Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 293 The Traditional Handicrafts of the Nomads

"Fixed shot reloading, the direction is not four quarters and three points, ready to... release!"

"Boom boom-"

When it was gray in the early morning, while the grassland was filled with heavy fog, [-] gunners from the three guards of the Ming Army controlled [-] five-jin Yanshan General Cannons and fired at the city of Glejurgen. shelling.

The sound of "booming" continued to sound, and stone bullets flew in the mist, bombarding the rammed earth-built Glejurgen City into a mess and flying dust.

The black-gray rammed-earth city raises "grey smoke" in contrast to the white fog.

The thick fog made it difficult for people to see other things ten steps away. All that could be vaguely seen was the continuous flickering artillery fire in the dense fog.

"In mid-March, there are often thick fogs in the early mornings of the Horqin Grassland."

When the gunners bombarded the city of Glejurgen, Ma Dayong, who was in charge as a guide, was explaining the weather to Zhu Youjian who was sitting on the saddle.

At this moment, Zhu Youjian was very unassuming. He asked someone to put the saddle on the ground and then sat down, while Ma Dayong sat on the grass.

According to Zhu Youjian's military order, Man Gui and Sun Shoufa commanded the front army and the rear army.

Regarding Ma Dayong's words, Zhu Youjian also asked, "Is it because of Liao Ze?"

"Yes, Your Highness..." Ma Dayong explained:
"Liaoze is two hundred miles from east to west and more than [-] miles from north to south. There is a lot of water vapor. Therefore, every morning, there is thick fog in the southeastern part of the Horqin Grassland surrounded by the Taer River and Liaoze."

"Hmm..." Hearing Ma Dayong's words, Zhu Youjian nodded slightly to show that he understood.

Through some books collected by the imperial palace, Zhu Youjian knew very well that compared with the dense forests of the Sanjiang Plain in this era, Liaoze, which actually covered more than half of the Songnen Plain and Liaohe Plain, was the most difficult to deal with.

Although Liaoze brought black land rich in trace elements, if you want to get this black land, you have to develop the swamp into a plain.

However, even with the advancement of science and technology, Liaoze did not completely disappear, but turned into small lakes scattered with stars, existing in the vast Songnen Plain and Liaohe Plain.

In the vast swamp area, the water vapor in the early morning can form such a scale, which can be regarded as nourishing the Horqin grassland in disguise.

"Boom bang bang-"

The sudden, dull sound of gunfire appeared, and Zhu Youjian, who had a keen hearing, immediately heard something was wrong, and immediately said:
"What's the matter? Is the chamber blown up or is there too much gunpowder?"

Zhu Youjian didn't think about whether it was the enemy's artillery. The reason is very simple. The Mongols did not have the technology to cast artillery.

"Your Highness! Flames and artillery appeared on the top of Glejurgen City. Our army positions were shelled, but there were no casualties."

After a long time, Tang Qi from the former army rode his horse to report back, and when Zhu Youjian heard that artillery appeared on the top of the city of Gelejuergen, he immediately commanded:
"Move the artillery of the front army back three hundred steps, and send people to patrol the battlefield to see the range of the enemy's artillery."

"Yes!" As soon as Tang Qi arrived to report, he turned around and rode his horse to convey the military order.

After a while, a different Tang rider ran back, dismounted and bowed:
"Your Highness, the range of the enemy's artillery is less than one mile, about three hundred and fifty paces..."

"..." After receiving the report, Zhu Youjian stood up and said to the Commander of the Habayashi Guard beside him:
"The surrounding Tangqi increased the detection range to sixty miles, and looked around to see if there were any traces of Jianlu."

"The cannon with more than three hundred and fifty paces, and the sound of the cannon, should be Jianlu's iron cannon craftsmanship."

"Since important weapons such as iron cannons have been sent to the city of Glejurgen, it makes no sense for Jianlu not to send troops to garrison them."

"In addition, send a message to Zhou Yuji, the commander of the Longxiang Guard, and tell him to garrison the pass of the post road and make a fire belt on the spot according to the formation map after cleaning up the miscellaneous trees, so as to prevent the enemy from attacking by fire."

"Tell Zhou Yuji that as long as he guards the mountain pass well, he will be credited with a great achievement!"

"The last general takes orders!" The Commander of Habayashi Guard heard the words and responded, and immediately sent Tang to ride a fast horse to pass the news to the post road mountain pass more than [-] miles away.

After seeing the other party's arrangement with his own eyes, Zhu Youjian was relieved.

Zhou Yuji was found and elected by Sun Yingyuan from among the recruits. He had participated in the Battle of Hetao in obscurity in the army, and was promoted to Longxiangwei Qianhu.

Before the expedition, Zhu Youjian saw his name from the list of generals who went to the expedition. In addition, this time he needed someone to supervise the supply line in the pass, so Zhu Youjian transferred Li Si, the original commander of Longxiangwei, to the rear, and let Zhou Yuji Served as the commander of Longxiangwei.

However, this does not mean that Zhou Yuji is the permanent commander of Long Xiangwei, he is only a temporary substitute in name.

In view of Zhou Yuji's historical record of being stationed at Ningwuguan, and he also participated in the Battle of Hetao, Zhu Youjian was relieved to leave the post road mountain pass to him to be stationed, giving him military exploits in disguise.

It's just that this arrangement is used to deal with Horqin and Auba, but now the opponent may be converted to generals such as Huang Taiji, Mang Gurtai, or Daishan among Jianlu, so Zhu Youjian has to do an extra layer Take precautions.

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

The sound of dense cannons sounded again after a stick of incense, and at the same time, the dense fog in the morning began to dissipate slowly as time went by.

After five rounds of bombardment, three quarters of an hour passed, the dense fog completely dissipated, and the entire battlefield appeared in front of thousands of Mongols at the head of Glejurgen city at a glance.

A mile and a half away, a hundred black-holed five-jin General Yanshan's cannons aimed at the city of Geljurgen, and behind them were tens of thousands of Ming troops.

After the release of Tangqi, there were still [-] people in the headquarters of the Ming army.

Dressed in mandarin duck war jackets, cotton armor, cloth face armor, arm armor on both arms, pockets on their heads, rifles on their backs, and long knives and golden hammers on their waists, the Ming army lined up neatly, with more than two hundred red banners waving in the wind. .

On the Horqin Grassland in spring, these more than [-] flags were fluttering with the spring breeze.

Perhaps compared with the vast Horqin Grassland, this soldier is insignificant.

But more than the entire Horqin Grassland, what makes many Mongolian nobles breathless is the big banner that is constantly blown by the spring breeze in the Ming army formation...

"together?"

"Zhu Youjian is here?!"

"How dare he come!"

"This is the main force of the Ming army, Zhu Youjian and Man Gui are here!"

When Zhu Youjian's big banner appeared, many Horqin nobles at the head of Gelejuergen city began to panic.

They didn't fight Zhu Youjian before, but many of them knew Zhu Youjian from Bo Yunai.

In addition, they have an understanding of the strength of Chahar and Karaqin, and Zhu You looked like he wanted to clean up Chahar and Karaqin before the inspection.

Now that Zhu Youjian appears here, it can only show that the coalition forces of Chahar and Karaqin have been defeated or repelled.

The two coalition forces with three times the number of soldiers and horses were repelled or defeated, so what about them?
For a while, the leaders of Geljurgen City were in a state of panic, and even the leader of Horqin Oba, who heard the news of Zhu Youjian's arrival, quickly ran from the base of the city wall to the top of the city while the shelling had just ended.

"It's over..."

When he saw the big banner marked with the same characters really appear, only these two characters appeared in his mind, and the rest was blank.

He is not afraid of Zhu Youjian, but he knows that if the news of Zhu Youjian's arrival appears, some tribes in Horqin who want to come to support will definitely stop.

The three major parts of Hetao have been wiped out, who will touch this bad luck?
What's more, Zhu Youjian's relatives came, who knows how many soldiers behind the Ming army have not rushed to the front line?
Taiji and Baylor, the Horqin tribes, haven't fought the Han people for too long, and they don't know much about the cost and requirements of the expedition that the Han people need.

From their point of view, the Ming army sent [-] troops on an expedition of [-] miles, which was nothing more than a hundred thousand peasants at most. They never thought that the Ming army could reach the limit of [-] peasants and more than [-] herdsmen.

Zhu Youjian only brought ten days of rations, and he had to take down the city of Glejurgen within four days, and this time was more than enough for Shangzhi.

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

The artillery roared, and the rammed earth splashed on the top of the city.

Due to the lack of distance, the artillery at the head of Glejurgen was basically useless, and the one-foot-thick city wall was constantly bombarded.

Pieces of rammed earth were shelled and slid down, making the city walls look more and more precarious.

As the leader of the alliance, Auba watched this scene, feeling anxious, but also resentful toward Huang Taiji.

If the Horqin tribe could hold out for six days under such firepower, he, Oba, would have dominated the grassland long ago!

"Great Khan, why don't we surrender? I heard that Tumet's Saihan surrendered and won the title of Earl of Yinshan. If you surrendered, you might be able to get a marquis."

At the critical moment, unexpected voices appeared, and some Mongolian nobles were already thinking about how to surrender, but such a move made Auba speechless.

He wanted to stop the actions of his subordinates, but when he thought of Huang Taiji making him stand guard for six days, he instantly wavered again.

Of the [-] Mongolian cavalry in Oba's headquarters, only [-] wore triple armor, and the remaining [-] were ordinary chain mail.

Faced with the siege after more than [-] soldiers and horses broke through the city, can he stick to the city of Geljurgen?

"Withdraw!"

Suddenly, Oba suddenly ordered and asked the army to withdraw from the city of Glejurgen.

Obviously, although he refused to accept Huang Taiji's military order, he did not want to abandon his status as the Lord of Horqin and go to the Ming Dynasty to be a beggar dog.

He is going to use the housekeeping skills of the Mongols to run...

Anyway, Huang Taiji just asked him to hold off the Ming army for six days. It was a hold if he stuck to it here, and it was a hold when he went out of the city.

That being the case, it's better to hold back the Ming army while escaping, and then see how Huang Taiji can defeat the Ming army.

If Huang Taiji can't do it, it's not too late for Obama to surrender.

Anyway, the many tribes on the Horqin grassland are full of cattle and sheep. He just needs to take people away, not cattle and sheep.

If many people betray him, he will take people to Shangjing to eat Houjin's food.

With this in mind, Auba ordered decisively, but some Mongolian nobles who wanted Auba to surrender and follow them into the customs seemed a little hesitant when they heard the news.

However, after hesitating, they still followed Oba's order and ordered many people in the city to prepare horses and enough food for ten days, and retreat eastward after an hour.

For a while, the crowds at the head of Glejurgen City were crowded, and Man Gui, who was in command of the former army, noticed the change with his binocular clairvoyance, and immediately said to Tang Qi next to him:

"Go and tell His Highness that Auba has signs of fleeing."

"Yes!" Tang Qi rode away immediately after hearing the words, and rode to Zhu Youjian after dozens of breaths, and passed the news to him.

"The Chinese army and the former cavalry blocked the south, north, and east gates of Glejurgen City. If he has the ability, he will lead someone to break through the west gate!"

The west gate was the city gate where the Ming army mainly attacked. If Zhu Youjian dared to say that, it was predicted that Auba would not dare to break through the west gate.

Therefore, as long as the other three city gates are sealed, Oba will naturally be trapped to death in Glejurgen City.

However, after such a division of troops, the number of Ming troops also began to decrease rapidly.

After the [-] cavalry left, there were [-] left outside the west city, and [-] of them were elite elites who dismounted as gunners and mounted as cavalry.

The artillery shelled every other incense stick, from early morning to now, for a full hour, nearly [-] stone bombs and [-] catties of gunpowder were consumed.

The materials brought by the Ming army were not many, so such consumption left only a few thousand stone bullets in the Ming army's inventory.

But even so, the city of Grejurgen couldn't last long.

The rammed earth wall was extremely fragile under the shells of the artillery. When the Ming army completely cleared the stone bullets after half an hour, the west wall of Glejurgen City had become a ruin.

The rammed-earth wall more than ten feet high was left with broken eaves that were less than a person's height. All the Mongols withdrew early, and when the artillery of the Ming army stopped, the east gate of Gelezhuergen City suddenly opened wide. , A steady stream of cavalry rushed out from it.

"kill!"

Thousands of Mongols tried to rush out, but in front of them were two thousand straight cavalry.

However, facing the charge of the Mongols, they did not panic. Instead, they formed a square formation and raised their rifles on horseback.

On this unstable shooting platform, the first row of cavalry calmly pulled the trigger.

"Clap clap-"

The clear and crisp sound of the guns caused hundreds of Mongolian cavalry leading the battle to drink and die. After the shooting, the first row also carried the rifles on their backs, and at the same time drove the horses to retreat to both sides.

The distance of eighty steps is enough for the rifles to penetrate the chain mail and leave time for the cavalry to retreat.

The cavalry team fought and faced each other. First, they fired all the long-range rifles for one round, then carried the rifles on their backs, raised the loaded cavalry guns, and began to retreat while fighting.

Their task is very simple, the main thing is to entangle the Mongolian cavalry who broke out, and the fallen cavalry and horses will become obstacles that prevent the Mongolian cavalry from increasing their horse speed.

They were stalling for time, and the four thousand cavalry from the north and south gates also began to attack.

There were more than [-] people under Oba's troops who broke through, [-] of whom were old, weak, women and children, and less than [-] soldiers could fight.

Under the obstruction of two thousand cavalry, the speed of the army could not be increased, which made the very tormented Oba immediately ordered:
"The people dispersed, fled separately, and headed to Droiktu to meet up!"

"Woooooo-"

The horn sounded, and the tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalrymen who heard the horn sounded like startled fish, and immediately spread towards the left and right sides. The soldiers who had been in charge of the advance also reined in their horses and stopped. retreat.

However, in this chaos, many soldiers are looking for their family members and escorting them to retreat.

As a result, there were less than [-] cavalrymen who really followed Auba.

At this time, the Ming army on the north and south walls also rushed over. From the opening of the east city to the present, they have completed the task of supporting in just a stick of incense.

The number of cavalry of the Ming army was small, but the target was very clear. When the Horqin cavalry dispersed, the [-] cavalry chased straight towards Auba's banner.

When the news came back to Xicheng, it was after two sticks of incense, and Man Gui immediately prepared to lead the cavalry of the former army to pursue after hearing the news.

"The whole army..."

"Don't move all the ministries! Pass on the military order of His Royal Highness, and the three armies will rest for five hours."

"Five hours later, the rear army withdrew to the pass of the post road, and the Chinese army stationed in the city of Gelejurgen after capturing the cattle and sheep in the city of Gelejurgen."

"The rest of the front army gathers the sentry cavalry, and retreats to the mountain pass fifty miles away from the rear army!"

Before the Mangui military order was issued, Tang Qi of the Chinese Army came with Zhu Youjian's military order, interrupting his thoughts of chasing him.

"The artillery of the former army entered the city, collected the intact stone bullets, and counted the seizures in the city."

Under Zhu Youjian's military order, Man Gui began to calmly make arrangements to clean up the battlefield and count the seized.

But after finishing, he still took people to the Central Army, and saw Zhu Youjian sitting on the saddle, holding a map and frowning.

"Your Highness!"

Almost at the same time, Man Gui from the front army and Sun Shoufa from the rear army arrived at the same time, and bowed to Zhu Youjian.

"Catch your tongue first, and ask Jianlu if he has been here and who is leading the army."

Zhu Youjian has almost confirmed that someone from Houjin has led the troops here, otherwise, according to the strategy that Auba has shown so far, it would be impossible to block the Ming army for an hour and a half in Glejurgen City.

If Auba is a reckless man, then he will certainly stick to the city of Glejurgen, but after holding on, he will have a street fight with the Ming army instead of retreating directly.

If Auba is strategic and timid, then he should have quickly retreated north and fled east before the arrival of the Ming army last night, instead of staying to stop the Ming army.

Now his behavior, on the contrary, seems to be controlled by someone, as if he has some task on him.

After Zhu Youjian noticed this awkwardness, and with the artillery of the Jin Army at the head of the city, Zhu Youjian could conclude that someone from Jianlu was coming.

Just suffering from insufficient information, he didn't know who was coming and how many troops there were.

At present, it seems that it may be any one of Mang Gurtai, Daishan, Huang Taiji, or Jierhalang.

If it is Mang Gurtai, it means that the old slave has abandoned Yidong River City.

If it is Daishan, it will have little impact on the battle situation, and there are not many soldiers and horses in Daishan.

However, if it is Huang Taiji or Jierhalang, then something is not good.

Although Zhu Youjian doesn't know what scale Huang Taiji has developed in the past three years, judging from his historical methods, it is easy for him to develop and win people's hearts.

According to his estimation, if Huang Taiji leads the troops, the strength will be no less than [-], and if Jierhalang leads the troops, the strength will be around [-].

Among the four, Zhu Youjian is most looking forward to Huang Taiji.

As long as the old boy doesn't run away, Zhu Youjian will keep him in the Horqin Grassland even if he is killed or injured.

With this in mind, Zhu Youjian began to lead the army into the city.

As they expected, the city was crowded with many cattle and sheep, and the horses were taken away by Auba and others.

"Slaughter a thousand sheep and reward the three armies."

Seeing the scene in the city, Zhu Youjian no longer worried about the issue of military rations, and at the same time ordered the slaughter of sheep to reward the three armies.

After he gave the order, Man Gui, who had gone back and forth, came back with a heavy expression, bowed to Zhu Youjian and said:
"Your Highness, Jianlu did come to Glejurgen City, but they didn't show their banners, and some of the captured Mongols didn't know who came."

"However, their number is less than [-], and there are still a large number of Mongolian cavalry and Jianlu who deliberately did not wear four-color armor."

"You've learned to be smart..." Zhu Youjian couldn't help but praise when he heard that General Jianlu didn't let his Jurchens wear four-color armor.

In his opinion, although the color of the armor can distinguish the trilogy, it is also easy for people to judge who the generals of the trilogy are.

Zhu Youjian has long been familiar with the generals of the Eight Banners. If the opponent really comes wearing one of the four colors of armor, he can directly judge who his opponent is.

But it's not that Zhu Youjian couldn't tell if the armor was changed in another color.

On the contrary, judging from the capital and means of changing armor, the soldiers and horses who went out to support Horqin this time were either Huang Taiji or Daishan.

The two white flags and two red flags of the two are not many. If they really want to support, it is not ruled out that Nurhachi will mobilize a large number of Mongolian cavalry to command them.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian can basically target his opponent as Daishan or Huang Taiji.

The reason why he didn't confirm that this person was Huang Taiji was because he thought it was unbelievable that Huang Taiji could gather nearly [-] troops in three years.

This possibility is not impossible, but very low, so he hesitated between Daishan and Huang Taiji.

However, although he was hesitant to choose the candidate, he already knew the style of play.

Whether it is Daishan or Huang Taiji, the two of them have been fighting for a long time, and they are different from the reckless men like Mang Gurtai. The best way to deal with them is to tempt them step by step.

This is why Zhu Youjian divided the rear army and the front army by fifty miles.

Sun Shoufa led the rear army to withdraw first. If Jianlu saw their numbers, he would definitely not be able to resist coming to eat.

At this time, the distance of fifty miles is enough for Man Gui to react, and Sun Shoufa's character and Shang Zhi's combat power will surely last for two hours.

As long as it lasts for two hours, the support of the former army will arrive.

At that time, if Jianlu wants to flee north again, it will not be easy.

To the east is the city of Geljurgen, and to the west are Harawin Mountain and Zhou Yuji's Long Xiangwei.

Even if they fled north, the cattle and sheep seized in Glejurgen City were enough for the Ming army to pursue for another seven or eight hundred miles.

Zhu Youjian didn't believe that Daishan or Huang Taiji could lead people into East Siberia.

Originally Oba was the main course, but now it's ready, and the finale is a roast suckling pig...

　The update in the afternoon is still between four and five o'clock

　　
　
(End of this chapter)