Not to mention Anda Khan's reaction, he said that after Kang Changning led his army all the way north, they would naturally encounter any large-scale enemies in a short period of time. In fact, they could not even see a small group of Tatars.
After marching north for three consecutive days, except for a few Tatar cavalry who were obviously spies, no other Tatars were found. They also passed by a Tatar tribe's garrison on the way. Unfortunately, this garrison was already full of people.
It was completely empty, and there were still messes on the ground. It was foreseeable that the Tatars of these tribes retreated very hastily, and they probably just evacuated the day before.
More than 10,000 cavalrymen of the Tang Army marched onto the grassland. This undoubtedly dropped a huge bomb on the grassland. As soon as the Tatar tribes along the way learned the news, they immediately retreated.
Although the Tatars often went south to plunder in the past, at that time it was basically the Tatars who gathered together to go south. Usually, most of the Tatar tribes were scattered across the grasslands. After all, no matter how abundant the water and grass in a place,
It was impossible to feed too many cattle, sheep, and horses, so these tribes needed to be far enough apart to ensure that the horses and sheep had enough grass.
Under such circumstances, a single small tribe is naturally unable to fight against a large army.
These small and medium-sized Tatar tribes along the way chose to retreat in a hurry. Kang Changning's cavalry army was naturally unable to fight any battles along the way. In fact, so far, the journey north to the grassland was like an armed march, with not a single enemy along the way.
No.
However, Kang Changning and other cavalry officers were not in a hurry, because they also knew the situation of the grassland. After going deep into the grassland, they would not encounter the enemy for just a few days, or even ten days, a half month or even several months.
Very normal thing.
The grassland is so big that if the enemy hides and walks, it will be very difficult to find them, and it will be even more difficult to catch up with them.
Therefore, they still have the necessary patience!
The army continued to move north, and soon arrived at the Ci'er Mountain area. If you go east, you will find the old site of Yulin Guard left over from the previous Ming Dynasty. If you go west, you will find the old site of Dongsheng City.
After Kang Changning thought about it, he did not choose to go to the old site of Dongsheng City, but chose to go west. He hoped to use his cavalry force to confuse the enemy's sight and lead their main force to the direction of Yulin Guard first.
This will give the infantry units in the rear more time to build forts and consolidate their logistics lines.
Although it is said that the goal of the Holy Emperor is to severely inflict heavy losses on the Tatars, regardless of the gains and losses of one city or one place, Deng Xide, commander of the Ninth Army, also told Kang Changning that this time the battle to the north was to seize the Hetao, but the actual strategy
The goal is mainly to kill and injure the enemy's effective forces.
However, killing the enemy's effective forces is the final goal. To achieve such a goal, there must be a big war, and it must also involve our own infantry. Kang Changning's more than 10,000 cavalry alone can defeat the enemy in a big way.
After going around the grassland for more than a dozen times, it is estimated that not many Tatars could be killed or injured. Instead, they might fall into a trap surrounded by the enemy.
Therefore, there must be a battlefield, a battlefield where one's own infantry can also participate.
This battlefield is undoubtedly the former site of Dongsheng City.
This was something that was already determined in the battle plan of the Ninth Army. Now what Kang Changning has to do is to allow his infantry troops to smoothly maneuver to the old site of Dongsheng City, and then rebuild Dongsheng City.
Only in this way can the Tatars be forced to come to Dongsheng City!
And many of the current actions are, for the time being, serving this goal.
Kang Changning suddenly led his army to the east, which obviously exceeded the expectations of some Tatars. Many Tatars thought that Kang Changning's cavalry was going straight to the north to kill Anda Khan's lair.
.
But I didn't expect to suddenly turn eastward, which would bring disaster to many Tatar tribes who were a little lax.
On September 5th, Kang Changning's vanguard, the Fourth Light Cavalry Regiment, successfully caught up with a Tatar tribe that had no time to retreat. The Central Plains dynasty and the northern nomads were natural enemies, and they would naturally not be able to fight against them if they encountered them.
If you are polite, you just go up and fight, killing hundreds of enemies on the spot, and all the rest surrender.
However, Kang Changning obviously had no intention of marching with many old, weak, women, children and other prisoners. They packed up and took away all the horses, cattle and sheep of these prisoners of war. As for the weapons and other things, they confiscated all, leaving only four of them.
Food for the day.
Then, just like herding sheep, a few dozen cavalrymen drove this tribe of only more than 4,000 people towards the Great Wall on foot!
Anyway, there are basically no Tatars going south, and there are infantry units in the rear to support them. They are not afraid of these unarmed people, and they even have no cattle, sheep, or horses.
If they couldn't reach the Great Wall within four days, they themselves would starve to death!
What's more, most of the young and strong people in this small tribe have died in the previous battles. The remaining few young and strong people are also disheartened and have lost all their fighting spirit. These thousands of people have basically caused a storm.
If the superiors had not said before going to war that some Tatars should be properly captured so that they could help raise horses for the Tang Empire, even Kang Changning would not bother to pay attention to them.
Just take away the horses, cattle, sheep, and all the rations. In just a few days, these people will starve to death on the grassland!
War is always so ruthless!
Whether the Tatars went south to plunder before, or the Tang Army went north now, the harm to ordinary people was huge. When the Tatars went south, they also did not estimate the life and death of the people in the Central Plains. They would rob
Take everything you can and leave a body behind.
Kang Changning's sudden advance eastward was beyond the expectations of many people. This also allowed his troops to achieve a lot of results. In just a few days, they destroyed several small and medium-sized Tatar tribes.
Naturally, this news cannot be concealed. Even if these tribes are destroyed, some people will escape and report the news to other Tatars. Within a few days, Anda Khan is already leading the army.
Got the news.
After cursing the damn Nanbarbarians, Ida Khan decisively marched eastward!
The reason why he marched eastward was because he believed that the Tang Dynasty in the south mobilized troops and sent more than 10,000 cavalry to the north just to wipe out a few small tribes. They must have a bigger plot.
Some time ago, he also received news from the south one after another, saying that the little emperor of the Tang Dynasty, that barbaric and lowly bandit-born little emperor, was advocating some kind of northern strategy.
And the ministers of the Southern Barbarians were all so obsessed that they even tried to seize Hetao and even Tumochuan.
They also didn’t want to think that this place had been abandoned for hundreds of years even in the Qianming Dynasty. Even the old man Zhengde didn’t dare to say that he would regain Hetao and Tumochuan, but this Tang Dynasty actually wanted to
Seize the Loop.
Tumochuan, Hetao and the large grassland area in the east are the foundation of their 30,000 households on the right. Although the grassland area controlled by the Tatars is very vast, not all areas can be grazed.
The best places here are Tumochuan and Hetao.
Originally, he wanted to seize Liaohetao, which was also an area with rich water and grass. However, the Chahar tribe was like an unbeatable Xiaoqiang, and they also united with the eastern tribes such as Duoyan Sanwei. Behind the scenes, the Nanmanzi
With support, I just held on.
Although they won several victorious battles in the east, they still failed to completely capture the Liaohetao area in the end.
In the end, he had no choice but to move westward, fought with the Oara people, captured a lot of grassland, and expanded his grazing area.
But even so, the foundation of Anda Khan is still in the 30,000 households on the right wing, and the foundation of the 30,000 households on the right wing is in Tumochuan and Hetao.
If they, the Southern Barbarians, want to seize these areas, they will kill 30,000 households on their right wing.
He knew very well that the plan of these Nanmanzi was Hetao or even Tumochuan, so even if he knew that the Nanmanzi's cavalry was advancing eastward, he was unmoved. He was still sure that these Nanmanzi's eastward advance was
A routine, probably to cover up the next move.
In addition, he also knew that even if these Nanmanzi cavalry advanced eastward, they would not pose any actual threat to his own tribe, because the news of Nanmanzi's cavalry heading north had already spread, and the smarter tribes
They had retreated long ago, and as for the tribes who foolishly stayed in place, they were swept away.
Life on the grasslands is difficult and you are looking for death because of your stupidity, so don't expect to send troops to rescue them.
However, he still led his troops to march eastward. Why?
Because he also knew that the courage of those southern barbarians to go north was the cavalry of more than 10,000 people. No matter what tricks these southern barbarians had, they had to rely on this cavalry in the end!
Just capture this cavalry and annihilate it!
Anda Khan believes that in the next ten years, those southern barbarians will probably not have the courage to go north again!
For the Tatars, the loss of 10,000 cavalry was a huge loss, but it was far more than a broken bone. However, for the barbarians who were seriously short of cavalry, the loss of 10,000 cavalry was enough to dissuade them.
Any thoughts of heading north.
By that time, even if the Nanmanzi's infantry and artillery were powerful, it would be difficult to move on the grassland without the cover of cavalry. I had plenty of time to slowly deal with them.
Anda Khan led the main cavalry to march eastward, which happened to comply with Kang Changning's wish!
The main force of the Tatars was led eastward by himself, and the infantry troops in the rear were able to move north smoothly, and even fought all the way to the former site of Dongsheng City.
At this time, the situation between the two sides on the grassland was very embarrassing. Both sides thought that their plans were perfect, and they were developing in the direction they expected.
But in the end, no one knows who will achieve real success and have the last laugh.