Chapter 198: Cannon fodder, naturally it is Mongolia
A steady stream of Qing soldiers and horses with white flags are still arriving one after another.
However, what was at the foot of Changling Mountain at this moment were just some of their sentry horses, constantly probing upwards and galloping around in groups.
Most of the Tatars were just waiting in formation under the mountains, with a posture of standing still, as if they were waiting for something?
It was not until the first hour of the morning that Chen Zheng saw at the foot of the mountain, behind the large Tatar formation with white flags, a dense mass of infantry soldiers approaching, pushing many equipment for attacking the mountain.
After these Tatars and soldiers pushed the instruments closer, Chen Zheng saw that most of them were large wooden shields. These wooden shields were just made of some tree trunks as bones and wooden boards as the surface. They looked quite rough.
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If you think about it, you will know that the Tatars are rushing here from Baimiao Fort and other places. If they come with heavy shield vehicles made in advance, how much time will be delayed. I don’t know how many years and months it will take to arrive at Xingshan Fort.
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At this time, we saw some light shield carts rolling out behind the two rows of large wooden shields in front. These shield carts were much smaller than those used by the Tatars in the past. The shields in front were also made of wooden piles, but there were not many of them.
The large wooden shields of the Tatars seemed to be of little use. They could not withstand the artillery bombardment when they were far away, and they could not withstand the Yunzhou Type 2 fireguns when they were close. They were just like waste.
But those light shield vehicles are a bit difficult to handle. From a distance, although they are improvised, they are quite strong. If they avoid one's own artillery, once they are pushed to the front of the formation intact, they are
It can defend against one's own firecrackers.
However, it seems to be okay now, after all, the Tatars did not launch many shield cars.
You must know that almost all the trees within a few miles of the surrounding area have been cut down by Chen Zheng's Monolith Infantry Battalion soldiers. It is not easy for the Tatars to rush out these shield carts and large wooden shields at short notice.
In fact, after decades of plundering foreign countries, they have also captured many talents and accumulated their own technical strength. With their current technical strength, it is not impossible to manufacture Gan Yun chariots, pointed donkeys and other large siege equipment.
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It's just that this time they rushed to attack the Xingshan grain road, they couldn't slow down their marching speed for these attack tools, so they didn't bring them with them, not even the craftsmen.
At this moment, those who make these large wooden shields and light shield chariots are Yu Ding from each banner accompanying the army as a handyman. Although they cannot make complex siege equipment, the wooden shields and light shield chariots are not a problem for them.
In the telescope, Chen Zheng couldn't help but sneered in his heart when he looked at the crude Tatar attack equipment at the foot of the mountain.
From the mountainside of Changling Mountain, there are many trenches and traps. Pushing these large wooden shields and light shield carts up is more difficult than climbing to the sky. Even if there are a few shield carts that can push them up, it will still take Tatars.
Only flesh and blood can come and go to fill it up.
Apart from this, the Tatars at the foot of the mountain would not have any other options!
The sound of the horn came, and the Tatar soldiers with white flags had a simple breakfast and began to gather in a steady stream. They were forming a formation and seemed to be about to start attacking the mountain.
The entire atmosphere up and down Changling Mountain suddenly became solemn.
Two miles away from Changling Mountain, there is a hillock. Dozens of Tatar soldiers in golden armor are standing guard all around. On the hilltop, two yellow gold-woven dragon banners are flying in the wind.
Manchuria's Zhenghuang Banner stands on the mountain's forehead, Zhen'a Mountain, and Manchuria's inlaid yellow flag stands on the mountain's forehead, Zhen'an Baiyin Picture. Here, he is constantly looking in the direction of Changling Mountain, and at the same time he is pointing.
Gong Adai, the younger brother of Bai Yintu and serving as the general of the auxiliary state, and Sheng Zhong, a member of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, also rode their horses and stood beside them.
In addition, there are the Eight Mongolian Zhenghuang Banners, the Gushan Ezhen Adai, and the Xianghuang Banner, the Gushan Ezhen Zhen Lai. There are also the Mongolian Tumote Left and Right Banners of the outer vassals, Zhasak Ombu Chuhuer, Shanba, and Kara.
Qin's right-wing banner Zhasak Gulusi Qibu, and Karma and others who had newly taken over as Kalaqin's left-wing banner Zhasak also stood nearby.
They came to help Prince Duduo of Yu on the orders of the slave chief Huang Taiji!
The Qing army, like the Ming army, faced the crisis of insufficient food and grass, so Huang Taiji decided to take risks to win, and devised a strange plan to attack the Ming army's food route and cut off the Ming army's retreat.
In order to implement this strategy, he did not hesitate to abandon Shimen Mountain and Huangtu Ridge to contain the main force of the Ming army, in order to reduce the pressure on the unexpected troops in the direction of Xingshan.
And here, not only Dodo's Tatars with white flags, but also the two red flags of Prince Li Daishan served as the second echelon to attack the key points of Xingshan and Tashan Ming's military food road, hoping to win with one blow.
According to the plan, the two red flags should have been rushing here after dinner at 9:00 today.
At the same time, Huang Taiji sent two yellow banners, Gushan Ezhen Ashan and Baiyin Tu, with some of the elites from their respective banners to come to help Duduo.
This is the brilliance of Huang Taiji. On the one hand, he re-employed Dorgon and Duduo brothers, because they are both real people.
But on the other hand, it is indeed a smart move to send other officers and men separately to carry out surveillance in the name of helping from the side.
Think about the three battlefields today, only Huangtu Ridge and Xiaoling River are where Prince Su Hauge is presiding over the battle against Xuan Dajun.
As for the Shimen Mountain, Nuerhe battlefield, and the most important Xingshan and Tashan battlefields, Dorgon and the Duduo brothers were the main generals, which shows the importance of their brothers in the Qing Dynasty.
The two yellow banners of Manchuria and the two yellow banners of Mongolia, as well as the troops of Mongolian princes and ministers from foreign vassals, all set off after Duduo's white-trimmed banner, and they had just arrived here.
Nowadays, most of the Qing army's troops used to sneak attack the Ming army's rear route have been gathered here, and they are all the elites of the Tatar army, which shows that they attach great importance to this battle.
Looking at the ordinary mountain range in front of him, which showed a long and narrow terrain, Baiyintu showed a look of contempt in his eyes, and he said in a loud voice: "Isn't this guy Duduo making a fuss out of a molehill? This is just a mountain in front of you.
, he is still unable to capture the mountain with a white flag? He actually wants me and two yellow flag warriors to come here to join forces to attack the mountain!"
This Baiyintu is a veteran of the old slave Nurhachi era, and his qualifications in the Qing army are both old and hard.
Moreover, he was extremely loyal to Huang Taiji, but he often relied on his elders and betrayed him. Even when facing the slave chief Huang Taiji, he often regarded himself as his elder, and Huang Taiji always laughed it off.
Therefore, he has developed his current tone of voice and often treats the Dorgon brothers as juniors.
This relatively casual habit also affected his younger brother, General Gong Adai, who also looked at the Changling Mountains in front of him with a nonchalant attitude.
"Under the iron hooves of my warriors of the Qing Dynasty, a mere mountain ridge can't be conquered by simply charging!"
This is what Gong Adai is thinking.
At this moment, a group of fierce knights in white armor rode towards this side, and there was a small commotion on the hilltop. Then everyone separated into a passage for the group of warriors with white flags who were running towards them.
It was Prince Duduo of Yu, the owner of the white flag, who came running to this hillside under the protection of the Bajala warriors in the flag.
Zhenghuang Banner Gushan's forehead is really Ashan. Although the person is skinny, his face, neck, wrists, etc. are all covered with protruding veins. It is obvious that he has extraordinary strength and is by no means as weak as his appearance shows.
His expression was quite gloomy, and he was more cautious than the real worship sound picture on Gushan's forehead with a yellow flag. When he saw Ba Yala with a white flag running towards this direction, he rode his horse to meet him early.
He should be the first to ride and salute: "Ah Shan, pay homage to Prince Yu."
Duduo didn't say much. He just waved his horsewhip as usual, which was regarded as a salute. Not to mention stopping, he didn't even slow down and galloped past Ashan and went straight up the mountain.
Regardless of the fact that Ashan is Gushan Ezhen of the Zhenghuang Banner, he is extremely respected by Beile, the other banner lords. Even Dorgon is very polite to him and Baiyintu.
However, Duduo is a different kind of person. He has never been used to these people's temper!
Perhaps because he was loved by the old slave since he was a child, Duduo developed a proud character. Even Huang Taiji also tolerated his half-brother and rarely punished him for things.
Duduo lived up to expectations and gradually grew into a rare and fierce general in the Qing army.
However, because he was Dorgon's biological brother, Huang Taiji was always wary and did not dare to use him too much, lest Dorgon's faction become too powerful and eventually become too big to lose.
At this moment, Duduo rode up the mountain and stopped in front of everyone. His cold and arrogant eyes scanned everyone one by one. Even Bai Yintu, who relied on his old age to show off his old age, felt chilly.
"Although the mountain here is not big, it lies beside the main road. If we do not capture it, our army will not be able to attack Xingshan with all its focus, nor will it be able to completely cut off the Songxing Passage."
When everyone saw Prince Yu Duoduo speaking, they quickly echoed his words. Most of them had no objection to conquering Changling Mountain first, but a few people including Bai Yintu still looked indifferent.
Ashan had also galloped back. He secretly speculated behind Duduo: "It is reported that soldiers and horses under Zhang Cheng of Xuan Mansion are stationed here. I'm afraid it won't be so easy to capture..."
After pondering for a while, he urged his horse forward and whispered beside Duduo: "Prince Yu, why not let Mongolia and the Aha slaves in each banner test the troop layout on the mountains first..."
Duduo didn't even look back, he just nodded slightly and raised his whip to stop Ashan from continuing.
In fact, this time, in addition to all the white flags and one of the two yellow flags going into battle, there were also quite a few remaining soldiers from each banner to serve as followers and go to battle with the army, so that after they achieved military exploits, they could be added to each banner as armored soldiers.
You must know that although they are both Manchu Tatars, there is still a big difference between ordinary flag soldiers and armored flag soldiers.
Because the armored bannermen are regular soldiers of each banner and go to war with the army. Not only are they rewarded for their military exploits, but they also plunder a large amount of gold and silver with the army and return home in soft goods. In almost every war, many Tatar families become rich overnight.
It is precisely because of this temptation that the young and strong banner men in each banner who have reached age all hope to go to war with the army and actively kill the enemy, so as to become true Eight Banner warriors as soon as possible and win honor, gold and silver for themselves and their families.
In this battle, in addition to Yu Ding from each banner, there were also Aha slaves from each banner who accompanied the army. Most of them were captured Han people.
The main reason for bringing them along is because most of them have some skills. In addition to making attack equipment before the war, they also serve as labor cooks and the like.
Compared with the auxiliary soldiers and slaves of various banners, the lives of these Aha slaves are naturally lower, so they are often used as cannon fodder in every war.
Because Yu Ding of each banner serves as an auxiliary and handyman with the army, but they are still Manchus after all. If the armored soldiers of each banner are killed or injured in battle, they will be an important supplement to come to the rescue.
Ah Shan and others, who are also Manchurians, naturally do not want to waste these future soldiers easily!
The Manchurian Tatars' fighting method often used cannon fodder. They always drove Han slaves or Han army flags to charge forward to serve as the first wave of cannon fodder.
Then came the Mongolian tribes from the outer vassals who were not very close to them, then the Mongolian Eight Banners soldiers and horses who were closer to them, and finally it was the turn of the Manchu Eight Banners warriors to charge into the decisive battle.
There are some differences among the Eight Banners of Manchuria. For example, the savage Jurchens they collected from Oroqen, Xibo, Ewenki, Sauron, etc. are the dead soldiers of the Eight Banners of Manchuria.
To these savage Jurchens captured by the Tatars, they were more like war slaves of the Tatars. From the day they were captured, they were separated from their families.
They are always at the forefront of almost every battle, and they must be the first to capture the city in exchange for the safety of their families, so they are often called war slaves, or dead soldiers.
Now that the banners of the Han army and the Korean soldiers were not here, Ashan naturally first thought of sending the Mongolian troops from outside the vassal to go up first to test the strength of the Shanshi garrison.
Of course, in order to avoid suspicion, he also mentioned sending some Aha slaves to attack the mountains together.
However, although his words were soft, they were vaguely heard by Ombu Chuhuer and others. Although they could not hear clearly intermittently, the meaning of his words could still be guessed.
Several people couldn't help but feel secretly angry in their hearts: These damn Manchu Tatars always let my Mongolian warriors go up first to charge and gnaw the bones, and then they come back to eat the meat. It's really hateful!
However, they had now surrendered to the military power of the Qing Tatars, and they did not dare to fail to implement military orders.
Moreover, as a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, it was not their turn to participate in such strategic layout and tactical command matters. They could only obey the orders of the general to fight, and just die in peace.
Compared with Ah Shan's caution at the moment, Bai Yin Tu had a look of disapproval on his face.
He raised his eyes and looked at the sky, then said calmly: "Forget it. The weather is almost at the end of the hour, so let Omubu Chuhuer, Shanba and the others lead the troops and horses of the Mongolian tribes outside the vassal, plus two thousand Aha
Attack first and try the strength of the guarding Shannan Dog..."
After he expressed his opinion, he said with a very relaxed smile: "I'm afraid it's a big fuss. There are just a few thousand southern dogs in the mountains. Two Mongolian armies are sent to attack. I'm afraid they can be captured with just one drum. I'll just take it as a watch.
Let’s have a good show.”
Duduo also seemed to have a nonchalant look on his face. In his opinion, although the Ming army here looked a little strange, after all, there were only a few thousand people.
As Baiyintu said, there are thousands of southern dogs in just a mountain, but why don’t they just descend in one go?
However, when he saw that Baiyintu didn't respect him enough, he couldn't help but feel a trace of anger in his heart. However, he didn't say much at this time, and just lightly ordered: "Let's arrange it this way and send the order to attack the mountain!"