Zhu Houzhao's mood was very complicated at this time.
On the one hand, he won consecutive battles and conquered Kuanhe, Huizhou, Fuyu, and Xincheng without any effort.
On the other hand, these four cities were all abandoned by the enemy on their own initiative, and the 50,000-strong army had yet to fight a decent battle.
It's like throwing a punch with all your strength, but it only hits the air, and I feel so frustrated and frustrated.
Fifty thousand troops slowly arrived outside Daning City, facing the tall city wall across the river.
This was once the central capital of the Liao Kingdom. The city wall was fifteen kilometers in circumference. There were an outer city, an inner city and an imperial city. Although the outer city wall was damaged, if you wanted to attack it by force, you would definitely lose your life.
The palace of the first Prince Ning was located in the city, and the current Governor of Duoyan Guard also lives in the city.
The situation was unclear, so Zhu Houzhao did not dare to cross the river for the time being, and ordered to find suitable terrain to camp on the south bank.
As soon as the camp was set up, an officer came to report: "Your Majesty, Azhamuli, the puppet commander of the Duoyan Guard, has sent someone to ask for surrender. Do you want to see him?"
Zhu Houzhao asked with a smile: "What's the argument this time?"
The officer replied: "The puppet governor Azamuli said that as long as your Majesty is able to withdraw his troops, he will send his eldest son to Beijing as a hostage and pay tribute with two thousand war horses."
Zhu Houzhao said angrily: "Tell that man to go back and tell Azamuli that I have spent countless money and food on this Northern Expedition. I have to pay tribute of at least 20,000 war horses to make up for it!"
"Yes!" the officer took the order and left.
Zhu Houzhao also sent a message: "After the camp is set up, all the generals will go to the commander's tent to discuss the military situation."
In fact, there is nothing to discuss. The enemy's situation is unknown, and our army has not yet crossed the river. We must first find a suitable crossing point, send a small force to go there first, and at the same time build pontoons, make boats, and make siege equipment.
Three days later, the army chose to cross the river a few miles southwest, where the river was relatively narrow.
Before the pontoon bridge was built, tens of thousands of enemy horses came rushing towards us.
The cavalry of Duoyan Guard are very shabby!
Only two or three thousand cavalry were slightly better equipped, and the rest were all rabble.
Those young men recruited from various ministries have been using their scimitars for who knows how many years? The edges are almost worn away. All the bows and arrows are made by themselves. The effective range is less than fifty meters, and most of the arrows are made of bone and stone.
The quality of war horses is even more worrying? Ordinary herdsmen can't have enough to eat themselves? Where can they get enough salt and concentrate to feed war horses? Many horses look similar to mules.
There is no way, Duoyanwei has been beaten by Dayan Khan for more than ten years? Countless people were killed, injured, and kidnapped? Even now, they have not recovered their strength.
The Ming army crossed the river in two places, about one mile apart.
Azamuli himself commanded six thousand troops, and his cousin Hua Chi commanded more than five thousand troops. They rushed to two river sections respectively, hoping to attack the Ming army halfway across the river.
"Boom boom boom!"
A total of forty Fran machine field guns? They opened fire on the cavalry across the river.
After a salvo, about a third of the shells missed, causing dozens of casualties to the enemy. Some shells directly shattered cavalry or horses, and some bounced on the ground, grazing several horseshoes along the way.
Tens of thousands of Uliangha cavalrymen only suffered a few dozen casualties? Some soldiers actually escaped.
Is it true that the composition of the Duoyanwei tribe is too complex and the integration time is too short? Many tribes have been annexed in recent decades. The direct line oppresses the collateral lines, and the collateral lines oppress the medium-sized tribes? The medium-sized tribes in turn oppress the small tribes. If we can continue to expand,
Can it still cover up internal conflicts? But it was suppressed and beaten by left-wing Mongolia.
Tens of thousands of cavalry were forcibly recruited this time? Many of the cavalry were ordinary young men? It was difficult for them to live a normal life, so how could they be willing to fight for a leader who had just taken over? What's more, this leader was not in the right position.
The Folan cannon can be reloaded quickly. When the enemy cavalry rushes to the river, the second round of artillery fire has already been fired.
The damage caused by the artillery shells was also small, but it was able to disrupt the enemy's local formation. At the same time, the enemy cavalry once again fled. Two rounds of shelling actually caused more than 3,000 enemy cavalry to escape.
Azamuli was very angry about this, and now he did not bother to punish the deserters. He led his bodyguard to shoot arrows at the Ming army crossing the river.
Thousands of Ming troops who had already crossed the river were instantly killed and returned to the river. This crossing basically failed.
Zhu Houzhao was so angry that he cursed loudly and had no choice but to stop his troops and return to the camp, where he summoned the generals for another meeting.
The two sides were at loggerheads in this section of the river, and the stalemate lasted for seven or eight days. The Ming army secretly crossed the river more than ten miles further south. A total of eight thousand troops successfully crossed over and ran back to help their main force hold down the battle.
Among these eight thousand people, there were two thousand fire-gun soldiers, one thousand archers, one thousand sword players, two thousand spearmen, and two thousand chariot soldiers.
Among all the arms in the Ming Dynasty, the chariot soldiers developed the fastest!
At the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, chariots and soldiers existed. The chariots at that time could transport supplies during marches and form vehicle formations during battles, but they were relatively crude and primitive.
As the number of war horses in the Ming Dynasty was scarce, and they faced the Mongolian invasion for a long time, they built large-scale tanks for defense. The tanks at this time were no longer modified baggage vehicles, but very professional horse-repelling tanks.
Facing a cavalry charge, chariots formed a formation to protect their infantry.
After the chariot, there are swordsmen, spearmen, archers and firecrackers shooting to their heart's content.
Seeing the Ming army's vehicle formation slowly advancing, Azamuli, with tens of thousands of cavalry, instantly lost the desire to attack. He actually ignored the main force of the Ming army crossing the river, and chose to withdraw from the battlefield and swarm back to Daning City.
Zhu Houzhao successfully crossed the river, set up camp, sent civilians into the mountains to cut trees, and let the craftsmen continue to build siege equipment.
For more than half a month, Duoyan Guards cavalry came to harass me from time to time.
Every time the Ming army launched a counterattack, the enemy cavalry would flee and hide in the city.
A month later, Zhu Fen brought his troops to join forces, and the siege equipment was completed. Zhu Houzhao officially ordered the siege.
The outer city will be destroyed in one attack.
The inner city will be destroyed in one attack.
The imperial city will be destroyed in one attack.
What the hell?
Zhu Houzhao led his troops into the city only to discover that in this former central capital of the Liao Kingdom, not only had the outer city walls collapsed in many places, but a large area of the inner city wall had also collapsed. Only the imperial city of the Liao Kingdom, the acropolis of the palace of the first King Ning, was destroyed.
Duoyanwei has been carefully restored.
These barbarians have occupied a great city for decades, but they don’t even repair the city walls!
But what an injustice, those collapsed walls were demolished under the orders of Dayan Khan.
The little prince of Mongolia once took over Duoyanwei's home. At that time, Duoyanwei fled to the border and cried for help from Daming's father. The Ming Dynasty sent many livestock and grains, so these guys didn't freeze to death and starve to death. Then, Duoyanwei took refuge.
The mortal enemy Dayan Khan, in turn, plundered the Ming Dynasty who was kind to them.
Building the city took too much manpower, material and financial resources. After Dayan Khan demolished many city walls, Duoyanwei was frugal and could only repair the innermost wall.
Zhu Houzhao came to the palace and guard city of the first Prince Ning. He had achieved his goal of sending troops, but he was so angry that he wanted to cut Azamulli into pieces with a thousand knives.
That bastard ran away again!
Moreover, while the Ming army built siege equipment, they used tens of thousands of cavalry to cover the battlefield to prevent the Ming army's sentry cavalry from approaching, and took away the troops and livestock in batches every night.
It seems that the 50,000-strong army marching in person has become a joke. As long as Zhu Houzhao withdraws his troops, those damn barbarians can come back at any time.
This is an old tactic of the Duoyan Guards. Their territory has been captured by Dayan Khan many times. When it is obvious that they cannot defeat them, they can run as far as they can. Once the enemy army withdraws, they immediately kill to recapture the pasture.
Gu Dayong, who came with the army, asked: "Your Majesty, Daning City has been restored and winter is coming. Should we prepare to withdraw our troops?"
Zhu Houzhao was furious: "Get out of here and let me chase you!"
Gu Dayong persuaded: "Your Majesty, Daning is far away from Ji Town. If we continue to pursue the north, it will be difficult for us to supply food and grass. Moreover, the food road is getting longer and longer. If we catch up halfway, we will be surrounded by the enemy."
If the food route is cut off, the 60,000-strong army (after reuniting) will be in danger!"
"I don't care, keep chasing. We will catch Azamuli even when we reach the grassland!" Zhu Houzhao was so angry that he lost his mind.
"His Majesty!"
Gu Dayong suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, and said bravely: "The changes in Tumubao."
Zhu Houzhao was stunned, then clenched his fist again and said: "Call Zhao Er (Yuan Da) and ask him to gather all the cavalry and hold the bandits tightly for me. Zhu Fen said that Erlang led troops to Quaning, maybe he can tell
Now they are coming from the north, just blocking the path of those bandits. What if we can attack from both front and back?"
There are many hills in Daning, and the main force of Duoyan Guard withdraws to the grassland. Although there are many valleys that can be passed, they will most likely choose the best road. And Wang Yuan will also choose that road when he returns from the grassland, because it is easier to walk.
No detours yet.
It is very likely that the two sides will collide head-on!