At the beginning of the 14th century, the Hulunbuir grassland was not as green and grassy as people remembered, on the contrary, due to the eastward shift of the precipitation line and the retreat of the Mongols to the grassland, the pastures in Mobei that had been recuperating for less than 100 years were once again subjected to indiscriminate grazing.

Even in this grassland, which is sandwiched between the Yinma River and the Troubled River, the green grass is definitely not lush.

Because of this, after the more than 1,000 Tatar cavalry who came to guard the sentry dismounted, the horses would scatter in all directions in search of green grass to eat.

They spread out little by little, and this behavior was fully seen by Qiu Fu who was holding a telescope.

"Huh......" he sneered, seeming to be disdainful of the vigilance of the Tatar cavalry:

"Your Majesty is still too cautious, these Tatar cavalry are not even as good as Uliangha, and they let out sentry horses knowing our whereabouts, but the sentry horses don't even wear armor."

Qiu Fu said, and turned his head to look at his own side in full armor.

"Is the large arquebus ready?"

"Ready, ready to fire!"

A hundred household officials opened their mouths to answer, and Qiu Fu turned over and got on his horse when he heard this: "Okay, let's go!" ”

With his order, nearly a thousand Ming cavalry turned over and followed him towards the Tatar cavalry two miles away.

The dull sound of horses' hooves sounded over the vast steppe, and such a sound soon alerted the Tatar cavalry.

"Woo-woo-"

"Beep-"

The assembled horns sounded, and the scattered Tatar cavalry heard the horns and blew their wooden whistles to summon their horses.

As the horses galloped back to them, the Ming cavalry due north also appeared in their field of vision.

"Withdraw!"

None of them shouted to put on their armor, but nervously and frightened turned on their horses and began to retreat.

"Withdraw! Evacuate! ”

"Kill!!"

The sound of retreat and shouts of killing rang out, and something unexpected happened.

As a people on horseback, the horses under the crotch of these Tatar cavalry ran very slowly, and many of them fell behind on the way to retreat, and were captured while surrounded by the Ming cavalry.

"Leave some people to ask them about the situation in Arutai, and we will continue to chase!"

"Uhh

Qiu Fu continued to ride his horse in pursuit, he opened his bow and arrows, and led the Ming cavalry to shoot this group of Tatar cavalry wearing armor "too late" with horse speed and archery skills.

Some cavalry who tried to change direction were also caught up and intercepted by the Ming army, and for a time more than 1,000 Tatar cavalry were bitten by the Ming army, and suffered heavy casualties.

There was no so-called parity at all, and there was only a one-sided massacre of them by the Ming army.

They didn't have a bow and arrows, but their arrows could not cause casualties to the Ming army, and even if they hit the weak point of the Ming army's armor, they could only get stuck and could not penetrate the armor.

"Stone arrows?"

Qiu Fu pulled out the arrow stuck in his chest, and after finding that the arrow was actually stony, the smile on his face was even stronger: "Chase me!" ”

"Driving... Drive..."

Between chasing and fleeing, the air in the Hulunbuir grassland was filled with the atmosphere of fierce battle.

The Ming cavalry followed closely and the hooves of more than a thousand Tatar cavalry continued to tremble, making the entire steppe tremble.

At this moment, all the Ming cavalry on horseback were very excited, even if they were wearing heavy Ming armor, their arms were sore from repeated bows and arrows, but none of them were willing to give up the pursuit.

The emperor's words had been handed down, and each ministry fought separately, and the merit was divided equally among the ministries.

There are no more than a thousand people riding in this pond, and there are no less than two or three hundred Hu Lu who have been pursued, shot and captured along the way, which is converted into five or six thousand, and even if they stop at this moment, each person can divide five or six guan.

But even so, who of them wants to stop?

Five or six runs are certainly tempting, but the total annihilation of these more than 1,000 Hu cavalry is four or five times that of five or six passes.

At the moment, they have been blinded by the merit and only know how to pursue and shoot everything they can see in front of them!

Arrows weave in the air, cutting through the tranquility of the grassland.

However, only the Tatar cavalry fell from the arrows, because the heavy Ming armor worn by the Ming army could not really cause them to be mortally wounded, regardless of the arrows.

Compared with them, the Tatar cavalry did not wear full armor, and only knew how to run away, trying to escape from the encirclement and interception of the Ming army behind them.

The wind blew and white clouds fluttered across the grassland......

The majestic shouts of the Ming army, the panicked gasps of the Tatar cavalry on the way to escape, and the neighing of arrows on the horses......

These voices are all mixed together, as if the sounds of all life on the grassland are condensed in this moment.

The hills and rivers in the distance quietly watched the whole battle, as if they were also listening to this moment, who would be the victor.

Under the pursuit, more than 1,000 cavalry of the Tatar department only escaped more than 20 miles, and were intercepted by the Ming army because of insufficient horsepower.

At this moment, Qiu Fu and the others only felt that they were the Hu people with full horsepower.

"Surrender or kill!"

Faced with the three or four hundred Hu cavalry surrounded, Qiu Fu shouted this exciting sentence, because the bounty of the Mongol captives was the same as that of the dead, and the merit of the captives was greater than the merit of killing.

The capture of these only three or four hundred horsemen was enough for Qiu Fu to lift his chin to the sky after returning to his main formation.

"We surrender, we surrender ......"

What was surprising happened, none of the three or four hundred Tatar cavalry resisted, and they all laid down their weapons.

In this strange situation, Qiu Fudu felt that something was wrong, and couldn't help frowning: "You don't have the idea of being loyal to your own master?" ”

"No...... We haven't had enough to eat in days. Tartar Chiho, who had dropped his weapon, knelt on the ground, his sunken cheeks as evidence in his eyes.

Although he already believed it, Qiu Fu still asked: "Ridiculous, don't you Tatars and Varat be called the two great divisions?" How can you end up with something you can't afford to eat? ”

"Besides, I have also met a lot of herdsmen grazing herds, and they have a lot of herds, don't try to lie to me!"

"The general doesn't know ......" The Tatar Qianhu looked panicked, but pretended to be calm in fear:

"Yuelu Timur separated from us not long ago, and united with Oirat (Warat) to deal with us, we have lost many herds and tribesmen, many of our tribes have not eaten millet and milk for several days, and everyone is looking for long-tailed rabbits and wild vegetables and grass stalks to eat."

"The herds in the east and south are all for the nobles, and even I can only get a few catties of goat's milk a month."

"If the general doesn't believe me, you can continue to search to the west, where there is a small tribe of hundreds of people, they are ordinary herdsmen who have not been qualified to graze, and they look even more miserable than us......

The expression of Tatar Chiho matched his appearance, and his words were unflawed.

It's just that Qiu Fu was a little suspicious, and the Tartar officials beside him didn't forget to remind Qiu Fu in official words after translating: "Guogong, the information this person said seems to be different from what we got in the southeast. ”

"Hmm......" Qiu Fu bowed, but he was worried that what the thousand households said was true, so he said, "Ask him how far the small tribe in the west is from here." ”

"Yes!" When the officials of the hundred households heard the translation, the Tatar thousand households also replied: "It should be less than ten miles." ”

"Less than ten miles." Seeing this, Qiu Fu pondered for a moment and said, "It's only ten miles, let's go and take a look." ”

"Yes!" The officials of the hundred households responded without much thought, and Qiu Fu also ordered: "Leave five hundred people to escort them back to their main formation, let this Tartar lead the way, and the rest will follow me." ”

Under the command of Qiu Fu, more than 400 cavalry began to go west under the guidance of this Tatar thousand households.

Ten miles away was not far for Qiu Fu, who had many horses, but in a quarter of an hour, everyone saw a small tribe of hundreds of people, led by the Tatar Qianhu.

The Mongols of that tribe panicked when they saw the sudden appearance of the Ming army, and Qiu Fu immediately asked two soldiers to control the Tatar Qianhu to step forward.

Under the supervision of the Ming army, this Tatar thousand households communicated with the hundred households of the small tribe, and after confirming that there was no danger, the Ming army that supervised him blew the whistle to the rear.

"Beep-"

"No danger, go!"

Shaking the reins of his horse, Qiu Fu led the team closer to the small tribe.

As he entered the small tribe, all he saw were hundreds of herdsmen with yellow faces and sunken cheeks.

Their tents were yellow and black, and they had been in use for a long time at first sight.

In the entire tribe, there are only a dozen sheep, five cows, and more than a dozen horses.

Although there are cattle, sheep and horses, this number is simply not enough for a tribe of hundreds of people.

Qiu Fu turned over and dismounted, and opened a tent at random, only to see grass stalks and some wild vegetables boiling in the pot.

He didn't taste it for sure, after all, he couldn't eat it because of his appearance.

"How far do you say the headquarters of Arutai is from here, and how many soldiers and horses are there?"

While opening the tent and walking out, Qiu Fu did not forget to ask the Tatar Qianhu.

"He is on the north bank of Kuolian Haizi, only a hundred miles away from here, there are more than 100,000 people there, all the men are only 20,000 or 30,000, and many of them don't even have armor like us."

The number of Tatar Qianhu is the same as that of the previously captured Uzhil and others, but Uzhile and the others are clearly talking about 20,000 or 30,000 men in armor, while he is talking about 20,000 or 30,000 men and some men in armor.

This kind of information made Qiu Fu frown, and it was difficult to determine which side was lying for a while.

"First set up camp here, slaughter the sheep and reward the brothers, and then send a message to Your Majesty, so that Your Majesty may come and find out the situation."

Qiu Fu instructed the hundred household officials beside him, after all, he was not the main general this time, but just one of the vanguard generals, and it was not easy to act arbitrarily.

What's more, he has no more than a thousand cavalry in his hands, even if he wants to surprise the Arutai headquarters, it is difficult to carry out without a few thousand cavalry.

Thinking of this, Qiu Fu couldn't help but be a little unconvinced.

After all, he is one of the old men of Yanfu, and now even Bohai juniors like Wang Yi and Meng Zhang can lead three armies alone, but he can only lead one army alone, and there are only more than a thousand horsemen.

Such a gap is the reason why he is eager to prove himself.

He ordered the camp to be vigilant, and the soldiers also turned over and dismounted, unloaded the grain and saddles on the horses, and began to boil the military rations in iron pots.

After a dozen sheep have been slaughtered, the skins are discarded to the herders for disposal, and the meat is boiled.

The simple cooking of mutton becomes fragrant and appetizing after adding salt crystals and spices.

Eating the cooked military rations and mutton, Qiu Fu looked at the group of herdsmen who were looking at him from time to time, and instructed the people around him: "Give them ten buckets of military rations to cook and eat, don't starve to death, they are all rewards." ”

"Yes!" Hearing Qiu Fu's order, several soldiers carried ten buckets of military rations and threw them to the herdsmen.

Seeing this, the herdsmen immediately picked up the military rations and began to cook them in their own stone pots.

One bucket of military rations is enough for sixty soldiers to eat, and ten buckets of military rations are enough for these three or four hundred herdsmen to save a day.

After eating and drinking, more than 400 Ming troops were divided into three shifts and began to rest, and Qiu Fu was excited to catch up because of today's exploits.

It wasn't until the next morning that the dull sound of horses' hooves came from the east, and Qiu Fu woke up from his dream.

He got up and walked out of the tent in his armor, picked up his binoculars and squinted to the east, until he confirmed that it was the main force of the army, then he washed his face, turned over his horse and led dozens of cavalry to the army.

Thousands of cavalry joined Qiu Fu under the leadership of Wang Yi as a front army, and when Qiu Fu saw Wang Yi, he said, "What about Your Majesty? ”

"Twenty miles behind, you'll soon be able to catch up."

After Wang Yi said that, Qiu Fu also hurriedly said: "Then I will immediately ask people to prepare food." ”

Qiu Fu asked people to leave two sheep yesterday, so that it was at this moment.

He asked people to go back to the camp to deal with the two sheep, and he himself followed Wang Yi to camp on the outskirts of the tribe.

Wang Yi was very cautious, even though he had Qiu Fu's guarantee, he still sent more than a thousand Tang horsemen to search in all directions.

An hour later, with the sound of a large number of horses' hooves coming from the east, Wang Yi and Qiu Fu also walked out of the big tent to welcome the arrival of the army.

The dust and smoke were billowing out, and more than 20,000 cavalry came on horseback, and the scale almost covered the grassland in the east, and the horses' hooves were dull, and the movement could be heard from seven or eight miles away.

After waiting for half an hour, they arrived at the camp of the front army, and Zhu Di rode a horse with Zhu Neng and others, turned over and dismounted and walked into the big tent at the same time:

"Call me the thousand households of Tatar and the hundred households of this tribe."

Zhu Di walked into the big tent and sat down, and the table in the tent had just grilled lamb chops and leg of mutton.

Zhu Di unceremoniously grabbed a leg of mutton and began to nibble, and at the same time said to Qiu Fu: "Qiu Fu, you are the first to make this battle!" ”

"The minister is ashamed...... "Qiu Fu got cheap and sold well, but at the same time, he also told the difference between the information here and the information of Wu Rile and others.

In front of Zhu Di, Zhu Neng and others, he really doesn't have the capital to be arrogant.

"I'll find out when I ask......"

Zhu Di slowed down the movements of his hands, obviously smelling something wrong.

However, in the face of the Tatar headquarters, he was not afraid at all.

"Your Majesty, someone brought it."

"Call in."

Soon, thousands of Tatar households and hundreds of tribes here were brought in, and Zhu Di asked after seeing them:

"We caught a lot of hundreds of households in the east before, and they all said that your Great Khan had 30,000 or 40,000 armored soldiers and horses, why are there less than 10,000 now?"

Zhu Di spoke, Huo Zhen was in charge of translation, and Zhu Neng, Zhu Quan and others listened carefully.

"Back to the Great Khan, they are just a peripheral tribe, and they don't know that we broke with Yuelu Timur and fought a battle."

"Yuelu Timur and Mahamu joined forces to defeat us in the middle of the river, and we were able to escape back by discarding a lot of armor."

"In order to stabilize the ten tribes of Yongxieb, the Taishi lied that the headquarters did not suffer any casualties, but many tribes did not get cattle and sheep, some switched to Warat, and some switched to Yuelu Timur."

After the Tatar thousand households said, Zhu Di looked at the hundred households here: "How long have you not eaten meat?" ”

"It's been more than a year...... "The hundred households replied tremblingly, Zhu Di got up and walked to the hundred households after hearing this, stretched out his hand and grabbed his hand to observe carefully.

Looking at the rough hands, Zhu Di sighed: "His subordinates helped him fight, and his hands were scarred, but he was reluctant to eat meat." ”

"Come, let me see yours."

Zhu Di said, took the hand of the Tatar Qianhu, and after the same sigh, he asked the two of them to go down.

He returned to his place and sat down, brushing his beard as if thinking.

Seeing this, Qiu Fu took the initiative to speak: "Your Majesty, if this news is true, then we only need to raid the Arutai headquarters to destroy the Tatar headquarters!" ”

"It's fake." Zhu Di snorted lightly, and at the same time explained in Qiu Fu's surprise:

"It's true that Hyakuhe's hands are rough and scarred, but his fingers are not as rough as Chiho's, which means that he doesn't have many opportunities to shoot arrows."

"His hands are not like the hands of war, but like the hands of work."

"It's that Qianhu's hand, and when you touch it, you know that there is no shortage of wars."

Zhu Di glanced at the situation outside the tent, looked at the group of thin herdsmen not far away, and snorted lightly: "Arutai is preparing to lure me to raid him, so as to set up an ambush to ambush me." ”

"This hand, I was playing when I was thirty years old, and he still wants to use it to ambush me?"

He mocked Arutai unscrupulously, and Zhu Neng below also smiled when he heard it: "He wants to lure the enemy deeper, why don't we just do it?" ”

"Yes" Wang Yi also nodded and said: "Let the artillery be in the center, and when he is exhausted, the cavalry will change the formation according to the direction of the enemy and make room for the artillery." ”

"Our army has not yet used field artillery in Mobei, and Arutai will inevitably take it lightly."

"When they surprise and charge, the artillery will be replaced by shotgun shells, and a hundred field guns will be enough to kill nearly a thousand horsemen at a distance of 100 paces."

"At that time, the Hu cavalry will be defeated, and our cavalry will take advantage of the chaos to raid and win a complete victory!"

Wang Yi said, everyone bowed their heads, and Zhu Quan also put forward his opinion: "You can let the cavalry of the rear army respond, ready to intercept the fleeing Hu cavalry at any time." ”

"Hmm......" Zhu Di was very satisfied with the speeches of the three of them, but at this time, Li Yuan, Marquis of Anping, also said:

"It's easy to just defeat, but once the Tatar headquarters disappears, will the Warat take the opportunity to go east, invade the grasslands in the eastern part of Mobei, and annex the Tatar headquarters?"

Li Yuan could think so far because Zhu Di didn't expect it, not that he didn't expect this kind of thing, but that he felt that this kind of thing came out of Li Yuan's mouth a little unexpected.

He hadn't discovered that this resourceful Li Yuan could actually think from the battlefield to politics.

"Worth cultivating ......"

Zhu Di shook his head, and couldn't help but say: "This matter is also something I am worried about. ”

"If Arutai is repelled, then it is enough for us to only pay attention to the situation in Mobei after we return to the division."

"If the main force of Arutai is completely annihilated, then it will be necessary to set up additional guards in the fishing and difficult rivers, the Kuoluan Haizi, and the Yuma River."

"If this pasture is invaded by Warat, then we will have a meritorious battle."

Before the war began, the generals had already thought of two possibilities after the war, and this was their confidence.

"Let's talk about it after the fight first, anyway, if I can kill more Hu Qi, I would rather spend millions of dollars and grain every year to set up a guard in this place than let Arutai and the Tatar headquarters run away."

"Yes!"

As soon as Zhu Di spoke, all the generals responded one after another.

Soon, the Tatar thousand households and hundreds of herdsmen were escorted back to the Mengzhang camp by Zhu Di with more than 1,000 cavalry, and he led the 30,000 cavalry gathered to march to the north bank of Kuoluan Haizi after a short rest.

However, after two days' journey, they soon came to the north bank of Kuluan Haizi, and also saw the empty Shichengzi.

If it weren't for the cow and horse dung on the grassland, I am afraid that no one would believe that anyone lived here.

After searching, Wang Yi came to the Chinese army to report:

"Your Majesty, the traces of Hu Qi are migrating north, and there is a lot of dung for cattle, horses, and sheep, so he should have migrated north with his troops."

"Well......" On horseback, Zhu Di bowed his head and said: "Although I didn't deal with Lan Yu back then, I also asked Wang Bi, Marquis of Dingyuan, and Li Jiujiang (Li Jinglong) about the situation north of Haizi, when the army was triumphant. ”

"At the beginning, Wang Bi and I said that there were hills and mountains in the north of Haizi, and there were swamps and many lakes along the river of Nannan."

"That Wang Baobao's Qi Wangfu back then was in the middle of that mountain range, and I estimate that Arutai will either go to the Qi Wangfu, or go north along the Yan River."

"Although there are many swamps and lakes on the south side of the river, people can walk on the north side, but the road is not wide, but it is also suitable for ambush because it is not wide."

"I guess this Arutai will go this way, but how to set up an ambush, this has to go there to understand."

He gave a general account of the situation on the north side of the river, and Wang Yi said: "If he wants to set up an ambush, he has to trap us." ”

"Yes!" Zhu Neng bowed his head and said: "Our army has artillery in hand, and with the 20,000 or 30,000 Hu cavalry in Alutai's hands, I am afraid that even short soldiers will not be able to engage our army." ”

"Hmm" Zhu Di said approvingly: "What you said is very right, no matter how Arutai sets up an ambush, he has never encountered the artillery and arquebuses in our hands, so we actually have the upper hand." ”

He stroked his beard, straightened his waist and glanced at Shichengzi not far away:

"It's a good place, and if you set up a guard in the future, you won't have to worry about running out of water to irrigate the farmland."

"Hehe......" Zhu Quan said with a smile: "If Your Majesty wants to set up a guard here, you have to clean up Arutai first." ”

"Haha, it's easy for me to clean him up" Zhu Di smiled heartily, and then shook the reins: "Let's go, see how this Arutai Tartar is going to sing!" ”

"Yes!" With Zhu Di's order, the army abandoned the place where the Tatar headquarters operated, and marched towards the northeast.

(End of chapter)