Ten days ago, on the eve of the expedition, Lu Zhen found something in the warehouse of the Ulzhou military camp that surprised him, which were hundreds of small but heavy iron cans.

Although the appearance of these things is very different from what he knows, from its structure and the description with the treasurer, he can easily see the true identity of this thing - landmines!

Yes, as early as the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago, there were already mines in the army, which was specially used to deal with infantry attacks. In fact, as the first people to use gunpowder in warfare, China had already used landmines to deal with foreign invasions during the Song Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a new transformation of landmines. Of course, at this time, mines were not called mines, but were called bombardments. When Zhu Di raised troops and fought several times between the northern and southern armies of the Ming Dynasty, this mine also played a very important role in it, and the southern army used this to kill a lot of casualties in the northern army, which left a deep impression on Zhu Di.

Then, when Zhu Di became emperor, he asked the craftsmen under the Shenji Battalion to further develop the mines, and used them in the next battle against the steppe Tatars. And the result is not bad.

However, with the victory of the Ming Dynasty in several major battles, the trouble of the grassland gradually eliminated, and the Mongolian people could only rely on sneak attacks to invade our Ming border, and the weakness of the mines was also revealed. It could only be placed on the established route of the enemy's advance, and it also restricted its own movements, which made the Ming army not use such weapons much in the following decades, until in recent years they were put on the shelf, and even forgot that such firearms existed.

But as a traverser, Lu Zhen has always had an interest and trust in firearms far beyond that of the ancients. When he found out that there were still so many mines hidden in the warehouse of Ulju, he immediately came to his senses, and without saying a word, he asked people to bring it up, intending to use it as the final killer weapon to decide this battle.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of landmines, Lu Zhen put a lot of thought into this guerrilla operation against the Mongolian people. From the pit at the beginning, to the ambush later, they constantly provoked the anger in the hearts of the enemy, so that they finally came at them desperately.

At the same time, he also relied on the previous traps to plant a trace of concern in the enemy's heart, so that they did not dare to directly rush forward when they saw his own military horses, but used the tactics of dividing and outflanking the Mongols when they were fighting.

Lu Jin, on the other hand, had already planted those hundreds of mines a mile or two away from both sides of his army, just waiting for the enemy to crash headlong into this life-threatening mine array. As a result, as he had hoped, the Mongols, who had been urged by hatred, avoided the snowy area in front of them, but fell into an even more terrible killing situation.

Although the mines at this time were far inferior to the infantry mines that could shoot dense steel balls by means of explosive air waves, they also had the rudiments of modern mines, and they were not just empty and scareless.

It is contained in the "Fire Dragon Sutra" a few decades ago: "The bombing is made of cast iron, on an empty stomach, with a pestle of medicine, into a small bamboo tube, through the fire line inside, and through the fire trough with a long line outside. ”

The current situation is just as described in the book, when the Mongolian cavalry stepped into the thunderstorm and touched the mechanism, the mines exploded violently, not only shooting out the iron pieces and nails contained in the cans, but even the iron cans themselves became a sharp weapon that could hurt and kill the enemy after being exploded.

Whether it is the cavalry on the horse, or the horse below, they are powerless to dodge in the face of these indiscriminate strafing fire. So in a miserable howl, a large number of people and horses fell with a bang.

What's even more desperate is that these Mongolian cavalry have already galloped, so even if they have exploded in front of them, there are still a large number of cavalry who rushed into the trap due to inertia, and were seriously injured by the various pieces of iron that burst out.

The cavalry on the horse may still want to turn back, but the war horse under the crotch is completely panicked at this time. They had never seen such a horrific scene. The rumbling in the ears was so terrifying that the horses were frightened and began to run wildly. So he stepped on the trap again, burying more Mongolian cavalry into this minefield.

In just a short period of time, this group of 20,000 Mongolian people was completely stupid and blindsided by the changes in front of them, and they completely lost their fighting spirit.

At this time, there was only one thought left in the hearts of the Mongolian people - to get out of this terrible place quickly. Because no one knows how many of these weapons that can easily harvest human lives have been planted in the path of their advance.

People were of the same mind, and everyone turned their horses' heads and ran backwards. So an even more shocking scene appeared. Many frightened horsemen squeezed each other, and countless people landed on their horses, but their people did not hesitate for a moment, and trampled over them on their horses.

At this time, the Ming army behind them finally recovered from the shock just now - in fact, not only the Mongolian people, but also the Ming army itself that laid mines, and did not expect these inconspicuous iron cans to have such great power, let alone that its deterrence to the Mongolian people was so powerful - after seeing the enemy running away and not caring about the palace, the Ming army also came back to their senses and began to use the bow and crossbow in their hands to continuously fire random arrows at the backs of the undefended Mongolian people.

As the rain of arrows flew from the sky, the screams of the Mongols intensified, and people were constantly shot off their horses, and then trampled into the snow by the horses behind or on the side, and the snow and blood were completely fused. And this also made the Mongolian people's hearts even more flustered, and they only cared about running back desperately, thinking about escaping from the range of the Ming army as soon as possible, but they didn't even have the courage to turn back and fight again.

Behind, Qiermu's face turned pale, and he watched this unbelievable scene in amazement, he knew that this time was completely over. What is the ambition to win Datong, what is the glorious ambition to revive the Tatars, with this unexpected defeat, everything will come to naught.

In fact, when the chaos first broke out, he was still thinking about how to reorganize the army. Because he could see that the effect of this arrangement of the Ming army was still limited, as long as the people of the tribe did not panic and continued to rush forward, the other party's battle was still not enough for 20,000 people.

But now, that's no longer possible. Once the morale of the army is completely chaotic, it is even more difficult to stop them and turn back and fight again. This is the so-called defeat of the army, not to mention that this Mongolian cavalry team is composed of several tribes, even if it is completely a soldier of the Yate tribe, in this case, it is difficult for him, the head of the clan, to control the situation.

The only thing that could be done now was to quickly lead them back and try to preserve the strength of the team. If possible, it's not too late to plan later.

Therefore, when those Mongolian cavalry rushed back in a panic, although they were unwilling in their hearts, Qiermu also gave an order: "Withdraw!" He took the rest of the men and horses, followed them, and withdrew to the north by the way they had come.

The Ming army behind them did not chase after them and continued to kill the enemy for meritorious service, but after the enemy escaped from their range, they put down their bows and arrows one after another, and watched them flee with some pity. Because they all know very well that on the flat snowfield in front of them, there are indeed mechanisms. The pits that can make the war horses sink deep into their feet and fall directly are still there, and they are not easy to chase after them at all.

However, this is also in line with the poor Kou Mo in the Art of War. If the Ming army was dizzy because of the victory in front of them, and thus thought that the Mongols had completely lost their combat power and pursued them closely, they would most likely be defeated by the Mongols who were eager to get out, and then their price would be too great.

And now, only relying on the mine array laid here, and the subsequent rain of arrows, coupled with the last self-trampling of the Mongols, the Ming army has killed and injured two or three thousand Mongolian cavalry, which is a great credit in today's Ming Dynasty.

When they understood this, everyone's faces showed a look of surprise that they couldn't believe it, even Wang Bing, the deputy Qianhu, could not hide the excitement in his heart, and his body trembled slightly. Then he looked at Lu Zhen beside him with a respectful gaze: "My lord, we have won!" ”

Lu Zhen seemed to be quite calm when he looked at it, but his heart was also agitated. Even though he was confident in his plan and felt that he could achieve a good victory in this battle, the current result was still too much for him to expect. Such a big win is hard for anyone to believe.

This was not only because they repelled the invading Mongols and killed and wounded thousands of enemy soldiers, but also because the Ming army's own casualties were very small. It can even be said that there is almost no damage. With such a casualty ratio between the enemy and us, even if a veteran of the army like Zhang Fu came, it would be impossible to do it. And he, Lu Jin, actually did it with all kinds of calculations, which was indeed enough for him to be proud of.

The soldiers also quickly understood this, so when they turned their heads to look at Lu Jin, who had arranged all this, their faces were also full of fanatical respect: "My lord, what should we do next?" ”

"What else can be done? Of course, it's a return to Datong. Lu Zhen exhaled deeply, calmed his agitated thoughts, and then smiled and said: "The Tartars suffered such a defeat, although it is very likely that they will be devastated and dispel the idea of violating my border again. But it may also make a comeback. At that point, we won't be able to handle them at all. We've run out of mines, and it's too late to dig any more traps. ”

"I'll do as I was told!" Without any hesitation or opposition, the Ming soldiers agreed loudly. After this battle, they completely subdued Lu Jin!