Bang!
Just as the Jiannu infantrymen armed with bird guns were about to launch a counterattack, they were shot by the Rumi gun squad commanded by Li Xianzhong. They covered their wounds and wailed.
After the people who were not hit estimated the distance between the two sides, the expressions on their faces froze instantly.
At that moment, there was only fear in their hearts!
You have to know that the distance between the two sides was more than eighty steps, and they were wearing cotton armor!
The bullets fired from the bird gun not only penetrated the cotton armor, but also caused considerable damage.
Never encountered this before!
"Did the Ming army use bird guns? Why can they penetrate cotton armor from such a distance?"
"I can't see clearly, it seems... yes."
Bang!
The dull sound of bird gunfire rang out again, and more than a dozen Eight Banners soldiers were shot.
The Jiannu infantrymen who were charging suddenly panicked. They shouted to Fan Wencheng, "Mr. Fan, we can't get through! Send out the cavalry!"
He spoke so confidently about being afraid of death that Fan Wencheng almost laughed out of anger.
"You take 500 infantry and 500 cavalry to fight them and drive them away. The rest of you, hurry up and build a bridge!"
As soon as these people rushed out of the temporary position, Li Xianzhong led his men to retreat.
After they returned to their position, Li Xianzhong followed them.
After several rounds of tug-of-war between the two sides, the casualties of the Eight Banners soldiers began to increase.
Fan Wencheng didn't care about much else, all his attention was focused on the floating bridge.
After an unknown amount of time, Fan Wencheng quietly said to the two Eight Banner soldiers beside him: "You two should immediately send a letter to Prince Rui, telling him that the floating bridge is almost finished, hurry up!"
The two men did not dare to delay and each found a horse and rushed into the battlefield.
With the military strength of both sides not much different, the battlefield has become one-sided.
Of course, the Ming army had the upper hand.
The total strength of the Ming army was more than 16,000.
Among them, Ma Dai had more than 1,800 people, Wang Yongji had more than 3,500 people, Liu Wenyao had more than 4,000 people, Bakeyong had 6,000 people, and Li Xianzhong had 1,000 people.
When Dorgon entered the Pass, his total military force reached 20,000.
More than a hundred people were killed in the field battle with Ma Dai in Miyun, more than five hundred people were lost in the field battle with Huang Degong's infantry in the Juyongguan area, less than two thousand people were lost when Ebilun was besieged, and two thousand people were directly lost when Ajigenikan was killed.
In addition, more than a thousand people are building the floating bridge!
There are now less than 15,000 troops available on the battlefield.
If both sides were well fed and energetic, and their horses had had ample rest, the Ming army of equal numbers would most likely not be a match for the Eight Banners soldiers.
There are two reasons!
One is that the Ming army’s organizational and coordination capabilities were not as good as those of the Eight Banners Army.
The 16,000 Ming troops were composed of five parts.
Five generals, five different thoughts!
If one side retreated first, the others would follow without hesitation. So they did not put 100% of their energy into the battle, but were always on guard against friendly forces escaping.
After all, the example of the Battle of Songshan is right before our eyes!
That is the bloody reality!
Secondly, what does the cavalry rely on?
Depend on the war horse!
The war horses of the Eight Banners soldiers were faster and had greater endurance than those of the Ming army.
With this advantage, it was difficult for Ming cavalry of the same number to gain an advantage.
This is also the main reason why Dorgon dared to fight Huang Degong in the field!
At that time, he thought that if he could win, he would fight, and if he couldn't, he could run away.
But what was unexpected was that Huang Degong actually used infantry as bait to lure him into continuous attacks!
You know, he almost defeated Huang Degong's infantry at that time!
If you think about it carefully, it was all Huang Degong's trick.
The situation is now extremely unfavorable to him. The hot weather and continuous fighting have greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners soldiers.
What was even worse was the war horses. Except for the cavalrymen under Dorgon's personal army and Ajige who had changed their horses, the horses of other cavalrymen could hardly run.
As more and more war horses fell to the ground, the Eight Banners soldiers had to abandon their horses and fight on foot with swords.
Faced with these infantry and cavalry without spears or chevaux de frise, the Ming army almost went crazy and killed them.
They hardly had to do anything, just adjust the angle of their horses and crash into the crowd.
The Eight Banners soldiers who were hit were either killed or disabled!
"Your Highness Prince Rui, Mr. Fan has ordered us to deliver a letter saying that the floating bridge will be completed soon." Just when Dorgon was getting more and more worried, he received news from Fan Wencheng.
He quickly glanced toward the river and ordered, "Quickly notify Ajige and ask him to go to the floating bridge and wait to cross the river."
"The rest of you hold on, cross the river in batches, and anyone who retreats without permission will be killed!"
Without waiting for him to finish his words, he rushed towards the river with two thousand of his own soldiers.
At this time, Fan Wencheng had already built a pontoon bridge.
On the other side of the river stood dozens of naked Eight Banner soldiers who had just risked their lives to cross the river, dragged the pontoon bridge across and fixed it to the river bank with wooden stakes.
"Prince Rui, please cross the river quickly!" Fan Wencheng stood at the edge of the floating bridge and called out to Dorgon.
Dorgon looked back at Ajige and found that he had been trapped by the Ming army.
The arrows had already been shot.
At this time, he was desperately waving his saber and engaging in close combat with the Ming army.
Every time the Ming army's warhorses roared over, several of his personal soldiers would fall down. Several gaps soon appeared in the defense line formed by Ajige's warhorses and soldiers.
Before the gap was filled, more Ming cavalry came galloping.
Under the scorching sun, sweat and blood flew together.
Weapons clash, life and death fight.
The battlefield has reached a fever pitch, and the Ming army, which has the advantage, is becoming more and more courageous.
The extremely exhausted Eight Banners soldiers fought more and more defeated, and the defense line formed by the human wall began to shrink.
"Prince Rui!!! If you don't leave now, it will be too late! Victory and defeat are common in the military. As long as you return to Liaodong, Prince Rui will be able to make a comeback!"
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