The ninth day of November.
Nearly 40,000 troops from Liaodong led by Lu Wan, Zhang Heling, and Zhang Yong personally marched three hundred miles out of Shenyang Zhongwei and finally began a rapid march on the north bank of Huangshui River.
Although the first snow in the grassland has not yet arrived, the wind is already biting and the water is fast. Soldiers will feel the biting cold whenever they want to cross the river. Whether they are cavalry or infantry, they need to take off their boots. Carrying combat boots and holding horses, he quickly crossed the river.
"Lord Zhongcheng, the first part of Wuliangha is only fifty miles away!"
"Cross the river! Organize the army! Where is the right army? Song Ling!"
Song Ling is the commander of Yizhou Guards and is good at horse fighting. This time he is responsible for leading the cavalry teams of Ningyuan and Yizhou.
"The general is here!"
A group of about four thousand cavalry crossed the river first. This group of people and horses was also a team of one man and two horses carrying light artillery, and was specially responsible for rapid advance on the grassland.
For more than twenty days before, this group of people and horses had been walking slowly along the winding mountain road with the Chinese army. This time they finally wanted to take advantage of the cavalry.
"Pursuit!"
"yes!"
The cavalry divided into two groups.
One group is pure light cavalry, heading north to harass the retreat route of Duoyan's three guards, while the other group is led by Song Ling himself, implementing the strategy of "driving dogs into the back alleys".
Zhang Heling came over from the river in embarrassment. Everyone else dismounted, including Lu Wan. He was the only one who came over on a horse, so that the horse was already staggering after crossing the river...
"Marquis Shouning?" Lu Wan frowned and looked at Zhang Heling.
Zhang Heling collapsed on the ground, looked back at the infantry crossing the river, waved his hands and said: "I'm fine! The horses are fine too. No matter how heavy I sink, will the artillery sink?"
Because in this trip, in addition to light cannons, there are also mother-and-child cannons, which are blooming cannons that are like machine guns.
It was so difficult to cross the river that some soldiers had to help the horses drag the chariot across the river.
Zhang Yongdao: "With this damn weather, shouldn't the water flow slow down after winter?"
"It's different, this is grassland." Lu Wan looked up and looked into the distance.
In the low-pressure sky, clouds could be seen rolling everywhere. He murmured, "It looks like it's either heavy snow or snow and rain. Let the soldiers quickly pack their bags and continue chasing!"
Zhang Heling got up from the ground and said, "Don't you wait to warm yourself by the fire before leaving?"
Lu Wan said anxiously: "It's just past noon, how can we delay our trip? Ma Heng!"
"The general is here!"
"Take your troops thirty miles north. If any Tatars approach, fight and retreat! Drag the forty cannon across the river with you!"
"Got the order!"
"Zhu Yanning!"
"The humble position is here!"
"Escort the rear troops and horses across the river, and send another three thousand cavalry along the north bank of Huangshui River through the sand dunes! Set up camp in two hours!"
"Got the order!"
…
Lu Wan's army seemed to be a temporary expedition team formed by stragglers.
The men and horses in the cities in Liaodong had little experience in taking the initiative. Even if they wanted to fight, they would mostly fight against Jianzhou and other men in Liaodong, or be stationed within the city fortress.
In terms of tactical literacy, it is far inferior to the border troops of the three sides or Xuanda.
But Lu Wan was still able to achieve coordination and control.
"Are you going to camp tonight?" Zhang Heling was afraid that Zhang Heling would have to march in a hurry, even day and night. What he wanted most now was to rest in time after dark.
Lu Wandao: "The camp was set up to confuse the men and horses of Duoyan's three guards. It's not yet certain which group we are chasing. At present, it seems that it is probably Taining or Duoyan. The journey is fifty or sixty miles. If everything goes well , we can catch up with them who are lagging behind the team around midnight.”
"Is the war going to start tonight?"
Zhang Yong also came over. Until now, Zhang Yong didn't seem to understand how this battle should be fought.
It all looks so messy.
Lu Wan has more than 37,000 soldiers and horses under his command, who were recruited from seven or eight cities and guard posts. There are differences between infantry and cavalry. What's more terrible is that this group of people is also very inconsistent in terms of coordination, and even among themselves. Don't deal with any of them.
It's hard to tell whether these troops are regular combat troops or logistical troops. They all have two legs and hold weapons. They all seem to be able to go into battle to kill the enemy, but it seems that not many of them can fight to the death when encountering tough battles. in the end.
No matter how you look at it, they are a mixed army.
Lu Wandao: "Don't worry yet. We haven't reached the ambush circle yet."
"Are we going to wait for another group of troops?" Zhang Yongdao said, "With this posture, once the Duoyan Three Guards' reorganization is completed, we won't be able to fight them! We'd better advance slowly first."
Lu Wan frowned and looked at Zhang Yong and said: "Eunuch Zhang, if you postpone the pursuit or even slack off a little, with the Duoyan three guards' familiarity with the terrain here, they will be able to find nowhere overnight!"
Just as he was talking, General Youbu pointed in the distance and said, "It seems like it's going to snow!"
"Good guy! Half a day leaked?" Zhang Heling looked into the distance.
The scene was very scary.
It was snowing in the distance, as if the sky and the gray and black of the earth were connected in a line, but no snowflakes had fallen where they were.
Lu Wan said excitedly: "Very good, facing the wind and snow, the three guards of Duoyan will have to walk along the Huangshui River!"
Zhang Heling said: "What's the truth?"
Lu Wan got on his horse and shouted: "Follow up quickly, and the cavalry will split up and go north!"
"Still dividing the troops?"
"Let's go, let's go..."
The scene was chaotic.
When the wind came, the soldiers had to wrap up their clothes tightly. They had just waded through the cold river, and now they were about to encounter a baptism of strange weather, which was likely to be wind and snow.
Zhang Heling complained: "In this kind of weather, we should find a mountain col to shelter from the wind and rest before leaving!"
He wanted to get on his horse, but found that his body might be a little frozen.
Zhang Yong pulled him and helped him get on the horse. Zhang Yong said: "Marquis Shouning, we must not slack off in the war. This battle is crucial to the Ming Dynasty! We cannot disappoint His Majesty! We cannot disappoint Mr. Zhang either!" Walk!"
"What the hell!"
Zhang Heling cursed and got on the horse.
It is extremely difficult to travel on horseback.
Lu Wandao: "The Hulu troops are blocked, catch up before tonight! Chase them but don't fight! Drive them all the way to the west!"
…
…
More than 30,000 troops were divided into four or five groups.
The cavalry is mainly in the vanguard and outer circle, used for pursuit and protection, while the central army led by Lu Wan is mainly composed of more than 20,000 infantry. These infantry are different from the previous infantry. There are very few archers and crossbows, and they basically carry muskets. , the clothes are very heavy.
The group headed west along Huangshui. The road was relatively flat and suitable for the transportation of artillery.
As the vanguard troops reported intelligence, the Chinese army also learned about the current situation... Without advancing or retreating, the two sides have always maintained a distance of about fifty miles.
Until nightfall, it was reported that the camp where the first group of people and horses had set up was actually only three to five hundred tents, and could house no more than six thousand people and horses.
At this time, the wind and snow were blowing, and the road was very difficult to walk. Even the cavalry could not gallop, and the morale of the troops seemed to be very weak.
"Stop it!"
Zhang Heling finally couldn't help it. He got into a tent to keep warm, but found that the tent was even colder than outside.
Lu Wan dismounted his horse and walked to the direction close to Huangshui. He asked someone to hold a torch. He carefully identified the direction of the water, looked up into the distance and said, "If we walk for another three hours, we should be able to reach the preset place." !”
"Mr. Lu, are you sure you are going in the right direction? Why do I think we are walking backwards? Can you tell the direction clearly?"
Zhang Heling shook off the snow on his body. As the chief military officer, he would not leave the Chinese army for a while.
It's like this war has nothing to do with him.
Lu Wan took out the compass in his hand, which was also distributed to the army by Zhang Zhou. Through the glass shell, the conditions for use are very mature, and the direction can be determined without any decoration.
"That's right."
"Where is this?" Zhang Heling asked again.
"have no idea!"
Even Lu Wan couldn't answer this time.
Wherever they went, the Ming army almost never came. Apart from some guides who could provide rough paths, many places didn't even have names. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty simply followed their fate.
"Hahahaha..." Zhang Heling laughed, his smile still a little desolate, "Why do I feel that I have to be buried here tonight? There is no need to bury us tomorrow, just cover us with snow!"
"Report!"
A messenger came on horseback. When he approached the central army, the rider fell off his horse.
"explain!"
Lu Wan went over in person, and a group of people picked up the messenger from the ground.
The ordering soldier adjusted the brim of his hat and gasped: "It's Wu Liangha. He buried the stove three hours ago. There were at least 6,000 people... There are more than 10,000 people on the north road!"
"Chase the one to the south! Follow the river all the way!"
Lu Wan made his voice as loud as possible to cover up the sound of the wind.
He felt a little feeble when issuing orders in this environment.
However, the big strategy is already in place, which is the pursuit battle. If you catch up, fight if you can't catch up. This is the understanding of ordinary soldiers, but what Lu Wan wants to convey is that you must keep a distance and wait for Peng Quan. After Wang Xian and Wang Xian's troops joined forces, they launched a pincer attack from both front and back.
Zhang Yong led the horse over with a look of confusion on his face: "It seems that we can't even walk five miles in this hour. Even if we encounter him, the cannon will be useless. How can we fight this fool? Why don't we let him go first?" The soldiers are stationed! It won’t be too late to pursue you tomorrow!”
Lu Wandao: "There is no choice! If we go further for more than a hundred miles, we will reach the area of Chahar Division. The result will be before dawn!"
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
When Zhang Yong left, he always pulled Zhang Heling, and every time Zhang Heling faced the east side of the road he came from.
First of all, Zhang Heling regarded that as the direction in which he was striving... that is, to withdraw his troops.
And...because the wind was blowing from the northwest that day, if you turned your back to the west, at least you wouldn't get a few more bites of snowflakes blown by the northwest wind.
Zhang Heling scolded: "Zhang Bingkuan cheated me, and you guys cheated me too!"
…
…
The snowstorm continues.
In such a cruel environment, a pursuit battle is still going on.
After midnight, even Lu Wan began to wonder if this was torturing people.
"There are soldiers who can no longer walk on the road! The temperature is dropping quickly!"
"The Tatars are more than twenty miles ahead!"
"Chase, chase!"
Lu Wan now has no way out and can only grit his teeth, and the soldiers can also grit their teeth.
Fortunately, after midnight, the wind and snow became much lighter, but the snow on the ground was already a bit thick. It might be better for the cavalry, but for the infantry and the soldiers transporting artillery, this environment was simply terrible. It’s about challenging their limits.
"The fight started!"
When the news of the war came, the soldiers were already a little desperate.
They didn't know why they were acting or fighting. They didn't even know whether they could still keep their eyes open at dawn on such a cruel night.
But at this moment, exciting news came.
More than ten miles away, the war had already begun.
"Ambush, Ming's ambush!"
"Follow me! Chase me! Don't go south. Look for the right road. Don't get stuck in the mud!"
Although the snow is very thick, the ground on the grassland is not frozen, and the river is not frozen. At this time, there is only more than ten miles left to pursue along the river. The soldiers must first ensure that they can survive. to the battlefield.
Zhang Heling twitched all over and said, "Did the fight start?"
"Marquis Shouning, it's an ambush, an ambush from the Ming Dynasty! We're here to make dumplings, dumplings with big fillings! If you run too slowly, the military merits belong to the ambush!"
"What are you waiting for? Come on!"
Zhang Heling got excited and rolled off his horse, but he didn't fall because the ground was covered with snow anyway.
After he rolled on the ground, he grabbed the reins of his horse by the light of the torch. This time he gained experience in mounting the horse and found two soldiers to resist him.
"Chase! Chase!"
Zhang Heling is no longer afraid. Even though he never wanted to go to the battlefield, after these few days of struggle, he even felt that it would be a relief to go to the battlefield and finish the battle.
Many officers and soldiers in the army probably had the same idea as him.
What about life and death...if we continue on our way, life will really be worse than death!
…
…
This ambush battle was almost without warning for the Taining Guards and Duoyan Guards among the three Duoyan Guards.
They only knew that the Ming army was chasing behind them, and they could even send out sentries to investigate the situation clearly. They were also impressed by the Ming soldiers' extremely strong patience in this difficult and unfamiliar environment.
As a grassland tribe, they should have an advantage when marching in the wind and snow, but they moved as a whole. In addition to the cavalry, there were also the old, weak, sick and disabled in the tribe, as well as their cattle and sheep.
In the past two days, their tribe had abandoned many livestock and even some belongings on the roadside, but even so, the Ming army was still catching up little by little.
Just when they were preparing to send cavalry to attack Ming Dynasty first after dawn, taking advantage of the time, place, people and other advantages, they first gave Ming Dynasty's chasing troops a severe blow. The result...
Ambush? !
The road ahead was so dark that it was impossible to see clearly where the river was and where the mountains were.
There was black everywhere, and they could only walk along the river based on experience and rely on the sound of water to identify their direction.
But with the sound of "rumbling" and the light of fire, they thought it was thunder, but when their former soldiers and horses were blown up to the sky, they realized that a group of people from the Ming Dynasty had detoured to them. Before that, an ambush was made with artillery and gunpowder.
As the easternmost tribe of the grassland tribe, the Duoyan Sanwei do not mean that they do not have any war literacy. For them, night attacks and counter-night attacks are also the normal state of war on the grassland.
Even in such a battle in windy and snowy weather, they are experienced.
But when they sent thousands of cavalry to rush forward, they found that the Ming ambush was not on the road ahead, but on the other side of the river? ! That is, the south?
Walking along the river made them a target.
The Ming Dynasty's artillery could shoot a mile or two away, directly from the other side of the river, and explode in their army, but they could not send their cavalry across the river in this environment.
This is very embarrassing.
When the two guards, Duoyan and Taining, discovered that the direction of the cannonballs was from the south, and that the south of them was the river, it seemed that they had only one option, and that was to go north... But the north happened to be mountains, and the horses were up. People who don't want to go, let alone ordinary animals, seem to have no way to climb up, and can only help with ropes and other means!
This last option has become unavailable.
According to Zhang Zhou's design, to ambush the soldiers and horses of Duoyan's three guards walking along the river, it must be done in a narrow area with mountains on the north bank, and it will also have to be fought at night, which requires the cooperation of two groups of people.
But I didn't expect that the wind and snow would be a great test for the pursuing Lu Wan troops, but for the ambushed troops such as Peng Quan, Wang Xian, and Ma Yongcheng, it would be relatively easy, because they were waiting for work.
In this pursuit battle, the hardest part was for Lu Wan's troops who braved the wind and snow to pursue.
…
…
The war begins.
Duoyan and Taining had pursuers behind them, and they had no choice in retreat. They were blocked by mountains to the north. It was obviously not in their interests to cross the river and fight the Ming Dynasty, so they had no choice but to brave the Ming Dynasty's cannonballs falling from the sky and continue westward. Rush.
As for the old and weak members of their tribe, they seemed not to care.
It is best to retain the vitality.
But even so, Ming's army would not let them achieve their wish.
On the north bank of Huangshui, the Ming Dynasty also set up an ambush. The gunpowder had been laid long ago, and the artillery was also ambushed in the grass and low shrubs. When Duoyan and Taining's cavalry approached, the troops covered by snow and shrubs The area emitted fire and rumbling sounds.
"boom!"
There is no direct confrontation with cold weapons.
That's not what the Ming Dynasty soldiers were good at. In this horrible weather, the two sides couldn't even see their faces.
In fact, it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty gunners to tell the direction of the enemy. They just fired the artillery in roughly one direction. Whether it exploded or not depended on feeling.
Taining's cavalry, about a thousand strong, crossed the icy river to the south bank. However, the volleys of the Ming ambush troops also came into play at this time. Ordinary matchlock guns were difficult to use in this environment. , but these soldiers are, after all, Shenji Battalion troops trained by the Ming Dynasty to fight in difficult environments.
The flint gun can still emit a coquettish tongue of flame at this time.
"North Road!"
"We can't let the Hulu escape!"
"Kill, kill!"
Whether it was the men and horses chasing on the north bank, the ambush on the west bank, or the gunners on the south bank, on such a windy and snowy night, everyone seemed to be in a state of madness.
It seems that only this kind of madness can drive away the cold and bury the fear in my heart.
(End of chapter)
