In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 144 More cruel than the Jurchens

Lin Rui's target this time is the Wuyuan area in his previous life. It is surrounded by Yinshan Mountain to the north and a large river to the south. It has abundant water and grass and a pleasant climate. It is known as the South of the Yangtze River.

In its previous life, it was the main grain-producing area of ​​Inner Mongolia. Today, the environment is better. There are more than ten tribes of different sizes and [-] to [-] Tumut people living there.

Since the death of Bu Shitu, the last great Khan of the Tumut tribe, two years ago, coupled with the deliberate division and disintegration of Jiannu, the entire Tumut tribe of nearly 20 people actually no longer has the same cohesion as before.

This time Lin Rui chose to attack the Wuyuan area, not to occupy it, nor to expand the population and cavalry, but simply to establish his authority first.

Let the 20 Tumuts in the entire Hetao area feel the threat from them and see who is more ferocious between them and the Jurchens.

Of course, the scale must be well determined. The Tumut people who want to be killed are afraid of them, but they cannot force the other party to fight them desperately.

Two days after Lin Rui and the others left the camp, Hauge in Guihua City received the news and immediately led the Jiannu Iron Cavalry and rushed westward along the Yellow River.

After seeing the strength of the horse bandits last year, Hauge actually already understood that even if he summoned all the Tumut warriors, it would be difficult to break through the opponent's camp.

So what he can do now is to prevent the other party from continuing to grow while waiting for reinforcements from Liaodong to arrive.

At this time, Lin Rui and his army had arrived near the Yellow River.

However, in order to prevent being discovered prematurely by the northern tribes and intercepted on the shore, the army did not cross the river immediately, but planned to wait until dark before crossing the river secretly.

"Rui Lang, do we really want to directly exterminate a tribe? I'm worried that once we do this, it will cause public outrage among the entire Tumut people?"

Until this moment, Na Muzhong still had some hesitations and worries in her heart.

"So what can they do with their public outrage? Is it possible that they can still attack our camp regardless of casualties? As long as they can't break our camp, they will have no way to harass us. In the end, if they don't want to be destroyed by us, they can only Compromise obediently!”

Lin Rui waved his hand and said in a cold tone.

He wanted to rely on the Han people's advantages of being good at defense and having sufficient food and fodder, relying on the camp, to continuously harass all the tribes in the entire Hetao area, making them unable to graze and survive, and finally compromise obediently and trade populations with them. reach a peace agreement.

As for the Wuyuan area, the Baotou area in the previous life, and the Dongtao area where Guihua City is located, he would select a tribe in each area to kill chickens to scare monkeys.

"Okay, then listen to you."

Seeing Lin Rui's resolute attitude, Namuzhong could only compromise.

In fact, she preferred that they occupy the Wuyuan area first, and then slowly annex the other tribes while farming and grazing.

Lin Rui naturally understood her thoughts, so he had to explain patiently: "Madam, I also know that it is safer to occupy a piece of territory first and then encroach on it step by step. Unfortunately, time waits for no one. The Jurchens will not give We slowly annexed other tribes' opportunities.

Therefore, we must fight fast and slow, and take down the entire Hetao in one fell swoop before they react, especially Guihua City. As long as we occupy Guihua City, no matter how many troops the Jurchens send to conquer, we can still Rely on the city to deal with them until winter, and they will have to retreat.

If you want to take Guihua City calmly, you must first defeat all the Tumuts, at least make them remain neutral and not dare to reinforce Haug. "

The reason why Lin Rui was so eager to capture the entire Hetao and Guihua City was because he was worried that they might have attracted the attention of Huang Taiji. After all, they had beaten Hao Ge quite badly last year and exposed his Too much strength.

If Guihua City is not captured as soon as possible, if Huang Taiji sends a large army to conquer, they may not be able to defend it on the grassland, and they will most likely have to flee to the Ming Dynasty to escape.

Although it is impossible for Jiannu's army to stay in Hetao forever, Huang Taiji's insight and determination to pursue Lin Dan Khan and fight fiercely will definitely strengthen the Guihua City and leave a large number of Han soldiers and food for long-term garrison to deal with them. threats.

In this way, the two sides will definitely fall into a long-term tug-of-war. Jiannu cannot eliminate them, and they cannot break through the naturalization and capture the entire Hetao.

He also had to rely on the territory of the Ming Dynasty as his foundation. At that time, he would have to rely on the Ming Dynasty and lose the initiative. This was absolutely unacceptable to him.

He can temporarily cooperate with Lu Xiangsheng, but it is impossible for him to hand over Namu Zhong and submit to the Ming Dynasty.

"Report, Marshal, madam, we have checked that the ice on the river is suitable for war horses to pass."

"Okay! Send the order, the army will set off immediately and prepare to cross the river!"

As Sanna returned with the female soldiers who went to conduct reconnaissance, the sky had darkened, and Lin Rui stopped delaying.

The resting army also packed up their things, got on their horses, and then headed towards the Yellow River twenty miles away to the north.

When they arrived at the Yellow River, everyone dismounted. Five thousand Mongolian cavalry led their horses across the river first. After arriving at the north bank, the rest of the army could safely lead their horses across the river.

The horseshoes of all war horses have been renovated this winter, so they can be directly and firmly grasped on the ice. As long as they are not running, there is no need to take anti-slip measures.However, all the soldiers had two pieces of linen tied to the soles of their shoes to prevent slipping. An hour later, all the soldiers crossed the Yellow River and arrived at Wuyuan.

Early the next morning, Lin Rui didn't bother to send people to investigate first, so he led his army and headed north to fight. Anyway, the tribes here are very dense. Whichever tribe you encounter, you should consider yourself unlucky!
Although the weather has warmed up a bit now, there is only a thin layer of snow left on the ground, and the grass under the snow has broken through the ground, but all the tribes are still hibernating in winter, but the communication between them has become Frequently.

The army only marched north for half a day when a tribal camp appeared not far ahead, and the other party also discovered the uninvited guests coming from the south.

All the Mongolians in the tribe became nervous. Seeing that the other party had a large number of people, they decisively chose to stay in the camp, and then sent fast horses to ask for help from other tribes. At the same time, they did not forget to send envoys to negotiate.

"Rui Lang, this tribe only has a population of about 5000 to [-] people." Na Muzhong made a brief assessment and said.

"Then just attack them! You lead the cavalry to intercept the reinforcements, and I lead the infantry to attack the camp. Let's leave as soon as we finish the battle!"

After Lin Rui finished speaking, he led five thousand Han soldiers directly to the outside of the camp. Then everyone quickly got off their horses and lined up in a short time.

Don't give the other party any extra time to prepare at all.

"Everyone obeys the order. After the camp is broken, no humans or animals will be left behind. Everything will be burned. Attack!"

"kill!"

The 5000 people shouted in unison and began to advance slowly. The same sword, shield and spearmen were in front, and the archers were behind. This time, each of the thousand border troops also carried a shield, so the Mongolians in the camp The arrows fired could not stop the advance of the infantry at all.

There was no suspense in the outcome. With less than 200 casualties, the tribe of 5000 people was completely wiped out, and all the cattle, sheep, and horses were slaughtered.

When reinforcements from several nearby tribes arrived, a raging fire was already burning throughout the tribe.

Lin Rui and the others also began to evacuate, taking nothing with them except their own wounded and the bodies of fallen soldiers.

"Namuzhong, you have gone too far. You even spared women and children, and also killed all the livestock. The Immortal God will not spare you, and will definitely punish you..."

Namuzhong led more than 1 cavalry and did not take the initiative to attack. The three tribes coming nearby only had [-] cavalry in total, so naturally they did not dare to attack.

Seeing the raging fire burning in the tribe not far away and the tragic situation inside, the three Mongolian leaders were shocked and angry. They pointed at Namu Zhong and their whole bodies trembled with anger. They were even more frightened.

Obviously, they didn't expect that Namuzhong and this group of Han people would be more cruel than the Jurchens. Not only did they kill all the people and livestock in the tribe, but they also burned down the entire tribe.

"Hmph! This is the fate of being an enemy of me, Na Muzhong, and my husband, the future king of the grassland!"

"From now on, any tribe that dares to help the Jurchens attack us should be prepared to be killed at any time!"

Namuzhong snorted coldly and said harshly. Seeing that Lin Rui and the others were almost on their horses, Namuzhong didn't bother to talk anymore and just led the cavalry away.

The three leaders looked at the leaving army, but they did not dare to catch up after all. It was not until the fire in the camp was completely extinguished that they took people to the camp to check, looking at the corpses and livestock lying on the ground, as well as the The burned-out tents and hay wagons sent a chill down everyone's backs.

In the afternoon, several more tribesmen arrived one after another. Seeing the miserable situation of the Tuyan tribe, all the leaders became angry.

"Rukuda, Qihar, is this really done by Namuzhong and that group of Han people?"

"Who else but them?"

"When we arrived, the entire Tuyan tribe was already finished."

"How is it possible? Your tribe is only forty or fifty miles away from the Tuyan tribe. It takes at most half an hour to go back and forth. How could they kill all the people and livestock of the Tuyan tribe so quickly?" A leader questioned.

"It was the Han people who took action. There were more than 5000 of them. Not only were they equipped with a large number of spears, shields, and armors, but the Tuyan tribe only had more than 1000 warriors. How could they stop them?"

"Damn Han people, where is Namu Zhong? How many cavalry does she bring?"

"Namuzhong is simply not worthy of being a Mongolian, and we must not let them go."

A group of Tumut leaders immediately started shouting, but when they learned that Namu Zhong had brought more than 1 cavalry this time, no one immediately shouted to catch up.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that all the tribes in the Wuyuan area arrived with their men and horses, gathering a total of [-] cavalry, and then they chased after the traces left by Lin Rui and the others.

At this time, Lin Rui and Namuzhong led their army to the Baotou area in their previous life, and once again wiped out a small Tumut tribe of 3000 people.

(End of this chapter)