kvmb Chapter 122 Battle Loss Ratio
Chapter 122 Battle Loss Ratio
Not long after, Ding Xiu came back, and with him were four or five hundred cavalrymen and General He Shixian.
Lu Cheng didn't expect that He Shixian would come over in person to check the enemy situation.
"Captain Lu, take me to see the situation of this group of Later Jin troops first."
"Please follow me, General."
The two led a small group of cavalry and observed closely. He Shixian could not help but frowned: "Although this group of Later Jin troops is small in number, they are well-equipped. Although I brought more than 3000 soldiers, most of them have no armor, and the number of bows and muskets is even less.
Moreover, although the combined number of your two cavalrymen is comparable to that of the enemy cavalrymen, their quality is incomparable. It is basically impossible to annihilate them all. If Generals Li Ruzhen and Li Guangrong can cooperate with us, there is hope that we can encircle and annihilate this group of enemy troops."
Hearing this, Lu Cheng shook his head and said, "General He, I think you know the character of those two better than I do."
He Shixian pondered for a moment and said, "How about this? We first ambush this group of enemy troops in the rear, kill them by surprise, and then drive them towards the direction of the two generals. If we can eliminate as many of them as possible, the remaining enemy troops will not be many, and the two generals will surely send troops to intercept them."
"That's all we have to do."
He Shixian took out a map and analyzed the situation. Based on the movement direction of the enemy troops, he chose a suitable ambush site. Then he immediately ordered his men to rush to the designated location to ambush in advance.
He Shixian was quite capable of commanding troops. He had more than 3000 soldiers under his command, including more than 2000 combat-ready soldiers. There was no problem with his execution, and he quickly prepared for an ambush.
When this group of enemy troops passed through a forest, the Ming army archers hidden in the forest suddenly shot, and a wave of rain of arrows caught the enemy off guard.
After the enemy reacted, they immediately fought back. The archers on both sides shot at each other for a while, and the infantry of the Later Jin army began to charge.
Since the Ming army was hiding in the mountains and forests, it was not conducive to cavalry charge, and the cavalry of the Later Jin army could not play its advantage and immediately retreated to reduce losses.
However, the Ming army's equipment was too poor, their bows and arrows were weak and powerless. In addition, almost everyone in the Later Jin army was wearing armor. After several waves of arrows, the Ming army did not cause much substantial casualties to the other side. Instead, many of their own archers were killed or wounded.
When the two sides' infantry began to fight in close quarters, the gap became even more obvious.
The Later Jin army was composed of young and strong men with sturdy build. In He Shixian's army, the proportion of young and strong men was less than half, and most of them were very thin, obviously they did not have enough food on a regular basis.
Often two or three Ming soldiers were not able to defeat one enemy.
More than 3000 against more than 1000, and it was an ambush, and it was so difficult. You can imagine the gap between the two sides.
Seeing this, Lu Cheng on the hillside rushed out with Ding Xiu, waving his sword and killing the Later Jin army.
Lu Cheng might be a little lacking in cavalry combat, but he is not at all weak in infantry combat. He is like a tiger descending from a mountain. The long-handled goose-wing knife in his hand can be swung directly to leave an afterimage. With one slash, he can cut those leather-armored Later Jin soldiers into two pieces.
Ding Xiu was not far from him and was equally brave.
With the joining of two powerful generals, the situation soon began to improve.
Lu Cheng was very efficient in killing enemies, usually killing one with one strike, and rarely slashing at the same enemy a second time. Soon, he had carved out a bloody path in the Later Jin army.
Seeing that the casualties were increasing, the commander of the Later Jin army immediately ordered a retreat. The infantry turned around and began to run, while the cavalry used their advantage in horse archery to block the Ming army's infantry from chasing.
Lu Cheng quickly mounted his warhorse and, together with He Shixian, led the cavalry to engage in combat with the enemy cavalry. He took the opportunity to control the enemy's retreat route and drove them towards the direction of Li Ruzhen and Li Guangrong.
Because the Later Jin army's horse riding and archery skills were so powerful, the Ming army's cavalry did not dare to get too close to the enemy cavalry to avoid heavy casualties.
These days, the cost of maintaining a cavalryman is very high, and every cavalryman is a treasure. He Shixian spent all his family's wealth to maintain these hundreds of cavalrymen, and he didn't want to cause too much loss.
After chasing for a distance and confirming that the enemy was heading towards Li Ruzhen, He Shixian and Lu Cheng slowed down and counted the results and losses of this battle.
With the help of the favorable terrain and Lu Cheng, more than 240 Later Jin soldiers were killed, and He Shixian's troops also lost nearly 500 people.
Even so, He Shixian was already very satisfied.
In the battle between the Ming army and the Qing army, a casualty ratio of 2:1 was already very good.
"Captain Lu, this time it's all thanks to you. Don't worry, I will report this battle report truthfully, and I will definitely give you some credit for it."
"That's nothing. General He's troops are indeed good. If our General Du had the ability to command troops like General He, we wouldn't have been defeated so thoroughly."
He Shixian sighed when he heard this: "The Jiannu are powerful, and we are just letting our soldiers exchange their lives. It's a pity that our Ming soldiers often have to sacrifice several lives to exchange for one Later Jin Tartar."
It is worth mentioning that this group of more than a thousand Later Jin soldiers also looted a lot of property, and in their haste to escape, a lot of property was abandoned.
After He Shixian had his men count the property, he was ready to give some of it to Lu Cheng, but Lu Cheng shook his head and said, "General He, the main credit this time goes to you. And so many of your soldiers died in the battle, and you need to pay them pensions. I don't want this money."
"How can this be possible? If it weren't for Captain Lu, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to discover the enemy so early and successfully ambush them. You must take a share of these treasures. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease."
Seeing that the other party insisted on giving it, Lu Cheng only took a part of it: "I will take less, and please ask General He to take back the rest."
"Well... well then. I will remember Mr. Lu's kindness."
Although Lu Cheng only took a part of it, it was still seven or eight hundred taels. Together with the previous spoils, the total value had reached two thousand taels.
It has to be said that war costs money quickly, but also makes money quickly.
I was still worrying about two hundred taels of silver just two days ago, but today I have more than two thousand taels.
Of course, these two thousand taels may be a lot for an individual, but it is still too little to support a team.
The number of defeated soldiers gathered in Shenyang City alone exceeded 500, and the number was still increasing.
In the future, we will have to support an army of thousands of people, and two thousand taels will only be enough to pay one month's salary.
After clearing the battlefield, He Shixian and Lu Cheng chased the Qing army from a distance.
It was not until nightfall that the Qing army encountered the troops of Li Ruzhen and Li Guangrong in front.
He Shixian had already sent out a small group of cavalry in advance to inform the two men and ask them to encircle the enemy forces together and completely annihilate them.
However, Li Ruzhen and Li Guangrong seemed not to have noticed the enemy troops. They allowed them to escape from a not far away without giving chase.
Upon seeing this, He Shixian was immediately furious: "These two useless people who are just sitting there doing nothing! They didn't even dare to order troops to go out when there was such a good opportunity, and watched the enemy slip away. It's really hateful."
Lu Cheng was not surprised at all. Instead, he consoled him, "General He, I will report this matter to the governor. The governor will punish these two people severely."
"Humph! I thought General Li Chengliang was a famous general, but I never thought his sons would be so incompetent."
Immediately, He Shixian sent a messenger to report the situation here in detail to Xiong Tingbi.
After Xiong Tingbi learned the news, he immediately ordered the three generals to lead their troops back, and Lu Cheng also returned to Shenyang City with He Shixian's troops.
After all this trouble, two or three days had passed.
In this expedition, except for Lu Cheng and He Shixian who each made considerable gains, Li Ruzhen and Li Guangrong, with a total of five or six thousand troops, did not even see a single hair of the Later Jin Tartars.
After everyone returned to Shenyang, Xiong Tingbi immediately summoned all the generals and prepared to take action against Li Ruzhen and Li Guangrong...