On the sixteenth day of the first month of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, with the opening of the gates of Bansheng City, all the Tumut tribes surrendered except for a small number of troops entrenched in the back set.

Zhu Youzhen ordered Cao Wenyao to lead two battalions of direct cavalry to garrison Bansheng City and defend the logistics route, while he personally led the troops to kill the rear.

At the same time, Su Nang and the thirty-two Tumut lords who had been captured and surrendered, as well as their families, were escorted by the Shangzhi cavalry to Datong to kill the tiger.

The news came so quickly that everyone who received it subconsciously thought it was impossible.

Of all the people, the most angry was naturally Huo Luochi, who was waiting for reinforcements......

"Bang!"

"Impossible! When pigs fly! ”

"Even if it is 50,000 pigs, Zhu Youzhen can't catch them all in three days, how can he be defeated in two days?"

"This is fake news released by the Ming army, it must be!"

Hongyanchi and Ordos Department, when the 42 branches of Hetao Ordos, hundreds of thousands of men, women, old and weak gathered here, Huo Luochi, who learned of the rapid defeat of Su Nang, was in his room, wantonly venting his anger.

"Abu ......"

The tent was opened, and Baltu, the son of the fire, came in from outside the tent, glanced at the mess inside the tent, and then spoke:

"Caritas Taiji and Jilian Taiji, they want you to preside over the overall situation."

"Got it......" Seeing Baltu come in, Huo Luochi suppressed the anger in his heart, and after responding, he sorted out his emotions, and then turned around and walked out of the big tent.

When he stepped out of the tent, he was greeted by a series of grassland tents and fluttering snowflakes.

"It snowed suddenly this morning, and the weather is a bit strange this year."

Looking at his father's appearance, Baltu explained, and Huo Luochi had to tighten his teeth: "If it was a month earlier, there wouldn't be so many things." ”

Even so, Huo Luochi also knows that it is not too late for the snow to fall.

After all, as soon as it snowed, the Ming army that chose to fight in the snow season had to face a more difficult road and a more difficult baggage route.

However, in the short term, snow is good for them, but if it is ...... in the long term.

Huo Luochi had already imagined the scene of the livestock starving to death because of the long-term snow accumulation, which could not eat the grass.

"The weather has really gotten stranger in recent years."

sighed, Huo Luochi also took Baltu and his personal guards, and rushed towards the big tent of the discussion.

Along the way, he could see many other tribesmen who had migrated.

Although there were more than 100,000 people in the Hetao, the men were still in the minority.

At this time, if the Ming army went south to kill them, basically the entire war would be over.

However, the Ming army did not have the ability to airdrop supplies, and if they wanted to attack here, it would take three to five days from any stop.

Huo Luochi released the sentry fifty miles away, and if there was any trouble, he would know as soon as possible.

This is the experience of surviving from the Jiajing period, and it is also the gain from his decades of fighting with the Ming army.

If Su Nang's army was handed over to him for command, even if he would lose in the face of Zhu Youzhen, he would not lose so badly.

It's just that it's too late to say anything now, and now Huo Luochi needs to appease the lords of the Ordos Department of Hetao first, and then think of a way to break through.

"I really can't do it, I have to go to Oirat (Warat)......"

Huo Luochi, who was gloomy in his heart, thought so, because the road from the Loess Plateau to the northeast had been blocked by Zhu Youzhen.

Now he can only escape from the northwest, and the time must be in time before Zhu Youzhen takes the back set.

Tumut's troops in Houtao were only more than 20,000, and his troops were only 50,000.

If Zhu Youzhen led the troops in person, they would immediately choose to surrender......

When Huo Luochi thought of this, he also came to the big tent of the council, and then opened the curtain and met the lords of the various tribes and Taiji.

As soon as the many lords who had been chatting enthusiastically saw Huo Luochi appear, they immediately closed their mouths, and everyone was ready to see how Huo Luochi planned to arrange.

Huo Luochi did not hide it, but chose to be open and honest.

He stepped into the position of representing the leader of the alliance, and after sitting down, he spoke in front of many people:

"Frontally, we are no longer the opponent of the Ming army, now we can only break through to the rear, and then unite with Jineng's troops and retreat towards Hangai Mountain."

"Surrender to Baibagas in Oirat, this is our last way out, and if any of you want to surrender to the Ming army, I will not stop it."

Huo Luochi was tempting, testing how many of the forty-two tribes were people who could retreat with him with an iron heart.

Retreat didn't hurt him.

If they leave the Hetao, where the Ordos Department has relied for hundreds of years to survive, then they will only be more closely attached to themselves.

At that time, even if he goes to Oirat's side, he can still rely on the strength in his hands to maintain a high status.

However, many lords and Taiji could also see his thoughts, so not many people expressed their stance for a while.

This kind of behavior made Huo Luochi feel uncomfortable, but he also knew that his strength was not enough to threaten the other lords.

After the three victories in Huangzhong and many battles with the Ming army in Hetao, Huoluochi's strength was only about 6,000.

Although he said that he had the most soldiers and horses among the tribes, after he went to Qinghai, he cut off contact with many lords, so now he is actually half an outsider.

I really want to intimidate and threaten other lords, I'm afraid that others will join forces to fight back.

Therefore, after seeing that the situation was uncontrollable, he also said with interest:

"I will lead my troops to retreat to Moxi tomorrow, and those of you who want to leave can evacuate with me at noon tomorrow, and those who are willing to stay can stay and wait for the surrender of the Ming army, or fight to the death with the Ming army."

With that, Huo Luochi got up to leave, and when he left, no one stopped him.

Ji Neng of the Ordos Department of Ningxia did not bring troops to come, and Su Nang was captured by Zhu Youzhen.

Huo Luochi's plan was completely overturned and bankrupt, which made everyone no longer trust him.

Such a change and attitude naturally made Huo Luochi angry, but he didn't have much to do.

He could only return to his tent with suppressed anger, and his eldest son Baltu followed, and asked:

"Abu, are we really going to withdraw Moxi?"

"If you don't withdraw, are you waiting to surrender Zhu Youzhen? Our grudge with the Ming court is not unclear. Huo Luochi glanced at Baltu.

Baltu also knew that he and Daming had a long-standing grudge, and it was basically impossible for him to have a reconciliation ending.

Therefore, he could only say: "But the snow has not melted yet, and we can't graze our cattle to Moxi, otherwise we will starve to death on the road." ”

"Then use cattle and sheep and other tribes to exchange food, anyway, they will surrender to the Ming Court, and they will not be afraid of running out of food when the time comes." Huo Luochi can see clearly.

"Tomorrow, it is estimated that the three departments of Sha Jinai, Caritas, and Mengkeshili will break through with us, so don't worry that we can't break through."

"Yes." Baltu Yingxia also knew that these three tribes, like them, were tribes that had a long-standing grudge with the Ming court, and with Zhu Youzhen's character, they would not necessarily be surrendered, so there was a high probability that they would choose to break through.

However, even so, the combined strength of the four of them is at most less than 20,000.

With 20,000 troops and 30,000 or 40,000 troops, it is very difficult to break through, and of course the biggest difficulty is the food problem.

They must ensure that after breaking through, they can successfully cross 1,500 miles of Mobei, reach Hangai Mountain (Yanran Mountain), and join the Oirat (Warat) Alliance.

This is not the end, after arriving at Hangai Mountain, they have to cross more than 900 miles to Jinshan (Altai Mountains).

Because at this time, Oirat has been in the nomadic history of more than 200 years, and gradually migrated from Hangai Mountain in Mobei to Weirum (Urumqi) in the Western Regions.

In other words, only when they went to the Western Regions could they completely have a place to stay.

It's just that it is still unknown whether it can successfully break through with the old and weak women and children.

"Tell the people in the ministry to kill the cattle and sheep, dry them into jerky, prepare a month's worth of jerky, and then exchange the remaining cattle and sheep with other tribes for grain and bean feed."

"To exchange for two months' worth of beans and grain, it's better not to have a bunch of grass."

Huo Luochi confessed to Baltu, and Baltu could only respond when he heard this, and then turned and walked out of the big tent.

Huo Luochi looked at the back of him leaving, and also sat on his bed, frowning and not knowing what he was thinking.

Time has passed, in short, no one in the Ordos tribes can sleep peacefully this night.

Tribes like Huoluochi were worried about whether other tribes would attack them and use themselves to ask for merit from the Ming army.

Like other more stable tribes, they are worried that tribes like Huoluochi will come to steal their food.

Fortunately, Huo Luochi didn't want to make extraneous branches, so he chose to exchange cattle and sheep.

That is, a simple exchange, which greatly eases the conflict between the two sides.

From this point of view, Huo Luochi still has some political vision and means.

Because of his initiative, the people of the entire battalion were relieved, until the night passed, and early the next morning, most of the people of the Huoluochi tribe began to prepare for retreat.

They took the initiative to move out of the camp in Red Salt Pond and came to the west of the camp.

Also with them were the three tribes of Sajinai, Caritas, and Mengkeshili.

The four armies together had more than 18,000 troops, and more than 43,000 troops.

However, to Huoluochi's surprise, the Wulie of the Zasak tribe also had an awkward face and brought his men and slaves to the breakout site.

Although they were a little surprised, Huo Luochi still accepted the arrival of the vultures, after all, with the vultures, their strength would be able to exceed 20,000.

After the arrival of the Wulie, no second tribe came to this breakthrough point.

In other words, only four of the forty-two Ordos divisions were willing to evacuate, and the remaining thirty-eight divisions chose to surrender.

"They are a flock of lambs, and in the end they will regret it."

Mengkeshi looked at the Red Salt Pond camp with disdain, mocking the other tribesmen who tried to succumb to the iron hooves of the Ming army.

However, Caritas said:

"Needless to say about them, we probably won't meet them again from today, and the most important thing now is to retreat with Jineng and them in Ningxia."

"If we retreat together, with their cattle and sheep, we should be able to hold out to Jinshan together, and the number of troops will reach 40,000."

"When the time comes, even if they don't want to accept us, they will need to carve out a piece of pasture for us."

"Can we make it to the Golden Mountain?" Sha Ji suddenly asked, and this question silenced everyone.

Will they be able to get to Jinshan? This is a sure, but it's hard to say how many people will die in the process.

The old and weak of the tribe will be the first to be abandoned, followed by women, and finally children.

It's cruel, but it's the only way to keep the tribe going.

If the women are gone, they can rob again, but if the children and men are gone, the tribe will perish.

With these preparations in place, the Fifth Division began to march to the northwest.

Even though there was fine snow in the sky, the team still unswervingly broke through to the northwest.

After they had gone far, the remaining thirty-eight Ordos lords began to send envoys to Mangui in the south.

They are not really the same as Mökeshli said, a group of people who are greedy for life and afraid of death.

If they were to find themselves in the summer and autumn, they would have decided to break through, but not right now, because it's still winter.

Some small tribes with only a thousand or even only a few hundred people could not break through alive and make it to Hangai Mountain or Jinshan.

They all understand, that's why they choose to surrender.

Their thoughts, in fact, Huo Luochi and Caritas also knew, so they did not force them to break through together, for nomads, the winter crowd is a burden.

In the nomadic season, they are no different from the Han people, and they need to worry about logistics and supplies.

In the same way, when their envoy arrived in the city of Zasak with a letter of surrender, Mangui understood the predicament of the thirty-eight books when he saw the contents of the letter.

"It's a bit of a trick......"

Looking at the book in his hand like a hot potato, Man Gui frowned tightly and said to the deputy general next to him:

"Where is the general army of Ruchin?"

"There is no news from Tangqi, but according to the news from yesterday afternoon, it should have arrived in Liancheng (Kubuqi Desert)." The adjutant general responded to Man Gui, and Man Gui also said after hearing this:

"Let him not continue to sweep the north and south of the Yellow River, His Royal Highness and Sun Jingluo have already sent troops to the rear, now let him lead the troops south, go to the Red Salt Pond to surrender, and then go to the ...... with the men and horses of the thirty-eight divisions"

Ordered to come here, Man Gui couldn't give it any more.

If the people of the 38th Division are driven to the Guannei, then the Governor's Office of the Northern Army will have to be responsible for managing them not to riot, which is equivalent to containing Lu Qin's in the Guannai.

If the thirty-eight troops were allowed to stay in the camp of the Red Salt Pond, then the Ming army would be responsible for part of their food.

Because cattle and other livestock will inevitably be handed over to immigrants from northern Shaanxi to go to Hetao for reclamation after the war, they cannot be slaughtered at will.

But the problem is that the random transfer of grain from Datong, Taiyuan, and Yansui to Hongyanchi requires the help of more than 100,000 people.

It is obviously impossible to recruit civilian men temporarily, so it is still necessary to transfer a logistics civilian husband of soldiers and horses to be responsible for the food delivery of these hundreds of thousands of captives.

Therefore, no matter what, in order to ensure their livelihood, there must be a team of soldiers and horses left behind.

As for why Man Gui didn't transfer them to Bansheng City, he naturally didn't dare.

In case these 40,000 people went to Bansheng City, suddenly rioted, and then fled north to join the Chahar Department, then the Ming army would have no pain.

So after thinking about it, he still stubbornly said:

"Summoned Lu Qin, ordered him to lead the army to Hongyanchi, supervise the capture of the 38 departments, and move them to the area of Shanxi Bianguan."

Compared with the barren Shaanxi, Man Gui still chose to move these 38 to the area of the border outside the Great Wall of Shanxi.

The people of Shanxi and the military households have been dividing their fields for a long time, and the grain is relatively stable, although this arrangement still requires tens of thousands of stone of grain every month to appease the 38 departments, but it is better than staying in the red salt pond and letting them flee north.

Man Gui issued a military order as the governor of the Northern Army, and the adjutant general could only comply.

Fortunately, the Luqin Department is not the main force of the sweeper, and there is nothing to do if it is withdrawn, but the credit is lost.

But it doesn't matter, just give him some credit after the war.

"The army is ready, go out of the city tomorrow morning, and pursue the Huoluo Red Fifth Division to the northwest, thinking that the Wulie will leave a lot of traces for us."

"In addition, inform the other armies, don't let the fire fall away."

After settling the affairs of the thirty-eight departments, Man Gui also began to prepare for the encirclement and suppression of Huo Luochi.

Since the 21st year of Wanli, the border troubles in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty have basically been in the shadow of fire.

In the early stage, he was just making a small fuss, and in the middle and late stages, the northwest of the Ming Dynasty was not at peace.

The other Ming armies can let it go, but only the four of them cannot.

This is not only the idea of Man Gui, but also the idea of all the generals of the Ming army.

Due to the heavy snowfall, the carrier pigeons could no longer be used, and Man Gui could only send an 800-mile expedited pond ride overnight.

The first to receive information were the Liancheng Luqin Division, which was 500 miles away, and the Zhu You Inspection Department, which had just arrived more than 400 miles away, in Shiguai Mountain (Baotou) in the Yinshan Mountains.

Lu Qin, who received the order, chose to go south without hesitation, preparing to take over the 38th Ordos Department of Hongyanchi.

After all, he is only the chief soldier of Shanxi, and Man Gui is his superior.

Compared with him, Zhu Youzhen has more autonomy.

When he received the order, it was already noon on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month.

At this moment, the army was on its way to Houtao, and when passing by this place, Zhu Youzhen received the news of Mangui, so he accelerated the speed of the march.

However, due to the continuous rush and the heavy snow that had been going on since yesterday, the 20,000 cavalry chose to dismount and walk, so the march was very slow.

Such a marching speed, for Zhu Youzhen, has a better look at this place known as "Lucheng and Baotou" in later generations.

Zhu Youzhen didn't know what this place was like in the Warring States, Qin and Han dynasties, Sui and Tang dynasties, but in his eyes, this place in the Ming Dynasty could be described as barren.

It has many names at the junction of the front and back sets, and Lu Bu, who was more famous during the Three Kingdoms period, was also born here.

It can be said that before the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a place with abundant water and grass, and people and animals flourished.

However, after nearly 400 years of indiscriminate grazing from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Jiuyuan at this time is no longer the grand occasion of the past.

Although there are many green plants on both sides of the Yellow River, and there are also places that can be cultivated, there are very few places that can be cultivated.

Zhu Youzhen's participation in the First Battle of the Restoration of the Trap was not only to clean up the three captives, but also to see the Hetao of this era with his own eyes, so as to better make a plan to relocate the people of northern Shaanxi and Guanzhong.

He was still happier when he was in the front set, because the front set was quite rich, and although it was not as rich as some of the rich areas in Kannai, there were still enough rivers and lakes to cultivate.

In addition, the entire front set is basically pasture, so it is much easier to make it into farmland than in other places.

As far as the places that can be reclaimed in the former set are concerned, it is enough to reclaim tens of millions of acres and raise millions of people.

But after arriving in Jiuyuan, Zhu Youzhen only took a cursory look and knew that this place could only be reclaimed for 12 million mu of cultivated land at most in this era.

In other words, if the Hetao area is currently explored, if it is based on the standard of five acres per person, it can only feed about 2 million people.

This already sounds very good, so Zhu Youzhen was not particularly discouraged, but was full of expectations for the next set.

If millions of acres of cultivated land can be reclaimed in the backset, then the density of the people in Shaanxi can be greatly reduced, thus improving the people's ability to resist disasters.

"Your Highness, this heavy snow is so strange, I have never heard of such heavy snow in the first lunar month."

Just when Zhu Youzhen was thinking about how to prepare for the relocation of the people of Shaanxi to the Hetao, Cao Wenzhao's words pulled him back to reality.

He looked up at the snowflakes that kept falling in the sky, and although he felt strange in his heart, he was relieved to think that this was the end of the Ming Dynasty and the era when the Xiaoice River disasters were continuous.

"The snow will fall until late February at most, and by then we will have the fire gone."

"The most important thing now is to arrive in Houtao first, or to surrender to the local Tumut lord Taiji, or to send troops to annihilate them."

"In short, we can't let the fire fall to Chixi."

Zhu Youzhen will not sit idly by and watch Huoluo Chi lead 20,000 soldiers and horses and 40,000 or 50,000 troops to migrate to Warat, no matter whether he can move these thousands of miles or not, in short, Zhu Youzhen will not give him and Warat this opportunity.

Speaking of Warat alone, everyone who is familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty knows who it is, and Zhu Youzhen is no exception, and there is one of the Warats that is known to people who are more familiar with the history of the Qing Dynasty.

Dzungar ......

Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly, although he knew that the current Dzungar tribe had just raised its head inside Warat, and it was not even the largest tribe.

But who knows what kind of help Huoluo Chixi will bring to the interior of Warat after the fire falls to Chixi?

What if the butterfly effect causes the Warat Alliance to destroy Yarkand, Turpan, and Hami belonging to the Eastern Chagatai Khanate?

Don't get it, when you want Zhu Youzhen to come on an expedition to this force entrenched in the Western Regions.

Therefore, he will not give Warat a chance to increase his strength, nor will he let Huoluo Chi escape to the north successfully.

"Order Sun Chuanting and Yang Zhaoji to block the west bank of the Yellow River, and don't let Huoluochi successfully cross the river."

"Yes!"

Zhu Youzhen skillfully ordered, and Cao Wenzhao also responded honestly, and then sent Tang cavalry, preparing to search for traces of Sun Chuanting and Yang Zhaoji along the Yellow River.

After that, Zhu Youzhen continued to lead the troops to the rear, but the snow falling from the sky was getting heavier and heavier......

Updated promptly at 4 p.m

(End of chapter)