The army of the Northern Yuan Dynasty was never a unified organization. Instead, before going on an expedition, it was led by the Northern Yuan royal court and then composed of troops from multiple tribes.
In fact, this can be seen when the cavalry attacks. The tribes, large and small, attached themselves to the royal army and formed independent groups.
When the Northern Yuan army was defeated, these tribal soldiers were the first to fall.
They were not loyal to the Northern Yuan Dynasty, but to their own tribe. If the losses were too great, it would have a great impact on the survival of the entire tribe on the grassland.
Therefore, when the casualties were too great, these tribal soldiers would of course run away.
When one tribe starts running, the other tribes follow suit, and that's how a crushing defeat happens.
Fu Youde did not just pursue blindly.
Because the enemy's central camp has not moved yet.
After fighting for nearly two hours, the soldiers were already very tired. If they forced the battle, they could win, but it would cause too many casualties.
The Northern Yuan Dynasty is now trapped in a jar, so there is no need for Fu Youde to attack forcefully.
The battlefield was controlled by the Ming army, and a large amount of spoils and prisoners were taken by the Ming army.
The so-called spoils of war were mainly war horses. The Ming army looked down upon the weapons and swords of the grassland tribes, and even the armor of the heavy cavalry.
Collection is still necessary, and these are the jobs of auxiliary soldiers.
During the battle, the auxiliary troops behind had already arrived.
It is now the beginning of the You hour, but it is still bright here and it will take another two or three hours before sunset.
"Reporting to the general, this battle was a great victory. Our army suffered 1,726 casualties, 831 deaths, more than 13,000 prisoners, and more than 12,000 killed."
"We seized more than 10,000 war horses, and countless swords, sabers, and armor."
Fu Youde laughed heartily when he heard this.
This was an absolute great victory. It is impossible to say that there were no casualties. If it were light cavalry, it would be fine, but the Northern Yuan Dynasty had heavy cavalry.
Many of the weapons carried by heavy cavalry are blunt instruments, such as hammers and maces.
Armor cannot provide very good protection at this time, and blunt weapons are specifically designed to target armor.
In other words, Fu Youde defeated the Northern Yuan army with only 15,000 cavalrymen against 70,000 cavalrymen, with only less than a thousand casualties. It was indeed a great victory.
Adding together the prisoners and the enemies killed, the enemy suffered a direct loss of nearly half.
These casualties were mainly caused during the pursuit after the collapse of the Northern Yuan Army.
"Pass the order, the whole army will rest for half an hour before attacking again."
It’s still early before dark, so of course we have to launch a second battle.
In Fu Youde's view, this second battle was to annihilate the Northern Yuan army in one fell swoop.
The prisoners were handed over to the auxiliary soldiers for care, and many military doctors came to treat the injured soldiers.
These Northern Yuan prisoners could also receive treatment, but no matter how serious their injuries were, they had to wait until the Ming army had treated them all.
Not only humans, but injured war horses also need treatment.
For the uninjured war horses, auxiliary soldiers fed them corn concentrate and gave them water.
The captured Northern Yuan army wailed.
Because most of them were injured by gunpowder, such injuries are extremely painful, especially the wound, which has an extremely intense burning sensation, as if being roasted on fire.
The Ming army carried a lot of medicines for treating external injuries.
More than a dozen doctors were walking among the captive troops, each of them accompanied by seven or eight soldiers.
Whenever the doctor looked at a prisoner and shook his head, the soldier next to him would step forward and kill him with a knife.
There is no need to waste medicine and food on a dying person.
If they nodded, the soldiers would throw some medicine and let them apply it themselves.
The prisoners were not allowed to eat at this time to prevent them from regaining the strength to rebel.
Each steppe cavalryman had two bags on his warhorse, one filled with mare's milk and the other with dried meat.
These will all be taken away.
Only injured prisoners were allowed a small amount of dried meat.
It has to be said that compared to the brutality of the Mongols, the Ming Dynasty treated prisoners relatively well.
Compared with the Ming army, the Northern Yuan Dynasty was in a much worse situation.
There seemed to be a dark cloud hanging over the Northern Yuan camp.
In the Northern Yuan Dynasty’s big tent.
Commander Bayar kept his brows furrowed and that frown never relaxed.
Below was a noisy scene of various households.
After the Mongols entered the Central Plains, most of the tribal leaders were no longer called by their original names, but were called Wanhu, and most of these Wanhu were once awarded titles.
Although it is said that there are tens of thousands of households, in fact some small tribes may only have a few hundred households.
At this moment, the big tent was in a state of bustle and noise.
"General, retreat. The Ming army's matchlock guns are too powerful and their accuracy is too high. A large number of our warriors have been killed before they even get close. We have no chance of winning a war like this."
"Perhaps we should not have opposed the Ming Dynasty in the first place. The royal court made a wrong decision and betrayed our allies. Now it is Changshengtian who is punishing us."
"The armor of the Ming army is too strong. The surviving warriors of my tribe told me that their swords had no effect on the armor of the Ming army, while the swords of the Ming army could easily break their armor. It often took seven or eight warriors to subdue a Ming cavalryman."
"Our warriors cannot die here in vain. They should return to the grassland. U-Tsang is not a place we can occupy. General, withdraw your troops."
"Timur's army deceived us. They haven't responded yet. When the Ming army has rested, they will definitely attack again. We should evacuate in advance."
For the leaders of these tribes, the warriors in their tribe are the foundation of their survival on the grassland.
It doesn’t matter if the Northern Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, there will be other new Khans emerging.
If all the warriors in a tribe die, their tribe will be swallowed up by other tribes.
Therefore, these leaders of Wanhu had completely lost the will to fight again, and each of them was thinking about how to escape.
Bayar kept his lips tightly shut and said nothing.
At this point, he was very clear that he had suffered a great defeat.
Two consecutive defeats had caused great losses to the royal court's elite troops, and he didn't know how to explain to His Majesty when he returned.
A mighty army of 100,000 cavalrymen came here, but now there are less than 40,000 left, with more than half of them killed.
Going back means death.
In fact, Bayar wanted to drag these tribes together to fight another battle. Perhaps if he held on a little longer, he could wait for Timur's reinforcements?
But in the current situation, he has no way to suppress the leaders of the various tribes.
Those leaders who spoke were okay, but those leaders who had a grim face and didn’t speak were really miserable.
Most of them are warriors of the tribe, and most of them have been killed. For them, the problem now is how to keep the tribe going.
Once they return to the grassland, they will face the covetous eyes of other tribes.
"Send the order, withdraw the troops."
Bayar held it in for a long time, and finally said this sentence in a limp voice.
In fact, as early as when the big tent meeting began, soldiers from many tribes had already packed their bags and prepared to flee.
Even if Bayar gave the order to reorganize the army, they would simply ignore it and run away on their own.
Many leaders had already ordered their tribesmen to retreat before arriving.
It made no difference whether Bayar's order was given or not.
The abnormality of the Northern Yuan Dynasty was soon discovered by the monitoring Ming army.
The news reached Fu Youde.
"Order the entire army to prepare for the attack."
Fu Youde was not surprised to hear that Bei Yuan wanted to escape, as he was very familiar with the composition of Bei Yuan.
Before this, he had arranged two thousand cavalrymen to ambush from behind and block the Northern Yuan Dynasty's retreat.
It’s not that he didn’t want to send out more people. Two thousand cavalry was already the limit. These were basically the soldiers who still had some physical strength left on the battlefield.
The cavalry of the Ming army were resting next to their horses. After hearing the military order, they immediately jumped on their horses and started fighting again.
The Northern Yuan Dynasty abandoned the slave soldiers and started running away on horseback.
In the vast plains, the success rate of escape is actually very high.
Especially for light cavalry, the Ming army was mostly wearing heavy armor, so their speed naturally could not be too fast, and their endurance was not as long as theirs.
At this time, Fu Youde's back-up plan was revealed.
On the Northern Yuan army's retreat route, two thousand cavalry armies appeared and began to intercept the Northern Yuan army.
Faced with tens of thousands of Northern Yuan troops, the two thousand-cavalry teams were actually still a little nervous.
Even with the best armor and weapons, there is no possibility of victory with two thousand against tens of thousands.
But their worries were obviously unnecessary.
At this time, all the Northern Yuan troops were only thinking about escaping, and they were afraid of the main force of the Ming army in the rear.
When they saw the Ming army intercepting them, they were scared to death and quickly scattered to the left and right and ran away.
If they attack and intercept the Ming army at this time, they will naturally be able to win, but they will also be delayed. Once the Ming army behind them catch up, they will all die here.
If they need to intercept, it should be done by other tribes.
"Don't worry about the Beiyuan heavy cavalry, attack the light cavalry."
The commander of the thousand cavalry, Chahan, shouted and then led his thousand cavalry to intercept.
Another thousand-cavalry commander, Sang Jing, who was in charge of the ambush, understood what he meant and immediately charged towards the light cavalry.
This choice was very wise, because the light cavalry had no way to cause them any harm, even though the heavy cavalry were slower.
The sound of gunfire continued to ring out, and a large number of Northern Yuan cavalry fell off their horses or their horses were hit and fell to the ground.
The two thousand-horse teams avoided the heavy cavalry of the Northern Yuan army and slaughtered indiscriminately among the light cavalry.
At this time, the Northern Yuan army was already frightened and dared not to engage in a fight. Moreover, their arrows could not penetrate the defense. Even in close combat, it would take seven or eight light cavalry to surround and kill one Ming cavalry.
During this escape, even the Northern Yuan cavalry who wanted to resist could not get help from their companions.
The army led by Fu Youde quickly caught up from behind.
But when it comes to running, the light cavalry is really good.
When the heavy cavalry saw the main force of the Ming army chasing them, they began to discard their armor.
At this time, escaping is the first priority. Armor and the like are too much of a hindrance.
There is nothing worse than throwing away one's weapons and armor.
The chase lasted until almost dark.
When it gets dark, it is already the hour of Hai.
Fu Youde also gathered his troops and collected prisoners and war horses.
The pursuit lasted for hundreds of miles, but the casualties inflicted on the Northern Yuan army were only about three or four thousand.
Most of this was caused by the two thousand cavalrymen who intercepted.
"These Tartars are really good at running."
Some soldiers complained that many of them were exhausted and failed to kill a single enemy soldier in the chase.
They were wearing armor, so naturally they could not outrun the light cavalry.
Only by encirclement and interception can we keep some enemy troops alive.
Fu Youde was extremely tired.
He immediately ordered his troops to rest on the spot and return after dawn the next day.
Most of the prisoners were shot down by muskets and were half dead. The slightly better ones were those whose horses were knocked down and rolled off.
The seriously injured prisoners were executed, and the others were tied up with ropes and brought back the next day.
At this point, the battle between the Ming army and the Northern Yuan army ended in a great victory for the Ming army.
The next day, when Fu Youde returned with tens of thousands of prisoners, Xu Huizu and others widened their eyes.
Too fast.
In just one day, they brought back more than ten thousand prisoners and defeated the Northern Yuan army. This was simply incredible.
"As expected of the Duke of Ying, he is truly a thunderbolt."
"I knew that Duke Ying would definitely defeat the Northern Yuan Dynasty, but I didn't expect that the Northern Yuan Dynasty couldn't even hold out for a day under Duke Ying."
"Duke Ying is truly a brave man."
The generals on Xu Huizu's side immediately started to flatter him.
Fu Youde had long been accustomed to this.
"I am old now, and the future of the Ming Dynasty still belongs to you young people." Fu Youde said with emotion.
From this battle, Fu Youde already felt his body was exhausted.
The cavalrymen under his command were generally in their twenties or thirties, and there were basically few who were forty years old.
Fu Youde cannot compare to his vigorous energy.
At this moment, Fu Youde had already decided in his heart that after the battle of U-Tsangdusi, he would return to the court, beg for his remains from the emperor, and return home.
Inside the big tent, Fu Youde asked, "Have you found anyone from the Northern Yuan seeking help?"
Xu Huizu nodded and said, "We did find something. According to Uncle Shi's instructions, we did not force them to stay and let a few people go to report the news."
Fu Youde said: "When Timur's army gets the news, they will definitely send troops to support the Northern Yuan Dynasty. At this moment, they don't know that the Northern Yuan Dynasty has been defeated. This is a good time for us to ambush Timur's reinforcements."
"We can split into two groups this time. One group will ambush Timur's reinforcements, and the other group will explore the location of Timur's camp."
"Timur's army is the most cunning. If they learn of the defeat of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, they will definitely withdraw their troops and move their camps to wreak havoc on Tubo again. Therefore, this battle is extremely critical. We must defeat Timur's main army."
"Only in this way can we completely drive Timur's army out of Tibet."
Fu Youde has clear ideas.
We cannot treat Timur’s army in the same way as we did the Northern Yuan army.
Because there were a large number of artillery in Timur's main army.
These artillery pieces posed a great threat to the Ming cavalry.
The court spent a lot of money to build these cavalrymen. If the losses were too great, they would be punished by the court even if they won.
In his later years, Fu Youde doesn't want to have a bad reputation.
Therefore, in the battle against Timur, cavalry and infantry must work together, with the main force being the infantry, while the cavalry will seize the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.