Liu Cheng didn't answer, what the other party said also made sense, after all, it is not easy to pull tens of thousands of cavalry to rush over at night, it is not uncommon for hundreds of people to fall into a ditch and a ditch at will, and the Tartars have not yet set up a village, the attack is smooth and good, if it is a little unsmooth, it will be a failure, there is not even a place to refuse, but anything can happen on the battlefield, who knows if Lin Dan Khan will not play cards according to the card? Liu Cheng thought for a while and asked, "General Wang, what do you think it should be?" “

The general Wang was obviously prepared, and said with a smile: "Put the auxiliaries on the earthen ramparts, and the Tartar cavalry can't see the reality, and the others will rest as soon as possible to prepare for tomorrow's battle!" ”

"Okay, just do it according to your method, all soldiers don't disarm, rest immediately!" Speaking of this, Liu Cheng smiled at General Wang with a reserved smile: "General Wang, if you can win this battle, this town will definitely ask for credit for you!" “

"Thank you, Lord Zhentai!"

The night was very long, the sound of horses, flutes, leather drums, horns, gongs, and all kinds of strange musical instruments filled Liu Cheng's eardrums, which made him unable to sleep, when the dawn came again, Liu Cheng reopened his eyes, but did not have the slightest energy when he woke up, only felt that there was no place in his body that was not sore, but as if he had done a night of hard labor.

Lin Dan Khan's Great Tent

"Buzz! Agana, Abbana, Madana! Hey! Madanaye, stud! ”

Sharhutuktu knelt in front of the statue of the Great Black Celestial God, his hands folded, his eyes slightly closed, his mouth reciting tantric mantras, his voice getting louder and louder, his forehead covered with fine beads of sweat, his body trembling violently, as if he was fighting a hard battle with an invisible enemy. Behind him, Lin Dan Khan and dozens of generals knelt on the ground, watching with some trepidation as the Master was doing the rituals. Suddenly, Shalhutuktu screamed and jumped up from the ground. His eyes opened as if he had just woken up from a dream.

"Master, how is it?" Lin Danhan asked cautiously.

Shaerhu Tuketu took a few deep breaths, his face returned to his usual solemn appearance, he turned around and said to everyone: "The Great Black Heavenly God has adopted our worship and put the lives of the Ming army in the hands of the Great Khan!" “

"Hutuketu! Hutuketu! There was a burst of cheers in the king's tent, as if the whole tent was about to be blown away.

On the hillock, Liu Cheng was wearing iron armor, his face was pale, and he only felt that his shoulders were as hard as stones. Creaking under the weight of the iron armor. "If I survive, I'm sure I'll find a big wooden barrel and take a bath!" Liu Cheng secretly swore, but first he had to survive.

About three miles away, the cavalry of the Chahars was arrayed, and the "50,000 Tartar cavalry" only needed a wave of their hands on paper, but on the battlefield it was a black and oppressive piece, with no end in sight, and one flag after another merged into a sea. At first, Liu Cheng also tried to calculate how many military flags there were (which represented how many enemy units there were), but he soon gave up. The Mongol formation was so thick that Liu Cheng couldn't even tell where the enemy's commander was, panic and fear were like a cold viper crawling out of his heart, and the only thing he could do was not to show it.

"Your Excellency. Tartar begins! ”

A familiar voice sounded in my ears, and it was General Wang who suggested that the whole army rest yesterday, although he was a military general, he gave him the popular name "Wang Anshi". Serving as a defender in Ningxia, Liu Cheng saw that he was very familiar with the tactics used by the Mongols, so he kept him by his side. Liu Cheng nodded. Looking in the direction of General Wang's finger, I saw several cavalry rushing out from both sides of the enemy formation, each of which was only two or three hundred cavalry, and these cavalry did not directly impact the battlefield of the Ming army, but swam back and forth at the edge of the range, and some people jumped off their horses and threw some things on the ground. Liu Cheng asked with some doubts: "General Wang, what are you doing here?" ”

"Tell your lord, if the last general is not mistaken, the Tartar should be preparing to set fire!" Counselor Wang replied respectfully.

"Set fire?" Liu Cheng asked suspiciously: "There is nothing to burn here, what are they setting fire?" ”

"My lord, please forgive me, what the last general said is actually a little wrong, it should be said that it is arson!" General Wang said with a smile: "This is a common method used by the Tartars, the Ming army has many infantry, few cavalry, so when fighting with the Tartars, they tend to defend the high ground, and the Tartars are in the upwind, the firewood and grass and the dung of cattle, sheep and horses are piled up, set on fire, and burn our soldiers with smoke, due to the lack of water on the grassland, the soldiers have many eyes that are confused, but this time the Tartar cavalry is in vain." ”

"Why do you say that?"

"In fact, it is very simple to deal with this trick, just cover your mouth and nose with a cloth dipped in water, but unfortunately there is often a lack of water in high places, and the soldiers do not drink enough water, so they can often succeed with Tartars. The adults had the foresight to line up against the river, and even if the Tartars burned the grassland, they would not hurt our army in the slightest! ”

"I see!" Liu Cheng couldn't help but laugh dumbly, the art of war said, "The plan is not poisonous to run out of food." After all, soldiers generally carry a few days of food on their bodies, and then kill horses and livestock, and it is not uncommon for them to last for ten days and a half months, and people can't last two days without water, and the livestock are even more unbearable. The only advantage is that the mobility is strong, the supply is easy, and the number of firearms can be killed by the farming people, and the full score is that the supply war is full score, and all kinds of tricks to cut off the enemy's supply line can be said to be endless, and I don't know how many generals have planted a fight in this point for thousands of years.

"Tell the order to go down, and each outpost will prepare a bucket of water for smoking!" Liu Cheng immediately issued an order, and sure enough, as expected by the general Wang, hundreds of pillars of smoke rose in front of the Ming army, and the west wind was blowing towards the Ming army.

At this time, there was a trumpet sound from the Mongol military formation, and then a war drum sounded, and Liu Cheng, who was standing on the mound, saw through the thin smoke a knight holding a spear decorated with white hair on the top of the line and walked out of the ranks, slashing downward, and dozens of military flags also pointed forward, and the Mongol cavalry began to move forward slowly.

On the battlefield between the Ming army and the Mongols, it was a fertile wheat field, but at this time it had already been harvested, leaving only dry straw. At this time, the whole field was empty, without any life. On the banks of the river perched black dots of poplar trees, flocks of crows, ominous birds quietly waiting for the feast to begin.

At this moment, a whirlwind blew, and the smoke was blown away, and the Ming soldiers in the saddle between the mounds saw the Mongols approaching them, and the officers shouted at the soldiers and drove them to the earthen ramparts. The whirlwind of the field waited for its dry stalks, and blew them into the eyes of the Mongols, when a trumpet sounded from the hillock, and then a red light flashed from the earthen ramparts. The Ming army opened fire.

Perhaps intimidated by the might of the Mongols, the Ming shooters opened fire a little earlier, and only a few of the Mongol cavalry were shot and dismounted, and their vacancies were quickly filled by their successors, and these sturdy knights lay on their horses with their upper bodies on their horses, waving their weapons in their hands, and their companions under their crotches also seemed to sense the mood of their masters, stretched their necks, and lowered their ears. Got it up to speed. The horses changed from slow to fast, from fast to galloping, and under the trampling of countless horses' hooves, the earth began to groan and tremble. The Mongols chanted "Hutuktu, Hutuktu!" ”。 A sound sounded in the chests of tens of millions of people, like thunder.

It is difficult to determine where the first confrontation between the two sides took place, and due to the rush of time, the width of the trenches dug by the Ming army was not wide enough to hold back the Mongol cavalry. Many knights bravely crossed the trenches, and their masters jumped off their horses and rushed to the earthen ramparts. The rest of the cavalry were on the outside of the trench, some with bows and spears to attack the defenders behind the fence, some with hooks and lassoes, trying to pull the fence down, and the defenders behind the earthen ramparts also fought back desperately, they fought back with bows and arrows, firearms, and for the enemy under the earthen ramparts, they stabbed the enemy with four-meter long spears. Due to the horseback riding, most of the Mongols under the earthen fortress did not have spears, but generally used short weapons such as hand shields, scimitars, and bones, and were in a state of passive beating, but these brave knights did not retreat, but grabbed the barrel of the spear, trying to take it down and stab the defenders on the earthen fortress.

"The Tartars are really strong!" Liu Cheng on the mound saw it clearly, and couldn't help but be speechless.

"Tens of thousands of people selected to choose a striker, naturally not ordinary!" Wang Anshi on the side said with a smile: "Lord Zhentai don't have to worry, without equipment, they can't rush out!" ”

As if to refute Wang Anshi's rehearsal, a small section of the fence near the bottom of the mound where Liu Cheng was located was pulled down by the Mongols with hook claws, and the Mongols suddenly let out a cheer, and dozens of warriors rushed up to the gap, and in their opinion, as long as they rushed through this opening, victory was in sight.

"General, let the last general go down, and give these dog tartars a little bit of power!" Hao Shaoqi, who had been standing behind Liu Cheng, couldn't bear it anymore and rushed forward, Liu Cheng ignored it and turned his eyes to Wang Anshi on the side. The other party also sensed Liu Cheng's meaning, bowed down and smiled: "Lord Zhentai, please give the last general a chance!" ”

"Then I'm going to bother Lord Wang!" Liu Cheng said with a smile.

The gap seemed to be a whirlpool, attracting the bravest and most fierce warriors of the Mongols, they waved their weapons and rushed into this whirlpool, people and steel were stirred together by this huge whirlpool, the people in the whirlpool were waving their arms, scimitars, axes, bones, spears were colliding with each other, followed by the slashing and moaning of the kalakala, and the creepy screams of the people who were cut down, intertwined into the most terrible roar, It was as if all the demons in hell had suddenly screamed.

Wang Anshi looked at the situation at the gap and shouted: "The side van is in front, the long card is in the back, the three-eyed gunner is ready, and the pikeman is behind, listen to my orders!" “

According to Wang Anshi's order, the Ming soldiers pushed the side van to the gap to surround it, the gap of the side car was filled with a long card, after the formation was lined up, Wang Anshi immediately ordered to release the gun, the lead bullet fired at close range knocked down the people at the gap regardless of the enemy and me, and the pikemen killed the past under the cover of the long card, and swept away the remaining Mongols. He then pushed the earthen rampart with a side van, but after a dozen breaths, he blocked the gap.

"Someone, cut off the heads of the tartars and throw them outside!" Wang Anshi shouted loudly, he looked at the guards who were a little hesitant, and said loudly: "As long as they are alive, everyone will be rewarded according to the first-level merit, cut quickly!" ”

The Mongol soldiers outside the trench were hesitating to attack again, but suddenly saw dozens of heads being thrown out, and when they looked at it, they were all warriors who rushed in before, and they couldn't help but feel a little frightened. In this way, Wang Anshi led hundreds of families under his command like a firefighting team, and after a while, he drove out the Mongolian drafters who had a few gaps.

Lin Dan Khan stood under the Sulu ingot, the white horsehair hanging down from the big drum was gently swaying under the blowing of the north wind, and through the smoke that was drifting, it could be seen that the first wave of the Mongols was not going well, and there were already three or three cavalrymen running back to their formation. Lin Dan Khan raised his right hand, and the general beside him turned around in recognition and shouted: "Beat the drum and get on the cart." With the sound of drums, the carts were pushed out of the ranks and slowly moved towards the Ming position. Lin Dan Khan kicked the horse's belly twice, and also walked forward slowly, and the guards holding the Sulu ingots high behind him hurriedly followed.

On the mound, Liu Cheng laboriously adjusted his visor to make his vision clearer, but the sweat and smoke in his eyes always made his efforts come to naught. He took off the helmet in annoyance and threw it on the ground, and Hao Shaoqi on the side hurriedly picked up the helmet and said, "My lord, be careful of the hidden arrow!" ”

"I'm not so unlucky, am I?" Liu Cheng scolded in annoyance, Hao Shaoqi didn't dare to argue, so he had to walk in front of Liu Cheng, looking like he was ready to block the arrow for his boss. Seeing this, Liu Cheng had to put his helmet back on, and then he saw twenty or thirty carts slowly moving towards his own barrier, and behind the carts were Mongols on foot, obviously Lin Dan Khan had realized that the fortifications of the Ming army could not be taken down by flesh and blood alone.

In front of the trench, there were several Mongol carts, which were converted from the kind of caravans used by the nomadic tribes of the steppe for thousands of years, the wheels were as high as five feet, and the original parts of the cart were dismantled, and replaced by rattan plates made of several layers of wicker, and then covered with two layers of raw cowhide dipped in water, enough to ignore most of the arrows and firearms, and as soon as they were pushed to the edge of the trench, hordes of Mongols threw bundles of firewood and straw bags full of soil into the trench. The archers who followed behind the cart fired arrows at the Ming archers on the earthen ramparts to cover the movements of their companions. Although people were constantly being shot by buckshot or arrows, the bales and bags of earth in the trench rose rapidly, and soon reached the point where the cart was slowly pushed through the trench to the bottom of the ramparts, and the Mongols burst into cheers. (To be continued.) )