The east and west cities are very close to each other. Although there are some detours, it is only twenty or thirty miles away.
It stands to reason that it would be difficult to set up an ambush at such a distance. After all, both sides had a large number of cavalry, and therefore sufficient scouts. However, the area outside the Great Wall in northern Liaoning at this time was no better than that of later generations. It was still quite primitive overall, and the forests and vegetation were extremely dense. By early winter, although most of the grass was withered and yellow, and most of the trees were evergreen, it had little impact, so it was still inconvenient for cavalry to enter. Although there are many cavalry, they can only wander around the edge of the forest and it is difficult to penetrate deep into it.
The Jurchens have been half-farmers and half-hunters for some years, and Yehe's economic structure is even more complicated. Farmers, hunters, herdsmen, and merchants all have their hands in the business, but unfortunately they are all half-learners and have no understanding of "to get rich, you must first build roads."
The road on the east side of the Yehe River was not built, it was completely stepped on. And there is a forest not far to the east of the road. Calculated in this way, there are only a few places where people can hide within a distance of twenty or thirty miles. Quite a few.
Pu Yuanyi was an infantry general who was born in a guard station. He didn't know much about cavalry. He said that although the cavalry "doesn't enter the jungle", Ye He is a Jurchen after all, and this is their home base nearby. There is no reason. They didn't dare to enter the mountain, so they asked Nalin Bulu and Buzhai if they could let Ye He's tribe send some scouts into the mountain to investigate.
Nalin Bulu and Bu Zhai had troubled expressions on their faces, indicating that the investigation itself was not difficult, and they were fully aware of the surrounding situation even if they did not investigate. The problem is that now we need to find out the specific location where Burihatu's ambush is hiding. Since the opponent is an ambush, they must have prepared archers with excellent eyesight to hide in key places and observe carefully.
In this way, even if one's own side sends out scouts, according to the scouting principle of "no movement is worse than silence", the other side will definitely be the first to discover it. Then one's own scouts will either be invisible to anyone, or they will die and the news will not be transmitted back. This is true. significance.
The news was not impossible to spread. The Ming army was actually equipped with a small amount of flares provided by Jinghua. However, at this time, the Jurchens cherished the forest that supported them. They would definitely not let them light such a large open flame in the forest - -They didn't know that the sparks of the flare had already gone out by the time they hit the ground.
After this suggestion was given up, everyone discussed it for a while, and finally decided to avoid unnecessary actions and stick to the strategy of utilizing strengths and avoiding weaknesses to get the job done.
It is certainly difficult to maximize one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses, but it is easier said than done. The infantry line-up should go ahead and be alert at all times to prepare for formation. When they reached the river near Tingzhou, the guards led by each general began to prepare to build a pontoon bridge. Qi Jin and Zhang Wanbang began to form protective formations in the east and south directions respectively, leaving the north direction unattended.
The reason why there is no need to worry about the north is because the main force of the cavalry at that time will be commanded by Ma Chengxun and hang there not far or near. Even if the Mongols set up an ambush nearby, they would not dare to rush in and be stabbed by Ma Chengxun. .
Normally, it should be impossible for Burihatu to allow the Ming army to build a pontoon bridge smoothly, so they still have to launch an attack. At this time, Ma Chengxun can decide how to respond depending on the position where the Mongols launch their attack, whether it is a side attack or He has the final say in outflanking.
This plan was implemented quite smoothly, and the Ming army was not attacked along the way. When they arrived near Tingzhou, Cao Yu ordered Qi Jin and Zhang Wanbang to form an array. Pu Yuanyi and Cao Jian's troops began to build a bridge, and he personally commanded some The Chinese military remains vigilant.
At this time, Ma Chengxun was also wandering three or four miles to the north, and ordered Buzhai to send hundreds of cavalry to warn at the edge of the forest.
Perhaps the Ming army's defense was too tight, and the expected sneak attack by the Mongolian army did not happen. When two rows of wooden piles were driven in the middle of Yehe Tingzhou, and the Ming army began to dig out the thin ice floes, Yehe A group of cavalrymen wandering on the edge of the forest suddenly came over and reported that there were several hunters who had fled from a small village in Yehe in the mountains, and they reported some information to them.
Basically, they discovered that Mongolians had entered the mountains to investigate the day before yesterday, but because the forest was big enough, a few of them hid. Yesterday, the Mongols began to enter the mountains in large numbers, ambush and set up camp. At this time, they wanted to report the news, but there were many Mongolian scouts. They carefully slipped around for several times and failed to find a safe way out, so they had to make do with it and spent the night in a remote cave.
Today they discovered that the Mongolian scouts were no longer dispersed over a large area, but began to gather together to monitor the vicinity of the main road, so they began to take a detour out of the mountain. But their luck was not very good. Originally, they took a detour out of the mountain and headed north, intending to go to the East City - the West City had already fallen - but suddenly the Mongolian army marched northward, and they almost collided with them.
After finally avoiding the Mongols, they quickly escaped, but they met Ye He's own scouts, so they quickly told the situation. Nalinbulu and Buzhai were shocked, and they quickly sent people to Macheng. Xun and Cao Yu reported separately.
Cao Yan was quite pleased with himself when he heard that the Mongols were actually ambushing them in the mountains. He thought that he had predicted Burihatu's movements this time. However, when he heard that the Mongolian army suddenly marched northward, he was immediately alarmed. Breaking out in a cold sweat.
What is Burihatu doing? Did he plan to go north and steal Dongcheng after discovering that the main force of the Ming army was heavily guarded and could not successfully attack?
But why should he? There are still 8,000 defenders in Dongcheng. Even if the Ming army and the Ye He coalition simply leave Dongcheng alone at this time, Burihatu will not be able to capture it quickly. Correspondingly, it only takes less than half a day for the coalition forces to build the pontoon bridge. This afternoon, the entire army will be able to cross the river and begin to surround Xicheng.
Considering that the Ming army had a huge artillery advantage, normally speaking, the coalition forces would have conquered the West City earlier than Burihatu had conquered the East City. In this case, what was the use of Burihatu going north to the East City? When the coalition forces regain Xicheng and then return to the army, wouldn't he still have only one way to escape?
If this is the case, then Burihatu moves one move to the left and one to the right here. He seems to be very busy, but in the end, all the moves are useless?
This makes no sense. If Burihatu can't even calculate the siege capabilities of both sides, is he worthy of Entang specifically reminding me to pay attention?
Cao Yu thought about it over and over again, and always felt that there was something wrong with it. He looked towards Gao Yimin and saw that Gao Yimin was also frowning and thinking. He couldn't help but hesitated and said: "Brother Gao, do you think there is such a possibility: Burihatu actually still has some gunpowder in his hand..."
Needless to say what follows, if Burihatu still had gunpowder in his hand, the reason for suddenly going north at this moment is simply obvious: he wants to blow up the city again.
But Gao Yimin didn't believe it and shook his head: "Ordinarily, this shouldn't be the case. First of all, if Burihatu really still had gunpowder in his hand, why didn't he use it some time ago and had to wait until now? At that time, we were still If he didn't come, he only had to deal with Ye He's people. Wouldn't it be easier to blow up the city?
Secondly, even if he had gunpowder, blowing up the city wall would not involve bombardment with huge cannons. If he didn't dig tunnels in advance, how would he blow up the city wall? And now that he suddenly went to Dongcheng, would he have time to dig a tunnel immediately? "
Cao Yu also thought it was reasonable, but he still said: "That's the reason. But if Dongcheng doesn't take precautions, and the main force of our department doesn't send troops back to interfere with Burihatu, then he still has the chance to dig a tunnel. Some of them have to be guarded against.”
Gao Yimin thought for a moment and said, "What does General Zongrong mean by saying that we send the cavalry back to interfere with Burihatu's plan to dig a tunnel?"
Cao Yu asked, "What do you think, Brother Gao?" Since he said this, he acquiesced.
However, Gao Yimin always felt that something was wrong. While talking, he analyzed: "It doesn't seem impossible. We have a lot of cavalry, at least 50,000. Even if there is any accident if we send them out alone, it won't be a big deal." We will suffer a big loss. But at least half of them are Ye He's cavalry. Although Ye He is famous for his cavalry in Jurchen, they obviously cannot defeat the Mongols. The actual combat effectiveness of these 8,000 troops will be compromised."
He paused and then said: "Moreover, I don't know if Zongrong has thought about it. What if, I mean what if... If Ma Shenrong goes here, what means will Burihatu use to kill Ma Shenrong?" Lure away or hold him back, and then his main force will circle back to the west city from the northern foot. At that time, my main force may have just crossed the river. At this time, he is halfway across the river and attacks, and our army has no cavalry cover. What should we do?"
If everything was as he had guessed, then Burihatu had to be precise enough in this battle, especially the timing, to ensure that he would achieve such a situation.
Generally speaking, it is difficult to achieve the exact plan on the battlefield. There are usually accidents of one kind or another, causing the plan to fail to keep up with the changes. Just like now - the Mongols did have an ambush, but they couldn't take advantage at first glance. , they did not, as the Ming army expected, feel that they "had to shoot the arrow" and forcibly attacked the Ming army.
Burihatu turned around and headed north, which put the Ming army in a dilemma. He couldn't care less, and he couldn't care less.
When Gao Yimin was in the special training class, he ranked second in military deductions and first in actual combat exercises, so he knew very well how difficult it was to design such a plan and execute it successfully. In essence, he didn't really believe that the Mongolians had such a high level of precision in execution, but as the saying goes, be lenient when you predict the enemy. Since Burihatu was highly valued by the master, Gao Yimin naturally did not dare to despise him.
In addition, Gao Yimin also suspected that Buri Hatu had not made such a detailed plan from the beginning and implemented it step by step. He was more inclined to believe that Buri Hatu was actually making decisions on the spur of the moment. Making a decision on the spur of the moment is more difficult than planning in advance, but Burihatu is likely to have such ability, otherwise wouldn't the master's attention to him be slapped in the face?
Many people in Jinghua worship their master almost like a god. Although Gao Yimin is not so exaggerated, he still believes in Gao's pragmatic view of people. Therefore, no matter how weird Burihatu's behavior was, Gao Yimin would not think that he was fooling around, but would only think that he had either an ulterior purpose or an ulterior method.
In this way, his calculation of "Burihatu may be like this" is amazing.
Cao Yu couldn't help but hesitate after hearing his analysis. Judging from his many years of experience, the overall Mongolian combat is relatively rough. Although he himself once suffered a big loss, this kind of thing should be viewed separately: he has experienced hundreds of battles and achieved the status of deputy commander-in-chief. It can be seen that he has won many battles in the past and made many achievements. You cannot think that he is not good just because of one failure.
There are only two people in the Ming Dynasty who have never failed, one is Qi Jiguang, and the other is Gao pragmatism. Qi Jiguang was truly victorious in every battle and never suffered any small losses. However, although he fought many battles, none of them were as big as Gao Jingshi. We only played a few games, but they were indeed big events every time, and there was no defeat at all.
In short, they are all rare.
At present, a Burihatu has emerged among the Mongols. His layout and planning are better than those elders in the court who have read countless books, and his command on the battlefield seems to be excellent - if he really intends to be like Gao Yimin. If we can infer from this, Cao Yun had to be extremely energetic.
He thought for a while, twirled his beard, and said slowly: "If this is the case, it is indeed a bit difficult to deal with, but Ma Shenrong is also the choice of a famous general. If I tell him, I will tell him not to be killed by Burihatu." Confused by other means, he just stared at the Mongolian army...Does Brother Gao think that Burihatu can do anything else?"
Gao Yimin thought for a while and said: "If Ma Shenrong can really kill the main force of the Mongolian army without letting go, I can't imagine what Buri Hatu can do next."
That'll do.
Although Cao Yu still remembers the defeat of Chang'an Fort, he is not an indecisive person. He immediately made up his mind after hearing this and said to the ordering soldier: "Send my command to Ma Shenrong and order him to command the current troops." Go north, send a large number of detective horses to detect the location of the main Tatar force, and then seize it..." Then he summarized what he and Gao Yimin had just said, and asked the messenger to report it to Ma Chengxun.
After ordering the troops to go down, Cao Yu without saying a word once again urged Pu Yuanyi, Cao Jian and other troops to speed up the construction of the pontoon bridge, in order to cross the river earlier and avoid being attacked by Buri Hatu Lai in Gao Yimin's deduction. Danger.
In addition, he was still very cautious, and sent people to tell Qi Jin and Zhang Wanbang that although the main force of the Mongolian army might have gone north, given that the people who came to report the news were only a few hunters after all, this "go north" movement Whether it is true or not is questionable, so they still need to be meticulously prepared for possible attacks at any time.
After all these things were arranged, Cao Yu found a place to sit down and rest for a while, while Gao Yimin had not given up the deduction yet and was still thinking about something there.
On the other side, Ma Chengxun also quickly received the order. He was very courageous. He did not feel that he was in a passive situation when he went north. Instead, he was greatly surprised - what if the cavalry he commanded alone defeated Bu? Rihatu, it is certain that the Mongols will not retreat, and even Xicheng may simply give up and flee back to their home base.
At that time, how could Da Sinong not be impressed by himself?
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