At nightfall on the third day of June.

Wang Shouren and Ma Yi's surprise attack on Weininghai had just passed Daqing Mountain, and after the team had experienced a lofty mountain range, it was considered to have passed Yinshan, and the soldiers were already tired.

"Lord Wang, I'm afraid it's difficult for us to move on again." Cao Shun ran to Wang Shouren to complain, "It's been two days and two nights, we have just passed Daqingshan, and there are nearly two hundred miles away from Weining Sea, how can we arrive in one day and two nights?" The soldiers still need to rest now, and if it is too late, I am afraid that this battle will not be fought. Otherwise, let's withdraw it. ”

The march of the team was clearly hindered by the terrain.

First of all, the Ming soldiers were not familiar with the grassland terrain, and when they arrived at Daqing Mountain, it rained, and in order to carry artillery through the mountain, the trip was slowed down.

When crossing high mountains, people can dismount and walk, but the artillery must be carried by horses.

At this time, Ma Yi, Sun Shangqi and other generals also followed, and they also came to ask Wang Shouren's opinion.

It seems that this group of people is led by Ma Yi himself, but Wang Shouren, as the head of the military department, is a civilian official with the army, and has his special status in formulating strategies, and Cao Shun is also the eunuch of Xuanfu Town, and his status is above Ma Yi.

"It's all past Daqing Mountain, do you want to turn back from here?" Wang Shouren asked a very practical question.

It's finally time to come, but you're going to retreat?

Ma Yi said: "Lord Wang, the morale of the army is ...... now Somewhat depressed. The morale was high when they set out, but after two days of trekking, the soldiers were ...... Very tired. After resting all night, we will continue the march tomorrow morning! ”

Compared with Cao Shun's proposal to withdraw his troops, Ma Yi's request was relatively realistic.

The soldiers are too tired, so it is better to rest first, rest and recuperate before continuing to set off.

Wang Shouren said in a firm tone: "The three armies can only rest for two hours...... I'll give you half an extra hour, and you'll have to leave at midnight!" From here further west, it is a smooth road, riding a horse all the way without stopping! ”

"Toss people!" Cao Shun almost wanted to sit on the ground and roll around.

Sun Shangqi said: "The deadline given to us by Zhang Zhengtai is for us to arrive at Weininghai tomorrow night, and after a short rest, we will raid Weininghai early the day after tomorrow. There is no room for slackness. ”

Sun Shangqi came to supervise the army, he was responsible for supervising Ma Yi, but also Wang Shouren and Cao Shun, and he was equivalent to the representative sent by Zhang Zhou to the army.

With Sun Shangqi's support, Wang Shouren's arrangements for marching were easier to implement.

……

……

After midnight, the army continued to set off.

One man and two horses, each carrying his own weapons and rations, and some of the horses carrying cannons and shells.

During the march, Wang Shouren has always been close to the artillery side, not to mention that they are all old acquaintances, in case there is any encounter, the group of people who dispatch the artillery battalion can also maximize the advantage of this long-distance attack on soldiers and horses.

“…… Wang Jiaotou, the brothers have all seen it, the shells are not damp, but some of the oilcloths on the body of the cannons are broken, and there is water inside, and when the sun rises, the oilcloth can be torn open and dried. ”

The previous rain made Wang Shouren very nervous.

If the artillery and firearms were damp and could not be used, it would seem difficult for the centaurs to compete with the Tatars without the support of firearms, relying only on the cold weapons they carried.

Even if the main forces of the tribes around Weininghai are all assembled in the west to fight, how can there be no people left around Weininghai?

It doesn't matter what the number is, the point is to catch the opponent off guard, and then suppress it with firearms in order to win...... Otherwise, relying only on the battle of cold weapons, the combat quality of the Ming soldiers is still far inferior to that of the tribe on horseback.

After dawn, Wang Shouren was glad that he finally saw the sun that day.

"There's a vacuum."

Liu Gui rode on a horse.

Less than a year ago, he was just a low-level gangster in Nanjing who couldn't even earn a living, but now he went out with the army, still as a hundred households in brocade clothes.

In his opinion, this grassland also carries a beautiful scenery, which makes him feel refreshed.

At least it was much better than the cloudy and rainy weather the day before.

Wang Shouren said: "Command the front, middle and rear departments, speed up the march, and march at least thirty miles in an open place for an hour, and only after entering a hundred miles can you bury the stove!" ”

……

……

Just when Wang Shouren was marching at the northern foot of Yin Mountain.

The Chinese army led by Zhang Zhouqin was in the south of Yinshan Mountain, and also quickly advanced in the direction of Maoerzhuang.

Compared with the quiet and peaceful at the northern foot of Yinshan, the south of Yinshan is full of the atmosphere of beacon fire and wolf smoke, and the main force of Zhang Zhouzhong's army can be seen everywhere in the march of tribal activities.

"Didn't you say that we came out to shoot eagles? Tired individual! ”

After two days of marching, Zhang Heling, these pampered ministers, couldn't stand it first, they listened to Zhang Zhou's words, thinking that this group of people was just to respond to Wang Shouren, and they came out to cover, and they would not have any battles with the grassland tribes at all, and the march would not be too fast, but they found that they ...... For the past two days, the march was up and down a hundred miles every day.

This is too fast for the march of an average army.

Because Zhang Zhou's side was not a surprise attack by light soldiers on Wang Shouren's side, he was carrying grain and grass on his side, and more importantly, he was carrying more than 70 artillery pieces.

When the team was resting, Zhang Heling came to Zhang Zhou to complain.

Zhang Heling also looked grizzled at this time, as if he hadn't washed his face for decades, and he was like a briquette.

Zhang Zhou pointed to the west and said: "Our march is too slow, if we can't reach Maoerzhuang within the specified time, we won't be able to repel Di Yi over there, and the vanguard of the surprise attack on Weininghai will have no way out!" ”

Zhang Zhou knew that the speed of the march was not as fast as that of Wang Shouren.

But he can't delay, his task is to go to Maoerzhuang and other directions close to Daming City, for Wang Shouren's surprise attack on Weininghai, go directly south back to Daming Pass, clear the road.

The road on his side was relatively safe, because almost all the attention of the grassland tribe was now in the Chi'er Mountain generation, six or seven hundred miles west of Weining Sea, and that was the main battlefield of the annexation within the grassland.

Zhang Zhou looked at the tired appearance of the soldiers below, and knew that fortunately he didn't expect this group of people to have a big fight with him, the Ming border army has not experienced a decent war in the past ten years, which is a generation gap for the border army soldiers, unless he is given three or five or even ten years or so to reorganize the army, otherwise it is not so easy to completely step on the grassland.

It's not that the soldiers can't do it, it's that except for him Zhang Zhou, he can't do it.

There is no one like him, who is desperate to change the situation in the Northwest.

Most of the officers and men of the border army want to maintain the status quo, which is a very real problem...... If the steppe tribes all disappeared, what would they fight and eat? Do you want to go back to farming? Where is the land?

"Traveling a hundred miles a day, for the grassland march, it is too commonplace, are you so slack when you grab credit?"

"I didn't let you go to the front line to kill the enemy, but just raised your voice to wave the flag and shout for the front army, if you still want to push, then don't come to the northwest at all!"

This is specially said for people like Zhang Heling.

At this time, Zhang Heling was a negative example, and it also allowed Zhang Zhou, the coach, to find the target, not to teach Zhang Heling a lesson at this time, but to teach the generals in the army directly, and it was likely to be resisted by those soldiers.

Once this group of people picks a pick, this team will not be able to take it.

"What did you tell me? All tired! When is it a head to walk like this? Toss the dead! ”

Zhang Heling is just complaining.

Let him go back to the pass alone, he can still walk, and if he thinks that if he is captured by the Tatar stragglers on the way back, it will be a whimper.

……

……

The fourth night of the first month of June.

Wang Shouren's soldiers and horses were less than fifty miles away from Weining Haizi, and the soldiers and horses had their last rest at this time.

After experiencing the extreme fatigue before, the spirit of the soldiers seemed to have eased at this time, and it was also because the soldiers knew that they had now gone deep into the hinterland of the grassland, and there was no way to retreat at this time, only to fight to the death.

Wang Shouren chose to rest before arriving in Weininghai, and he was also preparing not to do any rectification before the war began.

In other words, after eating and resting from here, the next march is directly a surprise attack on Weininghai.

Victory or defeat is here.

"Don't bury the stove, eat the dry food you have." Wang Shouren said, "When you have enough food and drink, you will have a battle tomorrow morning!" ”

At this time, there are still three hours before dawn, and there is only one hour at most to rest.

The remaining two hours to complete the fifty miles were still very hard.

After the soldiers ate the dry food, there was not even a little fire around, and they were in a valley, and the soldiers did not set up camp, so they directly slept in the open air, giving them an hour to nap.

But when Wang Shouren inspected the barracks, he found that the soldiers slept very little.

"Why don't you take a break? Close your eyes! ”

Wang Shouren was afraid that this group of people would not have enough energy, and they were still urging.

Ma Yi was patrolling outside, and the general Guan Jing said: "Lord Wang, now the soldiers know that there will be a battle in the morning, and they can't sleep if they want to!" It would be nice if you could wait for the day, after all, you will have to march in a hurry after that. Some are also afraid that they will not be able to get up if they fall asleep. ”

When Wang Shouren heard Guan Jing's words, he couldn't say anything more.

……

……

An hour passed quickly.

The surprise attack of three thousand cavalry continued to set off.

Before dawn and the fifty-mile road was not finished, a sentinel had already reported in front: "Found ...... On the other side of the mountain...... There are camps everywhere...... A lot. ”

Wang Shouren immediately ordered the three armies to stop advancing and begin to form formations.

At the same time, he also took advantage of the night to climb the height of a hill, looked at it with a telescope, and shook his head: "It seems that there are only three or four hundred tents, and even if you add the old and weak women and children, the number of people may not exceed a thousand." ”

Ma Yi heard this: "Lord Wang, isn't this enough?" ”

Wang Shouren thought about it, it seemed that it was enough.

At the beginning, Wang Yue attacked Weininghai, but he only captured more than 170 men, women, and children, beheaded 437 people, and captured 6,000 horses, camels, cattle and sheep.

With so many tents and so many cattle, sheep and livestock in front of you, is it not enough to rob?

"Prepare for war!"

With Wang Shouren's order, the army finally became excited.

The rapid march of three days and four nights seemed to be about to pay off at this moment.

……

……

Because the Ming army is located on higher ground, and the tribal camps below are in the lower terrain of the lake, the lake does not look big, and the surrounding camps are together.

In the night, the other party didn't seem to be aware of the arrival of the Ming army at all, so Wang Shouren didn't plan to use the artillery he brought.

The range of artillery is only about one mile, and it takes four or five miles to charge down from the mountain, so it is better to charge directly with cavalry.

"Leave three hundred men to guard the baggage, and the rest of the firearms! Get your saber ready and charge! ”

In order to maximize the advantage of the Ming cavalry's surprise attack, and also to prevent the other party from forming a formation to resist, Wang Shouren directly formed two long snake formations with 2,000 soldiers and horses.

Then 700 soldiers and horses detoured to the enemy's rear to complete the cover.

With the process he laid out.

The first cavalry, 1,000 people slaughtered into the camp in a line, first set fire weapons and a shot, and then ignited the fire oil with bows and arrows to burn the camp tent of the opponent's camp, making it difficult for the opponent to form a formation.

A battle ensued in the middle of the battle.

The second cavalry was in the rear, probably separated by a cup of tea, and rushed in.

In this way, before dawn, the grassland tribes could not tell how many waves of people there were in the Ming army, nor could they tell how many people and horses were killed in the follow-up, so they could only retreat in a hurry under the chaos, and the seven hundred cavalry ambushed in the rear could complete the strangulation.

"Do it as much as you can...... No one can escape! ”

Wang Shouren knew very well that they were now in the hinterland of the grassland, and this could only be a camp of the grassland tribe.

I don't know how many people there are on the other side or whether there are reinforcements around.

All that can be done is a one-hit kill.

……

……

Originally, Wang Shouren wanted to wait for the formation to be completed before raiding.

However, as the sentry on patrol on the other side discovered the figure of the Ming army, there were already signs of returning by riding horses, and Wang Shouren had to give an order to send troops in advance.

Ma Yi, as the deputy commander-in-chief, is also the highest military commander of this road, leading the troops to rush to the front line.

And Wang Shouren personally rode a horse to rush to the second line.

In the past few years, Wang Shouren has practiced archery for a long time, and it has also played an effective role at this time.

In the first round of the Ming Dynasty's offensive, a thousand cavalry quickly advanced, and when they entered the grassland tribe camp, most of the people in the tribe had just run out of the camp.

With the sound of "bang, bang, bang", many tribesmen fell to the ground one after another, men, women and children.

And with the fire in the camp, the first round of massacres of the Ming Dynasty achieved very good results, and the number of people and horses stationed in the camp was obviously insufficient, not to mention the formation, even if it was sporadic resistance, there were very few.

In the chaos of men, women, and children, they could only flee westward in a hurry, but the people of the steppe tribes, whether they were men, women, and children, could ride horses, and they reacted relatively quickly when they encountered this kind of attack on the camp.

But then, the second group led by Wang Shouren also killed.

The men and horses on the opposite hill completed the encirclement of the tribal camp next to the valley and lake......

……

……

A war, and the progress is very smooth.

When it was all over, there was still no sign of dawn.

Wang Shouren did not care to count the proceeds of the war, and hurriedly sent people to the camp to extinguish the fire, in order to prevent the burning tents from forming a beacon of smoke after dawn and being discovered by the tribal camp in the distance.

"Major General, more than 200 people have been arrested."

When Wang Shouren saw Ma Yi again, Ma Yi's face showed great excitement, "Behead more than one hundred and forty!" It seems like...... No escapees have been found. ”

Camp for 300 people......

It took 3,000 soldiers and horses, and so many tactical ......

Wang Shouren also felt that he might be taking it too seriously.

He couldn't help but look disappointed.

"How many livestock?" Cao Shun ran over from the rear army at this time, that is, the place where he looked at the baggage, and he wanted to know what the results of the battle were.

His vital interests are at stake.

Ma Yi said: "At least two thousand." Is it to drive back to Daming together? ”

"Torture!" Wang Shouren immediately ordered.

"Why?" Cao Shun looked puzzled, "Master Wang, if you dislike those people is a burden, kill them, and take your head back, don't care whether you kill the prisoners or not, even if someone wants to pursue you, our family will protect you." Tortureable ...... It's not necessary. ”

Wang Shouren pointed to a small lake in front of him and said, "You don't think this is Weining Haizi, right?" ”

One question made everyone present quiet down.

Ma Yi immediately understood something, and immediately entered the captive team, and grabbed two young and strong men, who seemed to be their family members next to them.

The torture began.

But in fact, there is no need to torture too much, this tribe is obviously not a big tribe, in this battle, except for the young and middle-aged people they went out to fight, it is likely that the whole army will be wiped out, so in order to preserve their strength, they can only follow the Ming Dynasty after judging the situation and quickly explain what they know.

After Ma Yi got the results, he came over and said: "They said that thirty miles northwest of here is Weining Haizi, and we have gone astray. Over there...... It is likely that there were a large number of camp tents and steppe herders, as well as countless cattle, and they did not dare to go there because there were heavy troops over there. They also said that at the time of the expedition, the water and grass of the various tribes of the right wing were divided. ”

"Huh?"

After Cao Shun heard this, his whole body trembled.

Wang Shouren changed his previous disappointment, but said with an excited face: "Let the soldiers rest and go to the northwest!" ”

Cao Shun scolded: "Lord Wang, when will it be your turn to call the shots here?" You're just a six-grade military director! Let's talk about it...... That's it! If you go again...... Lives are dying! Haven't you heard? Even if the fire sieve sent troops westward, it still left heavy troops to garrison Weining Haizi, so we only had 3,000 soldiers and horses, what can we do? It's not enough to stuff the Tartar between his teeth! ”

Wang Shouren asked rhetorically: "Gonggong Cao, if we go south like this, how long do you think it will take for these Tartars to detect our whereabouts and how long will it take to catch up?" ”

"This ......"

Cao Shun immediately realized that the situation seemed to be a little wrong now, but he immediately thought of something, and said, "Zhang Zhitai didn't say everything, his men and horses will meet us in Maoerzhuang, it's a big deal to kill these Tartars, just take your head back!" ”

"Impossible!"

Wang Shouren said in a very firm tone, "In my estimation, no matter how fast it is, Zhang Zhitai will not be able to arrive at Maoerzhuang until three days later, if we go south like this, not only will there be no reinforcements, but the soldiers and horses in front of the Manchu Officials around Maoerzhuang will form a front and rear attack on us!" ”

"Then go to Daqingshan, where to come from, where to go back! We won't go to death when it comes to death! ”

Cao Shun has figured it out now.

Win all the wins, and win beautifully, your side has almost no loss, so don't you hurry up, you still want to have a big one?

Wang Shouren looked at Sun Shangqi, and Sun Shangqi immediately understood.

Sun Shangqi took out his embroidered spring knife and said sharply: "Those who escape from the battle will be judged as capital crimes!" ”

"You...... Do you dare to kill our family? Cao Shun also had a temper.

Who is used to your faults? You still want to go against the sky?

Wang Shouren also had to move out of Zhang Zhou at this time, he said: "This is Zhang Zhitai's person, and he was also sent by His Majesty to Zhang Zhitai's side, Gonggong Cao, to put it mildly, it is best not to make the army uneasy at this time." Sometimes, for the sake of the morale of the army, it is also feasible to sacrifice the necessary flag. ”

When Cao Shun heard this, he knew that this group of people was going to come for real.

"Commander Ma, do you think so too?" At a critical time, Cao Shun could only focus on Ma Yi.

You were the chief soldier of the Xuanfu before, and our family was a eunuch guarding the town, so you should always listen to our family, right?

Ma Yi said: "The humble duty conforms to Zhang Zhengtai's dispatch. ”

At this time, Ma Yi was not stupid, it was easy for the retreating troops to fall into a heavy encirclement and kill themselves, and he still seemed to be heroic when he continued to advance, and he also felt that as a general, the Tatars were not even prepared for such a surprise attack, and they had a great chance of winning.

Even if it is rumored that the fire screen is left behind to guard the heavy troops, how heavy can it be?

There are a total of three or four hundred people left in this small tribe, and they naturally feel that Weining Haizi has heavy troops, but they are the expeditionary force of the Ming Dynasty.

Regardless of whether there are heavy troops or not, isn't their purpose to surprise Weininghai?

After going back, he said that he hadn't even arrived at Wei Ninghai, so he was scared away...... No matter how great the credit is, it will be greatly discounted.

Wang Shouren took out the order flag that he usually used to perform artillery, and shouted: "Tell the three armies, no cattle, sheep and livestock will be left, and the Tartars will be tied to the horses and escorted to the north." An hour later, kill the north shore of Weining Sea! ”

(End of chapter)