stubborn thief

Chapter 383 Tiger Vision
The fifth day of June is the day when Marshal's Mansion West Road and the Chinese Army plan to set off.

Several troops from Wang Wenxiu's department on the East Road were sent to Yingpancheng via Tangqi, which deepened Liu Chengzong's understanding of the enemy and his generals.

The enemy Liu Shizi liked to deal with most in his early years was the Weisuo Banner Army. This group of people is well equipped, low in combat effectiveness, and insufficient in training. They are the best persimmons for the rebels.

However, in this vanguard battle, the Guide Qianhu Banner Army and the recruited Minzhuang fought against Oirat in the mountains, showing a combat effectiveness no less than that of the Ming army's towns and border troops, which is impressive.

At the cost of 23 killed, 60 wounded, and three missing, they beheaded more than 77 Weilat Junggar tribes and captured [-] heads, creating a brilliant victory in small-scale battles.

If it wasn't for Wang Wenxiu's accurate report of the battle process, Liu Chengzong would have found it hard to believe that such an encounter was fought by a group of Guide militiamen led by Bao Hu.

There were only 140 people in the banner formation army where Guide Qianhu belonged, and they went out in force in this battle. They also recruited 33 people from [-] villages to form a team of less than [-] people.

This team fought against Chuoke Tutaiji last year, and fought against the Khalkha cavalry with a bronze cannon cast in Hongwu 13 years ago. This year is just a reappearance of last year, but they have the support of the Marshal's Mansion.

The Marshal's Mansion seized many firearms in active service of the Ming Army during the Battle of Hehuang.

For example, the Ming Army’s Hundred Tigers Bend Rocket Vehicle, the Single Eye Gun with Spearhead, Qi Jiguang’s Five Thunder God Machine, Zhao Shizhen’s invention of the Franji-type Electric Gun with a Knife, the Lumi Gun with a knife on the tail, and the small ax Make a thunderbolt with a bracket and a shield, and a fire oil tank that sprays fire oil.

Some of these equipment are too simple and backward, so that they are not powerful enough; more equipment is indeed very useful, but it requires higher baggage.

In the course of the long campaign, the Marshal's Mansion has formed a five-layer firepower equipment represented by light, heavy, and long-distance guns, including light bird guns, heavy guns, carrying guns, light guns, and heavy guns. There are only a few specifications, and there is less dependence on luggage.

Therefore, Liu Chengzong did not incorporate these firearms into the army, but only allocated various cities as supplies for the defense of the city... In his vision, these weapons and equipment are very good, but large-scale equipment will not improve the combat effectiveness of the Marshal's Mansion, but will increase the baggage and create pressure.

Because if you want large-scale equipment, you must first consider the issue of luggage. These firearms are different from the caliber of the light and heavy guns currently in service in the Shuaifu, so they cannot be adapted to the small ammunition barrels and lead bullet molds of the soldiers.

However, the new batch of equipment seems useless. It takes more man-hours to build a five-barreled thunderbolt with a shield and an axe than a single gun.

However, these disadvantages are not a problem for the Guide Banner Army under Bao Hu's command who still use ancestral equipment.

The battle report sent by Wang Wenxiu described in detail that the Baohu tribe used firearms to create a huge advantage during the melee in the mountains. They repelled the army of the Junggar tribe with almost no casualties.

Even in formation on flat ground, Bao Hu's troops still had the strength to fight. They only left more than 20 corpses and retreated after they snatched heads and caught fire behind them.

But Liu Chengzong really has nothing to criticize about the cutting of the head... This is the source of the high combat effectiveness of the Baohu militiamen.

In the report sent by Wang Wenxiu, it was mentioned that the Guide Qianhu Banner Army and Minzhuang had picked up the martial arts and training they had left behind in the previous year, because Liu Chengzong rewarded them with 180 taels of silver.

Liu Chengzong even forgot when he rewarded the Guide Banner Army with silver.

But the Guide Banner Army remembered that the reward given by the Marshal's Mansion to an enemy's head was ten taels of silver.

Ten taels of silver is not much, and an ordinary family earns a year; ten taels of silver is a lot, enough to make people work hard.

For this reason, Liu Chengzong specially sent a letter to Xincheng, and sent guards to carry his handwritten letter of commendation to Guide, and rewarded one hundred taels of silver for a thousand households, 50 taels of silver for a deputy thousand households, ten taels of silver for a hundred households, ten taels of silver for the head, The standards of ten taels of compensation for war dead, five taels of war wounds, and five taels of missing persons were given to German military households and civilian villages as rewards.

He also ordered Wang Wenxiu to send two military judges to the Guide Institute to let them learn the regulations of the Commander's Mansion, and not to emphasize the tradition of defeating, destroying, capturing prisoners, and winning wars at the first level.

The news from the front is not all good.

Just before Liu Chengzong led the third battalion of the Chinese army to go south, a shaved-headed Tang Qi fled back to the Chinese army in embarrassment and reported the news that Mr. Tang Qiqian and Huaiyuan Xiaowei Dai Daozi were captured after they found out about the Weilat camp.

Liu Chengzong was not surprised by this news.

Dai Daozi is an old Tang cavalry officer with an extraordinary spirit of adventure. If he dares to take risks that others dare not take, he will naturally have a far higher chance of being captured than ordinary people.

Fortunately, he was captured and not killed in battle. Liu Chengzong hoped that he could last until the end of the war so that he could exchange him with enemy prisoners. But before that, he needed to make good use of the information sent back by Dai Daozi to win the war victory.

There were 2 soldiers from the three battalions of the Central Army of the Marshal's Mansion, carrying 36 mules, [-] horses, [-] donkey carts and [-] artillery pieces. Since pouring down the river, send troops to the south.

On the morning of the same day, they climbed the South Mountain, crossed the Chabcha River, and passed through the ferry castle of Longyang Gorge. They lost their road along the way, and the army was forced to divide into two parts.

The artillery chariot escorted by the rear slowly marched in the Gobi sand dunes, and the front part wore mail armor, and continued to march along the south bank of the Yellow River. At a marching speed of 35 miles per hour, they quickly crossed the Heka grassland, completed the 140-mile march in the evening, and arrived at the sheep on time Qudukou.

The first troops to arrive at Yangqu were two generals from Huben Camp, one was Ma Ke and the other was Zhang Zhen.

On the evening of the fifth day of June, Liu Chengzong, who was still thirty miles away from Yangqu, received an urgent letter from Ma Ke.

The letter said that the Oirat Tartars had taken the lead in seizing the ancient city on the east and west sides of Yangqu, and now he and Beetail Zhen are stationing troops in the valley fifteen miles west of Yangqu city, requesting the Chinese army to deliver skin rafts to prepare for the siege.

Ma Ke is from Xining and knows the structure of Yangqu City.

This is not so much a city as it is a fortification built at a riverside ferry. On the east and west banks of the narrow part of the Yellow River, there are low walls built with river pebbles. The triple stone wall is only four feet high and eight feet wide, making it difficult to attack the city. not big.

However, because the intelligence center guard Latt is good at using cavalry and musket formations, storming Yangqu City will cause them a lot of trouble.

Therefore, Ma Ke's suggestion is to cooperate with the inside and the outside, and use the bee tail needles to attack from outside the west city to attract attention.

Not a bad plan.

However, Liu Chengzong did not follow his idea, because he had already discovered that his purpose was in conflict with that of the Oirat coalition forces, and the final battlefield was likely to be near Yangqu.

Liu Chengzong wanted to limit the battlefield to Xiaohetao on the east bank of the Yellow River and seal off the westward retreat route of the Oirat allied forces; while the Oirat leaders were just the opposite. strategic posture.

This makes Yangqu Ferry a place of contention. Whoever occupies this place and builds a wooden bridge can transport heavy weapons to the other side.

Originally, there was a wooden bridge between the two cities of Yangqu, which could be used by chariots and artillery, but because Xiao Lazun had an internal dispute with his brother Gu Rutaiji a few years ago, the two brothers burned the bridge.

So for him, the west city of Yangqu is the place to attack, but the east city of Yangqu on the other side of the Yellow River is the crux of the battle.

"Tell Ma Ke to let his two men and horses recharge their batteries for the time being. When the raft arrives, they will use the bee tribe to feign an attack, and the horse tribe will follow the current to capture the east city and stand by for help."

Just as Liu Chengzong conveyed an order to his subordinates, urging the rear artillery team to hurry, the guards suddenly reported: "Marshal, the right-wing Tangqi is retreating."

Hearing this, Liu Chengzong pressed the follow-up order, led more than ten riders out of the army formation, climbed up a sand dune and looked west, the Tang riders in the dusk were waving their flags and retreating slowly one by one.

Needless to say, the Tang soldiers retreated. Naturally, they encountered the enemy in the west.

Sure enough, not long after, Tang Qi, who had retreated to the central army, reported: "Commander, there are three thousand-man troops mixed with infantry and cavalry to the west, and they are still thirty miles away... They are also marching towards Yangqu."

Liu Chengzong was not surprised but smiled, his eyes lit up when he heard the news.

Oirat seems to be gathering an army, three thousand cavalry, no matter where they are, they are a force that can control the situation of the war.

Especially on the Heka Grassland where the Oirat army is less distributed, it is not a bad thing but a great thing for Liu Chengzong to gather three thousand-man teams in one place.

The Oirat army on the Heka grassland was less than 3000 at most, and easily captured [-] people, which would at least speed up the process of Yang Yao leading his troops to wipe out Heka by three days.

How many unjust roads to avoid!

He immediately ordered Tang Qi: "Gather Tang Qi, cover up the enemy army in all directions, and then explore the surrounding reality; let the bee tail needle stay in Yangqu, and call Ma Ke back."

Appearing on the Heka Grassland, the Oirat army belonged to the Duerbote Department, and their leader was Dalai Taiji.

Dalaitaiji is an excellent leader of the Duerbert tribe. At the time when Oirat's internal and external troubles were the most serious, Dalaitaiji won a loose internal environment for the tribe by means of marriage.

The Duerbert tribe has been nomadic between the Irtysh River and the saltwater lake for a long time. This is a dangerous land, always facing the threat of Khalkha Mongolia.

However, under the leadership of Dalai Taiji, they gradually migrated to the Ob River Basin, avoiding disputes with the Khalkha tribe, expelling the nomadic Nogai people in the local area by force, and conquering the Kazakh tribes whose nomadic lands overlap. , to win living space for the Durbert Department.

This once brought Dulbert's department into a brief period of prosperity.

But now all this is close to dissipating, the internal conflicts of the four Oirat tribes have intensified unprecedentedly, and the Duerbert tribe is not immune. First, they fought with the Torghut tribe for occupying the land. The power is not as good as before.

Qinghai is too far away from their grazing land in the Ob River Basin. Comparatively speaking, he is more willing to lead his men to kill and set fire to the Tyumen stronghold occupied by the Russians thousands of miles away, rather than let his men risk their lives on five Qinghai is thousands of miles away.

Therefore, Dalai Taiji was not enthusiastic about this war, but just praised the eastward migration of the Heshuo Special Department. After all, he and Guoshi Khan were considered brothers-in-law.

Both of them married the sister of Erleke, the leader of the Turhu Special Tribe. Although Dalai Taiji has now turned against his elder brother Erleke, he has a good relationship with Guoshi Khan.

Dalaitaiji had been in charge of monitoring the garrison at Nanshan Fort since January when he was stationed in the Heka Grassland. During this time, the threat level of the Marshal's Mansion's Han army in his mind was constantly rising.

At first, he didn't pay much attention to the Marshal's Mansion. After all, Nanshan Fort, as the first fort built by the Marshal's Mansion, looked very simple and there were not many troops.

It is similar to the fortress built by the Russians on the Ob River, the old rival of Dalaitaiji, the only difference is that this is an earthwork fortification.

Having a fortress and squatting still is almost synonymous with being easy to bully. A random prince or nobleman can pull out two to three thousand troops and two earthen cannons, and they can beat them to the north.

But after the Marshal's Mansion finished the Hehuang War, they plundered the outskirts of Lanzhou and returned to the army, and sent more troops to Nanshan Fort.

The Russians couldn't suddenly pull out 8000 or [-] troops in the Ob River.

And just two days ago, he received a message from Guoshi Khan, learning that the Han army in Guide City had gone south to fight the Junggar tribe.

The worst situation has already appeared, and the strong enemy in the north is still participating in the war. In order to respond to the actions of the national teacher Khan, Dalai Taiji summoned friends and friends on the Heka grassland, assembled troops to reinforce the Yangqu Ferry, and created a new era for the westward retreat of the various tribes in the east of the river. Favorable conditions.

The worried Dalai Taiji was leading his army to walk on the Gobi sand dunes. The scout horses scattered around the army suddenly reported back, and many cavalrymen with malicious intentions appeared around them.

When Dalai Taiji took someone to check, he was a little dazed for a while. He had never experienced such a situation.

Bounded by the phalanx formed by camels when he dismounted, there was a lone cavalry every three hundred steps vertically and horizontally, riding a tall and strong Hequ horse, wearing a bowl with a high helmet and spear on his head, and wearing a red cloth mask , there are armguards with laminated armor pieces on the arms, short muskets with three barrels, bows and arrows hanging from the saddle, and spears holding corner flags stand there.

They were everywhere in all directions, neither attacking nor retreating, but staring straight at his army formation from three hundred paces apart, forming an overwhelming net.

Dalai Taiji felt terrified at the sight of them, and the momentum of the imminent battle made him dare not stand in front of the formation any longer. He returned to the Tuocheng army formation with a whip, and ordered: "Expel them!"

The camels on the four sides of the phalanx were called up by the shepherds and flashed out of the passage, and groups of Duerbert's Lancers walked out of the formation.

They were in a team of ten and two rows in front and back. Most of them wore red-tasseled felt hats and invisible leather jackets. They had very little armor. They held long spears, bows and arrows, and charged Tangqi. .

They rushed forward, and the enemies in front of them retreated slowly one by one, forming a flexible line of defense. For the cavalry, it took only a moment to chase for three miles.

The skilled cavalry let go of the reins, and rushed towards them one after another with the three-eyed musket under their ribs and the matchlock in their hands. At intervals of more than ten steps, they rushed towards them with a few bangs, announcing the start of the scuffle.

Seeing the backs of teams of Lancers chasing the enemy, gradually blending into the sand dunes until they disappeared from sight, Dalai Taiji, who rode his horse and stood in the formation, heaved a sigh of relief.

He still hasn't figured out what kind of routes these weird-looking enemies are.

I heard a few soft sounds coming from the empty Gobi Desert.

A moment later, a Lancer returned to the battle with his bare hands. Only a few steps away from the army formation, Dalai Taiji saw a hole in his leather jacket on his chest, and the dark red blood spread on the cloth pants under the jacket, and then his body swayed backwards, The cavalry fell to the ground, and the frightened horses fled back into the formation dragging their boots stuck in the wooden stirrups, dragging a gully in the sand dunes.

Then the strong wind swept across the Gobi, and the yellow sand fascinated people's eyes.

Three hundred paces away, in the wind and sand, the figure of the red armored cavalry with horse hooves looming, with the spear belonging to the cavalry under his ribs, raised his chin slightly, and slowly shook the spear with the corner flag in his palm, staring at him as usual.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)