After stabilizing the morale of the army, Li Yinglin led 5,000 soldiers as the front army, and Cao Xun led 3,000 soldiers as the rear guard. They marched north and encountered the main force of the advancing rebel army on the bank of the Prut River, a tributary of the Danube River.
The generals suggested setting up defenses along the river to intercept the enemy. Eight thousand men were still too few for the decisive battle, but it was still enough to prevent the opponent from crossing the river. You can wait for the reinforcements assembled by Captain Wang to arrive before engaging in a decisive battle.
Li Yinglin explained that although there were many rebels, they all had their own agendas. The reason why the various tribes in Beiya rebelled was for the selfish interests of the nobles. Under this premise, it was impossible for them to advance and retreat together and sacrifice themselves for their "comrades".
Not only can we use prestige and rules to suppress them and force them to abide by military discipline and orders while the Grand Master is still around, then we can maintain our combat effectiveness. But now, the Boyan they support is just a puppet that can be accepted by nobles in various ministries, and has no power to lead at all.
As for the "friendly troops" from Poland, Russia and other countries, they all have their own thoughts. They gathered simply because the Khanate was so powerful that they were afraid of being annexed, so they wanted to fight together. If you see that the Khanate's army is small and does not threaten your safety for a while, it will immediately start to scheming and doing its own thing.
These people don't even have a unified order. An army without a commander is called a rabble. Even if there are more people, what kind of battle can we fight?
Now is the time when the enemy is weak. If you give them time to integrate, or wait for more Polish and Hungarian troops to arrive, the situation will be even more passive. So no need to wait any longer, now is the best time to fight.
One hundred thousand people is a large number. In Europe, such an army can even determine the fate of a country.
But an army of 100,000 is not very big. Without effective organization and command, even 800 people, not to mention 8,000, can still fight.
Therefore, Li Yinglin did not stay at the ferry, but moved upstream to find a ferry to cross the river.
The rebels discovered them very early and saw that they were few in number, so while sending forwards to continue preparing to cross the river, they also ordered the army to immediately move out to meet them, preparing to wipe out this army in one fell swoop before they had completely crossed the river.
The various departments of the rebels were dispatched in different ways, some quickly and some slowly, and they were unable to form a coordinated trend. Of course, the number of people on both sides was too disparity after all, and no one took it seriously. The elite Kipchak cavalry from Bei Ya's left guard rushed out first and surrounded them.
Li Yinglin ordered other soldiers to continue crossing the river, mounted his horse himself, and led 200 armored cavalrymen to counterattack. The Imperial Guards surrounded them, and Li Yinglin roared and galloped, attacking from left to right, and was invincible to all who were in his position. The commander of the left guard, Burke Die'er, saw this and led his companions to intercept him. Li Yinglin clashed with him with a spear and stabbed him under the banner. The Kipchak cavalry retreated one after another, and Li Yinglin's troops were able to completely cross the river and form formations high on the bank.
Seeing that the Kipchak left guard was frustrated, the leaders of the various departments really hesitated to move forward, hoping that others would get in first. Li Yinglin sent troops to scold Boyan everywhere, saying that Boyan was a useless puppet and that he should surrender quickly and not follow him to death.
When the rebels started making noises, Boyan had no choice but to mobilize more than 10,000 main troops from the Kipchak left and right guards and the Burial right guard that he could control, and went forward to attack. He also asked the Polish reinforcements general, the "White Duke" Wa Dislaw acted as backup for him. Boyan truthfully said that although there were many people now, he could only trust the combat effectiveness of the Polish army. For a common goal, at least this time I hope everyone will work together.
Boyan personally put on his horse and came to the front of the formation to command. The cavalry archers of the Kipchak Guard and the Buri Al Guard kept throwing arrows at Li Yinglin's troops. After shooting for a while, he found that the opponent's armor was solid and he could not take advantage. Boyan ordered all the troops to charge in turn. The right guard of Burial, who had been in the best condition before, went first.
Burial's right guard and Li Yinglin's troops fought for a round, but there was no winner. Li Yinglin said that the enemy would definitely be anxious. So he ordered the soldiers to dismount, throw away their bows and arrows, and retreat to the slope, leaving only sentries on guard. Another thousand veterans were deployed as reserves behind the defensive mounds and on the river banks.
The forward of Boyan Army saw that the opponent stopped shooting and began to retreat, disappearing behind the ridge, and hurriedly reported to him. As expected, Boyan increased his troops, added all the cavalry to the formation, and began to charge. At the rear, the Polish army also adjusted its formation, with the knights as the leader, and slowly followed up.
Boyan's cavalry rushed close to the slope, and the sentinels waved flags. Li Yinglin's troops returned to the top of the mountain and rushed down towards the enemy.
The two sides were crowded together, and the cavalry's advantage could not be used, but it became very passive. Some cavalry moved sideways, preparing to bypass the mound and attack Li Yinglin's rear. However, there were also people blocking the way in the woods under the mound, making it impossible to pass for a while. Boyan got angry and decided to squeeze through with more people, so he ordered all the troops to attack and at the same time sent a signal to the Poles for help.
Duke Władysław sent a group of Polish knights to support, and the Bryar Left Guard also agreed to join. This time, Li Yinglin's troops were successfully pushed off the mountain. Boyan then put all his reserve troops into the battlefield, and sent people to call back the several troops who were still trying to make a detour, telling them to stop wandering around and come back quickly to add weight to the enemy who was about to collapse.
After fighting for more than half an hour, Li Yinglin's troops were squeezed back and retreated down the slope to the river bank. Both Boyan's cavalry and the Polish knights thought they could drive them down the river in one fell swoop, and their morale was high for a while. Boyan's reserve team had just arrived and was in the best physical condition. The officers moved out of the way and they took the lead, preparing to launch the final charge.
However, this place is already a river beach, the soil is muddy, and the war horses cannot run at all. The thousand veterans Li Yinglin had prepared before took the opportunity to start a counterattack.
Each of these people were armed with big axes and iron rods. They smashed people's heads when they saw them, and chopped off the legs of horses when they saw them. The cavalry cannot move around, and there is not as high density as the infantry. One person is often besieged by several people in front and behind. One person resisted him, while the others held long axes and sledgehammers, and took turns attacking his upper body. The hundreds of people in the front row were all killed and injured almost as soon as they came face to face. Others could not hide and had no choice but to fight hard.
Some soldiers also jumped off their horses and tried to form a formation to fight on foot with the opponent. Others turned their horses' heads, trying to squeeze in another direction. Amid the screams and curses, the commanders tried their best to shout and wave flags, trying to restore order among their subordinates.
Boyan also came to the top of the mountain at this time to observe the situation. After discovering that the front was blocked, he hurriedly ordered the follow-up troops to dismount and prepare for an infantry battle.
The veterans of Li Yinglin's department were not greatly affected and were still pushing forward, methodically knocking open the enemy's heads like a hoe in the farmland. Some of the soldiers who were pushed to the rear were on standby under his orders, while others who were still physically strong reorganized and walked around the enemy from the woods.
The remaining cavalry in the forest were quickly driven away by them. Then, everyone turned around and moved around the mound to attack the enemy's flanks and rear. Some of the more clever enemy riders realized something was wrong and began to run away.
The nobles from other ministries just tried a few detours and found that they couldn't win, so they started to watch the fun. Some people found that the fighting was too fierce and felt timid and wanted to find an opportunity to escape.
Boyan realized that something was wrong and immediately sent another message to the Poles, asking their knights to intercept Li Yinglin's infantry who was trying to surround him. The infantry also speeded up to catch up and drive away possible enemies in the woods. If successful, use infantry to detour and surround the opponent from the outside.
However, the Polish knight ignored his orders. The knights complained that they came here just to get involved in the civil war of the pagan barbarians and to wallow in the mud for the ambition of a few Tatars? The enemy situation in the woods is not clear at all. Even if those people are intercepted, God knows if more people will come.
Now some of my colleagues have fallen into trouble because of the Tatar prince's blind command, and their lives and deaths are still unknown. They could either look for opportunities to save people and then go home quickly, or they could just watch these people finish fighting first. No matter what, I won't risk my life again.
The knights originally disliked these temporary comrades, but the situation now made everyone very angry, and the Duke's personal persuasion was of no avail.
But their judgment is not unreasonable. Without hesitation for long, there were signs of collapse ahead.
The Kipchak left guard had just been defeated head-on once before, and the general died. It was just smooth sailing just now, and their past record was pretty good, so Boyan assigned them to the second wave and let the new commander lead them to charge together.
The situation at hand was obviously not right, and these people began to waver first. However, the pushing was too fierce just now, and there were people in all directions, making it impossible to leave even if I wanted to.
Boyan could see quite clearly from a high place, but the soldiers everywhere had no idea what was going on on the battlefield. The people at the front wanted to step back and create space, but the people at the back didn't know what was going on in front and were still squeezing down the hillside.
Finally, probably more and more people understand what it means for those on the front line to try to retreat. Fear began to spread among the troops.
At this time, a fire broke out in the direction of the ferry camp.
Three thousand men from Cao Xun's army arrived here. They brought engineers and baggage with them, so they were slower. However, after arriving at the place, Cao Xun saw fighting on the hillside on the other side of the river. He immediately ordered the soldiers to make a big fanfare and recruited warriors to cross the river.
In front of the ferry are the troops of the Grand Duke of Smolensk. Seeing someone coming on a raft, the soldiers formed a formation on the river beach, preparing to intercept them.
When the raft docked, everyone rushed aboard. However, flames suddenly erupted from the cabinet on the bow of the ship. The Russian soldiers were burned and howled like ghosts. The survivors hid behind while shouting "The Romans are coming!"
The Grand Duke quickly looked around and saw a large number of flags of all kinds appearing on the other side of the river, covering his sight. Looking at the river, there were only a few rafts launched into the water. The soldiers on the opposite side had no intention of continuing to send the boats over. Instead, they were assembling and fixing the pontoons. It was obvious that they wanted to build a pontoon bridge on the spot to let the army rush over. The people crossing the river were not afraid of them, but shouted everywhere, saying that the imperial army had arrived, and those who knew enough to surrender quickly would be spared.
He looked at the front line here again, and there was still a stalemate there. If I remember correctly, Boyan said at that time that there were only a few thousand people there at best. Looking at it now, it is obvious that it was just a vanguard unit, and the result has not been solved until now. If the army were to press forward, I am afraid that even a small number of people like myself would have no way to survive.
The Grand Duke quickly ordered the soldiers to stop fighting and withdraw. Then he summoned the nobles and sent someone to contact the Grand Duke of Chernigov, who was also in the army, to discuss it together.
The relationship between Smolensk and Poland and Lithuania is very bad, because the two countries have always wanted to annex them just like they originally partitioned the Galich-Volyn Principality. Chernigov is also the main target of the Lithuanians. If it had not been for the intervention of the Purple Horde Khanate, it would have been eliminated by Lithuania.
Although they were coerced by the Beiya Army, everyone immediately reached a consensus after a few discussions. That good-for-nothing Boyan couldn't even beat the Purple Tent forward. He was obviously a playboy who only knew how to brag about himself. He was encouraged by the Poles to serve as cannon fodder for others. Once the army comes, it will definitely be over.
Moreover, even if he wins by luck, so what? Smolensk is a place that the Poles have long coveted, and he will definitely turn around and sell it to Poland, who has helped a lot. Mrs. Chernigo will face a similar fate.
Now that the battle has turned into such a mess, instead of waiting to be sold, it is better to sell him first to show goodwill to the Khan.
Everyone was determined and took action immediately. The Grand Duke of Smolensk personally held the lowered flag and rushed to the river to negotiate with the Purple Army. The Grand Duke of Chernigov gathered soldiers from both countries to hunt and kill all Poles in the camp to prevent these monitors from discovering anything strange and harming himself.
The soldiers roared loudly, rushed into various camps, and cut down anyone who saw a Catholic cross. The scene was so chaotic that some Russians were accidentally killed. Some Polish and Lithuanian mercenaries were guarding the camp. The Russians were unable to attack several times, so they set fire to everything. Soon, thick smoke rose high and could be seen from far away.
This signal was so obvious that the Boyan Department on the front line also noticed the situation.
The left guard of Burial who was at the end was not Boyan's confidant. He immediately retreated when he found something wrong and withdrew from the semi-encirclement. Boyan still clung to the illusion of a comeback, hoping that they would carry out interception and flanking missions on behalf of the Poles. He sent a messenger to get his token and promised to appoint their leader as a grand master as long as he obeyed the order.
However, the left-back Buliar disappeared without a trace, and the messenger did not bring a reply at all. I don't know if he was intercepted by enemy troops on the road, or if they just didn't bother to pay attention to his orders.
Amid the chaos, the front line began to collapse. The soldiers pushed and trampled each other, scrambling to run backwards. Prince Wladyslaw fled in a hurry under the protection of his attendants, gathered the remaining knights, and broke out of the siege. Seeing that the situation was over, Boyan drew his sword and committed suicide by the river.
In the long open space near the river and the mound, there were tens of thousands of corpses of the Beiya guards, and almost all the elites were lost. Many Polish knights escaped, but after Cao Xun's engineers came to help, they quickly broke through the camp. Most of the remaining infantry and Lithuanian mercenaries were killed by the angry Russians, and even the Purple Horde army could not stop them.
The tribal nobles who escaped in advance disappeared without a trace, and some simply wandered outside the battlefield and looted deserters. The so-called 100,000-strong army collapsed in one day.
