Altan Khan did not rush south. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 There is only one way in front of Chen Di, and that is to go north and go deep into the hinterland of the grassland to find the main Tatar decisive battle!

On March 15, the 26th year of Jiajing, the Flying Tiger Army left Datongwei and went north.

13,000 Flying Tiger Army, more than 1,000 stayed in the capital. Another 1,000 people guarded the grain route under the leadership of Hu Zongxian. The real available soldiers in Chen Di's hands were only 8,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.

There is a river 200 miles north of Datongwei, which is called the Juliu River. After the Mighty River is the territory of the Tatars.

The army camped late at night on the banks of the Mighty Current. Chen Di planned to let the army rest here for the night and cross the river the next day.

It's the beginning of spring, and the night on the grassland is still very cold. In the middle of the night, there was even a white-haired wind. The so-called white-haired wind, in the words of later generations, is actually a blizzard.

In Chen Di's view, in this Northern Expedition, the enemy of the Flying Tiger Army is not only the Tatar iron cavalry, but also the bad weather on the grassland. The Tatars have lived here for a long time, and even bad weather will be a piece of cake for them. The Flying Tiger Army is different, you must know that the officers and soldiers of the Flying Tiger Army are all from Guannei, and they have not been tested by the bad weather outside the fortress at all.

At night, Chen Di was just about to fall asleep, and Yu Dayou suddenly broke into the handsome tent in a hurry.

"Governor, something is wrong!" Yu Dayou had a frightened look on his face.

Yu Dayou is a fierce general in a hundred battles, a man who does not change his face when Mount Tai collapses in front of him. What could have frightened him so much?

Chen Di asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Yu Dayou took out his handcuff, broke the gun, and then pulled the trigger.

"Smack..." The handcuff didn't sound, and the gun machine hit the primer, and there was no response!

Yu Dayou said: "Dadudu, in such a cold weather, the sparks from the flint were extinguished before the primer was ignited!" ”

"What?" Chen Di exclaimed.

Chen Di took Yu Dayou's handcuff and looked at it carefully, and pulled the trigger four times, but the handcuff still didn't respond.

Chen Di's heart sank. If you encounter this ghost weather every day, won't the Flying Tiger Army's fire guns become burning sticks?

Yu Dayou said: "Governor, if the Tatars take advantage of this extremely cold weather tonight to raid us, we will simply become their chopping board fish!" If the fire gun doesn't go off, it's better to take a wooden gun and fight the Tatars! ”

Chen Di ordered in a loud voice: "Where are the guards?" ”

Two guards entered the account. Chen Di asked the two of them to hand him the tiger power. He loaded the cartridge and pulled the trigger, but the two long guns also did not respond.

Chen Di was anxious. He had been at war with foreigners many times, and he had never been so flustered. Chen Di knows better than anyone else that the reason why the Flying Tiger Army can win the battle is that in addition to the fact that the soldiers are not greedy for life and are not afraid of death, they rely on sharp firearms!

Chen Di asked Yu Dayou: "Can the grenade be ignited and thrown normally?" ”

Yu Dayou said: "I tried it just now, and there was such a big white-haired wind blowing outside. The fuse that ignited the grenade was thrown out, and the fuse was destroyed by the wind and snow before it hit the ground, and it did not explode at all after landing! ”

Chen Di asked again: "What about the Furlong machine fast cannon of the artillery battalion?" ”

Yu Dayou replied: "The same is true of the Furlong machine gun!" To put it bluntly, the iron-hulled flowering bomb is an enlarged grenade. The primer can shoot the Iron Shell Blossom Bullet. The lead of the flowerable bullet will be destroyed by the wind and snow in the middle of the way. ”

Chen Di said in his heart that he was really careless. Why haven't you thought about the impact of severe cold, wind and snow on firearms?

The army was already about to enter the Tatar territory, and it was impossible to retreat to Datongwei, so he asked Sun to come to Datong to study a way to ensure that firearms could be fired normally in windy and snowy weather!

Chen Di's biggest fear now is that Altan Khan's cavalry will take advantage of the snowy night to raid his camp. If this is the case, the consequences are really unimaginable!

Fortunately, he had discharged the reconnaissance sentry in advance, and no trace of the Tatar cavalry was found within a radius of fifty miles.

Yu Dayou asked: "Metropolitan Governor, what should I do?" ”

Chen Di also had no idea for a while: "I don't know what to do." We can only pray now that we don't have a ghost like tonight when we engage the Tatars! ”

Fortunately, Chen Di asked Shisun to make a large number of bayonets and install them on the Huwei gun. Moreover, the infantry of the Flying Tiger Army is each equipped with a leech crossbow. When it really got to that point, it could only be a leech machine crossbow shooting, and then a hand-to-hand fight with a bayonet with a Tatar cavalry!

Chen Di suddenly understood how wise Altan Khan was to work at ease in the hinterland of the grassland. Altan Khan's idea must be to let the ghost weather of the steppe be his ally!

On a snowy night, Chen Di didn't sleep all night.

The innocent face on the grassland is like a doll's face, and it changes when it is said. Early the next morning, the sky cleared and the morning sun shone on the Mighty River.

Chen Di pushed open the camp tent and the first thing he did was to take over the guards' firearms. He threw a bang into the sky, and there was a loud "bang". Seeing that the Tiger Mighty Gun could be launched normally, Chen Di breathed a long sigh of relief.

Yu Dayou found Chen Di: "Governor, can you cross the river?" “

Chen Di ordered: "The whole army is pulled out and cross the river!" “

Although the name of the Mighty River is "Mighty Current", it is actually just a small river. The river is not deep. Yesterday during the day, Chen Di had ordered 500 soldiers to build a small pontoon bridge over the river. More than 10,000 soldiers of the Flying Tiger Army marched north through the pontoon bridge.

Chen Di rode on a horse and discussed with Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang the strategy of using troops this time.

Chen Di said: "I think Altan Khan is iron-hearted and cowered in the hinterland of the grassland. He wanted our Flying Tiger Army to suffer from the grassland weather first, while he waited for a decisive battle with our army. “

Yu Dayou said: "If Altan Khan really does this, this battle will not be easy to fight!" ”

Qi Jiguang also said: "Our army can't wander the steppe like a lonely ghost looking for the main Tatar force. ”

Chen Di pondered for a moment and said, "Wolf Mountain is a sacred place for Tatars. Let's head in the direction of Wolf Mountain. Altan Khan will never sit idly by and watch Wolf Mountain fall into my hands! We will definitely send a large army to intercept our army halfway. ”

Yu Dayou said: "Now there is only one way." ”

Chen Di was confident that if he fought with Altan Khan's iron cavalry under normal circumstances, with his sharp firearms, the Flying Tiger Army would definitely win.

I'm afraid of the ghost weather like last night!

After the army marched for a long time, Chen Di ordered to stop the march and rest on the spot.

There is a small stream flowing ahead. The soldiers of the Flying Tiger Army marched for half a day, hungry and thirsty. They took out their dry food and went to the stream, ready to drink some water, and ate lunch with it.

The sharp-eyed Chen Di suddenly noticed that there were seven or eight dead sheep at the far end of the stream. He shouted: "Tell the three armies, don't drink the stream water!" This stream can be poisonous! “

At the beginning, Huo Quai's northern expedition to the Xiongnu, the Huns resorted to the method of polluting the water source with the sick and dead plague sheep. It is said that Huo Qubing died young because he accidentally drank the stream water contaminated by the plague sheep.

Unexpectedly, Altan Khan also used such a trick.