Liu Zongmin met Li Zicheng alone and said, "Your Majesty, beware of Ma Ke secretly communicating with the Tartar slaves!"
"I know that these surrendered generals are unreliable." Li Zicheng nodded.
Li Zicheng had two main approaches to deal with the Ming Dynasty's surrender of troops due to time constraints.
One is the officers and soldiers guarding the city and tombs who surrendered along the way during Li Zicheng's march. These officers and soldiers were basically disbanded on the spot and sent back to their hometowns to farm. A few young men were recruited to supplement the vacancies in the Dashun Army.
One is the Ming Dynasty's border troops. Because they maintain combat effectiveness and are temporarily inconvenient to move, they are allowed to continue to guard the border. If the troops are forcibly disbanded, the border generals are likely to rebel, and Li Zicheng does not have so much time to conquer.
Hong Chengchou belongs to the second type, and Ma Ke also belongs to the second type.
Ma Ke was already good. Facing Hauge and Dorgon's attack, he did not immediately choose to stab Li Zicheng in the back. He was guarding the city and watching, what if Li Zicheng could kill Huang Taiji?
Now that Li Zicheng has retreated to Shanhaiguan, Ma Ke has begun to make plans.
Li Zicheng said: "There are not many Tatar slaves in the pass. They are all partial troops who took a detour to cross the Great Wall. Don't rush to break out and destroy these partial troops directly! At that time, relying on Shanhaiguan, if the Tatar chief (Huang Taiji) does not withdraw his troops, we will look for opportunities to break out of the customs with him.
decisive battle!"
Liu Zongbin said: "During the battle, take Ma Ke out and let our own people guard the pass."
"Oh, how dare you let him guard the gate?" Li Zicheng sighed.
On this day, the follow-up troops of the Manchu Qing Dynasty arrived. There were a total of 60,000 troops, as well as a large number of civilians transporting grain. It seemed that the Tatars had already left in full force.
In the previous dispatch of troops in a hurry, Huang Taiji could only mobilize 60,000 troops, but now he gathered 60,000 troops to kill them. Not only that, there were also thousands of Mongolian cavalry from the direction of Lengkou and Xifengkou, crossing the Great Wall and entering Shanhaiguan.
However, with the dispatch of 120,000 troops and even more civilians, the people of Liaodong have been severely overstretched. Once Shanhaiguan cannot be defeated, the Manchu Qing regime will weaken from then on, and it is feared that it will have to kill the people to protect food to survive.
"The Tartars have increased their troops again." Liu Zongmin said worriedly.
Li Zicheng forced himself to calm down: "Follow him to increase troops outside the pass, and first destroy the Tatar thieves inside the pass."
Liu Zongbin led 10,000 troops to defend Shanhaiguan.
Li Zicheng took Ma Ke and personally led nearly 60,000 troops into the battle. The troops were directed at Hauge, Dorgon, Tang Tong, Bai Guangen and Jiang Zhu in the pass.
In "History of the Ming Dynasty", it is said that Li Zicheng's tactics are "three walls", which is almost certainly made up.
At this moment, Li Zicheng also formed a three-layer formation, with infantry in the front, cavalry in the middle, and cavalry in the rear.
Due to the continuous seizure of officers and soldiers' equipment, all the elite members of the Dashun Army are wearing armor. Even the infantry are wearing high-quality leather armor, and some infantry are also wearing heavy armor. There are spearmen, archers, fire muskets, and not many sword and shield fighters. The formation
The defensive capabilities are far inferior to those of the Datong Army and the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
"Boom boom boom!"
There was a rumbling sound of artillery outside the pass, but it was Huang Taiji's main force, attacking Shanhaiguan with heavy artillery.
Li Zicheng believed that Liu Zongmin could hold on, so he ignored Huangtai and sent his troops to kill Hauge and Dorgon in the pass.
In order to quickly attack in a detour, Hauge and Dorgon had all their cavalry under their command. They put the troops of the surrendered generals in front, while they led the cavalry around the battlefield.
Tang Tong, Bai Guangen, Jiang Zhu and other surrendered generals were beaten to death by Li Zicheng's army.
On the way to Shanhaiguan, they selected young and strong civilian men to supplement their troops. Now each of them has an army of five thousand, and the number of Han soldiers alone is fifteen thousand. They are all a mob!
"Retreat to Funing quickly!" Dorgon was shocked.
Hauge said: "Yes, retreat quickly, we can't fight this battle!"
These two famous figures, don't think they are very brave, they can also run very fast when they encounter danger.
The two sides were still three miles apart, so Haug and Dorgon ran away with their cavalry, leaving the 15,000 infantrymen of the surrendered generals on the battlefield.
"Run!" Tang Tong saw that the situation was not good and immediately ran away with his servants and cavalry.
The rest of the surrendered generals also scrambled to flee, leaving only 15,000 Han infantry on the battlefield.
Most of these Han infantry were common people along the way, and some had only served as soldiers for a few days. They did not dare to flee back for fear of being forcibly recruited by the Qing army again, so they knelt down and surrendered.
"Chase!"
Li Zicheng was too lazy to pay attention to these surrendered soldiers and ordered the infantry to guard and collect them. He led his cavalry and cavalry and chased the enemy cavalry directly.
The valiant cavalry are all elite cavalry who can charge into formations and ride and shoot.
The cavalry is much weaker. Although they are also armored, they are more like mounted infantry.
Moreover, this cavalry team is very special, consisting of thousands of teenagers. They are Li Zicheng's "child army". They are usually responsible for custody, interrogation, and demotion. They are also responsible for publicizing policies everywhere, and they are also the executors of previous tortures.
Mentioning the "Child Army" would scare Ming officials to the point of peeing in their pants.
The commander of the Boy's Army is Zhang Nai. He stood out among many young men due to his military exploits and has now been adopted as his adopted son by Li Zicheng.
"Kill the enemy, kill the enemy!"
Zhang Nai drew his sword and shouted, and thousands of young men shouted in unison, riding horses and even rushed in front of Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng was shocked and said: "Blow the trumpet quickly to make them run slower!"
"Woooooooo~~~~"
The horn sounded, and Zhang Nai quickly slowed down his horse, waiting for Li Zicheng to catch up.
After leaving Shanhaiguan, Hauge and Dorgon suddenly laughed.
Li Zicheng was fooled.
Strictly speaking, the Manchu army was not divided into infantry and cavalry.
If we have to forcefully define the Manchu cavalry, then it is a very unique kind of mountain cavalry.
They can also use horseback riding, shooting and other skills, but generally they will not use it to charge into battle, and are better at running and attacking. They can march quickly in the mountainous area and go around to the predetermined combat location. They can immediately dismount and attack the city, or they can form an infantry formation to fight.
, cavalry combat can also be carried out at critical moments.
If the enemy has a large number of traditional cavalry, the Manchu and Qing cavalry will use routines.
They use ridiculously loose formations to conduct guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare, luring traditional cavalry out of their own formations.
Continuous riding and shooting coverage, constant disengagement.
They will set up an ambush during the pursuit, or gather superior forces to fight back. They will use cavalry fire to weaken the enemy's morale, disrupt the enemy's formation, and then launch an assault from the flanks and rear flanks.
Huang Taiji was very courageous and gathered 20,000 cavalry for Hauge and Dorgon.
Three thousand of them were guarding the grain and grass and Hong Chengchou in Funing, and there were still 17,000 cavalry in front of them. After they lured Li Zicheng out of the formation, they suddenly dispersed into four groups, slowed down their horses and fired towards the rear.
Li Zicheng had tens of thousands of leather-armored cavalry and thousands of cavalry under his command, and they also dispersed their formation.
There were very few in the Boy's Army Cavalry that could ride and shoot, so they were ordered by Li Zicheng to stay behind and charge directly at the critical moment. Li Zicheng personally led the cavalry and fired at one of the enemy troops.
At the moment when the two sides approached, hundreds of Manchu and Qing cavalry were hit by arrows, but only a dozen of them actually fell from their horses. The cotton armor was enough to withstand the power of bows and arrows. Moreover, the Manchu and Qing war horses were also covered with cotton armor on key parts to strengthen their defense.
The defensive power of bows and arrows.
Just when Li Zicheng had the advantage, three other groups of Manchu and Qing cavalry suddenly rushed towards the flanks and fired arrows at the Dashun cavalry.
For the next ten minutes or so, Li Zicheng was a little stunned because he had never encountered such a style of play.
One group of Manchu and Qing cavalry braved the rain of arrows and fired at Li Zicheng, while the other three groups kept firing arrows sideways. When Li Zi divided his troops and fired at each other, the Manchu and Qing cavalry suddenly dispersed again, and one group split into several groups and fled.
How far did it go in the end?
Both sides were divided into numerous units, each with only a few hundred men, scattered randomly on the battlefield. The rhythm of the battle was completely controlled by the Manchu and Qing cavalry.
Moreover, after the Manchu and Qing cavalry crossed back and forth, it was possible for several groups to quickly merge into one and launch a charge with superior strength on a local battlefield.
It sounds simple, but it is actually very difficult. It requires a high level of organization and training!
Li Zicheng had a high degree of organization, but little training in related tactics, because he had never fought such a cavalry battle. Even though he had many Ming Dynasty border troops under his command, these Ming Dynasty border troops rebelled very early and had not been exposed to them for nearly ten years.
The well-developed Manchu cavalry tactics.
After two thousand cavalry were cannibalized by the enemy, Li Zicheng awakened to the fighting consciousness he had learned from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
Trumpets were blown to gather troops, and the Dashun cavalry scattered across the battlefield risked their lives to gather in the direction of Li Zicheng.
From the battle to the present, after paying almost three thousand casualties, Li Zicheng finally completed the assembly and then rushed in the direction of the Boy Army regardless of everything.
The Manchu and Qing cavalry also joined forces to pursue them, eating the tail of the Datong cavalry along the way.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
There was a loud and rapid sound of the horn, and Zhang Nai led thousands of soldiers to attack, and charged with all their strength as fast as possible.
This is almost a suicide charge. Although the Boy's Army rides horses, they are still cavalry in nature. Their weapons, equipment and combat skills cannot be compared with real cavalry.
But thousands of young men were not afraid. They held up infantry spears and charged towards the Manchu cavalry at the risk of their own lives.
Abandoning equipment, relying on the speed of horses, charging quickly, and fighting at close range, this is the best tactic to deal with the Qing cavalry. In just over ten minutes, Li Zicheng realized it during the battle!
The Boy's Army happened to lack cavalry equipment. Although the horses were relatively inferior, they ran much faster than the Manchu cavalry.
Seeing this situation, Hauge and Dorgon quickly ordered to disperse, intending to repeat the same trick and eat the children's army and cavalry.
Under the leadership of Zhang Nai, thousands of soldiers risked their lives, and after hundreds of them were quickly shot, they ran into the scattered formations of the Manchu and Qing cavalry.
It doesn't matter if the equipment is inferior. These teenagers are here to die. One for one, two for one, three for one, it's all acceptable.
Li Zicheng also brought Xiaoqi over to help, and despite the shooting of other small groups of enemy troops, he rushed into the group of Manchu and Qing cavalry dragged out by the Boy's Army.
Tang Tong, Bai Guangen, Jiang Zhu and other surrendered generals were all dumbfounded at this moment.
They fled all the way to watch the battle and witnessed the entire battle. At this point in the battle, the Dashun cavalry suffered more than 3,000 casualties, the Dashun boy army suffered more than 1,000 casualties, and the Manchu cavalry suffered more than 2,000 casualties.
Moreover, Li Zicheng has found a suitable tactic.
The intensity of the war was too high, beyond the imagination of the surrendered generals. They could not understand why both sides were not afraid of death.
"withdraw!"
Some of the bitten Manchu and Qing cavalry were still alive, but they were directly abandoned by Dorgon and Hauge. They took the opportunity to distance themselves and wanted to continue playing tricks.
Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and said: "Withdraw to Shanhaiguan!"
Although this tactic is effective, it is the result of the sacrifice of the Boy's Army. Although it can effectively kill the enemy, if it is used a few more times, thousands of the Boy's Army will have to deal with it here, and Dashun Xiaoqi will have to pay a heavy price.
Seeing Li Zicheng retreat, Hauge and Dorgon led their troops to fight back.
Li Zicheng was ruthless and separated hundreds of boys. After the army was defeated, the teenagers used their lives to cover Li Zicheng's retreat.