I

The infantry of the Eight Banners Army originally had a high rate of riding horses, and they could still ride on mules and horses no matter how bad they were.

Not anymore.

There is not enough food for people to eat, and naturally they cannot feed so many livestock such as mules and horses. After all, it is okay for mules and horses to just eat grass, but it is not okay to just eat grass and make it rideable.

What's more, after many defeats before, the Eight Banners Army lost countless horses and livestock on the battlefield.

Therefore, although Mandahai's troops were the only elite remaining in the Eight Banners Army, they only had more than a thousand actual cavalry. There are only two thousand infantrymen who can ride horses (including mules) to death. This was the result of his continuous search for war horses, and the remaining troops were all pure infantry.

Leng Saiyi took these infantrymen and quickly rushed back to the mouth of Meihei River, deploying defenses all the time.

But this city was too crude. Although Leng Saiyi had more than 6,000 infantry, he had no confidence in defending. Its predecessor, Zhaosan City, had been abandoned as early as the Yuan Dynasty. Although the Haixi Jurchen Huifa tribe built a walled city on the site, it was destroyed by Nurhachi.

Facing a ruined wall, Mandahai has only been leading his troops for a year. What can he accomplish with a shortage of manpower?

Not to mention heavy artillery, when faced with ordinary artillery, they would all be knocked down in one blow.

"Go and inquire again to see how far away those barbarians are?" Leng Saiyi ordered.

Forty miles to the northwest, a few hundred years later was Dongfeng County.

Wang Tingchen's cavalry division has a total of 13,500 people, all of whom have two horses, one of which is used to carry baggage.

After the Datong Army reformed its military system, a full division had 11,000 men, but the cavalry division was an exception. Because the cavalry division added the Crouching Tiger Cannon, a lot of new gunner establishments were established. In addition to civilian positions such as military doctors, veterinarians are also incorporated into the regular army, as well as other auxiliary personnel.

By the way, both military doctors and veterinarians usually need to carry out riding training, and they can go out to fight on horseback at critical times.

"General, we caught a Tatar leader!" Nan Chu rode back excitedly.

This guy who married Huang Taiji's ex-wife has completely broken with the Manchus, and his Tatar name is more fluent than anyone else.

Wang Tingchen said: "Bring it here!"

A Tatar was tied up and dragged here. He knew that he was going to die, but he was very tough. It took him a long time to get the news.

In fact, there is no useful information. This person is from the Huifa Department. The other tribesmen rebelled, but he remained loyal to the Manchus. After the Manchus suppressed the Huifa tribe, he was sent to manage nearby villages.

The man was holding his right palm where the finger had been chopped off. He felt so painful that he wanted to roll on the ground, but he was held down and unable to move. When he was about to continue cutting off his left finger, he reluctantly said: "The prince went out with the cavalry. Beizi came to recruit the infantry a few days ago and also took away the food from the village."

Chief Missionary Officer Wang Yaochen smiled and said: "It seems that Mandahai has led troops to rescue Sarhu. If we had arrived a few days later, we would have captured Mandahai's lair without any effort."

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

More than two thousand cavalrymen rushed back. Wang Fuchen dismounted and came to Wang Tingchen: "Commander, there are not many people around here, and the Tatars have suffered a lot. We went to the village, and the locals started fighting on their own. These Huifa tribe Some of the tribesmen are the running dogs of the Tatars, and they usually dominate here. As soon as our army arrived, the people of the Huifa tribe started a rebellion on their own and led us to kill the running dogs of the Tatars."

"I understand, you lead the troops to rest for a while." Wang Tingchen said.

Wang Yaochen muttered: "After destroying the Tatars, we have to break up the Jurchens and move to Haixi. The Huifa tribe is so withered because they are not willing to accept the oppression of the Tatars, and many of them have fled to the Yehe tribe. Today's four Haixi tribes, Ye He's family is so powerful that if they are not broken up and relocated, they will become the second Jurchens in Jianzhou in a hundred years!"

"This is a court matter. Just report it truthfully. You and I should not interfere too much." Wang Tingchen said.

Two days later, the cavalry division arrived on the other side of the Meihei River.

The separatist base of Mandahai is at the intersection of Meihei River and Huifa River. After Wanyan Agu raised his army, he fought with the Liao Kingdom here, which completely confirmed the myth that "the Jurchens are invincible if they are not worth ten thousand people".

Wang Tingchen used a telescope to observe the enemy city, and it was obvious to the naked eye that it was in dilapidated condition.

Wang Tingchen ordered: "Let the Ye He tribe and the Huifa tribe organize manpower to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river upstream."

As soon as the Datong army moved here, Leng Saiyi was frightened. He quietly clenched his fist and said, "Korean, take another thousand people and go to the ferry to stop the Nanmanzi!"

"As you command!"

Goryeo comes from the Aisin Gioro family and is the son of Nurhachi's cousin. In history, he led troops to fight Zheng Chenggong.

This man led a thousand infantry to leave the city and go to reinforce his clan brother Dorji who was guarding the ferry.

Whether it is Gao Li or Dorji, they are all miscellaneous fish of the Aixinjueluo family. His seniority is quite high, he is the brother of Huang Taiji and Dorgon, but he has never made any great achievements. Now that the Eight Banners Army is in decline, too many generals have died, and these miscellaneous fish have begun to lead the army.

"Is the enemy going to cross the river?" Gao Li asked.

Dorji shook his head: "We stay here, the Nanmanzi may go further upriver."

Gao Li looked carefully and saw that the Datong army was divided, and half of it went upstream of the Meihei River.

But we cannot ignore it here. Once they withdraw, the Datong Army will definitely cross the river immediately.

Gao Li said: "Those who cannot hold the river bank are better off retreating to the city."

The Meihei River is not wide, nor is it fast. There are too many places to get here, so it is completely useless to defend the river bank foolishly.

"Boom boom boom!"

The cavalry division on the other side suddenly opened fire towards here.

Gao Li was startled and quickly ducked to avoid it.

Dorji said, "It's a squatting tiger cannon. I saw it when we fought with the Ming army. It doesn't have much power from such a distance."

It really didn't have much power. More than a dozen tiger cannons were squatting and firing shells across the river, killing only a few unlucky ones of the Eight Banners Army.

Dorji said: "You go back and tell Beizi that if you can't hold the river bank, let him find another way. Either defend the city to the death, send out troops for a decisive battle, or withdraw the entire army to the southwest and leave the city to the Nanmanzi." "

Goryeo left his soldiers behind and rode back to the city.

After saying this, Leng Saiyi hesitated.

With the entire army withdrawing, the best opportunity has been lost. They should have withdrawn yesterday. They have too much baggage, and the Datong army has already killed them, so it is impossible to abandon the baggage and run away.

A decisive battle outside the city?

Then there is even less confidence. A group of infantrymen came to the countryside to fight with the cavalry?

It is also not good to defend the city. When Mandahai left Hetuala, he left in a hurry and did not bring any artillery. There are no city defense cannons here, so they can only shoot with bows and arrows, but the Datong Army has tiger squatting cannons.

Under normal circumstances, the Crouching Tiger Cannon has no siege ability, but in front of you is a ruined city!

Feeling very confused, Leng Saiyi said, "Let Dorji retreat to the city."

As soon as the Tatars on the shore withdrew, Ye He and Huifa, who were Datong's servants, immediately organized people to cut down trees and build pontoon bridges.

The wheat outside the city has just been harvested and is probably piled in the city. A quick breach of the city can provide military supplies.

More than 10,000 cavalrymen marched over long distances and were eaten by horses, making it impossible to fight a protracted war.

Leng Saiyi only needs to hold on for more than half a month, and Wang Tingchen's cavalry division will have to withdraw. If it continues, the army will definitely run out of supplies.

Watching the Datong army crossing the river and setting up camp, Leng Saiyi did not even dare to go out of the city to attack. He felt that he should do something, and ordered his surroundings: "Send an order to the whole army. Not only will they be paid for their departure, but their pay will be doubled during the period of defense. They will be able to eat as much as they want of the new grain that has just been put into the warehouse. Those who kill the enemy and perform meritorious services will be rewarded heavily." !”

The military order was passed, and the Tatar soldiers finally boosted their morale.

On the Datong Army side, they continued to chop down trees to make ladders. No matter how simple the city wall is, it is difficult to destroy it with the Crouching Tiger Cannon. This time the siege must be carried out at the risk of one's life.

A few days later, Mandahai's cavalry had not returned yet, and the Datong Army's simple siege equipment had been prepared.

"I'm afraid many people will die this time." Wang Tingchen said.

Wang Yaochen said: "The Tatars don't have many strong bones left. If you chew them off, you will lose one. The enemy troops in the city in front of you are the few elite Tatars. As long as we can chew them down, the Puppet Qing Dynasty will not be far from being destroyed." . Moreover, this city is dilapidated and low, so it is better to attack here than to retreat to the big city and attack it."

"Sir, I'll go up first!" Wang Fuchen said.

Wang Tingchen nodded: "Go and prepare."

The city has no moat, but is surrounded by natural rivers on both sides. It can only be attacked from the northwest and due west.

"Boom boom boom!"

All the tiger crouching cannons were dragged up and aimed at the city wall. Although it cannot destroy the city wall, it can hit the enemy on the wall with shotguns beyond the range of the bow and arrow.

Leng Saiyi withdrew the majority of his troops to the city, leaving only a few on the city wall, and pushed the carts up for defense.

The shelling lasted for a long time, but the effect was weak, and few Tatars were killed.

"Come on." Wang Tingchen said.

Since it is a servant army, it must have the consciousness of a servant army. The Ye He tribe and the Huifa tribe are both cannon fodder in the first round of siege.

Nan Chu drew his sword and shouted: "The warriors of the Ye He tribe must not forget the last words of their ancestors. Even if there is only one woman left in the Ye He tribe, they will destroy the Jurchens in Jianzhou. Warriors, follow me to attack the city!"

Thousands of Haixi Jurchen soldiers, carrying simple weapons and simple siege ladders, roared and rushed towards the city wall.

Leng Saiyi shouted: "Quickly defend!"

A large number of Tatar defenders, who had dodged the shells, rushed back to the city wall with weapons, and some even carried boiling oil and gold juice.

"Zizzizi..."

Hot oil is poured on people's bodies, making the sound of frying squid.

The first batch of siege soldiers from the Yehe tribe and the Huifa tribe collapsed and fled back in an instant, leaving only nearly a hundred corpses outside the city.

"And then on!"

Nan Chu began to organize a second wave of attacks. For the continuation of Ye He's tribe, he could only let these warriors die. The greater the contribution you make today, the more you will be appreciated by the Datong court in the future, so that you can survive the most difficult years.

If the Datong Army had not provided food and cotton cloth, many people in the Yehe tribe would have starved to death and froze to death in the past two years.

After all, they had just left the Manchus and were extremely short of all supplies. They would have to continue to rely on the support of the Datong court in the next few years.

The whole day was spent in cannon fodder siege, resulting in more than 900 casualties of Yehe tribe and Huifa tribe. Among them, more than 40% were killed, and the remaining 60% were injured, many with burns.

Their only result was that they consumed a large amount of hot oil and gold juice from the defenders.