Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 112 Megatron Southwest
"Ali said this, the plank saw drilled into the tree trunk, the strip saw scratched the bark..."

"When the water rises, the vegetables turn green, and the green tips look forward to the water boiling. I have thought about it carefully, and there are always feelings in the world..."

At the end of the winter moon, when the north and south of the Yangtze River are covered with snow, Yunnan, located on the southwest border of Ming Dynasty, is still sunny, and melodious folk songs can be heard on the road.

This place, which was called the South of Caiyun by later generations, was a barren place that the Han people hated in this era.

Apart from the weather and scenery, the rest of the infrastructure here can be described as old.

Although it is difficult to expect any extravagant infrastructure in this era, Yunnan, which was only included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty for 13 years, is lagging behind compared with traditional Han Dynasty.

Ordinary dirt roads are pockmarked by wheels and horse hooves, unlike those in Jiangnan where there is at least a layer of solid rammed earth.

Some of these potholes still have bright red water, but this is not blood, but water stained by red soil.

Tall pine and fir trees grow on both sides of this potholed road.

If these trees were placed in the south of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains, they would definitely be worthy of being recorded by literati, and they might even earn a few titles.

But in Yunnan, they are just a very common member of thousands of trees.

If someone looks into the mountains, they can vaguely see some ancient trees that have survived for hundreds, hundreds or even thousands of years.

They are so spacious that it takes five or six men to surround them.

Even such a tree is considered a small tree in Yunnan as a whole.

Although Yunnan has experienced more than three thousand years of joint development by multi-ethnic regimes, due to climate problems, the population here is not large, so it retains a considerable amount of primitive dense forests.

Even here, less than thirty miles away from Qujing Mansion, you can vaguely see the primitive mountains and forests in the distance.

"The eclipse in the seventh month makes the day long, and the day and night are creaking."

"Sitting on the rocks, I heard someone shouting in front of me..."

"Officers and soldiers are riding horses and standing on the roadside of Qing!"

"Alila, oh, let's make love to Ruoni, another family..."

"All stop!"

On the muddy road, as a general riding a pony shouted, everyone in the marching team stopped singing and stood there to look at the general.

When they stopped, they saw their distinctive attire.

Their skin is dark, their eyes are deep, their noses are thick, and their eyebrows are thick. Their appearance is slightly different from that of the Han people.

They are not tall, only about [-] feet [-], and their clothes are mainly green and black plackets, short jackets and trousers.

In addition to the shorts and trousers, everyone wore leather armor made of buffalo skin, elephant skin, rhinoceros skin and other leathers.

These leather armors were cut into dozens of pieces such as breastplates, back armors, and abdominal armors, and were painted with natural patterns such as clouds, wind, thunder and lightning, sun and moon, followed by geometric patterns.

They held weapons such as long knives, axes, hammers, long bows, etc. Although they were not uniform in formation, their black leather and black armor made them look very fierce.

Apart from these, their eyes are actually no different from those of the Han people.

Sitting on his horse, the general who had stopped the army said to the soldiers:
"The Ming people in Qujing City have robbed our fields and cattle. Now I will take you to snatch them back. Just follow my arrangements. After the war, I will return your fields to you based on your merits."

After he finished speaking, the group of equipped natives did not respond much to his voice, but the general did not care and continued to wave his hand, beckoning the army to continue singing and moving forward.

At present, they are only thirty miles away from Qujing City. After the last failure, they deliberately avoided places where they could easily be ambushed. If everything goes well, it will only take them three hours to reach Qujing City.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the general's face, and at the same time as his smile, there was a team of fast horses more than ten miles away.

On the red road, twelve Tang riders ran from south to north. After galloping for more than three miles, they stopped. The leading flag officer blew the wooden whistle in his hand. After blowing it three times in a row, they rode up the mountain.

The road on the mountain is very rugged, only less than a foot wide in some places, and even built on the mountain wall with an inclination of more than 45 degrees.

But even on such a rough road, the twelve ponies carrying them still walked on smooth ground.

Half a quarter of an hour later, they successfully reached the top of the mountain, where thousands of elite soldiers, ready to go and wearing shining iron armour, were resting in the forest.

The little flag officer who was leading the charge got off his horse and was taken to the foot of a big tree, where several generals wearing armor and robes were sitting.

Seeing these ten people, the flag officer knelt down on one knee and bowed and reported: "Reporting to the Duke, Tumu Aziz is less than twelve miles away from here. The number of his troops is exactly as reported by the former Pantang cavalry, about 5000 people."

"okay, I get it……"

As a familiar voice sounded, the burqa-clad general sitting in the main seat raised his head, and what was exposed under the iron helmet was Xu Huizu's face.

"Are you going to ambush as planned?" Standing next to Xu Huizu, a general in bright armor and red robes asked.

He was tall, even when he was sitting on a horse, he was still four and a half feet tall. His face in his early thirties suddenly showed a different kind of maturity, which combined with his resolute facial features gave him a calm temperament.

"We have ambushes in several nearby mountains. This time he won't be able to escape even if he wants to."

Next to the red-robed general in bright armor, a sixty-year-old veteran with white hair and beard, holding a helmet in one hand and a long spear in the other, spoke calmly, with a tone that did not take Tumu Aziz seriously.

"Captain He has been staying in the south for almost two months. Get rid of this chieftain as soon as possible, and then go to the south to help him."

Song Sheng, who is wearing white armor and white robes, has his arms folded across his chest, and with the seven tigers standing behind him, he has an air of an iron pillar supporting the sky.

But just as he finished speaking, before Xu Huizu could reply, three tall figures walked up not far from them.

The three figures were tall, all over six feet tall, about a foot taller than an ordinary Ming army soldier.

Such a tall and burly figure, combined with the armor on his body, gives people the illusion of a god descending to earth.

The person walking in front was a veteran in his fifties, with a broad face and a broad nose, and a pair of long eyes with piercing eyes.

Behind him, there were two military generals in their thirties on the left and right who also looked similar to him, but their eyes were a little more fierce.

Seeing these three people approaching, Xu Huizu felt that the surrounding mountains and forests were much quieter.

"There is a local chief. I, my father and my son will lead the troops and rush down the mountain. They will kill him with their swords!"

The veteran walked up to Xu Huizu and others and sat down on the ground without waiting for Mazha to be handed over.

Even if they were sitting down, they could put pressure on Xu Huizu. Even if they were all friendly forces, it would be difficult to get along with the three of them.

"General Qu is brave, I have heard a lot about it in Nanjing, but this Tumu Azi is the most cunning. We let him escape last time, but we cannot let him escape this time, otherwise Governor He will be under great pressure. "

Xu Huizu did not speak, but the red-robed general sitting next to him spoke.

Qu Neng was old enough to be the father of a red-robed general, but facing the red-robed general, Qu Neng did not refute, but raised his hands and bowed: "Don't worry, Marquis Xiping, I won't let him run away this time. "

Muchun, Hou of Xiping, was a Mesozoic general of the Ming Dynasty who was powerful in the southwest and guarded Yunnan. Like his father, he had a reputation for fighting with real swords and guns. Qu Neng joined forces with him to encircle and suppress many barbarians, and he knew that his abilities were inferior to others. , so I respect him very much.

"My lord, please let Qu Du command the envoys to lead the front army, and I will be in the rear."

Seeing that Qu Neng had suffered a loss, the veteran standing behind Muchun spoke. Xu Huizu did not refuse, nodded and said: "That's okay."

"Haha, Gu Cheng, you are willing to give up the credit." Qu Neng spoke boldly to the veteran and revealed his identity.

Gu Cheng, who was rushing from Guizhou Dusi, heard Qu Neng say this, but he stroked his beard and smiled and said: "This battle will never be finished, so why be greedy for temporary success."

"I gave you the forward this time, but you can't steal the forward next time."

"Of course!" Qu Neng nodded in agreement. When Song Sheng saw this, he also said to Xu Huizu:

"Calculating the time, the chieftain is estimated to be less than ten miles away from us. We can prepare."

"Okay!" Xu Huizu stood up and put one hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist: "Send the order to all armies to follow the order and send troops to ambush..."

"Yes!" Seeing Xu Huizu's order, the generals stood up one after another and dispersed according to the pre-battle arrangements.

Looking at their leaving figures, Xu Huizu tightened his grip on the sword hilt in his hand.

It is not difficult to see from the situation just now that this group of military generals with outstanding military achievements did not care about him, the Duke of Wei, but Xu Huizu had no choice.

His military exploits were among the best in Nanjing, but in front of these people, he became that boy who couldn't fight.

"Yungong, if you want the generals to convince you, you have to show your performance..."

Xu Huizu's father's words flashed through his mind, so he took a deep breath, calmed down a little, and began to wait quietly for the next battle.

While waiting, he couldn't help but recall the experience of more than a month.

After more than half a month, Xu Huizu and the others successfully arrived at Qujing Mansion in Yunnan at the beginning of winter and met up with Muchun.

Within a few days, [-] Sichuan soldiers led by Qu Neng also arrived, and Gu Cheng also arrived five days later with [-] soldiers and horses from Guizhou Dusi.

At this time, a month and a half had passed since the rebellion of the three chieftains. He Fu in the south had resisted the attack of more than 3 troops by Nong Zhenyou and Dao Bailan. Mu Chun spent more than half a month training. They arrived at the military households in Qujing City and assembled [-] guardsmen from the direction of Kunming.

Therefore, when Qu Neng and others arrived, Muchun already had more than 4000 mobile troops. Adding the 4000 troops of Qu Neng, Qu Neng, and Xu Huizu, the Qujing Mansion's military strength was now close to [-].

After several days of discussion and arrangements, Xu Huizu sent troops on the advice of Song Sheng, Gu Cheng, and Muchun.

Xu Hui's ancestors placed weak soldiers at the mountain pass where Aziz was ambushed and defeated by Muchun, and deliberately let the troops retreat and lured Aziz's troops to pursue them.

Now Aziz has been fooled and successfully entered the encirclement set by the Ming army for him.

Next, Xu Huizu only needed to order the ambush troops to attack, and Xu Huizu could defeat Ah Zi with the help of Song Sheng and others.

Time passed by bit by bit. Xu Huizu knelt in front of the trees on the top of the mountain and watched with his own eyes Tumu Aziz's army walked out of the col.

This was the first time that Xu Huizu met the southwestern Yi people. They were different from the Yao people in Huguang, whether in terms of clothing, singing, weapons, or appearance.

In just half an hour, they walked from the mountain pass to the middle of the valley plain, less than five miles away from the mountain pass leading out of the valley.

"It's now!"

"Beep--"

Xu Huizu suddenly stood up and blew the wooden whistle in his hand. As his wooden whistle blew, the surrounding mountains and forests resounded with the harsh sound of the wooden whistle.

"It's the army! Withdraw!"

Tumu Aziz, who was riding on horseback, was frightened and wanted to run away. He yelled and retreated, but at this moment he had already walked into the encirclement of the Ming army.

The harsh whistle of "beep beep" was like a reminder, and along with it were the shouts of killing all over the mountains and plains.

The Ming army wearing Ming armor rushed out of the mountains and forests. The sun shone on the Ming army's armor, reflecting the bright light, and the momentum was extraordinary. "They are soldiers under King Mu Tian!"

Looking at the Ming army under the banner of "Mu", although many native soldiers were illiterate, the shape of the character "Mu" had already been deeply engraved in their minds.

For a time, the soldiers were in chaos, and hundreds of cavalry rushed out from all directions.

"Combine!"

Seeing that there was no way to break through, Tumu Aziz rode his horse into the soldiers and shouted at them to form formations.

Some drummers accompanying the army began to beat gongs and cowhide drums. The originally scattered soldiers heard the sound of the drums and immediately began to form defensive formations.

The shield half as tall as a man was raised, and the two swordsmen held up their shields to protect their whole bodies.

At just one word, a shield array appeared on the river valley plain. Seeing this, Muchun reined in his horse, turned around and raised his hand: "Wankou gun!"

In his greeting, the Yunnan Dusi men and horses at the rear began to move forward with blunderbuss like goblets. Unfortunately, before they could light the fire, more than two hundred cavalry passed by the Yunnan Dusi men and horses.

"Qu Neng! Don't be reckless!"

Muchun saw the flag with the word "Qu" fluttering in the wind, and regardless of being rude, he tried to stop Qu Neng.

However, his voice was drowned in the rumble of horse hooves, while the more than two hundred armored cavalry led by Qu Neng ran straight into the shield array of the soldiers.

Seeing this scene, Xu Huizu cursed: "You're confused! How can you use cavalry to charge into battle!"

In the art of war learned by Xu Huizu and his experience in the Northern Expedition with Zhu Di, cavalry was often used to suppress the formation. Only when the infantry defeated the enemy head-on would it be the cavalry's turn to charge into the formation and harvest the heads.

It's a pity that at this moment, Qu Neng desperately led more than [-] armored cavalry to charge towards the native shield formation of more than [-] people.

Xu Huizu's eyes widened as he seemed to have imagined that more than two hundred armored cavalry were submerged in the shield formation of the native soldiers.

"Long gun!"

Tumu Aziz grinned happily as he looked at the two hundred cavalrymen rushing toward them.

The next second, many spears with rattan shields appeared in the shield formation, and the original shield formation turned into an iron hedgehog composed of spears.

Facing such a small number of cavalry, the soldiers were nervous, but they firmly believed that this cavalry would be overwhelmed by their spears.

"Where is my tiger?!"

On the way to charge, Qu Neng on horseback stared at the hedgehog shell in front of him and shouted.

As he shouted, two tall figures took the lead, increased their horse speed, and rushed out of the cavalry.

The two tall and majestic people were lying on the back of the horse, just like two adult bears riding yellow dogs, full of oppression.

If you look carefully, you can see that the horses under their crotches have been blindfolded, and they have no idea how terrifying the existence is ahead.

"Sorry..."

The war horses screamed, and in just a blink of an eye, two war horses carried Qu Yu and Qu Tao and rushed towards the shield formation, crashing into it in an instant.

The huge momentum made the shield almost collapse. The war horse was pierced by the spear and knocked down in front of the shield wall with a whine.

Before their horses fell, Qu Yu and Qu Tao jumped up from their horses, rolled along the shield array and entered the interior of the shield array while the soldiers' spears were stuck on their horses.

Several local soldiers were overwhelmed by the two men before they could react. The local soldiers around them were about to draw their swords, but what greeted them were two heavy pumpkin hammers.

With their backs leaning against each other, the two brothers Qu Yu and Qu Tao quickly stood up. The oppressive feeling brought by their bodies of more than six feet was extremely strong.

Among the bunch of local soldiers who were over five feet tall, the two of them stood out.

During this period, there were no soldiers who slashed at them with swords, but the iron swords in their hands could not penetrate the armor of the two men at all.

Looking at this group of thin soldiers, only as high as their own chests, Qu Yu and Qu Tao had scornful smiles on their faces.

The soldiers rushed up, and some even jumped up and tried to insert their knives into the gaps between Qu Yu and Qu Tao's neck armor.

But before they could take action, Qu Yu and Qu Tao started to kill with their weapons in hand.

There was no communication, and it seemed that they had been cooperating for many years. The two brothers, Qu Yu and Qu Tao, wielded their pumpkin hammers and rushed towards the front row of soldiers maintaining the shield formation. From the inside to the outside, they broke the formation instantly...

The gap was opened, and Qu Yu and Qu Tao fought to the left and right to widen the gap.

The Ming cavalry arrived in an instant, like an iron nail, being driven into the shield formation of the native soldiers.

The 6000-man shield array sounds indestructible, but when a point is penetrated, what appears in front of Qu Neng is an empty interior.

More than two hundred cavalry rushed into the formation and almost plunged into the center of the army.

The swordsmen on the second floor inside the shield formation held up their shields and waved their swords to stop the cavalry's advance, but they could only stop the Ming cavalry, but not Qu Neng.

Facing the six-foot-long sword in Qu Neng's hand, the soldier wearing leather armor was pierced through the body without any surprise, and the second row of swords was broken open.

"Stop him!"

Tumu Aziz's eyes were about to burst. Before he could finish speaking, there was a muffled thunder in the distance.

"Bang! Boom! Boom—"

Smoke flew up, and fist-sized blunderbuss bullets were fired, instantly crushing the sword players who were still raising their shields in other directions.

The shield formation of the native soldiers was broken by the Ming army's small artillery bowl-mouth blunderbuss. Song Sheng and Muchun each led their infantry and cavalry to attack the shield formation, making it impossible for the native soldiers from all sides of the shield formation to come to rescue, thus reducing the pressure on Qu Neng's troops. .

"Chief!"

There was thunder on the ground, as if someone was yelling in my ears.

Tumu Aziz turned around when he heard the sound and saw a black shadow half as tall as him appearing behind him. Before he could react, his whole body was instantly pushed away.

"Ahh!!!"

Tumu Aziz's screams attracted the attention of the surrounding soldiers. When they turned around, they saw a scene they would never forget in their lives.

Tumu Aziz, who was still directing the battle on horseback, was pierced and his whole body was hung on an exaggerated long pole. He grabbed the long pole with both hands, his feet kept beating, and he kept screaming tragic words from his mouth. With a cry, the whole person kept sliding towards the end of the long branch.

Seeing Tu Mu Azi slipping down, Qu Neng used his left hand to strike back with the knife. The next moment, the head of Dou Da was flying, and Tu Mu Azi finally stopped shouting.

"Tumu Aziz is dead! Who dares not to surrender!"

Qu Neng held up the headless body of Tumu Aziz and shouted at the surrounding soldiers who were about to attack.

The local soldiers who did not understand Chinese still wanted to show off, but Qu was able to throw Tu Mu Azi's body out of Changsha, knocking down several people in a row.

The group of native soldiers who tried to besiege him were also stabbed through the leather armor by long spears. Qu Neng, who was over fifty years old, was still in his fighting years, stabbing left and right among the native soldiers, as if he was in a deserted land.

When the native soldiers formed a spear formation and pressed forward step by step, trying to limit the space between Qu Neng and his horses, the Ming army cavalry, which had been slowed down earlier, also rushed forward and overwhelmed the native soldiers who wanted to take action.

Their appearance made the soldiers who wanted to kill Qu Neng lose their fighting spirit. They looked at each other and dropped their weapons.

It's a pity that what happened in the formation has not yet spread outside the formation. The Ming army outside the formation is still killing the native soldiers crazily. The so-called shield formation is not worth mentioning in the eyes of the armored and sharp Ming army. The soldiers' Their combat power is just like their appearance. Although their weapons are powerful, their armor is too thin.

Their weapons could hardly hurt the Ming army, but the blunt soldiers and short soldiers in the hands of the Ming army could kill them.

Without the command of Tumu Aziz, the front row soldiers were quickly overwhelmed. When they were overwhelmed and fled to the rear, they saw the Chinese army who had abandoned their weapons and surrendered.

In an instant, some smart soldiers dropped their weapons and raised their hands.

Some stupid soldiers tried to break out, but were quickly surrounded and killed by thousands of Ming troops who rushed up.

On this battlefield, both sides were furious. Even though some soldiers kept waving their hands to show that they had no weapons, they were still hammered down by the Ming army and vomited blood.

"Beep!"

"The descendants do not kill!"

Song Sheng was the first to observe the situation on the battlefield. He knew very well that if the killing continued like this, the soldiers would be forced to pick up weapons again, so he immediately blew the whistle and shouted to his side with the people around him.

In a few breaths, the shout spread throughout the entire army, waking up those Ming soldiers who were red-eyed.

Soon, the Ming army withdrew like a tide, and Qu Neng and his son also led the cavalry to rush out of the native soldiers.

Xu Huizu rushed to the battlefield with dozens of cavalry as soon as the battlefield ended.

He had just reined in his horse when a dark shadow was thrown in front of his horse.

"Wei Guogong, this is Tu Mu Azi!"

Qu Neng's thunderous voice sounded, and Xu Huizu looked down after reacting, only to see a head rolling on the ground with a painful expression.

Before he could recover, Qu Neng's eldest son Qu Yu rode up and threw a decapitated corpse in front of him, leaving an understatement: "This is the corpse of Yuezhou Wei Tumu Azizi, the Duke of Wei Guo." Disposal."

Looking at the corpse, Xu Huizu was just stunned for a moment. After all, he was also someone who had fought with Zhu Di in the north, and he was not a young man who had never been on the battlefield. Therefore, after Qu Yu finished speaking, he told the generals on his left and right:

"Use it to say that you will surrender to the city of Yuezhou, and also promise to surrender your troops and surrender to the city, and forget about it. All the land owned by Tumu Aziz will be distributed to the local people in the city who are willing to open the city and surrender."

"In addition, after the native people surrendered in Kaicheng, all the captured native soldiers were released. All of Tumu Aziz's family property except the fields was confiscated, [-]% was used to reward the three armies, and [-]% was handed over to the court."

In the final analysis, the Tuman rebellion in Yuezhou Wei was due to Tumu Aziz's desire for profit. Now that Tumu Aziz is dead, Xu Huizu just used his family wealth to win over the hearts and minds of the Tumu people in Yuezhou Wei.

However, he did not use all the chieftain's property to reward the army as Zhu Gaoxu said, but kept half of it to the court.

After all, Xu Huizu may not be able to do what Zhu Gaoxu can do, and there are limits to things like privately rewarding the army.

But having said that, the reason why they were able to defeat Tumu Aziz so quickly this time was mainly because Qu Neng and his son killed the general and captured the flag, otherwise the fight would probably have taken an hour longer.

Thinking of this, Xu Huizu also bowed to Qu Neng and his son: "Commander Qudu and the two commanders Xiao Qu are the first to take credit for this battle. When Yuezhou City surrenders, I will go to the Shu court to ask for credit for you."

"Thank you, Duke Wei..." Qu Neng and Qu Yu heard what they wanted to hear, so they were not aloof and bowed in return to Xu Huizu.

Seeing this, Xu Huizu turned his attention to the battlefield in the distance.

In less than half an hour of fighting, 3000 native soldiers suffered thousands of casualties and injuries, and the remaining [-] people squatting on the ground were already captured.

At a glance, there were only a few Ming army corpses on the entire battlefield, which clearly showed the strength of the soldiers on the southwest side.

This was the first time Xu Huizu had seen such a situation, so he couldn't help but think of the guardsmen in Jiangnan and other places, and he couldn't help but feel worried...

(End of this chapter)