"Drive! Drive-"

Time is flying, seeing that spring is about to pass and summer is coming, but the temperature in Beishan still can't be raised.

The sound of horses' hooves sounded in the northern mountains, and then a large group of cavalry poured out of the enlarged road to the still unthawed Dolbi River.

One of the horsemen rolled and dismounted, drew a hammer and a long iron nail from his leg, walked onto the ice, and began to chisel with the nail and hammer, but the response was nothing but a tingling sensation of trembling ice chips.

He chiseled for more than a dozen breaths, and finally chiseled through the ice and measured the height with a cloth ruler.

After doing all this, he shouted to Cao Bianjiao on horseback on the shore:

"Chief soldier, the ice is one foot and two inches thick, and it is estimated that it will be thawed in ten days!"

This person shouted out the thickness of the ice and the thawing time, but Cao Bianjiao, who heard the words, had a bad face.

Ten days doesn't sound like a long time, but it is a long time for the current Ming army.

This morning, Cao Bianjiao got the news that Jianyu was going north and besieging the stone fort on the south bank of the Duoerbi River at close range, and quickly sent the news to the northeast, so that his uncle and Guo Sandai could come to the aid quickly.

He himself led 20,000 cavalry and prepared to go to the south bank to confront Huang Taiji, leaving Cao Wenzhao and them enough time to build fortifications.

"Where's Jianyu?"

Cao Bianjiao turned his head to look at the commander of Yu Linwei, and the other party also glanced at the pocket watch, closed it and responded with a stern face: "According to the time, it is estimated that it is less than twenty miles away from the Duoerbi River." ”

Hearing this, Cao Bianjiao glanced at his pocket watch, only to realize that it was only a moment away (13:15).

According to the gradual rise in temperature these days, Cao Bianjiao estimated that Jianyu could march until 17 o'clock.

Two hours is enough time to build a captivity across the Duoerbi River.

"The whole army is ready to cross the river and search for traces of Jianyu!"

There was no time, Cao Bianjiao closed the pocket watch, calmly ordered, and then set an example, turned over and dismounted to wrap the war horse in a non-slip coarse cloth.

More than 20,000 horsemen were busy for a quarter of an hour before they began to cross the river cautiously.

The Duoerbi River is not very wide, only less than 120 steps away, and it is only 1780 meters wide in later generations, and the water depth is about 45 meters.

If it is a scorching summer now, then after the Duoerbi River melts, the Ming army can easily deploy defenses on the north bank and wait for work.

However, Huang Taiji chose the time to break through very cleverly, just in time for the Doerbi River to thaw.

He pinched the time, and soon after he crossed the Doerbi River, the Doerbi River would thaw.

At that time, Zhu Youzhen wanted to lead people north to chase after them, and the thawing river would delay them for a day or two, so that the Jin army could calmly withdraw.

It's just that what Huang Taiji never expected was that the Ming army actually arranged so many stone forts in this Beishan area.

The role of the stone fort was not actually to hinder the Jin army, but to allow the Jin army to divide its forces.

The Jin army had less than 70,000 soldiers, but there were more than 200,000 women and children craftsmen who dragged their families and families.

Even if one person protects ten people, in order to protect women and children craftsmen from being attacked by the Ming army in Shibao, the Jin army needs to divide more than 20,000 soldiers and horses.

This was a strategy that Zhu Youzhen came up with to weaken the main force of the Jin army, but his idea was to retreat with the remnants and the old and weak after the defeat of Huangtaiji, so he only kept the guards and horses of Shen Cewei.

As a result, Huang Taiji and Nurhachi did not take the usual path, and they were not ready to fight together, so they had to abandon the millions of acres of cultivated land that they had worked for seven years to break through.

In general, in this battle, Huang Taiji and Nurhachi didn't expect Zhu Youzhen to arrange so many stone forts in Beishan, Zhu Youzhen didn't expect Huang Taiji to run so decisively, and Nurhachi would be willing to break off.

However, a little mistake does not mean anything, it cannot affect the overall situation, and Huang Taiji is destined to fail to break through.

With Cao Bianjiao leading 20,000 iron horsemen to successfully cross the river, the war in Beishan is about to start.

The outgoing sentinels saw a large number of assembled Ming army iron cavalry, and immediately turned back and reported the news to Huang Taiji.

"Are you sure you have 20,000 iron horsemen?"

"Yes, the Great Khan, according to the number of flags, it should be around twenty thousand."

After fifteen miles north, the sentry sent the news back, and at the same time Huang Taiji also ordered the whole army to stop marching.

"Brother, in this way, the iron cavalry of the Ming army is only fifteen miles away from us."

Zilharang opened his mouth cautiously, and Dai Shan also asked calmly when he heard this: "Do you want to break through a wave, if we can defeat these 20,000 cavalry, then we can successfully break through." ”

In Dai Shan's view, 20,000 iron horsemen are not a small force on either side.

Zhu Youzhen dispatched 20,000 iron cavalry troops to Beishan, which should already be the limit.

However, Huang Taiji looked farther than Dai Shan.

"The cavalry of the Ming army is mainly the four cavalry guards and the sentinels of the guards and battalions of the Shangzhi, as well as Cao Wenzhao's nine battalions of Duogan."

"This time, Cao Wenzhao didn't bring the nine battalions of Duogan to come, and the Xiao cavalry guards followed Zhu Youzhen's side, that is to say, even if the three guards of the four cavalry guards are here, there are only less than 17,000 cavalry."

"So where do the remaining three thousand, or even more, cavalry come from?"

Huang Taiji's rhetorical question made Zierharang silent, and Dai Shan reacted quickly, frowning and asking: "Do you mean that the army has also transferred a lot of soldiers and horses to be stationed here?" ”

"Judging from the soldiers, horses, armors and flags stationed in the stone fort, they should all be the men and horses of the Sixteen Guards." Huang Taiji analyzed:

"In the sixteen guards, each guard has 2,000 cavalrymen, 2,500 short infantry men, and 1,100 gunners."

According to the fact that the banner of this group of people is "Cao", it should be Cao Wenzhao who leads the troops. ”

"More than 20,000 cavalry, at least two guards of cavalry."

"Together with the Tang cavalry stationed in Shibao, the Ming army dispatched at least three cavalry guards and three foot guards."

Huang Taiji's estimate is not far from ten, and the only miscalculation is the configuration of the Ming army, but this is already very good.

Being able to capture so much information in a limited amount of information makes Dai Shan and others admire.

"Six guards and horses, that is more than 30,000 people?" Mang Gurtai, who had been silent, couldn't help but speak, but then he added:

"Counting the people, it is estimated that they can have 1780,000 people."

Mang Gurtai underestimated the Ming army's efforts to develop Taining Province, so he felt that there were more than 30,000 people, and at least one person with five people would be needed to garrison here.

"There are not so many, there are really so many people, even Zhu Youzhen can't afford it."

Huang Taiji saw very clearly that it was impossible for Zhu Youzhen to invest so many people in Beishan, because one more man was one more ration.

Although he didn't know to what extent the Ming Dynasty had developed Taining Mansion, the Ming army and civilians in Duoer Bihe would not exceed three times the number of soldiers, otherwise the logistical pressure of the Ming army would be too great.

】

"What now? Just waiting? ”

Azig, who couldn't help it, also joined the topic, but at this moment Huang Taiji was also very entangled.

If the Jianzhou Jurchens could unite now, he would definitely choose to abandon the women and children, and escape with the craftsmen and men.

With the number of horses in the Jin army, it is relatively easy to meet the needs of these 100,000 people to break through on horseback.

It's just a pity that at the moment, the Eight Banners of Jianzhou can't meet Huang Taiji's requirements, and no one is willing to give up their families, so they can only protect women and children while breaking through, which undoubtedly greatly reduces their mobility.

The Jin army was originally good at using high mobility to fight low mobility, and in the battle of Fuliao, Nurhachi relied on 40,000 horse infantry to mobilize more than 200,000 infantry of the Ming army.

It's just that at the moment, the Jin army wants to protect women and children, and the mobility is declining, while the Ming army has no scruples, and the mobility of 20,000 iron cavalry is much higher than that of the Jin army's horse infantry.

In other words, now the Ming army can use high mobility to fight the Jin army, but the Jin army's firearms are not as good as the Ming army, and it has fallen into a situation of being passively beaten.

Huang Taiji measured it in his heart, looked at the time again, and found that after half an hour before the unitary time, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind:

"The army is marching towards the Doerbi River, and the front army must camp on the other side of the river!"

"Yes!" Hearing Huang Taiji's words, all the generals responded one after another.

Obviously, Huang Taiji was preparing to divide his troops and camp at the Duoerbi River, which was less than one hundred and twenty paces.

If the front army went to the other side of the river, then the Jin army would have a foothold on the other bank, and the cavalry led by Cao Wenzhao was unlikely to charge directly.

The Jin army could use baggage carts to form a chariot formation to defend the face of the Ming cavalry, so that the Ming cavalry could only cruise outside the formation.

However, there is a shortcoming of this plan, that is, whether the Jin army, which is less than 70,000, can protect the old and weak of more than 200,000.

Many nobles knew this problem, and it was obvious that Huang Taiji was preparing to use the hands of the Ming army to get rid of some of the old and weak.

In this way, not only can you leave this part of the burden, but you can also throw the pot to the Ming army.

It was not that Huang Taiji abandoned the old and weak, but that the Ming army picked on the old and weak, and Huang Taiji was really "helpless".

Everyone knew it, but no one stood up.

Soon, Mang Gurtai, as the vanguard officer, led the two blue flags of the front army, 30,000 soldiers and horses including the Mongolian Eight Banners set off as the front army, and Huang Taiji led the two yellow flags and two white flags, as well as the two Han battalions of Fan Wencheng and Li Yongfang as the Chinese army.

Dai Shan took the two red flags and Fan Wenyu's first Han battalion as the rear army, and waited to meet Dolgon and Liu Aita, who retreated.

Naturally, the first manifestation of the changes in Jianyu was on the sentry rider.

When Cao Bianjiao arrived on the south bank with his people and was ready, he immediately released the Tang Cavalry, and immediately competed with the Tang Cavalry of the Jin Army.

"Bang bang bang-"

"Tohoku!" Seeing the sound of arrows in the sky in the distance, Cao Bianjiao shouted, and led the iron horse to rush towards the northeast.

The sound of thousands of horses galloping alarmed the woods on both sides of the Duoerbi River, and the beasts and birds that had gradually awakened from hibernation flew out of the woods.

Mang Gurtai, who was leading the front army on the expedition, saw a flock of birds flying out of the woods to the southwest of him, and immediately turned his head sideways and commanded Abatai beside him:

"The Ming army came from the southwest, ready to meet the enemy."

"Yes!" When Abatai heard this, he immediately blew the wooden whistle on his waist.

Hearing this, the Jialama Ezhen and Niu Lu Ezhen followed and blew the wooden whistle, and for a while, the whistle spread to all sides, and the Chinese army four or five miles away from the front army could naturally hear this dense whistle.

"Prepare to meet the enemy!" Huangtai Kedah stopped his horse, raised his horsewhip and ordered the Chinese army to meet the enemy.

In the dense forests of Beishan, the advantage of cavalry is not great, but fortunately, the cavalry of the Ming army is not considered traditional cavalry, and the camps have cleared the riverbank woods, so Cao Bianjiao's vision has broadened a lot.

Huang Taiji gave the order to meet the enemy, but the Chinese army did not stop directly, but slowly moved closer to the front army.

Similarly, Dai Shan, the rear army, also carefully commanded the women and children to keep up with the Chinese army.

With the sound of rumbling horses' hooves, when Cao Bianjiao crossed the low hill, he saw an army of Jianyu in the forest, dressed in colorful clothes.

"Phew—"

There was no blind raid, Cao Bianjiao stopped his horse, and the generals behind him blew the wooden whistle one after another, and the straight iron cavalry also ordered it to be forbidden.

"Sigh the law ......"

The short run displeased many of the horses, their hooves kicking the thin snow of the low hills, revealing the black-brown earth.

More than 20,000 cavalry is too much, and it cannot be used on the river bank, and only more than 1,000 cavalry can show their heads, and more cavalry are still on the anticline of the low hill.

They couldn't see the captives, but when the army stopped, everyone subconsciously touched the horses hanging from the saddles.

They all know that Jianyu ...... It's right across from them.

"It's not Cao Wenzhao...... He's not that young. ”

On the battle array, Huang Taiji led the Chinese army to move closer to the front army, and used the clairvoyant mirror that had been captured for an unknown number of years to look at the Ming army on the low hill a mile away.

Although he couldn't see everyone's facial features clearly, he could still recognize Cao Bianjiao's young face.

Although the Ming Dynasty developed to the late Ming Dynasty, many people were reluctant to grow beards, but as officials, beards must still be grown.

Cao Wenzhao's age could not have shaved his beard, so the person who led the troops was obviously not Cao Wenzhao.

"I'm in trouble......"

Huang Taiji, Cao Wenzhao, and He Shixian have all played against each other, and they are familiar with Cao Wenzhao's style of play, so he is confident.

Who would have thought that it was not Cao Wenzhao who was in the moment, but another person.

Without knowing the opponent's style of play, Huang Taiji was reluctant to take the lead to launch an attack.

"It doesn't matter who he is, he just kills him."

"The Ming army galloped forward, and it must not have carried artillery, and the soldiers were close to each other, and it is unknown who killed the deer."

Mang Gurtai was about to draw his sword, but was stopped by Huang Taiji:

"Don't worry about them, first send the Mongolian Eight Banners to cross the river, our purpose is to break through, not fight to the death."

"The terrain here is narrow, and their more than 20,000 cavalry can't be used, so don't worry about them charging into battle."

Huang Taiji's explanation made Mang Gurtai nod and put away his sword, and at the same time, he also turned his head and ordered Abatai: "Let Mengbaqi divide 10,000 troops to cross the river." ”

"Yes!"

Abatai glanced at Cao Bianjiao on the low hill, and ordered the people to prepare to cross the river.

Naturally, their every move was under Cao Bianjiao's observation, and in the face of Huang Taiji's breakthrough, Cao Bianjiao chose to let it go.

"General Xiao Cao, the former army of Jianyu is going to cross the river, don't we care?"

Yu Linwei commanded Zhang Yao to ask Cao Bianjiao, but Cao Bianjiao shook his head:

"It is useless for the front army to break through, there are several stone forts on both sides of the road, there are still a lot of soldiers, horses and artillery around Ala Mountain City, and there are more than 10,000 Mongolian rangers, even if they can't break through, they will die in this northern mountain."

Saying that, Cao Bianjiao glanced down at the hour: "Calculate the time, my uncle should have already gone south with the soldiers and horses, and it is even more impossible for Jianyu to break through." ”

Cao Bianjiao is ready to fight steadily, cooperate with his uncle to encircle and build captives, and is not ready to attack lightly.

Huang Taiji is waiting for him to make a move, and he is also waiting for Huang Taiji to make a move.

However, while waiting, the sky gradually began to darken, and the temperature around me began to drop.

The Tang cavalry of the Ming army rode back to the front of the battle, and the horses gasped for breath and exhaled the white mist.

"Returning to the general army, there are a large number of women and children in the army after the establishment of the captivity, the number is no less than 100,000, and the team is stretched for dozens of miles."

The little flag officer of the Tang Cavalry returned in front of the battle, and his beard was full of ice slag that had been frozen after breathing.

His words moved some Ming army generals, and a thousand households couldn't help but step forward: "General Xiaocao, why don't you attack and kill the women and children of the army after Jian's capture?" ”

This Qianhu spoke, and everyone looked at Cao Bianjiao.

Cao Bianjiao felt their gaze and knew that they were for the silver reward.

Although the price of Jianyu's head has dropped to thirty taels, you must know that Jianyu's women and children are also counted as first-class, otherwise this battle would not be called ploughing and sweeping holes.

If no less than 100,000 women and children are killed, then only the reward of silver can get 3 million taels of silver, and the current 20,000 cavalry can be divided into 150 taels each, who is not impressed?

Cao Bianjiao was also moved, because the beheading of the Ming army was calculated according to the collective, and the main general could get a reward of silver, that is, 300,000 taels.

But the heart is heartbeat, Cao Bianjiao knows better that what His Royal Highness wants is to completely destroy Jianyu, not just for some women and children.

Therefore, Cao Bianjiao frowned and reprimanded Qianhu:

"Defeat the main force of Jianyu, and the 100,000 women and children will be lambs waiting to be killed."

"But if you let go of the main force of Jianyu for the sake of 100,000 women and children, you and I can't afford to bear this responsibility."

After that, he turned his head to look at the many generals of the Ming army, regardless of their embarrassed faces, and continued to scold:

"Order the whole army not to attack and disturb the main force of Jianjiao, women and children."

Cao Bianjiao reprimanded the generals, but he also knew that women and children could not attack, but there was one thing they could:

"Assign 10,000 cavalry households, look for the construction of the baggage, and reward 3,000 taels for attacking the baggage!"

"I'll take my orders!" Hearing that they could attack the baggage car, many people were also eager, forgetting what Cao Bianjiao had scolded them before and embarrassed them.

After they responded, the Ming army's 20,000 iron cavalry divided 10,000, and then divided into 10 teams, and after building a low hill that could not be seen, they made a detour to find the baggage team and attack the baggage.

As for Cao Bianjiao, who stayed, he took tens of thousands of iron horses to watch from the wall.

They were dressed in thick cotton clothes and carried dried meat and beans with them.

In addition, although it is cold in the north now, it is not as good as the one at the beginning of the month, but the temperature is four or five degrees below zero, and they can still hold on to it under the warmth of the group.

Compared to them, the ragged Jianyu is not good.

They wanted to set up camp, but they were worried that Cao Bianjiao would lead the troops to attack, so they could only keep the baggage trucks transported from the rear around the army.

As for the tens of thousands of Mongolian Eight Banner cavalry who crossed the river, they successfully arrived at the north bank of the river after careful testing.

However, at this time, the sky also darkened, and for the Jin army, who were not familiar with the dark night of Beishan, they did not dare to go deep into the north bank, for fear that the Ming army would ambush the ambush soldiers.

"This young general of the Ming army is calm."

The night is getting dark, and the temperature is also plummeting, Huang Taiji is hot, looking at the direction of Cao Bianjiao, who has never had a fire, and he is a little anxious.

In this kind of dark night, whoever lights the fire first is the target.

Although the bannermen of Huangtaiji and Jianzhou Eight Banners had cotton armor, cloth face armor, chain mail and other triple armor to keep warm, the four battalions of the Han Dynasty and the Mongolian Eight Banners, as well as a large number of women and children's craftsmen, did not have this treatment.

Although the rotation of group heating can keep everyone from freezing to death, it requires a lot of physical strength.

Coupled with the many days of trekking, the dried meat and sweet potatoes have been eaten, so if you want to eat meat or rice, you have to light a fire and cook, so Huang Taiji has no choice.

"Let's bury the pot and cook." Helpless, he could only order cooking.

Soon after he gave the order, the North Mountain in the dark night was lit up with fire, like a lighthouse in the night, guiding the Ming cavalry and telling them the enemy's direction.

Cao Bianjiao did not act rashly, because in this confrontation, he was sure that he could survive Huang Taiji.

"Drive! Drive! ”

Sure enough, as soon as his thoughts fell, a large group of Ming cavalry with torches began to return to the back of the low hill.

They brought with them a cartload of baggage and a wagon of frozen heads.

Sima, who was in charge of the merit, began to count them, but the same news was also sent to the Jin army's formation.

The hasty sentry rode from the rear, and despite some women and children who were still hurrying in the night, they rushed into the camp and knelt down on one knee by the campfire:

"Great Khan, some Ming cavalry appeared in the rear on a detour and attacked some convoys of the rear army."

"Although Da Baylor led people to repel the cavalry of the Ming army, our army still lost more than 60 carts of grain, grass, beans and hundreds of cattle and sheep ......"

The sentry lowered his head to his chest, and the faces of many of the Baylors in front of the campfire were ugly.

It was Huang Taiji, who had long known that the rear army would be attacked, so his face, which was lit by the flames, was very calm.

"How many people died?"

He asked calmly, and the sentry lowered his head even deeper: "More than 100 people died in the banner, more than 200 people died in the Han camp, and more than 1,000 women and children were killed." ”

Just at night, the Jin army lost thousands of people, which made many people a little pale, but Huang Taiji was still calm:

"Got it, you stand down and tell Big Baylor to bring people into the camp early."

"The minions are gone!" The sentry cavalry breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and after returning the salute, he got up and rode his horse and left, while Huang Taiji looked in the direction of the Ming cavalry.

I don't know if it was Cao Bianjiao's intentional behavior, in short, the Ming army lit a bonfire on the top of the low hill, and there were still people busy around the bonfire.

Huang Taiji got up, walked to the back of the baggage car, took out a clairvoyant mirror to look, and found that the Ming army was cooking sheep and slaughtering cattle.

Needless to say, the cattle and sheep were obviously just snatched from the Jin army.

"Great Khan, this young general surnamed Cao is too ...... to deceive people"

Amin followed Huang Taiji over, and when Huang Taiji was observing the Ming army, he also raised a clairvoyant mirror to observe.

However, when he saw the Ming army slaughtering his own cattle and sheep for fun, he was as calm as him, and he couldn't help but curse.

As for Huang Taiji, he didn't respond, but looked up at the sky.

It's a pity that the starry sky didn't appear above his head, and he could see the thick inky sky behind him.

This means that tomorrow's weather will still be cloudy, and cloudy days will be good and bad for Jin Jun.

The good thing is that the Duoerbi River won't thaw too quickly, and the bad thing is that tomorrow's temperature will still not be much higher.

"This little general is going to hold us back, if there is no problem with Fan Wencheng's news, then Cao Wenzhao should also be in Beishan, and he commands a lot of soldiers and horses."

Huang Taiji's analysis with a heavy heart, just because he knew that Cao Wenzhao's upper straight guards were the strong enemies of the Jin army.

In the face of cavalry and short soldiers, the Jin army was still able to respond with strong bows, but in the face of the artillery and muskets of the Ming army......

Thinking of this, Huang Taiji was silent.