I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 487 Times have changed
If we look at it from the perspective of later wars, the strategic plan of the Ming army's invasion of the grassland cannot be said to be shoddy, it can only be said to be completely unplanned.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Zhili Army marched out from Xifengkou in a majestic manner, with [-] cavalry advancing first, [-] infantry following, and [-] civilians carrying grain and grass.

Fifty thousand people and horses just plunged into the grassland.It cannot be said to be a grassland, because Han Chinese towns have been established north of Xifengkou. The administrative divisions are under the jurisdiction of Chengde Prefecture and Hebei Province, and a large number of grassland tribes and Han people have also been gathered.

Further north, the Liaodong Army also plunged into the Horqin Prairie. The Liaodong Army and the Northern Zhili Chinese Army Governor's Office said they were jointly sending troops, but in fact they were completely fighting separately.Yang Gong, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, wanted to hunt down rabbits and completely wipe out Chahar, Tumut and Karaqin, while Yu Kecheng of the Liaodong Army planned to wait for an opportunity to intervene in the melee in the Horqin grassland.

Moreover, not only did the Ming army attack each other, but everyone on the grassland also attacked their own.

The entire grassland was indeed plunged into a full-scale melee, but it was an internal melee within Horqin. Luobuzang Shenpu led other princes to fight against the Great Khan Eljitu.

The three tribes of Chahar, Tumut, and Kalaqin are even more interesting. Chahar was weak at the beginning, so he dragged Tumut together to fight against the strongest Kalaqin.Later, the strength of Chahar and Tumote increased, and the strength of Kalaqin's left and right subordinates declined. Then Chahar and Tumote broke up, and now it became a melee between the three factions.

The so-called unification of the grasslands and the ambition to compete with the Mobei Khalkha are no longer important, only the ambition of the Monan Khan is left.

Then... the Ming army called.

The Haraqin Great Khan who was enthroned by the Ming Dynasty and the son of Shanbalashi, Gunzhabu, looked at the Ming army formation opposite with a gloomy face: "The Han emperor is simply too bullying. The grassland is the grassland of our Mongols. Even the grassland If a war breaks out, the most he can do is send envoys to inquire and persuade peace, so how can he directly send troops?"

"..."

The Mongolian nobles who were following them were all silent. They had been confronting Tumut and Chahar a few days ago, but the battle between the two parties turned into a three-party melee.

Although the pressure on the Haraqin tribe has been reduced, it has also completely lost its fighter opportunities. The Haraqin tribe's strength and population are still stronger than those of the Tumote and Chahar tribes, but they no longer have the initial overwhelming advantage.Once Haraqin launches troops against any party, the other party will not remain indifferent, and Haraqin will not be able to quickly annex Chahar and Tumote.

Originally, Monk Gunzabu was still thinking of a way to break the situation, but before he knew it, the Ming army came to kill them first. There were a total of [-] soldiers and [-] civilians. The combined number of men and horses almost caught up with the three Mongolian cavalry. .

Monk Gunzabu, Tumote Khan Hamuga Bayas Khurangtu, and Chahar Khan Sujuktu instantly realized what the Ming army wanted to do by sending so many people to the Malay grassland.

After all, the Han people in the Central Plains have a saying since ancient times, which is called "Sealing the Wolf to Juxu and Le Shi Yanran". No Central Plains emperor can acquiesce in the independence of the grassland. This is another intention of their fight for the power of the Monan Khan, which is to fight against the Han Emperor. .

But now, it was the Han emperor who took the initiative.

After a while, the sentry sent by Monk Gunzabu came back and said: "Great Khan, we have all seen it. The front of the Han army's formation is full of chariots, horses, and iron caltrops. There are also a lot of artillery behind them, and those The cavalrymen all carry muskets on their backs..."

Before the Sentinel Qiu finished speaking, there was sudden noise around him. Just as Monk Gunzabu was about to frown and scold him, he heard someone shouting.

"My God! What's that?"

Before Monk Gunzhabu had time to investigate, he saw a giant thing rising from behind the Han army formation in the distance. When he was young, Monk Gunzabu had the honor to follow his father to the capital to pay homage to the Manchurian Tatar Emperor. He recognized it at a glance. This thing looks a bit like the Han people's Kongming Lantern.

"The Kongming lantern of the Han people?" Monk Gunzabu was quite surprised.

This is not because he has a good memory, but because he has not seen many things in the capital of Han Dynasty. Everything is a new thing, and the impression is particularly deep. Moreover, the hot air balloons of the Ming army, regardless of their shape and color, are particularly like enlarged versions of Kongming lanterns.

Not only did he recognize it, but Hamugaba Yaskhulantu and Suzhuktu, who temporarily joined forces under pressure from the Ming army, also recognized it.

"Is this... a Han Kongming lantern? Why is it so big?"

"Why are these Han soldiers putting up Kongming lanterns? I remember that this is not something that Han people can put out on important festivals?"

Since this was the first time they saw such a huge "Kongming Lantern", and it was still on the grassland, none of these Mongolians thought that they could use this thing to fight. No one even knew that this thing could carry people into the sky and gain insight into the battlefield. Global changes.

It was also the first time for the soldiers of the Ming Army who were on the hot air balloon. They were amazed at the wide field of vision at first, and then immediately showed their professional qualities and began to observe the deployment of the Mongolian troops in a targeted manner, and began to send signals to the ground continuously.

The semaphore is very simple, but it is enough to be used.

The battlefield is changing rapidly, and any information gap can bring huge changes to the battle situation.

The Ming army moved, not because the military formations moved, but because the artillery battalion pushed the artillery onto the fort that had been dug by the civilians.

The strategic deployment of the Ming army is indeed not brilliant, and can even be said to be poor, but it does not matter. Given the absolute gap in strength, any division of troops and strategic strategies will distract its own combat effectiveness.

When sugar gunpowder came out in the Ming Dynasty, the era of traditional cavalry on the grasslands had passed. Even the dragoons were only supplementary because artillery was inconvenient to move.

"preparation!"

"Load, aim!"

"Light it up, fire it up!"

As the Ming army camp officer gave the order, a total of twenty red cannons fired in turn.

"Boom boom boom!"

A total of twenty artillery shells crossed twenty parabolas in the high air. Due to ranging problems and angle deviations, half of them only hit more than a hundred meters in front of the Mongolian cavalry formation, while the rest of the artillery shells hit the Mongolian army directly. The formation launched an indiscriminate attack.

First, a cannonball with strong kinetic energy knocked over a war horse on the spot. The cavalryman on its back was also thrown off the horse and knocked over... It should be said that the cannonball after killing the warhorse did not lose any kinetic energy and bounced repeatedly on the ground. Rolling, it can take several lives every time.

It also caused the horses of the surrounding cavalry to fall into chaos. If these cavalry hadn't been riding horses since they were young, and had thousands of friendly troops to help, the army formation would have been in chaos first.

Monk Gunzabu, the Great Khan, even saw with his own eyes that a cannonball directly hit the chest of a cavalryman only seventy or eighty steps away from him, knocking him off his horse and dying on the spot.

Monk Gunzabu was horrified: "What kind of cannon is this? Why can the Han people's artillery shoot so far, farther than those Manchu Tatar artillery?"

Monk Gunzabu roared loudly: "No, retreat, retreat quickly! It's not safe here either."

Not only was he barking orders, but the Tumut and Chahar troops next door were also desperately leading their troops to retreat.

The news of the Mongolian retreat was quickly transmitted back to the ground by the hot air balloon: "Grand Governor, the Mongols have withdrawn. Not only have they withdrawn, but they have also been divided into three waves. The three waves have withdrawn at obviously different speeds, and there have even been conflicts and fighting. "

Yang Gong nodded: "It seems that although these Mongolians were forced to form an alliance to fight against the Ming Dynasty, this alliance is obviously not very reliable! Since the strength of these Mongolians has been weakened to this point, let the artillery battalion continue to fire artillery to deter us, and then go Send an order to Zhennan Boning Nanhui, the dragoons can be dispatched. Just in time for the governor to take a good look at how different this new rifled gun is from the original flintlock gun."

"Yes! Grand Governor."

The messenger hurriedly went down to convey the military order.

Yang Gong rarely takes risks in wars now. Why should he take risks in a war that can be crushed with artillery, muskets, and mortars?

Even the chariots, horses, and caltrops this time are from the Qi Jiguang of the previous Ming Dynasty. Although the chariots are heavy, as long as they are placed in front of the infantry, the Mongolian cavalry cannot rush up at all. With the assistance of artillery, Heavy firepower such as firecrackers and mobile troops such as cavalry are completely capable of being invincible.

Of course, there is a way to break the situation, and it is not difficult, that is, the Manchu and Qing chariots force their way in, and there are enough artillery to blow up all these obstacles.

It's a pity that these two moves are obviously ineffective against the Ming army. As for artillery, there is no artillery in the world today that has a range and power that can match the Ming army's artillery, and the Mongolians don't have it either. If there are, then just send out the dragoons. Go rush.

If it doesn't work, just use artillery, mortars, and grenade hammers to blow it up. I don't believe that gunpowder that is more than ten times more powerful can't blow up a dump truck.

Monk Gunzabu and the others did not lose unjustly. When the Ming army had new artillery, rifled guns, explosive shells and sugar powder, the era of Mongolian cavalry had passed by the Ming army.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Dudududu da da da..."

The Ming army's artillery fire sounded in turn, and there was the sound of the dragoon's horn.A total of [-] dragoons equipped with new rifled guns broke out from the Ming army's formation and pursued the retreating Mongolian cavalry army.

The Ming army's dragoons were waiting for work, and they only wore breastplates and had almost nothing on them. However, the Mongolian cavalry army on the opposite side didn't know why, but a few Khans ordered them to run away.

Many of the three cavalrymen who didn't know the truth thought that the Han soldiers had defeated them. When they saw the Han soldiers chasing after them, their guess was instantly confirmed.

"The Han soldiers are coming to kill us!"

"The Great Khan is defeated, run away!"

"I am willing to lead my troops to submit to the great emperor of the Han people. I am willing to lead my troops to submit to the great emperor of the Han people!"

"..."

For a time, all living beings on the Karaqin grassland, which served as the battlefield, were in various forms. Many Mongolian noble leaders even defected on the spot.

Even Monk Gunzabu didn't expect that he just asked the army to retreat a little, distanced himself from the Han soldiers, and then took advantage of the cavalry and the large number of people to wait for an opportunity to fight against the Han soldiers.

Even if they still can't defeat the Han soldiers, as the masters of the grassland, they can rush into the depths of the grassland at any time and lead the Han soldiers to walk on the grassland, just like they did during the Ming Dynasty's expedition to Mobei.

Although Mongolia would also suffer heavy losses. Although Ming Taizong's three expeditions to Mobei failed to gain anything, Mongolia was also forced to migrate and flee. It seemed that they were not killed by the Ming army, but during the migration alone, many people, livestock, and cattle died. There are countless sheep.

Monk Gunzabu was a little confused as to why the once powerful Mobei was now like this, and there had never been any signs before.

This is not surprising. Senggun Zhabu never thought about how long he had been the Khan of Karaqin.

One year, two years...or three years?

In such a short period of time, it would be good if Haraqin could be twisted into a rope by him, but how could it be possible to achieve true unity?

Without the management of two generations and continuous great victory (prestige), this would definitely not be possible.

Not only that, in order to regain the glory of Yongshebu Khan, Senggun Zhabu merged and absorbed many scattered tribes, which further increased the internal instability.

Yongsheb Khan was the powerful tribe that competed with Lindan Khan of Chahar for the position of Monan Khan. Later, Lindan Khan formed an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, and then defeated Yongsheb Khan and unified the Monan grassland.

As a branch of Yongshebu Khan after his death, Haraqin defected to the Qing Dynasty and eventually followed the Qing Dynasty to destroy Lin Dan Khan.

The current monk Gunzabu has this ambition to wipe out Tumut and Chahar, defeat Horqin, unify the entire Monan grassland, and then call himself the Great Khan of Monan to compete with the Han emperor.

Unfortunately, this ambition is about to end before it even begins.

Not only because the Ming army arrived too quickly, leaving him no time to integrate internally, but also because times had changed. The Ming army could even directly push down the entire grassland by just dispatching soldiers and horses from Liaodong Town.

"Da da da da!"

"Da da da da!"

The Ming army's dragoons were waiting for work, and they had a morale and psychological advantage. With artillery at the rear to support them, they quickly bit the tail of the Mongolian army.

"The Han soldiers bullied me too much! Haraqin warriors, how dare you join me in killing them!"

"For the sweat!"

"For Karaqin..."

"The warriors of Tumut also followed Ben Khan..."

Monk Gunzabu couldn't stand it anymore, and knew that if this continued, not only would his Yongshe Buhan be daydreaming, but the Monan Grassland would also be doomed.

It is better to take the initiative to fight now. As long as the Hanjun's cavalry can be defeated, the remaining infantry will not be a concern at all.As long as it can be delayed until the Han people retreat, then the envoy to Nanjing will be sent to respectfully plead guilty. At worst, a son will be sent as a hostage to give the Han emperor face.

Who said Mongolians are honest and honest, and they are not stupid if they can sweat profusely.

Seeing that the Kalaqin tribe had stopped running away, Senggun Zhabu actually took the initiative to lead his troops to attack. The Tumote tribe also quickly figured out the key and followed him to lead his troops to fight.

Just these two units combined, the cavalry already exceeds [-].

Under the coercion of Karaqin and Tumut, Chahar's Suzhuketu had no choice but to fight the Ming army, although he did not want to fight at all.

Once the opportunity was wrong, he would immediately leave and send envoys to apologize to the Han emperor.

In the blink of an eye, more than [-] Mongolian cavalry turned around and aimed at the [-] Ming army dragoons.

Thirty thousand versus ten thousand, the advantage lies with Mongolia!

When Ning Nanhui saw this, he just drew his sword and ordered: "The whole army raises guns!"

After receiving the order, these dragoons put away their swords and quickly raised their fire guns.

"Aim! Shoot!"

One command.

The Ming army's dragoons didn't even get off their horses to take aim, but fired a firecracker directly on horseback.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

After a volley of guns went down, a large number of the Haraqin cavalry who led the charge fell instantly.

The horse fell to the ground, and the cavalry on the horse had no time to react and was thrown away.

When the Haraqin cavalry charging behind saw the situation, they not only felt no fear, but also aroused their ferocity. They slowed down, reined in their horses, and continued to kill the Ming army's dragoons.

"Detour, free fire!"

"Da da da da!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The firing of firecrackers was accompanied by the sound of horses' hooves.

A total of [-] dragoons no longer engage in three-stage shooting, because there is definitely no way to unify them. They reload as soon as they have bullets, do not dismount, or even charge.

When the Mongolian cavalry approached, they aimed and fired. After hitting the horse, they moved away from the horse, and the whole process was kite style.

(End of this chapter)