The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

"Bang bang bang..."

Three cannon shots were fired.

The sky is filled with colorful daytime fireworks, which are dazzling even in the daytime.

Tang Yin stood in the camp, surrounded by a group of sickly soldiers who had little fighting spirit. Tang Yin himself was a little discouraged, but when he saw the fireworks, his spirits instantly lifted.

"What is that?" Xu Jing walked over and asked.

Tang Yin said: "It's reinforcements! The Ming reinforcements are coming!"

Hearing this, even the wounded soldiers stood up and looked at the sky in the distance.

"The Ming reinforcements are here! Our reinforcements have arrived!"

Soon, someone passed the news to the three armies, letting the soldiers in danger know that their efforts over the past three months had finally paid off. The Ming reinforcements finally appeared in time when they had run out of ammunition and food.

……

……

Half an hour later.

Ma Yi brought Zhang Rui back from the front line of the battlefield to report to Tang Yin, and also brought their latest investigation findings.

Many generals in the camp were also looking forward to this moment.

"Reinforcements have indeed arrived. They are to the south, about 20 miles away from us." Zhang Rui said, "But at present, it seems that only the vanguard has come 20 miles to send us a signal. In fact, the main force is probably still 40 to 50 miles behind them. They will be here in about two days."

"Good news."

The corners of Xu Jing's mouth were already cracked, but he couldn't help but speak.

After Tang Yin's troops retreated more than ten miles to the north, they did not set up camp by the river as there was no suitable area there. Tang Yin also took the initiative to set up camp in a place backed by a valley, which would form a certain barrier.

But precisely because of this, the soldiers not only had to endure the pain of food shortage, but they couldn't even get water.

The remaining war horses in the army have all been slaughtered, and now the soldiers have no food or water. It is difficult for it to rain or snow in the north in February. After all, they are very close to the desert, and there may not be much rain or snow here in a year.

Under such circumstances, the news of the arrival of reinforcements was like a shot in the arm for all the soldiers.

Tang Yin said: "But between the reinforcements and us, there are tens of thousands of elite Tatars blocking the way."

Xu Jing asked: "Can we break out now?"

"It's not suitable yet." Tang Yin said, "We no longer have war horses, and there are only a few fire bombs left. It's not realistic to charge out with swords and knives."

Zhang Rui said: "For some reason, the Tatars knew that our reinforcements were coming, but they did not launch a final assault these past two days. It seems that they are not in a hurry and are still waiting to gradually trap us to death."

Xu Jing frowned and said, "Could it be that the troops coming here are not reinforcements? Are we celebrating for nothing?"

"No." Ma Yi said, "We have confirmed that we have seen the Ming army. It is not a disguise by the Tatars. The signal flares in the air are of the Ming special standard, and the codewords for notifying the arrival of reinforcements are consistent. This is something the Tatars do not understand."

"What's the code?" Xu Jing asked.

Tang Yin said: "Even you don't know it, which shows that the Tatars have no way of mastering it. This code is presented by flares. Only the commanders of the army have the right to know it. This is to prevent the Tatars from interfering."

Xu Jing sighed, "It's good to know that reinforcements are coming, but now should we consider how to fight next? If the reinforcements don't arrive in time, we will still be in a dead end. Now the soldiers have run out of food. There is no food here, not even a drop of water. There is nothing left except some grass roots after digging three feet into the ground."

Tang Yin said to Ma Yi, "Find a way to use signal flares to inform the reinforcements of our situation and ask them to come to our aid as soon as possible. Even if the reinforcements cannot come, at least find a way to send us the necessary rations."

"Yes." Ma Yi immediately accepted the order.

……

……

Although the two groups of people were still forty miles apart, they had already started to contact each other, and the information that could be communicated was very little.

Even if Tang Yin did not send a signal to Zhang Zhou, Zhang Zhou knew that Tang Yin's troops should be at the end of their rope.

Although Tang Yin's courage is commendable, the problem is that Tang Yin has never fought any successful battles. Every time Tang Yin fought, he was trapped deep behind enemy lines, just like a cockroach, and finally fought his way out with his life... In the past few years, Tang Yin has not practiced anything else but tenacity when he is at the end of his rope.

If it were someone else, they might not be able to hold on for a few days.

But now... Tang Yin was still alive and well, sending out a signal for help. This made Zhang Zhou feel that at least he was not wrong about Tang Yin.

"Master, we can't rush through now."

By sunset, the soldiers had basically finished their rest.

However, intelligence gathered by Sun Shangqi showed that the Tatars had set up several lines of defense between the two armies of the Ming Dynasty. They did this by digging the ground and adding sandbags, setting up camps, and adding wooden fences, almost building a city wall on the river bank.

Under such circumstances, it seemed that the Ming army could only watch and sigh, and the two armies could not have any substantial contact.

Zhang Zhou said: "Pass the order down. We will head north tonight. We will cover at least thirty miles overnight."

"Master, this road is not easy to walk on." Sun Shangqi said.

"We need to use a new way to clear the way this time. Fortunately, we not only brought various firearms, but also some cannons and pyrotechnics. We can use these short-range cannons to fire pyrotechnics and blow up the fortifications they have built."

Zhang Zhou doesn't need heavy long-range artillery at all now.

Just use close-range attacks, or even send people to plant explosives to directly destroy the fortifications built by the Tatars.

The prerequisite is to ensure fire suppression at medium and short distances, which requires the use of muskets that are almost as powerful as rifles. The rest is to rely on chariots to form a barrier to prevent the Tatars from approaching. Don’t they like to build fortifications on the grasslands?
As long as we keep our firepower suppressing you, you won't dare to show up. We can then send people up to destroy your fortifications with gunpowder, and then advance step by step, forcing you to have a decisive battle with us.

……

……

The situation in the Tatar main camp was almost in chaos.

The Tatars deployed 170,000 to 180,000 troops here at the Sosuo River, and lost nearly 20,000 soldiers in the first battle. Of course, not all of them were killed or wounded. Some of them deserted and left the battlefield directly. Now Batu Mongke can only mobilize about 50,000 to 60,000 troops.

The remaining more than 100,000 were actually soldiers from the Tatar branch, and they had varying degrees of closeness to Batu Mongke.

With the two Ming armies only thirty or forty miles apart and the battle to start again at night, there was controversy among the Tatar high-ranking officials as to whether to fight or flee.

For the branch tribes of the grasslands, escaping is more cost-effective and more beneficial to them. But many people are unwilling to do so.

Although Tang Yin's army was brave, they were forced into a desperate situation. If they could hold on for another four or five days, Tang Yin's army would probably collapse without a fight. Even without them having to take action, the Ming soldiers would starve to death, and those who were not dead would surrender.

As for the Ming army that came to support, although it was led by Zhang Zhou himself, it only had 3,000 soldiers.

With such a situation, the Tatars have nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses, claiming to have an army of 400,000, but they don’t even have the ability to fight?
If they avoided this battle, it would mean that they would never have to fight with the Ming people again. The Ming people could treat the grassland as their own backyard and come and go as they pleased.

By then, there would be no more Khan of the grassland, and Batu Mongke would no longer be qualified to command the entire grassland. He would no longer have to think about his idea of ​​unifying the grassland.

……

……

"Khan, to be honest, we should withdraw."

As a powerful tribal leader who could challenge Batu Mongke on the grassland, Yibula went to persuade Batu Mongke in person.

Batu Mongke said: "Are you saying that you just give up like that?"

"The Ming army is incredibly powerful. We don't have the ability to fight it. This time your son led the troops and didn't even touch the shadow of the Ming army. It's very likely that he didn't kill a single Ming soldier, but he suffered the loss of 20,000 soldiers. Isn't this a big enough lesson?"

Yibula said, "My people told me that only by surrendering to the Ming Dynasty can we perhaps receive a title from the Ming Dynasty, and then the grassland will still be ours. The upper state is benevolent and righteous. As long as we pay tribute every year and willingly submit to the Ming Dynasty in the future, there will be no more killings."

Batu Mongke said sternly: "Did that man named Zhang Zhou come into the grassland and scare you all? In the end, the grassland eagle didn't even have the courage to catch a rabbit. How can you be called the son of the grassland eagle?"

Yibula said: "If we want to fight, it is not impossible. But you need to lead the troops in person and set an example for us. This battle may be tonight. The Ming army is ready to move north. If your soldiers can rush to the front line, we can follow behind them and fight a decisive battle with the Ming people."

Batu Mongke said loudly: "I have never been afraid of the Ming army. But how to arrange this battle is not up to you!"

Whoever charges forward dies faster.

No one is stupid.

Yibula did not want to be the vanguard, and neither did the leaders of other tribes. Batu Mongke also wanted to push this responsibility onto others.

The result is mutual blame-shifting, which damages internal unity and ultimately leads to disunity.

……

……

After nightfall, Zhang Zhou's army began to advance.

Only four or five miles ahead is the Tatars' first line of defense.

Because these defense lines were built by the Tatars in preparation to trap Tang Yin, for Zhang Zhou's troops coming from the south, they were actually the reverse camp. If they were to push forward, they would first push the camp and then blow up the wooden fence. The reinforced side of the wooden fence was also on the south side, especially some wooden stakes and reinforced ropes.

Liu Gui was still responsible for clearing the way.

His thirty chariots rushed in front.

In the first battle, there were casualties among Liu Gui's soldiers, but less than ten of the five hundred died and only a dozen were injured, which had no impact on his own strength.

On the contrary, some other groups of people chased too fiercely, and the casualties were more serious than those of Liu Gui's 500 men.

In general, in the first battle, Zhang Zhou's men lost about twenty people and suffered forty to fifty injuries.

This was actually not very satisfactory for Zhang Zhou.

As Liu Gui's troops entered the Tatar camp, the Tatars withdrew from the first camp without any resistance.

With a rumbling sound, someone in front had already blew up the first line of defense, leaving several gaps. Then the second and third groups of people immediately went up and continued to push down the wooden fences and began to level the road surface to facilitate the passage of subsequent carriages and horses.

After entering the first line of defense, there were many potholes on the ground. These were the tripwire areas set up by the Tatars to prevent Tang Yin's cavalry from charging, and the troops clearing the way at the front were responsible for filling them up.

They waited until they reached the second line of defense, then blew it open with gunpowder.

At this point, the main forces of the Ming Dynasty entered the first line of defense.

At this time, there was still no movement from the Tatars because Batu Mongke was waiting for the opportunity.

Among the hundreds of thousands of troops, except for 40,000 to 50,000 troops scattered in the northern area who were responsible for besieging Tang Yin's troops and preventing them from breaking out, the remaining nearly 100,000 troops were commanded by Batu Mongke.

However, only about 50,000 of them were the main force of the Chahar tribe, and this was also Batu Mongke’s last trump card.

The cavalry is ready to go.

They were waiting for Zhang Zhou's army to continue to open a path in the camp they had set up, break through the defenses time and time again, continue to move north, and gradually enter the trap that Batu Mongke believed.

"Tonight is the time for the decisive battle." Batu Mongke said on his horse.

He looked at the torches held by the Ming army as they cleared the way in the distance, and couldn't help falling into deep thought.

This was probably the time in his life when he needed to calm down and reflect the most.

In order to complete the final decisive battle with the Ming army, the military strength is more than thirty times that of the Ming army that is about to fight with them. As long as they rush forward all at once, they can basically engulf the opposite side like a torrent.

But it made him feel extremely uneasy.

Zhang Zhou...

This guy is the one who has frightened the grassland people in the past few years, caused the Huoshai army to fail, and allowed the grassland people to completely suppress the Ming Dynasty's border war advantage.

At this time, this person might be only a few miles away from him, but he could not capture or kill him.

"Father Khan, we can't let them go any further. If they reach the river valley and climb over the hill, the northern army of the Ming Dynasty that we have trapped will also attack from the south, and we may be trapped."

Batu Mongke's second son, Urus, looked at the fire in the distance and couldn't help but remind him.

Batu Mongke looked to the north and could see the fire in Tang Yin's camp in the distance.

The two groups of people were approaching each other in an unconventional way, and were also passing through the traps they had painstakingly set... But now, Batu Mongke didn't know who these traps were set for.

"Pass the order. When you see the fire as a signal, all troops must charge to the river bank without stopping! Divide and surround the Ming army and end all the fighting before dawn. This battle will determine the future prosperity and decline of the grassland for the next hundred years. Only victory is allowed!" (End of this chapter)