Chapter 27: Fire Wasteland (1)

On March 20, the Ministry of War issued a letter to the Liaodong Dushi. Since he had already made up his mind about the expedition, Zhu Zhi immediately sent a messenger to Peking to inform the King of Yan of the battle plan.

In his opinion, this is normal. If the two troops advance without cooperation, they will easily be defeated by each other.

Zhu Zhi’s meaning is very obvious. As the younger brother’s respect for his brother, he first came up with a plan and gave it to Zhu Di for review. If Zhu Di does not agree, he can give his combat plan. Zhu Zhi will modify it according to the plan in Peking at that time.

He believed that Zhu Di, who had been through many battles, would naturally understand what this means.

Tie Xuan's plan was very simple. The Liaodong army went from east to northwest, and the light cavalry broke through the Korqin grassland, searched the Tu River and turned to the southwest, and took the Red Yaozi Mountain directly. As long as we took this place, the Mongolians in the direction of Daning would be a game of dead chess.

The key to the battle is the time for cooperation between the two sides. If the Beiping Army takes action early, the Liaodong Army will not be able to close the Mongols' retreat; conversely, the Beiping Army will not be able to break through for a long time, and the Liaodong Army may be in a dilemma of being alone and deep.

It took about eight days to speed up the 600-mile rush, and Zhu Zhi used this time to prepare for the three guards gathered in Yizhou.

In order to adapt to grassland operations, each scout unit was equipped with a double horse; the baggage unit also turned into a pack horse; considering the use of bows and arrows in the open area, the carrying of arrows was doubled; in addition, several caravan porters were recruited as guides, and in recent years, Liaodong merchants and Mongolians have been engaged in business, and a large number of guides have been secretly cultivated.

In Yizhou Forward Camp, there is also a special army, which is the Liaodong Lianxun caravan. The so-called caravan is a team of robbers, who bring the best grooms and herders, waiting for the cattle, horses and fat sheep in the grassland.

The caravans went to war with the army and became a routine when they conquered Haixi. The spoils were four or six, and the Liaodong merchants accounted for four or six points, and the army accounted for six points. Such a profitable transaction really stimulated the appetite of merchants.

But this is how Liaodong Lianhao operates.

It has attracted rumors from the Confucian scholars in Liaodong. In the Confucian political morality, the Ming army was a king's army, so how could it be profitable for plunder? They did not dare to directly accuse the Liao king, and they could only vent their anger on the merchants, saying that the merchants had ruined the Liao king. The merchants' nature of pursuing interests made them confused the prince, and the prince should wake up.

Stop merchants' behaviors that are harmful to nature. Zhu Zhi just ignores these public opinions, and forbidding them to spread will only encourage these statements. Zhu Zhi, who comes from modern times, certainly knows that the more suppressed all public opinions, the easier it is to make them sprout, so he naturally ignores them.

Nima led the Jurchen independent scout team to Yizhou. Since entering the military camp, this little girl has never smiled.

He always found various excuses to enter the military camp to approach Zhu Zhi, discussing the scout's route to the local area, and then asking for her to find a "Shenyang horse". Zhu Zhi always received her patiently.

Of course, it is also very pleasing to see Nima's figure in the military camp where men appear.

On March 29th, the messenger brought back Zhu Di's reply. He did not change any changes to Zhu Zhi's plan, but just agreed on the time to send troops on April 1st.

Tie Xuan, who accompanied Zhu Zhi to Yizhou, looked at Zhu Di with a serious expression.

He said worriedly: "Since the King of Yan took the initiative to invite the battle, why did he return it without any changes to our combat plan? Did King of Yan have no plans? This is very abnormal."

Zhu Zhi said: "It may be that the fourth brother of Dingshi's plan is very appreciative."

Tie Xuan was still a little worried and said, "Your Highness has too few soldiers. Bei Zhi thinks to bring Guangning Central Guards up again. They are stationed in Beizhen. They have just been preparing for the spring exercise, and the personnel and weapons are relatively complete, so there is no need to prepare separately.

The quick horse notification will be available in three days. It will be no big problem for us to go to the battle one day later, so we will only have one more day of road at that time.”

Zhu Zhi said: "Since you have made a plan, there is no need to change it temporarily. We still want to practice troops this time. Let's talk about the three guards plus our local guard camp and thousands of scouts. There are also 13,000 people, and I think it's almost done."

Tie Xuan said: "Your Highness, soldiers are in a place where life and death are in danger. It's better to transfer Guangning Central Guard to a more stable place."

Zhu Zhi pondered for a moment and said, "It's good that this is the case, but the time to go to the battle cannot be delayed, so that others will not gossip. Moreover, the preparation for three days is too hasty, and it will take some time for food and grass. Let's do this, they are the back army.

Just put the formation on me later."

On the first day of April, the Liaodong Army set out on the expedition as scheduled. Thirty thousand guards were the front army, and the Shenyang Zhongwei was in the middle. After the Lalu Guard suppressed, Zhu Zhi appointed the commander of the Shenyang Zhongwei Qu Qing as a general and unified the command of the three armies. Ten thousand Liaodong soldiers rushed into the grassland in a fierce manner.

In late spring, the grass grows and the birds fly. After a spring rain, the grassland is full of flowers, the sky is high and the clouds are high, and the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant. The horses walk on the grassland freely. Where is the war? It is clearly a one-day trip to the Mongolian grassland.

Zhu Zhi understood why the man on the grassland was so generous. Facing such a vast grassland and such a blue sky, how could a despicable villain grow?

But such a beautiful grassland and such a clear sky live one of the most barbaric people in the world. Although the Mongolians are generous, they kill Han people a lot. Zhu Zhi was also full of desire for fighting with them.

As early as the beginning of receiving the notes from Beiping, scouts from Liaodong had already been scattered onto the grassland. Based on the reconnaissance, Mahamu, the Prime Minister of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, led a 20,000 cavalry to besiege Daning.

According to Tie Xuan's plan, the army first marched northwest, making a taste of going deep into the Hanha grassland to attack the Tatar tribe. After arriving at Tuhe, they turned around and headed south and headed straight to Red Yaozi Mountain.

So as soon as I entered the grassland, the vanguard 30,000 guards roared across three small tribes. Hundreds of Mongolian men, Jurchen Ren, who were not fierce enough, all became unjust souls under the knife, and thousands of old, young, women and children became prisoners.

It makes sense for Tie Xuan to choose these guards. The Sanwan Wei and Lalu Wei are both guards composed of Jurchens. The Jurchens were destroyed by Mongolia in history, and there were unresolved contradictions between the two tribes.

Now that the Jurchens have been surrendered to the Han people, they naturally have a fox and a tiger's power, and they will naturally be like a wolf entering a flock of sheep when dealing with the Mongols.

These prisoners also plundered cattle and sheep from the land expedition caravan, and sent people back to Liaodong by the caravans who went to the expedition of the land. This time, the march was of speed, so Zhu Zhi did not allow the caravan to follow throughout the journey, and drove them away immediately whenever he arrived at Tuhe.

So these merchants scraped the Mongolian tribe three feet like hungry wolves, and did so excessively that even Zhu Zhi couldn't stand it.

More than 10,000 cavalry swept across the grassland like a whirlwind, and there was only burning, killing, plundering, wherever they went. After sweeping the tribe, the finishing work was handed over to the caravan. The Liaodong Army did not stop at all, and rushed straight to Tuhe.

What is strange is that the direction of the Liaodong Army's advance was an extremely important side battlefield, but the Mongols seemed to be unprepared.

According to the report from the vanguard, he had only had contact with a small group of Mongolian cavalry, and the Mongolian cavalry was about to collapse at once and did not fight with the Ming army.

On the seventh day of the outbreak, the Liaodong army advanced to the bank of Tuhe River and left the army with all the caravans. The grasslands on the bank of Tuhe River were plump, and the Liaodong army, who were rushing continuously, set up camp by the river.

The night covers the entire field, with stars dotted in the blue sky. At first glance, there are bonfires everywhere in the camp.

After dinner, Zhu Zhi and Nima walked on the hillside not far from Daying. The breeze blew through Nima's hair in the sunset, making her look heroic.

Zhu Zhi was about to say something, when a horse ran up at the foot of the mountain: "Your Highness, all the generals are waiting for you to have a meeting in the big tent."

Zhu Zhi slapped his forehead and came here to meet for the first time. He almost forgot about walking with the beauty. Zhu Zhi smiled helplessly and flew back to the camp.

Qu Qing said, "Your Highness, the taste is a bit wrong. According to the scout's return, there are no soldiers or soldiers from the Mongolians within a radius of fifty miles. The last general always thinks that the Tartars are not tempting us to go deeper."

Guni said: "What General Qu said is very true. Since our troops met a small group of Mongolian cavalry the day before yesterday, they have followed not far from our army. If we want to pursue, they will run away. The Mongolian horses are fast and they will not be able to catch up for the moment.

Today, when I arrived by the river, the cavalry team disappeared southward. “

Zhu Zhi asked the scout Qianhu Wanchao and said, "General Wan, how did you scouts be assigned? What did you find?"

Wan Chao said: "When you go back to your highness, the scouts used four people as a group and sent out sixteen directions around the army in two days. Four groups were sent out every day, and the farthest distance was fifty miles away from the army.

Every hour, one person will reward you. If the scouts who join in the direction fail to come back on time, they will immediately send a general flag to respond in that direction. The Tartar cavalry mentioned by General Gu today retreated to the south under the tracking of a general flag.

There is no abnormal movement yet.”

Zhu Zhi said to Zhuang De again: "Siren, what do you think?"

Zhuang Dedao: "If this situation is true, it is indeed a bit strange. Your Highness might as well stay here for a few days and wait for the Guangning Central Guard to meet before going."

Zhu Zhi asked Qu Qing again: "Zhengxin, what do you think?"

Qu Qing said: "What General Zhuang said is a safe plan. It is estimated that Guangning Central Guard will catch up in five days. Your Highness will wait for them to make plans."

Zhu Zhi pondered for a while and said, "According to the plan, our army must arrive at Red Harrier Mountain within ten days. If we wait for a few days, it will be too late. If the fighter plane is delayed, I am afraid that the fourth brother will not be so easy to meet.

Although what everyone mentioned is a problem, at least there are no Tartars around our army at present, so there is no need to disrupt the morale of the army because of some disturbances. In my opinion, soldiers are very important. Our army rests for a day and immediately travel through Henan early the morning of the next day.
Chapter completed!