Ming politicians

Rao is that the soldiers of the Jiangning Battalion have experienced countless fights and many great victories, but after entering the Hetao area, all the soldiers seemed to be very careful.

Most of the soldiers have never seen such a huge grassland and desert. In such an environment, if there is no guide to lead the way, it is very easy to get lost. There are grasslands and yellow sand all around, so there is not much reference at all. It is not easy to think about being able to meet people.

The ten guides sent by the Ningxia guards were very responsible. They followed the commander of the Jiangning camp and gave a detailed introduction to the situation in the Hetao area. There were three guides by the side of Liu Tiehan, the commander of the scout battalion, namely Liu Ji and Ningxia. Two sergeants in the rear guard.

The responsibilities of the scout battalion were extraordinary. They had to scout the surrounding environment and find traces of the [-] army led by Hong Chengchou. The scouts worked very hard, and following their guides was also the best.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, I have been in the Hetao area for two days.

The scout battalion has never found any trace of the army led by Hong Chengchou, Su Tiancheng is very anxious.

Time is fatal. The army is still three days away from where the Xibe tribe is located, and it is the shortest route. With Liu Ji's leadership, the army will not go wrong. Moreover, wherever there is fresh water and where you can camp, you can It is very clear, you must know that it is the cold winter season, and many places are covered with heavy snow.

Su Tiancheng has been counting the time. Starting from the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, the five thousand soldiers led by Hong Chengchou, one man and two horses, are very fast. Eleven days have passed. Hong Chengchou must have gone deep into the desert. With such a fast speed, Hong Chengchou should have found the location of the Xibe tribe.To put it bluntly.The soldiers of the Jiangning battalion may have started fighting with the army of the Xibe tribe.

Because of the artillery battalion, the speed of the army cannot be very fast. Fortunately, more than 500 Mongolian war horses were captured this time, which greatly supplemented the army. These war horses.The focus is on the artillery battalion, as a means of transportation. Although such an arrangement is too extravagant, if the generals of the other guards know about the horses to transport the artillery, they must think that Su Tiancheng has lost his mind.

In Su Tiancheng's view, there is nothing comparable to the lives of soldiers.

It was getting dark, not far away.Several war horses galloped over.

"My lord, Liu Ji has discovered the traces of Lord Hong and his party."

Liu Ji, who had just dismounted, took a look at Liu Tiehan. He might not have thought that Liu Tiehan would be directly attributed to him for such a great contribution.

Su Tiancheng nodded without speaking, and Liu Ji spoke immediately.

"My lord, I found a lot of horse dung, crushed it and observed it. These horse dung are the dung of war horses. About five days have passed. Following the dung, the scouts traveled for more than [-] miles and found traces of the army stationed." .”

"How can you be sure that it is the feces of war horses, and how can you be sure that it is the traces of the army stationed."

"Prairie horses. The food is mainly green grass. It is winter now, and the main food is hay. Farmers and herdsmen with better conditions will add a little soybean. The dung of the horses is dry and gray-white, but the dung found this time, It is dark black. Although it has been a few days, it is still a little wet. This shows that the food for the horses is very good, at least it is mainly soybeans and soybeans. No one in the Mongolian tribes has such conditions and can do so. The horses you feed must be war horses."

Su Tiancheng nodded, the war horses of the Jiangning camp rarely eat grass.

"I judged that it was a large army. I found a lot of excrement, and it was distributed regularly, almost in a line. Therefore, I suspected that there was a large army passing by here. I searched for more than [-] miles along the route, and I found traces of the army stationed. gone."

"Oh, then can you tell what the size of the army is?"

Liu Ji didn't know that Jiangning Battalion had sent another army, which had penetrated into the Hetao area.

"I made a general judgment. This is a huge team with at least [-] horses. Generally speaking, it is difficult for a small team to leave traces on the grassland, not to mention it has been several days in the past, but The traces of this troop are still easy to identify, where the horses passed by, there are obvious horseshoe marks, which shows that the brigade of war horses passed by, trampled back and forth repeatedly, leaving such marks."

"Okay, you continue to judge, five days have passed, how far this army can travel."

Finally, a troubled look appeared on Liu Ji's face.

"My lord, it's difficult for me to answer this question. If one person and one horse can travel more than 1000 miles in five days, if one person has two horses, they can almost cross the Hetao area and enter the depths of the desert. Look at the purpose of this army, where it needs to go..."

Liu Ji stopped talking suddenly, and looked up at Su Tiancheng with horror in his eyes, probably guessing something.

"Liu Ji, it seems that you finally understand. Yes, there is a team from the Jiangning Battalion that has entered the Hetao area and headed directly to the Xibo tribal camp. Now you can talk about your predictions."

Liu Ji was probably taken aback, and it took him a while to speak.

"If this is the case, then the two sides should fight."

"According to your knowledge of the Xibe tribe's army, what is the situation of this confrontation? I want to emphasize that you have to tell the truth and analyze it according to your own understanding. I don't want to listen to flattery."

Liu Ji's expression slowly returned to calm, but he looked very serious.

"My lord, I have seen the bravery of the soldiers of the Jiangning camp. It should be said that when the two sides were evenly matched, the soldiers of the Xibo camp could not resist the Jiangning camp. Moreover, among the tribes of Mongolia, everyone knows that the Jiangning camp has wiped out many The Manchurian Eight Banners sergeants, all the tribes have discussed in private, to avoid contact with the sergeants of the Jiangning battalion, the Mongolian tribe worships the strong, and the Jiangning battalion defeated the Manchurian Eight Banners, in the eyes of the Mongolian tribes, it is a great army."

"However, the sergeants of the Jiangning Battalion may not be able to gain the upper hand when they go deep into the grassland and desert. At least they are not familiar with this place. Whether it is the terrain or the environment, the climate of the grassland and desert is changeable. It is severe winter now, and it often snows heavily. The tribes of Mongolia , know how to avoid the severe cold, how to maintain the vitality of war horses, and how to avoid frostbite. The foreign army does not know, and often suffers in this regard. In addition, there are supplies. Grasslands and deserts consume a lot. Lack of supplies, the most powerful Our army will lose its combat effectiveness when it reaches the grasslands and deserts."

There was no expression on Su Tiancheng's face.

"Liu Ji, just tell the truth. What do you mean, do Jiangning camp have more bad luck than good luck?"

Liu Ji shook his head lightly.

"I haven't finished talking yet. I have already seen the combat effectiveness of the sergeants of the Jiangning Battalion. I have been marching for the past two days. I have also paid attention to observations. Sergeants can endure hardships, and their endurance is beyond ordinary people. Such an army wants to be defeated, isn't it? For a simple matter, according to my prediction, within five days, at most, the two armies are still in the process of confrontation, and it is far from annihilating either side, my lord, this is my prediction."

Su Tiancheng raised his head and looked at the gray-black sky.

After a while, he opened his mouth to speak.

"There is another question. The location of the Xibe tribe is only more than 300 miles away from the base of the Daur tribe. If the Xibe tribe's resident is attacked, will the army of the Daur tribe come to the rescue soon? .”

Liu Ji looked at Su Tiancheng, and there was brilliance in his eyes. As the commander of the army, he must think of all possible possibilities.

"My lord, this is not necessarily the case."

After Liu Ji said these words, Su Tiancheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Liu Ji, if you are telling the truth, I won't worry about it. All the tribes in the grassland are all for their own development, and they all want to be the boss. You said earlier that the army of the Xibe tribe is the strongest, slightly stronger than The army of the Daur tribe, under such circumstances, I think the leader of the Daur tribe may not be convinced. Maybe when the Xibe tribe and the Daur tribe will fight each other, if the Xibe tribe The clan tribe was attacked, wouldn't it be the best choice to watch the tigers fight from a distance, and wait until both sides are hurt, come forward to clean up the mess, it will kill multiple birds, what a happy ending."

"After serving my lord, everything is expected to be accurate. After the new leader of the Xibe tribe took office, he really has ambitions, which has already aroused the dissatisfaction of the leaders of the Daur tribe. The two sides are at odds, and they are always on guard against each other. At this time, if any party is attacked, the other party will not come to the rescue immediately."

Su Tiancheng walked to the open space, thinking alone, he had to make a major decision.

Liu Tiehan, Luo Chang, Wang Dazhi and the others stood where they were, without disturbing them. During the battle, Su Tiancheng made such an action, indicating that a major decision was about to be made.

A quarter of an hour later, Su Tiancheng walked over quickly.

"The soldiers led by Mr. Hong must have clashed with the army of the Xibe tribe. Due to many environmental constraints, the two sides may still be in the process of stalemate. The grassland and desert are cold, and both sides have many difficulties. It is impossible to defeat the opponent immediately. Under such circumstances, we can no longer be limited to the Xibo tribe's station. I decided to divide the army into two groups. I will lead an army of [-], including the artillery battalion, to encircle and suppress the Daur tribe army. Luo Chang, you lead the vanguard battalion Soldiers, rush to the aid of Master Hong, and tell Master Hong that the army has arrived at the Hetao area."

Everyone turned pale with shock, they never expected that Su Tiancheng would dare to divide the troops at such a time.

Only Liu Ji looked at Su Tiancheng with twinkling eyes.

"Everyone, according to this, the Xibe tribe and the Daur tribe are the two strongest tribes on the grassland. As long as these two tribes are defeated, the grassland will definitely fall into infighting. I will think about getting ahead and occupying the grassland in the Hetao area. At that time, a new round of fighting on the grassland will inevitably appear. This is what we need to see. This time, since we are here, we will completely defeat the Xibe tribe and Daur tribe." (To be continued...)