Ningxia, Huamachi.

Huamachi is a salt lake in the grassland, and the surrounding grassland was an important place for Mongolian grazing in history. Cattle and horses need to eat salt, and there are not many natural salt lakes on the grassland, occupying the flower and horse ponds, which is very important for the nomadic Mongolians.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army recovered northern Shaanxi, Ningxia and other regions from the Mongols, and included Huamachi in the territory of the Ming Dynasty and was defended by Ningxia Wei. Outside of Huamachi, the Ming army built a side wall to defend against the Tatar tribes in the north, and from then on, the Mongols could no longer drink horses in Huamachi.

For the past 200 years, the Tatar tribes around Ningxia have always wanted to reoccupy Huamachi, and have fought more than once with the Ningxia border army, but they have never been able to do so. Today, the 20,000 cavalry led by the Tatar tribe leader Li Tu finally reached the shore of Huamachi.

"Big Chief, Lord Bi sent the little one to greet you, and congratulate the big leader on regaining the Flower Horse Pool." Saihan, the commander of the Cangtou Army, led a team of Ningxia soldiers to greet the rabbit by the Huama Pond, Saihan was originally a Tatar, and at this time he was dressed in a Tatar costume, looking like a subordinate of the rabbit.

"You're President Saihan Qian, right?" Sitting upright on his horse, he casually pointed at Saihan with his horsewhip and asked.

"It's the villain." Saihan bowed in response. In order to ask the rabbit to help him, Bibai not only ceded the flower horse pool to the rabbit, but also called the rabbit a brother in the letter.

The rabbit turned back and shouted at his men, and the Tatar cavalry dismounted and rested in place. Many horses rushed to the lake, sticking out their tongues and licking the salt grains of the lake, making cheerful calls. The mood of the Tatar cavalry was also infected, and one by one they smiled and congratulated each other that their people had occupied the flower horse pond again.

The Tatars are all soldiers. These cavalrymen under the rabbit are usually herdsmen, and they only become soldiers when they are fighting. As a herdsman. They know too well the value of a salt lake for themselves, for the sake of such a salt lake. They did not hesitate to go to the soup and die on the battlefield.

"Saihan, tell me what the prince wants us to do." He took Saihan aside, sat down on the ground, and asked Saihan.

Saihan knelt on the ground and replied, "Lord Bi has now controlled the entire town of Ningxia. The next step will be to become the king of Ningxia. However, the Ming court will definitely not give up, and will definitely send troops to harass it, therefore. The prince is arranging his troops, preparing to defeat the Ming army. ”

"Well, the Ming army is overwhelming, can you hold Ningxia?" Zhu Litu asked, this question is related to the fact that he can occupy the flower horse pond for a long time. He had to ask.

Saihan said: "The big leader knows that although the Ming army has a large number, the soldiers are weak and vulnerable. In the past, Ningxia Town relied on the support of the prince, which was ...... Belch. It's all in the past......"

Zhu Litu understood Saihan's words, in the past, Bibai was the defender of Ningxia Wei, and if the Tatars wanted to invade Ningxia Town, they would have to confront Bibai. Saihan's meaning is that Ningxia Wei can only repel the attack of the Tatars by Bibai, and it will not be possible to replace it with the Han army. This kind of thing is an honor to say in the ranks of the Ming army, but to say this to the Tatar leader of Litu, it is a bit of a suspicion of scolding Huai.

The tribes of the steppe usually fight each other. Today's enemies and tomorrow's friends are very common in the grassland, so the rabbit doesn't feel that there is anything wrong with worshipping himself in the past and forming an alliance with himself now. He nodded and said to Saihan, "That being the case, then what is the prince looking for us for?" ”

"That's the ......," said Saihan, "the prince was first set in Ningxia, and there were many places to use troops. The Ming army in Shaanxi continued to harass the Ningxia East Road and the South Road, so the prince concentrated his forces there, and left a little trouble here at the North Road Pingyu Station. The meaning of the prince is to ask the big leader to take down the flat place and relieve the prince's worries. ”

"Pingfu?" Zhu Litu frowned and thought for a while, and asked, "Is it a general named Xiao Ruxun who is guarding there?" ”

"Exactly." Saihan replied.

"No wonder." Zhu Litu said coldly.

Saihan just said that the entire Ningxia Wei can only fight with the Tatars by worshipping, but in fact, he smeared powder on his face. Zhu Litu invaded the border wall of Ningxia several times, and the first to bear the brunt was the northernmost Pingyu, and the Pingyu was not garrisoned by the army of Bibai, but by the Han army.

The rabbit and the Pingyu guard Xiao Ruxun have fought a few times, knowing the other party's strength, I heard Saihan say that Bibai wants to make himself level is the Pingyu, and the Tu can guess with his heels, Bibai must have suffered a loss from Xiao Ruxun, and now he can't find more troops to deal with Xiao Ruxun, so at the cost of Huamachi, please send troops to Litu.

"Has the prince already attacked Pingyu City before?" Litu asked.

"This ......" Saihan knew that it was impossible to completely conceal this matter, and besides, there were powerful firearms in Pingyu City, which also needed to be reminded of Litu in advance. Otherwise, if you attack rashly, you may suffer a big loss. Although it has nothing to do with Bibai if the Rabbit suffers a loss, it is not appropriate if it affects the major event of capturing Pingyu City.

Thinking of this, Saihan could only stammer, and made an abridged version of the introduction of Biyun's failure in attacking Pingyu City to Litu, and he didn't dare to say too lightly or too heavily about the benefits of the firearms in the Kanyu camp. If it is light, I am afraid that the rabbit will underestimate the enemy, and if it is heavy, I am afraid that the rabbit will go away. How to find a suitable statement really made Saihan think about it a lot.

After hearing this, the rabbit smiled coldly and said: "A lonely city, four or five thousand defenders, can make you return defeated, this prince is afraid that he should also train his own soldiers." ”

"Uh...... Yes. Saihan nodded awkwardly, not daring to refute.

"You go back quickly, tell you what kind of general Biyun, and tell him to stick to the camp first, and this leader can rush to the city of Pingyu within two days. When the time comes, let him take the siege with us, and the chief will show him how the real Tatars broke through the city. The rabbit commanded.

"Yes!" Saihan agreed, and then left a few of his subordinates to serve as guides for Litu, and he rushed back to Biyun Camp with the rest of the people.

"Great Chief, this is what Saihan said. We can't afford to be on guard. Seeing Saihan walking away, Cha Gan, the deputy general beside the rabbit, stepped forward and reminded.

The rabbit nodded and said, "Of course I know." This Xiao Ruxun, we have also fought in the past. In the Ming army, he can also be regarded as a wise and brave person. I haven't seen the new firearm that Saihan said, so it must be a sharp weapon, otherwise the elite soldiers under him would not suffer such a big loss. ”

"So what do we do?" Chagan asked.

Zhu Li Rabbit said: "No matter how fast the fire gun is, can it be as fast as our horse?" I asked in detail. When Biyun sent cavalry to charge, he did not suppress the opponent's fire guns with bows and arrows, so he suffered a loss. Besides, Biyun's cavalry was not enough. There are only 1,000 people, and we have 20,000 cavalry, and Xiao Ruxun can't find so many firearms to fight against our army. ”

"The Great Chief's words are reasonable." "However, we still have to think of a way." Minimize casualties. We're just here to help, it's not worth fighting to the death with the Ming army. ”

Li Rabbit said: "If it weren't for the sake of Bai Bai Xu my Huama Chi, I wouldn't care about his affairs." This scum who betrayed our Mongols is not worthy of our warriors' efforts to fight for him. My idea is that we just have to defeat Xiao Ruxuan. The rest of the things will be left to Biyun's team. ”

"Capture Pingyu City, won't we earn some loot?" Chagan asked.

Zhu Li Rabbit said: "Needless to say, let Biyun's team attack the city, and after the city is broken, let's go into the city to get something." Also, when I was on the grassland, I heard that there was a coal mine outside Pingyu City, and those military households also built some greenhouse to grow vegetables in winter. ”

"My subordinates understand!" Chagan replied loudly.

The strategy was set, and the rabbit ordered his subordinates to camp in place, rest for a day, and then send troops to Pingyu City the next day. In his heart, he has prepared several sets of plans, and he is waiting to see how Xiao Ruxun in Pingyu City will respond. As for the possibility that this battle would fail, Zhu Li Rabbit never thought about it, how could 20,000 people attack a lonely city?

The news that Bibai invited Litu to send troops was quickly detected by the scouts sent by Xiao Ruxun. Scout Pegasus returned to the city to report to Xiao Ruxun, Xiao Ruxun listened, his face changed suddenly, and he immediately sent his men to invite Su Hao and others to the General Military Mansion to discuss countermeasures.

"Worship this traitor, actually colluding with the Tatars?" Chen Dao glared and said angrily. The Bibai rebellion, after all, is considered an internal contradiction of the Ming Dynasty, colluding with the Tatars, it is a national contradiction, and the degree of viciousness of its nature has risen to another level.

Xiao Ruxun was quite calm, he said: "Bibai is originally a Tatar, not my race, and his heart will be different. He dared to raise troops, and he also had the idea of asking the Tatars for help, and the general army had already thought of this. ”

The imperial court promoted Xiao Ruxun to the chief soldier of Ningxia and Su Hao to the deputy chief soldier of Ningxia, and the news had already spread to Pingyu City through the fast horse. Whether it was the sergeant of the Pingyu Station or the soldiers of the Survey Battalion, they were all overjoyed to hear the news, after all, if they fought with a figure at the level of a general soldier, they would have more opportunities to be rewarded in the future.

After Xiao Ruxun was promoted to the commander-in-chief, he issued an order to let the troops in Ningxia who were scattered by Bibai come to Pingyu City to listen to the dispatch, and he himself quickly changed his words, and he called himself "this general soldier" in and out of his words.

Jiang Tingfu, who escaped from Ningxia City, echoed: "The collusion between Bibai and the Tatars is not a matter of one or two days. In the past, before he had any trouble, he had all kinds of dealings with the Tatars, and even colluded inside and outside to act for the imperial court to increase his military exploits. This time, he dared to raise troops to rebel, and he also did a good job of luring the Tatars to resist the king's division. ”

"It seems that we still don't have enough estimate of Bibai, we only think about dealing with his soldiers and horses, and we don't think that he still has foreign aid." Su Hao said.

"Mr. Xiao, according to what you know, how many soldiers and horses does the Rabbit have?" Xu Guangzu asked.

Xiao Ruxun said: "The Rabbit is a big leader of the Tatar tribe, and there are hundreds of small tribes under him, if he attacks with all his strength, he can organize forty or fifty thousand people. However, according to the news that the scout heard this time, he was invited by Bibai to invade our Pingyu City this time, and only brought 20,000 horses, of which about 10,000 were elites. ”

"In other words, this rabbit cub didn't take our Pingyu City very seriously." Su Hao said with a smile.

"What does that mean?" Xiao Ruxun didn't understand.

Su Hao explained: "He can mobilize forty or fifty thousand people, but now he only brings 20,000 people, doesn't this mean looking down on us?" ”

Xiao Ruxun smiled bitterly: "It's really a joke to change it, 20,000 Tatar cavalry, attacking a small city like ours, is this still something to look down on?" It is true that he was able to mobilize 40,000 or 50,000 people, but in the past, he led his troops to commit crimes, that is, he led 10,000 people, and he would not dispatch the whole army.

His soldiers were all herdsmen from the tribe, and if the whole army went out and there was no one at home to graze their herds, wouldn't they starve to death when they returned? Also, there are many tribes on the grassland, if he hollows out the nest, other tribes will take advantage of it, this is the reason why the yellow finch is behind. ”

"Twenty thousand cavalry is truly remarkable." Xu Guangzu also echoed that he had fought with the Mongols and knew the strength of the Mongol cavalry. In the past, when the Ming army fought against the Mongol army, the 20,000 Mongol army could defeat the 100,000 Ming army, and sometimes even the 100,000 Ming army could not win. The Rabbit brought 20,000 people to fight the city, probably in order to prove to Bibai that he had contributed to it, in exchange for more benefits. Hearing the news of the 20,000 Mongolian cavalry attacking, among these cadres, only Su Hao was heartless and didn't know how to worry.

"What are you afraid of, the soldiers will come to block, and the water will flood." Su Hao said, "We have the city wall as a barrier, and the 20,000 Tatars can't help us." Brother Xiao, I'll tell you the truth, I asked Xiu'er to transport a lot of equipment from the capital, and there are still a lot of things that haven't been used. Two days ago, Deng Kui led his troops to attack Biyun at night, and I was reluctant to let them use the treasure at the bottom of my box, since you said that the rabbit is very powerful, then let him try whether his cavalry is powerful, or my killer weapon. ”

"Oh, what else is there to change, tell everyone about it. At this time, don't sell it anymore. Xiao Ruxun said.

Su Hao smiled and told everyone about the various firearms that Lu Xiu'er had transported. Some of these things, except for the veteran Xu Guangzu, even Chen Dao heard of it for the first time.

Xiao Ruxun listened carefully, and her eyes shone brightly: "If it is really as he said, then we can really touch the rabbit with that force." However, we still have to discuss how to configure these firearms, and we must take them by surprise in order to have the best results. ”

ps：

Happy New Year and auspicious Year of the Horse