Chapter 703: Who is more cowardly?

The war in Huamachi fell into a stalemate.

This is something that neither the Ming frontier army nor the Tatars expected. Obviously, before this battle started, everyone felt that this battle would have a quick result, or that the Ming side would win against the Tatars. People fled, or the Ming border troops retreated into the pass and watched the Tatars wreak havoc.

But unexpectedly, Liu Jin sent out four of his troops to fight the Tatars back and forth.

A few days later, the battle report clearly reached Wang Qiong, and Wang Qiong immediately held a military meeting. At this time, the imperial order to dispatch him as the commander-in-chief of the battle had not yet reached Yansui. In other words, Wang Qiong was not yet responsible for the outcome of the war in Huamachi at this time.

At the military meeting.

Many generals and officials in Yansui looked at the giant map hanging behind Wang Qiong, while the scribe on the side was conveying the report of Liu Jin's defeat.

That’s right.

Liu Jin lost the first battle with the Tatars, and lost miserably.

"...Huamachi used a thousand cavalry as a surprise attack. They planned to cut off the Tatar cavalry. They encountered and clashed with the main force of the Tatar Chinese army on the road. Both sides fired at each other with artillery. Our side was defeated. We lost more than 400 soldiers and horses, so we had to withdraw from the battlefield and retreat to Huamachi. The Tatars pursued me one after another, killing me and taking dozens of our border soldiers captive..."

The generals present heard this, It's a bit scary.

They also didn’t understand. Huamachi clearly had more than 10,000 troops stationed there, so why did they send a team of 1,000 people to raid, but they suffered such huge losses and lost nearly half of them?

The loss of four to five hundred soldiers and horses might not be worth mentioning in Chenghua or the early years of Hongzhi, but it was already the fifteenth year of Hongzhi. The Ming soldiers had been fighting in the northwest for three years. Wu Wu Sheng, how can he still pull off such a moth?

This is simply unreasonable.

General Cao Wei said: "If we encounter a defeat, the troops in Huamachi will have no choice but to retreat. If the Tatars or the guild leader advance straight in, they may encounter Tatar surprise attacks on all three sides. We should send out elite troops." Fight."

This is to remind Wang Qiong that if Huamachi is defeated, it is foreseeable that the Ming army in Huamachi will hide in the fortress and not come out.

Most of the Tatars will not attack those military fortresses. Their goal is to rob. They must rush in from Huamachi, and then rob on all three sides, and finally in the Ming Dynasty soldiers He fled away from the battle.

This was very common before.

But after experiencing the reform of the border army in recent years, this situation is no longer tolerated.

Huamachi is not under the control of the three governors, but the area outside Huamachi is Wang Qiong's jurisdiction. You, Wang Qiong, have no reason to stand idly by.

Shen Ying said: "That said, the information we have received so far says that this battle was dispatched by the guarding officer Liu Eunuch, and the troops were also sent out from Huamachi by his military order. Pass, the troops are divided into four groups, each with only a thousand troops. "

At this time, the generals and officials present looked at each other.

Originally, I thought it was just a sneak attack in the ordinary sense, but it was discovered by the Tatars, which led to the defeat.

Is this emotional battle deliberately designed by your Huamachi defenders?

Very fancy.

The troops were actually divided into four groups, with a thousand people on each side? What kind of high-end tactic is this? What if people can’t understand it?

Cao Wei said: "Based on what we know now, the Tatars have gathered at least 20,000 troops in Huamachi. Even if they send out 4,000 troops, it will be difficult to fight them. The troops are divided into four groups. They are so scattered, but I don’t know what the purpose is? Is it to cut off the grain road, or..."

Not only Cao Wei, a general who has served in the northwest for many years, can’t understand it, nor can anyone present. People can understand Liu Jin’s intentions.

It feels very high-end.

What about breaking it into parts, and what about attacking with superior troops and horses...it's all nonsense.

Under the absolute suppression of the number of soldiers and horses, it is simply impossible for you to achieve the effect of Cui Yuan's assault with four thousand scattered troops.

Wang Qiong said: "The Tatars are well prepared, and this battle is indeed a bit reckless."

Shenying said: "At the moment, it seems that the chaos in Huamachi is inevitable. Since there are no troops dispatched to the Xuanda front line, the war in the Ningxia defense area must be dispatched from Yansui."

This is telling Wang Qiong again.

The war in Huamachi has been ruined by Liu Jin. Liu Jin suffered a defeat and was subsequently impeached. I am afraid that he has lost the qualifications to lead soldiers. In other words, Liu Jin's military career has basically been over. It's over now. Wang Qiong must pay attention to the defense of Huamachi, and even take full responsibility for it.

Wang Qiong said: "Counting the days, the news of the Tatar invasion has reached the capital a few days ago, and His Majesty should also issue military orders. But until now... there is no news."

Shenying asked: "Your Majesty, are you waiting for His Majesty to make arrangements for the military affairs of Huamachi?"

Wang Qiong sighed: "Even if there is an imperial order and the Ministry of War has made arrangements, it is unexpected. Huamachi will be in such a situation, it is not impossible to send troops scattered, but it is too risky. The Tatars dare to come this time, obviously because they have attached great importance to the casting of artillery. This also reminds us that the Tatars will fight in this battle. Tartars know how to use firearms."

"Yes."

The generals and officials present were also worried.

The first line of troops sent by Liu Jin suffered a defeat, even a bit of a disastrous defeat, but it let the Ming Dynasty know that the Tatars had different combat ideas from before.

In the past, we relied on cavalry assaults and iron cavalry to fight the Ming Dynasty's army. We relied on the hard power of cold weapons.

But now the Tatars have also begun to pay attention to hot weapons such as artillery, and there are actually artillery bombardments on the battlefield.

Wang Qiong said: "Has Liu Jin directly reported the results of the battle?"

"Not yethave. "The scribe on the side said, "The current results of the battle are all due to the failure of the night, but there is no difference in the results. The Huamachi defenders have begun to retreat, and the Tatars have fully entered the pass and are within the pass. Many disturbances and robberies were caused. "

Wang Qiong sighed and said: "Now we can no longer wait for the imperial court to dispatch. It is indeed time to send troops and horses to respond. From the east of Yansui, Guyuan and other places, gather troops and horses at Huamachi, and be sure to prevent the Tatars from leaving the Ningxia rearguard area. The local soldiers and horses of Yansui are also at their disposal at any time. "

"Yes. ”

……

……

Just when Yansui learned that Liu Jin suffered his first defeat, in fact, the four groups sent by Liu Jin had already followed him. The Tatars fought head-on for four or five times.

Every time the two sides seemed to be evenly matched, but it was the Ming Dynasty that suffered the loss, and in the first battle, as Yansui learned, the Ming Dynasty suffered a loss. There were nearly 400 soldiers and horses. The first group of soldiers and horses were obviously the most sophisticated in weapons and equipment, but they had to retreat to the second line.

Liu Jin, with the third group of soldiers and horses, was supposed to go up to support the first group of soldiers. However, they were told that Xu Shen had been defeated and retreated.

Fortunately, the Tatars were also afraid of the Ming Dynasty's artillery and did not pursue a long distance. When Liu Jin's third group of troops joined forces with Xu Shen, this The second group of troops led by Hui Zheng Sui are still dealing with the main force of the Tatars.

"My father-in-law, you are incompetent! ”

Xu Shen originally wanted to make great achievements and get himself a title or something.

The dream was very lofty, but the actual situation was very poor. When he saw Liu Jin with a disgraced face, he knelt before Liu Jin When he apologized in front of him, Liu Jin simply couldn't recognize that the person in front of him was the majestic General Xu who had pledged to send troops three days ago.

Liu Jin walked over, helped the person up, and asked nervously: "Listen. You said you lost more than 300 brothers? ”

“It’s early four hundred. "Xu Shen said, "There are quite a few injured. I estimate that half of them can no longer fight. "

When Liu Jin heard this, his heart suddenly went cold and he asked: "How much did the Tatars lose? "

Xu Shen shook his head helplessly and said: "We also fired artillery, but we were on a lower ground and were suppressed by them. We don't know how many people on the other side died after the attack. In the end, we withdrew, and the Tatars still pursued us... Judging from the situation, it had little impact on them. "

When Liu Jin heard this, he almost slammed the table and said angrily: "In other words, you didn't even bring back a head? "

Xu Shen said: "It's not like there are none. We brought back four heads and captured one person. ”

“Very good, very good. "Liu Jin seemed to be grasping at straws.

If the Tatar heads are brought back, then the article will have to be written. How to report the results of this battle is a technical job.

Xu Shen said: "The soldiers no longer want to fight, father-in-law, why don't we retreat to the pass first? We are now thirty miles away from Tucheng, and the Tatars are only thirty or forty miles away from us. inside. "

"Why are you panicking? "Liu JinHe said, "There are soldiers and horses blocking the front, reinforcements behind, and my father-in-law's elite soldiers guarding here. Don't you have the guts? How brave were you when hundreds of soldiers and horses rushed to kill tens of thousands of Tatar elites? Go?"

Xu Shen said with a sad face: "The Tatars only relied on bows and crossbows before, but this time they relied on artillery."

Liu Jin sighed: "Their artillery, isn't it? The batch that robbed us before? They shouldn’t have too many fire bombs, don’t worry, don’t worry.”

Liu Jin started to worry in his heart.

If the results of this battle are reported improperly, not to mention his official position as a guard eunuch, even his own life may be in danger.

......

......

Less than half an hour after Liu Jin and Xu Shen met, the results of the frontline battlefield flew over like snowflakes.

"My father-in-law, something bad happened. After the battle between General Zheng and the Tatars, they collapsed at the first touch..."

"What."

Liu Jin heard "the Tatars collapsed at the first touch" This kind of word makes my heart suddenly rise to my throat.

The first group of troops lost four hundred soldiers. In his opinion, it was a failure that was difficult to hide, and now it was very likely that he would be completely doomed.

"General Zheng has already led his troops to come here. The distance is only a dozen miles."

Liu Jin said: "Quick, quick! Reorganize the troops and horses, and fight with the Tatars." A battle!"

Liu Jin was completely panicked now.

He really has no actual combat command experience. He used to pretend to be in front of a group of people, which was indeed quite bluffing, but now it involves fighting with real swords and guns on the battlefield, and his true colors have been exposed.

Xu Shenben was still reorganizing his troops and counting the losses. He hurriedly came to see Liu Jin after hearing the news.

But Liu Jin had already equipped several of his followers with fire blunderbuss, preparing to fight with the Tatars.

Xu Shen said: "Father, aren't we withdrawing our troops now?"

Liu Jin said coldly: "Our family's plan is right. You want our family to deny it?" My own tactics?"

Xu Shen was also confused.

He wanted to say, father-in-law, what are you insisting on?

Your so-called four-pronged attack plan has been proven to be nonsense. The Tatars don’t care whether you are brave or not. They are well prepared, and their troops and morale are better than ours. Do we have to jump out of the comfort zone of Tucheng to seek abuse?

It’s okay if you seek abuse, but the lives of the soldiers are real. The lives of so many soldiers were lost just to verify your so-called clever tactics?

Liu Jin said: "Explore again, explore again!"

Xu Shen quickly said: "Then father-in-law, should you send someone to Tucheng quickly and send troops and horses?"

Liu Jin was also a little flustered at this moment, and his eyes seemed to be a little lost, as if he had lost his soul.

"Report..."

At this moment, the messenger shouted loudly to Liu Jin'sMy eyes are clear again.

Liu Jin said: "How?"

The ordering soldiers rushed in and said: "The Tatars retreated five miles. General Zheng's troops are less than five miles away from us. "

Liu Jin said: "Arrange your defenses!"

Xu Shen asked: "Are you sure you don't want to withdraw?"

"I won't withdraw until I die!" Get out!" Liu Jin was gritting his teeth now.

He seems to have understood now that leading his troops to withdraw to Tucheng means admitting his failure, which will also mean that no matter what the final result is, his life cannot be saved, and someone must be there. He was responsible for the failure of this four-pronged attack, and that person could only be him.

......

......

Zheng Sui's troops and horses will also join forces with Liu Jin.

Of the four groups of soldiers and horses, three groups of soldiers and horses have now gathered in one place, and only about 2,500 of the three thousand soldiers and horses are left at this time.

After Liu Jin saw Zheng Sui, he didn’t even dare to ask how many troops and horses Zheng Sui had lost... Couldn’t it be that... there are not even two thousand troops and horses now, right?

"Zheng Qianhu..."

Liu Jin greeted him at the gate of the camp.

When Zheng Sui saw Liu Jin, he turned over from his horse and kowtowed to Liu Jin as if he was pissed.

When Liu Jin saw this scene, his heart dropped.

What does this look like mean? Everyone came to ask for forgiveness! More cowardly than you would be!

"General Zheng." Xu Shen walked towards the setting sun, went up to support Zheng Sui and said, "What's the result? How far are the Tatars from here? Are they going to fight soon?"

Liu Jin asked excitedly. : "Are you killing a hundred enemies?"

Zheng Sui lowered his head, but still nodded.

Xu Shen asked: "How much did you lose there?"

"About... two hundred people...are there." Zheng Sui said, "The Tatars are coming fiercely. They also had artillery this time, but their artillery seemed different from ours. We also lost a batch of rations... When the soldiers retreated, they even abandoned food and stoves. "< /p>

When Xu Shen heard this, he was even more cowardly than us.

Don’t want any of the people eating?

He said: "Eunuch, withdraw."

Liu Jin scolded: "What the hell, even if you want to withdraw, you must first get back the 100 heads of the Tatars." . Otherwise, you will just wait to be punished when you go back! Do you think your life is too long? "The transcoding has been serious recently, which makes us more motivated and updates faster. Please use your little hands to exit the reading mode." Thank you