In March, the willow trees in the south of the Yangtze River have sprouted, and the grass has quietly poked its head out, but it is still cold and windy in the Chahar Chifeng area of Guanwai, thousands of miles away from the south of the Yangtze River, and the snow on the ground has not melted, although the snow is not very deep, it is not very convenient for people or horses to walk in this weather.

The late Great Khan of the Chahar tribe, Lin Dan Khan, the widow of the Empress Doro, Namu Zhong, stood quietly in front of the tent, and hundreds of shirtless Chahar warriors were happily wrestling on the flat ground in front of her.

Today, Namu Zhong still wears traditional Mongolian costumes, but on the outside she wears a red winter coat with a hat on her collar and two gloves hanging from her sleeves.

Yes, this is the down jacket, which Yue Yang specially asked people to give to Namu Zhong when they were transporting supplies to the Chahar tribe, Yue Yang brought her dozens of pieces, all kinds of colors and styles, and some thermal underwear, cotton shoes, cotton pants, a total of several boxes.

Namu Zhong, who is Chinese New Year's Eve years old today, is the most beautiful in her life, with a straight waist and a straight nose bridge, fair skin with a pretty goose egg face, and a dazzling red dress sets off her extraordinarily graceful and gorgeous, so that many nobles who are watching the game will look at her secretly from time to time.

Women have always been sensitive to men's gazes, even if they only stay on their bodies for less than a breath, they can feel it, but Namu Zhong has long been accustomed to these gazes, and now her mind has long flown to an unknown place.

The sound of "creaking" snow treading came, Namu Zhong turned his head to look, it turned out to be Wu Chengfeng wearing a gray coat walked over, this young man was the general of the Ming army who was rotated at the beginning of this year, and I heard that he was still a newly promoted guerrilla general, leading 5,000 cavalry to be stationed in the Chahar tribe.

In the course of two years. In the past, many people in the tribe would freeze to death or starve to death due to lack of clothing and clothing, and livestock would starve to death due to lack of forage, but since the opening of the trade route with Yueyang, the Chahar tribe has never starved to death, thanks to the continuous supply of food and clothing delivered by Yueyang every month.

The top brass of the tribe had mixed feelings about the changes in the Chahar tribe, on the one hand they were enjoying these things, and on the other hand they knew about it. These things are like the honey of the devil constantly eroding their will and life. These things were not given to them by the Ming people in vain, but they exchanged horses, cattle and sheep, and furs, and it was by virtue of these things that they exchanged for a steady stream of tea bricks, salt, spirits, clothing, iron pots and many daily necessities.

These things look so good, but the slightly far-sighted Chahar executives understand that this is actually a poison coated in honey. Although things are good, but as the saying goes, it is difficult to go from thrift to luxury and from luxury to thrift, and after enjoying these things, the Chahar tribe can no longer do without the Ming Dynasty. As the head of the Chahar tribe, Namu Zhong naturally knows the way best, and now some people in the tribe have even announced that they want to reduce the number of tribal warriors to reduce the tribe's expenses.

Looking at Wu Chengfeng who walked in, Namu Zhong showed a smile and asked, "General Wu." Can I help you? ”

Wu Chengfeng strode up to Namu Zhong and hugged his fists and said: "Empress Doro, since the beginning of the spring, the Manchu army has been gathering in Shengjing one after another, and we even clashed with a cavalry of the Tatar Department two days ago. The two sides fought, and although we annihilated more than 2,000 people from each other, we also let the remaining more than 1,000 people flee to Shengjing. The last general is afraid that those Manchus will not give up. ”

Namu Zhong was silent for a while before asking: "It doesn't matter whether Huang Taiji will give up or not, what matters is whether we can get support from the Guannei, and whether Lord Yue can give us reinforcements in time, otherwise once Huang Taiji is angered, I'm afraid our tribe will be ready to move." ”

Looking at the faint sadness on Namu Zhong's face, Wu Chengfeng also admired her foresight in his heart, although she was a woman, she was very insightful in some major matters. She is right, although the Chahar tribe has been recuperating for nearly two years, it is not able to compete with the Manchu Qing in terms of population base and strength, if Huang Taiji really focuses on dealing with the Chahar tribe, the Chahar tribe will only be destroyed or relocated to another country, of course, this qiē must be based on the premise that Yue Yang does not make a move.

"Don't worry, Empress Doro, the Chahar tribe is a subordinate of my Ming Dynasty, and Lord Yue is with you...... He will not sit idly by and watch with you. When it came to intersecting, Wu Chengfeng's tone paused, and Namu Zhong's pink face began to slowly turn red, and the unique style of a mature woman shook Wu Chengfeng for a moment.

There is no impermeable wall in the world, although the relationship between Namu Zhong and Yue Yang was not known at the beginning except for Chen Dazhi, the personal captain of the personal soldiers, but in the past two years, Yue Yang has always sent people to send some things to Namu Zhong, and his concern for Namu Zhong is obviously beyond the scope of pure friendship. There is nothing in this world that can stand up to the investigation of people with hearts, let alone the kind of thing between men and women, and it is because the rumors about Namu Zhong and Yue Yang's affair have slowly spread in the tribe. And Wu Chengfeng, as Yue Yang's henchman general, naturally sees some things about his own boss, such as the dress that Namu Zhong is wearing now is still brought by Yue Yang, if others just suspect that the two have a leg, then Wu Chengfeng is almost certain that the in front of him and his own boss must have rolled over the sheets.

However, Namu Zhong is also worthy of being a good actor, and her gaffe was only a matter of a moment, and soon she adjusted her mentality and said: "General Wu, judging from the information collected so far, the Qing army has gathered so many soldiers and horses for no more than two purposes, one is to deal with us, and the other is to invade the south of the Ming Dynasty, no matter what their purpose is, we must be prepared, here I hand over the only five thousand warriors of our tribe to you, and we must protect the safety of our Chahar tribe." ”

"Woo woo woo ......"

When Namu Zhong said this, there was a low and rapid horn sound in front of him, and after the horn sounded, the young people of the Chahar tribe who were wrestling and frolicking in front of him immediately stopped their movements, and the originally deafening cheers and cheers also died down. All will be looking into the distance.

More than a dozen small shadows rushed in the direction of everyone's eyes, and soon these shadows began to grow larger, and more than a dozen cavalrymen wearing light black and gray armor appeared in everyone's sight. The more than ten cavalrymen rode their horses to a place more than ten steps away from Namu Zhong and stopped, and a cavalry led by him dismounted and trotted to Namu Zhong and bent down, put his right hand on his chest and said hurriedly: "Dear Empress Doro, we found a large group of Qing soldiers eighty miles to the southeast, the number of which is about six thousand people, and now they are heading in the direction of our tribe!" ”

The horseman's voice was loud, loud enough for everyone around him to hear what he was saying, and soon silence fell around. Namu Zhong was also silent. 6,000 Qing soldiers are not too much of a threat to today's Chahar tribe, after two years of recuperation, today's Chahar tribe has more than 7,000 rearmed troops alone, plus 5,000 Yueyang garrisons here, it can completely sweep them, but the problem is that Namu Zhong is very clear that this army is only the vanguard of the Qing army, and those who follow behind are the most deadly.

As the leader of the tribe, Namu Zhong showed his bold side at this time. She immediately said in a deep voice: "Pass my order, immediately blow the horn and sound the alarm, and all the clansmen will immediately pack up and put away their tents, drive up the cattle and sheep and start retreating!" ”

"Queen Mother. Are you crazy? If you migrate at this time, you are simply looking for death! As soon as Namu Zhong's words fell, the second eldest concubine, Siqin Tu Fujin, who had rushed to hear the news, ran over and shouted loudly.

"Yes, Queen Mother, it is very stupid to migrate at this time, you must not do this!" Then. Hearing the news, the rest of the Fu Jin and nobles who rushed over all dissuaded.

As a nomadic people, migration is a part of their lives, and migration is too normal for them. However, migration is not a purposeless migration, but rather a relatively fixed area, where they are familiar with the water source, the location of the plants, and the habitat of the prey. Nomadic herders, who live on domesticated livestock, migrate to fixed areas in search of pasture for their livestock. And this kind of migration is generally carried out in spring and autumn, and in the frozen winter, the migration is simply looking for death, not to mention whether people can afford to eat, even if people are fine, but those domesticated cattle, sheep and horses are afraid that most of them will freeze to death, and the entire Chahar tribe will disappear.

Namu Zhong took a deep breath and said to everyone: "I know that it is very risky to move in this season, but now that the Manchus are menacing, if we don't move the tribe away, I'm afraid the Manchu army will have to stay here and wait for death as soon as they come." ”

"What are you afraid of, don't we still have five thousand warriors? Isn't there still 5,000 Ming troops? No matter how bad it is, I can still ask Lord Yue for help! Siqintu Fujin's sharp voice echoed in the air, and she turned her head to Wu Chengfeng and said, "General Wu, Lord Yue sent you to garrison our Chahar tribe for the purpose of protecting us, but now that the Qing army is here, are you protecting us like this?" ”

Wu Chengfeng was silent, as an experienced general, he naturally knew that the Qing army would definitely not only send a mere 6,000 people to the Chahar tribe to die, and I am afraid that behind these 6,000 people there would be countless soldiers and horses, which was what he was worried about.

Seeing that Wu Chengfeng was silent, Siqintu Fujin's voice became louder: "As the suzerainty of our Chahar tribe, shouldn't Daming have the responsibility to protect us?" ”

"Siqintu Fujin, that's enough, is it useful for you to force General Wu like this?" Namu Zhong on the side couldn't stand it anymore, and stopped Siqin Tu Fujin with a cold drink, and there was silence around.

After a long time, Wu Chengfeng raised his head and said to Namu Zhong: "Empress Doro, it's not yet spring, and at this time the migration can only be self-defeating, you immediately gather all the clansmen, all the soldiers wear armor and pick up weapons to prepare for battle, I will immediately send someone to deliver a letter to Lord Yue, please send reinforcements quickly." ”

Someone asked, "Is that too late?" ”

After a long time, Wu Chengfeng said slowly: "Do your best to listen to the destiny of heaven." ”

Everyone was silent, and the life and death of the Chahar tribe depended on this fate.

Two quarters of an hour later, six of the most elite Ye Bushu galloped away with thirty-six fast horses in a southwesterly direction, and their mission was to deliver the letter for help written by Namu Zhong and Wu Chengfeng to Hunyuan Prefecture.

On the ninth day of the third month of the tenth year of Chongzhen, after three days of sleepless travel, he finally rushed back to Hunyuan Prefecture and handed over the letter to Yue Yang, who had just returned to Hunyuan Prefecture......

"This Huang Taiji, this hand is really vicious!" Yue Yang put down the letter and sighed. His brow furrowed tightly.

Hai Lanzhu on the side also frowned, picked up the letter with her slender hand and read it for a while, and then said: "Xianggong, Huang Taiji is obviously forcing you to fight him!" And even the location of the decisive battle has been chosen for you, just outside the Chahar tribe, it seems that Huang Taiji has been carefully planning for this day for a long time. ”

With the news coming one after another and the news from the spies lurking in Shengjing, Huang Taiji gathered a total of 100,000 troops, including 30,000 Mongolian Eight Banners, 20,000 Han Eight Banners, and 50,000 Manchurian Eight Banners.

Hai Lanzhu continued: "The Emperor Taiji chose to send troops at this time, and it was also planned. Now there is still about a month and a half before the beginning of spring in May, and no tribe can migrate in this icy and snowy season, otherwise the entire tribe is at risk of being swallowed by ice and snow, so the Chahar tribe can only passively stay in place to resist. And we, as the suzerain of the Chahar tribe, must not die without saving, otherwise your reputation will be completely stinky in the future, and Huang Taiji's position will be unbreakable at that time. So even if you are reluctant, you still have to bite the bullet and go to the rescue, which is a trick. ”

Yue Yang smiled bitterly: "Yes, Huang Taiji has put everything on the bright side. But even if we could see through his plan, we had to jump in. Huang Taiji, Huang Taiji, pick up the eyes and scheming, you are much stronger than the emperor in our Forbidden City! ”

Hai Lanzhu grabbed Yue Yang's arm and said in an affirmative tone, "Xianggong." You must not go this time. Now this season is not conducive to the army to pull out, if you send the army out of the customs and Huang Taiji decisive battle, due to the difficult road, there must not be many things to bring, if you and Huang Taiji into a stalemate with the army will be dangerous! ”

Yue Yang smiled bitterly when he heard this. Hai Lanzhu is right, winter is not the season for marching and fighting, and the army is out on the march. Just the things that people eat and chew every day is an astronomical amount, not to mention that the troops under the command of Yue Yang are also a firearms unit, and the logistics materials that need to be carried once they go out on the expedition are even more amazing, if they are prepared in advance, it is fine, but now that the incident happened suddenly, they must not be able to carry too many materials with the army in a hurry, otherwise it will inevitably affect the marching speed of the army. Moreover, Yue Yang can be sure that as long as his army reaches the Chahar tribe, Huang Taiji will definitely send troops to attack his supply lines in the vast grassland, and once the logistics supply of Yueyang's army is cut off, then the result can be imagined.

Looking at Hai Lanzhu's worried expression, Yue Yang stretched out his hand and touched Hai Lanzhu's tender little face and smiled: "What, don't you have confidence in your husband, or are you afraid that I will be defeated by Huang Taiji?" ”

"Eh, people are worried about death, and you still look like a hippie smile." Hai Lanzhu stretched out her little hand and slapped her husband's back hard, and suddenly threw herself into Yue Yang's arms and cried: "Xianggong, we won't go, I won't allow you to go!" You immediately order Wu Chengfeng to withdraw, let's ignore the Chahar tribe!" ”

"You stupid, what stupid things are you talking about!" Yue Yang stretched out his hand and scratched Hai Lanzhu's nose, "The Chahar tribe is the first tribe to attach to us, if we let it be destroyed by Huang Taiji, then our reputation will be completely stinky, and who will dare to join us in the future, besides, I promised the Chahar tribe to protect their safety, how can I not talk about it." ”

"You didn't promise the Chahar tribe, but you promised the Doro Empress Doro, you desperately want to rescue the Chahar tribe, I'm afraid it's also for her!" Hai Lanzhu glanced at Yue Yang angrily.

"Huh...... What is not is not a thing, what is not is a thing! Yue Yang laughed a few times, only to feel that his eyes didn't know where to go. In the past two years, he has often had contacts with Namu Zhong, and these things naturally can't be concealed from Hai Lanzhu, who holds the two intelligence agencies of Youshan Division and Youchuan Division, but he doesn't know about Hai Lanzhu on weekdays, but today he can't help but point it out with jealousy.

Hai Lanzhu looked at her husband who was smiling dryly, and said resentfully: "Look at you, you just went to Jinling, and you brought back three sisters, how many women do you plan to bring back this trip to the Chahar tribe?" ”

At this time, Yue Yang didn't know what to say, to say that women were really a group of strange creatures, just now they were still worried about their own safety, but in a blink of an eye, they began to be jealous again, the speed of this kind of thinking transformation is really amazing.

But in any case, Yue Yang still decided to send troops, Chongzhen ten years of the tenth month of the third month, Yue Yang issued an order, he mobilized 20,000 firearms, 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 heavy soldiers, three artillery battalions with a total of 33,000 men and horses, ready to march outside the pass, this news spread throughout Shanxi in an instant...... (To be continued......)