Chapter 229 228 Breaking the Camp

"Da Da Da"

Wei Guangde vaguely heard the dense sound of horse hooves coming from afar. Although he couldn't see the Tartar cavalry yet, it was obvious that they were really coming and were still accelerating.

All Wei Guangde could see were the Tartars who had been standing near the tents or the chevaux de frise and quickly dodged to the side.

When the first Tartar cavalry appeared in front of him, Wei Guangde was still shocked for no reason, because he suddenly saw countless arrows flying out from all directions of the Tartars at the same time, drawing parabolas in the air and sliding towards the front of the Ming army.

The density of the Tartar archers' arrows was not so high before. This time it was a real volley, flying like a small dark cloud.

Wei Guangde didn't have time to say anything, he could only wait quietly for the result. Whether the sword and shield soldiers in front could protect the bird gunners behind him was crucial.

Wei Guangde was not worried about the people in the car camp. The existence of their side carriages would never prevent the artillery from firing even if there were fish that slipped through the net.

The rain of arrows pierced into the Ming army formation. Although most of the arrows were blocked by the shields, Wei Guangde could still see that the front part of the army was shot down by the Tartar arrows.

Fortunately, most of the bird gunners in the front rows were protected by swords and shields, and the formation was not in chaos.

When the team of Tartar cavalry appeared in the sight of the Ming army, the front army inevitably produced a little commotion.

Most of the Tartar cavalry who rushed to the front used heavy weapons such as hammers and axes, and their goal was naturally to smash the Ming army's shield formation.

Wei Guangde understood it in his heart, and the Ming army generals and soldiers in front naturally understood it.

Unable to hear the order issued by the captain in front clearly, Wei Guangde could only see the Ming army behind the army formation like a wave of people, the first row of sword and shield men squatted suddenly, and then the bird guns in the first row fired the bird guns in their hands.

"Pa pa pa"

On the noisy battlefield, the unique sound of the bird guns still came over, accompanied by the sound of the "bang bang bang" falconet, making the battlefield even more noisy.

After the first row of bird gunners finished firing their bird guns, they did not turn around and retreat to the rear, but squatted on the spot, as if they were putting bayonets on the muzzles of the guns.

The Ming army in front was very densely lined up, and there was obviously no space for them to move to the rear to reload ammunition. After the first row of gunners squatted, the bird guns of the second row of gunners also fired quickly. As soon as they saw the green smoke in front, the third row followed.

"Bang bang bang" The falconets equipped by the Ming army fired again at this time, and there were also bowl-mouth guns that had never had the opportunity to use. After the Tartar cavalry rushed close, they also fired large and small shotguns into the Tartar cavalry group.

The Ming army gunners had only three rows, and after all of them were fired, they could no longer fire a second time, and the long spearmen behind were blocked behind and could not go up.

Wei Guangde didn't expect that the commander of the Ming army would arrange the troops so densely, and he was a little speechless for a moment.

If he turned sideways slightly, he could actually pass through, but seeing the Tartars who had already rushed to the front, Wei Guangde understood that they would do this.

Passing by each other would inevitably affect the preparation of the soldiers behind. For the close-range attack of the cavalry, they really couldn't make a better response and could only stand there.

Although many people were killed and injured by the Ming army's firearms, there was no continuous firepower attack after all. The Tartar cavalry still rushed into the Ming army formation after withstanding the attack of the Ming army and paying a heavy price.

Wei Guangde estimated that nearly a hundred people fell off their horses and fell on the charge. Although the dense Tartar formation in front was scattered a lot, there were still cavalry rushing out from the tents behind, and at least three hundred people had come out.

Wei Guangde judged that this should be an attack launched by a thousand households of cavalry.

Considering the Tartar cavalry that rushed out from the rear camp before, other places in the camp should be almost empty.

However, the Tatar cavalry that followed up also encountered a big problem, because at this time, many bodies of people and horses were lying on the road, and there were frightened horses running around or spinning in place, and the injured people were howling there, which affected the speed of the cavalry rushing out from behind, and they did not quickly make up for the gap in the front cavalry.

However, the Tatars who survived or were slightly injured in the front were still desperately urging their horses to rush forward, and the distance between them and the Ming army formation was getting closer and closer.

Wei Guangde couldn't bear to watch it directly. He could imagine the tragic scene of the Tatar cavalry approaching and chopping the Ming army formation with hammers and axes.

"Bang bang bang"

Another round of bombardment of the Portuguese cannon, but these cannons were obviously loaded with solid bullets. If they were shotguns, the effect might be better.

Wei Guangde looked at the smoke constantly spewing out from the side carriage in front, and knew that the soldiers in the car camp were still struggling to replace the cartridges for shooting, but they were not well prepared at the beginning, and perhaps they did not prepare shotguns, but were all loaded with solid bullets.

From the situation of the Tartars falling off their horses, we can see that wherever the shells fly, there is a bloody road. The Tartars on the road either fell off their horses directly or screamed with their hands protecting their broken arms.

If there were more falconets and more cartridges equipped with shotgun shells, perhaps the soldiers in front could be saved.

Wei Guangde could only think so in his heart, but it was just a thought. He could not do anything at this time.

"Bang bang."

Wei Guangde vaguely heard the sound of bowstrings popping out. At this time, the Tartar cavalry was very close to the Ming army formation, and the Tartar army did not fire a round of arrows like before.

The Tartars did not dare to shoot, but the Ming army could.

At this time, the archers standing in the middle had rested enough. They shot the arrows in their hands continuously at the command of the team officer.

Although the archers of Xuanfu Army were not as famous as those of Datong Army, and their numbers were not large enough, at this moment, those hundreds of archers became the saviors of the Ming Army.

After a round of arrow rain, the Tatars who rushed to the front had become hedgehogs and fell off their horses. After they fell off, their companions behind them were exposed and became the second round of attack targets of the Ming Army archers.

The Portuguese cannons continued to roar, and all the Ming Army archers were still gritting their teeth and persisting, using their remaining strength to draw their bows and shoot arrows to stop the Tatars who wanted to rush into the army.

At this time, some horses that had lost their owners were still running forward and had reached the front of the Ming Army. The archers took back their shields and waved their long swords to chop at the horses that they thought were extremely precious in the past.

Of course, they would not swing their swords like in the storybook, where the rushing horses were split in half with one sword, but they also frightened those horses and turned around and ran away.

The startled horses did not break through the Ming army formation, but the Tatars following behind could not quickly ride their horses to get close to the Ming army because of the relatively narrow passage and obstacles on the road.

This is an opportunity.

The captain in front asked the archers to prepare while asking the two rows of bird gunners in the back to start loading. The first row of bird gunners had already hit the bird spikes at this time, and it was very troublesome to remove them unless they changed the formation to the back.

At this time, only the dozen or so falconets were still roaring, aiming at the several passages where the Tatars appeared and bombarded them.

However, the other thousand households seemed to have seen that the passage was too narrow, which was not conducive to the cavalry rushing out and launching an attack formation.

Well, it can only be said that they thought too much about the attack at the beginning, thinking that as long as the Tatar cavalry appeared, the Ming army formation might collapse.

Unfortunately, they forgot that this was the largest Ming Dynasty military force they had encountered in field battles for so many years, and almost all the elites of Xuanfu were concentrated, so their pressure resistance was naturally far greater than the Ming army they had encountered in the past.

After losing about 300 people, the Tartars decisively stopped charging.

Wei Guangde saw all this, and no matter what the Tartars were planning, he knew that this opportunity could not be missed.

There were still more than 2,000 Tartars in the barracks. If they were allowed to reorganize, and a part of them were transferred to the outside of the camp to attack his rear camp, or the passage was widened, they could easily organize thousands of cavalry to launch a charge. It would be unrealistic to defend those passages as they are now.

"Attack, the central army also pressed forward, and did not give the Tartars' war horses room to accelerate."

Wei Guangde turned his head and shouted loudly to Tian Shiwei at this time. He knew that he was lucky to be able to withstand the Tartars' attack this time, and the Tartars underestimated their strength.

At this time, Tian Shiwei naturally had no other choice, and directly issued an attack order to the personal soldiers next to him.

"Dong Dong Dong"

The dense sound of war drums sounded again in the Ming army formation.

Soon, the several captains in front knew the order of the rear commander, which was to attack with all their strength.

Although it was different from what was agreed before, military orders were always military orders, and they had to be resolutely executed even if they didn't understand.

When the drum beats stabilized a little, the Ming army formation had split into three sections, and the Ming army on the left and right wings began to move to both sides with the drum beats.

After quickly pushing away obstacles such as chevaux de frise that blocked the road, they turned around and encircled the Tartars.

The Ming army on the central army road also began to advance slowly, but unlike before, the bird gunners in the front row had retreated to the back at this time, and they were already pulling out the gun bayonets inserted into the gun barrels.

The Ming army launched a counterattack immediately after encountering the cavalry charge, which was a bit beyond the expectations of the Tartar generals.

Looking at the Ming army encircling the two wings and the Ming soldiers advancing to the beat of the drums, the Mongolian Wanhu knew the purpose of their doing so.

If there were a few cavalrymen, the horse speed could be easily increased, but now it was a confrontation between two armies, and it would take a certain distance to increase the horse speed.

The Ming army was squeezing their space, so that the cavalry they dispatched could not complete the acceleration.

Cavalry without speed is actually far less powerful than infantry.

The Mongolian Wanhu regretted it a little at this time. He was too careless this time. The loss of more than 300 people was a small matter. The Ming army attacked all night, and the number of Tatars killed was only 500 to 600. However, the failure of the cavalry attack was a big blow to morale, and he couldn't afford it.

What to do?

Now he needs to come up with a solution immediately, but for a moment, he can't think of a good solution.

"Master Wanhu, we can only retreat, otherwise it will be even worse if we are surrounded by the Ming army."

The Qianhu next to him saw the current crisis and said to him hurriedly that it would not work if he continued like this.

"Retreat first, let Sahatu reorganize the cavalry as soon as possible."

The Mongolian Wanhu immediately ordered that no matter what, retreating at this time was necessary, and space must be left for the war horses.

The Ming army continued to advance in the Tatar camp, and the Tatars could only form a small archer phalanx of dozens of people to alternately cover the retreat and prevent the Ming army from pursuing quickly.

However, the Ming army had no intention of a full-scale attack at this time. They were still not in a hurry, and they set up a tight military formation and moved forward.

For most of the Ming army soldiers, this battle was a bit strange, but it was very satisfying. The Tartars were always suppressed by them.

The gap in technical equipment was fully reflected in this battle.

Although almost everyone in the Tartars was an archer, bows and arrows also had disadvantages, that is, they had a great impact on the body.

Most of the Tartar thousand households who resisted the Ming army before were now unable to shoot arrows.

In the early morning before dawn, they shot a lot of arrows quickly to prevent the Ming army from rushing into the military camp. At this time, most of them were taken by the Qianhu to ride their own horses and joined the previous assault cavalry.

Although the Qianhu who came to reinforce from behind could still fight, they were obviously no match for the Ming army at this time.

Soon, three Qianhu gathered in front of Wanhu to discuss what to do about this matter.

"Sir, retreat to the rear camp. The Ming barbarians continue to approach like this. Our cavalry can't play their combat power at all. The military camp we set up is also helping them."

"Yes, sir, the Ming army used infantry to attack the camp. We don't have the advantage of terrain now."

Several Qianhu talked about their understanding of the current situation. They all wanted to retreat as soon as possible and temporarily distance themselves from the Ming army.

There was another thing they didn't say, that is, the advantage of the number of the Ming army was too obvious.

Now they have less than 3,000 people here. If the injured who can't fight are deducted, there are only more than 2,000 people.

The Ming army's losses were estimated to be similar to theirs, with at least nearly 10,000 people, and they were deployed in battle formations, so they really couldn't fight any further.

The Tatars' advantage over the Ming army in the field was not clear to the tribes below, but did the Wanhu and Qianhu understand it?

Raid.

They dared to attack the Ming army, which was several times larger than theirs, in the field. In fact, it was not because of their strong combat power, but because they often took advantage of their mobility and suddenly appeared in places where the Ming army did not expect, and they mostly attacked the marching formations of the Ming army.

The rapid raids made the Ming army rush over before they had time to deploy their battle formations. This was the real reason why the grassland cavalry was defeated repeatedly against the Ming army.

Once the Ming army completed the deployment of the battle formation, there was only one way for them, that is, to retreat.

The Mongolian Wanhu were not procrastinators, so they naturally understood and would not hesitate.

"Retreat to the rear camp. If not, give up here first and let this camp become the grave of the Ming dogs."

Hearing his own Wanhu say this, a Qianhu who was slow to react but very impatient said in confusion: "Sir, what do you mean by this?"

"Everyone get on the horse, we will go out of the rear camp, first defeat the Ming cavalry and join the Khan."

The Mongolian Wanhu looked at the camp with a sneer on his face, "Give them this place, we will eliminate the Ming cavalry outside, and then come with the Khan to surround them and trap them to death, hehe."

After he said this, the Qianhu also understood.

We are indeed at a disadvantage now, so let's kill the Ming cavalry outside first, and then join the Khan's royal guards to eliminate the Ming army in front of us.

"Go, move quickly."

The Wanhu urged.

"Yes, sir."

"As you command."