Chapter 1194: Soldiers Descend on the City
Hetao, the great royal city that was besieged for a month. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info
The steppe outside the city had turned into a sea of blood, and the ground was littered with corpses of men and horses, all of which were the work of the Tatars.
In the previous month's offensive, the Arutai father and son did not use the Tatar army of their descendants, but drove the forces of the vassal tribes to attack the city. The Mongols did not build siege equipment, only some rough ladders, and adopted the most brutal ant-attached siege method, and the Tatar cavalry, wielding their blades, drove the poor men of the various tribes behind them, as well as the captured Han Chinese men. Those who were the slightest sluggish would be shot by the Tatar cavalry behind them, and they would die if they advanced or retreated, and those poor Ding Zhuang of all ethnic groups could only die and rush towards the city in waves.
The defenders of the city, under the command of Bao Yin, have been resolute and strong in resisting the enemy's attacks. They poured down everything they could throw, and when they ran out of arrows, they poured boiling water and boiling oil down. When the rolling stones and sassholes were gone, they removed the stones and beams from the houses and smashed them down. The strong men of all ethnic groups who were driven to besiege the city, without the slightest cover, fell down from the ladder one by one, and the corpses under the city became thicker and thicker, and the thickest part was already as high as one zhang, which made the strong men who were besieging the city behind them have a stepping stone, and the distance between them and the head of the city during the siege was shortened a lot.
Under the banner in the distance, Arutai and his son Sinakan sat on horseback, looking at the tragic siege battle in front of them expressionlessly, the walls of the Great King City had been dyed black and red with blood, but Arutai father and son were not moved at all, and they didn't even pay attention to it at all.
"Did the Ming Dynasty really send reinforcements?" Aru's face was gloomy, and he asked his son in a low voice.
"Yes father," replied in a deep voice, "Wang Xian, the prince of Zhenguo of the Ming Dynasty, led more than 100,000 troops, and he arrived in Zhangjiakou three days ago......"
"You arrived in Zhangjiakou three days ago?" Arutai was startled, and said with a somewhat panicked expression: "So they may appear in front of us at any time?" ”
"Not really." But he shook his head and said: "The marching speed of the Ming army is extremely slow, only forty or fifty miles a day, and now it should only be more than half of the march. ”
"The people of the Ming Dynasty are the most cunning, but Wang Xian, the prince of the town, is even more cunning like a fox, and he was the one who played with the old thief of Mahamu back then," Arutai said with a solemn expression: "Beware of their sudden acceleration and catch us off guard." ”
"Isn't that what we're doing?" But he laughed and said, "Isn't the reason why our Tatar iron cavalry is not used to attack the city? ”
"That's a good word, but in short, it's better to be careful." Arutai said in a deep voice: "Let Abu Zhian's scouts keep a close watch, and once they get close, they must report as soon as possible!" ”
"Father, rest assured." Lost Nirvana replied softly, but he was quite disdainful in his heart, and said secretly: "My father was frightened by the Han people after all, and he can no longer be called a hero on the grassland." ”
Arutai didn't know what his son was thinking, so he suddenly turned his gaze to the sky and pointed to a small white dot between the white clouds and blue sky.
Immediately the Tatar warriors shot arrows with their bows and arrows like a full moon, and shot an arrow at the white spot.
The long arrow whistled into the sky, and the white dot that flew in the sky fell in response.
And the Tatar warriors came forward on flying horses, and before the white dot hit the ground, they copied it in their hands, and then turned their horses back, and presented them to the master with both hands.
Arutai father and son looked at it, and it turned out to be a white carrier pigeon, which was shot through the chest.
"The carving insect skill can hide from my father's eyes!" Nirvana did not praise the archery skills of the Tatar warriors, but only blindly patted his father's ass, and it turned out that there were also honey-bellied swords among the Mongolian people.
"Hmph......" Arutai looked reserved, and couldn't hide his smugness: "The old man has been hunting on the grassland for decades, flying in the sky and running on the ground, and there is no one who can escape the old man's two ears!" ”
He removed the small bamboo tube tied to the pigeon's leg, took out the letter paper, unfolded it and handed it to his father.
Arutai took the letter paper, only to see that there were only four words on it: 'The king has arrived'! Apparently for the city.
Don't look at only four words, if you let the people in the city see it, it will definitely boost morale!
"It's a pity they can't get it......" Ignigan and the leaders laughed, and Nirvana shouted even louder: "Give the order!" Kids be vigilant and don't let a pigeon fly into the city! ”
Before Nirvana's words fell, he saw that Arutai's face changed, and Huo Ran looked up at the eastern sky.
Lost Nirvana and the others also looked blankly with Arutai's gaze, only to see that in the blue sky and white clouds, countless white spots suddenly rushed out!
It was an innumerable number of carrier pigeons, at least two or three hundred, flying from a distance, and there was some overwhelming momentum......
"Shameless, you actually came to this ......" Arutai's old face turned red, and he felt as if he had been mercilessly ridiculed.
"Shoot, shoot!" Nirvana roared, and the Tatar warriors drew their bows and arrows to shoot at the flock of pigeons flying overhead! Even the losers and the leaders joined in and wanted to shoot them all......
The Mongolian bow is indeed powerful, the bowstring sounded countless arrows flew into the sky, the pigeons were hit by the seedlings, and the pigeons in the arrows crackled and fell like dumplings.
But there were so many pigeons that many of them were spared out of the range of the bow and arrow, and flew to the city of the king, and circled around the city a few times, and the pigeons fell one after another.
Bao Yin, dressed in silver armor, looked up at the pigeon in the sky, slowly raised her arm, and a pure white carrier pigeon landed lightly on the back of her hand.
Bao Yin gently stroked the back of the pigeon's neck, then untied the bamboo tube on the pigeon's leg and took out the letter paper in the tube. Then Bao Yin excitedly announced to the Menghan warriors around her: "The reinforcements of the imperial court have entered the Hetao!" The Governor of the King has led a large army to reinforce us! ”
"Whew! Banzai! Banzai! The Menghan warriors at the head of the city erupted in earth-shattering cheers, and after more than a month of hard fighting, they waited for the hope of victory!
Bao Yin smiled and looked at the subordinates who were jumping and jumping on the top of the city, cheering and cheering, knowing that there was no need to worry about their morale now. Thinking of this, Bao Yin set his eyes on the Tatar army outside the city, obviously the enemy army had known this news for a long time, I wonder if they would retreat in the face of difficulties and lift the encirclement and withdraw the army?
'Wouldn't that be cheaper for them?!' Bao Yin bit his lips lightly, staring at the banner of the Tatar master, the loss of the Hetao this time was really too miserable, 30,000 or 40,000 Menghan men were killed, countless people's homes were destroyed, and the development of the entire Hetao for many years was all in vain...... This account must be settled! The Tatars must not be allowed to retreat like this!
The white doves were like snow, and it seemed that the momentum of the Tatars was greatly affected. For the rest of the day, the Tatar offensive was so weak that they lost even the interest in driving the slaves to their deaths, and shortly after the sun was set in the west, Arutai hastily ordered the troops to be withdrawn.
Hearing the sound of the trumpet, the men of all tribes who had been driven retreated in the blink of an eye, ten times faster than they were advancing. They quickly retreated to the Tatar camps, where their wives and children had been waiting for them...... The Tatars drove the tribes they had subjugated by force, and the plundered population marched together. In addition to being hostages, forcing men to fight for them and blackmailing them not to escape, women and children could also vent for the Mongol warriors, which was an old routine handed down from the time of Temujin......
The battered women and children stared nervously at the blood-stained faces, begging for one of their own men to appear...... It's a pity that every day, thousands of men go out and never come back. Those men who were lucky enough to return returned to their families, hugged their wives and children tightly, gasping for breath, their eyes full of happiness, glad that they had lived one more day...... Although I don't know whether tomorrow will be life or death, at least I can reunite with my wife and children today.
As for the poor people who did not wait for their own man in the end, they either hugged their heads and cried, or sobbed, or stood there with a blank face...... In fact, it doesn't make a difference how they react, because in this world, no one pays attention to their pain.
Some of the Han people with lively brains picked up the carrier pigeons that were shot dead in the city during the siege, and they already knew the news that the Ming army was coming, so they comforted the sobbing family members softly: "Endure it for a few more days, maybe it won't take a few days, and we will ......be saved."
The family looked at them inexplicably, and they whispered the news they had received, and soon it spread to the hundreds, and finally everyone knew. The atmosphere in the barracks was more cheerful than ever, and even the families who had lost their loved ones seemed to feel less sad......
Even the miscellaneous soldiers in the partial camp knew the news, and the Tatars in the main camp naturally would not be kept in the dark, but contrary to the joy in the partial camp, the atmosphere in the main camp became very solemn, and the leaders of the upper and lower ranks couldn't help but whisper, discussing when the Ming army would appear under Daxiang City, guessing whether the Taishi would go next or fight?
There is no doubt that the coercion of the Tatars formed by the Ming army for decades could not be completely reversed by a great victory on the Tru River. These Mongolians who were born after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, even though they can show their teeth and claws on their faces, the fear of the Ming Dynasty in their bones is difficult to erase.
Everyone looked at the big tent in the center of the camp, waiting for Arutai's final decision......
In the Taishi Great Tent, in addition to Arutai and Nirvana, there is also Arutai's second son, Abu Zhi'an. Abu was majestic and majestic, and was known as the first warrior of Tatar. Although he was not as good as his eldest son, he was more trusted by Arutai and ordered him to command 40,000 Tatar cavalry to defend against possible Ming troops on the Eastern Front.
General Arutai's second son, who was leading troops abroad, also recalled to the Chinese military tent, apparently to decide whether the army would stay or not.
Who knew that the brothers waited for a long time, but they didn't see Arutai speak. just blindly turned on a face, staring straight out of the tent with his eyes...... (To be continued.) )