Heavy troops were deployed on the road, and ambushes were planted on the mountaintops on both sides. The Xia army's formation made Gu Santai flee.
When encountering this kind of situation, anyone with a little bit of battlefield experience knows that it is impossible to fight, otherwise the whole army will be annihilated.
Therefore, when Gu Santai ordered the retreat, none of the other Eight Banners generals raised any objections. On the contrary, they all moved quickly, fearing that they would get stuck here.
If they knew the character of the enemy in front of them, they might have to vomit blood on the spot.
What does thousands of cavalry charge at full speed look like? Only those who face it directly can feel its power.
Seeing the dust flying all over the sky and the vibration caused by the iron hoofs trampling on the earth makes people's hearts feel as if they are about to jump out of their chests.
The feeling of impact from far to near at an extremely fast speed made many soldiers tremble and their minds turned pale.
"Stay still, stay still. Don't move. The enemy won't dare to rush over."
Huo Shimin anxiously ran back and forth in the array, while brainwashing the soldiers at the top of his voice.
Even though he was scared to death, he could only do this at this moment.
In addition to him, the other officers were also carefully taking care of the front that could collapse at any time.
"Ah... Xiba! Why did you pee? What are you afraid of? You won't die."
"You bitch, straighten your back. You are so insignificant, aren't you afraid that the barbarians will see it?"
"Don't twitch the corners of your mouth, keep your eyes round, and don't show fear. The more scared you are, the more ferocious the enemy will be."
Chinese and Korean were spoken back and forth, which really exhausted the officers.
Everyone is extremely worried, wondering whether these soldiers can hold on?
As long as one person's will breaks down, it is unlikely that these thousands of people will completely herd the sheep. Then the Manchu cavalry will attack the sheep and kill them all.
Han Songhua was not in the formation, but on the mountain.
He was directing the soldiers to wave flags and stir up the smoke with branches.
Those flags were all tied to the treetops, and then controlled by ropes in the hands of the soldiers. In this way, as long as a soldier pulled the rope, at least hundreds of flags would swing back and forth.
Looking from the bottom of the mountain, it seems that there are tens of thousands of people.
Han Songhua was more concerned about the situation below. He pulled over an officer and asked, "Are the soldiers' guns loaded with bullets?"
The officer shook his head quickly.
"Not loaded, absolutely not."
Han Songhua then patted his chest and let out a long breath.
"It's good that it's not loaded."
It stands to reason that in front of an army, if there are no bullets in the gun, how can you kill the enemy?
But both Huo Shimin and Han Songhua knew very well that among these crooked soldiers, if their guns were loaded with bullets, no one would be so confused as to fire them.
If they fired outside the shooting range, the Qing army would immediately notice their quality.
If you want to bet, then bet thoroughly.
Huo Shimin simply ordered not to let the soldiers load bullets into their guns.
In other words, despite their rigorous formation and dense bayonets, their gun barrels were empty.
Once the Eight Banners cavalry did not stop, but rushed forward, the only way they could resist was with their bayonets.
Fortunately, the old suspicion formation had a miraculous effect. Gu Santai ran faster than a dog for fear of being ambushed.
As they watched the Eight Banners cavalry disappear before their eyes, two-thirds of the thousands of soldiers fell to the ground. Many of them even had cramps in their legs, grinning and howling like ghosts.
Huo Shimin reached into his clothes and touched them, only to find that they were all wet. After so many years as a soldier, this was the first time he was in such a thrilling situation.
"Quickly organize your formation, and then retreat slowly in order. There is absolutely no chaos. Do you hear me? There is absolutely no chaos."
Having survived the current crisis does not mean that everything will be fine.
No one knows when the Qing army will leave and return, so they must be treated with caution.
After scaring away the Eight Banners cavalry, Huo Shimin and Han Songhua had already discussed the follow-up plan.
Huo Shimin asked North Korean general Yang Song to lead a thousand men to retreat ten miles to build fortifications and then respond.
Let another thousand people follow behind, retreat five miles and lay mines.
The rest of the troops were divided into several parts, one following the other, retreating slowly in a certain order.
The situation now is obvious.
The Qing army was outnumbered and the Xia army was small, so retreating was an inevitable choice.
But you can't retreat too fast, and you can't retreat haphazardly. Once chaos occurs, they will be caught by the Qing army immediately, and then they will collapse in a rush.
Maintaining the posture of slowly retreating can make the Qing army mistakenly think that they are well-trained and powerful, and they do not dare to pursue too much.
Gu Santai ran away for several miles without being attacked. Looking at both sides and the road behind him, everything was calm as usual, and he finally felt relieved.
"Are these Xia troops trying to trick someone?"
He began to guess.
Eleventh Niu Lu E Zhen Wang Shan is also confused.
"Perhaps Xia Thief has no horses, so he can't catch up. We should be careful no matter what."
Gu Santai didn't dare to charge so hard anymore.
"Hurry and report to Prince Su that our troops are ambushed by the Xia army. I urge the rear troops to follow up quickly."
The way forward was unclear, so Gu Santai decided to play it safe and wait until the Qing infantry and artillery from behind came up.
Hauge followed and heard that the cavalry was ambushed. He was really frightened and even whipped Fan Ji.
"You little slave, you are talking nonsense about how vulnerable the enemy is. What is the result? The army was almost ambushed and defeated. If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will never spare you."
Fan Ji was in pain and looked innocent. He wanted to defend himself, but he was afraid of Hauge's cruelty and endured it.
Hauge urged his horse to come to the front line.
"How are your losses?"
Before he finished speaking, Hauge felt veins popping out as he looked at the complete and intact cavalry unit.
Is this like an ambush?
As soon as Gu Santai saw his expression, he knew something was wrong and quickly explained.
"Your Majesty is unaware of something. Fortunately, this servant and the others were alert and turned around in time, so they were not attacked by the Xia thieves. Otherwise, the servant and the others would not have been able to see you."
In order to exonerate themselves, a group of generals knelt down in front of Hauge and cried bitterly. At the same time, the generals described the Xia army as extremely ferocious.
In the chaos of chattering, Hauge couldn't tell the truth from the lies.
However, during these days of fighting against the Xia Army, he had long been frightened by the Xia Army's combat effectiveness.
Be careful and you won't make a big mistake.
Brother Hao did not dare to pursue bravely, but ordered all ministries to proceed cautiously.
Don't seek meritorious service, but seek to make no mistakes.
Then a strange scene appeared on the battlefield on the Eastern Front.
The Xia army slowly retreated in fear, and the Qing army slowly pursued in fear.
The two sides kept a distance of about twenty miles, both of them were afraid that the other side would lose their mind.
At this time, I am afraid that an extra fallen leaf may cause unexpected chain reactions.
I don’t know if the generals on both sides will commit suicide on the spot in shame if they learn the true situation?