On the first day of October, the capital was getting colder. The pattering autumn rain made this majestic ancient capital shrouded in a layer of fog. Just like the situation in the court, it was difficult for outsiders to see clearly.
It has been more than a night since the results of the Battle of Horqin were reported back to the capital. Some people think it was a victory, some people think it was a defeat, some people think the battle was invincible, and some people think that everyone has a winner or loser in the outcome.
At this moment, all the ministers in the cabinet should be meeting the emperor in the Wenhua Palace. It is conceivable that the bosses of different factions will have different interpretations of the outcome of this battle. Some may also be slanderous, or of course they may be trying to smooth things over.
Both parties are not guilty. However, no matter what, His Majesty the Emperor must come to a conclusion in the end.
The ministers and officials of the foreign court are all waiting for His Majesty the Emperor's sanction.
If the Holy Spirit's conclusion on this war is beneficial to one's own side, how should we defend it?
If His Majesty's conclusion on this war is unfavorable to our side, how can we overturn it?
If His Majesty's conclusion on this war is to fight the enemy and our own factions twenty times each, how should we deal with it?
How to respond to the emperor's holy judgment is a matter of concern to all ministers in the world. As for the real outcome of the war itself... I'm sorry, I'll leave this trivial matter aside until I have time in the future.
So what is the real result of this war? In terms of the battlefield results themselves, the situation is roughly as follows:
The Ming Manchu-Mongolian coalition suffered 3,467 casualties, including 968 killed, 207 missing, 632 seriously injured, and 1,660 slightly injured.
The Chahar and Transkalkha coalition forces suffered more than 6,000 casualties in the battle, including 3,726 heads, and it is estimated that about 3,000 people were seriously injured - because this cannot be determined, the imperial court internally
The controversy is serious.
The above are the overall data, but specifically, 209 people of the Ming army's frontier troops were killed and missing in battle, 172 were seriously injured, and 571 were slightly injured; 100 Jinghua cavalry were killed and missing in battle.
Forty-six people, 73 were seriously injured and 403 were slightly injured; 820 people from Horqin and Manchuria were killed in the battle, 387 were seriously injured, and 686 were slightly injured.
Since Chahar and Transkalkha were unable to tell the difference in the clothing of the two sides (because the Mongolian army at this time no longer had uniform clothing, it was impossible to distinguish effectively), it was difficult to determine the respective battle losses of the two armies. However, according to Xiao Ruxun's representative who went to the Ming army
Judging from the battle report reported above, it was probably the Outer Khalkha Division that bore most of the casualties.
According to Xiao Ruxun's battle report, the situation at that time was roughly as follows: After receiving the warning, the Ming-Manchu-Mongolian coalition forces had just set up their basic positions, and the Outer Khalkha Ministry took the lead in launching a wave of probing attacks.
This trial attack did not achieve good results. The coalition's frontal Jinghua Cavalry line did not move at all, and it was difficult for the Outer Khalkha Division to determine the losses of the Ming army in the darkness.
It stands to reason that in such a situation, the general would usually choose to make cautious decisions and would not launch an all-out large-scale attack. However, this time it was very unexpected. Not long after the first wave of offensive ended, the cavalry probably returned in that round.
After this formation, the Outer Khalkha tribe actually directly launched a large-scale attack. It is estimated that the number of troops engaged in the battle was the entire strength of the Outer Khalkha tribe at that time, which was as high as about 20,000.
Xiao Ruxun speculated in the battle report that it might be because the front of the Beijing Cavalry was different from the traditional front. It was not a neat front, but two staggered rows like eight "口" characters, with four in the front and four in the back arranged separately.
, therefore Abadai Saiyin Khan of the Outer Khalkha tribe believed that he could rely on his superior strength to divide and surround the Beijing cavalry. At that time, the Outer Khalkha tribe had 20,000 cavalry, while the Beijing cavalry had only 4,000 in total, each of which
There are exactly five hundred people in the phalanx.
However, just like Marshal Ney, the most famous French army in the Battle of Waterloo, led the French cavalry to attack the British hollow phalanx that was waiting for them, although Abadai Saiyin Khan's division and encirclement seemed to be completed, the annihilation could not be completed at all.
.
The reason why the Jinghua Cavalry set up two staggered rows of "mouth" formations is to slow down the enemy's speed, weaken the impact, and create a disadvantage that they can be hit by firepower from the edge of the "mouth" in all directions.
state.
It may be better to understand this situation with an analogy: it is like placing a total of eight square bricks, four in the front and four in the back, in a flat low ground on the ground, and then a large bucket of water is rushed over from the side. Although the water occupies eight square bricks,
Around the bricks, however, these bricks can actually be exposed to water on four sides - these four sides are the four fire projection directions, which means that the hollow square array can fire in all directions.
At the same time, because they were trapped between eight bricks, the distance between the "gaps" was obviously not very large, and the cavalry was definitely not able to speed up the attack. Therefore, the Outer Khalkha cavalry could only kill towards the hollow square formation in a chaotic manner.
Then, without being able to reach the enemy, they were shot down in rows by volleys of fire.
Due to the tightness of the battlefield, the Mongolian cavalry behind the front row of cavalry also fired from a distance, but the sporadic arrows that could not form a concentrated firepower volley were obviously not enough to cause the collapse of the hollow phalanx, so the Outer Khalkha tribe immediately fell into a quagmire.
Seeing that the situation was getting worse, the horns and thunderous drums of the entire army sounded from the rear of the Mongolian coalition forces. The messengers who rushed over desperately shouted out the order from the Tumen Khan: "Aba Dai Sai."
Yin Khan, don't worry about the hollow phalanx, your troops will directly move forward and continue the attack, and leave the hollow phalanx to the Great Khan!"
After receiving the order, Abadai Saiyin Khan did not know what considerations he had, but obeyed the order without any hesitation. He led the Outer Khalkha cavalry to rush through the "Eight-Door Golden Lock Formation" despite the hail of bullets and bullets fired from all directions, and directly killed
The second of the three lines of defense towards Xiao Ruxun: Horqin and Manchuria defense lines.
Different from the eight hollow phalanxes of the Jinghua cavalry, the Horqin people will definitely not switch from riding to walking, and even Ye He and other Manchu tribes are unwilling to do so. For Horqin and Ye He, switching from riding to walking is obviously Yang.
If you take shortcuts and avoid longs, you will lose more than you gain.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Meng Gebulu of Hada believed that the use of cavalry could better show that Hada was still strong, and was unwilling to switch to infantry for combat, not to mention that he was not confident about using his war horses.
It was left to Xiao Ruxun's Chinese army to take care of it, so the cavalry posture was naturally maintained.
As for the Jianzhou Right Guards, who sent only a few hundred troops, since the "allies" around them who were several times stronger than themselves all maintained cavalry, it would be meaningless for them to switch to infantry, so they also maintained cavalry status.
This middle layer of defense line has a very sufficient number of troops. The total number is close to 30,000. Horqin alone has nearly 20,000 cavalry. It stands to reason that the strength is greater than that of the Outer Khalkha tribe, which has been partially damaged. However, at this moment, the Outer Khalkha tribe is starting from the defense line.
While attacking on one side, the Manchu-Mongolian coalition forces of the Ming Dynasty were fortified on three sides. The side that directly led to contact between the two sides was that the Outer Khalkha tribe had a slight military advantage.
At this time, the eastern front of the second defensive line of the Ming Army was divided into two forces. One was Hada's 3,000 men in the north, and the other was Horqin's more than 6,000 men in the south. If the two sides were responsible for the defense line,
In terms of length, this "eastern front" can be divided into three parts, with the northern third being defended by the Hada tribe, and the middle and southern two-thirds being defended by the Horqin tribe.
There was nothing special about Abadai Saiyin Khan's choice. He slightly gathered his subordinates who had "interspersed" through Jinghua's "Eight-Door Golden Lock Hollow Phalanx" and directly launched an attack on the middle of the second-layer defense circle.
However, the Horqin people did not stupidly wait for the other party to attack. As professional cavalry, they actually took the lead in attacking some of the Outer Khalkhas. However, a certain mentality formed recently made their attacks worse than those of the Outer Khalkhas.
This seemed to be a bit of a trap for the troops - they were worried that in this case, the arrows might affect the Jinghua Cavalry on the inside of the outer perimeter defense line.
Knowing that Jinghua's boss couldn't afford to offend the Horqin people, they chose to give up archery and went straight to fight with scimitars. At this time, the distance between the two sides was too close, and it was impossible to jog, trot, speed up, and impact in an orderly manner, so they rushed
The formation is completely unworthy of its name, and it can only be reduced to a cavalry melee.
Essentially speaking, no one who is familiar with cavalry warfare wants to engage in cavalry melee, but war often does not change based on people's subjective will. When something has happened, both sides can only be forced to accept it.
At the same time, the main force of the Chahar Khanate has also taken action. Under the actual command of Burihatu, the Chahar Mongolian army will naturally not make the same mistakes and attack the hollow square array. They will act in an oblique manner.
The Beijing cavalrymen passed by the northeast corner of the hollow phalanx and fired several showers of arrows.
This angle is quite tricky, and in fact it is also a bit of a trick. It is equivalent to eight hollow square formations. Only the one in the northeastern corner can reach the effective range, so the counterattack is naturally not strong - of course, conversely, they can only reach
There is a hollow square array.
However, there is a problem here: the Chahar-Mongolian army stretched its battle line and passed from one corner. Each "passing" cavalry only needs to shoot one arrow to complete the task. This means that its shooting is almost uninterrupted.
Until the whole army passed by and reached the southern line of the Ming, Manchu and Mongolian coalition forces.
At the same time, since only one hollow phalanx has the close range required for counterattack, and even the three-stage strike tactic has a time gap required for loading ammunition and switching queues, the hollow phalanx actually receives almost continuous attacks, and
It can only give the enemy intermittent counterattacks, so the casualties are significantly greater than when the hollow phalanx was in frontal combat.
Since Jinghua has always emphasized the use of firearms and "de-armoring", this round of confrontation almost became the most casualty since the use of bayonet hollow square formation tactics. Thanks to the Chahar Mongolian army, which was defeated by the hollow square formation in the previous battle of Northern Liaoning.
The formation was a little timid. Even if Burihatu came up with this strategy, he did not dare to get too close, so that the lethality of the bow and arrow would be greatly reduced, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable.
The actions of the Chahar Mongolian Army gave the Beijing Cavalry a certain shock. Although if the casualties on both sides were to be truly calculated, the Chahar people's losses may not be lower than theirs, but the hollow phalanx that had always defeated the cavalry in the past had hundreds of people this time.
The on-the-spot losses still made them more cautious and did not dare to change formations or move easily, so they kept the formation firmly in place.
The "Eight Golden Locks" of the Jinghua Cavalry did not move, but Chahar's army had already slashed diagonally to the southern line of the outer circle of the Ming army's defense line like a storm. This was the main defense of the Liaodong Frontier Army, and they were originally prepared to use hollow
The phalanx formation was used to defend against the enemy, but there was already a mess behind them. A huge battle between the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry had begun. The Ming army's frontier troops never thought that this would happen, so the formation became loose.
It is better to say that it was loose, than it was to take the initiative to change the formation. They changed the rear formation from a hollow square formation into a typical musketeer infantry battle line, with three infantry columns approaching the inner line in the opposite direction.
Their subjective consciousness is very obvious, that is, they intend to launch an internal and external attack with Horqin and the Manchu Tribe on the inside, directly blocking the Mongolian troops of the Outer Khalkha Division between the two lines of defense and annihilating them all.
This idea is not bad at all. From a tactical perspective, as long as the coalition forces on the inside have a tacit understanding of tactics with them, they can actively assemble to the north and press the Khamon army to the south. This is a two-line pincer attack tactic.
The situation will appear soon.
However... How can such a thing like tactical tacit understanding be so easy to appear for two armies with completely different systems? The Liaodong Army on the southern front waited left and right, while the four coalition forces inside were still fighting bravely and tenaciously with the Outer Khalkha Division.
The Mongolian army fought hand-to-hand. Although this time even the Hada Army under Menggebulu used extra force to prevent it from defeating the enemy, but... this is not what the Liaodong Army wanted!
When Tumen and Burihatu led the chahar cavalry that came diagonally, they couldn't help but feel excited when they saw this scene. Tumen Khan didn't even have time to ask Burihatu this time, so he raised his head and turned.
Knife, shouted: "Charge the formation diagonally! Blow the trumpet and let Aba Dai break out towards our army!"
Burihatu did not make any additional orders, because he understood what Tumen Khan meant: since the opponent was on guard and had set up a hollow square formation, it was impossible to expect a major defeat of the enemy's army, and a certain amount of foreign troops would be consumed.
The strength of the Erkha tribe should be about the same now. Let them break out at this time, and the Chahar army will respond diagonally. They will attack the Ming army on the southern front from both inside and outside. The Mongolian coalition should still make a little profit.
If this goal is achieved, it means that the Mongols have achieved an undefeated record against the Hollow Phalanx for the first time! For the Mongolians who have been beaten by the highly pragmatic Hollow Phalanx several times before and have doubted their lives, it must be said that they have
Inestimable psychological significance.
The facts were indeed as Burihatu expected. Although the Ming army on the southern front still maintained four hollow square formations, there was only one column, which was much worse than the "eight-door golden lock" on the eastern front in slowing down the Mongolian cavalry.
However, their infantry battle line, which had originally turned around to attack inward, had no time to reorganize into a hollow square formation and was brutally charged by the Chahar cavalry.
The Mongolian army from Outer Khalkha, which was stuck in the quagmire of the inner circle, broke out after hearing the sound of the horn, and after paying a heavy price, they also joined the Chahar Army. Since the Chahar Army had the advantage at this time, it was extremely powerful.
, the Manchu-Mongolian coalition forces on the inside did not dare to press hard, but were worried that the Mongolian coalition forces would attack again, so they quickly gathered their subordinates to prepare to meet the enemy.
This gave the Mongolian coalition forces a gap. The Tumen Khan decisively made another diagonal cut to the southwest, turning the line of attack and breakout into a "V". Although the Liaodong frontier troops in the outer circle tried their best to cut the four hollow
The phalanx consciously moved a little to the southwest, but under the attack of the Mongolian coalition forces that quickly reached their eyes, they could only stop and counterattack with three attacks.
After paying a certain price, the Mongolian coalition forces fought out from the gaps in the hollow phalanx and headed southwest without looking back - coincidentally, the southwest direction was the direction to Chahanhot.
The battle came to an abrupt end before it reached its peak. Although the final battle losses and results reported by Xiao Ruxun were that the Manchurian-Mongolian coalition had the advantage - the coalition lost 3,467 people and the Mongolian army lost about 6,000, but
After all, the Mongols left only 3,726 heads, so the so-called serious injuries would not be counted by the court. Therefore, from this perspective, the two sides were almost tied this time.
To put it bluntly, this is the battle with the worst exchange ratio since the "reform" of the Ming army. It is no wonder that there is an undercurrent in the capital, and countless ministers in the outer court are staring at the emperor's appearance in the Wenhua Palace.
It was noon, and Gao Pragmatic, who was not a cabinet minister, had not yet received the news, so he could only return to his house from the Hubu Yamen expressionlessly to prepare for dinner.
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Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi" and "Yun Lan" for their reward and support, thank you!
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PS: What’s strange is that the daily statistics summary in my background said that there were 10 monthly tickets yesterday, but the monthly ticket prompt for me was only one vote from a book friend named “Cao Mianzi”. Where do my readers read the books?
