After two rounds of shelling by the navy's heavy artillery boats, Meizhou City opened its gates and surrendered. It wasn't that the defenders left behind by Liu Da'er were too cowardly, but that the comparison of military strength between the two sides was too great, not to mention that the power of the heavy artillery was too terrifying. Due to the continuous improvement of the quality of steelmaking, although the caliber of the Pili Army's heavy artillery has not changed, it is much lighter and more powerful. Not only does it have a longer range, but its power is more terrifying. Hot solid iron bullets weighing several kilograms roared in, and the blue brick city walls were turned into powder. The siege equipment and artillery on the city walls were also turned into parts. As for the mud and wooden houses in the city, they were like paper. In the face of this kind of firepower, not to mention the old and weak soldiers left behind by Liu Daer, even his most elite soldiers would be frightened.
Just when Le Quan'an ordered the artillery fire, the thousand Mongolian cavalry led by Hu Du were less than ten miles away from Meizhou. Hearing the rumble of artillery ahead, he quickly ordered the entire army to rush towards Meizhou. Two thousand horses galloped with astonishing momentum. Without waiting for a reconnaissance report, Cao Ergou learned of the arrival of the Mongolian cavalry from the thunderous sound of hoofbeats and the trembling ground. While he sent someone to report the situation to Le Quan'an, he ordered the field division to set up formations facing the Mongolian army. At the front of the array was a shallow trench. The soil dug out of the trench was filled into sacks and a parapet was built behind the shallow trench.
Meizhou City is located in a small plain on the bank of the Minjiang River, surrounded by low mountains and hills. This terrain is conducive to both naval and cavalry operations. It is really a fair battlefield for the Perak Army and the Mongolian Army, which are good at navy and cavalry respectively. But as soon as they arrived at Meizhou City, they suddenly wanted to retreat. He was really surprised by the number of Perak soldiers. Not to mention the number of Meizhou City defenders flying the flag of the Perak Army, there are tens of thousands of people on the small plain outside the city alone. Where is the thin strength of the Perak Army mentioned by Liu Da'er? Out of his arrogance, Liu Da'er never paid attention to the intelligence reconnaissance of the Perak Army. In addition, the Perak Army instigated the rebellion of the spies he sent and deliberately delivered false information. Therefore, he had never been aware of the army expansion operation a few months ago. He believed that the Perak Army only had four to five thousand men, and it had to deploy heavy troops in the directions of Baizhang City and Guankou Village, so he could not spare many men to attack Meizhou City. Liu Da'er even believed that even if the Perak Army captured Meizhou, he would be able to recapture it with the cooperation of the Mongolian cavalry.
Hudu was not a timid general. In previous battles, he had repeatedly defeated a large number of troops with a small number, defeating the Song army that was several times larger in number. He also had a reputation for bravery among the Mongolian generals. But the situation in front of him today made him want to quit. He knew that the shallow ditches and parapets that the horses had crossed were not obstacles. The real danger came from invisible places. On the way here, the reconnaissance cavalry he was exploring had been killed by mines and injured more than ten people. Moreover, the opponents behind the parapet were different from the Song army that we usually encountered. Their formation was strict and their advance and retreat were orderly. They seemed to be a strong and well-disciplined army that could endure heavy casualties and fight to the death. What made him even more frightened was that the reconnaissance cavalry had discovered that there was a cavalry hidden behind Meizhou City. Judging from the number of horses, the number of ambushed Pili Army cavalry was greater than the number of our own troops.
However, he was unwilling to retreat without a fight, which would also be criticized by Liu Da'er and ridiculed by other Mongolian generals, so he decided to launch a tentative attack to test the truth. When returning from Jiading to aid Meizhou, Liu Daer took a boat to go north, so he also handed over his 200 cavalry to the command of Hudu to show that he had no intention of joining the Mongolian army. As soon as the order was issued, Liu Da'er's cavalry commander looked embarrassed. There were thousands of people in front of him. If two hundred cavalry went forward, wouldn't they be risking their lives? Hudu didn't talk nonsense about this, and directly ordered the cavalry commander to be killed, and then ordered the deputy commander to lead the charge. The cavalrymen under Liu Da'er had already been frightened to death by the cruelty of the Mongolian army. How could they dare to disobey the order?
The deputy commander had no choice but to worry and led his men to rush towards the Perak Army's position. These cavalrymen held a shield in one hand and a spear in one hand and lay on their horses, hiding most of their bodies behind the shields and the horses' heads and necks. This is a standard cavalry assault formation, the purpose is to break down the opponent's infantry formation. After accelerating for a certain distance, the cavalry became faster and faster, and soon they rushed half a mile in front of the Perak Army formation. This distance can be reached in just the blink of an eye for the infantry, and once they rush in, they can ruthlessly slaughter the infantry. Faced with this great situation, the deputy commander's originally depressed heart became active again, and his mood of impending disaster turned into joy. He even began to think about how to claim credit in front of Liu Daer after winning, and how to impress the Mongolian cavalry.
But his joy came to an abrupt end in an instant. There was a sudden flash of fire behind the parapet, accompanied by dense explosions, and white smoke rose up. The high-speed charging horses fell to the ground with their neighing, and rolled forward without losing their momentum. Immediately afterwards, another round of dense explosions began to sound again, and the horses coming at high speed from behind also fell to the ground. Only the ten or so horses rushing at the back saw that the situation was not good, turned around abruptly, and made a big stroke. Arc, escape towards the rear. After the smoke of gunpowder had passed, the formation of the Perak Army was still quiet. The soldiers looked at the front of the formation with cold expressions. The place was full of bloody corpses of men and horses, filled with the wails and screams of wounded soldiers and horses.
Of course, Hudu knew that the cavalry sent to test the attack would be in danger, but "I don't feel bad for betraying my father's land", and it was not his own men who died, but Liu Da'er's cavalry. Just that these two hundred cavalry were harvested in an instant, which really frightened him. There is fighting here and there, and they are going to die. With such a density of firepower, the charge of his elite cavalry would have the same result. He could see clearly just now that only a quarter of the artillery in the array was firing, and the Thunderbolt Army was still hiding its strength. At this time, the reconnaissance cavalry came again to report that the Perak Army cavalry hiding behind Meizhou City had made movements and was preparing to ride their horses. Suddenly everyone heard the news and immediately turned their horses' heads. Another whistle led his men to retreat hurriedly to Jiading.
In fact, Kudu's retreat was the right choice. The formation laid out by Cao Ergou may seem simple but it conceals murderous intent. Even if the Mongolian cavalry is lucky enough to break through the blockade formed by the Perak Army's artillery, they will still have to face the mine array in front of the formation. Even if they get through it with their lives, they will still be attacked. Intensive musket fire, and then grenades and spears. It is no exaggeration to say that as long as the infantry of the Perak Army is well-positioned and the strength of the troops is not much different, even the Mongolian cavalry, which is famous for its fierceness, has only one way to retreat. What's more, outside Meizhou City today, the number of soldiers in the field division alone is more than four times that of Hudu. If the number of basic militia is included, it reaches an overwhelming ten times.
If they don't retreat all of a sudden, they will inevitably suffer a disastrous defeat or even annihilation under Meizhou City. In fact, Cao Ergou had ordered the cavalry brigade to prepare for an assault. To be honest, although the cavalry brigade has 1,500 people, it is still difficult to defeat the 1,000 cavalry led by Hudu in mobile warfare. However, Cao Ergou obviously would not choose to fight head-on. He planned to use artillery to disrupt the enemy's formation first, and then take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack. In fact, the location where Hudu and his cavalry gathered was only three miles away from the Perak Army's artillery position, which was exactly within the bombardment range of heavy artillery. Although the artillery shells must be solid to reach this distance, and the accuracy is really worrying, it is more than enough to destroy the Mongolian army's formation. As long as the enemy's formation is disrupted, the cavalry brigade may win.
