The cavalry of the Ming army protruded from the smoke and dust, and in the sound of neat orders, the horse lances were slowly leveled. The pen & fun & pavilion www.biquge.info war horses galloped on the river beach, while the red dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty danced in the wind.

The dark clouds overhead are getting lower and lower, as if they are almost pressed to the hillside, and they are also pressed on the banner held high in the hands of the cavalry, these Janissary cavalry who followed Ye Yingwu to fight in the south and the north, and have seen countless winds and waves, did not frown, but desperately rode forward, the horse lance flashed with cold light, and the moment it collided with the Mongolian soldiers who also charged, it pierced the chest accurately, and the broad chest of the Mongolian also looked a little thin in front of this long horse lance, The Ming cavalry galloping forward quickly drove the corpse on the horse lance to move forward, and the corpse kept colliding with the soldiers behind, and one by one the Mongolian soldiers were pierced by the horse lance, and the blood flowed along the wound and along the barrel of the gun.

The galloping horses, the howling wind, and in the end, either the corpses were torn apart by the constant drag and impact, or the horse lance broke because it could not withstand such a strong falling force. It's just that the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard, who lost their horses, did not have the slightest fear, and in the face of those Mongolian soldiers who roared and thought that they had a chance to pounce, they drew their sabers at the same time, waving them with a chilling wind.

Although the cavalry of the Praetorian Guard is constantly armed to the teeth, after all, it is the most elite cavalry unit of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also Ye Yingwu's escort army. For the wealthy Da Ming, of course, the most elite cavalry team is equipped with the best blades, and the horse lance and sabre are equipped, so the natural thing is to enhance the cavalry's assault ability.

For the cavalry, once the biggest advantage of speed is lost, then it is easy to be surrounded by the infantry in all directions and wiped out, the Southern Song Dynasty to deal with the northern cavalry is this tactic, with a giant axe to chop the horse's legs, the speed of the cavalry is forcibly reduced to zero, and then with the help of their own strength advantage, the infantry swarmed up, so as to achieve the purpose of being able to block the advance of the cavalry.

Of course, such tactics always seem to have a deep helplessness, after all, this has a great requirement for the fearless sacrifice of the soldiers, even if the Southern Song Dynasty has a very high military salary, it is difficult to guarantee that so many soldiers are willing to shed blood for the country in the war.

If the Southern Song Dynasty had enough war horses, they would definitely not use this desperate general style of play. By the time the Ming Dynasty arrived, enough horses had been obtained by seizing and occupying Hexi and other horse breeding places in Mongolia, which meant that the Ming army could completely abandon the previous tactics of killing 800 enemies and losing 1,000 themselves, and instead formed its own cavalry team to deal with Mongolian infantry and even Mongolian cavalry.

The Ming Dynasty inherited the mantle of the Southern Song Dynasty and did not have sufficient experience in cavalry construction, but fortunately, the Ming Dynasty still had Ye Yingwu, although Ye Yingwu was a full liberal arts student, but he was also an expert in the formation of cavalry and the study of tactics.

The cavalry formed by the Ming Dynasty is still limited in number after all because of the war horses, so in order to ensure that the small number of cavalry can achieve a certain strategic purpose, Ye Yingwu can only take the "elite route", after all, for the Ming Dynasty, there is a lack of everything, that is, there is not much shortage of money.

If you want to ensure the combat quality of the cavalry, you need to ensure the assault speed of the cavalry, and the horse lance handed down from the Han and Tang dynasties is obviously not the best choice for the blade in this regard, and the saber that the Mongolian cavalry is used to is. Because after the horse lance pierces the enemy's chest, it still needs to be withdrawn, and there is more or less a process of deceleration in the middle, after all, the horse lance is not like a European cavalry gun, it is all disposable. The saber is different, after the slash, it can completely leave the enemy's body and rush to the next target, and the speed of the cavalry's impact will not be greatly affected in the process. In terms of ensuring the speed of the cavalry alone, the horse lance was not comparable to the sabre.

However, the Ming army also had to take advantage of the length of the horse lance, so as to make up for the lack of short-distance fighting compared with the Mongolian infantry cavalry, and also to make up for the lack of equestrian compared with these horseback peoples, so the installation of the horse lance is still very reasonable. It's just that the times have changed, and the enemy has changed, even if it is a Ming soldier holding a horse lance, once the speed slows down, it is easy to be killed by the Mongolian cavalry, after all, once the Mongolian cavalry enters the inner circle of the Ming army with its excellent horseback riding skills, it is difficult to kill the horse lance with only the gun barrel, and the saber at close range is far more flexible than the horse lance.

Therefore, in order to prevent this problem, most of the cavalry of the Ming army were equipped with another spare saber, which was to allow the cavalry to abandon the horse lance on the spot and use the saber to kill the enemy in the case of a high-speed assault.

The Mongol infantry was obviously taken aback by their first encounter with such a heavily armed opponent, but the desire to survive made them grit their teeth and continue to rush forward. More and more sheepskin rafts rushed onto the rocky beachhead, and the extremely high assault speed of the Ming cavalry finally slowed down.

"Dispatch the 4th Brigade of the Divine Guard Army and the 2nd Brigade of the Zhendong Army to support the rocky beach!" Ye Yingwu stood on the hillside and ordered in a deep voice, the Mongolian Tartars had two or three thousand people ashore on the rocky beach, and the Praetorian Guard cavalry under Zhang Shijie was only a thousand people, so he was naturally not the opponent of others, and at first he could rely on the advantages of the war horse and the sophistication of the blade to gain the upper hand, but as the Mongolian soldiers gradually gained a foothold on the rocky beach, Zhang Shijie was not happy.

Dispatching two brigades over, even if it can't eliminate the Mongol Tatars, it is enough to cover Zhang Shijie's retreat. Ye Yingwu knew very well that his brother-in-law was definitely not the kind of person who didn't know what was important for the sake of competitiveness, so he didn't care about that side, but turned his eyes to the river beach.

The main forces of the Mongol Tatars are getting closer.

Different from the smooth wind and water on the rocky beach, the Mongolian army that directly attacked the river beach was entertained by the Ming army's artillery group, and only fifty or sixty of the original hundreds of sheepskin rafts were able to rush out safely, and it can be said that the fierce shelling just now wiped out the lives of half of the Mongolian soldiers in a very short period of time. It is estimated that Kublai Khan on the opposite side is also lightly poor, if it is not for the attack in two directions, and only put all the sheepskin rafts in the middle of the road, I am afraid that the loss will be even greater. After all, the more sheepskin rafts, the denser they were on the river, and the easier it was for the Ming army's artillery to cause casualties.

The first raft staggered towards the riverbank, and the Mongolian crossbowmen on the raft were determined to shoot arrows into the trench not far away, even on the rickety raft, but they were soon overwhelmed by the rain of arrows from behind the antlers.

The more than a dozen sheepskin rafts that rushed to the front were baptized by the rain of arrows that fell from the sky for a long time, and there was no trace of any living person on these sheepskin rafts that had fallen into the water in the shaking waves just now, and there were many corpses lying on the sheepskin rafts that were not spacious, and many corpses fell directly into the water, and the river near the shoals was dyed red. Without human control, these sheepskin rafts swayed with the river, floating and sinking, and soon went downstream. The sheepskin raft behind had already rushed up, and with the previous lesson, the Mongolian crossbowmen aimed at the antlers, and the frightened shieldmen in front also cheered up their spirits to cover.

"Withdraw!" Several commanders in charge of the command behind the antlers gave orders at the same time, and the Ming crossbowmen did not have time to cast the second round and quickly ran to the back trench. This antler can be regarded as a fence at most, and it is okay to block the line of sight, but it is not so easy to block the arrows, so in order to avoid greater losses, the Ming army will not shoot at the Mongols on the beachhead.

Without waiting for the Mongols to rush to the beachhead, the shells and explosives bags had already been whistling down, if the Mongols continued to move forward into the trench, they would have to fight with the Ming army, considering that the accuracy of the artillery and flying thunder artillery was not too good, they would inevitably not be allowed to fire, so the Ming gunners knew very well that they would have no chance if they continued like this, so this shelling was very rapid and violent. The sheepskin rafts that rushed to the beachhead one after another were torn to pieces directly in the roaring cannon, and the severed arms and stumps continued to fly into the air, and the blood also dyed the once silvery and soft sand red in an instant, plus those broken corpses, it looked like Shura hell.

Ye Yingwu shook his head slightly, as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he didn't have much mercy for this killing, after all, the dead were all Mongols, all of them were his enemies, if he didn't kill them, it would be the Ming Dynasty who was unlucky. It's just that the scene in front of him reminded Ye Yingwu of the scene of his bloody struggle over the years.

If he wins this battle, I am afraid it will be the last battle of his life.

Up to now, the fight is still a little unpleasant! His eyes fell on the opposite bank, and Ye Yingwu even vaguely felt that Kublai Khan was also looking this way from a certain corner. Ye Yingwu couldn't help frowning slightly, is that all you have is this?

Or do you have other plans?

"Your Majesty, the third batch of Mongol Tartar ships has been dispatched." Xiao Yangzi said a little anxiously, he has been by Ye Yingwu's side for a long time, and his temperament is also a lot more stable, and there are really few things in this world that make him anxious.

Ye Yingwu looked in the direction of Xiao Yangzi's finger, and his pupils shrank slightly.

Well done!

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Datong Province.

Datong Mansion is the Xijing of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and it is also the first important town that has crossed the Great Wall from the Mongolian steppe to the south, from Datong Mansion to the east through Ulzhou is Juyongguan and Youyan, to the south through Mayi is Yanmen Pass and Taiyuan Mansion, and to the west through the Lanshui and the big river is the south of the Hetao, the north of Guanzhong, and to the north is needless to say, so this is the place that extends in all directions, and it is not an exaggeration to call it "the thoroughfare", otherwise the Jurchens would not have chosen this place as Xijing.

Not to mention Datong itself, just from the famous towns around Datong such as Mayi, Yanmen Pass, and Juyong Pass, as well as the wars and famous generals that have broken out around these passes for thousands of years, we can know how important the geographical location of Datong Mansion is. Datong is the core of the flank defense of the entire northwest side of the mountain, Youyan and Guanzhong, and it is also the most important passage from Shanxi to the grassland.

Because of the importance of the location of Datong Mansion, coupled with the rise of the Mongols later, it caused a lot of pressure on the Jurchens, so the Jurchens built Datong Mansion on the basis of the original Liao State is more tall and majestic, so that it not only still retains the original place to communicate with the Quartet and gather merchants, but also has become a veritable military town. It is precisely because Datong Mansion guards the passage in and out of the grassland, so even if Kublai Khan poured his main force south, he still left heavy troops to guard Datong Mansion.

Once Datong Province was lost, the Mongols' road to the north was completely cut off.

It's just that the so-called heavy troops are only relative after all, Kublai Khan left twenty or thirty thousand soldiers and horses here, for a partial division of the Ming army with no more than four or five thousand people, it is definitely a hard bone that can't be gnawed off by broken front teeth, but for a main army of the Ming Dynasty, it is not so difficult.

Especially the main battle force is still the Tianwu Army, which is almost smooth sailing in the process of the Northern Expedition.

Standing on the wall of Datong Mansion, Ai Yachi, who was ordered to stay in Datong Mansion, looked at more and more Ming soldiers in the wilderness ahead, and his face turned pale. He is the sixth son of Kublai Khan, and he is also the youngest of the eldest heirs who accompanied Kublai Khan on the expedition this time, and it is precisely for this reason that Kublai Khan did not want him to go to the front line to adventure, so he specially left him in Datong Mansion, and the main task was to be responsible for transporting grain and grass to the army and ensuring the stability of Datong Mansion.

Kublai Khan taught his children quite strictly on weekdays, and the sons of the Great Khan basically started a family early and established meritorious deeds, so being in charge of a city is just a piece of cake for Ai Yachi, so Ai Ya Chi is still very leisurely every day, after all, it is easier to eat and drink in this city than to take a tribe on the grassland to overcome obstacles and work hard.

It's just that I didn't expect this rare leisurely comfort to come to an end so quickly.

Because according to Kublai Khan's assumption, even if it is difficult for Youyan to win, Boyan and Shi Tianze will do everything possible to drag the Ming army, even if they are not able to retreat into the grassland, the Ming army will focus its main attention on them, after all, the main purpose of the Ming Northern Expedition is Youyan, Ye Yingwu even if he mobilizes the newly formed Zhendong Army and does not mobilize Youyan's main army, it can be seen, so in order to completely take Youyan and eliminate hidden dangers, The possibility of several main armies of the Ming Dynasty suddenly turning around and attacking is not very large, even if it really comes, it is impossible to go out. Therefore, Kublai Khan left more than 20,000 cavalry in Datong, which was enough to deal with most possible threats.

It's just that Kublai Khan never thought that Ye Yingwu would make such a tactic as a surprise attack, disrupt the situation in Youyan with lightning speed, and then use the army to attack forward and attack from all sides, and solve the Youyan war in such a short period of time.

However, even so, Ye Yingwu did not dare to have 100% expectations to achieve the final victory, so the will given to Jiang Hao was to ask him to decide for himself, which means that it was not clear whether the Tianwu Army was going east or west.

But fortunately, everything is developing in the direction that is most beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, and the Tianwu Army appeared under the city of Datongfu, covering the sky and the sun, and the red flags fluttering in the wind, all of which show the strength of the army that came to attack.

Kublai Khan couldn't think of it, and Ai Yachi wouldn't have thought of it, but fortunately, Ai Yachi didn't eat dry food after all, and the Mongolian sentinels found the traces of the Tianwu Army as early as Ulzhou, and realized that this army that did not hide its whereabouts at all was coming to Datong Mansion nine times out of ten, Ai Yachi quickly sent heralds to the north and south respectively, to tell Kublai Khan about the emergency here, and second, to expect that there would be reinforcements on the grassland.

Even if he had 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and horses under his command, Ai Yachi did not have the slightest confidence that he would be able to defeat the Ming army.

And the important ** Yachi of this Datong Mansion himself is also very clear, once the Datong Mansion is lost, the Mongolian army will only be left with the retreat of Lanshui, there are many valleys and torrents in that area, even if Kublai Khan marched in a hurry before, it was only the line that led the cavalry troops, and the infantry and baggage of the brigade still went south from Datong Mansion, so the price of retreating from Lanshui was unbearable for Mongolia.

Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Ai Yachi looked at the Ming army under the city who had begun to prepare for an attack.

Father Khan, how nice it would be if you were here, the child is afraid of this city, and he really can't hold it!