346 Focus on Rabbit Sending Troops (Celebrating the Year of the Horse, 4000 words
Ningxia, Huamachi.
Huamachi is a salt lake on the grassland. The surrounding grassland was an important place for Mongolian grazing in history. Cattle and horses need to eat salt, and there are not many natural salt lakes on the grassland. It is very important for the nomadic Mongolians.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming army regained northern Shaanxi, Ningxia and other areas from the Mongols, and included Huamachi into the Ming Dynasty's territory and placed it under the Ningxia Guard's defense. Outside Huamachi, the Ming army built a border wall. It was used to defend the Tatar tribe in the north. From then on, the Mongols could no longer come to the Huama Pond to drink horses.
For the past 200 years, the Tatar tribes around Ningxia have always wanted to regain the Huamachi. To this end, they have had more than one war with the Ningxia border troops, but they have failed in the end. Today, the Tatar tribes The 20,000 cavalry led by the big leader Jinglitu finally reached the shore of Huamachi.
"Big Chief, Prince Yi has sent a young man to greet you. Congratulations to the big chief on regaining the Huama Pond." Saihan, Qian Commander of the Cangtou Army, led a group of Ningxia soldiers to greet Litu at the Huama Pond. Saihan originally He was a Tatar, and he was dressed in Tatar attire, looking like a subordinate of the Rabbit.
"Are you President Saihan Qian?" Zhulitu sat upright on the horse, pointed casually at Saihan with his whip, and asked.
"Exactly the villain." Saihan bowed and responded. In order to ask Zhuli Rabbit to help him, Kuaibai not only ceded the flower pool to Zhuli Rabbit, but also treated Zhuli Rabbit as brothers in the letter. Saihan acted as Kuaibai. Naturally, the lackeys under him can only call themselves villains in front of Zhulitu.
Zhu Lihao turned around and shouted to his men, and the Tatar cavalry dismounted one after another and rested on the spot. Many horses rushed to the lake impatiently, sticking out their tongues to lick the salt grains on the lakeside, and making a joyful cry. The Tatar cavalry Their emotions were also infected, and everyone smiled and congratulated each other for occupying the Huamachi again.
The Tatars are all soldiers. The cavalrymen under Jilitu are usually herdsmen, but they become soldiers during the war. As herdsmen, they understand the value of a salt lake to themselves. For such a salt lake, they are willing to go through fire and water and fight. Death battlefield.
"Saihan, tell me what Prince Yi wants us to do." Zhulitu also dismounted, took Saihan aside, sat down on the ground, and asked Saihan.
Saihan knelt on the ground and replied: "Prince Kuai has now controlled the entire town of Ningxia. The next step will be to become the king of Ningxia. However, the Ming Dynasty will definitely not give up and will definitely send troops to harass. Therefore. The prince is arranging his troops and preparing to defeat the Ming army."
"Well, the Ming army is so powerful, can you, Prince Kuai, defend Ningxia?" Zhulitu asked. This question was a major matter related to his ability to occupy Huamachi for a long time. He had to ask.
Saihan said: "The big leader knows that although the Ming army is large in number, the soldiers are weak and vulnerable. In the past, Ningxia Town relied on Prince Kuai to support it, but now...well, this is all in the past... …”
Zhuli Rabbit understood what Saihan swallowed back. In the past, Kuaibai was the defender of the Ningxia Guard. If the Tatars wanted to invade Ningxia Town, they would have to fight against Kuaibai. Saihan meant that the Ningxia Guard only had Kuaibai. It is impossible to repel the Tatar attack by praying to the Han army. It is an honor to say this to the Ming army, but to say this to Litu, the Tatar leader, is a bit like criticizing Huai. .
Tribes on the grassland usually fight against each other. It is very common on the grassland to be enemies today and friends tomorrow, so Jilitu doesn't think there is anything wrong with Kuaibai being his enemy in the past and now being an alliance with him. OK. He nodded and said to Saihan: "If that's the case, then why did Prince Kuai come to us?"
"It's like this..." Saihan said, "Prince Yi initially set up Ningxia, and there were many places to use troops. The Ming army in Shaanxi kept harassing the east and south roads of Ningxia, so Prince Yi concentrated all his troops there, and the north There is a little trouble left here at Lu Pinglu Station. What Prince Wei wants is to ask the big leader to take down Pinglu Station to relieve the prince of his worries."
"Pinglu's place?" Zhulitu frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "Is a general named Xiao Ruxun stationed there?"
"Exactly." Saihan replied.
"No wonder." Zhulitu said coldly.
Saihan just said that the entire Ningxia Guard can only fight with the Tatars by praying. In fact, he is putting powder on his own face. Jilitu invaded the Ningxia border wall several times. The first one to bear the brunt was the northernmost Pinglu Station, and the garrison What they defeated was not Kuaibai's army, but the Han army.
Zhuli Rabbit had fought against Xiao Ruxun, the guard of Pinglu Station several times, and knew how powerful the opponent was. Hearing Saihan say that it was Pinglu Station that Kuaibai wanted him to deal with. Zhuli Rabbit could guess it with his heels. Kuaibai was sure of it. It was because they suffered a loss from Xiao Ruxun, and now they couldn't find more troops to deal with Xiao Ruxun, so they asked Jilitu to send troops at the expense of Huamachi.
"Has Prince Yi attacked Pinglu City before?" Zhulitu asked.
"This..." Saihan knew that it was impossible to completely hide this matter. Besides, there were powerful firearms in Pinglu City. This also needs to be reminded of this in advance. Otherwise, if Zhu Litu attacks rashly, he may be attacked. Suffering a big loss. Although the Jianli Rabbit suffering a small loss has nothing to do with Kuaibai, it is not appropriate if it affects the important matter of capturing Pinglu City.
Thinking of this, Saihan could only stutter and give an abridged version of the introduction to Litu about the failure of Yiyun's attack on Pinglu City. He neither dared to talk too lightly about the benefits of Ganyu camp's firearms, nor did he dare to talk too lightly about the benefits of Kanyu camp's firearms. He didn't dare to say it too harshly. If he said it lightly, he would be afraid of underestimating the enemy. If he said it too harshly, he would be afraid that the rabbit would walk away. How to find a suitable explanation really cost Saihan a lot of thought.
After hearing this, Zhelitu smiled coldly and said: "An isolated city with four to five thousand defenders can actually allow you to return in defeat. I'm afraid it's time for this prince to train his troops."
"Uh...yes, yes." Saihan nodded awkwardly, not daring to refute.
"Go back quickly and tell that general of yours, Chiyun, to hold on to the camp first. My leader will be able to arrive at Pinglu City within two days. At that time, let him lead the troops to attack the city with us. I will The leader wants to show him how the real Tatars broke into the city." Zhu Litu ordered.
"Yes!" Saihan agreed, and then he left a few of his men to serve as guides for Litu, and he led the rest of the people back to the Yiyun Camp.
"Big boss, we have to be on guard against this situation that Saihan mentioned." Watching Saihan walk away, Chagan, the lieutenant next to Jilitu, stepped forward to remind him.
Zhulitu nodded and said: "Of course I know. We have fought against this Xiao Ruxun in the past. Among the Ming army, he can be regarded as a wise and courageous man. I haven't got any of the new fire guns that Saihan mentioned. I saw it, it must be a sharp weapon, otherwise I would not have suffered such a big loss if I had the elite soldiers under my command."
"Then what should we do?" Chagan asked.
Jilitu said: "No matter how fast the fire guns are, can they be as fast as our horses? I have asked in detail. When Yiyun sent his cavalry to charge, he did not use bows and arrows to suppress the opponent's fire guns, so he suffered a loss. Besides, Yiyun The number of cavalry is not enough. There are only a thousand people, and we have 20,000 cavalry. I don’t think Xiao Ruxun can find so many muskets to fight against our army."
"What the big leader said makes sense." Cha Gan said, "However, we still have to think of a way to reduce casualties as much as possible. We are only here to help. It is not worth it to fight to the death with the Ming army."
Zhulitu said: "If it weren't for the sake of Hua Machi, I wouldn't care about his affairs. This scum who betrayed our Mongolia is not worthy of our warriors fighting for him. My idea is, We just need to defeat Xiao Ruxun. Leave the rest to Kuaiyun’s team."
"If we capture Pinglu City, don't we earn some loot?" Cha Gan asked.
Zhulitu said: "It goes without saying that let Yiyun's team attack the city. After the city is defeated, we will go into the city to get things. Also, when I was on the grassland, I heard that a coal mine was opened outside Pinglu City. Those military households also built some greenhouses to grow vegetables in the winter. We have to occupy these coal mines and greenhouses, and we cannot take advantage of them."
"I understand!" Cha Gan replied loudly.
After deciding on the strategy, Jilitu ordered his men to camp where they were, rest for a day, and then attack Pinglu City the next day. In his mind, he had prepared several sets of plans, waiting to see how Xiao Ruxun would do in Pinglu City. Accepted the challenge. As for the possibility that this battle would fail, Zhulitu never thought about it. How could it be possible for 20,000 people to attack an isolated city and fail?
The news that Kuaibai invited Litu to send troops was quickly detected by the scouts sent by Xiao Ruxun. The scouts returned to the city on Pegasus to report to Xiao Ruxun. After hearing this, Xiao Ruxun's expression suddenly changed and he immediately sent his men to invite Su Hao and others. Go to the General Military Mansion to discuss countermeasures.
"Kaibai, this traitor, actually colluded with the Tatars?" Chen Dao glared and said angrily. Kuaibai's rebellion was, after all, an internal conflict of the Ming Dynasty. If he colluded with the Tatars, it was an ethnic conflict, and it was so bad in nature. It went up another level.
Xiao Ruxun was quite calm. He said: "Kaibai is a Tatar. He is not of my race, so his mentality must be different. He dared to raise an army, and he also made up his mind to ask the Tatars for help. My commander-in-chief has already I thought of this."
The imperial court promoted Xiao Ruxun to Ningxia's Commander-in-Chief and Su Hao to Ningxia's Deputy Commander-in-Chief. This news had already reached Pinglu City by fast horse. Whether it was the sergeants of Pinglu Station or the soldiers of Kanyu Camp, they heard that This news is very exciting. After all, fighting with a general-level figure will give you more opportunities to receive rewards in the future.
After Xiao Ruxun was promoted to the commander-in-chief, he issued an order for all the troops in Ningxia that had been dispersed by Kuaibai to come to Pinglu City to await dispatch. He himself quickly changed his words, saying "this commander-in-chief" "Called himself.
Jiang Tingfu, who escaped from Ningxia City, echoed: "It's not just a matter of a day or two for Kuai Bai to collude with the Tatars. In the past, before he started to cause trouble, he had various dealings with the Tatars, even inside and outside." He colluded and put on a show for the court to increase his military exploits. This time he dared to raise troops to rebel, and he also had the idea of leading the Tatars to fight against the king's army."
"It seems that we still underestimated Kuaibai. We only thought about dealing with his soldiers and horses, but never thought that he would have foreign aid." Su Hao said.
"General Bing Xiao, according to what you know, how many soldiers and horses does Jilitu have?" Xu Guangzu asked.
Xiao Ruxun said: "Julitu is a big leader of the Tatar tribe. He is in charge of hundreds of small tribes. If he attacks with all his strength, he can organize 40,000 to 50,000 people. However, according to the news heard by the scouts, he Once, at the invitation of Kuaibai, he came to invade our city of Pinglu, and he only brought 20,000 troops, of which about 10,000 were elite."
"In other words, this bastard doesn't take Pinglu City seriously." Su Hao said with a smile.
"What does the change mean?" Xiao Ruxun didn't understand.
Su Hao explained: "He can mobilize 40,000 to 50,000 people, but now he only brings 20,000 people. Doesn't this mean he looks down on us?"
Xiao Ruxun smiled bitterly and said: "It's really a joke to change it. Twenty thousand Tatar cavalry attacked a small town like ours. Isn't this looked down upon? It's true that Jinglitu can mobilize 40,000 to 50,000 people, but in the past, he led his troops to invade the border. In other words, if you bring tens of thousands of people, you won't be able to dispatch the entire army.
His soldiers are all herdsmen in the tribe. If the whole army is dispatched and no one in the family grazes, won't they starve to death when they return? Also, there are many tribes on the grassland. If he empties his nest, other tribes will take advantage of it. Entering from the void, this is the principle of the oriole behind."
"Twenty thousand cavalry is indeed amazing." Xu Guangzu also agreed. He had fought with the Mongols and knew how powerful the Mongolian cavalry was. In the past, when the Ming army faced off against the Mongolian army, the 20,000 Mongolian army could defeat a hundred thousand Ming army. Sometimes even a hundred thousand Ming army could not win. Jinglitu brought 20,000 people to defeat Lu City, probably to prove to Kuaibai that he had done his best in exchange for more benefits. I heard two Among the people, only Su Hao was heartless and didn't worry about the news of the incoming Mongolian cavalry.
"What are you afraid of? The soldiers will block you, and the water will flood the soil." Su Hao said, "We have a city wall as a barrier, and the 20,000 Tatars can't do anything to us. Brother Xiao, let me tell you everything, I will ask Xiu'er and the others to start from There are still many equipments brought from the capital that have not been used. Two days ago, Deng Kui led his troops to attack Yiyun at night, and I was not willing to let them use the treasure I had at the bottom of the box. Since you said that Litu is very powerful, then Let him try to see which one is better, his cavalry or my trump card."
"Oh, if there is any treasure in this change, please tell us. Now that it's time, don't be too tight-lipped." Xiao Ruxun said.
Su Hao chuckled and told everyone the situation of the various firearms brought by Lu Xiuer. Except for veteran Xu Guangzu, even Chen Dao had heard of some of these things for the first time.
After Xiao Ruxun listened carefully, his eyes shone with light: "If it is true as what Gai said, then we can really have a chance to have a chance with the rabbit. However, we still need to discuss how to configure these firearms. It is suggested that the best results can be achieved by being unexpected."