Although it is midsummer, rain is scarce, and the land in Liaodong is also suffering from severe drought. Except for some areas along the river, it can still be cultivated.
Like this kind of mountains and hills, there are no streams where mountain springs and snow melt gather above, and no rivers pass below. The entire mountains and hills are undulating, and the ground is mostly dry and hard black and yellow soil. It has been cracked by the scorching sun and only a few thin thatch remains. Sometimes visible.
Guo Yingxian was ordered by the commander-in-chief Yang Guozhu to lead 2,500 elite cavalry from Xuanzhen to assist the guerrilla infantry camp of He Zhenxiong. He led 1,500 elite cavalry as the central army and left 500 elite cavalry on each flank to cover the flanks.
In order to save the foot power of his horses, he did not dare to lead the knights to rush forward. Instead, he walked slowly along the gentle slopes of the mountains and hills. In this way, he could observe the situation around the mountain road from a high position, and also be able to take action when encountering enemies. Occupying a condescending position.
From a distance on the mountain ridge, he saw that the car formation on He Zhenxiong's side was already in critical condition and was in danger of being attacked by Tatar bandits. He was about to turn his horse around to go for reinforcements when he saw hundreds of Tatar cavalry on the mountain road ahead heading towards the mountain ridge. Bian rushed over slowly.
Under the sun, a group of Tatar cavalry wearing blue and red-edged iron cotton armor came riding up. Although they only had seven or eight hundred men and horses, they were spread out widely. Their momentum looked like more than a thousand cavalry. .
Guo Yingxian did not dare to be careless. He hurriedly ordered the soldiers around him to send orders to the cavalry on the left and right wings, asking them to support them from a distance and not to join the battle group for the time being to observe the changes.
Then, five hundred fine cavalry formed a tight and sharp formation in the center, and then five hundred cavalry were separated to form two sparse formations on the left and right, and they faced the approaching Tatar cavalry.
However, it was soon discovered that the Tatar cavalry charging from the opposite side did not engage in hand-to-hand combat with him. Instead, they always kept a distance of thirty or forty steps and harassed him with mounted fire.
Although many of the cavalrymen in Xuanzhen are good at riding and shooting, they are not as skilled as barbarians like the Tatars who have practiced since childhood, and their usual three-eyed muskets cannot be used against moving targets at this distance. Although their numbers and strength are stronger than those of the Tartar thieves, they can't take advantage of them.
However, Guo Yingxian found that the Tatar thieves who were attacking He Zhenxiong's car formation were also slowly retreating, and he felt a little relieved. After all, his mission here was to drive away the Tatar thieves and rescue He Zhenxiong's troops.
But after chasing the Tatars with blue flags on the opposite side for a while, I felt something was wrong. These captives did not seem to fight with all their strength. Although they did not have an advantage in numbers, they relied on their powerful riding and archery skills to defeat the Ming army. The battle was evenly matched.
But the Tatars didn't want to expand their advantage, but they took one step forward and took two steps back. Guo Yingxian vaguely felt that the Tatars' move was likely to lure the enemy?
When he was hesitating, he saw the Tatar cavalry with blue flags on the opposite side speeding up and retreating. Guo Yingxian was afraid of falling into the Tatars' treacherous plan, so he hurriedly ordered all the cavalry to stop the pursuit.
I saw the captives with blue flags stopped more than a hundred steps away, and they were actually forming a team. They slowly formed a tight and sharp formation, and then I saw large plumes of smoke rising from the mountain road behind them and the mountains on both sides. .
Guo Yingxian thought: "No, the Tatars are ambushing us!"
Sure enough, as soon as he thought about it, he saw a golden color in the billowing smoke in the distance, which was particularly conspicuous under the scorching sun.
As a battle-hardened veteran, Guo Yingxian couldn't help but panic in his heart. He must know that Zhenghuang Banner and Xianghuang Banner were the pro-army of the slave chief Huang Taiji.
At this moment, thousands of Tatars in yellow armor appeared on the opposite side. Could it be that the slave chief Huang Taiji had personally arrived at the front line of Songjin?
When Guo Yingxian thought about this, he couldn't help but feel chilly in his heart. He had been chasing the eight hundred Tatar cavalry for nearly two miles just now. Although he could not say that he was short of men and horses, he certainly couldn't fight with the thousands of Tatar cavalry who came for reinforcements. Chase and fight.
However, fortunately, he did not order the thousand cavalry on the left and right wings to join the battle just now. They slowly followed the formation on both wings, and still maintained almost intact physical strength and horsepower.
He hurriedly passed the order, and the first 1,500 cavalry of the Imperial Army formed a group and slowly retreated, while the cavalry on both wings slowly moved upward towards the Chinese Army to cover the retreat of the Chinese Army's cavalry.
At the same time, he also saw in the distance that He Zhenxiong's infantry, which was attacking the Qing army's position at the Empress Temple, was being bombarded, and a Tatar cavalry wearing yellow armor also pressed toward He Zhenxiong, numbering between seven and eight hundred. between.
Guo Yingxian quickly made a decision. He left five hundred elite cavalry behind to prevent the captive cavalry from pursuing. He led a thousand knights to a hill on the left, and sent another thousand elite cavalry to meet He Zhenxiong's troops. Also retreat to that hill.
His idea was very normal. There were more Tatar thieves than his own infantry and cavalry combined. Now he could only choose a hillock to stand high and wait for reinforcements. He would wait for the infantry and cavalry army led by Yang Guozhu to follow, and then cooperate inside and outside to repel the Tatars. The thief rides.
…………
Guo Yingxian led five hundred cavalrymen to rush up to the high hill. He rode his horse and looked down the mountain. He suddenly felt a chill in his heart. He saw Tatar bandits and cavalry all over the mountains and fields.
In addition to the blue flags and yellow flags we just saw, there are also teams of elite cavalry covered in silver-white armor, riding out from the smoke and dust. There are nearly three thousand people and horses, and they are even riding two people. There are still three riders per person, which shows that all of them are elite Tatar thieves.
It was just that the captive cavalry of Zhengbai Banner turned a blind eye to the Ming army's infantry and cavalry led by Guo Yingxian and He Zhenxiong. They were extremely fast and galloped southward along the mountain road.
"No. The Tatars are going to the Chinese army..." Guo Yingxian suddenly shouted.
He suddenly realized that the Tartar thieves worked so hard to widen the distance between their infantry and cavalry. The purpose was to prevent him from looking at each other, so that the Tartar thieves could defeat our Xuanzang army one by one.
Guo Yingxian also knew that it would be impossible to stop the Tatars' intentions at this moment. He could only hope that Li Fuguo, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province, would arrive in time and join forces with Yang Guozhu's infantry and cavalry in the rear, so he would not be afraid of the Tatars' cavalry.
But he still felt a little worried about Yang Guozhu, so he called General Qian and asked him to bring five hundred elite cavalry back to support the Chinese army.
But before they set off, another group of captives in white armor rushed out of the mountains on the left, right behind the hill where Guo Yingxian was. At this point, he could no longer send troops back to support the central army where Yang Guozhu was.
Unless, at the risk of ignoring the more than 3,000 Xuanzang cavalry soldiers who had just descended from the mountain, he might be able to lead the more than 1,000 fine cavalry soldiers on the hilltop to swoop down, taking advantage of the fact that the Zhengbai Banner Tatar cavalry that had just rushed over had not yet formed an encirclement. In front of the situation, break out and go away.
But Guo Yingxian could not do that. After all, Yang Guozhu was followed by Li Fuming, and behind him were the Chinese army of Jiliao Governor Hong Chengchou, and the armies of Zhang Cheng and Liu Zhaoji.
At this time, he saw another group of Zhengbai Banner Tatar soldiers appear behind him, and He Zhenxiong's new infantry army was blocked when the Tatar Zhengbai Banner cavalry rushed through the mountain road. Thousands of cavalry were divided under the ridge on the west side of the mountain road.
He made a cursory observation and felt that under the current situation, he still had to rush over and join He Zhenxiong's infantry camp. If the infantry and cavalry cooperated with each other, they might be able to hold on until reinforcements arrived.
At least they won't be defeated by the Tartar thieves one by one. They can hold on for a while and then slowly retreat towards the direction of the Chinese army. Maybe they can join up with Yang Guozhu's Chinese army.
