Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 246 One wrong step, one wrong step after another
If heavy armor is not enough, a shield can make up for it.

This is the key to Hu Maozhen's plan.

He knew very well that it was easy for Chuang Jun to form a cavalry with his ability, but it was impossible to upgrade the cavalry into an indestructible heavy cavalry.

Therefore, when he initially formulated countermeasures, he gambled that the lethality of the enemy cavalry would not be enough to cause these soldiers he carefully selected to completely collapse.

"Assault spear!"

Just when the Qing cavalry was only three or two steps away from the Ming army's defense line, a command was suddenly issued, and then countless spears slanted out from the gaps between the shield soldiers.

Shield in front, spear behind, this is the only way for infantry phalanx to resist cavalry attacks.

Even though the knights under Wang Ti Zhong had never thought that the battle would get to this point, they were experienced warriors after all, so how could they not be able to deal with it at all?

After a series of clanging sounds, some knights who failed to dodge were stabbed off their horses, but a large number of long spears were blocked by the sweeping lances.

"Stab again!"

"Oh!"

As another command was issued, the spearmen in the third row suddenly attacked, and just as the tip of the spear pierced through the head of the half-bent shieldman, the Qing cavalry finally collided violently with the shield.

This is the real terror of cavalry.

No matter how the infantry phalanx weakens the cavalry, when the cavalry weighing more than a thousand pounds knocks the infantry in front of them with huge impact force, how many people will face it calmly?
Qian Sandou and his gunners took a detour along the edge of the formation when retreating. That was why when he instinctively looked back in the direction of the sound, a scene that he would never forget came into his sight.

The shield bearer was knocked away and the knight was pierced.

With just this one touch, more than a hundred soldiers from both sides died in front of the battle line. The direct sunlight was even stained with a faint red color due to the splashing and spurting blood.

This scene was of course horrifying, and most of Qian Sandou's attention was drawn to it. But after all, he was a man who had been on the battlefield for half his life. How could he not notice something that was not conspicuous but extremely crucial?

In his field of vision, as a shieldman was knocked away, a spear tip flashing with cold light also pierced fiercely into the soft part of the knight's abdomen.

Although the knight had no chance of survival after being stabbed, he did not die immediately.

As a result, the war horses, which did not sense anything unusual, continued to gallop forward, while the two rows of spearmen at the back who had lost the protection of their shields had to withstand the impact of the war horses while facing the knights' counterattack.

Seeing this situation, the veteran soldier Qian Sandou immediately looked towards the back rows of the formation.

Being so far away, he couldn't see the details clearly, but the relatively dense formation in the rear had already shown signs of disarray. How could he not know what this meant?

I'm afraid it can't be stopped.

With this in mind, Qian Sandou looked at the prince's banner standing steadily behind the formation, then glanced at the soldiers beside him who seemed to have some thoughts, and then his running route changed a little.

If it were any other festival, Qian Sandou would have persisted just because he and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had once been in the same pot.

But in the current situation, the infantrymen in the formation seemed to be showing signs of collapse. Even if he, a musketeer, was willing to throw himself in, what good could he do?
"Whoosh!"

"what!"

"Those who run away from battle will die!"

There was another noise, and the gunner who was a little far away from the formation was taken away by an arrow from the supervision team. Although Qian Sandou was panicked, he had to follow the route that had been decided long ago and go to the back of the formation.

In fact, he also knew that if no one in the entire army retreated, then these elite infantrymen would definitely be able to stop these cavalry.

After all, cavalry relies on their powerful impact force. If their speed is slowed down at the cost of human lives, three or two people can knock them down.

But it is easier said than done.

To achieve this, not only do we need elite infantry, but these infantrymen must also be united and not have any one of them desert the battlefield.

If these cannot be achieved, no matter how well the infantry formation can hold out, it will all fail because of a deserter.

Qian Sandou kept thinking in his mind while slowly walking towards his seat.

Just as he was about to approach the center of the formation, he saw the red-robed official who came from behind kneeling upright in front of the Crown Prince's horse.

"Your Highness! Unless I die!"

No one knew what the Crown Prince said, but the red-robed official's shout could be heard from far away on the battlefield. Even Qian Sandou, who was several feet away, heard it clearly.

"Someone! Tie up Wan Yuanji for me!"

Hearing these shouts, Qian Sandou was naturally curious.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has always been kind. Not only to ordinary generals in the army, but also to soldiers like them, he often has a smile on his face.

His Highness was so angry at this moment, but he didn't know what the red-robed official had done.

Could it be that His Highness saw that the formation was unstable and wanted to take over personally?

Thinking of this, Qian Sandou couldn't help but recall the things that happened after he crossed the river with the Qing army.

From being determined to win, to encountering many problems; from high morale, to fleeing in panic.

If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had not personally participated in the battles many times, how could Duoduo, who had never been defeated since he came south, have ended up in such an embarrassing situation?

just
This situation was caused by this underage kid.

Thinking of this, Qian Sandou, who had originally wanted to run faster when his formation collapsed, immediately felt mixed emotions.

"Since I started the rebellion, I have never retreated even a single step!"

Just as Qian Sandou was full of thoughts in his mind, the voice of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suddenly came. When he looked in the direction of the voice, he saw that His Royal Highness had already raised the sword above his head.

"The Tatar cavalry's momentum has weakened! Now is the time to make achievements!"

Hearing these words, Qian Sandou instinctively turned his head to look at the front of the formation.

Sure enough, although the army formation was much more chaotic than before, the soldiers who were hit head-on by the cavalry were not directly knocked away like before.

Although this situation was within his expectations, before he could think about anything else, he heard the high-pitched voice of His Highness again.

"Ming! Victory! Kill!"

The sound of killing was like a thunderclap out of the blue, shocking the entire Ming army.

Even if I didn't believe that His Royal Highness loved to charge into battle in person, when I saw the figure in Ming Dynasty armor charging forward with a knife, I couldn't help but be moved by his unyielding spirit. MD! If I let such a person die in front of me, I would have lived in vain!
"Wansheng! Kill!"

"Wansheng! Kill!"

"Wansheng! Kill!"

But I don't know whether it is for the purpose of making great achievements or for the sake of fulfilling the relationship of having stirred the same pot with a ladle.

When Zhu Cilang's cry of killing was heard, not only did all the Ming troops within a radius of more than ten feet burst into earth-shaking cry of killing, but even the army formation that was already on the verge of collapse stabilized in an instant.

If there are a thousand people, the earth will be connected to the sky; if there are ten thousand people, there will be no limit.

When the cry of killing was uttered by more than a thousand soldiers, not only the enemy Qing cavalry panicked for a while, but even the rest of the Ming army scattered across the battlefield were stunned.

Faced with the frontal attack of so many cavalrymen, the prince's main camp not only did not collapse but was able to burst out with such a strong military force. How could the generals of various armies who had already thought of their own retreat routes turn around?

"General! We have managed to hold on! We have managed to hold on! Hurry up and get the soldiers to speed up the rescue!"

Although Zhao Yinxuan did not call Hu Shaoyu "uncle", his tight grip on his arm showed that their relationship was unusual.

However, Hu Shaoyu had always been timid and cowardly, and the development of the situation on the battlefield was far beyond his expectations.

As a result, he was unable to react for a moment.

Although Zhao Yinxuan is fat and dull, his temper is even worse than that of his cousin.

Seeing that his uncle was still hesitant in such a situation, he immediately stopped caring about seniority.

"Hu Shaoyu! I am the deputy general of our army. If you hesitate again, don't blame me for disregarding the relationship between uncle and nephew and taking away your command power according to the military law of the Ming Dynasty!"

"You!" Hu Shaoyu, a good man, was almost speechless after hearing the words. But in just half a breath, he ignored Zhao Yinxuan and said directly to the flag officer beside him: "Pass the order, run forward, and join the prince's main formation to attack the Tartar cavalry!"

He was certainly not a coward, otherwise he would have returned to Yunnan with his troops after hearing the news of Hongguang's capture. Why would he linger in Jiangxi and seek a battle with the Tartars?
But everyone has different personalities. He was indeed much inferior to his nephews and nieces in terms of strategy and tactics when facing the enemy. Under such circumstances, he couldn't help but want to retreat while the going was good.

However, Zhao Yinxuan did not realize that his words would make his uncle think like this.

After seeing the flag officer's order, he first apologized to Hu Shaoyu with a playful smile, and only after Hu Shaoyu waved his hand with a serious face did he look for Hu Yiqing on the battlefield.

He thought clearly that the Tartar cavalry was obviously heading towards the Crown Prince.

Even though the prince's main camp had withstood the Tatars' frontal attack, and their army had also accelerated its advance, their men were all infantry, and it would take at least half an incense stick of time before the real battle began.

If during this period, the Tartars ignore everything else and only target His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, then the war will inevitably encounter some twists and turns.

From this, it is easy to imagine why he wanted to find Hu Yiqing.

But at this time, Hu Yiqing had already gotten rid of the entanglement of those Tartar soldiers. How could it be easy to find Hu Yiqing riding alone in such a crowded battlefield?
Sure enough, after looking around, Zhao Yinxuan finally had to admit that if he was on the city wall, it might be possible, but in his position it was a bit wishful thinking.

His idea was not wrong. After all, the city was higher. Although he could not see the details clearly due to the distance, it was not difficult to find half of a single small black dot.

Take the Prince of Yongning for example. He had previously seen a Ming cavalry general fighting with a number of Qing soldiers. The cavalry general was very powerful. After killing several enemy soldiers, he broke free from the entanglement and went straight south.

Originally, he wanted to see what kind of waves this cavalry general could make, but almost at the same time, the shining large banner in the prince's formation suddenly pressed forward, and then the formation that had been sunken in many places was actually repaired.

Seeing this situation, the Prince of Yongning, who had fought in several battles, even forgot to close his big mouth. How could he have the time to look at the cavalry general?
How?

How can that be possible?

The situation has become like that, how can it be reversed just by pushing the big flag forward?
Could it be that the prince is going into battle himself?
impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Not to mention whether those rumors are true or false, even if he really did it himself, how much effect would it have?
You know, after the great banner was pushed forward, the prince's main force took only a moment to fill those dents. If he did not have extremely high prestige in the army, how could he have achieved such an effect?
Correct!
It must be the general who led the troops personally into battle, and the prince's banner only added a few bricks and tiles.

After thinking for several times, Prince Yongning finally found a reasonable explanation. But when he was about to take a closer look at the situation, he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

"My Lord! Let's fight! Let's fight!"

nonsense!

I've been watching for quite a while, why do I need you to report to me?
As this thought was about to come to his mind, Prince Yongning seemed to feel that something was wrong. When he turned his head to look, he discovered that the person who came seemed to be a personal soldier of the commander of the northern city.

"The Tartars are attacking the city!"

"No, the Tartars are only feinting outside the city, but a cavalry unit has just arrived from nowhere and is now charging into the Tartar camp."

Cavalry?

Charge into the Tartar main camp?

As soon as he heard these words, Prince Yongning felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He slowly turned his head to look at the battle group in the south and could not utter another word.

At this point, even if he was a fool, he would be able to connect all the points together.

But where does he get his confidence and courage?

Is he really not afraid that his own camp will not be able to withstand the attack of the Tartars?

At this time, the Prince of Yongning's mind was already in a mess due to all kinds of confusion, but there was one person on the battlefield who had thousands of times more confusion in his heart than him, and there was even some despair mixed in his confusion.

Wang Tizhong had already realized that he had fallen into a trap set by the Ming army.

He originally thought that the middle and rear teams would join forces, and then the front team would wait for an opportunity to move. In this way, even if the Ming army could resist for a while, it would be difficult to turn the tide under the pincer attack.

But who would have thought that after he engaged the Ming army, the front team had not arrived for a long time. When he found time to turn around and look back, he found that the entire front team had been entangled with those hundreds of heavy armored soldiers.

At that time, he was probably just annoyed at the rigidity of the officers in the previous team, but he never thought that there would be any accidents in this battle.

After all, the main formation of the Ming army had already been shaken at that time, and according to common sense, it would not be able to hold out for long. As long as he made another effort, he would be able to defeat the Ming army in front of him no matter what.

In this situation, he was naturally full of confidence.

But the battlefield is a game between the commanders of both sides.

Although he had assessed the Ming army's combat power at its peak, he never expected that the troops in front of him were not the "Ming army" he had expected at all.

One step wrong, step by step wrong.

After misjudging the enemy's strength, he naturally misjudged the opponent's resilience, and it was reasonable that the battle situation ended up like this.

But he was, after all, an experienced general with many years of experience in battle. How could he just sit there and wait to die so easily?
"I'm afraid I can only give it a try!"

(End of this chapter)