The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 498 What is courage?
The first batch of Tatars successfully completed the task of forcibly crossing the Yellow River.

At first, there was a certain amount of harassment on the other side of the river. Yang Yiqing sent people to the other side of the river in advance, and the Ningxia Vanguard sent people and horses to block it. However, the blocking force only had one cannon, no muskets, and only two cavalrymen. three hundred.

When the Tatars forcibly crossed the Yellow River, this group of people only fired two symbolic cannons, but they were all empty. The Ming cavalry had already retreated before the Tatars were within the range of their bows and arrows.

Immediately afterwards, the Tatar vanguard successfully landed ashore. They were afraid that the Ming army was pretending to retreat and that there was yellow gunpowder buried on the ground, so they carefully checked everywhere, just like searching for landmines, so that the subsequent troops who landed were not so intimidating. positive.

After the Tatars established a foothold on the beach, subsequent boats, sheepskin rafts, rafts, etc. began to transport Tatar soldiers and horses across the river in large quantities. After crossing the river, they immediately set up defenses, especially to prevent Daming's fire cannon attack and shield array were brought in first.

But then they discovered that Daming seemed to have no plans or arrangements on the other side of the river.

"Taiji, the Ming Dynasty people have not followed up. There is a vast plain on the opposite side. You can lead your troops to kill them and take away their sons and wives."

In front of a young general who looked like a nobleman, some generals were reporting to him.

This man is the commander of the landing force, Batu Monk’s second son Urus Borot. This man seems to be elegant, but he is actually cruel and easy to kill. Te's poor health made him always covet the idea of ​​​​coveting the crown prince of the Khan.

This time he volunteered to lead troops across the river to accumulate political capital for himself.

On the battlefield, his character is wild and impulsive, but he is not easy to back down at critical moments. In the previous battles where he was defeated, he had no chance to lead troops, so he looked down on the Tatar tribe led by his brother. Especially the "cowards" in Chahar's tribe.

Urus said: "Tulu overestimates his capabilities and says he wants to block the impact of the Ming Ningxia cavalry. Then I will let him see how I can gain a foothold here. If he is in the last column, I don't have to." Take him across the river.”

Urus never hides his dislike for his brother, and his competition has no limits.

Born from the same mother, the relationship between the brothers was not good because of the competition for the throne of Khan. Batu Munch did not seem to interfere too much with the brothers' feud, but did not allow them to use some unconventional methods. As for mutual criticism and competition, It seems that Batu Munch is happy to see it.

It is the people at the top who like to see the people below fighting openly and covertly in order to consolidate their dominance.

So not only did Tulu have direct descendants, but Urus also had his own direct descendants, and because among the many sons of Batu Monk, Tulu and Urus were the oldest, and the third, Balsbort, had always been Being raised among foreigners meant that the competition for the throne of Khan was basically between these two older sons.

Urus was setting up his defense line and arranging his cavalry team at the same time, preparing to launch a raid on the other side of the river at any time to eliminate potential threats along the Yellow River. When a scout brought news that made his eyes red: "A In Taiji, there were troops coming down the river from the upper reaches. They were all cavalry, holding muskets in their hands. They numbered less than a thousand. They were holding the flag of the Ming Dynasty, but it was dark and it was difficult to see clearly."

"coming!"

When Ulus heard that the Ming Dynasty army was coming, he was not panic at all. He immediately took out the sword that symbolized his identity and said, "Meet them."

The general immediately reminded: "The Khan does not allow us to act rashly. There are not many people crossing the river now, so we have to wait for the people from behind. The Khan said that we must wait until 1 people have crossed the river before we can fight with the Ming Dynasty people." .”

"What Father Khan said was that we should adapt to changes. Do we have to turn a blind eye even if people from the Ming Dynasty came to kill them? My mission is to lead troops to eliminate the hidden dangers on the other side of the river. Now the biggest hidden danger has appeared. If I don't eliminate them, what will happen? Let Father Khan know that only I can lead the grassland people to reoccupy the Central Plains? Call my troops and prepare to fight!"

……

……

Urus is eager to prove himself.

Originally, he could have waited until there were more people and horses crossing the river later, and when there were 8000 people and horses, he chose to fight the people and horses crossing the river in the Ming Dynasty.

It was also because intelligence showed that the Ming army that came to harass only had more than 1000 people, and he currently had [-], [-] direct line troops that could be mobilized, so he felt that he was sure to win.

It is necessary to take the initiative to attack when the Ming army is not stable, and suppress the Ming army with thunderous momentum and destroy them... Urus's temperament is like what he usually shows, and it is not fair to say that he is brave and foolhardy. As for, but at least he is not the kind of person who is good at scheming.

Or focus on bigger fists.

Cui Yuan was still advancing with his troops when he heard that the Tatars had already taken the initiative to lead their troops to charge over. The distance between the two sides was no more than three or four miles, and they were approaching quickly because both sides were advancing with cavalry.

"Not many people come."

On a relatively high mountain, Cui Yuan, Xu Shen and others were looking at the opposite side with telescopes.

Nowadays, in the Ming Dynasty, telescopes have become standard equipment for ordinary generals. Although this thing has a simple structure, it is quite effective in detecting the enemy's situation at critical moments.

Cui Yuandao: "Did you see it? The Tatars are six or seven miles away, and there are clearly troops gathering. Why did they send these people over so early?"

Even Cui Yuan looked down upon the more than 1000 people sent by the Tatars.

We have muskets and light cannons. Although we don’t have many shells, do you Tatars look down on us?Do you think you want to eat us with twice as many men and horses as us?

"And it doesn't seem to be a heavy cavalry." Xu Shi also felt that the Tatars on the opposite side were unreasonable.

Cui Yuandao: "Have your horses and horses stop first and form a formation, two rows in front and behind. When the Tatars come over, they will switch to using firecrackers, and when they are within a hundred steps, they will use bows and arrows. Let the soldiers prepare fire bombs and reload them at any time."

Since the Tatars took the initiative to rush forward, Cui Yuan felt that there was no need to rush forward by himself, and he could wait for work.

Xu Shen said: "What if they just come closer and don't come up?"

"Then let's go up by ourselves. We don't need to be in such a hurry as before." Cui Yuan continued to look at the opposite side with a telescope. "Looking at this posture, the Tatars only have 2000 troops crossing the river. They are still very chaotic. As long as we can repel this Yes, there will be chaos on the river bank. It’s a pity that I have too few men and horses.”

There are only more than 700 people, so Cui Yuan lacks a little confidence in himself.

Xu Shen was a little worried when he saw Cui Yuan's behavior. He thought that this was a general who relied on Zhang Zhou to bring him confidence and was ready to fight. However, he became frightened before the battle. As expected, he had no experience in killing people.

……

……

A medium-sized war in the north is about to begin.

On the south bank of the Yellow River, the frontal tug-of-war between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatar cavalry has begun. It is still a roundabout style of play. The Tatar side does not dare to fight the Ming Dynasty army head-on. The two wings continue to advance and retreat rapidly, pushing the Ming Dynasty army back and forth. The Ningxia border troops were trying their best to hide due to insufficient number of artillery shells and bullets.

The royal flag of the little Tatar prince Batu Meng appeared less than three miles in front of the Ming army.

When the king's flag appeared, two groups of Tatars rushed in from both wings. This time they seemed to be moving forward without hesitation. After firing hundreds of rounds of muskets, the vanguard of the Ming army originally received a military order that they could not retreat until they died, but they were beaten by the Tatars. Deterred by the momentum, the vanguard of the Ming army had to retreat.

This was the first time that the Ming army retreated after the war began, giving up the territory they had previously occupied, with the intention of switching from offense to defense.

For the Tatars, it was about switching from defense to offense.

"Father Khan, as you expected, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to cross the river." The speaker was Tulu Borot, the eldest son of Batumengk.

This time Dayan Khan went on an expedition, and among his several sons, he only brought two eldest sons with him. I thought it was nothing, but just like before, he just left after plundering. Unexpectedly, even his route of action was changed by the Ming Dynasty. It is completely guessed that even though the losses in several battles were not very large, more than 2000 troops were lost.

What's more terrible is that morale was not high to begin with, and they relied on this battle to boost morale. As a result, after several battles, the soldiers were exhausted and seemed to be exhausted when they arrived at the Yellow River, where their way was blocked by the surging river water.

The morale of the army has dropped again and again, and now Batu Munch is a little doubtful whether he can escape unscathed this time.

Batu Munch also had a telescope in his hand. He had snatched it from the Ming Dynasty when he was fighting in Ningxia. It was the first telescope in the entire grassland, so that only Batu Munch was qualified to use it.

"The people of the Ming Dynasty are clearly at the end of their game, why are they still so desperate?" Batu Munch couldn't understand either.

You Ming Dynasty people have already obtained military merits, so it’s time to give up some benefits to us. This way, we can be mutually beneficial and reciprocate next time.

Now you have devoured our men and horses. We crossed the Yellow River north and stole some of your men. What happened?
As for being so desperate?There are obviously less than 1 people, but we have to fight head-on with our nearly [-] elite cavalry. Do you really think you can survive a hundred battles on the battlefield?

Tulu said: "Father, I'm afraid that my second brother will act impulsively on the other side of the river."

"Let him go!" Batu Munch seemed indifferent, "As far as I know, the Ming Dynasty can send out at most two thousand troops, and they are all exhausted soldiers. The Shenji Battalion they are proud of , has reached an unsustainable point, and your second brother has the courage to fight, which is better than many generals in the army."

Although these words did not accuse Tulu, they were obviously targeted.

In the previous battles, Batu Munch deliberately suppressed his second son Urus and allowed his eldest son and his direct lineage to perform. However, after several battles, his performance was unsatisfactory.

At this time, Batu Meng suddenly asked his second son to fight the Ming Dynasty's army on the other side of the river. In fact, he wanted his eldest son to know that if you don't work hard, your second brother will take away what should belong to you.

"Then Father Khan, do you want to continue sending troops across the river?"

Although Tulu is not in good health, he has a strong sense of competition. He will not sit back and let his second brother take his position.

Batu Munch said: "The plan remains unchanged. We will cross the river in divisions. One group of 900 people will pass by. After five groups of people pass by, we will temporarily stop until noon. I also want to know whether the people of the Ming Dynasty on the opposite side still have the strength to compete with them. If we don't fight, even if we can't annihilate them all, we can't let them stay at our tail. They have to be cut off before the whole army can cross the river!"

……

……

On the south bank, in the Ming army.

Yang Yiqing's central army had already pressed forward, and was finally suppressed by the Tatar troops and horses. As the Ming troops and horses retreated, Yang Yiqing's central army also had to retreat to ensure that the Tatars would not surround them from all directions. .

"Too many Tatars."

Guo Jun led his troops to hold the line for a while, and when he retreated, he returned to Yang Yiqing's side.

Zhang Xun said: "General Guo still has the intention to come here? Aren't you afraid that the Tatars will take advantage of the situation? When retreating, trouble may easily occur."

Guo Jun said hurriedly: "I just came to inform you about the situation on the front line. The Tatars did not pursue us. They still have concerns. It seems that their purpose is not to us, but to cross the river." Zhang He cursed and said: "We have eyes. How many steps is there from the front line? Do you still need to announce it?"

Immediately, both of them turned their attention to Yang Yiqing. Yang Yiqing said: "The Tatars' goal is to cross the river and plunder. Their goal of conquering the border has never been strategically to obtain many first-level military merits, but to obtain how many people and animals they have." Wealth. For them, it is acceptable to leave some corpses if they can gain profits, because after they return, the women and property of these dead people will also belong to them."

"It's really...different." Zhang Xu smiled bitterly.

But he knew what Yang Yiqing said was right.

The Tatars basically don't care about the gains and losses of a place with the Ming Dynasty, because they can't occupy it even if they defeat it, and they don't care about how many Ming soldiers they can kill on the battlefield. The most important thing is to see how many useful things they can get back.

For survival.

"I overestimated my ability, and I also overestimated the determination of the soldiers to fight to the death." Yang Yiqing seemed to admit his mistake.

Zhang Xu quickly said: "Yang Junmen, we haven't been defeated yet, don't say anything depressing."

As he spoke, he glanced at Guo Jun. Guo Jun quickly turned his head to the side, meaning that I didn't hear him.

Yang Yiqing said: "To break the situation now, someone must step forward. Either we have to wait for Uncle Ping Jiang or Duke Baoguo's men to kill them, otherwise... with our strength, the most we can do is deal with the Tatars. It’s even easy to get lost here.”

Zhang Xeng said: "Oh, Yang Junmen finally saw the danger of this battle. The Tatars have experienced hundreds of battles and are not easy to deal with. In the past, our headache was the fire sieve, but the strength of the little Tatar prince is not weaker than the fire sieve. Si, there are wolves everywhere on the grassland!"

Yang Yiqing ignored it and said to Guo Jun: "Retreat five miles away and set up camp again. When the Tatars come five miles away, they will not retreat. If the Tatars come again, send sword and ax men behind to prepare. Those who retreat will be killed!"

I'll give you the opportunity to retreat, five miles back, but that doesn't mean you can retreat again and again.

Just treat it as a feint to retreat, leaving the Tatars confused. They are afraid of our firearms and will not dare to pursue with all their strength. They will make plans after they have established a firm foothold.

……

……

On the north bank of the Yellow River, a fight is underway.

Cui Yuan's more than 700 men were waiting for work, and two rows of cavalry armed with muskets fought against the charging Tatar cavalry.

"Bang bang bang..."

The war was going very smoothly.

Even Cui Yuan, Xu Shen and others did not expect that it was the 14th year of Hongzhi. The Tatars had known that the Ming Dynasty had powerful firearms for nearly three years, and they would still rush forward so brainlessly to kill people. It was simply not very pleasant. .

Urus originally wanted to be reckless and wanted to directly open a gap with twice the number of soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and then swallow up the Ming Dynasty troops, paving the way for the Tatar troops to cross the river.

In the end, because he had no direct experience fighting against the Daming Shenji Battalion, he suffered a big loss from underestimating the enemy.

In his opinion, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty must be in a state of collapse at the first touch. As long as I rush forward, they will run away with their tail between their legs.

Time has changed, and the current combat situation has long been different from the original combat situation. Otherwise, his father, Huo Si and other heroes of the generation would not have to avoid the main force of the Ming Dynasty and choose to attack from the weak defensive areas of the Ming Dynasty.

"Taiji, it can't be done. There are too many casualties among our brothers!"

Urus led a charge, and as a result, [-]% to [-]% of the people around him were killed. The key is that the Ming Dynasty attacked steadily. Two rows of cavalry took turns firing guns and loading ammunition, and it seemed that the ammunition was taken. The inexhaustible appearance is completely different from what Batu Munch said. There is no need to worry that the Daming Shenji Battalion has no supplies.

Urus looked at a horse next to him, dragging his close guard who had been killed by a fire gun but was still hanging on it. He immediately felt like he had been tricked.

"Father, are you pushing me out to die?" Urus felt that something was wrong.

"kill!"

On the side of the Ming Dynasty, they saw that the Tatars stopped rushing forward after a wave of charge, and instead took the initiative to press forward. The people and horses were still the same people and horses, and they were not wearing armor. The team was almost lined up and looked very loose. The clothes on their bodies were Because of the dusty journey, they all looked shabby.

But just like this, the deterrent power of the Ming Dynasty soldiers was stronger than ever before.

A reckless man like Urus has to "judge the situation" at critical moments.

"withdraw!"

Urus had to choose to retreat after leaving more than 300 corpses and 300 injured.

The Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, worked hard and in a short period of time occupied the position where the Urus vanguard had rushed. The horses and dead people lying around made the Ming Dynasty soldiers very excited, because there were many of them. It's the first time I've done it. It's really easy to go down and chop off the head.

Cui Yuan and others also followed.

Seeing that the soldiers were already a little red-eyed and went down to snatch heads, armor, property, etc., Cui Yuan couldn't help but scolded: "The war is not over yet, how can you blind your eyes for petty profits? Mount your horse and accept the battle!"

The effect of his words didn't seem to be that obvious. Some people still fought over a Tatar's head.

Cui Yuan picked up a firecracker and aimed it at the two soldiers who were fighting. He was cruel but did not pull the trigger.

However, the firecracker in Xu Shen's hand rang out with a bang, and the surrounding area became quiet for an instant. They all thought someone had set off a fire, but when they saw Cui Yuan and Xu Shen riding horses nearby, they were looking murderous. When looking at them, the group of people who were snatching the credit were dumbfounded for an instant.

"If this shot misses, you may not be so lucky with the next shot!" Xu Shen said, "Didn't you hear what Mr. Cui said?"

A group of people were grabbing things, and no one paid attention to what Cui Yuan said.

Cui Yuan stopped being formal and said sternly: "Get on your horse and keep chasing! You have many military achievements. If you don't chase, you will be the ones who die!"

This is more useful.

Although Cui Yuan hindered this group of people from grabbing the credit, it did not affect Cui Yuan's actual actions to win their respect. Cui Da lied and said that he would die here if he did not chase. This is still very likely to happen, and if he does not mount the horse , maybe it was destroyed by a gun, what else could it do?

Cui Yuandao: "While the Tatars are not yet firmly established, take back the river bank. Then send people back to tell Uncle Xiangcheng and Marquis Wu'an that they must cross the river! We alone may not be able to hold on here!"

"Order!"

……

……

Cui Yuan was also a little unsure about taking 700 people to fight against the Tatars.

Because he already knew that the Tatars had crossed the river with 3000 men and horses. With the end of this battle, the number of guns and ammunition in his army also dropped sharply. A battle cost half of it, and the rest was even if one shot was used to kill the Tatars. The number of Tatars is enough to consume them all.

So he urgently needs reinforcements.

But what he didn't know was that Li Na and Zheng Ying were also in trouble.

There were only more than 200 soldiers left in Li Ao's department, and the Tatars were flourishing under the command of Batu Meng. As Yang Yiqing, who was in the midfield, chose to retreat, Li Ao's side did not know the front line. According to the battle report, it was thought that the Ming side suffered a defeat, forcing him to hastily withdraw his troops.

Reinforce Cui Yuan?

Just kidding, I, Li Na, only want to share my military exploits with you, Cui Yuan, not to risk my life with you.

As for Zheng Ying's side, the situation was not much better. They all chose to retreat due to the sudden strong advance of the Tatars. Zheng Ying's side was even more cowardly than Li Wei because they were detouring behind Yang Yiqing's headquarters and saw Yang Yiqing's troops were retreating, and they thought they had lost the battle. Then Zheng Ying was very "motivated" and led his troops to run away, and the team was scattered.

Under this situation, Cui Yuan was completely isolated and helpless, and the river could no longer allow him to return to the south bank. If he was defeated, he had only one option, and that was to run north.

But at this time, Cui Yuan didn't know how dangerous his situation was.

In other words...even if he knew, he couldn't change anything.

When Cui Yuan and his more than 700 troops were only more than three miles away from the mouth of the Yellow River crossing by the Tatars, the Tatars had already formed a formation and were ready to fight with them.

Urus, who had returned from a previous defeat, was also eager to restore the situation.

"Master Cui, what should I do? I can't rush and kill." Xu Shen felt a little headache when he saw the situation in front of him.

The Tatars' shield array has been listed, and the Tatars are fighting with their last resort, which is equivalent to "poor bandits", and their side of the army is at an absolute disadvantage, at least one against four. How to fight this kind of war?
"Where's the cannon?"

Cui Yuangao shouted.

Only then did Xu Shen remember something and said, "There are only two doors."

"Cannonballs?" Cui Yuandao.

"Six shots!" Xu Shen said.

"Well, lead the men to rush forward. Once within range, use the two cannons to shoot out six shells, and then rush forward at once. If I advance, the enemy will retreat. Show up with the courage to fight in Shigou City. That's it. With the example in front of us, the Tatars will be defeated!”

(End of this chapter)