Why was Zhao's entire army wiped out?
According to historical records, Zhao led his army to Zunhua after receiving the order and led his army day and night. When he was about to reach Zunhua, he was besieged by Hou Jin and his entire army was wiped out.
The cold words obviously cannot express the tragedy of Zhao's teaching department.
What's more, many ridiculous things have been interpreted from it.
Some said that Zhao led the army to underestimate the enemy and advanced rashly, some said that Huang Taiji was strategizing, and some said that the army's combat effectiveness was poor, and so on.
If Zuo Mengeng were asked to evaluate this matter, only four words would be enough.
The man is tired and the horse is exhausted.
Even more extreme, it can be reduced to two words.
Horses are tired.
On the battlefield of cold weapons, if you want to completely wipe out a pure cavalry unit, the conditions are very harsh.
First, an absolutely superior force is needed.
It seems that Houjin can achieve this, but it absolutely cannot achieve the second condition.
That is the difficult terrain.
As we all know, once the terrain is not good, the cavalry will lose its speed advantage and its maximum combat effectiveness.
But Zuo Mengeng's position at this moment obviously did not have the terrain conditions to encircle and annihilate the cavalry troops.
Although the official road from Santun Camp to Zunhua is in the middle of the mountains facing north and south, it seems to form a canyon. But the width on the north and south sides was several miles wide. If the cavalry really wanted to run away, it would be impossible to stop them.
This is why the battlefield stretches for miles.
Zhao led the teaching staff not to be surrounded and annihilated at all, but to be chased to death.
When coming out of Shanhaiguan, Zhao Shujiao didn't have time to carry the baggage and food. After driving all the way, we arrived at Santun Camp. It was a good opportunity to rest and replenish ourselves.
As a result, Zhu Guoyan refused to let him enter the city without telling him, and he also did not provide food and grass.
It's okay if a person is tired, but it's the most deadly thing if the horse doesn't rest and replenish its energy.
As for Houjin, he is waiting for work and is full of energy.
After the battle started, the war horses led by Zhao could not run at all, so the entire army was wiped out. Otherwise, even if you lose some, you will still be able to escape most of it.
This is also why Zuo Mengeng is so angry.
This defeat was simply a non-war crime and a man-made disaster.
On that day, the rear camp did not march to Zunhua, but stayed there to clean up the battlefield.
These poor soldiers were loyal and worked tirelessly to resist the invaders, but in the end they were all killed by their own people.
They shouldn't be exposed in the wilderness, and they shouldn't be abandoned in these barren mountains and mountains without anyone caring about them.
The entire convergence process lasted for a full day. It was not until evening that the bodies of all the fallen soldiers were buried.
Zhao Lijiao's body was also found. After his head and body were sutured, he was buried with all the soldiers.
Mao Yuanyi personally wrote the tombstone for Zhao Shujiao.
[The Tomb of the Prince’s Young Master, Duke Zhao]
Zuo Menggeng was very dissatisfied and changed the name to "Shanhaiguan Commander-in-Chief Zhao Gong leads the teachings through the ages".
Zhao Shujiao deserves such praise.
It is an insult to him to use the honor given by the Ming Dynasty to show his identity. It is only worthy of the hero's cold blood to state it in terms of places where he has fought throughout his life.
"salute!"
In front of the graves of the fallen soldiers, Zuo Menggeng led all the officers and soldiers to pay tribute to the heroes.
This time, I personally participated in collecting the remains of the fallen soldiers, which greatly touched the officers and soldiers in the rear camp.
Zuo Mengeng never doubted the strength of the rear camp, but he knew very well that after all, these officers and soldiers were still newcomers to the battlefield.
I haven't tried it in actual combat, so it doesn't make any sense.
This time, everyone saw with their own eyes the brutality of the battlefield and the misery of the dead. It was obvious that the atmosphere in the army had changed dramatically.
After camping that night, everyone was preparing silently, no longer as relaxed and cheerful as before.
The next morning it was foggy and windless.
The pale sun struggled to penetrate the clouds, like a lantern from hell.
The entire rear camp quietly prepared and marched towards Zunhua.
It was nearly noon when we arrived at the foot of Zunhua City, just as the fog dispersed.
The Houjin sentry standing on the city gate tower discovered the enemy's situation and immediately blew the horn, breaking the tranquility.
There were three chief officials in Hou Jin who stayed in Zunhua.
Participating general Ying Erdai, guerrilla Li Sizhong and Fan Wencheng.
Ying Erdai was from the Zhengbai Banner. Although he was a military general, he had rare talents for Jurchens in this period - financial management and diplomacy.
During the later Jin Dynasty's conquest of North Korea, this man made many achievements on the battlefield and in diplomacy. He can be called the North Korean version of MacArthur.
Huang Taiji ordered him to stay in Zunhua because there were too many things looted and needed capable people to organize and compile statistics.
This was also the reason why Li Sizhong and Fan Wencheng were left to assist.
Although the main force has gone away, Ying Erdai and Fan Wencheng have no worries and do not feel that there is any danger in Zunhua.
Hou Jin's overwhelming power after entering the pass made them sneer at the combat effectiveness of the Ming army.
What's more, just a few days ago, Ying'erdai even surrendered the Luanyang camp.
Although there were only 800 soldiers in hand, the three of them were very confident that even if ten times the Ming army invaded, they would be able to defeat them.
Ying'erdai had already conducted reconnaissance. The Ming army in nearby Fengrun, Yutian, and Yongping areas was very small in number and could not even protect themselves. How dare they take the initiative to attack?
So when the sentry blew the warning horn, the three of them were a little confused.
"What's going on? Someone, come and check."
After a while, the soldiers hurried in.
"Report to Ezhen, thousands of Ming troops were found in the east of the city, and they seem to want to attack the city."
Ying Erdai and the other three were even more confused.
Thousands of Ming troops?
Want to attack the city?
Where did it come from?
"Let's go and have a look."
Ying Erdai took the lead and led Li Sizhong and Fan Wencheng to the tower.
At this time, the rear camp had moved to a place three miles away from the city wall.
Zuo Mengeng began to arrange combat tasks.
"Zuo Yong, your department is responsible for suppressing the city. After the demolition team blows open the city gate, you will be responsible for the main attack."
Zuo Yong was very happy. He did not expect that the first battle in the rear camp would be fought by himself.
"Zhang Yan, except for the demolition team, I have ordered all other teams in your unit to be responsible for guarding the artillery brigade."
Zhang Yan also took orders to make arrangements.
"Zuo Shi, your unit will serve as the second echelon. Once the fourth brigade successfully attacks the city, it will follow into the city and be responsible for seizing the streets and clearing out the remaining enemies."
The artillery brigade did not need special orders from him. It had only one mission, which was to use artillery to suppress the city.
With the power of the Zuoying Cannon, breaking through the city wall was out of the question. But the effect of suppressing the enemies on the city wall, combined with the use of muskets, is surprisingly good.
Hou Jin did not block the city gate of Zunhua, so the Hou camp did not need to consider climbing the city wall. All it takes is to blow open the city gate and enter the city.
Houjin never thought that the Ming army would boldly attack, and Zunhua was an important place to contact the front and rear, so of course he would not block the city gate himself.
He was making arrangements, but Mao Yuanyi was dripping with cold sweat.
It was only then that Mao Yuanyi discovered that the weapons and equipment of the rear camp were very simple, only muskets and artillery.
There are no spear soldiers, no shield soldiers, and no obstacles such as horses. What's even more outrageous is that none of the soldiers or generals are wearing armor.
This young Mr. Qian doesn't think that he can fight against the eight hundred elite Jurchens with the help of firecrackers and Folang machine cannons, right?
"Zuo Qianzao, this is not how battles are fought."
Mao Yuanyi felt that as a senior, she should remind Zuo Mengeng of his mistakes.
Zuo Mengeng refused to listen, so Shi Shiran took out his telescope and began to observe the Zunhua city defense.
"Our army has its own rules and regulations."
Mao Yuanyi was going crazy. She never thought that the young man in front of her had no common sense.
"Zuo Qianzuo, you don't know how powerful the Tatars are. In Liaodong, no general dares to fight with the Tatars unless they have several times the strength. Now your troops are only twice as powerful as the Tatars. Even if you want to retreat calmly, it will be difficult. It’s all difficult. With this strategy, if the Tatar cavalry goes out of the city to charge, your troops will be defeated miserably. We will all die here, so how can we force Huang Taiji to return to the army?"
Zuo Mengeng waved his hand, but felt that he was too noisy.
"Mr. Mao, you don't know our tactics. Just be patient and wait and see. There are only a few hundred Tatars, and defending the city is their limit. Even the Tatar generals would never dare to leave the city to fight and seek death. road."
Tartars leaving the city?
hehe……
Then he saw hundreds of Tatar cavalry filing out of the city gate that was not closed and starting to form an array outside the city gate.
"Fuck!"
With Zuo Mengeng's composure, he couldn't help but cry out the quintessence of Chinese culture.
I'm here to fight you. If you don't defend the city well, you actually go out to fight in the field?
Zuo Mengeng was stunned, and he very much doubted whether there was something wrong with the Tatar general's brain circuit.
Who gave you the courage to come out?
Unable to recover for a long time, he couldn't help but mutter.
"How dare you?"
