As soon as the opponent's cannon fired, the red lady gave the order to attack without hesitation.
"kill!"
Even if the red lady didn't give the order, Liu Zeqing would not let the opponent's cannon fire randomly. He would stand still and after hearing the order, he would immediately draw his sword, point forward and roar.
In an instant, the thumping of war drums began to sound fiercely, almost covering up the rumbling sound of cannons.
The 70,000-strong front army advanced rapidly.
It wasn't until they were about a mile away that they roared and charged forward. In one moment, 70,000 horses were pressed down like a flood that broke a bank.
The Tatar's red cannon fired only four rounds of solid bullets and one round of loose bullets. Shang Kexi and other three traitor leaders also drew their swords and ordered the 70,000-strong army to charge.
Otherwise, if you stay in place and defend, you may be frightened by the opponent's charging momentum alone.
Although they only fought for five rounds, they still killed and injured thousands of Ming troops, but the charge of the Ming troops was not affected at all.
This is the difference between veterans and recruits. Recruits tend to lose their minds and get carried away when seeing blood, but veterans can keep their heads clear.
Knowing that in this situation, no matter whether you retreat or turn left or right, it will be a dead end. Only rushing forward to kill is the wisest choice.
As the charging infantry from both sides collided with each other, the entire battlefield was filled with fierce shouts of killing and the sound of gold and iron clashing.
Not long after, the 140,000 infantrymen from both sides were completely strangled, and countless people fell every moment.
The blood dyed the earth red, and the sun in the sky seemed to have lost its luster and became dim.
Immediately, the sound of horse hooves suddenly started, and on both sides of the warring parties, countless cavalry were seen galloping past, directly heading towards the central Ming army several miles away.
Dorgon sent out 40,000 Mongolian cavalry at once, because at this time the Red Lady's central army was isolated and could besieged on all sides.
He wanted to use an overwhelming force to instantly submerge the 50,000 Ming army.
………
"Prepare to defend against cavalry attacks!"
In front of the main formation of the Ming army, with shouts and shouts, simple carts modified from horse-drawn carriages were pushed out, all of which were covered with long wooden spears.
Behind the carriage were rows of sword and shield soldiers and spearmen waiting in full formation, and the archers at the rear were also bending their bows and setting arrows.
The Red Lady gathered almost half of the archers in the army, as many as seven thousand.
With the cavalry rushing in like a huge wave, the Ming army in front, even if they were veterans who had experienced battles for a long time, all looked dignified and nervous at this moment.
"kill!"
"Fire the arrow!"
The 40,000 cavalrymen first galloped around the military formation and fired arrows, but did not charge directly.
Obviously they are also afraid of those horse-drawn carriages that look like hedgehogs.
The archers of the Ming army also fired arrows outwards to counterattack. The cavalrymen fell down in large numbers under the waves of arrows.
Similarly, even if the Ming army had a large number of sword and shield soldiers raising their shields to defend themselves, some would fall to the ground after being hit by arrows from time to time.
But in general, the Ming army's archers fired volleys and shields and carriages evaded, and they still had the upper hand.
After this scene was reported to Dorgon on the high platform, he immediately ordered the cavalry to charge directly into the formation.
Because you can't kill the opponent with a free shot like this, only rushing into the formation can quickly eliminate the opponent.
Hearing their own orders, the 20,000-strong Eight Banners no longer hesitated. They abandoned their bows and drew their swords, controlled their horses and rushed towards the gap between the carriages.
The 20,000 Mongolian tribal cavalry had no choice but to grit their teeth and follow the charge. For a time, the 40,000 cavalry formed a team and rushed towards the military formation from all directions.
The central army of the Ming army set up a huge hollow formation. Most of the 50,000 troops were arranged behind the carriages on the four sides of the perimeter. In the center was the command platform of the Red Lady. There were only more than 10,000 people surrounding it in a circle, forming a tight circle around the platform.
The guard was in the middle, and there was also only a circle of modified carriages in front.
This caused the Tatar cavalry to rush in along the gap between the carriages. There was no Ming army blocking the front, but they were assassinated by pikemen behind the carriages on the left and right sides.
For a time, there was a forest of spears. Countless galloping cavalrymen and horses were stabbed and fell down, and countless spear heads were broken.
The gap between the carriages was very wide, almost thirty to forty meters long. This caused the cavalry on both sides to suffer, but the speed of the cavalry in the middle did not slow down.
Soon it crashed directly into the tens of thousands of Ming troops surrounding the high platform in the middle. The people were knocked upside down, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the carriage was shattered to pieces.
Under constant collisions from all directions, the Ming army behind the carriage was also hit with casualties, because these ten thousand people had no way to retreat.
However, as the corpses piled up, the cavalry finally became unable to charge forward.
"kill!"
At this time, the Ming troops behind the outer carriages also rushed forward one after another and began to massacre. The sword and shield soldiers and spearmen cooperated with each other, and the cavalry they killed were scurrying around.
The Ming army around the high platform also took advantage of the situation and launched a counterattack.
After the cavalry lost its speed advantage, and too many people rushed in at once, they were completely vulnerable to the infantry's spears, swords and shields.
Seeing that the formation was already in a melee, the Tatar cavalry outside did not dare to rush in anymore, so they had to run around while watching for the right moment to release arrows.
After a bloody battle, of the 20,000 cavalry who finally rushed into the hollow formation, only a few thousand cavalry escaped in embarrassment.
The distance was too far and there was dust everywhere. Dorgon couldn't see clearly what was going on in the formation, so he could only keep listening to Tan Ma's reports and descriptions.
When he learned that his 40,000 cavalry not only failed to destroy the opponent's central army, but suffered heavy casualties, he was so angry that he screamed and immediately sent the remaining 40,000 Mongolian cavalry up.
Hong Chengchou on the side was also secretly frightened.
He did not expect that the red lady could use some simple carriages to withstand the impact of 40,000 Tatar cavalry with 50,000 infantry, and she had the absolute upper hand.
It was immediately clear that the most elite members of the Ming army were not the 70,000 people in the front army, but the 50,000 people in the central army.
Dorgon obviously saw this, so he did not hesitate to send out all the Mongolian cavalry, hoping to annihilate all the 50,000 Chinese troops.
really.
When the 40,000 Mongolian cavalry attacked again and launched a steady stream of charges, the Ming army in the formation gradually became weak.
As the casualties increased, the carriages were broken, and archers continued to die, it was no longer possible to organize an effective counterattack like the first time.
If it weren't for the corpses of men and horses inside, which restricted the Tatars' speed, they would have been killed by the cavalry and would have been unable to fight back.
"Report!"
"Reporting to the Prince Regent, the left and right armies of the Ming Army each dispatched half of their troops to attack the center at a very fast speed!"
"Okay! Good time!"
Dorgon was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately sent out 20,000 elite bannermen, one on the left and one on the right, to attack the two Ming armies.
At the same time, orders were sent to the Mongolian cavalry that besieged the Chinese army and continued to launch a fierce attack.
Attract the remaining half of the people from the left and right armies.
At this moment, the red lady on the high platform didn't care at all. More than half of the 50,000 people in the Chinese army had been killed or injured. The remaining people were relying on carriages to fight hard on the high platform. She was equally happy to see that the real Eight Banners had finally moved.
"Quickly, order Li Dakai and Liu Fangliang to attack the enemy camp, and order Wu Sanfu to launch an attack immediately!"
Phew...touch!
At this time, the sound of war drums and trumpets could no longer convey military orders, and the order flags were useless, so sounding arrow fireworks were used.
In fact, the Red Lady never planned to engage in a pincer attack, nor did she think about how many enemies she would kill. The defeat of the Tatars was entirely due to Hong Chengchou's own cleverness.
Because she knew that almost all of them were infantry, while most of the opponents were cavalry. In field battles, they could only be beaten passively, and it was impossible to defeat the opponent.
Both the speed and flexibility of troops are far inferior to the cavalry. Once entangled for too long, they will definitely lose.
So she targeted the opponent's camp from the beginning. This was the strength of the infantry and the only way to repel the Tatars.
As long as Li Dakai and Liu Fangliang can capture the other side's camp, 60,000 men and horses will be more than enough to defend it. Even if all the remaining men and horses are killed and the Tatars run out of food and grass, they will definitely retreat immediately.
With the capital's more than 100,000 men and Liu Fangliang and Li Dakai's 60,000 men, she believed that the little emperor's ability would definitely be able to rebuild the country.
As for the Tongzhou Camp, Dorgon could take it whenever he wanted.
There were still tens of thousands of taels of silver and three days of food supplies in the city, so she didn't believe that Dorgon's camp would be poorer than them.