March of the seventh year of Tianshun.

Since the Tatar army attacked the defense line of Fuyuchuan and was forced to retreat, they could not hold it, but only sent a small force of iron cavalry to counterattack the attack of the Tiance army.

In this way, the Tatar army has been in a stalemate with the Tiance army in the area of Saihan Mountain.

He has not been idle, and has been integrating the troops and materials of the various Tatar departments, preparing to gather the strength of the entire Tatar Ministry and fight Liu Juntao to the end.

Seeing that the Tatar army was really in a stalemate with the Tiance army, and the Tiance army did not win in a short time, they all had some confidence and began to send troops and horses to support the army, and some tribes with fewer troops or insufficient courage also sent cattle, sheep, grain and grass as support.

During this period, Polai also mobilized a part of the Tatar troops and horses to return to the reinforcements, and rushed to the city of Hara Manglai (Guangwu Town), 200 miles north of the Saihan Mountain, in order to establish a defensive line between the Tatar Khan's tent and the Saihan Mountain.

After that, Polai continued to mobilize troops from various departments of the grassland, and constantly moved closer to the city of Halamanglai to strengthen the forces in the city. In just a few days, he gathered 100,000 troops in the city, and gathered all the remaining 100,000 troops left behind by the Tatar troops in the Khan tent.

After the deployment was completed, Polai did not continue to confront the soldiers of the Tiance Army in Saihan Mountain, nor did he attack the mountain again, but led the main force of more than 100,000 Tatar troops to the north and stationed at Lingji Spring, which was twenty miles away from Saihan Mountain.

This Lingji Spring is the largest water source within a radius of 100 miles of Saihan Mountain, and occupying this place controls the lifeblood of the Saihan Mountain area.

Although there is also a water source on the Saihan Mountain where the soldiers of the Tiance Army are stationed, and there is even a river, it is formed by the melting of the snow on the mountain, and now the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the water sources around the Saihan Mountain are getting less and less, and the 130,000 soldiers of the Tiance Army will face the danger of cutting off the water for a long time!

The hundreds of thousands of troops of the Tatar Department were constantly arranging and arranging troops, and naturally they could not hide the investigation of the various units of the Tiance Army at night and sharp whistles, and all kinds of intelligence continued to gather in front of Liu Juntao, and the strategy of the future was also clearly presented in front of Liu Juntao's eyes.

"You're ready to fight a protracted battle with us!"

Liu Juntao said with some concern: "This time the crisis in Liaodong has been resolved, and there will definitely be voices of withdrawal in the imperial court." On our side, the Tatar army refused to attack, but began to arrange troops to prepare for a war with us, a quick battle has become a protracted war, which will make the imperial court consume astronomical amounts of money and food. ”

The meaning of Liu Juntao's words, everyone understands that the imperial court will retreat because of the stalemate in this battle, and will let the various units of the Tiance Army order the withdrawal of troops after achieving a small victory!

Hu Dexing, the chief military officer of Shandong Town, said: "At the beginning, all the Tatar departments were watching, and then they could only supervise the onslaught of the army and fight with us to the end in Fuyuchuan!" I really can't understand why those Tartars suddenly changed their sexuality and began to send troops to support them? ”

Liu Juntao sighed and said: "After all, he is the nominal Great Khan of the Tatar Department, and although he lost more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Fuyuchuan, it is not a defeat, at most the attack is unfavorable. Those Tatar departments are all rudder goods who see the wind, and seeing that they can barely tie with us, they naturally all contribute. ”

Everyone's faces became a little solemn.

At this time, the Tatar army of nearly 400,000 iron cavalry had been divided into three routes, and more than 180,000 iron cavalry troops were stationed in Lingji Spring, using water sources to entangle with the Tiance army; An army of 100,000 men was stationed in the city of Haramanglai, as a strong line of defense, and as a backup for the troops of the Porlai; In the end, 100,000 troops were stationed in the tent of the Tatar Ministry to defend the "capital" of the Tatar Department, and the 10,000 cowardly Xue army that he had worked so hard to build was also left in the tent as the last killer weapon in the event of an emergency!

The situation of this battle has been reversed several times since the start of the war, at this time for the Tatar department, time is on the side of the Tatar department, as long as the time is delayed, the 130,000 Tiance army soldiers can only withdraw the army and retreat after a long time without success, and then the time will definitely lead the army to chase after the cheap!

This is also the biggest problem faced by the Han army in the northern expedition to the desert in all dynasties, once the Tartars on the grassland blindly retreat to defend and fight for attrition, after a long time, the Han army has only one way to retreat.

Hu Dexing was also annoyed, and said loudly: "Governor! Since you want to fight us, then we will accompany you to the end! Let's attack and attack Lingji Spring with all our might! ”

The rest of the generals also hugged their fists and asked for battle, in the eyes of everyone, this battle was fought in Fuyu Sichuan or Lingji Spring, there was no difference, and the final defeated side must be the Tatar Department!

Liu Juntao was also infected by the arrogance of the generals, and said with a smile: "Okay! Since the Tartars want to die in a different place, then let's become an adult and fulfill the beauty! ”

The crowd burst out laughing.

"Pass the order! Early tomorrow morning, the soldiers of all departments will drive out of the Burial River and assemble and attack five miles to the north! ”

Early the next morning, Liu Juntao led 130,000 soldiers of the Tiance Army to set off and assembled five miles north of Saihan Mountain.

A day later, the 130,000 soldiers of the Tiance Army arrived five miles south of Lingji Spring, and Liu Juntao ordered the army to set up camp and prepare to start attacking early tomorrow morning.

At the military meeting on the same day, Liu Juntao deployed 130,000 soldiers of the Tiance Army.

In this battle, Liu Juntao ordered: General Sun Xu led the Tiger Army, and General Yan Hu led the Eagle Yang Army as the left flank to attack Lingji Spring from the west; General Chen Ziping led the Vietnamese cavalry, and General Gao Ran led the Zhichong Army as the right flank to attack Lingji Spring from the east; He led the Longxiang Army as the Chinese army, and the guerrilla general Liu Youfu led the trapping army as the rear army, stationed in the camp of the Tiance Army.

Staff General Zhou Zongsheng led the officers and men of the Changshui Army to garrison the Chinese army, ready to charge at any time.

While Liu Juntao was discussing the strategy with the generals of the Tiance Army and the shogunate officials, Xiao Lai and his generals were also discussing the strategy of the battle.

For example, today's army finally went north, this news made the leaders and generals of the Tatar department very excited, the Tiance army finally did not nest in the defense line of Saihan Mountain, and the iron cavalry of the Tatar department could finally gallop on the plain and charge the Ming army array.

But in addition to the excitement, there was a sense of uneasiness and fear among the people under him. Can you defeat the undefeated Tiance Army this time? There is no bottom in everyone's hearts.

After the deployment of the nearly 400,000 iron cavalry army of the Tatar tribe, the entire Tatar department began to cut back on food and clothing, providing food and horse feed for the nearly 400,000 iron cavalry army and millions of war horses.

This kind of consumption would be extremely difficult even for the rich and powerful Ming Empire, not to mention the Tatar Ministry, which had an unusually weak economic base.

In less than a month, nearly two-thirds of the tribes of the Tatar tribes had exhausted almost all their reserves, and the leaders of the Tatar tribes were full of complaints.

Even if this battle is won in the future, even if the Tiance army is killed in a river of blood, the Tatar troops will be greatly damaged, and it will be difficult to recover in a short time.

And the Ming Dynasty has a population of hundreds of millions and inexhaustible wealth, and in a few years, it can gather tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of elite troops!

Although as the Great Khan, Xiao Lai repeatedly promised the tribes that as long as the Tiance army was defeated and the Ming army was driven out of the desert, not only would they be given the most booty, but after the Tatar tribe recovered, the land, population and wealth obtained by going south to conquer the Ming Dynasty would be distributed to all the tribes.

However, after this month, the Tatar troops have gained a deeper understanding of the situation in this war while being mobilized and deployed.

In this battle, the best result was that the Tatars tried their best to defeat the Tiance Army at the cost of fighting all their money, and in a few years later, they would have to face the revenge of the Ming Empire with even more unbearable strength.

And the worst result is that in this battle, nearly 400,000 Tatar iron cavalry troops were wiped out!

Either way, it was unacceptable to the chiefs of the Tatar tribes.

In the past, the Tatar army fought against the Ming Dynasty, basically in various parts of the Ming border, even if the Tatar army was unfavorable in battle, it could also be withdrawn to the grassland to recuperate.

But at this time, the Ming army's 130,000 most elite Tiance army has been killed into the desert, if this battle is defeated, the Tatar department will have no way to retreat, and the only end is to be wiped out by the Ming army!

For a time, a haze and desolate mood spread in everyone's hearts, and everyone can see the situation in the desert today, under the anger of Liu Juntao, the governor of Shanxi in the Ming State and the governor of Ningbei, the Tatar Ministry has been finished regardless of victory or defeat, and the promise of the Great Khan is simply an empty word.

However, in the face of the Great Khan, whose strength was far stronger than that of the various tribes, the leaders and generals of the Tatar tribes could only swallow their anger and send thousands of livestock into the three camps of the Khan Tent, Lingji Spring, and Hara Manglai City.

This time, the Tiance army went north to attack the desert, which was different from any previous time of the Han people.

In the past, the Han people attacked the desert just like the Hu invasion of China, burning, killing and looting, with the main purpose of annihilating and severely damaging the Hu soldiers and horses. But this time Liu Juntao was unusual, first he continued to mobilize troops and horses from all over Shanxi to follow up, and held all the strongholds occupied along the way, built a walled city and fortress on the spot, and then built a strong defense line in Fuyuchuan, it is said that Liu Juntao had ordered the follow-up Ming army to be stationed as soon as possible, apparently with the main purpose of occupying the desert, which was not expected by all the Tatar leaders, including Xiaolai, who were surprised and frustrated.

When he received all kinds of news from the south, he stayed in his Chinese army tent for several days and pondered how to deal with it, but in the end he could only sigh and be at a loss.

Now Liu Juntao led the 130,000 Tiance army to be stationed in the south less than ten miles, but never attacked, but on the one hand to collect some of the defeated Tatar troops and subordinates, appointed civil officials and military generals from the north of the Ming Dynasty to govern, and at the same time moved some weak Hu tribes who were oppressed by the Tatar Department to take refuge.

Liu Juntao's methods would gradually control the desert over time, and at the same time, it would also push the Tatars into a desperate situation step by step.