The attack on the grassland tribes, mainly cavalry, almost no foot soldiers, this is because of the special terrain of the grassland, the foot soldiers are difficult to play a big role, just imagine the vast grassland, thinking about relying on the legs to chase the war horse, that is impossible, while fighting in the plains, the foot soldiers basically have no possibility of defeating the cavalry. The soldiers of the Jiangning battalion rushing to the grassland were all cavalry, and as for the artillery battalion and the Shenji battalion, the equipment was the best in the entire Jiangning battalion, and the war horses used to transport artillery were also the best.

There is no doubt that the artillery battalion can play a decisive role in the conquest of the steppe.

The grassland is open, at most it is a hilly area, you can't see any mountains, the firing of artillery, will not suffer any impact, the two armies are opposed, each other can clearly find each other's arrangement, the Jianzhou Weihou Jin Tartar, that is, in the conquest of the grassland, made the cavalry famous, and the cavalry of the grassland tribe was not an opponent at all.

In this expedition, Su Tiancheng naturally relied heavily on the artillery battalion.

When Su Tiancheng led the soldiers of the Jiangning battalion to enter the Hetao area and conquer the Xibe tribe and the Daurian tribe, the focus was on the strength of the artillery.

Because of the conquest of the steppe tribes, Song Sijun has allocated a large number of artillery pieces and equipped them to the Xibe tribe and the Daurian tribe, and it should be said that this expedition is enough.

On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, the three-way army set off from Fengzhen.

Hong Chengchou and Mo Si led 5,000 Datong border troops and 20,000 Xibe tribesmen to directly attack the front banner of the right wing of Chahar, Fengzhen is only more than 300 miles away from the front banner of the right wing of Haer, it is estimated that around the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, the battle can start, Qin Liangyu and Tong Cha led 5,000 Datong border troops and 20,000 Daurian tribesmen sergeants. Attacking the rear banner of Chahar's right flank, taking Maoerzhuang and Jining, to attack, this route, the marching route is the longest, close to thousands of miles. However, according to the speed, around the second day of the first month, the fight can be launched, Su Tiancheng led 50,000 Jiangning battalion soldiers, through Tucheng and Zhuozi, to attack the middle banner of the right wing of Chahar, the marching route is about 800 miles, and after three days, the attack will be launched.

The speed of the three-way army must be fast. Once the offensive begins, the entire steppe tribe will be alarmed.

Su Tiancheng's plan was to completely exterminate the Chahar tribe, including the left and right wings of the Chahar tribe, and after defeating the right wing of the Chahar tribe, he would turn around and attack the left wing, which was still the original arrangement. Hong Chengchou led the army to attack the left flank front banner, and Qin Liangyu led the army to attack the left flank rear banner. Su Tiancheng led the army to attack the left flank of the central banner.

After this battle, see if the many tribes in the steppe are afraid and willing to surrender on their own initiative, and the next army to attack is the Tumut tribe and the Jungar tribe.

In terms of the configuration of military strength, the combat effectiveness of the central banner on the left and right flanks of the Chahar tribe is the strongest. The leaders of the tribe are also concentrated in these two banners, the combat effectiveness of the front banner is slightly weaker, and the combat effectiveness of the rear banner is the worst. The combat effectiveness is relatively weak.

Of course, the ultimate goal of the army is to exterminate the Horqin tribe.

The situation of the Horqin tribe is very special, and the connection between the Houjin Tatars is very close, and it is also an important support of the Houjin Tatars in Mongolia, the queen of Huang Taiji, Concubine Zhuang, are the women of the Horqin tribe, once the army defeats the Horqin tribe, the dominance of Huang Taiji in Mongolia will be completely destroyed.

If this goal is achieved, Su Tiancheng's operational plan this time will be completely realized.

Thinking about conquering all the tribes of the grassland, whether it is time or energy, it is too late, the grassland is too big, and the conditions are very bad, every expedition, the financial and material resources consumed, are not the customs can be compared, in the grassland conquest, supply is very important, lack of food, it is equivalent to self-destruction, now it is winter, how to fight the cold climate, is also the commander needs to focus on consideration.

The routes of the three armies are different, divided into three directions: left, middle and right, Su Tiancheng set off from the left direction, Qin Liangyu set off from the right direction, and Hong Chengchou set off from the middle road.

Hong Chengchou is used to this type of battle, and he is also used to leading the army alone.

Qin Liangyu is a little worse, although he often led the white pole soldiers to fight before, but whether it is the importance of the battle, or the number of commanders, it has not reached such a scale, before leaving, Su Tiancheng specially gathered everyone, emphasized in detail the matters that need to be paid attention to in the battle, especially emphasized the huge role of artillery, and also talked to Qin Liangyu alone, this is because Qin Liangyu is not very familiar with artillery, Su Tianyuan thought about it, and transferred Ma Xianglin to follow Qin Liangyu to fight, but Qin Liangyu refused, Ma Xianglin was asked to fight with the Jiangning battalion, after all, Ma Xianglin was already the commander of the Jiangning battalion, and he could not leave the Jiangning battalion and return to his side to fight.

As soon as the three-way army set out, it began to snow.

It has been nearly ten days since he entered the Mongolian grassland, and the climate has been very bad, which makes Su Tiancheng a little annoyed, if he is conquering in summer and autumn, he will not encounter these problems, but time does not allow, in summer or autumn, the opponent of the Jiangning camp is probably the Houjin Tartar.

Su Tiancheng's plan, the focus is on defeating the Horqin tribe and the Chahar tribe, these two tribes, the influence on the grassland is the greatest, among which the Horqin tribe is a loyal ally of Houjin, the Chahar tribe is the most powerful, as long as these two tribes are defeated, the many subsequent expeditions can be handed over to the Xibe tribe and the Daurian tribe to complete, Su Tiancheng only needs to do a good job of logistics and supply.

Su Tiancheng will not fight on the grassland for a long time, and in half a year at most, the Jiangning battalion will withdraw from the Mongolian steppe.

It seems that half a year is a long time, but in fact, the time is very tight, the station of the Horqin tribe is in the east of Mongolia, the Songliao Plain, more than a thousand miles away from the Chahar tribe, it takes time to conquer the Chahar tribe, and it is also necessary to subdue the surrounding Tumut tribe and the Jungar tribe, which counts, it will take at least three months or so, and at that time, the Horqin tribe is afraid that everything is ready, and it is not a simple matter to take it quickly.

Su Tiancheng is still worried, Huang Taiji sent the Eight Banners to assist in the battle, this is a completely certain thing, once a large-scale battle is launched, Huang Taiji will definitely not sit idly by, so he may lose the entire grassland, such a huge loss, Huang Taiji is unable to bear, he must do his best to help the grassland tribe defeat the Jiangning camp.

It is inevitable that the Eight Banners will participate in the war, but how many troops will Huang Taiji send, whether they are ready to start a decisive battle with the Jiangning battalion in the vast prairie, this is an inaccurate thing, according to Su Tiancheng's judgment, Huang Taiji will not pour out of the nest, so that the Jiangning battalion soldiers stationed in Fuzhou and Xuanzhou, as well as the Ming army stationed in Liaodong, can drive straight into Shenyang and attack Shenyang directly, but no one can predict that if Huang Taiji understands it, discard Shenyang and send a large army into the Mongolian grassland, The decisive battle with the Jiangning battalion was mainly to eliminate the vitality of the Jiangning battalion, and as for the lost city, it will be recaptured again in the future battle.

The wind and snow were getting heavier and heavier, and the guides accompanying the army were a little worried.

Such a large wind and snow, for the army, is not a small difficulty, it can also be said to be a disaster, people and horses will be affected, the guide is also very careful, for fear of seeing the wrong path, all around is snowy, want to accurately judge the route forward, it is really not so easy.

Sun Yuankun and Liu Ji are more familiar with this climate, and they also know the impact of this climate on the army, so the two of them specially gave Su Tiancheng a suggestion, whether to wait until the wind and snow are lighter and set off.

Su Tiancheng did not agree, the wind and snow were very heavy, which did cause certain difficulties to the march of the army, but such weather could confuse the Chahar tribe, and it is estimated that the leader of the Chahar tribe would never have dreamed that under such extreme weather, he would encounter an attack.

Everything is like this, there are advantages and disadvantages, and the march of the army has encountered difficulties, but the suddenness of the attack is much greater.

During the march, the hardest part of the march is the guides and scouts.

The guide of the army was specially sent by Song Sijun, and he can definitely be trusted, but the guide is not a sergeant, and there is still a certain gap in personal physical strength and ability, in this case, the scout must take care of the guide to ensure that the guide's body cannot have problems.

After a whole day's march, all in the wind and snow, watching the large snowflakes fall, Su Tiancheng suddenly remembered the poem he had plagiarized: A trip to the mountain, a trip to the water, walking to the side of Yuguan, a thousand tents in the middle of the night. The wind is changing, the snow is changing, the dream of the broken hometown cannot be realized, and there is no sound in the old garden.

All around is a white expanse, in order not to be frozen, the soldiers are dismounted and walking, the creaking sound of stepping on the snow is still a little neat, in this case, the speed of the march has been greatly affected, Su Tiancheng has no good way, he, like many soldiers, is also dismounted and walked, to avoid being frozen.

The temperature at night is lower, and the guide who is familiar with the path has already found a place to camp, in such extreme weather, there is no need to worry about the whereabouts of the army being leaked, the herdsmen on the grassland will not leave the tent, Su Tiancheng needs to worry about it, that is, the soldiers will not be able to get frostbitten, but fortunately, the army has long been prepared, and a large amount of chili water has been boiled, and the soldiers drink it to warm their bodies.

The worse the climate, the stronger Su Tiancheng's confidence became. (To be continued......)