prosperous age

Chapter 365 Chapter 364
After a fierce battle, our cavalry broke through Longmenguan Fort, but they didn't have time to continue the assault, because the Longmen Guards stationed on the back of Longmen Guanbao Mountain issued an emergency call. Time rushed to Longmenguan Fort like a tide for reinforcements, although it was still a step late in the end.

However, this is a mountainous area, which greatly limited the combat power of the Tazi cavalry, and they could barely maintain the front line for a while, preventing the defeated Longmenguan Fort from changing hands again.

The Ming army paid a huge price to counterattack, but in the face of the Tartar army that continued to enter the side wall, its numerical disadvantage was soon exposed.

The commander of the Longmen Guard saw that he was unable to regain Guancheng, so he wisely chose to retreat temporarily, but this retreat was not a collapse, but a sniper position on a dangerous place on the mountain road to delay the Tartars from advancing.

In short, they can only take advantage of the geographical advantage to entangle with the Alta Department.

It's just that the commander of the Longmen Guard feels that he is rather unlucky. How could he be picked by Al Da Khan on the Qianli Xuanfu defense line.

The frontier army of Xuanfu is still fighting fiercely in the mountainous area with the Tartars. The garrisons in various places of Xuanfu have received orders to act according to the military orders, abandon some military forts that have been in disrepair for a long time, and gather the people and soldiers in important fortresses and military forts. , Carry out fortified walls and clear fields.

These times require the guards of the Dragon Gate to fight for them with their lives.

"Boom"

There was a continuous thunder-like sound from the distant sky. An old herdsman looked up at the sky, and then looked curiously in the direction of the sound. But soon, his face changed slightly.

In the distance, a black spot appeared at the end of the green carpet and gradually enlarged.

There is a blue sky above the head, with occasional patches of white clouds drifting past, so there is no sign of rain, and the sound from a distance indicates to the owner that something is coming.

All the young men in the tribe were summoned by the Great Khan, saying that they wanted to take advantage of the good weather to go to the south for a tour, and now those who remained in the tribe were old and sick.

Who is that coming from the opposite side?

The old herdsman was still thinking, no matter what, there should be no Khan's army in this direction, because it was close to the territory of the Ming people.

As for whether it is Ming people, the old herdsman is not worried. The Ming army has not dared to set foot on the grassland for many years.

Another possibility is that other tribes ran over, but just thinking about it, now that the Altan Khan is in power, all the tribes have allocated grasslands. If they dare to mess around, aren't they afraid of being punished by the Khan?

Although the old herdsman was vigilant, he just looked over curiously, wanting to know what was coming over there.

It's getting closer, it's getting closer, it's not the herd of cattle he thought, but a team of horses, it seems that there are quite a few people, there are thousands of people, and why are they wearing red clothes, it's too extravagant, so many people are wearing red clothes
The old herdsman looked at the original horse team, still thinking in his heart, and suddenly he understood, he was shocked, he no longer cared about the scattered sheep, turned the horse's head and swung the whip, and headed towards the tribe at the fastest speed gallop away.

At this moment, there was only one thought in his heart in shock, "The Ming army is here, run quickly."

The Alta Department broke into the side wall for property and population. It will not show mercy to the disobedient, the old and the weak, and will only kill them.

And now that the Ming army appears here, what will they bring to the tribe?
There are a lot of people in the Ming Dynasty, they are not short of population, they will not take all the captives back, then the rest will only kill, and now the tribe has no resistance at all.

Although he can still draw a bow and ride a horse, but after all, he is old, no more than when he was fighting with the little prince and the Ming emperor.

It is always impossible for people to be dissatisfied.

The old man rushed to the tribe quickly, and started shouting to the people around him from afar: "The Ming people are coming, get on the horse quickly, run, there are a lot of them"

Roaring crazily, even though the voice was already hoarse, many people around looked at him with puzzled expressions on their faces, and many people still had mocking expressions on their faces.

The old herdsman saw the tribal leader inspecting the fence at this time, and immediately rode over to warn him, but faced with his rhetoric, the leader waved his hands disapprovingly.

"Ming people, there are many, well, then we will kill them all and grab the horses they sent."

The leader sneered and summoned the remaining 20 young people in the tribe, as well as some middle-aged and elderly herdsmen, mounted their horses and brought bows and arrows, ready to look in the direction the old herdsmen said.

At this time, the old herdsman looked disappointed at the people who kept passing by, and finally he chose to run in the direction of his home, rode a horse, and fled here with the only food his family had.

Fortunately, it is not winter, otherwise things like tents to keep out the cold are also essential.

Although it is very cold at night, but it is not frozen to death, as long as there is a bite to eat, it can survive.

There was a roar in the distance, and the old herdsman who ran out of the tribe with his family turned his head and looked in that direction. The dozens of people led by the leader were already stupid in the face of the dark red sea rushing towards him, and some people had turned their horses back. run.

They are too late.

The old herdsman just thought so in his heart, he couldn't control too much, he chose to flee here with his family.

In the land of Mongolia, the current owner is called Borjijin Alda. He was originally the Khan of the Tumed tribe, but now he is already recognized as the Great Khan by all the tribes in this grassland.

On the vast grassland, besides the few big tribes, there are also many small tribes like the one in front of us, with hundreds or even dozens of people.

Some of such tribes were originally members of the big tribe, while others were just independent small tribes attached to the big tribe.

It is impossible for a large tribe of tens of thousands of people to gather in one place to herd sheep. They need to be divided into several small tribes and scattered on the grassland, and small tribes that submit to them are also allowed to exist.

The tribe the old herdsman belonged to was not an independent small tribe, but a part of the Tumed tribe, which could be regarded as the direct descendant tribe of the Great Khan, and had just moved to this grassland not long ago.

Altan Khan took the brigade to Xuanfu. He also heard from the leader that the children would definitely bring back a lot of iron pots, tea and cloth when they came back this time, but it was unexpected that the Ming army would be the first to come.

This Mongolian tribe was wiped out after only a brief resistance. The Ming army only stayed here for a short time, killing some cattle and sheep to eat, while the remaining cattle, sheep and old horses were all slaughtered. was taken away.

"General Yu, how do you deal with those people?"

A guerrilla leading the team rode to Yu Dayou's side and asked in a low voice.

Although it was a question, the fierce expression on his face had fully reflected his current mood.

They didn't have time to take these captives away, not to mention that those people were old and sick.

Yu Dayou knew that their expedition required concealment and speed, and no one could be left alive along the way, otherwise, who knows if there are other undiscovered tribes around here.

Moreover, he understands the meaning of this guerrilla, and he also knows that this is not necessarily just his own thoughts, but the thoughts of all the generals and soldiers who followed the fortress. He cannot go against public opinion.

"According to your habits, lead the team to follow up as soon as possible."

Yu Dayou just gave a simple order, and then he steered his horse away without looking back, and the soldiers around him also rode their horses to chase after him.

According to the plan, Yu Dayou and the others were pure cavalry to attack Bansheng City, so in addition to hurrying on the road, the Huihe and Heihe encountered on the road would directly search for the shallows and wade across the river. He had no time to wait for the infantry carrying the luggage.

Only on the way back, they would carry the supplies looted from Bansheng City, and it would be more troublesome to wade through the water, so Liu Han and Li Wenjin were asked to lead troops to build pontoon bridges on the two rivers, so that the troops could pass quickly.

The retreat roads are carefully chosen, and they are places where the river is deep and the current is fast, so that it is easy to cut off the pursuers behind.

At that time, you only need to pour kerosene on the bridge to quickly destroy the pontoon bridge, so that the Tartars' pursuers will not have time to cross the river to chase them down.

After the Ming army passed by, the entire tribal camp became quiet, only the strong smell of blood permeated the air.

Bansheng City is located in the north of Datong, with a distance of more than 300 miles between the two places. At first, it was because of the Han people who escaped into the grassland, they settled here, thus forming a large area of ​​settled agricultural settlements, which was called "Bansheng" at that time.

The scale of Bansheng is very large, "there are more than [-] people, from the side wall in the south, to the green hills in the north, to the Weining Sea in the east, to the bank of the Yellow River in the west, four hundred miles from north to south, and more than a thousand miles from east to west. risk".

They changed the nomadic economic mode of the Mongolian plateau into a compound economy combining agriculture and animal husbandry, which promoted the economic transformation of the Mongolian plateau during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

"Cultivating Shili, flowers, willows, and vegetable gardens are no different from China, and each minister is responsible for them", "Feng Tun Hu Shi, spring and summer farming and animal husbandry, autumn and winter hunting."

Most of the Han Chinese who fled to the Mongolian plateau were bankrupt farmers and some of them were followers of the White Lotus Cult.

Bansheng is divided into several tribes, forming a self-subordination system, and among them, talented people are appointed as the chiefs of each tribe.

As a result, the interior of the prairie looks like a pass, with Dabansheng City as the main body, surrounded by dozens of small towns of different sizes.

It's just that as the power of the White Lotus Cultists grows stronger outside the Great Wall, gradually there are lands where farmers live and work in peace and contentment, and it has become a base for the White Lotus Cultists to display their ambitions and repay their responsibilities.

At the beginning, Altan Khan did not manage much, but treated the Han people who came here extensively. When the White Lotus Cultists appeared here in large numbers and became the most powerful force here, the Han people began to be ruled by the White Lotus Cultists.

Here they established a government government similar to the interior, managed and collected taxes from the Han people in the territory, so as to strengthen their own power.

After a long journey, the Datong army quietly appeared in a depression thirty miles away from Bansheng City and hid. This is already the fourth day they left Datong.

The Datong Army is not unfamiliar with this place. In fact, smuggling caravans from the relevant regions come here every year, and the guards in the caravan include spies from the Datong Guards to observe the surrounding environment and find out what's inside the city.

And here is one of the caravan's annual activities.

At this time, Yu Dayou was sitting on the slope, and a soldier of the Ming army dressed like a Mongolian was talking about what he had inquired about around Bansheng City.

Although this man is a soldier of the Ming army, he is still slightly different from the Han in terms of appearance. He is obviously a Mongolian.

In fact, this is not surprising. Most of the Han people who escaped into the grassland cultivated and cultivated the land here, but a small number were absorbed into the army of the Alta army. Some of the Mongols around the Great Wall were oppressed by the Mongolian nobles, or for the sake of It is better to live and choose to defect to Daming.

In fact, at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there were Mongols in the Ming army, and during the period of Chengzu Zhu Di, a special army was formed for the incorporated Mongols—the Three Thousand Battalion.

Following the soldier's narration, Yu Dayou also roughly understood what Bansheng City looked like, which was probably similar to the county town in Bianzhen.

The earth wall, which is not too tall, acts as a city wall. The city gate is covered with bricks, which is obviously to strengthen the defense of the city wall, but there is no drawbridge, and there is no moat. Defense outside the city walls.

As for the time to close the city gate, it is closed at sunset, which is roughly the same as closing the city in the mainland.

"You said that there was no army from the Alda army around Bansheng City, only Han soldiers guarding the city wall?"

Yu Dayou asked curiously after the soldiers finished speaking, which was beyond his understanding.

This is the prairie, and it is also the core area of ​​control of the Tumed Ministry. Is it that I Da Khan is so relieved to hand it over to the White Lotus Cultists to guard it?

Although the Mongols don’t have the concept of a royal city, in their view, the place where Altan Khan resides is the royal city, but this is the place where Altan Khan stayed for a long time, and the symbolic meaning is different.

"No, the Great Khan's troops have been taken away, and I heard that many Han troops have also been taken away. Well, it should be the White Lotus Sect's troops who went to Xuanfu to help in the battle."

replied the soldier.

"There aren't many people in the city right now?"

Yu Dayou asked again, strictly speaking, the Han people in the city are considered treason, not just the White Lotus followers.

Before coming here, Yu Dayou naturally understood the meaning of Li Wenjin's words, but he didn't want to cause too much murder.

Now I know that there are not many people in Bansheng City, which is said to be nearly [-] people. Most of them went to the Daqing Mountain Pass to escape the summer heat, and they have not returned yet. In this case, it will be possible to carry out Li Wenjin's order.

However, the soldier knew from his mouth before that there were not many young and strong Mongols in the city, which also meant that there would be relatively few leaders in this expedition.

Although there were some people in the Ming army who killed good men and pretended to be meritorious, after all, the appearance and living habits of the Han people and the Mongols were different, so as long as they were strictly supervised, it was actually very difficult for the generals in the border towns to get credit for their merits.

Since it is not easy, what is the point of doing it.

Now that most of the city is a bandit of the White Lotus Sect, Yu Dayou intends to act according to Li Wenjin's wishes. He only hopes that there will be a bandit leader of the White Lotus Sect in the city, preferably someone known to the court, otherwise the credit for this time will be greatly reduced.

"Notify everyone, rest early tonight, recharge your energy, and have dinner tomorrow at [-]:[-], and then attack Bansheng City."

Yu Dayou didn't intend to waste time here, his choice was very simple, rest for one night, and take advantage of the opening of the gate of Bansheng City in the early morning of the next day, with a team of men and horses, disguised as Mongols to seize the gate of Bansheng City , Then the ministries charged into the city.

Yu Dayou now expects that the Bailian sect bandits in Dingbansheng City would not have thought that the Ming army would come here when Altan Khan attacked the Xuanfu, and it was the time when he was slacking off, and they caught him by surprise.

(End of this chapter)