On the first day of October, the capital was getting colder. The pattering autumn rain made this majestic ancient capital shrouded in a layer of fog. Just like the situation in the court, it was difficult for outsiders to see clearly.
It had been more than a night since the results of the Battle of Horqin were reported back to the capital. Some people thought it was a victory, some thought it was a defeat, some thought the battle was invincible, and some thought the outcome was win or lose.
At this moment, all the cabinet ministers should be meeting the emperor in the Wenhua Hall. It is conceivable that the bosses of different factions will have different interpretations of the outcome of this battle. Some may be careless, or of course they may be trying to smooth things over. However, no matter what, His Majesty the Emperor must come to a conclusion in the end.
The ministers and workers of the foreign court are all waiting for His Majesty the Emperor's judgment.
If the Holy One's conclusion on this war is beneficial to one's own side, how should we defend it?
If the Holy One's conclusion on this war is unfavorable to our side, how can we overturn it?
If His Majesty's conclusion on this war is to fight the enemy and our own factions twenty times each, how should we deal with it?
How to respond to the emperor's holy judgment is a matter of concern to all ministers in the world. As for the real outcome of the war itself... I'm sorry, let's put this little thing aside until we have time in the future.
So what was the real outcome of this war? In terms of the battlefield results themselves, the situation is roughly as follows:
The Manchu-Mongolian coalition forces of the Ming Dynasty suffered 3,467 casualties, including 968 killed, 207 missing, 632 seriously injured, and 1,660 slightly injured.
The Chahar and Transkalkha coalition forces suffered more than 6,000 casualties in the battle, including 3,726 heads, and it is estimated that about 3,000 people were seriously injured - because this cannot be determined, the imperial court internally The controversy is serious.
The above are the overall data, but specifically, 209 people of the Ming army's frontier troops were killed and missing, 172 were seriously injured, and 571 were slightly injured; 100 Jinghua cavalry were killed and missing. Forty-six people, 73 were seriously injured, and 403 were slightly injured; Horqin and the three Manchurian tribes lost 820 people, 387 were seriously injured, and 686 were slightly injured.
Since Chahar and Transkalkha were unable to distinguish the difference in clothing between the two sides (because the Mongolian army at this time no longer had uniform clothing, it was impossible to distinguish effectively), it was difficult to determine the respective battle losses of the two armies. However, according to Xiao Ruxun's representative who went to the Ming army Judging from the battle report reported above, it was probably the Outer Khalkha Division that bore most of the casualties.
According to Xiao Ruxun's battle report, the situation at that time was roughly like this: after receiving the warning, the Ming-Manchu-Mongolian coalition forces had just set up their basic formations, and the Outer Khalkha Ministry took the lead in launching a wave of probing attacks.
This trial attack did not achieve good results. The Jinghua Cavalry line on the front of the coalition forces did not move at all, and it was difficult for the Outer Khalkha Division to determine the losses of the Ming army in the night.
It stands to reason that in this case, the general will usually choose to make cautious decisions and is unlikely to launch a large-scale attack in a desperate manner. However, this time it was surprising. Shortly after the first wave of offensive ended, and probably after that round of cavalry returned to the main formation, the Outer Khalkha tribe actually launched a large-scale attack. It is estimated that the troops of the Outer Khalkha tribe that entered the battle were The total strength of the army at that time was about 20,000.
Xiao Ruxun speculated in the battle report that it might be because the Beijing Cavalry's front was different from the traditional front. It was not a neat front, but two staggered rows like eight "mouth" characters, with four in the front and four in the back arranged separately. Therefore, Abadai Saiyin Khan of the Outer Khalkha tribe believed that he could rely on his superior strength to divide and surround the Beijing Cavalry. At that time, the Outer Khalkha tribe had 20,000 riders, while the Beijing Cavalry had only 4,000 people in total. There are exactly five hundred people in the phalanx.
However, just like Marshal Ney, the most courageous French army in the Battle of Waterloo, led the French cavalry to attack the British hollow phalanx that was waiting for them, although Abadai Saiyin Khan's division and encirclement seemed to be completed, the annihilation could not be completed at all. .
The reason why the Jinghua Cavalry set up two staggered rows of "mouth" formations is to slow down the enemy's speed, weaken the impact, and create a disadvantage that they can be hit by firepower from the edge of the "mouth" in all directions. state.
This situation may be better understood by using an analogy: it is like placing a total of eight square bricks, four in front and four in back, in a flat low ground on the ground, and then a large bucket of water is rushed from the side. Although the water occupies the surroundings of the eight bricks, these bricks can actually contact the water on four sides - these four sides are the four fire projection directions, which means the entire hollow square array Can fire in all directions.
At the same time, because they were trapped between eight bricks, the distance between the "gaps" was obviously not very large, and the cavalry was definitely not able to speed up the attack. Therefore, the Waikakarka cavalry could only kill towards the hollow square formation in a chaotic manner. Then they were knocked down by volleys of volleys without being able to reach the enemy.
Due to the tightness of the battlefield, there were Mongolian cavalry behind the front row of cavalry who were firing from a distance, but the sporadic arrows that could not form a concentrated firepower volley were obviously not enough to cause the collapse of the hollow phalanx, so the Outer Khalkha tribe immediately fell into a quagmire.
Seeing that the situation was getting worse, the horns and thunderous drums of the entire army sounded from the rear of the Mongolian coalition. The messengers who rushed over desperately shouted out the order from the Tumen Khan: "Aba Dai Sai." Yin Khan, don't worry about the hollow phalanx, your troops will directly move forward and continue the attack, and leave the hollow phalanx to the Great Khan!"
After receiving the order, Abadai Saiyin Khan did not know what considerations he had, but obeyed the order without any hesitation. He led the Outer Khalkha cavalry to rush through the "Eight-Door Golden Lock Formation" despite the hail of bullets and bullets fired from all directions, and directly killed the enemy. The second of Xiao Ruxun's three lines of defense: Horqin and Manchuria's three lines of defense.
Unlike the eight hollow phalanxes of the Jinghua Cavalry, the Horqin people will definitely not change from riding to walking, and even Ye He and other Manchurian tribes are not willing to do this. For Horqin and Ye He, switching from riding to walking is obviously a way of exploiting shortcomings and avoiding strengths, and the gains outweigh the losses.
Meng Gebulu of Hada believed that the use of cavalry could better demonstrate the strength of the Hada tribe, and he was unwilling to switch to infantry for combat. Moreover, he was not confident enough to hand over the horses to Xiao Ruxun's Chinese army to take care of them, so he naturally maintained the cavalry posture.
As for the Jianzhou Right Guards, who sent only a few hundred troops, since the "allies" around them who were several times more powerful than themselves all maintained cavalry, it would be meaningless for them to switch to infantry, so they also maintained cavalry status.
This middle layer of defense has sufficient troops, with a total number of nearly 30,000. Horqin alone has nearly 20,000 cavalry. It stands to reason that its strength is greater than that of the partially damaged Outer Khalkha tribe. However, at this moment, the Outer Khalkha Ministry was attacking from one side of the defense line, while the Ming Manchu and Mongolian coalition forces were fortified on three sides. The side that directly led to the contact between the two sides was that the Outer Khalkha Ministry had a slight military advantage.
At this time, the eastern front of the second defensive line of the Ming army was divided into two forces. One was Hada's 3,000 men in the north, and the other was Horqin's 6,000 men in the south. In terms of the length of the defense line responsible for the two parties, this "eastern line" can be divided into three parts, with the northern third being defended by the Hada Department, and the central and southern two-thirds being defended by the Horqin Department.
There was nothing special about Abadai Saiyin Khan's choice. He slightly gathered his subordinates who had "interspersed" through Jinghua's "Eight-Door Golden Lock Hollow Phalanx" and directly launched an attack on the middle of the second-layer defense circle.
However, the Horqin people did not wait foolishly for the opponent to attack. As professional cavalry, they actually took the lead in attacking some of the Khalkha troops. However, a certain mentality that has been formed recently makes their offense appear to be a little more defensive than that of the Outer Khalkha Division - they are worried that in this case, the arrows may affect the Jinghua Cavalry on the inside of the outer circle defense line.
Knowing that the Jinghua family could not afford to offend the Horqin people, they chose to give up archery and go straight to scimitar versus scimitar. At this time, the distance between the two sides was too close, and it was impossible to jog, trot, speed up, and impact in an orderly manner. Therefore, the charge to the formation was completely unworthy of the name, and it could only be a cavalry melee.
Essentially speaking, no one who is familiar with cavalry warfare wants to engage in cavalry melee, but war often does not change based on people's subjective will. When something has happened, both sides can only be forced to accept it.
At the same time, the main force of the Chahar Khan Court has also taken action. Under the actual command of Burihatu, the Chahar Mongolian army naturally did not make the same mistake as before and stormed the hollow phalanx. They moved diagonally past the northeastern corner of the Beijing Cavalry Cavalry's hollow phalanx, and fired several shots smoothly. A shower of arrows.
This angle is quite tricky, and in fact it is a bit of a trick. It is equivalent to eight hollow square formations. Only the one in the northeastern corner can reach the effective range, so the counterattack is naturally not strong - of course, conversely, they can only get enough Holding a hollow square array.
However, there is a problem here: the Chahar-Mongolian army extended the front line and passed from one corner. Each "passing" cavalry only needs to shoot one arrow to complete the task. This means that its shooting is almost uninterrupted. Until the entire army passed by and reached the southern line of the Ming, Manchu and Mongolian coalition forces.
At the same time, since only one hollow phalanx has the close range required for counterattack, and even the three-stage strike tactic has a time gap required for loading ammunition and changing queues, this hollow phalanx actually receives almost continuous attacks, and It could only give the enemy intermittent counterattacks, so the casualties were significantly greater than when the hollow phalanx was in frontal combat.
Since Jinghua has always emphasized the use of firearms and "de-armoring", this round of confrontation almost became the most casualty since the use of bayonet hollow square tactics. Thanks to the fact that the Chahar-Mongolian army was a little frightened by the hollow phalanx in the previous battle of Northern Liaoning. Even though Burihatu came up with this strategy, he did not dare to get too close to the point where the bow and arrow would hit him. The lethality is greatly reduced, otherwise the consequences will be unpredictable.
The actions of the Chahar Mongolian Army gave the Beijing Cavalry a certain shock. Although if the casualties on both sides were to be truly calculated, the Chahar people's losses may not be lower than theirs, but the hollow phalanx that had always defeated the cavalry in the past had hundreds of people this time. The on-the-spot loss still made them more cautious and did not dare to change formations or move easily, so they kept their formation firmly in place.
The "Eight Golden Locks" of the Jinghua Cavalry did not move, but Chahar's army had already cut diagonally to the southern line of the outer circle of the Ming army's defense line like a storm. This is the main defense of the Liaodong border army. They were originally preparing to defend the enemy with a hollow phalanx, but behind them there was already a mess. A huge battle between the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry had begun. The Ming army's frontier army never thought that this would happen. As a result, the situation became loose.
It is better to say that it is looseness than to take the initiative to change the formation. They changed the rear formation from a hollow square formation into a typical musketeer infantry battle line, with three infantry battle lines approaching in the opposite direction.
Their subjective consciousness is very obvious, that is, they intend to attack from inside and outside with Horqin and the three Manchu tribes who are on the inside, directly blocking the Mongolian troops of the Outer Khalkha tribe between the two lines of defense and annihilating them all.
This idea is not bad at all. In terms of tactical intentions, as long as the coalition forces on the inside have a tacit understanding of tactics with them, they can actively assemble to the north and press the Khamon army to the south. This is a two-line pincer attack tactic. The situation will appear quickly.
However... how can such a thing as tactical tacit understanding be so easy to appear between two armies with completely different systems? The Liaodong Army on the southern front was waiting left and right, while the four coalition forces inside were still fighting bravely and tenaciously with the Mongolian army in Outer Khalkha. Although even the Hada Army under Menggebulu used extra force this time to avoid collapse, but... this is not what the Liaodong Army wants!
When Tumen and Burihatu led the chahar cavalry who came diagonally to see this scene, they couldn't help but feel excited. Tumen Khan didn't even have time to ask Burihatu this time, so he raised his head and turned. Knife, shouted: "Cut diagonally into the formation! Blow the trumpet and let Aba Dai break out towards our army!"
Burihatu did not make any additional orders, because he understood what the Tumen Khan meant: since the opponent was on guard and had set up a hollow square formation, it was impossible to expect a major defeat of the enemy's army, and a certain amount of foreign troops would have to be consumed. The strength of the Erkha tribe should be about the same now. At this time, let them break out, and the Chahar Army will respond diagonally. They will attack the Ming Army on the southern front from both inside and outside. The Mongolian coalition should still make a little profit.
If this goal is achieved, it means that the Mongols achieved their first undefeated record against the hollow phalanx! This must have immeasurable psychological significance for the Mongolians who have been beaten by the highly pragmatic hollow phalanx several times before and have doubted their lives.
The facts were as expected by Burihatu. Although the Ming army on the southern front still maintained four hollow square formations, there was only one column, which was much worse than the "eight-door golden lock" on the eastern front in slowing down the Mongolian cavalry. However, their infantry battle line, which had originally turned around and prepared to attack inward, had no time to reorganize into a hollow square formation and was brutally charged by the Chahar cavalry.
The Mongolian army of the Outer Khalkha tribe, which was stuck in the quagmire of the inner circle, broke out after hearing the sound of the trumpet, and after paying a heavy price, they also joined the Chahar army. Since the Chahar Army had the advantage at this time and was extremely powerful, the Manchu-Mongolian coalition forces on the inside did not dare to press hard. Instead, they were worried that the Mongolian coalition forces would attack again, so they quickly gathered their subordinates to prepare to meet the enemy.
This gave the Mongolian coalition forces a gap. The Tumen Khan decisively made another diagonal cut to the southwest, turning the line of attack and breakout into a "V". Although the Liaodong frontier troops in the outer circle tried their best to cut the four hollow The phalanx consciously moved a little to the southwest, but under the attack of the Mongolian coalition forces that quickly reached their eyes, they could only stop and counterattack with three attacks.
After paying some price, the Mongolian coalition forces fought out from the gaps in the hollow phalanx and headed southwest without looking back - coincidentally, the southwest direction was the direction to Chahanhot.
The battle ended abruptly before it reached its peak. Although the final battle losses and results reported by Xiao Ruxun showed that the Manchurian-Mongolian coalition had the advantage - the coalition lost 3,467 people and the Mongolian army lost about 6,000, after all, the Mongols left only 3,700 heads. Twenty-six, the so-called serious injuries will not be counted by the court. Therefore, from this perspective, the two sides are almost tied this time.
To put it bluntly, this is the battle with the worst exchange ratio since the "reform" of the Ming army. It is no wonder that there is an undercurrent in the capital, and countless ministers in the outer court are staring at the emperor's appearance in the Wenhua Palace.
It was noon, and Gao Pragmatic, who was not a cabinet minister, had not yet received the news, so he could only return to his house from the Hubu Yamen expressionlessly to prepare for dinner.
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Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "Yunlan" for their support, thank you!
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: What’s strange is that the daily statistics summary in my background said that there were 10 monthly votes yesterday, but the monthly ticket prompt for me was only one vote from a book friend named “Cao Mianzi”. Where do my readers read the book? Are they not at the starting point?
