weaving

Chapter 1599 Night Raid
Cao Bianjiao led his elite cavalry ahead, charging into Hushibu's Mongol Bordered Blue Banner camp like a majestic war god, charging left and right as if entering an empty land.

It's no wonder the Mongol Tartars were so easily defeated. They had fought bravely all day and were exhausted. Apart from those assigned to guard and patrol, most of the northern Tartars were sleeping in their tents.

In their view, the Ming army in Wang'erzhuang must be in the same situation, having fought fiercely all day. They assumed that even if they weren't sleeping soundly, they must be working through the night to repair their fortifications in preparation for the upcoming battle the next day.

They hadn't expected that the Ming soldiers were just as exhausted as they were, but they had a commander who was like a devil, who not only wouldn't let them lie down and rest, but also forced them to fight through the night.

"You are all exhausted and weak. Think about it, the Tartars must be in the same state. If we rest now, we may not be able to withstand their fierce attack tomorrow. Why don't we take advantage of their unpreparedness and attack them tonight, so that they won't dare to attack tomorrow? Wouldn't that be better?"

"Aren't you afraid of dying if you're suffering? If we don't take advantage of the situation and sweep through the enemy camp tonight, we'll be demons under the enemy's blades tomorrow. We're going to die anyway, so why not die in the Tartar camp? At least we can drag one of those Tartars down with us!"

Cao Bianjiao gave each cavalryman two iron lumps called "Ten Thousand Enemies," which were new-style explosive grenades with wooden handles that he had purchased from the Yunzhou workshop in Xuanfu. Holding one in his hand, he shouted, "This explosive grenade, the Earl of Yongning has given it a new name, something like 'hand grenade.' You all remember it well. After we charge into the enemy camp, light the fuse, but keep it far away from us, so as not to hurt your own brothers."

It was these "hand grenades," capable of taking on ten thousand men, that left the Bordered Blue Banner Mongol cavalry completely bewildered. Even after Cao Bianjiao's group had rushed out of the enemy camp, they still hadn't realized what was happening, thinking that the one who had just attacked their camp at night was a group of artillery pieces!

It happened so suddenly—everything happened so suddenly that Hu Shibu had no time to organize an effective resistance before Cao Bianjiao led his elite cavalry to slaughter him right in his own camp.

In fact, Hu Shibu's performance was indeed remarkable. He also quickly organized three strong resistances. However, the grenades thrown by Cao Bianjiao's cavalry were too explosive. The newly organized Northern Barbarian cavalry were blown to smithereens by the incoming grenades as soon as they engaged in battle.

On the other side, Tang Tong led about a thousand of his trusted cavalrymen, but instead of directly attacking the Tartar camp, he ambushed between the camps of Hu Shibu and Liu Zhiyuan.

Just as Liu Zhiyuan was hurriedly leading the Bordered Yellow Banner Han Army to aid Hushibu, Tang Tong suddenly led his troops out to attack. First, he intercepted Liu Zhiyuan's Han Army from the waist, cutting them in two. Then, he turned around and attacked back, intercepting the rear half of the Bordered Yellow Banner Han Army.

Like Cao Bianjiao's troops, Tang Tong's cavalry also carried two grenades each. In the fierce battle, whenever there was an opportunity, the grenades would fly towards Liu Zhiyuan's formation immediately.

Although the Han army banners of the Jurchens were mainly armed with firearms, there were also a small number of cavalry. However, everything happened too suddenly, and they were in disarray from the very beginning. The Han cavalry were never able to gather together and thus could not play their due role.

However, Liu Zhiyuan was no pushover. He quickly stabilized the formation of the Han army in the front half and launched a rear attack, intending to repel the Ming army that had ambushed him and rescue the soldiers in the rear half.

Unexpectedly, before he could even engage Tang Tong's cavalry, he heard a series of ear-piercing rumbling sounds coming from the left flank, approaching him rhythmically from afar.

Liu Zhiyuan, a veteran of many battles, turned deathly pale. He knew that another large cavalry force was charging towards him...

At this moment, Hu Shibu's camp had just been attacked at night, and he was still asking for help. It was impossible for him to organize such a large cavalry force of more than a thousand men to come to his aid. This must be the Ming army without a doubt.

In fact, it wasn't just Liu Zhiyuan who sensed something was wrong; his officers, soldiers, and officers all felt the same way. In the pitch-black night, if a well-formed cavalry force were to approach them, they would surely die. No matter how Liu Zhiyuan tried to stop them, the panicked Han Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner troops immediately broke into disarray. Only a small number of personal guards stayed with Liu Zhiyuan, protecting him as they retreated towards Hu Shibu's camp.

Suddenly, Cao Bianjiao's cavalry corps arrived.

After Cao Bianjiao led his cavalry to kill a swathe through Hushibu's camp, he immediately rushed over to support Tang Tong in intercepting and killing Liu Zhiyuan's Bordered Yellow Banner Han army, as planned.

However, Cao Bianjiao's goal was not to kill all the more than 1,000 Han soldiers that Liu Zhiyuan had brought out. After disrupting the first half of the Han army, he immediately sent out light cavalry to find Tang Tong's whereabouts, while he himself did not stop and led his cavalry straight towards Liu Zhiyuan's camp.

It turns out that Cao Bianjiao's target was the cannons in Liu Zhiyuan's camp!
…………

The battle during the day made Cao Bianjiao realize one thing: the Tartar cavalry was not so scary. With the help of the camp's fortifications and the cannons and muskets he had purchased from the Earl of Yongning, he could hold his camp without much trouble.

The main threat, however, came from the firearms of the Jurchen Han army...

Therefore, tonight's night raid was to destroy the artillery of Liu Zhiyuan's Han army. His night raid on Hushibu was to lure Liu Zhiyuan to lead his troops to the rescue, and then have Tang Tong ambush and kill them on the way. He himself also rushed here as soon as possible to drive these Han soldiers back to their camp, so that he could take advantage of the situation to rush into the Han army camp of the Bordered Yellow Banner and destroy the artillery.

Everything went smoothly. Cao Bianjiao and Tang Tong, one on the left and one on the right, drove hundreds of Han soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner towards Liu Zhiyuan's camp.

In order to survive, the Han soldiers climbed the camp walls at all costs, even desperately ramming the walls with their bodies. The Han soldiers guarding the camp did not stop them at first. After all, those who escaped were either their sworn brothers, their in-laws, or at the very least, their comrades who had shared life and death with them during the day. How could they bring themselves to kill them?
Although these traitorous soldiers were just as ruthless as the Tartars, they were still living, breathing human beings. Under the angry curses and desperate pleas of the Han soldiers who had escaped from outside the camp, someone finally couldn't help but open the camp gate.

Although they only opened a small crack, they underestimated people's instinct to escape and survive...

The Han soldiers who escaped back desperately tried to squeeze in in order to survive, and soon they completely broke open the camp gate. No matter how much they shouted and cursed, it was to no avail.

When the Han soldiers guarding the camp heard the sound of horses' hooves in the distance and tried to close the camp gates, it was too late. Those outside were desperately pushing their way in, while those inside were desperately trying to hold them back. They couldn't close the camp gates no matter what they did.

And so, Cao Bianjiao and Tang Tong charged into Liu Zhiyuan's Bordered Yellow Banner Han Army camp, hacking and slashing their way through the enemy lines.

Clearly, the Han Chinese troops of the Bordered Yellow Banner were prepared. They used spears and muskets to block the Ming army that was charging in, and they did inflict a lot of casualties on them, but they could not stop the Ming cavalry from charging left and right.

Cao Bianjiao and Tang Tong did not engage in fierce fighting with the Bordered Yellow Banner Han Army at all. Instead, they split into several groups and charged around the Han Army camp, constantly setting fire to the camp. The Bordered Yellow Banner Han Army camp was soon engulfed in flames.

With a loud "boom," the sound of gunpowder being ignited somewhere was heard far away.