"Your Majesty, it's already the tenth day. When will our army return?"
In the past ten days, except for a few probing attacks by Jiannu, there had been no movement. The British generals and other generals felt that there was no need to stay any longer.
After all, the army is far away from the pass, and the news has been completely blocked by the cavalry of establishing slaves. If it goes too long, it will easily cause domestic panic.
"Let's set off tomorrow!"
Zhu Cixi sighed and said somewhat unwillingly.
The reason why they are reluctant to leave is because they are looking for a fighting opportunity. After all, the army of slave builders is gathered here. If they can be defeated in one fell swoop, it will be much easier to attack Liaodong and conquer Mongolia in the future.
But the premise is to ensure your own safety. If you need to take risks, it is not worth it. If the other party does not take the initiative to attack, they can only give up.
Retreating is always many times more dangerous than attacking, especially when retreating under the eyes of hundreds of thousands of the opponent's cavalry and infantry. In this situation, it would be difficult for any Han army to dare to withdraw in history.
But Zhu Cixiang was full of confidence in this.
The next day, the Chinese army camp prepared meals at the third watch and set out at the fifth watch. More than 100,000 soldiers, soldiers, households and civilians were busy from early morning to noon, loading all the tent materials into trucks, and all the battalions were already assembled and on standby.
Following Zhu Cixiang's order, three hundred light and heavy tanks were lined up in a row, slowly rolling forward, followed closely by the cavalry.
The ten battalions of the Chinese army were divided into left and right wings, all marching in formation, with 20,000 royal guards behind them, and in the middle were a large number of logistics and craftsmen.
The speed of the army was as fast as a snail.
The two large battalions of infantry on the left and right were ready for defense, and the cavalry chariots were in full formation, ready to attack at any time.
This time, Dorgon brought a total of 20,000 real Eight Banners warriors, approaching about ten miles from the north. Looking at the Ming army slowly moving in the distance, the sword he held loosened and tightened, tightened and loosened again.
"Obai, you can try it from the flank with Zhenghuang Qi. Remember, you can't do it forcefully. Do you understand?"
"Scum!"
Immediately, Obai ordered five thousand cavalry and rushed forward. For a moment, the sound of horse hooves shook the whole place.
"kill!"
"Report, Your Majesty, the Jiannu cavalry is charging from the north, with a strength of about five thousand."
"Stop advancing and prepare for defense!"
With five thousand cavalry, Zhu Cixiang thought about it and decided to stop. He was not in a hurry anyway. If Jiannu wanted to play, he could just play with them.
As the trumpet sounded, the army immediately stopped. The five phalanxes in the north all raised their spears and raised their shields, and the archers also nocked their arrows to welcome the cavalry charge.
The leading cavalry chariot also separated fifty chariots and three thousand cavalry and rushed towards Obai who was coming to kill him.
Seeing this, Ao Bai had to turn around to fight the cavalry chariot.
This was the first actual combat of the chariot, and Zhu Cixiang was quite excited. He got out of the chariot, climbed onto the specially made mobile platform, and looked up.
Dorgon, who had traveled far away, also came to a high ground. He had always been very concerned about Dorgon, the Ming army's chariot, and was also very afraid.
After all, according to Hong Chengchou's calculations, in a head-on battle, chariots still pose a great threat to cavalry.
So I also want to see if the Ming army's chariots can suppress their cavalry. If it is just a false show, then there is a lot to be done with hundreds of thousands of cavalry.
"kill!"
Obai did not take a roundabout way, but went straight to meet him.
Fifty chariots were lined up in a row, and the two sides collided with each other in an instant. Just like plowshares, the fifty chariots plowed a ravine among Jiannu's cavalry.
Countless war horses were hit by the high-speed rotating axles of the chariot, causing their thighs to be cut or their stomachs to fall to the ground.
As for the halberdier on the carriage, the halberd in his hand is simply the sickle of death. Whether it is a war horse or a cavalry, it is terrible to be cut. There are also Tatar cavalry who risk their lives to kill war horses.
After a melee, both sides suffered heavy losses. The Jiannu cavalry lost more than 2,000 cavalry. The Ming army also destroyed more than 20 chariots, and the cavalry was also lost as high as 2,000.
"Your Majesty, the opponent's chariot is very fast and very stable. The cavalry will suffer a lot in a frontal charge."
Ao Bai got off his horse and fell to the ground in embarrassment.
"You idiot, who asked you to attack head-on?"
Dole rolled his riding crop and whipped it over. Although he knew that if he wanted to test the strength of the opponent's chariot, he had to charge directly, he still felt heartbroken.
"Slave deserves to die." Obai had no choice but to bow his head and receive the beating.
"Go again, this time you will have more ideas." Dorgon just whipped his horsewhip and said.
"Scum!"
Obai had no choice but to get on his horse and charge forward again with a yellow flag.
The Ming army also sent out fifty chariots and three thousand cavalry again. This time when the two sides approached within one mile, the Jiannu cavalry chose to split into two and launched a stray attack.
The Ming army's chariots also turned to pursue, and the cavalry was also divided into two. For a while, both sides were chasing each other, and they fell into a huge melee.
Jiannu's cavalry chased the Ming army's cavalry and fired arrows, while the fifty chariots fought independently, chasing Jiannu's cavalry, chasing and intercepting them.
This resulted in Jiannu's cavalry team being frequently overtaken and collided by chariots, unable to effectively attack the Ming army's cavalry, and simply causing trouble.
Seeing this, Dorgon frowned. Although he didn't want to accept it, he had to admit that the Ming army's chariots and cavalry could really compete with their iron cavalry, at least at short distances.
After two trials, Dorgon had no choice but to lead his cavalry back, knowing that the Ming army's chariots had made up for the lack of cavalry, and it would be difficult to take advantage of the cavalry alone.
Zhu Cixiang did not leave anymore, and simply camped on the spot, and then brought all the damaged tanks back to repair them.
Most of the damaged chariots had broken wheels and bent axles. As long as the axles were straightened with red-hot hammers, replaced with two new wheels, and equipped with new war horses, they could continue to gallop. As for the broken points of the body, it would not have any impact.
Not big.
The next day, the Chinese army camp stayed in place for defense and support, and the two large battalions on the left and right began to move forward again. In this way, the three large battalions took turns to cover the advance. On average, they marched about ten miles a day.
There were less than 10,000 Tatar cavalry. Zhu Cixiang was too lazy to stop, but directly let the chariot cavalry fight.
When the Tatar cavalry attacked the infantry, the chariot cavalry directly attacked the flanks of the cavalry, without even bothering to pursue or entangle them.
Five days later, the Ming army finally pushed to a distance of thirty miles from the Jiannu cavalry. Dorgon, with the main force in the rear, also always hung behind the Ming army, maintaining a distance of about a hundred miles, not giving the Ming army a chance to attack the camp.
"Prince Regent, the Ming army is too arrogant. The army must not give way. Once it gives way, its morale will plummet!"
"Yes, Prince Regent, let's just fight to the death with the Ming army. I don't believe that the Ming army can really stop the charge of hundreds of thousands of my cavalry."
All the Eight Banners generals shouted.
Dorgon was in a dilemma at the moment. If the cavalry did not give way, a battle between the two sides would be inevitable in two days. It would be too embarrassing to give way.
It was a great shame and humiliation for a hundred thousand mighty cavalry to make way for the infantry on the open grassland.
"Sir, what do you have in mind?"
"This time... Your Majesty, he refuses to take a detour tomorrow. He is obviously ready for a big battle. If the cavalry does not give way, the army must speed up tomorrow. Two days later, it will be able to attack from both sides. As for the battle, it still needs the Prince himself.
Decide!"
Hong Chengchou pondered for a moment and said slowly.