Four or five kilometers away to the north of Zhongqian, more than 10,000 Chu cavalry and thousands of cavalry and artillery, heavy baggage and other auxiliary forces were engaged in a brutal fight with 20,000 Dongfang cavalry.
This is a large-scale cavalry confrontation that has not happened for many years. Even when the Dongji people conquered Monan Mongolia, although there were many cavalry on both sides, they had never fought against such a large-scale cavalry. Hedge.
After all, traditional mounted archery is mostly based on small and medium-sized cavalry operations and covering infantry operations. Cavalry with more than tens of thousands of cavalry directly engage in large-scale cavalry hedging. This situation is actually very rare.
Not to mention, in this cavalry battle, both sides used a lot of cavalry cannons and muskets, which was different from the traditional cavalry battle.
In terms of intensity and even casualty ratio, it far exceeded the traditional cavalry battles in East Asia in the past.
The reason why such a large-scale and brutal cavalry battle can occur is because the strength of both parties is strong enough.
On one side is the Great Chu Empire dynasty that has just unified the pass and dominated China. Moreover, the Great Chu Empire dynasty also has a national power that far exceeds that of traditional dynasties. Its strong original industrial production capacity, tax collection ability and even its control over the grassroots are far beyond It cannot be compared with the traditional feudal dynasty.
On the other hand, they were the strongest among the barbarians. After decades of fighting, the Eastern captives focused almost all their talents on war. They withstood the Ming Dynasty's early encirclement and suppression, and later turned against the foreigners and directly suppressed them. Fight with the Ming army.
At the same time, they not only fought against the Ming army, but also launched several wars of conquest against North Korea, and finally conquered North Korea. At the same time, they also launched many wars to conquer Monan Mongolia, gradually conquering all the tribes in Monan Mongolia, and made The three Mobei Mongolian tribes and several of the Mobei Mongolian tribes were forced to surrender.
Therefore, don't think that the Dongdu in the late Ming Dynasty was just a small force in Liaodong. In fact, their control area was quite large.
Especially in the past few years after Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor, he not only controlled the vast Northeast and even large areas of the outer Xing'an Mountains, but also actually controlled the Korean Peninsula and the broader Monan Mongolia.
Their actual control area is very large.
Therefore, the size of the army that the Eastern captives can organize is not small now. After all, the Eastern captives and Monan Mongolia under their control are all under the system of all soldiers. Normally, they can pull out hundreds of thousands of people. , if the mobilization scale is larger, it can pull out more than 200,000 people.
One is a new civilized power, and the other is a barbaric power that has been around for decades. A fight between the two will naturally cause sparks to fly, and the scale will not be that small.
Some small and medium-sized battles between the two sides in the past two years were just a prelude. After the battle in western Liaoning, which decided the outcome, began, both the Chu Empire and the Eastern Banishers invariably invested a large amount of their main forces.
Specific to the battle of Guangning Zhongqiansuo, because the success or failure of this city will directly affect the subsequent situation of the entire Western Liaoning Corridor, both warring parties will not be careless.
The Chu army used all its strength from the beginning, and hundreds of thousands of troops were killed.
The Dongjiu people also reduced their troops and emergency reinforcements around Guangning Zhongqian Post. In order to defend Guangning Zhongqian Post, the Dongjiu people in this direction directly abandoned small frontier fortresses such as Balipu and directly concentrated a large number of troops here. At the same time, Guangning's former garrison sent tens of thousands of cavalry reinforcements in just two or three days.
And there are more troops gathering towards this area. It is estimated that in a few days, other Dongji troops from Qiantunwei and even Jinzhou troops will gradually arrive in the Zhongqiansuo area.
By then, the combined strength of both sides gathered here may exceed 300,000.
But there is a prerequisite for this, that is, the Dongli garrison at Zhongqiansuo can withstand the Chu army's fierce early offensive.
If they are defeated before the reinforcements arrive, then for the Dongji people, the entire situation in western Liaoning may collapse quickly.
Under such circumstances, the cavalry battle in the northern suburbs of Nakazenso took place.
Army Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa frowned as he looked at the main cavalry of the First Cavalry Army, which was also showing its defeat in front.
These Eastern Cavalrymen on the opposite side are really difficult to fight!
Their advance and retreat are well-founded, and their troop deployment is extremely flexible. More importantly, they have more cavalry.
Not long ago, they directly defeated the 3rd Cavalry Brigade on the northern battlefield, forcing themselves to deploy the 5th Cavalry Brigade as a strategic reserve to step forward for reinforcements.
The 5th Cavalry Brigade went up and stabilized the situation on the northern flank, giving the retreating 3rd Cavalry Brigade enough time to regroup.
But even so, the northern wing still lost at least hundreds of cavalry, and even a dozen cavalry cannons previously deployed at the front were damaged.
Even because of the rush, the gunners did not even have time to blow up all the cavalry cannons before retreating. In other words, if the artillery team on the opposite side was enough, it might not take long to drag their own cavalry cannons over.
On the battlefield of the Chinese army, the situation is also not good. The number of our own cavalry is still a little less. Moreover, the traditional cavalry of the Chu Empire was inherited from the Ming army. It is not very strong in the first place. The cavalry is still inferior to the opponent in terms of skills and tactics. One chip.
That is to say, with better equipment and more artillery power and heavy infantry cover, we can barely maintain the situation.
But this kind of reluctant maintenance is destined to not last long.
Just a few minutes ago, the main force of the Dongji people, more than 5,000 cavalry, suddenly rushed out, forcing the Chu army's main traditional cavalry, the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, to face them head-on.
However, what I didn't expect was that the Dongjiu people on the opposite side were very cunning. They actually took advantage of the time when their main cavalry was entangled and sent more than a thousand cavalry from the flanks. They used the cover of the terrain to suddenly approach a few hundred meters and then charge out. Directly attack your own artillery position.
If Zhu Xingfa hadn't sent two baggage regiments ahead of time and organized a defense line in time to stop the other side, I am afraid that our own artillery positions would have suffered huge damage.
Although this interception was successful and even left behind at least hundreds of corpses or wounded soldiers of the East Riding Cavalry, this also sounded the alarm to Army Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa.
When one's own cavalry cannot intercept the opponent's cavalry, then the opposite Dongdu cavalry can prevent the second, third or even more attacks. Although one's own soldiers from two baggage regiments transform into ordinary infantry, forming multiple Line phalanxes cover artillery positions.
But the infantry only has two legs, while the cavalry has four legs. If they try a few more times and run two more steps, sooner or later they will be able to find an air attack under the cover of the heavy baggage troops and destroy the artillery position.
Once the artillery position loses the fire cover of dozens of artillery pieces, it will be even more difficult for the cavalry to fight.
If this situation continues, I'm afraid we'll be in big trouble.
And when will the Guards Cavalry Detachment arrive?
Zhu Xingfa looked south again!
————
On the other side of the battlefield, Hauge looked at the battle ahead with a blank expression.
In his sight, more than ten thousand cavalry on his side were divided into more than ten groups, large and small, taking turns to attack the Chu barbarians on the opposite side!
Among them were large-scale cavalry with thousands of cavalry, used to contain the more elite cavalry of the Chu barbarians, and cavalry with hundreds or more than a thousand cavalry as partial divisions, constantly roaming the battlefield looking for opportunities.
Just now, a group of Mongolian Eight Banner cavalry under his command found an opportunity and charged directly at Chu Manzi's artillery position, almost killing Chu Manzi's artillery position.
Unfortunately, I don’t know whether the Chu barbarians on the opposite side made careful arrangements in advance or just caught up. Thousands of musketeers rushed out from behind the short hill where they deployed their artillery. They formed an emergency formation and repelled their own troops. cavalry and caused hundreds of casualties.
However, despite being repelled once, Hauge was still in a good mood.
Our main cavalry has entangled several large-scale cavalry units on the opposite side, and the partial division cavalry has only been able to enter once, which means that it can enter a second time, a third time... Chu Manzi's thousands of infantry If you can defend the front, you can't defend the flanks; if you can defend the flanks, you can't defend the rear!
The biggest advantage of cavalry against infantry is mobility.
If it doesn't work once, do it a second time, and change the direction. However, as long as they find an opportunity and succeed just once, it will be enough to collapse their defense.
Once their dozens of artillery pieces are killed, the pressure on our main force on the frontal battlefield will be much less, and it will be easier to fight by then.
He is absolutely sure of this battle!
Before the all-out attack began, he had seen Chu Manzi's cavalry with his own eyes, both in maneuvers and in actual combat. He got to know them well and only then ordered the full-scale attack.
Although there will inevitably be casualties in this battle, and the casualties may even be relatively large, if the main cavalry of Chu Manzi can be killed, it will be worthwhile.
The Chu barbarians did not have many cavalry in total. The Shanhaiguan front line was only supported by twenty or thirty thousand, and the number of them that could fight was estimated to be only these ten thousand.
As long as these 10,000 cavalry are killed, even if it is one for one, it will be worth losing most of our own troops.
Because by then, the main force of the Chu barbarian infantry and artillery without the cover of cavalry will be the turtle in the urn, and the Qing Dynasty may not be able to defeat or even annihilate the Chu barbarian army of hundreds of thousands in one go.
As long as this battle is won, it may be difficult to enter the customs in the future. After all, Shanhaiguan is difficult to fight, and they lack the ability to attack the enemy.
But getting rid of this main force can at least maintain the security of Liaoxi for several years or even more than ten years.
Later, the Qing Dynasty could even turn around and concentrate their forces to kill the Chu barbarians in the Liaodong Peninsula, and concentrate their efforts to re-stabilize the situation in Monan Mongolia.
In this way, the crisis that the Qing Dynasty is currently facing will naturally be resolved.
As the eldest son of Huang Taiji, Hauge is very familiar with the difficult situation facing the Qing Dynasty today. He also understands that whether it is a breakthrough or an inability to break the situation, the focus is not on Monan Mongolia, let alone Liaodong, but on the Liaoxi Corridor.
In the battle situation in the Western Liaoning Corridor, Zhongqian was crucial, and whether Zhongqian could hold it or not was crucial to how well his cavalry could fight.
If you win, there is nothing to say!
If we lose... the situation will probably take a turn for the worse and become even worse than before.
In this battle, he, Hauge, will not lose and cannot lose!
However, it didn’t take long for Hauge’s expression to change drastically!
"Your Highness, the south...the left wing of the south has been defeated!"
"Three thousand fine cavalry were directly dispersed by the Chu barbarians..."
When Hauge heard this, he couldn't help but mention the out-of-breath cavalry with one hand, and said with a sullen face: "How could it be possible to lose? There are three thousand cavalry on the left wing, and they were all selected from my Eight Banners." Carefully selected elites. How could they be scattered in a rush."
The cavalryman who brought him back said quickly: "Young man didn't say anything. It's true. He watched them rush over with his own eyes. Moreover, the Chu barbarian cavalry on the opposite side was dressed differently from the ordinary Chu barbarians. They were wearing very special clothes." Bright armor!"
"Impossible...absolutely impossible!" At this time, Hauge still couldn't believe that his elite cavalry on the left wing was actually defeated by Chu Manzi's cavalry in one charge, and it was the type of army that could not be defeated!
Moreover, thousands of cavalry were fighting, but how could they be defeated so quickly? Even Hauge had no time to get the news, and they were already defeated at the front.
According to Haug's common sense, the cavalry should move around on the move, constantly looking for the opponent's weaknesses, go up and shoot a wave of arrows when they find an opportunity, and then retreat and find another opportunity to go up and shoot arrows.
Charge directly to fight... This kind of thing usually occurs when chasing the enemy's defeated troops, or attacking the enemy's flank and rear position, or in small-scale cavalry battles, or even in some special circumstances.
In the past, cavalry confrontations on the north wing were rare, but even so, the confrontation between the two sides was actually limited to a few hundred people.
Even so, the two sides fired a wave of arrows at each other before the fight, and then entered the melee, which did not last long and quickly broke away. Then thousands of both sides entered the traditional cavalry fighting mode... wandering around, looking for opportunities to rush up and shoot arrows, and retreat. Form the team, and then do it again... It will not be until the enemy can no longer hold on and retreats that they will rush to chase them. But even if they are chasing, they will usually catch up with them and shoot arrows. It is rare to say that they chase people and continue to kill them with sabers...
However, people who listened to the report said that the cavalry of the Chu barbarians in the south did not even have bows and arrows, and they did not even use muskets. Instead, at the beginning of the battle, they rushed over with their spears and sabers, forcing the Eastern cavalry to flee. It is also to directly fight against the hedge with saber or spear...
Then... the three thousand fine cavalry on the south left wing were inexplicably defeated.
The more Hauge listened, the less he understood. He even suspected that the man in front of him was a spy of Chu Manzi, who came to deliberately disturb the morale of the army.
However, soon he saw a group of his own cavalry appearing in the south!
No, this is not a team, but a group of East Riding Cavalry... because they have no formation at all. They are just burying their heads and galloping on their horses, eager to let their horses run at full speed.
If you take a closer look, you will find that many of these Eastern Cavalrymen don’t even have weapons or helmets in their hands. From time to time, there will be people looking back with horrified expressions, followed closely by another He desperately urged the horse to run wildly, without caring that the horse was exhausted.
Even with just a glance from a distance, the experienced Hauge could tell that this group of defeated soldiers was definitely followed by pursuers behind them.
Is this still the three thousand elite cavalry on the left wing under his command?
Those are the three thousand elite cavalry who are considered to be the first-class elites in the Eight Banners. Why have they become so embarrassed?
Could it be that...the Chu barbarian cavalry in the south are really that powerful?
Hauge, who was horrified, quickly ordered the more than 3,000 cavalry that had just been assembled to attack the Chu army's artillery positions to rush south.
They went south not just to respond to their defeated troops, but mainly to prevent the Chu barbarian cavalry coming from the south from attacking their flanks.
I don’t know whether those Chu barbarian cavalry are strong or not, and how they defeated the three thousand fine cavalry on the south left wing, but there is no harm in taking precautions early.
After dispatching three thousand cavalry to move south to fight, it would be difficult to capture Chu Manzi's artillery position. As a result, the frontal battlefield would be even more difficult to fight.
After all, Chu Manzi's artillery is still very powerful. If the stalemate continues, many of our own cavalry may be killed or injured by the opponent's artillery.
The doubts in Hauge's heart did not last long. Not long after, a group of more than a hundred cavalry appeared on the top of a gently sloping mountain in the south.
These cavalrymen carried muskets on their backs and held sabers in their hands. They continued to pursue the Eastern Capture troops in front at a leisurely pace... You must know that there were five or six hundred Eastern Capture troops in front, several times their number. However, he didn't even have the courage to stop fighting.
But soon everyone knew why they ran away, because behind these more than a hundred Chu barbarian cavalry, several more groups appeared one after another, and the total number was several hundred cavalry.
And this is not over yet, there are still a large number of Chu barbarian cavalry coming slowly from behind, but the latter group are walking over with horses, and the speed is not fast.
These Chu barbarian cavalry are indeed different from the Chu barbarian cavalry I have seen before. The most obvious thing is that the armor on their bodies... each one is shining... even a little dazzling!
The light half-body armor transformed from cavalry attached to the two hussars regiments of the Guards. Although the protective performance is very poor, it is also made of plate armor. It is different from the cloth armor of ordinary cavalry. The most obvious appearance is that it is shiny. It's bright because the plate armor has been polished during production.
The Chu army has a large number of various types of cloth armor with hundreds of thousands of equipment. The outer layer is cloth, and it is also a monotonous gray cloth in the Chu army. Therefore, whether the Chu army is fighting in formation or marching, Well, it looks like it's all ashes.
In the early days, many gentry and scholars from the outside world, and even in the official documents of the Ming court, often referred to the Chu army as "grey thieves" because the regular military uniforms of the Chu army soldiers were gray, and the cloth of the armor was still gray...
The gray cloth armor and the polished plate armor look very different. As long as you are not blind, you can basically tell at a glance that these Chu barbarian cavalry are definitely different from ordinary Chu barbarian cavalry.
Hauge is no exception!
After seeing this group of Chu barbarian cavalry appear, Hauge said to himself with doubts on his face: "Is most of the body covered with steel armor?"
"Is it the heavy cavalry among the Chu barbarians?"
When Hauge saw these hussars, he thought at first glance that these should be heavy cavalry, because the armor on their bodies was so eye-catching!
From the appearance, you can't actually tell the thickness of the plate armor... And at first glance, it looks like a large piece of steel armor that is blinding. Let alone Haug, others who are not familiar with plate armor will first see it. If you look at them, you will think that these are heavy armors.
But in fact, the cavalry-specific half-plate armor equipped by these hussars is very thick in order to control the weight and ensure a certain protective area...
However, Hauge can't see these things!
"No wonder the three thousand elite cavalry on the left wing couldn't stop them even for a moment during the confrontation!"
"But since the opponent is a heavy cavalry, why did the left wing have to directly confront them before? Fools all know that the heavy cavalry can't run and fight from a distance. They can win ten times in ten fights. Why did they charge forward before? "
"A bunch of bastards!"
Haug now felt that it might be the fools who led the troops who underestimated the enemy or were overconfident, so they brought their own group of cavalry and archery light cavalry to come with the heavy cavalry from the east. Hedge.
The result was a disastrous failure!
——
On Hauge's side, he was extremely angry because of the appearance of the Guards Cavalry Detachment. When he was forced to mobilize his troops in a hurry, Army Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa opposite was laughing at the Guards Cavalry Detachment that finally arrived.
"You are finally here!"
At this time, there was a Guards major standing in front of him who was galloping over to report the news. He saw this Guards major arriving: "In the follow-up, our Guards cavalry will directly attack the enemy's flanks and rear. Please also ask your department to conduct artillery strikes in advance to provide us with fire support, and launch counterattacks to contain a certain amount of enemy troops!"
Zhu Xingfa still said with a smile on his face: "There is no problem with cooperation. I will personally order most of the firepower to support you later. Before you launch an attack, we will launch a counterattack to contain the opponent!"
"However, the opponent still has a lot of troops at the rear. Look, the cavalry is heading towards you. It is estimated that there are more than 2,000 cavalry. Are you, the Guards, sure?"
The young knight of the Guards had a confident face: "My Lord Secretary said that no matter what happens, our Guards will launch a charge and move forward indomitably, and the other party will definitely not be able to stop us!"
As he spoke, the man continued: "Just now, our Guards had a charge and completely defeated the opponent's three thousand fine cavalry in one charge. However, our casualties were only dozens, while the opponent's suffered hundreds of casualties, and the rest They all ran away in confusion!"
Zhu Xingfa had also seen the Guards' drills and had seen many reports on the Guards' new cavalry. Although he was still a little confused about the results, he believed them.
"Okay, then I'll wait for your signal!"
After the young knight of the Guards changed a group of horses and hurried away, Zhu Xingfa quickly gave instructions to some artillery units to slow down and let the barrels cool down one or two, and prepare before the Guards charge. , a rapid fire support.
At the same time, orders were passed to the cavalry units under his command, especially the 4th Cavalry Brigade, to prepare for counterattacks.
This time, he, Zhu Xingfa, is going to make a comeback and win a big victory!
He was looking forward to defeating, preferably annihilating in large numbers the main force of the Eastern Capture cavalry on the opposite side.
Without killing this eastward cavalry, there would be no smooth and safe march eastward, let alone reaching Jinzhou or even Shenyang.
Maybe, I can capture a few big prisoners in this battle, preferably a prince or prince from the Eastern Captives.
When the time comes, hang them directly at the city gate to dry...
He had done a lot of work for various dignitaries in the Ming Dynasty, including clans, nobles, and high-ranking official families, but he had never tried to kidnap dignitaries.
Thinking of this, Zhu Xingfa couldn't help but squint his eyes and look at the queue of Dongdu people in front. There must be high-ranking dignitaries of the Dongdu people there.
He is looking forward to this!
