Han Du felt relieved, turned around and looked at the cavalry confronting each other outside, and then asked, "Do you know who is on the other side?"
Azashri pondered for a moment and then said: "As far as I know, the only ones with so many cavalry on this grassland are the Tatar tribe. And judging from the confrontation between Xianguan and them just now, they are Tatar tribe." The probability is at least 90%.”
"Tatar tribe?" Han Du's face darkened upon hearing this.
The purpose of the Ming Dynasty's expedition was to attack the Tatar tribe with force. Logically speaking, Han Du should be happy to meet the main force of the Tatar tribe, but now Han Du is not happy at all.
You must know that this expedition against the Tatars is not just Handu's army, but four armies. In fact, Han Du's army can be said to have the smallest number of people among the four armies.
What's more, in order to eliminate the Beiyuan Khanate, I wasted more than a month in the ice and snow. Logically speaking, the Tatar tribe at this time should be jointly attacked by the other three armies, or even defeated!
Judging from the situation of the Tatar tribe opposite, their strength has not suffered any loss at all.
Could it be that the three-pronged army had been in the grassland for such a long time and could not even find the Tatar tribe? What are Zhu Di, Lan Yu, and Fu Youde doing?
Azashili saw Han Du's face turn pale and didn't know what was going on. He didn't dare to leave without permission, so he stood aside and waited.
Han Du came back to his senses and let out a long breath. Seeing that Azashi was still here, he waved to him: "You go down and heal the wound first."
"Thank you, Lord Marquis." Azashili bowed his hands and retreated.
After Xu Chengfei waited for Azashili to leave, he said to Han Du with a worried look on his face: "If it is really the Tatar tribe, then what exactly are the three armies of King Yan, Duke Liang and Duke Ying doing, and where are they now?"
Han Du glanced towards the south, but saw nothing but snow all over the mountains and plains.
He turned back to Xu Chengfei and said angrily: "I don't know."
Xu Chengfei was silent for a moment. This question really cannot be answered rashly. No matter what happened, it was absolutely true that the main force of the Tatar tribe was in front of him now.
Xu Chengfei suddenly became energetic and looked at Han Du with brighter eyes: "These people show off their power and think that we dare not go out to fight with them!"
Han Du frowned: "What do you want to do?"
Xu Chengfei said very directly: "I will lead the troops to fight with them and weaken their spirit!"
Han Du glanced at Xu Chengfei and knew that he couldn't be persuaded.
Han Du thought about it calmly, his brows still furrowed deeply, and he gradually felt that it would be good to dampen the opponent's energy. Morale is a key factor that affects victory or defeat. If your side continues to defend passively, it may keep the opponent's morale high.
He nodded in agreement: "Okay, you must be careful. If the situation is unfavorable, retreat quickly."
"Don't worry, I'll save you!" Xu Chengfei suddenly waved his arm and rode away.
The cavalry was mobilized by Xu Chengfei to the front of the camp. The chariot suddenly moved away, and the cavalry filed out.
The cavalry on the opposite side actually took the initiative to attack when they saw this. Suddenly, with a loud bang, they also charged towards them. In their view, although the Ming Dynasty was powerful, it only relied on the power of firearms and chariots.
Chariots linked together can play a greater role than resisting horses, greatly hindering the charge of cavalry. Firearms are extremely powerful, and their lethality against cavalry is extraordinary.
But when it comes to cavalry confrontation, they have nothing to fear!
Xu Chengfei did not choose to charge against the Tatar cavalry, but in the middle of the charge, he directed the cavalry to swerve to the left to avoid it.
When the Tatar cavalry saw them, they thought the Ming soldiers were trying to escape, so they immediately swarmed them and pursued them closely.
When both sides were about to approach the range of bows and arrows, the Ming army raised their thunder blunderbuss one after another.
"Bang!" Xu Chengfei was riding on the horse, keeping his upper body motionless, he raised the thunderbolt and fired a shot, and a leader-looking man on the opposite side instantly fell off the horse.
Xu Chengfei's shot was like a signal.
A series of "bang bang" sounds suddenly sounded from the Ming army.
Xu Chengfei commanded the cavalry, always keeping a safe distance from the Tatar cavalry, like a long snake, spinning and circling, always surrounding the Tatar cavalry at the center of the circle.
In this way, the Ming army could freely use the thunderbolts to attack the Tatar cavalry, while the Tatar cavalry had no way to deal with the Ming army. Even if their bows and arrows were shot with all their strength, they would only fall one-third of the way from the Ming army, and would not touch a single hair of the Ming army at all.
When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy retreats, we attack! They always maintained the same rhythm of advance and retreat with the Tatar cavalry, leaving them unable to be attacked without any room to fight back!
In fact, this tactic is not uncommon. The ancestors of these Tatar tribes who followed Genghis Khan used it more than once. They themselves are familiar with this, but facing the huge range gap between divine thunder blunderbuss and bows and arrows, even if they know it, they have no way to solve it.
"Woo~wu~wu~"
Three urgent horn blasts came from the hillside, and the horn blasts continued one after another, making them look very anxious. After the Tatar cavalry heard this, they immediately stopped attacking and retreated towards the hillside at all costs.
Xu Chengfei would not let these Tatar cavalry go easily and directly sent troops to besiege them. Although the Tatars took advantage of the thunderbolts and were unable to raise their heads, they were forced back several times by the arrows they shot from a high position.
In the end, Xu Chengfei had to retreat and return to the camp.
"Haha, I just saw it here. They fought very well! Killed them hard with their energy!"
As soon as Han Du saw Xu Chengfei, he couldn't help but stepped forward to greet him.
Xu Chengfei sighed and shook his head: "Their geographical advantage is too great, and we would suffer too much if we tried to charge forcefully. Otherwise, I would have directly attacked their camp just now."
Han Du nodded, "Yes, I saw it just now. The Tatar tribe actually learned to hide behind the ice wall and shoot arrows. If you want to rush up, the casualties will be too high."
After a few words of comfort to Xu Chengfei, Han Du summoned everyone to the commander's tent.
Han Du stared at everyone with dark eyes and said: "No one thought that we would collide with the main force of the Tatar tribe. Everyone, tell us, what should we do now? Xu Chengfei, you say it first?"
Xu Chengfei nodded calmly and said: "Now we and the Tatar tribe are too close and we can see each other clearly. Moreover, they are still condescending. Even the slightest movement in our camp will not escape their eyes. Fortunately, now Although we can't do anything to them, they can't do anything to us."
Han Du nodded secretly after hearing this. The distance between the two sides was really too close. They are only five or six miles apart from each other. If they were in other places, this would be a distance that would only exist during a decisive battle.
This is why the Tatars did not hesitate to charge against the Ming army as soon as they discovered it.
The current situation is that they clearly do not dare to remove the chariots, otherwise they will inevitably be besieged by the Tatars from all directions. Although the Ming army had many artillery and firearms, it was impossible to secure all sides.
Fortunately, the Tatar tribe did not dare to act rashly. The hillside where they were now was already the best place around. If it were moved to another place, it might not be able to stop the Ming army's attack.
Both sides are fighting against each other and do not dare to act rashly.
Azashri's arm was bandaged with cotton. He was in good spirits and was not affected by the injury at all. He looked at the solemn look on Han Du's face. He was startled for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "Master Marquis, since you could break the ice wall with a cannon, can't you do the same now?"
After hearing this, Han Du said in a gentle tone: "Of course cannons can be used, but we will definitely not be able to hide the use of cannons from the Tatar tribe. Moreover, the Tatar tribe is located at a high altitude. If we want to use cannons to break through their ice wall, we must If we want the cannon to be moved to at least the middle position, I'm afraid they won't let us move the cannon up easily."
Although the cannon has a range of five miles, this is on flat ground. Once you attack a higher target, your range will be greatly reduced. If you want to fire artillery inside the camp, it is impossible to attack the location of the Tatar Department!
If you want the cannon to attack the hillside where the Tatar tribe is located, the cannon must move forward. And the Tatars are not fools. They will definitely understand how big the threat the cannons are to them. Even if they risk their lives, they will not let the Ming army's cannons come forward.
Han Du saw that everyone fell into silence and knew that they had no other good ideas except this useless solution.
Then he nodded and said: "In that case, let's use the cavalry as a cover and try to see if we can let the cannons come forward."
The Tatar tribe is also wondering, where did the Ming army come from? Taishi Arutai was also sitting in the golden tent, very puzzled. He was able to miraculously escape from the three-way army. Of course, it was not because he had the ability to predict the unknown, but because of another secret reason.
But the reason why he retreated to station here was that he believed that the Ming army would never find it.
Unexpectedly, the Ming army not only came, but also almost collided with his army.
Moreover, this Ming army had many troops, no less than his own. And it was so powerful that even he suffered a lot due to his carelessness.
"Where did this Ming army come from?"
Faced with Arutai's question, the people below looked at each other and had no choice but to respond.
"Master, this Ming army is indeed very strange. Is the information about that person inaccurate? In addition to the three armies of Lan Yu Fu Youde, is there another army like this?"
Arutai shook his head slightly, "The news we got from our inspection is indeed that there are only three armies. Even if there is a fourth army, how did they get here?"
Everyone immediately didn't know how to answer. Ever since the Tatar tribe sacked Huining, they guessed that Ming Dynasty would not give up. So they sent people to keep an eye on the south all the time. Even if the Ming Dynasty sent troops in winter and caught them off guard, they still found out the news.
Logically speaking, even if there is a fourth Ming army, they will not escape their sight. Where did this Ming army come from? Could it be that it fell from the sky?
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