In the autumn of the third year of Shenwu in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army and the Qing army, which had been facing each other for nearly three months, finally launched a decisive battle north of Jizhen.
But both Zhu Cihong and Dorgun, after learning about the strength of the opponent's troops, understood that this decisive battle was probably just a show.
Likewise, both sides saw their respective plans immediately.
The 150,000 infantrymen of the Ming Army were divided into three large military formations according to the left, right, center and three armies. Each large army formation was composed of eight smaller army formations.
There are a total of 24 small square formations, arranged neatly and orderly on the plain with a radius of ten miles, which is extremely spectacular.
The army was only five miles away from the main camp at the rear. It could be said that it was fighting behind the camp, waiting for the slave cavalry and infantry to take the initiative to attack.
On Jiannu's side, although the 50,000 cavalrymen were forced to a place five or six miles north of the Ming army's formation, the 50,000 Han soldiers in front were a full ten miles away from the Ming army. It was obvious that they also planned to lure the Ming army to attack, and then
Retreat to the camp and let the Ming army attack the camp.
At this time, it was past noon, and neither army took the lead in launching an attack. Instead, they sent envoys to each other to continuously provoke each other, accusing the other side of being afraid of death and war.
Dorgon accused the Ming army of being afraid of death. Originally, after the army left the camp, both sides should advance ten miles each.
But the Ming army only advanced five miles and then stopped. As a result, the infantry of the two armies are still ten miles apart and unable to engage in battle.
Zhu Cihong accused the Qing cavalry of fearing death for not taking the initiative to attack the infantry, and only dared to peek from the sidelines. As for why they did not advance ten miles according to the rules and only recommended five miles, they did not bother to explain.
Seeing Zhu Cixiang's reply, Duo Ergun was also very angry. He looked at the Ming army formation in the distance with a serious expression on his face.
Hong Chengchou on the side, although he was stroking his beard and looking calm, could not remain calm in his heart.
Because the 150,000 infantrymen were neatly arranged and well-sized, the visual impact was really shocking.
For such a large-scale military formation, as long as the Ming army did not mess up the formation, no matter how many cavalry charged up, they would probably die. No matter whether they charged from all directions together or in waves, they would not be able to shake it. In the end, they would be destroyed.
Fall in.
"Sir, the little emperor has made it clear that he has no intention of taking the initiative to attack and is waiting for our army to attack. What should we do?"
"For the current plan, we have to test the reality first and think of ways to defeat the enemy." Hong Chengchou said slowly.
After finally getting the main force of the Ming army out of the camp for a decisive battle, if there is a chance to eliminate them, they must fight, but they cannot rush in blindly.
Dorgon nodded. Although he had decided to fight the Ming army desperately, it was not advisable to rush into them like a reckless man.
So ten thousand cavalry were sent to test the situation. As for the infantry, they had no intention of letting them take the initiative to attack.
After the two sides were in a stalemate for an hour, Jiannu's 10,000 cavalry finally broke away from the group and rushed toward the Ming army.
However, the 10,000 cavalrymen only galloped around the periphery of the Ming army, and from time to time they made a charging posture to test.
Although the three large phalanxes of the Ming army were one or two miles apart from each other, and there were one or two hundred steps between each small phalanx, the 10,000 cavalry only dared to pass between the large phalanxes, but did not dare to
Weaving between small square formations.
From time to time, Jiannu's cavalry would approach the small phalanx within a hundred steps and shoot arrows on horseback, but almost all of them were beaten by the phalanx's archers and musketeers and fled in panic.
Each small square formation is based on a battalion, and is supplemented by hundreds of firearms soldiers, with a number of about six to seven thousand people.
The Chang Yu soldiers were in the front, the sword and shield soldiers and spear soldiers were in the back, the archers and firecrackers were in the innermost, and the artillery was all concentrated in the middle army.
Therefore, Jiannu's cavalry avoided the central army and only harassed the left and right armies. However, after half an hour, they had almost no advantage at all. Instead, hundreds of cavalry were shot to death by firecrackers and bows and arrows.
.
Zhu Cixiang, who was on the high command platform of the Chinese Army, was sitting on a chair with his old spirit always present, drinking tea leisurely, and seemed not to care much about the situation on the battlefield.
In the distance, Dorgun and Hong Chengchou met the pressure of the cavalry. Not to mention chaos, there was no commotion in the various square formations of the Ming army, and they no longer had any illusions at all.
"Your Majesty, it's getting late today, so we'd better withdraw our troops for now and fight again tomorrow!"
Hong Chengchou knew that it was meaningless to continue testing, and he also knew that the Ming army would never retreat first if they didn't, so he said.
"That's fine!"
Dorgun nodded helplessly, missing the old Ming army very much. No matter how many Ming armies there were in the past, as long as the cavalry charged in the field, they could directly massacre and capture prisoners.
In this way, the two armies mobilized their troops and fought fiercely for a day. After agreeing to fight again tomorrow, Dorgun led the cavalry back to the camp.
Zhu Cixiang also gave an order, and the army turned around, and each square formation began to slowly move forward towards the camp.
Until he returned to the camp, Zhu Cixiang was still complaining in his heart. He finally understood the real reason why in ancient times, with hundreds of thousands of armies on both sides, the battle lasted for ten and a half months, or even longer.
It's not that the fight really takes that long, but that both sides are unsure, and no one wants to take the initiative to attack, but they don't want to lose momentum and lose the battle, so they delay.
Of course, the premise is that the strength of both parties must be evenly matched.
There was no talking all night, and the next day, the two armies got up early to eat again, and then went out to the camp to assemble. The troops of both sides were almost the same as yesterday.
Similarly, the Ming army still only stopped after leaving the camp for five miles, and the Qing army's 50,000 Han soldiers also only advanced ten miles and then stopped moving forward.
"You go back and tell Dorgun that such a quarrel is not an option. As for the fighting generals, what age are these? Let's forget it. This is fine. I will use 60,000 people to set up a nine-palace formation, no matter how many he uses.
As long as the infantry and cavalry can be defeated, how about your Qing Dynasty wins?"
Faced with Dorgun's suggestion of fighting generals from both sides, Zhu Cixiang directly rejected it and then said with a smile.
"Oh? Are you serious about what Emperor Ming said?" the envoy asked doubtfully.
"Jun Wu Xiyan, just go back and tell Duolgun that if you have the guts, come and break the formation. If you don't, just go back to the camp."
Zhu Cixi waved his hand.
The envoy didn't say any more, and conveyed Zhu Cihong's words to Dorgun when he returned.
"Sir, I have never heard of this Nine Palace Formation. Do you know it, sir?" Dorgun was also quite surprised, and then looked at Hong Chengchou.
The latter said inscrutably: "It doesn't matter what the formation is, just agree first and then talk about it. After the Ming army is ready, it will be clear at a glance."
Dorgon didn't hesitate and immediately sent an envoy to reply to Zhu Cihong. Anyway, there was really no way to go on like this. It was not up to him to decide whether to break the formation or not.
Zhu Cixiang naturally didn't understand any formations. This so-called Nine Palaces Formation was accidentally created by Lady Hong and others during their training.
To put it bluntly, there are nine battalions, forming nine square formations, arranged in the order of the nine-square grid, and each square formation is divided into nine smaller square formations, also arranged in the order of the nine-square grid.
Except for the square formation in the center, there are two hundred steps between each large square formation, and fifty steps between small square formations. When the enemy enters the square formation through the gaps in the square formation, all large and small square formations will move at the same time.
Close up and swamp the advancing enemy troops.
It's very simple. The Red Lady also learned from the formation of the Chinese army's defensive cavalry during the Battle of Tongzhou, and improved it to create the so-called Nine Palaces Formation.
The main function is not to kill the enemy, but to test the battlefield command communication and queue training of each army, as well as the coordination between each battalion, each standard, and each team.
An army just formed a nine-gong formation, and then the red lady issued various orders, and the army carried out various drills in accordance with the orders.