"Buzz Rumble......

On the fifteenth of June, as the sound of horses' hooves came from the vast grassland, tens of thousands of cavalry rushed from afar to the gradually undulating hilly land like a huge wave.

The banner of the Ming army is waving in the wind, the armor of the Ming army on the horseback is shining with cold light, and the sound of horses' hooves is rumbling, giving people the feeling that the ground is shaking the mountains.

They marched north along a river, and gradually the vast grasslands disappeared in front of them, replaced by rolling hills.

After a day of marching like this, the road ahead became more and more rugged, with no end in sight.

The cavalry kept adjusting their ranks and hurrying, following the trail of feces all the way north, frowning and marching.

I don't know how long they have walked, but the hills on their left side began to gradually rise up, forming mountains one after another.

These mountains are so high that the road ahead is obscured by them and the winding river of difficulty, making it even more difficult to walk.

However, in the face of such a situation, the Ming army did not stop because of this, they buried their heads and continued to the north, from time to time they could encounter large river valleys large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people, but occasionally encountered zigzag valley roads less than 100 steps wide.

This is the Ming army from Kuoluan Haizi to the northeast to pursue the Arutai headquarters for two days, at this moment their military rations have eaten thirty percent, if there are five days left to find the traces of Arutai, they can only wait until Meng Zhang sent grain and grass, or the whole army retreats, supply the army after the pursuit of military rations.

"Where's ahead?"

Between the river valleys, Zhu Dilema looked at the map that Zhu Gaoxu had drawn for him before the expedition, and Wang Yi beside him analyzed and pointed to a place on the map based on the distance they had traveled in those days.

"More than forty miles further on, there is the North Mountain Gully on the map."

"Beishan Gully ......" Zhu Di muttered this place name, from the place name alone, the gully generally refers to the valley, deep ditch and other terrain.

In this way, the northern ravine is a deep ravine near the hill.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di did not order to continue the march, but looked at the wide river valley where the Ming army was located at the moment, and only after making sure that there was no possibility of an ambush did he speak:

"Set up camp on the spot, and march into the North Mountain Gully tomorrow!"

"Yes!" Wang Yi and others received the order, and nearly 30,000 cavalry of the whole army camped on the spot, and arranged simple fortifications for the two valley mouths in the north and south of the river valley.

To the west is a treeless hill, bare, but the slope is too steep to charge, so it is safe enough to be arranged in this way.

While they were arranging, a wide river valley more than forty miles away was bustling with activity.

It is now the middle of June, and the flood season of the 14th century is different from the long period from May to August in the later lunar calendar, but only less than a month in May.

During the flood season, the water of the river spreads from the river channel to the river valley, so after the flood season, as the sun rises, the valley will also be covered with green grass.

The North Mountain Gully is located in the southwest of Beishan Mountain, after the flood season, the whole river valley is a vast grassland, more than 30 miles long from north to south, and more than 10 miles wide from east to west, which is enough to accommodate millions of cattle and sheep to graze leisurely on the grassland of this river valley.

Millions of cattle and sheep and nearly 200,000 people went all the way north, grazing and moving north.

To their south, the closest to the Ming army was a slow northward march of tens of thousands of cavalry.

Most of them, dressed in rough armor, armed with bows and arrows, and with solid horseshoes on their feet, marched slowly from valley to valley with determined eyes.

As time passed, the herdsmen on the way north began to set up camp, and the cavalry protected them from wild beasts.

After Arutai's tent was erected, he led the leaders of the 10th battalion of Yongshebu into the tent and took their seats.

Not long after the goat's milk wine and mutton were delivered, footsteps could be heard outside the tent.

A thousand households walked into it and said: "Taishi, the sentry cavalry met the Ming army sentry cavalry eighteen miles to the south. ”

As soon as he spoke, everyone stopped cutting and eating meat and looked at Arutai.

"This Zhu Di is really chasing hard!"

Arutai frowned, and at the same time said straight to the point: "I originally thought that it was Qiu Fu and Wang Yi who led the troops, and I also wanted to lure them to Feiyun Mountain and Feiyun Gully to set up an ambush. ”

"But I didn't expect that it was Zhu Di who led the troops this time, so I retreated to the North Mountain Gully."

"Our army has been gone for three days, and he has caught up in only two days, and it seems that tomorrow we should have to fight them."

As early as when the Tatar Qianhu lured Qiu Fu, Arutai knew from the Ming army banner that it would be Qiu Fu, but because Qiu Fu had less than a thousand cavalry, he did not rashly raid.

finally waited for Wang Yi to arrive, but saw that Wang Yi's front army actually had the banner of the front army of the Son of Heaven, which made Arutai hurriedly retreat with his soldiers and horses.

He didn't want to fight Zhu Di in the plains, although the plains were the home of the Mongols, but the casualties in that kind of fight would be too great, even if he defeated Zhu Di, the Tatar headquarters would suffer heavy casualties, and they would not be able to deal with the attack of Warat in the west.

Therefore, he thought about it and decided to put the battlefield in the Beishan Gully, lure Zhu Di into the Beishan Gully, and rely on the speed of the Mongolian cavalry to achieve a roundabout outflanking and cut off the Ming army's northern and southern rear roads.

"Zhu Di, the place where they are stationed should be the Flying Bird Gully, where the slope is steep, we can't cross to their rear, and the only suitable place for outflanking is the North Gully under our feet."

"Alitai!" Arutai shouted to his brother Alitai, and soon a man of about fifty years of age, with a high nose and deep eyes, walked out.

Compared with the Mongolization of Arutai, his elder brother Alitai still retains the face of a man with a color eye.

"You take 10,000 cavalry, take advantage of the night to take the northwest Beiqiu detour, go down the mountain through the place I told you before, and wait for Zhu Di and them to pass by, you see the situation to cut off their back road!"

"Yes! Alitai didn't say much, so he agreed directly, walked out of the big tent, and set off at night.

At the same time, Zhu Di of the Flying Bird Gully also sent Tang Qi to collect information around him.

Although Zhu Gaochu could draw maps for any army, Zhu Gaochu was not a printer, and the maps he drew only had a general picture of the mountains and water flows, and the details of the field still required the Ming army to send Tang cavalry to add to the map he took.

For example, the map in front of Zhu Di gave him a clearer understanding of the situation south of the North Mountain Gully.

With this long and narrow terrain, it is impossible for tens of thousands of people to spread out to fight, and it is impossible to descend the mountain on the west side, and it is impossible to make a surprise attack.

It is impossible for Arutai to blindly escape, he must have a backhand to fight back.

"This Tartar knows this place better than I do, and the place where he can set up an ambush must be a place that ordinary people can't find."

In the handsome tent, Zhu Di continued after a brief analysis;

"But no matter how he sets up an ambush, the only methods he uses are flooding, raiding, etc."

"It's not flood season, and flooding is impossible, so there's only a surprise attack."

"If it were him, I would definitely send troops to make a detour to cut off our back road."

Zhu Di said, and Qiu Fu also said: "Then we should focus on the layout of the rear army." ”

"Nope." Zhu rejected Qiu Fu's proposal, pointed to the road where the Ming army came, and said: "We have no supplies, even if he cuts off the grain route, it will be useless." ”

"Besides, unless the hills shake and cut off the way from coming, our army can directly destroy the defensive line built by some Lele cars with artillery."

"Therefore, it is better to give him this opportunity, while he divides his troops and cuts off our grain route, the whole army will break through the frontal formation, first annihilate Arutai, and then completely annihilate the soldiers and horses in the south who have cut off the grain route!"

Zhu Neng didn't want so many twists and turns, with field artillery in hand, they were not afraid that they would not be able to break the formation, they were only afraid of Arutai and they would leave the herd and women and children to escape.

Once the herds, women and children were abandoned, the Mongols could even reach a speed of about 150 miles a day, while the Ming army carried artillery wagons and marched at most 80 miles a day.

Even if you abandon the artillery carriage and march 150 miles a day, you will be limited by lack of food and will turn back after a few days of pursuit.

A frontal decisive battle, completely defeating the remnants of the Tatars or even annihilating them all, this is what Zhu Neng wants.

If you want to do this, you must give Arutai an illusion that he can completely annihilate the 30,000 cavalry of the Ming army.

Cutting off the way back and forth was the beginning of this illusion for Arutai.

"Zhu Neng's thoughts coincide with me, what I want is to give Aru Taineng and me a long time, and even think that I will eat the illusion of me."

Zhu Di planted the flag representing the Ming army in the Beishan ravine: "Tomorrow is here, break the Aru Taibu!" ”

"Yes!" The generals saluted, and Zhu Di also waved his hand: "The whole army has a good rest, and all the strength is reserved for tomorrow's battlefield!" ”

In his greeting, the generals retreated one after another, and Zhu Di also brushed his beard and prepared to rest.

However, in his gaze, there was a person sitting in the corner who did not leave, so he asked, "Why don't you leave yet?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister still wants to record the military situation for you."

The thousand-household official spoke, and at the same time dried the ink he had just written.

"What is there to record this, I am in the side, I just need to know these military information, what are you doing with it?"

Zhu Di was a little helpless, but the Qianhu official said: "Your Highness has explained, saying that if this northern expedition is not recorded in detail, I am afraid that future generations will say that Your Majesty is reckless and has no results." ”

"Well, then you remember, if you are sleepy, you will be replaced."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu said this, Zhu Di didn't bother to pay attention to it, turned around and went to the tent behind the big tent to rest.

Like the dead silence before the storm, the two armies, which were no more than forty miles away, were preparing for tomorrow's battle, except that Alitai, sent by Arutai, arrived behind a low mountain at dawn.

There is a road down the hill, but it is obscured by shrubs because it has not been walked for many years.

As long as the Ming army crossed here, Alitai would be able to cut down the bushes and bring 10,000 soldiers and horses to cut off their retreat.

"As long as you win this one, the south side will be honest for at least ten years......"

With this thought, Alitai fell asleep groggily.

A few hours later, he was woken up by his own guards, and in a daze, he remembered his mission, so he immediately cheered up.

He lay down on the hill and looked cautiously down the hill, only to see a large army slowly passing between the valleys.

"I'm afraid this number will not be less than 20,000 cavalry, and I'm afraid all the cavalry accumulated by the southerners in the past fifteen years are here."

Alitai was fifty-four years old, so he had naturally fought with the Ming army in the past fifty-four years, and he also knew that the Ming army had lacked cavalry since the Battle of Lingbei.

Although Zhou Xing also conquered Tatars in Mobei in the 25th year of Hongwu, the main forces of the Mongols were entangled in Moxi at that time, so he did not encounter much opponents.

Calculating the time, this is the first time that the two sides have fought against more than 10,000 people after the Battle of Yuerhai.

However, the result of this battle will belong to them......

Alitai squinted, and when he observed the Ming army, the Ming army had already seen the heads on the top of the mountain through the binoculars.

Tang Qi reported the news to Zhu Di, but Zhu Di waved his hand: "Let the whole army pretend not to know and give them a chance to cut off the way back." ”

"Yes!" Wang Yi made a move, and then ordered the whole army to ignore the Hu people on the mountain and march to the north.

About three hours later, when the time came to Shen Shi (15 o'clock) in the afternoon, the Tang cavalry of the Ming army also entered the Beishan Gully.

Faced with the suddenly open river valley steppe ahead, the Tang cavalry searched vigilantly, and soon searched for the migrating Tatar headquarters in the north, and Arutai also began to order a counterattack.

The Tatar cavalry came to fight for the more than 1,000 Tang cavalry, and the leader of this Tang cavalry was Li Yuan, Marquis of Anping, but he did not covet military merits, but turned his horse's head and led the Tang cavalry to retreat, lengthening the pursuit distance of the opponent's cavalry.

3,000 Tatar cavalry and more than 1,000 Ming cavalry pursued the river valley steppe, while the 20,000-strong cavalry of the Arutai headquarters lined up around a low hill in the northern mountain ravine to prepare for the enemy.

Arutai climbed the low hill and waited for the arrival of the main force of the Ming army.

Soon, the main force of the Ming army entered the valley plain from the south entrance of the North Mountain Valley, and the cavalry pursuing Li Yuan's department immediately turned their horses and retreated, and Li Yuan turned their horses to lead the cavalry of his headquarters to pursue.

For a time, the hunter and the prey changed positions, and compared to the arrows in the Tatar headquarters, the Ming army used sharper weapons to fight back.

Large flintlock pistols, loaded with gunpowder in advance, were raised, and the Ming troops were stationed at about fifty paces from the Tatar cavalry, forming a stable firing platform, and then firing and pulling the trigger.

"Bang Bang Bang-"

Dozens of large arquebuses were successfully fired, and although they lost their accuracy due to the lack of gun mounts, five or six buckshot shots hit the Tatar cavalry at a distance of sixty or seventy paces.

"What's that? Firebolt? ”

Seeing a puff of white smoke suddenly rising from the grassland, Arutai was confused for a while, and then realized that it might be the Ming army's firearms.

"Looks like it's mediocre."

Seeing that only five or six horsemen had fallen, Arutai did not pay attention to the arquebus.

Soon, nearly 3,000 cavalry fled into a distance of less than 100 paces from the main formation, and Li Yuan saw this and hurriedly reined in his horse: "Beep-"

He blew the wooden whistle and ordered the whole army to stop the pursuit, apparently fearing that the Arutai cavalry would pour out.

While he waited, the Tatar cavalry counted the number of people, and in the pursuit just now, they fell into the formation of fifty-six people.

This is not a lot, and Arutai didn't care, but quietly waited for Zhu Di's arrival in the main formation.

Time passed little by little, and as Zhu Di himself personally led more than 1,000 cavalry to arrive, nearly 30,000 cavalry from the Ming army's main formation appeared only two miles behind him.

"So many ......"

"I'm afraid there are twenty or thirty thousand cavalry."

"I don't know if there is a ...... to ride on"

When the Ming army was arrayed, the nobles of the Tatar headquarters on the low hill began to guess the number of the Ming army, and Arutai only had a rough look and determined: "30,000 cavalry, but it doesn't matter, their rear road has been lost." ”

As if to verify his words, Zhu Di, who had arrived at the front line in person, had just looked at the situation in the Tatar headquarters with a telescope, and Zhu Neng of the rear army rode over and said to Zhu Di in front of the battle:

"Your Majesty, as you expected, the back road has been cut off, and no less than five thousand horsemen have cut off our retreat."

"Hmm......" Zhu Di responded, and then pointed at the Tatar headquarters with a horsewhip and said: "This Tartar has more people than we expected, only here is about the same as us, counting the soldiers and horses behind him, I am afraid that it will not be less than 40,000." ”

"30,000 vs. 40,000 ......" Zhu Di pursed his mouth and said informally: "That's it." ”

His unserious appearance relaxed the nervous generals.

The quality of the senior officers of the Northern Expeditionary Ming Army was low, except for Zhu Di, Wang Yi, Zhu Neng, and Meng Zhang, whether the rest could command more than 10,000 cavalry needed a question mark.

Because of this, Zhu Di personally led the front army, let Zhu Neng lead the rear army, and Wang Yi led the Chinese army most securely.

"Let's be condescending and see how Zhu Di wants to fight."

In the Tatar main formation, Arutai spoke confidently, and the rest of the nobles also looked at the Ming army with a sneer.

"If you are surrounded by mountains, you will be a bird and a cloud. The Chen of the bird and the clouds, both yin and yang, or tun its yin, or tun its yang. The sun of the mountain, the yin of the mountain; The yin of the mountain, the yang of the mountain; On the left side of the mountain, on the right side of the mountain; It is on the right side of the mountain and on the left side of the mountain. The enemy of the mountain can mourn, the army is equipped with its table, the Qu road leads to the valley, and it is absolutely armed with a car. Placing the banner high, respecting the three armies, and not letting the enemy know my feelings, is called a mountain city. The ranks have been decided, the soldiers have been declared, the decree has been executed, the odd is set up, each is placed on the table of the mountain, and the soldiers are located, which is divided into vehicles and horses for the Chen of the bird cloud, the three armies are fighting, although the enemy is numerous, it will be captured. ”

This is the description of how the army fought in the mountains in the ancient military book "Liutao", which is translated into modern Chinese as:

"Garrison on the south side of the mountain, and guard the north side of the mountain; Garrison on the north side of the mountain, and guard the south side of the mountain; Camp on the left side of the mountain, and guard the right side of the mountain; Camp on the right side of the mountain, and guard the left side of the mountain. Wherever the enemy could climb the mountain, troops were to be sent to garrison it, and the main roads of communication and the valleys where it could be passed were to be blocked by chariots. Fly the flag for communication; Rectify the three armies, be ready for battle, and do not let the enemy find out about the situation of our army, so that it will become a mountain city. ”

An army that takes advantage of the mountainous terrain must set up defenses on all sides.

To launch an attack on such an army, it is impossible to break it without arranging multiple directions of attack.

At this time, the size of the Arutai army was 30,000, and the size of the Ming army was comparable to theirs.

If you count Alitai's 10,000 cavalry who cut off their retreat, then Arutai has undoubtedly gained the harmony between heaven, earth and man.

Because of this, there was no controversy similar to the ten leaders of Yong Xie Bu in history, and they were all thinking about how to solve Zhu Di and capture this true dragon in the south.

At this moment, the two sides entered a state of confrontation.

Zhu Di saw that Arutai did not engage in any means such as ambushes in the north and south, and after determining that there were only 30,000 or 40,000 people in the Tatar headquarters, he immediately took the initiative to speak:

"The front army marched fifty paces and made a charging posture."

As soon as Zhu Di spoke, Xu Zengshou and Zhu Quan beside him glanced at each other and said, "Your Majesty, don't you go to the artillery first?" ”

"If you use artillery first, Arutai will definitely run away after seeing the power of field artillery." Zhu Di had insight into the idea that the Mongols were bullying the weak and afraid of the hard because of the lack of population.

Even though the Ming army had been surrounded and the army was larger, Arutai still did not take the initiative to attack.

In Zhu Di's view, this was because Arutai was worried that the Ming army would dismount and form a formation because he was worried about taking the initiative to attack.

The pikemen of the Ming army, as Arutaike, who was born in Asuwei, knew very well that if the front army of the Ming army was a pikeman disguised as cavalry, then he would attack rashly, and it was very likely that he would be hit hard.

He had to wait, wait for the Ming army to attack on its own, so as to judge whether the front army was a spear and horse infantry disguised as cavalry, or a real cavalry.

If it is a spear and horse infantry, he will choose to besiege but not attack, and slowly consume the Ming army.

If it is cavalry, he can launch a surprise attack after defeating the spirit of the Ming army's front army to expand the results of the battle.

After gaining insight into his mind, Zhu Di also knew what to do:

"Rush up, don't use all your strength, even if they are chasing, don't shoot back, just withdraw honestly, use bows and arrows against the enemy during the period, don't use arquebuses."

"Yes!" When Xu Zengshou and Li Yuan heard this, they immediately led more than 10,000 cavalry of the front army to charge, and everyone changed to riding bows and arrows, and opened their bows and arrows.

"It's cavalry!" After seeing that the front army of the Ming army had their hands freed and there were no spears on their horses, some of the nobles of Yongshebu began to speak excitedly, and the corners of Arutai's mouth rose.

"Don't worry, let's change the bow and prepare."

Arutai gave the order unhurriedly, and soon some of the Mongol cavalry turned over and dismounted, and replaced with infantry bows.

They stretched out their bows and arrows, and on the way of the Ming army's charge, they shot arrows twenty paces ahead.

"Uhh

"Hiss ......"

Thousands of arrows of the front army fell like a shower, shooting many horses at the same time, the Ming army on horseback also fell off the horse, and more than 100 people fell from the horse.

Falling off a horse in such an environment can be described as a life of death.

However, even so, the cavalry of the front army of the Ming army still rode their horses together, and the arrows fell into the Tatar army like a shower.

The horses of the Tatar front army were led away in advance, and the arrows that fell fell on the armor without causing much casualties to the Tatar cavalry.

Such a scene is in stark contrast to the previous scene of the Ming army falling from a horse.

Seeing this situation, the corners of the nobles of the ten divisions of Yong Xie Bu were almost grinning to the back of their heads, and Arutai also had confidence.

"It's cavalry......" He smiled and narrowed his eyes: "The front army continues to release arrows, and the left and right armies pincer this cavalry, and once they retreat, they will immediately pursue!" ”

"Yes!" At Arutai's command, the two nobles rode down the low hill, and at the same time, the Ming army and the Tatar front army began to retreat after three rounds of arrows.

Arutai was keenly aware of this retreat, and said sharply: "The left and right armies and the Chinese army are in battle, don't let them run!" ”

"Woo-woo-"

The horn sounded, and nearly 20,000 cavalry from the left and right armies and the Chinese army began to go into battle, and the Ming army retreated like a "lost dog" when they saw this.

The faster they fled, the more excited the Tatar cavalry became.

As excited as they were, there was also Zhu Di, who was observing the battlefield with a telescope.

He licked his chapped lips and grinned:

"Wang Rong, field artillery shotgun preparation!"

(End of chapter)