Zhang Pan stopped Zheng Zhihu and asked him to send back the Han captives from the Eight Banners who had been forcibly driven to work as coolies.
Zheng Zhihu looked at Zhang Pan with surprise and said in disbelief: "Brother Zhang, these are all slaves who have taken refuge with the Tatars. Why do you..." As he spoke, he kicked an Eight Banners Han soldier in the butt. , raising the whip high in his hand, Zhang Pan immediately dodged over and stood in front of Zheng Zhihu. Zheng Zhihu's young and strong body couldn't help but take a step back. Zhang Pan's tall and thin figure protected several injured Han soldiers and prisoners.
Zhang Pan said sternly: "They are all Han people, and they are all from Liaodong,"
Zheng Zhihu raised his head, exhaled a thick breath from his nostrils, and nodded: "I understand, you are from Liaodong, you are also from Liaodong,"
Zhang Pan said: "If the Eight Banners soldiers come, everyone here will be destroyed. These women, children, old, weak and injured people will not be able to escape. Let them go back to the camp, brother Zheng..."
Zheng Zhihu smiled coldly: "Okay, for your sake, I will let go of those who can't do the heavy work, and those who can do the work must stay. As you can see, we urgently need all the manpower."
…
The dispute between Zheng Zhihu and Zhang Pan was interrupted by the continuous blast of conch horns and fireworks and rockets. The Eight Banners Soldiers' second general attack today began. It was almost noon, the west wind was blowing in the sky, and the city of Hetuala was damaged. The city wall made a strange sound in the wind, and the Chinese soldiers standing in the fields facing the enemy, wearing single clothes, felt a slight chill.
The Eight Banners soldiers once again attacked in full force. This time Nurhaci directly sent the Zhenghuang Banner and Xianghuang Banner troops directly to the battlefield.
After the fierce battle just now, one-tenth of the Chinese Army's rapid-fire firearms malfunctioned and could not be repaired in time. However, even without this one-tenth failure rate, the Eight Banners soldiers still could not approach the Chinese Army's positions. This time the Eight Banners soldiers held the infantry The army is on the front line, and the cavalry is behind. However, the infantry and cavalry of the Eight Banners are distinguished according to their combat effectiveness and equipment. Most of the infantry are mounted infantry, and some have one person and two horses.
The white flag and the white flag no longer rushed straight up, but played a game of spinning wheels in front of the Chinese army. They went around in circles and shot arrows at the Chinese army's positions. Some people were knocked off their horses by bullets, but the Eight Banners soldiers still enjoyed it. .
Nurhaci personally supervised the attack on the southern wing phalanx. The situation was not optimistic. Although the number of Chinese soldiers in the phalanx was small, they were all armed to the teeth, plus 40 lightning strike honeycomb guns and more than 40 light field guns that fired shotguns. , the fierce firepower blocked Nurhachi's elite troops more than ten steps outside the position, and could no longer move forward. However, they persisted and tried their best to bypass the Chinese army's two wings and attack its rear, but they were always tightly guarded. The Chinese army was firmly blocked from the position. In some places, the Eight Banners soldiers broke into the Chinese army's formation, but were immediately cut off by continuous rapid-fire guns. The Eight Banners warriors who rushed into the formation were isolated and helpless. Soon after, they were defeated by the second line of Chinese troops. Army reserve soldiers swarmed him and beat him to death.
The Eight Banners soldiers fought to the death, and the Chinese army held on tenaciously. This stalemate lasted from noon to evening.
After Nurhaci personally supervised the charge twice, he was desperately blocked by Abatai and several Eight Banners generals. That's it. Several thunderbolt rockets flying around landed near Nurhachi, killing him. Several Bagal soldiers.
Relying on his forty years of battle experience, Nurhachi realized that the hollow phalanx on the southern flank of the Chinese army had weak firepower. However, once the Eight Banners soldiers began to attack the hollow phalanx head-on, they immediately discovered that it was a trap. There were an insane amount of artillery and rapid-fire guns, and the intensive firepower shattered the attacks launched by Nurhachi's most powerful troops time and time again.
After the Eight Banners soldiers killed several company commanders on the front line, Niu Lu'erzhen, was injured, Nurhachi personally asked them about the battle they witnessed. From their reports, Nurhaci came to the conclusion: In the fierce battle with the Chinese army, the Eight Banners soldiers It cost almost ten to one in human life.
Nurhaci sighed and ordered the entire army to withdraw and return to camp.
As the sun gradually set in the west, a group of dark clouds came over the dense forest in the west, bringing heavy rain to the area around Hetuala City.
The Zhengbai Banner troops led by Huang Taiji were gradually retreating. He suddenly had an idea and planned to take advantage of the heavy rain to raid the Chinese army's positions.
But he didn’t know: the Chinese army used flintlock muskets, not the Ming army’s matchlocks. They were generally designed with fire door covers, and the bullets were fixed paper-packaged ammunition. They were all waterproof to a certain extent. The Chinese army’s The cannon uses a flintlock to start the fire, and it is not afraid of rain.
Huang Taiji turned around and launched an attack without Nurhachi's order. The result was very sad. The Eight Banners soldiers on other fronts had retreated. The entire Chinese army front directed all their firepower at Huang Taiji's troops. Zhengbai Banner only responded with a carbine this time. During the attack, nearly 1,000 people were killed and injured.
When Huang Taiji returned to the Zaotu Mountain camp dejectedly, Mang Gurtai was kneeling in front of Nurhaci and crying: "We can't fight anymore, Father Khan, Zhenglan Banner has killed fifteen Niu Lu'er today, my two All the people named Merle died in the battle, and they are all your grandsons."
The stout Yue Tuo, covered in blood, was helped in by two soldiers. He also knelt in front of Nurhachi and shouted: "Master, let the brothers take a breath. I no longer have a full-time Niu Lu Ezhen. All the strong soldiers died in front of the pirates. These pirates are not human beings, they are murderous demons."
Today, most of the Xiangbai Banners suffered casualties, a total of 4,600 people died in the battle, of which 10 Chun Manchu Niulu were almost wiped out. Dudu, the eldest son of the Xiangbai Banner and the eldest son of Nurhaci, was also killed in the battle. This is among the Eight Banners Army’s war dead today. , the one with the highest status.
In the Battle of Cereso, Italy on April 11, 1544, the French light cavalry and infantry defeated the Spanish cavalry-based army through mobile warfare. More than 6,000 Spanish troops died and another 3,200 were captured, while the French On the military side, less than 2,000 people died. This battle once again verified that the infantry at that time, whether it was musketeers or Swiss and German mercenary spearmen, could defeat any attack by the cavalry. The cavalry deployed on the flanks of the infantry defeated the enemy infantry. It is likely to bring about a comprehensive and decisive victory.
After that, Turkey defeated the charge of the Egyptian Mamluk cavalry group with artillery fire, once again proving that with the assistance of firearms, the infantry guarding fixed preset positions could block the cavalry charge and defeat the cavalry. After the Ming Dynasty army with firearms was defeated by the Eight Banners in Sarhu When the cavalry overran positions again and again, the European cavalry of the same period could no longer overwhelm enemy infantry units armed with firearms alone.
Nurhaci knew nothing about these major events in military history. He was superstitious about the riding and shooting skills of his cavalry. Although he realized that the Chinese army's firearms were powerful, he thought that a simple cavalry assault could overwhelm the enemy's preset firearms positions.
The result of Nurhaci's ignorance and superstitious belief in the power of the cavalry was that his Eight Banners disciples suffered nearly 20,000 casualties in one day at the gates of Hetuala.
He was heartbroken, lost his usual composure, and walked around the tent impatiently.
The Chinese army suffered a total of more than 3,500 casualties in today's battle. Yan Siqi already felt that there was not enough manpower, and planned to mobilize the militia battalion in Hetuala City to the front line during the next day's battle.
In the evening, Zhang Pan commanded the light cavalry to launch a night attack, and the Eight Banners soldiers also sent people to harass the Chinese army's positions. The sound of "bang bang bang bang bang" in front of the two armies' formations almost never stopped throughout the night.
Yan Siqi worked all night, arranging gunpowder and bullets to replenish the central front, and convened all the officers to discuss the strategy for tomorrow's battle. Everyone agreed that tomorrow should be the time to counterattack.
The two Western mercenary officers of the heavy cavalry could no longer hold back any longer, and unanimously requested that the first formation of the heavy cavalry be used to attack tomorrow.
Early the next morning, the Eight Banners soldiers swarmed in again, shouting in the fog. All the scenes of the first day's battle were repeated again, and the Eight Banners soldiers suffered heavy casualties.
Zhang Pan suddenly issued an order for the cavalry to dispatch. Like an iron wall, the heavy cavalry suddenly broke out of the southern flank of the Chinese army and rushed towards Zaotu Mountain. Yan Siqi at the central front was shocked when he saw this and cursed. Then he jumped on his horse and rushed to the South Castle, "Dear you, you Liaodong nerd, I haven't issued a counterattack order yet, 1"
He saw Zhang Pan who was preparing to set off from the parapet fortifications outside the South Castle. There was already a large group of infantry reserves chasing towards Zaotu Mountain.
"Zhang Pan, are you crazy? Why are the cavalry attacking now?" Yan Siqi reined in his horse in front of Zhang Pan and raised his hand to signal that his soldiers were ready to pounce on him at any time.
Zhang Pan greeted Yan Siqi without fear and saluted gracefully, and then said calmly: "The Eight Banners soldiers attacking the southern flank of our army no longer have the yellow flags or the yellow flags."
Yan Siqi put down his hand and said coldly: "So what, maybe Nurhaci regards his own troops as reserve forces again..."
"No, we captured two Han civilians. They are Baoyi banner slaves from the Eight Banners Village. They are now wearing the battle uniforms of the Zhenghuang Banner, and they were just put on this morning, because the losses of the Zhenghuang Banner soldiers yesterday were not large. ,So I……"
Yan Siqi shouted out sensitively: "No, this old boy Nu Qiu wants to escape." He immediately said seriously: "Why don't you report it?"
"My messengers have been sent to your central position..." Zhang Pan explained that he actually killed them first and then reported them. He sent out all the cavalry first and then sent someone to notify Yan Siqi.
Yan Siqi immediately interrupted him: "We will talk about this later. Quick, send out the signal for a general attack, seize the opportunity, and fight back with the whole army." He turned back to his personal guards and said: "You are all cavalry, immediately go to the direction of Zaotu Mountain Chase after me and leave me alone. If you catch Nu Chief, you will get a Nanyang island."