Chapter 788 The First Guardsman of the Ming Dynasty
In fact, even if the camp is destroyed, Zhu Ping still has a chance to survive.
Regardless of whether he surrendered or was captured, he would definitely not be said to have been killed. As the second son of the current Ming Emperor, King Qin of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols were also worried about the consequences of killing him and causing the Ming Emperor to go crazy.
Moreover, the living King Qin of Ming Dynasty is obviously more valuable than the dead King Qin of Ming Dynasty.
They could use him in exchange for the Ming army to retreat, or they could use him in exchange for a large ransom.
It's just that no matter how cruel and cruel Zhu Fang is, no matter how absurd he is, he is so proud in his bones that he will never allow himself to surrender or be captured.
Especially under current circumstances.
This time the lone army went deep, it was entirely Zhu Ping's will. He went against the plan made by his father and greedily wanted to gain greater achievements, and even granted Liang Juxu the title.
In fact, this kind of behavior is just like other princes, including Zhu Fan or Zhu Di, who want to prove their abilities to their father.
As princes, they have wealth, wealth, food and clothing, and proving themselves to their father is what almost all princes want in their hearts.
This is just like the second generation of rich people in later generations. It is reasonable for them to choose to start a business even though they can live their whole life without worrying about food and drink, even if they can't spend all the money at home on debauchery.
Zhu Xi and Zhu Fan died early in history, but Zhu Di did the same thing when he seized the throne.
For example, the Five Conquests of Mobei, the compilation of the Yongle Dadian, Zheng He's voyages to the West, etc.
These costly actions were exactly the same as Zhu Di's now. Zhu Di wanted to prove to his father that his merits meant he could be a good emperor, so he went to Jiuquan and had the face to explain to his father.
Therefore, if he was defeated, Zhu Xi would feel that he would not have the face to see his father again, let alone as a prisoner.
If this were the case, he would rather die on the battlefield and live a little more gloriously.
Unfortunately, the Mongolian cavalry had too great an advantage in field battles on the grasslands.
Especially for such a death charge, which only takes human lives to fill the gap, the camp will be breached in less than two or three days.
Although he felt that he would have reinforcements, Zhu Xi himself did not believe that they would really be able to arrive in just two or three days.
Therefore, he gave an order to Geng Bingwen to gather food and grass, and once the camp was breached, it would be burned immediately.
And he himself will lead the personal guards to launch the final charge against the Mongolian army.
At this moment, in the Mongolian camp.
The faces of the tribal leaders showed both joy and sorrow, with complex emotions changing back and forth on their faces.
Seeing this, Arutai spoke.
"According to today's fighting style, it will only take two days, or at most three days, before the Ming army's camp will be defeated by our army."
"I know that everyone has suffered heavy losses today, but their sacrifices will not be in vain. Everyone has seen on today's battlefield how abundant the Ming army's armaments and firearms are. As long as the Ming army camp is captured, these things will
They will all be ours."
"They still have enough food and grass. With this food and grass, it is enough for us to deal with the Ming Emperor, and it is enough for us to survive this winter."
"I hope you will not be stingy with the troops you have tomorrow. Whoever contributes more will get more spoils afterwards."
"Just think about it, there are hundreds of thousands of armors in the Ming army here alone. Although we have suffered a lot, these armors can completely make up for our losses. And in such a battlefield, those who can survive are all
Prairie Baturu.”
As a grand master, Arutai's words were recognized by dozens of tribal leaders in the big tent.
If this Ming army ate it, it would be a huge piece of fat for them.
"Grand Master, it's not that our warriors are afraid, it's just that the Ming army's artillery is too powerful. Many warriors were killed by the Ming army's artillery before they even got close to the enemy. Although the ears and eyes of the war horses were covered, there were still some
Frightened."
The leader of the Sunit tribe complained.
Because on today's battlefield, the warriors of his tribe were the most unfortunate. His tribe was the one who was killed the most by the Ming army's artillery.
So much so that the cavalry of other tribes later stayed away from the Sunit tribe, as if approaching them would bring unforeseen consequences.
Arutai said: "Don't worry about this. Haven't you noticed that at almost sunset, the Ming army's artillery never fired again?"
"There is a limit to the number of artillery bombardments. The artillery we captured also exploded due to the uninterrupted bombardment. These were originally the artillery of the Ming Army, so the artillery in the Ming Army camp must be like this now."
"Besides, they fired so many cannons and all the ammunition has been used up, so even if there are artillery tomorrow, it will never be like today."
From the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty to the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and then to today's Taishi.
Arutai is obviously very experienced and has sufficient understanding of all aspects, which is completely different from ordinary prairie people.
In the big tent, although the person sitting in the first place was Guilichi, it was obvious that Arutai was in control of the entire situation.
This is because the three leaders of Walas are at odds with Guilichi, and Arutai, as the middleman, is obviously more suitable to come forward.
Mahamu looked at Guilichi with an undisguised fierce look in his eyes.
This was his father-killing enemy, and being able to do so in a big tent without taking action was already his bottom line.
Gui Lichi also knew very well, so he simply chose to remain silent.
At this time, after the leaders of several small tribes talked, the leader of the Abaga tribe stepped forward.
"Grand Master, I and the Abahanal Tribe, Sizi Tribe, Maoming'an Tribe, and Wulat Tribe are responsible for cutting off the support of the Ming Emperor in Daqingshan. However, the current war is happening too fast. Please allow the warriors of our tribe to join us.
Come from the troops attacking King Qin of the Ming Dynasty."
In fact, no one expected the situation on the battlefield today to be like this. According to the original plan, it was actually to be surrounded first.
However, the food and grass brought by the various ministries were scarce, and the Ming army, which captured a large number of cattle and sheep from the Hulunbuir Prairie, was able to hold on for a long time.
In this way, the several tribes responsible for the ambush suddenly found that they might not be able to get a share of the meat.
Even if you get some, it's definitely not too much.
Moreover, Taishi Arutai had said before that the artillery of the Ming army was useless, so the casualties would not be as heavy as today, and they would have to intervene.
Only by participating can they legitimately receive more spoils.
Which tribe wouldn’t like the armor of the Ming army?
Abagabu's request was rejected by several tribal leaders before Arutai expressed his position.
They thought that the warriors of their own tribe had already suffered so many casualties, and several tribes from the Abaga tribe joined in at this time, which was equivalent to picking peaches.
Abagabu felt that it was not because his tribe did not participate, but because they received the task of ambushing Ming army reinforcements, not because they were greedy for life and afraid of death.
You said you were right, I said I was right, and immediately we started to quarrel in the big tent.
Finally, Arutai spoke.
Asking Abagabu to take 20% less when dividing the spoils, the quarrel stopped. Otherwise, if we let it go, there would really be a fight.
In fact, Arutai hopes that they will fight, but the Ming army's camp has not yet been conquered. If civil strife breaks out at this time, it will not be a good thing.
Nowadays, all the tribes in Mongolia have become scattered. There is no cohesion like that of Genghis Khan.
Each tribe can pick up scimitars, bows and arrows to fight other tribes for its own benefit.
When Genghis Khan ruled Mongolia, he ordered that the Golden Family would only receive 10% of the spoils, and the other 90% would belong to the tribe.
This caused almost all tribes to fight for Genghis Khan.
Now, it is no longer what it used to be.
In order to be more able to participate in tomorrow's war, several tribes in the Abaga tribe sent their tribesmen to report the news overnight and mobilized all the tribesmen who were in ambush.
However, what they didn't know was that this action led to huge mistakes.
King Zhu Fan of Jin led an army of 200,000 troops and marched towards Wala.
However, on the way, Ye Busuo discovered traces of the Mongol tribe's march.
This made Zhu Fan hesitate a little before he decided to pursue him.
The news of the Ming army's attack on the grassland has long spread. At this time, the tribes on their Oara side did not gather together, but instead moved towards Ximengu. There was obviously something abnormal.
The tribe that Zhu Fan was tracking was the Maoming'an tribe, one of the Ming army's reinforcements.
The Maoming'an tribe lives near Oara and is considered a member of Eastern Mongolia. They are descendants of Genghis Khan's eldest brother Hasar and are an important part of Horqin households.
Zhu Fan, who was following the Maoming'an tribe, discovered that not only the Maoming'an tribe, but also several tribes were united together. It was obvious that they were preparing some conspiracy, so he dispatched people to monitor the movements around the clock.
Zhu Fan didn't know that his second brother Zhu Xi had gone to the Hulunbuir Prairie, so he didn't think much about it.
Because he was worried about being discovered, Zhu Fan kept a certain distance.
As for the departure of several tribes in the middle of the night, they were naturally discovered by Ye Bushou, who immediately rushed back to Zhu Fan's camp to report it.
"So, they went north?"
Zhu Fan frowned slightly when he heard the news.
According to the simple map, the north is the Hulunbuir Prairie.
"It seems that they want to gather together to unite against me, the Ming Dynasty."
Hulunbuir Prairie is the ancestral land of the Mongolian people. In Zhu Fan's opinion, a large number of grassland tribes may have gathered there.
This speculation made Zhu Fan a little excited.
Of course, he would not have thought that hundreds of thousands of cavalry would be gathered there, but he would definitely find a large number of Mongols.
The most troublesome thing about fighting the Mongols is not knowing their location. Now that we have the direction, there is nothing to worry about.
Zhu Fan immediately ordered all Ye Bushou to follow him immediately.
Because the speed of the infantry was too slow, Zhu Fan was worried that these guys would run away again and delay the battle. Early the next morning, Zhu Fan immediately decided to lead the attack first with 30,000 cavalry.
The place where several Abaga tribes ambush is near Aershan.
Because when an army marches, it must first pay attention to water sources, and Aershan has virgin forests and is secluded enough. Otherwise, how could tens of thousands of people be hidden in the vast grassland, and they would be discovered all the way away.
The distance from Aershan to the Hulunbuir Prairie is about five hundred miles, which is nothing to the prairie cavalry.
They marched in the middle of the night, and most of the tribe's soldiers could sleep and rest on their horses, and they would be able to participate in the second day's war.
The sky is slightly bright.
The Mongolian army launched a new round of death charge.
The reason for such a rush was that many tribes wanted to destroy the Ming army's camp before Abaga tribe and others arrived, so that even if they had agreed before, it would not count.
After all, the Ming army's camp has been conquered, and if you come here again, what's the use?
However, the situation in the Ming army's camp the next day made the Mongolian army a little dumbfounded.
They saw a large number of corpses, both human and horse, piled up in the gap of the Mozhgrad River in front of the Ming army camp, forming a corpse wall more than one meter high.
It turns out that this proposal was put forward by Geng Bingwen at dusk yesterday.
Geng Bingwen initially guarded Changxing and made the greatest contribution. Zhu Yuanzhang ranked the meritorious officials, ranking Geng Bingwen and General Xu Da first.
In itself, Geng Bingwen is not an invincible talent like Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, but his greatest strength lies in defense.
He can be said to be the first defender of the Ming Dynasty.
Yesterday, when Zhu Ping was depressed and ordered to gather grain, Geng Bingwen saw countless corpses on the grassland and immediately thought of a strategy to deal with the Mongolian cavalry.
He told Zhu Ping about this strategy and immediately received Zhu Ping's strong support.
Taking advantage of the darkness, a large number of Ming army soldiers entered the battlefield to carry corpses and pile up walls of corpses.
During this period, most Mongolians suffered from night blindness due to malnutrition.
Moreover, they surrounded the Ming army's camp and did not think that the Ming army could make a surprise attack at night.
In fact, the Mongolian cavalry who were on duty at night made some discoveries, but they thought that the Ming army was just collecting the corpses of their own soldiers. Anyway, the Mongolian army had already guarded all exits, and it was impossible for so many Ming troops to escape.
So some anomalies were discovered but were not reported.
Zhu Xi sent more than 20,000 soldiers and moved secretly all night. During this period, he was very worried about being discovered by the Mongolian army, so he specially prepared cavalry and infantry to cover at any time.
As a result, it was almost dawn, and there was no response from the Mongolian army, so I felt relieved.
"Record their names. If I can come back alive, their parents, wives, and children will be supported by me."
Zhu Ping's words boosted the morale of the Ming army's camp.
Of course, such a promise was not Zhu Ping's idea, but Geng Bingwen's suggestion.
Geng Bingwen, who has spent his whole life in war, knows very well how to boost the fighting spirit of soldiers.
At this time, Zhu Xi was very grateful for his father's arrangement.
If the Marquis of Changxing, Geng Bingwen, were not here, I am afraid that he would not even have a glimmer of hope of survival.
And with the barrier of the corpse wall, it means that it can last a little longer.
One more day brings more hope.
Although the corpse wall is only more than one meter high, not even as tall as a person, you can see the other side from the corpse wall, but this kind of defense is a very good means of restricting the Mongolian cavalry.
You must know that the original Great Wall of Qin was only more than one meter high, which was a big obstacle for horses.
Although the corpse wall is not tall and the structure is not strong, it is enough to stop the horses, thereby preventing the cavalry from attacking quickly and allowing the Ming army's matchlocks to be used effectively.
The appearance of the corpse wall gave the Mongolian army a headache. They originally thought they could easily deal with the Ming army, but they didn't expect it to appear suddenly.
But there was no other way but to bite the bullet and charge forward.
Because it was a forced march, the Mongolian army did not prepare siege equipment.
There are some siege machines in the hands of the Tatar tribe in Beiyuan, but who would think of dragging siege machines on the grassland? Anyone who makes this suggestion will definitely be laughed at by all the people in the grassland.
Likewise, the artillery they captured before can no longer be used.
There is nothing for them to make in the vast grassland.
Although the fighting situation on the second day was still tragic, the Ming army, with the corpse wall as a bunker, still firmly held the line of defense.
At dusk, when the Mongolian army retreated, they could only watch helplessly as the Ming army soldiers came out to drag the corpses again.
Arutai immediately asked the cavalry to shoot arrows, but everyone was not blind. As soon as the Mongolian army moved, the Ming army soldiers ran back.
When the Mongolian army retreated, they continued to run out and drag the bodies away.
Seeing that the wall of corpses that was finally broken through was thickened again, this made the Mongolian leaders extremely speechless.
Arutai was so angry that he yelled: "These despicable Mingren are so shameless!"