Wang Yuan is going on an expedition on behalf of the Emperor this time, and he must act according to the etiquette of the Emperor's expedition.
But the military situation is urgent, so everything should be kept simple.
Mao Ji represents the cabinet accompanying the army. The six ministries are all accompanied by Zuo Shilang (except the Ministry of Rites), and the six departments are all accompanied by Du Ge Shizhong. Hanlin Academy, Du Cha Yuan, Si Li Jian, Yu Ma Jian, General Affairs Department, Five Temples, and Five Army
The Governor's Mansion (there was no Navy Governor's Mansion at the time of departure), Jinyiwei, Tengxiang Four Guards and other departments all selected officials to accompany Wang Yuan on the expedition.
With a bunch of civil servants and eunuchs, the marching speed was quite slow.
After arriving in Datong, Wang Yuan left these people behind, and the emperor's chariot also stayed in Datong City. He only took the four guards of Tengxiang to carry the big banner and the dragon flag to the grassland.
"How is the teacher's condition?" Wang Yuan asked.
Xi Shu smiled and said, "It doesn't matter."
Wang Yuan blamed himself: "I shouldn't have let the teacher work so hard in Datong."
"Haha, Datong Town has been reorganized. This is enough," Xi Shu laughed. "When I go back this time, I should retire and return home."
Xi Shu should have died of illness three years ago, and he lived three years longer than in history. He was reorganizing military affairs in Datong, but had already become ill from overwork, and planned to resign when he returned to Beijing.
Zhu Houzhao had agreed and appointed Xi Shu as the Grand Scholar of Dongge, Jiazhuguo, Prince Shaobao, and returned to his hometown with honor as a cabinet minister and third young master.
On the Datong side, Wang Yuan commanded 50,000 troops.
Among them, 9,000 rifled bayonet musketeers and 18,000 musketeers were all part of the Leopard Room's new army.
There are also three thousand artillery troops and three thousand Beijing battalion rifled musketeers.
There are also 2,000 border town cavalry, 10,000 border army infantry, and 5,000 chariot troops, none of which are equipped with muskets.
This 50,000 main force, including more than 100,000 auxiliary troops, known to the outside world as 300,000, crossed the Yellow River from Piantou Pass in Datong Town to attack the grasslands.
Yuan Da's three thousand Shenxiao battalion were all equipped with rifled muskets, but no bayonets were installed. They took a boat from southern Liaoning to Tianjin, went to Datong to rest for a few days, and then crossed the Great Wall from Yulin Guard to attack. Their strategic goal was to raid the Hetao area.
The Tumut tribe outside was not allowed to rush to the aid of the Hetao, and they looked for opportunities to go around and block the fleeing Ordos tribe.
Ningxia Town sent 8,000 troops to enter the Hetao from the west to intimidate the Xitao grassland; Yansui Town sent 10,000 troops to enter the Hetao from the south in an attempt to attack Chahan Nao'erwei's hometown (the Han Dynasty ruled Shuofang County and the Xiongnu ruled Wancheng). These 10,000 troops
Eight thousand people should not underestimate the enemy and advance rashly. They should drive out small tribes along the way. If they encounter the main Mongolian force, they should immediately retreat carefully.
Not counting the grain transport and auxiliary troops, there were a total of 71,000 troops in each army.
Wang Yuan's 50,000 main force set off first, with 3,000 Beijing battalion rifled musketeers as the vanguard, heading straight for the Babaishi (Genghis Khan Altar) along the tributaries of the Yellow River.
Then Yuan Da set off, with a battalion of three thousand gods, one man and two horses, and each man had rifled guns.
Due to the shortage of war horses, all the war horses in the entire southern Liaoning region were temporarily assigned to Yuan Da. This was a surprise force that not only wanted to harass the Tumote tribe, disrupt local reinforcements, but also look for opportunities to block the fleeing main Mongolian force.
…
Wandu Division sent 300 cavalry, each with one man and two horses, to follow Yuan Da in the attack on the grassland. They were actually here to act as guides.
Yuan Da's 3,300 cavalry troops marched straight into Fengzhou (near Hohhot) along the Yellow River, where tens of thousands of Tumote families lived.
After a long journey of three hundred miles, they ignored the small tribes they encountered and soon arrived in Fengzhou (near Hohhot).
General Wanquan Liu Yu, who was serving as the guide, said: "General Zhao (Yuan Da), in front of us is Fengzhou Bansheng City. Do you want to make a sneak attack at night?"
Yuan Da said: "Soldiers are so fast, how can we wait until night? Change horses and attack immediately!"
Liu Yu hesitated to speak and did not dare to dissuade him, so he could only accompany this lunatic to cause chaos.
Ahead is the home base of tens of thousands of Tumut households, with large areas of fertile land where many plundered Han people are cultivating.
From Tuoketuo County in later generations to Hohhot, they were all semi-cultivated and semi-pastoral areas. There is a river here called "Tumo River" (Dahei River). Along the river is fertile black land, and the food of the Tumut tribe
Not only can it be self-sufficient, but it also has a large amount of food reserves that can be used to control other tribes.
3,300 cavalry and 6,600 horses rushed for 300 miles. Such a large formation had already alarmed the Tumut troops.
However, the Tumut tribe lives along the Tumo River, and there are many other small tribes scattered in the pastures of various places. It is impossible to gather too many troops in a short period of time.
The old generals had already sent out envoys to various ministries to gather cavalry, and led five thousand cavalry to face Yuan Da across the river.
"kill!"
Yuan Da gave an order, and 3,300 cavalrymen attacked and killed the Mongolian herdsmen along the river without crossing the river for a decisive battle.
Xie Wang, a scholar who was exiled to southern Liaoning, had become Yuan Da's personal guard leader. He chased Yuan Da and asked: "General, are these Han people taken away?"
"I don't have time, just don't care!" Yuan Da replied.
There are tens of thousands of Han people along the Tumo River. Most of them were captured by Mongolian raids, and some were fleeing military households, fleeing civilian households and White Lotus believers. Historically, in the early years of Wanli, here
The number of Han people farming even exceeded 100,000. Several leaders of the White Lotus Sect became large landowners and helped the Tumote tribe manage the Han people.
If Wang Yuan captured this place, he would not even be able to immigrate to the border area, and tens of thousands of Han people would be enough to restore the garrison.
When Lao Du, the leader of the Tumut tribe, saw Yuan Da slaughtering the Mongols without any scruples on the other side of the river, his eyes turned red with anger. However, he only had five or six thousand cavalry in his hands, and the rest of the cavalry had not yet arrived to join forces.
He didn't dare to cross the river to stop him, fearing that Yuan Da would attack him halfway across the river.
Yuan Da led his troops to fight to the west along the river, while Lao General led his troops to the east along the river.
As evening approached, Yuan Da had killed an unknown number of Mongolians and robbed more than 10,000 livestock, including hundreds of war horses and rogue horses.
Finally, the old commander took a detour and crossed the river to kill them. His cavalry had gathered to eight thousand.
"Change the horses! General Liu will take care of the horses and livestock."
Yuan Da took three thousand musketry cavalry to change their horses, leaving Liu Yu's three hundred border town cavalry to stay behind, and then took the initiative to lead his army to kill the enemy.
Three thousand versus eight thousand.
The old commander was so angry that the Three Corpse Gods jumped. His tribe was suddenly attacked. He finally took a detour to cross the river, but the opponent actually dared to come over and kill more people with fewer attacks.
Eight thousand Mongolian cavalry immediately dispersed and formed a formation, intending to attack from the south and east together.
To the north is the Tumochuan River, and to the west are the war horses and captured livestock brought by the Ming army. They must fight the Mongolian cavalry head-on.
Halfway through the run, Yuan Da shouted: "Raise the gun!"
The messenger immediately blew the horn, and the three thousand Shenxiao battalion collectively reined in their horses and slowed down. After stopping, they raised their flintlock rifled muskets.
"Bang bang bang!"
From a distance of about 150 meters, three thousand rifled guns fired a salvo, immediately causing damage to the enemy in front.
They retreated immediately after firing the cannons and jumped out of the encirclement before the enemy encircled them. Yuan Da shouted at Liu Yu: "We don't want any horses or livestock!"
Liu Yu was stunned, immediately abandoned his horses and livestock, and retreated with three hundred cavalry.
The old commander took back all his livestock and picked up more than 3,000 war horses for nothing. Although he was shocked by the range of the Ming army's muskets, he was still very happy. He assigned 500 cavalry to guard the livestock and continued the pursuit with the remaining cavalry.
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Suddenly, Yuan Da led his troops around to the south, getting farther and farther away from Tumochuan. Ten minutes later, they stopped to reload paper shell ammunition.
The old commanders deployed their formations again, raised their bows and arrows and ordered a charge.
This time, from a distance of about 100 meters, three thousand flintlock muskets fired a volley. After the firing, they fled immediately. More than 40 Mongolian cavalry were knocked down.
Yuan Da led his troops to evacuate eastward, then turned northwest halfway and killed the 500 Mongolian cavalry escorting the livestock.
The five hundred Mongolian cavalry immediately abandoned their livestock and horses to escape the Ming army's surprise attack.
Yuan Da once again led his troops to withdraw from the river bank and led thousands of enemies to fly kites. The old man was almost furious. He lost more than 60 people before and after, and he didn't even touch a hair on the enemy.
"Don't save horsepower, pursue at full speed!" the boss yelled.
This move gave Yuan Da a headache. The enemy troops were chasing him at full speed, and he didn't even have time to reload ammunition. This kind of musket can be fired two to three times per minute, but it must be reloaded while stationary. It is difficult for the war horse to run.
Perform operations.
Run eastward, there are mountains all over there, belonging to the remnants of the Yinshan Mountains!
Yuan Da chose the nearest hilltop. At first, the hillside was gentle enough that he could rush up it on horseback, but gradually he could only dismount and walk.
All the Ming army dismounted to reload ammunition, and more than 8,000 Mongolian cavalry could only dismount.
The old commander divided his troops into two thousand men on each side, climbed up the hillside to outflank the enemy, and left more than four thousand men to attack from the front. He was almost going crazy, and he was determined to eat the three thousand Ming troops in front of him.
"Bang bang bang!"
Three thousand musketeers, who were temporarily converted into infantry, stood down and fired freely at the more than 4,000 Mongolians who were climbing the mountain.
This was much more accurate than horseback shooting. After a burst of gunfire, nearly a hundred Mongolians were knocked down. After reloading, the distance between the two sides was even closer. More than 200 enemies were injured in an instant, and the Mongolians were suppressed to the ground without daring to raise their heads.
.
Purely out of survival instinct, these Mongolians learned to lie down to avoid bullets, but they did not know what crawling meant.
The old soldiers drew their swords and shouted: "Idiots, get up and charge, their muskets have no time to load the powder!"
One after another, more Mongolians began to charge, and the enemies on the left and right were slowly approaching.
But after just a moment of delay, the soldiers of Ming Dynasty completed the filling again.
Shooting at a closer range, there was a loud bang, bang, bang, and more than three hundred enemies were wiped out. At this time, if the Mongols rushed forward, they could engage in hand-to-hand combat with more hits and fewer hits before the Ming army loaded their ammunition.
However, the Mongols were timid again and lay on the ground without daring to get up. They had never fought this kind of battle before, and only a few warriors were still getting up and moving forward.
The old man drew his knife again: "Come on, everyone, get up and charge!"
The sharpshooter Kuai Laosan took aim with his gun and suddenly pulled the trigger. The leader of the Tumote tribe, Lao Badu, fell immediately at the sound.
The Mongolian soldiers were in chaos, and they all protected the old commander's body and fled down the mountain desperately. The Mongolians who were outflanking him all chose to go down the mountain and retreat on horseback when they heard the shouts from the front.
"kill!"
The whole army put away their muskets, led their horses across the steep terrain, then mounted their horses and dived towards the enemy.
Believe it or not, at this point in the battle, no one of the 3,300 Ming army cavalry was killed, and only a few were slightly injured while climbing the mountain.
Especially the three hundred cavalry from the Wandu Division. They were not equipped with muskets and were purely here to act as guides. They stayed on the battlefield to watch the whole process.
Of course, there were also losses, because one man had two horses, and another 3,300 horses were captured by the Mongols by the river.