I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 334 The Night Before
The Mongolian army retreated quickly, and Zhu Houzhao led the new army to join the Datong army.

Seeing that the ancients retreated to the west and set up camp, Zhu Houzhao personally reorganized the troops after the meeting. Like a veteran on the battlefield, he issued military orders in an orderly manner. His reading of military books and communication with the generals were not in vain.

Jiang Jiangong, on the other hand, checked for omissions and filled in the gaps, breaking down Zhu Houzhao's orders into details and conveying them quickly.

As evening approached, Zhu Houzhao set up the camp perfectly. He also personally inspected and comforted the soldiers of various units, and gave the ordinary soldiers a boost.

Zhu Houzhao learned this from Zhu Houchun. The previous Zhu Houzhao could not do this because he was a nobleman with too bad temper and lacked empathy for the lower classes. But after a series of events, especially the incident of the New Army's funeral, coupled with Zhu Houchun's various demonstrations and influences, Zhu Houzhao gradually gained some insights.

He began to realize that he must treat people as human beings, regardless of their status, so that he could win their hearts.

That's why he took action today.

Regardless of whether Zhu Houzhao was acting or acting from the bottom of his heart, the effect of his action was very good. Facing such a commander, what else could the soldiers say?

After doing all this, Zhu Houzhao summoned all the generals to hold a combat meeting.

Zhu Houzhao held up a glass of water and said, "Alcohol is not allowed in the army, so I will use water instead of wine to toast you all. Thanks to you for holding back the main force of the Tatars, I was able to lead the troops to arrive in time. Come, drink this cup!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"This is the duty of our subjects."

"Let alone a few days, even if it's half a month, we can hold on to the Tartars!"

Wang Xun, Zhang Li and other generals were originally full of resentment. At this moment, the emperor personally toasted and thanked them, which immediately made them very excited. The negative emotions were swept away, and they wished to serve the emperor till their death.

Zhu Houzhao tried to appease him again, then raised his glass to He Song, who led the cavalry today, and said, "Today, General He led 5,000 light cavalry in person, surrounded by tens of thousands of Tatars, and defeated the Tatars. He should be credited with the greatest achievement! I would like to offer a toast to General He."

He Song's eyes immediately turned red: "How dare I take credit for it? If it weren't for the great general's genius, I would never have thought that cavalry could be equipped with such muskets and could fight like this."

"General, with this flintlock pistol, the Ming cavalry will no longer be afraid of the Mongolian cavalry. The Ming cavalry will have a huge advantage over the Mongolian cavalry. We must train more of such cavalry in the future!" He Song became more and more excited as he spoke. Today's battle still made him unable to calm down for a long time. He hadn't had such a satisfying battle in a long time.

Zhu Houzhao comforted He Song with a smile. He took the responsibility of inventing pistol cavalry on himself. He needed such fame so that he could better manage his generals. Anyway, he knew that Zhu Houxuan would definitely not mind this.

After this battle, he clearly realized the importance of pistol cavalry. In addition to their advantages in combat, pistol cavalry are much easier to train than traditional archers.

Compared with using a horse bow on horseback, using a flintlock pistol on horseback requires much lower riding skills. Using a horse bow on horseback requires both arms to exert force, both hands to let go of the reins, and both hands to cooperate with each other to draw the bow and shoot the arrow. There are many distractions when shooting arrows on a bumpy horse. If you are not careful, a slight mistake can lead to a huge error. It requires very high riding skills.

When using a flintlock pistol on horseback, only one hand is needed to load it, and the remaining hand can be used to operate the reins, increasing control over the horse, and the riding skills required are not high.

Moreover, bows and arrows are more difficult to train than muskets, which makes archers even more difficult to train.

But the emergence of pistol cavalry changed all that. This type of troops, which had low requirements for riding skills and great lethality, was very suitable for mass training by the Central Plains dynasty!
When a large number of pistol cavalry are trained, it will change the war situation between Ming and Mongolia.
On the other side, the Mongolian camp was in a solemn atmosphere. Dayan Khan had just lost his temper. Not long after fighting with the Ming cavalry in the morning, the Mongolian cavalry suffered more than 2,000 casualties, while the Ming army only lost forty or fifty cavalry. This casualty ratio was simply unbearable for Dayan Khan.

However, faced with this new type of army, Dayan Khan and the Mongolian generals were somewhat helpless.

Moreover, the reinforcements that appeared today also made Dayan Khan feel uneasy. He had previously thought that the reinforcements were from the border troops of Xuanfu Town and Yansui Town, but the tactics and fighting spirit displayed by these reinforcements were unprecedented to him.
After the meeting, Dayan Khan's face darkened. He looked at a Mongolian general and said, "Haven't you found it yet?"

"Please forgive me, Khan. I have searched everywhere but still cannot find Buchi's whereabouts," replied a Mongolian general.

"Not found? Where could Buchi have gone?" Dayan Khan said coldly.

"I also asked many people from the tribe. The last place where Bu Chi appeared today was where the Ming army appeared, so I speculate that Bu Chi may have encountered Ming cavalry," the Mongolian general said quickly.

Dayan Khan felt a sharp pain in his heart. He was very clear about the fighting power of the Ming army today. If Buchi really ran into them, he would be in great danger. Moreover, the position of the Ming cavalry was too tricky, which was completely beyond their expectations.
"Go look for him again! If he's alive, I must find him. If he's dead, I must find his body!" Dayan Khan said angrily.

The general retreated in a hurry.

Dayan Khan sat there for a while. He had actually begun to accept the fact that he had lost his grandson.

But he quickly adjusted his mood. He had 11 sons who all lived to adulthood, so he had no shortage of grandchildren.
"Control the news, don't let the tribes know about it, so as not to affect morale," Dayan Khan said again. As a great leader, he has already started to think about how to reduce the impact.
Someone immediately took the order and left.
It seemed as if God couldn't wait to see the two gangs on the ground get into trouble. There was no fog the next morning, and the sun rose very early, but the sky was still gray.

The Ming army had less than 10 combat-capable soldiers, in addition to nearly baggage carriers and non-combat personnel, totaling more than people.

Although the Datong army was besieged for five days, the casualties were only more than 3,000 because the Mongols did not always make up their minds to attack.

The Mongolian side had already gathered more than 9 cavalry, and the Mongols had the advantage in military strength.

Zhu Houzhao personally deployed the troops and did not try any new tricks. Instead, he honestly displayed the Ming Dynasty's regular formation.

(End of this chapter)