Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 502 Chopping melons and vegetables
Manggurtai did not underestimate the opposing Ming army. He knew that the opposing Ming army must have some strength to be able to defeat the previous charge of the Eight Banners. Although he had not yet figured out the origin of this Ming army, based on his understanding of the Ming army, he subconsciously thought that this was the retainers' unit of the Ming army general.

The most elite troops in the Ming army were the household servants, which were the troops that the Ming army generals relied on to guard their homes and save their lives. Their equipment, training and treatment were far superior to those of ordinary Ming troops. Some of them were even as powerful as the elite Eight Banners soldiers.

Manggurtai, who had fought against the Ming army many times, knew all this very well. Even though he chopped off the head of Niulu Zhangjing in a rage, and directly ordered the remaining Eight Banners to charge, saying that they would atone for their crimes with merit, Manggurtai was actually a treacherous man. As a veteran of many battles, he did this to test the enemy with these Eight Banners soldiers, to see the enemy's capabilities with his own eyes, and to find out the details of this Ming army before making a decision.

As for whether these Eight Banners soldiers could break through, or whether they would be defeated and suffer heavy losses like the Niulu Zhangjing before? These were none of Manggurtai's business.

Anyway, the people who died were not from his own Zhenglan Banner. Hauge was the eldest son of Huang Taiji. The Niulu Zhangjing just now was Hauge's subordinate, and some of the cavalry from other banners who were withdrawn also belonged to Hauge, and some belonged to various banners.

Even if all these people died in battle, Manggurtai would not frown, and might even be secretly happy. He and Huang Taiji had always been at odds, and if Huang Taiji's power was weakened by one point, it would mean that his own power would be strengthened by one point, which was what he wanted most.

Zhu Shenzui had no idea what Manggurtai was planning. He only saw Manggurtai kill one man first, and then order a group of Eight Banners soldiers to make preparations. It seemed that the other side was going to continue charging.

But the charge had clearly failed, so why did the other side just ignore it and repeat the same trick? Could it be that the general leading the other side was a brainless reckless man?

But it was fine this way, come if you want, with his camp, it was impossible for only 300 Eight Banners soldiers to break through, even if there were more Zhu Shencui was not afraid, if one came, kill one, if two came, kill a pair! Zhu Shencui wished that hundreds of Eight Banners soldiers would be sent to him, as long as he was given enough time and preparation, Zhu Shencui was absolutely sure that they would never forget it.

After a moment, the Eight Banners soldiers on the opposite side were ready, picked up their weapons and roared like wild beasts, then their horses started running, running faster and faster in a short distance. Perhaps because of the previous failed experience in charging the formation, the Eight Banners soldiers this time did not rush to charge as quickly as the first time. Instead, they deliberately dispersed to charge, and the charge seemed a bit sparse. They also made full use of the terrain, with both sides keeping a distance from each other. Zhu Shenzhui could see the purpose at a glance, which was nothing more than using this formation to prevent the maximum power of their firearms.

Not only that, when these Eight Banners soldiers rushed to a certain distance from Zhu Shencui, they couldn't wait to draw their bows and shoot arrows. Countless arrows flew into the sky, and then after reaching the apex, they fell under the action of gravity and headed towards Zhu Shencui's new army.

In addition, the Eight Banners soldiers used all their skills, such as swaying left and right on the saddle and even jumping, hiding their entire bodies on the side of the warhorse, and using all kinds of fancy horsemanship, which was dazzling to watch.

Facing the flying arrows, Zhu Shencui was not afraid at all. They had seen this tactic many times when fighting against the Mongols. And the riding skills of the Eight Banners were indeed good, but compared with the Mongols who were better at riding, they were nothing.

At the back of the main formation, Wang Jinwu and his cavalry saw every move of the Eight Banners soldiers in front of them clearly, and they couldn't help laughing. Not only him, but also many of his cavalry laughed out loud. You should know that nearly half of Wang Jinwu's 300 cavalry were Mongolians, the strongest Mongolian warriors in the tribe. In their eyes, the riding skills displayed by the Eight Banners soldiers on the opposite side were no different from clowns. This kind of riding skills, let alone them, ordinary Mongolian herdsmen can use it. Now running here to show off is just like showing off a big sword in front of Guan Gong.

The feather arrows of the Eight Banners only caused a little trouble to the Ming army. Except for one person in the new army who was shot and injured due to carelessness, the rest of the soldiers were unharmed. Even the wounded were not serious, only an arrow hit the arm. Because of the good protection of the armor, the wounded soldier directly pulled the arrow out of his arm, and moved his arm slightly. Apart from some superficial injuries, there was no damage to the muscles and bones.

After the Eight Banners' cavalry and archery were deployed, it was the Ming army's turn.

The artillery that had been prepared long ago began to fire continuously. This time it was not a concentrated attack. Because the Eight Banners' charging formation was scattered, the tiger squat cannon among the artillery was mainly used for interception. It bombarded in several directions in order to break up the Eight Banners' charging formation and disconnect the front and rear formations, forcing the Eight Banners cavalry behind to turn around.

The rapid-firing Portuguese cannonballs are all shotgun shells, which can hit a large area at once. Although their lethality is not as strong as that of solid cannonballs, they are the most suitable for large-scale attacks.

Under the continuous bombardment, the charging Eight Banners soldiers screamed one after another, and soldiers and their horses kept falling to the ground. In a short moment, more than 300 Eight Banners soldiers lost dozens of people, but the remaining Eight Banners soldiers showed no signs of retreating, because they knew that they would die if they went back, so it would be better to die here directly. If they were lucky enough to rush in and break the formation, they could not only atone for their crimes, but also save their lives.

Zhu Shenzhui was slightly surprised by the recklessness and determination of the Eight Banners soldiers in charging this time. He did not expect that the charging Eight Banners soldiers would actually risk their lives with him. Was this necessary?

Haha, risking life is risking life, what's so scary about risking life? Do they think they can rely on these cannons and muskets? The real killer has not been used yet! Zhu Shenzhui's eyes were indifferent, still standing still in the army, coldly watching the Eight Banners soldiers who were charging closer and closer.

Finally, the first few soldiers from the Eight Banners arrived at the front. Although the new army's muskets began to fire and killed several soldiers from the Eight Banners, the remaining soldiers ignored their own casualties and began to use various means to destroy the chevaux de frise in front of the formation. In their desperate madness, after paying a considerable price, they opened a hole in the chevaux de frise in the front row, and even the chevaux de frise in the second row were in danger.

Seeing this, the remaining Eight Banners soldiers became even more fanatical. They seemed to see a break in the battle formation, and they could not wait to break through the first row of barricades and head towards the blockade behind. In their opinion, as long as they opened a gap in the two rows of barricades behind, the Ming army's blockade would no longer exist. With the advantage of cavalry over infantry, as long as they broke into the battle formation, the Ming army would no longer be able to resist and would be slaughtered.

Manggurtai, who was far away, could also see this scene clearly, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

The strength of the Ming army on the opposite side was indeed beyond his expectations. No wonder Niulu Zhangjing was defeated and fled back.

Manggurtai felt that this Ming army was undoubtedly the elite retainer troops under the command of the Ming general, otherwise they would not have such strong combat effectiveness, let alone such fierce firearms. However, all this would soon be over. Without firearms and chevaux de frise, no matter how good these Ming troops were at fighting, it would be useless. His own men were about to charge in. Although there were less than 200 Eight Banners soldiers left, which meant that one third of them had died in battle, these people were enough to cause the Ming army on the opposite side to collapse.

Thinking of this, Manggurtai issued an order without hesitation to send his elite troops of the Zhenglan Banner to support. In his view, the overall situation was set and the defeat of the Ming army was a matter of time. If he did not send support now, when would he send support? If he waited until all the people who charged the battle line died, wouldn't it mean that those people died in vain?
To fight a war, one must do it in one go. Manggurtai understood the essence of this very well, so he decisively sent troops to support the Eight Banners cavalry that were charging into the battle line, in order to defeat the opposing Ming army in one fell swoop and completely crush the opponent. After winning completely, he would have to take a good look at whose retainers had such combat effectiveness.

Just as Manggurtai ordered reinforcements and his Zhenglan Banner was ready to send 500 cavalry to charge towards the Ming army camp, the situation suddenly changed when they had already arrived in front of the Ming army camp and were only a stone's throw away from the Ming army.

The Ming army, which had been lined up without moving, suddenly moved at the sound of a whistle. The Ming army in the front row deployed a battle formation under the cover of wagons and the last row of barricades. That was not all. Their formation was extremely strange, completely different from the ordinary Ming army infantry battle formation. Instead of advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, they were divided into small teams and fought on their own. At the same time, the weapons in their hands were also strange. There were swords and shields, spears, and some unknown thing made of fine steel like a tree branch. This thing was long and big, and when it was put out, it was like a big umbrella, but this umbrella not only had no umbrella cover but was made entirely of ribs, and the ribs were all upside down, with cold light flashing at the edges, each one like a sharp blade.

In addition, there were also musketeers hiding behind them. The musketeers held muskets that were slightly different from those commonly seen by the Eight Banners soldiers. They were neither bird guns nor Rumi guns, nor were they the three-barreled guns commonly seen by the Ming cavalry. The strange thing was that these musketeers did not need a fuse and could even fire continuously. There was a protruding device between the handle and the barrel of the musketeer. After the Ming musketeer fired a shot, he would twist the mechanism with his hand and the protruding device would rotate, and then he could continue to fire the second shot, one shot after another, four or five shots in a row, making the Eight Banners soldiers cry out in pain.

That was not all. The Ming infantrymen, wielding those strange weapons, advanced directly towards the charging Eight Banners soldiers instead of retreating. They formed a small formation and cooperated well, and in one encounter, they defeated the Eight Banners soldiers on the opposite side.

The Eight Banners soldiers had never expected that there would be such a way of fighting. Although these elite Eight Banners soldiers were all good at martial arts, they could not get close while riding on horses. The weapons in their hands were restrained by the long and big things in the opponents' hands. No matter how they swung, they could not hit the opponents. The spears from both sides of the Ming army were like poisonous snakes spitting out their cores, pointing directly at their vital points. No matter how they resisted, they were unable to focus on one thing while the other. In a few seconds, they were stabbed through the heart. After falling off their horses, they did not die for a while. The Ming soldiers with swords and shields came up from behind and finished them off with the swords, taking their lives quickly and neatly.

This scene happened extremely quickly. It took only a few minutes from the time the Ming army took the initiative to attack to the time the Eight Banners soldiers who were approaching screamed and fell off their horses and died. In a blink of an eye, most of the Eight Banners soldiers who were charging into the formation were killed. The remaining Eight Banners soldiers were all stunned for a moment. They didn't know whether they should continue to charge or turn around and run, but the Ming army didn't give them any chance to react. Before they could come to their senses, they surrounded them and killed many of them in a few breaths. The remaining dozen or so riders screamed in fear and no longer cared about Manggurtai's punishment. They turned around and fled regardless of everything.

(End of this chapter)