I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 98: The Never-Falling Car Array

The first thing that appeared in Xin Ai's sight was the traffic jam.

It is in tatters.

Many carts and vans were emitting black smoke and showed signs of burns and smog.

In the second round of attack, the experienced northern barbarian cavalry used rockets, which were fatal to the temporary chariot or camel formations on the grassland.

But at present, it seems that no fatal damage has been caused to the Ming army's chariot formation.

There are many gaps in the chariot array, and there are corpses of Northern Tartar cavalry and Ming soldiers nearby, which should be a fierce battle. But from the current situation, the Ming army blocked the gaps with wooden boards and other things, indicating that they did not lose.

The Northern Tartar cavalry failed to charge in.

Outside the chariot formation, more corpses of people and horses were lying in the mud.

The grassland, which was green just now, was trampled into mud by the galloping war horses, and then soaked into black mud by blood.

Thousands of cavalry gathered two or three hundred steps away from the chariot formation, listless and at a loss, like a group of frightened sheep.

Damn it, so hateful!
It hasn’t been taken down yet!
Xin Ai waved the whip in the air, making a whistling sound, as if he was whipping the most hateful enemy in his mind.

"Go, go ask what's going on! My warriors, why have you become a bunch of cowardly sheep today?"

"Yes!"

After a while, two captains followed their personal soldiers and rushed to Xin Ai.

"Your Excellency Huang Taiji!" The two captains saluted tremblingly.

"Tell me, what's going on!" Xin Ai asked viciously.

A captain bravely replied: "Your Excellency Huang Taiji, the southern barbarians' firearms are really powerful. Especially the large iron barrels that can make thunder. If you get close, both the man and the horse will be smashed to pieces."

Another captain echoed, "Your Excellency Huang Taiji, in our first wave of attack, more than 1,500 cavalrymen were killed or wounded. In the second wave of cavalrymen, more than 2,100 cavalrymen were killed or wounded.

After fighting for more than an hour, the men were tired and wanted to retreat, drink some water, eat some naan, and feed the horses some hay.

Xin Ai was so angry that smoke was coming out of her nostrils, ears and mouth.

"Tired! How dare you say you're tired! There are only 2,000 Ming troops and 2,000 to 3,000 civilians, and you dispatched 15,000 cavalry. We fought twice but failed to take the city. How dare you say you're tired!"

The sound of Xin Ai's roar was almost as loud as that of the Ming army's muskets.

A captain quickly defended himself: "Huang Taiji, the southern barbarians have more than 2,000 Ming troops. They are almost all well-trained, brave and good at fighting elites, about 5,000 to 6,000 people. And their firearms are very powerful. We have never encountered such powerful firearms. We can't think of what to do for a while."

Which bastard said that there were only two thousand Ming troops in the chariot formation, and they would collapse at the first touch?

After two rounds of fighting, we deeply realized that the Ming army in the chariot formation was more brave and tenacious than all the Ming troops we had encountered before.

What’s even more terrifying is that the firearms in their hands are far superior to those of the Ming army they had encountered before.

If I were to fight a skirmish on the grassland, I would not be afraid of these firearms.

But now people have built fortifications with vans and carts, placed firearms there, and waited for us to rush up, hitting one accurately and killing a large number of people with one shot.

I really can’t fight any more!

Xin Ai looked at the two commanders kneeling on the ground viciously, wishing he could drag them down and chop them up.

But reason told him that doing so would only undermine the morale of the troops.

Xin Ai looked at the sky and said gloomily, "It's still an hour before the sun sets. I'll give you two quarters of an hour to rest, then gather the troops that retreated the last two times and launch another attack.

If you still can't break through the barbarians' chariot formation before dark, I will chop off your heads and throw your bodies into the wild to feed the wolves!"

The two centurions looked at each other, feeling sad and helpless.

"Yes! Honorable Huang Taiji!"

After the two thousand men rode away, Xin Ai turned to look at Dong Huli and asked doubtfully, "Dong Huli, why do I feel something is wrong?"

Dong Huli nodded and said, "Huang Taiji, you are right. I also think it is wrong. The southern barbarians actually made preparations. We never expected this.

Huang Taiji, there may be a trick here, why don't we take this opportunity to withdraw our troops, return to our place, and make plans later."

Xin Ai hesitated.

withdraw troops?

Last time, I withdrew my troops from the southern barbarians' territory in disgrace, and was laughed at by the tribes on the grassland for a year. The bastard Tumen Khan even deliberately asked someone to send him two carts of southern barbarians' goods, mocking me for going south with great momentum, returning empty-handed, and losing many soldiers.

This time, he was fighting on the grassland outside the Great Wall, on his own home ground, with 30,000 troops against 5,000 or 6,000, and he actually had to withdraw in disgrace. He would become the biggest laughing stock on the grassland.

The tribes on the right wing of the Tumed would no longer obey him, and his father Khan might transfer him back, and he would lose the chance to become the Great Khan forever.

Xin Ai felt cold all over.

Do not!
I can't withdraw my troops!
Even if I have to grit my teeth, I will shoot down the barbarians' convoy.

Xin Ai stared at the traffic jam in the distance fiercely, "Don't retreat! I will definitely take it down!"

Dong Huli had already guessed the result and pretended to be surprised: "Huang Taiji, what if the southern barbarians are cheating?"

Xin Ai flicked her whip in hatred, "What trick is this? Do they dare to go beyond the border? We are cavalry, they are infantry, no matter how powerful they are, they can only form a chariot formation like this and shrink like a turtle. If they dare to go beyond the border and chase me, I will be more than happy!"

Dong Fox nodded.

Xin Ai is right.

The southern barbarians' border troops did have cavalry, but their numbers were limited. The only ones that could be considered elite were the cavalry from Xuanda and Liaodong. However, one was facing Altan Khan and the other was facing Tumen Khan, both of whom were powerful rulers on the grassland, and they dared not move easily.

Jizhou Town was mainly defensive, with a small number of cavalry and weak combat effectiveness.

If he dared to come out, he would undoubtedly be delivering food to Xin Ai.

A quarter of an hour later, fighting broke out again in the direction of the convoy.

The two commanders fought desperately for their own lives.

He led 10,000 cavalrymen and divided them into two groups, attacking the Ming army's chariot formation from two directions, making it difficult for the under-strength Ming army to resist.

They urged their respective troops to attack the chariot formation wave after wave.

Amid the roar, many six-jin cannons, multiple-gun muskets and bird guns were fired until the barrels and gun barrels turned red.

The officers and soldiers of the new army camp braved the arrows flying in the air, carried wooden buckets, fetched water from the pool, brought them back to the shooting position, soaked the wool felt or cotton blankets in the wooden buckets completely, and then covered the cannon barrels with them or wrapped the gun barrels.

There was a sizzling sound and white steam rose everywhere.

While the Ming army was cooling down their artillery muskets and their firepower output was greatly reduced, the Northern Tartar cavalry rushed in from the gaps, with dozens of them even breaking through the obstacles and rushing into the chariot formation.

Wu Weizhong led the reserve troops, formed a mandarin duck formation, and divided into twenty or thirty teams to divide and besiege the cavalry that rushed in.

The Ming army's shields held down the Northern Tartar cavalry's mounts, preventing them from running away.

Spears were stabbing everywhere and bows and arrows were shooting.

The Northern Tartar cavalry that rushed in were also brave and fearless. They waved their sabers and stabbed their spears, trying desperately to break out of the Ming army's mandarin duck formation, and then tear through the chariot defense line to bring in more companions.

Both sides were fighting desperately, blood and flesh were flying everywhere, and screams were heard continuously.

There were three extremely fierce Northern Barbarian cavalrymen. One wielded a mace, one wielded a broadsword, and one drew a bow and arrow. They cooperated well and galloped across the battlefield. Several teams of mandarin duck formations could not surround them.

Seeing them charging left and right, tearing the Ming army's encirclement into pieces, a Ming army soldier rushed up from the crowd. Just as he rushed to the middle of the three horses, a quick-eyed and quick-handed Northern Tartar cavalryman hit him on the head with a mace, smashing the Ming army soldier's head to pieces.

But when the Ming army soldiers fell to the ground, there were still smiles on their faces.

The three Northern Tartar cavalrymen surrounding him felt a chill in their hearts when they suddenly saw green smoke coming out of the backpacks on the Ming soldiers' backs.

not good!

Just as they were about to run, the thunder bomb in their backpack exploded, a cloud of black smoke rose up, and the three Northern Tartar cavalrymen were either killed or wounded. The surrounding Ming army reserve troops rushed forward and killed them on the spot with swords and guns.

As the sun sets, the sunset glows like blood.

The Northern Tartar cavalry left behind hundreds of corpses and retreated once again.

After fighting for more than an hour, only 6,000 of the 10,000 cavalrymen were left. All of them were exhausted, dejected, and had no fighting spirit left.

The two commanders looked at each other with a determination to die.

This battle cannot be fought any longer. It is better to be killed by Huang Taiji in disgrace.
The two men drew their swords at the same time and committed suicide.

Xin Ai, who received the report, remained silent. She looked into the distance and saw the convoy of cars in the twilight, like a castle that would never fall.

(End of this chapter)