The young and strong people in the city who were assisting in the defense were helping to carry stones and wood to the city to assist in the defense. Some people even set up large pots at the top of the city and began to boil water, hot oil, and even gold juice.
While they were busy, they kept turning their heads to look at the battlefield outside the city.
When the Tatar cavalry launched a charge, many Hanzhong people couldn't bear to look directly at it. Standing on the top of the city, they could see the fierce momentum of the cavalry charge at a glance, which made people feel even more frightened.
.
Not many people thought that the Ming army could withstand the charge of the Tatar cavalry.
Chen Caifang was a Jinshi in the Wanli year. He was admitted to the Hanlin Academy and served as an official in the capital for many years. Later, he served as an official for several years abroad. During the Chongzhen period, he retired and returned to his hometown and returned to Hanzhong.
During the Chongzhen period, the prosperous Hanzhong, which was blessed by heaven and earth, was nourished by the Han River, and surrounded by the Qinling Mountains and Bashan Mountains, was not peaceful.
People and horses from all walks of life came and went, scraping the ground three feet.
Ming Army, Chuang Army, Western Army, Qing Army, Ming Army, Ming Army, you just finish singing and I will appear on the stage. No matter how rich Hanzhong is, it cannot withstand such plunder.
Hanzhong is known as the small granary in the northwest. There has never been a shortage of food before. As long as you have food in hand, you don't have to worry about running out of food. You can even transport food along the Han River to Jingxiang or northern Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
People who suffered from wars have been fleeing to Fucheng in recent years. Chen Caifang also ran from Liuba to Hanzhong Prefecture. He had been an official for many years and his family was originally well-off, but he had been persuaded to donate in various ways over the years, which made life difficult.
Because he had been appointed to Hanlin before and served as deputy envoy of the Imperial Guard, in the past two years, after various forces took control of Hanzhong, they also used him as the prefect of Hanzhong to be responsible for civil affairs.
In fact, Chen Caifang doesn't want to be a prefect at all, but it's not okay to not do it properly.
From He Zhen to Ma Ke and then to Li Guohan, he could not afford to offend anyone.
But he never thought that one day he would wake up and find himself under the Ming Dynasty again.
Wen Anzhi, the manager of the five provinces of the Ming Dynasty, summoned him. After chatting with him, he was still appointed as the temporary magistrate of Hanzhong and asked him to assist in defending the city. His mission was to maintain public order in the city and summon the soldiers and civilians in the city to assist in defense.
Her braids were hastily cut and her forehead was still shiny, so she could only wear a net scarf and wear the old Ming Dynasty official uniform.
He led his masters to command the people at the top of the city.
He has also been secretly watching the battle outside the city.
At first, I felt that although the Ming army came suddenly, they might not be able to defeat the Eight Banners who had just defeated the Western bandits.
It was even believed that the Eight Banners could defeat the Ming army outside the city with a single charge.
But when the two armies collided violently, he was so shocked that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear.
The Ming army arrayed outside the city, with eight thousand troops.
With the city behind and the river facing the Qing army.
It is divided into left and right wings and stretches for several miles.
The Qing cavalry was the first to charge to the left wing, but with the support of artillery on the Ming army's city wall and the cover of the crossbows behind the formation, the Ming army's gun array remained motionless.
He actually withstood the Tatar cavalry.
The Tatar cavalry rushed into the infantry formation, but only rushed a few feet before being submerged.
The man turned his back on his horse.
The Qing cavalry was beating like huge waves, but the Ming army was as solid as a rock.
No matter how hard the huge waves hit him, he withstood them, but instead the waves were shattered.
"Cavalry, the cavalry is out."
One of the masters was so excited that he pinched his thighs and couldn't help shouting.
At this time, on the city wall, whether they were soldiers of the Ming army, strong men assisting in the defense, or even demoted officials such as Chen Caifang, they all couldn't help but stop what they were doing and looked at the battlefield in the distance.
This is an extremely rare scene.
It's more enjoyable than watching a movie.
They stood high and far away, watching as the Tatars rode into the Ming army's spear array one after another, and then fell down one after another.
Some Tatar cavalry tried to turn around and flee, but they could not escape the bombardment of bows, arrows and muskets.
The weather is very good today, the sky is clear and cloudless.
The battlefield situation is clear at a glance.
The two thousand Mongolian light cavalry were smashed to pieces in a short time, while the Qing army's thousands of infantrymen still couldn't keep up and were still running hard.
The horn sounds.
Qin Liangyu, the president of the five provinces who was in command outside the city, ordered the cavalry to be outflanked by two wings.
Zhang Shipeng, the admiral of the imperial camp, personally led the cavalry to attack. He and Zhu Wanhua each led a wing of cavalry and rushed out suddenly, like a roc spreading its wings, outflanking and encircling them with both wings.
There are not many of these cavalry.
But for the Tatars who were hit by the Ming army's gun array on the battlefield at this time and suffered a bloody head, it was fatal.
Tunqi, who underestimated the enemy and was careless, regretted it.
The cavalry was ordered to retreat.
Han Dai, who was still coming from behind, saw this and immediately gave the order to retreat.
The cavalry have been beaten to such a cowardly state that the infantry will be sent away if they go and have to come back to reorganize.
But how could the Ming army miss this opportunity?
Although Chen Caifang had a high official position in the past and was forced to be the prefect of Hanzhong for two years. She had also seen many soldiers coming and going, and even fought more than once outside the city, but there had never been a fight like this.
of.
This intensity, this momentum.
When Li Chixin and others came and were intercepted by He Zhen, the two sides also had a fight outside the city, but the fight was so ugly that it was just like a village fight. There was no scene like this.
Even when the Western bandits came several times later, there was no such formation.
He Zhenchang'an attacked after being defeated, but they only yelled and cursed for a while, and then the two sides exchanged bows and arrows before retreating.
It is so rare to see cavalry directly collide with infantry formations.
The result is also surprising. I thought the Mongolian cavalry was too abundant, but this is the result?
Tunqi knew that he had underestimated the Ming army on the opposite side and wanted to withdraw and regroup and come back again, but Zhang Shipeng did not give him a chance.
Qingqi prepared a strike and charged out violently.
On the battlefield, Qin Liangyu also issued orders for all ministries to move forward.
Qin Yiming, Ma Wannian, Ran Tianlin, Ji Congxiao and other frontline generals gave orders to attack.
The soldiers held up their spears and strode forward.
"These Tartar cavalry are finished."
Chen Caifang sighed, a little unbelievable.
"How did the Tatars fight like this?"
"Why do they use light cavalry to charge into the spear formation?"
Several staff members also said.
Chen Caifang thought for a long time, "Because after the Tatars entered the pass, they won too easily. They haven't encountered such a powerful Ming army for a long time, and they thought they could be defeated in one fell swoop."
Of course, it is not impossible for cavalry to charge infantry. If they encounter those with a big difference in strength, they will indeed be defeated in one charge. For example, in the past, the army of the army charged against the thieves, and even the army of the three walls of the army were often able to be defeated in one charge.
of.
The prerequisite is that there must be a big difference in strength.
It was obvious that the Tatars had made a mistake in planning the rebellion. They did not expect that the Ming army would be so powerful.
Han Dai ordered the infantry to retreat.
"It seems like these cavalrymen can't escape. They are surrounded. Those cavalrymen are so fast." One of the staff pointed at the Mingqi who was running like lightning.
Li Guohan, the Qing army coach in the rear, also discovered this terrible situation.
He cursed angrily, "Is Han Dai a pig-brained person? If he doesn't go up to respond at this time but retreats alone, then he will give away all 2,000 people in Tunqi."
"Hurry up and give him the order to bring the infantry up to meet him. He must bring the people back."
After scolding, he gave another order to his subordinates. Regardless of whether all the backing vehicles had crossed the river, he quickly organized his formation and went forward to respond. He also asked someone to give an order to Obai, asking his cavalry to immediately go up to respond.
He could not watch the two thousand riders from Tunqi being surrounded and annihilated.
Han Dai led the Manchu cavalry and escorted thousands of infantrymen to the front of the formation. Seeing that the situation was not going well, he retreated. Unexpectedly, the cavalry did not escape and were surrounded. Li Guohan sent someone to pass the order and asked them to turn back for rescue.
"Damn it," Han Dai felt very angry. This is not annoying.
However, thinking about it, it was because they underestimated the enemy that they made such a big mistake. They did not dare to disobey military orders anymore, so they had to order the entire army to turn around and go back to rescue the cavalry.
When the infantry heard the military order, they cursed one after another, and they were even obviously unwilling to go back and die.
But the Tatar generals shouted loudly and whipped the dissatisfied Han generals, and they had no choice but to turn around.
But going back and forth again wasted a lot of time.
The Ming cavalry surrounded the Tatar cavalry, and the Ming infantry quickly caught up and joined the encirclement and suppression.
By the time a few Han generals and several thousand infantrymen arrived, the two thousand Mongolian cavalry had been surrounded and killed, and only a few of them were left. As soon as they arrived, they delivered more goods to their door.
Zhang Shipeng, Qin Yiming and others, who were eager to kill, roared and continued to chop with their swords while they were victorious.
The Ming army took advantage of the victory to pursue them, and they were as powerful as a tiger.
On the contrary, the morale of these thousands of Han troops was low at this time, and they were as afraid of the enemy as tigers.
As soon as the battle began, many Han troops began to turn around and run away. Some even shouted while running, saying, "We are defeated, run quickly," etc., and their morale was low.
Soon, the thousands of Han troops began to flee completely.
The Ming army took advantage of the victory and pursued it all the way.
By the time Obai arrived with his cavalry, the Ming army had already killed the Tatar left-wing army and was completely defeated. Seeing that an elite Tatar force had arrived, Qin Liangyu ordered the troops to retreat.
All units gathered up their formation and rearranged themselves neatly.
Obai rushed to the battlefield. Facing the Ming army, which had just won a great victory and the whole army shouted long live, he did not dare to approach at all.
"withdraw!"
Ao Bai did not dare to underestimate the enemy. Han Dai and those two idiots killed thousands of cavalry in one go. This lesson was too profound.
With the thousands of people he has in hand, even if he charges forward, there will be no good results.
Ao Bai slowly retreated.
The entire Ming army cheered.
"Long live!"
"Long live!"
"My emperor protects me, God bless the Ming Dynasty!"
Qin Liangyu rode a horse and stood under the commander's banner. He watched the Qing army retreat in disgrace and let out a long breath.
She looked back at the sun and moon flag, and couldn't help shouting excitedly, "The sun and moon, mountains and rivers will always be there, the Ming Dynasty will always be there, and my emperor will live forever!"
The Ming army won a great victory and wiped out thousands of enemies.
The battlefield was swept calmly, and the heads of the Tatars were chopped off one by one with a sword.
For those wounded soldiers and prisoners, both Qin Liangyu and Zhang Shipeng only made a cutting motion.
No need to keep it.
Waste of food.
Some were beheaded, while others were stripped of their clothes and armor.
Others collect swords, guns, bows and arrows.
Others were not idle either, treating their own wounded and gathering back their fallen brothers.
There were also people who disemboweled the dead Tatar horses, skinned them, removed the flesh, cut the meat into large pieces, and carried them back to the city.
Chen Caifang stood at the top of the city with endless emotion.
Several masters also sighed again and again, "Does this mean we win?"
"Isn't it too easy to win?"
Yes, there must be at least 20,000 Tatars, and the Ming army only had 8,000 people outside the city, so the Tatars were defeated?
"It is estimated that at least three thousand people died."
"More than that, of the two thousand Mongolian cavalry at the beginning, how many of them escaped back? Almost the whole army was wiped out, and the four or five thousand cavalry who came up behind were almost half broken. The Tatars were injured this time, at least they were broken.
There were five thousand people.”
Everyone couldn't believe that the battle was fought like this.
Chen Caifang turned around and left,
"Where are you going, sir?"
"Congratulations to Wen Jinglue!"
The Qing army slowly retreated, and they retreated ten miles before stopping.
The morale of the whole army was low, and there was a gloomy mist.
"Beizi Tunqi, Gushan Ezhen Han Dai, were all lost in the army. There were also three staff leaders, two deputy generals, and five staff generals who were all killed in the battle. The remaining guerrillas, Du Si, Zuo Ling, etc....
We lost more than a dozen men and over 5,000 were killed or wounded in the battle..." When Li Guohan, Obai and other generals reported the results of the battle, they couldn't help but choked with tears and burst into tears.
Everyone was silent.
The battle was fought like this. It was blamed on Tunqi and Han Dai for underestimating the enemy. Li Guohan specifically told him before the battle that he would wait until the shield chariots and large shields were ready, then use the shield chariots to cover, the infantry to take the lead, and the cavalry to cover the flanks to defeat the enemy. As a result,
The two fools underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly. They actually used light cavalry to charge the enemy's infantry formation, resulting in a huge defeat.
But both of them died, and both of them were members of the clan. Now the commander-in-chief, Li Guohan, could not escape the blame. Of course, they could not escape the responsibility either.
Ao Bai frowned, "Let's talk about what to do next. Yangping Pass and Hanzhong Fucheng have all been lost to the enemy. The Ming thieves are powerful, and Chencang Road has been cut off. I suggest that we immediately retreat to Guanzhong via Baoxie Road, and do it quickly.
, if it’s too late, we’re afraid that the Ming army will block Baogu’s entrance, and then we’ll be in trouble.”
The Shimen Plank Road at the entrance of Bao Valley is very dangerous. It is on the west bank of Bao River and is parallel to the river.
The Baoxie plank road with a total length of more than 400 miles leads directly to Meixian County in Guanzhong. The plank road is very dangerous. Holes are drilled along the cliffs of the valley, the trees are erected as pillars, wooden boards are laid on them, railings are installed, and the carriages and horses can be suspended in the air. The transportation capacity is good.
But if the Ming army captures the Bao Valley entrance first, or even directly burns down a section of the plank road at the entrance, then they will really be trapped here.
Li Guohan hesitated.
He was ordered to guard Hanzhong, but as a result, he was like this and evacuated like this. He couldn't explain it.
But Ao Bai doesn't care about this.
How Li Guohan explains that is his business, and if they hesitate any longer, they will most likely be outflanked by this elite Ming army, and eventually the entire army will be annihilated here.
This is extremely possible. The battle just now fully proved that they are much stronger than Zhang Xianzhong and others. Even after Obai entered the pass and went south for two battles, he had never encountered such a tough opponent.
Now they only have less than 20,000 tired troops left, and the Ming army took the opportunity to capture and suppress them. They don't even have a place to stay. If they stay here any longer, they will lose food and grass, and they will die alone.
He doesn't want to die here.
"I will lead the cavalry to the Shimen Plank Road now and guard the Baogu Pass. The commander can lead the rest of the troops and then withdraw."
"Let's go back to Guanzhong to meet up with Wu Sangui first."
Li Guohan hesitated, "We can't just leave like this. It will be difficult to come back after this retreat. How should we explain to the court? General Obai, take three thousand cavalry ahead and rush to the north of Baocheng Town immediately to control the city.
Then divide the troops to guard Baogukou.
As long as Baobao Town is still in our hands, we can still have a stronghold in Hanzhong, which we can advance, attack, retreat and defend."
He couldn't bear the consequences of losing Hanzhong, so he had no choice but to make this decision. Although doing so might result in being surrounded by the Ming army in Baocheng, and once the city was breached, the whole army might be annihilated, but Li Guohan still wanted to give it a try.
"Send someone to Chang'an to ask Commander Wu for help and ask him to quickly bring troops to help. There is no room for loss in Hanzhong!"