Chapter 1270 Returning Arrow

Moreover, the Yuan army was advancing towards the arrows of the Ming army, while the Ming army was advancing in the same direction as the arrows of the Yuan army. It is self-evident who was at a disadvantage and who was at an advantage.

Therefore, the Ming army chose to retreat actively in order to better attack the Yuan army. Of course, the premise is that they all have to master the horse-turning arrow, a difficult horse-riding archery skill.

It was Boss Zhu's autumn exercises and winter drills year after year that laid a solid foundation for the Ming army, so that they could use various tactics with ease on the battlefield.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen from both sides chased and fought in the vast Korqin grassland, shooting arrows at each other. At first glance, it was the Yuan army with more people that had the advantage because they were always chasing.

But if the camera was pulled to the local battlefield, it was not the case at all. I saw that the arrows shot by the Yuan army mostly fell to the ground after flying a distance.

The arrows shot by the Ming army turned around and flew obviously faster and farther. The oncoming Yuan army seemed to deliberately hit the arrows. No matter whether the people or the horses were hit by arrows, the result was that the people and the horses were thrown to the ground.

After chasing for several miles, the Ming army had accumulated considerable results. The Yuan army was obviously frightened by the Ming army's arrows, so fewer and fewer people rushed to the front, and most of them stayed far behind, hiding outside the Ming army's range...

In the process of dealing with the Mongols, the Ming army had long discovered that their universal military service had serious flaws.

To put it in a good way, universal military service means that all men who can ride horses can go to the battlefield, which can squeeze the population's war potential to the extreme. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty has a population of more than 100 million, but only more than 2 million troops, while the Mongols have a population of several million, and can pull out hundreds of thousands of troops.

But on the other hand, universal military service is bound to be mixed. As the saying goes, "the same rice feeds a hundred kinds of people", the men of the same ethnic group are also of various types, some are brave and some are cowardly, some are good at fighting and some are useless, and the proportions are actually not bad.

So the cavalry of the Ming army has been screened through layers, and only soldiers who are excellent in all aspects are qualified to ride on war horses and become cavalry. On the Yuan army side, as long as a man can draw a bow and ride a horse, he must go to the battlefield. So it is difficult for them to be of one mind, advance and retreat together, let alone live and die together.

According to Wang Bi's experience of fighting with them for many years, Mongolian soldiers can be divided into three categories. Among them, the first category is brave and good at fighting, not afraid of sacrifice. The shadow of their ancestors can be seen from these people. They are also the root of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

After them, there is a second category of people, who will also follow the first category, and even perform as well as the first category when the wind is favorable. But they will only fight when there is no risk. Once they encounter danger, the first thing they think of is to save their own lives. At this time, they will tighten the reins, control the warhorse, and stay away from danger with inconspicuous means.

There is also the last category, which is the cowards. They participate in the battle on the surface, but not in fact; they only think about saving their lives, so they always hide behind their companions and are ready to escape at any time.

In fact, not only Mongolian soldiers, but all armies have three types of people, but the number is different. The Ming cavalry had already screened out the latter two types of people as much as possible during the selection process. They were also the founding army that had won every battle, and their morale and courage were at their peak.

However, the Mongols were in a low period of retreating back to the grassland, and they were used to running away from top to bottom, so the number of people in the first category was the least, and the second and third categories were the majority.

According to Wang Bi's observation, the first category of people did not exceed one-fifth of the Mongolian soldiers, and even if the Wuliangha tribe was stronger, it would never exceed one-third. So the real enemy that fought against the Ming army was not 40,000, but about 10,000!

Therefore, in Wang Bi's view, the advantage in military strength was actually on his side, so he was determined to do it!

~~

In addition to completely disrupting the Mongolian formation, the Ming army's large-scale pulling was also to separate these three types of people.

The Ming army's returning horse arrows have always hit the first type of people who rushed to the front, and they have to kill as many of these warriors as possible before hand-to-hand combat.

This process is not achieved overnight, and it takes at least one or two hours, or even half a day. But cavalry vs. cavalry is always a protracted tug-of-war, and patience is required.

At noon, as the pursuit distance became farther and farther, the Yuan army's front line became longer and longer. The distance between the vanguard and the main force behind was getting farther and farther, and no one could be seen when looking back.

The captain of the Ming army had been closely observing the movements of the Yuan army. He saw from the telescope that its vanguard was alone and that his own troops were partially superior, so he finally blew the copper whistle to stop retreating.

Amid the sharp whistle, a thousand Ming cavalrymen pulled in the reins, turned their horses' heads, and charged at the Yuan army's vanguard, which had only two or three hundred left, with superior forces.

The Yuan cavalrymen who caught up were all warriors who were ashamed to retreat. They did not hesitate to move forward because of their numerical disadvantage, but instead launched a decisive charge against the Ming army!

After half a day of fighting, the soldiers of both sides finally came into close combat.

The battle scene became fierce in an instant. The horses of both sides collided fiercely. The soldiers on horseback waved their sabers and slashed at the enemy on the opposite side.

The spurting blood fell on the white snow and was immediately trampled by the horses' hooves and turned into mud. The sound of weapons clashing, screams and curses were mixed together. Everyone had only one thought: kill the enemy!

However, although the Yuan army cavalry was brave, they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. They were not protected by armor like the Ming army, so they did not cause much damage to the Ming army and were completely wiped out...

Until the last Yuan soldier died under the sword of the Ming army, the large army behind did not catch up.

The Ming army soldiers were not in a hurry to kill back. They rested for a while and waited for the arrival of the Yuan army.

The follow-up troops of the Yuan army arrived late until the Ming army had finished eating dry food and fed bean cakes to the war horses.

Seeing that the vanguard troops in the front were all killed by the sword of the Ming army, the large army of the Yuan army, which obviously had a numerical advantage, actually stopped and dared not move forward...

The sheep without the lion leading them, no matter how many there are, have no courage to challenge the wolf pack.

The thousand households of the Ming army shot a whistling arrow, and the soldiers of the Ming army threw a round at the Yuan army together, and then launched a charge while shooting arrows!

The number of Yuan troops was about 3,000, while the Ming army had less than 1,000 people, but in the face of the Ming army's thunderous charge, it was the Yuan army that was afraid.

When the two sides were 20 meters apart, the Yuan army, which was three times larger than the Ming army, actually wavered. The third group of Mongolian soldiers who had been lagging behind all turned their horses around and ran away.

The second group of Mongolian soldiers in the front did not have the courage to fight to the death with the Ming army, and they also turned around and retreated...

The scene was exactly as Wang Bi had expected.