Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 430 Chasing Hu for Three Thousand Miles

"Wow..."

On the Gobi grassland, thousands of miles away, there is no human habitation, and the wind and sand are looming.

The entire Gobi is cut off by a river. Both sides of the river are covered with grass, while the area far away from the river is barren Gobi.

Under the gaze of the goshawk in the sky, the horse galloped quickly, kicking up a cloud of yellow dust.

Dozens of armored cavalrymen, carrying muskets on their backs, galloped into the depths of the wilderness.

Not long after they left, the sound of cannons sounded in the air, and a huge team slowly moved in from the direction they came from.

They marched westward along the river, on a large scale, stretching for more than ten miles.

The entire team was guarded by neat and orderly cavalry on both sides. Among the team were Ming soldiers wearing mandarin duck battle coats, as well as auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands.

They were in teams of ten, and each team had a carriage.

When the march arrived at Hulanshu, it was more than 1,300 miles away from Hailar City, and only 120,000 of the 230,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians were left.

From noon to dusk, as the sun gradually set, the army began to build a simple camp using horse-drawn carriages a few hundred steps away from the river.

In addition to carriages, the Ming army was also accompanied by unsaddled military horses and riding horses.

Beside him, twenty field guns were lined up in a row, and the position was filled with smoke.

"That's right!" Zhu Neng also agreed: "We are not afraid of the two armies facing each other, or whether they collude to attack from a pincer. The only thing that needs special attention is food and grass."

"In addition, the army will continue to set off at 9 o'clock tomorrow. After arriving at Halahe Forest, we will search for traces of Wala to the north and south of Hang'ai Mountain."

"With the combat power of our army, we can easily defeat Wala. However, we still have to guard against Alitai in the meantime to prevent him from turning against him."

Zhu Di stroked his beard. Although his tone was calm, everyone could feel his anxiety.

"Don't forget that bitch Alitai." Taiping mentioned Alitai, which made Mahamu's face twitch.

In response, Mahamu also raised his hand to suppress the commotion: "Although there are 150,000 troops, the vast majority of them should be civilians and auxiliary soldiers. I estimate that their main force should not exceed 50,000."

In front of him was a sandstone city lying at the foot of Tianshan Mountain.

They led their horses and marched westward. Except for military orders, they could only walk at other times.

Facts have proved that what Mahamu said is true, because while they were still thinking about war or peace, Hami City had already been bombarded by the Ming army.

"Yes!" The three of them bowed in agreement, and soon the Ming army began to act according to Zhu Di's command.

Counting 80,000 Ming troops and 20,000 Mongolian cavalry, the entire team still numbered 220,000.

"I just received news that shortly after Gui Lichi's death, the Ming army sent troops from Guazhou to Hami. It is estimated that Hami is almost captured now..."

The emergence of this news undoubtedly put Mahamu and others in a dilemma.

All three of them grasped the key points, and if such key points were seen by Zhu Di during the Northern Expedition in history, he would probably go crazy with envy.

Such traces are naturally difficult to cover up, so when Zhu Di began to move west of Hulanhuwenwen, Wala's sentry riders also began to move.

"One hundred and fifty thousand?"

"Keep blasting me!"

"Zhu Di is coming here to kill us. Our sentry cavalry can't get close to the center of their team, but judging from the traces of where they walked, their number should be no less than 150,000."

Tupolo also felt guilty. After all, the Mongols had never defeated the Ming army with equal strength decades ago. Not to mention that Oara could only pull out 60,000 troops. How could Zhu Di have 70,000 troops? opponent.

The carriage was pulled by two horses and contained saddles, grain, armor, fresh water, coal and other supplies.

When Mahamu explained the matter, everyone's hearts sank.

"Boom boom boom!!!"

"Including Alitai, Zhu Di has at least 70,000 troops, and judging from the fact that he basically dispatched cavalry last time he attacked Alutai, this time it will probably be 50,000 cavalry, and including Alitai, it will be 70,000 cavalry. "

This time the Northern Expedition cost a huge amount of money, which could be compared to the Lanyu Northern Expedition to Yuerhai. Therefore, if there were no results in this battle, it would be easy to be criticized.

"By then, including Alitai's 20,000 cavalry, we will have a total of 60,000 cavalry. It will be easy to deal with the Oara tribes."

Meng Zhang explained his views, and Wang Yi, who had been sent by Zhu Gaoxu to patrol Hulan and suddenly suffered from hypothermia, also said:

"Calculating the distance, we are now about seven or eight hundred miles away from the former Hala and Forest area. After the civilians transport the food to Hala and Forest, they can retreat under the escort of auxiliary soldiers and horse infantry."

Outside Hami City, Guo Yong on horseback holds a whip in one hand and a rein in the other, commanding his mounted artillery with an excited expression.

In the military tent, Zhu Di stood in front of the six-foot-long sand table and observed. At the same time, he said to the four people Zhu Neng, Meng Zhang, Wang Yi, and Xu Zengshou in the tent:

"I think we should go south to avoid it."

"We have already reached Hulanhu, and we are experiencing hypothermia. Counting the days, today should be May 16th. It seems that this old dog Mahamu really doesn't dare to confront us head-on."

But in this life, Zhu Di didn't think it was anything, but waved his hand: "Let the two guards on the left and right of Zhaozhou guard the food and grass. Without my order, no one can get close easily."

In the yurt with an area of ​​more than 100 square meters, Mahamu sat at the top, with Benya Shili and Tuohuan on his left and right.

"In the previous attack on the Tatars, many small Tatar tribes moved westward to join Oara. Mahamu and the others should also know the power of the imperial firearms, so they avoided fighting."

On May 22nd, Wala, who was entrenched in the northern region of Haraholin, learned of the sudden hypothermia in Lanzhou.

The first ones on the left and right below are Taiping and Batu Polo, as well as hundreds of thousands of households behind them.

"It's too late!" Hearing this, Mahamu had a headache, but his words made everyone wonder: "Why is it late?"

Hami, as a major gateway to the Western Region, its terrain can be described as four mountains sandwiched between three basins. The entire city is high in the middle and low in the south and north. The terrain is very different. The main water source basically comes from the snow water of the Tianshan Mountains.

However, due to the large desert in the south, once the snow water here is exposed, the amount of evaporation will be terrible, so karez is widely used.

Due to the unique geographical and climatic environment, even during the global humid period, the population here was only 20,000 to 30,000. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, when the overall temperature was low, the population here was even more pitiful.

Because of this, the Ming army on this expedition was led by Guo Yong and Ping An was the deputy commander. They commanded 3,000 cavalry, 30,000 civilians, and 20 artillery pieces.

They crossed the Gobi Desert for more than 600 miles from Guasha, but outsiders did not know the hardships.

I thought that after arriving in Hami, King Anke Timur of Hami would directly open the city and surrender, but I didn't expect that he actually refused to open the city.

This approach directly angered Guo Yong and Ping An, who ordered the bombardment of Hami City.

"Boom boom boom!!"

The sound of cannons sounded again, and twenty five-pound iron cannonballs hit the wall of Hami City, scattering sand and soil. The shock made the Mongolians entrenched here turn pale.

The circumference of Hami City is only more than two miles, the city wall is only one foot and five feet, and its width is one foot and two feet. There are no trenches or moats, and the population in the city is only more than 3,000 people.

Facing the gaze of three thousand Ming troops and twenty thousand civilians outside the city, Anke Timur at the top of the city finally could not bear the pressure and chose to raise the white flag and surrender.

"stop!"

On horseback, Ping An saw the white flag with his binoculars and immediately raised his hand to stop the continued bombardment.

"Surrendered." Ping An turned to explain to Guo Yong, and at the same time added: "I will lead five hundred people into the city first. If a cannon sounds, you will respond to me immediately."

"Okay!" Guo Yong nodded. He had not fought any big battles. Although Anke Timur was not much stronger than the horse bandits, with peace, he had no reason to take risks himself.

"Come five hundred people and follow me into the city!"

Shaking the reins, Ping An rode towards Hami. His brave appearance made everyone follow him and charge.

Anke Timur had already asked people to open the city gate, and after Ping An led his troops into the city, what they saw were sand houses and nervous Mongols.

Their number is not large, even if they gather together, they are only a few thousand people.

"Blow the whistle." When Ping An saw this, he knew that Anke Timur was unable to resist at all. As long as they dared to take action, the five hundred men in his own hands could destroy them.

"Beep--

"Enter the city!"

Hearing the whistle, Guo Yong opened his mouth and entered the city with his army. Not long after, he entered the city first with light cavalry and saw Anke Timur himself.

He was no stranger to Anke Timur, so the first time he saw Anke Timur, he got off his horse, took off the long box on the saddle, and took out an edict from it.

"On behalf of the emperor, Anke Timur was granted the title of Gongchang Bo and moved to Lanzhou. His tribesmen moved to Ganzhou and Lanzhou, and each household was given a thousand acres of pasture. We will set off today."

After reading Zhu Gaoxu's edict, Guo Yong immediately stepped forward to help Anke Timur up with a smile: "Why do you think you are doing this?"

"I'm scared..." Anke Timur didn't expect that the treatment Zhu Gaoxu gave him was actually good. When the people behind him heard this, they lost their fear and were replaced by excitement.

Although the land in Hexi seems barren to the people in the Guandong and Jiangnan regions, in the eyes of the Mongolians who don't know how to govern, Hexi is simply a paradise. Now that they are scattered, each family can still own a thousand acres of pasture, which makes them excited.

For a moment, the idea of ​​supporting Ankh Timur was abandoned in his mind, and was replaced by flattery.

"Okay, tomorrow I will lead two thousand cavalry to escort you to the two states of Guasha. There is no need to be formal about the rest."

Seeing the situation in Hami City, Guo Yong just wanted to leave here early, and left Hami City to Ping An.

"You guys should step back first! Guo Yong waved his hand, then signaled Ping An and him to leave the city, and handed over the city defense to three Qianhu officials."

The two of them rode out of the city, and all they saw was thin grass and the Gobi desert in the distance.

Guo Yong looked at this place and felt that it was not as good as the two states of Guasha. At the same time, he also said to Ping An:
"According to His Highness's order, you will be left with one thousand cavalrymen, twenty artillery pieces, and more than one thousand prisoners among the other twenty thousand civilians, as well as one thousand draft horses, and seventy tons of cement."

"As for the food, I will leave you three thousand stones. The rest will be sent to you when I return to Guazhou, and then I will organize troops and horses to deliver it to you."

Guo Yong hurriedly explained his arrangement. Hearing Ping An's words, he knew that this guy disliked Hami, so he couldn't help but despise him a little. He nodded at the same time: "That's it."

"Okay, then I will take the civilians to boil water and replenish supplies now." Guo Yong shook his horse's reins and left, while Ping An looked at the simple Hami city.

Not long after, an official came on horseback and stopped in front of Ping An.

"How is it?" Ping An asked, looking at the civil servant wearing regular eighth-grade uniforms. The civil servant was not very polite at all:
"Look, there are no rivers around, only some streams flowing down from the Tianshan Mountains."

"If you can gather the creeks together and build dams and karats to prevent evaporation, you should be able to save a lot of water for cultivating the land."

"As for the specific amount, based on what I just checked, it is estimated that it is only more than 10,000 acres of water to irrigate the fields."

"Of course, it is now the end of May, and the snow water in the snow-capped mountains is almost gone. But even if it is doubled or tripled, it will only be enough to plant 30,000 to 40,000 acres of water to irrigate the fields. As for the yield, I asked the local tenants and they basically only have 70,000 acres. It takes at least five acres of land to feed a soldier."

The civil servant said many things, which made Ping An feel headache. Finally he just asked: "You only need to tell me how many acres of farmland this place can cultivate and how many soldiers and horses it can raise."

"The current estimate is 30,000 acres, which can support up to 6,000 people. Additional military salary needs to be dispatched from within the customs." The civil servant answered without thinking, and Ping An nodded after hearing this:

"You will report the situation here to Your Highness. I will inspect the city defense first and see where the seventy tons of cement can be used."

Shaking the horse's reins, Ping An gradually disappeared from the civil servant's sight.

At the same time, the civil servants also wrote down the situation in Hami overnight, and Guo Yong, who was eager to return to the pass, brought it back early the next morning.

Time passed by half a month ago, Guo Yong had just returned to Guazhou, and Zhu Di had already led an increasingly smaller team to Halahalin.

"Is this Hala Horin?"

"It's not what I thought..."

On the grassland, when a ruined city appeared in front of the Ming army, Zhu Di on horseback looked at the city that was once the center of the world and couldn't help but sigh.

As the center of the world in the mid-13th century, from Vienna on the Danube River to Bianliang on the Yellow River, from the cold Russian grasslands in the north to the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula under the scorching sun, most of the Eurasian continent was shrouded in this city. Under power and authority.

Missionaries from the Roman Pope, envoys from the Southern Song Dynasty, camel and horse teams from Persian merchants, and tributes from the Kingdom of Goryeo all gathered here.

Buddhist temples, mosques and Christian churches... all kinds of religions and cultures are integrated here.

The Great Khan's edicts were issued from here and sent to the Mongol armies around the world.

Here are gathered tens of thousands of rare treasures, gold, silver and jewels plundered by Genghis Khan, Ogedai, and Meng Ge from countries in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and South Asia.

However, all this came to an end after the Mongol Civil War, which destroyed a city at the center of the world. Although it was repaired afterwards, with the civil strife in Mongolia and the Ming Army's Northern Expedition, this once-center city was now in ruins. It's not as good as a town in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, this place is too dilapidated, shall we camp outside?"

Xu Zengshou spoke to Zhu Di, after all, the situation of Hala and Lin was indeed very bad.

Collapsed city walls, burned-out and blackened houses, and dilapidated and collapsed ditches all indicated that this place was not suitable for camping.

Zhu Di also nodded when he heard this, his heart full of sighs.

"Your Majesty, the Tang cavalry has been sent out. The 30,000 cavalry will soon be able to search for traces of Mahamu and the others!"

Alitai and Wang Yi came on horseback to report the situation to Zhu Di.

"After finding Mahamu, he told me immediately that I would meet him personally."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, took a look at the surrounding situation, and then ordered the army to set up camp.

Soon, a team of more than 100,000 people began to build the camp. At the same time, Meng Zhang also led Zhu Di after the tent was set up. At the same time, he said on the way:

"There have been horse and infantry escorting the civilian husband and auxiliary soldiers along the way back to Hailar City. Now there are still 60,000 civilian husband and auxiliary soldiers left behind, and there are more than 15,000 horse infantry."

"The military rations that arrived were less than expected, only more than 43,000 buckets, and the horse rations were about the same as estimated."

"In addition, the horse materials from the rear are already on their way, and they will be escorted by the horse infantry to Hulanhu Temperature in a month.

"After all, the army's food, fodder and horses can last for about two months. Including the time for retreat, the time we can be in Moxi is almost twenty-four days."

Meng Zhang explained most of the things. Zhu Di was very satisfied and walked into his tent.

After sitting down, he ordered Meng Zhang: "Arrange all the horse, infantry, civilians, and auxiliary troops to withdraw to Haila'er tomorrow, and leave the rest to us."

"I accept the order!" Meng Zhang bowed in agreement without hesitation, turned around and went out of the tent to convey the order to the general.

When the military order was conveyed to Alitai's military tent, he couldn't help but complain to Alitai: "I feel like I am his subordinate."

"There is also the matter of his reward. Now everyone below is very excited. They have given too much. I am afraid that it will be difficult to control the tribe in the future."

Alitai's words made Alitai frown and nod: "That's true, but we have nothing to do now."

"You have seen how powerful the Ming army's flintlock rifles are. Now they can load and fire on horseback. We are no match for them at all."

"In the past, we were able to harass them with cavalry and archery, but now even the attacking party has changed its position. We..."

Alitai didn't know what to say, and Alitai was even more silent.

The two brothers couldn't stop chatting. It seemed that they also realized that since the Ming army was able to send troops from the northeast, Eastern Mongolia would not be able to escape the control of the Ming Dynasty unless it was willing to move westward.

"Let's break up. I estimate that Mahamu and the others will reveal their true colors in a few days. At that time, we will choose to take action depending on the situation. Don't lose too many troops. It will be difficult to recover now."

Alitai explained, Alitai nodded after hearing the words, and the two brothers dispersed after chatting for a while.

The next day, as the sky gradually became clearer, the horse and infantry began to escort 60,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians to retreat from Hailar City.

At the same time, the Eastern Mongolian cavalry and the Ming Army cavalry in the army also began to search along the north and south of Hangai Mountain.

Gradually, traces of Oara's cavalry began to appear in the north, and the scale was not small.

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Di immediately ordered his troops and horses, gathered the Tang cavalry in the south, and formed 50,000 Han-Mongolian Jurchen cavalry to rush north.

On the way north, the 10,000 sentries sent by the north began to return to the army and brought good news to the army.

"The Oara tribes are migrating to the northwest, with no less than 200,000 in number!"

On the grassland, thousands of households in Tangqi knelt down and bowed, and reported the situation to Zhu Di on horseback.

When Arutai heard this, he immediately said to Zhu Di: "Your Majesty, they should want to move to the pastureland where the Waila tribe was stationed. There are some dilapidated earthen cities there."

"If your Majesty believes in me, you can send my brother Alitai to raid Wailabu Tucheng first and intercept their way!"

Arutai knew that Zhu Di would not let him go, so he suggested that his younger brother lead the attack.

After hearing this, Zhu Di naturally knew that Arutai wanted to benefit the Tatar tribe, but he did not say anything. Instead, he nodded and said:

"King Chang Ning, you will lead your cavalry to the Outer Army to intercept Mahamu. I will lead my army to pursue him on the main road."

"Yes!" Alitai clasped his fists upon hearing this, and after a moment, he summoned more than 16,000 cavalry from the Chinese army to take a shortcut to the Outer Army.

As for the remaining more than 3,000 Tangqi tribe members who had not returned yet, he was prepared to ignore them for the time being. Zhu Di would not kill them anyway.

"The army is advancing, I want to see what tricks Mahamu is playing."

Zhu Di stroked his beard. He didn't believe that Mahamu only knew how to escape. If he really only knew how to escape, then he would not have reached the level he is today.

Obviously, he has his own plan and is very likely preparing to ambush him.

But it doesn't matter, in the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy and tricks are useless.

It was just a good opportunity to demonstrate the power of the flintlock musket and test the deterrent effect of the flintlock musket bayonet on the cavalry.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di narrowed his eyes, and 40,000 Ming army cavalry also led him to pursue in the northwest direction along the horse dung, cow dung and other traces left by Mahamu and others...

(End of this chapter)