The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 409 Mobile Combat
Ningxia is at war.

For five or six days in a row, there was a large-scale mobilization of soldiers and horses. It seemed that people from all walks of life in Ningxia were actively mobilized. Yang Yiqing initially showed an extraordinary level of mobilization ability.

But after the war started, as time progressed, the results of the battles everywhere were reported back, which was a bit "unsatisfactory".

"Marquis Anbian's troops encountered the main force of the Tatars sixty miles west of Zhenwei in Ningxia. The two sides fought briefly. Marquis Anbian's troops lost more than 60 people. The artillery did not penetrate into the Tatar camp, and there was no leader."

"The Marquis of An Bian withdrew to Bian Qiang Fort. The Tatars feared that this would be a tactic to lure the enemy in. They withdrew eighty li to the north, and the Marquis of An Bian led their troops south."

……

In general.

Zhu Feng lost the battle.

It wasn't that he was incapable, it was that the strength of the Ming army was not good enough. The total number of troops could only be dispatched by him with 4000 people, and the Tatars dispatched in units of [-].

Moreover, the other party does not fight with you in groups, knowing that your artillery is powerful, and that you can lay a "minefield" of yellow powder, but this yellow powder must be ignited, and the Tatars just don't drill into your ambush circle, and you didn't move.

So much so that Zhu Feng was defeated and retreated to the fortress in the border town, and almost fell into a heavy siege. Fortunately, the Tatars felt that this was "luting the enemy to go deep", or that Zhu Feng was not so bad, and there might be some powerful back-up.

Only then did Zhu Feng's main force turn the corner.

After escaping from danger, Zhu Feng didn't come to the town of Ningxia Town, but went south...

This also shows that Zhu Feng is not very confident to fight the main force of the Tatars, and now Zhu Feng, the famous "God of War", is avoiding the battle.

Even Zhu Feng avoided the battle blindly, let alone soldiers from other places.

……

The resident of Yansui Town is also the resident of the Trilateral General System.

The news of Zhu Feng's defeat reached Qin Hong even though Yang Yiqing suppressed it.

After Qin Hong saw the battle report, all he thought of was... this battle cannot be fought.

"Let's play now, and ask Your Majesty to send troops from Datong, Pianguan, etc., to rush to the three sides to prevent the Tatars from entering." What Qin Hong is thinking now is not whether Yang Yiqing can take advantage of the initiative to attack.

What he thought was that there should be no major accidents on the three sides.

In other words, even if Emperor Yanling wanted to take the initiative to fight, Qin Hong judged the situation and believed that this battle must be held firmly.

……

……

The news spread to Biantouguan.

As the governor of Pianguan, Wang Qiong was responsible for controlling military affairs from Pianguan to Taiyuan and other places. When he knew that Zhu Feng had suffered setbacks in Ningxia, he also realized that Yang Yiqing was a bit "talking on paper".

"Lord Zhongcheng, if things go on like this, Marquis Anbian can only hide in Tibet. The Tatars may find that he is unable to fight anymore at any time and surround him."

Even the general under Wang Qiong's command, Yao Shun, the deputy commander, also noticed that there was a big problem with Yang Yiqing's tactics.

Wang Qiong shook his head and said: "Whoever goes, this battle can't be fought according to His Majesty's wishes. The little Tatar prince attacked with all his strength this time, and only fought on Ningxia's road. It is completely because he saw that Ningxia's terrain is difficult to attack and he can only stick to it. And there are also defects in various passes... The most terrible... The Tatars have already captured six or seven artillery pieces from my Daming border town..."

What worried Wang Qiong happened.

Daming used artillery to frighten the grassland tribes repeatedly. Although the little Tatar prince Batu Mengke hadn't imitated it yet, he captured Daming's artillery in several previous confrontations.

Coupled with the captured shells, it has been able to form a local firearms suppression.

Even the Tatars used the captured artillery to attack fortifications, which is easier to find targets than using artillery in the wild. With a specific direction for attacking fortifications, the effectiveness of the artillery can be maximized.

"Please Your Majesty, Pianguan is willing to send troops to help Ningxia." Wang Qiong felt that he couldn't ignore Zhu Feng, a little brother.

Moreover, Wang Qiong has "big ideals". Regardless of whether he can get the official position of minister or minister in the court, he must at least establish his own prestige in the northwest.

If you don't want to be the governor of the general system, you are not a good soldier.

……

……

The war situation in the Northwest was tense, and news continued to spread to the capital.

But most of the battle situation was hidden in various places in the northwest.

Ningxia encountered setbacks in all walks of life, so they did not report to the governor of Ningxia Town, Yang Yiqing;

Then the news that Zhu Youtang knew was only what the guarding generals below thought could be reported to the court.

But even so, Zhu Youtang could feel that the situation in the Northwest not only did not improve because of Zhu Feng and Yang Yiqing's arrival in Ningxia, but even worsened a lot.

Xiao Jingdao: "Your Majesty, judging from the known situation of Ningxia's use of troops, it is indeed difficult to obtain results by attacking. The Tatars also know the power of the Ming Dynasty's artillery, and will no longer charge the Ming army's camp with heavy cavalry. Between the two sides, the Ming soldiers will fall into a passive position."

Zhu Youtang frowned and said, "So up to now, hasn't there been a regular battle? Why did Zhijie mention the battle with the main force of the little Tatar prince?"

Xiao Jing wondered: "Or the two sides did not have direct contact, so they retreated separately."

"Since the Tatars have retreated, why didn't Zhijie pursue them? With the power of artillery, are you still afraid of the Tatars coming back? Isn't this what Bingkuan said before, to get rid of evil?" Zhu Youtang was a little angry.

The Tatars retreated, and you, Zhu Feng, also retreated. What does this mean?
Deliberately not making direct contact?
What the emperor didn't know was that Zhu Feng withdrew because the Ming side suffered a big loss in this battle, but the Tatar side had no losses.

When Yang Yiqing played the report, his words were the same as those of the generals who used troops in the Northwest. They seemed to be "tactful", that is, they only wrote the beginning and the end, not the process.

In fact, the achievements of the Ming Dynasty in the northwest in the past, especially the first achievements, were often obtained at the cost of losses that were several times that of the Tatars.

Even Wang Yue's victory at Helan Mountain was the same.

It was not until Wang Yue's battle at Pianguan that this situation was reversed, and Ming's loss was far lower than that of the Tatars.

Zhu Feng just brought out the normal state of the Northwest's foreign wars, that is to say... If you can't fight, you will die. After the death, the morale will be low, and you have to retreat. This is also to prevent being pursued by the Tatars.

From the emperor's point of view, he felt that Zhu Feng was deliberately avoiding the war.

"Without Bing Kuan, what would this be like?" Seeing that Xiao Jing couldn't explain why, Zhu Youtang angrily pushed down a stack of memorials.

Wei Bin on one side could only silently pick up the scattered memorials and rearrange them.

Zhu Youtang asked, "Is there any news from Liaodong?"

Xiao Jingdao: "Your Majesty, I don't know, this news from Liaodong, does it mean that Uncle Xinjian is going to attack the grassland with the soldiers and horses of the Dusi?"

"Yes." Zhu Youtang answered directly.

Only then did Xiao Jing get it, and this news, he didn't even know how many people in the court knew about it, and he didn't know whether the emperor had communicated with Zhou Jing when he asked the Household Minister Zhou Jing about the Household Department's allocation of money and food.

Xiao Jingdao: "Uncle Xinjian hasn't made any announcement recently, and Liaodong has not mentioned anything about the transfer of soldiers and horses of the Nuer Gandu Division."

"Secretly dispatching troops should not be known to outsiders." Zhu Youtang said, "Before I issued a secret decree to inform Uncle Xinjian that he would only ask me if he was in trouble. It seems that his deployment of troops went smoothly, and he even got supplements of food and supplies, so he didn't raise any trouble with me."

When Xiao Jing heard this, he pondered in his heart.

This is no news, even if it is good news?

Too far-fetched, right?
If there is really no news, then why do you ask us ignorant people, Your Majesty?
Zhu Youzhang stood up and said, "Once Uncle Xinjian makes any progress in the east, the soldiers and horses of the towns of Daming should cooperate to march into the grassland. This time, we don't want a big victory, but we want to force the Tatars back so that they dare not invade the Daming pass in recent years."

Xiao Jing said: "Ningxia's autumn harvest will end in the next half month."

Zhu Youtang turned to stare at him and said, "Losing money and food in one place is a trivial matter. We must ensure that there will be no major losses in the Northwest in the next few years. In fact, I most want Bingkuan to transfer the military affairs of the three sides, let him sit in charge, and let the little Tatar prince dare not come."

Xiao Jing thought to himself, Zhang Zhou is not so mysterious, is he?
Can one person frighten the Tatars?
Your Majesty, you are too idealistic!
"I also ordered Yansui and Pianguan to stop standing still and think about changes. Let them assess the situation and send troops on their own according to the specific situation." Zhu Youtang said.

Xiao Jingdao: "Your Majesty, in the Hetao land, there is still the Mengguoljin Department that has been screened by fire. If he...has evil intentions, I am afraid that sending troops will bring bad consequences."

Zhu Youtang sternly said: "I don't believe in such a wolf-minded and ambitious person as Huozhai. He has surrendered to Daming in name. In the past two years, how can he defend the border town against even a single soldier from the Tatars? Since he is a foreigner, his heart will definitely not be on the side of Daming. It is fine to take the opportunity to destroy him!"

Xiao Jing was very anxious.

The emperor is too eager.

Discovered that Huo Zai didn't help Daming at the critical moment, and even in such troubled times, should Huo Zai be wiped out together?
Huosie is a serious problem for Daming, if Huosie and Batu Monk are united, it will be really bad luck for Daming's frontiers.

……

……

cabinet.

Liu Jian and the others sorted out the battle reports of the past few days, and they came to a conclusion similar to that of Qin Hong, Wang Qiong and others, that is, the more the battle in Ningxia goes down, the greater the Ming's losses will be.

"Your Majesty, please stop this battle." Liu Jian said.

Li Dongyang reminded: "Your Majesty will not listen to such persuasion. Judging from the current deployment of the Beijing camp, Your Majesty may have a tendency to use troops in Jizhou."

His judgment was based on the fact that Zhu Youtang dispatched [-] troops from the Beijing camp to approach Jizhou.

Jizhou Town is located between the capital and Shanhaiguan, which is the defense line of the Daming East Road. In the past, it was mainly used to guard against the three guards of Duoyan. This time, the Sanwei of Duoyan cooperated with the little Tatar prince to use troops against Daming.

Now Duoyan Sanwei didn't even dare to stay in Daning and other places where they used to live and herd.

Xie Qian said: "Binzhi, do you think His Majesty wants to fight out of Jizhou to divert attention from the battle of Ningxia?"

Ningxia can't beat it, and Batu Monk can't beat it, so let's close the door and take out Duoyan Sanwei again.

It's almost like beating a child at home on a rainy day.

He lost his face in Batu Mengke and lost face, so he got it back from Duoyan Sanwei.

Li Dongyang said: "According to Wang Xian's report, Duoyan Sanwei has not been close to the border of Daming in the past six months, even in the beginning of spring and summer. The intention of Jizhou's military deployment at this time is unclear."

Liu Jian asked: "You don't know, and neither does the Ministry of War?"

"Yes." Li Dongyang nodded.

The emperor's use of troops seemed to have skipped the Ministry of War, and he did not explain clearly to his courtiers why he sent [-] soldiers to Jizhou.

Xie Qian sighed: "Needless to say, it was Zhang Bingkuan who was behind the scenes again, and it seemed to be Zhang Bingkuan's idea."

"I don't think so." Li Dongyang also denied this statement, "Zhang Bingkuan is in Nanjing. If His Majesty needs him in the Northern War, he should be transferred back to Beijing in a hurry. His Majesty has never mentioned this. Does Zhang Bingkuan have more important things in Nanjing than using troops in the North?"

Liu Jian thought for a while, and said with a gloomy expression: "I also feel a little strange when you say this. It seems that His Majesty does not want to rely heavily on Zhang Bingkuan in this battle, but he seems to be everywhere in this battle."

Xie Qian said: "The two of you really have leisure time. Tomorrow, we will ask His Majesty to send troops and horses to various places on the three sides. Even if it's just a show, we shouldn't just stand by and watch."

……

……

The civil servants had no decision-making qualifications for the First World War in Ningxia, and they knew nothing about the deployment of troops in Liaodong and other places.

Ma Wensheng, who was vaguely aware of some trends and rumors, kept it secret and asked the three members of the cabinet to guess. They would never have guessed that the emperor planned to let Wang Shouren transfer troops from northern Liaoning to the grassland to "encircle Wei and rescue Zhao" thousands of miles away.

No matter how you look at it, there is no timeliness.

But in Liaodong, the governor Lu Wan provided a lot of support for Wang Shouren's march into the grassland.

Wang Shouren led troops to transit through Liaodong, and Lu Wan even went to comfort Wang Shouren himself, bringing enough grain, grass and meat to him.

"Bo'an, if you enter the grassland like this, you may have to walk two or three thousand miles. From my experience, I can tell you that the road to the grassland is very difficult."

Lu Wan went to remind Wang Shouren as someone who had been there.

Last year I led troops into the grasslands and almost couldn't come back.

Wang Shouren said: "Last year when we used troops against Wuliangha, it was already a cold winter, and the extreme weather would indeed slow down the progress of the march. It's only September now, and no matter how bad the grassland weather is, it won't be so bad that we will never return."

Lu Wan smiled and said: "It seems that you are very confident, but you don't know how to prepare?"

Wang Shouren pointed to the barracks outside the camp and said: "Six thousand cavalry, a total of six hundred light cannons, ten thousand shells. Four thousand flint blunderbusses, one hundred thousand rounds of projectiles, no strong crossbows, only bows and short weapons to reduce the burden of marching."

When Lu Wan heard this, he immediately felt that Wang Shouren's way of fighting was different from other people from all walks of life.

"Bo'an, let me ask you a question, when you were fighting the Jurchens, you also used this kind of equipment? If you give up the heavy armor, I'm afraid you will..."

What Lu Wan was most afraid of was that Wang Shouren's excessive pursuit of light soldiers would lead to the evil result of not being able to retreat after advancing aggressively.

No matter how powerful your firearms are, if the Tatars use strong crossbows, bows and arrows, won't your soldiers rush to the street?

Wang Shouren said: "In the northern Liaobei, the heavy artillery is used to attack fortifications, and the light artillery is used less. But the Lai Guogong cast in Yongping Mansion, nine out of ten are light artillery. According to him, in the future, when he wants to enter the grassland, the light artillery is more mobile and has more uses. It is more valuable than the heavy artillery. As for the flint blunderbuss... it is also used for the confrontation between the two sides of the grassland."

Only then did Lu Wan know.

It turned out that what he was looking at, or the "Mother and Mother Cannon" and "Heavy Cannon" that Lu Wan admired, in Zhang Zhouna's view, were just flashy "big toys".

It is impossible for the Tatars to stand there and let you fight.

When the two sides are fighting on the grassland, the most important thing is to maintain mobility. Because of their heavy weight, the long-range artillery and heavy artillery can only be carried on chariots with wheels and pulled by horses. The transfer speed is very slow and is greatly affected by the terrain.

On the other hand, light artillery.

The heaviest one is less than a hundred catties and less than two hundred catties. The horses can carry it completely, and they can be unloaded wherever they go, and they can be put on the base and fired directly.

If the Tatars run, they can also mount their horses and chase after them.

Lu Wan said: "It seems that in this battle, you are going to win the victory against the Tatars with a small and light army."

"Yes." Wang Shouren did not hide this point, "After entering the grassland, we will fight when we encounter them. Entering the grassland from here does not necessarily need to come out from here. Anywhere on the Nine Sides can return troops to the south. If the Tatars dare to come, even if they fight to the death and wipe out the entire army, there is nothing to fear. Even if he captures these cannons, he will not be able to capture our Daming pass."

"Yes."

Lu Wan couldn't help feeling emotional.

No matter how powerful the light cannon is, it will never be able to directly break through Daming's earthen city walls and pass cities.

Light artillery is used to fight cavalry in the field, the effect of the shotgun...

"Six hundred gates... Duke Lai has already made preparations, or if the little Tatar prince doesn't fight Ningxia, he will arrange for you to send troops to the grassland at an appropriate time." Lu Wan realized that this battle was definitely not started in a hurry.

If it is a passive counterattack, it is impossible for Zhang Zhou to prepare [-] light guns, thousands of shells, and thousands of flint guns for Wang Shouren in a short time.

Wang Shouren clasped his hands and said, "I have to trouble Lu Zhongcheng with regard to the defense of Nuer Gandu Division, as well as the naturalization and resettlement of the Jurchens."

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Lu Wan smiled and said, "Sometimes I really envy you young people, who have the courage to fight at a young age."

Naturally, Wang Shouren knew that Lu Wan envied him for being able to win Zhang Zhou's trust, and he took the title at a young age.

"I also hope to have the opportunity to fight side by side with Lu Zhongcheng." Wang Shouren also showed respect for Lu Wan.

After all, Lu Wan did not make any mistakes in Liaodong, and he also helped him a lot when he cooperated with the Jurchen soldiers.

(End of this chapter)