stubborn thief

Chapter 693 Guangwu Camp

Liu Chengzong felt that Hong Chengchou was playing a game of hide-and-seek with him.

He crossed the Yellow River from Mingshazhou to the west and entered Zaoyuanbao; Hong Chengchou led his troops to cross the Yellow River from Ningxia Town to the east and entered Lingzhou.

Liu Shizi thought to himself that after fighting for so many years, every time there was a major battle, he would rack his brains to deploy his soldiers who had no food to form an encirclement, in the hope of getting enough food and grass, and then surround the enemy.

I've never seen anyone as fierce as Hong Chengchou. He just walked into the encirclement on his own!

The current situation is centered on Zhang Yingchang and Ren Quaner on Jinyintan. To the east are Ding Guodong's 6,000 men from Huanxian, who have blocked the Ming army reinforcements in the rear of Ningxia.

To the west was Wang Wenxiu's Longxi Brigade, which was capturing Zhongwei and many forts in the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

In the northwest was Liu Chengzong's 20,000 main force troops that had just crossed the Yellow River.

Hong Chengchou was originally stationed in the town, which was in the northwest corner. Now he led his troops to run to Zhang Yingchang, which was equivalent to walking into a pocket surrounded on all sides.

But the number of troops he had sneaked into the pocket was a bit exaggerated, and no one expected that he would come out in full force.

As the situation developed to this point, Liu Shizi knew that it was time to test his strategic abilities.

  Should we first enter Ningxia town to allow the troops who have been on a long journey to rest and calm the people of Ningxia, or should we pursue Hong Chengchou?

Liu Chengzong originally wanted to rest for a while on the west bank of the Yellow River, even if just for half a day.

After all, Ningxia is really far from Xi'an.

In Hong Chengchou's perception, the war between the two sides lasted no more than four days.

But in fact, Liu Shizi's large group of people had been marching non-stop for twenty days since they set out from Xi'an Prefecture.

Although the main force did not engage in battle with the enemy, the soldiers and horses were exhausted and needed to rest.

But people in Ningxia hate every idiot who breaks into their homes equally.

They hated Hong Chengchou and also hated Liu Chengzong.

First, Sun Zuochang, determined to die, lit a beacon to alert his friendly forces. Later, commanders Li Xuemu and Wang Fengshui tried to unite the Mongolian nobles Dorji Daicheng behind the mountains to start an uprising, but they were discovered and captured by Gulu Taiji.

This is particularly fucked up.

The whole story is that Li Xuemu and Wang Fengshui had already contacted Dai Cheng before Xu Yong of Zuo Liangyu's army harassed the border wall.

It was not that they had foresight and knew that Liu Chengzong would march north to Ningxia, but that these two commanders thought that Hong Chengchou was committing atrocities.

They planned to start an uprising in the various guards of Ningxia, expel Hong Chengchou, Zuo Liangyu and others by force, and restore peace to Ningxia.

Originally, they were a group of more than a dozen guards who had come together to start the rebellion, but when a mutiny broke out in Ningxia town, many of the people who had originally planned to join them in the rebellion first joined the mutiny.

By the time the two men received the news behind Helan Mountain, the mutiny had been put down. They happened to learn that Liu Chengzong was coming to attack again, so they simply kept their original plan unchanged. Their goal changed from borrowing troops to expel Hong Chengchou to resisting Liu Chengzong.

Now that you are here, why not borrow some troops from Daicheng?

Daicheng was also very generous. He accepted the Ningxia border generals' request to borrow troops from him, just like a serious Ningxia border general.

Borrowing troops to expel Hong Chengchou who is causing trouble in Ningxia, good!

It would be a good idea to borrow troops to resist Liu Chengzong who came to Ningxia to cause trouble!

In fact, this is a family tradition. His father, Cheng Taiji, was a well-known mercenary. Back then, at the command of Haobai, he led his troops into the border wall to help the Ningxia local armed forces fight against the Ming army.

The Zhulitu tribe was also considered a top tribe among the right-wing Duolotuman tribe seventy or eighty years ago.

But just like Huo Luochi, in that era when strong men emerged in large numbers, he could not rank among the others and could only be bullied.

They were originally stationed in Tumochuan, but were later beaten by Anda and moved to Songshan, where they grazed between Zhuanglangwei and Jingluwei. They also fought against the Oirat and were finally invited into Ningxia by Haibai, where they were beaten by the Ming army.

Just these three opponents, three battles, footprints all over the northwest, and being beaten in circles were enough to weaken a large tribe that dominated the grassland into a small leader with only a few thousand soldiers.

In addition, three of the five sons have died, and the weak forces in the tribe no longer have the ability to make independent decisions.

Their food and clothing depended on the border markets of the Ming court, and the people who came and went were the border generals from Ningxia. Naturally, no matter who Li Xuemu, Wang Fengshui and others fought against, Daicheng would have to help.

When Gulu Taiji sent Zaisang to report the situation in detail to Liu Chengzong, Liu Chengzong almost laughed out loud.

This is luck, and it is also the credit of Gulu Taiji.

Liu Chengzong's original idea was to let Gulu Taiji take Daicheng and Chaotu to play together.

The good thing is that Gulu wants to keep the good thing to himself and would rather sell everything he has than tell others about this good thing.

Otherwise, the two people from the Duolo Tuman tribe would definitely leak the news of his northern expedition to the Ming army.

The supporters of his Khanate were Oirats, U-Tsang and Mobei.

Among them, the Oirats and the Tumed tribe in the south of the desert both have a feud with the two guys from the Duolo Tuman tribe.

It's normal for them to help the Ming army and go against us.

But the interesting thing is that Gulu Taiji was born in Ordos and was not from the same family as them.

Upon hearing the news that the two men were trying to win him over to send troops to rebel against the Marshal's Office, Gulu Taiji immediately led his troops to form an alliance and captured the two men at a banquet. Among them, Chaotu Taiji was killed for his stubborn resistance, while Daicheng Taiji was captured together with Li Xuemu and Wang Fengshui.

Liu Chengzong was actually very worried when he read the letters sent by the Mongolian nobles.

Because the rate of duplicate names is too high.

This deceased Chaotu Taiji has the same name as the Xuntu Taiji of Chahar; Gulu Taiji has the same name as the Guru Taiji of U-Tsang.

As for the surname, it is basically useless, they are all Borjigin.

In most cases, what can distinguish them is the name of the tribe. Unfortunately, Guru of U-Tsang and Gulu of Alashan both came from the Duolun Tumed tribe, which is called Duoluo Tuman in the Ming Dynasty.

In other words, Liu Shizi distinguished these two people mainly by looking at the places. The one who came from the southwest was Guru, and the one who came from the northwest was Gulu.

The army entered Guangwu Camp west of the Yellow River. Like Mingshazhou Fort, the local people surrendered when they saw the Marshal's army approaching, and ordered the officers in the camp to prepare wine and slaughter sheep in preparation for a dinner.

Finally, there is a place to rest for a night.

They also had to rest. The troops in front entered Guangwu Camp, and the troops behind were still doing finishing work at the Yellow River Floating Bridge in Zaoyuanbao.

Liu Chengzong assigned a task to the officers of the Huben Camp, asking them to select soldiers who were proficient in Uighur and Mongolian and compile two sets of bilingual Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Thousand Character Classic.

One set was sent to Gulu Taiji, and the other set was sent to Lanzhou, where they were printed on woodblocks and widely circulated.

In the evening, the officers and soldiers of Guangwu Camp prepared a grand banquet, but Liu Chengzong did not allow any wine to be served.

To be precise, the surrendered generals were allowed to drink, but the officers under his command were not allowed to drink and were only allowed to eat meat. However, he accepted the wine and immediately sent it to Gulu Taiji along with the 300,000 copies of the primer.

Also sent along were a letter of encouragement and a letter of appointment, ordering him to gather the troops of Chaotu and Daicheng on the 15th, and to serve as the guerrilla general of the Heishui Camp, escorting the baggage to the expedition.

Heishuiying is the Chinese name, and it is called Kharahot in Mongolian.

Just like Hohhot is Qingcheng, Hala is black and Hot is city, which means black city.

The origin of this name is the Yanjunsi of Heishui Town in Western Xia. The Yuan Dynasty continued to use this name, called Kharahot. Later, it was conquered by the Ming army, and Heishui City was abandoned and swallowed up by sandstorms.

Heishui City was not located in Gulu Taiji's residence. To be precise, Liu Chengzong gave all the desert Gobi from the west of the Helan Mountains to the north of Ganzhou to Gulu Taiji as a reward for his provision of food, intelligence and suppression of the rebellion.

It is hundreds of times larger than its original territory and is comparable to the entire Ordos.

Of course, there is not that much land available for grazing and farming, but the geographical environment is similar to that of Ordos, with deserts and Gobi grasslands connected.

After all, Gulu Taiji's original territory was very small, just a small piece of land behind the Helan Mountains and the Changliu River.

What's more, several former Northern Yuan officials in the Huben Camp around Liu Chengzong analyzed that such a huge reward would drive Gulu Taiji crazy.

Because the greatest significance is actually to let them annex the territories and tribes of the two taijis of Duolun Tumed. Compared with the Gobi Desert, the area behind the Helan Mountains is a good place for people to live. This alone is enough as a reward.

As for the main desert, Liu Chengzong was actually too lazy to have anyone explore it, so it would be useless to just leave it there, so it would be better to give it to Gulu Taiji and let him explore it thoroughly.

Grasslands, rivers, lakes, water heads, oases, and of course the saline-alkali land in the Gobi Desert.

There is no place that cannot be utilized. Saline-alkali land can also produce output, but it cannot be used to grow crops, and it requires more effort than growing crops.

After going through the processes of scraping the soil, rinsing, steaming and drying, it can produce salt, alkali, saltpeter and brine.

Brine can be used to make tofu and can also be used as fertilizer for muddy land.

It’s just that Liu Chengzong had too many saline-alkali lands, livestock farms and abandoned cities, and Yan’an Prefecture and Qingyang Prefecture were both places where saltpeter was abundant.

Of course, because it is saltpeter, its production is only relatively large compared to the Central Plains.

Saltpeter is divided into three categories according to the production method. Scraping soil saltpeter, also known as earth saltpeter, has the least raw materials, the lowest yield, and is the most difficult to produce. It relies on drought and moisture, and the saltpeter that comes up from the soil is collected every year.

Just like the fields in the north, the key is to plant a lot and get a small harvest.

The production method of cave saltpeter in the southwest is also to scrape the soil, but the raw materials are more intensive, because the accumulation of bat, bird and beast feces in the caves for thousands of years has changed the soil quality. A saltpeter cave can do the work of tens of thousands of acres of saline-alkali land in Shaanxi in a month or two.

The thing in the northwest Gobi Desert is called saltpeter. It does not require manual purification. The large ore is basically pure... The difficulty lies in finding it.

Once you find it and distinguish it clearly, you can use it directly.

After all, it is an accumulation of tens of millions of years, and God has already taken care of the purification task.

Except for pure crystalline minerals, saltpeter, water saltpeter, and alkali all work on the same principle. You use the decoction or extraction method to parse the one you need, and what is left is salt and brine.

Of course, considering the gunpowder consumption in wars of this era, if you only use muskets, let alone making saltpeter, it would be enough to get some people to make saltpeter with urine.

This is also the reason why there have been records of gunpowder shortages all over the world since the advent and spread of firearms, and even many places have always been short of gunpowder, but there are no records of such things in the Central Plains.

This chemical purification method has been widely spread due to the promotion of alchemy and medicine. Saltpeter can be obtained everywhere. It is widely present in every trade market. This thing is not rare at all.

Only those who hold their breath are aware of their breathing.

Liu Shizi couldn't even take care of the people inside the border, let alone worry about things outside the border.

The appointment of Gulu Taiji is easy, but the surrendered troops in Ningxia are difficult to deal with.

Because the former has its own fixed territory and also has shortcomings in living technology, it is complementary to the agriculture and animal husbandry of the Central Plains, and cooperation itself is a win-win situation. For Gulu, it is nothing more than a question of who to cooperate with.

But the surrendered troops from Ningxia were different. If they were to be used in war, they had to be incorporated and integrated, but this took time. At the same time, the loyalty of the Ningxia students and officers to the Ming Dynasty made Liu Shizi feel difficult.

People like Sun Zuochang, Li Xuemu, and Wang Fengshui were either students or military generals in terms of their background.

If they were in Guanzhong, this group of people would oppose him and would also organize landlord militia; in Gansu, they would be front-line generals leading troops.

Loyalty is loyalty, but to a large extent, there is a feeling like that of generals and soldiers, who are superior to others and who rise up in arms to pursue fame, wealth and patriotism.

Liu Chengzong was not afraid of such opponents. He defeated them. Most of those who had no personal grudges surrendered. Those who did not surrender ran away because they were unwilling to accept the defeat. Those who committed suicide for their country did so out of loyalty and out of anger.

All are normal.

Only the military generals and scholars of Ningxia did make Liu Shizi feel a little scared.

Just like Sun Zuochang, a student with a promising future, he drew his sword and committed suicide after lighting the beacon fire, regardless of what others did, whether the war was won or lost, whether there were reinforcements or not, and regardless of the consequences and outcome.

There were also two generals, Li and Wang, who were high-ranking commanders. When Hong Chengchou was causing trouble, they wanted to use force to expel Hong Chengchou, and when Liu Chengzong went on an expedition to the north, they wanted to use force to resist Liu Chengzong.

Using untenable reasons, without careful planning and proper deployment, and without considering the gains and losses and consequences, to do unreasonable things.

Liu Shizi was all too familiar with this behavior pattern.

Desperado.

It is very consistent with the temperament of Ningxia at that time when the agricultural policy, salt law and military system were all in a mess.

Liu Shizi was familiar with the desperadoes and knew that they should not be left idle.

Because the desperadoes' way of thinking is difficult to predict, they will definitely go crazy when they have nothing to do, or it can be said that going crazy is inevitable when they are idle and have nothing to pursue.

This is also the reason why Liu Chengzong did not refuse the invitation to the banquet from the commander of Guangwu Camp.

At the banquet, he announced the appointment of guerrilla general Liu Fangming, who had earlier fled to Red Castle to surrender, as lieutenant general, and Tongzhi Ma Xiantu as guerrilla.

Let the two of them lead the officers and soldiers who surrendered with them to form a second battalion, gather the surrendered generals and soldiers along the way and organize an army, and then work together to deal with Hong Chengchou.

Liu Chengzong did not expect these two newly formed battalions to fight, and he even had no idea of ​​the combat effectiveness they could exert.

He just wanted these two battalions to not be idle while he was fighting, but to follow the march, and if they could fight, they would rush forward and fight a few times. If they couldn't fight, they wouldn't stop and just keep moving.

This is because if the army is not organized, even if they are unable to resist a large army in terms of combat capability and there is no chance of success in their rebellion, many people will still do something.

As a result, Liu Chengzong never expected that there would be a banquet in Guangwu Camp the night before the army was organized.

Someone actually attempted to assassinate him when he was unarmed.

good evening!