Chapter 653 0648 [Various Options for Withdrawal]

Wanyan Huonu was not dead yet. The first round of 100 cannons fired directly at her horse's head.

The warhorse's head was also covered with iron armor. It was hit hard by the fist-sized stone bullet. After dying on the spot, it still moved forward by inertia. Wanyan Huonu was thrown off the horse's back.

Several Hezhameng'an around him were also dead or fell.

This was already the final charge stage, and the running speed was extremely fast. The front row of cavalry fell collectively. The incident happened suddenly and there was no time to react. The cavalry behind could not stop the car at all.

One or two people fell down and could be avoided. A bunch of cavalry fell down in an instant. The passages were only more than 20 meters wide, which directly became a large-scale car accident scene!

Many Hezhameng'an were not hit by stone bullets, but collided with friendly forces while charging at full speed.

When the second round of 100 cannons fired, the interval with the previous round was less than ten seconds. The cavalry behind, the alert ones had already reined in their horses to slow down, and the dull ones had the awareness of slowing down but did not have time to act.

In addition, the second and third rounds were all cross-fired obliquely, and the Jin cavalry that launched the attack was in chaos. The whole army was in a state of being stunned. Some of them were still rushing forward, some stopped their horses, and some turned around and retreated, becoming live targets for stone bullets.

Another situation is that these Jin horses were encountering firearms for the first time.

Moreover, they felt three consecutive rounds of 100-gun volleys at close range. The sharp hearing of the horses amplified the roar infinitely.

A large number of horses were frightened and mad, and were not controlled by the riders at all. Some even stumbled and stepped into the pit in panic.

More than 300 shells "knocked down" far more than 300 cavalrymen.

"Huh~~Huh~~"

After three rounds of artillery fire, there were still cavalrymen who did not fall, and the squad leaders began to blow whistles and raise flags.

Then, the crossbowmen shot crossbow arrows at the surviving enemies, and ignored the sporadic survivors of Hezhameng'an, because the crossbow arrows could not penetrate heavy armor. They specifically shot at the nearest cavalrymen, and those surviving cavalrymen were shot one after another.

The spearmen supported the big shield and helped the big shieldmen stand up.

One after another, the Ming army, led by the squad leader, rushed quickly towards various passages.

Wanyan Huonu was knocked unconscious, and his head was still dizzy during the second round of volleys. He wanted to get up during the third round of volleys, but was frightened by the volleys of hundreds of cannons and fell back.

He didn't know whether the Ming army would fire again, so he could only lie on the ground and try to crawl back.

There was a warhorse nearby that was not hit by a bullet, but fell down after hitting a friendly army, and also broke the legs of another rider. The horse was not easy to stand up under the weight, so it just avoided the last two rounds of volleys, and finally stood up at this moment.

Wanyan Huonu wanted to ride the warhorse, but the horse was in a state of shock, and rushed in the opposite direction to escape, stepping on several cavalrymen who fell to the ground but not dead along the way.

His ears were still buzzing, and he vaguely felt that the Ming army was coming from behind.

Wanyan Huonu struggled to get up, but his armor was too heavy to move. He just stood up, and before he could draw his secondary weapon, he was knocked down again by something.

It was the big shieldman who rushed over with his shield. Wanyan Huonu was not only restrained by heavy armor, but also had a man and a shield on her body.

Wanyan Huonu struggled desperately, but was completely unable to move.

"We caught an enemy general!"

"Don't kill him, catch him alive!"

"..."

Several nearby teams moved forward quickly, and no one except the big shieldman came to care about him.

Along the way, they encountered the Jurchen cavalry who were still active. Those with heavy armor were knocked down first, and those without heavy armor were directly surrounded and killed. Those who struggled to get up were pressed down by the spearman's knees, and the melee weapon was pulled out to accurately cut their throats.

A soldier ran up and took off the eight-sided iron mace from Wanyan Huonu's waist.

Then, he raised his hands high and suddenly smashed down his calf.

"Ah!"

Wanyan Huonu, who was pressed down by the big shieldman, had her tibia broken on the spot.

The soldier was afraid that it was not safe, so he swung the iron mace to hit her other tibia.

Both legs were broken, but it was not over yet.

The soldier held down Wanyan Huonu's struggling right arm, first with his knees, then pulled out his waist knife, and cut off Wanyan Huonu's right thumb and index finger in succession.

The soldier helped the big shieldman stand up and grinned, "This time we are lucky."

The big shieldman carried the huge shield to the front row for defense, and the soldier stayed where he was, responsible for taking care of Wanyan Huonu, who was almost disabled.

He even turned Wanyan Huonu over and sat on her waist and back.

"Kill me, kill me quickly!"

Wanyan Huonu was still struggling desperately, and under the humiliation, she shouted in Jurchen for death.

Even though he was injured like this, he was still not honest. The soldier was pushed up and down, fearing that he could not control this fierce general, so he picked up the iron mace and smashed it again, and soon broke Wanyan Huonu's left arm.

After a scream, it finally stopped.

Wanyan Huo Nu gave up struggling and begged weakly in Chinese: "Kill me, give me a quick death."

The soldier said: "Don't worry, you won't die. The captain said you led the army to charge, and you must be a general of the Jin Kingdom. We have to capture you alive and get the reward."

"I don't accept it, I don't accept it..." Wanyan Huo Nu regained her strength and kept yelling and cursing, trying to provoke the soldiers to kill her.

...

Three rounds of 100 cannons shocked all the Jin soldiers.

None of the 400 Hezhameng'an survived. Even those who fell down without being hit were killed or captured by the Ming infantry.

The 600 brave cavalrymen who formed a team with Hezhameng'an successfully escaped more than 400 people.

That is to say, more than 300 wooden cannons, divided into three rounds of volleys, plus the follow-up infantry to make up for the knife, the direct result was only 400 heavy cavalrymen and more than 100 brave cavalrymen.

Even if the light cavalrymen hit by stray bullets are counted, the total number of casualties is less than 600.

The Jin army had more than 10,000 soldiers, so this amount of casualties was acceptable.

But the side effects were huge!

Wanyan Loushi was the first to react. When the Ming army infantry came forward to make up for the blow, he was shocked and shouted: "Raise the flag and blow the horn quickly, and let the follow-up 20 teams rush forward!"

The front army of the Ming army went to battle, and the iron chains of the box cars had not been restored. The wooden cannons were still loading ammunition. This was the opportunity for the Jin soldiers to turn the situation around.

However, the elite Jin army, who were strict in following orders, hesitated and only shot arrows from a distance when they received the order.

The commanders of the front army rode back on horseback to ask for instructions.

As the military supervisor, Poluhuo ran to Wanyan Loushi first: "Wanhu, we can't fight anymore, withdraw quickly. The enemy's firearms are powerful, and the iron chains of the chariot formation can be hung up quickly. How can the Jurchen warriors rush in?"

"Wanhu, we can't fight!"

"The southern barbarians must have the help of ghosts and gods. Mortals can't make such sharp weapons."

"Wanhu, withdraw the troops and join the marshal."

"..."

These elite Jurchens encountered Wu Jie's divine arm bow volley in history. They were shot and thrown to the ground, but they still dared to organize repeated charges.

After countless casualties, they found that they couldn't rush in, so they chose to withdraw in disgrace.

The divine arm bow was at least within their understanding, but the firearms were beyond their imagination. They were scared to lose their fighting spirit by three rounds of volleys.

In fact, Zhang Guangdao hoped that they would continue to charge, and the more times they charged, the better.

Wanyan Loushi glanced at the generals and found that each of them was afraid. Moreover, the best opportunity just now had been missed, and organizing a heavy cavalry charge would be courting death.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Retreat!"

Retreat is not a rout. The frightened Jin soldiers still maintained a high degree of organization.

As the remaining reserve for the charge, Hezhameng'an began to take off his heavy armor in an orderly manner, tied it up and placed it on their spare horses.

The remaining infantry also rode on horses used for traveling.

A large number of brave cavalry and light cavalry, 50 people in a team, were distributed all over the battlefield, covering each other and retreating.

More Jin light cavalry and brave cavalry were dispersed farther from the battlefield to guard against sudden enemies.

This efficient and strict organized retreat made Zhang Guangdao's scalp numb.

It was so fucking terrifying!

At this point in the battle, the casualties of the Jin infantry were the highest, mainly because most of them were shot dead or injured by bows and crossbows when attacking the mountains and charging the formation.

Of the more than 3,000 infantrymen, there were less than 1,800 who could still evacuate on horseback normally. Moreover, many of them were wounded. It was possible that someone would fall off the horse during the withdrawal.

Hezhameng'an killed 400 people.

More than 1,100 Jin cavalrymen died in the battle, mainly because they tried to break the iron chains of the carriages. The iron chains between the carriages were tightly buckled, and they had to dismount and spend time to unbuckle them. When they took the chains, they became live targets for crossbows.

More than 1,300 Jin light cavalrymen died in the battle. Some died from arrows during the shooting, and some died while cooperating with the cavalrymen to break the carriage formation. Some were hit by stray bullets from wooden cannons, or were killed by Ming cavalrymen during reconnaissance.

Many of the surviving Jin cavalrymen and light cavalrymen also had arrow wounds.

Now Wanyan Loushi can only command 1,600 Hezhameng'an, more than 1,700 Liaodong Han infantrymen, more than 4,400 Jin cavalrymen, and more than 900 Jurchen and grassland light cavalrymen.

In total, there are only more than 8,700 people left.

On the Ming side, there were only more than 2,000 casualties, and most of them were slightly injured by arrows.

Most of the real deaths and serious injuries came from Wu Jie's mountain defense troops. Counting the unlucky guys in the Queyue formation, the total number of deaths and serious injuries in the Ming army was only more than 160.

"Order, the whole army will pursue slowly!"

"Wu Jie's troops, stay to clean up the battlefield, and then retreat to Zhao Jianzicheng camp, and guard the baggage with the civilians!" Zhang Guangdao began to give orders.

With the big shieldmen in front, the soldiers of various units began to advance outward.

The artillery dismantled the wooden cannon and cleaned the gunpowder in the medicine pool. Four people carried a gun barrel, and two people carried a gun carriage. The rest of the artillery auxiliary soldiers moved the stone bullets and gunpowder into the boxcar, dragged and pushed the boxcar to follow the main force.

"Wan Hu, the Ming army is chasing!"

Wanyan Loushi had only retreated two or three miles when he received the news of the Ming army's pursuit.

He rode back to check in person, and became a little hesitant.

Half an hour ago, he would have fought back without hesitation, harassing, luring, and destroying the Ming army's pursuit formation, and then the cavalry would go out to annihilate these enemies.

But now, Wanyan Loushi was thinking whether he could really fight, and whether the enemy commander was playing any tricks again.

He stood on a small mound on horseback, observing the movements of the Ming army for a long time.

He found that the pursuit speed of the Ming army was extremely slow, and each unit advanced in a formation, and would stop and reorganize after advancing dozens or hundreds of steps.

Needless to say, as long as the Jin soldiers dared to kill back, the Ming army would quickly deploy a chariot formation.

"Da Da Da..."

A team of fast horses galloped over: "Wan Hu, the Ming army's cavalry is heading towards our camp!"

This is to block the retreat of the Jin soldiers and seize or burn the Jin soldiers' food and grass.

Wen Du Sizhong said: "The hiding place of the Ming cavalry is more than ten miles away. They can attack our main camp directly to the north. It will take time for the scouts to come back and report the news. It is estimated that the enemy cavalry is close to the main camp now!"

All the generals had figured out the terrain nearby. Wanyan Shengguo said, "The people guarding the camp are all soldiers from Yu County. I'm afraid they can't hold on for too long. Even if they can hold on, it will be difficult for them to cooperate with us in the battle. The Ming cavalry can just block the entrance of the valley and hold us there. When the Ming infantry formation comes after us, our army will be attacked from both sides."

Poluhuo said, "The Ming cavalry is heading for our camp. We can head for the Ming cavalry's previous hiding place. From there, we can go east and reach Chengtianzhai, or we can go through Jingxing to Hebei!"

Wanyan Loushi shook his head, "The road to Chengtianzhai is blocked. There must be Ming troops blocking the city!"

Of course there are people blocking it. Yao Pingzhong's 4,000 soldiers are there.

Yao Pingzhong only needs to hold on for a few hours, and the main force of the Ming army will arrive and block the Jin soldiers from front and back in the valley.

Zhang Guangdao planned the battlefield for more than a year, and the terrain within a radius of dozens of miles was repeatedly calculated and carefully considered.

Wendu Sizhong added: "Some of the mountains in the northwest are not too steep, and you can quickly climb over them as long as you abandon your horses. You can still walk without abandoning your horses, but the speed will be very slow. The whole army can lead the horses to climb up, and the cavalry can dismount and fight on foot to defend the mountain, covering the whole army to slowly withdraw, but the food and grass in the camp will be taken away."

Wanyan Loushi shook his head: "You said that the speed will be very slow if we dismount and climb over the mountain to withdraw, so the Ming cavalry can kill and harass, delaying time for the Ming infantry to arrive at the battlefield, and then we will fight on foot on the mountain. The Ming army has many soldiers, and we will suffer in the mountain foot battle."

"No need to discuss it anymore," Wanyan Loushi looked to the northeast, "The Ming cavalry that attacked the camp only has a total of four or five thousand, we will force our way through there!"

The real bloody battle has just begun.