clang!
Jirgalang drew out his sword and held it high in the air: "Order all units to launch a feint attack on the Ming army!"
The command flags were waving and the signal cannons were roaring.
Countless Eight Banners soldiers launched an attack on the Ming army.
The first to be attacked was Wu Sangui.
At this time, he had just repaired the pontoon bridge, and before he could attack, he encountered the Eight Banners soldiers charging into the battle line.
They first fired two rounds of arrows across the river, destroyed the pontoon bridge again, and then retreated.
Then they detoured to the southeast, went around Wang Yongji's flank and launched a feint attack.
Wu Sangui was trapped in a narrow strip of land surrounded by water on three sides and facing a mountain on one side.
Unable to retreat in time to support the central army, they could only inform Wang Yongji of the news as quickly as possible.
"Report!" The scout ran to Wang Yongji and said, "Tens of thousands of Jiannu cavalry destroyed the pontoon bridge, bypassed the vanguard army, and attacked our flank!"
"Where is Wu Sangui? What is he doing?" Wang Yongji asked angrily.
Wu Sangui's vanguard troops numbered more than 30,000 people and were the main force in the pacification of Liao.
The purpose of letting him lead the way was to stop the Jiannu army.
Now, not only did they fail to stop the Jiannu, but they were killed by them near the central army.
"General Wu Sangui is trapped in a narrow strip of land surrounded by water on three sides and facing a mountain on one side. As the pontoon bridge was destroyed, he cannot move forward, and is gathering troops to move closer to the central army." The scout replied.
"Tell him to repave the floating ferry immediately. He doesn't need to worry about the central army. I will arrange people to meet the enemy." Wang Yongji replied calmly.
"I obey your command," the scout galloped away.
"Send a message to Liu Zhaoji and Li Xingzhong, and order them to protect the two wings of the central army and wait for an opportunity to move."
Boom——
The horse's hooves stepped on the ground, like the beating of war drums.
Amid shouts and cries of killing, countless Eight Banners soldiers rode forward on horseback.
At this time, Li Xingzhong and Liu Zhaoji's cavalry had not yet received military orders.
They cannot sit still, otherwise it would appear as cowardice and lose morale.
They cannot move rashly, otherwise it will disrupt the deployment of the central army and affect the entire battle situation.
So Liu Zhaoji and Li Xingzhong each sent out a small group of cavalry to lure the enemy, trying to lead them to the vicinity of the infantry formation.
The Ming army's infantry had already formed a battle formation on the spot.
As long as the Eight Banners soldiers were within range, they would pull the trigger and attack without hesitation.
The Eight Banners soldiers were not fooled, but rode away whistling.
Everyone's attention was drawn to the central army.
At this time, Tunqi set out.
He first sent out several small troops to drive away the Ming army scouts.
Although doing so could not prevent the Ming army scouts from gathering information, it could shorten their reconnaissance distance and reduce the reaction time left for He Jin.
"Report, the Ming army scouts have been driven five miles away. Further ahead is the Ming army's range of activities, so we dare not go deep." The scout reported the news to Tunqi.
Tunqi nodded and raised the bow in his left hand high, "Kill!"
"Gee!" After saying that, he rushed out first.
These five thousand light cavalry are the elite among the elite of the Eight Banners Army.
In order to succeed in one strike, Jirgalang even gave more than 80% of his personal troops to Tunqi.
Under the leadership of Tunqi, 5,000 elite troops of the Eight Banners first detoured eastward.
While making detours, they continuously sent out small groups of troops to drive away the Ming army scouts ahead.
After detouring for five miles, they rushed towards the southwest.
According to Wu Sangui's intelligence, He Jin's troops were nearby.
His mission was to garrison along a small tributary of the Liao River to defend against possible attacks from the flanks.
After determining the direction, five thousand elite Eight Banners troops marched at the fastest speed.
They kept squeezing their legs against the horses' bellies and swinging their whips until smoke came out.
The warhorse felt pain and galloped wildly in the wilderness.
The dust raised by the rapid march of five thousand cavalrymen dyed half the sky yellow.
The Ming army scouts soon discovered something unusual.
They immediately split into two groups.
Report the news to He Jin along the way and conduct reconnaissance along the way.
"Report!" The scout came to He Jin, panting. "A large amount of dust appeared three miles to the northeast. It seems that a cavalry is approaching quickly. It is unclear if we are the enemy or not."
"Three miles away?" He Jin was a little surprised. "Isn't the detection distance five miles? How come the other party only discovered it when they were three miles away?"
"The Jiannu sent a large number of cavalry to drive away our scouts. Our cavalry was insufficient in number and unable to fight back, so we could only shorten the reconnaissance distance." The scout replied.
"Investigate again and report back!"
Without waiting for the scouts to leave, He Jin immediately gave the order: "Send a message to all units to prepare to defend against the enemy. Send a message to Liu Zhaoji's two thousand cavalrymen in the rear to ask them to come to support."
Following his order, the soldiers under his command immediately got busy.
The soldiers in the chariot camp adjusted the direction of the chariots, the spearmen raised their spears, and the swordsmen stood closely behind the spearmen.
The firearms soldiers checked the ammunition, while the archers took out the armor-piercing cone arrows and the shovel arrows for shooting horses.
Since the cavalry were too few in number, He Jin hid them all behind the army formation and waited for an opportunity.
Just after adjusting the formation, five thousand Eight Banners soldiers came rushing in.
In the eyes of the infantry, these cavalrymen rushed towards them like a wall.
It's nerve-wracking.
Most of He Jin's troops are veterans on the battlefield and are very powerful.
Under the command of generals at all levels, they stabilized their formation and met the attack of the Jiannu cavalry.
Boom——
The Jiannu cavalry formed a column and rushed towards the northeast corner of the Ming army's formation, beginning to use the corner-cutting tactic.
The Ming army in the northeast corner had just fired a few shots when they were shot by countless arrows and could not even raise their heads.
Fortunately, they all had armor, which blocked most of the damage.
But the rain of arrows was too dense, and people were constantly injured and screaming.
The strange screams and wails doubled the pressure on the nearby soldiers.
The Ming army's formation began to shake and morale was somewhat low.
"The Ming army is mighty!" While dodging arrows, the generals organized the soldiers to shout slogans to boost their morale.
With a shout of military might, Tunqi and five thousand Eight Banners soldiers passed in front of the Ming army.
Just when He Jin thought that the enemy was going to make a comeback, the Eight Banners soldiers split up.
One on the left and one on the right rushed to the rear of his army.
He Jin was a little panicked, but not too panicked.
The panic was because he deployed some unarmored soldiers to the rear of the army.
This is an extremely common occurrence in the military.
The imperial court would not provide armor to everyone at once, after all, the financial resources did not allow it.
It is usually distributed to elite troops first.
When the same new armor arrives after a while, the elite will wear the new armor and the old armor will be distributed to those who perform well on the battlefield.
Replace layer by layer.
The reason why He Jin was not very panicked was that he deployed all the soldiers without armor to the left rear of the army formation.
First, this place is not far from Wang Yongji’s central army, and second, the terrain is undulating, which is not conducive to cavalry marching.
It is simply impossible to find this flaw in the chaos of the army.
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