Chapter 117: Across the Desert

The various internal affairs in Beijing have nothing to do with the generals who are going abroad.

Yang Hong stayed in Daning City for about half a month, and then began to lead the army to the northwest.

This is the 800-mile Hanhai Sea, and it is also the biggest obstacle in the Northern Expedition.

Although this Hanhai is a desert, it is different from other deserts, it is more of the Gobi Desert, there is no quicksand, and there are even rivers that go deep into the Gobi.

But even so, it is not easy for a large group of people to cross the Gobi.

After all, the last time the Ming Dynasty crossed the Hanhai Sea, it was in the last years of Yongle.

It's been more than 30 years now.

Most of the people who crossed the Hanhai Sea back then are no longer there, and even a few of them are too old to go into battle.

Therefore, this piece of Gobi Desert is strange and dangerous to most of the Ming army.

The Tile Spur army can appear in a certain direction of the Gobi stall at any time.

Moreover, the cruel natural environment on the Gobi Desert is enough for everyone to drink a pot.

It is necessary to walk along the water source, march in the Gobi, and if there is no water source, it will cost human life at all. Moreover, tens of thousands of people and animals who rode into the Gobi were in great demand.

Many of the water sources in the Gobi are seasonal and change from year to year. Even the armies could not gather together and walk.

Because of the lack of water, the army divided into several roads and crossed the desert in parallel.

Daning, Kaiping, and Dongshengwei are the traffic points of Monan. Links.

Some people may think that there is no obstacle at all on the grassland, why Daning, Kaiping, and Dongsheng will become transportation centers.

The reason is simple, the Mongols built a large number of post roads around these three places, as well as Yinaiji in the northwest, where the ancient Juyanhai was located.

These post roads form a transportation network.

As mentioned earlier, the capacity of grasslands is limited.

As the Mongols who knew the steppe best, the road they specially selected was naturally the one that was easy for the brigade to march. It is still used even today.

What's more.

From Yi Naiji, Dongshengwei, Kaiping, and Daning all have post roads leading directly to Mobei.

It's not that other places can't cross the desert, but there are roads left by predecessors, but they are the easiest roads for armies to pass.

However, the only problem is Kaiping, from the north of Kaiping through Hanhai, to Yingchang, it is not too easy, generally from Kaiping to Mobei to go west first, or to the east for a while.

Similarly, if the tile spur crosses the desert and is in the east of Kaiping, it will be between Kaiping and Daning, and in contrast, it will naturally win in the east.

And this time in the Northern Expedition, Guo Deng's department first walked one or two hundred miles east from Kaiping, and then turned horizontally and went north

Desert. The reason chosen by Yang Hong is a little more easterly, almost passing through the east side of the Great Gobi.

Therefore, the focus of the army's attack is on the Krulun River.

This is the birthplace of the Mongols.

There is even a legend that the place where the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty were buried is in the Krulun River Valley, where there are large areas of grassland rich in water and grass, and even large wetlands.

This is naturally the most important survival resource of the Mongols.

Therefore, Yang Hong crossed the Hanhai Sea and was even more cautious, lest he would be attacked by the tile thorns if his foothold was stable.

It's just that when he came to the banks of the Karen River, there seemed to be nothing. On the grassland in late spring, flowers are in full bloom, blue sky and white clouds in the distance, and grass and flowing water in the distance.

There is no trace of the human body. 、

Not to mention the trail of the tile thorns.

Yang Hong set up camp by the Krulun River, ordered his soldiers to recuperate for a day or two, freed them from the fatigue of crossing the Han Sea, and then sent people to look for traces within a radius of hundreds of miles.

With the size of the steppe, even if the Mongols retreated, it would not be possible to evacuate everyone.

So there must be fish that slip through the net.

Moreover, Yang Hong also sent people to find Guo Deng, Shi Heng's department, Yang Hong calculated the time, and all departments should also be in place.

It was just a news coming, but it made Yang Hong frown.

There are some herdsmen in various places, all of whom are herdsmen who have escaped from the tile spurs, and there are only a few dozen households, and they are scattered all over the country, and it is also because they are too hidden that they have not been taken away by the tile spurs.

From their mouths, the news Yang Hong got was very messy.

For example, some people say that the tile spur retreated in the direction of the North Sea, some people say that the tile spur retreated in the northwest direction, and some people say that the tile spur retreated in the southwest direction.

This is still a general direction, and there are different opinions on where it is.

It was extremely confusing for a while.

Yang Hong also tortured to extract a confession, but he didn't get any accurate information, so Yang Hong had to admit that it was not these people who deceived him, but the thorns played tricks.

These herdsmen have no knowledge, and there are many ways to get them to treat their squad as a troop, and it is likely that these people have stayed here on purpose first.

Of course, it may not be possible to do it in the first place. There may be some people here who have really seen the traces of the first brigade.

But between the virtual and the real, who should Yang Hong trust?

This is the most troublesome part of the Ming Army's Northern Expedition.

It's not about fighting, it's about finding the main force of the tile spurs.

If you don't find the main force of the tile spur, you can't talk about a decisive battle, but this kind of place is vast and sparsely populated, and the other party is familiar with both the land and the land. How did Yang Hong find the other party.

This is a worldwide military dilemma.

For the current Yang Hong, there is no solution.

Even the brocade guards are useless.

Even if there is a brocade among the first subordinates

Wei was also taken away, and it was impossible to pass on the next message. The effectiveness of intelligence warfare in this era is rather limited.

That's all.

Immediately, Yang Hong heard two news, one was expected and the other was unexpected.

Unexpectedly, he met the scouts of Guo Deng's department one or two hundred miles to the west. Although the people sent to Guo Deng's army have not yet returned, it has been determined that Guo Deng has arrived.

Although the two armies are not close to each other, as long as the news is exchanged, even if they counterattack first, they must not swallow it in one gulp. Yang Hong was relieved a lot.

At least this battle may not have much credit. But at least nothing can go wrong.

In vain at most, march around the grassland, and then return to Monan.

Just another piece of news made Yang Hong very angry and said, "Shi Heng, how dare he? ”

It turned out that the scouts who chose Shi Heng's department all the way had already received the news that Shi Heng had arrived here a little earlier than Yang Hong.

This is also normal.

After all, Yang Hong and Guo Deng both have to cross the Hanhai.

And Shi Heng traveled all the way west from Zhaozhou, all of which were grasslands with abundant water and grass. There is no need to worry about supplies or anything, he can gallop hundreds of miles in one breath with all his cavalry.

Unless he met a few unlucky people who were injured on the road and couldn't join the army, Yang Hong didn't know that Shi Heng had already left them behind.

For a while, Yang Hong's anger in his heart almost exploded.

In fact, from their general's number, you can see the weight.

Although Guo Deng is the main general of the road, he is a marquis, and he is unable to compete with them for the position of commander, between Yang Hong and Shi Heng, in the trade-off of the center, Yang Hong is better than Shi Heng.

It's not that Yang Hong can fight better than Shi Heng, but that Yang Hong is more stable than Shi Heng.

Shi Heng's immortal battle was either a big victory or a big defeat, which was too much of a test of psychological quality.

Shi Heng is a gambler, but Zhu Qizhen is not, and neither is the Ming Center.

If the situation falls behind and you have to fight, then you won't talk about it, it's all a defeat anyway, and it won't be more difficult than a step-by-step fight.

But now it is clear that Da Ming has an overwhelming advantage over the tile spur, and even Zhu Qizhen has further ideas, such as if the tile spur really gives up Mobei this time, Zhu Qizhen is ready to build a city in Mobei.

With more than 10,000 lonely troops guarding, let the back ring be loyal to the Ming tribe, close to Zhaozhou, as a step by step to insert a nail in Mobei.

This plan is one of the various plans, and Shi Heng also knows it.

In this way, victory is guaranteed, so why put tens of thousands of soldiers on the table?

Therefore, the general of the expedition was Yang Hong, and Shi Heng only hung the general of the expedition.

Speaking of which, Yang Hong's position is above Shi Heng, but this time it is a three-way approach, as long as they rescue each other, the affiliation should not be too emphasized.

It's also a sign of respect for reality.