Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 176: Fateful Sarhu (VI)
At 10 o'clock in the morning on February 21, 1612, the Ming and Jin sides fought a decisive battle at Sarhu!
At around noon, the coaches of both teams began to make new tactical arrangements almost at the same time.
At 12:10, Chai Guozhu, the general of Shanhaiguan on the Ming side, was killed in battle. The 5,000 Liaodong cavalrymen he led suffered heavy casualties, and the remaining troops began to disintegrate.
At the same time, the Kaiyuan Army, which was fighting against the Bordered Blue Banner, also showed signs of defeat. This was especially evident when the Liaodong cavalry on its right retreated and the Plain Blue Banner of the Later Jin began to attack from its side.
At around 12:20, soldiers from the three Ningxia towns and the Beijing camp entered the battlefield and managed to stabilize the Kaiyuan army's front line, which was about to collapse. They also relied on the abundant physical strength of the new entrants to force the two blue flags, which had been fighting for half a day, to retreat step by step.
However, this advantage did not last long. At around 12:40, after the Zhenghuang and Zhengbai Banners of the Later Jin entered the battlefield under the leadership of the Four Ministers, the offensive of the Three Towns of Ningxia and the Beijing Camp immediately stagnated, and as time went on, they were forced to slowly retreat.
But no matter what, after nearly three hours of fighting, no Ming army fled without a fight or dispersed. This alone made Zhu Youdong extremely satisfied.
"Your Highness, the Henghai Guard and Kuandian Guard have completed their battle formations, and all the barricades have been deployed."
"Okay, have the auxiliary soldiers in the back brought up the hot water?"
"It has been delivered. Water is being poured on the barricades."
"Very good. Send a message to the soldiers fighting hard in front and ask them to hold on for another half an hour. Then they can retreat from both sides of the Henghai and Kuandianwei battle lines and re-form their battle lines on the high ground along the river bank to protect the flanks of the new battle line."
"Yes, sir!"
"Someone come!" After watching the messenger run away quickly, Zhu Youdong shouted, "Raise the flag for me!"
Following Zhu Youdong's shout, more than a dozen strong Jinyiwei men struggled to erect a ten-meter-high tree that had just been felled and had its branches removed to serve as a flagpole. As the flagpole was erected, the huge flag was unfurled in the cold wind, revealing a row of large characters on it: The Great Ming Emperor's grandson is here, and the slave chiefs should come quickly to accept their death!
Come on, I want to see what the result will be when the modern army that I spent so much effort to train goes up against your Later Jin's top heavy infantry from the Middle Ages.
…
"Swish!" The saber was swung vigorously again. Ma Ran, who had been fighting since the beginning of the battle, killed another Jurchen soldier. His sore arms could no longer exert strength, and the heavy saber slipped from his hands and fell to the ground.
"Huff~Huff~" Ma Ran's cheek was slashed, leaving a deep wound from his forehead to the corner of his mouth. Blood was still oozing out of him. After taking a few deep breaths with his lungs as if a broken bellows, he resolutely took out an exquisite dagger from his waist.
"Hey, I'm actually going to use the dagger given by His Highness to kill the enemy. I wonder how many Jiannu I can kill for His Highness?"
As soon as he paused, a Jin soldier swung a broadsword and chopped at him. Ma Ran wanted to bend down to avoid the blade and then kill the enemy with a dagger. Unexpectedly, as soon as he squatted down, his legs became weak and he fell to the ground.
"Hey, I'm doomed today." Ma Ran had just closed his eyes when he suddenly felt a hot stream splashing on his cheek. He opened his eyes and saw that the Jiannu who was waving a knife at him had a gun head suddenly appearing on his chest.
"Brother, get up quickly!"
"Brother Yi, why are you here? Where is father?"
"Your Highness just ordered our army to retreat. Father has already retreated. My younger brother didn't see my older brother coming back, so..." At this point, Ma Yi dodged a spear and knocked down the Jiannu with his spear: "Brother, quickly follow me to retreat. Otherwise, if you end up in front of Henghaiwei, it will be even worse than being surrounded by Jiannu."
"Hahaha, you are right." Squeezing out the last bit of strength from his body, Ma Ran stood up, found a spear, and fought and retreated with his brother back to back, constantly calling on the few Ming soldiers on the battlefield to move closer to him. After many life-and-death battles, they finally withdrew from the front battlefield at around 2 pm, retreated to the rear of the Henghai and Kuandian armies, and began to reorganize the army.
“Ran’er, Ran’er!”
"Father, my child is here."
"Wuwuwu~~Father, father almost couldn't see you."
"Hehe, father, our Ma family has been a family of generals for generations. Isn't it natural for us to die on the battlefield? When my uncle died in battle, my grandfather didn't shed a single tear. He just said that a man should die wrapped in his horse's hide. Why do you have to be like this, father?"
"Silly child! What a silly child!" From the beginning of the war until now, Marin, who had never even taken his sword out of its sheath, now had hot tears just flowing out, mixed with the tears that had been frozen earlier, and his entire face was yellow and white: "What do you know? You are the eldest son of my Ma family! Wuuuuu~~"
" Father , we will talk about the relationship between father and son later. Now we must regroup and guard against the enemy from the flanks of Henghai and Kuandian."
"Well...but the organization is all messed up now. In addition to Kaiyuan Guard, we also have soldiers from Ningxia Town and Yansui Town."
"Father, have you forgotten? His Highness had anticipated this situation, so he had given each officer a chest patch in advance. Father, your chest patch with three horizontal bars and one star is definitely the highest level. Please come forward and ask everyone to line up again."
"Ah? Oh, yes, His Highness has such an arrangement. Okay, okay, Ran'er, are you okay? Can you?"
"I will reorganize the army with my father!"
Putting aside the contrasting father and son, the Ming army had already advanced to the far wings. Du Song, Li Rubai and others who led the troops certainly saw the situation on the central front. While they were thinking about whether to return to support, they saw seven red flares rising in the sky again: According to the new command regulations issued by His Highness, this means a general attack by the entire army!
Soon, Du Song and others saw a huge red flag erected: except for the grandson himself, who dared to use a three-meter flagpole in this battle? Doesn't this mean that His Highness will go out in person?
Moreover, after the flagpole was erected, it continued to lean forward violently. Combined with the flare in the sky just now, Zhu Youdong's meaning was very clear: the two-wing encirclement must continue and be carried out unswervingly! The two wings are in an advantageous position at this moment, and they are not allowed to return for help.
What else can we say? We should charge forward with all our might, defeat the enemy as soon as possible, and force the Jiannu to withdraw their superior forces from the front. This would be considered as helping the Crown Prince.
"Has all the water frozen?"
"Your Highness, thanks to the hard fighting of the troops in the front, we have gained another half an hour. All the hot water poured on the barricades has frozen. Our infantry has a barrier."
"Very good. How many troops in front have retreated? Have them evacuate the wounded quickly and have the rest re-form their ranks."
The Kaiyuan Guard, Shanhai Guard, the three towns of Ningxia, and the Beijing Camp had a total of 33,000 soldiers before the war. About 24,000 of them retreated at this time. Of course, the remaining 9,000 could not have all been killed. However, the battlefield was taken over by the Later Jin, and in such a cold environment, it is estimated that not many of the wounded soldiers who fell on the battlefield could survive.
Among the 24,000 people who retreated, many were injured, but no matter what, there were at least 15,000 people who could continue fighting.
Of course, Zhu Youdong, who was in the Henghai and Kuandian guards, was unaware of these situations at the moment. All he could do was to ask the auxiliary soldiers in the rear to evacuate the wounded as soon as possible - in this battle, Nanhua Palace and Fangshan had done their best, and the medical laboratory had stopped all work. All the doctors and apprentices were now in the camp in the rear.
At 2:20 pm, the two blue flags and the two yellow and white flags were able to quickly reunite as the Ming army, which had been fighting hard, suddenly withdrew. After a brief discussion, the two beiles and four ministers decided to send the white flag in front, the two blue flags on the two wings, and the yellow flag in the back, and began to attack the last line of defense of the Ming army.
