prosperous age

Chapter 221 220 Offensive Signal
The dark figure walked quietly in the wilderness. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the vague footsteps.

In the quiet wilderness outside the city of Baoanzhou, this extremely discordant scene was being staged.

The scattered bonfires in the distance seem to be the light that attracts them to move forward.

At this time, these Xuanfu soldiers have gradually calmed down from the slight panic after they lined up and left the city. Hearing the sound of footsteps gave me a sense of peace of mind.

They have already seen their strength, at least there are so many robes around them.

Although whenever I think of the defeats of the Ming army in the past, I still can't help but feel a little terrified.

There are still a large number of cavalry behind the infantry formation, but at this time they did not ride away on horseback, but dismounted one by one and led the horses by the reins. I don't know if it is to save horsepower or to keep the place quiet. surroundings.

After leaving the gate of Baoanzhou city or the military camp outside the city, all the officers and soldiers of the Xuanfu Army of the Ming Dynasty had a small wooden stick in their mouths. The so-called "a person holds a piece, and a horse picks a bell", and the bells on the horses were also placed in the military camp. bring out.

After leaving the city, the Ming army did not rush directly to the Alta army camp below the city, but walked forward from the west of the Tazi army camp. According to the current army formation, the Ming army obviously wanted to be placed on the flank of the Alta army. From here Attack.

After the infantry formation was in place, after a simple reorganization, the whole army had already sat down and started to rest. At this time, the sky was still dark, the moon was covered by clouds, and it was unknown whether it would rain. It hadn’t rained here in Xuanfu for a long time. It's raining.

During the march of the entire army, no one lit a torch to illuminate the way. They could only move forward holding the hem of their robes in their hands, and judging their own trajectory by the invisible bonfire in the distance.

The person leading the way in front obviously has a strong sense of space and is very good at controlling the direction.

The infantry began to rest, while the cavalry leading the horses were still moving forward slowly.

Many of them used to serve as patrols, so they naturally knew where they were sent. There was also a Tartar army camp behind the Alta army camp, although they didn't know what was inside.

At this time, many people are already wondering whether there is a granary there, and whether their general wants to learn from Cao Mengde's Guandu battle and burn Yuan Shao's army rations to win the war.

Although they didn't understand why the Tartars separated the granary from the barracks, they thought that what the storyteller said seemed to be true, that is, after Cao Cao's cavalry attacked Wuchao and burned Yuan Shao's army rations, Yuan Shao's army Collapse without a fight.

Well, maybe the Tartars followed Yuan Shaoxue's camp, and the food and the army were placed separately.

The cavalry of the Xuan Mansion were so bewildered, they continued to move forward while thinking wildly.

The bonfire in the distance behind them was no longer visible, and a few sparks appeared in front of them.

Soon, the cavalry in front realized that something was wrong, because the cavalry behind them did not keep up, but stopped in the middle, and the cavalry who were in the middle suddenly realized that they had become the rear .

It wasn't until the horses in front stopped moving forward that the cavalry behind them gradually stopped. As the little flag officer trotted over and shouted "rest in place" in a low voice, the cavalry sat down.

They didn't understand why they were asked to come here on foot instead of rushing over directly on horseback like in the past, saving at least half of the time.

The sky was still dark, and the moon was covered by clouds, unable to cast any light on the earth.

"Today is really lucky, there is no moon coming out, otherwise we would have to go around a farther distance to avoid being discovered by the Ministry of Defense."

This is the last line of the army formation, where hundreds of war horses gather to guard the high-ranking Xuanfu army in the center.

Tian Shiwei looked up at the sky, and said with some gratitude that although he couldn't see other people's faces clearly, he felt that what he said should be right, and everyone should think so.

It's just that after he finished speaking, no one answered his words. Everyone just stood there quietly on horseback, waiting for the sky to light up.

As a result of the final discussion yesterday morning, after Wei Guangde insisted on the need to fight quickly, everyone only changed the time to launch the attack, and began to attack the Altan Khan barracks when the sky was slightly bright, thus kicking off the prelude to the war.

The night covered the marching and formation of the army, and launched an attack at dawn. At this time, most of the Tartars were still asleep, and the night watch soldiers were also the most exhausted, which was very helpful for them to observe the battlefield situation and issue orders.

Without absolute strength to crush the Tartars, it is not advisable to use the dark melee, the risk is still too great.

Most of the Xuanfu army's mobile forces are gathered here. If this battle is defeated and the losses are heavy, the entire Xuanfu will become the pasture of the Alta tribe, and the Xuanfu army will completely lose the strength to confront the Alta tribe.

At that time, I really can only ask for help from the capital and other border towns.

Tian Shiwei made himself bored by talking, and no one answered his words, so he could only return angrily and said nothing.

After an unknown amount of time, Wei Guangde's words came out from the darkness, "What time is it?"

After the departure of the Ming army, the marching has been kept quiet. In order to avoid the sound of the marching from attracting the attention of the night sentry of the IDA Department, they not only circled a large circle before returning, but also deliberately slowed down their pace. Therefore, although Baoanzhou is far away The Tartar army camp is not far away, but the time it takes is not short.

"It should be the second quarter of Yinshi now, it's almost dawn."

Dong Yiyuan, who had been following Wei Guangde as a guard, answered Wei Guangde's question in a low voice at this time.

In ancient China, instead of using the current 24-hour system, it used twelve hours to time, namely Zichou Yinmao, Chensi Wuwei, and Shenyou Xinhai.

Each hour is two hours, and the time is divided into the first quarter and the first quarter, each with five hours, so that there are ten quarters in one hour, namely the first quarter, the first quarter, the second quarter, and the third quarter. , the fourth quarter of the first day, the first quarter of the first day, the first quarter of the first day, the second quarter of the first day, the third quarter of the first day, and the fourth quarter of the first day.

Among them, the first tick time is the shortest, and the other four tick times are the same.

The second quarter of Yinshi is about 4:5 in the morning in later generations. According to the past situation, the sky will be slightly bright at Maoshi here in Xuanfu, which is [-] o'clock.

After half an hour's calculation, the eastern sky will gradually light up, and that's when the battle will take place.

Only at this moment, an untimely voice still rang in Wei Guangde's ear.

"Lord Wei, the risk of a decisive battle with the Mongolian Tartars in the wild is still too great. I don't think it is necessary. We can wait until the Datong army arrives on the battlefield.

As for the problem of food shortage in the army, since the army rations are in Huailai County, we can collect food locally, and at the same time reduce the rations of soldiers during this period. The military prestige will also collapse without a fight. "

It was Liu Dazhang who was speaking, perhaps because he had been in the border town all year round, and he was used to seeing the Tartars coming and going like the wind, so they had the advantage of riding horses and attacked the Ming army for a long time, making the Ming army always on the weak side.

Well, in the final analysis, the courage was beaten.

Liu Dazhang's words made many people who were still looking forward to winning this battle feel chills for no reason.

In fact, yesterday morning, although Liu Dazhang had previously expressed his support for going to war with the IDA Ministry, he was very hesitant in his subsequent performance. He basically opposed any plan to go to war, and his desire to not want to go to war was very obvious.

It's just that everyone around didn't expect that Liu Dazhang was still saying such frustrating words at this time.

Yes, the army has completed its assembly and has deployed, but at this moment they are still hesitating whether to fight.

However, what people didn't expect was that Wei Guangde's attitude at this time was extremely firm, "It's impossible, we have already arrived here, if we withdraw, the Xuanfu army will really be finished, and no one will fight in the future. Don't say it again today."

Wei Guangde, who was extremely polite to Liu Dazhang yesterday, now showed a firm side.

"Just wait, if you are tired, you can get off the horse and rest for a while."

Wei Guangde continued.

According to the previous plan, the time for the war was actually controlled by Ma Fang.

Yesterday afternoon, Xuanfu Majun was divided into two teams, led by Ma Fang and Liu Huan respectively.

The battle plan was not much different from what Ma Fang had considered before, but the attack time was adjusted to avoid the influence of night on the command.

Not far from them, there was a row of tall black figures, which were war drums carried by carriages.

Time passed by every minute, and Wei Guangde, who was riding on the horse, had already seen the light in the sky.

It will be daylight soon.

"Fire."

Just a few miles away from Wei Guangde and the others, in front of a large group of black shadows, the leader suddenly said in a low voice.

As the words fell, a person behind him took out a fire folder at the place covered by many people's bodies, and a soldier beside him had already piled up a pile of fire starters, and as the person shook the fire folder lightly, when the flames rose, he used the fire folder again. Zhezi danced twice in the air to report to the others behind him.

After that, he squatted down without hesitation and lit the firelighter on the ground. The flame grew from small to large, and soon burned violently.

Obviously, not only dry firewood was piled up on the ground, but also tung oil or "kerosene" produced by other military towns should have been poured in.

After the fire was ignited on the ground, dozens of fires appeared one after another soon after.

"superior."

It was still the same voice, very simple, just one word.

But after the voice fell, more than a dozen figures behind him had already galloped out. When they passed by the fire, they all shook torches on the fire. people.

The sound of horseshoes began to sound, and it sounded in the wilderness that was still quiet before, followed by the sound of "barking" dogs.

The speed of the horse changed from slow to fast, and soon they were close to the fence of the Tartar army camp. The people in front had already seen a wooden stake inserted into the ground, and a dog tied to the wooden stake.

Without too much hesitation, they pulled out the saber with the torch in one hand and the saber in the other. When the horse passed by the big dog, the blade slashed across the barking dog.

Then they threw more than a dozen torches, some fell in front of the fence, and some fell to the ground after touching the fence.

The torch was not extinguished immediately, but under the light, the dozen or so people were already dancing with the ropes of the horses in their hands. When the force was right, they threw the ropes in their hands.

The ropes flew to the wooden fence, and most of them were successfully put on it, and then they all started to retreat, and began to pull on the weak wooden fence.

"Linen mix"

At this time, the voices of Tartar soldiers could be heard from inside the wooden fence. Perhaps it was because of the intense dog barking just now, but it became quiet again at the moment. The night patrol soldiers thought that their companions were passing by on something, so they asked in the camp. Who is it outside?

But the only answer to them was a "boom", and the wooden fence was dragged behind by a dozen strong soldiers. At some point, a large pile of torches appeared behind them, and under the torches were faces. There are also helmets and fiery red armor.

"Boom"

As the horse team accelerated, the sound of hooves gradually increased, and the ground began to vibrate slightly.

The soldiers who dragged to the wooden fence had already turned their horses and became the first cavalry to rush into Altan Khan's camp.

"There is fire in the east."

In the quiet crowd, suddenly a guard outside reported loudly to the inside.

Everyone here knows that the Ming army has already started to attack, and they have been waiting for this moment to come.

However, what surprised everyone was that after the guards reported, Liu Dazhang, the chief military officer of the Xuan Mansion, who was supposed to give orders, remained silent for a long time.

At this time, Wei Guangde was riding on one side of Liu Dazhang, and on the other side was Tian Shiwei, the deputy general of Xuanfu.

Wei Guangde frowned slightly. Although he was only waiting for a moment, he couldn't wait any longer. He couldn't let Liu Dazhang hold back and affect this battle. He was betting on his future career.

Originally, Wei Guangde didn't have to do this at all. For example, at the very beginning, he could have stayed in Juyongguan, waiting for the Ming army to fight with the IDA Department. No matter whether he wins or loses, it won't affect him very much.

However, in the end, he couldn't bear the influence and chose to leave the customs, and finally came here.

Still too young to suppress my restless heart.

In fact, when Wei Guangde observed the Tartar army camp from a distance yesterday afternoon, he felt a little bit of regret.

After leaving Baoanzhou City in the early morning, this mentality became even heavier.

However, judging the situation, this time is definitely not the time to be indecisive.

Even if you really lose, just run away. At most, the officials can't do it and continue to lend money to make money. It's okay to be a rich man.

Now, even if he is deprived of his official status, even if he has no fame, he still has the confidence that ordinary people would not dare to provoke him.

Because those same years would not ignore him or take care of him just because he was deprived of his fame. On the contrary, if he wanted to gain a good reputation, he had to help him as much as possible.

He, Wei Guangde, was not dismissed because of a crime, but was demoted only after he lost a bloody battle with Alda, which is different from those cruel officials who took bribes because of corruption.

Without waiting for Liu Dazhang's order, Wei Guangde simply shouted: "Light up the torches, order to attack."

Soon, several fires were lit here, and on the carriage not far away, the war drum was sounded three times with "dong dong dong", which was a signal to attack.

The sound of the drums spread far away, passed through the Ming army formation that was already in full formation, and also reached the Alda barracks.

(End of this chapter)