On the morning of May 24, Li Dingguo divided his troops into two.
He ordered Dou Mingwang to lead elite infantry to climb the peaks on both sides of the mountain road, bypass the exit of the mountain road and attack the two wings of the Jiannu.
He led the central army to launch a feint attack on the Jiannu soldiers who were blocking the exit of the mountain road.
The person responsible for blocking the road was Xihan from the Zhenghuang Banner.
To prevent the Ming army from attacking down the mountain.
He did a lot of preparation in advance.
This included digging traps on the mountain, placing sentries and setting ambushes.
I thought that with his arrangement, this place would be impregnable.
But he forgot one important thing: surrender!
As the war progressed, more and more Eight Banners soldiers defected to the Ming army.
In order to gain the trust of the Ming army, these surrendered soldiers persuaded the Eight Banners soldiers to surrender when they encountered them.
If they don't surrender, they will lead the attack.
Under the attack of these people, Xihan's troops deployed on the mountain either surrendered or were ambushed and forced to retreat.
By the evening of that day, all the nearby hilltops had fallen into the hands of the Ming army.
Seeing this, Bolo of the Zhenglan Banner suggested: "Sir, why don't we ask Prince Rui for help!"
"Seeking help?" Xihan glanced at Boro and asked, "What help do you want?"
Bolo explained: "The Ming army is coming with great force and has already occupied several nearby hilltops. The military strategy says that if you look down from a high position, you can be unstoppable! If the Ming army launches an attack, I'm afraid our army will be defeated!"
It would have been better if he hadn't listened. After listening to Bolo's explanation, Xihan suddenly burst into laughter.
Bolo asked, "Why are you laughing, sir?"
"Haha!" Xihan laughed again and explained, "I'm laughing at you for reading the Art of War but not The Romance of the Three Kingdoms! Back then, Ma Su thought that he could be unstoppable if he looked down from a high place. So he stationed his troops on the mountain instead of camping on the main road!"
"As a result, Jieting was lost!"
"Now the Ming army has occupied the mountain, and our army has set up camp on the road. This is exactly the opposite of the situation when Ma Su defended Jieting. How can the Ming army win?"
"Also," Xihan added, "Although the Ming army occupied various hilltops, they did not carry any baggage, especially the chariots and artillery they relied on. Without these powerful weapons, how could the Ming army break through our camp?"
"Also, there is no water source on the mountain. The Ming army can only carry enough water for two days at most. Although they have taken the mountain today, they will be forced to retreat tomorrow due to lack of water!"
"Hahaha!" Xihan couldn't help but laugh again.
"Why are you laughing again, sir?" asked Bolo.
Xihan patted his chest and said, "I laugh at Huang Degong's lack of strategy and Li Dingguo's lack of wisdom! In this battle, our army will win!"
"But..." Bolo was still a little worried. He insisted, "Although the current situation is not favorable to the Ming army, the Ming army is large in number after all. I think we should immediately ask Prince Rui for help and let Prince Rui make the decision."
Xihan glared and said, "Since Prince Rui has ordered me to be the vanguard, I should have the final say here. Moreover, Prince Rui still asks me about everything, why do you object?"
"But..."
"No buts, get out of the training camp!"
"Oh!" Bolo sighed, turned and walked out of the central military camp.
He didn't dare to disobey Xihan's order, but he felt that this matter was very important.
So he sent someone to inform Dorgon about this matter during the training camp.
Dorgon originally wanted to send reinforcements, but there was no space near the exit of the mountain road.
No matter how many soldiers were sent, they could not be deployed on the front line.
After thinking it over again and again, he decided to set up the second and third lines of defense behind Xihan.
Prevent unexpected situations from happening.
At dawn on May 25th, the Ming army on the mountain shouted slogans and rushed down the mountain.
Xihan walked out of the tent calmly and observed the battle situation with his clairvoyance.
In his sight, countless Ming troops rushed down the mountain.
After rushing to a certain distance, the Ming army immediately stopped and looked for cover on the spot.
Then they raised their bird guns and kept shooting at the Eight Banners soldiers in the camp.
The Eight Banners soldiers in the camp raised their bows and arrows to fight back, and the two sides began shooting at each other.
The Ming army was in a dominant position, and the bird guns in their hands had a long range and great power.
As long as the Eight Banners soldiers dared to show their heads, the Ming army a hundred steps away could shoot them to death.
Let’s look at the Eight Banners Army.
The range of the hard bows in their hands was not as good as that of the bird guns, and they had to shoot arrows with their backs raised, which greatly weakened their power.
Soon fell into a disadvantage.
Seeing that his own casualties were increasing, Xihan ordered: Hide first, and wait until the Ming army gets closer before fighting.
There is nothing wrong with the command itself.
But when combined with the terrain, the problem becomes serious.
Xihan set up camp on the road.
There are mountains to the south and north of the camp.
There is an open area between the two mountains, less than two miles wide.
The edge of the camp was a wooden fence.
These fences both blocked views of the camp and served as cover to protect the soldiers during an enemy attack.
In the plains.
These fences provide decent protection.
It can resist arrows and rapid-fire bullets fired from light artillery.
However, once the camp was set up in the mountains, the role of the fence was weakened.
Especially in this situation.
The Ming army fired at the camp from a high position.
Jiannu soldiers needed to get as close to the fence as possible to avoid attacks.
However, the fence was limited in height and could only provide protection for some soldiers.
Most soldiers could only seek other cover.
But there are very limited things that can be used as shelters in the camp.
In order not to die in vain, some smart people began to retreat.
After all, as long as you hide out of the range of the Ming army's bird guns, you won't be shot.
Under the guidance of this idea, many Eight Banners soldiers began to form a formation and retreat.
The Ming army immediately divided its forces.
A part of the bird-gun soldiers continued to shoot and suppress the Jiannu soldiers.
Another group of soldiers walked along the hillside to the Jiannu camp and began to attack it.
They first threw a wave of grenades behind the fence, and when the Jiannu soldiers lost their combat effectiveness, they destroyed the fence and rushed into the camp.
There were not many Jiannu soldiers near the fence, and they had no fighting spirit and were completely panicked when faced with the sudden charge of the Ming army.
They all ran away.
The Ming army took advantage of the situation and attacked the camp.
They chopped down anyone they met and set fire to any baggage they saw.
The Jiannu camp was in complete chaos.
Seeing the thick smoke rising from behind the Jiannu, Li Dingguo, who was making a feint attack, immediately ordered: "Release the smoke!"
With his order, countless grenades were thrown onto the Jiannu position.
After these grenades fell into the position, they did not explode, but instead spewed out flames and thick smoke.
In the blink of an eye, the Jiannu position was surrounded by thick smoke.
“Ahem!”
The unsuspecting Jiannu soldiers were choked by the thick smoke and coughed continuously.
The Ming army also suffered the same impact.
However, the Ming army was well prepared.
They took out the wet cloth they had prepared in advance, covered their mouths and noses, and groped their way forward in the thick smoke.
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