The next day, the morning sun shone slightly, and the air in the northwest grasslands was particularly fresh. The sunlight shone on the glazed tiles of the Xining County Prince's official residence, making the golden light shine and show off the eyes.
“Dong dong!!!”
When the sky was bright, the sound of war drums was heard throughout Xining Fucheng.
Accompanied by the sound of people roaring and horses neighing, the soldiers in Xining City, wearing armor and holding swords, lined up and headed towards the west city.
This time Jia Heng led 40,000 cavalry troops in the Beijing camp and 20,000 Chahar Mongolian cavalry troops, leaving 10,000 cavalry troops stationed in Xining Fucheng.
In Xining Fucheng, Jin Xuan deployed 40,000 infantry and 10,000 men to escort the grain and fodder. After the cavalry led by Jia Heng, they headed for Huangyuan City, preparing to capture Huangyuan County in one go.
In addition, the Han army also dispatched Folang machine guns and other siege equipment.
Fang Jin also led 20,000 Xining cavalry to accompany Jia Heng on the expedition, for Jia Heng to mobilize. The combined troops of both sides had a total of 120,000 troops and marched towards Huangyuan County.
Huangyuan has always been called the source of Huangshui, but in fact the real source of Huangshui is Haiyan.
During the Tang Dynasty, it was occupied by Tibet and was renamed Qingtang City. Since the Chen and Han Dynasties, Huangyuan has become a fortress for the "tea and horse trade" and is known as the throat of the sea and Tibet.
In the evening, the cavalry as the vanguard arrived at the entrance of Huangyuan East Canyon and began to set up camp to meet the army.
There is a stronghold high up at the entrance of the valley, in which Heshuote Mongolian soldiers and horses have been stationed in the stronghold. They use rolling logs, stones, bows and arrows to defend based on the terrain.
The leading general is Yue Tuo's deputy general Leng'eli, who has always been known for his bravery in battle. At this moment, he has stationed 10,000 troops to guard the entrance of the village, intending to use the favorable terrain to fight the Han army to death.
Jia Heng, surrounded by a group of Jinyi Mansion generals and Beijing camp cavalry generals, entered the Chinese army's tent and asked Jia Fang, "Where is General Xie?"
"My lord, General Xie has gone to inspect the enemy's situation," Jia Fang said.
Jia Heng muttered: "Bring the map."
When Jia Fang brought the map, Jia Heng came closer to take a look.
It is obvious that the mountains here are undulating, with ravines and valleys, and there are many valley mouths. On the northeast side are the Heishiya Mountains and Changling. This is why the prince of Nan'an wanted to transfer grain to Huangyuan. Because grain was transported back and forth. Very inconvenient.
It can be said that after losing Huangyuan, the Han army lost its geographical convenience and became quite passive.
Unless you are familiar with the valley entrances of these mountain ranges, you can use the mobility of the cavalry to find the enemy's main force for combat.
This was also the strategy used by King Zhou and King Jincheng of Xining County to intimidate Qinghai during the Longzhi period of Chen Han, but Huangyuan still wanted to capture it as a grain and fodder turnover center.
No Huangyuan means no high ground support.
"This battle is not easy to fight." Jia Heng frowned and whispered.
However, in the northwest battle of Yongzheng Dynasty, Nian Gengyao, who had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands, still won the battle. Through tactics such as the suspicion of soldiers and the empty city strategy, he defeated the momentum of Luobuzangdanjin, and then the Qing army Launch a full-scale counterattack, uproot the stronghold, and then go deep into the desert to surround the enemy's rear.
This was not accomplished overnight. It was through a combination of first defending, then attacking, and pursuing, etc., to weaken the enemy's strength step by step, and finally achieve annihilation. In fact, it was somewhat like his current situation.
In short, I responded to six words, take your time, it’s faster.
Therefore, Fang Jin could not be arrested and tortured before.
While Jia Heng was thinking about the strategy of using troops, someone reported from outside: "General Xie and Khan Ezhe are here."
Ezhe Khan, as the accompanying troops this time, mainly spent this period of time to find out the surrounding valley mouth.
Jia Heng said: "Have someone come over."
With the Mongolian Ezhe accompanying him, the survivability of the cavalry going deep into Qinghai will be greatly improved.
Because in the vast grasslands and deserts, how to find water sources, determine the direction, chase the enemy, and supplement food through cattle and sheep are really not the skills of the Han army. Maybe Li Guang will get lost.
Therefore, I was a little anxious about Ya Ruocai before.
While he was talking, Ezhe, accompanied by Batur, the captain of the bodyguard, came over with Xie Zaiyi, the commander of Guyong Camp in Beijing.
It is worth mentioning that as an earl, Xie Zaiyi has been promoted to the governor of Zhangguyong camp, while Jia Heng is still the deputy envoy of the Jingying camp and the governor of Guoyong camp.
"Commander," Xie Zaiyi said, cupping his fists and saluting Jia Heng.
E Zhe also asked Jia Heng straight to the point: "I have found out all the valley mouths in the past few days. When will we start?"
Because there are no military generals from Xining here, the Khan of Chahar Mongolia did not shy away from much.
Jia Heng said: "Don't rush now, kill the effective strength of Heshuote Mongolia. When the time comes, our army will be organized into several teams, with five thousand cavalry as one team, and they can hunt freely."
First use internal tactics to weaken some of the effective forces of Heshuote Mongolia, and then divide the troops to kill them.
At that time, they were attacking Huangyuan fiercely, while using cavalry to massacre the Mongolian tribes in Qinghai in batches. It would not take long for Qinghai's various groups to become popular and fall apart.
This is also a set of combo punches.
Where are the infantry? "Jia Heng asked.
Jia Fang reported: "Jie Shuai, the infantry should not arrive until tomorrow."
Jia Heng said: "Wait a moment and find out the earth's veins."
In Huangyuan County, Yue Tuo and Dorji also looked solemn.
The Mongol tribes in Qinghai originally had 80,000 people, and they were forced to gather together to have about 100,000 people. However, the previous 20,000 people had been sent to Tibet, and now there are about 60,000 elites.
"The Han army is coming fiercely this time. How do you think we can retreat from the enemy?" Dorji said, "How about we leave Huangyuan behind and lure the Han army to attack?"
Yue Tuo stood in front of the map at this moment and said in a deep voice: "The Duke of Wei of the Han Dynasty is not the king of Nan'an County and others. The same strategy cannot be used a second time. Moreover, once Huangyuan is lost, Haiyan cannot be saved. At that time, the Han army will be strong." Qinghai and Mongolia will definitely not be able to resist the pressure."
When Dorji heard this, he frowned and asked, "Brother Xian, what should we do?"
"Hold Huangyuan and wait for the Han army to attack. We will attack them as soon as we see them!" Yue Tuo's eyes fell on the winding mountains.
Naturally, this map does not have various valley entrances suitable for troops to enter. If they are all guarded, the distribution of troops will not be enough.
At this moment, Deputy Commander Ilden entered the military tent and said, "Your Majesty, there is news."
"Where are the things?" Yue Tuo asked.
Ilden said: "I sent a letter first, saying that the thing has been rubbed and will be delivered in the next two days. Han Ting seems to be suspicious in the past few days."
As he spoke, he handed over the paper in his hand.
Yue Tuo stopped reading and said, "Brother, wait for another two or three days."
Dorji looked at Yue Tuo with joy, and his tone was full of expectation: "My dear brother, does he already have a strategy to defeat the enemy?"
During this period, after staying with Yue Tuo for a long time, Dorji was also influenced by what he heard, and his speech became semi-literate.
Yue Tuo's eyes flashed with aggression, and he said in a deep voice: "Brother, just wait for the good news, I will definitely win this time."
With the march map, the mobilization of the Han army was as transparent to him. When the time came to ambush the Han army, he would make the despicable and shameless Duke Wei pay with his blood!
Seeing this, Dorji felt relieved and said, "Now that I have an idea, let's go to a banquet and drink. I'm a little hungry now."
Yue Tuo said: "Recharge your batteries today, and attack and defend the Han army tomorrow! Once the Han army is frustrated in attacking the city, they will definitely want to win with a surprise force. That will be our opportunity."
There is a saying in the art of war that victory can be achieved by a perfect combination.
As the saying goes, poverty leads to change, change leads to generalization, and generality leads to prosperity. As long as the Han army is frustrated in attacking the city, it will definitely find ways to invade from other places. That will be their opportunity.
Seeing that Yue Tuan was calm and composed, Dorji gained some confidence.
Every time Brother Yue Tuo looks like this, victory is already certain, and he knows this.
…
…
The Jade Rabbit sets in the west and the Golden Crow rises in the east.
The next day is another new day. Today is still a sunny day with the sun shining high. On the blue sky, the white clouds are like marshmallows. Just looking at it makes people feel relaxed and happy.
Occasionally, birds fly across the sky, flying towards the winding mountains.
As soldiers from various ministries arrived one after another, the generals and generals began to dispatch scouts to the entrance of the Near East Canyon to check the enemy's situation. By noon, the Xining border army infantry led by Jin Xuan himself also arrived at the front line.
They cut wood into beams and piled earth into buildings, and began to build condescending gun towers and watchtowers under the mouth of the East Canyon to facilitate fire suppression in the subsequent siege.
Although the Hongyi artillery was not brought along on this trip, the Folang machine cannon and fire blunderbuss could also achieve the purpose of parallel suppression of the Heshuote Mongolia who were defending the stronghold.
At the same time, in order to prevent Heshuote Mongolia from sending troops to cause great damage to these siege equipment, Jia Heng sent two generals, Jia Fang and Jia Chang, with a thousand rangers to provide support at any time.
However, Heshuote Mongolia or Leng'erli knew that his troops were weak and he did not go down the mountain to cause damage. Instead, his soldiers collected earth, wood and lime to strengthen the mountain stronghold in an attempt to resist the advance of Chen Han's army.
At this moment, Leng'erli stood on the watchtower, looking at the scattered and orderly Han army camps in the distance.
The mountain village where Leng'erli lived was actually not that big. There were originally a thousand Han troops stationed there. After the Heshuote Mongols captured Huangyuan County, in order to resist the advancing soldiers and horses from Xining Fucheng, they temporarily rested on the rocks. The expansion and defense facilities are not as solid as a rock, or they have not withstood the test of war.
Moreover, Heshuote Mongolia is actually not very good at defending the city. The troops and horses that rushed to Xining earlier were nothing more than a bloody courage, regardless of casualties.
But now, facing the Han army, which was good at civil engineering work, they would lose if they stayed for a long time.
At this moment, Jia Heng was riding a horse below and using a telescope to observe the terrain and defense facilities of the mountain village. The mountain village blocking the valley entrance had an elevation of about thirty or forty degrees. It could be said to be steep or not, flat or flat, with grass and grass. There are many rugged mountains and rocks in the terrain, which affects the cavalry's charge. Of course, both sides face the same disadvantages.
After a slight visual inspection of the angle, I could see that the Folan cannon and bows and arrows could be obtained, but the strength was a little weaker.
"It might be better if the Hongyi cannon is brought." Chen Xiao seemed to see what the young man was thinking with his brows furrowed, and said in a clear voice.
Jia Heng said: "This village is the only one that can be used. We are chasing death in Qinghai and we can't use the Hongyi artillery. By the way, do you have those grenades with you?"
This is the latest firearm research result developed by the Shenjing Ordnance Supervisor under his guidance. A homemade grenade with iron nails inside, which is rougher and simpler than the wooden grenades of later generations.
Chen Xiaoxiu frowned and said doubtfully: "I brought it with me. That thing is a bit like a firecracker. Is it really useful?"
Jia Heng chuckled lightly and said: "You don't have much of those things. You can try their power. Once they are used well, you can improve them in the future. They may not be a secret weapon to defeat the Jurchens and defeat the enemy."
While the two were talking, Dong Qian, who was now the left leader of the guard army, cupped his fists and said: "Commander Jie, General Fuyuan invites you to come over to discuss the military situation."
Jia Heng nodded and said to Chen Xiao: "Let's go back to the Chinese army camp."
Not long after Jin Xuan arrived, he asked the infantry in Xining Fucheng to start civil engineering work and built many camps near the flat valley entrance. From a distance, the layout was very similar, with ditches and arrow towers complete. He was also a veteran.
Compared with when the Prince of Nan'an County came with his troops, Jin Xuan was fishing all the time. Now Jin Xuan has almost taken out all the coffins of the Jin family.
The large tent of the Chinese army was crowded with people and noisy.
Gathered Fuyuan General Jin Xuan, Xining Cavalry Fang Jin, and a large number of generals from the Xining Frontier Army such as Ma Hong, Zou Fu, Xue Jian and others.
"Duke Wei." As the voices in the military tent suddenly fell silent, Jin Xuan stood up and came forward to meet him. He looked at the young man in python suit with a calm expression and said, "Now we have arrived at Huangyuan City on foot and on horseback. Just wait for the order from Duke Wei."
Jia Heng looked at Jin Xuan and said, "Everything is ready, all we need is the east wind."
Then, he nodded towards the Xining Prefecture Guard General and said, "Generals, please sit down and start discussing."
The generals nodded in agreement, and then sat down, clearly distinct from the generals in the Beijing camp.
Jia Heng, on the other hand, was sitting behind the Central Military Commander's desk under the guards of Jinyi Mansion. His eyes wandered over the generals below. When his eyes fell on Fang Jin's face, he paused for a moment, but did not stop and said: "Generals, the purpose of conquering Huangyuan this time is to open up the way for troops to invade Huangyuan and threaten Huangyuan with a large army. Secondly, it is to test the movements of Heshuote Mongolian soldiers and horses. Huangyuan County is a small town, and there is not much food in the city. If the siege continues for a long time, the Heshuote Mongolian power cannot be maintained, and we can easily recover without risking an ambush."
When Fang Jin heard that the young man was talking freely, he secretly sneered in his heart.
What a great general he thought he was, but it turned out to be nothing more than mediocre!
It is true that Huangyuan is a small town, but the Tatars have been in business for a long time, and the terrain is steep. If they really want to hold on, the two sides will fight for a long time, and the Heshuote Mongolian food and fodder will not continue. Will the imperial army's food and fodder be endless?
The imperial court mobilized so many troops to conquer the west, so how much food and fodder was consumed? If we delay for more than a month, we will naturally have to withdraw.
Therefore, Jia Heng probably still wanted to divide his troops and go to the entrance of the valley, surround them from behind, and attack from both sides.
Jin Xuan seemed to have the same concerns. He stared at Jia Heng and said worriedly: "If the enemy forces fight to the death and refuse to retreat, our army will suffer heavy casualties. Do we have all the food and supplies?"
At this time, Wei King Chen Ran said: "General Fuyuan, don't worry, the Ministry of Household Affairs has raised grain and fodder to be transported to Lanzhou to support the army's advance."
Jin Xuan nodded when he heard this and said: "Since His Highness the King of Wei said this, I am relieved."
Jia Heng said: "With our army's artillery fire and crossbows, the greater casualties should be Heshuote Mongolia. They can't withstand the same consumption. It is only a matter of time before they give up Huangyuan. The current situation is still that the enemy is weak and we are strong. "
In particular, Heshuote Mongolia has deployed troops and horses to support Tibet, and he has a window period of about one to two months.
Once Gushi Khan of Heshuote Mongolia defeated Zangba Khan, then it would be irreversible to return to Qinghai.
When the Heshuote Khanate was in its heyday, the Qing Dynasty also focused on appeasement and canonization.
Therefore, the window period for him to enter the army is only one month.
Seeing Jia Heng's insistence, Jin Xuan couldn't persuade him any more and said, "Then follow the wishes of Duke Wei."
The advantage of setting up camp like this and attacking with Xining Fucheng behind is that there will be no mistakes. As long as the Duke of Wei is in trouble, he will naturally stop attacking.
Thus, the strategy of using troops was decided.
When the soldiers buried the pots and cooked rice, smoke curled up from the cooking stoves, and the entire infantry and cavalry camps also entered a tense and orderly atmosphere before the war.
Jia Heng returned to his sleeping tent, and just after entering the military tent, Chen Xiao entered the tent, with a rare lightness on his cold and beautiful face, and said: "It's all done."
Jia Heng said: "They are not suspicious, are they?"
"No." Chen Xiao lowered his voice and said softly: "I marked two roads, which may give people the illusion that they are attacking from behind with two wings."
Jia Heng said: "Yue Tuo is a very cunning person. He will probably send people to investigate on the spot. These two roads must be consistent with the way of advancing troops, and they must really be able to allow 5,000 to 10,000 cavalry troops to advance."
Chen Xiao said: "Don't worry, those two roads were originally the entrance to the open mountain road after the first secret. They were used by Longzhi's grade in the past. If they ambush there, they can attack from other roads."
Jia Heng nodded and said: "The strategy should not be too complicated to avoid further setbacks."
The more complex the strategy, the more details there are, and the easier it is to make mistakes. However, Yue Tuo's plan to lure Nan'an and others was very simple and highly maneuverable.
Of course, his plan is not that complicated.
Chen Xiao responded and said nothing else.
Afterwards, Jia Heng, accompanied by the general, inspected the layout of various camps.
In this way, the peaceful day gradually passed, but the tense atmosphere before the battle between Heshuote Mongolia and the Han army gradually became tense.
On the morning of the next day, Chen Han's army began their first probing attack.
First, the Xining border army dispatched 8,000 infantry and the Beijing camp dispatched a thousand cavalry, abandoning their horses and drawing bows. Under the joint command of the generals of the Beijing camp and Xining, they tested the strength of the troops at the entrance of the East Canyon and the deployment of mobile forces.
Generals Hu Kui and Hou Xiaokang, the former commander-in-chief of Ningxia, also took the lead in the army and stared nervously at the stronghold ahead.
As the arrows and Fran cannons from the watchtowers fired towards the mountain stronghold, which suppressed the rain of bows and arrows from Heshuote Mongolia, the infantry held shields and began to rush towards the hillside.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by the sound of drums as thick as raindrops, the army's first probing attack began, and the military line began to be fully rolled out. All over the mountains and plains were soldiers wearing red mandarin duck war coats, black armor, iron helmets, holding shields and wild goose feathers. Swordsmen, either carrying bows and arrows on their backs, hanging crossbows on their waists, or holding spears.
Rumble...
Rolling logs and stones rolled down the steep hillside, and many infantrymen grunted in pain, while shells fired by Hanting's Franco machine guns fell into the mountain stronghold, causing widespread destruction.
Arrows as dense as locusts rained down one after another, killing the knights of Heshuote Mongolia. Although there was no close combat, the bloody atmosphere gradually spread.
For a time, the cry of killing filled the entire valley, and some Han soldiers rushed towards the stronghold.
Before Leng Eli could shout "kill", his pupils shrank and he felt slightly startled.
I saw the Han soldiers lit something, then raised their arms and threw it towards the stronghold where Leng'erli was.
Suddenly, a heavy sound of "Whoosh!!!" sounded, and a smoking black object fell into the stronghold and rolled down among the crowd. Before Leng'eli and the Heshuote Mongolian generals present could see clearly, What.
"Boom!"
The black gunpowder exploded and filled the air with gunpowder smoke. The iron nails and wood chips brought out were flying everywhere, almost like flying sand and rocks.
Suddenly there was a scream.
"Fire arrows and shoot them down! Don't let those people get close!" Leng'erli was shocked when he saw this and quickly shouted to his soldiers.
Although I don’t know what happened at that time, I still know about the firecrackers set off during festivals.
In fact, when Jia Heng proposed this idea to the Ordnance Supervisor, the craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervisor knew the principle. Unlike firecrackers exploding red paper flowers, the explosion was achieved by adding gunpowder to explode wood chips and iron nails. Killing.
Got it, let’s start building.
However, compared with the shock waves and fragments of grenades of later generations, this kind of thing obviously has many shortcomings. Therefore, in addition to one or two people being killed at the explosion point, there are more scattered iron nails and wood chips around it. The injury was deeply embedded in the flesh.
There was also the one with blinded eyes, covering his bleeding pupils, rolling on the spot, moaning in pain.
Suddenly, the screams of the Heshuote Mongolian warriors resounded throughout the village, which shook the morale of the troops.
The more this happens, the more it damages morale.
At this moment, the soldiers of Heshuote Mongolia would rather go down the mountain to fight with the Han army than stay here and be killed by the explosion of iron nails and sawdust without being able to see the Han army.
Seeing this, Leng Eli also complained secretly, so he could only draw his bow and shoot arrows at the Han army holding a shield in one hand and a wild goose feather sword in the other.
Whoosh! ! !
The Leng'e ceremony was performed skillfully with bows and horses, and when the bowstrings sounded, Han soldiers must have fallen to the ground. Not long after, the Han army was stopped when they advanced.
At this moment, at this moment, I suddenly felt a chill in my heart. I felt that I was locked by a murderous intention. I felt a chill in my heart and hurriedly dodged to the side.
At this moment, Xie Zaiyi led a group of soldiers and rushed to the mountain stronghold halfway up the mountain. He saw the Han troops attacking enthusiastically in the distance falling to the ground one after another. Shoot away.
Leng'erli felt a warning sign in his heart and felt the murderous intent, so he quickly dodged to the side.
Almost instantly, I heard the sound of "stabbing" piercing the air, and the sharp arrows passed by. Suddenly, a burning pain came from the side of my neck. I couldn't think too much, and my heart felt dark. , the opponent has a sharpshooter!
At this moment, Leng Eli was hiding under the earth and stone wall and said loudly: "Fire the arrow!"
However, the general with thick eyebrows, big eyes and a stern face fired the bow and arrow in his hand. Every time he shot, many soldiers screamed and fell to the ground.
The soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp behind them rushed towards the mountain stronghold, and the northwest frontier troops behind them also followed closely behind.
For a time, the offensive that was originally a probing attack actually had the momentum to take down the village in one go.
It’s a way to make up for yesterday.
(End of chapter)
