Under the shining fire, loud rumbling sounds occurred one after another. The Jinghua No. 3 artillery, known as the main field artillery of the Ming Dynasty, concentrated its bombardment. The salvos of dozens of artillery pieces really shook the earth. The Mongolian cavalry was knocked off their feet on this not-so-wide riverside road.
With just one salvo, at least a hundred cavalrymen went to see Buddha or Changshengtian on the spot, and a larger number of Mongolian cavalrymen were knocked off their horses by bouncing projectiles or the stumps of their comrades.
Being hit by a stump in such a high-speed rush is like a bird hitting a plane in later generations. It may seem inconspicuous, but in fact, the consequences are often serious. Although the relative speed between the stump and the charging knight is not comparable to that of airplanes and birds, it is still enough to make a person fall off his horse or make a galloping horse stumble. And if you fall off your horse in such a dense and high-speed sprint of cavalry, the hope of survival is extremely slim.
In this round of shelling, at least 300 Mongolian cavalry were lost on the spot or directly lost their combat effectiveness. The increase in firepower of the Ming army made many veteran generals under Tumen's command change their expressions.
Once upon a time, the artillery exploded frequently, and the Ming army, whose three-eyed muskets could only be used to shoot at close range and more could only be used as maces to hit people, actually had such an increase in firepower!
Once upon a time, that army where only the servants dared to fight, and ordinary soldiers turned pale with fright when they heard the rumble of the cavalry, and the two groups fought, was completely transformed!
Burihatu watched the battle from behind with a serious face, the haze on his face was just like the weather today. Tumen Khan glanced uneasily at the casualties in front, controlled the horse that was about to move under his crotch, and turned to ask Burihatu: "Do you really want to fight like this?"
Burihatu's face, which was so black that it seemed like it could drip water, was expressionless, and he said coldly: "If the Great Khan is reluctant to part with one or two thousand elites, this bayonet array will never be broken."
"Zhang Wanbang only has 2,000 men!" Tumen said angrily: "Do we, the Mongolian warriors, have to trade one life for one with these Ming army infantrymen who are like chickens and dogs?"
The anger of the Great Khan could be felt by everyone around him, but Burihatu still kept a straight face and said calmly: "The Great Khan made a miscalculation. We are not exchanging one life for one, but two lives for one - —We also have to bring in one or two thousand high-quality war horses."
"You!" Tumen Khan raised his whip and pointed at Burihatu. He didn't know whether he was angry or speechless, but he couldn't speak anymore.
In fact, Burihatu had already told him the necessity of this battle in advance, and the possible casualties were also concealed from him. It's not that Tumen didn't know, but when he faced such casualties, he couldn't help but feel frightened, heartbroken, and angry.
Over the years, have the Mongolian cavalry ever experienced such a comparison of casualties with the Ming army?
This casualty ratio, let alone one to one, even if it is one to five, or even one to ten, the Mongols cannot compare with the Ming Dynasty!
During the Dayan Khan period, Mongolia was divided into "60,000 households", that is, six "ten thousand households" large tribes. At that time, the population of Mongolia was about 1.6 million. After Dayan Khan, it went through decades of development, especially during the period of Amada Khan, the prosperity of Tumut led to population growth.
Although the left and right wings of Mongolia have been divided, the Northern Yuan court is still barely able to maintain its airs. The approximate total population is still about 1.9 million, less than 2 million. [Note: The above data comes from "A Preliminary Study on the Historical Population of the Mongolian Nationality (11th Century to the Mid-17th Century)" by Wang Longgeng and Shen Binhua. ]
In this way, the total population of Mongolia is only two million, of which Tumut, Ordos, and Qinghai Tumut account for more than half, and Chahar and its eastern vassals only account for about 40%. And among these 40%, only slightly more than half belong directly to the Chahar Khanate, which is roughly no more than 500,000 people.
With a total population of about 500,000, Chahar can pull out an army of 60,000 to 80,000 in wartime. This is already a typical Mongolian characteristic. If he continues to pull out more troops, he will really have to join the old army. Weak women and children all mounted their horses and raised their swords.
With such strength, how can one compete with Daming in a one-to-one exchange ratio? Isn't this asking for death?
But Burihatu had already explained the reason to him. If this battle was not fought, the Ming army would become increasingly difficult to deal with in the future. Not only the elite Ming army would learn the bayonet array, a tactic used to restrain the Mongolian cavalry, but Even ordinary armies will develop like this. At that time, why should Mongolia still compete with the Ming Dynasty? It would be better if you declare yourself a vassal and pay tribute earlier.
To be honest, if it was just a matter of paying tribute, Tumen would not be able to consider it. Even though he is the "Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty", this imperial title has long become a symbolic title. The Mongolians have not used it for a long time, and they only refer to it as the "Great Khan of the Mongolia".
Although the Great Khan of Mongolia was also the king of a country, the Mongolians who had ruled the Central Plains for seventy years actually had this idea of China as the "Celestial Dynasty" deep in their hearts. Therefore, even though the Great Khan of Mongolia gave him the title of vassal to the Central Plains Emperor, it was just a matter of face. A bit ugly, but not unacceptable.
However, Burihatu believes that the situation is changing. If Mongolia continues to decline compared with the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty may not directly take Mongolia into its pocket in the future.
The example Burihatu used to convince Tumen was that the Ming Dynasty rebuilt Daning City. Daning City was a city specifically used to control Mongolia in the early Ming Dynasty. Later, due to the Jingnan War and subsequent turmoil that broke out within the Ming Dynasty, it was finally abandoned.
Today, the Ming Dynasty recaptured and rebuilt Daning City. What else can be said about its meaning? It is nothing more than to completely control Mongolia. In other words, if the Mongols do not find a way to resist, there will not even be a "Mongol Khan" in the future. Maybe... in the future, there will be positions such as "Mongol Governor" and "Mongolian Governor" in the Ming Dynasty, just like Yunnan General governor.
This prospect made Tumen shudder. He could not imagine that the descendants of Genghis Khan would not only lose the Central Plains, but also lose the old Mongolian homeland. They could only prostrate themselves in front of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants and claim to be vassals - even though Han Naji had already done so.
Tumen's confidence was not sufficient, but no matter what, he had to give it a try as the Great Khan of Mongolia. If this battle can really break the myth of bayonet arrays using footwork to control cavalry, maybe there will be huge differences within the Ming Dynasty, allowing Mongolia to breathe again.
Thinking of this, Tumen said nothing more, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes.
The battle on the front line is still continuing. The Mongolian cavalry already knew the situation they were facing and the importance of this battle during Burihatu's earlier mobilization. Although the first round of shelling caused them heavy losses, almost equivalent to the casualties suffered when the Ming army ambushed them in the past, the Mongolian warriors did not flinch, but instead shouted in unison.
They reminded each other in the sound of shouts, letting everyone know that they were getting closer and closer to the Ming army. As long as they rushed in front of the Ming army and broke the defense line composed of some bayonets that were not too long, the Ming army infantry in the rear would not be able to do anything. There is no resistance.
Then they received a second round of shelling. The bad news is that they lost three to four hundred men again; the good news is that it can be seen from the distance that the Ming army's artillery had no time to fire the third salvo.
The front army's fanatical charge regardless of casualties inspired the courage of the rear cavalry, and they rushed forward continuously. No one considered whether death or victory awaited them next.
The elites of the former army followed Burihatu's instructions and controlled the horses tightly to prevent them from being frightened by the loud noise and disrupting their positions, and from losing the courage to rush forward when facing the bayonet array. For this battle, Burihatu gathered a large number of heavy cavalry, which were very valuable in the Mongolian army.
During the Mongolian Western Expedition nearly three hundred years ago, heavy cavalry accounted for approximately 40% of a typical Mongolian army, and light cavalry accounted for 60%. Heavy cavalry is mainly used for assault and close combat when necessary.
During the Second Western Expedition (1235-1242), the most common armor worn by Mongolian heavy cavalry was iron armor (called lamellararmor by foreign historians). Some people also wore chainmail and leather armor. The iron armor itself can withstand the slashing of scimitars and the punctures of bows and arrows and other throwing weapons, but swords can easily cut off the rubber bands that fix the iron armor, and multiple consecutive cuts may cause the iron armor to break.
European heavily armored knights of the same period generally wore chainmail all over their bodies (including their heads). The chainmail could not be damaged by slashing with swords, but arrows and spears could penetrate it, and the chainmail was heavy, which greatly reduced the cavalry's effectiveness. Flexibility and speed.
Compared with heavy cavalry, light cavalry is more important in the Mongolian tactical system. It can shoot from a distance, lure the enemy, guard, outflank and even engage in close combat. The main means of attack is to fire arrows intensively.
However, although light cavalry is important, it does not mean that their status is higher than that of heavy cavalry. Light cavalry generally only wore round helmets and had little body and horse armor. The performance of the Mongolian compound recurve bow (the back of the bow is made of wood, horn and sinew) used by the light cavalry is superior to the best British longbow (made of elm or yew) in Europe at that time. Foreign historians have concluded that The conclusion is that the Mongolian bow has a draw weight of at least 166 pounds and an effective range of 320 meters, while the British longbow has 80 pounds and 230 meters respectively.
However, the effective range does not refer to the effective armor-piercing range. In front of the elite Ming army wearing armor, it is very difficult to penetrate armor. Not to mention the current "cold iron treasured armor", even cotton armor is difficult to be penetrated by arrows. Otherwise, why would generals often survive "being hit by dozens of arrows"?
The melee weapons used by Mongolian heavy cavalry and light cavalry are scimitars, which are improved on the basis of Arabian scimitars. The blade is small and light, has good curvature, and is more in line with mechanical theory.
"The scimitar will slide along the curved surface of the blade when it touches the enemy's body." It will not cut into the body and cannot be pulled out. It will not be easily knocked away when the armor is struck, so it can be chopped continuously. Hussars also carried a hooked spear or lance that could be used to dismount an enemy. Since the gun head has a hook, it will not penetrate the enemy's body too deeply and can be easily pulled out.
As the Mongolian left wing has been "trade sanctioned" by the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the number of heavy cavalry under its command has been decreasing day by day. Now it can only maintain about 10%, which is even more precious.
If the light cavalry was more responsible for "guerrilla" on the battlefields of various periods in East Asia, then the heavy cavalry was a professional in breaking formations, which was most obvious in the Battles of Song, Jin and Song-Mongolia. Nowadays, all the Mongolian front troops are heavy cavalry, without hooks and sickles, and all use scimitars.
This configuration meant that Burihatu did not consider his own casualties. He placed his hopes entirely on the heavy cavalry causing direct damage to the Ming army after overwhelming Zhang Wanbang's troops.
Moreover, although this group of heavy cavalry was in a forward formation, that is, although the whole group charged frontally, it partially formed a typical "inclined attack" in cavalry combat. But no matter what, in such a head-to-head battle, and the opponent has a bayonet array, the heavy cavalry of the former army will definitely pay a heavy price.
At this time, courage determines everything.
With the temporary curtain call of the artillery, the three-stage attack behind the Ming army's bayonet formation began. The routine is a consistent routine. The first round of salvos caused nearly a hundred casualties of the Mongolian heavy cavalry - this figure is not as good as the two in Monan and Liaonan. The reason is that the front army of Burihatu was well prepared and all were killed. Armored heavy cavalry were used.
The first round of musket volleys was deliberately fired at a longer distance in order to gain an extra round later, so the lethality was slightly insufficient, and the casualties caused were naturally not too great.
The Mongols were indifferent and continued to charge forward. Soon, the Ming army launched a second round of salvos. This time the lethality was far greater than the first. More than two hundred heavy cavalry were lost instantly.
The Mongols remained indifferent, even shouted louder, and continued to advance forward. They were only a hundred steps away from the Ming army's bayonet formation. For the cavalry charging into the formation, this distance was at best enough for the Ming army to fire another round of volleys.
The third round of volleys started without any surprise. Since the distance was only about fifty steps, both sides could almost see each other's eyes clearly and see each other's expressions.
The Mongols were fanatical and mixed with some anger, while the Ming army was cold and harsh, mixed with some worry. But no matter what, the effect of the third salvo was almost the same as that of the second salvo, and at least two hundred Mongolian cavalry were wiped out on the spot. And this time, the Ming army could easily see their armors being pierced and blood splattering everywhere.
But at this time, the test of the Ming army really came. The three-stage attack has been completed. Although the musketeers in the first row of retreat have replaced the paper shell fixed ammunition and can continue shooting at any time, the Mongolian heavy cavalry has already rushed to the bayonet array.
Although this heavy cavalry charging team has obviously become much weaker than it was at the beginning. There were about two thousand heavy cavalry before the war. After two rounds of artillery fire and three rounds of musket fire, there may only be one thousand hanging zeros left. But once Thousands of heavy cavalry rushed forward in front of the bayonet array. Can the bayonet array really be able to resist?
If you can't resist, what should you do next?
There was no time to think on the battlefield. The Mongolian heavy cavalry now no longer had the threat of long-range weapons, and their pent-up anger was completely released, and they attacked ferociously without any hesitation. Their ferocious faces showed their unforgettable hatred for the Ming army in front of them.
Riding on foot? Now let’s see how you make it!
But they immediately discovered that they only focused on the artillery and muskets of the Ming army, but ignored some "old weapons."
The "ground" temporarily arranged by Zhang Wanbang was trampled on by the Mongolian heavy cavalry, flying and dancing wildly. Many horses were trampled by the horses and flew up, and the caltrops on the wooden boards were slapped hard on the horses or soldiers.
The war horse equipment of the Mongolian heavy cavalry is not European-style, and the protection is not that exaggerated. The legs of the war horse are completely exposed, and if hit by an iron caltrop, it will immediately lose its combat effectiveness. So there was another wave of unavoidable losses, and more than two hundred heavy cavalry fell in "the darkest hour before dawn."
The remaining 800 heavy cavalry were completely angry. Their eyes were red, and the anger in their hearts could only be washed away with blood. Burihatu exchanged 1,200 of the most precious heavy cavalry for 800 heavy cavalry to approach the front of the bayonet array.
No one had the thought to consider whether it was a good deal or not, and a bloody battle began.
----------
Thanks to the book friend "Drink a Pot of Burning Wine" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "Drinking a Pot of Burning Wine" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
