Liu Chengzong felt that Hong Chengchou was playing a hide-and-seek game with him.
He crossed the Yellow River from Mingshazhou to the west and entered Zaoyuanbao; Hong Chengchou led his troops to cross the Yellow River from Ningxia Zhencheng to the east and entered Lingzhou.
Liu Shixin said that after fighting for so many years, every time there was a big battle, he would rack his brains and spread out his troops who had no food to eat to form an encirclement in order to provide food and grass and then be surrounded by the enemy.
.
I have never seen someone as fierce as Hong Chengchou, who just got into the encirclement by himself!
The current situation is centered on Zhang Yingchang and Ren Quan'er on Jinyintan. To the east are Ding Guodong's 6,000 men from Huanxian County, blocking the Ming reinforcements from the Ningxia rear guard.
To the west is Wang Wenxiu's Longxi Brigade, which is capturing Zhongwei and many forts in the upper reaches of the Yellow River.
To the northwest is Liu Chengzong's 20,000-strong main force that has just crossed the Yellow River.
Hong Chengchou was guarding the town, originally at the northwest corner. Now he led his troops to run towards Zhang Yingchang, which meant that he had got into a pocket surrounded on all sides.
But his strength in digging into pockets was a bit exaggerated, and no one could have imagined that he would show up in full force.
When the situation progressed to this point, Liu Shizi knew that the time had come to test his strategic ability.
Should we advance to the towns of Ningxia to give the soldiers and horses on the long journey a break and calm down Ningxia, or should we pursue Hong Chengchou?
Liu Chengzong originally wanted to take a rest on the west bank of the Yellow River, even if it was just for half a day.
After all, Ningxia is indeed far away from Xi'an.
In Hong Chengchou's perception, the two sides could only fight for four days.
But in fact, Liu Shizi's team set out from Xi'an Mansion and had been traveling non-stop for twenty days.
Although the main force did not see battle with the enemy, it was still exhausted and needed repairs.
But Ningxia people equally hate every coward who breaks into their home.
They hated Hong Chengchou and they also hated Liu Chengzong.
First, Sun Zuochang lit a beacon fire with a certain death wish to alert his allies, and then the commanders Li Xuemu and Wang Fengshui tried to unite the Mongolian nobles behind the mountain, Duo Erzhi Jicheng, to raise an army, but they were discovered and captured by Guru Taiji.
This is extremely fucked up.
The whole story is that Li Xuemu and Wang Fengshui had already contacted Yicheng before Zuo Liangyu's subordinate Xu Yong harassed the border wall.
It was not that they had foresight and knew that Liu Chengzong would march north to Ningxia, but these two commanders believed that Hong Chengchou was acting rebelliously.
They planned to start an uprising among the guards in Ningxia, expel Hong Chengchou, Zuo Liangyu and others by force, and restore peace to Ningxia.
They were originally a group of more than a dozen military officials who contacted each other to start a rebellion. As a result, a mutiny broke out in the town of Ningxia. Many people who had originally planned to join them in the rebellion participated in the mutiny first.
When the two received news behind Helan Mountain that the mutiny had been put down, they happened to learn that Liu Chengzong was coming to invade again, so they simply changed their original plan and changed their goal from borrowing troops to expel Hong Chengchou to resisting Liu Chengzong.
You've already come, so why don't you borrow troops from Haicheng?
Haicheng is also very interesting. He will not refuse the Ningxia border general's request to borrow troops from him, just like a serious Ningxia border general.
Borrow troops to expel Hong Chengchou who caused trouble in Ningxia, good!
How about borrowing troops to resist Liu Chengzong who came to Ningxia to cause trouble?
In fact, this is passed down from generation to generation. He worked hard to become Taiji and became a famous mercenary. At that time, he said hello and led his troops to the border wall to help Ningxia local armed forces against the Ming army.
The tribe of Jilitu was also considered the number one figure in the right-wing Doroman tribe seventy or eighty years ago.
But just like Huo Luochi, in that era when strong men emerged in large numbers, he could not be ranked high and could only be bullied.
They were originally stationed in Tumochuan, but were beaten violently by Anda. They moved to Songshan and stationed as herders between Zhuanglangwei and Jingluwei. They also had a vendetta against Wala. Finally, they were welcomed into Ningxia by Kuaibai and were beaten severely by the Ming army.
.
Just these three opponents, three battles, all over the northwest, being beaten in circles, were enough to weaken a leader who dominated most of the grassland into a small leader with only a few thousand troops.
In addition, three of the five sons are now dead, and the weak tribe no longer has the ability to make independent decisions.
Their food and clothing depended on the border markets of the Ming Dynasty, and those who came and went were also Ningxia border generals. Naturally, Li Xuemu, Wang Fengshui and others had to help out no matter who they attacked.
When Guru Taiji sent Zaisang to report the situation to Liu Chengzong in detail, Liu Chengzong almost laughed out loud.
This is luck and the credit of Guru Taiji.
Liu Chengzong's initial idea was to let Guru Taiji take the two of them to play together.
The good thing is that Gulu has to live alone, and he doesn't tell others about this good thing.
Otherwise, the Duoluo Tuman tribe would definitely leak the news of his northern expedition to the Ming army.
His supporters for the Khanate include Oirat, Uzang, and Monan.
Among them, the Tumote tribe in Oirat and Monan both had a feud with these two guys from the Doluo Tuman tribe.
It is normal for people to help the Ming army but to go against themselves.
But the wonderful thing is that Guru Taiji was born in Ordos and is not from the same family as them.
After receiving the news that the two men wanted to recruit him to send troops to rebel against the Marshal's Mansion, Guru Taiji immediately led his troops to form an alliance and captured the two men at the banquet. Among them, Chatu Taiji was killed because of his stubborn resistance, while Xicheng Taiji and
Li Xuemu and Wang Fengshui were captured together.
Liu Chengzong was actually very worried when he read the letters sent by the Mongolian nobles.
Because the name duplication rate is too high.
This dead Fried Rabbit Taiji has the same name as the Ruitu Taiji of Chahar; Guru Taiji has the same name as the Guru Taiji of Uzbekistan.
As for surnames, they are basically useless. They are all just names.
In most cases, what can distinguish them is the name of the tribe. However, the Gulu and Alxa Gulu of Uzang are both from the Duolun Tumut tribe, which is what the Ming Dynasty calls Duoluo Tuman.
That is to say, Liu Shishi distinguishes these two people mainly by guessing the person by looking at the place. If a letter comes from the southwest, it is Gulu, and if a letter comes from the northwest, it is Guru.
The army stationed at Guangwu Camp to the west of the Yellow River. The place was like Mingshazhou Fort. When they saw the marshal's army meandering towards them, thousands of households guarding the fort came to watch the wind and let the officers in the camp prepare wine and slaughter sheep and prepare for the dinner.
Finally got a place to rest for the night.
They also had to rest. The troops in the front were stationed in Guangwu Camp, and the troops in the back were still doing finishing work on the Yellow River pontoon bridge in Zaoyuanbao.
Liu Chengzong issued a task to the generals of Huben Camp, asking them to select sergeants who were proficient in Uighur and Mongolian script to compile two sets of the bilingual Three-Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Thousand-Character Classic.
One set was sent to Guru Taiji, and the other set was sent to Lanzhou, where they were engraving and printed into volumes and widely circulated to various ministries.
In the evening, the banquet organized by Guangwuying General School was grand, but Liu Chengzong did not allow wine to be served.
To be precise, a subordinate general can drink alcohol, but the generals under his command cannot drink alcohol and can only eat meat.
However, he accepted the wine, changed hands, and sent it to Guru Taiji along with the three hundred thousand enlightenment readings he had transcribed.
Also sent along were letters of encouragement and a letter of appointment, instructing him to collect the fried rabbits on the 15th, form a group of troops, and serve as the guerrilla general of the Blackwater Battalion to escort the baggage for the expedition.
Heishuiying is Chinese and Harahote in Mongolian.
Just like Hohhot is Qingcheng, Hara is black, and Hote is city, which means black city.
The origin of this name is the Yan Army Division of Heishui Town in Xixia. This name was used in the Yuan Dynasty and was called Halahote. Later, it was conquered by the Ming army and Heishui City was abandoned and swallowed by wind and sand.
Blackwater City does not have a garrison in Guru Taiji. To be precise, Liu Chengzong sealed off all the Gobi desert from the west of Helan Mountain to the north of Ganzhou to Guru Taiji in order to provide him with food, information, and counterinsurgency.
of rewards.
It is hundreds of times larger than its original territory, comparable to the entire Ordos.
Of course, livestock can be grazed, and there is not that much land for farming, but the geographical environment is similar to that of Ordos, with grassy beaches connecting the desert to the Gobi.
After all, Guru Taiji's original territory was very small, just a small area of ​​Changliushui behind Helan Mountain.
What's more, several former Northern Yuan Zaisangs in the Huben camp around Liu Chengzong analyzed that such a huge reward could drive Guru Taiji crazy.
Because the greatest significance is actually to annex the territory and tribes of the two Taijis in Duolun Tumut. Compared with the Gobi Desert, the back of the Helan Mountains is a good place for serious people to live. This alone is a reward.
Enough.
As for the desert in the main film, Liu Chengzong was actually too lazy to let anyone explore it, so he just threw it there. It would be better to give it to Guru Taiji and let him go and investigate it.
Grassy beaches, rivers, lakes, water heads, oases, and of course the saline-alkali land on the Gobi Desert.
There is no place that cannot be used, and saline-alkali land can also produce crops, but it cannot be used to grow food, and it requires more effort than growing food.
After scraping the soil, leaching, steaming and drying, it can produce salt, alkali, nitrate and brine.
The brine can be used to make tofu and can also be used as fertilizer for muddy fields.
It's just that Liu Chengzong had too many saline-alkali lands, livestock farms and abandoned cities. Yan'an Prefecture and Qingyang Prefecture were both places rich in saltpeter.
Of course, because it is soil saltpeter, it can only be abundant in relatively large quantities compared to the Central Plains.
Fire saltpeter is divided into three categories according to the preparation method. Scraping soil and pouring saltpeter is also soil saltpeter. It has the least raw materials, the lowest yield, and the most difficult production. It relies on drought and moisture. What comes back from the land is harvested every year.
.
Just like the fields in the north, it is important to plant widely and harvest lightly.
The production method of cave saltpeter in the southwest is also to scrape the soil, but the raw materials are more dense, because the accumulation of bats, birds and beast excrement in the cave for thousands of years changes the soil quality. A saltwater cave is busy for a month or two, and tens of thousands of people in Shaanxi
A year's worth of work has been done on three acres of saline-alkali land.
The thing in the Northwest Gobi is called saltpeter ore. It does not need to be refined by hand industry. The big ore is basically pure...the difficulty is finding it.
Once you find it and distinguish it clearly, you can use it directly.
After all, it is accumulated over tens of millions of years, and God has already taken care of the matter of purification.
In addition to pure crystallized ores, fire saltpeter, water saltpeter, and alkali are all based on the same principle. Whichever one is needed can be analyzed by decoction and extraction methods. What is left in the end is salt and brine.
Of course, considering the consumption of gunpowder in wars in this era, if you just make muskets, not to mention boiling soil and saltpeter, it is enough to get some people to boil urine and saltpeter.
This is also the reason why since the advent and spread of firearms, there have been records of gunpowder shortages all over the world, and even in many places there is always a shortage of gunpowder, but there is no record of such a thing in the Central Plains.
With the promotion of alchemy and medicine, this chemical purification method has long been widely spread, so that saltpeter can be obtained anywhere. It is widely found in every trade fair. This thing is not unusual at all.
Only those who hold their breath are aware of breathing.
Liu Shizi couldn't even take care of the inside, let alone worry about the outside.
It is easy to appoint Guru Taiji, but it is difficult to surrender the troops in Ningxia.
Because the former has its own fixed territory and shortcomings in life skills, it complements the agriculture and animal husbandry of the Central Plains. Cooperation itself is a win-win situation. For Gulu, it is just a question of who to cooperate with.
But Ningxia's surrendered troops were different. In order to use them to fight, they had to be integrated and integrated, but integration took time. At the same time, Ningxia's students and generals showed their loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, which made Liu Shishi feel troublesome.
People like Sun Zuochang, Li Xuemu, and Wang Fengshui were either born as soldiers or military generals.
In Guanzhong, if these people oppose him, they will also mobilize the landlords to train; in Gansu, they will be frontline generals leading troops.
Loyalty and righteousness belong to loyalty, but to a large extent, there is the feeling that generals and officials are inherently superior, and the reason for joining the army is to pursue fame, fortune, family and country.
Liu Chengzong was not afraid of such opponents. After defeating them, the vast majority of those who had no personal grudges surrendered when they should. Those who did not surrender and ran away were unconvinced. One aspect of committing suicide to sacrifice one's country was loyalty, and the other aspect was anger.
It's all normal.
Only the generals and scholars in Ningxia really made Liu Shishi feel a little frightened.
Just like Sun Zuochang, a soldier with a promising future, he drew his sword and killed himself when the beacon fire was lit, regardless of what others did, the victory or defeat of the war, whether there were reinforcements, or the consequences and fate.
There are also two generals, Li and Wang, who are high-ranking commanders. Hong Chengchou wants to expel Hong Chengchou by force, and Liu Chengzong is marching north, and he wants to resist Liu Chengzong by force.
Using untenable reasons, without careful planning and proper deployment, without considering the gains and losses and consequences, you do things that are out of control.
Lion Liu is all too familiar with this behavior pattern.
Outlaw.
It is very consistent with the temperament of Ningxia in this era when agricultural administration, salt laws, and military systems were all in shambles.
Liu Shishi was familiar with the outlaws and knew better than to let the outlaws idle.
Because the way of thinking of desperadoes is unpredictable, they will definitely go crazy when they are idle, or in other words, going crazy is inevitable when they are idle and have no pursuit.
This is also the reason why Liu Chengzong did not refuse the banquet hosted by the guard of Guangwu Camp.
At the banquet, he announced the appointment of Liu Fang, the guerrilla general who had earlier fled to the Red Castle to join him, as a staff general, and Ma Xiantu as a guerrilla general.
Let the two of them lead a group of generals and soldiers who accompanied them to form a second battalion, collect the troops who surrendered along the way, and follow them to deal with Hong Chengchou.
Liu Chengzong did not expect the two new battalions to fight, and in his heart he even estimated that the combat effectiveness they could exert was zero.
He just wanted the two battalions to not be idle while he was fighting, but to follow the march. If they could fight, they would pounce on them and hit them twice. If they couldn't fight, don't stop and just leave.
Because if the army is not organized, even if its combat capability cannot resist the large army, and there is no chance of success in rebellion if it remains in place, many people will still do something.
As a result, Liu Chengzong never expected that on the night before the formation of the army, there would be a banquet at Guangwu Camp.
Someone actually attempted to assassinate him while he was unarmed.