Originally, the Ming army continued to resist in order to cover the Ming people in the Volga River Basin, and the people of the Heshuot tribe on the east bank and the Gossart tribe on the west bank evacuated north.
As a result, the betrayal of these tribes led the Ottoman Empire's cavalry to march straight in and raid the weak points of the Ming army. At least 10,000 Ming people were unable to evacuate in time and fell into the hands of the enemy.
The most critical thing is that there is no accurate number of how many Ottoman troops came. There are rumors that it is at least 300,000, and some say it is as high as 500,000. The conventional strength of the Ming army was only about 50,000. Even if there is a temporary conscription and all the herdsmen are recruited as soldiers, the number will not exceed one hundred thousand.
Regardless of whether the enemy is 200,000 or 500,000, they are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength.
In this case, people's hearts became even more panicked.
Seeing this, Hong Chengchou knew that stabilizing the morale of the people and the military was the key, so he immediately ordered a meeting among the generals.
During the military meeting, the atmosphere was solemn. Hong Chengchou tried his best to speak in a relaxed tone: "Although the enemies are numerous, they have come from afar and will become exhausted over time. Our army will win this battle!"
Hearing this, the Ming army generals from Tianshan and the pass responded loudly one by one.
"Yes, Ming Dynasty is invincible!"
"The last general calls for a battle, kills all the traitors, and drives Osman back!"
"..."
Except for them, the other generals didn't say much. Including Punchuk, the former Great Khan of the Torgut Tribe, who has been named the Duke of Tuguo, and Razin, the former leader of the Cossat Tribe in Volgabo.
In fact, it is easy to understand that for them, Hong Chengchou's reason is not a reason. If it is said that coming from a long distance will lead to fatigue and failure in the end, then the Ming army came from Tianshan, which was farther than the Ottomans. But in the end, it was not the Ming army that won!
Not to mention, at the beginning, the Ming army did not have as many troops as Tsarist Russia; but now the Ottoman Empire has far more troops than the Ming army.
Also, Mingwei Fort was far away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, so there was no hope of reinforcements at all, so it could only fight alone. One hundred thousand versus three hundred thousand, or half a million or more, can we win?
Regarding the silence of these people, Hong Chengchou could clearly feel their worries. If these generals are like this, then the morale of their soldiers will probably be even lower.
At this time, if you want to win this war, you must first build up morale.
The best way to boost morale is to either win a decisive victory or to have reinforcements come to help.
For now, reinforcements are out of the question. Then there is only one way, find a way to concentrate the troops to win the battle.
However, the current situation is very chaotic, and the enemy's situation is still unknown. If you want to win a battle cleanly and neatly, it's not that difficult!
Originally, Hong Chengchou's idea was to destroy the Volga River Basin and lead the enemy to Mingwei Fort, so that the enemy's battle line could be stretched long enough. As long as we can hold on, the more troops the enemy brings, the tighter the logistics will be, and they will be the first to collapse in the end.
But the prerequisite for doing this is that the morale of his soldiers must be high. Otherwise, we will be crushed by the enemy before we can defeat them.
Thinking about the key to this matter, Hong Chengchou felt a little tricky.
At this time, he had to admire that the emperor only led 20,000 cavalry troops into the Mughal Empire. Fighting in a strange enemy country, and being able to win consecutive battles, and finally destroy a huge enemy country, is really amazing!
He was just thinking about this when suddenly, there were hurried footsteps outside.
When everyone in the lobby heard it, they couldn't help but immediately turned their heads and looked outside. At this time, in such a hurry, there must be some bad news, maybe another tribe has rebelled and surrendered to the enemy!
"Report, eight hundred miles urgent..." The voice came outside the lobby without anyone seeing it.
Hearing this, Hong Chengchou's brows suddenly wrinkled. After spending eight hundred miles in a hurry, could it be that the main force of the Ottoman Empire came to kill it?
If he thinks this way, other people naturally think the same way. Everyone's expression suddenly became serious, including the local generals of the Ming Dynasty.
In just a moment, the captain standing guard at the door flashed in from outside the lobby. He announced loudly and excitedly: "Sir, we came from the capital in a hurry. The angel is here!"
"What?" Hong Chengchou didn't expect it to be an angel coming from the capital, and was immediately surprised. Could there be some trouble in the country at this time?
As soon as I had this idea, I saw something wrong with the captain's face. If there was really going to be trouble in the capital, he shouldn't be so excited!
Just as he was thinking about it, he heard the captain add excitedly: "The emperor sent someone to deliver a message, saying that the coalition forces of the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire would come to attack us."
Hearing this, everyone in the lobby was dumbfounded.
The enemies they faced were all the Ottoman Empire troops. According to rumors, the Persian Empire army was also attacking the Ming Dynasty. However, after all, it is just a rumor and they cannot confirm it.
However, the angel who rushed eight hundred miles from the capital clearly stated that there was an army from the Persian Empire. Calculating the time, how far in advance did this news have to be known!
If you are not shocked by this, it can only be said that you are too nervous.
Before they could recover, they saw two captains walking in supporting an exhausted messenger.
When Hong Chengchou saw it, he came to his senses and quickly led his generals to greet the angel.
After a while, the imperial edict was handed into Hong Chengchou's hands. The decree clearly stated that this time, it was the idea of the Persian Empire, which colluded with the Ottoman Empire. Because they were afraid of the Ming Dynasty, they took action and wanted to drive the Ming Dynasty back to the east.
In this regard, Emperor Chongzhen made a clear request that the Ming armies in Central Asia should stand firm and wait for reinforcements. He would once again lead a personal expedition and would never return to Beijing until the Persian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were destroyed.
Although Hong Chengchou and others knew that the emperor's magical calculations were unrivaled in the world. There are even immortals who help out and can give immortal creatures to communicate news. However, the capital is really far away from here. The most important thing is that the emperor even knew the internal situation of the Persian Empire and the Ottoman Empire very well. This ability really shocked them once again and deepened their understanding.
They were like this, not to mention Racine and Punchuk, who were not very familiar with Emperor Chongzhen. When they figured out when Emperor Chongzhen probably knew the news, they were immediately fooled.
The whole worldview before has collapsed!
They have never seen such a god before. Now, they will see a real, living god, that is their emperor!
Apart from this, it is impossible to explain why the Ming Emperor, who was thousands of miles away from the capital, knew so clearly about the affairs of the Persian Empire and the Ottoman Empire!
I don’t know how long it took before everyone in the lobby finally came to their senses. Suddenly, they were so excited that they almost knelt down and worshiped in the direction of the capital.
The morale problem that Hong Chengchou was most worried about was solved instantly by this decree.
It can be said that this imperial edict of Emperor Chongzhen is far more useful than winning a battle. Especially for Racine and Punchuk, it really reached a kind of fanaticism: fighting for the living God!
Therefore, Hong Chengchou didn't need to worry about it, and immediately ordered the army to continue to cover the retreat of the people, and lead the enemy to Mingwei Fort, and then fight the enemy decisively, or hold on and wait for the emperor to lead the expedition in person, and then destroy the enemy.
After these generals dispersed, they naturally spread the news to their subordinates.
At first, many people did not believe it and suspected that the news was false. Especially the soldiers of the Torgut and Gossart tribes were even more unbelievable.
In the Torgut troops, Ayuqi asked in an unbelievable tone: "Father, how is this possible? Could it be that the edict is fake and was faked by the Governor to boost morale? "
He has indeed grown up, and it is rare for him to come up with such a reason.
When the other subordinates heard this, they all looked at Punchuk without blinking, wanting to hear an explanation?
"You are thinking too much!" Pengchuk said flatly to his son, "Do you know what the crime is of falsely passing on the imperial edict? It is to punish the nine tribes, who dares to falsely pass on the imperial edict! And it is not at the moment of life and death, the Governor It is even more impossible for an adult to take such a risk!"
At this point, he paused and then said in a confident tone: "And I can't even tell whether the imperial edict is true or false? Don't think it's incredible that the emperor knows these things when he is thousands of miles away. You You must remember that the emperor is a real god, do you understand? Aren’t the previous rumors about the emperor, about the emperor fighting against the common people, predicting the enemy like a god, etc. not enough to explain this? "
After hearing his words, Ayuqi and others were as dumbfounded as Pengchuk had been!
Their worldview also collapsed!
It turns out that there really is a god, or their emperor, who really exists in the world and has been conquering the world! He is the kind of God who is invincible!
Things that cannot be understood can only be attributed to God in the end.
Thinking of fighting for God, needless to say, the morale of the Ming army skyrocketed.
As a result, Hong Chengchou's strategy was immediately implemented. After those people heard about it, it was no longer difficult to leave their homeland, and they could leave as soon as they wanted, without hesitation!
For them, the power of God is so great!
On April 18, the 30th year of Chongzhen, Ottoman Prime Minister Koprülü personally led an army of 230,000 to Mingwei Fort on the east bank of the Volga River. Among them, 150,000 are the troops of the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, and the other 80,000 are the servant armies who surrendered to them, including the original Bukhara Khanate, as well as the small tribes in the Volta River Basin, including Tur Hut tribe, Gossart tribe, etc.
The number of people and the momentum can be said to be very astonishing. The most important thing is that they have won consecutive battles and their morale is high. Suddenly, the southern plains of Minwe Fort were filled with Ottoman troops.
