"Bang-"

On the fifth day of the first month of March, with a sound of guns, the Tang cavalry of the Ming army, which was the main force of sweeping the north, and the Chahar sentry cavalry began to collide.

The collision between the arrows and the buckshot broke out in the middle of the vast Duolun grassland, and their actions were transmitted to the army behind them through the other pond horses.

Almost at the same time, Lin Dan Khan, who led his troops south, and Cao Meng and Saihan, who pioneered the way, received news from the front.

In the face of the collision between the two sides, Lin Dan Khan, who had been leading the troops to fight in the eastern part of Monan, did not rush up stupidly, but chose to increase the number of sentry cavalry, trying to encircle and suppress the Tang cavalry of the Ming army first.

As for himself, he led a large army to garrison the meadow more than thirty miles north of the battlefield.

Compared with his behavior on horseback, when Cao Meng and Saihan received the news, they immediately started a discussion:

"According to what His Highness said, increase the dispatch of the Tang cavalry, and kill the sentry cavalry of the northern captives first."

Saihan, as a Mongol general who returned to Shun, did not want to cause trouble, so he was ready to fight in accordance with Zhu Youzhen's military orders.

Cao Meng, who followed Zhu Youzhen all the way from Tengxiang Siwei, also had this opinion, but his opinion was more than that.

He surveyed the map with his hand before saying:

"We are forty-five miles away from the place where the Tang cavalry fought, and my suggestion is that the army first continue to travel twenty miles north with light equipment, and then decide whether to wear armor and march with heavy loads according to the news of the victory or defeat of the Tang cavalry in front."

"According to the information handed over to Jinyiwei by the lords of the Karaqin tribes, there are only 9,000 iron horsemen under the command of Hudun Rabbit, and the remaining 20,000 people are rangers."

"Judging from the fact that our current army is marching in cotton armor, even if it encounters a surprise attack, you can use the baggage cart to form a formation to protect yourself."

"Yes." Saihan turned his head to look at the vanguard army, and saw that on the vast grassland, the Ming army's foot soldiers were all dressed in mandarin duck jackets and cotton armor, and each flag had a carriage.

The carriage was pulled by two horses, and the cloth armor, infantry and armor-piercing hammers of 12 people were placed on the carriage, as well as military rations and water, as well as saddles, horse materials and other materials.

Each foot soldier led an unsaddled horse and walked on his own through the grassland.

The army is side by side with ten flags, that is, a hundred households as the tip of the team, so as to go backwards.

Such a march formed a long army that lasted two miles, and in the center of the long procession, an artillery unit formed by two thousand households, that is, twenty hundred households, was guarded by them.

More than 2,000 people, 300 five-pound guns, this is the firepower of the front army.

In the face of the nomads, the Ming army that swept the north this time did not carry too much artillery, because it was not necessary.

The artillery only needs to be used to disrupt the formation of the northern captives, and then under the protection of the cavalry on both wings, the infantry counterattack with a platoon of guns is enough to sweep Mobei.

When attacked by a large army, the baggage wagons of each hundred households would be surrounded to form a defensive line to hinder the charge of the northern cavalry.

It can be said that Zhu Youzhen simplified Qi Jiguang's car camp to any hundred households, giving them the ability to protect themselves with one enemy and ten.

However, this is not to say that he is much stronger than Qi Jiguang, but because of the different and advanced weapons and equipment, he has simplified capital.

"Deliver the news to Your Highness"

"Yes!"

Cao Meng instructed Tang to ride a hundred households, and the voice pulled Saihan back to reality.

The two led the army to continue the march north, and the Tang cavalry also spread the news to the Chinese army more than ten miles away from them, and reached Zhu Youzhen's ears.

"The arrangement is good, this time you don't have to fight too much with the northern captives, drive them away, and build a city in the Duolun Grassland and the southern foot of Haravan Mountain."

Zhu Youzhen, who got the news, was very satisfied with the implementation of his military orders by the former second general, and at the same time said to Sun Shoufa:

"Summons Mangui, let him order the follow-up guards who escort the people to the north in an orderly manner."

"In addition, send people to the capital, and let Gu Ge veteran move all the criminals from Beizhili, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong and other places to the north."

"The Imperial Horse Prison issued 60,000 taels of silver, and set up Kaiping Mansion at the southern foot of the Duolun and Haravan Mountains, which was under the jurisdiction of Beizhili."

"Yes!" Sun Shoufa responded, and Zhu Youzhen also glanced at the map, and then looked around.

I have to say that with the triple package of the Haravan Mountains and the Yanshan Mountains and the Mongolian Plateau, the water veins and water system of the Duolun Grassland are not bad.

It is no wonder that Zhu Di set up Kaiping Wei here back then, and every time he led troops from Kaiping Wei to sweep the north.

Although the precipitation in this place is insufficient, through the melting of the snow in the two mountains, it can completely achieve the standard of raising millions of people, and it can even become a high-quality pasture in Daming.

It will be much easier to build a city and set up a government here, and then lead troops to sweep the north in the future.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen can also choose not to sweep the north, but like the Qing Dynasty, he will rule this territory through means such as harmony.

However, the rule of fetters is not the rule that Zhu Youzhen wants.

History often proves that the Han Chinese dynasty ruled the Mongolian plateau for a long time.

Only by relocating the people, forming a sufficient number of people and arable land in the local area, and reaching the most basic balance of income and expenditure, can the Han dynasty rule the local area for a long time.

The drought and famine during the Xiaoice period are too long, and even if they do, there will be 80 years of low temperatures behind.

If Zhu Youzhen remembers correctly, this low temperature period will last until 1720.

Huang Taiji, Kangxi, and Yongzheng also seized this low temperature period to squeeze the living space of the nomads by squeezing the Han people in the interior and cooperating with Tsarist Russia to squeeze the living space of the nomads to the north, so as to completely dominate the Mongolian Plateau semi-controlled and semi-restrained.

Zhu Youzhen could not have predicted what would happen after his death, but he could have predicted that whenever there were not enough Han people on the Mongolian plateau and enough economy to maintain a balance of payments, the Han bureaucracy would abandon this place.

Therefore, in order to completely rule the Mongolian Plateau, the first thing is to relocate the Han people to the Mongolian Plateau, give them sufficient pastures, and ensure that the materials from the interior can quickly reach all parts of Mongolia.

In the final analysis, it is to increase the Han Dynasty's ability to deliver to this place, that is, in disguise, it comes down to the appearance of trains......

"I must get the train out in my lifetime, otherwise whether it is the Western Regions or Mobei, even if I fight, I am afraid that it will be discarded by the descendants of the defeated family in the future......"

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen was not in a hurry to conquer the Mongolian Plateau.

In the next eighteen years, it is destined that the Ming Dynasty will not develop the Mongolian Plateau and the Western Regions too much.

After all, in the case of a comprehensive drought in the north, unless there is a train, with the delivery capacity of the Ming Dynasty, it is really difficult to move too many people to places like Langjuxu Mountain, Lake Baikal, and Yinli River Valley.

After thinking everything clearly, Zhu Youzhen was no longer so fanatical about the northern territory, but put his thoughts on the sea and the south, as well as the progress of science and technology.

"Your Highness, you said that we restored Kaiping this time, can you record us in the history books?"

Suddenly, Sun Shoufa asked honestly, and Zhu Youzhen smiled when he heard it:

"Remember! Not only do you have to memorize, but you also have to put your grandson's law-abiding name in the first place! ”

"The first one is His Royal Highness, I don't dare to think about it......" Sun Shoufa scratched his beard, and Zhu Youzhen slowly put away his smile:

"Alright, no more jokes."

"The herald ordered the Chinese army to retreat, the rear cavalry to replace the Chinese army Tang cavalry, and the whole Chinese army was ready to prepare after another thirty miles."

"The last general commands!" Sun Shoufa saw that Zhu Youzhen was serious, and immediately responded seriously.

The military orders were passed layer by layer, and when they were passed to the rear army, Man Gui did not delay, and immediately sent Yu Linwei to ride for the Chinese army to replace Long Xiangwei.

At the same time, he also began to order the whole army to march forward forty miles and then be armed.

The armies responded, and some of the people also nervously clenched the spears in their hands and tightened the mandarin duck jackets on their bodies.

Everyone was preparing, and Lin Dan Khan in the north also became vigilant after noticing the Ming army's move to increase the forward Tang cavalry.

"The casualties of the Great Khan and the former army sentry have reached more than four hundred, why don't we retreat first, and wait for the Ming army to reach Lihu Lake in the north, and then we will attack them condescendingly?"

The casualties of the sentinels in front made the minister Sirjunak Dulinghongtaiji, who managed the 30,000 households on the left flank, unable to help but persuade Lin Dan Khan, and this persuasion also made Lin Dan Khan hesitate.

The two armies had not yet fought, and the casualties of the sentry cavalry alone had reached more than 400 people, which was already a lot of casualties for him.

It's just that at the moment he is ready to shoot and has to send it.

If he hastily withdraws his troops like this, then some Taiji and Baylor within Chahar will definitely despise him.

Since he was persuaded by the monks of the Sakya sect of the Ugszang sect six years ago to convert from the Yellow Sect of the Gelug sect to the Red Sect of the Sakya sect, his religious departure has caused many Mongolian tribes to criticize him.

Coupled with his behavior of deviating from the Ming Dynasty and taking the initiative to exterminate the Five Divisions of the Inner Khalkha.

As a result, if he is unable to consolidate his position with the help of military operations now, then he will not be able to gain absolute prestige in the two major divisions of Transkhalkha and Karaqin.

Thinking of this, Lin Danhan no longer hesitated, but directly ordered:

"The whole army is ready, I will make a detour to raid Zhu Youzhen's doll's Chinese army, seize his Daxu, capture him alive and return to the River of Difficulties to sacrifice Genghis Khan and Changshengtian."

"This ......" Du Ling Hongtaiji hesitated to look at the three thousand households on both sides, and Lin Dan Khan saw his hesitant move, and immediately scolded:

"Are you going to disobey?!"

"No...... I'll go and order it now. Du Ling Hongtaiji saw that Lin Dan Khan was angry, so he could only show weakness.

In this regard, Lin Danhan frowned, and then said:

"I will leave you a 10,000 households, and you take this 10,000 households and the 7,000 sentry cavalry in front of you to attract the attention of the vanguard of the Ming army, lure them out twenty miles away, and then turn back to attack them."

"Yes......" Hearing what he was going to do, Du Ling Hongtaiji could only give a military order to the more than 30,000 cavalry who were resting.

With the long half an hour passed, when the time came to the afternoon, Lin Dan Khan took 20,000 iron horsemen to launch a surprise attack when the sun was at its most vicious and people were most prone to sleepiness.

Lin Dan Khan used the sentry cavalry to find out the location of the Ming army's Tang cavalry, made a detour to the west, and ordered the sentry cavalry to keep retreating, attracting the Ming army's Tang cavalry to pursue, and at the same time, trying to let Cao Meng and Saihan of the Ming army's front army move forward.

The Mongols had one man and four horses, and in addition to the 17,000 men left for Duling Hongtaiji, Lin Dan Khan led 20,000 cavalry and began to search for the location of Zhu Youzhen's army.

The place where the Ming army marched was a long hilly area with a low slope on the left, and Lin Dan Khan, who knew the terrain, did not think that the Ming army would detect his intentions.

In a state of running, he marched three times faster than the Ming army.

That is, when Cao Meng and Saihan marched forward fifteen miles, he had already run a distance of nearly fifty miles, bypassing the exploration circle of the Ming army's Tang cavalry.

The Ming army was released fifty miles away, which was told to Lin Dan Khan by Bo Xuan, and he knew how to use intelligence to play sneak attacks.

Cao Meng and Saihan didn't notice this, but when they saw the Beiyu cavalry starting to retreat, they slowly wore down the opponent's sentry cavalry according to Zhu Youzhen's military order.

The sound of horses' hooves rumbling and arrows falling off their horses constantly collided in the Duolun grassland, one side retreating unhurriedly, and the other side pursuing unhurriedly.

Such a strange scene, it was not until an hour later, when Du Linghong withdrew twenty miles to the northeast with his people, that he gave an order to the whole army:

"The whole army is ready to recuperate, all the sentinels are retreating, ready to meet the vanguard of the Ming army!"

"Yes!" All the Taijibel troops responded one after another, and with the passage of time, countless sentinels who were still entangled with the Ming army's frontline began to retreat.

Some Tang cavalry tried to chase after them, but after chasing more than ten thousand miles, and seeing the tens of thousands of cavalry stationed on the grassland, they immediately reined in their horses:

"The northern captives are going to have a decisive battle, Chen Long, you go back first to report to Commander Cao and Yin Shanbo, and I will take people to observe here."

"Yes!"

The first to arrive was the Tang Cavalry Banner Officer Le Ma, and then began to order one of the Tang Cavalry in the team to return to the main force of the front army, and he himself stayed to observe.

In this March Duolun grassland, even if the sun is in the sky, you won't feel how hot it is.

It's just that the gauntlets on both arms are hot from the sun, and the horses under their crotches are also holding their feet restlessly.

This small flag officer led people to dismount and watched Du Linghong's men and horses from four miles, during which other small banners of Tang cavalry also arrived, and at the same time drove a large number of northern sentry horses.

They poured into Du Linghong's men and horses, so that this army began to grow continuously.

Later, the boundless men and horses covered the grassland opposite, and Cao Meng and Saihan, who led the cavalry to the rear fifteen miles, also received the Tang cavalry from the front army.

"The North Captives are going to have a decisive battle? See how many people there are? ”

Riding on horseback, Cao Meng patiently asked all the Tang riders who rushed back, and behind him, there were foot soldiers who stopped and began to help each other.

Beside them, the pony gasping for breath and the constant sound of "sighing and rhythm" represented that they had just made a short forced march.

"The place where they are stationed is a plain, and I can't tell how many people there are, but the banners of the 30,000 Tatar households are there."

An old pond rider opened his mouth to respond to Cao Meng's words, and the rest of the pond riders also nodded their heads, indicating that what the old pond rider said was not wrong.

"How far are we from Your Highness?" Hearing this, Cao Meng turned his head to look at Saihan next to him, and Saihan measured the map with his hand, and said without thinking:

"It's a bit more than the fifteen miles distance stipulated by His Highness, and now we are estimated to be twenty-two or three miles away from His Highness."

"Twenty-two and three miles......" Cao Meng paused, and after thinking about it, he did not directly attack, but ordered:

"Wu Xiangwei's left army of Qianhu took all the carriages, and the horses retreated for ten miles, and the rest of the armies waited for another quarter of an hour, and then marched north after a quarter of an hour."

"After seeing His Highness, the Qianhu of the Left Army of Wu Xiangwei went north with the Chinese army."

"The last general commands!" Wu Xiangwei's left army Qianhu immediately turned around and left when he heard this.

The left and right armies of the Shangzhi Infantry Army are cavalry thousand households, and Cao Meng is equivalent to sending thousands of armored cavalry to retreat, if there is any situation in the Chinese army, they can also support in time.

Under his arrangement, the vanguard began to wait for the opportunity in an orderly manner, and it was not until a quarter of an hour later that they began to pull their troops north.

A quarter of an hour after they pulled out the army, Zhu Youzhen also received a return from the former army Tang Cavalry.

"The whole army is preparing for armor, first riding a horse to hurry, and Man Gui, who informed the rear army, is also preparing to rush with the whole army in armor, and be vigilant against the northern captives attacking and disturbing the rear army."

Zhu Youzhen, who got the news, began to order, and the 5,600 people of Long Xiangwei also began to wear armor, which made Sun Shoufa next to him puzzled:

"Your Highness, we are still twenty miles away from Cao Meng and them, and thirty-five miles away from Tiger Squatting Rabbit, don't you need to be in such a hurry, right?"

"Have you ever seen that the Beiyu will directly expose the Wanhu Daxu and the Great Banner, and also set up a decisive battle with my Daming?" Zhu Youzhen's rhetorical question made Sun Shoufa stunned.

Yes, if the Northern Cavalry who often fought with the Ming army, the basic operation was to take a detour to cut off the supply of the Ming army, or engage in flank raids, when did they open the formation and fight with real swords and guns?

But......

"But His Royal Highness, Tiger Squatting Rabbit has never fought with my Daming, does he know how to fight?" Sun Shoufa was limited to his operational thinking when dealing with the three major divisions of the Hetao.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen, who had already dismounted and started to wear armor, frowned, and said with a tone of education:

"Obey the law, don't deal with all enemies with the mentality and idea of dealing with one enemy."

"Chahar has the capital to carry out flank raids, they took my ninth year of the Ming Dynasty and bought a lot of iron materials, presumably there are not a small scale of iron cavalry in the army."

"The use of the iron cavalry is impossible to collide with the cavalry in the front, if the tiger squatting rabbit comes to attack the flank of our army, it is not familiar with the tactics of dealing with our army, but the tactics of using the iron cavalry to raid the flank in a roundabout way."

"The last general understands, His Royal Highness Xie for teaching." Sun Shoufa also dismounted, and asked the cavalry on both sides to dress him in armor.

After a cup of tea, Zhu Youzhen and Sun Shoufa put on their armor stomachs one after another, and nearly one-third of them also succeeded in wearing armor with Long Xiangwei.

Looking at the posture, it is estimated that it will take two teas to change all of them, and in this regard, Zhu Youzhen carefully checked his riding guns, bows and arrows, as well as long knives, gourd hammers and other ordnance.

After checking everything, he put the phoenix-winged helmet on his head.

"Your Highness, don't say it, you have this kind of physique at your age, and when you reach the crown, I'm afraid you can be about the same height as the last general."

Sun Shoufa looked at the heroic Zhu Youzhen and couldn't help but open his mouth to praise.

After all, Zhu Youzhen's physique and appearance can be said to have grown in the aesthetics of men and women in the Ming Dynasty.

has a physique, looks very heroic, and inherits the rough temperament of the early Zhu family.

"Forget about your head, I can do it now." Zhu Youzhen patted the stomach on his body, pulled out the knife, and after making sure that everything was fine, he turned his head to respond to Sun Shoufa's joke.

Seeing this, Sun Shoufa touched his beard, as if he thought that His Royal Highness did not know how to appreciate "beauty".

"Your Highness, the whole army is ready."

When the two were joking, Long Xiangwei's entire army had finished wearing armor, and the war horse was also covered with half-dressed horse armor.

There was no one to help him, and he was very skillful when he got on his horse in armor.

"Okay, the army is marching, let's see what medicine is sold in this tiger squatting rabbit medicine jar...... Drive! ”

Shaking the reins of the horse slightly, Zhu Youzhen began to go north with the armored Long Xiangwei under the guard of Sun Shoufa.

At the same time, Cao Meng and Saihan of the former army had already collided with Du Linghong's soldiers and horses......