There are two roads from Ningyuan to Tashan, one is east and the other is west.
There is a mountain road to the east and another mountain road to the west.
There are ambushes on both roads.
Hauge personally led 5,000 cavalry to set up an ambush on the western mountain road, while Man Dahai set up an ambush on the eastern mountain road.
After defeating two groups of Ming cavalry in succession, Hauge became more motivated.
In his opinion.
The Ming army would certainly not accept defeat and would reorganize its forces and make a comeback.
"Retreat three miles and set up an ambush in another place. Everyone, stay alert, the Ming army may come again at any time!" Hauge ordered.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. We can't sleep!" the Eight Banners soldiers responded excitedly.
They waited from the beginning of the Hai hour (21:00) until the middle of the Yin hour (4:00), but did not see a single Ming army cavalry, or even a human figure.
"Your Highness, it seems that the Ming army will not come. Let's retreat!" A general proposed to Hauge.
"Yes, my Lord. Our brothers have waited all night and are tired and sleepy! Although we still have some dry food, we have finished drinking the water in our water bags. We should withdraw and join the main force."
"Withdraw your troops, my lord!"
Hauge opened his scarlet eyes, somewhat unwillingly.
From the start of the Battle of Ningyuan to the withdrawal, he lost nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses.
Now that we have finally got the chance to ambush the Ming army, it would be a pity to give it up.
As I was hesitating, dust was flying in the distance.
"Your Highness, there is a situation!" the scout shouted.
Hauge hurriedly took out his clairvoyance and looked towards the place where the dust was flying.
He saw a cavalry force galloping towards him quickly. Although he could not see their flags and uniforms clearly, Hauge was 100% sure that they were the Ming army.
"Hurry, everyone hide, the work is about to begin!" the generals around Hauge shouted.
As the distance got closer, Hauge could clearly see the number and identity of this cavalry.
There were about three hundred cavalrymen in this unit.
The flags were the Ming national flag and the Liu character general flag. The people wore cotton armor, the horses wore half armor, and the weapons included bows, three-barreled guns, and magpie swords whose handles were one-third of the total length of the sword.
The same equipment as the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, they are definitely the elite of the Ming army!
"It's indeed the Ming army!" Hauge swallowed greedily.
Thousands of Eight Banners soldiers ambushed on both sides of the road, waiting for the Ming army to enter the encirclement.
This Ming army was none other than Ma Yingkui's troops who had just woken up.
They ate some simple rations and then set off immediately.
At this time, the sky was gradually getting brighter.
The field of vision has increased exponentially compared to at night.
While marching, Ma Yingkui used his clairvoyance to observe the mountain road in the distance.
"Divide the troops!" As they were about to enter the mountain road, Ma Yingkui pointed to a captain and said, "You take 300 cavalrymen and pretend to pursue. If you encounter an ambush, don't hesitate, and retreat here immediately! I have set up an ambush here to ambush and pursue your Jiannu."
The captain patted his head and thought for a long time before he realized that Ma Yingkui wanted him to fall into an ambush by the Jiannu.
Then they lured the Jiannu's ambush troops to attack, and made them fall into their ambush.
"I obey your command!" The general galloped away with three hundred cavalrymen.
After walking one mile, the march slowed down.
Three hundred cavalrymen formed a long column to scout the march.
When they were twenty feet away from Hauge's ambush, the Ming army at the front of the team suddenly stopped.
"What's going on? Why aren't the people in front moving forward?" the Ming army behind asked loudly.
"Something's happening." The Ming army in front replied.
"What's going on?"
"The further we go, the stronger the smell of animal manure becomes," the soldier replied.
The other soldiers spread the news by word of mouth and reached the captain's ears.
"Get closer and conduct reconnaissance!" the captain ordered.
Five Ming cavalrymen picked up bows and three-barreled guns and advanced forward.
When they were five meters away from Hauge's ambush, they noticed movement behind a rock.
"Go!" A Ming soldier took out a small grenade, lit the fuse and threw it out.
boom!
The grenade exploded under the feet of the two Eight Banners soldiers.
Before the Eight Banners soldiers could scream, the warhorse lying next to them neighed, stood up and started to gallop wildly.
Driven by these two war horses, seven or eight war horses around them stood up and began to neigh.
"Oh..." The Eight Banners soldiers pulled the reins to calm their horses.
"There is an ambush, retreat quickly!" The five Ming soldiers turned around and ran without hesitation.
After a brief moment of shock, the rest of the Ming army fled back like frightened birds.
"Chase!" Hauge roared with red eyes.
He waited all night!
The nights in the mountains are not only dark and damp, but also filled with countless mosquitoes.
He and the Eight Banners soldiers were bitten badly by mosquitoes.
We finally got a group of pursuers, how could we let them go?
With a whistling sound, the Eight Banners soldiers chased after them.
The Ming army ran in front and the Eight Banners soldiers chased behind.
"Report!" A Ming army scout ran to Ma Yingkui and said, "Sir, we have led out the Jiannu ambush, and they are just a mile behind us."
"How many ambushes did the Jiannu have?"
"There are too many to count! But one thing is certain, the enemy has more soldiers than us!"
"Great!" Ma Yingkui slapped his thigh, "We can just surround them!"
Under the surprised gaze of his bodyguards, Ma Yingkui dismounted and hid himself along with his horse.
The fleeing Ming army quickly rushed out of the valley entrance, and the Eight Banners soldiers followed closely behind and rushed out of the valley entrance as well.
"Fifty...one hundred...two hundred...five hundred..." Ma Yingkui quickly counted the Eight Banners soldiers who entered the ambush circle.
When he counted to eight hundred, he grabbed his warhorse, jumped on its back and shouted, "Kill!"
Nearly two thousand Ming army ambush troops rushed into the battlefield amid the sound of killing, directly splitting the Eight Banners formation into two.
Among them, 880 Eight Banners soldiers were surrounded by the Ming army, and the remaining Eight Banners soldiers were blocked by the Ming army at the entrance of the valley and could not move forward.
"Twenty taels of silver for a head, we are rich, brothers!" Ma Yingkui raised the magpie knife in his hand and rushed into the ambush circle.
The surrounded Eight Banners soldiers had no idea they would be ambushed and immediately fell into chaos.
They subconsciously retreated in the direction they came from, but Ma Yingkui had set up several human walls there.
Seeing that there was no way to retreat, they gritted their teeth, drew their sabers and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Ming army.
"Report!" The scout came to Hauge and said, "Our army was ambushed during the pursuit, and hundreds of cavalrymen were surrounded by the Ming army."
"Go and save them!" Hauge was horrified.
"The Ming army occupied the entrance to the valley, blocking the rescue route."
"Then fight your way out!" Hauge said gritting his teeth.
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