"Your Majesty, the slave army has stopped advancing and is setting up camp. It is less than fifteen miles away from our camp."
"Crazy, really too crazy!"
"Your Majesty, the last general is willing to be the vanguard and defeat the thieves and slaves!"
"Your Majesty, I am going to ask for a battle. I am willing to lead the right army to attack the slave army. I am bound to capture the puppet king Dorgun alive and offer it to Your Majesty!"
In the big tent, as the scouts came to report, they learned that Jiannu had camped under their noses. Almost all the generals were stunned and knelt down on one knee to ask for battle.
Zhu Cixiang's face was also as gloomy as water. Although he knew that Jiannu was deliberately provoking them to attack, the anger in his heart was still rising.
Shishili had almost set up camp under their noses. This was no longer arrogance, but humiliation, naked humiliation.
I glanced at the generals in the tent and saw that all of them had red eyes and fierce fighting spirit. I also knew that it would be impossible if they didn't teach Jiannu a lesson.
"Everyone, Jiannu is asking for his own destruction. It's getting late today. Everyone, go back and rest for now. The whole army will attack tomorrow. I want Jiannu to know the price of angering our Ming soldiers!"
Zhu Cixi stood up and roared angrily.
However, he was not really carried away by anger and ordered the army to attack immediately. Instead, he planned to prepare overnight. Besides, it was already afternoon and it was not suitable to fight today.
Although attacking immediately can take advantage of the opponent's unstable footing, the attacker will ultimately suffer more than the defender after dark, not to mention that the opponent's cavalry is still eyeing them, so it is undoubtedly safer for Bai Tiantang to attack openly.
"yes!"
Seeing that His Majesty finally decided to attack, the generals were overjoyed and replied in unison.
As the military order was issued, hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the entire army became excited. For a moment, murderous intent filled the air, fighting spirit was overwhelming, and everyone was holding back their energy.
This kind of bellicosity, desire to fight, and eagerness to achieve success may be a mentality that modern people like Zhu Cixi will never understand!
In order to better defend the opponent's cavalry from attacking the two flanks during the attack, Zhu Cixi vacated almost all the carriages in the camp. Together with the chariots, there were tens of thousands of carts.
This night was destined to be a busy night. Tens of thousands of military households of the Ming army were busy unloading their carriages and strengthening the camp. The thirty thousand young Koreans on the Jiannu side were also as tired as dogs. They were digging ditches and building walls all night. Twelve
The soldiers of Wan Han Dynasty were recharging their strength.
The next day, before dawn, the Ming army began to assemble a large army. Again, only 160,000 people from the left, center and right armies were assembled.
The 50,000 left army is responsible for guarding the northern left wing, the 50,000 right army is responsible for guarding the southern right wing, the 50,000 central army is responsible for the main attack, and the cavalry and chariots are responsible for the rear.
20,000 imperial guardsmen and various army logistics units, as well as 50,000 young men and women from military households also stayed at the camp as a reserve force.
When the sun was high in the east, the Ming army's 160,000-strong army was ready. Amid the sound of war drums, each phalanx began to advance steadily forward.
Five thousand carriages on each side lined up in a row, slowly drove out from the camp, and followed the army forward.
On the Jiannu side, Dorgun also sent out all 50,000 cavalry early in the morning, while 120,000 Han soldiers were waiting in the camp.
In order to consume the strength of the Ming army, the Jiannu camp was also arranged according to the nine-camp formation and was divided into nine small camps.
There are three in the front, three in the middle, and three in the back. The camp is one mile apart from the front and back, but only two hundred paces to the left and right.
Moreover, for the three camps in front, a trench one meter deep and two meters wide was dug around the perimeter, and an earth wall one meter high and one meter thick was built behind them.
However, the three large camps in the middle and the three large camps in the back did not have time to excavate. They were obviously preparing to excavate while fighting, fighting a war of attrition and a protracted war with the Ming army.
There are nine camps, each with a side length of only one mile. The three camps added together, including the gap in the middle, are only about four miles wide.
Of the 120,000 Han soldiers, 60,000 were deployed to defend the three front camps, and the remaining 60,000 were deployed to defend the six camps in the middle and behind.
Originally, according to the formation of the Nine Palace Formation, the most appropriate deployment of troops would be to deploy 10,000 troops to each of the eight large camps on the periphery, and 40,000 to the central camp, so that all camps could be reinforced at any time.
However, Dorgun felt that under the threat of their cavalry, the Ming army could not choose to attack from multiple sides, so he focused his forces on the three camps in front.
The army of hundreds of thousands advanced for two hours before reaching three miles in front of the Jiannu camp. It was past noon. Although the Jiannu cavalry had been watching from the side during this period, they never found an opportunity to launch a surprise attack.
Because five thousand carriages, even two in a row, with only a two-meter gap in the middle, can still extend for several miles, with two in the north and south, enough to protect the left and right wings of the army.
So when Dorgun looked at these two walls of carriages, he was immediately dumbfounded.
His original plan was to wait until the Ming army could not attack for a long time, suffered heavy losses, and suffered a loss of morale, and then the cavalry would forcefully attack from the left and right wings and annihilate the Ming army in one fell swoop.
But now that there are these two chariot walls, the Ming army is defending against the wall. It is difficult for the cavalry assault to achieve any results, and the Ming army can abandon the chariots at any time and retreat to the main camp.
Thinking of this, Dorgon couldn't help but cursed the Ming army for being cunning, and had to place all his hopes on the Han soldiers, hoping that they could firmly hold on to the camp and consume the Ming army.
It wasn't just Doergun who was dumbfounded. Seeing Jiannu actually setting up a nine-gong formation, Zhu Cixiang was also dumbfounded. He almost lost his temper and yelled at Jiannu for his shameless plagiarism. At the same time, he also felt a little regretful. He shouldn't have acted on a whim that day.
The Nine Palace Formation is now being learned by Jiannu.
Because in terms of defense, the Nine Palace Formation is indeed the most suitable formation. With the Jiannu cavalry on the side, the army will definitely not be able to directly surround and attack from all sides, which will undoubtedly greatly increase the difficulty of attacking the palace.
In order to ensure the safety of both wings of the attacking force, Zhu Cixiang could only choose to attack the three enemy camps at the front from the front, and then continue to advance and eliminate the six camps in the middle and the rear.
There are few trees on the grassland, and the Ming army does not have many siege equipment, not even the simplest ladder. Jiannu also has no wooden fences for defense. The only thing they rely on is a ditch and an earth wall. This is very important for both the attacker and the defender.
That said, it's relatively fair.
However, all the red cannons of the Qing army have been lost. The dozens of recast cannons in the past two years have been placed in Jinzhou, and only a small number of fire cannons are equipped.
Following Zhu Cixiang's order, more than 400 large and small French cannons lined up in a row and fired fiercely at the three camps of the Qing army.
Boom boom boom…
Suddenly, projectiles the size of a child's fist fell like raindrops on the Qing army's camp, and a small number of them directly hit the earthen wall, blowing the already weak earthen wall into a mess.
In the camp, apart from white military tents, there were only carriages. The Han soldiers inside were bombarded and hid behind the earthen walls, and some even got under the carriages.
Dorgun saw that just one round of shelling by the Ming army caused confusion among the Han soldiers in the three camps, and he couldn't help but frown, missing the two hundred red cannons.