In the first two days of the retreat of the Ming Expeditionary Force, the situation was relatively stable, and with the power of the first battle of Weininghai, the pursuers on all sides did not dare to approach.

However, as the grassland tribes gradually figured out the situation of the Ming army, and found that the Ming army even struggled to drive the herdsmen and livestock southward, and the division of troops and garrisons could only take care of the front and the rear, there were more raids and sporadic local battles.

Even though Ma Yi was instructed by Wang Shouren to send troops to drive the pursuers away, he found that the effect was not good.

The main force of the Menggol Jin Department did not flee in embarrassment because of the attack of the Ming soldiers and horses, or they had no way to retreat, and their own people were captured by the Ming Dynasty.

couldn't be driven away several times, and Ma Yi finally had to inform Wang Shouren of the predicament in the rear.

But at this time, Wang Shouren's headache was not the chasing soldiers in the rear, but the front banner soldiers and horses of the Menggoljin Department who retreated from Maoerzhuang in front.

"Preliminary Exploration...... It should be more than five thousand soldiers and horses. ”

At the pre-battle meeting, the generals who could come to the meeting were all solemn.

They are very aware of the actual situation of the Ming Expeditionary Force, and with the remaining 2,500 or 600 living forces, they want to fight with the cavalry of the 5,000 grassland tribes, and there is almost no chance of victory.

Cao Shun panicked when he heard this, and asked, "What about the artillery?" Zhang Zhitai gave us so many artillery, didn't it mean that Ning Yuan only used twelve cannons in the first battle to kill the Tartars and flee in all directions? There are still fifty or sixty cannons to ......."

The expressions of the surrounding generals were all excited.

At the critical time, the strength was not good, and there were artillery and all kinds of firearms, and when they attacked Weininghai in the past, these firearms played an overwhelming advantage and were the key to the victory.

Wang Shouren said: "Deliver all the firearms in the array, and when you encounter the Diyi cavalry, you will concentrate your men and horses to fight!" Two hundred horsemen were left in the rear for the purpose of raiding and harassing. ”

Everyone present heard it.

Wang Shouren was preparing for that strategic focus, shifting from the pursuing troops in the rear to the front of the Menggol Jin front bannermen.

A big war is likely to break out again.

……

……

When the military meeting was dispersed, the generals of the artillery battalion came over, and at the same time, Sun Shangqi and Liu Gui, two people sent by Zhang Zhou to supervise the army.

"Lord Wang, we don't have many shells at the moment, plus the bumps along the way, there are only forty-nine artillery pieces left, and it is good that one cannon can shoot one shot."

Wang Shouren had long known what the artillerymen were talking about.

The artillery given by Zhang Zhou was originally used as a surprise attack on Weininghai, and now the strategic purpose has been achieved, if it were not for the continued deterrence of the grassland tribes, he could have discarded most of the artillery, leaving only about twenty guns, which could also lighten the team's bags and speed up the advance a little.

Twenty guns, one cannon fired two shots, and forty-nine guns fired in unison, there is no big difference.

After all, with the reloading speed of light artillery, it is completely possible to fire two rounds of shells before the enemy reaches the firing range and then before the melee fight.

Sun Shangqi said: "The 200 flint guns that Mr. Zhang gave him before, even if the ammunition is reloaded, only more than 120 can still be used. It may not be possible to send it twice. ”

Because the flint gun is newly researched, the technology is not yet complete, as if it is a one-time firecracker.

After Weininghai is used up in the first war, if you want to reuse it, the effect will be greatly reduced.

In the subsequent report, even arquebuses and other weapons were obviously insufficient, and from the projectile to the current state of the army, it was impossible to fight another hearty battle like a surprise attack on Weininghai.

Wang Shouren said: "Don't leak the situation of the Shenji Battalion, prepare for war!" If the front line can't kill a bloody road, then the jade will be burned! ”

……

……

The army continued southward.

Then came the worse news, that is, more than 2,000 cavalry were found in the rear, and it seemed that the men and horses of the fire sieve headquarters had withdrawn after hearing the news.

At this time, four days have passed since the first battle of Weininghai, and it has reached the ninth day of June.

The expeditionary force was still more than forty miles away from Maoerzhuang, and in terms of the speed of travel, it might not be able to cover a day, but it seemed that it was impossible to move forward at the moment.

It is precisely that there are fierce tigers in front and hungry wolves in the back, and when they raid the enemy's lair, they fight heartily, but it is not so easy to get out of the whole body.

From the evening of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year to the morning of the ninth lunar month, the march of the procession was less than ten miles, and because of the wind and rain, the march of the team was greatly hindered.

"Report ......"

"Five miles ahead, there are Tatar cavalry assembled!"

"Report ......"

"Twenty miles away from the right flank, there is a cavalry gathering!"

"Ten miles away from the rear army, there were cavalry attacking the camp, and the horse commander led the troops to meet the enemy......"

At this time, Wang Shouren found that they had almost fallen into the encirclement of Menggol Jin's troops from three sides.

Only their left flank, that is, in the direction of the east towards Xianxuanfu, did not have the Tatars close, but this also seemed to be in line with the soldiers' so-called tactical concept of encircling the three and one.

Didn't trap them all to death.

"It is impossible for the main force of the Chinese army in the fire screen to withdraw so early, but it is all a trick, if the opponent's soldiers and horses exceed our army by several times, they will send troops long ago, why do they need to be so secretive?"

Wang Shouren mobilized before the war.

But his words don't seem to work very well.

Just the early days of the fire screening headquarters that Maoerzhuang withdrew to block their way south, there were at least 5,000 cavalry, and this part was not the old, weak, sick and disabled who stayed in Weininghai, this was the main force left before the fire sieve west expedition to prevent the Ming Dynasty from sending troops from Datong to attack Weininghai, and the combat effectiveness was extraordinary.

It's not that you say that Wang Shouren's enemy is a paper tiger, so we believe it.

What we want is to use firearms to deter them, and now they dare not make a full-scale assault, not only because we are afraid that we will escort the hostages, but also because we have firearms in charge, and once they find a flaw, they will still kill them mercilessly.

At the pre-military meeting, everyone's faces were a little solemn.

Liu Gui, who was a hundred households, suddenly said: "Isn't there a mountain in the east?" Why don't we take the mountain as our back and fight against it? ”

Cao Shun said angrily: "What are you? Are you qualified to speak here? Leaning against the mountain, that means we are waiting for death? ”

Liu Gui didn't know what was going on, in his opinion, with his back against the mountain, he could only let himself have no threat behind him, and he could concentrate on dealing with the enemy in front of him.

Since you are under siege and surrounded by people, shouldn't you block the back road?

But to do this is to tell Cao Shun and other people who are afraid of death that we will not break through to the south, so we will directly defend the place, that is, we will make ourselves a trapped beast and fight.

Wang Shouren glanced at Liu Gui with burning eyes, and his eyes suddenly revealed a bit of appreciation, probably at this time, Liu Gui's suggestion can be regarded as the best choice......

What continues south......

Since it is impossible to break through the barrier formed by the 5,000 soldiers and horses in front of the fire sieve headquarters, let's think about how to preserve the living force first, or more importantly.

Wang Shouren said: "What Liu Baihu mentioned is also the right choice, relying on the steep and dangerous peaks that cannot be read, with his back to the peaks, he can also give full play to the advantages of firearms, temporarily build fortresses and fortifications, and also use firearms to compete with Diyi." ”

"You ......" Cao Shun was upset when he heard it, "Lord Wang, do you also want to wait for death?" ”

Wang Shouren shook his head and said: "We have tens of thousands of men, women, and children in Diyi as hostages, and they want to attack the mountain, so they will use these people to block the formation, bury the mighty heavenly gunpowder, and blow them up together!" ”

Guan Jing, as the executive deputy general, immediately received the order: "Get the order!" ”

"Wait!"

Cao Shun immediately stopped Guan Jing, "If you want to station the soldiers and horses on the high place of the mountain, how can the water be guaranteed?" Isn't that looking for death? What's more, the Tartars haven't been killed yet! ”

Cao Shun didn't want to wait for death.

Wang Shouren had a resolute attitude, and he also took advantage of Cao Shun's questioning to explain to the soldiers present: "Wait a minute, now is a good opportunity for us to hold on and wait for help, our army's water bags can support more than three days, if the Ming reinforcements still do not arrive within three days, they can only blow up the Tartar herdsmen, and the whole army will break through and attack." There are no worries about water and food...... What's more, we still have tens of thousands of cattle and sheep ......"

He just wanted to remind Cao Shun's soldiers.

This was not the Battle of the Civil Fort.

What water source problem, that's not a problem, the water on the body is enough for three days, if you really stay up until three days of reinforcements have not come, then there is no need to find water, you can directly kill the captured prisoners and cattle and sheep, lead the troops to rush out, and can break through a few is a few.

Sun Shangqi said: "At present, there are more than 10,000 Tartar herdsmen, plus so many cattle and sheep, as well as the generals and soldiers in the army, the battle is indeed a bit big, and it is easy to take care of one or the other in the army. ”

Although the battle of Weininghai was properly commanded by Wang Shouren.

But after all, Wang Shouren had no actual experience in leading troops before, and his prestige was not high, in this kind of major matter related to whether to advance or retreat, life and death, in fact, many generals aimed at Cao Shun.

If you fight Weininghai, you have to fight, and you have to fight when you arrive.

But now Maoerzhuang is in front of you, after more than 100 miles of Maoerzhuang can go to the border pass of Datong in Datong, if you give up the grassland herdsmen to capture the cattle and sheep, and assault with fast horses, there is still a chance to kill back.

At this time, you must have enough confidence to put yourself in the position of breaking the boat.

And Sun Shangqi's words can be regarded as a "final word" in disguise.

Because behind Sun Shangqi is the firearms battalion, that is, the artillery battalion in the army, and Sun Shangqi is the supervising army sent by Zhang Zhou, the Ming Dynasty Jinyi Wei Qianhu, which is equivalent to the person who supervises the war team, even Sun Shangqi thinks that the defense line should be contracted now, and the migration team that has been dragged back and forth for three or four miles or even five or six miles is brought to one place, and the officers and men in the army think about it again, this Wang is not opposed to the breakthrough battle three days later, so it is better to gather the soldiers and horses in one place first.

Or don't you need to break through, the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty will arrive?

A general asked behind the crowd: "Can the soldiers and horses of Datong Town come?" ”

The generals present were embarrassed.

None of them are stupid.

If the border army of the Ming Dynasty has such a high efficiency, it will not be so many days after they sent troops, Datong's army still has not Maoerzhuang, it stands to reason that they are killing here now, they should not face what kind of fire sieve headquarters front banner soldiers and horses, nor will it be a three-sided attack, but should be a triumphant army to greet them.

Not now...... Three days later, most likely, there will be none.

Only a fool would expect that in three days it will be completely different from what it is now.

Wang Shouren saw the sluggish morale of the army, and he said sharply: "Everyone, no matter whether Datong Town sends troops or not, Zhang Zhitai's men and horses will definitely come, and they will come with Shenwei Yuan Cannon and Shenwei Heavy Artillery, and then the Tatars will retreat without a fight!" Do you want the credit to fly away, and when you return to the border town, you will be ridiculed as a coward who can't fight to the death? ”

Now we can only use various methods to cheer up these generals.

After all, Wang Shouren could not gather all the officers and men of the army to talk one by one, and he had to give confidence to this group of people who led the troops before he could fight this battle.

And the reason he gave was, first, to put forward Zhang Zhou's "".

Don't you believe in the soldiers in the border towns, don't you still believe in Zhang Banxian, who can pinch and calculate?

Have you forgotten who came up with the previous strategy of the surprise attack on Weininghai? Zhang Zhou said that he would open up the way for us to go south, but did he just talk about it and leave us alone? So what good will it do him if we are all annihilated?

As for the second point...... It is to move with emotion and know with reason.

Now that you have gone back, you are at most a deserter, and you say how many heads you have killed, and you have not brought them back, who will believe you?

The herdsmen were arrested by you, whether they were killed or abandoned, and they went back like this, and they were ridiculed for the rest of their lives.

It's better to stay and fight to the death, if you wait for the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty, not only will you not have to be ridiculed, but everyone will be a hero at that time...... Just ask you if you want to be a bad breed or a hero?

"Fight!"

Guan Jing waved his arms first.

"Fight! War! ”

Under Wang Shouren's encouragement, the morale of the army was stabilized.

Taking advantage of the fact that the men and horses of the various departments of the fire screen had not yet formed an encirclement, they hurried to the direction of the unknown mountain in the east, which was not a famous mountain or a big mountain, but only relied on the foot of the mountain to block the retreat to the east.

Cao Shun watched the soldiers below being bewitched by Wang Shouren, and scolded and said, "Do you still want to learn from Han Xin's backwater and fail to fight?" People carry the water, you carry the mountain! fledgling, but so not afraid of death...... Vertical too! ”

Even if he was scolding, he still admired Wang Shouren in his heart.

At least he had never seen a young man as daring as Wang Shouren, just this execution ability, and the momentum that seemed to be awesome, it was quite bluffing......

If you think about it carefully, it seems that there really is one, and that is Zhang Zhou.

……

……

The expeditionary force led by Wang Shouren drove the 16,700 captives and nearly 100,000 cattle, sheep and livestock into the area near Tushan, and then found ...... There is not enough place.

Originally, more than 2,000 cavalry could easily fight with their backs to the mountains, plus so many prisoners and livestock, they couldn't even put it down.

For the first time, the expeditionary force saw the full picture of the "trophies" they had captured.

Just watching the countless cattle and sheep drive up the hillside...... That scene......

It's really a spectacular.

I can't help but think about it...... If you take this back, how much military merit can be exchanged for?

There was also a carriage and a carriage head, which was a symbol of their military exploits, and they were also carried up the hillside, condescendingly ready to wait for the attack of the various tribes of the fire sifter.

Before the night of the ninth day of the sixth month, all the soldiers and horses were assembled, and some cattle and sheep who had not had time to go up the mountain were ordered by Wang Shouren to be killed directly, and then slaughtered into beef and mutton and sent to the soldiers on the mountain.

No matter what happens in the evening or tomorrow, at least the officers and men of the army will open the meat first, although many of them have almost vomited the beef and mutton in the past few days.

Guarding such a group of cattle and sheep, there are always lame or accidental deaths, and they don't eat for nothing.

After dark.

The three armed forces were reorganized.

Wang Shouren changed the soldiers and horses into two shifts, and rotated the garrison day and night, and it was stipulated that all soldiers should not take off their armor and be ready to meet the battle at any time.

"I don't know what tomorrow will be."

Cao Shun took out the wine to warm his body, and while roasting the fire, he was drinking wine and eating meat.

This treatment ...... Let the surrounding generals look at it and be greedy.

Drinks are not available to everyone, like Cao Shun, as a eunuch in Xuanfu, his status is favored, in fact, he has the highest status in the army, but now he is being pressed by Wang Shouren, and he is also a little aggrieved in his heart, and now he has listened to Wang Shouren, and he was driven to this desperate place, feeling that life is about to decline, that feeling......

Great joy and great sorrow.

If you don't drink some wine and complain, is that still my old Cao?

Wang Shouren came back from an inspection, sat in front of the bonfire, and said: "Even if the grassland is hot in summer, the temperature difference between day and night is large, and there will be rain at any time at night, so let the soldiers keep warm." You don't have to hide a campfire, you can light as many as you want! ”

If it is a normal march, they must be careful when opening the stove, but now the strength of their army has long been in the hands of the steppe tribes, mainly because of the lack of manpower during the retreat to the south in the past two days, the expeditionary force is too embarrassed.

Now there is no need to hide, how to ensure the daily needs of the soldiers, especially to eat and drink, but also to keep warm and even recuperate.

Sticking to the wait for help is an extremely physically demanding job.

Behind the hillside was the dirt mountain, and the atmosphere of the soldiers was a little depressing, but the men and horses of the Menggoljin Department did not immediately come close...... Mainly scared by the Ming artillery.

The ghost knows if the Ming Dynasty will lure the enemy deeper, in case they wait for them to come up and surround them, the Ming soldiers directly rush down with artillery in horse-drawn carts and bombard their camp indiscriminately, then don't you whine?

As a result, even if the Ming expeditionary force used a very irregular form to shrink in front of a mountain, the Tatars still had to stay camped about ten miles away, and also sent a large number of cavalry to patrol around, especially to prevent the Ming cavalry from suddenly attacking......

When Wang Shouren knew about the Tatar arrangement, in front of Cao Shun and others, he said with a smile: "This is called deterrence, it's not before, it's where the Tatar cavalry goes, the border army can only hold on and let them wreak havoc in my Ming Dynasty." ”

Cao Shun asked, "Then Lord Wang, do you think that Zhang Zhengtai will come?" ”

Wang Shouren said coldly: "How can a person who can understand the heavens fail to make a promise? We have completed our mission, but we have led the troops to retreat south according to Zhang Zhitai's instructions, and we have done our best, and the rest ...... It's all in providence! ”

(End of chapter)