Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2297: Three Victories (XI) Decisive Battle in the Western Regions (III)

In the camp of the Chahar tribe, the atmosphere was solemn and tense. Burihatu, the "Grand Master of all Mongolia", looked solemn and was staring at Lindan Batur in front of him with a frown, as if he was thinking about something important. His eyes were deep and firm, as if he could see into Lindan Batur's heart.

Lindan Batur, the destined Khan of the Chahar tribe, was still young, but he already looked like a Khan. Although he was a little discouraged, his flickering eyes showed that he was unwilling to accept it, so he deliberately said some discouraging words and then quietly waited for Burihatu's decision.

Lindan Batur knew that the wise and brave Grand Master in front of him was the only hope of Chahar, and the fate of all the Mongols who refused to surrender was in his hands.

Bu Rihatu finally spoke, his voice deep and powerful: "Lin Dan Taiji, I have carefully analyzed the current situation. The Ming army is coming with great momentum, strong forces and sufficient supplies. Although our Chahar tribe is brave and good at fighting, we are still unable to compare with the Ming army and its vassal army in terms of military strength.

Not to mention, our bigger dilemma is that we can't fight a war of attrition at all - the Ming Dynasty has hundreds of millions of people. Even if they lose on the front line, their 60,000 troops will gradually be exhausted, but what? If 60,000 die, there will be another 60,000, and it will be endless. Therefore, even if we fight the Ming army head-on, even if we win temporarily, we will never win in the long run. "

After hearing this, Lindan Batur nodded solemnly. He knew that what Burihatu said was true, and the Chahar tribe had fallen into trouble. The reason behind this was explained to him by Burihatu before he sent troops to Gansu last year. In short, the advantage of the Ming Dynasty was its almost infinite population. The Ming court had difficulty in making use of this advantage many years ago because of their financial difficulties.

However, since Gao Gong and Gao Youshi, uncle and nephew, came to power, the Ming court gradually reversed this situation. Especially since Gao Youshi became the Minister of Finance of the Ming court, the Ming army quickly made up for the financial shortcomings at a visible speed. Therefore, even though Gao Youshi did not use any clever strategies in the Northern Expedition, he still forced the Chahar tribe to overcome all difficulties and risk their lives to move westward.

At that time, Burihatu told him that the purpose of sending troops to Gansu was not to counterattack the Ming Dynasty, but to slightly disrupt the pace of the Ming army's westward expedition and delay their westward expedition as much as possible. As it turned out, the Grand Master was right again. The Ming army's westward expedition was delayed for at least half a year, and possibly even a year.

However, even so, the absolute gap in absolute strength is still unquestionable. Delay is just delay and will not change the final direction of the situation.

Lindan Batur's face turned pale. He didn't know what to do next, but he still had a sense of expectation - since the Grand Master had calculated everything, he should have anticipated today's situation. Therefore, he should have made some arrangements.

As expected by Lindan Batur, Buzhihatu did not wait long and continued: "However, giving up the battle and fleeing westward is not a good idea. In addition to the Mongolian army of Chahar, our army also includes the vassal army recruited in Yarkand and the defeated Oirat army. The loyalty of these troops is difficult to guarantee. If our Chahar army escapes, their morale may collapse, and they may even surrender to the Ming army and rebel against our Chahar army."

After hearing this, Lindan Batur's heart tightened. He understood that Burihatu's worries were not groundless. Although these vassal troops and the defeated Wala army had temporarily surrendered to the Chahar tribe, their loyalty was indeed difficult to guarantee.

Yarkand was conquered by Chahar militarily, and the conquest seemed like a surprise attack to the Yarkand people, so the locals were not convinced. In addition, the different religious beliefs of Chahar and Yarkand further deepened this potential contradiction.

Now that Chahar was strong, the Yarkand vassal army naturally did not dare to act rashly. However, if Chahar turned around and ran away without firing a shot at the Ming army, would the Yarkand vassal army still follow the Chahar Mongolian army to evacuate? I am afraid that they would rather choose to surrender to the attacking Ming army on the spot, or even turn against the Chahar army to raise their value.

As for the remnants of the Oirat, the situation was not very good either. They did have more than 10,000 combat-ready soldiers, but most of their tribes should have fallen into the hands of the Ming army by now - I heard that they had been assigned to Erdemutu, and this time they might be looked after by Boshoketu.

In short, no matter what, their tribes and families should be in the hands of the Ming army. Unless they can completely abandon them, there must be many people who want to make peace with the Ming army and then return to their tribes.

Bu Rihatu told him that it was meaningless to talk about the glory of the Mongols with such people. Even from the perspective of origin, they were not pure Mongols - the origin of the Oirat was the tribe conquered by Genghis Khan in the early days, and later it was counted as Mongolia. And there was another big problem with the Oirat. The current leaders of their four tribes were not from the Golden Family. It was hard to imagine that they would care about the "glory of the Mongols".

What's more, didn't the Tumed, owned by the Golden Family, also submit to the Ming Dynasty? And the Ordos tribe, they are Jinong, the deputy Khan of all Mongolia, didn't they also submit to the Ming Dynasty? If both Tumed and Ordos can submit, what psychological burden do they have for Wala? If you can't beat them, just join them. This is not shameful on the grassland.

The two men fell into deep thought, and the other generals did not dare to say much. Only the crackling of the candlelight echoed in the tent. After a long time, Burihatu finally broke the silence: "I have a plan, maybe it can buy us a chance of survival."

Everyone, including Lindan Batur, immediately looked at him. Burihatu walked to the map calmly, pointed at the location on it and explained in detail: "We can send a small number of Chahar cavalry to supervise the Yarkand Army and the remnants of the Oirat to resist and consume the Ming army.

The Yarkand army is large in number and powerful, so they can be used to resist the main force of the Ming army on the northern front, Liu Jing's army; and although the remnants of the Oirat army are small in number, they are brave and good at fighting, so they can be used to resist the Erdemutu army on the southern front of the Ming army. "

After hearing this, Lindan Batur's eyes gleamed. He understood that Burihatu's plan was intended to distract the Ming army and consume their strength. He nodded in agreement and asked, "Then, how should our main force act?"

Burihatu smiled slightly and drew a line on the map with his finger: "Our main force will pretend to stay in Yarkand City, claiming that they will send troops to rescue the southern and northern fronts at any time according to the development of the war. In fact, they will secretly gather and prepare to march west to Bukhara and attack Andijan.

Andijan is strategically located and is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In normal times, it would be difficult for us to attack it. However, we are facing a major war now, and the Bukharans will definitely not expect that our main force will not fight a bloody battle with the Ming army, but will suddenly attack Andijan.

Lin Dan Taiji, everyone, if we can capture Andijan in one fell swoop, not only can we find a new foothold for the Chahar tribe, but also according to the terrain, Andijan is surrounded by mountains on the east, south and north, which is just right to prevent the Ming army from continuing to bite us.

At the same time, there is a road to the west of Andijan, which will facilitate us to continue westward after we gain a firm foothold. If we can capture Samarkand in one fell swoop, then, as Lindan Batur said, our Chahar tribe will have another base for the Khanate!" After hearing this, Lindan Batur's eyes flashed with excitement. He stood up, clenched his fists and said, "This is a great plan! Then, I will personally lead a small group of elite cavalry to attack Andijan!"

Burihatu hesitated for a moment, obviously worried about Lindan Batur's age. At this time, a burly general stood up and clasped his fists towards Burihatu and said, "Grandmaster, Tashhai is willing to be Lindan Taiji's vanguard!"

Burihatu's face lit up and he nodded, "Okay! Since you two are willing to fight hard for Mongolia, this Grand Master will agree. Lindan Batur, Tashhai, you two count the two Oktos of Zarut and Naiman, and be ready to launch a surprise attack on Andijan at any time!"

  Lindan Batur and Tashhai immediately accepted the order. Lindan Batur was eager to lead the army for the first time, and Tashhai, although he looked only in his twenties, had a solemn expression and no excitement. Only the fierce light in his eyes revealed that he had already made up his mind to kill - Bukhara people, I, Tashhai, want this precious land of Andijan!

Burihatu felt that the Chahar tribe was in a state of decline in recent years, so he placed great emphasis on young generals, and Tashhai was one of the best. He was only a teenager when he moved west, but after his father died in the westward expedition, he took over the warriors left by his father and made great contributions in defeating Yarkand.

After the war, Burihatu took control of the real power and soon handed over Naiman Okto, one of the eight Okto of Chahar, to him. He also completed the tasks assigned by Burihatu very well - clearing out the remnants of the Yarkand, stabilizing the garrison area, and following the army's "Eastern Expedition to Gansu", etc. Every time he lived up to expectations and gradually became one of Burihatu's most trusted generals.

Originally, Burihatu wanted to let Tashhai take Andijan, but Lindanbatur's sudden request for battle made Burihatu hesitate.

It is true that Tashhai was the best candidate from a military perspective, but if we consider that the Khan was seriously ill and that Lindan Taiji would become the Khan sooner or later, then from a political perspective, Lindan Taiji became the best candidate for a surprise attack on Andijan.

However, Lin Dan Taiji was not even ten years old after all. Even if the Mongols had lived on horseback since childhood, at this age he could only follow the army and not be left behind. It would be impossible for him to go into battle.

But Tashhai was really smart. When he saw the Grand Master hesitate, he immediately stepped forward and volunteered to fight. He did not need anyone to remind him and immediately named himself "Lindan Taiji's vanguard". This helped Burihatu a lot. Otherwise, Burihatu would have to rely on his own authority to endorse Lindan Taiji. In any case, it would not be good for the future Khan to be Tashhai's subordinate when he went to war for the first time. After all, Tashhai was not from the Golden Family.

In the following days, the Chahar people began to prepare for the operation in full swing.

Bu Rihatu first selected a group of loyal generals and elite cavalry and sent them to the Yarkand Army and the remnants of the Oirat to supervise them. He personally talked with these generals, conveyed the determination of the Chahar tribe, and also inspired their morale.

He told them that this was a battle that concerned the survival of the Chahar tribe, and they had to go all out, because if the front battlefield was not fierce enough, the Bukhara, Kazakh and other forces watching the battle would definitely not relax their vigilance.

Of course, he also had to secretly brief these trusted generals, telling them that although the fighting on the front battlefield would appear to be very intense, they could not allow too many losses of their Chahar elite cavalry, because the purpose of this battle was to allow the Yarkand Army and the remnants of the Oirat to consume the strength of the Ming Army, while they themselves had to suddenly withdraw westward at the right time to meet up with the main army in Andijan.

At the same time, Bu Rihatu also went to the Yarkand Army and the remnant of the Oirat Army in person, expressed his determination to fight to the death, and let them know the trust and expectations of the Chahar tribe. He told them that as long as they were loyal to the Chahar tribe and jointly resisted the Ming army, not only would victory belong to them, but there would be huge benefits after the victory.

For example, the Hami area would be allocated to the Yarkand army for garrison, allowing them to have a high degree of autonomy under the rule of Chahar; the remnants of the Oirat would return to the Oirat areas after the Ming army retreated, and Chahar would maintain an alliance relationship with them rather than a superior-subordinate relationship. As for the materials discarded by the Ming army when it retreated, Chahar would only take half, and the remaining half would be distributed according to the results of the battle between the Yarkand and Oirat armies.

In short, the promise made by Burihatu seemed very sincere, generous and true - if he said more, it would seem too fake. Burihatu had a good sense of proportion.

During the preparation period, Buzhihatu also personally inspected the army's equipment and supplies. He knew that on the battlefield, an army with good equipment and sufficient supplies would often have an advantage. Therefore, he ordered the entire army to strengthen training and improve combat effectiveness; at the same time, he also strengthened ties with neighboring countries and tribes to win their support and assistance.

He knew that Bukhara would sit back and watch the fight, and that although Kazakhs would be interested in the old lands of the four neighboring Oirat tribes, they might not be able to defeat Boshoktu. He knew all this, but he still had to send people to ask for help. If he didn't do this, the Kazakhs might not care, but the Bukharas would probably be suspicious, which would make the surprise attack on Andijan more difficult.

While Lindan Batur was preparing to launch a surprise attack on Andijan, Buzhihatu was also gathering the main force of the Chahar tribe with great fanfare. He selected a group of elite cavalry and infantry to form a powerful force, which made people feel that they were ready to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army at any time.

Finally, on a dark and snowy night, two elite Okto cavalrymen led by Lindan Batur and Tashhai quietly set out. They marched along the planned route, and after several days of hard marching, they finally arrived outside the mountains east of Andijan.

Thanks to the continuous heavy snow and the aggressive Ming army, the Bukhara garrison in Andijan, who had enjoyed peace for many years, had never expected that a surprise force was not far from them.

At this moment, the last obstacle facing Lin Dan and Tashhai was the towering and snow-covered mountains in front of them. They had already lost 30% of their war horses on their way west, and if they wanted to cross the mountains, they would have to keep at least a few more horses. Perhaps when they arrived in Andijan, only 10% or 20% of the war horses they had when they went to battle would be left.

  However, although the two were distressed, they did not become depressed. Instead, they looked at each other and said forcefully: "For Mongolia, this battle must be won!"
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