The defeated troops came in waves, and countless people were crowded together. Every moment, someone was pushed down and trampled to death.
And the arrows fired from the Mako Zheng barracks in front kept falling. The defeated soldiers and civilians were either squeezed to death or shot to death by sharp arrows.
The ground was covered in red, mixed with patches of yellow and white. The originally dry and hard ground also looked muddy, and many people slipped and fell in the crowd, becoming the dead souls at others' feet.
Finally, several resisting horses in the front were knocked away by the broken soldiers who pushed up from behind.
It was as if a dam had opened its gates, and the flow of people poured in like a flood. However, when these people rushed to the front of the formation, they were stabbed to the ground by the dense array of spears protruding from behind the chariot.
The sound of crying and wailing was earth-shattering. The huge sound made Ma Ke in the sharp formation tremble. His eyes were red and he looked like a devil. His hands clenched the shaft of the car tightly, and even veins appeared.
Next to him, Ma Zhiren's legs were trembling, and his face showed a look of horror. He opened his mouth, but failed to muster up the courage to speak. He just licked his dry lips with his tongue.
It's not that he pities the defeated troops and the people, he just can't stand it anymore. Too many people have died. Even if they are as sinister and vicious as he is, he can't help but feel sympathy.
Although he was not good at fighting, he also knew that if he opened his mouth and allowed the defeated troops to flow in like a tide, then in the blink of an eye, his own military formation would be destroyed and dispersed by them, or even become crowded.
And the final result was that not a single one of the thousands of soldiers in the main barracks could survive!
The archers in Makozheng's barracks also knew that if they allowed these rebels to break up and rush into the formation, they would definitely be dragged into the fleeing army by them, and they would be chased and killed by the Tatar cavalry.
Therefore, like the spearmen in the front row, they shot deadly arrows mercilessly. Under their resistance, the situation of the broken troops attacking the sharp formation was slightly slowed down.
However, the heavy cavalry of the Qing army continued to catch up and kill them, and they did not dare to stop for a moment. They still crowded forward and fled forward. Some people saw that there was no way ahead and people were dead on both sides. They regained their courage and screamed wildly.
Turn around and fight with the captives.
But in the era of cold weapons, if the infantry did not form a military formation, how could it be the opponent of the cavalry?
Almost none of those who turned around to attack the Tatars and their captives survived. They were either chopped down, picked up with spears, or collided with horses and trampled to death. All of them died tragically.
However, if they were like this, they would have deserved their death!
Finally, someone realized that since they couldn't rush in from the front, why not go to the side?
I saw the dizzy mobs starting to run to both sides. They were either outside Juma or inside Juma. In short, they no longer tried to rush into Marco's main barracks.
Instead, they ran along the formation of vehicles on both sides, rolling and crawling from the east side of the two sides. The people behind them were blindly following them. They no longer knew the direction, and they only followed the people in front of them and fled without their lives.
Waves of heavy cavalry from the Qing army were slowly advancing on their horses, but the light cavalry from the Northern Barbarians did not approach the military formation of the main barracks. They only used cavalry fire from a distance on the periphery to drive the rebels into the formation.
At this moment, they saw that the rebels, under the threat of spears and bows from the main barracks, no longer attacked the Ming army's formation head-on, but instead bypassed the two sides of their formation, and immediately rode on horseback to drive them away.
They did not hesitate to get close to Ma Ke's main camp, riding their horses past the rebels, constantly shooting sharp arrows, throwing javelins, or throwing flying swords and broadswords, hoping to force them to march towards the Ming army's main formation again.
Flee inside.
The heavy cavalry of the Qing army chasing after them also discovered this situation. They quickly mobilized their horses and rushed up, hoping to intimidate the defeated troops in front to break through the front of the Ming army's formation.
In this way, the gap where the horse was pushed down in front has been blocked by the mob, and the mob who fled to both sides were driven back by the Mongolian cavalry. The place became even more crowded, and the defeated troops behind could not squeeze in.
"Damn it, you can't escape even if you run away. You will die sooner or later. How about fighting with the Tatars..."
I don't know who shouted in the crowd, and then someone echoed: "Fight, you will be exhausted in the end, you might as well kill a Tatar and fight with his mother..."
People are like this. When there is still hope of life, in order to escape with their lives, they will ignore everything around them, and will even pull in their former comrades to support them.
But once the despair is complete, all previous hopes are completely shattered, and people's courage will be inspired again.
"No matter what, we are going to die, so let's die like a man and kill the Tatars..."
Humans are gregarious creatures, and as long as there is a leader, there will never be a shortage of followers. When they shout, the crowd becomes excited, and they all turn around and run back.
When many people were escaping, in order to run faster, shields, sabers, helmets and iron armor became a burden. Some of them even took off their shirts and threw them away, and fled all the way bare-chested.
Nowadays, even though they have no way to survive and they bravely rush forward, most of them are empty-handed and have no weapons to use. But how can they take this into account when they have lost their minds and they still rush forward like crazy.
Of course, there were also some people who were completely frightened. Seeing that the front was blocked and unable to advance or retreat, they could only squeeze forward with all their strength, and finally got stuck in the middle of the crowd, unable to move.
There are also some people who used too much force when they escaped just now. Now they are crowded here. Once the strength is released, they collapse to the ground and let others kick and step on them without paying attention.
They just murmured in their mouths: "Mom, I'm sorry for you, I can't die for you!"
The heavy cavalry of the Qing army, which was chasing up from behind, suddenly saw that some of the defeated troops dared to turn around and fight, and was immediately surprised. However, they were also arrogant and used to look down on the Ming army, so why not?
I will take these defeated soldiers into my eyes.
Like demons, they roared and charged forward on horseback, mixing with the roars of the defeated soldiers on the opposite side who turned back to kill the slaves, and soon the two sides collided.
The heavy cavalry charged head-on. Many of the defeated soldiers who rushed in front were knocked to the ground and trampled by the hooves of the war horses. Then, those defeated soldiers who were not knocked down were used by the Qing cavalry with their scimitars.
, spear, chop him down and stab him to death.
But there were not a few who came back to kill the slaves. There were hundreds of them. Although most of them did not have weapons in their hands, some of them still had steel knives or hand knives.
They took advantage of the broken troops in front to slow down the Qing cavalry, stepped on the corpses of their companions, jumped up, or slashed with their swords, or hugged a Qing heavy armored cavalry and fell off the horse.
, or bite or gnaw, or pick or scratch, and are tightly entangled with each other.
There were also some people who had no chance to jump up, so they got under the horse's belly, or used a knife to cut open the horse's belly, or hugged the horse's legs tightly to prevent it from running any further.
In just an instant, the middle part of the Qing army's heavy cavalry array came to a standstill, blocked by hundreds of broken soldiers who had regained their fighting spirit.
Originally, they were in the middle, and the left and right troops took turns charging forward to force the defeated soldiers to run away desperately, without having time to breathe, and to save their own horse power.
But now it was time for the charge in the central part, but they were stopped by hundreds of defeated troops. With their fighting spirit rekindled, they seemed to have been reborn, and had long forgotten their previous fear of the Tatars.
This situation reminds people of Han Xin's last-ditch battle in the Han Dynasty, and Xiang Yu's desperate plan in the troubled times of the late Qin Dynasty. It is when people are on the verge of death and have no way out that they can greatly stimulate people's desire to survive.
Isn’t that what it means to regard death as home?
But compared to Han Xin and Xiang Yu, they were still prepared and planned, and the counterattack of today's defeated soldiers was truly a fighting spirit inspired by extreme despair.
Although their battle could not prevent the further development of the overall situation, it showed the courage of the Ming army and shattered the rumors that the Ming army was cowardly, afraid of slaves like tigers, and would collapse without a fight.
Although most of the Ming army regarded the Tartars as ferocious beasts and demons, they did not dare to fight with them. Whenever they encountered them, they would either retreat to the big city or stay away from them. If they fought with them, few would be undefeated.
Although the soldiers are at fault, the biggest responsibility lies with the generals who led the troops, and their superiors and governors. How can they dare to fight if they drink the blood of the soldiers, do not repair their armor, and do not train?
military?
Today's small group of defeated troops spontaneously aroused their fighting spirit under extreme despair. They had already put aside life and death, turned all their fear into anger, and used all their strength to attack the Tatars who once made them extremely afraid.
Armored soldier.
The Mongolian light cavalry still wandering on the left and right wings also discovered that something was wrong here, and their reaction was much faster than that of the Qing army's heavy cavalry.
After a roar, groups of horses rode towards them. Before they could get close, a wave of arrows hit the broken soldiers who had just turned around and were rushing towards the Tatar soldiers.
They did not dare to shoot arrows into the chaotic battlefield where they were fighting. The defeated troops and the Qing cavalry were already fighting together. It was completely indistinguishable which was the Qing cavalry and which was the routed army. The accuracy of the cavalry's shooting was difficult to guarantee. If they shot a Qing soldier,
Riding is not a sin.
The Mongolian light cavalry shot through a wave of arrows, successfully preventing more defeated soldiers from running back, joining the battlefield, and then roaring through the battlefield, driving the defeated soldiers towards the Ming army's formation again.
In the age of cold weapons, bows and arrows have always been sharp weapons. After all, weapons for long-distance combat are limited. Even fire blunderbuss cannot shoot continuously like bows and arrows, and the dense rain of arrows has a strong deterrent effect.
After their cavalry shooting, insertion, division and outflanking, the fighting spirit of the defeated troops was extinguished again, and they turned around and fled again, even more panicked than before.
Seeing that there was no way to escape, some people climbed onto the bodies of those in front of them, stepped on their companions' bodies, and continued to run and jump forward. More people imitated their example.
This was a disaster for the defeated troops and rebels who were still in front. They thought they had a chance to escape into the main formation of Mako's barracks and maybe survive. Unexpectedly, they were trampled to death under their own feet.
The Mongolian light cavalry continued to weave in and out, making it impossible for the broken troops behind to form a systematic resistance. The broken soldiers could no longer do anything except flee like an avalanche.
Seeing that the pursuit situation had stabilized again, the Mongolian light cavalry no longer outflanked them. They were still on both wings, driving away the defeated troops with mounted fire.
…………
Ma Zhiyong's eyes seemed to have been filled with blood, and he looked extremely breathtaking. He kept shouting at the top of his lungs, and fired rows of arrows. Several times he stopped the rebels from rushing in, but he was again defeated by the Qing cavalry and the enemy.
Meng Qi was forced back.
Many archers have stopped shooting. No matter how the superior officers shout and give orders, it's not that they don't shoot, but that their arms are exhausted and they can no longer pull the bowstring in their hands.
During this period, some artillery and gunners also completed loading, but they all ignored orders and basically loaded and fired as they went.
The artillery was okay. Almost all of its bombardments hit the formation of the Qing heavy cavalry. Although it was not a salvo and the power was not enough, it did not cause major damage to the Qing cavalry. However, it somewhat hindered the Qing cavalry's advance against the defeated troops.
.
But those musketeers were all panicking. Under this situation, the reloading of bullets was much slower. They all finished loading in a hurry, lifted it up and shot out. Most of them turned out to be empty muskets, and the bullets were all gone.
Shot into the air.
In the panic, only the gunpowder was loaded, but not the bullets. This was really a waste of time, and the hand was shaking so much that I didn’t know how much gunpowder was loaded, so I lifted it up and used a match rope to light it, causing an explosion in the barrel.
, not only hurt yourself, but also endangered your comrades around you.
Seeing the horses being pushed down one by one, more and more rebels gathered in front of the chariot. Even the spearman felt his arms were sore and numb, which showed how much pressure there was.
Many heavy cavalrymen of the Qing army rushed forward, and even jumped down one after another. They fought on foot with heavy armor and long knives and axes, while those who were still on horseback used strong bows and powerful crossbows to continuously shoot at the defeated troops.
.
The Mongolian light cavalry also came in groups, constantly blocking the fleeing rebels and forcing them to charge back towards the Ming army's formation.
Ma Ke's main camp formation was already surrounded on three sides by fleeing rebels and defeated troops. They worked together to overthrow the rebels and climbed onto the chariot one by one.
It seemed that all around them, the defeated soldiers who had no way to escape were wailing loudly, and many injured were lying on the ground crying and screaming, and they were wailing and calling for help at the fleeing friendly troops.
"Brothers, please, please help me..."
"Haha... Look, everyone, we have worked hard for the commander-in-chief for many years, and for the Ming Dynasty, this is what we will end up with..."
"I don't want to die. I still have a wife, children, and children at home. If anyone saves me, I will give him all my wealth and he will take my mother-in-law, and I will admit it..."
"...die, let's all die..."
Under the pursuit and interception of the Qing cavalry, the infantrymen of the left wing battalion could only blame themselves for their miserable lives, and almost no one could escape.
The cavalry relied on the speed of their horses, and under the leadership of General He Youren, they did not become confused. They desperately intercepted and killed a group of rioters, preventing them from attacking Ma Ke's main barracks immediately.
However, this was all they could do. If they continued to fight, they would probably collapse, so He Youren did not dare to persist and led them to run from the north to the east.
Amid the overwhelming cries, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, Ma Ke, looked livid. He felt hatred in his heart and shouted angrily: "He Youren, you are a worthless thing. If you do this to me today, you will definitely die a good death!"