Under the glow of the fire, there was a loud boom one after another. The Jinghua No. 3 gun, known as the main field artillery of the Ming Dynasty, bombarded intensively, and the salvo of dozens of artillery pieces really shook the ground, and the Mongolian cavalry was bombarded on this not wide riverside avenue.

In just one volley, at least 100 cavalrymen went to see the Buddha or Changshengtian on the spot, and a much larger number of Mongolian cavalry were smashed off their horses by bouncing projectiles or the stumps of their comrades.

Being hit by a stump in such a high-speed rush is like a bird hitting an airplane in later generations, which seems inconspicuous, but in many cases the consequences are serious. The relative speed between the stump and the charging knight is not as fast as that of an airplane or a bird, but it is enough to make a man fall off his horse or make a galloping horse stumble. And falling off the horse in such a dense high-speed sprint of cavalry, the hope of survival can be described as extremely slim.

In this round of artillery bombardment, at least 300 cavalry of the Mongolian army lost on the spot or directly lost their combat effectiveness, and the increase in the firepower of the Ming army made many veterans under the command of Tumen look different.

Once upon a time, the artillery exploded at every turn, and the three-eyed guns could only shoot at close range, and more of the Ming army could only smash people with iron shovels, and the firepower increased greatly!

Once upon a time, the army that only dared to fight, and ordinary soldiers were frightened when they heard the rumbling of iron horses, and the two forces of war were reborn!

Buzhhatu watched the battle from the rear as if it were water, and the gloom on his face was like today's weather. The Great Khan of Tumen glanced at the casualties in front of him with some uneasiness, controlled the war horse that was about to move under his crotch, and turned his head to ask Burihatu: "Do you really want to fight like this?" ”

Burihatu's face was so black that it seemed to be dripping with water, and he said coldly: "If the Great Khan is reluctant to give up one or two thousand elites, this bayonet array will never be broken." ”

"Zhang Wanbang is only 2,000 people!" Tumen said with some anger: "Do my Mongolian warriors want to exchange their lives for the lives of these Ming infantry like chickens and dogs!" ”

The Great Khan's anger could be felt by the people around him, but Buri Hatu still had a straight face and said calmly: "The Great Khan miscalculated, we are not one life for one, two lives for one life - we still have to take one or two thousand high-grade war horses." ”

"You!" Tumen Khan raised his horsewhip and pointed at Burihatu, but he didn't know whether he was angry or speechless, and he couldn't speak anymore.

In fact, the necessity of this battle had already been told to him in advance, and the casualties that might result were also hidden from him. It's not that Tumen doesn't know, it's just that when he faces such casualties, he still can't help but be frightened, heartbroken, and angry.

For so many years, how could the Mongolian iron cavalry have fought such a casualty comparison with the Ming army?

This casualty ratio is not to mention one to one, even if it is one to five, or even one to ten, the Mongols can't compare with the Great Ming!

During the Dayan Khan period, Mongolia was divided into "60,000 households", that is, six "10,000 households" large tribes, and the population of Mongolia at that time was about 1.6 million. Dayan Khan followed decades of development, especially during the Altan Khan period, when the population grew due to the strength of Tumut.

Although the left and right flanks of Mongolia have been divided, the shelves of the Northern Yuan court are still barely erected, and the approximate total population is still a number, about 1.9 million, less than 2 million. [Note: The above data comes from "A Preliminary Study of the Historical Population of the Mongolian Nationality (11th Century-Mid-17th Century)", written by Wang Longgeng and Shen Binhua. ]

In this way, the total population of Mongolia is only 2 million, of which Tumut, Ordos and Qinghai Tumut account for more than half, and Chahar and its eastern vassals account for only about 40%. Of these forty percent, only a little more than half of them belong directly to the Chahar Khan's court, which is roughly only about 500,000 people.

With a total population of about 500,000, Chahar can pull out 60,000 to 80,000 troops in wartime, which is already a typical Mongolian characteristic.

With such strength, how can you play a one-to-one exchange ratio with Daming? What is this not self-defeating?

But Buzhhatu had already understood the truth with him, if this battle was not fought, the Ming army would only become more and more difficult to deal with in the future, not only the elite of the Ming army would learn the bayonet formation, a tactic to restrain the Mongol cavalry, but even the ordinary army would develop like this. At that time, why did Mongolia still compete with the Ming Dynasty? Earlier, he was called a minister, and he got it.

To be honest, if it is just a tribute, it is not impossible for Tumen to consider it. Even though he was the "Great Yuan Emperor", this throne had long become a symbolic name, and the Mongols had not used it for a long time, but only referred to as the "Great Khan of Mongolia".

Although the Great Khan of Mongolia is also the king of a country, the idea that China is the "Celestial Empire", as the Mongols who have ruled the Central Plains for 70 years, they actually have it in their hearts, so although the Great Khan of Mongolia called the emperor of the Central Plains a little ugly in face, it is not unacceptable.

However, Buzhhatu believes that the situation is changing, and if Mongolia has been in continuous decline relative to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty may not directly take Mongolia into its pocket in the future.

The example used by Buri Hatu to persuade the Tumen was the Ming Dynasty's rebuilding of the city of Daning. In the early Ming Dynasty, Daning City was a city specially used to control Mongolia, but it was finally abandoned because of the outbreak of the Jingjing Battle and the subsequent turmoil within the Ming Dynasty.

Now, the Ming people have recaptured and rebuilt Daning City, what else is there to say? It is nothing more than a complete control of Mongolia. In other words, if the Mongols don't find a way to resist, there won't even be a "Mongol Great Khan" in the future, maybe ...... In the future, there will be positions such as "Mongolian governor" and "Mongolian governor" in the Ming court, just like the governor of Yunnan.

This prospect made Tumen shudder, and he did not dare to imagine that the descendants of Genghis Khan would not only lose the Central Plains, but even their Mongolian hometown, and could only prostrate themselves in front of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants and claim themselves vassals—although Hannaji had already done so.

Tumen's confidence was not sufficient, but in any case, he had to give it a try as the Great Khan of the Mongols. If this battle can really break the myth of the bayonet formation riding on foot, maybe there will really be a huge disagreement within the Ming people, and the Mongols will breathe again.

Thinking of this, Tumen didn't say much, but there was a trace of worry in his eyes.

The battle on the front line continued, and the Mongol cavalry had long been aware of the situation they were facing and the importance of the battle during the earlier mobilization of Buzhhatu. Although the first round of shelling caused them heavy losses, almost equivalent to the casualties of being ambushed by the Ming army when they fought in the grass valley in the past, the Mongol warriors did not flinch, but shouted in unison.

They reminded each other in the sound of shouts, letting everyone know that they were getting closer and closer to the Ming army, as long as they rushed in front of the Ming army and broke the defense line composed of some bayonets that were not too long, the Ming infantry in the rear had no power to resist at all.

Then they got a second round of shelling. The bad news is that they lost as many as three or four hundred men again; The good news is that from the distance, it can be seen that the artillery of the Ming army has not had time to hit the third salvo.

The frenzied charge of the front army, regardless of casualties, inspired the courage of the cavalry in the rear, and they continued to charge forward, without considering whether death or victory awaited them next.

The elite of the former army controlled the horses according to the instructions of Burihatu, so as not to be frightened by the loud noise, and lose the courage to rush forward in the face of the bayonet array. For this battle, Burihatu concentrated a large number of heavy cavalry, which were very valuable in the Mongol army.

During the Mongol expedition nearly 300 years ago, a typical Mongol army consisted of 40% heavy cavalry and 60% light cavalry. Heavy cavalry was mainly used for assaults, and it was necessary to also fight in close quarters.

During the Second Expedition (1235-1242), the most common type of armor for the Mongol heavy cavalry was iron plate armor (known as lamellararmor in foreign history), and some people also wore chain mail and leather armor. The armor itself can resist cuts from scimitars and piercing with bows and arrows and other throwing weapons, but swords can easily cut through the bands that hold the armor in place, and multiple slashes in a row can cause the armor to crack.

European hoplites of the same period generally wore chain mail all over their bodies (including their heads), and the slash of the sword could not damage the chain mail, but arrows and spears could penetrate it, and the heavy chain mail greatly reduced the agility and speed of the cavalry.

Compared with heavy cavalry, light cavalry is more important in the Mongolian tactical system, which can shoot from a distance, lure the enemy, alert, outflank and even close combat, and the main means of attack is intensive arrows.

However, although the light cavalry is important, it does not mean that their status is higher than that of the heavy cavalry. Hussars generally wore only round helmets, with little armor for their bodies and horses. The Mongol composite recurve bow (made of a composite of wood, horns, and tendons) used by the hussars was superior to the best English longbow (made of elm or yew) in Europe at the time, and historians concluded that the Mongol bow had a pull force of at least 166 pounds and an effective range of 320 meters, compared to the English longbow of 80 pounds and 230 meters, respectively.

However, the effective range does not refer to the effective armor-piercing range, and in front of the elite of the Ming army wearing armor, it is very difficult to break the armor. Not to mention the current "cold iron armor", even cotton armor is difficult to be pierced by arrows, otherwise how can there often be generals who "suffer dozens of arrows" and do not die?

The melee weapons used by the Mongol heavy cavalry and light cavalry were scimitars, which were modified from the Arabic scimitars. The blade is small and light, with a good curvature, which is more in line with the theory of mechanics.

"The scimitar slides along the curved surface of the blade when it touches the enemy's body", so it will not slash into the body and cannot be pulled out, and the armor will not be easily shocked when it hits, so it can be slashed continuously. Hussars also carried a spear or gun with a hook that could be used to pull the enemy off their horses. Due to the hook in the head of the spear, it does not penetrate the enemy's body too deeply and is easy to pull out.

With the Mongolian left wing being "trade sanctions" by the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the number of heavy cavalry under its command has been decreasing day by day, and now it can only be maintained at about 10%, which is even more valuable.

If the light cavalry was more responsible for "guerrilla" on the battlefields of various periods in East Asia, then the heavy cavalry was a professional household that broke the formation, and it was most obvious in the battles of Song and Jin and the battle of Song and Mongolia. Today, the Mongol front army is all heavy cavalry, without hook and sickle configurations, and all use scimitars.

This configuration meant that Buzhhatu did not consider his own casualties, and he pinned his hopes entirely on the direct damage caused by the heavy cavalry to the Ming army after the defeat of Zhang Wanbang's army.

Moreover, although this group of heavy cavalry put on a frontal formation, that is, although the whole charged head-on, it partially formed a typical "oblique entry" of cavalry combat. But in any case, in such a hard-fought battle, the other side has a bayonet formation, and the heavy cavalry of the front army will definitely pay a heavy price.

At this point, courage is everything.

With the temporary curtain call of the artillery, the three-stage attack behind the bayonet array of the Ming army began to fire. The first salvo caused nearly 100 casualties among the Mongol heavy cavalry - this data is not as good as the two in Monan and Liaonan, because the former army of Buzhhatu was prepared and used all the armored heavy cavalry.

The first round of musket salvos was deliberately fired at a longer distance in order to win one more round later, so the lethality was slightly insufficient, and the casualties caused were naturally not too large.

The Mongols remained indifferent and continued to storm forward. Soon, the Ming army fired a second volley, and this time the lethality was far greater than the first one, and more than 200 heavy cavalry were lost instantly.

The Mongols remained unmoved, and even shouted a little louder, and continued to advance forward. They were only a hundred paces away from the Ming army's bayonet formation, and for the cavalry in the charging formation, this distance was at most enough for the Ming army to fire another volley.

The third salvo was fired without incident, and since the distance was only about fifty paces, both sides could almost see each other's eyes and see each other's expressions.

The Mongols were fanatical mixed with a certain anger, and the Ming army was cold with some worries. But in any case, the effect of the third salvo was not much different from that of the second, and at least two hundred Mongol cavalry were reimbursed on the spot. And this time, the Ming army could easily see that the armor on their bodies was pierced and blood was splattered.

But at this time, the test of the Ming army has really arrived. The three shots had been completed, and although the musketeers in the first row of retreats had changed their cartridges and were ready to continue firing at any time, the Mongol heavy cavalry had already rushed to the bayonet formation.

Although this heavy cavalry charge has obviously become much weaker than at the beginning, before the battle there were about 2,000 heavy cavalry, after two rounds of artillery fire and three rounds of musket fire, now there may be only 1,000 hanging zeros, but a thousand heavy cavalry rushed to the bayonet array without moving forward, can the bayonet array really resist?

If you can't resist, what will you do next?

The battlefield didn't have time to think, the Mongol heavy cavalry now had no long-range weapon threat, and the pent-up anger was completely released, and the ferocious impact did not hesitate at all. Their hideous faces show their unforgettable hatred for the Ming army in front of them.

Riding on foot? Now it's up to you how you make it!

But they soon discovered that they were focused on the artillery and muskets of the Ming army, while ignoring certain "old weapons".

Zhang Wanbang's improvised "astringent" was trampled by the Mongolian heavy cavalry, flying and dancing. Many of the ground astringents who were trampled by the war horses and flew up slapped the iron thistles on the wooden boards on the war horses or warriors.

The war horse equipment of the Mongolian heavy cavalry is not European, and the protection is not so exaggerated, and the legs of the war horse are completely exposed, and they will immediately lose their combat effectiveness when they are hit by thistles. Then there was another wave of unavoidable losses, and more than 200 heavy cavalry fell in the "darkest hour before dawn".

The remaining eight hundred heavy cavalry were completely angry, their eyes were red, and the anger in their hearts could only be washed away with blood. Burihatu exchanged 1,200 of the most precious heavy cavalry for 800 heavy cavalry to reach the front of the bayonet formation.

No one still had the heart to consider whether it was cost-effective or not, and a bloody contest began.

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