The moon was full on April 15th, and the soldiers who had just crossed the desert ran quickly towards a small river in front of them under the guidance of the scouts.
The shouts sounded, torches were lit, and the soldiers waved their shovels and began to set up camp.
The troops armed with flintlock muskets crossed the river, while another group of cavalry moved away, looking for possible traces of the enemy.
When the moon was in the middle, the fusiliers on guard ran back and relied on the creek for defense.
Xu Da and Lan Yu were sitting in the camp discussing the military situation. They had slept for two hours before.
"Tang He and those ten thousand people don't know where they are at this time." Lan Yu mentioned another general, Tang He.
Tang He also belonged to the Central Army, and he detached 5,000 men, all cavalry, to attack Yanghe County with Zhang Cundao, the commander of Chuzhou.
As long as Yang He is defeated, there will be no danger behind Xu Da. The cavalry is fast and maneuverable.
"They have been told that the enemy is in danger and the rules are not to fight desperately." Xu Da didn't know Tang He's side either, so he ran to Lingbei.
"Just preserve your strength. If you don't succeed this year, you will still have to fight next year." Lan Yu is particularly concerned about having strength now. If you can't defeat him, you don't have to fight.
"There is Wang Baobao's army ahead, but when he came out, His Majesty informed him that Wang Baobao's subordinate He Zongzhe was also there, so be careful of being ambushed by him."
When Xu Da talked about the war at hand, his strategy was to proceed slowly and never advance rashly. Even if the enemy sent troops to help, he would not care.
In history, when Tang He and Zhang Cundao arrived at Yanghe, they were stopped by the army of the Northern Yuan Dynasty using the terrain. This place was called Duantou Mountain.
A mountain range that is continuous and suddenly interrupted is called Sleepy Hollow.
There are a total of eighteen Guillotine Mountains here, all made of stone, with only one road up the mountain.
According to historical time, Tang He and Zhang Cundao did not arrive in Yanghe until July. Now they set off early and hurried all the way, chasing the Beiyuan army in front.
On the same night of the full moon, five thousand cavalrymen set up camp, and Tang He held a meeting with Zhang Cundao.
"General Tang, they ran too fast, as if they deliberately lured us here." Zhang Cundao realized something was wrong.
"At dawn tomorrow, we will be able to reach Duolingshan. Beiyuan will definitely rely on the steepness of the mountain to block us. We just don't know how many people will be hidden on the mountain."
Tang He opened a can and saved half of it in chapters, thinking about how to beat it.
The order he received was not to attack by force, and it was not worthwhile to fight Bei Yuan.
"It's really not possible to fight around. It's just a longer way." Zhang Cundao didn't want the cavalry to cause problems.
"We can't go around now. We have to see what's going on in Duolingshan." Tang He shook his head and had no intention of leaving immediately.
Now there is no shortage of grass for the horses in the place where he left, and the food brought by the army is enough. It is all meat floss, and he is very hungry.
…
The moon slowly set and the sun rose. Five thousand cavalrymen, one man and two horses, stepped on the dew and arrived not far from Sleepy Hollow in front.
"They are hiding. Our scouts saw them first. Hahahaha!" Zhang Cundao laughed out loud as he looked at the deserted mountain in front of him.
The Ming army had telescopes and saw a group of people on the mountain in advance. When the team arrived, those people were hiding behind the rocks and on the other side of the ridge.
Tang He raised his head and looked up: "It's a pity that it's not a city wall. If we throw stones down, we won't be able to deal with it. How many days can we eat dry food?"
"It's no problem in half a month. When Yanghe is conquered, we will have supplies."
Zhang Cundao is very satisfied with the meat floss, but it is expensive. The value of meat floss is thirty times that of normal military rations, and it is compacted when carried.
I cut open a small package, and a large handful of meat floss appeared in front of my eyes. I pinched some and stuffed it into my mouth. Then I pinched some of the dried green onions and dried carrots that I brought with me. I drank some water and felt full quickly.
Tang He narrowed his eyes, looked around, and ordered: "According to the plan, withdraw!"
At the command, five thousand cavalry and ten thousand horses turned and ran out diagonally, dust flying in the air.
Two quarters of an hour later, the cavalry dust could no longer be seen from the mountain, and soldiers from Beiyuan emerged one after another.
"Go and report quickly. They want to go around from the north. Tell the people over there that they must block it." The general here yelled for arrangements.
"General, what should we do?" the young general next to him asked.
"If they continue to defend, they will have to find a place to attack Yanghe. Yanghe is almost surrounded by mountains. We are afraid that they will find a place with few defenders to break through."
The general looked at the sun in the sky and knew that the stone mountain would be very hot in a while, and there was no water on the mountain. He had to go down to see the river.
Defending the mountain is a helpless method. Fortunately, the back is your own territory and you will not be surrounded.
After a while, the general ordered: "Go down the mountain in turn to get water. The people on the mountain keep an eye on the distance. If they see the enemy, they should shout immediately."
Three hundred people went down the rugged path, each carrying a wooden barrel.
Tang He walked around and arrived at his destination. This place was also a mountain, with few rocks and loess.
"The blunderbuss soldier is loaded with arrows." Tang He thought this position was good. The blunderbuss soldier was equipped with wooden horses and arrows on his blunderbuss, and could fly three hundred steps.
Even if the enemy shoots arrows down from the mountain, the shooting ranges of both sides are different, and Ming Dynasty has the advantage.
Five hundred firecrackers lined up in five rows, approaching the foot of the mountain step by step. The wooden sticks behind the firecrackers were tucked under their armpits, and they held torches in their hands.
When the people above saw this formation, they stopped hiding and stood up one after another. Some raised their shields and some bent their bows.
The fire gun soldiers approached step by step. When they saw that they had reached 200 steps, they stopped one after another and shouted towards the mountain: "Come down and fight. If you have the ability, come down and fight!"
"Fire arrows!" The general on the mountain shouted, obviously not going down to fight the Ming army.
'Swish, swish, swish...' A bunch of arrows fell, but because the distance was too far, no one was hit even though they were high up.
When the fire gun soldiers saw the location where the arrow landed, they moved forward again. The closest one to them was still thirty or forty steps away. Taking twenty steps would be close to twenty steps.
Sure enough, they moved forward, and the one above kept firing arrows, then moved forward twenty steps and stopped.
One by one, the firecrackers lit the fuses and raised the firecrackers diagonally upward.
'Bang bang bang...' As the smoke rose and the sound sounded, arrows flew up one after another.
"oops!"
"ah!"
"Too far."
"What kind of gun is that?"
People on the mountain were yelling, and some people couldn't make a sound at all and fell down directly holding their throats.
"Retreat!" After the fire cannon soldiers fired, the leader shouted, and the five hundred people turned around and ran back to reload their ammunition.
About ten people fell down on the mountain, and some of the others were injured.
Tang He looked through the binoculars and nodded with satisfaction: "Okay! Good shot!"
He thought it was a good deal to kill more than a dozen people on the other side. There were no casualties on his side. The improved fire blunderbuss was really useful.
The fire gun soldier ran back, took the time to charge the gun, mounted the wooden horse, and put the arrow in.
After a while, they held torches and wooden poles and moved forward.
"Send someone quickly to tell other places that the Ming army's muskets have a very long range, and our bows and arrows can't hit them from the height. Their muskets can shoot arrows."
The generals above were anxious, this information was too important.
At the same time, he ordered his men: "Hide well and don't worry about them. The fire gun soldiers cannot attack them."
(End of chapter)
