Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2425: The Duke is not an assistant, but a regent (XVI) Surprise attack on Tashkent

On March 17, the first year of Taichang, the snow line of the Qihe grassland was retreating slightly with the spring breeze. Li Rumei stood at the northern foot of Karatau Mountain, looking at the Liaodong cavalry formation that stretched for miles. The black armor of the heavy cavalry glowed with a cold blue light under the moonlight. The Taotie pattern on the iron tool of the horse head seemed alive, baring its fangs and claws with the white mist of the war horse's fragrance.

"General," said Boshoketu, with white frost on his Mongolian fur coat, "50,000 light cavalrymen from my army have assembled on the left wing and are ready to follow you across the mountain at any time."

Li Rumei glanced at the scimitar on the waist of the former Mongolian Jinong, now the "General Guarding the Seven Rivers", and nodded, "According to the predetermined plan, we will act at 3:30 am. Instruct all troops to remove the horse bells and wrap the horse hooves with black cloth."

Boshoketu suddenly reined in his horse and approached, lowering his voice and saying, "General, although my Qihe Cavalry is willing to lead the way, the snow on this mountain is knee-deep. Our Mongolian light cavalry can still barely cross it, but I'm afraid your troops will be..."

"No problem." Li Rumei lifted the gilded saddle, revealing the specially made cowhide snowboard underneath. "This is a new product from Beijing. It can be tied to the horse's belly to disperse the pressure." He patted the Wanli Type 3 flintlock musket that he had equipped before setting off. "Your light cavalry just need to clear the way ahead, and my Liaodong cavalry will follow."

Boshoktu touched the anti-skid pattern on the snowboard in surprise, and suddenly turned his head sharply and pointed to the east: "Look!"

Twenty miles away, the Qihe Cavalry were dragging hundreds of sleds with cowhide ropes, slowly moving the dismantled parts of the No. 3 Army Cannon. The moonlight reflected the two characters "Jinghua" on the barrel of the cannon, casting a cold shadow on the snow.

Li Rumei was going to the north to launch a surprise attack on Tashkent this time, and he only brought 10,000 Liaodong half-equipped cavalrymen with him to atone for his brother's sins. At this time of crossing mountains and rivers, he naturally had to hand over a batch of artillery pieces accompanying the army to Boshoktu's light cavalry for escort - anyway, the Mongols would not know how to use them, and even the Liaodong Army had dismantled them before the battle, so he was not afraid of any tricks played by Boshoktu.

To be honest, he didn't even think Boshoketu would play any tricks. After Boshoketu's Ordos tribe moved west from Hetao, not only did their horse farm become bigger, they could also get direct material supplies from the Ming Dynasty, and they were usually very powerful in battles - they were only ambushed by the Russians on the Caspian Sea because they were not careful, but the losses were only in the three digits - with such a good life, why would he be so ignorant and play any tricks? It would be great if he could just follow the Ming Dynasty and have a good life!

At 3:30 am, three red flares were launched. Fifty thousand Qihe cavalrymen rushed into the valley like a black wave, and the thick felt wrapped around their horses' hooves made almost no sound as they stepped on the snow. Li Rumei led the Liaodong Iron Cavalry to follow closely behind, and the snowboards of the heavily-armored cavalry rubbed against the ice, making a tooth-grinding sound, but fortunately, although it was unpleasant, at least the volume was not high.

After an unknown amount of time, tens of thousands of cavalrymen had already reached the mountainside, and the temperature dropped sharply with the altitude. The thin iron wire connecting the black armor plates of a Liaodong cavalryman suddenly burst open, and a part of the inner layer of hydraulic forged cotton armor bulged out. Li Rumei rode past and shouted sternly: "Hold on! After we pass this mountain, the granary in Tashkent will be enough for you to warm yourself by the fire!"

The Liaodong cavalrymen were not dissatisfied, and no one even said a word - these were elite soldiers at the level of family servants. Let alone enduring the cold, even being shot would not be a big deal. After all, the salary they received was enough to justify their "risking their lives" at this level.

Boshektu's personal guard suddenly reined in his horse and pointed to the snowy rock on the right: "Jinong, there's something wrong with the snow here!"

Without waiting for Boshoktu's reminder, Li Rumei squinted and saw the snow-capped rocks under the moonlight actually glowing blue. He suddenly woke up: "Retreat quickly! This is..."

Before he finished speaking, the snow and rocks collapsed. A snow wave over 20 feet high, carrying ice, poured down, instantly engulfing more than 20 riders. Boshoktu's horse stood upright in shock. He grabbed the horse's mane tightly and shouted, "It's an avalanche! Disperse the whole army!"

Li Rumei's armored warhorse was overturned by the snow waves, and he rolled nearly ten feet on the snow, barely grabbing a snow rock protrusion. When he looked up, he saw a Qihe cavalryman being swept away by the snow waves, but when he was about to fall off the cliff, he threw out the lasso and tied himself tightly in the crack of the rock.

"Damn it!" Li Rumei cursed and got up, "Order all the troops to keep a distance and move slowly!"

They were unlucky to encounter an avalanche, but it wasn't that bad. The avalanche wasn't big, it was just in a very coincidental location, and it almost took away the commander and deputy commander of the battle.

After two hours of arduous journey, the Ming army finally arrived at the southern foot of the Karatau Mountains. The outline of Tashkent City was looming in the morning mist, and the torches on the top of the city were like stars, guiding the direction of the Ming army.

At the beginning of the morning hour, Boshoktu's Qihe cavalry had circled back to the west of Tashkent. Li Rumei looked at the "Great Yuan" flag fluttering on the top of the city wall and drew out the gilded silver curved knife from his waist - it was given by Gao Youshi before he left, and the blade was engraved with the words "Mie Lu".

"General," Li Pingye, the leader of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, lowered his voice, "The city defense map shows that most of the soldiers guarding the west gate are Kazakh surrendered soldiers. I am willing to lead 800 soldiers to open the city gate while the chaos is going on."

Li Rumei thought for a moment and said, "You can give it a try, but don't fight hard. Tell the spies in Beijing to act according to the plan."

Soon, with three clear clapper sounds, three streams of black smoke suddenly rose from the top of the city. Boshoketu's wolf-head banner swayed rapidly in the morning mist, and a large group of Qihe cavalrymen rushed to the outside of the city wall, but they did not set up a siege formation, but instead formed an assault formation, and then shouted in unison in Mongolian: "Jinong is mighty!"

The Kazakh surrendered soldiers on the city wall looked at each other in bewilderment. A centurion suddenly pulled off the "Great Yuan" token from his waist and threw it on the ground: "The Great Mongol Empire died hundreds of years ago! We are Kazakhs, why should we die for Chahar?"

As soon as these words came out, the defenders were in a commotion. Li Rumei saw that the time was right and waved the command flag fiercely. Eight hundred Liaodong armored cavalrymen rushed towards the west gate like a black torrent. The Wanli three-style carbine spewed out flames in the morning mist, but it was a volley of shots fired into the sky - obviously, this was not to hit people, but to capture them.

"Open the city! Open the city!" The Kazakh surrendered soldiers on the city wall dropped their weapons and opened the west gate. Li Pingye led his soldiers to rush in and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with a group of Chahar defenders who had just discovered the situation and rushed over to check.

When Li Rumei rode into the city, he ran into a Chahar captain who was slashing at Li Pingye with a knife. He raised his hand and fired a lead bullet that pierced the opponent's throat accurately - a man who was good at archery was also good at gunslinging. Li Pingye took the opportunity to behead the enemy with a knife, and held the head high on the tip of the knife, shouting in Mongolian: "The enemy will surrender, and those who surrender will be spared!"

It turned out that he, like Li Pinghu, a famous general in Li Chengliang's army, was also born a Mongolian. When he was still a teenager, he became a brave man who made great contributions in the "border defense of the barbarians" in Liaodong. Therefore, he was favored by Li Rusong, who "loved bravery as his life", and was brought up by his side. He had not used his Mongolian for many years, but he didn't expect it to come in handy today.

In the Tashkent City Lord's Mansion, the garrison commander Sukh (Mongolian name, meaning axe) was about to commit suicide, but was captured by Boshoktu's personal guards. Li Rumei kicked away the files on the floor and took out a "Grain and Grass Dispatch Map": "Mark the location of the granary and I will spare your life."

Su He tapped the map with a trembling finger, and suddenly he stood up and stretched out his hand to grab the knife. Unexpectedly, Li Rumei was prepared and used the musket as a mace - this might be because the Liaodong Army was used to using three-barreled guns in the early years - directly smashed the man's head. Blood splattered on the "Grain and Grass Dispatch Map", dyeing the granary mark red.

Li Rumei took a look, grabbed it and threw it to Li Pingye, and gave a very simple instruction: "Go!"

At 3:30 on the same day when Li Rumei and Boshoketu took action, the Ming army infantry and artillery troops sent from Andijan to support Tashkent finally crossed the Kurama Mountain. Chen Qizheng, the commander of the first brigade of the second regiment of the first army of Ili, stood at the mouth of the canyon, looking at the city of Tashkent not far away with a telescope, and suddenly stopped his horse and turned to the deputy commander Liu Shaogui: "It's not good, Lao Liu, we have been delayed in the canyon for too long, I am afraid we are too late... I see that the Anxi general flag of Marshal Li has been hung in Tashkent!" Liu Shaogui scratched his head and sighed: "This is good, the first time I met General Li in Anxi, I just messed up the job!"

Chen Qizheng comforted him, "You can't say that. The agreed time hasn't come yet! To be honest, it should be that Mr. Li found an opportunity and took action in advance.

This is not surprising, his elder brother is the best at seizing such opportunities... We don't need to panic, even if we don't have any credit, we have worked hard - Master Li will go south with Boshoktu to confront Burihatu, and he only has cavalry, so he will definitely leave the job of defending Tashkent to us. "

Three blue flares were launched into the sky. Li Rumei stood on the top of Tashkent City, looking at the flares in the southeast direction, and ordered: "Send a message to Chen Qizheng to enter the city immediately to eliminate the remaining enemies. Boshoktu and I still have to attack Bukhara, so we can't delay here any longer."

After saying this, he suddenly drew out the gilded command arrow from his waist and handed it to another messenger: "Send a message to Boshektu, the search for the enemy in the city will be stopped, and this matter will be handed over to Chen Qizheng, asking him to immediately organize the army and follow me south!"

As the saying goes, speed is of the essence in war. Chen Qizheng's infantry brigade and a temporarily reinforced artillery battalion had just entered the city and had a brief meeting with Li Rumei, who then gave him the task of eliminating the remaining enemies and staying in Tashkent.

Then, 10,000 Liaodong cavalry and 50,000 Qihe cavalry rushed towards Bukhara city like a torrent.

“Mongol warriors!” Boshoktu knew that his cavalry might be dissatisfied if he didn’t loot Tashkent, so he shouted to change his purpose, “There is only food in Tashkent, so looting is worthless! Why not take Bukhara and plunder all the wealth of the three Western Regions that Burihatu has gathered!”

Fifty thousand cavalrymen shouted in unison, and the sound of horse hooves shook the earth like thunder. However, Boshektu was defeated by Li Rumei's teasing eyes and laughed awkwardly: "This... Marshal, please don't blame me. I was just provoking you. Don't worry, if you don't say that I won't put down my sword for three days, I will never dare to do anything reckless."

Li Rumei curled her lips and said, "You have read the battle plan sent by Yuan Fu. Unless Buzhihatu voluntarily gives up Bukhara, we will not take it. So why should we talk about whether to stop fighting or not?"

Boshoktu was a little disappointed, and said sullenly: "In fact, I really don't understand, what's the use of taking down Bukhara? Why should we keep it for them?"

"Don't just think about fighting and killing. Think about the Yuanfu's deeper meaning." Li Rumei shook her head and said, "If we take down Bukhara, Burihatu will either be dead or continue to run away. But no matter which situation, it is obviously not what the Yuanfu wants."

"Why?" Boshoketu couldn't figure it out. "If we kill him, will the Western Region become unstable?"

"Stability?" Li Rumei sighed, "You have also seen the map of the Western Regions. Think about what would happen if we took over all the territory occupied by Burihatu. Forget it, let me put it bluntly - there are Russians in the north and Persians in the south, and we are sandwiched in the middle. Then think about it again, if the Russians and Persians join hands with ulterior motives, wouldn't we be attacked from both sides?"

"Oh... I understand." Boshektu finally came to his senses. "It's better to let Burihatu be sandwiched in the middle than to let us be sandwiched in the middle. As for whether he will be beaten in the future when he is sandwiched on three sides, it depends on his own methods."

Li Rumei snorted, "Methods? I think it's better to talk about body shape."

Boshektu laughed loudly, but after a while he slowly became serious and asked thoughtfully, "General, your reminder suddenly reminded me... Could it be that the Yuan Fu still wants to subdue him? This is unlikely... unlikely. Chahar claims to be the orthodox Yuan Dynasty. I'm afraid he would rather die than surrender to the Ming Dynasty."

"Oh, really?" Li Rumei glanced at Boshoketu with a half-smile and asked, "Then who do you think he would choose to vote for if he really had nowhere else to turn?"

Boshektu shook his head: "I can't guess this, but whether he goes to Russia in the north or Persia in the south, I think he can still consider it, anyway, as long as he doesn't go to the Ming Dynasty in the east."

"Isn't that all good?" Li Rumei walked forward without letting the reins run wild. The words she said lightly sounded like thunder in Boshektu's ears. "He surrendered to Russia, so I have a reason to fight Russia; he surrendered to Persia, so I have a reason to fight Persia... You see, it's a gift to us anyway. What a good man this Burihatu is!"

"Ah? We still have to fight Russia... or Persia?" Boshoktu's eyes widened, "Do we have enough troops?"

Li Rumei asked, "Why not? The reason you and Erdemutu lost last time was because you were too exhausted to wear the silk cloth. The Luosha people didn't actually send out that many troops, right?"

"That's true." Boshoketu nodded. "Although the Rakshasa army is not huge, it is quite fierce..."

"Before coming to Anxi, Yuan Fu told me that the Luosha people are indeed brave, but they have to mobilize troops in the Western Regions, and the logistical pressure is similar to that of General Liu's Western Expedition. Yuan Fu said that the Luosha people's national strength is far inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty. At least in the next few decades, the maximum number of troops they can gather in the Western Regions will not exceed 30,000."

"So few? No way?" Boshoktu was obviously a little unconvinced. "The Cossacks under their command, I think their style of doing things is not much different from our Mongolians, so the logistical pressure should not be too great!"

"Haha, so what if the Cossacks are not much different from you? Can the Russian Emperor send a group of Cossacks on an expedition thousands of miles away? What if they go on an expedition and never come back? What will we do then?"

"Oh... I see." Boshoktu sighed, as if he had thought of something, and became a little depressed. After a while, he asked again: "What about Persia? I heard that the Persians can also gather an army of 100,000 in one battle."

"The Prime Minister said that Persia won a great victory over the Ottomans last year and recaptured the old capital of Tabriz. This year, they will continue to fight the Ottomans to the death... Otherwise, their 'King of Kings' Abbas (Abbas I) would not have acquiesced to Burihatu's control of Transoxiana."

Boshoktu's eyes lit up and he said, "So what you mean is that Persia's rear is empty?"

Li Rumei laughed, patted Boshoketu on the shoulder, and said, "Okay, don't think too much. Persia is indeed empty in the rear, but the Prime Minister said that now is not the time to fight Persia. We just need to let them know how to treat our Ming Dynasty."
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