At the beginning of December of the fifth year of Tianshun.

The battle of Yanmen Pass has been fought for more than ten days, and the general Yan Hu sends battle reports every two days.

So far, the defenders of Yanmen Pass have been exhausted, the defenders of the original Yanmen Pass have little left, thousands of soldiers have been killed more than 3,000 people, and more than 1,000 people are in the battle for cowardice, and they were beheaded by the general Yan Hu in public.

At this time, there are more than 10,000 soldiers of the Yingyang Army in Yanmen Pass, in terms of strength alone, Yanmen Pass is still as stable as Mount Tai, but in the report sent by Yan Hu, the grain and grass in Yanmen Pass can only last for a few days, if there is no reinforcement, money and food support, the defenders in Yanmen Pass will face the danger of running out!

After receiving this battle report, Liu Juntao was also anxious.

At this time, the Tatar army in the north still had at least more than 80,000 iron cavalry, and the strength was still the same.

In order to force the Tatar army to fight, Liu Juntao even pulled dozens of Tatar soldiers who had been captured before to the Tatar camp, and beheaded all these captives in front of thousands of Tatar iron horsemen.

But at the end of the day, the Tatar iron cavalry army still did not respond to the battle, not only that, but tens of thousands of Tatar iron cavalry also slowly retreated, retreated ten miles and then re-encamped.

At the same time, the Tatar Iron Cavalry Army's main general, Weng Leng, also assigned 20,000 Iron Cavalry to guard four places, occupying the surrounding Ming army fortresses, and forming a defense line that spread for dozens of miles together with the Tatar battalion, obviously preparing to fight a protracted battle with the soldiers of the Tiance Army.

Liu Juntao received the news, immediately summoned the generals, handed the information sent by Liu Zi'an to everyone for circulation, and then said: "Now the Tatar army has occupied Hongci Fort, Zhenhe Fort, Zhenchuan Fort, Zhuma Fort, Baoan Fort, Rejection Fort, Zhenqiang Fort, etc., 20,000 Tatar Iron Cavalry are stationed everywhere, and more than 60,000 main Iron Cavalry troops are stationed in the camp of Eleven Miles from Zhenhe Fort, these Tartars are ready to stay here, everyone will discuss how to end this battle as soon as possible!" ”

Since the Tatar army took the initiative to divide troops and garrison various places, it was just time to take advantage of this opportunity to break through each other, and the Tiger Ben Army and the Long Xiang Army attacked the fortresses garrisoned by the Tatars in various places, while the Changshui Army was to monitor the main army of the Tatar Army.

However, the general Zhou Zongsheng did not agree with this plan, believing that attacking the fortresses one by one would not only increase the casualties of the officers and soldiers of each department, but also be very time-consuming.

Therefore, Zhou Zongsheng advocated that the Tiger Army and the Long Xiang Army attack various fortresses for feints to attract the attention of the Tatar army, and then the soldiers of the Changshui Army as surprise soldiers directly passed through the gaps between the fortresses and went straight to the Tatar camp for a surprise attack, striving to hit the Tatar army in a big battle!

After arguing for a while, the two sides looked at Liu Juntao, ready to let Liu Juntao make up his mind.

Liu Juntao also pondered for a long time, in fact, Liu Juntao was still inclined to Zhou Zongsheng's plan in his heart, after all, he lacked time now.

But this plan is too radical, even if the officers and soldiers of the Changshui Army are strong, but in the more than 80,000 Tatar iron cavalry interspersed, surprise attack, one hit is good, once the offensive is blocked, tens of thousands of Tartar iron cavalry surround it, the Changshui army will be more than auspicious. When the time comes, the Changshui Army will be damaged, let alone going south to support Yanmen Pass, even if it is impossible to stabilize the battle situation on the side of Datong Town.

So after weighing the pros and cons, Liu Juntao still decided to adopt the proposition of the general Sun Xu and others, and immediately mobilized the Longxiang army and the Tiger Ben army to dispatch, and the army divided the soldiers into four routes, each battle battalion as a road, and at the same time swept the fortresses occupied by the Tartars everywhere.

At the same time, the officers and men of the Changshui Army also gathered to follow up, and followed a few miles behind the army to prevent the main army of the Tatar army from suddenly moving south.

The big war begins!

Staff General Sun Xu commanded the left battalion of the Huben Army to attack Hongci Fort, and commanded the soldiers of the right battalion to attack Zhenchuan Fort, while Bai Yuxing, the guerrilla general of the left battalion of the Longxiang Army, led the soldiers of the headquarters to attack Zhumabao, and the guerrilla general Tao Jixin of the right battalion led his troops to attack Baoan Fort, and Liu Juntao led the Chinese army to follow the Changshui Army, and then followed up.

According to the plan, if the Fourth Route Army is going well, it will successfully meet at Zhenhe Fort, command after conquering Zhenhe Fort, and attack Blockwall Fort and Zhenqiang Fort all the way north, until it reaches the Tatar battalion.

At that time, all the fortresses guarded by the Tatar army will be lost, which will definitely have a huge impact on the morale of the Tatar army.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

General Sun Xu rode his horse and was silent on the battlefield, the artillery fire in front was roaring, and the artillery of the left battalion of the Tiger Ben Army was roaring, crippling the Hongci Fort in front, and the more than 1,000 Tatar iron cavalry guarding it did not dare to take the lead, so they could only nest in the fortress and endure the bombardment.

It didn't take long for the north gate of Hongci Fort to be opened, and the remaining hundreds of Tatar iron horsemen fled from the north gate in a hurry, towards the large camp to the north.

"Order the iron cavalry to chase after it, pursue it for three miles and then return!"

As soon as General Sun Xu gave an order, more than 1,400 soldiers of the cavalry department of the left battalion rushed out of the battle formation and directly pursued and killed.

Half an hour later, the soldiers of the cavalry department beheaded two hundred ranks and returned, and the soldiers of the left battalion also cleaned up the battlefield, and after rectifying themselves, they rushed to Zhenhe Fort.

At the same time, the right battalion of the Tiger Army, the left battalion and the right battalion of the Longxiang Army were also progressing smoothly, and in less than two days, the Hongci Fort, Zhenchuan Fort, Zhuma Fort, and Baoan Fort garrisoned by the Tatar Iron Cavalry were lost one after another, and tens of thousands of soldiers of the Tiger Ben Army, the Longxiang Army, and the Changshui Army were advancing towards Zhenhe Fort.

When the Tatar general Weng Leng received the news, the expression on his face was extremely shocked.

Weng Leng originally wanted to use these fortresses left by the Ming army to delay time as much as possible, and dragged the main force of the Tiance Army here until the news of the loss of Yanmen Pass came.

However, Weng Leng and his subordinates never expected that in less than two days, various fortresses were lost one after another, and now there are only three places left: Zhenhe Fort, Rejection Fort, and Zhenqiang Fort, and thousands of soldiers and horses have been lost.

"Command the army to immediately go south to Zhenhe Fort!"

The generals were stunned when they heard this, and they all asked: "Hasn't the marshal always dragged down the Tiance Army?" Why do you want to go south to Zhenhe Fort now? ”

Some belligerent generals were also eager to ask, "Is the marshal preparing for a decisive battle with the Tiance Army in Zhenhe Fort?" ”

The horsewhip in the hand of the urn rang out in the air, and suddenly broke out with a crisp sound, and then said loudly: "These fortresses can no longer stop the pace of the Tiance army going north, and the warriors stationed in the fortress cannot die in vain!" The army is going south, temporarily blocking the pace of the Tiance army going north, so that the warriors of the three fortresses can withdraw, and let the main general of the Tiance army know that the strength of our army is still the same, don't make a desperate bet! ”

As a result, tens of thousands of Tatar iron cavalry troops rolled south, and almost rushed to Zhenhe Fort at the same time as the soldiers of the Tiance Army led by Liu Juntao.

I saw that Weng Leng directly led tens of thousands of iron cavalry troops to line up in front of Zhenhe Fort, relying on Zhenhe Fort to prepare to snipe the soldiers of the Tiance Army.

And tens of thousands of Tiance soldiers were also quickly arrayed, Liu Juntao, General Sun Xu, and General Zhou Zongsheng rode horses together to watch the battle on a high ground.

Liu Juntao pointed forward with the whip in his hand, and said to the two: "It seems that the commander of this Tatar army is also a decisive person, knowing that we arrived in a hurry, and most of them will not have a decisive battle, so he led his troops to rush here to confront us, what a bastard!" ”

Zhou Zongsheng said indignantly: "Governor Xian, otherwise the last general will lead his troops to rush, maybe he will create a fighter!" ”

Sun Xu frowned and said: "Now that tens of thousands of Tatar iron cavalry are in good formation, and there is Zhenhe Fort as a backup, this battle is not easy to fight, and the casualties of our army will be very large!" ”

Liu Juntao also nodded and said: "That's true, now that the reinforcements from the imperial court have been delayed, we can neither let the soldiers suffer too much damage, nor can we let the war drag on, this battle is not easy to fight!" ”

After being silent for a while, Liu Juntao said with a little regret: "Pass the order: the army will retreat for the time being, and retreat ten miles back to set up camp again!" ”

Sun Xu and Zhou Zongsheng couldn't help but glance at each other when they heard this, and then they hugged their fists and left.

Looking at the tens of thousands of Tiance troops who were slowly retreating, Weng Leng also frowned, and said secretly: "This Liu Juntao is so eager to fight, but in the face of the battlefield I deliberately laid out, he can also hold back his heart and retreat temporarily, he is really a strong enemy!" ”

Thinking of this, Weng Leng also ordered the army to retreat slowly, abandon the three places of Zhenhe Fort, Rejection Fort, and Zhenqiang Fort on the spot, and regather all the forces into the Tatar battalion, and continue to confront the officers and soldiers of the Tiance Army.

The next day, Yan Hu, the general of the Eagle Yang Army, once again came to the battle report, even if Yan Hu commanded the soldiers to collect wild fruits near Yanmen Pass and go up the mountain to hunt, but until now, the grain and grass in Yanmen Pass can only support the army for ten days.

Yan Hu wrote in the battle report that if the reinforcements from the imperial court are not available within a few days, the soldiers of the Eagle Yang Army will face the danger of cutting off food and grass and fluctuating the morale of the army!

In this regard, Liu Juntao is anxious!

The next day, Liu Juntao decided to attack the Tatar battalion to test the situation of the enemy army and see if he could break the current stalemate.

So Liu Juntao led the army to fight, but the Tatar army held on to the camp and refused to fight, making it clear that it was to delay time and drag the main army of the Tiance army led by Liu Juntao to the north of Datong Town.

Therefore, Liu Juntao ordered the mobilization of all the artillery of the Longxiang army and the Huben army, and immediately stormed the Tatar battalion.

And according to the experience of the remnants of the Warat Department before, a large number of earthen bags were deployed around the camp to slow down the power of the Ming army's artillery fire.

At the same time, Weng Leng also constantly sent small iron cavalry to attack, waiting for an opportunity to destroy the Ming army's artillery array.

The two sides fought fiercely for a whole day, and the soldiers of the Tiance Army were never able to break through the Tatar camp, and Liu Juntao collected his troops and returned to the camp in the evening.