Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 178: Fateful Sarhu (VIII)
"Marshal, down below."
"What's going on down there?!"
"The Jiannu were defeated!"
"Huh? Okay! Okay!"
It was 3:30 in the afternoon. Some soldiers of Du Song's army, which were fighting hard in the mountains and forests on the south bank of the Hunhe River, were surprised to find that a stream of people with mottled colors suddenly emerged on the frozen river surface. Upon closer inspection, they were found to be Later Jin soldiers wearing yellow, white, blue and other colored cotton armor, rushing around like wolves.
In this huge crowd of more than 10,000 people, there was occasionally a team of cavalrymen wearing shining half-body plate armor, constantly waving their sabers and harvesting heads!
"Hmm~" Du Song also found a place without trees blocking the view, raised the telescope and watched carefully: "Good, good! Ahem, the Jiannu lost their armor and weapons, and our cavalry charged alone without being besieged. Ahem, the Jiannu are really defeated! Ouch!"
"Marshal, be careful with your wound."
"Ahem, it's okay, it's okay. Oh, I'm so happy! I have fought for my whole life, and I thought I would die here, but I didn't expect to win a great victory! Really, really... Your Highness is really a heroic lord!"
The battle started after ten o'clock in the morning, and the Ming army led by Du Song had been fighting continuously for more than five hours.
At the beginning, the Ming army, with a huge numerical advantage, advanced very quickly. However, when the enemy sent the Bordered Yellow Banner into the battlefield, especially the two thousand flintlock musketeers, the progress of the Ming army suddenly slowed down and gradually stagnated.
Fortunately, no one, whether it was the Later Jin or the Japanese consultants, knew how to use the flintlock soldiers. And although the terrain on the south bank of the Hun River was relatively flat, there were also dense coniferous forests in this era. It was impossible to use the flintlock soldiers in such terrain and line them up to shoot them. So the flintlock soldiers of the Later Jin could only disperse, and some even climbed up the trees, becoming two thousand "snipers" who fired cold shots.
These "snipers" caused great trouble to the Ming army. Many Ming soldiers who were fighting fiercely were shot and killed, or they were killed by other Later Jin infantrymen because they were unable to move after being shot. What's worse, even Zhang Chengyin, the Lieutenant General of Jizhen, was shot dead!
The commander of this army, Du Song, had been fighting in the front, so he naturally became the target of the Later Jin flintlock soldiers' concentrated fire. Fortunately, his servants risked their lives to block the bullets for him twice, but he was still hit by a bullet in the right chest and had to retreat to the rear to command.
No matter what, when a soldier is facing a powerful enemy, he has to pay attention to the sudden gunshot coming from nowhere... This battle is extremely tiring to fight.
In short, Du Song's route made the fastest progress at the beginning, but due to the enemy's reinforcements, his speed not only slowed down, but also fell far behind Li Rubai's progress on the north bank of the Hun River. What made Du Song feel even more embarrassed was that at around 3 pm, the Ming army's front line began to be forced to retreat.
For a moment, Du Song felt humiliated and under great pressure: the army he led had the strongest force. If he couldn't hold on, no matter how great the results Li Rubai achieved, it would be in vain.
But now, everything is easy: the enemy's center has been completely defeated, and although one of the two wings has an advantage, it is still a long way from fully opening up the situation. In short, this battle is now over.
Sure enough, when Du Song's pocket watch reached 3:43 pm, the Later Jin blew a whimpering horn. Soon after the horn sounded, both Du Song and Li Rubai suddenly felt the opponent's attack force increase.
But this reinforcement was only very short-lived, and more of the troops who were ordered to stay behind were struggling desperately. Soon, the remnants of the Later Jin army retreated quickly, then quickly crossed the Suzi River and retreated into Jiefan Village.
"Your Highness has issued an order! Do not pursue the desperate enemy!"
"Your Highness's order! All troops must immediately regroup and return to their bases, transport the wounded, and clean up the battlefield!"
"I will follow your highness' orders!"
…
"Your Highness, our army won this battle!"
"I, your Highness, congratulate you!"
"Your Highness led an army of 100,000 to defeat such a brutal enemy in his first military command. Even if we count all the famous generals in history, it would be hard to find one who could surpass Your Highness."
"Yes, it was our dynasty's Qi Shaobao. When he first went into battle, he was chased for a long distance by the Japanese pirates."
"Huh~~" Zhu Youdong patted his cheeks which were almost completely stiff due to a whole day of cold wind, and stood up from the thick leather stool. He raised his hand gently. Yang Hao and the guards immediately fell silent and dared not say anything anymore.
After this battle, Zhu Youdong truly gained power.
"Mr. Yuan."
"I am here."
"Please work with Shizhong to command the various armies to carry the wounded and count our losses and gains."
"Yes, sir."
"Mr. Bear."
"I am here."
"Tonight, I'll leave all the defense of our army to you. You'll decide which troops will be on duty and where to deploy. Please tell the soldiers that a journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step. We have won this battle. However, the conquest of Jianzhou has just begun! In this great victory, we must guard against arrogance and impatience, and be careful with our defense."
"I obey your command!"
"Yang Jinglue."
"Your Highness, I, your servant Yang Hao, am here."
"Please use your brilliant writing skills to describe the course of this battle. Once you have finished writing, please give it to me for review."
"I obey your command!"
"Master Cheng."
"I am here."
"I'll have to trouble you again tonight. Scatter the night sky and do not collect it to prevent the Jiannu from attacking the camp."
"I obey your command!"
After making all these arrangements, Zhu Youdong stretched out his hand and pointed: Tian Ergeng, Cao Huachun, Zhang Shize, Li Chunzhong, follow me.
Seeing Zhu Youdong turn around, Yang Hao just took a step forward and wanted to ask the grandson where he was going. But he was stopped by Yuan Keli: After this ordeal, Yang Hao is absolutely convinced by the grandson and can be used with confidence in the future. But his brain is still a little slow to react. Where is the grandson going now? Of course, it is the field hospital in the rear camp. This is a great opportunity to win the hearts of the army!
Walking in the endless snow, Zhu Youdong's hands, hidden in his thick sleeves, were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning blue - he was trying his best to suppress his emotions.
It was very complicated, with both the infinite emotion of participating in history in person and the sense of accomplishment of changing history. There was both the joy of winning a great victory and the sadness brought by the huge casualties of our own soldiers.
"Calm down, calm down! As a time traveler, you were born as the grandson of the emperor, you have been farming for nearly eight years, and you have received so much help. With all these things, isn't it natural to defeat a backward armed group that practices serfdom? Your real enemy is not here at all."
Let’s temporarily put aside the identities of a time traveler, the crown prince, and the commander-in-chief, and return to our duties as a doctor, doing our best to treat the wounded!
…
On the other side, inside Jiefan Village.
"Where is Manggurtai?"
"Great Khan, the Third Prince has been killed in battle."
"Where's Amin?"
"Woo woo woo, Great Khan, the Fourth Prince was also killed in the battle."
"Where's Fei Yingdong?"
"Also...died in action."
"Oh, God! Why are you so cruel that you took away my most loyal brother, my bravest son, and my most intelligent nephew instead of taking an old man like me away first?"
"Father Khan, this is not the time to be sad. Should we go and rob the camp tonight?"
"Raid the camp?" Nurhaci pointed his hands to the sky, his face covered with tears, and he was roaring with all his might. Suddenly he stopped what he was doing, turned around and looked at Chu Ying: "You mean rob the camp?"
"Yes, Father Khan. The southern barbarians took advantage of us today. So they must be very happy and indulgent right now. If we go out to rob the camp tonight, we will definitely win!"
"Well... Huang Taiji, what do you think?"
"Father Khan, should we first count how many people have returned to the village?"
"Well, what you said makes sense. Then go and click it quickly."
However, this day was destined not to be Nurhaci's lucky day. At night, when Huang Taiji and others reported to him with sad faces, he was also stunned by the number.
"What did you say? How is it possible? How come only 28,000 people came back? No matter how good the southern barbarians are at fighting, they can't possibly kill nearly 40,000 of us! And you just said that among these 20,000 people, nearly 10,000 of them are injured?"
Of course, Zhu Youdong's Ming army did not kill so many people from the Later Jin army.
In fact, the actual number of casualties of the Later Jin was about 17,000. Among them, the Kaiyuan Army, Shanhaiguan Cavalry, the three towns of Ningxia, and the Beijing Camp killed about 5,000 people in the middle of the river - mainly when the Shanhaiguan Cavalry rushed down, the damage to the Zhenglan Banner was too great. Du Song's side had about 3,000 casualties, and Li Rubai's side also had about 3,000 casualties. In total, there were 12,000.
Later, more than 5,000 soldiers of the Four Banners of the Later Jin were killed by cannons, flintlock rifles and other weapons in front of the Henghai and Kuandian guards.
The above are the dead. The number of wounded soldiers is probably a little higher than this. Minus the seriously injured who cannot retreat, no matter how you count it, 65,000 people went out, and only 28,000 came back.
The only possible explanation is that they were deserters or voluntarily surrendered to the Ming army.
There is no way. The Later Jin was forced to establish a country and start an uprising ahead of time. Compared with the original plane of history, it took several years of hard work. A considerable number of soldiers in this army were Ula people and Yehe people not long ago. When Jianzhou was strong, they dared not say anything, but when the Later Jin suffered such a great defeat, these people certainly did not have the awareness to continue fighting for the so-called Great Jin.
He sat down dejectedly, as if something was missing from his huge and strong body. Nurhaci said dejectedly: "So, who is willing to lead the troops out for a night raid tonight?"
