Wang Shouren led his troops to fight with the Chahar troops left behind.
The number of soldiers and horses on both sides is basically equal. The Ming side has 6,000 cavalry, which is matched with artillery, muskets, bows and other long-range firearms.
The Chahar tribe has a relatively large number of soldiers and horses, with over 10,000 soldiers and horses, but they are scattered in different directions and do not belong to the same tribe or branch. They are also mainly cavalry, but their long-range firearms are limited to bows and arrows, and powerful crossbows. Basically, there is no way to compete with Ming in the mid-range.
The result is……
Wang Shouren's side mainly attacked with a conservative formation, while Chahar's side relied on a dispersed formation to "defend".
To put it nicely, it's called defense, but to put it poorly, it's to avoid fighting.
Wherever Daming went to fight, they fled in the opposite direction.
"Major General, the Tatars have been defeated after several encounters. It is better to send a surprise force to detour behind the Tatars and create a pincer attack."
"The general is willing to lead the troops there!"
The morale of Wang Shouren's soldiers can be said to be high.
After several days of fighting, the two sides fought with thunder and no rain. After the first day and night of bloody fighting, the soldiers entered a buffer period. The soldiers felt both tired and unenjoyed.
It seemed that the two sides mobilized a lot of troops and fought within a range of thirty or forty miles, but there was no decent battle.
Wang Shouren said: "Don't underestimate the enemy. The key now is to find the Tatars' rear camp and force them to take the initiative to fight with us!"
There is a ready-made map in Wang Shouren's temporary Chinese army camp.
"Major General, it is very likely that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty have never been to the place below us, and this terrain map may not be accurate. It is better to fight with them directly!"
The generals still had some objections to Wang Shouren's method of gathering six thousand soldiers and horses in one place, and they needed to advance and retreat together.
But they would not argue with Wang Shouren, but would take the initiative to express their confidence in leading troops to attack.
It was also because of the cowardice shown by the Chahar troops left behind, as well as the self-confidence gained in the previous two battles, that they felt that the Tatar hinterland was nothing more than this, and we could still conquer the land under our feet.
Wang Shouren still stared at the map and said: "All the markings along the way, including the mountains and rivers, are correct. This is a topographic map drawn by Lai Guogong himself. Do you have any questions?"
Knowing that Zhang Zhou drew the map, the generals below had no objection.
To say that the generals in the army highly respected Wang Shouren, it was mainly because of his ability to cooperate with Wang Shouren in leading troops in combat.
But when it comes to who is the most awesome God of War in the Ming Dynasty, it is generally recognized that Zhang Zhou is still the most powerful one.
Wang Shouren's awesomeness is mainly based on Zhang Zhou's "magical calculations". No matter how powerful Wang Shouren is, he still needs Zhang Zhou's strategic support, Zhang Zhou's uncanny calculations, and Zhang Zhou's uncanny calculations. Firearms developed and built by Zhou.
Without Zhang Zhou, Wang Shouren is just a dragon without wings, and can only run on the ground at most.
"Have the scouts in the north reported back?"
Wang Shouren looked at Han Zheng, who was in charge of intelligence.
Han Zheng said: "Back to the general, all the scouts have already inspected it. Within a few dozen miles, there is no sign of Tatar old and weak women and children. Previously, we only saw a flock of sheep in the northwest, numbering in the thousands. "
Wang Shouren's face showed a certain amount of worry: "We suddenly appeared here, and the Tatars suddenly gathered over 10,000 soldiers and horses. This shows that the Khan's court of the Chahar tribe is nearby. After these three days of testing, the Tatars have The old and weak of the court, as well as the cattle, sheep, property, etc., must be retreating in one direction. If we still can't accurately find the direction and pursue it with all our strength before tonight, I'm afraid it won't be possible to track it in the next three or four days."
The soldiers present probably understood what Wang Shouren meant.
Now they want to fight the Tatars head-on. In fact, the Tatars will not fight. They can only find and catch up with the old, weak, women and children of the Tatar tribe, as well as their large quantities of cattle, sheep, property, etc., in this direction. In order to maintain the power of the tribe, the Tatars had to fight the Ming Dynasty head-on.
But after all, there are too many directions in all directions, and the old, weak, women, children, cattle and sheep of the Tatar Khan's court must also be in the process of migration.
Once you chase in the wrong direction, wait for a few days to find out that the direction is wrong, and then correct the direction and chase, it will basically be too late... you can only "cross the treasure mountain and get nothing".
If the Khan Court of the Chahar Tribe could be looted... and the tribesmen left behind by Dayan Khan could be slaughtered, then the Ming Dynasty would have made a name for itself on the grasslands. Wang Shouren didn't care about fame and fortune, he cared about it. The purpose is to establish the national prestige of Ming Dynasty in this way.
For ordinary soldiers, this means a huge amount of credit.
Qianhu Gelin on the side asked: "Major General, do you think the Hulu will do the opposite and know that we are going to pursue west, so their tribesmen retreat east? In this way, no matter how we pursue, we will not Can’t catch up?”
"No." Wang Shouren shook his head first, and then said, "Even if it is possible, the chance is slim."
Then Wang Shouren pointed at the terrain map and said: "The direction our army is coming is to the east. There are tribesmen and horses from Duoyan Sanwei over there, and the thickness of the grassland along the way shows that no large tribes have migrated there. And if our army falls into In a tight siege, we need to retreat, and retreating to the east is also the most likely direction. If they go east, they will fall into a trap."
Guan Jing said: "That's the northwest. Didn't we detect their flocks?"
After Wang Shouren thought about it, he shook his head again.
Obviously, in Wang Shouren's view, the answer to this question will not be that simple.
Guan Jing added: "After all, they are going to the west or north, but not to the south, right? It is possible to go to the northwest or southwest. They will always gather with the troops of the little Tatar prince who returned to the army. If they go to the south, , they are heading towards Guancheng of the Ming Dynasty, are they not afraid that the three armies of the Ming Dynasty will come out and kill them to pieces?"
"Yes, what General Guan said makes sense."
A group of people supported Guan Jing's point of view.
Guan Jing also represents the most primitive marching strategy... In order to avoid the pursuit of the Ming Dynasty soldiers and horses, the old, weak, women and children of the Tatar Khan Court naturally had to retreat in the direction where the pursuit of the Ming Dynasty soldiers and horses would be the most costly.
The result that Ming Dynasty least expected to see was naturally to continue to go deep alone, that is, to continue to the northwest, which would be further away from Ming Dynasty's territory and easier to be surrounded by Tatars.
Wang Shouren said: "What if the Tatar people themselves do not expect the little Tatar prince to come back to help, but only hope to rely on the troops they sent out at the Daming Pass?"
Guan Jing said: "Then they should go south, or southwest."
"wrong."
Wang Shouren stared at the map again, seeming to have discovered some clues, "We have passed Yidu, Ningxia is already to our southwest, and our due south should be Datong Town. If the Tatar tribe does not rely on the little Tatar prince The main forces of the Tatars were basically gathered at Pianguan and Datong, so they are..."
Wang Shouren then used a stick to draw a straight line from their possible location to Xuan Mansion on the map.
And this line does not slant to the left...that is, this line points to the southeast.
Han Zheng asked: "The Tatars are going to retreat towards Xuanfu? Then why aren't they Pianguan or Datong?"
Wang Shouren said: "Why do you still need me to tell you? Datong and Pianguan are both the places where Lai Guogong worked hard. The Ming Dynasty also had a large number of soldiers and horses and firearms in reserve, and there were also Wang Zhongcheng and others who could help them at any time. Send troops. On the contrary, the Xuan Mansion, although it is the core of Xuanda University, has not sent more troops in the past two years... and the main force of the Tatars staying in Datong is also here. This was once the pasture of the fire..."
Guan Jing said with excitement: "If you take this road, you should be able to pass by Weining Haizi."
"yes!"
The soldiers also became excited.
For the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, Weininghai was simply the place of glory for gathering the Ming army. During the Chenghua period, Wang Weining made great achievements here. In the past two years, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to Weininghai twice, and Wang Shouren won the victory at Weininghai for the second time. And the Ming Dynasty began to build forts in Maoerzhuang and other places...
Guan Jing asked eagerly: "Major General, are we heading towards Xuanfu?"
"No!" Wang Shouren said, "When the Tatars found out that we were going south, they must have thought that we were going to retreat to the Ming Dynasty. They must also be afraid of being met by us on the way, so after they learned the news, they would rush to the direction due west. We need to stop them on their way westward."
"Where is that?" All the generals looked at the map curiously.
At this time, they also realized that they all had brains, but in terms of analytical ability, none of them combined could compare to Wang Shouren alone.
Wang Shouren pointed to the two points marked on the map and said: "It is to block the Tatar tribe between Weining Sea and Guanshan Mountain!"
"good!"
The soldiers were full of confidence.
It seems that Wang Shouren said that the old, weak, sick and disabled Tatars were waiting for them to slaughter, so the man was waiting there, as if he was undefended.
Wang Shouren said: "Let's set off immediately and go due south and east first, with great fanfare and deliberately let the Tatar scouts detect it. After two days, turn back to the southwest... If you encounter Tatar soldiers and horses along the way, don't pay attention to the direction, but If you encounter an enemy in the future, you must defeat it and continue marching!"
"Got the order!"
"send troops!"
…
…
After Wang Shouren's troops walked west for three days, they suddenly turned back south. The incident happened so suddenly that even the Chahar troops left behind did not expect it.
As Wang Shouren's troops moved south, they traveled more than 170 miles in just one day.
The impression given to the Tatars was that Wang Shouren wanted to break out of the encirclement as early as possible before the main Tatar force returned to support, approach the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and successfully break through the encirclement and enter the Ming Dynasty Pass.
The truth is this.
But in fact, all the Tatar tribes, including the leading generals of the Chahar tribe, such as Batu Meng's sons, all felt that this was impossible.
With Wang Shouren's courage, he dared to lead his troops straight into the grassland, so he would not passively avoid the battle. After all, Wang Shouren's march route in the previous three days also showed that he was not looking for a breakthrough, because there was no need to look for it. The various branches of the Chahar Department , no one dared to confront Wang Shouren all the way.
This shows that Wang Shouren is looking for the location of the Chahar tribe.
When Wang Shouren suddenly and rapidly headed south, this could only mean one problem... Wang Shouren might have found the direction in which his tribe members were escaping.
Within the next two days.
Even without Wang Shouren instructing the lieutenants of the army, the Ming soldiers would find that the men and horses from all walks of life who had been standing still suddenly seemed not to be afraid of the Ming army. They had always maintained a distance of thirty or forty miles from the Ming army before, but now they were closely Reluctant to leave, the closest distance to the Ming army was not even ten miles away.
Even so, the Ming soldiers followed Wang Shouren's request...
As long as there were no enemies blocking their way, there was no need to engage them, because the Tatars were probably trying to lure them in another direction.
Even if there is a battle, it will not be a real decisive battle. The Tatar cavalry will probably be defeated in the early stage of the battle, leading the Ming Dynasty soldiers and horses to pursue them.
So all we need to do is follow Wang Shouren's request, which is to continue south, find the direction of the Tatar people's retreat, and complete the massacre of the Tatar people who are almost defenseless.
…
…
The march soon entered the third day of the layout plan.
At this time, they were only about 200 miles away from Weining Sea, and still more than 300 miles away from Guanshan. Then, before Wang Shouren found any trace of the Tatar tribesmen, the soldiers and horses quickly rushed directly to the southwest of Guanshan. And it’s day and night.
On the night when the Ming Dynasty army turned around and headed southwest, the Chahar tribe who had been following the group gathered the soldiers and horses scattered around, gathered about seven or eight thousand troops, and began to move lightly towards the Ming Dynasty army. Moving closer, the two sides were once no more than four or five miles apart. During their rapid march, both sides could even see the torches raised by the other side's army.
Even so, the Ming army remained indifferent.
"Major General, the Tatars have been chasing us for more than an hour." After Guan Jing sent people to investigate the enemy's situation, he rode his horse to Wang Shouren's horse to report the situation.
Wang Shouren said: "This shows that our judgment is correct. I believe that before noon tomorrow, we will encounter another main force of Tatars blocking us!"
Guan Jing asked for instructions: "Then do you want to eat the rest first?"
Wang Shouren personally raised the torch, waved the torch in his hand a few times, and then a signal flare was launched into the sky, which was a signal to remind the army to continue to advance rapidly.
"The number of Tatars in the rear must not be inferior to our army. Fighting with them will definitely waste more than half a day. Now is the time to compete. Even if we are short of a cup of tea, we may not be able to stop the Tatars. The men and horses of the Khan Court! There is no need to be afraid of the Tatar attack from behind, nor to worry about being attacked by two parties tomorrow. As long as they dare to enter within two miles, let them know the power of a salvo of 600 cannons!"
"yes!"
Guan Jing immediately understood what it meant.
Fighting takes time, and the Tatars may not really want a decisive battle, but just want to hold back the Ming army.
As for being afraid of being surrounded by the other party... Daming is really not afraid.
The Ming Dynasty itself was also a very mobile cavalry. Even if they were surrounded and the Ming Dynasty broke out in one direction, the Tatars could only camp in a hurry, and anyone who entered the range of the Ming Dynasty artillery was seeking death.
It's equivalent to saying...
If you surround us, even if we go in one direction, you can't surround us.
Whichever direction we go, that direction is where your weak link lies.
As for the way you want to provoke a war and pile up soldiers and horses... As long as they are not on our marching route, we are too lazy to chase or fight.
…
…
In a day and night of rapid march, Ming Dynasty traveled nearly three hundred miles.
After dawn, when the sun rises in the east, the number of men and horses pursued by the Chahar tribe in the rear has increased from seven to eight thousand to more than ten thousand, and there is a tendency to gather men and horses from various places to continue to increase their strength.
But for Ming Dynasty, that is just a number.
Their goal is only one, and that is to find the weakest link of the Tatars, which is their migrating people. Who said there is no need to use a bull's knife to kill a chicken?
We just like to kill chickens with a knife, and the closer we get to your people, the more you have to fight us, otherwise you can only watch your people being slaughtered by us.
"Cattle and sheep, lots of cattle and sheep!"
When the Ming Dynasty passed through a mountain, many soldiers were still riding horses, eating dry food and drinking water.
At this time, in an open space in the distance, there were a large number of abandoned cattle and sheep, numbering at least twenty to thirty thousand.
Wang Shouren waved his horsewhip and said in a morale-boosting tone: "The people of the Tatar Khanate must not have been there for a long time. In order to escape, they even abandoned the cattle and sheep they used to survive in the wilderness. They also knew that they were at the end of the road! Continue the pursuit. !”
"Pursuit!"
It's like looking at plum blossoms to quench thirst.
Originally, during these days of continuous marching, the Ming soldiers did not know what they were doing.
He said he was going to find the troops from the Tartar Royal Court, but after chasing for several days, no one was found.
But now they seem to feel that victory is just around the corner. They have been running around for the past few days just to catch up with the Tatar tribe and kill the enemy with open arms.
So...
The Ming army didn't even have time to rest for a short time and went on the road again.
…
…
When the Ming army continued its rapid march after dawn.
The Tatar chasing side obviously could no longer sit still.
What cannot enter within two or three miles of the Ming army, what should lead the Ming army to pursue in other directions...it doesn't seem to matter anymore.
If there is no war, the old and weak women and children of the people will be left to the Ming Dynasty to bombard them. They don't even need cannons. The Ming soldiers can directly use their sabers to kill the people they want to protect.
With the Ming Dynasty marching.
As Wang Shouren predicted, the Tatar interception troops also came.
When a large number of Tatar soldiers and horses were gathering in front, the generals also admired Wang Shouren's judgment. He could even predict this... it was simply miraculous.
But in fact, for Wang Shouren, this is just a basic judgment on the battle situation.
Because when they are about to catch up with the Tatars, the Tatars who are responsible for escorting the people will definitely stay in place to fight with the Ming Dynasty to delay time and cover the continued transfer of their people.
When encountering the Tatar army blocking the road, this means that the distance between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatar people is no more than fifty miles, and they can catch up in two or three hours at most.
"Array up!"
The Ming Dynasty was not polite either.
There is no need to chase. If there is an enemy in front of you, just hit it. If you get into range, shoot... first with artillery, then with muskets and bows, and finally with melee combat... After all, the routine is very fixed.
If the Tatars still want to play the trick of feigning defeat and transferring, Ming Dynasty will not chase them, because now they know where your weak points are, so what is the point of chasing you regular troops?
As long as your "weakness" is grasped, you must gather all the people who can get on the horse and fight us decisively.
This is the best tactic.
(End of chapter)
