Not long after, the commanders of both armies received relatively satisfactory returns from their horse inspections.
Burihatu "got his wish" and learned that there was indeed an ambush of thousands of Ming army cavalry on the back of the crater west of Lightning Lake. It looked like they were planning to take advantage of the chaos to rush down the mountain and flank Chaha during the confrontation between the two armies. The right wing of the Mongolian army.
Although the cavalry is known as the killer on the plains, in fact, the most suitable terrain for the cavalry is to rush down the mountain from the mountain, because with the blessing of the downhill, the impact of the cavalry will be almost doubled.
Regarding this point, not only real cavalry experts such as Burihatu and Buyan Huangtaiji know it clearly, but even high-pragmatic people understand the reason - this aspect is almost clearly reflected in some famous games of later generations.
However, Gao pragmatically placed this cavalry on the back of the mountain because he expected that the other party would be suspicious of the crater, and he did so in order to cover up his true intentions. It was natural for Burihatu to see through such an arrangement. As expected.
To a certain extent, this is a highly pragmatic "I predicted your prediction." So when he saw that the right wing of the Chahar Mongolian army, which had thousands of people, did not form a formation, but instead slowly patrolled on the right wing, he couldn't help but smile slightly.
There is a point in not forming a formation on the right wing of the Chahar Mongolian army: the ambush troops of the Ming army were all half-armored cavalry. If they really rushed down from the mountain and killed them, it would obviously be extremely unwise for the lightly armored Mongolian army to choose a head-on collision, so they Just "shuttle patrol".
If this kind of shuttle patrol is described in the language of later generations, it actually keeps the horse in a "warm-up completed" state and is ready for activities such as speeding up at any time. The tactics of the Chahar Mongolian Army are also obvious at this point: I maintain a state of being able to maneuver at high speed at any time. As long as you dare to rush down and attack the flanks of my army, I will dare to use my speed advantage to turn the battle into a situation where I attack your army. Ambush your own flank.
The satisfaction of Burihatu and Buyan Huangtaiji at this moment comes from this, which is equivalent to "sealing" the ambush arranged by Gao pragmatically in advance.
The satisfaction of the highly pragmatic party includes two other points besides "I predicted your prediction." The first is that although the opponent's army clearly carried the Nine White Banner, there was miraculously no banner of Tumen Khan himself.
Theoretically speaking, only the Great Khan of Mongolia can use the Jiu Zhi Bai Zi. At that time, the left-wing Mongolian Dalai Xunkuden Khan was afraid that he would be annexed by Anda, so he led his troops of 100,000 to move south and moved their herds to the southeastern half of the Greater Khingan Mountains. Even when this kind of Anda power dominated all the Mongolian tribes, it had never produced the Nine White Banner, let alone the current Bahan Naji.
Therefore, the Chahar army has nine white banners but no Tumen flag, which means that the commander-in-chief of the army in front of him has gained a status similar to that of Mu Huali.
What was Mu Huali's status back then? Genghis Khan said to Mu Huali: "To the north of Taihang, I will manage it myself. To the south of Taihang, I will encourage you."
The two people talking privately was not enough. Genghis Khan publicly announced: "Muhuali built this flag to give orders, as if I were here in person." He gave Muhuali enough real power, and the latter was named Taishi, King, and Duxing. The provincial government acted under the control of the province, commanded all the Mongolian troops in the Jin Kingdom, and had full authority to deal with the affairs of the war with the Jin Kingdom.
Among the tens of thousands of households in Chahar Central of the Mongolian Khanate today, who has such prestige and ability that Tumen could give him the same power as Muhuali did back then? Naturally, there is only Burihatu.
Therefore, in Gao Pragmatic's view, the presence of the Nine White Banners but no Tumen Khan flag among the Chahar-Mongolian army means that the leader of this army must be Burihatu. As for the flag of Buyan Huangtaiji, to be honest... Gao Pragmatic hardly paid attention to it.
The second point that Gao Pragmatic is satisfied with is the size of the Chahar Mongolian army. Chahar's current total army is about 60,000, and the number of people present in his reconnaissance area at this time is only about 20,000, which is several thousand less than the strength of his headquarters at the moment.
Everyone loves to watch decisive battles in which fewer people defeat more people, such as the Battle of Julu, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Feishui, and the Tang Dynasty's War to Defeat Eastern Turks. It seems that only victory with less can win more people. Legendary enough. Gao Pragmatic himself also likes to read this kind of history, but that does not affect his choice to do the opposite when he personally directs.
Winning with less is legendary, but what if you lose? What's more, most of these victories with less in history were actually due to insufficient strength, so they were forced to use less to defeat more. If the strength was sufficient, who would be willing to use less to defeat more?
Of course, Li Jing may be an exception... But he is Li Jing, and Gao Pragmatism cannot be compared.
Now that the situation seems clearer, let's start with the military side.
The cavalry of the Jinglue Headquarters totaled about 28,000, of which a relatively independent cavalry of about 5,000 was "ambushed" on the back of the crater. This ambush was actually divided into two groups, the left and right groups. They were composed of Jin Bingyue, the leading guerrilla general in Hejian, and Tong Yangzhong, the guerrilla general in Baoding Cheying, who led their respective headquarters. Jin Bingyue was on the left and Tong Yangzhong was on the right.
Since ancient times, China has divided official positions into left and right. Left and right hide the hierarchy, that is, who has the final decision-making power. However, in ancient China, the left or right deity was not static. There are different regulations in different periods, eras and in different fields and occasions.
From the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, the right was generally respected, but not absolutely. Among them, the Pre-Qin and Qin dynasties focused on respecting the left, while the Western Han Dynasty focused more on respecting the right. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Tang and Song Dynasties, China gradually formed a system that respected the left. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, it was stipulated that the right side should be respected.
Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty and reformed the Yuan system to respect the left. This system was used in the Ming and Qing dynasties for more than 500 years. Classical plays based on the Ming and Qing Dynasties were performed on the drama stage in later generations. Guests and elders always sat on the left side of the host and juniors, which reflected the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty advocating left.
Of course, there are simpler ways to distinguish. For example, the ministers of various ministries in the Ming Dynasty are all left ministers, whose status is slightly higher than that of the right ministers. In the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army, the left governor is slightly higher than the right governor. This is a typical case of respecting the left.
In addition to this feigned ambush, the main force of 23,000 troops led by Gao Pragmatic is still composed of Ye Bangrong's troops in the center, Changping guerrilla generals Zhao Menglin and Xuanfu camp Pogui's troops are on the right, and Ji Zhen's general troops are on the lower left. The battalion guerrilla general Xu Long and the Dingzhou leading guerrilla general Wu Sixun were on the left wing, and the Tianjin coastal defense guerrilla general Chen Can was on the rear army.
Generally speaking, this arrangement is relatively stable, and there is no emphasis on it. On the contrary, the rear army led by Chen Can has few troops and has not had many opportunities for actual combat in the past. It seems to be a weakness.
However, due to the terrain, it would be difficult for Chen Can's troops to participate in the battle under normal circumstances - his location is almost at the northwest exit of the Lightning Lake Valley, with mountains on both sides.
On the mountain on the left is Tong Yangzhong, who is on the right wing of the ambush part. There is almost no one on the mountain on the right, except for a few Ming army observation towers that he sent troops to take over temporarily. In this way, although Chen Can only has 2,000 people, there is no threat from the Ming army's rear, so naturally there is no danger.
The Chahar Mongolian army on the Burihatu side may have a slight shortage of troops, but it has an obvious tendency in terms of formation.
First of all, there were only about 3,000 mobile cavalry that he used to defend against the Ming army's ambush. Although there were at least 1,000 Baiying personal guards among them, these Baiying personal guards were actually somewhat watery.
Originally, only the personal guards of the Great Khan could use the white tassel according to the standards of the Jiu'an Baihu. However, Tumen's health has been obviously weakened recently. In order to ensure that he could train his successors, he not only handed over the power to hold the Jiu'an Baiqi. It was given to Burihatu, and to Burihatu and Buyan Huangtaiji, the standard of 1,000 men each was given, and they were allowed to establish Baiying personal guards.
In the past, as the Great Khan's personal guards, the weapons and equipment standards of the Baiying Guards were higher than those of the ordinary Mongolian army. However, the current situation is critical and these conditions are difficult to meet for the time being. Tumen can only try to allocate some of them to them. As a result, the Baiying personal guards in the hands of Bu Rihatu and Buyan Huang Taiji are obviously inferior in appearance compared to the real Baiying personal guards.
Of course, although the appearance is a bit disappointing, the combat effectiveness is hard to say. Because Buyan Huang Taiji was approved to establish the Baiying personal guard, he saw that the possibility of inheriting the throne of Khan had been greatly improved. Although there was no good way to think of in terms of supplies, he was particularly dedicated in personnel selection, starting from his own subordinates. After selecting the best from each department, these thousand people were finally selected.
But Burihatu's side is relatively simple. He didn't have many people under him when he defected to Tumen, but every one of them can be said to be his father's hardcore supporter back then, and their loyalty to him is unquestionable. Later, because he gained more and more trust from Tumen Khan, he gave some prisoners of war and defectors from other Mongolian tribes to Buri Hatu, so that Buri Hatu had about 2,000 direct subordinates.
In terms of Burihatu's actual status in the Chahar tribe, two thousand people are indeed not powerful, let alone too many. However, in the final analysis, this is because Burihatu's political status is too high. In fact, within Chahar, being able to control two thousand people is not a small number, and can even be said to be quite powerful.
However, the real strength of Burihatu has never been in his military power, but in his wisdom. As a famous general who is good at learning from his opponents, Burihatu's troops were well trained and did not rely entirely on the Mongolians' almost innate ability to ride and shoot.
He has studied the characteristics of the Ming army very carefully, especially the various reforms of the Ming army in infantry and cavalry in recent years. He has paid close attention to them and has been thinking about how to deal with them.
The infantry of the Ming army mainly relied on the hollow square formation of muskets and bayonets. In essence, this formation was not absolutely indestructible in the eyes of Burihatu. For example, the reason why the bayonet array makes war horses afraid to rush into the array is because horses are intelligent creatures and inherently know that they will die if they hit the bright bayonets. Therefore, as long as they judge that they cannot cross, they will avoid it.
However, it is not difficult to solve this problem: you can do it by blindfolding the horse. After blindfolding the horses, the Mongolian cavalry still had enough horse control skills to control the horses and fight in an orderly manner.
But a method is a method. If this method is to be put into practice, there is an unavoidable question: How many casualties are the Mongolian army willing to pay in order to break through the front line?
This raises another question: Can the Ming army's hollow phalanx only have one line of defense? Obviously not. As long as the opponent is well-trained, after discovering that the Mongolian army blindfolded the war horse, they might immediately strengthen their defense line and set up a second, third or even higher level of defense line.
At this time, is the exhausting style of blindfolded charging really suitable for the Mongols? I'm afraid it's out of the question, because the number of Ming army infantry is basically unlimited in the eyes of the Mongols. They have hundreds of millions of people, so what if they have spent 100,000 and added another 100,000?
But what about Mongolia? After spending 100,000? It’s a joke. The entire Chahar army only has more than 60,000 people. After fighting for 100,000 Chahars, they will be gone immediately. Without the protection of these 60,000 troops, the remaining more than 300,000 old, weak, women, children and ordinary herdsmen will be divided immediately. Eat clean.
As for whether they were eaten by the Mongolian tribes such as Tumut or the Jurchens, it made no difference to them - maybe being swallowed by the Ming Dynasty was the best way out.
Therefore, for Burihatu, it is not that Gao Pragmatic's famous hollow square of muskets and bayonets cannot be broken, but that the consumption required to break it is simply unbearable. Gao Pragmatic's move in Burihatu was simply some kind of conspiracy: If you have the ability, come and compete with me, the Ming Dynasty.
I'm a fool to compete with your Ming Dynasty in terms of military strength! Therefore, the Chahar Mongolian Army has gradually become lightly armored or even unarmored. Firstly, it is because the economy is blocked and it is increasingly unable to support military manufacturing. Secondly, the tactics have to change and they must return to the past reliance on speed. In this state, you don't want to kill many enemies, but you want to tire them out for a long time and drag them until they can no longer fight.
What about infantry? What about cavalry?
Burihatu also saw the changes in the Ming army's cavalry in recent years. At first, it was a barbaric growth, mainly to increase the stock of horses and increase the number of cavalry; then it was firearmsization, and began to be equipped with Wanli II-type lances, but this was There is a big flaw in Burihatu's eyes: due to the loading problem of the lance, in actual combat, there may only be one more one-time musket volley, and even the volley itself has flaws.
What flaw? There's no way everyone can shoot. Muskets are different from bows and arrows. Bows and arrows can be thrown, but muskets can only shoot straight. For example, in the oblique cut tactic, when the Mongolian cavalry completes the oblique cut, all cavalry can shoot their bows and arrows in a parabola, letting the arrows fall from the sky on the opponent's head;
The same cannot be said for the Ming cavalry. Only the cavalry in the outermost row can shoot. Others cannot shoot, otherwise they may only kill their comrades. Even though the Ming Dynasty's firearms have made great progress, because the amount of bombs dropped per unit is so small, the actual damage is naturally greatly reduced.
Later, the Ming army seemed to have discovered this problem and began to equip or semi-armor. This is a matter of relying on money ability to forcibly change the balance of strength and weakness: Although I have fewer people who can shoot, it doesn't hurt much if you hit me. If I hit you, you will either die or be injured if I hit you. Should I hit you?
The result of this is that Burihatu discovered that the Ming cavalry was somewhat similar to the infantry: hard, but its pursuit ability was further reduced - it was called further because the Ming cavalry could not catch up before. Mongolians determined to run away.
So in this way, both sides are actually equivalent to strengthening their original advantages: the Ming army is stronger, and the Mongolian army is faster.
If I have to say, the Ming army spent at least one million taels of silver a year in order to be tougher, while the Mongolian army actually saved a lot of money in order to be faster. From a cost-effectiveness perspective, the Ming army suffered a huge loss.
However, there are prerequisites for this asymmetric advantage to work. For example, the Ming army sent troops, and the Mongols guerrillaed—or wandered without attacking. At this time, the Ming army seemed to be approaching menacingly, but in fact, the Mongolian army did not need to panic. They could escape, just like the golden cicada escaped from its shell before.
But this also has a premise or a critical point, that is, if the Ming army sends too many troops and there are so many that they are surrounded from all directions and there is no place to run, then it will be over.
Just like this time.
But fortunately, the Ming army's goal was too big at the beginning, and they wanted to solve Chahar and Waikarkha at the same time once and for all. Later, because the golden cicada of Burihatu successfully escaped from its shell, Gao Pragmatic had to adjust his tactics and actually divided the entire battle situation into Waikarkha. Erkha occupied and Chahar annihilated two parts.
But even Burihatu probably didn't expect that Gao Pragmatism was actually divided into more details...
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PS: It crashed twice within 20 minutes. The first time the code words were 3K, the second time it was 4K but the content was not finished. The second time it crashed, I couldn't restart it. I quickly opened the case and cleaned out the dust, and finally got it back up. But actually, I still have some content to say in this chapter. I was afraid that the computer would be damaged, so I posted it first.
