prosperous age

Chapter 223 Chapter 222

The manufacturer of this batch of vans was made by Zeng Mian, then the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Governor of Shaanxi Trilateral Military Affairs.

Zeng Mi, courtesy name Zizhong, was born in Huangyan County, Taizhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. He was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Jiajing.

When Zeng Mian was the governor of the three sides, he kept defeating the already invincible Alta tribe in the jurisdiction. In the autumn of Jiajing 25, when Alta Khan plundered Yan'an and Qingyang with [-] cavalry, Zeng Mian Only a few thousand soldiers guarded the city, and at the same time sent general Li Zhen to lead his troops to attack Alta Khan's old nest, Maliangshan camp. After hearing about it, Alta Khan had to retreat decisively.

This battle was also the only military operation of the Ming army since the Zhengde Dynasty when a large army went out of the Great Wall.

It's just that the success of the raid on Mount Maliang not only did not bring Zeng Mian the chance to become an official, but brought disaster instead.

The success of this military operation gave Zeng Mian a new understanding of the combat power of the Ming army and Alta, so he stopped being conservative and wrote "Please Restore Hetao Shu" to the imperial court, requesting to send troops to recover the Hetao area.

Needless to say, the importance of the Hetao area can not only effectively reduce the threat of Mongolian Tartars to border towns, but also find an excellent horse farm for the Ming army, so as to completely solve the biggest chronic problem of the Ming army-the lack of war horses.

Because this memorial was supported by Xia Yan, who was the chief assistant of the cabinet at the time, Zeng Mi thought that it was very likely to be implemented, so he began to vigorously renovate the equipment and prepare for the army. Naturally, a large number of infantry vans were also produced.

It's just that Hetao didn't take it back in the end, the first assistant Xia Yan and himself were beheaded shortly afterwards, and his confidant Li Zhen was also poisoned.

At that time, a large amount of equipment prepared for the recovery of the Hetao area was also distributed to other border towns, and the vans used by the Xuanfu army here also came from this.

At this time, the Ming army had already formed a tight military formation outside the Alta military camp, using the Fran cannon mounted on the chariot to continuously bombard the military camp, causing damage, so that the Mongolian soldiers on this side could not gather quickly.

As the bombardment continued, a large number of Mongolian soldiers finally gathered behind the fence. They kept drawing their bows and throwing arrows at the Ming army, but under the cover of the chariot baffle and large shield, the effect was limited.

At this time, Wanhu of the Anda Department had already ordered the other five thousand households in the battalion to form their own teams. Naturally, what he chose at this time was not to rush out and fight a bloody battle with the Ming army, but to lead five thousand cavalry to fight out from the back gate of the camp to support The Altan Khan camp behind the barracks.

Mongolian Wanhu is the absolute confidant of Alta Khan in the Alta Department, and he is very clear about their purpose of stationing here.

One of the reasons why Altan Khan chose to garrison troops here is naturally to attack the Xuanfu army if there is a chance, and beat them to death.

However, after the Ming army arrived in Baoanzhou, they chose the tortoise tactics, which prevented the advantages of the Mongolian cavalry from being brought into play. Altan Khan didn't think his men would be good at attacking the cities of the Ming army.

Then another purpose of staying is naturally to wait for the Datong Army that may come.

Although the number of reconnaissance cavalry sent southward by the Alda Department is limited, they can definitely be called elite.

Yes, in Altan Khan's view, the Mongols can't take much advantage in siege battles, but they can have an absolute advantage in field battles.

Since the Xuanfu army retreated into Baoan Prefecture first, he set his target on the Datong army. When the Datong army went north to rescue Xuanfu, he raided the Datong army halfway. Then follow the trend and attack Datong from behind, turning the entire Xuanda defense line upside down.

However, neither he nor the Khan above him expected that the Xuanfu army would dare to take the initiative to go out of the city to fight.

Mongolian Wanhu can't remember how many times he sent people out to invite battles, but the Ming army on the opposite side didn't respond like a turtle.

From time to time, people came on horseback from the western barracks and the rear barracks, bringing the latest news.

At this time, Wanhu in Mongolia has already determined that the attack he received here is probably just a feint attack, the purpose is to contain his own troops, so that he cannot go to rescue the Great Khan.

Will he do what the Ming people think?

What a joke.

As long as the Mongols ride horses, they are invincible, in the past, in the present, and in the future.

But at this time, he could only keep urging his several thousand households to complete the work of the whole team as soon as possible, so that he could fight out from the back camp gate together, first kill the Ming army outside the camp gate, and then outflank and attack the Great Khan's barracks Ming army.

As for the Ming soldiers outside, they are lucky and can live a little longer.

However, the Mongolian Wanhu officer saw that there were still soldiers running around in panic in the distance, and he wished to hack these people to death with a single knife.

He had to keep finding the generals who could be found nearby, and on the one hand, he ordered them to gather troops to restore their combat power, and on the other hand, he also asked them to control the chaotic troops who didn't obey orders and ran around.

The sudden offensive of the Ming army still had some impact on the soldiers of the Mongolian Alta tribe, but it could only slow down the speed at which they assembled.

Many recruits without battlefield experience faced the dark night at this time. Although the barracks had already lit a large number of bonfires and torches for lighting, they still fell into fear because they didn't know the Ming army's offensive outside.

At this moment, the only one who understands the situation of the barracks is Mongolian Wanhu.

The tents in the Alta military camp were scattered widely, and usually the tents of a group of soldiers would gather together, with stables next to them, making it easier for them to go out to battle.

The roads in the camp are also relatively wide, making it easy for horses to get out.

Such a layout actually made it more difficult for the sneak attacking side, because the barracks were larger, it was not easy to create crowds and stampedes, and the effect of the fire attack was not good.

The wide road is convenient for offense and at the same time it is convenient for the defensive side to switch from defense to offense.

In fact, the Ming army still had a headache for the camping method of the Alta Ministry, especially when they did not intend to take the initiative to attack.

As for why the Ming army didn't choose to attack the camps on both sides at the same time, in fact, a conclusion was reached during the debate yesterday morning, that is, the Ming army's current strength is not enough to carry out an effective assault on the two camps of the Alda Department.

If you want to create chaos and successfully break the camp, you need several times the force to deploy, and you can besiege the enemy's barracks to create even greater chaos.

However, the current strength of the Ming army cannot meet such requirements. It seems that the Ming army is twice the size of the Mongolian army, but in real encounters, the Ming army has no advantage at all.

As for breaking into the Alda barracks forcefully, this is very easy, but once blocked by the enemy in front of you, let the Mongolian troops in the rear and left and right gather together, and the cavalry should not be too simple to carry out a counterattack against them.

In this battle, the Xuanfu army handed over the most elite cavalry to Ma Fang for selection, and added nearly a thousand soldiers in addition to his original troops, so that he could bring the most powerful cavalry army in Xuanfu with more than 2000 people to fight against us. Answer Khan's barracks launched a sneak attack, and even allocated [-] of the new firearms allocated by the court to his subordinates.

A ray of light has appeared in the east, but the chaos in the Alta military camp is still there, but it is gradually getting better. The distant shouts, shouts and cannons are still incessant, stimulating the nerves of everyone in the camp.

At this time, Mongolian Wanhu had already known from the news sent by Qianhu who was in charge of the West Camp that the Ming army had set up a defensive formation outside the barracks, and it didn't look like they were going to rob the camp. The Qianhu he led was enough to deal with it. The Ming army had no intention of coming in.

Just to be on the safe side, he still hopes to deploy a cavalry unit of thousands of households behind him to support the Ming army in case of a surprise attack.

Whether or not to keep people in case the Ming army suddenly came in again, Mongolian Wanhu was still struggling in his heart.

"Why are there so few people?"

At this time, Wei Guangde, Liu Dazhang and others had already rode closer. They looked at the Tartar barracks in front of the Ming army formation, and found that they did not attract too many Tartar soldiers, at best, a thousand households.

After saying this, Wei Guangde had a bad feeling in his heart when he saw such a scene.

Perhaps the Ming army's formation was too conservative, and it only relied on shelling the Tatar barracks and shooting at the archers on both sides. It seemed that it failed to attract the attention of the Tartars. Perhaps the Tartars in the barracks had already begun to gather, preparing to reinforce the Altan Khan who was behind. camp.

"Master Liu, should we order the people below to continue to press forward, and the threat of the Tartar archers to us is limited."

Thinking of the possible situation, Wei Guangde immediately turned his head and said to Liu Dazhang.

Here, the military power is still in the hands of Liu Dazhang. Although he is a counselor, he actually cannot command the generals, guerrillas and other generals below.

When Wei Guangde turned his head, he also noticed that Liu Dazhang's expression was obviously very bad at this time, and the deputy commander Tian Shiwei beside him had already frowned.

Well, everyone should have thought of something, and they all know that the current situation has not met the expectations of the Ming army.

"Lord Liu, General Liu, the Tartars should see that we are feinting here. If we don't let the army press forward and put proper pressure on the Tartars, I'm afraid the Tartars' cavalry will rush out of the rear camp and kill Liu Huan immediately. Ministry, when the time comes, it will really be beyond redemption."

This is what Wei Guangde could think of. If the infantry's feint attack can't attract the attention of Alta Khan, they will definitely turn to rescue Alta Khan. Once Ma Fang's army collapses, the tens of thousands of infantry outside will have no way out.

Those with two legs cannot run with four legs.

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he finally saw Liu Dazhang reacting. He waved his hand to let the guards next to him signal to move forward, and waved two torches forward continuously.

If it is daytime, they only need to wave the five-color flag to let the team leader in front know their intentions.

Now that the sky is not clear, using the five-color flag is of course unable to command, and you can only wave torches and other objects to send out signals.

Not long after, the generals in front knew the meaning of the rear, and soon the Ming army began to advance again.

When the archers fired several waves of arrows in a row, the gunners also quickly emptied the sub-cannon barrels loaded with ammunition. Taking advantage of the slight confusion of the soldiers of the Altan Army, the chariot turned around and started to move forward. The entire army formation followed The movement of the chariot began to move forward.

Only after walking ten steps, he adjusted his direction again and completed the arrangement of the army formation again.

The distance between the two armies has only been shortened by more than ten meters, but the psychological pressure brought to the Mongolian army cannot be underestimated.

Continuously approaching, approaching again, getting closer and closer to the camp, who can guarantee that the Ming army will not rush up suddenly.

The short wooden fence they built could not withstand the impact of the Ming army, and it would be easily knocked down.

The Tartar Qianhu immediately sent someone to report the situation here to Master Wanhu. He needed to reserve more troops, or he could simply fight out from the gate of the front camp, defeat the Ming army in front of him from the flank, and then go to support Altan Khan.

Yes, when the thousand households in the Alda barracks contacted Wanhu, they already knew that the main attack direction of the Ming army should be the Great Khan.

Wanhu sent out this news, not only to reassure Qianhu that this is not the main attack direction of the Ming army, so there is no need to worry about the Ming army rushing in suddenly, but also to urge Qianhu to speed up the formation of the team. Their task is not just to defend the camp. Also go to rescue the Khan.

However, before Master Wan Hu's order was received, the Ming army in front of them began to approach the barracks again after quickly shooting a few waves of arrow rain and shelling.

The second advance was naturally the result of the dispute between Wei Guangde and Liu Dazhang behind the Ming army.

Having seen that the current situation is not conducive to the Ming army, Liu Dazhang has actually retreated a bit. In his opinion, organizing this sneak attack tonight can already be done with Mr. Weng Pu.

It's just a pity that the review by the Hanlin Academy around me is too ignorant.

Is the war just a joke?
That's going to kill people, it's not impossible to wipe out the whole army if it's not good

Often such defeats are caused by these civil servants who think they know how to march and fight after reading a few military books.

Although I haven't received the fast horse report yet, I understand the current development of the Ma Fang department.

To put it bluntly, he would never order the whole army to attack until Ma Fang's troops could not penetrate the Altan Khan barracks.

The reason why he is still here is actually the battle report from Ma Fang's department.

Yes, as the most capable general in the Xuan Mansion now, he also has the advantage of a sneak attack. With the military strength not much different, Liu Dazhang feels that he can still look forward to it.

Otherwise, he would have chosen to retreat long ago.

However, Liu Dazhang hesitated after Wei Guangde repeated his request to continue to march and put more pressure on the Mongolian army camp.

However, under Tian Shiwei's reconciliation, he finally agreed to continue to move forward, pretending to be ready to attack the barracks of our army.

Yes, in Tian Shiwei's words, there is really not much difference between maintaining the current position and moving forward.

Wei Guangde has already figured it out now, I answered what the commander in the barracks thinks, that is, the other party has seen through their feint attack posture.

As for the method of cracking it, it is actually simple, that is, Sun Tzu's defense of "The Way of Strange and Righteousness" in the Art of War. Don't you think I am a feint here, a strange soldier?
Then I will make a big change for you, and I will change your soldiers into regular soldiers. If you really dare to send people out of the camp to rescue I Dahan, then I will send troops to attack your camp.

As for Ma Fang's side, they naturally turned into strange soldiers, and Qi Zheng exchanged.

If you send your troops out, the strength in the barracks will naturally be greatly reduced, so you won't be afraid of your counterattack.

Therefore, at this time, the dispute between Wei Guangde and Liu Dazhang was still going on, and Wei Guangde insisted on moving forward, so that our Ministry did not dare to send troops back easily.

What Liu Dazhang was worried about was that the persecution was too much. If the Tatars chose to defeat their own side first and then go to rescue the Ida Ministry, it would be troublesome.

At this time, Wanhu in Mongolia already knew that the Ming army seemed to be attacking the camp, and was thinking about how to deal with it.
(End of this chapter)