This place is close to Tengger, but because of the melted snow from Helan Mountain, it has become a land of rich water and grass.
The old sheepherder wearing a Mongolian red hat tightly wrapped his fur coat, watching the skinny old dog chasing the sheep in the cold wind, mumbling indistinctly that Taiji was crazy.
Last winter was very cold. The sandy wind blew from the desert and many livestock froze to death.
It happened that just a few days ago, the cavalry traveled to every winter pasture in the entire grassland to convey Lord Guru Taiji's order, asking the herdsmen to send the Lord's sheep and horses to the place where Zaisang was.
This kind of order is undoubtedly familiar to the herdsmen. Just a few years ago, Taiji also issued such an order when Lin Dan Khan, who was defeated in the east, passed through the border.
The difference is that that order was to keep the sheep and horses and send the rest to the station; but this time the order was to send all the sheep and horses.
Leave no one behind.
Of course Guru Taiji was not crazy.
He is just like a man against the current, trying to grasp at every straw to save his life.
The name Gulu sounds a bit like a pheasant, like a hungry child, but he actually has a very prominent background in Monan.
His great ancestor was Dayan Khan.
Liezu is the third son of Dayan Khan, Habulha Khan who once seized the throne of Beiyuan Khan, and the father of Anda Khan, Balsbrot. The name of the Khan means Emperor's Uncle Khan.
Tianzu was the eldest son of Habulha Khan, the head of thirty thousand households on the right wing of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Jinong, Gunbilik.
My great-great-grandfather was Gunbilik’s eldest son, Jinong Nayan’s eldest son.
My great-grandfather was the eldest son of Nayan Dayer, Huang Taiji, the son of Buyan Bangdu. When his father died of illness, he was stationed as a herdsman in Xiaosongshan, Gansu Province, and he was in the army that conquered Oara in the west.
Therefore, he only inherited his father's position as Governor and Tongzhi. Before he could go to the Babai Chamber to hold the ceremony to succeed Jinong, he was killed by Eshelebei, a nobleman of the Huite tribe under the Oirat Dulbert tribe.
The grandfather was Bu Yan Batu'er Huang Taiji's eldest son, Bu Shitu, who was only thirteen years old. With the support of Huang Taiji, he inherited his grandfather's position as a farmer and reigned for forty-eight years.
His father was Xue Ling and Huang Taiji, who was also the eldest son of Jinong. He inherited the throne of Jinong at the age of thirty-six, reigned for six months, and died in the same year.
Guru Taiji was the eldest son of Xue Ling and Huang Taiji.
His uncle Elinchen deceived him when he was young, and attracted the great-grandson of Qiegehuang Taiji, the right-wing minister of power for 30,000 households, Sa Nang Taiji, promoted the title of Khan, and inherited the position of Jinong.
However, Guru Taiji, who lost his father at a young age, could only lead thousands of tribesmen and thousands of herdsmen and cavalry, living in hibernation in Helan Shanxi.
He once regarded Lin Dan Khan, who was on the Western Expedition, as a wise master, and offered sheep and horses to his troops when they passed through the border, but he failed to get anything in return.
The Great Khan did send troops, but it was not for him, let alone to defend the Northern Yuan tradition.
The Great Khan just beat him randomly, swept through 30,000 households on the right wing, defeated his uncle Erlinchen, and turned Monan upside down, but he did not let him inherit Jinong.
Lin Dan Khan doesn’t want Jinong!
But this time, the new Khan's order came from south of the border wall.
In fact, Guru Taiji knew very well that the great Khan named Liu Chengzong had the wrong bloodline and had not received a decent traditional aristocratic education.
Just like the lack of knowledge revealed in the letters sent by the Great Khan, there are obviously no noble attendants from the orthodox Khan's court around him, and they don't even know that he comes from a prominent family in Monan. He is treated like a person living in a remote place.
The Northern Yuan Dynasty is generally a small noble.
But in fact, it was precisely because he saw that Liu Chengzong didn't know who he was and treated him with a normal heart, that the weak Guru Taiji felt rare respect and inspired a huge favor.
In the letter, Liu Chengzong did not ask him to surrender or pay tribute. He just said that there is no hatred between them. He knows that you do not have many troops and your tribe is poor and miserable. If you have the idea of serving me, we will trade with each other.
You provide horses and sheep, and I provide shochu and summer clothes.
At the rate of thirty thousand, if more horses and sheep are provided, I will grant you or your son an official position based on your contribution.
If you are willing, I will protect your right to be a pastor in Helan Shanxi and allow your tribe to sell shaochen and summer clothes to 230,000 households in Monan without any interference from anyone.
With Lin Dan Khan in front of him, and suddenly faced with Liu Chengzong, a Khan who seemed to be able to communicate and could communicate easily, Guru Taiji felt complicated.
Liu Chengzong's envoy only sat in the tent for an hour before Guru Taiji completed his thinking, sent people to deliver the order to various winter pastures under his command, and gave the reply to the envoy.
The letter to Guru Taiji was written by Liu Chengzong in Pingliang.
When I received the reply, they had already passed Guyuan, and the troops and horses had also reached the first line of the second border wall.
Indeed, as Guru Taiji imagined, Liu Chengzong didn't know much about him.
But this does not mean that there are no Mongolian talents around him who are proficient in Monan affairs.
There are many of them around Lion Lion, and there are many of them.
In his Huben camp, there were Sanwushu, the chief minister of the Chahar Khan Court, Gaol Tuchechen, Qitat Cheerbei, Karma, monk Gelong and others.
These have now been renamed, namely Wu Sihu, Gao Letu, Qitat and Germa.
Among the Yu Linqi who served as escorts, there were also Beiyuan warriors such as Baya Sihu, Elin Qinhaiqing, Dorji Darhan and so on.
It's just that these people are without exception. All they know about Monan affairs is the situation of the Chahar tribe, and they don't know much about the 30,000 right-wing households that form their own system.
Not to mention one of the many families in the Ordos tribe under the right wing, Gulu Taiji, one of the hundreds of descendants of the Gambilik line.
Even Liu Chengzong actually didn't pay much attention to this little nobleman who was stationed as a herdsman behind Helan Mountain. The reason why he wrote to him was just a casual move.
There are three nobles stationed there, and Guru Taiji is slightly more powerful. The other two, Chatu Taiji and Duoerji, are brothers. Only the two of them together can compete with Guru Taiji.
But the three nobles were tied together, and none of them had the strength of a battalion.
Liu Chengzong was too lazy to persuade him to surrender one by one, and he was worried that when he used troops against Ningxia, the three of them would come out to plunder again, so he wrote a letter to Gulu.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! According to his information, Guru Taiji can only produce half of the 30,000 sheep. Together, these three little leaders stand at the forefront of sustainable development.
Only by estimating the angle can it be taken out.
Early spring wine and summer clothing are the most popular commodities on the grassland.
Because the raw material for making wine on the grassland is milk, and in the cold winter, horses, sheep, and cows have no milk, and only camels can still produce milk.
But there are few people raising camels.
Normally, on the grasslands west of Ordos, the livestock ratio is two horses, four cattle and forty-five sheep for every camel.
In Edom there were no or very few camels, but only one more horse.
This ratio is basically fixed.
Nobles favored horses and sheep. Firstly, they were convenient for herding, and secondly, they had high economic value. They could effectively increase the value of their property and cope with disasters well.
After all, two lambs can give birth to three lambs in two years. It is easy to raise them. They can give birth to lambs when they are one and a half years old. Their wealth can be tripled or quadrupled in three years. In the event of a snowstorm or wind disaster, as long as there is no
If you die, you will be able to make a comeback soon.
Moreover, sheep dung can be burned, milk can be drunk, meat, offal and blood can be eaten, and the skin can be used to make clothes and wool into felt, which can adapt to various pasture environments except moisture.
Apart from the lack of self-preservation ability and the fact that its hooves hurt the grass roots and cannot stay in one place for a long time, it is an economic animal with no major shortcomings.
It just so happened that these two minor flaws were nothing to the nobles who controlled the pasture land.
The herdsmen themselves choose to raise cattle. Although raising cattle is difficult and not suitable for group herding, it produces a lot of milk. At the same time, pulling carts and felt tents, and even transporting goods and trading, are the main labor force of the herdsmen.
Camels, on the other hand, have almost no advantages except being thirsty. Unless the terrain has special needs for traveling in desert arid zones, neither nobles nor herdsmen will use them as their main livestock.
Bad temper, smelly body, strong urine smell, difficult to train and herd, these are just minor problems.
The biggest problem is that it is uneconomical.
Sheep can give birth to lambs when they are one and a half years old, while camels must be raised until they are five years old. They only give birth to one child every two or three years, and each time they give birth to a calf.
This thing doesn't produce milk in winter. It has to be pregnant for more than 400 days.
This nomadic economic production method determines that wine in winter and spring is a rarity on the grasslands that only wealthy nobles can enjoy.
As for summer clothes, not to mention, who would wear a fur coat in summer?
In the mutual trade between Ming and Mongolia, iron pots and cloth were indispensable trade items.
This was easier for Liu Chengzong. His general in charge of this trade was Cao Yao, and the area was Gansu.
Cao Yao wanted to provide military supplies for this northern expedition.
Because Gansu is very fat now, the Zhangye Oasis where Ganzhou is located was originally a good place, and now Liangzhou is also a good place.
When we conquered Gansu, thanks to Hong Chengchou, the Wuwei Oasis outside Liangzhou City, the burning of the land and the reclamation by the Marshal's Army, coupled with the already highly productive Zhangye Oasis, Gansu received a complete bumper harvest.
In addition to excluding the Gansu military rations, the Governor's Mansion still had a surplus of 200,000 dan of grain.
Of course, both Liu Chengzong and Cao Yao were very dissatisfied with Gansu's small balance.
The land suitable for farming in Gansu exceeds 4 million acres, while the land that the Marshal's Army Gansu Governor's Mansion can cultivate is only 800,000 acres.
So much so that the land-loving method that Liu Chengzong vigorously promoted in order to curb soil degradation was somewhat difficult to implement.
Because there is no one.
Gansu, which has experienced the trauma of war, has an extremely deformed population structure. Counting all people from all walks of life together, there are only more than 21,000 households, and the number of households is not even as many as Cao Yao's soldiers.
At the same time, it is difficult to transport the two hundred thousand shi of surplus food to the battlefield.
Once a fight breaks out, the North Road will be unsafe. He will have to transport things to Lanzhou first, and then to Guyuan via the Logistics West Road.
Even if it is transported from Liangzhou, it is still a thousand miles long. If it is calculated from Suzhou, it is more than two thousand miles. Transporting grain is a joke.
But Gansu has a brewing industry and plenty of second-hand summer clothes.
Song Xian from Suzhou ran a pawnshop, and he already had a lot of clothes in stock. If he bought more cloth, it would be even more.
These items are light and valuable for good luck. It is more cost-effective and convenient to transport them from Zhenfanwei in Liangzhou to Helan and Shanxi. There are three hundred miles of Gobi desert and small oasis grassy beaches in the middle. It is more cost-effective and convenient to use a camel team to drag them there and exchange them with the locals for cattle and sheep.
Liu Shizi's original intention was to use wine, cloth and clothes to arouse Guru Taiji's desire, and let him persuade the other two nobles, and the three families worked together to bring out sheep and horses as reserve supplies for the marshal's army after they marched into Ningxia.
If you can't win quickly, just keep one sheep locally and wait until you can transport ten sheep later.
But Liu Chengzong never expected that he underestimated the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of the prairie aristocrats in this era.
Guru Taiji was grateful for his proposal, counted his belongings, and said that he could only scrape together 24,320 sheep and 1,066 horses.
Regarding the official appointment mentioned by the Great Khan, the remaining 4,600 sheep were really limited and could not be raised.
If the Great Khan is willing to make me an official, I will send my younger brother Batu to lead 2,300 infantrymen to serve under his command.
When Liu Shishi saw the letter, he was completely confused. He suspected that his information about the strength of the Mongolian tribes in the border areas was wrong.
Didn't it say that this guy could produce at most 15,000 sheep? He would have to partner with two other nobles to get 30,000 sheep.
Why did this guy come up with 24,000 sheep and 1,000 horses all by himself?
You've sold your property, right?
Liu Chengzong did not reply to him for the time being, because he really did not want another two thousand herdsmen to come to eat his army rations.
Stationed within the second border wall, Liu Chengzong did not send a letter to Hong Chengchou as soon as he arrived at his position, because after he left Guyuan, he divided his troops into two groups.
There are too many people here in Guyuan. Not counting the logistics manpower, there are nearly 50,000 troops gathered. Such a large force is not conducive to a quick attack after leaving the second border wall.
It's not their problem, it's mainly Ningxia's geography.
The area between the two border walls connecting Guyuan and Ningxia is not a flat and undefensible desert wilderness.
Rather, it is a series of sand ditches and mountains on the Loess Plateau that are close to desertification. The so-called Guyuan is just two intersecting cross lines, the Qingshui River Valley in the north and south, and the two border walls in the east and west.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! From the half city of Qingshui River Valley, there are no good roads outside after leaving the border, it is all endless hills.
There are bifurcated roads between the hills, one heading north and one heading northeast.
Go north to Zhongwei's Anning Fort and Mingshazhou Fort. After capturing these two forts, the army can cross the Yellow River and head north along the west bank of the Yellow River and under Helan Mountain, attacking Shikong Temple, Zaoyuan, Guangwu, etc. along the way.
More than a dozen fortresses finally arrived at the town of Ningxia.
Another road between the two mountains leads to Hongsi Fort in the northeast. The road needs to be wider and follows the sweet water and the bitter water. It also has to attack many fortresses. The destination is Lingzhou on the east bank of the Yellow River opposite Ningxia Town.
Going east through the border wall, there is another pass out of the border, called Xiama Pass, which also leads to Hongsi Fort via Weizhou and then to Lingzhou.
It's just that half of the city and Xiama Pass must be separated before leaving. Although there is a border wall in the middle, they can only meet at Hongsi Fort after leaving the border.
Because there is a Luoshan Mountain eighty miles from north to south between them.
Liu Chengzong could not fight fortress after fortress. Even if he surrendered one by one, the surrender would delay the attack on Ningxia towns.
Therefore, his plan was to take Ren Quan'er's second brigade as the vanguard, and Zhang Xianzhong, the Minister of Li Yamen, as a staff officer, and lead the army out of Xiamaguan, pass through Hongsi Fort, attack Lingzhou, and seize the east bank of the Yellow River.
Then Wang Wenxiu's Longxi Brigade was on the left, taking the north route to attack the central defender Anning Fort; Ding Guodong's troops on the east road toward Huanxian were on the right, dealing with the Ningxia defender who was mobilized by Ren Quan'er.
Liu Chengzong personally led the Yulin, Huben and Zongren battalions from Hongsibao to Lingzhou to command the campaign.
Of course, behind him, there is also Gao Yingdeng's First Brigade as the army to deal with possible accidents.
Night is approaching.
Liu Chengzong ordered the soldiers to deliver the letter to Hong Chengchou. Standing at the gate of the second border wall, he handed the torch to his attendants.
Five beacons were set alight, and thick smoke rose into the night sky.
Five beacon cannons were fired, and the sound shook the border town.
In the dust from the tail of the messenger cavalry, groups of marshal's cavalry on mules and horses lined up outside the wall, and groups followed the smoke and dust, rushing north.