On August 19, the thirteenth year of Wanli, Tangnu Ulianghai was already dyed with autumn colors. On the east bank of the Daqian River, 5,000 Han troops fought a decisive battle against 50,000 Oirat tribesmen who had gathered together. With the consent of the commanders of both sides, the battle was known as the "Battle of the Daqian River" in history.
In fact, in all wars, the prerequisite for a decisive battle is the willingness of both parties. A battle cannot be fought if only one party has the intention of a decisive battle. For the Oirat tribe, the 50,000-strong army killed more than 3,000 sheep every day, which was quite stressful. Zaktu Khan sent warriors to call for formation and asked the Ming army to go out for a decisive battle. Ma Dong was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately agreed. This is the so-called "will" of the coaches of both sides.
Zaktuhan, who was confused about the situation, only placed 20,000 cavalry in front of him, and the remaining 30,000 were all reserved in order to prevent the Ming army from daring to fight decisively and fleeing to defend the camp. On the morning of August 19, both sides came out of camp. Zaktukhan's 20,000 elite troops formed three square formations on the left, center and right, and were ready for battle.
After the Ming army left the camp, they set up Ling Yunyi's cross-shaped formation under the Tachibana Mountain Castle and waited for the opponent's cavalry to charge. After that, the whole process and results were lackluster.
Unlike the Khalkha tribe, Oirat, which lives in the northwest of the desert, has no perceptual understanding of the overwhelming war in which the Ming army defeated Chahar in the ninth year of Wanli. Therefore, when Hu Chao Chao Mang came up, he soon realized what it means to attack a stone with an egg.
For the Han army, the biggest difficulty in the Luo wilderness strategy was logistics. In order to reduce the supply of the front army, there were no more than 10,000 troops on both the east and west routes. Therefore, all these soldiers were selected from the best, and they were all repeatedly selected from the elite soldiers of the nine sides.
The imperial court also provided policy incentives: all the gains from raids and hunting by the two Ming armies in the Luo wilderness would belong to the generals, and the imperial court and the emperor would not take any money from them. Therefore, these soldiers had an extremely strong desire to fight.
In order to obtain the first right to occupy the Luo wilderness, the Mobei and Monan Mongolian tribes that had surrendered to the imperial court competed extremely fiercely for the spots in the mixed army. As a result, the Mongolian cavalry incorporated into the two armies were also the best of the best.
Although the Ming army was not equipped with 4,000-kilogram heavy artillery due to transportation difficulties, it brought a large number of 1,800-kilogram improved small cannons and tiger crouching cannons. Even the Mongolian cavalry were equipped with blunderbuss and grenades—comparable to the five-pound cannon on the opposite side. Compared with the tens of thousands of people, we are still fighting a war of generational differences.
So, under the remote watch of the tribes of Kun and Kun, the Ming army, which had been holding back for more than half a year, was like a tiger emerging from the fire. After preparing a round of artillery fire, it was like a red-hot steel knife inserted into milk tofu - Zaktuhan's horn sounded. In less than a meal, his front center army was defeated, and then the whole army was in chaos, and the sheep were released on the battlefield.
The Ming and Mongolian coalition forces mounted their horses and began to chase the North, killing and looting without success. In fact, less than two thousand people were killed on the spot in this battle, and the rest were the proceeds of the cover-up - 7,000 heads, 16,000 prisoners, 460,000 cattle and sheep, and more than 23,000 horses seized.
Zaktuhan killed several horses before running back to the territory of his Heshuote tribe, and then ordered the whole family to pack up and move northward.
Setting out to move north in late autumn, this is not the way to seek death. The Great Khan issued orders one after another, but the Otoks were extremely resistant and found various reasons to delay. In the end, Zaktu Khan had no choice but to roll up his golden tent and flee eastward on his own, taking with him the 5,000 cavalry loyal to him in the tribe and a large amount of supplies.
The result was just as Zaktu Khan expected. Twenty days later, the Ming army broke into the Heshuote grassland on the west side of Yibohai (note: Balkesh Lake) and committed countless crimes.
Those who committed the crime together were the small tribes such as Kunkun, Huite, and Kelet who had been oppressed by the Oirat Alliance for a long time, including the Dulbert tribe who was in front of the battle anyway-this Dulbert was related to Horqin of Eastern Mongolia. Therefore, although they are one of the four major tribes of Wala, they are seriously at odds with Heshuote and Zoros. At this time, seeing that the alliance leader Zaktu Khan was unlucky, he hurriedly stepped on them and grabbed the territory.
The Han army defeated 5000 people against 50000 people. The victory was clean and tidy. All the forces in the desert grassland immediately understood that the 130 years of sluggish history of Ming Dynasty father after Tumubao was completely over. At this time, not only did the king return, but he was also particularly capable of fighting. .
After the war was counted, there were five heads that were different from the four heads of Oirat that caught the attention of the military judge: these dead heads had sparse and yellowish hair and thick beards. He has a high nose bridge and clear facial contours. Looking at the blue eyes inside his eyelids, the military judge came to the military Jinyi for questioning.
Chen Hongyou, who has been promoted to Deputy Qianhu, affirmed: "They are Rakshasa people. Just grab a few people around Zaktu and ask, and you will know. These people must have been here for a long time, otherwise Zaktuhan would not As for coming forward without negotiating with us, they must have been instigated."
Sure enough, I knew that there were many prisoners of the Rakshasa people. This group of Rakshasa people had already arrived in Oirat this summer. Their main purpose was to provoke Zaktukhan and Rakshasa forces to attack the Kazakh Khanate. They attacked Madong just by the way.
Oirat and the Kazakh Khanate have been at war since sixty years ago - Oara has been squeezed westward by Khalkha, and they have to compete for the Kazakh Khanate's pastures during their migration. The two sides have long been at war. In the original time and space, these two groups fought for nearly two hundred years, until the Junggar tribe was destroyed by Qianlong, known as the "Two Hundred Years' War".
In this time and space, Ma Fang was ordered to restore the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties. The tripartite state of Kazakhstan, Oirat, and Yeerqiang was broken by Ma Fang. The Yeerqiang Khanate was wiped out under Ma Fang's powerful attack. The capital Yarkand has been captured by the Ming Dynasty. .
In Zaktuhan's view, Yeerqiang died in civil strife. Because at that time the ninth uncle of Ahemati Khan, Abdureyim, entered Yarkand and attempted to claim the throne, he played a Yeerqiang version of "Jingnan", but Ma Fang took advantage of him.
Therefore, it is reasonable for Zaktu, who thinks he is blocked by the vast sea and mountains, to make a big show of trying to eat Ma Dong's "lone army". Unexpectedly, they had a bad start. They lost their teeth directly by the Daqian River, and the Heshuo Special Division was almost expelled on the grassland. Except for the Khan who had run away, almost all the tribe's population and livestock were divided up.
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After the victory of Ma Dong, the biggest crisis of the Kazakh Khanate was relieved, and the Ming army completely opened up the situation in Tangnu Ulianghai. Taawul Khan, the leader of the Kazakh Khanate, sent an envoy to present gifts and expressed Kazakhstan's willingness to contribute to the Ming Dynasty to Ma Dong. Ma Dong did not dare to be expert, and replied that after the snow melts next spring, he will send someone to report to the Governor's Mansion of the Western Regions.
It is certain that the Kazakh Khanate will become a vassal. Except for Choros, the other three of the four Oirat also express the meaning of deferment. Ma Dong presided over the division of pasture, and Durbut's tribe got the largest and fattest piece.
As for the small tribes such as Kunkun and Huite, they also received the spoils they deserved after participating in the war - this is the law of survival on the grassland. The collapse of large tribes is like a "whale falling". "When a whale falls, all things come to life." The decline of the Heshuote tribe naturally strengthened the victors who besieged it.
Of course, the biggest gain was Ma Dong's Western Expedition. With the spoils of war, the Dingbian Fortress project did not require any money from the court, and Ma Dong's credit book was marked with great success. The Heshuote Department has a total of nearly one million heads of various livestock, which is enough to pay for the cost of building a city at the confluence of the Xiaoqian River next year.
Before the winter of the thirteenth year of Wanli came, the Han army in Tangnu Ulianghai lived in a fortress made of logs and cracked yellow mud. Dotted houses are scattered in the Dingbian City that is about to be built. Although this city does not even have a foundation, everyone knows that the rule of the Ming Dynasty will continue to deepen toward the northwest with the completion of this city.
