The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 200 Reinforcements
The four-pound cannon hidden in front of the formation let out a low roar, and the two red flag cavalrymen who rushed to the breastwork three hundred steps away were caught off guard and fell down together.

Yang Guli didn't expect that there was a field artillery hidden behind the slope.

This is not surprising, as this army had just been bombarded under the city of Hetuala. Their shield carts were smashed to pieces, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Even in this situation, they did not use artillery to retaliate against the city wall.

Just when the Later Jin soldiers thought that their opponents could only huddle behind the breastwork and passively take the beating, Zhu Dong suddenly attacked, making Yang Guli very uncomfortable.

Yang Guli rushed to the front of the battle formation, looked at the fallen horses and cavalrymen in front of him, and said to the two Baoyi beside him in anger:
"Why does the Nikans on the opposite side have artillery? Look carefully, where are the shells coming from?"

"Master, the attack came from behind the slope."

The four-pound cannon has an effective range of two miles and can cause fatal damage to armored soldiers three hundred steps away, let alone unarmored light cavalry.

The warhorse that was hit fell to the ground immediately, and the cavalry behind it had no time to pull the reins, and hurriedly turned around and ran to both sides of the position.

The riverbanks on both sides were soft mud swamps. More than ten cavalry soldiers panicked and plunged into the mud. The horses struggled and neighed, and sank into the mire together with the cavalry.

The riders behind skillfully maneuvered their horses over the bodies of their companions and continued to charge forward. They struck the horses' bellies, raised their bows, and attacked the breastwork more than 200 steps away.

Thousands of light arrows poured down like a rainstorm in front and behind the breastwork, and the short breastwork was immediately shot into a hedgehog. Almost all the Kaiyuan soldiers standing in the front row were hit by arrows, and some of them even had three or four arrow feathers stuck in their bodies.

Fortunately, they were all wearing armor, and the damage caused by the falling arrows was very limited. Only a dozen unlucky spearmen were shot directly in the eyes and fell to the ground screaming and rolling.

In front of the breastwork, the first few war horses plunged into the horse trap in front of the trench. The Later Jin riders following behind huddled together. They were about to bypass the horse trap and deer horns and accelerate their horses to charge when the four-pound cannon hidden behind the earth slope sounded again. Four iron balls weighing more than three pounds rolled and smashed into the crowded cavalry, plowing out shocking blood grooves.

More cavalrymen behind them crossed the messy corpses on the ground and soon arrived fifty steps in front of the breastwork. Some riders whose horses were injured jumped off their horses, replaced their horse bows with heavy bows, used their horses as shields, and fired at the Kaiyuan army archers behind the breastwork.

More and more Later Jin soldiers joined in and rushed to the front of the trench. After stepping on a few mines and setting off a few bombs, they dismounted one after another. Under the cover of heavy archers, they climbed over the trench with long shields and rushed towards the crescent-shaped position like a tide.

~~~~~~~~
Liu Zhaosun rode his horse to the east bank of the Suzi River, and four guards held up long banners to protect him on both sides.

The flames burning at the bridge head had been put out by the auxiliary soldiers. The auxiliary soldiers removed the burning bridge piers, replaced them with wooden boards unloaded from the carriage, and then secured the bridge piers with ropes.

A steady stream of cavalry arrived at the east bank, and the two thousand headquarters with six or seven thousand soldiers were left behind, still struggling to move forward on the mirror-smooth ice surface.

"The two red flags are out in full force. The Tartars are indeed targeting our artillery."

Liu Zhaosun raised the telescope and saw that thousands of Jiannu cavalry were crossing the Suzi River Valley and rushing towards the crescent-shaped position in front.

Small groups of cavalrymen gradually landed on the east bank. Deputy battalion commander Wang Zengbin loudly rebuked the captains of each battalion, ordering the cavalrymen to line up according to their original organization and attack the enemy together after they were all together.

Liu Zhaosun shook his head and sighed, and could not help but interrupt the deputy battalion commander and shouted:
"Time waits for no man. Land the cavalry, gather a squadron of thirty, and immediately attack the two red flags. Continue to assault their flanks until they collapse or all of you are dead! Act now!"

Wang Zengbin wanted to say something, but Kang Yingqian glared at him fiercely, and the young and energetic cavalry officer had to retreat in disappointment.

The cavalry that landed disrupted their organization and only used weapons as the standard for division, with long spears matched with long spears, and halberds matched with halberds, with thirty people in a row. Immediately, five or six rows of cavalry advanced towards the battlefield on the east bank three miles away.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the cavalry's backs as they went away, and he let out a long breath. He exchanged glances with Kang Yingqian and said sternly:
"During training, they were all elite soldiers and brave generals, but on the battlefield, they became like Zhao Kuo, either talking big or underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly. General Kang, I haven't been training the soldiers for three months, and I've let so much sand in. When we return this time, you must cooperate with me in cleaning it up!"

Kang Yingqian nodded and sighed:
"General Liu is right. This trend was already evident after the Battle of Hunhe. Fortunately, it was only the officers who were of varying quality, and the soldiers were not greatly affected..."

The dense black spots on the surface of the Suzi River were still moving towards the east bank, and the cracks in the ice were less than a mile away from them.

"One incompetent general can lead to the death of the entire army."

"Those who should be killed should be killed, and those who should be dismissed should be dismissed. From now on, I will be responsible for the training and selection of generals, with Qi Jin's assistance. No one else is allowed to get involved!" Seeing the fierce look on Liu Zhaosun's face, Kang Yingqian didn't know what to say. After all, he was also largely responsible for this disastrous defeat. He was silent for a moment and changed the subject.

"General Liu, I estimate that the troops should be able to cross the river safely. We have nearly 10,000 men, several times stronger than when we were at the Hun River. How should we fight this time?"

"how to spell?"

As Liu Zhaosun spoke, he raised the telescope and looked towards the moat in front of the west city.

Under a large golden banner sat a high-ranking Tartar official, surrounded by a group of generals and Han officials.

"If it's not Huang Taiji, then who is it?"

Liu Zhaosun handed the telescope to Du Du, the guard in front. Du Du took the telescope, looked over there, and said in surprise:
"Abatai actually became the leader of the Bordered Red Banner? He was born out of wedlock... What was Huang Taiji thinking?"

"Abatai? What's his relationship with Li Yongfang?"

Liu Zhaosun was not familiar with this prince who had a very low presence. He only remembered that he had an affair with the Fushun prince consort.

"Sir, Abatai is Li Yongfang's father-in-law."

Liu Zhaosun nodded slightly, turned back to Kang Yingqian and said:
"General Kang, you just asked me how to fight? I'll tell you right now. It's better to break one finger than to injure ten. No, two fingers."

"Last time, I let the two red flags escape in Hunhe River. I regretted it for a whole year. This time, I will start with the two red flags and destroy them!"

After Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he left Kang Yingqian who was still in a daze, and took Du Du and other guards and rode his horse towards the battlefield on the east bank.

The thin Du Du rode on his horse and loudly introduced the details of Li Yongfang's father-in-law to Ping Liaohou.

"Sir, he is a concubine's son. Among the Beile, his status is not even as high as that of Dorgon, Dodo and other juniors!"

Liu Zhaosun faced the biting cold wind and shouted to Du Du:

"You mean, Abatai is not even as good as a nine-year-old kid?"

"Exactly! Last year after the Battle of Sarhu, the Later Jin Khan held a celebration banquet, and Abatai sat behind Dorgon."

After hearing this, Liu Zhaosun stopped talking. No wonder this man wanted to show off so much that he actually used cavalry to attack the artillery position.

The central army guards followed Ping Liaohou and galloped forward for two miles, stopping only three or four hundred steps away from the two red flag formations.

The cavalry that came to reinforce had begun to attack the Jiannu cavalry. They formed a team of thirty cavalrymen, like one iron plow after another, plowing the weak flanks of the two red flags continuously.

The cavalry battalion suffered heavy casualties in the initial attack, and almost all the charging cavalry were killed. The opposing Jiannu army only regarded these cavalry as moths to a flame and did not care about them. They still used their main force to attack the half-moon position in front of them.

As more and more cavalry landed, subsequent cavalry continued to join the attack. In fact, this wall-style charge was a compulsory course for the Kaiyuan cavalry. After the main force of the cavalry battalion had all landed, the charge of 2,000 cavalrymen with 30 horses in each row became extremely frequent, and finally, every few breaths, it swept across the flanks of the two red flags like a wave.

By the time Yangguli realized that the situation was not good and began to withdraw attacking forces from the front to strengthen the flanks, it was too late. The continuous attacks finally tore a huge hole in the flank.

The charging cavalry finally split all the cavalry of the two red flags into two sections. A group of Jiannu soldiers with about a thousand people near the west side were attacked from the east and west by the Kaiyuan cavalry and the Banyue positional combat soldiers, and soon fell into the fate of destruction.

(End of this chapter)