I

Badali led his troops to surrender to the Datong Army, and the other leaders of the Horqin tribe were the most frightened.

The most powerful person in the Horqin tribe is undoubtedly Manzhu Xili, the brother of Hai Lanzhu and Dayu'er. This man's father used to hang out with Badali's father, and they made an appointment to fight Nurhaci together. As a result, they lost the battle and took the lead to join the Houjin Tatars.

Next is Budaqi, who is Badali's uncle. Huang Taiji set up a flag in Horqin, and Budaqi took advantage of the situation to become independent and no longer obeyed Badali's orders.

There is also Hong Guoer, Hauge’s father-in-law.

These Horqin leaders were all the beneficiaries of their surrender to the Manchus. They were afraid that Badali would use the Datong Army to lead his troops back to the Horqin Grassland and devour all their tribesmen and the grassland.

"My lord, let's go north for a decisive battle!" Manzhu Xili said.

He is Dayu'er's brother and has been tied to the Manchus for a long time. It is absolutely impossible for him to engage in rebellion.

Hong Guoer also said to his son-in-law Haug: "Your Majesty, Badali is ambitious. If he is not killed this time, when he returns to the grassland, Horqin will be in chaos!"

"Your Majesty..."

"Your Majesty..."

Leaders of the Horqin tribe, your words and my words made Hauge's head hurt.

Finally, Hauge spoke: "Withdraw troops!"

"My lord, we can't withdraw!"

The leaders of the Horqin tribe were shocked. They were unwilling to fight before and were more or less lazy and secretly letting go. But after Badali defected, they wanted to fight the most and had to kill Badali.

"Withdraw your troops!" Haug said decisively, "After you withdraw to Shanhaiguan, immediately return to Horqin and divide Badali's tribe and the grassland."

Everyone looked at each other, annexing the tribes and the grassland was useless. Badali led his troops to kill them all and they were all finished.

Everyone knows that the Manchu Qing Dynasty is dying. If Badali is killed, even if the Manchu Qing Dynasty is destroyed, they will still wait to lead the people to submit to the Datong court. But if Badali is still alive, he will die without mercy.

But Hauge could only withdraw his troops. He had discussed with Mandahai and had analyzed the current situation.

The Datong Army's ability to scatter so many cavalry in Yangcun can only prove one thing: Li Zicheng was either destroyed or ran away with his troops. Only when there was no major enemy behind them could the Datong Army dare to send out all its cavalry to cover the southern battlefield.

Li Zicheng was unwilling to fight the Datong Army alone, and Hauge and Mandahai were equally unwilling.

That day, all the Manchu and Qing cavalry came out and wandered between Yangcun and Dingzigu, pretending to control the battlefield. After a battle, the cavalry of both sides suffered casualties. The Datong army suffered more than 300 casualties, while the Manchu cavalry suffered more than 1,000 casualties.

The cavalry withdrew in the evening and left camp immediately at night. Moreover, the entire army ran very fast, leaving behind all the extra civilians. By the afternoon of the next day, they were approaching Lutai (Ninghe District).

On the Datong Army side, Fei Ruhe handed over all the cavalry to the command of Li Dingguo, and more than 15,000 cavalry were pursued, including the surrendered Chahar and Horqin Mongolian cavalry.

The infantry was divided into two, and one part returned to garrison Tianjin to guard against the return of Li Zicheng's main force. Some of them followed the cavalry forward, waiting for the cavalry to bite the Eight Banners Army, and then calmly went over to fight the decisive battle.

"Da da da da..."

The rumble of horse hooves sounded, and fifteen thousand cavalry came overwhelmingly.

Mandahai said: "Lausa, you go!"

Guardya Rausa is a fierce general who is brave and good at fighting. He was selected as Karayizhangjing (forward commander) and has now been promoted to Melezhangjing (deputy commander).

This guy specializes in fighting tough battles. In history, he fought with Hong Chengchou and died because he rushed too hard and fell into the battle.

"My lord, make sure you bring back General Barbarian's head!" Lausa dismounted and knelt before leading the cavalry out.

The Manchus had many cavalry, mixed with a large number of mounted infantry. Including the Mongolian cavalry accompanying the army, there were more than 20,000 people, divided into five teams and ran towards the Datong cavalry.

"Bang bang bang!"

The Datong Dragoons did not respect martial ethics. They fired from a long distance and then immediately ran away.

After changing their flintlock muskets, the dragoons didn't even bother to dismount. Fire a gun on horseback, run away on horseback, and then reload ammunition after stopping.

With tens of thousands of soldiers, Yuan Shizhong surrendered to the Datong Army in Henan. At this time, he had been promoted to the commander of the cavalry battalion. Although he only had 500 people under his command, his combat effectiveness was stronger than the tens of thousands he had before.

The cavalry from both sides dispersed and spread across the vast wilderness.

After Yuan Shizhong fired a shot, regardless of whether it hit or not, he led his cavalry battalion to escape four or five miles away. It wasn't until the Manchu and Qing cavalry were pushed away that he ordered reloading of ammunition, and then rode towards the enemy.

"Bang bang bang!"

There was a gunshot, and five hundred flintlock muskets were fired. More than a dozen of the nearest Tatar cavalry fell immediately.

After shooting, he ran away again.

The Manchu and Qing cavalry couldn't catch up. Their armor and bows and arrows only weighed twenty or thirty kilograms, and a few elites even weighed thirty or forty kilograms. How could they compete with the dragoons who didn't have armor?

In total, the two sides had more than 30,000 horsemen, scattered on the battlefield within a radius of ten miles.

There were no large cavalry groups charging, they were all scattered into small groups. This was originally the customary fighting method of the Manchu and Qing cavalry. The Manchu and Qing cavalry liked to fight like this in chaos, but now it has become the winning weapon of the Datong Dragoon.

Lausa led his troops to chase for several miles, but could not catch up at all. The Datong dragoons were so disgusting that they did not even enter the Qing's cavalry range.

The effective range of the horse bow is only twenty or thirty meters. If it exceeds thirty meters, it will be light and ineffective. The range of a flintlock gun is more than double that of a horse bow.

"You bastard, come here and fight!" the Tatar general Rausa roared.

The Manchus and Qing Dynasties learned to form dragoons, but most of them were equipped with matchlocks. Only a few hundred men in Kong Youde's hands were new-style flintlock guns imitated by the Qing Dynasty - the production capacity was insufficient.

Because of the chaotic fighting, Li Dingguo, as the commander-in-chief of this battle, has long been unable to control the overall situation. Just like the enemy general Lausa could not control the Manchu cavalry, they could only command a few nearby troops.

Huang Fei discovered the abnormality of Kong Youde's cavalry.

Huang Fei was Zuo Liangyu's subordinate before, but he was the first to change his banner in Shandong. His military position was able to command 2,500 people.

"Blow the trumpet, surround and annihilate these Tatars!" Huang Fei rode close to his messenger.

"woo woo woo woo!"

The horn sounded, and the nearby dragoons approached, intending to surround Kong Youde's troops.

"Quickly retreat!"

Kong Youde was shocked when he heard the sound of the trumpet. He was chasing too far forward and was already deep in alone. Mainly because the traditional Manchu and Qing cavalry ran too slowly and were gradually pulled away by the Datong cavalry. Only the Manchu and Qing dragoons could keep up.

More than a thousand Datong cavalry who had loaded their ammunition quickly surrounded Kong Youde.

"Bang bang bang!"

Kong Youde led his troops to rush out of the encirclement, but left behind more than thirty corpses, including his son Kong Tingxun.

"woo woo woo woo!"

Lausa was also blowing the trumpet to gather troops. He felt that this was not the way to fight. He must gather cavalry to engage in close combat with the Datong army.

The Manchu and Qing cavalry gradually gathered together, and in just two sticks of incense, nearly a thousand people were lost.

The Datong cavalry was not in a hurry to catch up, but loaded ammunition in an orderly manner, and then slowly moved towards the enemy.

Rausa waved his flag and wanted to outflank and cut the battlefield, leaving part of the Datong cavalry behind.

"woo woo woo woo!"

Li Dingguo began to blow the trumpet and ordered the entire army to retreat without giving the enemy any chance.

Anyway, his combat goal is to hold the Tatars back and wait for the main force to come over for a decisive battle.

At this moment, Hauge and Mandahai, taking the infantry and baggage troops, took the opportunity to continue marching towards Lutai. We are already very close to Lutai, so we can defend by retreating instead of being caught up in the wilderness.

Badali led his Mongolian cavalry, and his whole mind was dizzy.

He was completely unable to keep up with the rhythm of Datong's friendly forces and advanced and retreated in a confused manner. Until now, they have just been running back and forth, not a single Tatar cavalry has been killed, and not a single cavalryman of their own has been killed, as if they were coming to the battlefield for an armed parade.

It was similar on the Daiqin side. The Chahar cavalry passed through in a confused manner, and were even almost driven out by the Manchu and Qing cavalry.

How did the cavalry battle become like this?

The Mongolian knights couldn't understand.

The two sides fought until evening, a full four hours.

Although the fighting was lively, most of the time was spent on horseback and pulling, and the total casualties on both sides were only two thousand. Among them, the Manchus contributed 80% of the casualties. As for the Datong Cavalry, only three teams were accidentally bitten. After a close fight, more than 300 people were killed and they successfully broke through.

That night, the main force of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties retreated to Lutai, which was still 360 miles away from Shanhaiguan.

The next day, the Manchus continued to withdraw their troops.

Li Dingguo was unable to pursue immediately because the Manchu and Qing cavalry crossed the river with the cooperation of the infantry and all waited on the other side of the nearby river.

Li Dingguo then led his troops to circle north for a full forty miles, and finally left the Manchu and Qing cavalry behind and passed through a bridge on the Ji River. When they caught up with the main force of the Qing Dynasty again, they were already approaching Kaiping Zhongtunwei (near Tangshan).

The men and horses were tired and there was no fighting. They stopped far away to rest.

They didn't bring much food, and most of their ammunition was used up. If they fought for another day, they would have to use their knives to kill.

On the third day, they fought for another half day, killing more than a thousand Tatars and killing more than 200 themselves. However, the ammunition was exhausted and the food was almost finished. The attempt to conduct a night attack was discovered, and they could only return towards Tianjin in frustration.

Fei Ruhe stayed in Tianjin to take charge. Zhang Tieniu had already led his troops to pursue him. Li Dingguo's cavalry received supplies midway and then separated from the main force to pursue them.

When the main forces of the two sides met again, the Manchu and Qing forces had withdrawn to Luanzhou, only 180 miles away from Shanhaiguan.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

A galloping horse came from Shanhaiguan, saying only that he had important military information to see Hauge.

Hauge opened the letter and was stunned: Yaozhou was defeated, the two white flags were almost destroyed, and the two yellow flags suffered heavy losses. Yaozhou fell, Haizhou fell, Anshan fell, and Weining camp fell.

Hauge found Mandahai and handed over the military information letter.

Mandahai looked at it and was speechless for a long time.

After some discussion, Mandahai said: "We can't delay, otherwise the southern barbarians from Liaodong will definitely block the passage to western Liaoning, and tens of thousands of us will not be able to go back. Let's leave tonight, abandon the civilians and baggage, and only let Soldiers carry several days' worth of food with them."