Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 285 Capture Zhu Youjian Alive
On the fifth day of March, the fertile Monan Grassland was exposed to direct sunlight, and the green grass and blue sky and white clouds became the background of the Ming Army and Chahar.

The vanguard of the Ming army, who had been chasing for a long time, set up a lineup and narrowed the exploration range of Tangqi who had spread fifty miles to thirty miles.

More than [-] infantry and more than [-] cavalry were lined up in the south, and their armor was bright, like a red dragon lying on the green grass.

Opposite them, [-] Mongols dressed in coarse cashmere and a layer of simple chain mail rode on horseback, nervously holding bows and arrows in their hands.

Du Lenghong, who was leading them, tightly clenched the hilt of his knife. As he rode on his horse, he looked around and could only see a flaming Ming army. Apart from the Ming army, everything else was no longer so important.

The green and shining weeds are blown and swayed by the spring monan breeze in the center of the battlefield.

The vast field, the bright sunshine and the tense faces of the soldiers on both sides of the battlefield formed a sharp contrast.

Smelling the fragrance of grass and feeling the speed of the wind, what the pristine grassland brings to everyone is not the beautiful scenery, but the tranquility before the storm.

Some Mongols in Chahar didn't know who they were fighting for, and they didn't know what this battle could bring them.

Some people touched some of the ornaments they were carrying, most of which were gifts from their families who were worried about them before they set off.

The worries of the family members are still vivid in my mind, repeating in the minds of all the soldiers at the bottom of Chahar, lingering...

Opposite them, all the infantry of the Ming army kept swallowing their saliva. They were the first time out of the Fortress among the Shangzhi infantry. Many people were blank about how to fight on the plain and how to deal with the Mongolian cavalry.

Under such circumstances, all they can do is trust their generals, believe that their generals will lead them to win this battle, and believe that they will be led back to the Central Plains by the generals, return to their hometown, and see their relatives.

Compared with the Mongolian soldiers of the Chahar Department, the only thing they have more is a firmer belief.

Because in their eyes, the Mongols were the northern captives who kept invading Daming and harassing the frontier, and they were warriors who defended the frontier.

Without this reason, they are just a group of slightly stronger soldiers...

Some nervous soldiers looked up, and what they saw was the clear sky with clouds.

The clear sky seemed to be hope, and the robes beside them and the fluttering banners not far away seemed to give them enough confidence to win this battle.

Soon, in the tense atmosphere, the scorching sun covered by large clouds started from the direction of the Mongols, and the shadows began to cover the earth for a short time. It seemed that even the wind in the grassland became stronger...

"Pass down our military orders and build a car suspension formation according to the terrain!"

Among the army, Du Lenghong, who had kept the surrounding terrain in mind, began to give orders, and as his military order was issued, all Chahar's cavalry began to move.

Now they are in the Duolun Grassland, surrounded by flat land, which can just give full play to the strengths of the Mongolian cavalry.

More than [-] Mongolian cavalry began to be distributed into the "car suspension formation" of three cavalry regiments according to the formation, and the car suspension formation is also one of the few types that can cope with the current situation.

East Asian cavalry tactics used to be frontal assaults, long-distance raids, strategic encirclement, breaking the enemy's rear, and so on. Even the Huns, the ancestors of cavalry tactics, only had these.

But at this time, King Zhao Wuling, who was reforming Hufu riding and shooting, figured out a new tactic, Che Xuan.

Car suspension is actually an enhanced version of assault tactics, but it is much more domineering than assault, and it doesn't swarm like assault, and pays more attention to the distance between the cavalry.

Front and back, left and right, the use of various weapons, and sometimes even deliberately widen the distance between the rows, so that the enemy has a gap to hide, so as not to block the way of the front army, and leave it to the cavalry behind to pack up and cooperate.

It can be said that the car suspension array is equivalent to a cavalry version of the cone array, the difference is that the width is larger and the depth is narrower.

Because the car suspension formation is not a formation in the strict sense, at least compared to the infantry formation.

It does not have an effective coordination between various arms, but a purely cavalry shock tactic.

Therefore, most military strategists of later generations do not think that there is such a formation, for example, most military strategists hold a noncommittal attitude towards this formation.

But this kind of formation was unmatched by King Wuling of Zhao at that time, and in the deserts used by the great Han Huo Qubing in later generations. It's just that with the weakening of the Han cavalry, later generations could not personally feel its power.

Du Lenghong is a Mongol, but he is very clear about one thing, that is, to deal with the Ming army with riding guns and artillery, they cannot be dealt with with "Mangu Evil", but the car suspension array can just restrain the Ming army cavalry riding blunderbuss.

In Du Lenghong's imagination, all the Mongols are lined up, but what is the concept of [-] people?
Seen from the sky, these [-] troops almost covered tens of thousands of square meters of plains, equivalent to the area of ​​five to six football fields.

After they lined up, in the eyes of the Ming army opposite them, the sky was still pitch black, and the grassland and white clouds behind the Mongols could not be seen.

"Blow the horn! March!"

"Ugh..."

Following Du Lenghong's order, some Mongols began to blow long horns, and the melodious sound of horns spread throughout the grassland for a while, making nearly [-] Ming soldiers tense up instantly.

Since Du Lenghong deliberately chose a low slope, from the perspective of the Ming army, the number of Mongols seems to be much larger than them.

They did not have neat and uniform banners. For Cao Meng and others who were good at judging the number of enemy troops with banners and cooking smoke, they could only judge by what they saw with their eyes.

"The armies are ready!"

Cao Meng on horseback pulled out the long knife at his waist, and his words were heard by Tang Qi on both sides.

Rows of riders ran out and began to send orders to the various troops. After a long period of training, more than [-] of them took a deep breath and made full preparations for battle.

Compared with them, the left and right cavalry who were transferred to participate in the Battle of Hetao seemed very calm.

"Wu Xiangwei of the former army raises the gun and prepares to shoot three times!"

The Chahar cavalry began to march slowly, approaching the Ming army, but the distance was still three miles away.

Faced with such a distance, Cao Meng did not directly deploy the artillery, because he placed the artillery behind the [-] soldiers of the former army, and filled it with five catties of fine stone bullets wrapped in oiled paper.

Only when the front row of guns can't withstand the pressure will he order to fire.

Therefore, it is time to test the psychological quality of the front row gunmen...

"The former army Wu Xiangwei is preparing for a three-stage attack!"

"The former army Wu Xiangwei is preparing for a three-stage attack!"

Tangqi, who ran back and forth, delivered the military order, and when Wu Xiangwei heard the military order, all the hundreds of households picked up wooden whistles and put them on their lips.

"Beep-"

With the first blow, the piercing wooden whistle and the usual training made all riflemen raise their rifles one after another.

At this time, Chahar's cavalry was still one mile away from them, and they were still approaching.

For this distance, all the riflemen of the Ming army seemed to be able to handle it with ease.

Although cavalry restrained infantry, cavalry still had to open their mouths to eat after all, and all creatures that wanted to eat had one thing in common, that is, fatigue.

With fatigue, it is impossible to charge in one breath, and to understand charge, you must first understand the horse's pace.

The horse's pace is generally divided into four types, and for these four types, the upright infantry who is often used to train the cavalry to charge the battle knows it very well, and can even hear it with their eyes closed.

Even though it was on an open battlefield, despite the echo of the enemy's horseshoes "rumbling", they could all hear that the Beilu cavalry was still walking slowly.

The horse moves slowly, and the sound of hooves is one sound, that is, one horse step has four hoof sounds.

This means that the cavalry of the northern captives still have a long time to launch a charge, and this slow pace is also accelerating in the countdown of the Ming army's musketeers, and finally develops into a fast pace.

When the horse is walking fast, you can hear the sound of two hooves in one horse step, and when the two hooves are off the ground, you can usually hear the sound of two hooves. It's starting to have a rhythm.

It's just that this kind of rhythm only took a few breaths, and it quickly became chaotic, and it was a chaotic chaos.

The cavalry started running, and everyone knew it, and it only took three seconds for the sound of running to develop into the sound of footsteps...

"Weng hum rumbling—"

The sound of low and chaotic horseshoes almost covered the sound of the horns of the Chahar cavalry, and the galloping horses had already reached a distance of a hundred steps in front of the Ming army.

The whole army was charging, and there was a sound that could crush everything. At this time, the appearance of the Mongols on horseback appeared in front of the eyes of all the riflemen of the Ming army.

The appearance is clear, the magnification, and the charge horses who carry everything crushing come.

"Drums! Whistle!"

Cao Meng, who was on horseback, had calm eyes and decisively issued the military order to counterattack.

"Boom boom boom——"

"Beep-"

The heavy drums and horns sounded, and the three-thousand-pace musketeer in the front row subconsciously pulled the trigger...

"Clap clap-"

The clear and melodious gunshots appeared on the Duolun grassland, and besides the smoke from Huomen, there were also lead bullets that came out of the chamber!
The distance of eighty steps, although it is still not up to the effective range of the rifle, but it is very easy to use against rangers without horse armor.

For a while, the horse was shot and fell forward while galloping. The Chahar cavalry on horseback were thrown out one by one. The cavalry was trampled into meat sauce.

Among them, some horses that stumbled did not step on their feet and kept falling, which caused a tragic "horse crash" incident.

Hundreds of cavalry and horses were stumbled and trampled, while the following Chahar cavalry stopped the sprinting rhythm of the horses in the crowd by relying on their superb equestrian skills to rein in their horses.

"Retract!"

Du Lenghong, who was in the army, stood on the stirrups and glanced at the situation in front of him while the army stopped, then judged the distance between the two armies, and decisively announced the retreat.

The purpose of this charge is to find out whether the Ming army has artillery and what is the effective shooting distance of the firecrackers. It is not a foolish charge.

Although the death and injury of hundreds of people is heartbreaking, there is no way to learn more about the intelligence of the Ming army.

The sound of the horn began to fade away, replaced by the sound of Hoomei.

Hearing the sound of Humai, countless Chahar cavalry retreated and ran. Some people who were lucky enough not to be trampled to death or crashed to death were also looking for lucky horses and retreated with the army.

Under such circumstances, Cao Meng also ordered decisively:
"put!"

As soon as he spoke, the two messengers on the left and right raised the command flag and waved it a few times according to the flag.

Military Yue Baihu, who had been observing the semaphore, immediately stopped all drums and wooden whistles.

With the cessation of the sound, the uniform sound of closing the guns sounded, followed by the "swish" reloading of ammunition.

In just a few breaths, the four rifles were fired by the front row soldiers in a short period of time, and after confirming that it was safe, they began to refill by themselves.

After all, the speed of filling the flintlock musket is relatively fast. After clearing the chamber and filling it with gunpowder, many soldiers wrap the lead bullet with the oil paper that packs the gunpowder, and then take out the cleaning rod to press the lead bullet down.

The lead bullets were pressed down within a few breaths, and then everyone put the butts of their guns on the ground, with the barrels resting on their shoulders, waiting for the next round of military orders to discharge guns.

Such a uniform process, steps, and scenes were clearly seen by Du Lenghong, who was retreating.

His expression was heavy for a moment, and then he led the army back to the Ming army a mile and a half away and began to station horses.

Many Belle Taiji began to count the death toll, while Du Lenhong squinted his eyes and stared at the Ming army.

He was wondering if the Ming army had artillery, and led the army to attract the Ming army artillery at a distance of one and a half miles.

It's just that he didn't expect that Cao Meng was more calm than him.

"Looking at the posture, there are at least five or six hundred people who were killed by the volley of guns just now."

Cao Meng put down the binocular clairvoyance in his hands, but Saihan heard the sound and didn't feel that Cao Meng's words discriminated against him, because he and Chahar were not Mongolians from the same tribe.

What's more, at present, he is already the uncle of Yinshan who was canonized by the emperor of Ming Dynasty, and he is already a commoner of Ming Dynasty.

"The big banner with the tiger squatting on the rabbit is still there, but just looking at the way they galloped just now, it doesn't look like there are more than [-] cavalry."

After all, Saihan was a Mongol, and he knew what it would be like for tens of thousands of Mongols to charge at the same time.

From the scene just now, in his opinion, there are only [-] people in the sky, and it is impossible to have more than [-] people.

His doubts also aroused Cao Meng's vigilance: "You mean the northern captives divided their troops?"

"It might be a trick of doubt. They should divide their troops. After all, when the northern captives fought against me, Ming Dynasty, there was never an example of a frontal battle with the same or twice the number of people." Saihan frowned and expressed his opinion.

"Send someone to urgently inform His Highness about the number of northern captives."

After hearing Saihan's words, Cao Meng confirmed his thoughts, and then ordered a thousand households to spread the news.

After Qianhu made a bow, he led more than ten Tang riders and began to retreat, sending the news to Zhu Youjian behind him.

The movement of more than a dozen people is like a drop in the ocean in an army formation of nearly [-] people, and Du Lenghong on the opposite side didn't notice it at all.

What he noticed was only Chahar's casualties...

"Five hundred and seventy-six people? Are you sure?"

Knowing that more than [-] people were killed or injured in the charge just now, Du Linghong's face on horseback was uncertain.

Including the [-] people who died in the collision between the Tangqi and the sentry cavalry, the total number of casualties is [-].

That is to say, before the main forces of both sides began to fight seriously, one of the thirty-seventh people on their side had already died in the battle.

Leaving aside the casualties caused by the collision of Tang Qi sentry cavalry, just now, they did not reach the distance of protruding from the front and the distance of piercing the armor when shooting upwards, so they did not cause any damage to the Ming army.

Such a ratio of casualties made Du Lenghong retreat in his heart, and he didn't want to entangle with the Ming army anymore.

It's just because of Lin Danhan's move to lead the troops to raid the Ming army's central army, he can only create opportunities for Lin Danhan by holding back the Ming army's vanguard.

But to hold on is to hold on, to fight is to fight, Du Lenghong has his own views on this, he turned his head to look at the other taijis and said:

"Back another mile and a half, and return to the position just now."

Obviously, Du Lenghong chose a conservative approach. He still believed that it was impossible for the Ming army to go out without carrying artillery. The reason why the Ming army did not release it just now was to relax their vigilance.

Therefore, he chose to retreat three miles and keep a relatively safe distance.

Anyway, he just needs to hold on and that's enough...

His behavior aggravated the doubts of the opposing general Cao Meng, but he relaxed his vigilance a little when he thought that Zhu Youjian still had Long Xiangwei beside him, as well as the thousand cavalry from the left army of Wu Xiangwei that he had photographed earlier.

But just to be on the safe side, he still said to Wuxiang Wei Youjun Qianhu: "Take your people to the south to find His Highness."

"The last general takes orders!" Thousands of households of the right army responded, and then began to mobilize their own thousand cavalry to support Zhu Youjian.

As for Cao Meng, after seeing Chahar's cavalry continue to move northward for three miles, he couldn't help feeling a little regretful:

"If I knew it earlier, I should have blasted his mother!"

He swears, and obviously feels bad for not being able to collect more heads from the northern captives, but Saihan laughed and said:

"It's not bad to cut off the head in front of you first, it can be regarded as returning the cost of gunpowder."

"Alright..." Cao Meng could only comfort himself after hearing the words, and then ordered some Chahar cavalrymen who failed to charge forward and were still mourning to be sent to see Changshengtian.

Du Lenghong's heart was chilled by such an orderly harvesting of heads, but he was also more sure of his approach.

The unflappable appearance of the Ming army obviously wasn't afraid of their more than [-] cavalry, which showed that they must have weapons like artillery and chariots, otherwise it would not be so easy.

"Send someone to tell the Great Khan that we can't hold back the vanguard of the Ming army, please withdraw the entire army to the Onan River."

In the end, Du Lenghong was unwilling to waste time here, just because the fighting power of Cao Meng's soldiers and horses alone determined that their surprise attack this time was a failed decision.

Du Lenghong didn't want to let Chahar die or injure more people, so he sent Tang Qi to try to restore Lin Danhan's way of giving away the head.

It's just that his speed is still not as fast as Lin Danhan's detour...

"Sorry..."

On the grassland twenty-four miles south of the battlefield, the Longxiangwei team, which had joined forces with the cavalry of the Wuxiangwei Left Army, had grown considerably, reaching a size of [-] people.

Looking around, on the road leading to the battlefield, there are all upright cavalry in cloth face armor, hat-shaped helmet, and arm armor, while Zhu Youjian and Sun Shoufa in mountain armor and phoenix-wing helmet The other generals of the Ming army were very conspicuous.

"Your Highness, do you think that Tiger Rabbit Dun really has the guts to attack us?"

"I can't tell, it's him after all..."

On horseback, Zhu Youjian and Sun Shoufa chatted without saying a word, as if they were on an outing.

What they talked about was the result of Zhu Youjian's personal analysis.

Because he knows very well that although Lin Dan Khan has almost zero politics, he is still commendable in military affairs.

However, it is only "praise".

Compared with Zhu Youjian, Nurhachi, and Huang Taiji, Lin Danhan is placed next to Zhu Youjian, at most he is at the same level as Man Gui.

This is not to say that Man Gui is not good, but that there are too many handsome and general talents around Zhu Youjian.

Xiong Tingbi, Sun Chuanting, and Hong Chengchou are currently the only ones under Zhu Youjian.

Further down are Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, Qi Jin, Huang Long, and Qin Bangping, followed by Cao Wenzhao and the others.

Xiong Tingbi and Hong Chengchou are, after all, two people who can wrestle with Nurhachi and Huang Taiji, while Sun Chuanting is slightly inferior in history, but with the help of Zhu Youjian, his experience is comparable to that of Hong Chengchou, and the abilities of the two are equally up and down.

Therefore, Lin Dan Khan is at the level of Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan when placed on the side of the Ming army, and at the level of Daishan and Mang Gurtai when placed on the side of Houjin.

The pity of man is not that he can't get something with his hard work, but that he always fantasizes about things beyond his ability.

Lin Danhan is like this in Zhu Youjian's view...

If you don't have that means, don't take the porcelain job. From the perspective of political means and perspective, he might as well run away immediately after knowing Zhu Youjian's Northern Expedition.

At least Bo Yunai knows that he is not an opponent, but Lin Danhan thinks that he can pose a threat to the Ming army...

"The situation of the first-class army is urgent!"

"Beep--"

While Zhu Youjian was chatting with Sun Shoufa, more than a dozen Tang riders appeared on the horizon ahead, and the leading Qianhu was an infantry soldier Qianhu whom Zhu Youjian was somewhat familiar with.

They came galloping on their horses, and before they had time to rest, they rode their horses to bow to Zhu Youjian and said:
"Your Highness, there are only about [-] Beilu cavalry, and they have already fought with Commander Cao and Yin Shanbo."

"Tell me carefully..." Zhu Youjian's expression was flat, while Sun Shoufa looked like he had seen a ghost when he heard the words.

He looked at Zhu Youjian, but he didn't expect that Zhu Youjian was really right, that the northern captives really divided their troops.

"then……"

In Sun Shoufa's appearance of seeing a ghost, Qianhu told the story of Cao Meng and Du Lenghong's confrontation one by one, and Zhu Youjian nodded slightly after listening:

"Go back and tell Cao Meng to march slowly, and the northern captives will retreat by themselves."

"The last general takes orders!" Hearing this, Qianhu pulled the reins, turned the reins and led the people away.

But not long after he left, Sun Shoufa couldn't help but say:
"Your Highness, even if this is a division of troops, we should go to harass the governor and cut off our supplies, right? How could he come to attack us?"

"Although we have few people, after all..."

"Wait!" Zhu Youjian raised his hand to signal Sun Shoufa not to speak, and then listened attentively.

"Beep……"

"Boom boom boom..."

Not only Zhu Youjian, but many people heard the sound of wooden whistles and rumbling horseshoes, and they could tell that the opponent was quite large by listening to the sound.

Sun Shoufa, who was in charge of the guard task, subconsciously drew his sword, while Zhu Youjian turned his horse's head and looked at the low slope on the left.

"Beep--"

Not surprisingly, after a dozen or so breaths, hundreds of fleeing Tangqi rushed out from the short slope and rushed towards the army, while behind them was a cloud of flying dust.

"Sun Shoufa, now you can continue..."

Zhu Youjian pulled out the long knife at his waist, and the horizontal knife immediately fell into the army, and the cavalry quickly changed their formation, without even having to convey military orders from the general.

"I..." Seeing this, Sun Shoufa showed a bit of embarrassment, and just about to say something, the Ming Army Tangqi who rushed down the short slope rushed back to the formation, and the figures of Beilu gradually appeared on the short slope.

The big banner fluttering in the wind attracted everyone's attention, and what also attracted everyone's attention was the luxurious big banner marked with the word "Qi" behind Zhu Youjian...

(End of this chapter)