When Tang Shun first arrived at the three sides, the number on the roster was that the three sides should have more than 200,000 troops.

After such a long time, there are more than 120,000 soldiers on the three sides.

This time, 50,000 people in Gansu stayed behind to shake Turpan in the west and Qinghai in the south, and Yansui and Ningxia also left nearly 30,000 to avoid problems in the border areas. At this moment, the biggest movement of the army was to sweep south of the Yellow River, which was circled by a few characters from the side wall, with a total number of nearly 30,000 people.

In addition to the 3,000 elite soldiers who had already set off, the real expedition was about 8,000 people led by Tang Shunzhi himself.

More than 10,000 people in Datong committed suicide in the direction of Hukou and Tucheng to Guanshan and Guihua, and the army of Taiyuan Town led by Zhu Qi had more than 4,000 cavalry in the vanguard, and more than 8,000 foot soldiers behind him.

When the vanguard rode along the east side of the Yellow River to the ancient ferry at the mouth of the Junzijin River, they immediately met resistance.

"They're here to stay! If you want to send a message to Tang Dutai, I am afraid that the Tartars will prepare to cross from this north! ”

Zhu Qi did not act recklessly, pure cavalry against cavalry, he did not dare to bet that his 4,000 men could crush the Tartar cavalry over there like this.

Since he has encountered this nearly 5,000 routine elite horsemen, it means that the other party has decided to cross the river here.

This is the lower reaches of the Yellow River in the Hetao area, and there are already signs of freezing.

It is necessary to wait for the infantry soldiers behind to arrive, and the effect of artillery bombardment will not be bad at that time.

Zhu Qi confronted here for two days, using a telescope to spy on his subordinates on the other side of the Yellow River, but he never found anything.

And on the third day, the cavalry of the Hetao Tartars suddenly galloped north and disappeared from Zhu Qi's field of vision.

Now, the road west along the north bank of the Yellow River has been cleared, but Zhu Qi is a little confused.

Could it really be as Tang Shunzhi judged, that the Tartars were going to cross north further west? Why did the captives retreat north?

It has been delayed here for three days, and if he wants to rush over, Zhu Qi can only rely on these cavalry to go west. The captives who retreated north were not in order to let them go and then copy the back road?

"Hang them and see where they're hiding! Go west, slower! ”

Zhu Qi couldn't delay any longer, so he had to disperse the sentry cavalry first, while the large army maintained a safer rhythm.

I can't forget what happened two days ago.

"Send a message to Tang Dutai again, Junzijin is a fraud here!"

He gritted his teeth, Tang Shunzhi was in the west, and the news had to make a big detour in the past, and it would probably take more than ten days to go back and forth.

This time is different from a few years ago, Wang Shouren's advice to him made Zhu Qi's goal very clear.

Tang Shunzhi was a little younger, although he had judged it before, Zhu Qi had a misjudgment after seeing the captured cavalry.

Of course, there was no difference, the nearly 5,000 horsemen were always there. Their purpose was to delay the Taiyuan army in the direction of Touguan for several days. If Zhu Qi insists on breaking through, he will also need to delay here for a few days, and he will also have to lose his troops.

Now that the cavalry is gone, although Zhu Qi has not lost manpower, the road ahead is even more unpredictable.

On this third day it was less than forty miles to the west, which was slow for the vanguard of pure cavalry.

Then in the evening, the sentry returned.

"Master Hou...... There are so many Tartars, I'm afraid there are 30,000 of them......"

"What?" Zhu Qi's face changed, "Where is it?" ”

"It's more than seventy miles to the north." The little leader of the Sentinel Rider had a complicated look in his eyes, "It's always moving." Master Hou, at least a few tribes are migrating westward together! ”

Zhu Qi's heart shook: "Migration? ”

Migrating westward, where are the 30,000 Tartars in the northeast of this side? Doesn't that mean that the captives are not prepared to defend the Toyosu Beach that they originally occupied?

"There were a lot of cars, full of guys, old and young, women and children. Master Hou, what should I do? ”

Zhu Qi's face was cloudy.

The migrating steppe tribes are naturally very vulnerable, but they have at least nearly 5,000 horsemen to protect them all the way. And this kind of escape is really going to die in front of you, and the tens of thousands of people who are united by several tribes must be more than 10,000 who can fight desperately.

If Zhu Qi wants to keep them, I'm afraid he won't be able to catch up to intercept the main force of Beidu's captives.

Now it seems that Gunbilik will not only give up south of the Yellow River, but also give up the Toyoshu Beach.

The tribes who had migrated over to occupy the Toyosu Beach had to form a combined cavalry to risk delaying the Ming army first and buying time for their tribes to migrate.

"Where's Liangcheng?" Zhu Qi opened his mouth and asked the other people, "Is there any news coming?" ”

"Not ...... yet"

The two places are not far apart now, and Zhu Qi's face is pale: "There must have been a lot of people sent to rob and kill messengers along the way!" We must make a decision, and in any case, we must not allow the migratory captives to harass our way westward. Command the foot soldiers behind to speed up the march. Divided into 2,000 horses, they marched along the north bank of the Yellow River to explore the road. The rest of the people, go north with General Ben and let them slow down! ”

At this point, how nice would it be if the message could be delivered quickly?

Zhu Qi didn't know what was going on on Tang Shunzhi's side, nor did he know where Yan Chunsheng was, let alone how the generals in the Datong direction were progressing.

But they are mainly foot soldiers, and they can't be fast. If it goes too deep, the problem of food and grass is also very big.

There must be a risk of preventing these small tribes from reaching their intended position. Tens of thousands of captives, soldiers, supplies, and civilian forces are afraid that a sufficiently solid defense line will be established on the north bank where the Tartars are scheduled to cross north. Once the main force of the trap successfully crosses north, its strength will increase greatly, and it will not be possible to easily achieve the goal of defeating Bandu.

After three days' effort, Zhu Qi, the vanguard cavalry, was forced to use 2,000 cavalry to face tens of thousands of migrating captives. The soldiers on the other side were at least more than 5,000.

He made such a decision, and after the captives, who had disappeared in the morning, returned to the large army and changed horses, he sent out four thousand men to circle around from the west. not only found out the way ahead, but also turned to intersperse between the two teams of cavalry scattered by Zhu Qi.

After this cautious march on both sides, it was the morning of the fifth day.

Zhu Qi saw the trappers migrating on the opposite side, and from a few miles away, the trapper convoy in the telescope was indeed out of sight. The captives who had re-tied the Lele chariot were now a little panicked, but many cavalry were quickly assembled on the southern flank of the convoy.

"That's not right! Master Hou, many people don't have a bow in their hands! ”

"What if you don't take it!" Zhu Qi also saw it, he handed the binoculars to the guards to put away, and drew his knife, "It's a trick!" Now, we can't retreat, use their methods, let's chop their tails and see if they can be saved! Send a few teams to the east to explore the situation in the direction of Datong! If they have already occupied Liangcheng, so that they don't have to send so many troops to defend it, the Tartars are already here! ”

Sure enough, the cavalry guarding the tribe opposite, regardless of whether they had a bow in their hands or not, had already prepared to rush over after seeing the Ming cavalry appear on the mountain in the south.

They have fewer bows, but more people.

And Zhu Qi, who was already barely experienced in a hundred battles, saw this situation, and naturally knew that there might also be a trap behind him.

Isn't this what the Mongols are good at?

If you go southwest to join up with your other cavalry, you will be trapped. Now only by directly attacking this huge migrating tribe can we attract the traps interspersed with soldiers, so we can only abandon the Ming cavalry that continues to drive west.

This is the tribe they are escorting all the way to the migration, and their families are here!

"Rush!"

Zhu Qi didn't need to hesitate any longer, even if there was a trap dozens of times that of people in front of him, he could only choose to maneuver here.

Who didn't make a quick decision a few days ago to try to crush this captive cavalry head-on?

If he wins, he will have the result of killing tens of thousands of captives, and the plot of the captives to meet the northward crossing from the northeast will naturally fail.

It was he who put himself in this situation.

He couldn't run away right now. If they escaped, the remaining 2,000 cavalry and 8,000 foot soldiers who left the Ecstatic Pass in the direction of Datong would be very dangerous.

Originally, in this area of the core of Alta, the Ordos Department fought fiercely with the Ming army.

Even if it is not a complete national soldier, the nomadic tribes, from the half-grown children to the active elderly, are now able to participate in defense and counterattack.

Zhu Qi took the lead in interspersing the tails of the entire migratory tribe, and the cavalry that remained here and numbered as them tried to cut them off.

Not long after the Ming army left the hill, trumpets sounded, and cavalry twice as large as them appeared and followed in pursuit.

The scale of more than 30,000 clans united, and a total of 6,000 elite cavalry provided by the Ju clan, they all knew that if this Ming cavalry was left here, the road ahead would be truly safe.

When Zhu Qi had just decided to divide the troops, Tang Shunzhi didn't know what was happening here, he had just arrived at Dengkou.

But he was also very shocked, because the number of traps that appeared here in Dengkou exceeded Tang Shunzhi's judgment.

Could it be that the number of people in Ordos Wanhu has increased to this extent in these years?

The 8,000 generals led by himself must carry baggage and artillery. At this point in the march, it was November 19.

The trapped defenders around the mouth must have exceeded 40,000 from the telescope. Even if most of them are civilians, the elite soldiers must be on the scale of ten thousand five.

Gunbiric's side is the main force! In the entire Ordos 10,000 households, the total number of troops should only be 50,000 or 60,000. You must know that the total strength of the left and right wings of Mongolia should only be three or four hundred thousand. The total population of all the steppe tribes combined is only about two or three million.

Ordos Wanhu has occupied the Hetao for many years, and it can have 50,000 or 60,000 troops, which is already quite a formidable force. Under my command, there are only about half of them, but I am stronger myself.

Now, there are so many traps here in Dengkou, and there are as many as 10,000 cavalry with bows and horses, could it be that the traps in the north of the entire Yellow River have appeared here?

It is impossible, if the east side is not guarded, he will be beaten wherever he crosses the river from!

Tang Shunzhi quickly thought of something clearly, and issued the first order without hesitation.

"Order Gansu Town, send 10,000 troops, and take back Qinghai! Gunbirik must have transferred all the Qinghai tribes back from Turpan! ”

There is only one possibility.

The situation in the grassland has changed greatly, what do you have to do with the division of troops to continue to occupy Qinghai? It is the best policy to join forces in one place, and then raise the flag to fight for the profits after the war.

Then came one order after another.

"Try to find Zhang Futai, let them come to Dengkou, and wear to the east of Dengkou!"

"Summoning Yansui Town, don't be too cautious. The heart of the captives crossing the north is very strong, and the precautions in the west are so strict, it must be necessary to cross the river earlier to gather troops, and we must try to bite them! ”

"Beat the drums, attack!"

The soldiers were fast, and although the enemy was outnumbered, Tang Shunzhi knew that he had to break through the defense line as soon as possible.

It is no wonder that although they chose to cross north in winter, they still had to build so many rafts, and the captured cavalry was afraid that they would have to cross the ice from the estuary and cross the river, digging out the back road of Zhu Qi's army. And their old and weak women and children calmly crossed the river under the defensive constraints of the eastern and western fronts.

Having occupied the Hetao for so long, they have long known the temper of this section of the Yellow River.

With Tang Shun's order, artillery fire rang out in the northwest corner of the Hetao in winter.

There was no city wall at the mouth of the city, and the Ming army did not have a fortress to rely on.

Here, it's pure field warfare.

Tang Shunzhi stood in the mandarin duck array in front of the artillery position with a spear, quietly looking at the captured cavalry rushing over.

After the artillery fire and arrows, there were still black horses approaching, and the sound of arrows leaving the strings was already heard on the opposite side, gathering together like a swarm of bees.

"Shield!"

"Gun!"

"Broken saber!"

Soon, it was a first-round battle to the death.

On this land by the Yellow River, blood should have been frozen quickly in winter.

But with so many men and horses, so much artillery fire, and the horses' hooves crushed the snow, the blood of the dead and wounded soldiers and horses gradually gathered and flowed into the Yellow River from the low-lying places.

The Yellow River here has not yet begun to freeze, and the turbid Yellow River is still flowing resolutely northward unaffected by these blood stains.

And further north, Yan Chunsheng seemed to have smashed his fist into the air.

"Fuck, where's the Tartar?"

After searching for several days, I did not come across a single tribe.

Where did the Tartars in the Hetao north of the Yellow River go for the winter?

"General, this is really extraordinary!" Duoyanbu's Daha swore solemnly, "Such a location is really the best place to spend the winter." None of these locations have been found, and they must have moved! ”

After receiving a new order to enter the Hetao from the pass of Yinshan, Yan Chunsheng found nothing for so many days.

Now that he said that, he had to think.

"Where can I move? Don't you want a loop? Isn't Gunbiric still south of the Yellow River? Learn from me, go to the east, and prepare to raise your clan to fight in the Khan Court? ”

Daha said that it is very likely: go to the west, there is no future. There are also remnants of the Varat, and the aquatic plants are not as fertile as the east and north sides. Since ancient times, the core of the steppe tribes has not been further west.

“…… But Tang Dutai asked me to join Zhang Futai. Yan Chunsheng was a little hesitant.

"General, Tang Dutai was afraid that he didn't expect that Gunbilik didn't even want the Hetao. Looking at this situation, Zhang Futai did not need the general to go to help, and Tang Dutai himself could smoothly join him. Daha's eyes were very bright, "Go east, with the strength of the general's command, the pursuit is the fastest." ”

If Gunbilik doesn't even want the Hetao, such a fat south of the Yin Mountain can allow some people from the three parts of Duoyan to move over for grazing in the future, right?

Yan Chunsheng gritted his teeth: "If we don't find the Tartar tribe, since we move, we won't be able to find food." Both sides must be guarded, Lao Min, you take two hundred people, and Duoyan to find Zhang Futai. The rest of you, come with me to the east! ”

Going deep into the hinterland is like entering a no-man's land, which Yan Chunsheng did not expect.

Leaving the Yin Mountain, which is easier to hunt in winter, in this endless flat river loop, you must think of a way to fight and feed the war.

Not even a small tribe camped for the winter was found, and Yan Chunsheng's command was getting more and more hungry and thirsty.

Now, he and Taha judged that Gunbirik didn't even want the Hetao anymore.

Although there were also people in his special operations battalion who scattered out to investigate, after all, the mouth was more than 200 miles away, so there was no need to reconnoiter so far.

So he didn't know that the attack launched by Tang Shunzhi had entered the second day, and Zhu Qi had already led his troops to the north to intercept it, and the captives were copying Zhu Qi's back road.

The total size of the special operations battalion is not large, and it is impossible to separate nearly half of the people to scatter for reconnaissance.

But fortunately, they are all skilled and bold, and they can march quickly.

After converging with the branches of the Duoyan tribe and starting to "move west", they no longer lacked horses. All the way to the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain, several small tribes were wiped out along the way, and more were captured.

When Yan Chunsheng only took 600 people and spent less than half a day to find more than 100 miles to the east, he finally saw an endless camp tent in one place.

“…… Fuck, how many people are here? ”

Yan Chunsheng weighed it, even if his six hundred people used up all the arrows and projectiles, it would be impossible to destroy even one or two adults here.

"Boss, are all the captives here?"

In the entire Hetao area, the total population of 10,000 households scattered in the north and south of the Yellow River should be about 300,000.

And right now, the huge tent they spied on from afar is probably inhabited by seventy or eighty thousand.

Yan Chunsheng felt that he could replace one or two hundred thousand people, and that was because he found that most of the people here were old and weak, women and children, and the soldiers who really protected them were probably less than 5,000.

"It's not all there is to it, but it should be most of the north of the Yellow River. Fuck, the captives on the south side should be preparing to cross the river from here. The captives haven't left yet, they dare to concentrate like this, and they don't plan to stay here for long. There must be someone guarding the east and west sides! ”

Yan Chunsheng made another judgment: "We have gone so far to the east, we must continue to fight east as soon as possible." If they are going to flee to the east, it will be stopped. There is Jingbian Bo in the west, let's not care! ”

During the years of training special operations camps in the capital, Yan Chunsheng knew very well the judgment of the important ministers in the capital on Tang Shunzhi's ability.

And now he's here, and he's got important information.

The captives have almost all their forces together, so they have no intention of continuing to defend in the Hetao. With such a huge force, no matter which direction it breaks through, it cannot be easily blocked by the strength of one side alone.

There has to be a better way, the best place for the decisive battle, is here, by the Yellow River.

"Let's go! It's all old, weak, women and children, and there are only a few thousand elite soldiers, which is easy to do! They didn't expect us to come from the north, and we must have divided our forces to defend only the east and west. It's just that we have too few people, at least we have to help the soldiers of Datong and Taiyuan sweep the east and bring them over to occupy this place! Be quick! ”

Yan Chunsheng, with only 600 people, spied on this information, so he quickly gave full play to the advantages of the special operations battalion and continued to move rapidly to the east.

This time, there are no savings.

The horses were fed before departure, and now all the hay on the horses that he was carrying with him was also fed, Yan Chunsheng just wanted to find the main force of the Ming army and the main force of the trapping defense in the east as soon as possible.

When he arrived at the south of Toyosu Beach, he saw Zhu Qi, who was being chased by nearly 10,000 Tartars, but still kept holding them back in a circle.

“…… Is that...... The general flag of the Marquis of Funing? Yan Chunsheng was stunned after confirming it from the binoculars, "He has already lost?" ”

Don't blame him for thinking so, because there are less than a thousand horses around Zhu Qi. As far as the eye can see, there are no other Ming troops.

"What should I do?"

"What nonsense? There are far fewer tartars here, less than half as there in the southwest. Yan Chunsheng put away the binoculars and took out his bow, "They all shouted, rushed over, and let Funing Hou hear!" ”

Zhu Qi, who had been fighting hard for nearly two hours, almost collapsed.

If it weren't for the captives who chased after him and also needed to return to the formation to change horses, he wouldn't be able to support it now.

But the other party can change horses, but he can't.

If it weren't for the ice and snow now, no one would be able to increase the speed of the horse, and the horses under his command would not be able to support it now.

If it continues, it really won't hold on. Even if he is an elite soldier who is good at horsemanship, he really doesn't have much experience in cavalry battles with such high intensity on the winter grassland.

He began to regret a series of decisions, and it turned out that the gap between him and people like Wang Shouren, Tang Shunzhi, and Yu Dayou was really a bit big.

The assurances to the emperor now seem a bit ridiculous, and Tang Shunzhi should be listened to, the cavalry should guard the foot soldiers, and all the way along the north bank of the Yellow River to determine the place where the captives cross the river, and fight steadily.

In times of despair, the only way to die on the battlefield is to avoid insulting the reputation of the ancestors.

I can't escape anyway.

However, there was a shout and the sound of horses' hooves in the west.

The sound was not too loud, and both warring sides looked over there in amazement.

Zhu Qi glanced at it in a hurry, and his heart was cold, because they were all riding horses and wearing tartar clothes.

But then, he caught a glimpse of the general. Although I couldn't see clearly, I heard their shouts faintly: "Da Ming Wansheng!" ”

Authentic Chinese accent.

The reason why the captives were stunned was because there were only a few hundred people who came.

They can be sure that they are not friendly forces, so there are only a few hundred people, so what does it matter?

However, Zhu Qi's subordinates were ecstatic: "Master Hou, it's Zhen Anbo!" ”

Zhu Qi knew that he might already be a little dizzy, so his eyesight was not as good as that of his subordinates.

Now he is also in good spirits: "Did you read that right? Is it a special operations battalion? ”

"It's true!"

"Saved! There is salvation! Zhu Qi shouted with all his might, "Lean over, lean over!" ”

The special operations battalion is coming, and the little life will be saved!

At Zhu Qi's level, how can he not know about the special operations battalion? How can you not know Yan Chunsheng's ability?

Unbeknownst to the captives, they only divided a team of 1,000 people and intercepted Yan Chunsheng who rushed over. The rest of the people outflanked Zhu Qi at a faster pace.

When it comes to horse warfare, how can they be afraid of the Ming army?

Then Yan Chunsheng, who was in the lead, shouted in a voice that he had already read more well: "The camp in the southwest, your camp of nearly 100,000 people, has been wiped out by us!" The man who shot Bodie is Lao Tzu! Daming Town Amber arrived first, and the heavenly soldiers arrived later! Kill! ”

His cries were accompanied by his incomparable strength in bow and archery.

The words are false, but the skills are true.

Zhu Qi saw the leader of the thousand-man team fall from his horse in response, and immediately burst into tears.

Anyway, he took it seriously.

Although the credit is gone, this life is picked up.

The special operations battalion is terrifying! Tang Shunzhi is terrifying!

Did the First World War wipe out nearly 100,000 people?

On the 21st day of November in the 11th year of Jiajing, ten days after Zhu Houxi came out of the side wall, the encounter that broke out in the south of Fengzhou Beach was always unbelievable to later historians.

There were a total of 2,600 against 30,000 Northern Captives before and after the Ming army, how could it be so coincidental and strong?

At this moment, Yan Chunsheng was mighty with one arrow, and the animals of the special combat camp shouted in unison: "Miraculous feat!" Miraculous! ”

Their boss is facing sixty or seventy thousand Tartars, saying that they can replace one or two percent of each other's six hundred people.

And the time is also fate, the escort cavalry of this captive tribe that has been walked by Zhu Qi for nearly two hours felt the outrageous combat power after encountering only 600 special operations battalion livestock troops.

Especially after they arrived, more than a hundred people dismounted and made five tiger squat cannons from the horses carrying supplies.

"Boom!"

They actually bombarded the Lele convoy and turned a blind eye to the other cavalry.

The question is, in the face of the Mongol cavalry who wanted to rush over and scatter them, why did this group of Ming troops who protected them have no arrows, and none of them could ride within nearly thirty paces?

(End of chapter)