The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Northwest of Guanshan, east of Suosuo River.

This is the northern end of the grassland. Fifty miles further north is the northern desert. This is also the place where the Tatars graze in the summer, but this winter it has become a paradise for the Tatars to hide. Originally, nothing could disturb the tranquility here, but with the arrival of the Ming army, this place has become a battlefield of blood and fire.

A protracted war lasted from the winter of the 15th year of Hongzhi's reign to the early spring of the 16th year of Hongzhi's reign.

Even so, the Ming army was not completely wiped out.

Tang Yin's troops still had considerable strength. Even when surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Tatar troops, they were still able to stand their ground and deal with the Tatars.

At this time, the three thousand soldiers led by Zhang Zhou had already passed through the pass, traveled nearly two thousand miles, and appeared behind the Tatars, which was their southeast direction.

"Great Khan, please give me five thousand cavalrymen. I am willing to wipe out all the Han people who invade us."

In the Tatars' central camp.

Batu Mongke, the Tatar leader, who is known as the most ambitious Tatar grassland lord in the past two hundred years and the lord of the grassland revival, is accepting requests from his generals.

The battle in the front had no results, and as a result, the Ming army appeared in the rear, which meant that they were now under attack from both sides. However, no one in Tatar seemed to think that these two Ming troops were a threat, mainly because the number of these two Ming troops was too small.

There are still more than 5,000 soldiers and horses along the way. The ammunition has been basically exhausted, and there is a serious shortage of soldiers and food.

Although the other group consisted of newly arrived elite troops, they had marched straight in from the border of the Ming Dynasty to provide support. The key point was that this group of troops was even smaller, with only 3,000 soldiers. Even if they were new troops, they would still have the problem of fatigue from the expedition. In front of the Tatar generals, who were known for their bravery and fighting skills and were almost savages, it seemed that wiping out the Ming army was an easy task.

The one who volunteered to fight this time was Batu Mongke's third son, Barsborot, a young man who was only fourteen years old.

Although Bars is young, he is determined to compete with his second brother for the position of Khan because his eldest brother is weak and sickly. After he was thirteen years old, he participated in many wars within the grassland and even took part in the battle against the Ming Dynasty's Huamachi last year.

This time, he wanted to gain his father's appreciation and give him more military power by making great achievements.

On the grassland, only those who are good at fighting and can win battles can get the respect of others. As the son of Batu Mongke, only by being brave and good at fighting can he gain the praise of others and even have the opportunity to rule the grassland in the future.

Batu Mongke raised his head and looked around at the many generals in the tent.

Although the Tatars suffered heavy losses over the past period of time, Batu Mongke was not a stupid man. In the previous battles with Tang Yin's troops, he tried his best to let some people from marginal tribes charge in the front as suicide squads. Anyway, they were just consuming the ammunition of the Ming Dynasty and were going to die, so it didn't matter who went up.

Those marginal tribes almost took turns to provoke and also took turns to hold the first line of defense for the Tatars, pushing the battle line step by step to the bank of the Suosuo River. However, Tang Yin found an opportunity and directly withdrew the camp more than ten miles, forcing them to reorganize their troops and move forward.

Batu Mongke said: "Since the war began, thousands of our men have died on the battlefield. The number of soldiers sent by the Ming court this time is not large, but they claim to be led by Zhang Zhou, the Duke of Cai, the Minister of War. Do you really think you can kill this monster with your own strength?"

All the generals present were silent.

In order to eliminate the soldiers' fear of the front line of the battlefield, the Tatars described Zhang Zhou as a "demon" and declared that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was bewitched by a Taoist priest, and that the Taoist priest used some strange techniques, which led to the Ming army gaining a kind of "divine power". Of course, this kind of divine power also has its shortcomings. Once the demon died, or God no longer protected the Ming army, they could march straight in and kill the Ming army.

Although this statement does not stand up to scrutiny, there are basically few people on the grassland who can read and write, and their grasp of the truth is almost at the level of hearsay and following the crowd.

Basically, they believe whatever others say, and they also have gods they believe in, thinking that the gods will protect them, the devout believers.

Bars said, "Great Khan, I think the Han army is not a concern. With 5,000 soldiers, we can attack them at night and make them lose their direction. They don't have many scouts in front of the team, so they don't know where we are. As long as we can sneak up on them, we can launch a successful surprise attack."

"Do you think this is feasible?" Batu Mongke looked at the generals present again.

These generals were nominally his subjects, but in fact only the Chahar tribe was his direct descendant. Nearly half of the remaining troops belonged to side tribes. The so-called generals were actually the leaders of the tribes. Only at the critical moment of life and death of the grassland did this group of people gather together.

Huoshai, the fierce general once trusted by Batu Mongke, is no longer present.

Huoshai was not there, but the other leaders of the left and right wing tribes were there. These people had also suffered greatly from the annexation of the Tatars, and they were only forming a temporary alliance for now.

The Yongshebu tribe is now considered the largest tribe on the grassland after the Chahar tribe. Its leader Yibula said: "If the Khan wants to send troops to attack the Ming army, it is best to send your own people. The Ming Dynasty sent their strongest heavenly master, and we do not have the strength to fight against them head-on."

"That's better." People from other tribes also agreed.

Bars shouted at the people present: "Do you think I need your troops? You all say that Duke Cai is very capable, but I have never seen him perform on the battlefield. The Han people are only good at talking. They are very rude when they curse, but when it comes to fighting, how can they be as brave as us?"

Yibula said: "That can't be said. Even the generals of the Ming Dynasty obeyed his orders, which shows that he has the strength to fight us. Since the Third Young Master believes that he has the ability to annihilate the Ming army, he doesn't need our help. We just need to focus on dealing with Tang Yin."

Batu Mongke said sternly: "Each tribe must send out troops. The other side has 3,000 troops, and we will send out 30,000 troops to test them."

"Thirty thousand..."

When Bars heard this, he instantly felt that he was being looked down upon. He asked fiercely, "Why did the Khan give me so many troops?"

"You are not the only one." Batu Mongke said, "I will assign 10,000 troops to you, and the rest will be carried out by the various units. The 30,000 troops must be assembled within two days. If there is any further delay, the Ming army will move further north. Now we cannot let Tang Yin's troops in the northwest know that their reinforcements are coming."

Yibula asked, "Then Great Khan, what are you doing?"

Batu Mongke said sternly: "Next, I will use my most elite troops to defeat the Ming court's northwest army. Only in this way will the Ming court's reinforcements be helpless. Then we will use troops from all directions to trap them! The Ming court sent reinforcements in a risky way, and we will make them go without return. In this way, we will turn the tide of the war. From now on, we will no longer be afraid of the Ming court's army, and we can come and go freely in the border areas."

……

……

In the first few days of February, Tang Yin's troops could clearly feel that the Tatar attacks were becoming more fierce.

But he had no other choice. With the external information completely blocked, he didn't know whether the court had sent him reinforcements, nor did he know who would lead the reinforcements, or whether he had any way to survive.

Previously, Xu Jing wanted to break out, but he rejected all the suggestions. Fortunately, their troops were deep in the grassland, and even if some of them wanted to break out and escape, they realized that they could not return to the Ming Dynasty from here, so they had to unite as one and share the same hatred at the critical moment.

And in the south were Zhang Zhou's troops.

Although Zhang Zhou did not send out too many Yebushou, the movements of the Tatars were basically under his control. In fact, it was not complicated. He only needed to see which direction to go, where there would be more Tatars, and where the Tatars would gather troops to prepare for interception... and he would know that the path he was taking was not wrong.

"Sir, the Tartars are beginning to gather."

The sixth day of February was also the day when Zhang Zhou's troops stopped to rest.

At this time, Zhang Zhou's troops were less than 30 miles away from the Suosuo River. Another 40 to 50 miles to the north would bring them to the main camp of the Tatars, and another 20 miles to the north would be the area where Tang Yin was camped.

At this time, the Tatars gathered their troops and began to surround Zhang Zhou's troops from all directions.

Zhang Zhou had someone build a temporary platform. After he climbed up, he looked through the telescope for a while and found that, as Ye Bushou had discovered, the Tatars began to show signs of gathering. He then ordered the entire army to set up camp and make the area of ​​the camp as small as possible in preparation for a night attack by the Tatars.

"Gather the horses in the middle. Set up two lines. The first line is artillery and muskets, and the second line is muskets. Don't show your killing weapons right away. Let the Tatars get as close as possible. If they get within about 200 steps, give them a hard taste..."

After all, there are only three thousand soldiers.

The number sounds like a lot, but when it comes to actual arrangements, it’s actually not that much.

Zhang Zhou was personally responsible for setting up camp, which happened to be the content of the special training for the Beijing camp troops in the previous few months.

If the Tatars attack, it is best to build up your own defensive position first. Unlike in the past when people relied on spears and bows and arrows to fight, now even artillery has become an auxiliary combat tool. First fire with artillery, especially light artillery, then use muskets, then rifles, and finally Gatling guns.

The Ming army was well-trained. Although they didn't know much else, at least none of them were novices when it came to setting up camp.

In less than half an hour, a simple camp was ready. In order to resist the powerful attack of the enemy's crossbows, many shields and simple trenches were set up for defense.

"The Tatars are gathering in large numbers in the north."

Sun Shangqi was responsible for intelligence gathering.

In fact, there is no need for anyone to command this war. As long as the Tatars come over, all we have to do is open fire.

Intelligence compilation work is particularly important. We must also make the Tatars feel that the Ming Dynasty’s troops have no intelligence preparation, and make them think that the Ming Dynasty’s army is like a headless fly.

Under such circumstances, the Ming army would have to show its weakness and make them think it was invincible.

Zhang Zhou immediately sent a message to the three armies: "Until the Tatars come, you are not allowed to open fire. Those who need to bury the stoves should bury the stoves, those who need to eat should eat, and only 30% of the troops should be left to prepare for defense."

……

……

The Tatars seemed ferocious, but they had only assembled 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers.

For Zhang Zhou, it is a waste of talent to have all the staff ready for battle.

The Tatars can charge forward if they have the guts. With the entire army now ready for battle and no loss of ammunition, an enemy force of less than 10,000 is not enough to fill the gap. Zhang Zhou also understands that the Tatars will not charge forward all at once.

Even if they attack from all directions at the same time, if the first batch has three to five thousand soldiers, or six to seven thousand, it would be considered a good offensive.

Zhang Zhou also deliberately exposed a flaw to the enemy. The camp on the west side was not equipped with any artillery. Although there was no difference from the outside, once the war started, when the Tatars found that the Ming army had no long-range firepower on the west side, they might use cavalry to launch a night attack, and then they would feel the suppression of the generation gap in weapons.

After nightfall.

The Tatars were still merely gathering and had not yet launched an offensive.

"The situation is not good."

Sun Shangqi came to Zhang Zhou in person, and Zhang Zhou was eating noodles at that time... This kind of food was rare during the march, which at least showed that Zhang Zhou was well prepared.

Wang Mingshan was sitting next to him. When she saw Sun Shangqi coming, she stood up and moved aside.

Of course Sun Shangqi would not sit down, he just came to inform about the situation.

"If you have anything to say, take your time." Zhang Zhou blew on the noodles in his bowl and said with a smile, "Relax a bit. I know the soldiers don't have much combat experience, and some of them have never even killed anyone."

Sun Shangqi said: "Most of them have never been on the battlefield, and basically have never killed an enemy."

Zhang Zhou said: "Yes, let's give them some experience this time. After the bloody battle tonight, I don't know how many people will vomit or feel unwell, but the darkness will reduce their fear. It will also be more troublesome when we step over the enemy's corpses tomorrow morning. Let's prepare some people to cut off the ears."

“Do you still need to keep your ears?”

"Of course I have to keep it. Otherwise, if I go back and tell them how many enemies I killed, the ministers in the court will think I'm bragging."

Zhang Zhou looked relaxed, as if this was a very simple battle.

At this moment, a rumbling horn sounded three or five miles away from the camp.

"Don't worry, they won't come right away." Zhang Zhou said, "I'm familiar with this routine. They will let some death squads come forward to try first, but they also know that whoever rushes to the front will die. So the battle before midnight should be the most brutal, and the previous ones are just appetizers." (End of this chapter)