"Wishful thinking fools!" Huang Taiji secretly thought, if he hadn't been quite sure, Liu Cheng wouldn't have the luxury of scattering a dozen or so sentry scouts here, this was no longer a simple reconnaissance but a purposeful focused search!

"There is no point in arguing about this, we should consider how to deal with it, if Liu Cheng knew that we were here, he would definitely pounce. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info" Zilharang is usually silent at meetings, but this time it was different, perhaps because he wanted to represent Huang Taiji: "He has more cavalry, and if he is caught up, it will be troublesome, so we must make countermeasures as soon as possible!" ”

"Then let's fight, I can't ask for it!" Azig was the loudest, but he won the approval of everyone in the tent.

"Azig, Liu Cheng has more cavalry, and in order to cross the Xing'an Mountains, the soldiers are very tired, and a lot of baggage is also left behind!"

"So what! It's not like we haven't defeated the Mongol cavalry before, as long as we win, the enemy's baggage will be ours! ”

"What if you lose? What should I do if I lose? ”

The people in the tent were talking about their own words, and the Ao Bai on duty noticed that Huang Taiji had not said a word from the beginning, and layers of sweat oozed from his bare forehead, although he usually preferred to listen to others first, but it was still very unusual to be like this, he didn't even use his eyes or gestures to guide the whole meeting, as if he was completely out of the way.

"Quiet!" Huang Taiji stood up suddenly, his gaze swept over everyone: "This battle with Liu Cheng is related to the life and death of my Dajin, and I must consider it carefully." Now, stand down! ”

Zilharang had long been accustomed to obeying orders, and he stood up and prepared to leave with the others, but Huang Taiji glanced at him: "No, Zilharang, you stay!" Others go out! ”

Zilharang looked back in surprise, although he was already the prince of Heshuo, but because he was not the heir of Nurhachi, he was very cautious in the Houjin Center on weekdays, but he didn't expect that Huang Taiji was left here.

"Great Khan!" After everyone withdrew from the tent, Zilharang asked cautiously. Huang Taiji made a gesture to stop him from speaking, and sat down again: "You just said something very good, what if we lose this battle?" The main forces of the two yellow and yellow flags are already here, and half of the two red flags are here, and most of the blue flags are led by Abatai, who are dealing with the beggars, and the two white flags and the blue flags have only levied less than a quarter of the troops, do you know what I mean? ”

According to the system of Houjin at that time, the inlaid yellow, the yellow, and the blue are the three flags, which can be said to be the basic plate of the Huang Taiji, and the two red flags are led by the father and son, and Yue Tuo was replaced after being captured, but his prestige is far inferior to Yue Tuo, and he has no ability to interfere with the center; The two white flags are the basic plate of the three Dolgon brothers, and these three brothers have a grudge against Huang Taiji for killing their mothers. If the Houjin army is defeated by Liu Cheng this time, the biggest loss will inevitably be the two yellow and yellow flags of the main force, plus the main force to deal with the charming Zhenglan Banner of Qilie, that is to say, the strength of the three banners in the hands of Huang Taiji will be wiped out, while the two white flags of the three Dolgon brothers will not suffer much loss, and the original political balance of Houjin will be completely broken under the elimination of the other.

"Daishan and Abatai are still here, the two of them should be able to-!"

"Dai Shan is old, and he has no Yue Tuo, so he no longer has the heart to win." Huang Taiji shook his head: "As for Abatai, he is too rough, he can go into battle to kill the enemy, if he wants to play such a trick, he needs Babutai to assist him, and he has just been in charge of the Zhenglan Banner for a short time, and he has not yet reached the end of the favor with the bannermen, I am afraid that he is not the opponent of Dolgon!" Speaking of this, he looked at Zilharang: "Jilharang, it is not easy for the old Khan to lay this foundation, what I have worked hard for all these years is to pass on this foundation and carry it forward, but it must not be destroyed in the hands of the brothers who kill each other." ”

"Don't worry, although I am not the son of the old Khan, I also grew up in the palace, as long as it is beneficial to Dajin, please just command!"

"Good, good!" Huang Taiji smiled and said: "You will hurry back to Shengjing later, catch the red flag, and I will write a letter to Dai Shan and Abatai, and you will bring it." As long as you are here, plus Daishan and Abatai, there will be at least three flags, and even if this battle is lost, the two white flags will not dare not move. As long as we Jurchens don't kill each other, no matter how powerful Liu Cheng is, there is nothing he can do about us! ”

"Go back to Shengjing?" Jierharang was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood what Huang Taiji meant, the other party was going to fight to support Gu, and he couldn't help but feel a little sad in his heart, but he immediately sorted out his mood and said in a low voice: "Then I'll leave later!" ”

"No, wait until it's dark before leaving, don't let others find out!"

"Someone else?" Zilharang was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood that Huang Taiji was talking about the brothers Duoduo and Azig, and couldn't help but secretly admire him for his thoughtfulness: "Okay, I'll leave after dark!" ”

What happened next was quite boring, and Hou Jin and Liu Cheng were like two blindfolded heavyweight boxers, spinning around in the ring, while protecting themselves tightly, while constantly using the front hand jab to determine the position of the enemy, while tightening the back hand heavy punch, ready to give the thunder blow once the opponent was found. On the grassland, the squads of the two sides were fighting each other, and the remnant sun shone on the blood-stained dead grass, which was red.

But as this contact continued, the balance of victory slowly but irresistibly tilted in favor of Liu Cheng's side, for the simple reason that Liu Cheng's side had more horses. The decisive factor in this kind of contact between scouts and horses is the horse rather than the man, and the side with sufficient horsepower can send more scouts to oppress the opponent, expanding its reconnaissance range to reduce the enemy's main area to a smaller area. Liu Cheng's rule included the most abundant areas of water and grass in the south of the country, where the pastures bred millions of horses, and he could supplement the war horses by trading tea and horses to Mobei and Moxi, and his cavalry could generally achieve two horses, three horses, or even more for one person. On the other hand, on the Houjin side, the two largest sources of war horses, the left-wing Mongolian and Horqin divisions, were almost wiped out by Liu Cheng last year, and the other was raided by Liu Cheng's cavalry from the beginning of spring, and the quantity and quality of the war horses that could be provided were greatly affected, and even one person and one horse were a little reluctant. Due to the lack of horsepower, the scouts on the Houjin side had to shrink the scope of patrol and exploration, which was tantamount to exposing the location of their own army to Liu Cheng's side.

"Your Excellency!" Gesang rushed in from the outside and said in a loud voice: "Great Khan, the scout cavalry has found the Chinese army in the east!" ”

"Oh!" Liu Chengzheng was sitting cross-legged on the Hu bed, eating lunch, when he heard Gesang's announcement, he hurriedly spit out the food he was chewing in his mouth, and said loudly: "Quick, let the spies in!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Gesang hurriedly shouted outside the tent: "Quick, come in!" ”

A dusty scout came in from outside, knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "My lord, I found the Dongyu more than 20 miles north of the confluence of the Baierge River and the Laoha River. ”

"To the south!" Without waiting for Liu Cheng to speak, the guards beside him hurriedly took the map over, Liu Cheng took a closer look, and saw that the confluence of the Baierge River and the Laoha River was about 40 miles away from his own camp. Liu Cheng immediately stood up from the Hu bed, groaned for a while, and said loudly: "This place is only a day's journey from my camp on horseback, and there are tens of thousands of troops in the east, and there must be many heavy foot soldiers, how can they all cross the river in a hurry?" This is a self-defeating road, and the order is given, and the three armies will eat at once, and then pull out the camp and go north, along the river, and will be defeated in a battle! ”

Chen has turned, Liu Cheng's army finished eating, then set off, with A Gui as the vanguard, Du Guoying led the left wing, Gesang led the right wing, Liu Cheng led the Chinese army, in order to facilitate the power of the cavalry, the ironclad cavalry were arranged on both wings, and A Gui's forward was mostly light cavalry, even if it was a foot team, they also rode horses, the artillery team followed the Chinese army, and the camel team behind carried the army's food for ten days. The army stretched for more than ten miles, with flags covering the sky and the sun, and the military appearance was extremely magnificent.

At dawn on October 9 of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the sky was dark, the north wind was howling, sweeping through the plain desert grassland, and the grass waves that had withered yellow fell with the strong wind. The strong wind blowing from Hanhai will sweep the yellow sand like a gray-yellow curtain, sweeping over the camp of the Houjin army on the banks of the Berge River, and then landing on several pontoon bridges. The men and horses who were crossing the river were blown by this gust of wind, and suddenly the people turned on their backs. The wind and sand could not open their eyes, the horses were even more frightened, the rope of a pontoon bridge was broken by the strong wind, the boats under the pontoon bridge were scattered, and the men and horses on it suddenly fell into the river and became a mess.

"Quick, give the order to save people! Also, let people cook more ginger soup on the shore and give it to the people who fall into the water! Huang Taiji, who was standing on the high ground by the river, hurriedly ordered, although the river was not turbulent at this time, but it was a bitter cold place, and the water had already dripped into ice in the night of October, and the person who fell into the water was afraid that it would not take long to freeze stiff and drown, even if he did not die and was blown by the wind, it was a serious illness.

"Yes, Great Khan" Ao Bai hurriedly went down to give the order, and Huang Taiji was relieved to see that the ropes of the pontoon bridge had been reconnected, and many people who had fallen into the water had also been rescued.

I don't know how long it took, the sand and dust gradually decreased, the wind gradually faded, and a wisp of white appeared on the eastern horizon, looking up at the sky, the blue sky was faintly visible. Obviously, dawn was not far away, and seeing that there were not many troops in Hedong, and they could all be crossed in half a day at most, Huang Taiji finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Great Khan, Great Khan, there is an urgent military situation!" He led a scout to the high ground, and Huang Taiji's heart that had just fallen into his stomach was lifted again: "What's the matter?" ”

"Tell the Great Khan, the forward of Xilu is only more than ten miles away from here!"

"What? How so? Huang Taiji was shocked: "How many soldiers and horses are there in Xiyu?" ”

"The sky is dark, and the minions can't see clearly, but the west is marching with fire, and the east and west formations are seven or eight miles, endless, and the army is extremely numerous!"

"Quick, go and find out again!" In the panic, the calm Huang Taiji also stammered, he hurriedly convened the generals to discuss, and the relatives and nobles heard that Liu Cheng's army suddenly hidden, and they couldn't help but lose their color, and looked at each other and said: "Since this is the case, then there is only a battle to the death when the formation is due!" The atmosphere became calm. Huang Taiji immediately ordered the whole army to turn its back to the east and west, and line up along the river.

Considering that about a quarter of his troops were still in Hedong, Huang Taiji was afraid that his own troops would be less than Liu Cheng's, and considering that his cavalry was weaker, he decided to draw a part of his troops from the two yellow banners to strengthen his two wings, so as to prevent Liu Cheng from attacking one wing and sweeping over after opening the gap. When the formation was formed, Azig led the left flank and Duoduo led the right flank, and he was in the center.

As the sun had risen, the wind had all subsided, as if the heavens had sensed the impending war and held their breath. At this moment, the soldiers of the Houjin Army suddenly felt that the earth was trembling slightly, and experienced cavalry knew that this was the result of the advance of the cavalry. A thick black line rises from the horizon, and the rising sun shines on the golden spire of the Sulu ingot, emitting a brilliant golden light.

"Liu Cheng is here, let's all go back to their respective positions!" Huang Taiji said to Azig and Duoduo: "Remember, we still have a quarter of our troops who have not crossed the river yet, and the cavalry is also Liu Chengduo, we must defend it first and dampen the enemy's spirit!" ”

"Yes, Great Khan!" Duoduo and Azig looked at each other, each on horseback, and hurried toward his own army.

Azig returned to the right flank and looked at the enemy forces opposite. At this time, it was completely dawn, and I saw that the front of the enemy army was all armored horsemen, and the neck was protected with iron locks under the iron hood, and the whole body was covered with iron armor up to the knees, and the heart guard on the chest was polished brightly, and the spears raised were like forests, and the war horses were covered with cowhides, only the mouth and nose were exposed, like a group of monsters that were half human and half horse. Azig saw it clearly, and couldn't help but say: "I heard Lao Qi praise Liu Chengjun's strong appearance, which is very different from other Ming troops, and I thought he was talking nonsense, but now it seems that he still can't say it completely!" He hurriedly ordered all the knights to dismount, put up a block, and let the archers and firearms come forward, and strictly ordered that they should not be thrown into disorder, otherwise they would all be beheaded.

At the helm of this cavalry was Hazar, who won the first merit in the battle of the ferry, and Liu Cheng not only gave him a heavy reward, but also drew 300 tents from the captured left wing to serve as his Zasak. Although the lord of Zazak under Liu Cheng no longer had the power of the princes of the past tribes, it meant that Hazar had stepped into the ranks of the nobility, and the brave and warlike Mongol warrior was bent on making new achievements in order to win higher rewards. When he saw the Jurchen on the opposite side putting on a strict posture, he spat out, looked back at the Chinese army, sighed and said, "Why doesn't Lord Jinong blow the trumpet yet!" The people who are waiting are so anxious! ”