Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 259 Daling River Elegy 7
For any army, it is extremely dangerous to have a large number of deserters on the battlefield. The lethality of these deserters is much greater than that of the enemy. Once deserters appear, the morale of the whole army will plummet!Especially when the fierce battle is in full swing, one deserter can take away a hundred soldiers, one hundred soldiers can make two or three thousand people flee with them, and two or three thousand deserters can completely lose the fighting spirit of tens of thousands of troops, like soldiers hit by a flood. It collapsed like a sand embankment.The Ming army fought with Hou Jin for so long, and the casualties were extremely heavy. The muskets and artillery were broken, the fire was bad, the fire was misfired, and there were dead bodies and wounded soldiers in the front and back. , and Wu Xiang led three or four thousand Guanning cavalry to escape at this most critical moment, the morale of the Ming army fell to the bottom all of a sudden, and he was stunned to see the thousands of cavalry fleeing away.When they finally reacted, horror and anger occupied their hearts, and everyone roared: "We came all the way to help the Guan Ning army to fight, but the Guan Ning army left us and fled at this juncture. What? They've all fled, why are we still here?" They threw down their weapons and ran away, and Hou Jin took the opportunity to launch an overwhelming offensive. The Ming army's chariot formation was filled with blood, and more and more Ming army soldiers Joining the ranks of fleeing, tens of thousands of troops collapsed like an avalanche, no one can stop their rout!
Zhang Chun was dumbfounded, he had been fighting Jian Nu just now, why did he collapse all of a sudden?After figuring out what was going on, the old man's eyes lit up with anger, and he shouted sharply: "Wu Xiang, you...you are shameless!"

Dong Kaiguo, the supervisor of the army, was not interested in Wu Xiang's mentally retarded question of whether he had integrity or not. He only saw the rear golden cavalry roaring, trampling the wounded soldiers to death, and crashing into the Ming army's infantry array. They were getting closer and closer to this side. Arrows swished like locusts, shooting the guards around him to death one by one... All this made the supervising soldier terrified, and he said anxiously to Zhang Chun: "My lord, now is not the time to talk about such things! Jiannu is fierce, let's avoid the edge for now, otherwise we won't be able to leave if we want to!"

Zhang Chun asked blankly: "Go? Where are you going?"

Dong Kaiguo said: "Although our army has suffered a lot of casualties, the main force is still there. It is still possible to cover your lord and kill a bloody road!"

Zhang Chun shook his head, smiled miserably, and said: "This old man led an army of [-] to leave the gate. Not only did he fail to break the siege of the Daling River, but he also buried this army in Changshan. What kind of face does this old man have to live on? Just let this old man die." Here it is!"

Dong Kaiguo jumped up anxiously: "My lord, it's not your fault. The imperial court needs someone like you who knows how to fight and is willing to fight to the death. Come with us!" , Forcibly helped Zhang Chun onto the horse, and then protected by Jin Yiwei and a group of personal soldiers, he merged into the torrent of collapse and ran south desperately.What makes people desperate is that the post-golden cavalry galloped across the battlefield. No matter where they fled, they could always hear the soul-stirring sound of horseshoes, and there would always be sharp arrows coming through the air, killing the soldiers of the Ming army like cutting wheat. Shot down piece by piece.Tens of thousands of troops fled in all directions, running wildly, but they couldn't find any place to breathe in this vast plain. Their minds were blank, and they could only run instinctively until they exhausted all their strength. The Golden Cavalrymen chased them up and shot them dead with an arrow from behind...

Of course, there are also escapes.When the entire Ming army collapsed, Wang Zhiku was still fighting fiercely at the command post with the incoming Jin infantry. In a large circle surrounded by chariots, thousands of soldiers used swords and spears, Fighting desperately with spears and axes, and muskets with empty bullets, this square inch of land is like snow, sharp arrows are like rain, fresh blood is like flowers, and corpses are layered on top of each other, which is extremely tragic.The Houjin infantry broke into the chariot formation several times, and was hacked out by the Ming army. This shrinking chariot formation was like an iron walnut, which could not be chewed no matter how hard it was.After hundreds of lives were lost, Hou Jin found out that it was not a good idea to use infantry to charge head-on, so he called in four hundred Xibo flying cavalry.These light-clothed flying knights rode their horses and galloped around the chariot formation. A sharp arrow flew out of the string and fell into the chariot formation with astonishing precision. screams and curses.Four hundred flying cavalry galloped around the camp, and the arrows were like arrows, causing the Ming army to fall. This already thin chariot formation was weakened layer by layer.

The angry Ming army used crossbows and muskets to fight back. Originally relying on chariot formations, they could use strong crossbows and muskets to fight flying cavalry. Unfortunately, the Ming army had too few muskets and muskets to use at this time. Coupled with the lack of training and poor accuracy, their counterattacks were ineffective. The Xibo Flying Cavalry lost very little, and the soldiers of the Ming army who were holding muskets and crossbows to fight back were shot in the face one by one, screaming and falling down. The already sparse firepower was almost completely suffocated.

Xibo Feiqi poured nearly ten thousand sharp arrows into the chariot formation, and almost washed the small chariot formation from the beginning to the end with arrow rain. After confirming that the Ming army no longer had any long-range attack weapons to fire back, These light-clothed flying knights withdrew, and the three Niulu of Zhenghongqi once again held swords, shields and spears, howling, rushed into the car formation.This time, the Ming army did not rush up to fight with them with red eyes. There were many casualties in the car formation, and the ground was full of soldiers who had been shot and fell to the ground. The screams and groans almost covered the loud fighting sound. , There are not many people who can still stand.Seeing Jiannu rushing in, the faces of the Ming soldiers who were still alive showed a trace of despair, showing resignation. A general of the Ming army who was hit by three arrows leaned on the chariot and struggled to get up. Landing on the ground, staring at Jiannu and gasping for breath.

The red-eyed Houjin soldier raised his blood-smeared steel knife and forced him up, and he slashed at him. Niu Lu'ezhen stopped sharply, and said to the seriously injured Ming army general: "You have been defeated. Now, there is no need to hold on any longer, surrender! You are all warriors, and what we admire most are warriors who can risk their lives on the battlefield. As long as you surrender, I will ask King Khan to give you the flag to carry!"

This Niu Luer really dealt with the Ming army a lot, and he also learned fluent Chinese, and he could understand it without a translator.The general of the Ming army spat out bloodshot saliva with a bah sound, and said, "Fuck you for raising the flag, Wang is born a general of Daming, and dead is a ghost of Ming! We are defeated today, so we admit it. In the next life, Wang will be a general of Ming Dynasty, and kill you Jian slaves!" With difficulty, he turned and faced south, knelt down, and shouted with all his strength: "Long live my emperor!" Pointing the long sword at his heart, he slammed With force, the sharp sword pierced through the chest, passed through the heart, and went straight to the back, splashing blood.He fell forward, struggled a few times in the pool of blood and then stopped moving.

Those Ming soldiers who closed their eyes and waited to die screamed mournfully: "General Wang has died for the country, what face do we have to live!" They all drew their daggers, or picked up the swords on the ground, and shouted to the south. With a cry of "Long live my emperor", he tried his best to stab the sword and dagger into his chest...

The Hou Jin soldiers were dumbfounded.

On October [-]st of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Wang Zhiku, the deputy general of Cheying in Jizhen, Daming, commanded Cheying and Houjin in a fierce battle in the Battle of Changshan until the last soldier died. After the car camp was destroyed, he committed suicide. Hundreds of Cheying soldiers were injured. He is loyal and willing to accompany death, but no one escapes his life.They defended the last trace of dignity of the losers with their lives.

But not every general of the Ming army is as clear as Wang Zhiku, who fought until the last soldier. Under the avalanche and tsunami-like offensive of the Houjin Eight Banners elite, the Ming army was defeated like a mountain. Countless people were trampled on each other and died countless times, and countless people were chased and killed by Hou Jin from behind. Everyone knew that they would never be able to outrun the cavalry on the plain, but no one had the courage to turn around. To resist, he just blindly followed the large army and fled until he was caught up and killed by the Houjin cavalry.Everyone's minds have gone blank, they just want to escape back to Jinzhou, as long as they can escape back to Jinzhou, they will be safe!
It is true that they will be safe if they escape back to Jinzhou, but the problem is that they will never return to Jinzhou.Later, all the golden cavalry were released, some of them chased and killed them, and the rest exerted force from the two wings of the Ming army, paralleled and surpassed the Ming army, and rushed to the front of the Ming army.When the Ming army fled back to the Xiaoling River in a panic, they were desperate to find that there was an iron wall on the other side——Hou Jinzhenghongqi was already waiting for them there.The desperate Ming army waded across the river and rushed towards Zhenghongqi's defense line. Zhenghongqi greeted them with compound bows and javelins. It became a corpse, and soon blocked the river, and the river was completely red.After staying for a while, the main force of Hou Jin surrounded the Ming army on three sides, and surrounded the Ming army's inner and outer three floors. The end of the Ming army was already doomed.

Looking at the flaming red flags on the other side, Zhang Chun lamented: "It seems that the bank of the Xiaoling River is the place where the old man's bones are buried!"

The generals were also completely desperate. They were surrounded on three sides, and on the other side was Zhenghongqi's impenetrable line of defense. They were already in a desperate situation, and they could hardly fly!Zhang Hongmo panted heavily, and said to Zhang Chun: "My lord, it's impossible, we can't rush out! Let's surrender, at least we can save the lives of the soldiers!"

"Surrender?" Zhang Chun raised his head, pointed tremblingly at the densely packed Ming army soldiers, and said: "Although our army has suffered heavy losses, there are still nearly 2 people. As long as the soldiers use their lives, they may not be able to fight a bloody path. The general is willing to Surrender now!?"

Zhang Hongmo muttered a few times, and said, "But...but our army has no morale and is exhausted. How can we fight against Jiannu!"

Zhang Chun almost begged and said: "Rush again, if you still can't get out, I will allow you to surrender, okay?"

Zhang Hongmo gritted his teeth and said, "Your Excellency has already said so, what else can I say about a lowly position? Just charge again!" Turning around, he dispatched troops and generals.

Dong Kaiguo wiped off his sweat and said, "General Zhang has decided to surrender, I'm afraid he won't fight to the death again."

Zhang Chun said sadly: "When will the old man not know? But, what else can the old man do besides trusting him?"

Dong Kaiguo was silent.Yes, does Zhang Chun still have a choice?

While speaking, the Ming army blew the horn. The sound of the horn was low and weak. Thousands of soldiers went down the river under the command of Zhang Hongmo. They walked to the other side with difficulty through the dark red river, and launched an attack on the defense line of Zhenghong Banner. Last attack.As soon as they entered the river, the rain of arrows poured down, splashing circles of blood on the surface of the river, and another round of massacre began...

On October [-]st of the fourth year of Chongzhen, the [-] troops from the Ming Dynasty who reinforced Dalinghe City met the elite of the Eight Banners of Manchuria at Changshan outside the south gate of Dalinghe City. More than half of them were killed or injured. Thousands of Guanning cavalry and a small number of infantry who escaped across the Xiaoling River before the Zhenghong Flag crossed the river escaped. The tragedy of the entire army being wiped out that the Ming Dynasty feared most was once again staged.

(End of this chapter)