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

Chapter 574 The First Battle
Standing up, Wang Hai walked up to the man, looked him up and down, and asked, "How do you prove your identity? Do you have a token?"

"General, how could I have a token on me? Our identities are all secret. If I carry a token in Mongolia and someone finds it, won't I be exposed?" The man replied with a wry smile.

Then the man said, "As for the proof, what I just said is the proof. Isn't that enough?"

Hearing this, Wang Hai couldn't help but laugh. If the other party said that he had a token, or if he didn't bring the token for some reason, then Wang Hai could conclude that there was something wrong with the other party's identity, but the other party's answer was like this, which made Wang Hai feel relieved.

Wang Hai immediately asked a few more questions, and the other party answered fluently. At this point, Wang Hai was sure that the prisoner was one of his own.

"What do you call brother?"

"Kang Wu, General, you can just call me Lao Wu. My Mongolian name is Cheng Geletu. I was sent to Chahar three years ago and later joined the Asut tribe. Now I am the captain of ten men in the army."

"So it's Brother Lao Wu." Wang Hai said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to be in the Asut tribe and be a captain of ten men. I'm sorry for offending you just now. I'll untie you..."

As he spoke, Wang Hai took out a dagger and was about to help Kang Wu cut the ropes on his body, but Kang Wu dodged and refused to let him: "No need to untie me, it's better to tie me up."

Wang Hai was stunned for a moment, then instantly understood Kang Wu's meaning. He nodded without any reluctance and put the dagger back.

"Then I'll have to inconvenience Brother Five for now."

"Haha, it's not that I feel wronged. Isn't this what we do in Mongolia? Life and death are no longer a big deal for people like us, let alone just being tied up."

Grinning, Kang Wu whispered, "General, I have an urgent military report."

"Brother Lao Wu, please speak."

"Dorgon's main force is not here. Two days ago, it went south and bypassed Qierhaizi to the right front banner. The only ones here are the coalition forces of Khorchin, Zarut, Balin, Naiman, Aohan, Kharchin, Alukhorchin, Wengniud, and Asut, led by his brother Dodo."

"Please tell me in detail!" Wang Hai asked hurriedly.

Kang Wu immediately told Wang Hai all the information he knew. Wang Hai listened and looked at the map, his brows furrowed.

What he was most worried about finally happened. According to Kang Wu, Dorgon's troops were divided into two groups. The vanguard of Mongolian cavalry drawn from various Chahar tribes, including the Khorchin tribe, was now confronting his army, totaling 10,000 cavalry. The leader behind was Dorgon's younger brother Dodo, who brought 5,000 elite soldiers from the Eight Banners and more than 20,000 cavalry from various tribes as the main force, and was about to arrive under Dorgon's banner.

But the real main force and commander Dorgon was not here. He had headed south two days ago. Judging from the direction of his march, he intended to bypass Qierhaizi to the south and go directly from the direction of Chahar Right Front Banner. It seemed that he was preparing to make a big detour and directly attack the rear of Jining.

Once the war broke out, Duoduo's mission was to delay his own army and force Zhu Shenzui's main force into a tough battle. Then, at the right time, Dorgon would lead 10,000 elite cavalry out from the southwest to directly cut off Jining's retreat. Then the two forces would attack from the front and back to annihilate Tumed's army in one fell swoop.

This tactic is not complicated, but once used well, it is deadly. Cavalry combat on the grassland is completely different from combat in the Central Plains, because the mobility and combat effectiveness of cavalry are more suitable for this kind of large-scale roundabout combat method.

In fact, during World War II, the Third Reich used similar tactics in its blitzkrieg. They encircled and surrounded the enemy, and then annihilated the enemy, leaving all European countries helpless. Didn't France, known as the strongest army, surrender under this German tactic? Even the big bearded man was embarrassed by the little bearded man's tactics. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops were surrounded and annihilated, and retreated step by step.

Dorgon had mastered the essence of cavalry warfare. When he learned that Zhu Shenzui's army's target was Jining like his own, Dorgon arranged this tactic, intending to create the illusion that he was in Jining. Dodo would lead the elite Eight Banners and the coalition forces to pin down the enemy, and then he would personally lead the most capable main force of the Eight Banners to fight in a roundabout way.

It must be said that Dorgon's tactics were vicious, and in order to confuse the opponent, Dorgon did not make a big show of himself in the central army, but instead acted as if he was blocking the news. This was the main reason why Wang Hai could not determine Dorgon's main force. The more he could not find out, the more it proved that Dorgon was on the opposite side, especially when Dorgon's troops were about to arrive. When Dorgon's banner was raised, Wang Hai would no longer doubt Dorgon's arrangement, and thus fell into the trap set by Dorgon.

"Is this news reliable?" Wang Hai didn't disbelieve Kang Wu, but the news was too important, so he asked Kang Wu seriously.

"General, rest assured, the news is absolutely reliable!" Kang Wu said without thinking: "General, you don't know that I am not only a captain of ten men, but also Aji's personal soldier. This news came from Aji, so it is definitely not false."

Hearing this answer, Wang Hai felt relieved. Aji was the Taiji of the Asut tribe and the son of the former Taiji Ubachacha of the Asut tribe. He now controlled the Asut tribe.

The Asut tribe defected to the Jiannu several years ago because of the conflicts with Ligdan Khan, and was highly valued by the Jiannu. When Huang Taiji united the Tumed tribes to attack Ligdan Khan, the Asut tribe was its vanguard and has been one of the Jiannu's loyal lackeys over the years.

Since the news came from Aji, the authenticity of Dorgon's intelligence was basically certain. After confirming this, Wang Hai did not dare to delay and quickly wrote a secret letter to be sent to Zhu Shenzhu to inform him of the news. After arranging all this, Wang Hai clasped his fists and said to Kang Wu: "Brother Laowu, I will have to inconvenience you for a few days."

"No problem, just treat me to a drink after the war." Kang Wu replied with a smile.

Wang Hai laughed and agreed immediately. If the news Kang Wu brought was true, he would not only toast Kang Wu to apologize, but also commend him for his achievements. This would be a great achievement and he would definitely not treat Kang Wu unfairly.

Afterwards, Wang Hai had Kang Wu arrested and placed under strict surveillance, and issued a gag order to his personal guards, not to leak any information. Then, on the one hand, he continued to confront the enemy, and on the other hand, he patiently waited for Zhu Shenzhui's reply. On the morning of the next day, Zhu Shenzhui's reply finally arrived. After reading Zhu Shenzhui's reply, Wang Hai's heart finally settled down, and a relaxed smile appeared on his face.

On the third day, the main forces of both sides arrived at almost the same time. Kang Wu's intelligence was correct. When Wang Hai saw the army under the banner of Dorgon from afar, he was sure that Dorgon was not on the opposite side, but his younger brother Duoduo.

The main force arrived and the battle was about to begin. Duoduo only rested for one day. The next morning, Duoduo's army launched a tentative attack. Zhu Shenzui also made the same response and sent out cavalry to fight the enemy.

The first to come on the scene were the coalition cavalry composed of various Chahar tribes, consisting of about a thousand horses, who came out from the southeast and directly attacked Zhu Shencui's left wing troops.

Zhu Shenzui's left wing troops responded quickly and also sent out Mongolian cavalry of similar size. The two cavalry forces rushed towards each other like arrows and used the same tactics, first fighting with horse archery and then engaging in close combat. Arrows rained down on them, and the screams, shouts and neighing of horses of the cavalry who were hit by arrows or hacked to death filled the air, and it was extremely intense.

Both sides were Mongols, with basically the same fighting strength and even the same tactics. After the battle started, each side dispatched troops to support the battle, which gradually increased from more than a thousand cavalry at the beginning to more than three thousand cavalry. The two armies fought desperately in an area.

The battle started in the early morning and lasted until near noon. Both sides suffered losses and it was a very evenly matched battle with neither side having the upper hand.

At this time, Zhu Shenzui's right wing troops began to take the initiative and directly sent out a thousand cavalry troops to fight in a roundabout way to reinforce the friendly forces.

Duoduo reacted quickly and had made arrangements long ago. He not only sent cavalry to intercept the enemy, but also took the opportunity to send another cavalry from another direction to join forces with the previous troops to defeat the enemy's reinforcement cavalry in one fell swoop. However, he did not expect that the enemy was not a pushover. They took the initiative to retreat and avoid the sharp edge, then joined the left wing camp and counterattacked again. The battle situation was deadlocked for a while, and neither side gained any advantage.

The battle lasted until dusk, when both sides withdrew their troops. This was the first major battle between the two armies, with a total of nearly 10,000 troops deployed, and each side suffered about a few hundred casualties. The two sides were evenly matched and neither side was able to achieve the expected results on the battlefield.

After a night's rest, the war continued on the second day. This time, Zhu Shenzui's army took the initiative and continued to fight as a tribal coalition. Duoduo fought back in the same way, but not long after the war started, Zhu Shenzui's elite troops went into battle. Although the number of troops sent out was not large, the equipment and combat effectiveness of his cavalry were not comparable to those of the tribal coalition, and the fight was extremely sudden and resolute. In less than half an hour, the coalition cavalry sent by Duoduo showed signs of defeat. Most of the coalition forces he led were cavalry drawn from various tribes. Most of these Mongolian cavalry had no problem fighting a favorable battle, but they were not good at fighting a fierce battle. When facing the main cavalry of the Tengger tribe, they were beaten and could not resist after a few rounds. As the cavalry of a certain tribe began to lose their fighting consciousness and turned around to flee, the other tribes also lost the courage to continue fighting.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Duoduo hurriedly sent out his Eight Banners soldiers to stabilize the situation and gather the defeated Mongolian cavalry. In order to prevent the situation from getting worse, he directly chopped off the heads of the two small tribal generals who retreated first.

With his iron-blooded tactics and the fierce fighting power of the Eight Banners soldiers, Duoduo finally managed to stabilize the army. However, because the main force of the Tenger tribe was too powerful, Duoduo could only lead his troops to retreat ten miles to avoid their attack, thus blocking the enemy's attack.

(End of this chapter)