"唷!!"
At the end of August, when the grassland is about to enter late autumn, many wild animals begin to store food for the winter. Even goshawks in the sky are hovering in groups in the sky, trying to find enough food.
Under them is the Uliangha land covered with dense forests and numerous swamps.
The reason why this place is called ground rather than grassland is mainly because traces of the ancient Songliao Lake still remain in this place in this era.
Overlooking the entire Songnen Plain, there are many rivers on this plain, with swamps, sandbars, river branches and river channels mostly forming a network.
Even on the beach, marshes and wetlands are widely distributed, and the siltation phenomenon is very serious, making it difficult to walk.
Because of this, people call this place the ground, which means a place that is difficult to pass.
"This road is so fucking difficult!"
"What a shame..."
“It’s a pity that we can’t take a boat!”
When familiar Mandarin words sounded, a team stretching for several miles was walking in this difficult-to-travel area.
They wore red fat coats, held long spears, and carried bows and arrows on their backs. From time to time in the team, a red bird banner with a black border could be seen.
There is no doubt that this is the Bohai Navy that has already set off, and now, they have arrived from Zhaozhou City to the hinterland of Wuliangha.
"Your Highness, the road conditions are much worse than we thought. How about changing the route?"
When Lin Su's voice came, Zhu Gaoxu was standing silently on the muddy ground with a map he drew.
On this road, everyone rolled up their pants and hung their shoes around their necks, and Zhu Gaoxu himself was no exception.
Not only that, he also knitted a grass ring for himself and put it on his head.
At this moment, he doesn't look like a county king, but like a farmer going to the river to catch crabs.
Facing Lin Su's inquiry, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the map, closed it, handed it to the staff on the side, and then looked back.
Everywhere he looked, he saw everyone looking at him eagerly, expecting him to say the words "reroute".
However, Zhu Gaoxu failed to fulfill their wish. Instead, he grinned and said, "It is impossible to change the route. This road is the only one that can be walked within a radius of ten miles."
"Ah?" After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, everyone was disappointed.
Zhu Gaoxu said with joy in his misery: "Don't worry, now we have reached Lianlian Lake. We only need to walk thirty miles further to find a beach."
"Today we rest on that beach overnight. Tomorrow we can take a boat across the river to the west bank, and then it will take ten days to reach Ulyanha Mountain."
"When we get there, we can happily kill the sheep and eat their meat."
Zhu Gaoxu did not forget to draw cakes for his brothers to satisfy their hunger, and pointed to the Wenjiang River two miles to the west, which was later known as the Nenjiang River.
On the Wen River, the ten baggage ships of the Bohai Navy were traveling slowly, keeping the same speed as them.
"Okay, let's get on our way."
Zhu Gaoxu urged them while he looked around.
Looking at the surrounding mudflats and withered reeds and pole grass, Zhu Gaoxu put his hand on Chi Huan's saddle next to him and estimated where his position would be in future generations.
If there is no deviation, the Lianhuan Lake to the east will be the Lianlian Lake in later generations.
If you put it this way, you should be west of Daqing and south of Qiqihar.
Both of these places are good places, rich in coal, oil, and natural gas. It’s a pity that Zhu Gaoxu can’t exploit these things, because in this era, both places exist in large swamps and river beaches. in the ground.
Before time passed quickly and industry entered the second industrial revolution, these two areas were useless land and it was difficult to work.
Don’t talk about anything else, just talk about the path Zhu Gaoxu and the others took.
Among the Uuliangha Mongolian prisoners, they said that this road was very hidden but the easiest to walk. However, the ease of walking in their words was obviously different from the easy walking in the minds of the Bohai Navy officers.
On this muddy beach, the Bohai navy has been marching for seven consecutive days. Every day, they must wash their feet and wipe them clean before taking a break to avoid skin diseases.
Not only people, but also horses must be properly serviced, otherwise their hooves will be corroded and soaked in a few days.
On such a road, if there are no ships to transport the heaviest baggage, it will be impossible to march.
"If I had known better, I should have built more ships worth 200 materials..."
Looking at the ships on the Wenwen River, Zhu Gaoxu was also envious.
Of course he can get on the ship, but then he will be separated from the team. Once something happens to the team, it will be difficult for him to deliver the correct instructions immediately.
"Let's go!"
Gritting his teeth, Zhu Gaoxu also led Chi Huan and continued walking north.
While he was leading his team around the silt beach, Zhu Quan from the south had already led 3,000 cavalry and tens of thousands of civilians to fight against the Uuliangha people who went south to herd in the autumn.
"kill!!"
On the grassland at the foot of Halawen Mountain, when the Ming army's shouts of killing rose into the sky, many Uliangha people grazing herds were brutally pursued.
This is a small tribe of several hundred people. Facing the three thousand Ming army's light cavalry in armor, they were helpless and were overwhelmed by a burst of pigs.
The Ming army wearing armor fired their bows left and right on horseback. Those Uliangha people who tried to fight back were killed one by one, and the horses, cattle and sheep ran around in disorder.
Among the troops, King Ning Zhu Quan put on his armor, rode his horse and drew his bow, shooting back and forth the Uuliangha people who fought back.
Whether they are men or women, old people or children, as long as they try to use their bows and arrows to fight back the Ming army.
What greeted them were arrows flying like locust stones.
Compared with the ordinary arrows of the Uliangha people, the Ming army's middle arrows, which are more than two feet long, can often shoot through one or two people at close range in an instant.
When the arrow came out of the body and penetrated several inches into the grass, its tail feathers were stained with scarlet blood.
After only a quarter of an hour of fighting, no one in this small tribe of hundreds of people survived except a dozen infant children.
Zhu Quan did not feel cruel about this, because these Mongols also treated the Han people in the same way, and they were even more cruel than the Han people treated them.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the discrimination against Mongolians and Semu people was very serious. Except for people like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, very few people regarded Mongolians as common people of the Ming Dynasty. This is also the reason why many Mongolian officials who went south to join the Ming Dynasty rebelled later. .
The Han people in the south of the Yangtze River even discriminate against the Han people in the north, let alone the Mongols and Semu people.
"Your Highness, there are at least a thousand cattle and sheep here!"
On horseback, Liu Zhen had just finished killing everyone in the tribe, and he couldn't wait to ride around the cattle and sheep.
Zhu Quan was a little out of breath, but his face was still more excited.
He ignored the Mongolian corpses on the ground and just looked at the herd of cattle and sheep and laughed: "Okay, okay! This time it's not in vain!"
"It's a pity that they released the sentinels. I'm afraid the nearby tribes will know that we are coming soon." Liu Zhen looked around and said an important piece of information at the same time.
"Soldiers will block it, water will cover it, and earth will cover it. Don't worry." Zhu Quan comforted Liu Zhen for a moment, then pointed his riding whip at the cattle and sheep in front and said:
"Leave fifty sheep to be slaughtered to reward the army, and send two hundred civilians to escort the rest of the cattle, sheep and horses southward!"
"Yes!" The Qianhu officials who followed him bowed in return, and then began to arrange the slaughter of the sheep.
At the same time, the tents of this group of Mongolians were also burned. The Ming army would rather erect their own tents than live in ready-made tents, just because Mongolians had lived here.
When a tent representing King Ning was set up, Zhu Quan also rode to the tent, opened it and walked in.
His tent was spacious enough to accommodate dozens of people singing and dancing inside.
Without hesitation, Zhu Quan walked up to the main seat and sat down. He quickly took off his shoes and relaxed his feet.
After lying there for two-quarters of an hour, Liu Zhen and officials from thousands and hundreds of households guarding Yingzhou also walked into the tent and sat down one after another.
Soon, the low tables and tables were carried into the tent and arranged by the soldiers. Each pair of low tables and tables corresponded to a general.
About a quarter of an hour passed, and soon plates of roasted mutton were brought into the tent, and everyone started to feast on them.
"How long until the lamb stew is ready?"
While Zhu Quan was eating, he asked the soldier, and the soldier subconsciously replied: "Half an hour."
"Let them hurry up." Zhu Quan urged when he heard that the mutton stew was still going to be long, and he lowered his head and continued to eat the meat.
"I'll go to the north tomorrow and see if I can find two or three more tribes before winter comes."
After eating a piece of roast mutton, Zhu Quan said to the generals, and the generals nodded in agreement.
Not long after, the roast mutton in their hands was eaten by them.
Since the portion is not large, many people just have a mouthful and are not even three-quarters full.
Although people were chatting, their eyes glanced at the curtain from time to time.
Under their glance, the curtain was opened, and everyone was excited for a moment. However, when they came back to their senses, they found that the person who walked in was actually Yang Ning, who was going to Zhaozhou City to deliver news.
"You're back? How's it going? Have you seen Gao Xu?"
Although he was a little disappointed, Zhu Quan still asked Yang Ning.
"Back to Your Highness, I saw it. This is the marching formation chart sent by His Highness King Bohai at the end of his life!"
Yang Ning knelt down and bowed, then stood up and presented the marching formation chart with both hands.
Zhu Quan wiped the mutton oil on his hands, and when he took the marching formation chart, he did not forget to greet Yang Ning: "Sit down and eat meat."
"Yes..." Smelling the smell of mutton in the tent, Yang Ning's first reaction was not to think about what kind of mutton to eat, but to reminisce about the departure banquet he had in Zhaozhou City more than ten days ago.
As soon as he sat down, Zhu Quan frowned and said, "How come Gao Xu walked on the ground of Wuliangha? Can he walk in that place?"
After frowning, Zhu Quan looked up at Yang Ning. Yang Ning also bowed and explained: "His Royal Highness the King of Bohai has captive Uuliangha people in his army. They will lead them to a ford to go north, and use boat divisions to transport food." Arrows.”
"Master Zhou..." After hearing Yang Ning's words, Zhu Quan nodded to express his understanding.
Compared with Daning, Jilin City is indeed more suitable for passing through Modong and Northeast regions.
But before he could understand it for too long, he said in surprise: "Gao Xu sent five thousand troops?"
His words attracted the attention of everyone in the tent, and Liu Zhen objected: "How is that possible? Isn't there only eight thousand military households in Jilin City?"
He questioned and looked at Yang Ning, but Yang Ning explained: "His Royal Highness the King of Bohai did send five thousand troops this time. This is what the general saw with his own eyes when he was in Zhaozhou City."
After Yang Ning finished speaking, everyone took a breath of cold air.
As for Zhu Quan, he was even more surprised when he saw the two thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry on the marching formation chart in his hand.
He had heard about what kind of place Jilin City was, and how could such a wealthy team be raised in a place like that.
Even his three guards in Yingzhou could only pull out 3,000 cavalry and 4,000 horse infantry.
Looking at it this way, Gao Xu's strength is no less than his own.
"Does Father know about this matter..."
Zhu Quan couldn't help but think of Zhu Yuanzhang, but Liu Zhen's words interrupted his thoughts.
"Your Highness, according to the formation map, where is His Highness King Bohai at this moment?"
"There are still about three days to go around and arrive at Wuliangha Mountain." Zhu Quan looked down and blurted out the answer.
Hearing this, Liu Zhen thought about it and then continued: "In this case, we have to speed up, otherwise we are afraid that the Bohai Palace will take the lead."
"Indeed." Zhu Quan nodded. Although he was very confident in the combat power of his three thousand cavalry, Zhu Gaoxu's troops were not weak in combat power and were more numerous than them.
If they didn't speed up, by the time Zhu Gaoxu arrived at Wuliangha Mountain and swept all the way south, they might not even be able to drink the soup.
After all, the news of their patrol in the north and south has spread northward, and many tribes will migrate to the Ulliangha Mountain in the north.
At this time, Zhu Quan and the others still wanted to pursue, and all Zhu Gaoxu had to do was rush southward.
"Send the order!" Zhu Quan decisively ordered: "Have a rest today and patrol the north tomorrow to search for traces of Hulu!"
"Yes!!" The generals took the order.
Soon, after satisfying their appetite, the generals returned to the camp to prepare for tomorrow's northern patrol to search for the enemy.
Compared to the meat here, which is full of aroma, Zhu Gaoxu and the others in the north can be said to have had a good time and sleep all the way.
Since there was no dry firewood in the swamp, they had to break some reeds and bamboo grass to boil water.
In more than ten days, I only ate hot rice a few times. The rest of the time I had to make do with dried meat and coarse biscuits. I couldn't even cook military rations.
Fortunately, these days of suffering finally came to an end on August 28th.
Arriving at a shallow water in the upper reaches of the Wenwen River, Zhu Gaoxu began to order to cross the river.
Three hundred brothers on ten baggage ships first transported the military rations and beans on board to the west bank. After leaving 200 men to garrison, they then transported the horses to the west bank by rowing oars.
This time, it took two days to transport 8,000 army horses and draft horses.
It was not until August 30 that Zhu Gaoxu and his group of 5,000 people arrived on the west bank through the baggage ship.
Compared with the silt shoals on the east coast, the situation on the west coast is obviously much better.
Although it is still within the scope of the Uliangha ground, the mud here is quite hard, and there are large reeds that can be broken and used as firewood.
"Mom! Boil water to cook first. I haven't had a bite of hot food in four days!"
As soon as they got off the boat, a person like Fu Rang, who had always been steady, couldn't help but curse his mother. This shows how difficult it is to travel through the Songnen Plain in this era.
Even a person like Zhu Gaoxu, who always puts a smile on his face, was speechless at this moment.
After getting off the boat, he looked around and saw that everyone around him looked like a mud monkey.
Only Zhang Chun's three hundred people on the boat were neatly dressed, and they were very angry.
"Zhang Chun, get some fish and meat to eat!"
Zhu Gaoxu shouted at Zhang Chun. Zhang Chun quickly ran over after hearing the words, grinning his teeth on his clean face: "Your Highness, we have been ready for a long time. We fished from time to time along the way and caught several thousand kilograms. Just now we were all It was fried and made into dried fish.”
With that said, Zhang Chun quickly waved to the soldiers not far away, and they immediately ran over with a basket of freshly cooked fish jerky.
Zhu Gaoxu looked at the basket of steaming fried fish, quickly washed his hands with a kettle, picked up a two or three kilogram fried fish and put it in his mouth to chew.
"Smells!" Although it only had some salt crystals and a slight salty taste, for Zhu Gaoxu, who had eaten cold rice for several days, this basket of fish arrived just in time.
Not just him, many people were eating this fried fish, and the accumulated emotions in the past few days were washed away by this fried fish meal.
Fortunately, the fish bones of this fish are fried to a crisp, otherwise it would get stuck in many people's throats.
"Go! Go to the ground!"
While eating fried fish, Zhu Gaoxu no longer wanted to stay in this muddy place.
Now he just wants to walk to the solid ground, cook a pot of hot military ration rice, and eat it with some fried fish!
"Your Highness, what about this baggage ship?"
Zhang Chun looked at the ten baggage ships, and Zhu Gaoxu also arranged for them: "Leave ten days of military rations and bean feed is enough, and put the rest on the baggage ships, waiting for the news to go south."
There was already a lot of military rations for the tenth day, enough for Zhu Gaoxu to lead his men from the west bank of the Wenwen River to the foot of the Halawen Mountain and back again.
Zhang Chun did as he was told, and Zhu Gaoxu also took more than 4,000 brothers and more than 8,000 army and draft horses, loaded up their respective supplies, and headed west.
The further west they walked, the road became drier and firmer under their feet. The feeling made Zhu Gaoxu and the others feel much better, and they were no longer as irritable as they were at the beginning.
Before dark, they finally left the Uliangha Beach on the west bank and saw a piece of autumn-colored grassland.
Although it is not the kind of grassland that Zhu Gaoxu remembered, Zhu Gaoxu also relaxed a little after coming here.
Choosing a place with higher terrain, Zhu Gaoxu sent out fifty teams of Tangqi to search around, while he led his people to camp on a low hill and bury pots to make rice.
Simple coarse cloth tents were set up, and at a glance there were hundreds of them, covering an area of dozens of acres.
Due to the Military Academy of the Guard, the soldiers in the Bohai Navy who can go to the battlefield are basically soldiers who have studied for at least half a year, so they have already accepted some of the teaching materials written by Zhu Gaoxu.
They knew a little bit about smokeless stoves and basic hygiene knowledge in the wild, as well as basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Therefore, during the tour of the camp, Zhu Gaoxu could see many people digging smokeless stoves, boiling water and pouring it into kettles. .
Do not drink raw water in the wild. This is one of the iron rules set by Zhu Gaoxu.
Many generals and soldiers were infected because of drinking raw water. He would not allow such a situation to occur in his army.
Soon, about three hundred smokeless stoves were excavated, and about three hundred large pots with a diameter of four feet were placed on them. The fire-headed soldiers in the army skillfully opened bags of military rations. Each bag of these military rations weighed more than thirty kilograms each. The bag corresponds to five large pots.
This doesn't sound like much, each pot is only six or seven kilograms of military rations.
But when the gang leader added water, covered it with a wooden lid, put a few clean stones on it and pressed it down with porcelain, within a quarter of an hour he could smell the faint aroma of rice.
When the wooden lid is opened, what you see is a pot full of rice, enough to feed more than a dozen people.
It was not ready to eat at this time, so the gang leader poured oil on the rice, then threw the fried fish on the rice and continued to press it with a wooden lid.
After a quarter of an hour, the rice was finally out of the pot.
The soldiers who had been waiting for a long time began to line up and eat three kilograms of rice in the wooden bowls they carried with the army.
At the same time, some pots continued to be used for cooking, while others were filled with water, fried fish and dried vegetables, jars of dark sauce, vinegar cloth and A few salt crystals the size of a fingernail.
The foremen stirred the cauldron, and soon the dried vegetables absorbed the water and spread out, and a strange smell filled the air.
Not long after, these hodgepodges began to come out of the pot, and everyone lined up with a rice bowl. A bowl of about three kilograms of fried fish and rice appeared in their bowls.
This sounds delicious, but in fact it just sounds delicious. After Zhu Gaoxu personally got a bowl and ate it, although he felt warm and comfortable, the taste was very bland.
The taste is like using a pack of instant noodles seasoning to cook dozens of packs of instant noodles. It doesn't taste salty, but it's just comfortable to eat.
"Compared with the last expedition to Xiyang, it is an improvement. It would be great if we can make our brothers eat better in the future."
Looking at the dark food in the bowl, Zhu Gaoxu, who was used to the royal palace's food, naturally had no appetite, but the people around him ate very comfortably.
Listening to Zhu Gaoxu's words, Lin Su, who was squatting on the grass, raised his head and said, "Your Highness, this is a good enough meal. At least there is meat."
He picked up the fried fish and shook it in the air, while Zhang Chun on the side was immersed in cooking.
But Fu Rang, like Zhu Gaoxu, had a very tricky mouth. He chirped and said, "I'll just make do with it today. I'll have to find some Hulu tomorrow to find some mutton to eat."
"That's natural!" When he heard about eating mutton, Zhang Chun raised his head and agreed, then continued to lower his head to eat.
It was already approaching dusk. Zhu Gaoxu looked at the sun that was about to set over the grassland in the distance. After looking around, he said:
"Counting the time, Uncle Seventeen and the others should have already fought against Hu Bing."
"When Hu Bing gets the news, Haragu will definitely lead his troops south to stop Seventeenth Uncle, so that his tribe will be the first to retreat north."
"We don't need to worry too much. We'll first find Wuliangha Mountain, deal with the Hu soldiers stationed there, and then just keep going south."
"We are not here to be good people this time. We will kill all the Hu soldiers who deserve to be killed. We will leave the old, weak, women and children to Haragu, and take away all the cattle, sheep and horses."
"Whether the brothers' families in Jilin City will be rich depends on how many cattle and sheep we can find on this grassland."
Having said this, Zhu Gaoxu paused, glanced at the many brothers who were eating, and turned back to Fu Rang to explain:
"Tonight, you take the staff officers to the tents one by one to find messages for the brothers, so as to teach them to remember the military discipline of our Bohai Navy!"
"Okay!" Fu Rang nodded, and the main thing Zhu Gaoxu said about military discipline was the prohibition of rape and robbery.
It is difficult to form an army, but easy to destroy an army.
If the Bohai Navy begins to lose control of itself at this time, they will only intensify their efforts during the Jingnan Campaign.
Only if they can remain strict externally will they become even stricter internally.
Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu lowered his head and ate the unpleasant but warm soup and rice...
"Bohai Chronicles": In August of Wushen, he led five thousand cavalry troops out of Zhaozhou and crossed the ground of Wuliangha.
(End of chapter)
