Gui Gui and the others rested for a while, and when they saw that the horses had slowed down, they immediately started on their way again.
Fortunately, they escaped early, and Batur Huihan's men could not catch up with them no matter how hard they chased.
Previously, what Gui Gui said to Batur Huihan was either true or false.
It is true that Guihua City has indeed become the largest gathering place on the grassland. Almost all tribes, including those captured by the imperial army during the Eastern Expedition, have all moved to the Hetao Plain where Guihua City is located.
In addition, Guan Nei has indeed built a railway to Guihua City, and grain and grass supplies are continuously transported from Guan Nei to Guihua City via railway, causing Guihua City to accumulate a lot of grain and grass supplies!
What he didn't tell Batur Huihan was that such a large population was not only around Guihua City, but also all the way to Baotou in the west. Moreover, a city was also built with cement on Baotou side. It has been connected to Baotou.
The railway from Guihua City is still under construction going west, and it is expected to be able to reach Baotou this year.
Because according to the previous situation, the western side had not been completely wiped out by the imperial army. Therefore, the westernmost side of Baotou was not only a city of Baotou, but also built auxiliary buildings, such as piers and platforms, separated by dozens of feet.
Far away, probably within the cross firing range of muskets and artillery, there is one, which can prevent the enemy's cavalry in the west from passing through Baotou on a large scale and heading towards the hinterland without any hindrance.
In addition, the information that Jiji told Batur Huihan was wrong in that the number of imperial officers and soldiers in Guihua City was not only 50,000, but as many as 130,000.
The cavalry army originally gathered in Guihua City and swept across the eastern Mongolian tribes had reached 120,000. After capturing the horses of the eastern Mongolian tribes, there were about 10,000 more cavalry.
Cavalry.
For the grasslands, increasing the cavalry is as simple as increasing the infantry in the pass. As long as there are qualified war horses, there is no shortage of people who can mount archery.
Originally, about 30,000 cavalry troops entered Liaodong and participated in the Liaodong war. For example, Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other troops.
However, unexpectedly, the imperial court moved very quickly to recover Liaodong, and it was so devastating. After Eqirtu reported the situation in the west to Emperor Chongzhen, these cavalry troops were quickly transferred back to Guihua City.
Some of the grain and grass supplies transported from the pass to Guihua City by train were ordnance and armor, used to arm the newly formed cavalry.
Sun Chuanting, the second assistant to the cabinet, had already left the capital and rushed to Guihua City. He was accompanied by Li Yan and Lady Hong.
In the fight against Liaodong and Korea, it would be no problem for Sun Chuanting to be in charge of the capital.
However, the west was too far away from the capital, and if the news was delayed for a long time on the road, Emperor Chongzhen was afraid that the war effort would be delayed.
In addition, there were some local government affairs that were beyond the reach of military generals and needed to be handled by civilian officials. Sun Chuanting was knowledgeable in both civil and military affairs and his rank was high enough, so he was arranged to leave the capital.
Of course, these things cannot be understood by Ye Bushou who spreads to the west.
At this time, Sun Chuanting, on the second day after arriving in Guihua City, ignored rest and began to inspect the most important area outside the pass.
According to the imperial court's plan, the Hetao Plain was to become a very important granary in the north of the Ming Dynasty. In conjunction with the livestock industry, it would create the largest meat supply site in the entire north and revitalize the entire northern economy.
However, the first thing Sun Chuanting inspected was the army.
Regarding the specific situation of the army, as the deputy minister of the cabinet and in charge of military affairs, he naturally understands it. What he needs to do now is to check the information in the documents with the actual situation.
On the prairie east of Guihua City, 120,000 cavalry troops, excluding the more than 10,000 cavalry on duty, were all inspected. They were densely packed with war horses and soldiers wearing red jerseys.
Surrounded by many general soldiers, Sun Chuanting looked at this scene and was actually very emotional in his heart.
Although the Ming Dynasty had much more cavalry than the Song Dynasty, in any case, compared to the Central Plains Dynasty, the cavalry was definitely a smaller and more costly unit.
Since he led the troops to fight, the largest number of cavalry did not exceed 20,000.
But in front of them, there was a dense cavalry army, numbering 120,000, with no infantry.
On this grassland, the cavalry seemed to have no need for money.
In this situation, even if Sun Chuanting had led the army for many years and was appointed as the second minister of the cabinet, he would still be filled with emotion.
If such a large cavalry army can be used well, the previous sweep of eastern Mongolia will be nothing at all. Just like in the era of Genghis Khan, it is very possible to sweep across the west.
However, although Sun Chuanting was feeling emotional in his heart, on the surface he remained calm and still had his dead fish face.
After boarding the east city head of Guihua City, groups of cavalry began to pass by under the city wall.
These Ming cavalrymen who were inspected naturally knew that the civil servant in the scarlet robe at the top of the city was the most knowledgeable civil servant in the court. He was the civil servant who fought in the south and the north, and he was the civil servant who put down the rebellion of the bandits...
In short, as for Sun Chuanting's resume, as long as he was an official or soldier of the imperial court, everyone knew about it. Therefore, everyone was treated with great seriousness and with great vigor.
However, in Sun Chuanting's eyes, after spending half a day reviewing the 120,000 cavalry troops, his comments in his heart were not very high.
In his eyes, only about 50,000 cavalry can be considered elite. The remaining 70,000 cavalry still need more training to reach the standard of elite cavalry in his mind.
But now there is no time for training. He came to Guihua City to prepare for a counterattack against the western tribe allies. These cavalry troops were further tempered in the war!
With this in mind, he also distributed the ordnance he brought from the Capital Military Bureau to the cavalry.
I won’t mention ordinary ordnance. The most important ones are rifled field guns and heartless guns.
The range and accuracy advantages of rifled field guns make the weight of this type of gun much lighter than that of the same range. It is easier to maneuver after being equipped with wheels, and is suitable for distribution to cavalry troops.
In fact, the heartless cannon is the same. It is not heavy in itself. The main reason is that the caliber of the barrel is large, and it can run like a wheel.
As long as it is not a cavalry charge or an ordinary march, there is no problem with these two types of artillery.
There is also a batch of new supplies such as Shenwei rifles and grenades, which will be distributed as usual.
Sun Chuanting asked Li Yan and Li Dingguo to take over the arrangements for this matter. But he himself began to inspect the Hetao Plain without stopping.
Because the coalition forces of the western tribes had already launched an attack on the western front of the Ming Dynasty, there was not much time left for him.
After spending a day, Sun Chuanting rode on horseback to inspect, looking at the flowers, and felt deeply in his heart.
After several years of development, the Hetao Plain can hardly be seen as a grassland, and it is really blocked by the south of the Yangtze River.
As far as the eye can see, there are neat fields, growing grain, cotton and other crops, as well as potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., all as far as the eye can see.
The fields and fields are all made of cement roads and canals. Of course, there are also houses, all of which are made of cement. There are villages every few miles.
Most of the people in these villages are Han people who migrated from the pass, and they mainly take care of these fields.
The houses of herdsmen are all in Guihua City and Baotou, as well as several grazing areas.
What made Sun Chuanting very emotional was that the iron ox invented by the emperor had made great contributions to such large-scale reclamation.
Otherwise, it would simply be impossible to open up wasteland and farm on such a large scale with just manpower.
For this reason, Sun Chuanting also made a special trip to visit those at the Academy of Sciences stationed here and expressed his condolences to them.
There are also people from the Railway Department. They mainly repair the railways and direct the imperial army to guard the prisoners of the eastern Mongolian tribes.
It was the addition of these prisoners since last year that greatly increased the speed of railway construction outside the customs. When I met Sun Chuanting, the manager of the Railway Department was a palace eunuch, and he asked Sun Chuanting for prisoners, urging him to
He asked him to start the war quickly, saying that if the railway was built all the way to the west, the more prisoners the better!
Of course, Sun Chuanting's identity is here, which means that he does not have the courage to interfere in military and political affairs.
Sun Chuanting's personality naturally would not promise anything. He didn't even bother to pay attention and just continued to inspect the Hetao Plain.
The day passed quickly, and Sun Chuanting was very satisfied.
In the past, the imperial court had not occupied the Loop, but because it could not make ends meet and the cost was too high, it finally gave up here and returned to the pass.
But now, with the support of Gewu Xue, Sun Chuanting has predicted that the Hetao Plain will not only be self-sufficient in the near future, but will also be able to take care of neighboring provinces, such as Shaanxi and Shanxi.
The future of Ming Dynasty is really bright!
While Sun Chuanting was pleased, he decided to inspect the lower pastoral area the next day.
However, what he didn't expect was that the next day, before he set out, Gui Gui and his party rushed back and reported the military information they had learned.
When he heard that the main force of the Western Tribe Alliance was targeting Guihua City, with as many as 100,000 troops, Sun Chuanting's brows immediately furrowed.
In terms of military strength, the imperial army had more troops than the western tribe allies. If they really fought, Sun Chuanting was confident that he could defeat them.
However, judging from the information he currently has, the battlefield for this battle is likely to be on the Hetao Plain, which he is very unwilling to do.
The battlefield is here. Regardless of winning or losing, the thriving prosperity of the Hetao Plain will definitely be destroyed!
However, this place is no different than inside the pass. There are dangers that can be defended and the terrain can be used to block attacks. This is an endless prairie.
Even if some fortifications have been built in Baotou, the grassland is too big. How can we defend against 100,000 enemy cavalry?