Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 16 The Battle of the River Bend
At this time, on the Wuming River Bend, the Ming army was busy repairing the fortifications.

The fortification is actually a trench, about [-] meters long, about [-] meters wide, and the depth is not limited. The deeper the trench, the better, because the deeper the trench, the stronger the defense function.

The excavated soil was piled up to form a retaining wall on the inside of the trench.

Because it is difficult to block the horses of the Mongolian cavalry with a four-meter-wide trench alone.

But it would be enough to add a five-foot or even eight-foot high parapet.

Because no matter how handsome the Mongolian horse is, it is impossible to cross the five-foot-high parapet directly after crossing the four-meter-wide trench.

As for the other three directions of the river bend, they are all water surfaces with a width of more than [-] meters. The river water is more than one meter and less than two meters deep. People and horses can wade across the river, but it is impossible to launch a cavalry charge from the river surface.

That is to say, the entire river bend is U-shaped, surrounded by the river on three sides, and only the west side is connected to the land. Therefore, as long as a trench is dug on the west side and the soil is built into a retaining wall, it can effectively protect the Ming army guarding the river bend. It is impossible for the Mongolian cavalry to attack and enter the river bend from the front.

Even if the Ming army in the river bend is a mob, it is impossible.

What's more, the more than one thousand Ming army is no longer a mob.

After several victories in a row, the battle of Wuming Valley even defeated the cavalry of the Gongtu Department from the front. The spirit of this thousand-odd Ming army is completely different from before.

But the army is like this.

The more battles won, the more veterans survived, the richer the combat experience of the entire army, the stronger the combat effectiveness, and the easier it is to win battles on the battlefield. This is a virtuous circle.

Jiannu's combat effectiveness was accumulated by victories one after another.

And the Dashun Army [-] years after Chongzhen also became stronger in this way.

Conversely, the more battles you lose, the fewer veterans survive, the less combat experience the entire army has, the weaker its combat effectiveness, and the easier it is to suffer defeat on the battlefield. This has become a vicious circle That's how Daming's Nine Towns frontier army became weaker and weaker until they were wiped out by the bandits.

Although the thousands of cavalry under Chongzhen are still far from the elite, at least they are no longer a mob. Facing the cavalry of the Rabbit Department who are not so well equipped and not so disciplined, they can already fight under certain terrains. wrist, and the odds of winning are not low.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen felt a little relieved.

The Gongtu tribe is just a small tribe in Chahar Mongolia, and there are at most five thousand people who control strings, and only about two thousand can be assembled in a short period of time.

With one thousand against two thousand, although we are at a disadvantage in terms of strength,
However, with favorable terrain and preset fortifications, there is still a chance to counterattack and win.

As long as this wave of cavalry from the Gongtu tribe is disabled, they can evacuate calmly.

While thinking about it, Jin Xuan galloped back with more than a dozen cavalrymen, warning loudly: "My lord, the Mongolian cavalry has entered within five miles!"

"Understood." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "Explore again."

"Yes!" Jin Xuan clasped his hands on the horse's back, and returned to the south with more than ten riders.

Chongzhen turned his attention to the river bend in front of him, but saw that with the concerted efforts of more than a thousand people, the entire trench and the protective wall inside the trench had basically taken shape.

However, the depth of the trench is only a little over one and a half meters.

This is really impossible, because there is no handy tool.

The Ming army was digging trenches with wooden tools.

The dustpans that hold the soil are all temporarily sewn from sheepskin.

Fortunately, the soil on the grassland is still soft, otherwise it would be troublesome.

Immediately Chongzhen said: "Okay, there is no need to dig anymore, hurry up and tie up the wooden picks and shovels with hemp rope, and tie them into a fence, which can be used as a shield."

The parapet can provide frontal defense, but it cannot stop light arrows thrown in the air.

It was busy here, and there were bursts of distant horn horns from the south.

"Line up, line up!" Gong Yonggu waited for a few nobles to shout.

More than a thousand soldiers from the Beijing camp, Jin Yiwei, eunuchs, Min Zhuang, and servants hurriedly lined up behind the parapet, and dozens of temporary scull shields were also pushed behind the parapet.

As soon as the team was lined up here, more than ten riders ran back without stopping at night.

When he came to the front of the ditch, Yebushou immediately separated left and right and waded across the river.

Not far behind Ye Bushuo, black Mongolian cavalry appeared.

The Mongolian cavalry rushed over like a tide, and the sound of rumbling horseshoes was like thunder in the sky, and it was also like dense drumbeats. They beat heavily on the hearts of the soldiers of the Ming army, making people feel restless.

However, the performance of the Ming army was not bad, and there was no commotion.

……

Boritie China's brows were already tightly wrinkled.

As the leader of the Gongtu tribe, Boritie China's life can be said to be very difficult now.

Because of the frequent outbreak of wars on the grassland in the past twenty years, the Gongtu tribe first followed Lin Danhan to fight Horqin, and then followed Bogda Chechen Khan to attack the old master Lin Dan Khan. Following Bogda Chechen Khan to fight against Ming Dynasty, all kinds of battles have never stopped.

Then there are natural disasters. Disasters such as drought, snowstorm and plague have never stopped.

The war and natural disasters caused a large number of cattle, sheep and livestock of the Gongtu tribe to die of illness, and the population was greatly reduced. The number of people who control strings has decreased from more than [-] at the peak to [-].

Otherwise, facing the provocation of the Ming army this time,

It is not enough to call only two thousand cavalry.

Boritie China originally thought that two thousand cavalry would be enough to defeat the Ming army.

After all, it was only a small group of Ming troops who fled to the Chahar Grassland, and their strength was limited.

But when he saw the Ming army on the river bend, especially when he saw the earthen wall in front of the Ming army, he knew that the problem was too simple, and the Ming army was much more difficult than he imagined. .

"Hoo." Boritie China yelled lightly, and reined in his horse.

The more than two thousand riders who followed behind also reined in their horses and stopped.

"Leader, what should we do now?" asked a head of a thousand households, "Are you attacking by force?"

"No." Boritie China shook his head and said, "The Ming army has already dug a trench and built an earthen wall behind the trench. The horses of our Gongtu tribe can't cross the earthen wall to attack the Ming army."

"Then get off your horse and climb the wall to attack." Another head of a thousand households said.

"The earth wall is only five or six feet high, and the trench is less than ten feet high."

"Such a height can't stop our warriors from the Rabbit Division at all."

"Over the wall! Over the wall!" Several belligerent centurion heads immediately shouted.

"Leader, you must be timid, right?" said the chief of the thousand households who was leading the battle.

Boritie China's brows became more and more tight, Hai Rigu really didn't take him seriously as a leader, and dared to mock him in public.

Then let the Ming army teach him a lesson.

Let him know how to respect him as the head of the tribe.

At that moment, Boritie China said: "Hai Rigu, then take your people to climb the wall and attack, but let's say something first, you will lose the battle, don't blame me for not being sympathetic."

"Losing the battle? Chief, you are too flattering to the people of the Ming Dynasty." Hai Rigu snorted, "These cowardly people from the Ming Dynasty will be scared to death when they see the warriors of our Gongtu tribe show their scimitars. They will turn around and run away like rabbits, the only thing we need to do is to take bows and arrows and shoot these Ming Dynasty people one by one in Hara Hetao."

Bori Tiechi let out a muffled snort, and said no more.

Hai Rigu raised his scimitar and shouted loudly: "Boys, come with me!"

After more than a thousand rides, he got off his horse and followed Hai Rigu on foot.

Seeing this scene, a haze flashed across Boritiechina's eyes.

I really don't know what kind of shit luck this guy Hai Rigu had. The dozen or so big families in the Gongtu tribe have suffered heavy losses over the years, but the Hai Rigu family has hardly been affected.

Because of this, the Hairigu family became the most powerful family in the Gongtu tribe.

I hope the Ming army can teach this guy a cruel lesson this time.

However, can the Ming army really do it?
……

Although there were no horses, more than a thousand Mongolian cavalry wearing sheepskin jackets lined up in a slightly messy line of ten and slowly approached the river bend, which was still extremely oppressive.

Especially the Mongolian cavalry in the back row still held horn bows in their hands.

About a hundred steps away, the eight rows of Mongolian cavalry behind stopped one after another, and then pointed their bows and arrows at the river bend at a forty-five-degree angle, using light arrows.

"Stand up!" Chongzhen roared loudly.

The Ming army raised the temporary bundled oar shields one after another.

Because the number of "scull shields" was insufficient, they raised the felt.

Felt is really a good thing. It can be used as a mattress, as a bedding, as a tent, and even as a shield to resist the light arrows of the Mongolian cavalry.

Wang Chengen held a piece of felt in front of Chongzhen,
But he was pushed away by Chongzhen. He was wearing a mountain armor, which could not be pierced by light arrows.

The first wave of arrow rain from the Mongolian cavalry soon poured down, and the Ming army immediately heard a continuous sound of tuk tuk, and almost all the arrows were blocked by scull shields or felts.

Only a few unlucky ones were hit by arrows and fell to the ground wailing.

After shooting more than a dozen waves of arrows, the Mongolian cavalry in the back row finally stopped, because the two rows of Mongolian cavalry in the front had already approached the trench, and it would be easy to accidentally injure them if they fired arrows.

But before Ming Jun could catch his breath,

More than [-] Mongolian cavalry in the two rows in front also drew their bows and set up arrows while marching, aiming at the Ming army behind the protective wall, and this time they used heavy arrows with triangular arrow clusters!

"Hide!" Chongzhen yelled, and the people also squatted down.

The Ming army guarding behind the parapet also squatted down one after another.

Immediately there was the sound of piercing through the air, and heavy arrows flew past.

However, some Ming soldiers reacted slowly, or didn't hear Chongzhen's roar, and were pierced by heavy arrows, and fell to the ground on the spot. The cotton armor couldn't stop the heavy arrows at all.

(End of this chapter)