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

Chapter 577 Counter Encirclement

Dorgon never expected such a situation to happen. He was shocked and his pupils shrank.

He was so familiar with this sound. Wasn't it the sound of a musket? Where did the Tengers get their muskets? And they fired so accurately and so resolutely? What was even more outrageous was that the Tengers not only had muskets, but also so many artillery pieces. Looking closely at the infantry hiding behind the vans, a thought suddenly occurred to Dorgon: Could it be the Ming army?
"Did the Ming Dynasty send troops?" Dorgon was very surprised. This was not impossible. The Tenger tribe was not only the leader of the Tumed, but its leader was also the Shunyi King canonized by the Ming Dynasty, and was a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. When they learned that they and the Chahar tribe were gathering troops to attack the Tumed, it was not impossible for the Tenger tribe to ask for help from the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, after suffering a big loss last time, the Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty probably hated them to the core. It was very likely that he would send border troops to support the Tenger tribe in the battle by attacking the Tumed this time.

Although he was shocked, Dorgon was not afraid at all. In his opinion, what would it matter even if the Ming army participated in this war?

Since the time of their father Khan Nurhaci, the Jurchens and the Ming had fought countless times. Didn't the most elite Guanning Army of the Ming Dynasty also get beaten like a stray dog ​​in Liaodong? If it weren't for the Ming army's defense lines, cities and firearms, the entire Liaodong would have been swept away by them long ago.

As for the capital of the Ming Dynasty, it was almost taken down by them after Huang Taiji led his troops to attack Zhili last time. In the end, they plundered the capital area as if they were in an empty land. Emperor Chongzhen was unable to do anything about them even with the entire military force of the Ming Dynasty.

There were only a few thousand Ming troops now. How much effect could they have by hiding behind the vans and firing cannons and guns? He knew the fighting power of the Ming army very well. As long as he resolutely charged forward, these Ming troops would scatter like dogs that had lost their homes. By then, the central army of the Tengger tribe would be his.

Not only Dorgon understood this, but also the elite Eight Banners under his command. So when the new army's muskets began to fire, although it caused some casualties to the attacking Eight Banners, the main force of the Eight Banners was not afraid at all and continued to break through.

In their view, the Ming army's firearms were of limited use. Even the three-barreled gun could only fire three rounds at most, and the range and accuracy were not very good. As long as the blockade was broken, the enemy would no longer have the power to resist. Instead of retreating, the fierce Eight Banners soldiers became more ferocious, howling and rushing like a group of mad dogs.

But this time Dorgon was wrong, and so were his Eight Banners soldiers. They were not facing ordinary Ming troops, nor their old rival Guanning Army, but Zhu Shenzhui's new army.

Although this new army was only a part of the Ming army, its fighting power and combat skills were far beyond the reach of the ordinary Ming army. What was even more terrifying was that Zhu Shenzui's new army was equipped with the most advanced muskets of the era, revolvers (plum blossom lances) that could fire five rounds in a row. In order to increase the striking power, Zhu Shenzui also specially equipped each musketeer in the new army with two revolvers, which meant that each musketeer could fire ten times in a row without reloading.

The new revolver is much more powerful than the traditional three-barreled musket, and its shooting distance and accuracy are far superior to ordinary muskets. Coupled with the sophisticated manufacturing process, it ensures reliability on the battlefield. In addition, each musketeer has two Mongolians to assist in loading the ammunition. Their cooperation is enough to ensure a sustained attack with firepower.

When Dorgon's Eight Banners still thought they were facing just ordinary Ming troops based on their experience, they suffered a great loss.

Under the continuous attack of the new army's muskets, the Eight Banners soldiers in the front fell down one after another like cut wheat, and suffered heavy casualties in a short time.

At this point, no matter how strong the Eight Banners soldiers were, they could not hold on. They were good at fighting and not afraid of death, but no one could stand being beaten like a target and killed without even touching the opponent's hair.

As Niulu Zhangjing, the commander at the front line, shouted in fear to take temporary shelter, the offensive momentum of the Eight Banners suddenly slowed down and the pressure from the front was sharply reduced.

At this time, the artillery of the New Army began to roar again, and continued to attack the Eight Banners with the cooperation of muskets, and the neatly arranged carriages suddenly opened like doors, and the infantry who had been prepared long ago filed out of them and counterattacked directly towards the retreating Eight Banners soldiers.

In theory, infantry has no advantage over cavalry. But the new army is different. The origin of the new army is Qi Jiguang's Qi Family Army. Qi Jiguang was invincible in those days because of the strong combat effectiveness and tactics of the Qi Family Army that were different from ordinary armies.

Zhu Shenzhui's new army was trained completely according to the model of the original Qi Family Army, and its equipment was better than the original Qi Family Army. Although Zhu Shenzhui didn't know which was stronger between his new army and the Qi Family Army in its heyday, in his opinion, even if it was not as good as the Qi Family Army trained by Qi Jiguang himself, it was not much worse.

Moreover, Zhu Shenzui's new army had accumulated rich combat experience in the past few years, especially in Mongolia, where they were very familiar with how to fight against the enemy's cavalry. In addition, in this war, Zhu Shenzui's new army did not fight alone, but cooperated with the main force. Its main task was to lure the enemy deep into the city and catch Dorgon off guard. The victory or defeat was not decided by the new army itself, but by the elite cavalry that Zhu Shenzui had already arranged.

When the new army started to counterattack, the Eight Banners soldiers were instantly overwhelmed by the counterattack of the new army and retreated repeatedly. When Dorgon, who was behind, saw the new army and the tactics they used, his head was buzzing and exploded. He was stunned to see that the Eight Banners soldiers who fell behind were slaughtered by the new army like cutting melons and vegetables, without any ability to fight back. He could not believe his eyes.

“This…this…this…”

After talking for a long time, Dorgon still had no idea what was going on. He was too familiar with this scene. During the Battle of Hunhe River, Dorgon was still young, but he had witnessed that thrilling battle with his father Khan Nurhaci.

The tens of thousands of Eight Banners were not only unable to defeat the mere several thousand Zhejiang troops, but also suffered heavy casualties from the enemy. If the Ming army's artillery unit had not been captured by Nurhaci later, forcing the Ming army's gunners to turn their guns on the Zhejiang army and finally rely on powerful artillery to defeat and eliminate this army, the entire Eight Banners might have been defeated in this battle.

After the Battle of Hunhe River, the Eight Banners could not forget the strength of the Zhejiang Army. Some Eight Banners warriors even developed a psychological trauma towards the Zhejiang Army after this battle. As soon as they closed their eyes, they could see that the invincible Eight Banners were helpless in front of the Zhejiang Army, and one by one they were knocked off their horses like killing chickens and sheep, thus suffering from nightmares.

Fortunately, there was only one Zhejiang Army in the entire Ming Dynasty, and there was no other such a powerful army. Moreover, after the Battle of Hunhe, this Zhejiang Army was completely annihilated, and the Ming Dynasty never formed a new Zhejiang Army. As time went by, the Eight Banners gradually forgot about this matter, but Dorgon never expected that he would encounter another Zhejiang Army on the Mongolian grassland this time, which simply stunned him.

For a moment, Dorgon's head was in a mess. He couldn't figure out where this army came from, how they got to the Mongolian grasslands, and how they hid in the central army of Tengger's tribe.

Could it be that the Ming Dynasty and the Tengger tribe had joined forces to deliberately set a trap for him? He thought he was a mantis catching a cicada, but he didn't know that the other party was the real oriole, waiting for him to fall into the trap?
Just as Dorgon was racking his brains to figure out what was going on, something suddenly changed on the battlefield. When the new army began to counterattack, the elite cavalry of the Tenger tribe also followed suit. These cavalry were completely different from ordinary Mongolian cavalry. Their armor and weapons were no less than those of the Eight Banners elite. In coordination with the new army's counterattack, they launched attacks from the left and right wings on the Eight Banners that had just retreated and had not had time to reorganize their troops, directly launching a counterattack against the Eight Banners.

Not only that, the main force of the Tengger tribe, including the coalition cavalry, which had fled to the left and right before, also returned to the battlefield at this time. These cavalry first met in a distance, and then a part of them was separated to block Dorgon's tribal coalition. Their main force circled half a circle on the battlefield and went straight to Dorgon's rear.

The sudden change led to a drastic change in the entire battle situation. Originally, Dorgon and Dodo attacked the central army of Tengger's tribe from the front and back, but now it became the main force of Tengger's tribe that attacked Dorgon from the front and back.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Dorgon immediately ordered his troops to turn around and run north. He knew that if the enemy succeeded in flanking him, his main force would be trapped, and the two sides would compete in combat effectiveness and fighting will. If Dorgon could break through the central army of the Tenger tribe, they would win. If he could not withstand the flanking attack of the Tenger tribe, they would lose completely.

But this was a huge risk, and after discovering that the Tengger tribe actually had the extremely powerful Zhejiang Army and cavalry that was no less elite than the Eight Banners, Dorgon instantly judged that this battle was impossible to win. Since the enemy had long anticipated his intentions and had deployed the tactics of luring the enemy deep into his territory and then counterattacking and encircling them, if he continued to fight like this, not only would he not be able to win, but he and the main force of the Eight Banners would be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy.

A real man can take it and let it go, and Dorgon is such a man. Besides, he is not Huang Taiji, and even if he loses, it is the loss of the Eight Banners. To be honest, his three brothers have a grudge against Huang Taiji for killing their mother.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, preserving strength was the top priority. Dorgon was the leader of the Bordered White Banner, and his brother Dodo was in charge of the Plain White Banner. The two white banners were their foundation. As for the other eight banners commanding this expedition, he thought they were all expendable, so he immediately ordered the other banners to cover his main force of the Bordered White Banner to break out, and turned his horse's head and galloped towards the north without hesitation.

Dorgon's escape immediately caused a chain reaction. Zhu Shenzui personally led the cavalry to pursue from the east to the northeast, while Burigude and Hatulig pursued from the northwest. The two groups encircled Dorgon's main force, intending to keep Dorgon.

(End of this chapter)