It has been nearly three months since Ganzhou was besieged. In the past three months, Ganzhou City has been in danger, but the magic has not been broken yet.
It's said to be magical, but it's not magical at all. The northwest is a land of bitter cold, and the weather during the Little Ice Age is a bit colder than normal. In winter, water turns to ice. However, Burihatu sent troops this time in winter. Although he reaped huge benefits by relying on this surprise at the beginning, if Ganzhou Kaicheng surrender was not broken, it would be difficult to handle next.
The biggest advantage of Burihatu is that compared with the Han people, the Mongolian troops can be regarded as almost without logistics. The disadvantage is that he lacks effective siege weapons.
The former allowed him to quickly reach the northwestern territory of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming army that had no time to dispatch was divided and surrounded by him in various cities and forts. Since he was unable to resist outside the cities and forts, he naturally plundered them easily. However, the next attack on Wubao started to be a little difficult.
This matter must at least start from the more than 20 years of Ming Dynasty border defense construction. At that time, Qi Jiguang suggested strengthening the defense line of the Great Wall and building a hollow enemy tower from Shanxi to Liaodong with the capital as the center. This suggestion was adopted by the court, but it was very expensive. Therefore, after the construction was completed, the court did not continue such a project for several years.
Later, when Gao Pragmatic gradually enriched the imperial treasury, a new border consolidation plan began to be brewed. However, at this time, he did not focus on the issue of defense projects. Instead, he strengthened the army's armament and accumulated strength to defeat the Chahar tribe. Then, with the great victory of the Northern Expedition and Chahar's flight to the west, the defense of the northwest border became a new top priority, so Gao Pragmatic began to allocate funds to strengthen the northwest border defense.
However, the problems faced by the northwest defense and the defense of the northern line of the capital are different. The inner line of the northern line of the capital is basically a densely populated area, and the density of troops is also very high. Building a hollow enemy platform at a certain distance can form a good The defense system is very different in the northwest.
Although there is also a Great Wall defense line in the northwest, the local population density is far less than that near the capital. It is impossible to supply a dense Great Wall hollow enemy Taiwan defense line from the perspective of abundant materials or manpower transportation capabilities. Therefore, it can only be based on the original northwest defense basis. Be reinforced.
What was the original basis? It means "scattered Wubao in a vast area", and then each Wubao concentrates the main local materials and troops. Once encountering an enemy attack, the people from the surrounding areas will be moved into the Wubao as quickly as possible for centralized defense.
This is an objective reality caused by the living environment. No matter how pragmatic and powerful it is, it cannot be changed. Therefore, even if he allocates funds to strengthen the defense of the northwest for several consecutive years, he can only expand and strengthen these forts, and at most try to create some "Chinese-style bastions." , a new type of "Chinese Star Fort" style dock is coming.
However, what Gao Pragmatic did not expect was that Burihatu had sent many detailed operations to the Gansu and Shaanxi areas and understood these things quite clearly. Therefore, he chose to lead the Mongolian cavalry on a long-distance attack in winter, a time that has always been considered inconvenient to send troops. As a result, many people around Wubao had no time to evacuate into Wubao.
Fortunately, just because it was winter, many people ran back to Wubao Maodong, which objectively reduced losses and strengthened Wubao itself.
After plundering various settlements outside the defenseless Wubao, Burihatu found that the plundered materials were still insufficient, so he was forced to start attacking various Wubao in these scattered branches. It should be added here that his main force Instead of doing this, he stationed himself outside the city of Ganzhou to prevent the main force of the Ming army from Ganzhou from leaving the city and threatening his robbery squad after he divided his forces.
In this matter, Burihatu was actually overly concerned. The Ganzhou Ming Army did not think that it was strong enough to fight out of the city. This is easy to understand. Gansu's military strength is relatively limited to begin with. In recent years, Ming Dynasty's military dispatch capabilities have been tilted toward the Korean battlefield. Thank God that Gansu can defend the city. Who dares to go out and challenge the Burihatu army? ?
Even if the Ming army in Ganzhou City knew that Burihatu had divided the army into multiple branches and looted everywhere, they were Mongolian cavalry after all. Once they found out that the Ming army had left the city, they could quickly gather with their mobility and then come to fight the Ming army in the field.
The Ganzhou Ming Army is not a Imperial Guard, nor is it even at the level of Ji Liao's main force, so there is no guarantee that it can defeat the enemy in a field battle. Therefore, after hearing that Suzhou had been attacked and fallen, the Ming army in Ganzhou immediately made up their minds: stand firm and wait for reinforcements.
Compared with Suzhou where there is only one Suzhou Guard garrison, Ganzhou has much more troops. In addition to the five Ganzhou Guards, there are also Handong Guards and Shazhou Guards who have moved inland for many years, totaling up to seven guards. It is indeed the main force of Gansu Ming Army.
However, one full-strength guard of the Ming army only had 5,600 men, and the total number of seven guards was less than 40,000. In fact, none of the seven guards in Ganzhou was full-strength. In fact, the total strength was barely About thirty thousand. Considering that their equipment is not as good as that of the main border armies of Jiliao and Shanxi, it makes sense that they dare not go out of the city to fight in the field.
After all, Burihatu came here with an army of 100,000, and his chances of winning were already small enough. If he lost Ganzhou, it would really be a disaster for the northwest. We must not fight in such a wasteful way.
As a result, Gansu became full of hedgehogs, with big hedgehogs in Ganzhou and small hedgehogs in various forts. Burihatu tried to attack the city twice in Ganzhou, but both times the bastion-style city was blocked by fire. He was beaten so hard that he had no temper.
He originally wanted to copy the old wisdom of digging tunnels under the city and blasting the city walls. Unfortunately, Ganzhou had received admonitions from the Ministry of War a few years ago, and they took strict precautions against this. They often dug tunnels and then blew them up with gunpowder, or poured poison. The smoke and gold juice (feces and urine) caused the Mongolian soldiers to suffer a lot and complained endlessly. Burihatu had no choice but to give up.
Unable to attack by force and blowing up the wall, Burihatu began to be particularly envious of the Ming army's giant cannons. The so-called giant artillery refers to the No. 1 cannon and No. 2 cannon of the Ming Army. Because Ganzhou's armament priority is not high, there are only four No. 1 guns, one for each main city gate. There are sixteen No. 2 cannons, four at each city gate. Although the total quantity is small, it is powerful and has a long range.
At that time, Gao Pragmatic's Northern Expedition to Chahar was an offensive war, and there were no strong fortifications in Chahar that required him to use giant artillery. Therefore, the artillery carried by the entire army were No. 3 and No. 4 artillery. This made Burihatu also Lack of intuitive understanding of the Ming army's cannons.
Therefore, when the No. 1 gun opened fire for the first time at the top of Ganzhou City, the entire Mongolian army was shocked. They suddenly found that the location of their camp was too close to the Ganzhou City Wall, and they were literally putting their heads on the muzzle of the opponent's gun. Thanks to the poor experience of the Ganzhou garrison in using giant artillery, the few shots fired were too far away from Burihatu's Jiuyi Baiji, and they only killed - or smashed to death - No. 180. Unlucky Egg.
However, such huge artillery still frightened the Mongolian army. With a livid face, Burihatu ordered the entire army to retreat five miles before setting up camp. From then on, he started a cycle of staring and cursing with the Ganzhou Ming army from a distance.
When Liu Wei arrived at Shandanwei with the vanguard troops assigned to him by his headquarters and the Ministry of War, Burihatu immediately ordered the camp to withdraw westward without saying a word. What he didn't know was that Liu Wei also ordered a halt to advance at this time, and at the same time sent ten teams of exploration horses to investigate the situation ahead.
I have to explain here that Ganzhou is the city of Zhangye in later generations, and Shandanwei is Shandan County in the east of Zhangye City. It is the first place east of Ganzhou that can garrison tens of thousands of troops. The two places are about a hundred miles apart. .
A hundred miles is not far, especially for the Mongolian cavalry. Liu Wei dared to hit Shandan directly before stopping, which shows his courage. Of course, he also has such qualifications, and at the same time... he also has such feelings.
The reason why I talk about my mood is because he is a general of the Southern Army and did not get the opportunity to fight against Chahar. However, the Ming Dynasty has always given the highest rewards for military merit during the battle against Mongolia, so he was holding his breath and thinking this time. Have a real meeting with the Mongols and see how they are better than the "Southern Barbarians" and "Eastern Yi".
However, it seems that Burihatu did not want to give Liu Wei such an opportunity. He chose to directly lift the siege and withdraw his troops.
To be honest, Liu Wei did not expect this, because according to his idea, Burihatu had an army of 100,000, but he only brought 30,000 forwards here. Even if the Ganzhou defenders were added, the strength was still at a disadvantage.
What's more, his troops were in the dust, and Ganzhou had been besieged for several months. They were obviously tired soldiers who were out of shape - that's why he stopped at Shandan - but Burihatu was waiting for work. It can even be said that He was just "waiting for the rabbit". Why did he leave without fighting?
Therefore, when Liu Wei received the report of the expedition early the next morning, saying that Buri Hatu had withdrawn to the west, his first reaction was: Does Buri Hatu want to kill me and turn around?
Regarding Burihatu, Gao Jingshi had vaccinated Liu Wei, so Liu Wei did not dare to underestimate this person - Gaoge Laohe. He specifically explained that people who must be dealt with carefully would not be able to "not fight" And run away”! So there must be a reason... No, there must be a trap!
Because of this idea, Liu Wei not only did not march into Ganzhou immediately, but after some hesitation, he ordered another day of rest. At the same time, he sent out exploration horses again, asking them each to equip three good horses to explore two hundred miles westward. They must explore The Ming Dynasty can only report the exact movement of the Mongolian army.
Of course, he did not forget to contact the city of Ganzhou. Two groups of detectives were tasked with sending his handwritten letter in duplicate to Ganzhou, telling Ganzhou that the imperial reinforcements had arrived. However, Liu Wei repeatedly confessed in his letter not to let down his guard because of this, and he could only celebrate after seeing his army arrive at Ganzhou City with his own eyes.
Xu Sanwei, the governor of Gansu Province, received a personal letter from Liu Wei in the middle of the night. He was very satisfied with Liu Wei's caution, but he was very unhappy that Liu Wei dared to give him instructions on how to do things.
I know that you are Gao Yuanfu's favorite general, and I also know that your sister has a special status in the Nanning Marquis Mansion, but no matter what, you are just a general! I was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Wanli, one subject earlier than Gao Yuanfu. How do I get your advice on how to do things?
But having said that, Xu Sanwei still needs Liu Wei to stabilize the situation in Gansu, so he swallowed his breath for the time being and wrote a reply: When Liu Shuai arrived, the students couldn't help but set up a wine city to prepare for Liu Shuai. Destroy the enemy and warm it up.
(End of chapter)
