Jingming

Chapter 504: The net is open and the giant beasts clash

Xu Jie and Hai Rui arrived together.

In the blink of an eye, they have been planting trees together in Shaanxi for almost five years.

Now that the battle of Xuanning in Hetao was about to begin, Zhu Houcong also thought of these two people.

Xu Jie, who was Tanhualang in the second year of Jiajing's reign, knelt in front of Zhu Houcong and restrained his inner excitement: "I must stabilize the people of Hetao so that Zeng Dutai can concentrate on the war!"

At this critical moment, His Majesty still thought of him.

Now, Xu Jie is over forty years old, and he knows that this may be the last chance to cross the third level as soon as possible.

Hai Rui, on the other hand, was much younger. The order he received was to go to Li Mo's side to ensure that the current procurement and transfer of military supplies would not be exploited by some people to enrich their own pockets.

Zhu Houcong looked at the two of them and felt a little relieved.

After all, the Ming Dynasty still had a vast territory and numerous talents.

Even if Xia Yan, Tang Shunzhi and the others could not come back, there were still quite a few people in the third to fifth grades of the Ming Dynasty who could make Zhu Houcong feel at ease.

Xu Jie has no shortage of talents. Faced with the important situation that Zhu Houcong is here, at least he will never dare to ignore this matter again. There has been one setback, and if it happens again, there will definitely be no hope in this life.

As for Hai Rui, he will do well in whatever position he is in.

The deployment has been carried out, and this is essentially a case of "taking advantage of the enemy".

At this time, the northern border of the Ming Dynasty did not have a general capable enough to overwhelm the generals, but the quality of the middle-level generals was not comparable to that of more than 20 years ago.

Over the years, military examinations have been taken seriously, and the replacement of generals requires examination and selection before being conferred. The title of the replacement is not directly linked to the military title awarded. This hereditary general position has become more and more like a "title."

As for the existence of the Public Security Department and enterprises, most of those who were unable to perform meritorious service on the battlefield were gradually diverted away.

Everyone who recruited troops knew that in the future the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops would have to fight tough battles and expand territory.

Now the opportunity has come. Although there is no great talent to lead all parties, the emperor is here and the strategy has been initially decided.

All the frontier troops on the Saihan Mountain side of Xuanning moved back to the Kaiping line south of Dashawo.

On the other side of the Hetao, heavy troops are protecting the Jiuyuan area, where the basic water conservancy conditions have improved a lot. The cities, fertile fields, and river networks there cannot be destroyed in the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, from the Dalu border town in Xuanning to the west, there is only Shajing, a large military fortress in the north of the Ming Dynasty.

To the south of Shajing City is the Yinshan Mountains as a barrier. If it breaks through the pass of the Yinshan Mountains to the south, it will approach the Hetao area.

And there are not many such passes.

In the westernmost branch of the Yinshan Mountains, known as Langshan Mountain, "there are important roads leading to the desert everywhere for hundreds of miles from east to west." Dabatu Pass, Shitan Pass, Ada Pass...there are so many passes. Now that the Ming Dynasty sentry forts have been withdrawn and returned to the south of Yinshan Mountain, each pass looks like a death passage that will swallow up life-who knew that the Ming Dynasty had There are no hidden soldiers on Langshan.

Langshan protects the most prosperous Jiuyuan area in the Hetao today, and in the southernmost part of Shajing, if you want to break into the Tumo River where Anda's old nest is, there are also many mountain trails such as Shiguai, Dawanjiagou, and Damaqungou. .

This branch of Yinshan Mountain is called Daqingshan. It's more steep than Wolf Mountain, and especially the south slope is steeper.

The Yinshan Mountains are "full of divergent roads, and foreign tribes are most likely to hide bandits, beyond the reach of interrogators." Because of this, in the past, they turned a blind eye here and used "smuggling" methods to try to break up the sweat. Ten thousand households in Khalkha under the court.

At present, even the specialized military fortress of Shajing has been directly abandoned by the Ming Dynasty, and the defense line has been withdrawn to the north line of Zhuozi, Jining, and Xinghe.

Please enter the urn.

"There is no need to pretend. Since he came out in full force, he must have gained something. In the past, he has always avoided fighting, but now I have given it to him first. Does he want this big sand nest and the north of Yinshan Mountain? Is it for him? In other words, temporary results are worthy of boasting and must be boasted. However, getting something for nothing will not suppress the contradiction after all. We must continue to make progress, otherwise we will have to confront the Ming Dynasty at close range in the north of Yinshan Mountain and Dashawo in the future. I am happy to spend a long time, but he can't .”

At the garrison in Datong, Zhu Houcong said to Mao Bowen: "If he mainly attacks the back cover, then they will hold him back and pin him down. The armies of Zhuozi, Jining, and Xingcheng will cross the Daqingshan to block him from the north. In this way, he can only escape along the Gobi west of Langshan Mountain. If he enters the front trap, he will confront my escort army to recapture Tumochuan, and peek from the west to attack Xuanning from the east. The premise is that Can win.”

"Your Majesty is sure that he will not cross Dashawo to attack Kaiping?" Mao Bowen asked.

"With all the elites out there, there are hundreds of thousands of civilians. If he takes Kaiping and returns to the Xilin Gol grassland and approaches Yanshan, he will threaten Beijing! My answer is to fight back a little. He is not so arrogant that he wants to completely defeat the Ming Dynasty in one battle. After taking back the old land of the Khan Court, wouldn't he defend it? But can he defend it? Only by first making achievements in the Hetao, recovering the lost land, and forcing Ming Dynasty to return to the border wall, can he suppress the thousands of households in Khalkha internally and fight with Chahe externally Taiwan is connected and interdependent.”

Mao Bowen nodded silently and looked at the sand table.

Currently, Xuanning is the closest location to the Khan Court, being the farthest to the north. In the past ten years or so, the fires and catastrophes have all started from Kaiping, passing through Dashawo to Saihan Mountain for a rest, and then going deep into the grassland.

But from a geographical point of view, if we want to take back the Kaiping area, then we will indeed enter the Yanshan area. To the south of Yanshan Mountain is the capital of Ming Dynasty. Taking only the Kaiping area would seem to pose a greater threat to the Ming Dynasty and avoid the trouble of being burned down every year, but then he would have to hold on to Kaiping, which is closest to the capital area where combat power is most concentrated.

What I rely on now is not the strength in his hands, but the situation that Ming Dynasty is surrounded by enemies.

Taking back the front and back sets, Ming could only use the Yellow River and the Great Wall as the next line of defense. His focus moved back to the west. He could exchange Xuanning and even Chahar Ranch with Ming, so that Ming could use Liaodong as his back garden. business.

"From this point of view, the Jurchens and North Korea are just chess pieces that he will use for exchange later."

"But now that he is dedicating his troops to aid Jurchen North Korea, he must do his best and cannot be neglected there."

This time it was really an attack from the east to the west. Mao Bowen calculated the strength of the Beibei troops, and then said: "If I have so many troops at my disposal, even if the opponent has laid out a formation to lure the enemy deep, he can attack first. Hide the number of troops. Once it is done, let the other group not dare to move lightly, and then take advantage of the cavalry's rapid movement to quickly increase the number of troops or attack elsewhere according to changes in the battle situation."

"The advantage of the Ming Dynasty is reconnaissance." Zhu Houcong has already made up his mind about this. "I have mobilized all the special operations battalions to disperse them into the Yinshan Mountains. Each team has the best telescopes today. , with their skills, they can transmit the information back as soon as possible. And the cavalry comes and goes like the wind, so the Ming Dynasty does not have no cavalry in its hands!"

"General Ma's headquarters?"

Zhu Houcong laughed: "Exactly!"

……

The Ming Dynasty took back Xuanning in the Hetao, and for more than ten years there was no shortage of good war horses. The Ming Dynasty cavalry also gained rich experience in the annual training to burn wasteland, and were familiar with the mountains and rivers geography of the Khan Court area.

Northeast of Kaiping, there are already signs of snow on the Xilin Gol grassland.

After the Ming Dynasty took back this area, several families under Duoyan's tribe stationed herders here. In the past, how could Duoyanbu have access to such a good pasture with his strength? Before the Khan Court moved north, this was the private land of Chahar, a household in the central government.

The former Khan Court was in this area.

Now, heroes are gathering here.

Ma Fang felt a little excited. After looking to the west, she said, "How many days will it take for the last one to arrive?"

"Go back to the general and send a messenger to report. There is still a day and a half to go."

Ma Fang nodded: "Let the Duoyan Department work harder to prepare dried meat, furs, and fried noodles. After they arrive, they will rest for two days and then set off!"

Beilu made a last-ditch effort, and Ming Dynasty was about to make him a last stand.

Now the Northern Barbarians are attacking, and the Ming Dynasty is defending.

In terms of defense, is the Ming Dynasty still afraid of cavalry when it has more guns and cannons?

Now Ma Fang's task is to take the initiative.

Not long after, Gramtai, the lord of the Duoyan tribe, arrived at Ma Fang's tent.

"General, at the end of the war, all the young and strong men have been reorganized."

Although Ma Fang is young, he is the commander-in-chief of Xuanning. Although it was only a temporary appointment, the tribes in the border area already knew that he was the most adept at riding and fighting among the generals of the Ming Dynasty.

So the Gram was very respectful and very excited.

Ma Fang nodded: "Call all the generals who will accompany me on the expedition."

Not long after, the rest of the people came in from outside the tent.

Ma Fang looked around and said succinctly: "It's been a long time since you mounted your horses to fight, and the same goes for your men. However, as long as you can keep up with the general and listen to the general's orders when encountering the enemy, then the whole situation will be fine." The grassland is all yours. I am familiar with the road! Behind the Khan Court, only the old, weak, women and children are left! Is there any problem?" "General, please give me your orders!"

All the young men were very excited.

They originally belonged to various tribes, and although they were treated equally by name, they were all dwarves after all.

Now, with the grace of His Majesty, each ministry has been able to send some back to the Mobei grassland. From now on, Your Majesty will divide the pastures and grant each king the title of Khan. As long as they surrender loyally, they will become princes.

At least he is also an important minister under one of the princes.

"Be prepared to endure hardships!" Ma Fang had no more words to say, "Ben will lead the way, and we have to go deep into the Khan Court from the mountains before the snow falls. The Kaiping Sentries will clear a line for us in the west, and the Khan Court Sentries will clear a line for us in the west. We can't break through. When we get to the Hulun Lake area, I will lead you to capture the entire grassland, and I will leave the rest to you. Stabilize the rear, and I will lead the army all the way south to Hetao. Time is tight, and the military supplies will arrive. It’s up to you to raise money quickly and deliver it when the time comes!”

The Gramm nodded repeatedly: "There will be no delay!"

Ma Fang looked at him: "Uliangha is from the Duoyan tribe. How to stabilize Wuliangha when the time comes depends on you."

"To be crowned King Khan by His Majesty, Wu Liangha will never go against heaven's will!"

"Okay, let's go prepare for the war. We will set off in three days. I will provide you with dried meat for fifteen days and furs to keep out the cold. Please pay more attention to it. This is for Ming Dynasty to help you gain territory, and for you to gain territory for your own tribe! "

"I will obey the general's orders!"

Ma Fang doesn't care how they communicate and negotiate.

But in such a large grassland, so many cattle and sheep that were fattened this year are now being slaughtered.

The preparations for making dried meat and sewing drought-proof furs had been made since Yujia arrived at Xuanfu.

Now, more and more war horses and cavalry are gathering on this grassland.

In the entire Hetao and Xuanning border areas, 20,000 of the more than 20,000 cavalrymen gathered here.

The various tribes that surrendered also gathered more than 20,000 servants.

Of course I will prevent the Ming Dynasty cavalry from stealing the house directly, so there must be some elite forces left behind to guard and investigate.

But while he was marching south with so many troops, Ming Dynasty really sent out almost all of its cavalry mobile forces to carry out such a large-scale invasion to steal his home. Will I be fully prepared?

Currently, the defensive force to the north of Xuanning has retreated from Saihan Mountain to the south of Dashawo, but many Sentinels are still sent out.

From Kaiping to the north, it is currently a battle between sentinels and cavalry.

Xuanning's frontier army has only one mission: try to keep Mengyuan's sentry cavalry away from the west of the Daxingan Mountains.

The snow has not yet fallen, but the army's march northward will still leave many traces.

When the snow comes down, it will be covered. At that time, we can shrink the defensive intelligence circle due to the cold weather and let them go to have a look.

Zhu Houcong chose to believe in Ma Fang, and also believed that if the Ming army only defended, they would not suffer big losses in either the front or back cover.

On Yinshan Mountain, it is getting colder and colder at high altitudes.

A group of elites from the special operations battalion are now in wilderness survival mode.

Their mission was just reconnaissance, keeping an eye on every pass along the Yinshan Mountains.

Of course, if they suddenly gather at the right time, they will be a force that cannot be ignored, just like the great contribution made by Yan Chunsheng, the legendary figure of Xingguo Gong in their special operations camp.

The Hetao is further north, and grain harvesting is later.

Xu Jie quickly got to work, running around behind the defense line to organize the autumn harvest.

Now is the time to grab time. If Andahui attacks from behind, it should be stuck when the autumn grain harvest is about to be harvested.

Hai Rui stepped into his supervisory role, watching the officials at the rear to complete the logistics transfer work.

After planting trees in Shaanxi for several years, he is like an old farmer, but no one can underestimate him: I heard that he was personally summoned by the emperor before taking the imperial examination.

Shajing in the north of Daqing Mountain, where the main force of the Khan Court has arrived as far as the eye can see.

Without a fight, Anda entered Shajing Military City, which the Ming army had voluntarily abandoned.

When Dayuan was still there, this place belonged to Yunnei Prefecture, Datong Road, Zhongshu Province. At that time, the Wanggu tribe, which was active in the north and south of Daqing Mountain, surrendered to Mongolia, and "they were married to Genghis Khan, and they were good friends. They were named Anda Huda" and enjoyed the treatment of princess and king for generations.

In Shajing, there is the Shajing General Manager's Office. Here, it was once the hub from Dadu, Xijing, and Monan to Mobei.

After falling into the hands of the Ming army, I can see that the Ming Dynasty spent a lot of effort on this border town located in the north of Daqing Mountain.

But now that the cannon has been dismantled, the city is empty and no other supplies are left.

There was no damage to the city walls or houses.

An intact border town seems to be telling me silently: If you don't destroy it when you are defeated, we will take it back and use it.

Of course, An Da would not destroy him now, but smiled to the left and right: "The Han emperor is so timid that he doesn't even defend."

Everyone laughed, but everyone knew it was just for fun, pretending to boost morale.

If the Han emperor was timid, why would he go on a personal expedition?

I answered the question and went to the government hall where the city guard general was. After all the people who were supposed to be there arrived, I said: "We are not used to conspiracy and conspiracy, and we cannot defeat them. This time, I will say everything that needs to be said." It's over, it's time to let the Han people know that our fists are harder and our courage is stronger! The Han people have a habit of shrinking from it once they suffer a big defeat. Now they have opened a net for us to break through, but we insist on tearing it apart. break!"

There was no way out, he knew it.

The population and products are all incomparable.

That damn old rival never dies either.

If he is given another twenty years, will the railways be built all the way to the Khan's court without horses pulling the carriages?

"This time, we won't play any tricks! In the face of sufficient power, no strategy will work!" An Da looked around them, "We are like men who come and go like the wind on horseback! No matter how strong the net is, we can only Can we trap small prey, but can we trap tigers? We will use all our elites and spare no effort. I will make the Hetao area they have worked so hard to turn into a place for us to race, except for the city!"

"Don't worry about thousands of miles of wilderness, the grass will grow again next year!"

"Don't worry about who is a Han citizen and who is a traitor. After crossing Daqingshan, we are all enemies!"

"Do you miss Tumochuan and the Hetao?"

Start from this hall, go inside the city, and then outside the city.

That was the struggling cry of hundreds of thousands.

"Hurree!"

"Hurree!"

"Hurree!"

On Daqing Mountain to the south, no Ming army responded to their clamor to boost morale.

The special operations battalion hurriedly returned the news to Datong, and Zhao Zhenji looked at the emperor.

The straight-line distance between the two monarchs is now only four hundred miles.

(End of this chapter)