On the eighth day of the fourth lunar month in the 26th year of Wanli, the second day of the war between the north and south of the Daming Empire, Xiao Ruxun led the troops of the four towns and defeated the thirty thousand Northern Barbarians' vanguard at Shahukou. They killed seventeen thousand of the enemy and beheaded one thousand and six hundred. The rest, except for a thousand who were captured, fled.
This was the first time Xiao Ruxun faced the Northern Barbarians directly outside the Great Wall. He used twenty thousand infantrymen as the main force to fight against the Northern Barbarians' cavalry. After fighting for an hour, Li Rusong led his cavalry into the battle and defeated the Northern Barbarians cavalry in one fell swoop.
Originally, Xiao Ruxun planned to use the walls of Shahukou to deal with the Northern Barbarians. However, he did not expect the Northern Barbarians to destroy Shahukou so badly that it could not be used for the time being. In desperation, Xiao Ruxun decided to gather twenty thousand infantrymen, with his own bodyguards as the core, and once again go out of the city to fight in the field.
To be honest, ever since he set off for the Ningxia expedition, he had never fought a defensive battle. He had always been attacking, attacking, attacking. In his opinion, defensive battles were sometimes used to avoid battles. Warriors who truly dared to fight would not be afraid of fighting in the field.
In the later stages of the Ming Army, they still dared to fight the Qing army face to face with inferior firearms. However, as soon as they came into contact with the Qing army, they were beaten into a sorry state and had no ability to fight in the field. It was the same for the Qing army in the later stages. Faced with the foreigners' sharp firearms, the Qing army dared to fight back against the foreigners. Once the foreigners used their bayonets to charge, the Qing army immediately collapsed.
An army that did not dare to fight in the field was not an army!
Xiao Ruxun severely reprimanded the Yulin and Taiyuan generals who raised doubts about fighting in the field. He named them and ordered them to lead their troops to fight with him against the Northern Barbarians cavalry. At the same time, he ordered Li Rusong to lead the cavalry outside the Great Wall to find a suitable location. After receiving his signal flare, they would come out to help in the battle.
He wanted to grind away the fear of the Northern Barbarians that the soldiers of the Nine Borders had instilled in them for so long.
He wanted to let these soldiers and generals know that cavalry was not invincible. Cavalry was not the natural enemy of infantry. After training, infantry could rely on battle formations to fight against cavalry!
Therefore, Xu Guangqi, who had stayed behind in the Great Wall, watched the entire soul-stirring battle of infantry against cavalry through the Monocular. He saw with his own eyes the process of the battle that Xiao Ruxun said that infantry could also fight against cavalry.
Of course, it was the cavalry led by Li Rusong who finally defeated the Northern Barbarians. Only they had enough mobility to chase after the Northern Barbarians who had been defeated by the infantry. The result was, of course, gratifying. Li Rusong killed to his heart's content. His body was covered in blood, and he immediately brought back a dozen heads with him, his face full of excitement.
"What a satisfying battle! Governor, this time, these Northern Barbarians should be more well-behaved! "
Li Rusong looked fiercely in the direction where the Northern Barbarians had escaped.
Just as Xiao Ruxun had estimated, they had built three forts along the way, and it had indeed had a significant deterrent effect. The scouts had reported that the Northern Barbarians had split up twice, once with more people, and once with less people. Now, their numbers had been reduced by about a fifth.
But the rest still came, and they were brimming with anger.
They were extremely dissatisfied with the way the Ming Army had beheaded their compatriots and built forts. They were extremely angry that the Ming Army, who had always been in a weak position, dared to treat them like this. They roared for revenge, for the Hans to pay the price, and rushed over to kill.
According to Xiao Ruxun's estimation, this group of soldiers definitely had about a hundred thousand soldiers. Now that almost a fifth of them had been killed, there were still four fifths left. They still could not be underestimated, and they would definitely come again.
In fact, it was already the beginning of spring, and the north was no longer as cold as it was a few months ago. Every day at noon, Xiao Ruxun could even feel the warmth of the sun on his body, and it was very comfortable. Logically speaking, the Northern Barbarians should have returned long ago, but they did not. They still went south.
They were probably furious.
But it didn't matter, this was Xiao Ruxun's goal. If these Northern Barbarians were not around, his position as the Governor would not be stable, and the northern expedition would be nonsense. He needed enough time to deal with the Northern Barbarians, and then wait for the supplies from the court to arrive, and then he could start the northern expedition.
Anyway, the target of the northern expedition was Guihua City. Between the Battle of Hukou and Guihua City, Xiao Ruxun would kill every Northern Barbarians who could still fight.
At the moment, the hundreds of thousands of Northern Barbarians heading south had set up camp on the grasslands, looking like they wanted to find the Ming Army for revenge, and would not stop until they got their revenge. This made Xiao Ruxun very satisfied. This way, he would have enough time to wait for the response from the court.
After the war, Xiao Ruxun returned to the Pass, took a bath, changed into a clean set of clothes, and washed his armor before changing into it. Then, he began to patrol the camp of the Battle of Hukou Ming Army. As usual, the first place he inspected was the wounded barracks.
A major characteristic of Xiao Ruxun's leadership was that he paid great attention to the recovery of the wounded. Back when he was fighting in Ningxia, almost all the doctors in Ningxia who were good at treating wounds caused by knives and swords were brought into the military camp to form an ambulance battalion. After arriving in Myanmar, it became a routine.
Right now, here, the ambulance battalion was also shining brightly.
From the doctors who were rescued from the captive Han people to those who had some medical skills in the army, all of them were gathered by Xiao Ruxun and handed over to the small ambulance team that followed the Zhennan Army north to manage. After a period of training and replenishment, a field ambulance battalion of more than 400 people was formed.
All the wounded soldiers, regardless of whether they were fighting or sick, would seek treatment from the ambulance battalion. Before every battle, the soldiers would be checked to see if there were any wounded soldiers. Only healthy soldiers were allowed to enter the battlefield.
After entering the battlefield, as long as they still had a breath left, they would try to treat them. They would never abandon any wounded soldiers. This was the iron rule of Xiao Ruxun's leadership, and it was also the reason why he was so popular.
After this battle, the infantry suffered heavy losses. More than 3,000 people died in battle, and no less than 6,000 were injured. This was the first time since the start of the war that the camp was filled with wounded soldiers.
However, considering that these soldiers were forced to enter the battlefield by Xiao Ruxun without any meticulous training, it could only be said that this was something that could not be helped.
Under such circumstances, how could Xiao Ruxun be allowed to train his soldiers?
"Governor, there are so many wounded soldiers. How long will it take to treat them?"
Xu Guangqi followed behind Xiao Ruxun. Looking at the camp full of wounded soldiers and hearing the cries of pain, he couldn't help but frown.
"No matter how long it takes, I will continue to treat them. Veterans who have fought on the battlefield and seen blood are incomparable to new recruits. At critical times, a veteran is equivalent to ten new recruits. Many times, new recruits need to rely on veterans to increase their survival rate on the battlefield.
Therefore, as long as the veteran still has a breath left, I must try to save them. Moreover, most of the wounded soldiers here only have one or two cuts. They can be treated with some herbs and bandages. If we just give up and let their wounds fester and die, it will be too cruel. "
"Then the cost … seems to be very high?"
Xu Guangqi asked.
"The cost is not a problem. It's just a handful of herbs. Compared to a human life, a few copper coins are nothing."
Xiao Ruxun explained.
"I see. I understand."
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