Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 414: The End of a Battle
Through the telescope, Zhu Youdong watched the two cavalry teams approaching each other quickly, and then the distance between them shortened to 200 meters. But on the Ming army side, the leader Man Gui and the cavalrymen in front all raised their sabers and did not make any other moves.
"Chi~" Shaking his head, Zhu Youdong put down the telescope helplessly.
"Your Majesty, Marshal Man should know very well that this may be the last large-scale cavalry battle, so he does not want to ruin the atmosphere with the revolving hand gun. Marshal Man is such a simple man, please understand your majesty."
"Hey, General Cao, how could I not know what General Man is thinking? Well, even if we don't use the revolving hand gun, our cavalry will still have the advantage."
The so-called advantage is not just talk: the cavalry led by Man Gui now is all the cavalry of the seven towns, with a total of tens of thousands. Although the opponent has the red guards of the Ii family, it only has three divisions of cavalry, with a total of no more than 5,000. The Tokugawa cavalry, who are at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, horses, and even knights, fought with the Ming cavalry led by Man Gui. It was only the first round of sprint. After both sides had penetrated each other, even the nobles who were watching the battle on Atago Mountain couldn't help but cover their eyes: the exchange ratio was too ugly.
"Hey!" Man Gui turned his horse's head in displeasure, shook it vigorously, and spat fiercely on the ground: "It's so boring! I thought that today's battle would either kill or seriously injure us. Who knew that after a sprint, except for the few who were leading the way, the rest were just trash! It's really disappointing!"
Although he cursed, his hands were not slow. After turning, he raised the big knife that was already stained with blood and brains again: "Brothers, charge again and kill these bastards completely. Then we will break into the Japanese pirates' main camp from the west!"
"kill!"
He was leading a group of soldiers forward, but on the south side, at the main infantry camp of the Tokugawa army, Yagyu Munetora, who was in charge of the front-line command, was really in tears.
"Master Zong Hu, this is an order from Master Zong Ju in the rear."
"Ah? What did Lord Zong Ju say? Are there any reinforcements?"
"Lord Zong Ju said that in order to maintain the defense of Kyoto, there will be no reinforcements."
"What should we do? Are we all going to die here in battle?!"
"Lord Zong Ju has a handwritten letter here, please take a look."
Zong Hu took over a scroll of silk book with only four words on it: "Cut off the tail to survive."
"Hiss~" After taking a breath of cool air , Zong Hu quickly calmed down. Then he expressed his deep admiration for Liu Sheng Zong Ju behind him: although Lord Zong Ju was still more than ten miles away from the battlefield, he seemed to know the current battle situation better than himself.
The meaning of Yagyu Munen's "cut off the tail to survive" is very simple: if you can't hold on, you'll be defeated, but it's still early, and you can't retreat at night. So, in order to allow more soldiers to escape to the second line of defense of the army ten miles away, you should choose the rear guard unit - of course, the survival rate of this rear guard unit is almost zero.
"Messenger!"
"Hi Yi!"
"Go and tell the three division commanders to each choose a regiment to cover the rear, and the other two regiments to retreat. Tell the regiments that they only need to hold off the Ming people for fifteen minutes, after which they can do whatever they want. Also, after the six regiments retreat, have the artillery battalion blow up all the artillery and detonate all the shells!"
"...Hi!"
The difference between modern and ancient armies, in addition to the difference in weapons and equipment, is another important point: the two are very different in terms of discipline and obedience. The essence of modern military training is to wear down the soldiers' individuality through repeated mechanical training day after day, making countless soldiers become parts of a war machine.
After Zong Hu's order was passed to the division commanders, although the three division commanders were very angry, on the one hand, it was an order from their superiors, and obedience was emphasized since they joined this army. What was even more terrible was that at this moment, the cavalry of our side was almost invisible in the distance of the battlefield. Therefore, no matter how reluctant the three division commanders were, they all carried out this order to cut off the tail and survive. And the selected regiment commander, although he grumbled, he still led his regiment to fight desperately.
At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Ming soldiers who were fighting on the front line suddenly felt that the opponent's attack was much more intense. Of course, this intensity did not last long. After about a moment of thrust, a large number of Tokugawa troops retreated like a tide.
The experienced commander of the Ming army knew that the enemy was about to flee, and wanted to pursue them. However, the Tokugawa army responsible for the rear guard faithfully carried out the order of their superiors - fighting desperately for fifteen minutes.
Although a large number of Tokugawa soldiers who were left behind began to surrender in droves as soon as the fifteen minutes were up, the enemy's second line of defense was only more than ten miles away from here. Although Man Gui led the cavalry to chase and kill them, more than half of the defeated Tokugawa soldiers still escaped behind the Kyoto defense line.
…
"Your Majesty, I am ready to withdraw my troops."
"Please make your own decision, General Cao."
The battle on April 25th started at 9 am and was basically over at around 3:30 pm. The defeated Tokugawa army had multiple layers of defense because they arrived here in advance. So, although they were defeated, they were still far from collapse. As for the Ming army, although they won the battle, they also suffered heavy casualties. Moreover, when they arrived here, they didn't even have a decent barracks and were in urgent need of rest. Therefore, with the tacit understanding of both sides, by four or five o'clock in the afternoon, the entire battlefield had become completely silent.
As an emperor, Zhu Youdong's purpose in coming here was very clear: first, to buff the entire army. Second, to locate the broken army. Third, to gain the army's morale.
Therefore, after the war, Emperor Zhu naturally visited the military camps and the wounded soldiers. Then he transformed himself into Doctor Zhu and performed several operations. He was busy until after ten o'clock in the evening, when Sun Chengzong invited him out.
After following Sun Chengzong to the big tent and sitting down, Cao Wenzhao stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, the casualty statistics of this morning's battle have been released."
"Go ahead."
"Yes, after a detailed statistics, in today's daytime battle, our army lost 3,725 people and 5,823 people were injured. The Jurchen friendly army lost 762 people and more than 1,200 people were injured. In addition, the cavalry lost 76 horses in the battle.
In terms of the results of the battle, more than 8,500 corpses of the Tokugawa army were collected, of which at least 3,000 were enemy cavalry, and more than 6,800 were captured . More than 3,300 horses of various types, five artillery pieces, and countless guns and ammunition of various types were seized.
Your Majesty, everyone, generally speaking, our army's losses mainly came from the early stages when we approached the enemy's front line, and the greatest victory came from the cavalry. Marshal Man fought well in this battle."
"I dare not, Your Majesty." Man Gui hurriedly stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, Commander Sun, General, I should have achieved greater results at a lower cost today. But I was so mad that I only wanted to solve the problem with brute force and completely forgot that I still had the revolver in my hand... Please forgive me, Your Majesty ."
"... Marshal Man, you did not do well, but I do not want to dwell on it. In future battles, please remember, first, victory. Second, on the premise of victory, try to keep as many brothers alive on the battlefield as possible."
"Yes, I know my crime. I will definitely remember the emperor's teachings in the future."
After gently tapping Man Gui, Zhu Youdong raised his head and said to Ikeda Mitsunaka who was standing below him: "Well, Ikeda, all the prisoners captured in this battle will be entrusted to your care. Well, all the captured war horses will also be given to you."
"Ah? Hi! Thank you for your grace, His Majesty! Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will take good care of these prisoners and will not let them cause any trouble to the army of the Celestial Empire."
"Yes." After nodding, Zhu Youdong turned to Daishan and others and said, "From the second year on, all the commanders led the elite troops in the tribe to guard the Yalu River. After that, the two battles in Incheon and Kyoto were very hard and achieved great results. I would like to express my gratitude to you all here."
"I dare not. We are the emperor's servants and we will fight for him to the end."
"That being said, the six Jurchen tribes have shed too much blood this time. If I let you continue to fight, I'm afraid the surrounding small countries and tribes will say that I am mean. How about this, you withdraw from the front line and assist the Ikeda family's army in guarding the prisoners. I will give you all the firearms and even artillery captured in this battle."
"Ah?! Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty! Your servants are so grateful!"
