My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 564 The Last Northern Expedition
Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong were the left and right forwards respectively. The two cavalrymen attacked He Lin like a crab's pincers.

Unfortunately, Tuohuan had already learned about the Ming army's invasion of the grassland, and he guessed almost immediately that Zhu Di's troops must be aimed at him, because there was no force worthy of Zhu Di's troops on the grassland.

So Tuohuan immediately mounted his horse and fled as soon as he received the news. He didn't even have time to notify other tribes. He took only his own troops and fled north quickly.

By the time Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong's armies reached Helin, the place was already in chaos. Some clever tribes were preparing to escape, while some tribes didn't know what was happening yet and were waiting for news with blank faces. As a result, Ming's army suddenly Divine soldiers descend from heaven.

As a result, Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong's armies attacked from both sides and easily defeated these tribes who had no time to escape.

These Wala people had long been frightened by the Ming army, so when they saw the Ming army flag, few of them chose to resist, and most of them laid down their weapons and surrendered.

By the time Zhu Di's army arrived, these captured tribesmen had been imprisoned by Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong. At the same time, they also interrogated the news that Tuohuan had fled to the north.

So Zhu Di almost non-stop, immediately led the army to pursue Tuo Huan in the direction of his escape.

From the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Zhu Di had made up his mind to capture Tuo Huan before withdrawing his troops. Therefore, even if Tuo Huan fled to the ends of the earth, he would not let him go easily.

Tuohuan fled all the way, leaving many traces on the road, so Zhu Di pursued along these traces.

Tuohuan fled with the entire tribe, not only taking a large number of cattle and sheep, but also many old and weak women, so their speed was not fast.

In contrast, Zhu Di's men were all cavalry, and they went into battle lightly. In order to pursue speed, they even brought only seven or eight days' rations. As the forwards, Zhu Yong and Zhang Fu even managed to do one person and two horses. Just speed up the pursuit.

Under this extremely fast pursuit, Zhu Di's army indeed discovered Tuo Huan fleeing ahead five days later. Even Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong's forward troops were connected with Tuo Huan's rear army, and they were about to entangle them. The army of pleasure.

However, Tuohuan came up with a trick to cut off the wrists of a strong man. He directly sent thousands of cavalry from the rear army to cut off the rear and let them hold back the Ming army with their lives. Then he led the front army to flee quickly, abandoning a large amount of baggage on the way, and even some old and weak women. He abandoned Yandu on the road and only took Qingzhuang with him to quickly throw off the pursuit of the Ming army.

When Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong dealt with the broken Wala army and tried to pursue Tuo Huan, they found that it was too late and the opponent escaped from their sight again.

When Zhu Di from the rear arrived, he learned that Tuohuan had escaped again. He was so angry that he ordered all the Oara prisoners of war to be executed, and then pursued him again.

It's a pity that Tuo Huan was prepared this time. He divided his men into nine and fled to nine different directions, hiding himself among them.

After finding out, Zhu Di wanted to divide his troops to pursue him, but was dissuaded by Zhu Zhanhe, because this was a grassland. Although the grassland tribes were afraid of being killed by the Ming army, if they divided their troops too much and a certain army was weak, they would probably be killed. The tribe started secretly.

In the end, Zhu Di could only choose a few directions to focus on pursuing. He led an army of [-] and even pursued all the way to Xiaohai, near Lake Baikal, but still could not find any trace of Tuohuan.

Other chasing troops that were sent out gradually arrived one after another. Although some caught up with the Wala army, no trace of Tuohuan was found. It can be said that Tuohuan escaped again this time.

At this time, the food brought by Zhu Di's army had been exhausted. If it were not for the large amount of food and supplies obtained during the pursuit of Tuohuan, the army would have been out of food.

Under this situation, it was impossible to continue the pursuit, but Zhu Di was still unwilling to give in, so he ordered the army to be temporarily stationed by the lake while he thought about his next action. "Zhan He, the time has come. If we don't retreat, the army will be short of food. We can't kill horses to satisfy our hunger, right?"

Zhu Yong found Zhu Zhanhe in private and complained to him helplessly.

"Grandpa Huang is just not willing to give in, but there is no food in the army, so it is impossible to hold it off like this. It is estimated that the army will be ordered to withdraw soon."

Zhu Zhanhe sighed and said.

Regarding Zhu Di's psychology, Zhu Zhanhe knew better than anyone else. He was older, so he also knew very well that this would be his last northern expedition, and he also wanted to use this northern expedition to completely eliminate Oara.

But he didn't expect that Tuo Huan would rather abandon his tribe to save his own life. Although it was very ruthless to do so, it was the wisest choice for Tuo Huan, because as long as he was alive, Wala would not be destroyed and would still be alive in the future. There will be a day when things turn around.

"That's not necessarily the case. I heard that your Majesty is planning to collect grain and grass from some surrounding tribes. If you dare not obey, you can directly send troops to plunder. Then you will feed the enemy and you should be able to survive for a while."

Zhu Yong said again.

Eat from the enemy. These four words may seem simple, but in fact they are extremely bloody. To put it simply, it means looting and plundering the tribe's food for military use. Winter is coming soon, and these tribes If there is no food, they may have to wait to die, so these tribes will definitely resist desperately, and then there will be another bloody massacre.

"It's okay to just eat from the enemy, but there are so many of us. Eating horse chews consumes a lot of money. It's not like one or two tribes can feed us."

Zhu Zhanhe sighed.

For Ming Dynasty, the tribes on the grassland are all potential enemies. Even if they dare not go against Ming Dynasty now, they may invade Ming Dynasty's territory in the future. Therefore, no one in the Ming army will have any psychological responsibility for plundering them.

It's just that these tribes are generally very poor, and the farther north they are, the poorer they are. Therefore, even if Zhu Di orders troops to plunder, it may be difficult to obtain enough food.

"Even if we have grabbed enough food, we have all run to Xiaohai now, and the weather is getting colder and it is expected to freeze soon. If there is heavy snow and the road is blocked, we will not be able to leave even if we want to."

Zhu Yong said worriedly again.

In fact, Zhu Yong's words also represent the thoughts of many soldiers in the army. They have penetrated deep into the Mobei land, and winter is about to come, and there is no food, so now the soldiers are thinking about returning home and no longer want to pursue them.

Zhu Zhanhe also sighed secretly when he heard this. Just when he was about to say something more, he suddenly saw a chamberlain rushing over to report: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, please come over!"

Hearing Zhu Di calling him over, Zhu Zhanhe immediately said goodbye to Zhu Yong and walked to Zhu Di's handsome tent. As soon as he arrived at the tent door, he heard Zhu Di's cough coming from inside, which made his heart sink immediately.

(End of this chapter)