At the turn of spring and summer, it is the best season of the year in the Bashang Grassland north of the Great Wall. The grass is lush and the climate is comfortable. Even the sky is exceptionally bright and deep in this season. On the green prairie, there are scattered yurts, cattle and sheep, driven by Mongolian herdsmen, flowing on the grassland as vast as the sea, the whole is a quiet and peaceful grassland scenery.
On the road leading from the northern slope of Yanshan Mountain to Zhangjiakou Fort of the Great Wall, a convoy of men and horses was passing by under the banner of Sun and Moon. This seemed to be a convoy transporting supplies, large carts pulled by mules and horses, with goods bundled to the brim. When you walk in, you will see that many of them are ironware, cloth, and salt that are loved by herdsmen on the grassland. Each cart has a small red triangular flag with the word "Da Ming" on it. On each cart, in addition to the driver, sat a fusilier with an iron helmet and breastplate, holding a gun made in the seventh year of Hongxing, looking around warily. Behind and on both sides of the convoy were escorted by mule soldiers with black guns, one man, one horse and one mule, a team of forty men, half of whom were equipped with "black guns", and the other half were horsemen with bows and lances. These "black spearmen" may not necessarily win when they meet the Manchu elite, but when faced with the Mongols on the grasslands, they are really a devastating existence!
In the middle of the large convoy, there are one hundred and twenty knights, all wearing black plate armor, carrying spears on their shoulders, riding tall mules, leading fold-eared horses, surrounded by a man who is also wearing plate armor and wearing a helmet. young man. What this young man has under his crotch is not a mule, but a particularly handsome Arabian horse. Behind the boy were two tall knights, both riding Mongolian horses, holding flagpoles with one hand. On the two flagpoles were a dragon flag and a recognition flag. There are four big characters on the recognition flag: Chongqing County Prince.
It turns out that the boy riding the Arabian horse is Zhu Cihuan, Zhu Cihuan, the fifth brother of Chongqing County. He was just sixteen years old this year. He had already finished primary school, but had not been admitted to middle school, so he had to go home and become his county king. He should have been left to eat and die for the rest of his life, but Zhu Cihong appointed him as the "filial son agent" - Zhu Cihong was so filial! He sent troops to the Northern Expedition together with Emperor Chongzhen, and was not allowed to serve him in front and behind him? But he has so many things to do every day that he has no time to fulfill his filial piety. So you have to find someone to represent you.
Although Emperor Zhu had many brothers, most of them were young. The elders Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cizhao were leading troops outside. Only Zhu Cihuan was the most useless. He failed to get promoted to junior high school and had no choice but to be unemployed and work as a prince at home. Therefore, the job of acting as a dutiful son fell on his shoulders.
In fact, it was not good for the acting emperor to fulfill his filial piety. Although Emperor Chongzhen was stingy, Empress Zhou Shang was very powerful. When she saw Zhu Cihuan was miserable and had no job, he was just a poor unemployed prince. She would always reward him with tens of thousands of taels of silver—— Everyone knows that Queen Zhou Shang is rich, and Emperor Chongzhen has a lot of wives and children. Before those children reach adulthood, they all point to Chongzhen's one million taels of gold and silver to chew on their old age, so his life is tight. Empress Zhou Shang also had another income. Zhu Cixiang used the dividends from the Royal Chamber of Commerce to pay her, which was 300,000 taels of pocket money a year!
So Zhu Cihuan was quite happy at first, and followed him on the road happily. He made Queen Zhou Shang very happy along the way, and he really won a lot of rewards. However, he never expected that his emperor brother had no intention of letting him take it so easily. He was so "bitten" that he was actually given a job!
Let him risk his life through the desolate "Beijing Grassland", cross the Yanshan Mountains, exit the Gubei Pass, and then go to Zhangjiakou through the Bashang Grassland controlled by the Chahar Ministry, and send a reward to the acting king Zhu Cijiong - hundreds of carts of silk, Ironware, salt, and golden money!
This is a fatal errand!
How many bad guys will you encounter along the way?
Moreover, the emperor's brother didn't give Zhu Cihuan much of a bodyguard, so he gave him a regiment of black spearmen and a company of Xiaoling Guards Lancers... With this little force, he actually dared to arrogantly march from Chahar Mongolia's territory. I've been there before, I'm trying to borrow a knife to kill my brother!
However, Zhu Cihuan did not dare to disobey his brother's will. He was suspected of rebellion and was very guilty...
So I had to bite the bullet and set off!
But in the first half of Zhu Cihuan's journey north, it was actually smooth sailing, and he didn't meet a single person. But after passing Yanshan, it’s wrong to leave Gubeikou. Small groups of Mongolian cavalry were lingering near the convoy one after another. The foreman guard Hei Wentao, who was responsible for commanding the escort, had tried to send out lancers several times to drive them away, but was stopped by Zhu Cihuan who was unwilling to cause trouble.
But just because he doesn't want to cause trouble doesn't mean that the Chahar Mongols don't want to cause trouble for him!
Just when Zhu Cihuan and his party were approaching the ruins of Yuan Shangdu, groups of countless Mongolian cavalry appeared around Zhu Cihuan and others!
These Mongolian cavalry were arranged in an old-school prairie cavalry formation. Groups of them were spread out widely. They were not close to the Ming army's convoy, but they blocked all the front, rear, left and right passages of the convoy. At first glance, they looked like they were put up by experts.
Hei Wentao was born in the Guan Ning Army. He made a living on horseback when he was a teenager. He has been working as a cavalryman since he followed Zhu Cixiang. He also learned European cavalry shock tactics from Prince Kong Dai. In fact, it was nothing special. Charge in a roundabout way, without fighting hand to hand or shooting arrows, just run away after charging, relying on horse power to bully others. You can't do it with the short and fat horses sent by Wu Sangui and Zhu Cijiong. You have to use broken-eared horses and Arabian horses, and they also have to have lighter plate armor...
Therefore, Hei Wentao didn't pay much attention when he encountered a small group of Mongolian cavalry, and even wanted to send out the lancers he had on hand to earn some military merit.
But now that I see countless Mongolian cavalry, I feel a little numb... He can run away, but he still has goods worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in custody. If he loses them, what will happen? That’s a bad thing!
"Black, General Black," Zhu Cihuan's voice trembled, "Tatars, so many Tatars! What should we do?"
Hei Wentao glanced at the pustule prince and laughed: "My lord, don't be afraid, don't be afraid...these are Mongolians, not very powerful."
Zhu Cihuan immediately asked: "Then, can you still run away now?"
"Run?" Hei Wentao smiled and shook his head, "If you can't run away, you must be unable to run away..."
Can't run away? Zhu Cihuan was so frightened that he burst into tears! They are both the emperor's sons, why is his life so miserable? The eldest child is the emperor, the third child is the prince and the governor, the fourth child is the county prince and the governor, and the sixth child has already decided to inherit the throne of Prince Fu, and because of Wu Sanmei's advice, he will be exempted from demotion and continue to be the prince ( He is not an iron-clad son, but he was only exempted from being demoted once), and he is good at studying and has been admitted to Laoshan Middle School. He has a bright future in the future... and why is he destined to be a prisoner forever? ? After staying with the bandits for so many years, and now seeing that we are about to fall into the hands of the Mongols again, it is such a miserable life!
"My lord, don't panic," Heiwen Tao smiled, "Let's form a car formation first... We have flintlocks and cavalry, and the car formation is enough to resist tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry!"
"Tens of thousands?" Zhu Cihuan didn't believe it, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't run away now, and he didn't want to be captured without mercy, so he could only struggle.
Hei Wentao did not continue to ask for Zhu Cihuan's orders. With a wave of his hand, he gave the order to set up the car formation. His chauffeurs were all heavily trained and well-trained, and they quickly formed a circular formation. The musketeers and archers among the black spearmen all entered the circle, got off their mules, and leaned against the vehicles to prepare for shooting. The lancers in the Black Lancers and the company of lancers riding foreign horses lined up outside the vehicle array, preparing to charge.
Just when they were ready, the Mongols surrounding them did not launch an attack, but sent several envoys.
The leader was a strong Mongolian man in his twenties, wearing a decent silk robe, riding a horse close to the car formation. As he advanced, he shouted in Chinese: "Don't shoot! I am Cha, the grandson of Lin Dan Khan." Harr Gu Harun has been ordered by Nang Nang Dafu Jin to welcome Master Wang! We Mongolians in Chahar have long been looking forward to Master Wang’s arrival!”
