weaving

Chapter 1622 The Tartars are here...

March 7th, at dawn.

The sky was overcast, with only a faint glimmer of light in the far east, and the green grass on the horizon swaying gently in the wind.

Occasionally, wisps of smoke would drift into the sky on the breeze, forming a winding column of smoke—the embers of a recently extinguished night fire; strings of lanterns would be taken down from above, blown out one by one, and then hung back up; and bonfires would be lit, their bright red flames particularly striking in the early morning.

These are the cooks in various camps of the Brave Army, preparing breakfast for the soldiers. With a major battle about to begin, the soldiers must be well-fed, otherwise how will they have the strength to fight the enemy on the battlefield?

However, apart from the cooks who were cooking, there were only patrolling soldiers coming and going in the camp, while most of the soldiers were still resting in their tents.

The military rules and regulations of the Yongyi Army are extremely strict. The soldiers' daily routines are clearly regulated. There are clear arrangements for who patrols at night, who cooks meals, and who goes on guard duty. Even when to rest and when to get up are not decisions that the soldiers can make at will!

Especially at this critical moment before a major battle, it is crucial to ensure that soldiers get enough sleep and food. Therefore, the period before a major battle is actually the time when military regulations are most stringent.

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On the other hand, in the vast wilderness overgrown with weeds, many armored soldiers were also eating hard steamed buns in their hands, sipping water from their canteens as they ate. Some leaders also had dried meat and salt.

However, many bondservants whose armor was slightly tattered did not receive such treatment. They even had to share water jugs with others, let alone dried meat and salt.

However, there are also masters who can understand their servants. They may be wealthy and not care about such small amounts of dried meat and salt, or they may be generous because their servants have made some military achievements during this raid.

At this time, the Jurchens still believed that their whereabouts were extremely secretive and had not been detected by the Ming army. They did not dare to gather their army in one place, but instead dispersed and marched in hiding in Niru as the basic unit, and even ate separately.

The mountains and plains were covered with armored soldiers and their warhorses. The soldiers were all crouching low and hidden in the grass, and most of the warhorses were lying down, mainly to conceal their tracks.

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On the west bank of the Shu River, the vinegar factory extends outwards from its center, like a large ring encompassing smaller ones. It is truly a series of interconnected and interdependent rings.

The vinegar shop, located in the inner circle, occupies the very center, the focal point of this intricately interconnected drama...

The camp was occupied by the Mongol Bordered Red Banner Northern Barbarians led by Buyandai, along with the remaining Bordered Red Banner soldiers and servants who had followed them on the expedition, plus the Qilu people who had been captured and were stationed in the camp, totaling more than ten thousand people.

The area outside the vinegar factory belongs to the second circle...

The core force stationed here is the Tengshe Battalion of the Yongyi Army, which also includes a part of the Weiyuan Battalion, the auxiliary troops of Xiong Tingrui, the military commander of Xuanzhen, as well as other troops who have recently joined the Yongyi Army, such as Hu Zichen, Chen De, and Zhu Zhicang. There are more than 17,000 front-line soldiers alone, which can be described as a strong and well-equipped force.

The third circle consisted of Jurchen soldiers from various banners who were rushing in from all directions...

This included the Mongol Plain Yellow Banner of Yile, the Han Army Plain Red Banner of Wu Shoujin, the Han Army Plain White Banner of Shi Tingzhu, and three Tartar troops who rushed from the east bank: the Manchu Bordered White Banner of Tuerge, the Mongol Plain Red Banner of Gadahun, and the Han Army Plain Yellow Banner of Zuzerun.

All six banners of Tartar soldiers rushed over, the largest force the Jurchens had ever used in a major battle since their invasion of the Ming Dynasty. At this moment, only the Manchu Bordered Blue Banner Tartars led by Fei Yangwu remained stationed on the east bank of the Shu River.

This isn't even the outermost circle. Beyond the third circle, there's another circle... At the northernmost edge of the battlefield on the west bank of the Shu River in Yanzhou, Jiang Xiang's battalion of over 5,000 soldiers secretly followed Wu Shoujin's traitorous army, maintaining a distance of ten li from them, forming the outermost circle of troops.

Meanwhile, at the southern end, the two armies of General Wang Pu and Lieutenant General Jiang Jianxun, totaling more than 7,000 officers and soldiers, followed behind the Plain Yellow Banner of the Yile Mongols, maintaining a distance of more than ten miles, secretly cutting off Yile's retreat route to the south.

Almost simultaneously, Luo Rucai's battalion and right battalion, located at the southernmost end of the battlefield, also began to advance northward. They followed behind Wang Pu's army and would serve as reserves to deliver a fatal blow to the Jurchens at the most crucial moment of victory!
Only the two groups of over 5,000 government troops under Li Fuming and Ge Ruzhi, located north of Yanzhou, remained in their original positions. They were worried that Zhang Guangda's forces would be unable to stop the Jurchen reinforcements heading south, so they dared not easily move south to join the battle.

This is the current battlefield situation on the west bank of the Shu River in Yanzhou. There are four concentric circles of troops. The inner and third circles are occupied by Jurchen Tartars, while the second and fourth circles are occupied by the Ming Dynasty's Yongyi Army.

It's truly a series of interconnected events, like lips and teeth, all interdependent!
The most perplexed among them were probably Li Fuming and Ge Ruzhi, who dared not go south to join the battle, nor dared to go north to help Zhang Guangda's Qinglong Camp to intercept Abatai.

The more than 5,000 government troops they led were originally intended to be used as a reserve force for the main battlefield in Yanzhou. Their secondary task was to guard the northern defense line against Abatai. If the situation in Yanzhou became critical, they would have to prioritize heading south to join the battle against Turgh.

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At dawn, the sky gradually broke through the hazy darkness, as if shrouded in a layer of silvery-gray gauze. A pale white tinge appeared on the eastern horizon, gradually brightening the earth.

"Master Jin, do you think the Tartars will come today?" Huo Yuanshan, the commander of the Second Supply Wagon Division of the Tengshe Battalion, grumbled to his deputy, Jin Yong, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Jin Yong was not as leisurely as him. At this moment, he was staring at the northern horizon of the defensive line, hoping that he would not miss a single detail, lest the Jurchens take advantage of him.

"Stay alert, keep a close eye on things! If the Tartars get any closer, I'll be the first to chop you up!"

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuanshan exhaled a smoke ring and said, "It's alright. The sentry is keeping watch ahead. Let alone getting close, if those Tartars even show their heads, they'll never be able to return to Liaodong."

Although he said those words, he didn't dare to be as arrogant as he spoke. As soon as he finished speaking, he got up and leaned out, looking north through the earthen wall.

"Master Jin, you're saying these Tartars don't cook? Do you think they'll attack us on an empty stomach?"

Jin Yong kicked him: "You've gotten used to the good life, haven't you? Forgot about the days of eating dry biscuits, rice porridge, and fried noodles?"

Huo Yuanshan smiled awkwardly, reluctantly tossing away the cigarette in his hand before saying, "If Master Jin hadn't mentioned it, we would have really forgotten the hard times we had back then."

Jin Yong glanced at him and said, "You all... must remember the kindness of our Commander-in-Chief. If it weren't for him, where would you get such good food to eat!"

"Yes, yes. I, Old Huo, swear to serve the Commander-in-Chief to the death."

"Smoke...smoke...the Tartars are coming..."

Exclamations of surprise interrupted Jin Yong and Huo Yuanshan's conversation. They both looked intently in the direction the observer was pointing...

About three hundred paces to the north, a thick column of black smoke appeared before them, shooting straight into the sky—this was the military intelligence relayed back by the soldiers on patrol ahead.