weaving

Chapter 1620 Cao Bianjiao is trustworthy
In the same battle to break through the encirclement, the situation in Wang'erzhuang was clearly better than that in Sucun. This was mainly due to the mutual trust between Cao Bianjiao and Tang Tong, and even more so to their tacit cooperation.

After realizing the unfavorable situation, Cao Bianjiao, though still very unwilling, did not dwell on it or struggle. He decisively ordered a breakout.

After all, they were brother units that had fought against the Tartars together in Liaodong, and they had also fought together under the command of Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting to suppress bandits. There was a basic level of trust between them, especially since they were at a critical moment of life and death.

After a brief discussion, a plan to break through the encirclement was determined...

First, Cao Bianjiao concentrated his 700 main cavalry to attack the Jurchen lines from the west, hoping to draw Jurchen reinforcements from the north and south. Meanwhile, Tang Tong took advantage of this opportunity to lead his elite cavalry in a feigned breakout from the south, further mobilizing Jurchen reinforcements from the east.

Then, Cao Bianjiao personally led all his elite cavalry and warriors to charge out from the north of Wang'erzhuang, first disrupting the Tartar soldiers attacking Wang'erzhuang, and then directly attacking the Han army's Zhenglan Banner camp to the north.

Finally, Tang Tong retreated to Wang'erzhuang, where he joined his infantry and cavalry, along with Cao Bianjiao's infantry, and together they charged out from the north, breaking through the encirclement along the bloody path carved out by Cao Bianjiao.

At the same time, the seven hundred elite cavalrymen from Cao Bianjiao's camp who were the first to break out from the west of Wang'erzhuang will also withdraw from the battle and rush north along the west wall of Wang'erzhuang to join Cao Bianjiao.

The key to this breakout plan lies in the fact that Cao Bianjiao is leading the charge!
If it were someone else taking the lead, judging from Tang Tong's personality, he would definitely not agree. Not only would he not agree, but he would also vie to take the lead himself.

But now Cao Bianjiao was leading the charge, and Tang Tong readily agreed to be responsible for covering the rear. This was because Cao Bianjiao promised him that he would only be charging ahead and clearing the way, and would wait for Tang Tong to lead his troops to catch up. At that time, Tang Tong's troops would go first, and Tang Tong would lead his troops to cover the rear.

Moreover, in order to increase Tang Tong's trust in him, Cao Bianjiao led only his elite cavalry to attack the Tartar camp, while binding his infantry with Tang Tong and following him out of Wang'erzhuang at the very end.

It was precisely because of this tacit cooperation that they first mobilized the Jurchen forces before launching a sudden breakout. Furthermore, during the retreat, they took turns providing cover and blocking each other's pursuers, which made this breakout a great success, allowing them to break out of the Jurchen encirclement with minimal losses.

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Although Abatai defeated the Ming army in Sucun and Wang'erzhuang, eliminating his worries about the rear, he also took the opportunity to kill Ming soldiers such as Liu Yuanqing and Zhang Dengke. Ming soldiers including Zhou Yuji, Zhong Minggao, and Xue Minzhong also suffered heavy losses and were almost incapacitated.

Even government troops like those led by Cao Bianjiao and Tang Tong, whose losses were not too great, could not pose a significant threat to the Jurchens for the time being.

Even so, Abatai still couldn't quell the hatred in his heart!
After all, the Jurchens suffered considerable losses in this round of battles, especially in Su Village and Wang'erzhuang, where many Eight Banner warriors were killed or wounded. How could they swallow this insult?

On the sixth day, the Jurchens divided their forces into four routes to pursue and intercept the Ming army that had broken through the encirclement. They were determined not to withdraw until they had completely wiped out the Ming army.

On the night of the sixth day, Abatai received a military report forwarded by Biruzhumala, only to learn that all the warriors from the three banners who had gone south to reinforce the area, including Baiyintu, had been stopped halfway. What angered him even more was that Baiyintu and his men hadn't even left Qingzhou Prefecture, and had suffered considerable losses!

Turgh has twenty to thirty thousand Qing Dynasty warriors, as well as countless plundered gold, silver, jewels, grain, and people. These spoils of war, already in hand, cannot be lost.

Abatai immediately dispatched scouts to chase after the four Ming army units that had been pursuing them. At the same time, he ordered Shuo Tuo, Wu Lai, and Liu Zhiyuan to prepare to break camp at dawn the next day. They were to meet with Biru Zhumala and head south to aid Baiyintu, working together to break through the Ming army's defenses and reinforce Tuerge.

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While Abatai was mobilizing troops to reinforce Baiyintu in the south, Zhang Guangda was comforting the soldiers of the Qinglong Camp. In addition to providing them with plenty of meat soup and steamed buns, he also distributed all the cigarettes in the camp to the soldiers who had made meritorious contributions as an encouragement.

For two consecutive days, the fifth and sixth of the month, the Qinglong Camp relied on the two defensive lines of Jiagushao and Gaomiyu to firmly block the southward advance of the Tatars from the Baiyintu and Suna tribes, making it impossible for them to make any progress.

Thanks to the trenches and earthen walls built in advance, especially the irregular wide ditches at the very front, the Tartar cavalry charges were effectively blocked, and even the Tartars' dismounted foot charges were greatly restricted.

It was precisely for this reason that the cannons and muskets of the Azure Dragon Camp were able to exert even greater power. The Jurchens were unable to even get close to the Azure Dragon Camp's defenses, and they were completely powerless to fight for two days!
Moreover, because the matter of heading south to reinforce Turgh was urgent, neither Bayintu nor Suna brought many bondservants with them, let alone the captured Shandong people. This resulted in a situation where they couldn't even find cannon fodder to fill the gaps.

On the afternoon of the sixth day, Suna took the lead in halting the attack on Gaomiyu. He sent people back to Abatai for help, while arranging for people to cut down trees and demolish houses to prepare for building shield wagons for a strong attack.

On the seventh day, Baiyintu also stopped his attack. He, like Suna, disregarded his own reputation and sent people back to ask for help, and began to build shield wagons.

In the battles of the previous two days, Jin Li's Han army with the Bordered Red Banner was pushed to the front line by Baiyintu. The original intention was to let Jin Li's Han army take advantage of the long-range killing power of guns and cannons to break through the Ming army's defense line at Jiagushao in one fell swoop, even if it was just to create a gap.

But Baiyintu's idea was too optimistic, which caused Jin Li's traitorous army to suffer the greatest losses since its formation!
A gun and cannon unit like Jin Li's might have been able to gain some advantage against other Ming Dynasty government troops, but today he was facing the strongest firearms force in the Ming Dynasty. Even if the Qinglong Battalion was not the ceiling of the Ming Dynasty's firearms force, it was still something that Jin Li's traitorous army could not reach.

During the two days of fighting, Jin Li commanded the Bordered Red Banner traitor army to change their attack points from time to time, but no matter where they attacked, they were met with fierce counterattacks from the Qinglong Battalion's chariot troops.

Whether in terms of the power of cannons and muskets, their range, the accuracy of their bombardment, or even their rate of fire, they cannot compare with the Qinglong Battalion's chariot division. They are completely overwhelmed by the Qinglong Battalion.

However, as soon as Jin Li's position was exposed, he was immediately subjected to relentless bombardment by the Qinglong Camp's artillery. He was even surrounded by the Qinglong Camp's cavalry and gunners at one point, and Jin Li himself almost became a spoil of war for the Qinglong Camp.

By the afternoon of the sixth day of the month, the Han Chinese Bordered Red Banner of the Jurchens was on the verge of collapse. Jin Li even burst into tears in front of Baiyintu, repeatedly saying that he was sorry to the Great Khan and the Emperor, but in reality he was accusing Baiyintu of using the Han Chinese Bordered Red Banner as cannon fodder.