Yingtai did nothing and locked himself in the room alone in a daze.
In desperation, Yan Mingtai had to give orders instead of Yuan Yingtai, so that he could have a reputation as a "good guard".
Although the situation in Kuandian was not good before, Yan Mingtai never expected that in just two or three days, five of the six Kuandian forts had been captured by the Jianlu, and 6,000 defenders were killed.
If we add the 16,000 people killed by He Shixian in this attack, the Ming army had already lost 22,000 people.
This is simply a replica of the defeat of Juniper and Marin in Saarhu.
Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Yan Mingtai sent the battle report back to the capital while privately asking Li Xianzhong for help.
Although there are still 5,000 Xuanfu border troops guarding Crow Falcon Pass, the morale of the Ming army on the southern front is now low. If the Tatars take advantage of the situation and advance into Qinghe or even approach Liaoyang, the consequences will be disastrous.
In Yan Mingtai's view, even if Li Xianzhong did not send the Liaodong cavalry, he should at least send some gunmen to help guard Crow Falcon Pass.
After this defeat, Yuan Yingtai's Liaodong strategy was definitely unsustainable, but Liaodong could not be in chaos.
If the Jianlu were allowed to attack the Liaodong border wall again, even the copper transport route they had worked so hard to establish would be affected.
Moreover, the two elite troops of Qi Jiajun and Baigan soldiers located in Kuandian Fort cannot be eaten by the Jianqi soldiers like this.
Li Xianzhong was also very concerned about the battle in Kuandian at this time.
The secret agents of the Intelligence Department sent back the latest information as soon as possible.
After seeing the battle report, he had to lament the self-repairing ability of history. He found that although his appearance greatly affected the course of events.
However, many events inevitably happened after the changes, such as Yuan Yingtai replacing Xiong Tingbi as Liaodong Manager.
The "Fire Merger of Tongzhou" between the Baigan soldiers and the Qi army that was supposed to happen two years later, and He Shixian's drunken fall into Jianlu's trick to lure the enemy, which led to his own defeat and death, were actually staged in advance at Kuandian Fort.
Even He Shixian's method of death has not changed. He was shot by dozens of arrows and died of exhaustion!
At this time, he was becoming more and more worried about Wanli's health. Originally, Wanli still had nearly a year to live, but would it happen earlier like these two things now?
Although this Kuandian battle had been expected by him, the progress of the battle was still far beyond his expectation.
To be honest, he did not expect that the Ming army would be defeated so quickly and so miserably.
However, he did not plan to directly send troops to Kuandian at this time. To be honest, even if he sent all the Liaodong cavalry and assault battalion to Kuandian, he would not be sure to relieve the siege of Kuandian.
At this time, some pressure still needs to be put on Nurhachi.
So he chose to send these two cavalry to Fushun Pass first. On the one hand, they could contain the captives in the lower realm vassal city; on the other hand, reinforcements at Crow Falcon Pass or Liaoyang would be closer.
Even if Jianlu really breaks into the Liaodong border wall, he will have enough time to reinforce Shenyang or Liaoyang.
As for when to attack, he still has to wait for the opportunity.
On the one hand, they are waiting for Yuan Yingtai's downfall, and on the other hand, they are also waiting for new changes in the war situation.
Nurhachi was very happy after learning that Daishan and others had a great victory. Although these Han troops were not strong enough to fight, they were not in vain.
This time he played a big role in plundering the Five Forts of Kuandian and seducing He Shixian.
Huang Taiji said: "This time, it was actually Mr. Fan Wencai's suggestion to incorporate the Han army's coats into each banner. I just told the Khan about his suggestion!"
Nurhachi said: "It seems that Fan Wencai is really good at strategy, so let's give him a guerrilla position and let him stay in front of the tent to make plans."
Although the Eight Banners of the Ming Army who defeated He Shixian suffered little losses this time, less than 1,000 Banners soldiers and more than 2,000 Han soldiers were killed.
But currently they still cannot break into the Liaodong border wall.
Because the more than 6,000 Ming troops in Kuandian Fort have not been eliminated, the two yellow flags and the Wanba Banners have been contained here.
Just as he was preparing to discuss how to eliminate this Ming army, bad news came. Tong Jia Hu Erhan, one of the five founding ministers of Manchuria, suddenly died suddenly.
Hu Erhan is the adopted son of Nurhachi and the youngest among the five ministers. He must fight bravely to take the lead in every battle.
Nurhachi asked angrily: "Hulhan has always been in good health, how could he suddenly die suddenly?"
The bannerman who reported the news said: "When Hu Erhan was killing the Ming army today, his arm was accidentally hit by a Ming army's crossbow arrow. This crossbow arrow should be poisonous, so he was poisoned and died."
Most of these Ming troops were chieftain soldiers from the southwest. Although their crossbow arrows were not sharp and not as good as Jianzhou's armor-piercing heavy arrows, most of them were quenched with poison.
In fact, it was not just Hu Erhan. At this time, hundreds of Eight Banners soldiers in the Jianzhou camp had been injured by Miao soldiers' crossbows and died of poison.
This caused the morale of the Eight Banners soldiers, which had soared just now, to suddenly drop again.
However, this does not affect their determination to lure the enemy.
Soon the Ming army on the wall of Kuandian Fort began to make a noise. Qi Jin stepped forward to take a look and found a large number of Ming army flags and corpses.
When the Ming army saw He Shixian's head being teased at the tip of a spear by these Tatars, they all looked very angry and expressed why they would go out of the city to teach these Tatars a lesson.
As a veteran of the battlefield, he knew that the Ming army must have been ambushed by Jianlu.
He Shixian was Yuan Yingtai's favorite general, and among the flags displayed by the Tatars were the troops of the Southwest Xuanwei Division. It seemed that the Ming army had suffered very heavy losses.
Ma Xianglin's white pole soldiers were also chieftain troops, and they were also extremely angry at the death of these Ming troops from Xuanwei Division.
It is very likely that the imperial court will no longer be able to send reinforcements in a short period of time, and the food in Kuandian Fort is also decreasing day by day, and there will be no food in the fort within a month.
At this time, the two had to settle their differences. If they did not cooperate at this time, the Tatars might really succeed.
Qi Jin said: "Brother Ma, tonight I have decided to lead the Qi army to break out of the encirclement. The important task of holding Kuandian Fort will be left to you white soldiers."
Although the two of them have not fought each other before, they can be regarded as not knowing each other without fighting.
Ma Xianglin said: "General Qi, no, this is clearly a Tatar trick to lure us out of the encirclement, so they can take the opportunity to destroy us in the field."
Qi Jin smiled and said: "Of course I know this is a Tatar plan. Originally, I planned to break out tomorrow night, but looking at the weather, it will rain heavily tonight, so I can only choose tonight."
Ma Xianglin was even more puzzled and said: "I see that the Qi Army is also equipped with a lot of muskets. Firearms are easy to misfire in heavy rain, and movement is more difficult. Why did General Qi choose to break out at this time?"
Qi Jin said: "The mandarin duck formation of my Qi family army is most suitable for breakout melee, so it is definitely more suitable for me to break out than Brother Ma. Bird guns are not suitable for use in this kind of breakout battle, so I keep all these 800 well-made bird guns." Give it to Brother Ma, I think you will need it later when you defend the city."
"There is really not much food in Kuandian. After we leave, this food will be enough for you to eat for two months, enough to wait until other reinforcements from the imperial court come to relieve the siege."
Ma Xianglin said excitedly: "If we want to break through, our two armies will naturally break through together. Even if we break through separately at the same time, it will be better than your Qi's army breaking through alone?"
The Ming army was stimulated during the day. Originally, Daishan and others were prepared to prevent the Ming army from breaking out tonight, but it suddenly rained heavily in the evening, making the area near Kuandian Fort muddy.
It was impossible for the Ming army to break through in this kind of horrible weather, so fortunately they returned to camp to rest.
Unexpectedly, just after the hour, a large number of Ming troops, as many as a thousand people, were discovered outside the south gate of Kuandian Fort.
Due to the heavy rain, the remaining Han army soldiers were not many, and they were killed and dispersed by the Ming army not long after.
Daishan thought it was the main force of the Ming army breaking through, and quickly asked Xianghuangqi, who was responsible for the defense, to come to support.
However, according to the soldiers' reports, the attacking Ming troops were all armed with white-stemmed guns and were not Qi's troops, which made Dai Shan feel at ease.
The white-pole gun held by the white-pole soldiers is a long pole made of strong ash trees. It is equipped with a bladed hook on the top and a hard iron ring on the bottom. During combat, the hook can be cut and pulled, and the ring can be used as a hammer weapon.
Moreover, these chieftain soldiers are very good at forming formations and cooperating, and their white-barrel guns are not afraid even when facing Jianzhou's cavalry.
The Han army Bao Yi who was guarding outside the south gate was defeated by the white pole soldiers and fled, breaking through the trench.
Due to the rain, the impact of the cavalry was also affected to a certain extent.
When the cavalry with yellow flags appeared in front of the white-armed soldiers, they were not afraid, and the white-armed guns in their hands instantly turned into hooks and sickles. They cooperated tacitly, some were dedicated to knocking off the horses' hooves, and some were dedicated to assassinating the fallen knights.
The five Niulu flags were decorated with yellow flags. It didn't take long before they killed the enemy and fled, leaving hundreds of corpses behind.
Seeing this scene, Qi Jin on the city was also amazed. It seemed that these white soldiers were also a strong force, and they had the upper hand against the cavalry on foot.
This time, Daishan was shocked. A large number of cavalrymen were actually killed by infantry in the wild and fled. How shameless was this?
It seemed that he had underestimated these Ming soldiers holding white poles.
So he quickly dispatched his two red flags to support the yellow flag.
The elite Bai Bai Ya La braved the heavy rain to attack these white pole soldiers, but they still couldn't get any advantage.
These white-pole soldiers are extremely fast and work well together. Coupled with the restrictions of rainy days, the Eight Banners' cavalry could not take advantage in either mounted combat or infantry combat.
This made Dai Shan dumbfounded. There were actually such strong soldiers in the Ming army?
Even the most elite Kaiyuan Army under Li Xianzhong did not dare to face the Eight Banners in such a head-on confrontation when the forces in the field were comparable.
In order to avoid greater casualties, Daishan quickly asked the Eight Banners soldiers to release arrows. The arrows rained down, but still caused some casualties to the white-pole soldiers.
Ma Xianglin also took advantage of the situation to retreat. After all, the purpose of this attack was to attract the attention of the Tatars and create conditions for the Qi Jiajun's breakout.
Obviously, he was very successful in doing this.
Daishan saw that there were not many shield bearers in the white pole army, so he simply transferred all the surrounding Eight Banners soldiers to attack them with bows and arrows.
The white-pole soldiers were fighting and retreating, and were already not far from the city gate.
Daishan understood that if this continued, they would run back to Kuandian Fort.
But now he hesitated to attack in full force.
Just now, with the yellow flag and the two red flags, six to seven hundred people were lost. Is it okay to continue like this?
So he decided to let the Han army wrap up his clothes, and the Eight Banners soldiers fired arrows from behind to attack.
Although they were very reluctant, the two thousand Han army soldiers shouted this slogan and attacked the white pole soldiers!
Just when Dai Shan was secretly proud, the Sentry Cavalry suddenly came to report: "Big Belle, it's not good, the Qi army broke out from the west gate, and the minions couldn't resist, and they rushed out."
Only then did Daishan realize that he had been fooled. The Ming army was attacking in the east and in the west.
So they quickly sent troops to chase them. Fortunately, the Qi army was infantry. No matter how fast they ran, they couldn't outrun their Eight Banners force.
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