Ningxia, south bank of the Yellow River, north of Xiajiabao.

A great battle has begun at dawn.

Yang Yiqing's 7,000 cavalry, plus 2,000 soldiers and horses each of Li Yan and Zheng Ying, fought with the Tatars...... The reason why it is a circumferential rotation is because the number of projectiles of the officers and men under the command of the Ming Dynasty is seriously insufficient, coupled with the disadvantage of the number of soldiers and horses and medium and close combat, it can only adopt a circumferential situation.

"My lord, more than 4,000 cavalry from our left flank were killed, and the artillery array in front of us was dispersed, and more than a dozen cannons fell into the hands of ***."

Yang Yiqing was in the middle of the Chinese army, in charge of the war, and the news he learned did not look too optimistic.

Before Yang Yiqing could inquire, Zhang Yan next to him hurriedly asked, "Were the cannonballs also snatched?"

Gao Pi, the deputy commander-in-chief who came to deliver the message, said: "The shells have run out, and a lot of heavenly gunpowder was originally buried in the back, but the Mongolian *** did not enter the ambush circle. The cannon has already been carried away by them. We lost at least thirty or forty brethren in this battle, and at least sixty or seventy were killed in the bombing, but the heads were not recovered."

"Alas! It's a pity." Zhang Yan listened to the battle report and slapped his thigh with emotion.

Yang Yiqing said: "Being able to kill and injure the enemy and force the thieves back is the best ending, and even if you lose a few cannonballs without shells, it's nothing."

Zhang Yu said: "If you can't take out the head, it's not a credit, and there is no basis for empty words."

Yang Yiqing shook his head and said: "In the future, we can no longer reward meritorious deeds on the battlefield as before, we have to bring the first rank back, and we have no qualifications to study the first merit in detail in this battle, we can defeat the Tatars, let them give up the plan of crossing the river and plundering, even if it lives up to the trust of the imperial court."

"Hehe, Yang Junmen, you really want to open it."

Although Zhang Yi is now standing with Yang Yiqing, he still can't fully empathize with Yang Yiqing, and listening to Yang Yiqing will also mean handing over his authority to guard the eunuchs, and he is naturally unwilling.

"Report! From the Prancing Horse Terrace, it was found that the Tatars had crossed the river early in the morning, and were forming a formation on the other side of the river, and that there were boats on the river to help the Tatars cross the river."

When this battle report came, Yang Yiqing was quite annoyed.

Yang Yiqing glared at Gao Pi angrily and said, "Didn't you say that the boats along the river have been burned? Where did the Tatars get the boats to cross the river?"

Gao Pi was puzzled: "The last general does not know."

Zhang Yu was also annoyed: "Is it not burned clean, or is someone trying to secretly assist ***? If *** crosses the river, how will most of us cross the river? At that time, they only need to send people to guard the river, and most of the remaining men and horses can harass the people everywhere in Ningxia, which is a big deal!"

Gao Pi lowered his head and muttered in his heart.

And you guys remind me that this is a big deal? The point is what the situation is, I don't know, maybe the Tatars temporarily cut down trees to build ships?

Yang Yiqing also said with a little eagerness in his eyes: "We can't passively wait for *** to come anymore, their purpose is probably to contain us with soldiers and horses and help most of them cross the river. You have to take the initiative to cook!"

Zhang Yu asked, "Didn't you say that Xiangchengbo's men and horses had already crossed the river? They are on the other side...... Isn't there an interception?"

Gao Pi looked at the commotion not far away, and hugged his fists and said: "Gonggong Zhang, there is no way to get in touch with Xiangchengbo's men and horses at present, *** there are two people who have been cut off between us and Xiangchengbo's men and horses, *** There are many cavalry, and they come and go like the wind, seeing us using firearms, they are not fighting head-on, they are all circling everywhere."

Zhang Yu said angrily: "Then send someone to carry a fire gun and kill it like this, can't you get in touch with the Xiangcheng Bo Department?"

Gao Pi was surprised, "How can this be?"

"Why not?" Zhang Yu was also very angry, "You don't say that *** is afraid of firearms, why, the soldiers in front don't dare to rush forward or what?"

Yang Yiqing stretched out his hand to stop Zhang Yu's accusation against Gao Pi, and said: "Gonggong Zhang, this official is not allowed to attack rashly, first of all, the fire guns in the hands of many soldiers have long run out of fireballs, and the Tatars have sent thousands of cavalry between us to block, if you want to force the Tatars to make way of a gap, at least

If we send more than 2,000 cavalry, it will inevitably empty our army on the southern front."

Only then did Zhang Yi understand.

There were fewer people who went, and the Tatars ignored it and could eat it raw.

There are a lot of people to go, and the Tatars are afraid of the fire to open a gap, but Yang Yiqing has a total of only 7,000 people here, and it is unwise to transfer two or three thousand just to open a gap between him and Li Yan.

"Whether Xiangchengbo and Wu'anhou can intercept the Tatars on the other side also depends on their ability, but last night Cui Juma also showed that he would not bring too many horses when crossing the river this time, I just hope that they will have more firebombs left, at least they can deter the Tatars who cross the river!"

Yang Yiqing didn't seem to expect Li Yan and Zheng Ying to play extraordinarily, because he knew that the losses of guns and shells from these two groups were also very great.

Zhang Yu sighed: "If there are enough fire bombs to attack the Tatars, it is estimated that the water of the Yellow River can be dyed red, and they can leave tens of thousands of corpses."

Yang Yiqing said: "It's good to be able to repel them, don't make hopeless speculations, the Tatars know that we don't have enough firearms, so they will arrange tactics like this. The little prince of Tatar will not be caught."

As soon as he finished speaking, another herald announced: "...... Reportedly, the Tatars are attacking from the north, and the number of men and horses is more than 10,000."

"It's coming! It's coming!"

Zhang Yu was nervous.

The Tatars came to 10,000 at once, and if there were not enough firearms, then it would only be a hard fight.

Yang Yiqing immediately ordered: "Put our Chinese army on top, line up in formation, stand side by side with and without fire bombs, and do not fire within less than 200 steps, and set up a tripping horse......

When the Tatars were trying to attack, Yang Yiqing knew that he had to stabilize his own position, and came up with an illusion that our guns and artillery were empty, but in fact they could still be fired many times, forcing the Tatars not to dare to fight head-on with the Ming soldiers.

When Gao Pi and the heralds went down, the armies also began to press forward as Yang Yiqing ordered.

Zhang Yicai reminded Yang Yiqing in a low voice: "Yang Junmen, it's not our family who said it, I'm afraid that our three-plate axe can't withstand it, and the Tatars may be afraid now, but when they try it a few more times, they will definitely be able to detect the clues." It can be said that the donkey skills are poor, and the situation is very bad."

Yang Yiqing said coldly: "According to what Gonggong Zhang said, in the past, when there were no firearms and fire bombs, there was no need for Tatars to attack?"

"Huh." Zhang Yu continued to smile bitterly, "In the past, even if the firearms were not good, they were still available, and they would not be like now, expecting our seven thousand cavalry to fight against tens of thousands of cavalry. Even if this is within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that we will not be able to occupy the favorable situation of time and place, the situation is not good, Yang Junmen, let's still think about what to do if they can't hold it off, they have to cross the river."

Just when Yang Yiqing was struggling to deal head-on with the Tatars, the two foreign soldiers and horses around the battlefield, Li Yan and Zheng Ying, were in a different situation.

As Yang Yiqing expected, these two roads are actually not as heavy as the local soldiers and horses in Ningxia in terms of the loss of guns and shells, and the large losses are actually only the 400 people brought out by Cui Yuan, and many of the rest have not had the opportunity to confront the Tatars head-on.

However, because it did not carry heavy firearms, it basically relied on firearms, and the firing range was not as long as that of artillery, in fact, these two groups of men and horses were only suitable for medium-distance combat with the Tatars, and did not have the strength of long-range combat.

Li Yan's road is now basically led by Cui Yuan, with more than 700 troops personally led by Cui Yuan to cross the river from upstream, and before dawn, 700 people have successfully crossed the river and brought horses across the river.

Originally, it was possible to cross the river without horses and only soldiers, and more than 2,000 people might have been transported over, but not everyone on the side of the Ming soldiers had the determination to die, and they all thought that the danger of forcibly crossing the river was too great.

And in the absence of horses, the Tatars were basically only dead ends, and there was no way to escape.

The soldiers can ride horses, at least they have the capital to escape, so whether it is Li Yan or many soldiers under his command, they all advocate transporting horses over, even if there are fewer people...... It's not like there's no way back.

Li Yan did not cross the river with the army, and he left behind with the remaining more than 1,200 soldiers and horses

On the south bank, it was said that reinforcements could be sent at any time, but in fact, after dawn, they had lost the conditions to cross the river.

As for Zheng Ying's first road, they had no intention of crossing the river at all, they were still more than ten miles away from Li Yan's side, and after the war began, the advance was relatively slow, they even bypassed the location of the Ningxia Chinese army, and advanced to the lower reaches of the Yellow River, that is, the direction of the right flank of the Ningxia Division, as if they wanted to wait for Li Yan and the Ningxia Department to force the Tatars to retreat north along the south bank of the Yellow River, they took the opportunity to jump out and intercept and kill.

The focus of the war also depended on whether Cui Yuan could use the less than 800 soldiers on hand to block the Tatars on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Before dawn, Cui Yuan and Xu Shi rushed downstream with more than 700 soldiers, because they had to cross several mountain passes in the middle, and the team did not walk along the river, and they had to guard against Tatar sentries along the way.

"Cui Concubine, *** has been infested, the sentry failed to capture ***, and went to the northeast, I estimate that *** will soon know that we are coming."

Xu Shi appeared on the side of Cui Yuan's horse.

Cui Yuan just reluctantly waved his hand and said, "It's okay, I expected it a long time ago."

For Xu Shi and others who are soldiers, riding a horse and hurrying can be regarded as adaptation, although Cui Yuan's horseback riding level is also okay, but he has not undergone a long period of training, which is a little unbearable.

The team even had to accommodate Cui Yuan alone, so that the marching speed would not be too fast, otherwise it would be boring to leave the boss behind.

Cui Yuan relied on the battle of Shigou City, and has become a powerful figure in the hearts of this passer-by, this group of people are willing to cross the river together, many of them are for Cui Yuan's face, and they also know that Cui Yuan will definitely be rewarded by the imperial court afterwards, and follow Cui Yuan to make a risk, even if he is defeated and escapes, he will not be held accountable when he returns to the pass of Daming.

On the contrary, the group of people who stayed on the south bank of the Yellow River, even if they could get out of the way, would be regarded as a bad seed.

Xu Shi looked at Cui Yuan's weak, but persistent appearance, and sighed: "Cui Yuma is the only hero seen in the life of the last general, you could have stayed in the rear, and there are many rewards for military achievements, but you are willing to take the lead, this kind of mind is really incomparable."

Cui Yuan heard this, and in the end he was still somewhat useful, which meant that he was recognized.

Although he himself knew that Xu Shi was just a sycophant, because Xu Shi had said more than once that he wanted to go to the capital with him, and even wanted to enter the martial arts hall with him Cui Yuan.

Cui Yuan is a real person, he said, "I don't know what other people do, I have no choice."

"You...... Don't have a choice?" Xu was puzzled.

You are all relatives of the Ming Dynasty, but you can't help yourself? If you want to be a turtle with a shrunken head, who can stop you? Did the emperor tell you to rush forward? Accountability is also held accountable, and Zhu Hui and Li Yan and others are also held accountable.

"Alas!" Cui Yuan sighed and suddenly raised his head to the eastern sky in front of him.

For him, it was like a good past, a former innocence, a carefree life that he once had, but now ......

When Xu Shi saw Cui Yuan's expression, he was silent.

Cui Yuan felt that Xu was his own person, so he explained: "It was the princess who asked me to come to Yanwutang, and it was the Wang Shilang of the household department who appreciated me, gave me the art of war, and made me progress. Your Majesty appreciated it and let me follow the army...... Baoguo Gong let me go with the front army, and Xiangcheng Bo let me fight with the vanguard army...... Only today's battle is probably my own choice. But if you don't choose, that's the result."

Only then did Xu Shi know that everything Cui Yuan experienced on the battlefield was driven to the shelves.

It's even harder to comment.

Cui Yuan said: "If you go north to cross the river, hundreds of miles of fertile land around Ningxia and hundreds of thousands of people will suffer, it is a dereliction of duty of the soldiers, but some people tell me that the Tatars did not cross the Yellow River south last year, but in Ningxia, they also tossed here to a great extent, at that time, it was Anbianhou who led the troops to fight hard with the Tatars, and finally forced the Tatars to retreat."

Xu Shi was stunned, this temporary coach, how could he compliment others at a critical time, the key is that this person is not in Ningxia, or even in the northwest.

Xu Shi was slightly embarrassed and said, "An Bianhou is indeed a heroic figure, and he is highly respected."

Cui Yuan nodded and said, "It was he who told me that *** is not invincible, as long as you listen to Cai Guogong, the Tatars will be scattered like the wind blowing paper shells." I think so, since every move of the Tatars this time is after Cai Guogong's calculations, then we will definitely be able to take it by surprise and thwart it by ambush on the north bank of the Yellow River, so as to ensure the peace of the people."

"Cui Juma, what do you mean...... You're also not too confident, just because ...... Cai Guogong said so?" Xu Shi was a little flustered.

In front of him, Cui Yuan, the coach, dropped the chain a little at a critical time, which scared him.

"Hmm."

Cui Yuan nodded indifferently, "Although I don't know how he arranged the battle of the Yellow River, since even Yang Zhongcheng, the governor of Ningxia, thinks that I should lead the troops across the river, then I think this is the right choice, I believe in both Cai Guogong and Yang Zhongcheng." Therefore we will prevail."

Xu Shi was almost speechless.

I chanted in my heart.

Mother, if you have a choice, let me go back to the south bank, the previous credit is enough, I am a lard blinded heart, and I was sent to death by someone.