Where the main body of the Outer Khalkha tribe went, and whether Abadai Saiyin Khan was worried that he would not be able to escape, it is not known at all.
But just a few days later, he received an urgent military report from Li Rusong. In the military report, Li Rusong informed him of a major event that he didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing: Tumen Khan and Abadai Saiyin Khan may have died in Ukraine a few days ago. The two armies met at Zhuri Mountain and may have already rushed all the way to the west.
Li Rusong also made a calculation about this, saying that after judging the depth of the horse's hoof prints and the color of the soil, he believed that his cavalry could catch up with the enemy in about three days. And when he sent this military report, he had already led his Liaodong cavalry on the road to chase the enemy.
Will Wuzhuri Mountain join forces... Where is Wuzhuri Mountain?
Even though Gao Pangshi had done some research on the terrain of Monan and Mobei, he didn't remember where this place was. After ordering someone to take out the Kanyu map and hang it up, he searched carefully for a while and found out that this place was about 450 miles northwest of Guihua City.
About one hundred and twenty miles due south of here is the famous Bayan Obo mining area in later generations - of course, the current Bayan Obo is still purely natural, with nothing except mountains and vegetation.
But it is strange to say that at this time, Baiyun Obo was not called this name, but was called "Baiyun Obo", which means "rich sacred mountain". But in fact, Gao Pragmatic quietly sent people to look at it a few years ago... Anyway, the people sent there didn't see where the richness was, but the servant of the Jinghua Mining prospecting team who accompanied him thought that this place might be at least not small, or even A huge iron ore.
However, this is nonsense that does not need to be mentioned to Gao Pragmatic, because he not only knows that there is a large iron ore here, but also knows that there is a huge amount of rare earth ore under the mountain that far exceeds the strategic value of the iron ore, so Gao Pragmatic has no intention of developing it. , so as not to waste everything - after all, he has no ability to use rare earth mines now.
Then let’s ignore Baiyun Obo and just talk about the current war. Judging from the location, Tumen Khan and Abadai Saiyin Khan chose to join forces in Uzuri Mountain, north of Baiyun Obo, which seems to be a bit particular.
In later generations, this place was very close to the border between China and Mongolia, in other words, it was near the dividing line between Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, and today it is almost where the Tumut and Outer Khalkha tribes intersect.
At this time, the Mongols were not so strict in demarcating their respective territories. Moreover, due to the sparse population of Mongolia, the core ruling areas of both sides were far away from each other. As a result, the Uzhuri Mountain was almost an uninhabited area. It can be said to be almost inaccessible. .
Since there were few people in the first place, the Ming army who went on the expedition obviously did not pay much attention to it. Under such circumstances, Wuzhuri Mountain can be said to be a blind spot for the Ming army: the Ming-Mongolian coalition forces on the northern line were on the line from Helin to the mouth of the Three Gorges, which was about a mile away. One thousand two hundred miles away; Guihua City on the southern line is also three hundred and forty miles away.
Because Li Rusong was chasing the most urgently, he was also the closest, but judging from his battle report, when Tumen Khan and Abadai Saiyin Khan met, Li Rusong was about two days away from them.
This is a bit strange. Logically speaking, his pursuit was only one night late, and there should not be such a big distance difference. Therefore, it is possible that the direction of Li Rusong's previous pursuit was slightly deviated, or that the speed of the Liaodong cavalry also dropped.
The former is understandable as normal during wartime. After all, not everyone is like Huo Qubing. Fighting on the grassland is like bringing his own Beidou navigation. The latter makes Gao Pragmatic a little worried. Li Rusong's troops have been on the war for several months, almost always in Gao. During the intensive march, if their speed dropped involuntarily due to fatigue, it might also mean that their combat effectiveness had also declined.
If this is the case, then the Mongolian army simply fled westward without counterattack. Once they turned around and launched a counterattack... the consequences would be unpredictable.
He had just ordered people to mark the current locations of the various ministries on the Kan map, and was about to reconsider the movements of Li Rusong's troops to see if he should stop chasing them, when he heard a report outside the account that Commander Qi had arrived with his troops. , please see.
Gao pragmatically raised his brows and said: "What are you seeing? Commander Qi has returned in triumph, and we should greet him personally. Go, invite all the generals from all departments, and come with me to the gate to welcome Commander Qi."
After a while, Qi Jiguang was leading a group of imperial guard generals outside the camp, waiting to be received by Jingtai. Suddenly, he heard a general beside him exclaim: "Commander, Jingtai has personally come out to greet you!"
Qi Jiguang, who was sitting on the horse, couldn't help being surprised when he heard this. Turning around, I saw Meng Yuan, a highly pragmatic man wearing a bright red silk python robe and leading a group of generals with helmets and armours, approaching quickly.
Commander Qi quickly stood up and dismounted, turned around and ordered the generals to line up to greet the sutra platform. He himself immediately took two steps forward, made a gesture of paying homage, and said loudly: "Qi Jiguang, the last commander of the Imperial Guards under the banner of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, came with All the generals in this department will visit the sutra platform, where the tiger is powerful and Wan'an is safe."
Gao Pangshi also stepped forward quickly, and before Qi Jiguang could truly bow down, he stretched out his hand to help him up. He laughed and said, "Commander Qi, there is no need to be polite. The Duke and the imperial guards fought bravely, defeated the Tumen in one fell swoop, and returned home." Transforming the siege and solidifying the barriers have indeed made great contributions to the country.
When the headquarters learned about the battle report, it was very comforting and the details will be reported to the Holy One. The saints, the gods, the gods, the saints, the saints, the saints, and the warriors reward each other for their merits. It is expected that all the princes will be treated with kindness, and they will live up to the merits of the bloody battle. "
Qi Jiguang's face was very calm, and he only said a few words of humility when he heard the words, but the faces of his generals were all red and filled with uncontrollable smiles.
Gao pragmatically took Qi Jiguang's hand and cordially invited him and the generals to enter the camp. As he walked, he asked: "This battle is a success. Qi Gong's name will last forever. I expect that the matter of becoming a marquis is no longer a problem..."
"How dare Jiguang hope for the famous weapon of the country." Qi Jiguang said: "What's more, the war situation has not been completely settled yet, and the movements of Tumen and others are even more strange and unpredictable. The general will think that it is not time to relax his vigilance."
Gao Pragmatic nodded and said: "What Qi Shuai said is reasonable. Our headquarters has obtained the battle report of Liao Shuai and is about to discuss countermeasures with Qi Shuai."
Qi Jiguang's face condensed upon hearing this, and he immediately asked: "Is Commander Liao's pursuit too far alone? What is the current situation at the front? Also, the general has heard that Commander Xuan is injured. Is the injury serious?"
At this time, when he was walking outside the commander's account, Gao pragmatically asked the generals to enter the account and talk again. So everyone entered the commander's tent together and were arranged left and right under the arrangements of Gao Jingshi's personal servants. However, even the person who arranged the seats stood solemnly at this moment and waited for Gao Jingshi to take his seat first.
Gao Jingshi walked to his main seat and stretched out his hand to ask Qi Jiguang to sit down - of course Qi Jiguang would not sit down first, so after Gao Jingshi finished speaking, he sat down first, and then Qi Jiguang sat down, and the rest of the generals took their seats and stood when they should. 's continued standing.
After completing the rules, Gao Pragmatic once again congratulated and praised the generals of the Imperial Guard for their contributions, and then continued the previous conversation, pointing to the Kan map hanging on the easel next to him, and said: "The current positions of the armies are as shown on the map, Qi Marshal is worried that Marshal Liao will go deep into the army alone, and the headquarters also feels the same, and just now he wanted to ask Marshal Qi for advice..."
"How dare I accept the advice from the Jingtai? The defeat of the Jingtai will be a disgrace to my general." Qi Jiguang said modestly as usual, and then looked at the map of Kantu, and then said: "The last general looked back on this expedition against Yuan Dynasty and found that the Tatar slaves Their actions are often unexpected, which shows that our military’s guesses about their intentions before the war may have been biased.”
To a certain extent, these words are meant to accuse Gao Pragmatic of a mistake in strategic judgment. If it were other generals, no one would dare to say it. Even for Qi Jiguang, saying this is not without risks. Assuming that Gao Pragmatic is a narrow-minded person, this sentence alone is enough to give Qi Jiguang a beating.
However, Qi Jiguang was a man who was not only good at fighting but also good at serving as an official. Since he dared to say this, it was naturally because he knew that Gao Pragmatic would not be disgusted by it.
This is indeed the case. Although the generals of the Imperial Guard were all nervous due to the straightforward words of their commander, Gao Jingtai not only did not get angry when he heard the words, but nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, how could I have expected it before?" It turns out that Tumen is so courageous that even Mongolia is willing to abandon its centuries-old territory.
But having said that, given his current situation, it is indeed courageous to stick to the legacy of his ancestors, but it is indeed more wise to develop elsewhere. Youdao is that mountains and rivers are full of doubts and there is no way out, and there is a bright future in another village. This time, he has resorted to various means to go west. Maybe he can turn around and find peace. "
Qi Jiguang nodded in approval, and at the same time said: "What Jingtai said is absolutely true, but this decision and planning is probably mostly due to Burihatu."
Gao pragmatic smiled and said: "Even if Burihatu has all kinds of abilities and means, it still needs the nods of the Tutu people to have the chance to implement it. Just as I, the Ming Dynasty, have worked together with civil and military forces over the years to create today's situation, the premise is the same Your Majesty is wise, this is the chessboard that we can use to spread out."
"I see you from the throne, you are so sincere." Qi Jiguang immediately bowed his hands in the direction of the capital and said: "The sages are sacred, civilized, and martial, and the inner sages and outer kings will be able to comfort the two ancestors until the Ming Dynasty flourishes... …Congratulations to the Holy One and congratulations to the world!”
Gao Pingshi also raised his hand and saluted the capital, saying: "Congratulations to the Holy One, congratulations to the world!" Naturally, the generals could not act stupidly, and they all followed the same example and copied the gourd and the ladle.
Then Gao Pragmatic asked Qi Jiguang about the details of the naturalization battle. Qi Jiguang roughly stated that the battle should be divided into two stages as a whole.
In the first stage, Qi Jiguang only sent forward troops with small numbers but strong combat effectiveness. The main force was hidden and not far from the battlefield. Tumen's plan at that time may have been to defeat the advance guard of the Imperial Guard and then retreat calmly. Therefore, he sent about 30% of his troops to repel the Ming army, but failed, so he was forced to increase his troops to half of the total strength.
In the second stage, Tumen found that the war was dragging on, so in addition to besieging the naturalized troops, all the remaining troops joined the battle with the Janissary forwards. The Janissaries gradually became exhausted and began to waver. At this time, Qi Jiguang personally led the main force into the battlefield. Tumen felt that something was wrong and wanted to withdraw to meet the enemy, but was held back, so they finally fled in defeat.
Fortunately, the Mongolian army besieging the city responded in time, quickly withdrew the siege and rescued Tumen, which was able to save Tumen's life. However, in this battle, even with the power of the Imperial Guard, they were still unable to annihilate the Mongols who were too capable of running, but only gained more heads.
Generally speaking, since the Mongols suffered consecutive losses, they have greatly strengthened their speed advantage. Although their direct combat effectiveness has declined compared with before, they have ensured the mobility, the traditional advantage of the Mongolian cavalry, so that It would be difficult for the Ming army to fight a battle of annihilation no matter what.
To this extent, the Mongolian military reform advocated by Burihatu, as an adaptive change of the Ming Dynasty military reform, basically achieved its goal, but it also destined that the Mongolian army could no longer challenge the Ming army.
After talking about the battle of naturalization, Qi Jiguang took advantage of the situation and said: "From this point of view, if the Tatars do not want to fight to the death with me, they may have already made a plan. Now that the Tatars are fleeing westward, where will our army go and how to deal with future changes still need to be dealt with in detail. For planning.”
Gao pragmatic pondered for a moment and asked: "The most important thing at the moment is to determine the purpose of the Tartar slaves' westward flight. Qi Shuai, do you think the Tartar slaves fled westward just to avoid the sharp edge of our army, and will come back as soon as our army retreats, or do you think Completely migrate and completely give up fighting with me in Monan and Mobei?"
Qi Jiguang said decisively: "The general will think that the Tatar slaves intend to migrate this time - they no longer have the ability to be hostile to me for a long time, and they also have no such will."
"Why do you see it?" Gao pragmatically asked.
"No matter how we look at these two actions, we first abandoned Chahanhot and then moved all the people. It is difficult to say that these two actions are just a temporary expediency. We have learned clearly that the migration of hundreds of thousands of people as a whole is not a child's play, and it will be difficult to believe it in the future. They traveled thousands of miles in the middle of the year, but rushed back to suffer the cold at the end of the year. Even if the Mongols don't rely much on logistics, it doesn't mean that they really don't need logistics when they migrate on a large scale.
Not to mention anything else, just talking about the thousands of miles back and forth, the cattle and sheep will lose a lot of weight. During the migration, it is impossible for the Tartar slaves to stop farming. Since there is no food supply, cattle and sheep are the basis for survival. In this case, even if they want to return eastward at the end of the year, they do not have such conditions. "
"So, where does Qi Shuai think they will stop?" Gao pragmatically asked again.
Qi Jiguang frowned and said, "I don't know much about the situation in the Western Regions at the end, so my guess may not be accurate."
"It's okay, Qi Shuai, but please speak freely."
Since Gao Pragmatic said so, Qi Jiguang had no choice but to say directly: "Yes, Jingtai, I will think that there are two possibilities."
Gao pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly and asked: "Which two kinds?"
"First, Tumen plans to annex the Oara tribes first." Qi Jiguang pointed to the Kanyu map and said: "Heshuote, Junggar, Turgut and other tribes are all Oara tribes, and they have the same species as the Tartars. If they can win in battle, Therefore, in the name of the pseudo-Yuan emperor or the Mongol Khan, he may be able to stabilize his rule. Then use this as a foundation to conquer the other tribes such as Oara, Chagatai, etc. In the end, he did not even go to the west again like three hundred years ago. You know."
Gao Pragmatic was not surprised and asked: "What about the second one?"
"The first one is to do it first and then the easy, and the second is to do it first and then the hard." Qi Jiguang said: "Although Wala is divided into various tribes, the overall strength is said to be relatively strong. If the Tatar slaves want to act safely, they may first Attack Chagatai. If I were Tumen, I should consider quickly crossing the west of the Big and Small Song Mountains, heading straight to the sandbank to capture it, and then march westward along the Silk Road to seize the Hami Kingdom and then conquer Yarkand."
"Qi Shuai made a high opinion, and the main department also speculated in the same way." Gao Pragmatic nodded in agreement.
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