Chapter 18 Everything is in chaos
Daishan was knocked over by a gunshot. As the horses and people were so crowded together, he couldn't even fall to the ground. His body could only be supported by several horses. He was breathing in less than he was breathing out, and it was obvious that he was dying.

Li Hao took the opportunity to chase the enemy and pulled Daishan from the feet. He first cut off the neck strap of the Tartar from the back of his neck, took off the extremely hard neck guard, and then chopped off his head with two knives.

During this process, Cao Bianjiao cooperated very well and always protected Li Hao's right side.

"General Li, hurry up and charge out. The Tartars are going crazy. We may be surrounded in front of us again."

Cao Wenzhao on the left wing of the Ming army still had the leisure to observe the enemy situation. Although the Niulu Ezhen and Jiala Ezhen of the Zhenghong Banner were all leading their bannermen to disperse in the army, they were keeping a close eye on their banner master Daishan. Now, several Niulu Ezhen and Jiala Ezhen had caught a glimpse of the sudden changes in the central army and were preparing to encircle the army again from the side far away from Ningyuan City.

He then quickly reminded the main general Li Hao.

After tying up Daishan's head, General Li Qian also understood that this group of Ming troops could not cause much trouble. Killing nearly a hundred Tartars and several Tartars of the Zhenghong Banner was already a great military achievement. So he did not hesitate and rode forward.

Kill people when you see them and chop horses when you see them to ensure a clear path ahead.

The dozen or so servants behind Li Hao, under the command of the Ji Banner General, always formed a circle. The four people on Cao Wenzhao's side were a few steps away from the two waves of Ming troops led by Li Hao and Cao Bianjiao. They fought desperately and finally broke out of the third row of Tatar cavalry before the cavalry on the two wings of the Zhenghong Banner could react.

"Go west!"

Cao Wenzhao was very experienced and knew that there was an army formation of the Bordered Blue Banner to the east. Jirgalang of the Bordered Blue Banner had never joined the battle from beginning to end and had kept a distance from this group of Ming troops, so it was easy for them to change their formation and they could better play their advantages in archery and cavalry.

If they headed east, they would be shot into pieces.

So the 17 or 18 people who escaped reined in their horses and turned to the west. Fortunately, the terrain to the west was very flat, so they just charged straight ahead. Although there were dozens of Tartars chasing them from behind, they only needed to dodge the first two or three rounds of arrows.

Although the Jiannu were invincible in cavalry and archery, they had to rest after shooting two or three arrows to avoid becoming exhausted and having no strength to fight again.

Most of the Zhenghong Banner troops were still crowded together, and it was not easy to change the direction of the horses. It seemed that Li Hao and others still had the possibility of making a detour and rushing to the city of Ningyuan.

"They killed the flag master, Beile. Rush up and take the flag master back!"

When a Niulu Ezhen named Tonggikeli saw that things were going badly, he sent his own bannermen to shout in various directions, hoping that the bannermen would temporarily break away from his Ezhen's control and attack quickly and alone to take back the banner master's head.

The Ming Dynasty used human heads as military merit, so the Later Jin and Mongolia naturally had to come up with countermeasures, and it became very important to retrieve the corpses.

Generally speaking, when the two sides were evenly matched, the number of enemies killed by the Ming Dynasty on the battlefield was two to three times the number of heads taken. And when the Ming Dynasty was defeated unilaterally, the Later Jin Dynasty could basically snatch back their own corpses.

The death of the flag leader in battle is a big deal, but compared to losing the flag leader's body, it is really nothing.

There are still thousands of armored soldiers in the Zhenghong Banner, and next to them are nobles of the Bordered Blue Banner such as Jirgalang and hundreds of armored flags. If the body of the great prince is lost, let alone the punishment from the Khan, even the pointing and criticizing of the people from the other six banners will make the two red flags unable to raise their heads and backbones.

Although the two red flags are now the two flags with the lowest status among the Eight Banners, they are not to be completely abandoned and ignore their own reputation.

At the reminder of the bannermen, some bannermen began to leave the army, turn their horses around and chase after the enemy.

In order to ensure that they would not be hit by the Qing bows, Li Hao and others had to maintain a distance of more than 50 steps from the enemy, so the circle turned into a sprint parallel to the northern wall of Ningyuan City.

"Quick, tell Wang Lama to fire the red cannons and provide support. Also send people down from the west gate city wall and prepare to open the gate to provide support."

Although Man Gui had become somewhat timid due to his old age and frailty, he was experienced enough to handle the battle of defending the city. Given the tilted arrangement of Ningyuan City, the northwest artillery battery could just cover the turning Jiannu cavalry.

In addition, the sound of artillery fire can greatly stimulate the war horses, thus slowing down the pursuit speed of the Zhenghongqi Tatars, allowing Li Hao and other Ming army members to return smoothly from the west gate.

The fierce battle under the city greatly enhanced the fighting spirit of the Ming army on the city, especially since many soldiers in the camp witnessed the heroic feat of their own brave generals charging and killing the Daishan Tartar of the Zhenghong Banner, and they admired Li Hao and others even more.

"Marshal Man, although we are not as brave and daring as General Li, we are not cowards who just stay on the city wall. Please allow us to go out of the city on horseback to support General Li." Several captains and captains were excited to watch the battle, so they instigated He Kegang, the garrison commander of the Daobiao Camp, to request General Man Gui to send troops to support the group of lone heroes outside the city.

"Fifty to sixty people will be enough. Guard He, you can arrange it. Go out from the north gate and walk close to the wall. If necessary, leave the city wall a little to provide support."

Man Gui waved his hand to express his agreement.

He Kegang and others hurriedly arranged the hanging basket and war horses, and prepared to go down to the city wall.

Of course, before leaving the city, he did not forget to send a servant to report the good news to his boss Yuan Bingxian.

"You just say that General Li led his troops to charge into the battle and killed a great Tartar. It is suspected that Daishan was killed."

According to the original arrangement, Yuan Bingxian led a group of soldiers to be stationed in the military training ground in the center of the city, and would not go up to the city unless the situation was urgent.

The servant took note of the order and left.

……

"The fighting over there is very intense, let's press on the west side as well."

Seeing that the Plain Red Banners gathered together, Jirgalang estimated that they should be able to deal with the Ming army, but just in case, he decided to let his Bordered Blue Banner move to the west.

But as soon as the army moved, the people of the Bordered Blue Banner discovered that the Ming army had actually escaped. Jirgalang was wondering how his old cousin had let the enemy escape, when he suddenly heard something that was hard to believe.

"Shuo Er Hui, what did they say?"

The Niulu Ezhen named Shuoerhui replied: "It seems that the great prince died in the battle."

He heard the shouts of the Zhenghong Bannermen, but he was not sure.

"Daishan Ahun is dead?" Jirgalang felt something was wrong.

The current situation of the Eight Banners is that the three brothers Ajige, Dorgon and Dodo, who are born of the same mother, are favored by the Khan. Ajige is the leader of the Plain Yellow Banner, Dodo is the leader of the Bordered Yellow Banner, and Dorgon does not lead a banner of his own, but has fifteen Niulu under his name. It seems that the old Khan is preparing to let Dorgon succeed to the throne.

In fact, among the four great beiles Daishan, Amin, Manggurtai and Huang Taiji, his elder brother Amin had a good relationship with Daishan, but Huang Taiji had a greater chance of winning the succession to the Khan throne.

Jirgalang himself had a better relationship with Huang Taiji, so he planned to persuade Daishan to support Huang Taiji. His brother Amin held a neutral attitude, so Huang Taiji had a great advantage in succession.

If Daishan died, the Khan would order the splitting of the Zhenghong Banner and transfer Daishan's second son Shuotuo from the Xianghong Banner, or let Dorgon and Dodo lead the Zhenghong Banner, which would directly consolidate the succession to the Khanship among the three brothers.

That would be a complete mess.

Jirgalang's mind was in a mess. He couldn't understand why an ordinary robbery could turn out like this.

"Belle, are we going to help?"

Shuoerhui's words brought Jirgalang's divergent thoughts back to reality.

"We must go to help. Order all units to advance in turn, head towards the north gate, and block the Ming army's way into the north gate." After a brief analysis, Jirgalang issued a combat order.

PS: Please give me recommendation votes and monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)