Ma Hongxing gave the order to charge to the Ming army's surprise attack force, and his cavalry roared out.
They rushed straight towards the Song Army they encountered, avoiding the Song Army's military formations, spreading out, and using the advantage of the cavalry to surround the Song Army's formation from a distance, preventing them from escaping.
Realizing that he had been surrounded, Liu Bang was shocked.
He did not expect that this Ming army would be so decisive, with such a large number of cavalry, and move so fast, it would quickly complete the encirclement of his troops and cut off his retreat.
broken!
Liu Si's heart was beating wildly.
The terrain in this area is flat. It was originally a prosperous agricultural area. After the Yellow River flooded, it gradually became deserted and a lot of weeds grew. However, these weeds are obviously not enough to rely on the infantry to fight against the cavalry. Instead, they will become an excellent place for the cavalry to surround the infantry. .
The Ming army's cavalry was numerous and powerful, with one man and two horses and extremely maneuverable. They formed a circle from a distance and surrounded the Song army's formation. The besieged Song army was suddenly in a dilemma and seemed to have no way out.
However, Liu Si is not a coward, he also has his own military capabilities.
Riding with foot is a compulsory course for every Song Army general. No matter how well you learn this class or how many credits you can get, you must learn it and master the relevant knowledge. They don’t care about the experience that their predecessors gained with their blood and tears. At least you need to know whether it can be used.
For example, when facing cavalry, the infantry must not lose its military formation. This is the premise of using foot to control cavalry.
So Liu Bang quickly organized the army into formation, and quickly organized the crossbowmen to fire to block the enemy. He tried to use the range advantage of the infantry bow over the cavalry bow to resist the Ming army's cavalry sprint, draw a safe distance, and then slowly drove the Song army's formation towards Move backward and gradually retreat to an area suitable for infantry operations, in order to achieve the purpose of getting the Song army out of the predicament.
To achieve this goal, the infantry must be well-trained and the generals must be good at command. Liu Si possesses both of these qualities, so he has a certain degree of confidence that he can lead the army out of trouble and leave here.
However, this Ming army's siege tactics were very skillful. The large army hung far away outside and sent out small groups of cavalry to pretend to attack, but they avoided the Song army's formation in time. Instead of playing head-on, they used cavalry to shoot the Song army in the formation with hand crossbows.
After a morning of siege, the Ming army's cavalry suffered slight losses, and the Song army also suffered slight losses, but the overall situation remained unchanged.
It is worth noting that Ma Hongxing personally led the troops to support the Song Army's retreat. Once the Song Army tried to slowly retreat to achieve the strategic hope of breaking through the constraints, Ma Hongxing led the cavalry to attack, repeatedly attacking the Song Army's formation round after round. Don't let him succeed.
Liu Si organized many retreats of the Song Army's military formations, but they were always blocked by the charge of the Ming Army's cavalry. The retreats failed many times, and the goal of changing positions failed. Not only did they not succeed in escaping, but they also greatly consumed the Song Army's physical strength. and morale.
Liu Si was so anxious that he watched the Song army try to retreat but failed. He watched the infantry's physical strength being greatly depleted, but there was nothing he could do.
However, the Ming army's cavalry was large in number, and each man had two horses. When one horse was tired, he would be replaced by another, and when one group of people was tired, they would be replaced by another group of people. They took turns to rest and attack, and always maintained an oppressive situation. The physical strength of both the people and the horses was reduced. Got saved.
However, the power and high efficiency of this oppressive situation made the soldiers of the Song Army must maintain a high degree of tension and cannot slack off. It is even more difficult to relax, rest, and eat. They must maintain formation, fight, and shoot to ensure the safety of the military formation.
This was very physically taxing on the soldiers.
Liu Bang originally planned to conduct a sneak attack, but the amount of rations he brought with the army was not large, and the drinking water was also very limited. Even if the battle could be sustained, the soldiers would not be able to sustain it for long.
No matter how he thought about tactics and executed them, Liu Bang could not command the Song army to escape successfully.
After all, he is not Yue Fei who can lead his army to defeat Iron Buddha Tu. His ability is always limited.
So the balance of victory gradually tilted.
Although the military formation looks like a big hedgehog, when the Song Army infantry as the prey is exhausted, it is the time for the Ming Army cavalry as the hunter to start hunting.
By about two or three o'clock in the afternoon, the Song soldiers finally couldn't hold on any longer. They collapsed physically and mentally. A hole was created in the southeast corner by the Ming cavalry's repeated probing charges.
A Ming army cavalry team was overjoyed, and immediately rushed into the Song army's formation, killing the Song army's flesh and blood, and instantly set off a bloody storm.
The time has come!
Ma Hongxing discovered this gratifying situation, and he immediately ordered more cavalry to rush in and try his best to tear up the Song army's formation.
Taking this as a fulcrum, the Ming army's cavalry successfully tore apart the Song army's formation. More and more Ming army cavalry entered the Song army's formation. The seemingly unbreakable copper and iron walls of the Song army collapsed instantly, and the army's formation was lost. The morale of the soldiers also collapsed.
The Song soldiers who had lost their military formation were as weak and weak as newborn lambs facing the Ming army's cavalry. They were unable to resist at all and could not successfully counterattack.
So the brutal massacre began.
The soldiers of the Song Army broke up and fled one after another. No matter how Liu Bang beat the drum or tried to gather the broken troops, it was all to no avail. The collapse of morale caused by the collapse of the army formation was irreparable.
A large number of Song soldiers were killed on the spot by the Ming cavalry, and blood flowed all over the ground. More Song soldiers howled loudly and scrambled to flee, regardless of the general's calls and orders.
Once the feudal army collapsed, it was basically irreversible. No matter how strict the military orders were, at this time, escape was the only way to survive.
Liu Bang realized that defeat was inevitable. Although he was filled with grief and anger, he could do nothing. He could only lead more than a hundred guards around him to escape on horseback and prepare to leave here. Xu Tu followed.
But now, it's not easy to escape.
The Song Army's military formation had long been surrounded, especially on their retreat. There were Ming Army cavalry waiting early. It would be impossible to leave here unscathed.
Liu Si also discovered it. When he was about to leave with his guards, he was strongly blocked by the Ming army and attacked by the defeated troops who did not distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. As a last resort, Liu Si and his guards could only fight with themselves. People are fighting, and the Ming army is fighting.
The cavalry of the Ming Army were brave, skilled in combat, and well-trained. They charged into battle and killed the enemy without mercy, and they struck very hard.
Although Liu Si's personal soldiers were also elite, they were limited in number after all. After a charge and battle, they could not advance much. More than half of the personal guards were lost and the situation was critical.
Liu Si led his bodyguard cavalry to rush left and right and was unable to break through the encirclement of the Ming army cavalry. Seeing that all the bodyguards around him were lost, Liu Si was grieved and was about to launch another charge. Several Ming army cavalrymen raised their crossbows. Shoot arrows at him.
He was stunned for a moment when an arrow inserted into his eye socket by accident and penetrated his head.
Liu Bang's body shook, fell off his horse, and died.
He just died on the battlefield.
Seeing their general die in battle, his soldiers were so filled with grief and anger that they shouted and launched a death charge against the Ming army. Of course, all of them died in battle and no one survived.
After only two sticks of incense, at sunset, the Song army was completely defeated. The Song soldiers who had originally tried to escape also gave up their escape, dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground, surrendering to the Ming army.
In this battle, the Ming army completely wiped out the Song army who had made a surprise attack.
In terms of battle results, the Ming army's cavalry formation killed more than 900 Song soldiers, and the rest were all captured. The main general Liu Si was killed in the battle, and most of the accompanying officers were also killed in the battle. The number of survivors was limited.
Through a quick interrogation of the captured Song officers, Ma Hongxing learned that the purpose of this Song army was to surprise the Ming army's rear, cut off the Ming army's food routes, and try to further trap the Ming army in Huainan. Then the Song army encircled and tried to annihilate the Ming army. military.
I have to say that they are very courageous, have great ideas, and have very correct tactics. If they really destroy the Ming army's food routes, destroy the logistics base in Huainan and the pontoon bridge on the Huaihe River, it will be a real blow to the Ming army on the front line. It will be very big.
But it was a coincidence. The Ming Army planned to cut off the Song Army's retreat, and the Song Army also planned to add such a guy to the Ming Army's retreat. When everyone met, they had to compete to see who had the toughest head.
Obviously, the Ming army was more stubborn and beat the Song army to a bloody head.
So after Ma Hongxing learned the specific news, he sent someone to report back to Zhou Zhi, and decided to immediately lead his troops to continue the detour, outflank the retreat of the Song army, and prepare to compress the two Song armies together and eat them in one bite.
