Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 209: The Horror Legend on the Prairie!
Before the battle, although Zhang Fu looked very calm, he was actually still very worried.

Zhang Fu had fought with the Northern Yuan cavalry many times before, and he was very clear about how powerful the Northern Yuan cavalry was.

Apart from the specially trained cavalry of the Ming Dynasty, the general army often needed several times the number of troops as the enemy to deal with them.

When he went out to fight, he thought that with only 3,000 soldiers and horses under his command, the Northern Yuan Dynasty would at most send out 10,000 cavalrymen to deal with him, which was the maximum they could do.

Under normal circumstances, that would be a few thousand cavalrymen.

This was the situation they encountered every time they went on an expedition.

Of course, the number of troops sent out at that time was far greater than it is today, and they were usually divided into many routes to coordinate the attack.

If the Northern Yuan Dynasty sent a few thousand or no more than ten thousand cavalry to attack the new army each time, Zhang Fu would be confident that he could defeat and eat them all one by one.

However, when Zhang Fu went out to fight for the first time, he encountered Northern Yuan cavalry whose number far exceeded his expectations. It would be a lie for him to say that he was not panicking.

However, as the commander-in-chief, he must remain calm and give confidence to his soldiers.

With Zhang Fu's many years of experience in fighting on the battlefield, he was able to estimate the number of enemy troops to a near 90% accuracy by just standing on the carriage and observing carefully.

The army that is now besieging the Ming army should be about 60,000 strong.

This number made Zhang Fu’s eyelids twitch.

Such a huge scale is enough to prove that the other side has spent a lot of effort to mobilize troops and use all the power of the grassland to swallow the Ming army in one bite.

The only thing to be thankful for was that, perhaps because they underestimated the enemy, the other side did not actually take the Ming army seriously and only cared about conserving their strength, allowing the Ming army to form a formation instead of waiting for the Ming army to march before attacking.

Relying on horse-drawn carriages, they could block the Northern Yuan cavalry, and then use flintlock rifles to cause heavy casualties to the enemy.

The cannons bombarded the enemy's center and rear.

This was Zhang Fu’s idea before the battle.

Then, once the war started, it deviated from the trajectory he had originally predicted.

The soldiers of the New Army were beside the carriages, using them to block the arrows of the Northern Yuan cavalry while shooting, causing heavy casualties to the charging Northern Yuan cavalry. Then, the Northern Yuan cavalry quickly collapsed.

It turned out that the Northern Yuan cavalry, which was extremely brutal and fearless, had more than seven or eight out of ten soldiers killed in the charging front. The rear was in chaos due to artillery bombardment, and the casualties were unknown. After that, they did not continue their desperate charge as Zhang Fu had expected, but retreated like a tide.

They were actually scared of being beaten.

Of course Zhang Fu would seize such an opportunity.

In addition to ordering cannons to continue bombarding the Northern Yuan cavalry in the distance to block their escape route, six hundred Ming cavalrymen came out in full force.

During normal combat, six hundred soldiers would gather together.

However, seeing that the Northern Yuan army was in chaos and only cared about escaping, Zhang Fu boldly dispersed the soldiers.

This way we can chase down more defeated soldiers.

But if the Northern Yuan cavalry was not afraid and launched a surprise attack, the Ming army would immediately be in danger.

However, this is obviously impossible.

From the moment the Northern Yuan cavalry began to turn around and retreat, they no longer had the courage to turn around and fight again.

For an army, the collapse of its psychological defenses is the most fatal.

This means that the army completely loses the will and ability to fight the enemy.

The army was defeated like a mountain!
No matter how many enemies are chasing them, they will not turn back to fight, but will just run away desperately.

The wind roared and the cranes roared, and the grass and trees were all in war.

Not to mention the roar of cannons and the constant sound of gunfire, which further exacerbated the spread of panic.

The 600 Ming soldiers who attacked did not even look at the Northern Yuan soldiers who were seriously injured and lying on the ground.

Stopping to kill them at this point would only be a waste of time.

After all, they couldn't run away, so it was better to leave their heads to the infantry who would clean up the battlefield behind.

The cavalry's target was the Northern Yuan cavalry in front who still had the strength to escape.

If there is a tiger chasing you, will you run extra fast?

In fact, in the vast majority of cases, the answer is no.

Because people will be frightened to the point of their legs becoming weak, and they won't even dare to run. Even if they run, they won't be able to run, and they will run slower than usual, not faster.

This was the situation of the Northern Yuan cavalry. When they were bombarded by cannons while fleeing, they became more and more afraid and terrified. They used to be dismissive of the legends and thought they were all lies, but now they believed them from the bottom of their hearts and were really scared!

boom!
boom!
boom!
Gunfire continued.

The six hundred Ming troops were completely dispersed. There were countless places on the battlefield where a Ming soldier appeared, chasing dozens or even hundreds of Northern Yuan cavalry.

As long as the fleeing Northern Yuan cavalry turned around, picked up their bows and arrows and fought with their curved horses, they could kill the Ming soldiers chasing them from behind, but the frightened Northern Yuan cavalry did not dare to do so at all.

They only dared to gallop on horseback to escape while secretly looking back. When they saw the dark devil masks on the faces of the Ming soldiers behind them, they suddenly felt cold all over.

Occasionally, some Northern Yuan cavalry would bravely turn their horses' heads and try to fight back.

The distance between the two sides quickly narrowed.

boom!
There was a gunshot.

The man fell in a pool of blood.

Ten steps away, the gun is fast.

Within ten steps, the gun was fast and accurate.

The other Yuan soldiers who glanced back were even more frightened and no longer dared to have any illusions.

The power of the Ming army's firearms was completely beyond their expectations.

They didn't know that the other party was about to reload his gun and would not be able to fire bullets continuously, so they could take the opportunity to counterattack.

All they knew was that the Ming army before them was too terrifying - run away!
The Ming army soldiers calmly loaded their ammunition and continued their pursuit.

boom!
boom!
boom!
Amid the constant rumbling of artillery fire, the battlefield was in chaos.

Ugezihashaha fled under the protection of his personal guards.

As the head coach, he still has the most people gathered around him.

But because of this, they also received special attention from the Ming army's rapid-fire artillery.

boom! boom! boom……

There were constant gunfire around him, either in front or behind, or on the left or right...

People kept falling.

"God of Heaven, why does the Ming army have such a powerful artifact?"

At this moment, even Ukezihashaha himself was terrified.

"Could it be that the Ming Emperor's grandson is really a god?"

As he whipped his horse to flee, the fear in his heart could no longer be stopped from spreading.

In this battle, the Ming army defeated 60,000 Northern Yuan cavalry at the cost of more than ten casualties.

The Northern Yuan cavalry suffered over 10,000 casualties.

But the impact of this battle was far more than that. The Northern Yuan cavalry who fled back all told of the terror and power of the Ming New Army.

On the one hand, they were genuinely terrified.

On the other hand, since they had all fled and been defeated, they had to find a legitimate reason for themselves.

Convince yourself psychologically: I am not a coward, nor am I afraid of death. It’s just that the Ming army is too powerful, like gods, and no human power can resist them, so I ran away!

Also to give an explanation to the people around me.

Otherwise, if 60,000 elite cavalry were defeated by 3,000 Ming troops and fled back to their tribe in panic, it would become a laughing stock for the rest of their lives.

In order to save their own face, they also needed to exaggerate the Ming army to be stronger, more terrifying and more powerful.

I boasted so much that everyone believed that I was not a coward and afraid of death, but that the new Ming army was truly invincible and could not be defeated.

As a result, rumors spread across the grassland that the new Ming army was the devil born and soldiers from heaven.

According to those rumors, the soldiers of the new army all wore black devil masks and held terrifying firearms. When they shot, they made sounds like thunder.

No matter who it is, no one can withstand a single shot.

One new Ming army soldier can deal with hundreds of elite soldiers, or even more.

As for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty who created the new army, he is a god-like existence and a figure as terrifying as Changshengtian.

The rumor spread more and more widely and became more and more exaggerated.

It played an extremely huge role in the subsequent grassland situation.

It can be said that this kind of psychological panic far exceeds the annihilation of 60,000 cavalry.

Before this, even though the Central Plains army had defeated the Northern Yuan army many times, the Northern Yuan cavalry had never been afraid.

They always believed that they could still defeat the Han army.

The current defeat is only a temporary victory or defeat and there is nothing to be afraid of.

No matter how many people died in the battle, they would never surrender or give in.

One day, the grassland tribes will make a comeback and conquer the Central Plains again.

Let all the people in the Central Plains kneel down under the iron hooves of the grassland cavalry.

But now.

Gone.

All gone.

This battle destroyed the grassland tribes' pride for countless years.

It destroyed their spirit.

From then on, the grassland tribal cavalry were afraid of the Central Plains soldiers like a tiger.

Especially when they heard that the new Ming army wearing devil masks were coming, they were so scared that they trembled with fear and immediately fled with their heads in their hands, not daring to fight at all.

The pursuit lasted from morning until sunset.

At this time, only countless corpses were left on the battlefield. The grass stained red by blood fluttered in the wind, shining brightly against the setting sun's rays, making the scene even more desolate.

The ownerless horse stood in the setting sun, at a loss.

When the cannon fire ended and the horns sounded, the soldiers of the new army gave earth-shaking cheers.

……

Just as Zhang Fu's army defeated 60,000 Northern Yuan cavalry, the 3,000 new troops led by Zhu Neng also arrived deep in the grassland.

Unlike Zhang Fu, Zhu Neng's army did not encounter a large-scale encirclement and suppression as soon as they left the pass.

After all, it was impossible for Lan Yu and his generals to reveal any information to the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Although the Northern Yuan Dynasty had long known that a Ming army would attack from this side, the grassland was too large and it would be impossible to discover it quickly without specific intelligence.

However, Zhu Neng also encountered several attacks that were not too serious.

After some herdsmen discovered the Ming army, they reported it to their tribal leaders.

Then some tribes led their troops to fight the Ming army.

I have to say that the grassland tribes are indeed very brave.

Faced with the 3,000-strong Ming army in front of them, their several hundred cavalry dared to rush forward and launch a fierce attack.

This is also what they have long believed in as combat experience.

With a few hundred elite cavalrymen, it would be extremely easy to use the "kite flying" tactic to attack thousands of Ming troops.

Then, they didn't know that on the opposite side was the Ming Dynasty's new army equipped with a large number of rapid-fire cannons and flintlock rifles.

It would be tantamount to suicide for several hundred cavalrymen to charge at them.

They were quickly defeated and destroyed.

However, since information between tribes was not smooth, the Northern Yuan tribal cavalry did not immediately learn their lesson after suffering a loss. Instead, new tribal cavalry continued to do such stupid things.

This kind of attack was just a irritation to the new Ming army.

Zhu Neng was also happy to use this opportunity to train the soldiers.

The battle was very enjoyable.

If it were in the past, leading the same number of Ming troops and facing this kind of attack, the Ming army would have to be on high alert and fight to the death.

After several battles, they would suffer heavy losses and would have to retreat to rest.

After all, in this kind of face-to-face fierce battle, even if victory is achieved, one thousand enemies are often killed but eight hundred of one's own men are lost.

But with rapid-fire cannons and flintlock rifles, the logic of war changed.

The Ming army's casualties were so small that they were almost negligible.

Apart from occasional accidents, the Ming army suffered no casualties.

The three thousand Ming troops moved freely on the vast grassland, defeating one Northern Yuan cavalry after another.

Not long after, the news that Zhang Fu had defeated 60,000 cavalrymen in a great battle finally spread, and the defeated remnants of the army fled back to their various tribes.

The terrifying legend of the Ming Dynasty's new army spread across the grassland.

The tribe that had previously attacked Zhu Neng also spread the news.

At this point, the mentality of the grassland tribes changed drastically. When they discovered Zhu Neng's new Ming army, they no longer went to the tribes to gather troops for attack, but immediately fled for their lives.

No one attacked the Ming army led by Zhu Neng again.

Zhu Neng was puzzled at first, until he caught the escaped tribal herdsmen and then he learned the relevant information from them.

On the grassland, the new Ming army has become the devil's army, and the punishment brought down by the Eternal Heaven is beyond human power to resist.

After more than ten days without encountering the enemy, the three thousand soldiers led by Zhu Neng finally arrived not far from Yuan Ting Khan's tent.

……

(End of this chapter)