"Beep-"

When the shrill whistle sounded on the Hulunbuir grassland, hundreds of cavalry blowing wooden whistles also appeared on the vast grassland.

They gathered with the whistle, walked through the vast grassland, listened to the sound of the wind blowing the grass, and vigilantly looked into the distance with the telescope in their hands.

"I sent news to the princes, but no enemy was found."

A thousand-household officer commanded the cavalry under his command, and soon several cavalry broke away from the team and ran to the rear.

After they left, the remaining hundreds of cavalry scattered again and explored in all directions.

While they were exploring, the cavalry who had broken away from the team and reported to the rear had gone through half an hour, and soon found a cavalry team of more than 1,000 people in the rear who dismounted and led the horses on foot.

The cavalry walked along the river, which flowed from the Haravin Mountains and was no more than a foot wide, but hundreds of miles long.

Tang rode past the army, came to the position of the Chinese army, and waved towards the few people who could ride horses:

"Tell Your Highness and the Duke of the Kingdom, there are few people in the twenty miles ahead, do you want to continue to march forward?"

The pond rode back to the end, quietly waiting for the answer of the person in front of him.

In the crowd, the sixty-four-year-old and gray-bearded Qiu Fu and the twenty-nine-year-old Ning King Zhu Quan looked at each other, and Zhu Quan said cautiously:

"Your Majesty gave me the two military orders to explore a radius of fifty miles from the western foothills, and now that it has been discovered, there is no need to continue the march."

Seeing Zhu Quan say this, Qiu Fu shook his head: "Although this is the case, if our army can continue to explore westward and confirm that there is no enemy within a radius of a hundred miles, Your Majesty will probably be even happier." ”

Qiu Fu's idea is very simple, he is already sixty-four years old, but there are few records that can be obtained.

If he can show outstanding behavior in this northern expedition, then I am afraid that he will become a representative of the old and strong.

It's just that in the face of his expectations, Zhu Quan frowned, and first defended himself with affirmation:

"That's what I said, but when I set out from Hechengwei, Your Majesty has already explained that if the whole army is cautious, it will win, and if it is not careful, it will be defeated, and it is advisable to clean up the team, observe the movements of the soldiers, and plan widely to win a complete victory."

"Besides, our army only has more than 3,000 cavalry, most of the cavalry scattered to search and explore, and there are only more than 1,000 people in the headquarters."

"At present, our army is not less than three hundred miles away from the former army Wang Yi's department, once something happens, Wang Yi cannot help us, then our more than 3,000 horsemen may not be able to escape."

"But ......" Qiu Fu still wanted to defend himself, but seeing that Zhu Quan disagreed, he had to endure it, after all, Zhu Quan was also the king of Ning no matter what he said, and he was also a general of the Yanfu faction, and he had a good relationship with the East Palace, so it was not easy to tear his face.

Thinking of this, Qiu Fu could only look at the soldiers and horses who came to deliver the message depressedly: "The whole army is patrolling outside, and it is not allowed to move forward." ”

"Yes!" Hearing this, Tang Qi responded, then turned the horse's head and transmitted the news back to the headquarters.

With Zhu Quan's suppression, Qiu Fu had no chance to advance lightly against the enemy, so he could only order more than 1,000 cavalry to camp on the spot and start camping simply by the river.

Because they were traveling lightly, there were not many things they could camp in, nothing more than to use spears to prop up tents and live in small flags.

As time passed, the seven days passed.

During this period, many small Tatar tribes came to graze their cattle here, but in the face of the Ming cavalry with binoculars, most of these tribes were captured, and a few who tried to escape were shot.

Under such circumstances, Qiu Fu naturally couldn't help but find Zhu Quan, and wanted him and himself to lead the troops to attack, so as not to get the news of the Tatars and move west.

However, in the face of Qiu Fu's suggestion, Zhu Quan shook his head and said:

"The grasslands are vast, and the herdsmen graze for as little as seven or eight days and do not go home, and as long as ten days and half a month."

"As long as we make sure that no one escapes, the Tatars will not get the news so quickly."

"The Tang cavalry in the rear has come to report that Shen Guogong (Wang Yi) has led the front army out of the Harawen Mountain Post Road, and is coming with more than 17,000 horsemen and 50,000 people, at most they will be able to arrive here early tomorrow morning and set up camp."

"If Qi Guogong really wants to explore westward, how about waiting for Shen Guogong to lead the front army to arrive and then go west?"

Zhu Quan couldn't refuse Qiu Fu's repeated suggestions, but he also thought that the two of them didn't have the ability of Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu to dominate Modong with thousands of cavalry.

If you really want to continue along the river to the west, then it is better to join Wang Yi.

As long as they converge, there will be at least 20,000 cavalry to resist the enemy, even if Arutai himself leads the 50,000 cavalry of his headquarters to fight, they are sure to wait until Zhu Di's 30,000 soldiers and horses in the rear.

"Okay......"

Qiu Fu nodded dissatisfiedly, then turned and walked out of the simple tent.

After he left, the commander of the Ning Wangfu guards in Zhu Quan's tent couldn't help frowning and said:

"This Qi Guogong, don't you think that he has the ability of His Majesty and the East Palace?"

"Perhaps." Zhu Quan teased, but still did not forget to be vigilant: "In short, before the arrival of the front army, our army must not attack at will." ”

"Yes!" The commander of the escort commanded the order, and at the same time strengthened the guards around the camp.

Time passed, and soon the sky changed from day to night, and gradually became clearer.

In the early morning of the next day, when the thin fog on the grassland dissipated, a procession that stretched for more than ten miles also appeared to the east of the vanguard camp of the Ming army.

Tang cavalry came to report, Qiu Fu and Zhu Quan came to meet outside the camp one after another, and after a while, they saw more than 100 cavalry rushing towards this side first.

After dozens of steps, the two saw Wang Yi, Duke of Shen Guo, Hou Huozhen of Tong'an, Li Yuan, Marquis of Anping, Marquis Wang Cong of Wucheng, Marquis Wang Zhong of Jing'an, and others arriving.

After they arrived, they turned over and dismounted, and when Qiu Fu saw so many people coming to Yanfu, he immediately became confident and took the initiative to say:

"Shen Guogong, our army has ...... these days"

He roughly told the Ming army about the shooting and capture of the nomadic tribes who came here in the past few days, and finally suggested that Wang Yi lead the front army to the west and hit Arutai by surprise.

Qiu Fu thought very well, this time he went north, which one did not actively participate in it for the sake of making meritorious contributions.

If more than 20,000 of them really defeated Arutai, it would be a great achievement.

It's just that Qiu Fu didn't think that not all generals were the same age as him, and not everyone was so anxious.

Li Yuan, Marquis of Anping, was a general of Ulzhou City, and he was not a thorough general of the Yanfu faction, so he did not take the lead in speaking.

However, Wang Cong, the Marquis of Wucheng, who was also from Yanfu, shook his head when he heard the words and said: "What Qi Guogong said is right, but when our army was launched, His Majesty explained that he should be cautious not to rush forward, and he must not easily dispatch troops and horses without His Majesty's military order, so I think it's better to forget about this matter." ”

"Qi Guogong, let's wait for His Majesty's will." Li Yuan saw Wang Cong speak, and he also echoed.

Qiu Fu helplessly looked at Huo Zhen and Wang Zhong, who were both from Yanfu, but unfortunately the two hesitated, so they could only set their eyes on Wang Yi, after all, he was the supreme commander of the former army.

Facing everyone's eyes, Wang Yi couldn't follow Qiu Fu's suggestion in person, but he wouldn't agree to the suggestion of 20,000 troops to advance.

Therefore, Wang Yi thought for a while before he spoke: "What Qi Guogong said is reasonable, but our army received a military order before it was opened, and after asking to set up camp, it immediately arranged for the people to make military rations, and sent 30,000 people back to the town after the production of military rations was completed, so it is difficult to achieve a surprise attack on the Alutai Department." ”

"However, what Qi Guogong said is not unreasonable, our army is indeed a bit short of only 50 miles, let's expand it outward for another 80 miles."

Although Wang Yi did not listen to all of Qiu Fu's suggestions, at least he accepted what Qiu Fu said about releasing the pond to expand the scope of exploration.

Although this result still made Qiu Fu feel disappointed, at least there was a part of recognition, and he didn't force it anymore.

After accepting Wang Yi's arrangement, more than 70,000 people of the front army began to camp on the spot.

Three hundred miles, Wang Yi and the others spent seven and a half days, the reason is that they carried too much baggage.

More than 40,000 horse-drawn wagons dragged nearly 200,000 stone of grain and all kinds of materials for camping, and because of this, when these materials were used, a camp with a six-foot high fence and a circumference of four miles was constructed.

The people began to make rice into military rations, and vinegar cloth, salt crystals, dried vegetables and other items were already prepared in advance.

If it weren't for the fear that eating military rations for a long time would make the soldiers unbearable, it is estimated that even these hundreds of thousands of stone rice would be made into military rations in the rear and transported north.

A few days passed slowly, and for the steppe tribes, it was normal for some small tribes to disappear for ten days and half a month, and the Ming army was still more than 500 miles away from the Tatar headquarters, so there were no soldiers and horses to detect them.

The time was from the end of May to the ninth day of June, and it was not until Wang Yi, Zhu Quan and others waited for more than 36,000 soldiers and horses and 100,000 people led by Zhu Di that this camp began to be lively.

Bonfires are lit and some of the captured lambs are slaughtered to make plates of delicious lamb to be served.

Because there were too many spices brought back from the West, Zhu Di also deliberately brought 50,000 catties to the north this time.

On the night before the war was about to start, Zhu Di ordered someone to send the spices.

The spices were mixed with roast mutton, and the taste and texture made the soldiers and the people rush to eat it, even if it was hot to the tongue, they didn't want to spit it out.

"Vulgar ......"

Looking at the vulgar eating appearance of the military attachés, the hundreds of civilian officials who accompanied the army north ate slowly and methodically, while sneering in their hearts.

They thought they were hiding it well, but Zhu Di saw their behavior in his eyes.

He originally thought that after a trip to the north, this group of civil servants had understood the suffering of the people in the north and would be able to get along well with the military attachés.

Now it seems that this group of old rotten people is still the same.

He was a little annoyed, but when he thought of Zhu Gaoxu, he instantly calmed down again.

"It's okay, my second brother and I will press them for at least forty years."

Zhu Di stroked his beard and thought about it, but he couldn't help but think of his own sister who was sick in bed, and the movements of his hands couldn't help but be a little more anxious.

Wang Yan on the side saw this, bowed his head and said with relief: "Your Majesty, the news was sent from the south just now, Her Royal Highness the Queen's situation has improved, please don't worry about the East Palace." ”

"Well......" Although he was seen thinking, Zhu Di didn't think there was anything, after all, Wang Yan was still trustworthy.

"What has the second child been busy with in the south lately?"

He asked Wang Yan, and Wang Yan also replied: "The Tusi of Guizhou provoked the relationship between the local people who migrated into Sichuan and the imperial court, and caused some rebellions. ”

"After His Royal Highness learned about it, he had already begun to arrange in the southwest, and ordered the Duke of Qianguo to be the general of Pingping, and requisitioned 150,000 soldiers and horses, hundreds of artillery pieces, more than 300,000 soldiers, and more than 200,000 people in Huguang, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and other places to prepare to level Guizhou Tusi."

"Flattened in one fell swoop?" Zhu Di looked back in surprise, he didn't expect his old second-hand pen to be so big.

"Judging from His Highness's decree, it is indeed ready to solve the problem of Guizhou in one fell swoop."

Wang Yan also sighed at Zhu Gaoxu's generosity, and he also didn't think that Guizhou Tusi should block the 150,000 elites led by Mu Chun, not to mention that behind these 150,000 elites there are 500,000 people who are served by the Tun army and the common people.

"It is estimated that it will cost a lot to mobilize so many people, but if Guizhou can be pacified, then the cost will be worth it."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, and felt a little happy in his heart, after all, this was something he did during the Yongle years, and the credit would be credited to him.

If I can solve the toast in Guizhou, then I will go down in the future, and it will be better to explain things to my father.

Thinking about it this way, Zhu Di was full of expectations for Arutai in the west.

"Your Majesty......"

A call brought Zhu Di back to his senses, and it turned out that Meng Zhang, Wang Yi, Zhu Neng, Zhu Quan, and Qiu Fu walked to his table to toast.

"Here, have a drink!"

Zhu Di picked up the wine glass and toasted to them, and immediately asked after drinking: "How is the matter with the military rations?" ”

"120,000 buckets of military rations and 300,000 buckets of dried beans have been prepared!" Wang Yi replied, and Zhu Di bowed his head after hearing it:

"Tomorrow, 30,000 cavalry will go out, and the remaining 20,000 horse infantry and 6,000 cavalry will defend the camp, and at the same time escort 100,000 people back, and only 50,000 people need to be left in the camp."

"300,000 buckets of dried beans are enough for 30,000 cavalry and 150,000 horses to eat for half a month, counting the pasture grass that can be seen everywhere in this grassland, it is not a problem to eat for a month."

"Prepare two buckets of dried beans and one bucket of military rations on the back of the horse that will go out tomorrow, and prepare vinegar cloth, dried vegetables, and salt crystals separately, counting the weapons and armor, and the weight of the horse shall not exceed 100 catties."

"Yes!" The generals responded, and Qiu Fu also specially asked when he saw this: "Your Majesty, who are the generals who will go on the expedition tomorrow?" ”

"Well......" Zhu Di stroked his beard, and then said:

"Zhu Neng, Wang Yi, Seventeen Brothers, Qiu Fu, Huo Zhen, Li Zhong, Wang Rong, Wang Cong, Wang Zhong, Li Yuan, Li Loss, Yun Gong (Xu Huizu)."

"As for Li Qi, Chen Wu, Richard and others, they followed Meng Zhang's Gongwei camp and moved westward step by step while waiting for our news."

"I'll take a hundred field guns, and I'll leave fifty for you." Zhu Di said to Meng Zhang, and Meng Zhang also nodded.

Although Zhu Di led all cavalry, after years of training, the cavalry of the Ming army also needed to master various skills such as dismounting and forming formations, firing artillery, line guns, and firing bows left and right on horses.

Each cavalry has its own musketeers and artillery cavalry.

They can fire their bows left and right and fight left and right when they get on their horses, and they can raise their guns to shoot and fire their cannons when they dismount.

In the endless training, they had long since figured out what was going on with the muskets and artillery in their hands.

But in this era of unstable ballistics, the ballistics of each gun are best known only to the soldiers who use it.

Because of this, artillery and artillery are equally precious.

The artillery that loses the artillery may not be able to adapt to the new artillery trajectory immediately, and the artillery of the dead artillery will have difficulty adapting to it as well as other artillery pieces.

Zhu Di has read all these in the military books written by Zhu Gaoxu, and he also keeps it in mind and uses it.

With the 30,000 mixed cavalry in his hand, if it weren't for the limited supply, Zhu Di even felt that he could penetrate Mobei.

"The gun carriage was equipped with twin horses and carried one base of solid shells and one base of shotguns, two base of gunpowder."

"Musketeers ......"

Zhu Di explained everything in detail, and it was not until all the things that should be explained were explained that Zhu Di signaled that they could leave.

After the generals left, Zhu Di's military order was conveyed, and Wenchen's side was also led by Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi, Hu Yan and others, and more than ten people came forward to toast.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty ......"

It was obviously a toast, but they still had to put on the posture on the temple, so that Zhu Di didn't like it, and at the same time, they just got up and drank it calmly.

Seeing Zhu Di like this, Xie Jin also stepped forward and said, "Minister Xie Jin, please ask Your Majesty, will I go with the army tomorrow?" ”

"No need, just stay in the camp." Zhu Di didn't plan to really take this group of guys to the battlefield, it was like this last time he fought Wuliangha, and this time it remains the same.

"The Minister's Edict ......"

received Zhu Di's affirmative answer, and everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Zhu Di didn't take them to the battlefield last time, they were actually not far from the battlefield, and the sound of cannons and shouts of killing made many people's faces pale.

Especially after the end of the war, Zhu Di also asked them to go to the battlefield to observe, but they only saw the stumps and flesh in one place, and some corpses that suddenly sat up when they were burned.

That terrifying scene, looking back to this day, still makes people's throats unstoppably bitter.

This time, Mobei is vast, and it is not easy for Zhu Di to find the Mongols, so he is naturally reluctant to take them with this pile of oil bottles.

received an affirmative answer, and the crowd dispersed after the toast.

In the next two hours, Zhu Di led the generals to sing and dance, and stayed up until the end of the show.

This night, Zhu Di snored loudly, but he slept very comfortably.

Early the next morning, without being called to him, he got up before the army, and after some washing, he changed into a military uniform.

Wang Yan brought him a bloody horse and a Hequ horse, and helped him put the armor weapon on the back of the Hequ horse.

Not long after, the imperial chef had already prepared a meal for Zhu Di.

The meals made with Mobei wild vegetables and mutton are extremely delicious, obviously not as delicious as the food in the capital, but Zhu Di tastes very delicious.

Half an hour had passed, the sky was slightly bright, and the soldiers began to get up, and the men who had gotten up early had already prepared food for them and fed the horses.

After they had eaten and drunk enough, the 30,000-strong army began to leave the camp in an orderly manner, forming formations on both sides of the west outside the camp.

There are a lot of 30,000 cavalry, but when they really form a formation, they are only one mile long from east to west, and the queue is only six or seven rows.

They rode horses, wearing mandarin duck battle jackets, and the military horses and the reins behind them were put on the iron rings of the saddle of the horses.

The horses carried fifty-six pounds of heavy armor on their backs, as well as two buckets of beans and weapons, and one bucket of military rations was carried on the backs of the soldiers themselves.

Zhu Di was dressed in military uniform, and walked out of the camp gate with Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu, Wang Yi, Zhu Quan and others, and came to dozens of military attachés above 1,000 households.

While glancing at them, Zhu Di also spoke: "Since the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, we Han people have not come to this Mobei for fifteen years, let alone fight in Mobei. ”

"I think the big guys are rough people, so there's no need to make any big sense!"

"I'll just say something vulgar!" Zhu Di rode back and forth in front of the battle: "Are you in charge?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it's done!" The crowd spoke in a haphazard voice, but it didn't matter.

"Well, since you are all in charge, let me ask you, when you are at home, what do you do every night?"

The generals looked at each other when they heard this, and some of them even had evil smiles on their faces.

"Straight, a bunch of meat ruffians!" Zhu Di scolded with a smile, and then said: "Before going to bed at night, do you want to check the deadbolt?" ”

"Even if I check the deadbolt and go back to sleep, will I wake up in the middle of the night because of some noise?"

"Yes......" Seeing that what Zhu Di said was not the same as what they thought, everyone straightened themselves one after another.

"That's right, who can tell me, what is this called?" Zhu Di opened his mouth loudly, and a general also said: "I'm afraid that the thief will steal things, and I'm afraid that the thief will worry about the things at home!" ”

"Yes!" Zhu Di agreed: "If you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid of thieves." ”

"Your relationship with thieves is like the relationship between the imperial court and this group of Hu people."

"Although we have built the Great Wall in Beiping, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and Bohai have no Great Wall!"

"I don't know where you are, but I'm not afraid of thieves stealing, I'm afraid of thieves."

"Although this Hu man has been staying in Mobei for more than ten years, he may go to the south of us on a whim to fight in the grass valley."

"This Hu man is a thief, if you don't beat him, he will always think about your things at home."

"It's okay to say if you steal some food casually, but if your own sisters are stolen, then it's called aggrieved!"

"We went north this time, just to beat up the thieves in the north, so as to teach them what honest duty is, and they don't dare to think about it in the south."

"Before setting out on the expedition, I first promised everyone that all those who died in the war would receive a three-year pension, and the official position would be promoted to a scattered rank, which would be inherited by their heirs."

"If this battle is a big victory, count the number of Hu soldiers killed after the battle, and give a reward to each unit according to 20 pieces of each Hu soldier, and each department will be divided equally!"

"But let me say it in advance, it was Hu Bing who was killed, who dared to take the credit for killing me, and the whole team would be dismissed!"

"Wan Sheng! Wansheng! Wan Sheng—"

Zhu Di gave his own conditions, and dozens of officers above the rank of 1,000 households also responded with a loud "Wan Sheng".

Seeing this, Zhu Di turned his horse's head and was full of spirit: "The army is open!" ”

With his order, the army began to follow his Daxu began to gather into a team, and Wang Yi, Qiu Fu, and Zhu Quan also rushed to the front of the team early, and at the same time released thousands of Tang cavalry, they took thousands of cavalry from their headquarters to act as the front of the army.

Under the rising sun, these 30,000 cavalry began to march, and thousands of Tang cavalry also began to search for traces of the Tatar headquarters in the northwest direction......

(End of chapter)