Chapter 78 Where is the enemy?
People of this era also know that the colder it gets as you go north.
In addition, most of the territory in Mobei is actually no longer under the control of Yuan Ting, but under the control of Wasi. Although the Onan River is still a holy land for the Mongols, the holy land at this moment cannot protect the safety of the Mongols, especially because the natural dangers of Mobei are against the Han people. For the Waci people who also live on the grasslands, it is nothing.
This is also the reason why King Yan brought thirty days of dry food.
This thirty-day dry food is nothing else but fried noodles.
It's the kind of fried noodles brought by the volunteer army. In fact, the prototype of this kind of fried noodles had already appeared in the military rations of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, it is not as complete as the improvements made by subsequent generations. King Yan worked even harder for this battle, grinding up a lot of dried meat and mixing it into the fried noodles.
It is also heavy in salt and oil.
To be honest, the value is quite high.
To be honest, after all, every soldier brought a saddle horse, so it's not like he couldn't stuff a little more stuff in. But King Yan didn't think it was necessary. After all, every bit of weight is very important on the battlefield.
War horses are prepared and used for attack. Instead of a pack horse.
As for riding three horses, it was still a bit too luxurious for Daming. At least Changchun Dusi can't do it.
However, the situation on the battlefield was beyond King Yan's expectations.
Heading north, we checked out several winter campsites.
It was not without gain. About a thousand Tatars were killed and a number of horses, cattle and sheep were captured. But they are all skinny as a handful of bones. So King Yan simply killed him and gave the soldiers extra food. And not one of the captured Tatars was left.
There are many small tribes wandering on the grassland. It is difficult to say whose subordinates these tribes are.
Among these campsites, the Encounter Tribe is a gathering of small tribes. The Tatar royal court's rule over the grasslands was not strict. At least these tribes were not controlled. But similarly, these tribes did not know the whereabouts of the Tatar royal court.
On the tenth day after dispatching troops, there was still no trace of the Tatars, not even the movement of large groups of troops.
King Yan's mind was a little unstable.
He had some doubts as to whether the Tatars were on Ping An's side, or whether Ping An had already encountered the main force of the Tatars. It's easy to win a battle, but it's a big problem if you lose a battle.
After all, it was King Yan's first time to lead troops, and some of the six gods were no longer with him at this moment.
On the eleventh day, the temperature dropped sharply and there was heavy snowfall. There are also strong winds. Layers of heavy snow were rolled up, and the sky and the earth were all white, and it was impossible to tell the direction. King Yan could only lead his army to avoid the wind and snow, and could not move forward.
This incident also brought some haze to King Yan's heart.
The reason is very simple. This season is already spring in the Central Plains. Although it is still winter in Mobei, it is already the end. In this case, it is normal for the weather to get warmer every day. Instead of this, the temperature suddenly dropped and it even snowed.
It snowed heavily for three consecutive days.
Finally the snow stopped on the fifteenth day.
At this time, food and grass were already somewhat insufficient. Fortunately, we captured some livestock on the way and gave the soldiers extra meals. Because it was freezing and snowy, it would not be a problem to carry the slaughtered livestock into strips of meat. After all, the weather was like a natural refrigerator.
Although there was still food and grass, morale was a little weak.
Because in the past three days, dozens of people froze to death and more than a hundred suffered frostbite. The frostbite mentioned here is the kind that will cause at least one finger to fall off. Ordinary frostbite does not deserve to be called frostbite at all.
The decision-making power was once again in the hands of King Yan.
Go ahead and return to the army.
If we continue, the risk will be great, because the food and grass have already reached the warning line. If another snowstorm like this comes, it will easily trap the army for several more days. By then there will be no food in the army, but there will be big problems.
But King Yan stroked his horse and decided to move on.
At least let’s meet up with Ping An.
But if it doesn't work, you can still kill the horse. He was really unwilling and returned empty-handed.
Fortunately, after a heavy snowstorm, God did not trouble them again. On the seventeenth day, the two armies met on the banks of the Onan River.
The situation between King Yan and Ping An found that neither party had discovered where the main force of the Tatars was? At this time, there was not much food and grass left. Even if the two armies made adjustments to each other, they could still return to Zhaozhou in about ten days and after a few days of hunger.
At this moment, Ping An was also anxious and angry. Even the ice and snow could not hide the irritability deep in his heart.
Since the troops were sent out, tens of thousands of soldiers have traveled thousands of miles without engaging in battle with the Tatars, and hundreds of them have died of frostbite one after another. And on the return trip, more people are destined to freeze to death. In other words, the non-combat casualty loss in this battle was at least a thousand people.
Plus other losses, I don’t know how much. Under such circumstances, returning without success, even Ping An feels ashamed of the world.
Ping An said: "Where did the Tatars go? Now the Tatars are in Eastern Mongolia, and there are only a handful of places that can be used as campsites. Can he fly?"
King Yan has stopped talking. In the past few days and nights, King Yan has not slept well. He has a big sore in his mouth. It hurts when he opens his mouth. In this case, King Yan could not speak at all, but whether he spoke or not, King Yan's anxiety could not be concealed.
"Your Highness," Zhang Yu broke into the camp and said, "Go and have a look."
King Yan frowned, but he still trusted Zhang Yu. He knew that Zhang Yu would not make mistakes, so he went out without asking any more questions.
From a distance, I saw a lot of people gathered around.
King Yan walked over and the onlookers dispersed. King Yan saw a big ice block, and a hand protruded from the ice block, and a man froze to death inside. But when King Yan saw this hand, his expression suddenly changed, because he saw that the man's gloves were the style of the Ming army.
This is a place where the Ming Army has never set foot. How come there are corpses of the Ming Army?
King Yan immediately said: "Smash it open."
Zhang Yu stepped forward and said, "Brother, I'm sorry." Then he personally swung a war hammer and smashed it down. After breaking open the big ice block, he gave up the war hammer and used his hand instead for fear of hurting the body inside.
After a while, the person inside was revealed.
Immediately someone shouted: "Old drunkard."
King Yan also recognized that this was one of the Ye BuZhous he sent to the grassland to track down the Tatar camp. Because he loved drinking, he was always drunk, but as Ye BuZhou, he was a good player, but he didn't want him to die in Here it is.
At this time, someone brought a pot of hot water and slowly poured it on it.
Zhang Yu stepped forward and searched the old drunkard's body carefully. Finally, he found a bamboo tube in the innermost layer of his clothes. He opened the bamboo tube and found a map. King Yan opened it and saw that a black figure was drawn on the slightly abstract map. Point, King Yan judged, was about three days' journey to the west from here.
After King Yan read it, he handed it to Ping An. After Ping An read it, he handed it to Zhang Yu.
After reading this, several important generals fell into silence.
The three-day journey was not far, and it was a journey of thousands of miles. I was still afraid of a mere three-day journey, but the problem was that the military rations were no longer enough. Moreover, the location on this map is very, very close to Moxi, that is, very close to the territory of the Waci people.
Of course, there are no specific borders on the grassland. The border between the two sides is more of a range than a specific place.
This is actually very unreasonable. Could it be that the Tatar Khan was not afraid of Waca controlling him? Let him become a puppet emperor. When the time comes, the fate of His Highness King Yi may not be better than falling into the hands of Ming Dynasty.
If there is a mistake, it is very likely that the army will run out of food in the ice and snow, and it is estimated that not many people will be able to return alive.
The generals actually figured it out. But the problem is not to figure it out, but to make a decision.
Only King Yan can make this decision.
King Yan did not look at the map again, but came to the old drunkard's body and gently groomed the old drunkard. The old drunkard's wine gourd was still beside him, but it could no longer pour out a drop of wine.
King Yan shook it and said, "Go get the wine and fill it up for this brother." Immediately, someone brought King Yan's wine pot and poured the wine into the old drunkard's wine gourd. King Yan arranged for people to restrain the old drunkard and place him on the spot.
He already had a determination in his mind at this moment.
