The ninth day of November.
Nearly 40,000 troops from Liaodong led by Lu Wan, Zhang Heling, and Zhang Yong, after leaving Shenyang Zhongwei for 300 miles, finally began a rapid march on the north bank of Huangshui River.
Although the first snow in the grassland has not yet arrived, the wind is already biting and the water is fast. Soldiers will feel the biting cold whenever they want to cross the river, whether they are cavalry or infantry. After taking off the boots, you need to carry the boots and support the horse through the river quickly.
"Lord Zhongcheng, Wu Liangha's troops are fifty miles ahead"
"Where is Song Ling when we cross the river to organize the right army?"
Song Ling is Yizhou Guards commanded Qianshi and was good at horse fighting. This time he was responsible for leading the cavalry teams of Ningyuan and Yizhou.
"The final general is here"
A cavalry group of about 4,000 people crossed the river first. This group of people and horses was also a team of one man and two horses carrying light artillery, specifically responsible for moving quickly on the grassland. sudden.
In the past twenty days or so, this group of people and horses had been walking slowly along the winding mountain road with the Chinese army. This time they finally wanted to take advantage of the cavalry.
"Pursuit"
"Yes"
The cavalry split into two groups.
One group is pure light cavalry, heading north to harass the northward retreat route of Duoyan's three guards, while the other group is led by Song Ling himself, implementing the strategy of "driving dogs into the back alleys".
Zhang Heling came over from the river in embarrassment. Everyone else dismounted, including Lu Wan. He was the only one who came over on a horse, so that the horse had staggered after crossing the river
"Shouning Hou" Lu Wan frowned and looked at Zhang Heling.
Zhang Heling slumped on the ground, looked back at the infantry crossing the river, waved his hands and said, "I'm fine, my horse is fine, no matter how hard I sink, will those artillery sink?"
Because in this trip, in addition to light cannons, there are also mother-and-child cannons, which are blooming cannons that are like machine guns.
It was so difficult to cross the river that some soldiers had to help the horses drag the chariot across the river.
Zhang Yongdao said, "With this damn weather, shouldn't the water flow slow down after winter comes?"
"It's different, this is the grassland." Lu Wan looked up and looked into the distance.
In the low-pressure sky, clouds could be seen rolling everywhere. He murmured, "It looks like it's either heavy snow or snow and rain. Let the soldiers quickly pack their bags and continue chasing."
p>
Zhang Heling got up from the ground and said, "Why don't you wait to warm up before leaving?"
Lu Wan said anxiously, "It's only noon now, how can we delay our trip Ma Heng?"
< p>"The last general is here""Lead your troops thirty miles north. If any Tatars approach, fire and retreat the forty cannons across the river, dragging them away"
p>"De Ling"
"Zhu Yanning"
"Humble post"
"Escort the rear troops and horses across the river, and send another three thousand The cavalry walked along the north bank of Huangshui River and set up camp after two hours of crossing the sand dunes."
"De Order"
Lu Wan's armyIt seems to be a temporary expedition team formed by stragglers.
The troops in various cities in Liaodong have little experience in taking the initiative. Even if they want to fight, they mostly fight against Jianzhou and other troops in Liaodong, or stay within the city fortress.
In terms of tactical literacy, it is far inferior to the border troops of the three sides or Xuanda.
But Lu Wan can still achieve coordination and control.
"We are going to be stationed tonight, right?" Zhang Heling was afraid that Zhang Heling would have to march in a hurry, even day and night. What he wanted most now was to rest in time after dark.
Lu Wandao said, "The camp was set up to confuse the troops of Duoyan's three guards. We are not yet sure which one we are chasing. At present, it seems that it is probably Taining or Duoyan. It is fifty or sixty miles away." If the journey goes well, we can catch up with them who are lagging behind the team around midnight."
"The battle will begin tonight"
Zhang Yong also came over. Now Zhang Yong doesn't seem to understand how this battle should be fought.
It all looks too messy.
Lu Wan has more than 37,000 soldiers and horses under his command, who were recruited from seven or eight cities and guard posts. There are differences between infantry and cavalry. What’s even more terrible is that these people are in charge of unified coordination. They are also very inconsistent and do not even deal with each other.
It’s hard to tell whether these troops are regular combat troops or logistical troops. They all have two legs and hold weapons. They all seem to be able to go into battle to kill the enemy, but they seem to be in trouble when encountering tough battles. Not many people can fight to the death.
No matter how you look at it, they are all a mixed army.
Lu Wandao, "Don't worry yet. We haven't reached the ambush circle yet."
"Are we going to wait for another group of people?" Zhang Yongdao said, "According to this posture, once the Duoyan Three Guards' reorganization is completed, , we don’t have the ability to fight with him, so we’d better advance slowly first.”
Lu Wan frowned and looked at Zhang Yongdao, “Eunuch Zhang, if we postpone the pursuit, we might even slack off a little and use the Duoyan Three Guards to attack this place. You are familiar with the terrain, and you can find nowhere to look for it overnight."
Just as he was talking, General Youbu pointed in the distance and said, "It seems to be snowing."
"Good guy, it takes a long time." "Leak" Zhang Heling looked into the distance.
The scene was very scary.
It was snowing in the distance, as if the sky and the gray-black color of the earth were connected in a line, but no snowflakes had fallen where they were.
Lu Wan said excitedly, "Very good, facing the wind and snow, the three guards of Duoyan will have to walk along the Huangshui River"
Zhang Heling said, "What's the truth?"
Lu Wan got on his horse and ordered, "Follow up quickly, and the cavalry will divide all the way to the north."
"Divide the troops again"
"Let's go, let's go"< /p>
The scene was very chaotic.
When the wind came, the soldiers had to wrap up their clothes tightly. They had just waded through the cold river, and now they were about to encounter another strange weather, which was likely to be wind and snow.
Zhang Heling complained, "On a day like this, you should find a mountain col to shelter from the wind and rest before leaving."
He wanted to get on his horse, but found that his body might be a little frozen.
Zhang Yong pulled him and helped him get on the horse. Zhang Yong said, "Marquis Shouning, we must not slack off in the war. This battle is very important to the Ming Dynasty. We must not disappoint His Majesty nor let Zhang Yong." Disappointed sir, let’s go”
“What the hell”
Zhang Heling cursed and got on the horse.
It is extremely difficult to ride a horse.
Lu Wandao said, "The Hulu advance was blocked. We should catch up before tonight without fighting and drive them all the way to the west."
More than 30,000 troops were divided into four or five groups.
The cavalry is mainly in the vanguard and outer circle, used for pursuit and protection, while the central army led by Lu Wan is mainly composed of more than 20,000 infantry. These infantry are different from the previous infantry. The archers and crossbows are very powerful. Most of them carry firecrackers, and their clothes are very heavy.
The group headed west along Huangshui. The road was relatively flat and suitable for the transportation of artillery.
As the vanguard troops reported intelligence, the Chinese army also knew that the current situation was neither advancing nor retreating, and the two sides had always maintained a distance of about fifty miles.
Until nightfall, it was reported that the camp where the first group of people and horses were set up was actually only a hundred tents, and could house no more than 6,000 people.
At this time, it was windy and snowy, and the road was very difficult to walk. Even the cavalry could not gallop, and the morale of the troops seemed to be very weak.
"Stop it"
Zhang Heling finally couldn't bear it anymore. He got into a tent to keep warm, but found that the tent was even colder than outside.
Lu Wan dismounted his horse and walked to the direction close to Huangshui. He asked someone to hold a torch. He carefully identified the direction of the water, looked up into the distance and said, "If we walk for another three hours, we should be able to We have arrived at the preset place."
"Mr. Lu, are you sure you are going in the right direction? Why do I think we are walking backwards? Can you tell the direction clearly?"
Zhang Heling shook off the snow on his body. As the chief military officer, he will not leave the Chinese army for a while.
It was as if this war had nothing to do with him.
Lu Wan took out the compass in his hand, which was also distributed by Zhang Zhou in the army. Through the glass shell, the conditions for use are very mature, and the direction can be judged without any decoration.
"That's right."
"Where is this?" Zhang Heling asked again.
“I don’t know”
Even Lu Wan couldn’t answer this time.
Wherever they went, the Ming army almost never came. Apart from some guides who could roughly follow the path, many places did not even have names. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty simply followed their fate. . < /p>
"Report"
A messenger came quickly. When approaching the Chinese army, the rider fell off the horse.Come.
"Say"
Lu Wan went over in person, and a group of people picked up the messenger from the ground.
The ordering soldier adjusted the brim of his hat and gasped, "It's Wu Liangha. He buried the stove three hours ago. There were at least 6,000 people and more than 10,000 on the north road."
" Follow the road to the south and follow the river."
Lu Wan made his voice as loud as possible to drown out the sound of the wind.
He felt a little feeble when issuing orders in this environment.
However, the big strategy already exists, which is the pursuit battle. If you catch up, fight. If you can't catch up, don't fight. This is the understanding of ordinary soldiers, but what Lu Wan wants to convey is that you must keep a distance. We have to wait for Peng Quan and Wang Xian's troops to join forces, and then attack from both front and back.
Zhang Yong led the horse over with a puzzled look on his face, "It looks like I won't even be able to walk five miles at this hour. Even if I encounter one, the cannon won't be able to be used. What's wrong with this blind light?" If it's not better to fight, let the soldiers be stationed first and then pursue them tomorrow. It's not too late."
Lu Wandao said, "There is no choice. If we go further for more than a hundred miles, we will reach the range of the Chahar Ministry. Before dawn, There will be results"
"Then why are you waiting? Let's go"
When Zhang Yong leaves, he always pulls Zhang Heling, and every time Zhang Heling faces the direction The east side of the road.
First of all, Zhang Heling regarded that as the direction he was striving for, which was to withdraw his troops.
Furthermore, because the wind was blowing from the northwest that day, at least with your back to the west, you wouldn’t have to eat more snowflakes blown by the northwest wind.
Zhang Heling scolded, "Zhang Bingkuan cheated me, and you guys cheated me too."
The storm is still going on.
In such a cruel environment, a pursuit battle is still going on.
After midnight, even Lu Wan began to wonder if this was torturing people.
"There are soldiers who can no longer walk on the road. The temperature has dropped rapidly."
"The Tatars are more than 20 miles ahead."
"Chasing , chase"
Lu Wan now has no way out and can only grit his teeth, and the soldiers can also grit their teeth.
Fortunately, after midnight, the wind and snow became much lighter, but the snow on the ground was already a bit thick. It might be better for the cavalry, but for the infantry, there are still people transporting artillery. For soldiers, this environment is simply challenging their limits.
"The fight started"
When the news of the war came, the soldiers were already a little desperate.
They didn’t know why they were acting or fighting. They didn’t even know whether they could still open their eyes at dawn on such a cruel night.
But at this moment, exciting news came.
More than a dozen miles away, the war had already begun.
"Ambush, the Ming Dynasty's ambush"
"Follow up and catch up, don't go south, know the way, don't get stuck in the mud"Li"
Although the snow is very thick, the grassland ground is not frozen, and the river is not frozen. At this time, there is only more than ten miles left to pursue along the river. For the soldiers, He said that he must first ensure that he can reach the battlefield alive.
Zhang Heling twitched and said, "Is the fight about to start?"
"The Hou Ning is an ambush, and we are the ambush troops of the Ming Dynasty. Come to make dumplings, the dumplings with big stuffing are running slowly, military achievements are all ambush."
"What are you waiting for?"
Zhang Heling got excited and rolled off his horse He fell down, but he didn't fall, anyway, the ground was covered with snow.
After he rolled on the ground, he grabbed his horse's reins by the light of the torch, and this time he mounted. With experience, he found two soldiers to fight against him.
"Chasing"
Zhang Heling is no longer afraid, even if he never wants to go to the battlefield, but after this. After these days of struggle, he even felt that it would be a relief to go to the battlefield and finish the battle.
Many soldiers in the army probably had the same idea as him.
If you continue to live or die, then life is really worse than death
This ambush battle was almost without warning for Taining Guard and Duoyan Guard among the three guards of Duoyan. >
They only knew that the Ming army was chasing behind them, and they could even send out sentries to investigate the situation clearly. They also lamented the extremely strong strength of the Ming soldiers in this difficult and unfamiliar environment. Patience.
As a grassland tribe, they should have an advantage when marching in the wind and snow, but they are migrating as a whole. In addition to the cavalry, there are also the old, weak, sick and disabled in the tribe.
In the past two days, their tribe has abandoned many of their livestock and even some of their belongings on the roadside, but even so, they were still bitten by the Ming army. To catch up.
Just when they were preparing to send out cavalry to attack Ming Dynasty first after dawn, they took advantage of the favorable weather, location and people to give Ming’s chasing troops a hard blow. The result< /p>
Ambushed
The road ahead was so dark that they couldn’t even see where the river was and where the mountains were.
Everywhere was black, and they couldn’t. They could only walk along the river based on experience and rely on the sound of water to identify their direction.
But with the sound of "rumbling" and the light of fire, they thought it was thunder, but when they came forward. When the soldiers and horses were blown up to the sky, they realized that a group of people from the Ming Dynasty had detoured in front of them and set up an ambush with artillery and gunpowder.
As a grassland tribe, the three guards of Duoyan were at the forefront. It's not that the tribes in the east don't have any war literacy. For them, night attacks and counter-night attacks are the normal state of war on the grassland.
Even in such windy and snowy weather. , they are also experienced.
But when they sent thousands of cavalry to rush forward, they found out.The Ming Dynasty's ambush was not on the road ahead at all, but on the other side of the river, in the south. Walking along the river, they became a target.
The Ming Dynasty's artillery could shoot a mile or two away, directly from the other side of the river, and explode in their army, but they could not send their cavalry across the river in this environment.
This is embarrassing.
When the two guards, Duoyan and Taining, discovered that the direction of the cannonballs was from the south and the river was to the south of them, it seemed that they had only one option, which was to go north. But the north happened to be Horses can't climb up the mountains, let alone ordinary livestock. It seems that people can't climb up, so they can only help with ropes.
This last option has become unavailable.
According to Zhang Zhou's design, to ambush the soldiers and horses of Duoyan's three guards walking along the river, it must be done in a narrow area with mountains on the north bank, and it will also have to be fought at night, which requires the cooperation of two groups of people.
I just didn’t expect that the wind and snow would be a great test for the chasing Lu Wan troops, but for the ambushed troops such as Peng Quan, Wang Xian, and Ma Yongcheng, it would be relatively easy, because They are waiting for work.
The hardest part of this pursuit was Lu Wan’s troops who braved the wind and snow to pursue.
The war begins.
Duoyan and Taining have pursuers behind them. There is no way back, and they are blocked by mountains to the north. It is obviously not in their interests to cross the river and fight the Ming Dynasty, so they have no choice but to risk the Ming Dynasty. The shells fell from the sky and continued to rush west.
As for the old and weak members of their tribe, they seemed not to care.
It is best to retain the vitality.
But even so, the Ming army would not let them get what they wanted.
On the north bank of Huangshui, the Ming Dynasty also set up an ambush. The gunpowder had been laid long ago, and even the artillery was ambushed in the grass and low shrubs. When Duoyan and Taining's cavalry approached, The area covered with snow and bushes emitted fire and rumbling sounds.
"Bang"
There is no frontal combat with cold weapons.
That is not the strength of the Ming Dynasty soldiers. In this horrible weather, the two sides can't even see their faces.
It is actually difficult for the Ming Dynasty gunners to tell the direction of the enemy. They just fire the artillery in roughly one direction. Whether it explodes or not depends entirely on feeling.
Taining’s cavalry, about a thousand of them, crossed the icy river to the south bank. However, the volleys of the Ming ambush also came into play at this time. Ordinary matchlock guns, in this environment, It is difficult to be effective under the conditions, but these soldiers are, after all, Shenji battalion troops trained by the Ming Dynasty to fight in difficult environments.
The flint gun can still emit a coquettish tongue of flame at this time.
"North Road"
"Can't let the Hulu escape"
"Kill, kill"
Whether it is the North Bank chasing Men and horses, ambushes on the west road, or artillerymen on the south bank, on such a windy and snowy night, everyoneThey all seemed to be in a state of madness.
It seems that only this kind of madness can drive away the cold and bury the fear in the heart. Please remember to bookmark, the latest and fastest website is free to read without anti-theft