Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 169: Another Victory for the Dragon Cavalry
Two days later, it was already June 22nd.

Da Tsering Dundub, who was in Bokto Ridge, was a little anxious.

This Junggar general has always been resourceful, calm and steady, but now he is anxious.

Da Celeng Dundub knew that the northern army of the Great Zhou had seen through the Dzungar's plan of luring and ambush. Instead of falling into it, they took advantage of the opportunity to trap the more than 20,000 Dzungar troops led by him in Bokto Ridge, forcing him to lead his troops to fight their way out of Bokto Ridge.

Yes, Da Zeling Dundub also saw through Da Zhou’s siege plan.

The more than 20,000 Junggar troops he led had been ambushed at Bokto Mountain for ten days. Their food and grass were running out, and they were also short of water. They had already ordered their soldiers to eat less to survive. The Great Zhou army, however, gathered at the main exit of Bokto Mountain, blocking the Junggar army's food supply.

If Da Tseling Dundub had not led his troops to break out of Bokto Ridge, the more than 20,000 Junggar troops under his command would have starved to death or died of thirst in Bokto Ridge, and their morale would even have been broken, leading to civil unrest.

If Da Tsereng Dundub led his army to break out from other exits of Bokto Ridge instead of the main exit, he would be blocked by the two thousand dragoons and four thousand cavalry of the Great Zhou. Even if he led his army to break through the blockade, he would be attacked by the Great Zhou army, and without food support, the situation would be very bad.

However, Da Tsereng Dundub was indeed resourceful. Despite being in such a difficult situation, he still came up with a better coping strategy!

He had sent messengers to quietly leave Bokto Ridge to inform the Dzungar Khan Tsereng. Tsereng personally led 30,000 Dzungar troops and asked Tsereng to lead this army and the ambush troops led by him to attack the Great Zhou army stationed at the main exit of Bokto Ridge from both inside and outside!

"Since the Great Zhou army has besieged our army at Bokto Ridge, I will join forces with Great Khan Tsering to attack them from both inside and outside."

This is the strategy of Da Tsereng Dundub.

Da Tsereng Dundub had another plan.

That is, before the two Junggar armies attacked the Great Zhou army from both inside and outside, they sent 5,000 Junggar cavalry to severely damage the Great Zhou's Dragon Cavalry and at the same time loot the Dragon Cavalry's equipment, especially bayonets and flintlock rifles.

Prior to this, Xiao Tsereng Dondub led a thousand Junggar cavalrymen and was severely damaged by the Dragon Cavalry Army.

Da Tsereng Dundub had already inquired carefully and in detail about the circumstances of this battle.

"This is a serious problem!"

This is Da Zeling Dundub’s evaluation of the Dragon Cavalry.

In his opinion, although the Dragon Cavalry Army consisted of only two thousand dragon cavalrymen, the deterrent power of this agile and domineering Dragon Cavalry Army against the Dzungar army was no less than that of the Great Zhou Cavalry Army of ten thousand or even twenty thousand.

Da Tseling Dundub wanted to take the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on this Dragon Cavalry Army, which would be advantageous to Dzungar in this war. If he could plunder a large amount of the Dragon Cavalry Army's equipment and equip the Dzungar Cavalry Army, it would be even more advantageous.

In addition, the young Tsereng Dundub hated the Dragon Cavalry and was eager to take revenge.

It is necessary for the elder Celeng Dundub to maintain a good relationship with the younger Celeng Dundub. According to his plan this time, he can satisfy the younger Celeng Dundub's wish to take revenge as soon as possible.

So, on June 23, Xiao Tsering Dundub led his army again, broke out of Bokto Ridge through other mountain passes, and attacked the Dragon Cavalry. This time he led 5,000 Junggar cavalry, including 2,000 horse archers!

Sending out so many horse archers was also the strategy of Da Zeling Dundub. According to his judgment, horse archers could restrain dragoons!
Because the range of the archers' projectiles is greater than the range of the dragoons' shooting, when the dragoons are unable to shoot, the archers can shoot arrows at the dragoons to cause casualties.

Oh, Da Tsereng Dundub has made such a judgment even before he has seen the Dragon Cavalry. Don’t the Dragon Cavalry understand this weakness of their own?
Of course the Dragon Cavalry Army understood it, the commander Niu Jizon understood it, and the general Wang Ziteng also understood it.

It was because he knew that this time Wang Ziteng sent the Dragon Cavalry to patrol and intercept around Bokto Ridge, so he specially assisted them with another 4,000 Great Zhou Cavalry. Moreover, 3,000 of these 4,000 Great Zhou Cavalry were archers!

Da Tsering Dundub didn't know that there were actually 3,000 Great Zhou archers assisting the Dragon Cavalry, and he only sent out 2,000 Junggar archers this time...

……

……

The Dragon Cavalry and the 4,000 Great Zhou Cavalry that supported them were also equipped with multiple hot air balloons.

On that day, when Xiao Tsereng Dundub led 5,000 Junggar cavalry out of Bokto Ridge to attack the Dragon Cavalry, the Dragon Cavalry learned the military intelligence in advance through the high-altitude reconnaissance of hot air balloon scouts.

Originally, the Dragon Cavalry and the 4,000 Great Zhou Cavalry that assisted them were separate.

Niu Jizong, who learned of the military situation in advance, was not careless and did not dare to delay. He hurriedly ordered the Dragon Cavalry to move quickly to join the 4,000 Great Zhou Cavalry.

Little Tsering Dundub was angry and depressed once again.

This time he led 5,000 Junggar cavalry to severely damage the Dragon Cavalry, and did not want to confront the other 4,000 Great Zhou cavalry. Now the situation is not good again.

However, young Celeng Dundub was brave. Since he had already led 5,000 Junggar cavalry to attack, he would never cancel his mission and retreat to the mountains just because of the extra 4,000 Great Zhou cavalry. Moreover, he had already witnessed and felt the horror of the Dragon Cavalry's pursuit before, so this time he must inflict severe damage on the Dragon Cavalry before withdrawing.

"Set off the fire!"

"Projection!"

Five thousand Junggar cavalry carried dozens of camel cannons. Following the order from Little Tsereng Dundub, these dozens of camel cannons took the lead and fired at the Dragon Cavalry.

At the same time, two thousand Junggar archers shot arrows at the Dragon Cavalry.

Niu Jizong hurriedly led the Dragon Cavalry to retreat quickly and orderly. The other 4,000 Great Zhou Cavalry were distributed on the left and right sides of the Dragon Cavalry and did not hinder the Dragon Cavalry's retreat.

These 4,000 Great Zhou cavalry also carried more than 20 camel cannons, ten of which were captured by the Dragon Cavalry in the initial battle.

The 4,000 Great Zhou cavalry also opened fire on the Dzungar cavalry, and the 3,000 horse archers among them fired at the Dzungar cavalry.

"It's really infuriating! I've never seen cavalry so good at evading!"

Little Celeng Dundub thought angrily.

Dozens of camel cannons of the Junggar cavalry fired at the same time, and two thousand horse archers shot at the Dragon Cavalry, but they only caused hundreds of casualties to the retreating Dragon Cavalry, including injuries.

During this period, the more than 20 camel cannons and 3,000 horse archers of the Great Zhou caused more than 400 casualties to the Dzungar cavalry.

When Xiao Tsereng Dundub thought that if he could seize a large amount of the dragon cavalry's equipment this time and equip his own dragon cavalry, his anger turned into anticipation.

At this time, the Dragon Cavalry had completed its retreat. The dozens of camel cannons of the Dzungar Cavalry could no longer reach the Dragon Cavalry, and the Dzungar horse archers could no longer shoot at the Dragon Cavalry.

Therefore, Xiao Tsereng Dundub ordered the dozens of camel cannons and horse archers of the Junggar to shift their target to the 4,000 Zhou cavalry distributed on the left and right sides of the front.

The two sides then came into a standoff. You fired cannons and shot arrows at me, and I fired cannons and shot arrows at you. The scene was tense and cruel with the artillery fire and arrows flying everywhere.

A moment later, the Dzungar cavalry suffered more than 500 casualties in this tense confrontation, leaving only 4,000 people. The 4,000 Great Zhou cavalry suffered more than 800 casualties, leaving more than 3,100 people.

Although the Great Zhou had fewer camel cannons than the enemy, it had 3,000 horse archers, 1,000 more than the enemy. However, it suffered more casualties in the confrontation than the enemy.

It’s not that the Zhou’s horse archers and gunners were weak, but that the Dzungar’s horse archers and gunners were strong.

The strength of the Great Zhou is its cannons, but they are not carrying any cannons at the moment, not even a single one. If dozens of cannons were to join this confrontation, the casualties of the Dzungar cavalry would increase significantly.

Although there were still 4,000 Junggar cavalry, there were only more than 1,000 archers left, and the formation of the Junggar cavalry was in chaos.

The formation of the Great Zhou cavalry was even more chaotic.

If the two sides were allowed to continue the confrontation, it would be disadvantageous to the Great Zhou. Not only would it cause heavy casualties to the Great Zhou cavalry, it would also be disadvantageous for the Dragon Cavalry to conduct concentrated fire on the Dzungar cavalry.

Niu Jizong acted decisively and did not wait any longer. He led the Dragon Cavalry and rushed to the Dragon Cavalry's optimal shooting range, braving the rain of arrows fired by the Dzungar Cavalry and paying a certain price in casualties.

"Three rounds of shooting!"

Following Niu Jizong's order, the dragoons dismounted and started three rounds of shooting.

Three rounds and three rounds, three rounds and three rounds...

The addition of the Dragon Cavalry immediately reversed the situation on the battlefield.

The Dragon Cavalry's torrential fire from their flintlock muskets and the Zhou's constant archery combined to greatly increase the rate of casualties among the Dzungar cavalry.

In just a moment, the Dzungar cavalry suffered another thousand casualties, leaving only three thousand people.

This battle can no longer be fought.

Let alone the army led by the Little Tsereng Dundub, even if the army was led by the resourceful Great Tsereng Dundub, there would be no good solution if they were caught in the current situation.

Even the retreat was difficult.

Because the pursuit of the Dragon Cavalry was terrifying, young Tsering Dundub believed, based on his previous experience, that if he led 3,000 Junggar cavalry to escape now, an estimated thousand of the cavalry would die in the pursuit of the Dragon Cavalry, or perhaps more than a thousand.

But if we don't escape and continue fighting like this, the outcome will be even worse, and we may even be wiped out.

Thinking of this, Xiao Tsereng Dundub sighed in frustration and ordered 500 Junggar cavalry to cover the rear and stop the Dragon Cavalry from pursuing him. He then led 2,500 Junggar cavalry to retreat. This time he could not take care of the camels and dozens of camel cannons, as they were about to be seized by the enemy again.

Even though they sent troops to cover the rear and stop him, when young Tsereng Dundub fled back to the Bokto Ridge Valley, there were only two thousand Dzungar cavalrymen left around him, and one thousand of them died in the pursuit.

Originally, they were going to severely damage the Dragon Cavalry and plunder their equipment today.

The result was another defeat and they fled back in disgrace.

This was a heavy defeat, with the loss of 3,000 Junggar cavalrymen!

In contrast, the Great Zhou suffered only more than a thousand casualties in this battle, including more than three hundred dragoons.

Overall, this battle was still a victory for the Great Zhou, and it once again proved the agility and dominance of the Dragon Cavalry!
The war is not over yet, it is continuing...

(End of this chapter)