The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 416
Wang Shouren led his troops deep into the grassland alone, without any support, not to mention people, animals and property, even if it was the yardstick for Ming soldiers to remember their achievements, that is, the enemy's leader could not be brought back.

Most of those who came with him were elite soldiers from the Nuer Gandu Division who accompanied him to fight against the Jurchen. This group of troops can be said to be the most experienced cavalry in the Ming Dynasty, especially the cavalry with the richest experience in fortified battles and encounters. This group of people can also get the greatest degree of protection in terms of execution.

"call……"

Three thousand cavalry were the vanguard. When the cavalry rushed down the high slope with the sound of horseshoes and the sound of the wind, the Chahar tribesmen, who were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, were still in a daze.

No one would have thought that in the hinterland of the grassland more than two thousand miles away from the territory of the Ming Dynasty, there would be cavalry formed by the Ming Dynasty.

Even Weining Sea is only about four hundred miles away from Guancheng in Datong Town.

So when the Ming cavalry charged and were discovered by the Tatars, they couldn't even form an effective organization and resistance... There was a small market transaction going on in the tribe, which was almost bartering, together with the remaining members of the tribe. The men were also in a hurry to find their weapons, and many of them couldn't even rush to their stables in the first place.

They initially thought that this might be an attack from another tribe.

Those who dared to attack when the main force of the Chahar tribe went out would inevitably face Batu Monk's revenge when they turned back. They didn't even think that any tribe had such courage.

"Bang bang bang..."

But when the distance between the two sides was two to three hundred steps, with the sound of the firecrackers, and the men, women, old and children in the tribe were hit by the firecrackers and fell to the ground, they realized that this was not Duoyan Sanwei or those small tribes at all. The cavalry, but Ming's army.

……

……

Three thousand cavalry rushed into the tribal territory without encountering any decent resistance.

Not even a few arrows were fired from the other side.

Because this was the first battle after Wang Shouren led his troops into the grassland, the soldiers were all ready to fight hard, and there was no such thing as disarming or not killing, but anyone who can run and move, even livestock They were slaughtered together, and if they were dead, they would be set on fire directly.

In a completely one-sided massacre, some tribesmen wanted to flee eastward when they mounted their horses and found that they could not resist. However, the other troops sent by Wang Shouren also completed the encirclement of the tribe's territory. No tribal people can escape the encirclement.

"boom!"

With the second-line artillery in place and the sound of the artillery, about a hundred part-time Tatars had formed on the edge of the tribal territory and were preparing to counterattack. Under the suppression of the artillery fire, they collapsed almost instantly.

The Tatars are well-trained, and they are limited to their ability to charge on horseback. When encountering Da Ming's almost unreasonable long-range firearms, all they can do is spread out as much as possible to avoid being wiped out by the group... and Da Ming The cavalry also launched a frenzied pursuit and massacre...

The color of blood dyes the grassland red, and the sun shines on the grass covered with blood. It is not known whether it is human blood or animal blood, the color is quite coquettish.

And it didn't take half an hour for this battle, the hundred years had completely stopped.

The living animals that can still move in front of Daming are only some animals that are too late to be slaughtered. The tribesmen have been taken over in one pot, and the remaining animals will be selected. Those that can be slaughtered alive will also use part of the meat as food for the army. The use of grain and grass to complete the necessary reserves for war support.

"Major General!"

Generals Han Zheng and Guan Jing appeared in front of Wang Shouren's horse.

Guan Jing is a general who followed Wang Shouren and made great contributions in the Weining Sea battle. Now he follows Wang Shouren as the deputy commander of Liaobei and Nuer Gandu Division. As for Han Zheng, he is a general brought out by Guan Jing. The battle of fortifications in the war.

"I counted and killed 350 thieves. No one in our army was injured! Only one horse was hit by an arrow!"

When Guan Jing mentioned this, it was as if he was mentioning a very insignificant meritorious service.

In the past, this is a great contribution. In the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods, only Wang Yue in his heyday achieved such a contribution.

Those who were killed were not all elite Tatar soldiers. In Daming, even the heads of Tatar tribe babies could be used as military exploits, but they needed to be specially marked.

Just like when the Tatars plundered the frontier, they would not show any kindness because there were old, weak, women and children in front of them.

But Wang Shouren was not proud of this. He said: "Many of the military exploits are old, weak, women and children. Cut off the left and right ears at the same time, young and middle-aged men on one side, and the rest on the other side, seal the mouth with lime, and save it after returning to the pass. Verify!"

Wang Shouren's tactic is not to keep any prisoners. "As for the knives, armor, tents, wooden objects, etc. in the enemy camp, they will be destroyed on the spot. The valuables can be picked and taken away, and the rest will be left in the wilderness without cleaning!"

Guan Jing asked, "Aren't the corpses buried?"

"No time to care about it!" Wang Shouren wiped his cherished sword of Wang Weining before returning it to its sheath, "Leave a few horses to carry the load, and continue to march northwest!"

Not only to go west, but also to go northwest, which is the direction away from Daming.

Han Zheng said: "It seems that some Tatar scouts from the side escaped, but they haven't recovered yet."

"You don't have to force it." Wang Shouren didn't seem to care too much, "Now that you're here, you don't have to be afraid of others knowing, and you don't have to demand that every battle can be taken advantage of. Instead, let the whole grassland know that I am a Ming soldier. It can also be used as a hunting paddock for the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Order!"

Guan Jing and Han Zheng were very encouraged after hearing this.

As a general of the Ming Dynasty frontier army, in the past, he could only guard the fortress every time, watching the Tatars wreaking havoc outside the city, the feeling was still very aggrieved.

Now not only can they confront it head-on, but they have also taken the initiative to break out of the grassland, and even penetrated into the grassland for two thousand miles. This kind of arrogance alone can make them feel proud.

"Stay and rest, and continue westward in an hour!"

……

……

Wang Shouren's troops had just completed the first battle, and then encountered the second battle that night.

Before nightfall, the scouts detected the location of the Tatar camp. When the Tatar tribe began to retreat northward, Wang Shouren ordered three thousand soldiers and horses in the vanguard to pursue them quickly, and they were bound to catch up before dawn.

A battle during the day is just an appetizer for the Ming soldiers.

6000 people can only deal with three or four hundred Tatars, many of whom are old and weak, women and children, and it is not too honorable to win.

But this time what they are chasing is a relatively large branch of the Chahar tribe, and the number of the other tribe is over a thousand. It is not possible to wander around the surrounding herdsmen who have not gathered, and they sent out to patrol around. cavalry.

Wang Shouren originally planned to catch up with the Tatars before dawn.

But the Tatars were dragging their families with them, and they also had to bring all the livestock and goods with them. The speed of their march was obviously not comparable to that of the light cavalry of the Ming Dynasty who were chasing lightly. It is less than three miles away from the Tatar tribal camp.

"You can get there in one charge."

Wang Shouren did not sit in the central army. His character was to be at the forefront in tough battles.

At this time, some light could be seen vaguely in the distance, not fire, but it seemed that someone was lighting the pasture along the way to disturb the sight and sound, but because of the scouts' investigation, the direction of the main force of the Tatar tribe could already be determined.

"Report! The Hulu have assembled hundreds of people!"

"rush ahead!"

Wang Shouren is not polite either.

At this time, it is necessary to take the initiative to attack. If hundreds of people on the other side give momentum and rush to your own side first to disrupt your own formation, even if you don't cooperate with the Tatar reinforcements, Ming's side will lose more than expected a lot of.

Now Wang Shouren not only wants to win, but also wants to win a big victory. He wants to achieve zero casualties as much as possible with power, because he knows that it is absolutely impossible for his side to have reinforcements. Even if you die, you may not be able to bring back the territory of Ming Dynasty.

……

……

"Boom boom boom!"

The sound of artillery pierced the silence of the long night.

On the main battlefield, the Tatars assembled four to five hundred cavalry to start a head-to-head contest with the Ming side. On the other side, the Tatar tribesmen were still struggling to escape to the northwest. They wanted to fight as much as possible with the larger The tribes approached so that they could escape before reinforcements arrived.

The vanguard of Ming Dynasty was also divided into three groups.

Wang Shouren launched a charge with [-] cavalry from the center, while the other [-] cavalry outflanked from both wings.

The number of artillery used in this battle is less than one hundred.

In Wang Shouren's view, before the actual encounter with the main force of the Tatars, the artillery shells can still be saved, and the artillery shells are also a strategic resource that cannot be supplemented on the grassland. He can be regarded as smug, or very ambitious.

In his view, the next battle will always be more important than the current one, requiring more strategic resources to be mobilized.

One's own side can't show all its strength as soon as it comes up, and it always has to give the remnants of the Tatars a false impression that "the army of the Ming Dynasty is nothing more than this".

The battle begins.

Because the Tatar side has long known the power of Ming artillery and firecrackers, even when their cavalry charged, they no longer charged in a long snake formation, and achieved the greatest degree of dispersion, and prepared iron shields, plus iron armor. The blessing is to resist the artillery and firecracker projectiles fired from the front.

But the artillery on Daming's side basically fell from the top of his head.

Even if the two sides are in a confrontational posture, the Ming Dynasty side is still light cavalry. It seems that as long as the Tatar cavalry can charge close and the two sides start hand-to-hand combat, the Tatar side will regain the advantage.

But this so-called "opportunity" is just an illusion.

Wang Shouren also knew where the disadvantages of his side were. If it was really going to be a hand-to-hand fight, what would be the use of artillery and flint blunderbuss?
"Boom boom boom... boom boom boom..."

The artillery fired more intensively. When the Tatar cavalry had rushed to the range of [-] paces, before they were within the range of the Tatar bows and arrows, the firecrackers from the Ming side had already fired.

And the impact force from the firecracker projectiles, even if they can't directly shoot through the shields of the Tatars, their horses don't have enough shields to protect them, and the powerful impact will make many Tatar cavalry turn their backs. Not to mention the huge impact produced by the artillery shells falling in mid-air, which made them unable to parry.

Because the number of troops on the Ming side has an absolute advantage, and the vanguard troops are all equipped with flint guns.

So much so that the Tatar side knew that there was no chance of winning this battle.

Perhaps their purpose was to hold back the pace of the Ming army's pursuit, but obviously they also misjudged the strength of the Ming side.

Firearms played a huge role in this kind of frontal battle. As the Tatars fell to the ground, Wang Shouren also ordered the messengers to fire the signal flare. When the red signal flare pierced the night sky, the [-] Ming soldiers who followed up , It has been possible to bypass the battlefield directly and rush to the Tatar headquarters less than three or four miles away.

Wang Shouren rode in the formation.

When the vanguard of the Tatar cavalry was closest to him, they were less than fifty steps away, completely within the range of the Tatars, but Wang Shouren was not afraid at all.

Because this sporadic Tatars who can rush over alone, at a distance of fifty paces, the projectiles of the firecrackers no longer just shoot at him from one direction, but form a double-teaming situation...

When Wang Shouren rode forward and beheaded a Tatar who was still crawling on the ground, the strength of this battle was so different that it could be said that there was no comparison, and it was almost over.

The rest are just massacres.

……

……

Another slaughter.

It will be tomorrow.

The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had already cut off the ears of more than 400 Tatar cavalry corpses, and slaughtered more than 600 tribesmen... and slaughtered the last remaining animals with the Tatars' own knives. In this way, killing so many animals at one time also made the Ming soldiers feel tired.

In the back, simply form a circle, light the fire around it, drive all the animals in, and then gradually shrink the circle of fire, and burn all the animals to death.

"The meat is delicious!"

The Ming soldiers did not lose their appetite because of the bloody killing last night.

This is the difference between veterans and recruits.

The soldiers on Daming's side had fought with Wang Shouren in the north and south, and had experienced many fierce battles. Even if they had never killed a Tartar with their own hands before, they had seen piles of dead people.

In order to quickly replenish physical strength and face the main force of the Tatars who may attack at any time, so that he will not become a member of the dead, even if some recruits are not used to the bloody scene and the smell of burnt corpses, they know how to hurry up. Eat more food and drink more water.

"Ten miles to the west, there is a river, stationed on the bank of the river, ready for battle at any time!"

Wang Shouren is different from ordinary generals.

He didn't engage in a desperate fight, because he led his troops into the grassland, and he had no way out, so he didn't have to be afraid that Ming soldiers would become deserters.

Die in the grassland is much more beautiful than fleeing back, and not everyone is qualified to follow Wang Shouren deep into the grassland hinterland.

What he wants to pursue now is to ensure the survival resources of the soldiers. On the grassland, water resources are the most important thing to be guaranteed, and they need to be replenished at any time. It is easy to cause major strategic problems... because the team needs to move fast to move quickly. It may take more than two days of water. Compared with grain and grass, the reserve of water resources is a weak point.

……

……

The battlefield had just been cleaned up, and the Ming soldiers had to set off again early in the morning.

When they set out and hadn't reached the river bank, a scout from the front sent a battle report, and Guan Jing personally reported to Wang Shouren: "Young general, the two battles yesterday have already alarmed all parties in Tatar. Before dawn, at least three The Tatar reinforcements are on their way here, but after we won, they all retreated. It is not clear how many Tatar main forces are at present, but it is expected to be no less than [-] soldiers!"

Wang Shouren rode on a horse and stood high on the hill, took out his binoculars, and looked at the direction in which the Tatars were retreating all the way. The distance seemed to be at least ten or twenty miles away.

Wang Shouren said: "This place is close to the Khan Court of the Chahar Tribe. If they have not been able to gather troops and horses until now, it can only show that their defenses are too weak. We can kill here, enough to deter the Tatars. People! Garrison on the bank of the river, with a company battalion for two miles, with artillery ready to deal with the incoming enemy at any time."

Guan Jing asked for instructions: "There are at least [-] Tartars to the west. Do you want to gather troops to pursue them?"

The pursuit battle last night made Guan Jing's blood boil until now.

Killed more than 300 people during the day, and killed a thousand at night... This way of obtaining military merit is so enjoyable.

More importantly, this is a feat accomplished in the hinterland of Tatar. If he can return to Daming alive, he can brag about his awesomeness. In the future, no one in the army will be dissatisfied.

"There's no need to chase hard." Wang Shouren said, "They don't have any worries, but once our side pursues lightly, they will be disappointed. The stretching of the battle line will give them a chance to split up. From this moment At the beginning, the distance between each group of people and horses should not be more than five miles, and they should respond to emergencies at any time, with reinforcements from all over the place to cooperate."

……

……

When Wang Shouren discovered that the Tatar tribes were beginning to gather on his side, he was fearless.

Because he knows.

No matter how many Tatars there are, there are only [-] to [-] left behind, and they are still scattered within a range of several thousand miles. Most of them are still wandering around the Daming Pass in the south. It is impossible for them to gather more than [-] troops in a short period of time. Came back from the hinterland.

If Daming's side is six thousand to ten thousand...

With Wang Shouren's self-confidence, the Ming side's winning rate in this battle is almost over [-]%.

What is the right time, place and people are not important at all, the most important thing is one... We have enough artillery and shells, from platooning to platooning guns, we can fire in a row one after another.

As long as the formation is maintained, you Tatars will come and attack at will.

There is more than [-]% chance of winning a battle, so why worry about it?
Just dispatch the army to go to your hinterland, and fight whoever dares to go up, and ask you Tatars, who dares to be tough?
As Wang Shouren expected.

When the troops of the Ming Dynasty set up camp on the bank of the river, the Tatar reinforcements from all walks of life retreated thirty miles away.

And it's five miles back in this way, and ten miles back in the other way... more and faster than anyone else.

It doesn't matter that the Tatars are greedy for life and afraid of death, it's because they also noticed that the Ming side only came with 2000 troops, which can be handled by them at will, but [-] regular troops came, and the number of artillery and firecrackers was so large that They didn't expect... the leader of the army was Wang Shouren, the uncle of Ming Dynasty who was famous for his fierceness and ruthlessness...

In the first battle of Weininghai, Wang Shouren could have 2000 troops.

Now give him [-] soldiers and horses...the number of artillery and firecrackers has been doubled several times...

Who will be responsible for this damn loss of soldiers?Dayan Khan Batu Monk who is cheap and ambitious to unify the grassland?

Probably unless the little Tatar prince Batu Mengke led his troops back in person, it seemed that no one would dare to fight Wang Shouren head-on.

(End of this chapter)