The distance from Liuhechuan to Guihua City was about eight or nine hundred miles. Gao Rusong was not as pragmatic as Li Rusong, who led the army to march 14 miles a day, so in his plan it took ten days to reach Guihua.
According to what he originally thought, there would generally be no danger in naturalizing here. Although there are less than 30,000 cavalry on this route alone, there is Ma Chengen who lives north of the headquarters on the right wing, and there is Li Rusong behind who may catch up at any time. Even if we don’t count the Imperial Guards who are inconvenient to contact, there are already more than 10 cavalry here. There are fifty thousand troops, and there are more cavalry than infantry.
Among the more than 150,000 people, there are nearly 90,000 cavalry. As long as the three parties are in contact, mutual support will be very convenient and timely. Considering that an army with sufficient cavalry usually has a much wider reconnaissance range, once that time comes, the possibility of either side being caught off guard is very small.
Six days later, Gao Pragmatic estimated that his current location was probably to the east of Ulanqab in later generations. In his previous thoughts, this place was an absolute "safe zone."
However, the safe zone did not seem to be safe. Gao Pragmatic received reports three times in a row that morning that three of our own horse exploration teams encountered Mongolian cavalry, and the two sides even fought.
Different from Gao Pragmatic's original idea, the three Ming army expeditions all suffered losses, and each suffered partial losses. Whether it was a loss or a loss, after all, the cavalry team was small in number. This kind of loss itself was not something to be afraid of. However, one of the three cavalry teams turned out to be the Ming army's "night guard", which made Gao Qingshi feel that something was wrong. .
The Ming Army's "Night No Harvest" is not an ordinary detective horse. By analogy in later generations, the "Night No Harvest" can be regarded as the most elite special reconnaissance force. Regardless of individual soldier combat capabilities or small group tactics, "Night Retention" is at the top level, which can make them suffer, which shows that the Mongolian scout horses they encounter must also be top-notch.
Why is Gao pragmatic so sure? This can be explained here.
Generally speaking, the border defenses in the Ming Dynasty were deployed according to the layout of wall-gate-fort. The fort is the fort, which is equivalent to today's border guard post, and "Night Close" was originally a reconnaissance sentry stationed in the fort.
This name was used specifically at the time, referring to those who "can penetrate deep into enemy camps and outposts to find out the truth." This is equivalent to today's special forces. They were specially trained to be elite reconnaissance personnel who could go deep into enemy territory or enemy camps to find out the truth. Soldier, specialized in special operations.
Ye Bushou's initial combat targets were specifically against the Mongolian tribes. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolia was divided into three tribes: Oara, Tatar, and Ulyankha, and their strength often waxed and waned. However, the common point is that no matter who is the boss, they will repeatedly invade the border, from harassment by dozens and hundreds of cavalry, to large-scale invasions of thousands of troops, and even Grand Master Wala first entering the invaders in this kind of national-level war, so It is very important to have first-hand information, which shows the importance of Ye Bushou's responsibilities.
Of course, since you are often in an environment where you are the first to conflict with the enemy, the risk is also extremely high. If things go wrong, you are often the first to be caught and killed. Therefore, the imperial court and border generals gave Ye Bushou a very generous treatment. If he was killed or injured, the pension would be very generous, which was directly proportional to the high-risk work he was engaged in.
Regarding this, there is a record in "Records of the Ming Dynasty: The True Records of the Yingzong No. 9": "There are no soldiers guarding the pier along the border at night. They watch day and night regardless of the cold or heat. Compared with the guards, they are more diligent. The dangers and hardships are worse than those of other armies. There is a huge disparity, if it is not a thicker and better reward, why should we blame him for his life?"
After the Tumubao Incident, he first took Yingzong hostage and came to Datong City, asking the guard Guo Deng to open the door to welcome him. While Guo Deng pretended to be a snake, he secretly organized a rescue plan, and the power he was considering using was Ye Bushou.
On the night when Yingzong came to the city, "Ye Bu Shu" successfully penetrated into the core of the Wala camp and contacted Yuan Bin, who conveyed the message on Yingzong's behalf, hoping to bring Yingzong back to the city that night. Unexpectedly, Yingzong was afraid of death and did not dare to follow, so he had to give up.
The specific situation is also recorded, that is, the local general Yang did not collect the flag at night and told Yuan Bin: "Tonight, we will not collect the flag for five nights. I secretly invite my grandfather to the Shifo Temple. When he is not found, I will take the opportunity to enter the city."
[Note: "Grandpa" here refers to Yingzong. Not long after the beginning of this book, it was explained that people in the Ming Dynasty had many ways to call the emperor. "Grandpa" is also one of them, which is the abbreviation of "Long Live Grandpa". However, some friends may find it awkward if it is written this way in this book, so it has not been adopted. ]
It can be seen that Ye Bushou's plan is actually quite thorough. He plans to first take Yingzong to the Shifo Temple not far outside the city. When Walaxun Yingzong disappears and there is chaos inside, Ye Bushou will take advantage of the chaos to bring Yingzong into the city. .
It is a pity that Yingzong's answer at that time was: "This dangerous matter cannot be done. I didn't die during the civil engineering work. My life is in heaven. What if nothing happens?" [Note: From Volume 18 of "The Deeds of the Northern Expedition", probably Yingzong's original words. ]
Accurately finding and rescuing the emperor in the midst of thousands of enemy troops is an extraordinary thing that cannot be accomplished casually, especially if the incident fails and implicates Yingzong, it is almost impossible for Guo Deng not to be implicated , and this implication is probably a big implication for losing one’s head. Looking back this way, it will be shocking. How powerful is Ye Bu Sheng's troops that can make Guo Deng so confident?
In fact, there are records of Ye Bu Shu Duo in the history books of the Ming Dynasty. Here are two random passages to read, such as: "At night, people who are good and courageous are selected, and each hides a short bow with an ox horn and a small arrow with a pig pole. When the captive is asleep, the horse is tied up. , gathered together arrows quenched with medicine, came in front, either ten steps or five steps, and stabbed secretly. If the war horses were hit, all of them would die, just like the ancients used to unload thieves' saddles and horses at night."
This paragraph briefly describes the practice of not collecting horses at night to destroy the enemy's strategic resources and weaken its mobility.
There is another story: "He was sent to the camp at night and killed seven people. The thieves drove away the chaos and captured their horses and equipment." This amounts to a decapitation operation and taking advantage of the chaos to carry out sabotage.
It can be seen that similar harassment and sabotage work is not uncommon for Ye Bushou, and they are exactly like the special operations forces of later generations. After the Civil War Incident, Ye Bushou was actually able to sneak into the enemy camp and catch up with Yuan Bin. This was a huge success in itself, so Guo Deng could be so confident.
"Records of the Ming Dynasty" also records a heroic deed of not collecting food at night. It tells about Zhang Dachuan, a member of the Zunhua Guard who did not collect food at night. When the Duke and another man were out on inspection, they suddenly encountered four Mongolian cavalry. The two fought with them. The enemy was shot by Zhang Dachuan and then abandoned his horse and fled. After the border guard reported Zhang Dachuan's achievements, the then Emperor Xuanzong specially sent He summoned the capital to inquire about the details and rewarded him.
Back then, when two against four, people were beaten and fled, but now that they didn't face each other tonight, they suffered a loss. Gao Pragmatic had to pay attention. Especially when he brought in Yang, the Yebushou general who had suffered a loss, to inquire about the situation at that time, he discovered that there was more than one problem, at least two.
First, it was reaffirmed that the other party was coming from the elite of the Chahar Khan Court, because General Yang Qi said that the Mongolian army's detective horses they encountered today had tassels made of white horsetails - this white color is not ordinary. It symbolizes the "white" of "Nine White Flags".
In other words, the visitors were the personal guards of the Mongol Khan, or the scouts of the personal guards.
Unlike the Ming Emperor's personal soldiers, the "Han Generals", who were only tall and handsome, although the Mongolian Khan's personal guards also had the tradition of selecting people from the families of the leaders of various ministries, those who became personal guards were usually gilded, and almost all of them were actually doing work. They are the best ones selected from various departments, so it is natural that they should be more powerful.
However, in Gao Pragmatic's view, it is not the key whether the Great Khan's personal guards are powerful or not. The key is that the appearance of the Great Khan's personal guards here means that his previous judgment was wrong, and it was still a serious mistake.
According to Yang Zongqi's report, what they met today was a "White Tassel Hundreds", which was about a hundred people. At that time, the Ye Bu Sheng he led was his own general banner, with fifty-six people, and the number of both sides was almost two to one.
For Ye Bushou, the one to two inferior force was not impossible to defeat, so General Yang Qi did not panic at that time, and even took the initiative to tentatively approach the opponent, intending to test the opponent's quality.
Unexpectedly, the other party seemed to have the same idea as Mr. Yang. From the moment the two parties discovered each other a few miles away, they invariably moved towards their opponent. But then, there were obvious differences in the two sides' fighting ideas.
Since Ye Busuo is the absolute elite of the Ming army, the fifty-six men in General Yang's hands are very well equipped. In addition to the Wanli II-type lances mentioned above, a full set of half-suits, and new sabers, they also follow Ye Busuo's instructions. It is customary to be equipped with riding bows, poison arrows, poison-quenching daggers, etc., and even waterproof fire breakers and other weird gadgets.
According to Yang Zongqi's idea at the time, after the opponent came closer and entered the range of the lance, he would first fire a "volley" of lance at the opponent, and then switch to the riding bow to greet him with poisonous arrows. At this time, my side must have started to run up and speed up, so I took advantage of the situation and changed the saber. The two sides met head-on and fought hand-to-hand, and it was a bloody battle. In this way, it is not in vain to catch up with such an important battle in this life. Even if he died in the battle, he would have died well and enough to smile.
However, an accident happened. The opponent's Baiying Hundreds were heading towards Yang Zongqi and the others at first, but when they were about two miles away, they suddenly split into two and made a detour to the left and right.
In fact, this tactic is not unfamiliar to Yang Zongqi, and even feels a bit old-fashioned. He ignored the other group at all and only selected the one on his right wing to kill.
I chose the right wing because if I need to look back to the white-tasseled guards on the left wing to fire an arrow, it will be easier if my comrade uses his left hand to draw the bow without having to twist the body or turn the horse's head significantly. These are Ye Bushou's many years of experience, and Yang Zongqi doesn't even need to think much when making a decision.
However, the subsequent development of the situation was somewhat different from what Yang Zongqi thought. After the Mongolian white-tasseled guards on the right wing divided their forces, they did not choose to attack the Ming army that was coming towards them at night, thus creating an opportunity for the left wing to charge from behind. Instead, they obviously accelerated forcefully, with a The oblique trajectory tried to put some distance between him and Ye Busuo.
This move was somewhat beyond Yang Zongqi's expectation. As mentioned just now, Yang Zongqi thought that they should face the enemy face to face and create an opportunity for another Baiying personal guard to attack from behind the Ming army. I never expected that the other party, as a dignified bodyguard of the Great Khan, would run away without even engaging in combat.
Of course, although Yang Zongqi was a little surprised, he didn't care much about it, and was even a little proud of himself - the Ming Dynasty and Meng Yuan had really exchanged offense and defense, and even the Mongol Khan's white tassel bodyguards no longer dared to fight.
Then it became a case of two sides chasing each other, with a white-tasseled bodyguard running in front, and the Ming Army Ye Buzuan chasing after him, and behind Ye Buzuan there was another white-tasseled bodyguard that wouldn't let go. .
After chasing for a while, Yang Zongqi realized that something was not quite right.
At first glance, the white-tasseled guard in front of them seems to be running wildly, but in fact, if you look closely, you can find that the opponent seems to control the speed of the horse very cleverly, accurately keeping them within the effective range of the Wanli II lance. Outside, but not to the point of getting rid of Ye Bushou.
Yang Zongqi secretly thought that something was wrong. He turned around and glanced at the other half of the Baiying guards behind him. He was shocked to find that they were also keeping almost the same distance - he would definitely not be able to hit them if he turned around and fired!
Although he was not at a disadvantage on the scene, and there were no casualties on either side, General Yang's years of experience told him: No, I'm in a trap!
Yang Zongqi, who has been in the army for more than 20 years, broke out in a cold sweat. His mind was spinning rapidly, hoping to get rid of this unfavorable situation where he was obviously being led by the nose.
Soon, he suddenly took out a bamboo whistle and blew two short and one long whistle with a sharp whistle. Ye Busuo, who had been running fast, began to slow down gradually. At the same time, following his loud shouts, Ye Buhou adjusted his formation from a slightly scattered start, and finally stopped to form a four-row column, two facing forward and two facing behind.
This is not a common cavalry formation, but more like the infantry formation that the Ministry of War has strongly advocated in recent years. After all, General Yang was from an elite background, and he had a bit of the style that later generations of paratroopers often said was "good at fighting in encirclements." He even used infantry line tactics on cavalry.
This move seemed to be beyond the expectations of the Baiying Guards Commander. The two Baiying Guards quickly stopped and obviously hesitated for a while.
In the end, it was the Baiying Guards who moved first. The half of the Baiying Guards facing General Yang began to move diagonally with the right wing and tried to speed up. Yang Zongqi narrowed his eyes slightly, knowing that the opponent was going to use the classic diagonal shooting tactics of the Mongolian cavalry to escape.
Because the Wanli II lance had a range advantage, he was not too worried about this, but calmly ordered and prepared to fire a volley.
Sure enough, it was Ye Bushou who started the battle first. More than twenty Wanli II lances launched a round of volley fire. But at this time, General Yang found that the opponent was already prepared. The fifty Baiying guards in front of him had already They took the lead and all made the "hide in stirrup" action, hiding their bodies on the other side of the horse's belly.
Their horses kept their original direction, and soon they also fired the first wave of projectile arrows, most of which landed relatively accurately in or near the Ye Bu Shu formation.
At this time, Ye Bushou had already switched to a riding bow because he had no time to reload. They originally planned to switch to cavalry bows and fire another volley immediately after the musket volley, but at this moment, it was raining arrows, and the cavalry bows were not as good as sabers. If they performed well, they could deflect the fallen arrows, so that all of a sudden there was Four people were hit by arrows.
Fortunately, the riding bow is not as powerful as the walking bow, and the power of the projectile is weaker than the direct shot. Therefore, it is said that four people were hit by arrows, but in fact only one was injured. The other two horses were shot, but they were not killed for a while.
Compared to the Baiying guards on the opposite side, the total casualties seemed to be greater. Yang Zongqi visually inspected that at least three people fell off their horses. One of them was unlucky. After falling off his horse, he was trampled by a horse running from behind. Generally speaking, he would not survive.
However, when Yang Zongqi thought about it carefully, he found that he did not take advantage. Although the opponent lost three horses and one man, his own strength was only half of the opponent's. The man who was hit by an arrow was shot in the arm. Although his life was saved, his combat effectiveness was lost. If the two horses hit by arrows are not treated in time, they will not be able to play any role in the future.
In such a comparison, the other party only lost one more horse than our own. Isn't this transaction a loss?
Sure enough, when the white-tasseled guards at the rear saw this, they also launched the exact same offensive. There was not much difference in the exchange ratio this time. The other side lost two people and three horses, and our side lost one person and two horses.
The bigger problem was yet to come - the lance had no time to reload, and the opponent had immediately launched a second round of diagonal projectiles. At this time, Ye Buzuo could only fight back with a riding bow.
Yang Zongqi secretly thought that something was wrong. Fighting like this would be bad. If he couldn't force the opponent to engage in hand-to-hand combat, he would have to leave. Otherwise, sooner or later, they would wear him down one by one until he was defeated.
There was another whistle, and Ye Bushou changed formation again. This time Ye Bushou used the fastest speed to form a typical front arrow formation. Taking advantage of the fact that the Baiying guards in front were in the process of cutting diagonally, he even omitted the run-up. He just slapped the horse and charged forcefully. Will it hurt him? Horses were no longer on the cards.
The white tassel guards in front who had already accelerated and were cutting diagonally had hid in stirrups in advance and missed the movement of Ye Buhou charging into the formation. By the time they heard another part of the white tassel guards in the distance blowing horn trumpets to warn them, they were already a little nervous. That's too late.
"Too late" does not mean that they were killed in front of them, but that their diagonal cut tactic was originally to turn around and continue to throw sideways, so there was an obvious arc. The completion of the diagonal cut actually exposed the back. Ye BuZhou was hit by a wave of arrows from Ye BuZhou's men.
Only then did Yang Zongqi realize that the other party's dignified Baiying personal guards were actually wearing only leather armor, and at least six of them were wiped out by this wave of arrows.
But the good news only stopped there. Since the "array line" was gone, the other half of the Baiying guards at the rear were able to turn the diagonal cut into a direct approach. The projectiles hidden in the stirrups were also replaced by a wave of arrows that shot directly, and they also hit at least three people. Fortunately, the Ming army's new cavalry armor was relatively reliable in defense. Although there were arrows inserted in the north, there was only a scream. No one was lost.
In addition, this wave of arrows also caused several war horses to be hit by arrows in their butts - but because of the horse armor, it was not clear whether the injuries were serious for a while. It was just that the horses in pain were a little difficult to control, which made the originally small number of horses difficult to control. The small front arrow formation is a bit out of shape.
You can't fight like this. Fighting like this is just a waste of effort. Although we are not at a disadvantage in terms of exchange ratio, the other party has many people and many horses in reserve, so it is definitely not cost-effective to fight. Moreover, General Yang Qi is also worried that the Mongols seem to have figured out a way to confront the musketeers. Although this method will cause a lot of losses, at least it can be used.
This discovery made it necessary for Ye Bushou to go back and remind him to go up to the peak.
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