Daming talker

Chapter 587: Journey to the West (Part )

In early October, the temperature in Xining was already very cold.

At the Nierduo Gorge in Nanchuan, about tens of miles away from the Xining Weicheng, three battalions of thousands of Ming troops were ready for battle.

Military Counselor Lin Tailai bent over and curiously examined the 350-jin cannon in front of him.

The top censor and half-step governor Shi Lord came over and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Lin Tailai stood up, shook his head and said, "This cannon is too old. It's time to replace it with a new one."

Lord Shi is not a person who knows nothing about military affairs, otherwise he would not have accepted the mission and been sent to the Xining front line at this time.

Hearing this, he said, "Are you talking about the new Daweiyuan cannon? It hasn't been deployed here yet."

The newly-produced Daweiyuan cannon not only has a more advanced manufacturing process than the old iron-hoop cannon, but is also more powerful while being lighter. It is also equipped with a front sight, making shooting more accurate.

Lin Tailai made a big promise: "When I return to the capital, I will try to take charge of the Military Equipment Bureau and arrange for you to take charge as soon as possible!"

Mr. Shi: “.”

Are the popular figures of the time who were born in the Imperial Academy so willful? Do they manage any government office as they please?
After finishing the idle talk, Lin Tailai asked in confusion: "As the commander-in-chief, why don't you go to inspect the camp, but come to chat with me?"

Lord Shi said a little nervously: "Is it possible?"

Under the persuasion of Lin Tailai, the various tribes of Taolu began to leave the West Sea and return to the north.

Then Lin Tailai received mysterious information that the chief of the sea barbarians, Wala Tabunang, led thousands of elite cavalry, under the cover of the returning Tailu people, attempting to sneak close to Xining Weicheng and carry out surprise attacks and looting.

Later, the mysterious intelligence became more and more accurate, clearly telling Lin Tailai that Wala Tabunang would pass through Nerduo Gorge in the next two days.

Therefore, under the strong advocacy of Military Counselor Lin Tailai, Xining Guard made targeted deployments.

Lord Shi and Lin Tailai led three battalions of 5,100 soldiers and horses, went out of the city for dozens of miles, and ambushed the enemy head-on at the entrance of Nerduo Gorge.

Another guerrilla general, Dayun, who was transferred from Gansu, led two thousand Han cavalrymen to encircle the enemy from both sides of the canyon.

This proactive attack was a bit risky, and the Governor had not been consulted.

As the war approached, Lord Shi, who was in charge of Xining affairs, couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

The Ming Dynasty had suffered two consecutive defeats and could not afford to lose again.

He couldn't help but surround Lin Tailai and kept asking "Is it possible?"

Lin Tailai was annoyed by the question and replied: "I don't know if it will work or not. I will know after the fight!"

Lord Shi almost jumped up, "You promised, I guarantee you'll win!"

Lin Tailai deliberately sighed in a nonsensical manner: "Man proposes, God disposes! If I lose the battle, I will be dismissed from my post as a doctor of the three ministries and will have to serve as a Hanlin."

Lord Shi was immediately furious, "Most of the Xining Guards have been pulled out!
If you lose the battle, and you still want to be dismissed from office, just commit suicide here and die for your country!"

Lin Tailai shouted, "Then why are you still thinking about this and that? Just do it!"

"But," Lord Shi said, "Even if Wala Tabutanang attacks, can't we fight back based on the defense of Xining Weicheng?

Going dozens of miles out of the city to meet the enemy is risky after all, and not prudent enough."

Lin Tailai explained: "The terrain around Xining Weicheng is not convenient for setting up ambushes or outflanking, and it is difficult to inflict heavy damage on the enemy cavalry.

Besides, if we defend the city and don't leave, and watch the enemy cavalry plundering the surrounding areas, what's the point of defending it?"

Lord Shi calmed down his emotions with the help of Lin Tailai, then went to inspect the military formation with an apparent calmness.

The overall topography of the Hehuang area is very unique, with mountains and rivers interspersed, resulting in a large number of valleys and canyons.

Nerduo Gorge is the main transportation route from the southern bank of the West Sea to Xining Weicheng, and is also a must-pass place on Wala Tabunang's current marching route.

This time, three battalions of government troops set up positions at the gorge to block the thousands of main cavalry of Wala Tabunang.

Each battalion has 400 cavalry, 1,300 infantry, and 100 artillery pieces of various types.

Nowadays, the Ming army usually uses chariots to form a formation to deal with the enemy cavalry.

The large carts were arranged horizontally and the small carts were arranged vertically in a circle. There were carbine guns in the open space between the carts. The infantry and gunners were all protected inside the cart formation.

Especially in narrow places like gorge mouths, it is more conducive to blocking vehicle arrays.

After Lord Shi made a round of inspection, he had new worries, so he came to harass Lin Tai again and asked, "Will Wala Tabu Nang come?"

Lin Tailai replied: "Wala Tabunang has a good family background and has always been arrogant. He has also defeated our army and has a very arrogant temperament.

So he will definitely come over, and even if he sees our army is on guard, he will not retreat easily."

Everyone knows that the right wing of the Northern Tartars, which became powerful under the leadership of Old Altan, had 30,000 households, including the three major tribes of Tumed, Aordusi (Ordos), and Yongshaobu.

Among them, Yongshaobu was divided into two parts, one in the east, and the other followed old Altan to Qinghai to welcome the Buddha, and then stayed in Qinghai to guard the holy Yanghua Temple.

Wala Tabunang was the leader of the Yongshaobu tribe who stayed in Qinghai, and was also one of the three biggest leaders of the rebellious sea captives today.

So, in the final analysis, Wala Ta Bunang and Bushitu Jinong, who was dissatisfied with the horse market quota, were both relatives of Sanniangzi's husband's family.

Thinking of this, Lin Tailai couldn't help but sigh, this woman is really ruthless when it comes to selling out her relatives.

Those who were sold were all relatives with nominally high political status, "royal relatives" at the level of great princes.

Why does it feel a bit like Wu Zetian killing members of the Li Tang royal family?

Forget it, I won’t complain anymore. It’s not easy for a woman to be the head of the household.

An hour later, the battle began.

Just as Lin Tailai said, when the vanguard of the Oirat Tabunang army saw the Ming army blocking the gorge, the accustomed Oirat Tabunang had no intention of retreating and directly led his troops to attack.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of cannons and arrows flying.

The two sides fought for more than half an hour and several rounds, but the Oirat Tabunang army still failed to force back the Ming army, nor did they break through the position.

This is normal. Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for the enemy cavalry to break through a well-prepared chariot formation.

Just when thousands of enemy cavalry were exhausted and dismounted to rest, suddenly guerrilla general Dayun led two thousand Han cavalry and charged out from the back of the canyon.

The sound of frontal artillery fire rang out again, pouring out the last of the ammunition all at once.

Lin Tailai, who had been watching for a long time, immediately mounted his horse and, under the protection of his servants, led 1,200 cavalrymen to make a roundabout attack, forming a pincer attack on the enemy cavalry from the front and back.

The thousands of elite cavalrymen who were blocked at the entrance of the canyon collapsed immediately and fled in all directions.

The Ming army had a disadvantage when fighting against the highly mobile enemy cavalry, and it was difficult to achieve a perfect annihilation record.

Especially the leaders among the enemy cavalry, even if they were defeated, they could always escape under the protection of their personal guards.

When later generations look at the Ming army’s battle records, they always see words like “the enemy chief barely escaped with his life.”

Lin Tailai showed his spirit of hitting the drowned dog and chased the large number of fleeing cavalry for 20 to 30 miles before calling off the troops. According to preliminary statistics, more than 800 heads were beheaded in this battle, and the main force of the Wala Tabunang tribe was basically defeated. This was the first major victory of Xihai in the past two years.

That night, Lin Tailai, Mr. Shi, and guerrilla general Dayun had a few drinks to celebrate the great victory.

This Dayun was also a famous general in the western region in history. He won several victories over the sea invaders and made great contributions to eliminating the major threats in the west. He was promoted to the position of Left General and Commander-in-Chief of Gansu.

Knowing that this man is good at fighting, Lin Tailai felt relieved to let Dayun attack from behind.

Today's great victory actually referred to and imitated the battle deployment of Dayun in history.

Seeing that Lin Tailai seemed unhappy, Lord Shi, who had relaxed, asked, "What's wrong? Why are you sighing?"

Lin Tailai sighed, "It's a pity that my martial arts skills are of little use in today's battlefields. I can't defeat thousands of enemies and tens of thousands of people.

It could also be that they have fought too many battles involving hundreds of people, and are not used to fighting battles involving tens of thousands of people."

Mr. Shi: “.”

Do you, Lin Tailai, really think of yourself as a military commander? Do you also want to think of yourself as Xiang Yu?

Da Yun, whose ancestors were barbarians and had been assimilated into the Han culture, and whose nickname was Donglou, looked at his wine bowl and said with regret: "Today we had a good opportunity, but unfortunately the chieftain of the barbarians, Wala Tabutanang, escaped."

Then he cursed: "These shameless barbarian chieftains become rampant once they gain power, but if they are defeated, they often submit petitions to apologize and beg for forgiveness from the court!"

Lin Tailai was about to say something in agreement when Zhang Wen, the left guardian, suddenly walked into the tent and whispered to Lin Tailai, "There's someone outside looking for you. It's from Madam's place."

Lin Tailai frowned slightly and said to Lord Shi and Dayun, "You two drink first, I'll be back soon."

Lord Shi and Dayun didn't pay much attention to it and thought that Lin Tailai had gone out to the toilet.

After a while, Lin Tailai strode back to the tent, but with something extra in his hand.

Looking more closely, it turned out to be a human head.

Dayun smiled and said, "Counselor Lin wants to use this head as a reward for his merit?"

Lin Tailai shouted: "This is the head of Wala Tabunang, I captured it!"

Damn it! Dayun was shocked!
During the daytime fighting, they gained nothing and allowed the enemy chieftain to escape.

While sitting here drinking at night, Lin Tailai was able to chop off the head of the leader of the barbarians from a distance. What kind of mysterious power is this?
Da had been in the army for twenty years and had never seen such a bizarre beheading.

Is this Wala Tabu Nang a fool? He had already escaped from the battlefield, so how could he be beheaded?

Mr. Shi looked at Lin Tailai thoughtfully, worthy of being the contemporary Han Derang.
It is rumored that as long as Lin Tailai moves to Beilu, he can immediately become the Grand Tutor. It seems that this rumor is true.

After coming to his senses, Dayun immediately suggested: "We should take advantage of the opportunity that Wala Tabunang is dead, the main force has been defeated, and the remnants of the bandits are leaderless, and continue to march forward and sweep the southern coast of the West Sea!"

After thinking for a while, Lin Tailai said to Dayun, "Leave the task of sweeping the southern coast of the West Sea to Lord Shi."

Dayun was puzzled. What was he doing?
Lin Tailai added: "The Tatars will pass through Gansu when they return to the north or east. I will follow and monitor them all the way, but there will be no generals or officers accompanying them.

Commander Da was transferred from Gansu and is familiar with the situation in Gansu, so I would like to ask Commander Da to follow me."

Dayun was reluctant. It would be so satisfying to sweep the West Sea, and he could also gain more merits by eliminating the remaining bandits.

Following and "escorting" the captives out of the country is a really boring job.

However, he was temporarily transferred from Gansu to cooperate with the Military Counselor Lin Tailai, and he could not refuse Lin Tailai's normal orders.

In Taozhou City, the new governor Zheng Luo, who was personally in charge, summoned the newly appointed military governor Li Chengzhi and some newly transferred generals for a talk on the situation.

"We must not be impatient at the moment and must remain stable. We can no longer afford to lose, so we have to be conservative for the time being.

There is no need to take risks militarily. We should focus on political measures, prioritize defense, train soldiers, and repair border walls!

Use two to three years to recover, accumulate military strength, isolate the sea invaders, and then launch multiple raids to fight a decisive battle with the sea invaders!"

As Governor Zheng was speaking, he saw an officer from the barracks rush into the hall and shout:
"Urgent report from Xining! Great victory! Xining guards set up an ambush to fight against the Wala Tabunang tribe. After half a day of fierce fighting, they killed more than 800 people. Military counselor Lin Tailai killed the chieftain Wala Tabunang!"

Governor Zheng: “.”

This sounds unreasonable and does not fit in with my strategy.

Everyone in the hall glanced at the Governor, only to see that he looked stunned and did not move.

After a while, Governor Zheng came to his senses and said to everyone, "Fortunately, we won. If we failed, we would be doomed!
If even the Xining Acropolis is lost, we will have lost an arm!
Therefore, although it is a great achievement, this kind of risky behavior is still not encouraged by this department."

Then Governor Zheng asked again, "Where is Lin Tailai?"

This kind of behavior of lightly starting a war is obviously Lin Tailai's style. Neither Shi Ancha nor Dayun has the courage to do so.

The middle officer replied: "Lin Tailai has already left Xining and followed the surveillance team to pass through Gansu and leave the country."

Governor Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. It was your main task, Lin Tailai, to get the captives out of the country.

Once Lin Tailai completes this task, he must be transferred back to our side immediately. Lin Tailai cannot be left alone in an important frontline city.

The matter of the Tuolu passing through Gansu to return to the desert was very important, and Yu Zhizhen, the governor of Gansu who was stationed in the Hexi Corridor, also personally participated in the surveillance.

At Shuiquan Fort, Military Counselor Lin Tailai met with Governor Yu and held talks.

Lin Tailai dismissed the idlers around him and whispered, "Central Minister Yu, I have important news about Songlu.

But I think that this matter does not need to be reported to Governor Zheng. You must first promise to keep it confidential before I can tell you."

Governor Yu: “.”

You actually want to do this behind the Governor's back. What on earth do you want to do, Lin Tailai?
Lin Tailai added: "I just think that it's enough for you and me to share the work. There's no need to add one more person."

A few days later, Lin Tailai, Dayun and Governor Yu stood on Ganjun Mountain on the Gansu border and looked north. They could already see a large number of enemy cavalry.

"Commander Da, do you still regret it? Do you still want to stay in the West Sea to sweep?" Lin Tailai said lightly.

Dayun's face was filled with disbelief: "No way? The people of Bushitu Jinong are really here?
Do they really want to take advantage of the chaos caused by the passage of the Taolu people to rush across Hexi and head for the West Sea?

Counselor Lin, how did you know this so accurately? "

Lin Tailai said impatiently: "Stop talking nonsense! It's all credit, just hurry up!"

Da Yun asked in confusion, "Counselor Lin is not going to personally join the charge?"

Lin Tailai stood with his hands behind his back and sighed, "Life is so lonely like snow.

No matter how hard I fight, my achievements will not be as great as beheading a captive chieftain. I'd better wait here for the head of Bushitu Jinong."

Dayun: “.”

If there are three major directions, Taohe, Gansu and Xining, you, Lin Tailai, can handle two directions in one month.

If there are five major rebellious chiefs, Huoluochi, Zhenzheng Taiji, Walata Bunang, Bushitu Jinong and Qingbaduer, you, Lin Tailai, can kill two of them in a month.

Then what is the governor for?
(End of this chapter)