Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 333 The end of Ulliangha

"Sorry..."

In a valley in the northeastern corner of the Harawen Mountains, nearly 100,000 people and hundreds of thousands of herds gathered at this moment.

Tens of thousands of animal skin tents were set up on the hillside, with horses outside the tents, and herds grazing in the valley below the hillside.

This is the middle reaches of the Nguyen Li River. Going up is the northern foothills of the Harawun Mountains, and going down can reach the Nguyen River.

It is nearly four hundred miles away from Wulianghatu Mountain and is located in the foothills of the mountain.

If you are attacked, you can immediately follow the cut road across the northern part of the Halawen Mountains and reach the grassland in the eastern part of Mobei.

But for Tolu Huchaer, this road is the last resort, and he will not take it unless he has to.

"Shurche and his men stayed in the south. He must have wanted to use us as an opportunity to claim credit, so no horses can be put in the river valley."

"If the Ming army attacks, and the old, weak, women and children drive the herds upstream, we will camp here to prepare for the enemy."

Standing on the hillside, Tulu Huchaer led two thousand households and more than twenty thousand households to direct how to retreat, and gave them confidence:

"We are so condescending that even if Zhu Di comes, he would not dare to attack us."

"Their supplies depart from Daning, and there are very few soldiers and horses they can bring here."

"But what if they send troops from Zhaozhou?" A member of the Ten Thousand Households asked this question. After hearing this, Tuolu Huchaer shook his head and said:

"How much food can be grown outside the pass? Even if Zhu Gaoxu led the surprise attack, it would only be a few thousand soldiers and horses."

"Even though the Ming Dynasty was strong, it was not easy for Zhu Di to mobilize troops here."

Tulu Huchaer's words convinced everyone. After all, they all knew that it was difficult to cultivate food outside the customs and the yield was not high.

Although the Bohai Sea has been vigorously cultivated, they do not know to what extent the Bohai Sea has developed. Their understanding of the Bohai Sea is still five or six years ago.

The reason for this is that during the period when Meng Zhang was running Bohai, the Bohai cavalry appeared in Modong many times and continuously attacked some small and medium-sized tribes. This caused Wu Liangha to be unable to recover for a long time.

Today, their strength is less than one-third of what they were at their peak.

But even so, it is impossible for them to retreat to Mobei, because the battle between the Tatars and Oara in Mobei is not over yet. If they are rashly involved in the battle now, it is very likely that the Ulangha tribes will be cannibalized, let alone go to Mobei. The road of the Tatar tribe is not wide, and it is not easy for 100,000 people to walk.

Tuolu Huchaer's original intention was to surrender to Zhu Di, but the reality was that few Uliangha nobles were willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di, the father and son, killed too many Ulangha people, especially the fact that Zhu Gaoxu buried the Ulangha prisoners alive was unacceptable to the tribes.

Therefore, facing Zhu Di's Northern Expedition to sweep holes, they could only move again and again, and now they were unable to move.

"Beep--"

Suddenly, a harsh whistle came from the lower reaches of the river valley, and everyone became nervous.

They looked downstream and saw hundreds of sentry riders coming from downstream to upstream, and this was almost half of Wu Liangha's sentry riders.

"The Ming army is coming..."

Tolu Huchaer's face was ashen, and some nobles became frightened after hearing this.

They watched as more than ten cavalrymen rushed out of the sentry team and ran up the hillside.

When they came to the crowd, they got off their horses and spoke nervously and with a bit of fear: "The main force of the Ming army appeared forty miles away in the southeast, with at least 20,000 people..."

"Twenty thousand people!" Everyone took a breath and couldn't help but turn their attention to Tolu Huchaer.

With the fall of Haragu, Azashi and others, Tuluhuchaer became the backbone of the Ulyanha tribes.

"The women and children drove the herds upstream, and sent people to prepare wood and gravel. They also asked the women and children to cut down trees as they walked to hinder the Ming army's pursuit."

Tuolu Hucha'er also felt uncomfortable, but he couldn't be chaotic now. Once he was chaotic, the entire Ulyanha tribe would be in turmoil.

Seeing that no one had reacted, Tolu Huchaer raised his voice: "What? You don't want to retreat and you want to surrender?"

"No..." The nobles shook their heads repeatedly. After all, most of their descendants died in the battle at Jixiguan and Daning. They fought against the Ming Dynasty to the death.

"Surrender is absolutely impossible, so fight!"

"beat!!"

Tolu Huchaer roared angrily, and everyone followed him. The sound of shouting and killing continued to echo in the valley.

Under the command of Tolu Huchaer, more than 60,000 old and weak women and children began to drive the herds upward, leaving only less than 30,000 men on the hillside.

They prepared wood and stone throwing, preparing to imitate Zhu Gaoxu's operation on the western slope of Hadal Ridge when he stormed Jixi Pass.

It's just that the slope here is not as steep as Hadaling. They are not Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Di is not Harawu...

"Beep beep... beep beep..."

The next morning, when whistles sounded one after another in the Hadaling Valley, the men of Uliangha got up one after another after a simple night's rest.

Their ages range from thirteen to more than fifty years old. Only 16,000 of them can wear armor, and the remaining 12,000 people wear simple animal skin clothing.

They had weapons, but they were very incomplete.

Heavy fog often appears in the river valleys in the early morning. This is a helper used by Tolu Huchaer to deal with the Ming army's firearms, but he is not sure how long the fog can last.

He stood among the layers of rubble walls and trenches, looking around at the group of teenage boys and the old Batulu who was in his fifties. He didn't know what to think.

At this time ten years ago, he, Haragu and Azashili had tens of thousands of armored soldiers, and even armored cavalry could pull out a certain number. Wuliangha repeatedly gave them the ability to stand up during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. capital.

But now, all that has disappeared, and they seem to be living a life of poverty that they themselves can hardly imagine.

"The Khan is like the high sun, I hold the bow and arrow and the spear, the flag is flapping in the wind..."

I don't know who started it, but a song "Ala Lai" started to be sung amidst the sound of humai. Even Tolu Huchaer couldn't help but sing along.

The song spread out of the river valley and reached the ears of the Ming army entering the river valley.

Many naturalized Mongolians in the Ming army heard the pathos in the singing and hesitated for a while. On the contrary, the Jurchens and Han people under Meng Zhang's command were not affected and moved forward steadily.

Fifty field guns were pulled by a hundred draft horses, so that they could keep up with the marching speed of the army.

Racks were set up on the saddles of the draft horses of the three thousand gunners, some holding gunpowder and some holding stone bullets.

Because the distance of the Northern Expedition was too far, the Ming army could not carry enough ammunition supplies, so they could only reduce the number of artillery to increase the number of shellings.

"If they are willing to surrender, I am willing to ennoble Tulu Huchaer as the hereditary commander of the guards."

On horseback, Zhu Di, as the "Zhiyin Emperor", also heard the pathos in the singing, so he spoke to Wang Yan.

Upon seeing this, Wang Yan immediately sent more than a hundred Mongolian cavalry to set off first with a letter of surrender conditions.

After they reached the foot of the hillside, they shot out the letter with arrows and shouted in Mongolian:

"The Ming Dynasty Khan is willing to accept your surrender. If you surrender, the things you have committed in the past will be forgotten, and the Taijis can obtain hereditary official positions."

"Go away, hound of the Han!"

An arrow was shot down from the hillside. Fortunately, the Baihu official reacted in time and protected his face with his arm armor, and the arrow was deflected.

"go!"

After Baihuguan determined that it was safe, he immediately turned his horse's head and left, and the archer Tolu Huchaer also handed the bow and arrow to the person next to him.

"Get ready for battle."

Tolu Hucha'er's voice was a little tired, and he turned around and left the trench and went to his wooden house.

During this period, the Ming army was not in a hurry because Zhu Di knew that the thick fog in the valley would not clear for a while.

A quarter of an hour later, when the naturalized Mongolians sent to deliver the message returned and reported the situation, Zhu Di stroked his beard.

"The angle of the hillside is about fifteen degrees. There is a three- to four-foot stone wall on top, and there should be a trench."

"If nothing else happens, there should be trees and falling rocks. This Tulu Huchaer wants to imitate the second child's arrangement at Hadaling."

"But the slope of that place is not enough, and the river valley is wide enough to spread out an army of 30,000."

Zhu Di said many new terms in his mouth, but these terms were not unfamiliar to Meng Zhang and others.

"Wait until the thick fog dissipates before advancing. Tangqi and Butang disperse. Don't give them a chance to make a sneak attack."

"The last general takes command!"

Zhu Di ordered, and Meng Zhang agreed without hesitation.

The arrangement of the army is still with Li Yuan and Xu Zengshou as the front army, Li Shi as the left army, Li Qi as the right army, Gan Yue as the rear army, and Meng Zhang as the center army.

This arrangement was because Meng Zhang knew that the emperor wanted Li Yuan and Xu Zengshou to perform meritorious service, and because Gan Yue had offended the emperor, he placed him in the rear army to avoid contact with the emperor.

The army was waiting. From Chen hour to noon, the thick fog gradually dissipated.

As the thick fog dissipated, the situation in the river valley began to be revealed to the Ming army.

The wide valley is probably six miles east to west and more than ten miles north to south. The entire valley is divided into Hedong and Hexi by the Ruanli River in the middle.

Zhu Di and others were in Hexi at this time, and Tuolu Huchaer and others were also in Hexi, and they camped and built forts on a hillside to the north of the river valley plain.

Hexi is about three or four miles from the foot of the mountain to Ruanli Hexi. This distance is enough for Zhu Di to use artillery to deal with Tuolu Huchaer.

"I'm looking for death myself, and I'm going to die with my followers."

Meng Zhang unabashedly satirized Tuolu Huchaer. After all, Bohai and Wuliangha had a blood feud.

Although Zhu Di also saw that Tuolu Huchaer wanted to resist desperately, what he felt most was regret. After all, he had recruited 100,000 Uuliangha Mongols, such as Tuolu Huchaer, and he could at least pull out 20,000 Tatars. Ride sweep north.

Now it seems that this idea is hopeless. The hatred between the second son and Wu Liangha is too deep, and the two parties are destined to be at odds with each other.

"The cavalry put on armor and set off first, the horse infantry put on breastplates and followed behind. The artillery battalion selected positions and prepared for bombardment."

Facing the condescension of Wu Liangha's army, Zhu Di commanded the army to advance with ease.

In addition to the three thousand outer cavalry who were already wearing armor, the rest of the cavalry also wore armor, and the horse infantry and artillery also wore breastplates.

For a time, the river valley seemed to be a little brighter, and the Ming army's team came into the sight of Wu Liangha's army.

They went north along the river, leaving enough distance between themselves and Ulliangha's army.

Once something happens, the horse infantry can dismount and form a spear formation within one hour.

Although they did not wear full armor, the spear formation of the cuirass light infantry was not something Wuliangha's cavalry could collide with, let alone the Ming army's 5,000 full armor cavalry.

"Want to rush?"

"Need not……"

On the hillside, the nobles asked Tuolu Huchaer, but he shook his head and said no.

How could he, who had rich experience in fighting the Ming army, not know the power of the Ming army's artillery, and how could he not know the Ming army's ability to fight in close combat.

In fact, the current Uuliangha tribes are already at their wits end. When Zhu Di launched the Northern Expedition and targeted them, God destined them to defeat.

What can Tulukuchar do? He could only let the tribes of Ulliangha leave with their heroes.

As for the old, weak, women and children, if they could walk out of the narrow beast path, they might be annexed by the Tatars, but at least it would be better than being captured by the Ming army.

Thinking of this, Tolu Huchaer looked at his arrangement.

There is a huge gap between his arrangement and Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement in Hadaling. Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement in Hadaling can completely use two hundred people as two thousand people.

His arrangement can use at most 28,000 people as 50,000 people, and when facing the Ming army, this effect will be greatly reduced. For example, right now...

"Target, hillside stone wall, distance is one mile and four, pre-fire one round, ready..."

“Let it go!” “Boom, boom, boom—”

When the Ming army came to the valley plain in front of them in front of the Ulyanha army, the horse and infantry began to cover each other's armor, and the artillery positions also began to pre-fire artillery fire after the artillery positions were established.

"The whole army is ready!"

The opportunity Tolu Hucha'er was waiting for was the opportunity for the Ming army's artillery to fire, but when he called out that the entire army was ready, he didn't know how to respond to the five thousand Ming army cavalry.

They looked like armored knights, but they had no armor skirts on the hips, and the armor skirts on the ribs were much shorter.

This kind of design can be said to not have the protection of a heavy ride, nor the mobility of a light ride.

But having said that, this design also gives him better protection than a light ride, and better speed and endurance than a heavy ride.

Whether or not to order a charge became a dilemma for Tolu Huchaer, and this time he had no one to rely on.

"..." The silence made him miss a good opportunity, watching helplessly as the Ming army's horse and infantry dismounted and formed a formation.

"The artillery battalion has a base, and the infantry will advance after the attack. The cavalry is waiting for our military orders!"

Zhu Di saw 26,000 horse infantry in formation. Even after he ordered them to wait for the attack, the artillery battalion began to stuff the few artillery shells and propellant into the cannon bores, and began to bombard Wu at the rate of one shelling per word hour. A stone wall built by the Liangha people.

"Boom boom boom——"

The dull sound of artillery continued in the river valley. Every time a round of artillery shells was fired, bursts of screams could be heard from the Ulyanha defense line on the opposite side.

Five kilograms of iron cannonballs destroyed part of the simple stone wall, making the entire section of the stone wall look incomplete.

"Three stone walls, but they are of no use."

Zhu Di, who was holding a telescope, could see clearly, but he did not think that the wood and falling rocks dropped by this slope could cause any fatal damage to the Ming army.

"Li Yuan, when the army goes up the mountain, make a camp step by step. Be careful of logs and falling rocks. You can let the knife players go to the front. When they get closer, use muskets to fire volleys, and then engage in hand-to-hand combat."

"The last general takes command!"

Facing Zhu Di's greeting, the resolute-looking Li Yuan bowed respectfully.

"Boom boom boom——"

The dull sound of cannons lasted for a whole hour. After an hour passed, many stone walls had collapsed and gaps were left.

"Bypass the stone wall, climb up the slope from the left and right, and attack!"

As soon as Zhu Di opened his mouth, Li Yuan shook his horse's reins, walked up to Zhu Di and bowed solemnly, and then rode his horse to the front of the infantry formation that had formed.

Among the 26,000 horse infantry were 5,000 musketeers, 15,000 pikemen, and 6,000 swordsmen.

Li Yuan quickly made adjustments according to Zhu Di's instructions, and he mobilized 26,000 troops. Although it was not as good as Zhu Di's personal command, the effect was still barely good.

"Meng Zhang, do you think you can command 26,000 people like this?"

Zhu Di was making insinuations about Meng Zhang's ability. It was not easy for Meng Zhang to be entrusted with three escort missions by Zhu Gaoxu in the early days. He knew that the emperor wanted to judge the strength of His Highness, so he smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Although I have a Duke, I position, but so far he can only command more than 10,000 troops."

Li Yuan is regarded by Zhu Di as the third person in the Qingzhuang faction after Zhu Neng and Zhang Fu, and Meng Zhang happens to be the third person in Bohai.

Therefore, Meng Zhang's submission also meant that Bohai was not as good as the Qingzhuang Sect of Yanfu. Zhu Di smiled happily but did not say anything.

Maybe he knew very well that Meng Zhang was just hiding his clumsiness, and Li Yuan's abilities were probably not as good as Meng Zhang's. Meng Zhang was only twenty-nine years old, but Li Yuan was already forty.

It seems that except for Zhu Neng, Zhang Fu, Meng Ying and others, Zhu Di really can't find a few handsome talents in their twenties and thirties.

Compared with him, Zhu Gaoxu's military commanders have great advantages.

"I hope the second child can hold it together..."

Zhu Di squinted his eyes and watched Li Yuan split the 26,000 infantry into two, preparing to bypass the stone wall and attack Ulliangha's army.

At the same time, Li Shi and Li Qi, who commanded five thousand cavalry on the left and right, also began to keep up with the infantry team to ensure that they could protect their flanks at critical moments.

"At the sound of the trumpet, attack!"

Watching the main force of the Ming army come out, Tolu Huchaer, who had been bombarded for an hour, finally gave the order.

Soon, 16,000 armored cavalry mounted their horses, ready to attack the Ming army's left and right formations from a high position.

Sixteen thousand cavalry do not have an advantage when attacking 26,000 infantry head-on, so what they have to do is use their mobility to attack in a roundabout way or attack from the side.

Once it succeeds, the results needless to say.

But now their problem is to cover the cavalry on the flanks of the Ming army's infantry.

"Each of the left and right separated three thousand elite cavalry to entangle the Ming cavalry. The remaining cavalry mainly charged the Mingjia (zhajia) cavalry, and the light armored cavalry closely followed the Mingjia cavalry."

Tuolu Hucha'er talked about his plan. Since Daning's tragic defeat, the number of Wu Liangha's Mingjia cavalry has dropped sharply, and now they can only pull out less than 4,000 people.

What he wanted to do was to use these four thousand people as the spearheads and the light cavalry wearing leather armor as the spear shafts to pierce the Ming army from the flanks and back.

Soon, military orders began to be conveyed, and the Ming army's formation also came to the foot of the hillside and began to climb the gentle slope of only about 15 degrees.

They were relatively relaxed at first, but as the distance continued to increase, the formation of the military formation began to become somewhat chaotic.

"Take it step by step, don't rush!"

Zhu Di was observing from behind and reminded Li Yuan again in a strict voice. Wang Yan also quickly sent Tang Qi to tell Li Yuan repeatedly.

After being reminded again by Zhu Di, Li Yuan also began to slow down the pace of the infantry, and the lineup became tight again.

However, at this time, Tsumugi and rolling stones began to be thrown. The angular rolling stones might not be able to roll very far on this gentle slope of fifteen degrees, but Mumu was different.

Shumu was thrown from the hillside and rolled faster and faster. Even the shield formation of the sword player could not stop it. Either the bottom was smashed open, or it rolled up into the air along the shield formation, and then fell down and directly smashed the Ming army. die.

Seeing the casualties among his brothers, Li Yuan was a little anxious.

If Zhu Di hadn't reminded him step by step and reminded him repeatedly, I'm afraid he would have sent the cavalry to attack by now.

"..."

Looking at the lineup of the Ming army that was neither arrogant nor impetuous, Tuolu Huchaer felt that he couldn't take a breath and was in a trance.

"How? When can we start?"

Some nobles still couldn't see the situation clearly. Tuolu Huchaer shook his head when he saw this: "No chance."

"You have to create even if you don't have a chance. At worst, if you gather 16,000 people together, I don't believe that 16,000 people can't defeat the Ming army of 13,000 or 4,000."

The nobles wanted to gather superior forces and launch a condescending attack on the Ming army.

At this moment, it seems that this is the only possible way.

"Change the military order and launch a charge towards the Ming army on the right."

Tulu Huchaer accepted the nobles' proposal, and soon 16,000 cavalrymen charged with 4,000 plain-armored cavalry as spearheads and 12,000 leather-armored cavalry as spearheads.

They were condescending, their horses were downward, and they launched a charge against the 14,000 people on the left flank of the Ming army in the lowlands.

"Cover both sides of our army!"

Li Shi blew the wooden whistle, and the two thousand cavalry under his command split into two and began to cover his flank.

However, facing the condescending charge, Li failed to have too few cavalry.

"His Majesty!"

In the Chinese army formation, Wang Yan couldn't bear to look any further and couldn't help but look at Zhu Di, only to see a smile on Zhu Di's face.

The cavalry charging from a high position can indeed overwhelm the same or a small number of infantry in low-lying areas, but times have changed...

"Boys, kill the Han dogs!!"

"kill!!!"

The Uliangha cavalry, who had a bloody feud with the Bohai Navy, saw the familiar Suzaku flag and recalled their fathers and brothers who died at the hands of the Bohai Navy.

They raised their short hammers, and the entire team divided into three groups, attacking the front and two wings respectively.

"Beep--"

A sharp and piercing whistle sounded. After Li Shi heard it, he quickly ordered: "The cavalry on both wings retreat and give them space!"

In an instant, the Ming cavalry began to retreat, and in the eyes of the Wuliangha cavalry, the Ming cavalry was afraid of them.

"Be careful with the muskets, we must break the formation!"

Tuolu Huchaer conveyed his military order, but it was too late.

When they rushed condescendingly toward the Ming army's left-wing phalanx, which was less than 80 steps away, the swordsmen and spearmen, the only ones who could withstand the cavalry's attack, squatted down on one knee.

Before the Uliangha cavalry could react, the musketeers behind the Ming army's target also raised the large matchlock gun nearly six feet long in their hands.

"put!"

"Clap clap clap-"

"Hiss!!"

"Uh-huh!!"

Thick white smoke appeared, and the large matchlock gun that could penetrate the armor instantly hit the horses and even penetrated the Uliang Haming armor cavalry.

In the blink of an eye, the man fell from his back, causing the subsequent cavalry to fall.

They fell down, but the Ming army's shooting continued.

The distance between the two parties is only about fifty steps. At this distance, the musketeers using large matchlock guns do not need to aim at all, and they can penetrate with a hit.

"Clap clap clap-"

White smoke kept appearing, but every time it appeared, it represented the neighing of war horses and the death of a famous cavalryman.

When Tolu Huchaer, who was riding a horse at the rear of the team, saw this scene, his world view began to collapse.

Even though a small number of Uuliangha cavalry had rushed to the Ming army's formation at this time, they were greeted by several long spears one foot and three feet long.

They were knocked off their horses and decapitated by sword players.

The three-round volley of 2,500 large matchlock guns became the last song of the Uliangha cavalry. The 4,000 Mingjia cavalry used to break the formation were defeated and fell from their horses in a few breaths.

Even if there were Ming cavalry who were lucky enough to survive and led the leather cavalry behind them to the front of the Ming army's formation, facing their charge, the Ming army quickly changed their formations. The swordsmen covered the musketeers and retreated, while the pikemen charged forward. .

During the hand-to-hand combat, tens of thousands of light-armored cavalry and a small number of Ming-armored Hu cavalry were dismounted by less than five thousand Ming-armored pikemen, and were beheaded in the hand-to-hand combat.

Looking at the scenes in front of him, Tolu Huchaer found it difficult to accept.

"Wuliangha, you are going to perish in my hands..."

　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "The emperor led his army to the Ruanli River. At that time, 30,000 Hu cavalry were condescending, and 30,000 soldiers were facing each other. The Hu soldiers rushed into the formation. The king's army destroyed their front with muskets, and broke their troops with swords and spears. Tuolu died and the troops were defeated. , Thousands of enemies were killed in this battle, and hundreds of thousands of Hu soldiers, women and children were captured, and millions of cattle, sheep and baggage were taken into custody."

　　"Records of the Northern Expedition": "We fought with Tuolu on the Ruanli River. At that time, the Hu soldiers faced off against the Wang division. They lined up and waited. After several battles, Tuolu died. The tribe surrendered, beheading hundreds of people, and captured the Hu soldiers and their sheep and horses. countless."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)