prosperous age

"There's nothing to see here. There's a flat river all around."

Liu Han and Yu Dayou had already arrived at Anyin Fort. First, they walked around the military fort, and found that the terrain here was all flat grassland, and there was no place to use, so they rode their horses into the fort.

At this moment, the two set foot on the abandoned wall of the military fort, and looked around a little disappointed.

From a distance, the walls of the military fort seemed to be in good condition, but when they got closer, they found that there were more than ten places where the walls of the entire military fort had collapsed, which can be said to be a sieve with air leakage everywhere.

But relatively speaking, having an earthen wall is better than a temporary camp set up on the grassland.

"This can only be the last resort. It is best to defeat the chasing soldiers of the Ida Department before the battle."

Yu Dayou was silent for a moment and replied to Liu Han.

"The opponent has about 10,000 people, and we have 8000 people, but they are all elites, and they are still capable of fighting."

Liu Han nodded.

After speaking, the two unconsciously looked towards the east.

Around noon, a long queue appeared in the north. It was the Ming army's brigade who had already arrived at Anyinbao, and soon there were personal soldiers to meet them.

Naturally, Yu Dayou and Liu Han didn't have to worry about them, they had roughly assigned the places where the troops would be stationed in the morning.

The transportation team all entered the few relatively intact courtyards in the middle of the military fort, and other troops also arranged a general garrison, and then they naturally buried the pot for cooking.

"Da da da"

More than a dozen war horses came galloping from the east. They were the sentry sent by Liu Ha to monitor our Ministry. With so many people coming back at once, it was obvious that the Tartars were not far from here.

Sure enough, a few Ye Bushou entered the military fort to fasten their horses, and led by the team officer, they climbed up the city wall where the two people's banners were erected.

"Report to the general, the total number of enemy troops is about 3000 people, of which 10,000 people are Tartar cavalry. It is suspected that a small part is Altan Khan's royal court guards, but Altan Khan should not be in the team, and Wang Tingda was not seen.纛, it may be Wanhu temporarily recruited, and another 3000 people may be the cavalry of Bansheng City."

The team leader, Ye Bushou, half-kneeled in front of Liu Han and Yu Dayou, reporting the enemy situation they had detected.

"Is it the Royal Guard?"

Liu Han was slightly surprised, and after thinking for a while, he said to Yu Dayou: "It seems that I Dahan still values ​​us."

"When will they be here?"

Yu Dayou nodded slightly when he heard the words. The fighters who can be selected to be next to Alta Khan must be the bravest fighters on the grassland. Of course, their combat strength needless to say, and the CNOOC Royal Guards sent by Alta Khan are among them. It was judged that this army was also impromptu.

Obviously, their goal should be to come directly to several frontier forts, to intercept the Ming army on the edge of the Great Wall.

Originally, in terms of time, there was not enough time left for Al Dahan, but they still arrived.

"We will arrive here in the late afternoon. They have a turn at the mouth of the river ahead. They should have noticed our army's movements."

The team leader hurriedly answered Yu Dayou's question.

"It's not surprising, we don't collect them at night, and they also have scouts."

Yu Dayou nodded. When the two armies are fighting, the movement of the enemy is very important. It is impossible for the leading general on the opposite side not to know this.

No matter how many scouts they send out, it will be difficult to completely block the enemy's scouts.

"They should bypass Anyin Fort and set up camp on the south side of Anyin Fort to prevent us from fleeing south."

Then, Yu Dayou spoke again.

"You go down first."

Liu Han waved his hand and asked a few sentries to go down to rest, then turned to Yu Dayou and said, "Then sneak attack while they are camping, or steal the camp tonight?"

The fighting power of the Tartars on the opposite side will not be weak, this is what Liu Han can hear from the information returned by the sentry.

If the opponent was just an ordinary Alta soldier, he still had the confidence to fight them, but after knowing that the opponent might be the elite around Alta Khan, his desire to compete with him faded away.

The number of people is 5000 less than the opponent, and the combat power is also slightly superior, so it is not easy to fight in the wild.

"The raid is very difficult. Three to 5000 people camped out, surrounded by other large armies. We had no chance at all."

Speaking of this, Yu Dayou looked around the vast grassland around the military fort and continued: "With such terrain conditions, there is no chance to use tricks, and we can only face it head-on."

After the voice fell, Liu Han also nodded slightly. Whether it is a surprise attack or a sneak attack, it seems that it is difficult to achieve it in the current battlefield environment, and it can only be wishful thinking.

"If we fight head-on, our chances of winning will be low."

Liu Han said something in a low voice.

Indeed, no matter how you look at it in terms of numbers and combat power, the Ming army does not have an advantage, and this battle is difficult to fight.

"not necessarily."

When Yu Dayou heard Liu Han's words, he replied decisively: "Master Liu, I have been in Datong for a long time. I watched the frontier army use firearms in battle and released them by relying on the city. My answer department would think so."

"Placing firearms at the head of the city allows soldiers to aim at ease, which is naturally the best."

Liu Han replied, "Even the Franco cannon can hardly cope with the surging impact of the Tartar cavalry."

"Did your lord forget the firepower of the governor's battalion?"

But Yu Dayou shook his head and continued, turned around and looked at the densely packed hundreds of chariots behind the city wall. It was a one-wheeled chariot designed by him, which used only one wheel for the convenience of steering.

"Over there, there are hundreds of small and medium-sized Francois cannons, as well as a large number of bird guns."

Yu Dayou pointed to the officers and soldiers of the governor's barracks stationed below and said to Liu Han.

"Forehead"

Liu Han was speechless for a moment.

He knew that Li Wenjin allocated money from the governor's office in Datong to build a chariot for Yu Dayou.

He also knew that it was more than that. Li Wenjin actually withheld a large number of firearms allocated for the Datong Army and handed them directly to his standard battalion for use.

These firearms were all brought from the capital in the first two years. They should have been distributed in large quantities, but due to the nature of military equipment, only half of them were given away. Can be supplemented.

As a result, all of them were taken away from the warehouse by Li Wenjin and turned into weapons of his subordinates.

Li Wenjin's standard battalion of 3000 people was actually equipped with hundreds of medium and small Francois cannons, as well as thousands of blunderbusses. This is not the standard configuration method of the Ming army at all, and the proportion of firearms is too high.

Such an army would really look good if it was just for drills, but once it was attacked by the opponent in actual combat, it would completely collapse, because it would have no melee combat power.

Liu Han would definitely not equip troops like this, and such troops are only superficial after training, and they may be good at defending the city.

Although he didn't understand what Yu Dayou was trying to say, Liu Han still felt that it seemed that Yu Dayou was planning to use the standard battalion as the main force to fight the Alta Department, which was a little too arrogant.

Is this what the Jiangnan Suppression of Wombats did?
The officers and soldiers are equipped with a large number of firearms, and if the Japanese pirates rush up regardless of the casualties, the officers and soldiers will scatter like birds and beasts?

It seems that I have seen a lot of similar news. It is no wonder that Nanbing is helpless against those small Japanese people. After so many years of suppressing Japanese people, nothing has been achieved.

Thinking of this, Liu Han couldn't help feeling a bit contemptuous of Yu Dayou.

When I saw Yu Dayou in the Governor's Yamen, to be honest, although he was dismissed, he was once the chief soldier, so he was very polite to Yu Dayou. After all, he led the Southern Army in Zhejiang and participated in many wars against rebellion. Difference.

But looking at it now, it seems that the northern and southern armies do not fight in the same way. Although Yu Dayou has a lot of combat experience, he may not be suitable for the tactics of the northern border town.

As he was thinking this way, he heard Yu Dayou's words: "Tomorrow I will lead the standard battalion as the central army, please General Liu choose brave generals to lead two thousand cavalry each to protect the two wings."

"That won't work. If you line up your troops like this, the main attack of the Tartars must be aimed at the central army. Once you are broken through, there is no time for the two wings to rescue us, and we will lose this battle."

Liu Han didn't have time to think about it, so he opened his mouth and said.

"I used chariots to defend the enemy in front, and the tartars couldn't rely on me, and would only be shot and killed on the spot."

Yu Dayou did not hide his contempt for the Tazi soldiers at all, and replied.

"Is this how the Japanese were suppressed in the south?"

Seeing Yu Dayou's expression, it seemed that he had made up his mind, Liu Han hesitated to ask the doubts in his heart.

"As long as the formation is formed, the firearms will be very powerful. Otherwise, the imperial court would not have mass-produced them to equip our army in recent years."

After Yu Dayou said this, he withdrew his gaze from looking down, and looked back at Liu Han, and then he saw a trace of disdain in Liu Han's eyes.

These days, the Ming army has neglected the use of firearms. In fact, he had already discovered it when he first entered the Ming army.

But don’t forget that the Fran machine guns and bird guns are all equipment that the Ming army acquired after paying a lot of blood. Those things are more powerful in the hands of those Fran machines. stick.

At the beginning, the Ming army also dismissed the Yi people's equipment, but after fighting with it, they found that it was really powerful, so they tried their best to get it and imitate it.

To deal with Japanese pirates, the bird gun is really a very sharp firearm, and the Fran cannon is more used by the Ming army in naval battles. After all, the warships of the Japanese pirates are not very good. Of course, the main weapon like the bowl mouth gun is also used. more.

It’s just that in these years, the Ming army and the Yi people did not engage in large-scale battles. They didn’t know that the Fran’s cannon was no longer the main weapon equipped by Western warships at this time. Now the most powerful artillery is a new type of cannon, that is, at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Hongyi Cannon of the period.

Because the southern Ming army used a lot of firearms to fight, Yu Dayou also accumulated a lot of experience in firearms warfare, and he was no longer a fierce general who only knew how to fight and charge.

The use of firearms by the Datong Army made Yu Dayou realize that the Northern Army had lagged far behind the Southern Army in the use of firearms. Even though Wei Guangde had used a large number of firearms in Xuanfu a few years ago, the actual combat effect was not bad, but he still did not win the war in Nine Sides. have too much impact.

Although he knew that there were a lot of troops in the opposite side, Yu Dayou felt that there was a large one-wheeled chariot serving as the Juma and Franji gun mounts. Yu Dayou felt that he was still capable of fighting.

"Tomorrow I will supervise the battle in the central army. If the middle road is broken by the Tartars, please lead the cavalry on the two wings to retreat here and wait for Lord Li's reinforcements. I will lead the standard battalion to break through."

Yu Dayou continued to speak, seeing Liu Han opened his mouth to speak, he immediately waved his hands and said, "If the Tartars suffer a disadvantage in the middle and turn to the two wings to attack my flanks, please ask your lord to let your subordinates desperately cover me.

There were only a few hundred cavalry in the standard battalion, which could not withstand the impact of thousands of Tartar cavalry. "

Although the Chinese army led by Yu Dayou was not Liu Han's men, but this was obviously going to die, Liu Han was still hesitant.

"Actually, this is not necessary. We just need to maintain an invincible and undefeated situation. If we persist until the Ming army is out of the town after killing Hubao, I will definitely retreat. After all, their main force is still in the Xuanfu. At this time, Governor Li will repay his merits." The memorial has been sent out."

The implication of Liu Han's words is obvious, as long as they persevere, they don't need to fight to death, and when they return to Datong in the future, what awaits them is the imperial court's reward.

However, neither Liu Han, Li Wenjin, nor Yu Dayou thought of the reaction in the capital to their great achievements.

Of course Yu Dayou knew about these situations, but he remained unmoved.

He could see that when he came here, Liu Han's idea should be to fight if he can fight, and to defend the military fort if he can't fight. After all, it is only one day away from the cavalry in Daming Border Town, and the infantry is only two or three days away. You can get there, it's not too far.

Logically speaking, Yu Dayou should respect the opinions of Liu Han, the chief soldier of Datong.

Although he seems to be on an equal footing with others now, he knows very well in his heart that he is nothing.

However, Yu Dayou came up with a bold idea because he had already joined Li Wenjin's department when he heard that the Anda Department was coming, but he couldn't tell Li Wenjin that it was what Wei Guangde said in his letter.

If the imperial court is really willing to spend money to build a chariot force to fight against the Tartars, it must first have an impressive record, otherwise it is absolutely impossible.

Why build a chariot?
It was not to solve the shortcomings of the Ming army's field battles.

If the Ming army stayed in the city, no matter how much the Ming army came, the Tartars would not be afraid. Standing under the city wall, the Tartars often surrounded them for a few days and then retreated if there was no chance.

It's just that such a Ming army's combat power will only become weaker and weaker, and even reach the point where they dare not even step out of the city gate.

In fact, the construction of the Great Wall was largely related to changes in the combat power of the Han army.

However, it is still unknown whether the Great Wall affected the bravery of the Han army, or whether the Han army's combat power declined and forced the Great Wall to be built.

But in any case, with that high city wall, it is an indisputable fact that the combat power of Han soldiers gradually declined.

It is by no means nonsense that if you forget the battle, you will be in danger.

Yu Dayou now desperately wants to use a victory belonging to the Chariot Battalion to prove for him that the chariot is a powerful weapon against the Tartar cavalry.

After a large number of infantry are equipped with chariots, they will not be afraid of the surprise attacks of the Tartar cavalry in field battles. This is why he chose to use a single wheel, which is more convenient for the battlefield to turn and adapt to various geological conditions.

Now, he needs to persuade Liu Han to support the battle.

Yu Dayou understands that whether it is fighting or defending, military strength is very important, and Liu Han obviously does not want to lose these 3000 people for nothing.

"This battle is not only for me, but also for the capital. They want to know the actual combat power of the chariot against the Tartar cavalry."

At this time, Yu Dayou changed the subject and suddenly brought up the capital.

"Ok?"

Liu Han looked over in surprise, a little confused.