serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 106 The Poor Herdsman
A howling downpour enveloped the entire prairie.

In the heavy rain, a group of Mongolian herdsmen stumbled towards the Zhou army camp, carrying or carrying cloth bags filled with soil, and they were all going to fill the trenches.

It rained heavily for three days and two nights, and the grass became muddy and difficult to walk on.

This heavy rain solved the water shortage crisis of the Mongols and Manchus, but it also made their cavalry lose the impact of the charge, and their bows and arrows could not shoot in the rain. Fortunately, they knew that the muskets and artillery of the Zhou army were also Afraid of rain.

The heavy rain also gave them a chance to fill in the trenches of the Zhou army. After two days, the herdsmen finally filled up the three outermost trenches, but they also paid a heavy price.

There are a large number of traps on the grass that is five or six miles long, all of which are buried with wooden spikes. They were originally used to deal with cavalry. Every time, dozens or even hundreds of people fall into these traps and are killed by sharp spears. Wooden thorns are skewered into skewers.

After hearing the news, the Manchu sent an order to let the herdsmen use their lives to walk out of a safe passage so that the cavalry could attack the Zhou army's camp.

The first batch of people who were consumed were those who survived the poisoning, and most of these people died because they were injured and could not be healed. Not many people were really skewered.

This group of herdsmen is the second group, most of them are the original Tumet people. After being exterminated by the Chahar people, they became the vassal tribe of the Chahar people.

Looking at the Juma in front of them and the white tents, the herdsmen's eyes were full of fear, because just before the incense sticks, those who filled the trenches were trapped in the tents before they approached the four or five paces wide trench. The artillery was killed.

Zhou Jun actually moved the artillery into the tent, and there was a white tent every fifty steps.

Gradually, these herdsmen have approached the trench, carefully stepping on the previous footprints, and there are still some places where there are bright red blood.

"Rush up!" The Manchu guarding the team roared.

Before the words were finished, a cannon rang out, and a rain of blood erupted in the crowd. Many people rolled on the ground, screaming heart-piercingly. Several blood holes were shot on their bodies, and the grass was stained red with blood.

Seeing that they were gradually losing their vitality, everyone felt their scalps go numb and subconsciously backed away. As a result, the Man Qing guards who escorted them pulled out their waist knives and shouted, "Whoever retreats will die!"

The crowd had no choice but to move on, another cannon rang, and the lead rained down. A sub-cannon contained 500 rounds of lead, which could seal off the front fifty paces wide.

Looking at the clansmen who died tragically in front of them, those who survived by chance lost the courage to move on, screamed, turned around and ran, and the Manchus sternly shouted: "The one who retreats dies!"

While speaking, he swung his knife and chopped the fastest runners to the ground.

Everyone was frightened again. Suddenly, there was a "bang" sound of firecrackers, and the Manqing people covered their eyes and fell down.

There was silence.

Someone shouted in a low voice, "Run!"

Everyone dropped their soil bags one after another and ran to the rear. The number of people was obviously much smaller.

However, the struggle was in vain. Soon, they and another wave of herdsmen rushed up with their bags of earth under the supervision of the Manchus.
Two days later, the ditch was almost filled, and people could rush through. There were layers of corpses inside and outside the ditch, and the blood and water turned dark red, and the smell of blood filled the entire grassland.

Looking at the densely packed refusing horses in front of him, the king of Chahar County had a numb scalp. Through his clairvoyance, he counted carefully. Zhou Jun had deployed five layers of refusing horses behind the trench, and there were only more than [-] people left under his command. enough?
The sound of wind and rain subsided.

At this time, General Uliasutai and several Mongolian princes rushed over.

Looking at the Zhou army's camp three miles away, everyone frowned. The Zhou army's camp was in a very good position, with its back against the mountain and a lake on the left, as long as it defended the front and right.

Zhou Jun's camp was at least two miles away from the piece of Juma. God knows how many trenches Zhou Jun dug and how many traps he laid in that grassland.

King Chahar exchanged an anxious look with several Mongolian princes.

General Uliasutai had already seen it, and asked King Chahar, "Any ideas?"

King Chahar County: "Yes. The general also knows the news brought back by the spies. The Zhou army has seized hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep from those tribes. Look, there are cattle and sheep eating grass and drinking water at the foot of the mountain. They are not short of food at all. Quite the contrary, we are not short of food."

A Mongolian prince went on to say: "The Han people not only poisoned the lake, but also buried the corpses of cattle and sheep in the bay, causing disasters for many tribes downstream, a large number of livestock deaths, and herdsmen also fell ill. It is no longer possible. They are providing us with a large amount of cattle and sheep."

After a pause, "The weather is getting colder and colder, and we don't have enough to eat. Many people get cold after being exposed to the rain. If this continues, we will collapse if we don't need the Han people to fight."

General Uliasutai nodded: "I understand all this. It's just that you have also seen that without the threat of cavalry, the Zhou army directly pushed the artillery to the front. If you don't clean up these rejected horses, you will die. There is no difference. So... we still have to think of something."

Hearing this, King Chahar's expression changed drastically, and he asked in a trembling voice, "The general wants these herdsmen to dismantle those refusal horses?"

Several Mongolian princes were shocked.

General Uliasutai didn't care at all, and continued: "It seems that the rain will stop. In just one day, this grassland can barely run horses. With horses, everything will be easy. As long as they tear a piece of grass The hole is less than two miles away, even if it takes human life to pile it up, it can still be piled up in front of the Zhou army's camp."

Having said that, he looked up at the sky and said with a smile, "Look, the rain has stopped."

After a pause, "Actually, God helped us. Otherwise, if we want to fill these trenches, we will have to pay at least another [-] to [-] lives. Don't underestimate the firearms of the Han people."

King Chahar County: "But."

General Uliasutai waved his hand and interrupted him: "Don't waste any more time on things that have already been decided. They are cannon fodder, and we all decided together."

The face of Chahar County King immediately turned ugly, and he sneered: "Can we Mongolians be the masters of this matter? How many people died in the Mongolians? Who are they fighting for? For us Mongolians themselves? !"

General Uliasutai turned around slowly, and his two cold eyes swept over the faces of several people slowly: "If there were no Eight Banners soldiers standing in the north, you thought you could be on this prairie." A safe and stable life? The Raksha people have already swallowed you alive!"

He snorted coldly, "Let people continue to fill in the trench and fill in a road. We will launch an attack on the Zhou army's camp in the future." After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked towards the camp.

The king of Chahar County blushed, sighed helplessly, turned and walked towards the army formation on the side.

Several Mongolian princes showed strange expressions, apparently having different thoughts.

Not long after, a horn sounded, and a group of dull-eyed herdsmen, driven by the Manchus, started charging again with their bags of earth on their shoulders.
What they didn't know was that Jia Hu was looking at them with clairvoyance at this moment.

Supervising Army Eunuch Zhao stood beside Jia Hu, held up his clairvoyant eyes, and cursed: "These are lifeless things!"

Putting down his clairvoyance, Jia Hu turned his head and said to Yang Dayong, "Send two battalions of gunfire soldiers up."

Yang Dayong: "No." He strode towards the Chinese army.

The roar of the artillery sounded, and looking at the herdsmen who were still rushing up, Jia Hu sighed softly. If it hadn’t been for the rain, these herdsmen would have already filled their lives in the first three trenches.

If you were in the Central Plains, you would be looking for death if you chose to camp to the death, but it was different on the grasslands. The grassland people didn't have so much food to consume.

They have to obtain a large amount of food from the Manchus every year, and they have to go south to attack Datong and other places to obtain food.

Now they hold nearly half of the cattle and sheep in Chahar and Ulan Chabu League, and Liu Fang looted a lot in the east, so they don't have enough cattle and sheep at all.

As for other Mongolian tribes, they can barely make ends meet themselves, so there is no surplus food for them.

Besides, the consumption of an army of 10,000+ is not a small number.

Suddenly, the ground vibrated slightly, and groups of firecrackers rushed out under the leadership of the officer, and quickly formed a formation after rejecting the horse, ready to fight.

With the sound of a horn, the first row of firecrackers clacked the firecrackers in their hands, puffs of smoke filled in front of the front line, and then among the rushing herdsmen, many people burst into blood mist , Then there was another burst of gunfire, and more people were shot and fell down.

In the distance, King Chahar and several Mongolian princes, who were watching all this through clairvoyance, changed their expressions.

(End of this chapter)