"Everyone, this is the situation! Should we fight? Or retreat?" Hauge raised this difficult question in front of all the generals.
Everyone was silent.
They want to fight, but are unwilling to take the risks and consequences of defeat.
It is even worse to retreat directly.
Once the news spreads that the Eight Banners soldiers fled without fighting, what will the various tribes on the grassland think?
How you think is secondary, what you do is the key.
The Mongols have always only submitted to the strong. When they learn of this news, they are very likely to turn to the Ming court again.
If that happens, the future of the Qing Dynasty will be dark.
Everyone was aware of the interests involved, so they remained silent and dared not express their opinions.
After all, trouble comes from the mouth.
Haoge was very angry and started to call out names: "Fuguogong, you go ahead."
Man Dahai had an expression as if he had a dry stool.
"Just say whatever you want to say!" Hauge pressed again.
Man Dahai hesitated for a while and then said, "I think...anything is fine."
"Whatever you mean?" Hauge slapped the saddle hard, "Do you want to fight or run away?"
This sentence directly blocked Man Dahai's retreat. He clenched his right fist and pounded his chest, saying, "Fight! The Eight Banners soldiers can only fight to the death. How can we run away?"
"Duke Zhenguo, what about you?"
Yue Le had no choice but to straighten his chest and respond loudly: "Fight! I'd rather be a soldier who dies on the battlefield than a general who runs away."
"What about you?" Hauge's sharp eyes swept across the faces of the others one by one.
All the generals responded in unison: "Fight!"
After getting responses from everyone, Hauge felt a little relieved.
His move was not to seek opinions, but to prepare to pass on the blame.
If the army was defeated, he could put part of the blame on Man Dahai, Yue Le and others, after all, they were the pro-war faction.
Then everyone began to discuss tactics.
A quarter of an hour later, the Eight Banners soldiers and Mongolian cavalry moved at the same time.
......
"General, the enemy troops are gathering and seem to be preparing for a decisive battle!" The scout standing on a high place and observing immediately informed Li Xingzhong of the information.
Li Xingzhong did not dare to be careless and personally climbed up to a high place to check the enemy's formation.
At this time, the enemy troops were gathering.
The wind from the grassland blew on the military flag, making it rustle.
Under the military flag, countless Eight Banners soldiers are gathering.
They deployed in a horizontal formation three miles away from the Ming army.
In the sunlight, the soldiers of the Eight Banners were fat and strong, with bright armor and high spirits. The war horses they rode were also extraordinary, tall, strong, and in good shape.
After watching for a while, Li Xingzhong put down his clairvoyance and came to the conclusion in four words: strong soldiers and powerful horses.
Immediately afterwards, the Mongolian cavalry began to change their formation under his gaze.
The Mongolian cavalry was originally divided into four groups, which moved in the four directions of east, west, south and north of the Ming army.
Now the Mongolian cavalry in the west were transferred to the east.
The battlefield was in a situation where three sides were surrounded and one side was missing.
"Sir, it looks like the Jiannu and the Mongols are going to attack from the east. Do we need to change our formation?" Cha Binxun urged his horse forward and asked.
"No need," Li Xingzhong shook his head slowly: "There is no need to change the formation. Even if it is necessary, it is too late!"
Before he finished speaking, the flag of the Eight Banners Army's center army began to wave.
"It's coming!" Cha Li Xingzhong held his breath and stared into the distance.
Two thousand Mongolian cavalry were the first to enter the battlefield.
They were divided into two teams, front and back, with a distance of one hundred steps between them, and they were ready to charge.
The Ming army countered each move.
Under the command of generals at all levels, the spearmen inserted their spears diagonally into the ground to form a temporary barricade, and the sword and shield men next to them stepped forward to protect themselves and the spearmen with their shields.
Spears are used to block horses, and shields are used to block arrows.
The infantry formation capable of resisting the cavalry has been assembled.
Swish!
With the command flags waving, the Mongolian cavalry launched a charge.
When they were within a hundred steps of the Ming army, all the Mongolian cavalrymen lay on their horses, passed diagonally in front of the Ming infantry in a dispersed formation, and shot arrows in their hands.
Because the formation was dispersed and the speed was very fast, the various light firearms of the Ming army did not cause many casualties, only killing and wounding a dozen Mongolian cavalrymen.
The cavalry in the front had just passed by, and before the Ming army could catch their breath, the Mongolian cavalry in the rear arrived.
The two sides exchanged firearms and arrows again, and the Mongolian cavalry was forced to retreat.
After repeating this twice, although the Mongolian cavalry suffered considerable casualties, Hauge breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your Highness, do you have a good plan to break the formation?" Man Dahai asked excitedly.
"Yes," Haoge nodded slowly, "The Ming army relies on the Rumi gun! This gun can break cotton armor and injure people from a hundred steps away, and it can break heavy armor and injure people within a hundred steps. Heavy armor soldiers are slow, and letting them directly in the front will become living targets for the Ming army, increasing casualties."
"If we want to break the formation, we need to have the heavily armored soldiers break through to the front of the Ming army and engage in close combat with them."
"Once both sides engage in positional warfare, the threat posed by firearms will be reduced by 70% to 80%.
(In order to avoid accidentally injuring friendly forces, firearms are rarely used in close combat, and even if used, they are aimed at distant enemies as much as possible.)
"I just observed carefully and found that it takes ten breaths (30 seconds) for the Ming army's bird gun soldiers to reload their ammunition after firing their guns."
"I will use the light cavalry to attract damage and create a time difference with the Ming army's bird-gun soldiers, so as to create time and space for the heavy infantry to join the battle!" Hauge said solemnly.
"Ah?" Man Dahai widened his eyes.
It was the first time he heard of using cavalry to take the blame to create opportunities for heavy infantry.
However, the reality did not allow him to question, because Hauge had already issued the military order.
Woo!
The horn sounded and the central army's flag swayed left and right.
Two thousand Mongolian cavalry rushed into the battlefield again with resentment.
Because in their view, the Jiannu did not treat them as human beings at all, but as shields.
Exactly the same tactics as before, the two teams of Mongolian cavalry in front and behind passed diagonally in front of the Ming army.
What was different from before was that this time there were more than a thousand Jiannu heavy armored infantry joining the charge.
They rode quietly on their horses and followed quickly behind the Mongolian cavalry.
Rumble, the sound of horse hooves gradually faded away.
Just as the Ming army was about to celebrate for once again repelling the Mongolian cavalry, they suddenly discovered that there was another cavalry behind the Mongolian cavalry.
They were covered in bright iron armor, and held swords and shields instead of bows and arrows.
Before the Ming army could react, the cavalry had already arrived in front of the formation.
They dismounted ten steps away, then abandoned their horses and charged straight toward the Ming infantry formation.
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