weaving

Chapter 1608 Encountering the Enemy
Since being wounded in the previous battle of Zhuxian Town, Hu Dayou had been in a state of low spirits. Although he won a great victory against Li Ze, the disadvantage in the number of heavy cavalry was fully exposed.

His powerful ability to break through enemy lines was offset by his numerical disadvantage. Once the enemy's forces were strong and their formations were solid, his heavy cavalry could hardly achieve the desired effect of breaking through their lines.

Although this expansion only added three more sentries, it was still the biggest happy event for Hu Dayou since he joined the army.

Now, he has been ordered to lead three squads of heavy cavalry into battle, so he naturally has to make a good impression!
…………

At this moment, the battle inside Guandao Village was nearing its end.

Although nearly a hundred Mongol soldiers rushed in, they were no match for the Ming army's elite troops, who outnumbered them several times over and were heavily armored. Moreover, the Ming army was equipped with hand cannons, a powerful weapon for close combat.

Just as Chaolu led two Niru Bordered White Banner Mongol soldiers toward Guandaozhuang, a group of Ming cavalry charged onto the official road from the south of Guandaozhuang.

Following Suna's orders, Chaolu left one Niru as a reserve, while he led only one Niru to charge ahead. At this point, he saw that there were only about three hundred cavalrymen who had charged onto the official road, and he did not take them seriously at all.

"These Ming dogs are rampant! Kill them all!" Chao Lu shouted, boosting morale.

However, he did not blindly charge at the Ming cavalry. He first observed the enemy briefly from his horse before ordering, "Bajie, take a strong man off the main road and circle around the Ming dogs from the east to outflank them."

Before Bajie could obey the order and leave, Chaolu shouted again: "Bilige, you take a strongman off the main road, go around to the west, and attack Ming Gou from the side."

Bajie and Bilige responded in unison, each leading a strong Mongol cavalryman down the official road, splitting up on the east and west sides and galloping southwards, trampling the tender green grass shoots in the wilderness, sending them flying everywhere.

Chao Lu didn't stop either. He gently squeezed his horse's belly with his legs, urging it to move forward slowly. At the same time, he took out his large bow and shouted, "Warriors of the Bordered White Banner, kill all the Ming dogs in front of you, and the warhorses you seize are yours!"

"Woo-wah..." The Mongol Tartars with the white banners roared in unison, appearing extremely excited.

But Chaolu was a very cautious fellow. He did not forget his strengths because of his excitement, and he would not do the foolish thing of “using his own weaknesses to attack the enemy’s strengths.”

"Draw your bows, take your arrows, advance slowly, charge at two hundred paces, fire indiscriminately at one hundred paces, descend the official road at eighty paces, and turn back!" Chao Lu shouted the order.

…………

At this moment, Chaolu's 300 Mongol soldiers from a Niru had only been away from the main force for a short time, and were still more than a hundred paces away from Guandaozhuang, while they were four or five hundred paces away from Hu Dayou's three detachments of heavy cavalry.

After seeing Hu Dayou's Ming army, Chaolu halted his advance. Although this simple deployment did not take much time, it allowed Hu Dayou's three squads of Ming cavalry to easily reach the official road.

The two sides launched their attacks almost simultaneously. Compared to Chaolu's side, the Ming army had more troops and a stronger morale...

After two Zhuangda were separated from the Mongol cavalry of Chaolu Niru, only 150 riders remained, a significant reduction in strength.

Although two surprise forces have been dispatched, they are not yet of any use, so they have already lost the initial battle in terms of morale!
On the other hand, Hu Dayou's men were all armored, and although they maintained a slow pace of advance, they had the upper hand in terms of momentum, clearly overwhelming the Bordered White Banner Mongol Tartars.

"Everyone change horses!" When the two sides were less than three hundred paces apart, Hu Dayou decisively gave the order. The Zhuque Camp heavy cavalrymen moved in unison, stopping abruptly and dismounting almost simultaneously. They stepped onto the stirrups of the taller warhorses next to them with their right feet, gripped the front saddles with both hands, and leaped onto their mounts.

In the blink of an eye, the heavy cavalry of the Three Vermilion Bird Battalion had formed an even tighter formation...

"Speed ​​up, charge forward at all costs, and break through the enemy lines!" Hu Dayou shouted the order.

Almost simultaneously, the heavy cavalrymen lowered the face shields of their horses, gripped their flanks tightly, and began to accelerate towards the oncoming Mongol Bordered White Banner cavalry formation.

…………

The scene before him made Chaolu gasp. It wasn't until he saw the Ming army changing horses that Chaolu realized he had met a true opponent today!
With both cavalrymen accelerating simultaneously, the distance of over three hundred paces was covered in the blink of an eye...

"Shoot, fire!" Chao Lu shouted, and was the first to shoot the arrow in his hand.

One hundred and fifty Mongol knights of the Bordered White Banner simultaneously fired fierce arrows, but against the heavily armored cavalry, these arrows, raining down from the sky, pierced through the air.

Even the thunderous roar of four or five hundred warhorses galloping across the land could not drown out the piercing whistling of arrows being hurled.

With the help of their galloping horses, the Mongol soldiers could launch arrows that could reach 120 paces away and still be extremely lethal. However, Jin Chaolu only ordered the arrows to be launched when they were 100 paces away, which shows how strong his determination was.

Almost at the same moment the arrows were launched, more than 150 Mongol cavalrymen split up to both sides of the official road, rushed off the road, and galloped forward forty or fifty paces before turning their horses around and heading north.

…………

The scene before him was completely beyond Hu Dayou's expectations—he had not expected that the usually arrogant and ruthless Tartars would choose such a strategy of avoiding battle.

However, he could not afford to make any tactical changes at this moment, and could only order his heavy cavalry to maintain their orderly formation and continue charging forward.

However, Hu Dayou still reminded everyone to maintain a steady pace and not to accelerate any further, lest the warhorses run out of stamina when they encountered the enemy later.

But after running forward for less than forty or fifty steps, they saw another group of Tartars galloping towards them on the official road directly ahead. The color of their flags was exactly the same as the white-flag Tartars they had just fought.

"Form ranks! Forget about the Tartars from before, let's charge at this group of Tartars!" Hu Dayou immediately perked up.

He wasn't the only one; all three heavy cavalrymen who went into battle shared the same thought, their eyes practically blazing with fury as they watched the Manchu soldiers with the Bordered White Banner charging towards them.

"Hold your ground, keep the ranks in order!" Hu Dayou shouted a reminder. "Front row, pay attention! Left hand fires the gun, right hand holds the spear, prepare for battle!"

The front-line heavy cavalry immediately moved as ordered. They drew their pre-prepared pistols with their left hands, gripped the middle of their lances with their right hands, and tucked the tails tightly under their armpits to make the lances more stable, with the lance tips pointing straight forward.

The three cavalry battalions of the Vermilion Bird Battalion launched their final charge against the Mongol troops of the Bordered White Banner opposite them...