The wind howled and the yellow sand filled the sky.
Li Zhigao led his three horses and walked on the desert in the strong wind.
He patted his BMW, the Mongolian horse that had been following him the longest.
As his main battle horse, he did not carry anything on him.
This horse was followed by two more, carrying weapons and baggage, and they moved more slowly.
He led the horse away, except that the wind was howling, the sandstorm had not stopped, and the horse could not go fast.
His horse, now desperately dehydrated, was running wild in the desert and would soon die of dehydration.
Once the horse died in the desert, they could only abandon their baggage and move forward with light equipment, and would never be able to participate in the subsequent war.
As the vanguard, the 4th Cavalry Division set out from Yumen Pass, preparing to attack the eastern Chagatai Mongolia, Hami, the city closest to them.
Li Zhigao was complacent at first. He thought this attack was easy.
The Eastern Chagatai Mongols are a weak force among the entire Mongolian forces.
Their Royal Army of Great China can easily destroy the most powerful Monan Mongolia and conquer Mobei Mongolia.
It is very easy to deal with the Eastern Chagatai Mongols.
As soon as Li Zhigao set foot in the northwest region, the harsh natural environment gave him a blow.
The sandstorm blew up and it was impossible to see the scene ahead.
They were on the flank of the team, only ten meters away from the troops in front.
It is this short distance of ten meters, sometimes it is the distance between life and death.
In the sandstorm with visibility less than two meters, they lost track of the large army.
Li Zhigao turned around and shouted: "Everyone follow me, everyone is pulling the horse's tail, and you must not let go.
You must believe me, I will lead you out of the sandstorm and find the main force. "
Li Zhigao just turned around and spoke, and his mouth was filled with yellow sand, and a large amount of yellow sand was also poured into his clothes.
The tiny gravel scratched his neck, leaving bloody traces.
He could only turn around, with his back to the yellow sand, and glanced at the compass in his hand.
Based on the march map he memorized and his own location, Li Zhigao rushed towards the village closest to him.
He estimated the marching speed of his troops and found that they were not far from the marching route of the main force.
Li Zhigao remembered clearly that division commander Huang Wenyu made special instructions before setting off.
If a team gets lost, head to the nearest village.
It is the best choice to go to the tribe on the marching route of the large army and quickly join the large army.
You can also get food and water by going to other tribes and continue to survive.
The sun gradually set, and Li Zhigao led the team out of the sandstorm, but the temperature in the desert dropped sharply.
Li Zhigao ordered: "Set up camp and rest where you are, and try to maintain your strength."
They took out the tents from the horses and quickly set up a camp.
In the center of the camp, a small bonfire was lit with collected horse dung and grass.
Li Zhigao was wearing a thick cotton coat. He and the soldiers gathered around the campfire, eating toasted steamed buns with water.
He looked at the water he was carrying and saw that there was only half a jug left.
"Squad leader, we can still find some grass to feed the horses, and we are not short of food.
The biggest shortage now is water. We are running out of water.
The person with the most water only has one pot of water left.
If we can't find water tomorrow, we will have to drink horse urine, with little hope of getting out of the desert. "
Li Zhigao looked at the half-pot of water he had left and said in a relaxed tone: "Don't worry, everyone, we will find a village tomorrow. Where there is a village, there is water."
He prayed in his heart that he had not judged the wrong direction.
If they judged the direction correctly, they were not far from the nearest village. If they judged wrong, the consequences would be dire.
Li Zhigao arranged for the soldiers to stay vigil in shifts, and most of them went into tents to sleep.
midnight
Minutes, I heard the howling of wolves and the neighing of horses.
Several gunshots woke everyone up.
Li Zhigao rushed out of the tent with a pistol in hand.
He saw two wolf carcasses left outside the tent.
"Squad leader, there are wolves here.
I killed two wolves, and we will have meat to eat tomorrow morning. "
Li Zhigao found that the danger had passed, and he asked the soldiers to rest as soon as possible and conserve their strength.
Where there are wolves, there must be water around.
Li Zhigao was not familiar with the desert and did not dare to send people to search for water sources.
They had just entered the edge of the desert, and the environment in the northwest region was already so bad. He didn't even know what would be waiting for them when they entered the hinterland of the desert.
He was wrapped in cotton clothes and soon fell asleep in the tent.
Li Zhigao woke up early in the morning and took the soldiers to a meal of roasted wolf meat.
This is the best way to cook when water is scarce.
After replenishing his physical strength, Li Zhigao found a direction and they set off immediately.
The shoes stepped on the yellow sand, which had gone from being cold in the morning to boiling hot at noon.
All the water in the team has been drunk.
Some soldiers were using bottles to collect horse urine.
Li Zhigao did not show a depressed expression, but was very happy.
"Everyone, please work harder. If we walk ten miles, we will encounter a village."
They had seen a patch of low shrubs, which indicated that there was water nearby.
He remembered clearly that in front of the bush was their target village.
When Li Zhigao saw his BMW, he was foaming at the mouth with thirst.
He patted the horse's back and comforted him: "Xiao Hei, if you hold on for a while, you will have water soon."
They emerged from the bushes, smiles on all faces.
He had already seen smoke rising from the sky ahead.
From time to time, you can still hear the neighing of horses.
Li Zhigao saw the dust flying ahead and a group of cavalry running towards them.
When he saw the flag of the Royal Army of China on the head of the cavalry horse, he felt relieved and turned off the safety of the pistol.
The cavalry on the opposite side reined in their horses not far from them and shouted loudly: "Which regiment are you from?"
"Li Zhigao, Second Brigade, Third Regiment, Fourth Cavalry Division."
"You are from the second brigade, we are from the third brigade. Looking at you, you must have become separated from the main force."
The Royal Army of China is easy to identify, not to mention the unique costumes and weapons.
The Han people and the people here in Dongchagatai are very different in appearance, their language cannot be faked, and the enemy cannot perfectly disguise them.
Li Zhigao shouted: "Brothers in front, do you have any water? Give us some water."
The patrolling cavalry threw several water bags to them.
Li Zhigao and his men unscrewed the water bottles and drank heavily.
After quenching their thirst, they fed the horses with water in their hands.
The horses drank water anxiously, and their strength gradually recovered.
Li Zhigao breathed a sigh of relief and led his team to join the main force.
…………………………
Huang Wenyu, commander of the Fourth Cavalry Division, looked at the situation reported by Chief of Staff Wen Sheng.
"Our Fourth Cavalry Division walks from Yumen Pass to Hami. This is the section.
Five hundred and seventy-eight people were lost, and there was no reinforced battalion.
This does not include the number of people who returned halfway.
If we fight a tough battle, we may not suffer this number of casualties. "
Huang Wenyu looked at this number, and he was basically certain that this number was close to the number of non-combat attrition.
In the vast desert, these lost people can only survive unless they find an oasis and obtain food and water.
Without finding a water source, waiting for food and drinking water to run out, and not being familiar with the desert, the result waiting for them is death.
Wen Sheng Shen
The chief said in a solemn tone: "We still don't have enough understanding of the terrible situation in the northwest region.
Especially the great desert in the northwest is far more dangerous than the desert in the southern Monan region.
There is a common thought in the army of underestimating the enemy's carelessness.
In addition to strengthening the teaching in the army, I think each company should be equipped with local guides.
In this way, if the company is really lost, the guide can lead them to survive in the desert. "
Huang Wenyu frowned and said: "As for the guides, we have to wait until the government establishes effective rule before a large number of trustworthy guides will join us.
These Mongolian nobles severely exploited the lower class herdsmen.
They also control the herders through sects such as Lamaism.
Now recruit a large number of guides, and it is very likely that there will be guides who will lead the army to a dead end.
Only when the government allows the herdsmen to get real benefits and they start to support us can the guides be trusted. "
When Chief of Staff Wen Sheng heard this, he continued to suggest: "Step back and ask Governor Wu to remove some Mongolian tribesmen who have surrendered to us as guides.
Their familiarity with the desert is better than ours.
At least it can avoid some disasters such as sandstorms. "
Huang Wenyu nodded and said: "When we meet the main force, I will make a request to Governor Wu.
Our main goal now is to capture Hami City ahead.
It serves as the first line of defense for Eastern Chagatai Mongolia to resist our army.
As long as Hami City is captured, we can directly attack Turpan.
Abrun Mohammad Azi Khan is in Turpan, where the most powerful Mongolian army in Eastern Chagatai is located. "
Chief of Staff Wen Sheng said in a relaxed tone: "We cavalry are not good at attacking cities, but for the small city built by the Mongols in Eastern Chagatai.
It cannot stop us from moving forward.
The cannons carried by the army can easily defeat the walls of Hami City. "
Huang Wenyu and Wen Sheng discussed how to fight.
They immediately held a battle meeting to discuss the battle plan for attacking Hami City.
The generals of the 4th Cavalry Division unanimously believed that they could capture Hami City relying only on their own strength.
Huang Wenyu ordered the 4th Cavalry Division to attack Hami. Battelle, commander of the 3rd Brigade, acted as the vanguard to attack the city of Hami.
Wen Sheng watched Battelle lead his troops away.
He looked at Huang Wenyu and said: "The division commander's combat plan also uses the strategy of attacking the heart.
Let Battelle lead the Mongolian-dominated third brigade to attack Hami City, which was defended by the Mongols in eastern Chagatai.
These Mongols were accustomed to attacks between Mongolian tribes.
Except for the Mongolian noble tribes with ruling rights.
When other Mongolian tribes were inferior to others, they had no pressure to surrender to powerful tribes.
Many tribes are just outsiders. Whichever tribe is powerful, they will immediately sell their masters and join the powerful tribe.
This is also the reason why tribes on the grassland can develop rapidly. "
Huang Wenyu agreed: "According to our analysis of the situation of the Han people, the tribes on the grassland are in a very primitive feudal system.
The nobles of the large tribes control many small tribes that depend on them.
Their power structure is loose. As long as the core tribe is broken up, other small tribes will have no strength to resist us.
I hope Battle can succeed this time and capture Hami City before the main force arrives. "
Wen Sheng smiled and said: "Commander, our cavalry division does not need to be in a hurry to make meritorious deeds.
The northwest is so large, and most of the area is desert and grassland, suitable for cavalry operations.
According to the battle plan formulated by His Majesty, the infantry defended the heavy city.
This is where our cavalry shines. "
…………………………
Battle, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Cavalry Division, led his men to Hami City.
He did not set up camp and was ready to enter immediately
Attack the city of Hami.
Battle looked at the small earth city of Hami in front of him.
This low earthen city is inferior to the ordinary capital cities in the Central Plains, let alone a major military town.
"Send me people to the city and persuade the defenders in the city to surrender."
The soldiers received orders from Battelle, and they drove a middle-aged man with a beard to Hami City.
Holding the scripture in his hand and wearing special clothes, he walked safely to the gate of Hami City.
None of the defenders on the city dared to attack this man, so they used a hanging basket to carry him to the city.
Battle looked at this man. He was He Zhuo from the Baishan Sect.
The beliefs here in Eastern Chagatai are different from those of other Mongolian forces.
The neighboring Mongolian tribes all believe in Lamaism, but Eastern Chagatai believes in the Fan religion introduced from the Arab region.
The Black Mountain Sect and the White Mountain Sect are two sects that split into two sects due to power struggles.
In the eastern part of Eastern Chagatai, the forces ruled by Abrun Muhammad Azi Khan were dominated by the White Mountain Sect.
To the west of Eastern Chagatai, the forces ruled by Sutan Mahemu were dominated by the Black Mountain Sect.
This Hezhuo is the sect leader of a small tribe in eastern Hami.
All rivers and oases along the route of the Royal Army's advance are controlled by the military.
This man did not understand current affairs and led the tribe to resist the army.
Battle showed no mercy and captured all of his tribe.
He could sense that this person had a very high status in the tribe and was suitable for delivering some news.
Battle did not wait until the city of Hami surrendered.
Instead, he saw more than 3,000 Mongolian cavalry rushing out of Hami City.
Battelle said in shock: "They didn't want to surrender, and they dared to rush out of the city.
Brothers, destroy these people for me. "
Battelle led the Fourth Cavalry Division and charged towards these Mongolian cavalry.
He held a somewhat strange-looking pistol in both hands.
It's like a barrel mounted on a flat box.
This is an arsenal that produces Type 38 pistols, which contain thirty rounds of bullets and have an effective shooting range of up to 200 meters.
The new pistol is far more powerful than the previous revolver.
When Battle saw the Mongolian cavalry rushing forward, he held the gun with both hands and pulled the trigger.
"Hit me, hit me hard."
The gunfire sounded like fried beans, and the Mongolian cavalry in front fell one after another.
The Mongolian cavalry commanded by Baishanjiao and Zhuo are preparing to avenge the clan elders.
These hateful Han troops dare to let the clan elders eat vegetables fried in lard. This is the greatest blasphemy against them.
He was confident at first, as he had the most elite Mongolian cavalry in his hands.
He saw how powerful the Dahua cavalry on the opposite side was.
Hundreds of people were killed or injured in a short period of time. He immediately turned his horse's head and ran back to Hami City.
The cavalry gave up entangled with the 4th Cavalry Division, closed the city gates, and prepared to defend the city.
Battle shouted loudly: "Pull the infantry cannon over to me and blast open the gate of Hami City."
The city gate of Hami City could not withstand the bombardment of infantry artillery, and the city gate was directly blown open.
Battle led the cavalry and rushed directly into Hami City.
"How dare you not surrender? Those who act like chariots will never end well.
Brothers, clear out the resisters and completely capture Hami City. "
