"impossible!"
"This doesn't make sense. How could the Ming army's reinforcements come so quickly?"
Watching the Tatar army begin to retreat on the battlefield, Arutai found it difficult to accept it.
He put in so much effort and killed so many people, but now he is going to fail. How can this be accepted?
"Master, master!"
"The Ming Army...The Ming Army is coming towards us."
At this time, a subordinate came on horseback with an anxious tone.
"What's going on?" Arutai asked.
"A large group of Ming Army cavalry appeared behind us."
"At least there are more than ten thousand riders!" said the subordinate.
Upon hearing this, Arutai quickly looked over and saw the flags flying by the Ming army.
"withdraw!"
The matter has come to this, and the outcome cannot be changed.
Arutai gritted his teeth and glanced at the battlefield unwillingly.
Drive your horses to retreat.
There were less than four thousand soldiers and horses beside him.
"withdraw!"
"withdraw!"
The subordinates began to pass orders.
…
In the battlefield.
The Ming army had begun to pursue the retreating Tatar army with reinforcements.
Xu Huizu came to Zhu Quan with his own soldiers.
He turned over and dismounted, knelt on one knee, cupped his fists and said:
"Your Majesty Xu Huizu meets His Highness Prince Ning!"
"My rescue was late, please forgive me, Your Highness!"
"It's not too late, you came just in time!" Zhu Quan said hoarsely with the support of his soldiers.
Then he stepped forward and helped Xu Huizu up.
Then he looked around the battlefield.
At this time, the setting sun was setting, and the battlefield was blood red.
The entire sky was stained with blood.
"The setting sun is like blood, and a tragic victory is like defeat!" he sighed with emotion.
"Wei Guogong!" He looked at Xu Huizu again, his voice was very weak.
"The general is here!" Xu Huizu said respectfully.
"Next, you will lead the army."
"This king...this king..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhu Quan's consciousness became blurred.
Then he fainted.
"Your Highness, Your Highness!"
…
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
The Ming army had retreated to the water source and set up camp.
After rest and recuperation, the Ming army's combat effectiveness has been restored.
Zhu Quan finally woke up after sleeping for a few days.
He suffered eighteen injuries all over his body, experienced a bloody battle, and lost too much blood.
Coupled with the excessive mental exertion, he fainted as soon as he relaxed.
At this moment, in the camp.
Xu Huizu was reporting to Zhu Quan.
"Your Highness, our army suffered heavy losses in this battle. There are only more than a thousand cavalry left (not counting the reinforcements brought by Xu Huizu), and there are only more than 40,000 infantry left."
"Jing'an Marquis Wang Zhong died in battle, and Anping Marquis Li Yuan was seriously injured."
"The Tatar army also suffered heavy losses and has now withdrawn."
"We are safe now."
After listening to Xu Huizu's words, Zhu Quan nodded.
"The casualty situation is better than I expected."
In his expectation, after this battle is over, it is already good that there will be only 10,000 or 20,000 of the 100,000 Ming troops left.
"Is there any news from the capital?" Zhu Quan asked again.
"His Majesty has issued an order to mobilize grain, grass and baggage to the north, and the armies from various places have also received orders to be transferred to Peiping."
"The latest military report has been sent to the capital, but there is no reply yet." Xu Huizu said.
The war had just ended, and even if it took eight hundred miles to rush the general's report to the capital, it would still take several days.
Now, I don’t know if I have reached the capital.
Zhu Quan nodded slightly, indicating that he understood.
The speed of message transmission was this, and he couldn't force it.
…
At the same time, Arutai was on his way back to his lair with his army.
Everyone was like defeated quail, their spirits were listless.
At this time, the scout brought back a man.
"Master!"
"Master!"
"The Ming army and Wu Liangha raided our tribe, burned, killed and looted!"
"We suffered heavy losses!"
"Please come back for help from Grand Master!"
The visitor was crying.
Arutai was furious and cursed Wu Liangha for being shameless.
Then they organized their troops and horses and galloped towards their nest.
However, not long after leaving, another piece of bad news came.
"Grand Master, Wala took advantage of the emptiness behind us to raid various tribes."
“Our cattle, sheep, and population have suffered heavy losses!”
"Shameless, shameless!" Arutai was so angry that he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Master, master!"
…
It is now October, and the temperature is beginning to drop on the grasslands.
The Tatars lost this battle, and the winter was already difficult.
And after such a series of plunders by Wala and Ulyanha, we will definitely suffer heavy losses this winter.
"It's okay that we can't defeat the Ming Dynasty. What are Wala and Wuliangha?"
"Send the order to attack Wala!"
Before the Tatar army had time to rest, the war started here.
They all understand that if there are not enough supplies, many people will die this winter.
Under the pressure of survival, the Tatar morale quickly recovered.
However, the war on the grassland has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty at this time.
After Zhu Quan and others rested for a few more days, they received the order from the capital class teacher.
Because Xu Huizu had arranged the supporting troops in advance, these tens of thousands of troops returned to the pass smoothly.
…
November.
Zhu Quan led his army back to the capital.
Zhu Di personally led hundreds of civil and military officials out of the city to greet him.
He has heard about Zhu Quan.
Especially Zhu Quan almost committed suicide in the end, which shocked Zhu Di quite a bit.
"I, Zhu Quan, see your majesty!" Zhu Quan saluted.
"Seventeenth brother, it's thanks to you that we are fighting this battle, otherwise our Ming Dynasty's 100,000-strong army would have been completely annihilated."
Zhu Di helped Zhu Quan up, his tone was sighing.
"Your Majesty, I don't dare to accept this responsibility."
"Alas~ Seventeenth Brother, you saved tens of thousands of our Ming Dynasty's elites, this is a great achievement." Zhu Di couldn't help but pulled Zhu Quan into his dragon chariot and entered the capital.
Also traveling with him was Yang Xuan.
Now there are only three of them in the dragon chariot.
"Brother Seventeen, please tell us about this battle in detail!" Although there are military reports, they are not as detailed as Zhu Quan, a person who experienced it personally.
"I obey the order!" Zhu Quan said slowly.
When he heard that Qiu Fu did not listen to his instructions and underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, causing the entire army of three thousand cavalry to be wiped out, Zhu Di cursed Qiu Fu for being incompetent and worthy of death!
Although this was not the first time he heard it, Zhu Di couldn't help but think of the dead soldiers.
Later, I heard that Arutai asked people to control all water sources and besieged the Ming army. He secretly cursed Arutai for being sinister.
From Zhu Quan's story, he could imagine the situation of the Ming army at that time.
You can't fight anymore, you can't retreat, and holding on where you are is the best option at that time.
Zhu Di was also very lucky that he had given Xu Huizu the right to act expediently in advance. Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty would not only lose 100,000 troops in this battle, but also kill a vassal king.
Yongle once had a hard time stabilizing until now, if he experienced such a disastrous defeat.
The blow to Ming's prestige was too great.
Tribes on the grassland will also increase their plundering of the Ming Dynasty.
The rebellion in Jiaozhi in the south will continue.
Even within the Ming Dynasty, there will be no stability.
A single move affects the whole body.
Zhu Quan brought back more than 40,000 troops, and the Tatars suffered heavy losses. This at least saved the Ming Dynasty's face.
…
