Yang Yiqing's department has been pressed to the limit.

Even after retreating five miles, the Tatars continued to attack and harass, and the Tatars gradually found that the frequency of artillery and fire on the Ming side was getting lower and lower, so their offensive became more and more fierce.

Until the third pole of the day, Yang Yiqing has received news that the soldiers everywhere can't support it.

If it weren't for the support of the Governor team, perhaps the border army in Ningxia would have collapsed.

"Spread everywhere, our follow-up men and horses will come over in two hours, and two more hours!" Yang Yiqing shouted loudly, trying to stabilize the hearts of the team.

Zhang Yan leaned over and asked, "Yang Junmen, how can there be reinforcements?" ”

Yang Yiqing said sharply: "If others don't come, we still have six or seven thousand foot soldiers, they are only less than a day slower than us, and they will definitely arrive before dark." ”

Zhang Yu said: "Oh, that's not the case, our cavalry runs for a day, they estimate that it will take at least two days, even if it is before dark tomorrow, it may not be able to arrive." And if they knew that the Tartars were menacing, would they dare to come. ”

Yang Yiqing glared at Zhang Yan, and Zhang Yan didn't say anything.

At this time, Zhang Yan had long lost the courage to advance and retreat with Yang Yiqing, he had already asked several times whether the road behind him was smooth, and it didn't matter if others ran or not, he Zhang Yan had already been ready to slip away.

……

……

Just when the soldiers of Ningxia in the Ming Dynasty were struggling to support, the situation on the front line seemed to have undergone certain changes.

The Tatars suddenly died down, and for a long time did not relaunch the offensive, as if they were ready to abandon their dealings with the local soldiers and horses of Ningxia.

"What's going on?" Zhang Yan had been away from Yang Yiqing's side for a long time, but this time he came back on horseback, and there were a few horses next to him, which meant that he had to change horses and run when he fled, "Yang Junmen, are you going to fight with us, you are going to cross the river?" ”

Yang Yiqing didn't answer.

He stood at a relatively high place, looking at the Tatar formation three or four miles away with a telescope, and even Yang Yiqing himself did not understand why the Tatars suddenly interrupted the offensive.

After a long time, Guo Jun from the front line brought people back, he rode to Yang Yiqing's side, and said in a loud voice: "My lord, the Tartars have withdrawn and gone to the riverbank, do we want to pursue?" ”

When Guo Jun said this, the Chinese soldiers all breathed a sigh of relief.

Not everyone could see the situation clearly, and they were worried that the Tatars just wanted to take a break, but when they learned that the Tatars had begun to retreat to the riverbank, it was as if God had given them a life...... If it wasn't slaughtered by the Tatars, it might have been slaughtered by the overseers behind.

"Retreat! Retreat! When Zhang Yu heard the news, he was so excited that he almost fell off his horse.

Yang Yiqing said: "Father-in-law Zhang, I also know that now it is time for the three armies to be rectified, the soldiers should have food, they should rest, and they should rest in shifts before they have the energy to deal with the next possible situation." ”

Zhang Yu said: "Then Yang Junmen is still accommodating, if we catch up, I'm afraid that the Tartars will definitely be entangled and can't stop it...... Don't force it. The imperial court can also understand us, how many people are there in total? Even if you fight hard, you can't resist the Tartars who are several times more than us! ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Yi found that Yang Yiqing's eyes were wrong, and hurriedly added, "If you want to blame, it's all to blame for Baoguogong, if he brings troops, why is it so?" He can't just lead the troops and not do anything, right? ”

Yang Yiqing said coldly: "So far, even if you know that the soldiers are unable to fight again, you still can't retreat. The Tatars retreated, and we had to advance, even if it was necessary to create some trouble for the Tatars to cross the river. ”

"Huh? What is this diagram? Zhang Yan seemed difficult to understand.

Yang Yiqing explained: "With the ability of the Tatars to cross the river, at most one or two thousand people can cross the river at a time, in the end, there will definitely be thousands of men and horses left in a dilemma. ”

"This ......"

Zhang Yi's eyes lit up, obviously thinking that what Yang Yiqing said made sense, but then he shook his head and said, "You can't force it, how can the Tartars not be prepared at all?" Besides, the Tartars will increase the equipment used to cross the river, or set up an ambush for us to take the bait. ”

Yang Yiqing looked ahead again and said, "Order the three armies, advance slowly!" ”

"Still going in?"

At this time, not only Zhang Yi, but even many guests and generals on the side couldn't quite understand Yang Yiqing's "madness".

The Tatars have already retreated, they have not taken advantage of the situation to fight us, we have already burned high incense, and now we march into the army, does that not push the brothers to die?

"Are you deaf? Whoever doesn't enter, the official will kill him and sacrifice the flag! Cowering from the former, don't talk about the previous credit, after the war, there will definitely be punishment, one counts as one! ”

The first time Yang Yiqing felt the pressure of leading this passerby, it was the kind that made him breathless.

In the past, no matter how the battle situation developed, he, as the governor, could always mobilize the group of reckless men in front of him, but now, ...... There are already faint signs of disobedience to orders...... If it weren't for the fact that they had two previous battle exploits as the foundation, this group of people knew that disobeying orders or withdrawing from the battlefield would make the credit in their hands disappear, and they might not have eaten Yang Yiqing's set.

If you let us die, we will go?

Now it's to give you some face, let's press forward, if the Tartar really makes a comeback, we will definitely escape faster than you Yang someone!

……

……

The retreat of the Tatars was unreasonable in Yang Yiqing's view.

But only the Tatars knew where the difficulties lay in front of them.

The Tatar commander, steppe khan Batu Munk, accompanied by his eldest son Tulu, arrived on the south bank of the Yellow River, and then he was surprised to find that a tragic battle was going on on the other side of the river, and more than 2,000 people who crossed the river, many of them had fled by boat to the south, and those who had not been able to escape had been chased and killed by the Ming soldiers.

"Bang!"

Cannonballs fell from the sky, and they actually came from the other side of the river, knocking down a wooden platform erected on the water on the southeast bank of the river, and a bunch of Tatars fell into the river.

"Help!"

This side of the South Bank is in chaos.

On the other side of the river, those who did not have time to escape by boat were even more panicked, and some jumped directly into the water.

"What's going on?" Batu Munch could not see how many Ming soldiers were on the opposite side, because the terrain on the opposite shore was slowly rising, and many people fled down from the heights, so that the south bank could not figure out the situation on the other side.

Tulu said: "It is said that the second child lost the battle on the opposite side, and the army of the Ming Dynasty took advantage of the situation to cover up. They had enough firearms that our men had to retreat. ”

"Impossible!" Batu Munch's tone was very firm, "Da Ming is on the other side, and he will definitely not send an army of more than two thousand people, they have already run out of ammunition and food, and it is impossible for them to have such strength!" How many people crossed the river? ”

"Back to the Great Khan, two batches have passed, and there are more than 3,600 horsemen."

"Three thousand six hundred horsemen, can't even a thousand foot soldiers of the Ming Dynasty be defeated?"

Batumunk was also annoyed.

He clearly knew the movements of the Ming army, so he chose to force the Yellow River here, but now that the advantage is already on his side, as long as he crosses the river a few more groups, he can gain a firm foothold on the opposite side and escort most of the men and horses to cross the river......

Why is this suddenly messed up?

Where did Da Ming come out of nowhere, and he could beat the elite he arranged on the other side of the river to such an embarrassment?

By this time, the first group of Tatars who had run fast had returned from the opposite side, and Batumunk was shocked to find that his proud second son, Urus, had appeared on the first ships to escape.

"Tie him up!" Batumunk was furious.

Tulu was the happiest to see this scene, the second brother was still fighting with him, and now let you know what it means to not fight with you!

……

……

Urus was tied up in front of Batumunk, and more Tatars were fleeing from the other side.

"Boom!"

Another cannon rang out, this time hitting the river, not hitting any boats, but only setting off a wave, but causing the nearby Tatar boats to speed up their flight south.

"What's going on?" Batumunk jumped off his horse and grabbed his second son from the ground.

Urus said: "Father Khan, the Ming Dynasty has arranged thousands of ambushes on the opposite side, we didn't find it when we arrived, and we had already led troops to intercept it, but they beat us back with firearms, and took advantage of the situation to kill us again...... I have used my best ability to block it, but the opponent's firearms are too powerful! ”

Urus obviously can't tell his father, and the Ming army on the other side doesn't seem to be so much, maybe only about a thousand.

Even his subordinates knew that there were not many Ming soldiers, but when the Ming army came to kill them, everyone knew that the opposite person was wrong, and they wanted to escape...... This is the "deterrence tactic" used by Cui Yuan before.

Two hundred people can scare five or six thousand of you into retreating, and this time I brought more than seven hundred, and proportionally speaking, it is not easy to scare you three or four thousand people?

Fight to the death?

Do you think you're Han Shin?

Besides, you still have ships on the shore to go south, and there are large troops to meet in the south, and when you Urus takes more than a thousand elites to fight and retreat from defeat, you should know that the hearts of the people have been scattered, and you will burn the ships immediately, and maybe there will be a chance to fight to the death.

However, you can't burn the boat, after all, that is the basis for you to cross the river, and no one knows how many firearms there are on the Ming side.

"Incompetent!" Batu Munch said angrily, "How can the army of the Ming Dynasty have thousands of people? You must be cowardly! Why cross the river? Stay over there! Stuff him into the boat and transport him over! ”

Tulu said helplessly: "Father Khan, this matter may not be blamed on the second brother, the ship has been transporting people back and forth, and some people took advantage of the ship to go south, jumped on the boat and said that they came to pick it up, and the result was ......."

Tulu didn't speak specifically for his second brother, he just wanted to show his heart.

But what he said also made Batumunk unable to refute.

If all the ships are parked on the opposite side, whoever gets on the ship will cut down, and it may also be able to stabilize the morale of the army.

But the problem is that when Urus retreated to the river bank in defeat, thinking that he could regroup to resist the attack of Cui Yuan's troops, the Tatar transportation plan was not over at that time, and the ships would still go south to the river bank to meet the manpower, and at that time, the troops close to the river bank, especially the escort, would take the opportunity to jump on the boat, under the pretext that they wanted to come back to deliver messages or pick up people, and take the opportunity to flee to the south bank.

But once someone is on board, the rest of the people will estimate that the place on the ship may not be enough, and then a bunch of people will crowd on board.

A vicious circle is formed, and people's hearts will naturally disperse.

Originally, Urus thought that he could support it, but when Cui Yuan's side rushed up without scruples, the Tatars, including Urus, would feel that the Ming army was fearless, which showed that the number of guns and shells in the Ming army was sufficient...... Even Urus himself joined the deserters.

"Father Khan, it seems that it is a little difficult to cross the river!"

Tulu said, "It's better to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army in the south now, with the previous posture, I believe it won't be long before they can be defeated!" ”

Batu Munk looked at the tragic situation of his side being pursued and slaughtered by the Ming army on the other side of the river, and his face was dark with anger, but he was still wise, and said angrily: "The army's heart is broken, why do you need to care about the short time?" Pass the order to go down, from the northeast, in the direction of Daming Pass! ”

Tulu was surprised: "That father Khan, if we don't swallow the Ming army behind, then we will ...... this battle Completely defeated! ”

Tulu means, even if our purpose is to cross the river to rob, it is too difficult to cross the river now, but in the end we still can't give up fighting with the Ming army, as long as we can eat some of the men and horses of the Ningxia defenders in the rear, at least there is an explanation after going back.

If you just want to escape along the south bank of the river to the grassland, it will be a real rout.

Batu Munch looked at Tulu and said: "You remember, when you are at war with the Ming Dynasty, don't do pointless disputes, you must know how to make trade-offs." Only by retaining the elite of the army can we gain a foothold in the steppe, otherwise...... If you look at the jackals around you, the wolf nature in their eyes is not enough to make you vigilant? ”

Tulu seemed to understand his father's pattern in an instant.

The decisive battle with Yang Yiqing's subordinates is completely unnecessary, and it is even a matter of "the relatives hate the enemies quickly".

You waste men and horses to fight with the Ming, even if you win, you will also consume the strength of your own tribe, and you may also fall into the encirclement of the Ming army, after all, the people and horses of the Ming are gathering here......

What we need to do now is to preserve our vitality and return to the grassland.

After all, the enemies that Batu Munch has to face are more from the jackals around him and the Ming Dynasty...... It's just the relationship between the robber and the owner of the house.

As a robber, if you can't grab anything, it is better to dismantle the yard into something than to retreat to the cottage, because the cottage is your base camp.

Face?

Since Daming had a powerful firearm, the grassland people have been unable to care about face!

……

……

The Tatars had already chosen to retreat along the southeast bank of the Yellow River to the lower reaches of the Yellow River before they had received all the soldiers on the other side of the river.

The Tatars on the other side of the river, when they found that there were no boats to cross the river, were basically overwhelmed, so they could only follow the guidance of the main Tatar force and ride their horses in the direction of the northeast, where was the land of the Hetao, and the direction in which they left the pass.

The army of the Ming Dynasty will continue to pursue them, and along the way, there will be soldiers from the fortress of the Ming Pass to intercept them, and the Tatars who have not retreated to the south bank will have a hard time gaining a foothold on the north bank, and have the opportunity to knock on the pass and leave the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

So in the middle and late stages, even though many Tatars themselves did not know how to swim, they would still choose to swim from the north bank to the south bank with floating objects such as logs, but most of them were swept away by the rushing Yellow River before they reached the middle of the river.

The Tatars were in great contrast, and suddenly changed from being brave and fearless to being defeated in a hurry.

This made all the people around the battlefield a little confused.

Even Cui Yuan's troops on the northwest bank of the Yellow River were a little puzzled, when they finally reached the river, looking at the various floating objects floating on the river, and their own soldiers were excitedly cutting off heads, Cui Yuan was also looking at the Tatars who had withdrawn on the other side of the river.

"Master Cui, the Tartars have been defeated by us!"

Xu Shi was very excited.

The previous 200 people scared off the Tatar soldiers and horses of five or six thousand, which was already a miracle, and although they also killed a lot of heads in the follow-up, they did not directly kill nearly 2,000 heads like this time, not counting those who were drowned on the river and washed away by the water.

In the three major battles, no matter what the results of the opposite battle were, at least Xu Shi enjoyed the fruits of the greatest victory, and the first merit they obtained in this battle was more than that of Huamachi and Shigou City.

The point is...... It's better to fight more with less, if you go back...... It can be blown as a god of war.

Cui Yuan was not as out of shape as Xu Shi, he was a little glad and said: "Fortunately, the Tatars did not continue to send troops to cross the river, if they send people over again, we may not be able to bear it." ”

"Report!"

The herald immediately came over and reported the losses of his side, "My lord, general, I have calculated that more than 170 of my fellow soldiers have been damaged, more than 200 have been wounded, and there are more than 400 soldiers left. ”

Cui Yuan's game can be called a "miserable victory".

Don't look at the beginning, the Tatars were a little overwhelmed, and they rushed to the other side of the river, even if they drowned in the water, and did not stay on the north bank.

But when most of the follow-up people found that there were no ships going south, and organized a confrontation with the Ming Dynasty, even Urus also ran away, and the Tatar crowd was leaderless, and in the case of dispersion, it still gave the soldiers under Cui Yuan's command a headache, and after a battle, two thousand enemies were killed, and more than 170 soldiers were killed on their side, and there were many wounded.

This is also because Cui Yuan's cold weapons are too poor in individual combat ability, and he is only lightly armoured, and many of the soldiers' casualties are shot by Tatar bows and arrows.

Some of them were still excited, thinking that they had gone up to collect credit for nothing, but they were shot into a sieve by the Tartars' bows and arrows.

Fortunately, the Tatar army was scattered, and more than 1,000 Tatars rushed to cross the river, and the rest did not form an effective block, so Cui Yuan led his troops to achieve this victory.

"The Tatars seem to have withdrawn their troops." Cui Yuan didn't evaluate the losses of this battle, he was still looking at the other side.

Xu Shidao: "Master Cui doesn't have to worry, with the presence of experienced generals such as Governor Yang and Xiangcheng Bo, the Tatars will definitely not have a chance to escape." ”

Cui Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I don't know what it is, it looks like it...... It's hard. ”

The words were ambiguous, and Xu didn't even understand, who was more difficult?

But at this moment, another herald came over and said: "My lord, there are local people and horses in Ningxia, who are rushing here, like the group that intercepted the Tartars on the river bank before, and then broke away. ”

"Are they here to steal credit?"

Xu Shi had a headache when he heard it.

Previously, the local defenders of Ningxia were ordered to intercept the Tatars on the north bank, but they only symbolically fired two cannons and ran away, and the archers were useless, and now they came back, except for grabbing credit, he couldn't think of any other purpose for this group of people.

Cui Yuan said: "The soldiers under our command have casualties, which are not enough to support the pursuit, we must prevent the Tatars from crossing the river in another place, so we can bring more men and horses...... Yes, it is necessary. Along the way, you should also let Ye Bushu go to the surrounding earthen forts and recruit more people. ”

Cui Yuan still has some insight in the end, and knows that it is meaningless to lie on the merit book, if the Tatars go northeast just to find another place to cross the river, then their previous victory will be in vain.

Xu Shi asked: "There are not many of us, if we chase down...... Will...... Unstoppable? ”

"It's fine." Cui Yuan replied to Xu Shi in the vernacular, "Although there are not many of us, the Tatars can't pass many people at a time, as long as we follow them, they can't cross the river to fight with us!" Our mission is complete. ”

Cui Yuan said, looking at the person who was still carrying the corpse not far away, and suddenly felt a little unbearable in his heart.

Cui Yuan said: "Hurry up and rectify the people and horses, you don't have to bring the head or anything, at most cut off the ears, when the new uncle came out of the grassland, he brought the ears, and the court recognized it." ”

Xu Shi clasped his fists and saluted: "Yes." ”

……

……

Across.

The Tatars are organizing the withdrawal of troops.

Batu Munk, Tulu and the others have been looking at the other side, and Batu Munch also wants to know how many people and horses there are in Daming on the other side.

When I saw that in the middle and late periods, the remnants of the Tatar cavalry, without command, could still kill the Ming Dynasty people one after another, and finally the Ming side relied on the advantage of numbers to kill and run back, and wiped out the last resistance of the Tatars......

Batumunk's face was pale, and he even looked at his second son Urus, who had withdrawn from the battlefield early, with peeling and peeling eyes.

"Second brother, you've seen it all." Tulu took the opportunity to fall into the ground, "The army of the Ming Dynasty is not too strong, and their firearms are insufficient, why did you choose to retreat in that situation?" If you stay there, the Ming Dynasty army will be defeated. ”

Urus was still bound, and when he saw this scene, he himself was a little ashamed, and he couldn't wait to jump directly into the Yellow River to wash away his grievances.

"Who's that?"

Batumunk looked at a young general on the other side who was looking at him with a telescope.

After Tulu saw it, he didn't know it.

Someone immediately reported: "Great Khan, that person's name is Cui Yuan, I heard that it is a concubine of the Ming Dynasty, and he is the one who led 200 soldiers out of the south of Shigou City before." ”

"It's him."

After Batu Munch knew Cui Yuan's identity, he also seemed very emotional, "I thought that in the Ming Dynasty, except for Zhang Zhou and Wang Shouren, there were no more heroes, who knew that there was such a person." As a concubine, he did not live a stable life in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, dared to come to the battlefield, and was so fearless in the battle, and there was one more opponent for us in the future. ”

Tulu said: "Father Khan don't worry, this kind of person will be excluded in the Ming Dynasty." ”

"That was before." Batu Munch said, "The Ming Dynasty has Zhang Zhou, which will make them a lot more fierce generals, because the emperor appreciates this person." And now the generals of the Ming Dynasty are all recommended by him, but I don't understand, how can a colt be appreciated by him and discovered by him? Why is everything in Zhang Zhou's calculations? ”

(End of chapter)