The Tartars looked down from above, and with a rain of arrows, the Ming army instantly suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, General He's army was experienced in battle. After a moment of panic, they immediately set up a chariot formation according to the order. The chariots were parked on both sides and folded up to form man-made fortresses.
The shieldbearers who were holding shields as tall as a person formed a shield wall, surrounding the two sides. By the time the defensive formation was hastily formed, ten percent of the Ming army had already gone. Imperial Messenger Ye hurriedly jumped off his horse and got into Eunuch Liu's carriage. He said in a trembling voice,"It's clear from all sides, where did the Tartars come from?”
The roof and the sides of the carriage were made of thick wood, so it was not afraid of arrows. However, when he heard the sound of arrows on the carriage, Imperial Messenger Ye could not help but feel a chill in his heart. Eunuch Liu was a eunuch, but he was much braver than Imperial Messenger Ye. Although the muscles on his cheeks were twitching uncontrollably, it was mainly because it was his first time experiencing such a battle scene with thousands of troops and horses. He was nervous.
There were no trees on the gentle slopes on both sides. The snow that slowly extended to the top of the mountain was white, and there was no place to hide. However, at this time, the Tartars in various costumes were running back and forth on the slopes, shooting arrows. Some of the hidden places had been destroyed, and people saw the Ormios.
It turned out that there was a wall that was about half the height of a person on both sides of the hill. The wall was slanted upward and covered with a layer of white snow. From below, due to the angle, it looked like a flat slope that extended to the top of the mountain.
The Mongolians lived in the grasslands and deserts. They moved by water and had no fixed residence. A long time ago, they invented some simple methods to build a city. In the winter when the cold wind raged, they used weeds and branches mixed with cold water to freeze the tents to form a windbreak wall to keep out the cold. It took them only half a night to dig a hole and boil water to build these two gables with local materials.
Bayan Mengke immediately withdrew his troops after learning of his son's tragic death. He led an army day and night to Yumutun. After joining forces with Bodarmo, his strength had surpassed the Ming army, so he boldly abandoned his horse and fought with the Ming army on foot.
Now that the Zhuolu and Chixian Ming armies were outflanking them, he had set up this plan to wipe out the Huailai Ming army in one battle, avenge his son, and then lead the army far away.
General He steadied himself and immediately shouted,"Send a flag signal and order He Shijie to defend the front line. Wang Chengxian will lead his men to attack the enemy on both sides and must open a gap. He ordered Sun Dazhong and Bi Chun to change from the back to the front and quickly retreat. Zheng Yie suppressed the middle army!"
Wang Chengxian ordered the archers to shoot arrows at the enemy on both sides to suppress them, while he led the swordsmen and spearmen to attack the hills on both sides to buy time for the army to retreat. On the hillside was the commander of the Tartar general, Bodarmo. Seeing that the Ming army quickly stabilized their position and began to counterattack, Bodarmo immediately ordered,"Kill the people who wave the flag in the Ming army, kill the warhorses, and stop the Ming army from forming a formation!”
Arrows whistled like rain, and the flag bearer was killed on the spot like a swarm of hedgehogs. At the same time, many horses were shot. The warhorses roared in pain and ran in the valley. The Ming army was instantly thrown into chaos by the horses, and their attacks were also hindered.
Commander Wang commanded his men to brave the rain of arrows and attack the right slope. This hill was not high, so they could control this high point and organize archers to suppress the Tartars. Otherwise, the army would only be waiting to die if they hid in the valley.
He personally held a knife and supervised the battle. The Ming army was like a trapped beast, attacking the hillside again and again with their flesh and blood. Corpses fell one after another. No one sighed for the dead. No one even paid attention to who was lying at their feet. In this battlefield of blood and fire, death became so ordinary that even the most emotional person would become numb.
Under the leadership of the squad leader and the sentry leader, the Ming army swarmed forward, stepping over the corpses of their companions in search of a chance to survive. The Tartars on the hill relied on their geographical advantage and excellent archery skills, and every arrow they shot was sure to kill.
Imperial Messenger Ye hid in the car and shouted in fear,""Lord He, Lord He, the Tartars have set up an ambush. We should retreat quickly!”
General He held the Yanling Saber and said with a livid face,""I have already sent people to inform Bi Chun that this valley is narrow and not conducive for our troops to gather. If the rear troops do not retreat, we will not be able to charge out!”
Imperial Messenger Ye said angrily,"Seeing that the army is in an ambush, Bi Chun has not made any movements so far. We are about to be completely annihilated!" I'm going to add the crime of delaying the opportunity! Lord He, I want to go to the back to supervise the battle!”
General He was busy commanding the army and could not bear to listen to his long-winded speech. When he heard that he was going to the Bi Chun camp, he immediately arranged for twenty shieldbearers to escort him and Eunuch Liu away. A scholar and a eunuch, the two supreme commanders, immediately stumbled towards the rear camp.
The valley at the foot of Crouching Tiger Mountain was shaped like a gourd, and the mouth of the gourd faced the direction of Jichao Posthouse. Bi Chun's army had just entered the valley when Yang Ling and Ma Lian 'er rushed into the army. After hearing Yang Ling's nervous report, Bi Chun knew the severity of the situation and was about to bring him to meet General He when the Tartars on both sides had already begun their attack.
Under the cover of a volley of arrows, a large number of Tartars rushed from the bunker halfway up the mountain to the mouth of the valley to block the retreat of the Ming army. The mouth of the valley was narrow, and as long as dozens of people had strong bows in their hands and arrows rained down continuously, even thousands of troops could forget about charging out.
The goal of the Taniguchi Tartars was to block their retreat, so they only guarded their vital points and did not attack. Each of these Tartars carried at least four quivers. Bi Chun's southern army was mainly made up of sword-shield and musketeer hand-to-hand soldiers, so they were unable to fight against these brave Tartars, who fought against ten of them alone and defended the strategic points.
In just a short while, hundreds of Ming army corpses were left at the entrance of the valley. The bloody scene that was so close to them made Ma Lian 'er's face turn pale like snow. It was only because Yang Ling had gained a certain level of tolerance after the battle of defending the city that he pulled her to hide between two carriages that he was able to avoid being injured by the stray arrows.
The Ming army's counterattack was quickly stopped by the Tartars 'arrows. Corpses fell at the narrow entrance of the valley. The Ming army had to fight with the Tartars at the entrance of the valley for the only exit, and they had to deal with the arrows that kept shooting above their heads. The casualties kept increasing.
Yang Ling noticed that the Ming army's counterattack was chaotic, and they were unable to launch any threatening attacks. Their officers could be said to be brave and fearless, but they only knew how to show off their individual bravery and did not know how to effectively organize the soldiers to fight.
To put it bluntly, if they were to arrange their battle formations on the plain under the command of their generals, they would still be able to do so. However, once such a chaotic battle broke out, the higher-ups would not be able to carry out the orders effectively. Those low-ranking officers who could not even read words would either lead the soldiers or wield their sabers to supervise the battle. They would not be able to make good use of the reasonable combination of sword-shield hands, musketeers, spearmen, and archers.
Yang Ling was so nervous that he was sweating profusely when he saw the quality of the army. Ma Lian 'er, on the other hand, was worried about her brother's safety. She was only relieved when she saw him standing beside Bi Dusi not far ahead.
At this moment, Imperial Messenger Ye and Eunuch Liu ran over in a sorry state. Imperial Messenger Ye was about to blame Bi Dusi for his failure in breaking out of the encirclement when he suddenly saw a woman in a green robe. She said that Bi Dusi was marching with his family, and he couldn't help but feel even angrier.
Bi Dusi saw that the Tartars in the valley were relying on the dangerous terrain to defend the pass alone, and it was difficult to break through as soon as possible. He was about to order his troops to attack the enemy on the hillside and suppress the Tartars at the mouth of the valley with the power of the muskets. However, in Imperial Messenger Ye and Eunuch Liu's opinion, opening the mouth of the valley was the only way to survive. If he waited for him to attack the hillside first and then take the mouth of the valley in a roundabout way, he was afraid that the entire army would have been wiped out by then.
Therefore, the two of them agreed and ordered him to open the valley entrance at all costs. Bi Dusi resentfully ordered to stop attacking the mountain and could only gather his troops to attack the valley entrance. His face was livid as he ordered," Chief Qi, Chief Lu, concentrate your firearms and fire arrows on the entrance of the valley. You are allowed to advance, not retreat. You must kill your way out!"”
He then shouted at the captain of his personal guards," Guan Shouying is supervising the battle. If one person retreats, kill him. If the whole team retreats, kill the captain. If the captain dies in the line of duty and the whole team retreats, kill them all!"”
The order was like a mountain. The two generals knew that this was a moment of life and death. They immediately ordered the team to brave the rain of arrows and attack the valley entrance. The arrows in front were like rain. Although the two sides of the hillside were suppressed by the Ming army's firepower, there were still cold arrows. Many soldiers had just rushed out not far before they were shot through by the sharp arrows, and the ground was stained with blood.
The musketeers who had reached the effective range fired a volley of arrows. Although they had killed many tartars, the sword-shield men behind them had no time to catch up with the charge. The tartars fired their arrows at the same time and sealed off the valley entrance again.
Yang Ling saw the heavy pounding of the carriage and saw the corpse of a horse on the ground. He suddenly thought of a solution and immediately shouted,""Lord Bi, use the warhorses as meat shields and the army behind them. We will definitely be able to open up a gap!”
Eunuch Liu and Imperial Messenger Ye were overjoyed and immediately ordered General Bi to do as he was told. It must be known that war horses were worth nearly four hundred strings at that time, and the Ming army had always been short of war horses, so the soldiers had never thought of using war horses as weapons. At this time, the army was in a life-and-death situation, so how could they care about horses? They immediately gathered the remaining war horses in front of the formation, about forty of them. The musketeer took gunpowder and sprinkled it on the horse's tail. Once the fire was lit, the war horses immediately neighed and ran forward in pain.
Zhilin Dada, who was guarding the entrance of the valley, suddenly saw dozens of warhorses galloping wildly with their tails on fire. The ground rumbled. He was shocked and ordered his subordinates to shoot arrows. After all, the lives of horses were not as fragile as humans. Although a few horses fell down with mournful cries, most of the warhorses still ran with arrows, breaking the formation of the Tartars and galloping out of the valley. Some of the soldiers who were unable to retreat in time did not even have time to scream before they were trampled into meat paste by the chaotic horses.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Bi Dusi commanded his army to charge out, braving the arrows above their heads. Zhilin Dada immediately led the remaining four hundred Tartars to meet them. The entrance of the valley was narrow, and only two hundred people were needed to seal it tightly. The two armies immediately squeezed into a ball and began to fight at the entrance of the valley.
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