I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 398 Is it a wolf or a dog?
Thousands of miles west.

On a hill near Moyuer Lake, Li Chengliang held the reins, stood still on his horse, and looked at the lake not far away.

The blue sky, the white clouds, the clear water of the lake, the green grass, and the faint sound of singing coming from afar.

The shepherd was somewhere unknown, driving cattle and sheep and singing pastoral songs. His voice drifted here with the wind from the grassland, intermittently.

Li Chengliang raised his whip, pointed at Moyuer Sea, and asked his deputy generals excitedly, "Do you know where this is?"

"Fishing in the sea." The generals replied.

"Yes, it is Moyuerhai. Do you know that there was a war here more than 200 years ago?"

"I know!" answered a military school student. He was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a heroic face yet a bit of childishness.

"Oh, Xiao Jixin, then tell me."

The young military school student who answered the question was named Xiao Ruxun, the fourth son of Xiao Wenkui, the general of Liaoxi.

The Xiao family was originally from Yan'an Wei. Their ancestor Xiao Chun followed Emperor Taizu in his campaigns and later settled in Yan'an Wei as a centurion.

By the sixth generation, Xiao Wenkui had accumulated merits and was promoted to deputy general of Shaanxi Town.

When Zhu Yijun was in power, he reformed the military system and rotated the nine frontier troops. Xiao Wenkui was transferred to the Beijing camp and followed Qi Jiguang to attack the Xin'ai camp, where he made great contributions. He then led his troops to station in Xinghua City. During the confrontation with the Chahar tribe, he made many military achievements and was promoted to the general of Liaoxi.

Xiao Wenkui was appointed by Qi Jiguang as the commander of the central army and led his troops northward. He discovered traces of the remnants of Tumen Khan in the upper reaches of the Khalkha River. He then sent Xiao Ruxun to lead a scout team to take a shortcut westward, find Li Chengliang's troops on the left wing, and report the movements of the remnants of Tumen Khan. This is how they gathered their troops on the shores of Moyuer Lake today.

"Yes, the general!" Xiao Ruxun answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"In the 21st year of Hongwu, Lan Yu led a 150,000-man army to the north. The army left Daning and advanced to Qingzhou (now Sobuliga, Balin Left Banner, Inner Mongolia), where there was no trace of the Northern Yuan enemies.

Lan Yu wanted to lead his troops back, but Wang Bi, the Marquis of Dingyuan, advised him that his army of 150,000 had penetrated deep into the northern desert and returned to the capital without gaining anything. How could he report back to the emperor? Lan Yu was deeply moved by his words and ordered the entire army to live in caves underground and not to light fires or smoke to alert the northern barbarians.

Xiao Ruxun spoke eloquently, and the generals looked at the young military academy student with different expressions.

".After a short rest, the whole army rushed to the southern side of Buyuer Lake at night. At dawn, the scouts learned that the northern barbarians were camped more than 80 miles northeast of the sea. Lan Yu ordered Wang Bi to lead the cavalry as the vanguard and charge directly into the enemy camp.

The Northern Tartar army was greatly alarmed and hastily fought back, only to be defeated. Taiwei Manzi and others were killed, and all their followers surrendered. Only the King of Northern Yuan, Crown Prince Tianbaonu and a few dozen other riders escaped.

In this battle, the second son of the Northern Yuan ruler, Dibaonu, his concubines, princesses and more than a hundred other people were captured. Later, Wu Wang Duoerzhi, Dai Wang Darima and 3,000 officials and subordinates including Pingzhang were captured, more than 77,000 men and women, as well as precious seals, imperial edicts, gold and silver seals, and more than 150,000 horses, camels, cattle and sheep. Countless armor and weapons were burned.

Li Chengliang cracked his whip and laughed, "Well, you are indeed a general! You are well-read and have a good memory, and you can easily quote allusions."

He glanced at the generals and said in a loud voice: "You and I are the first group of Ming soldiers who stopped at Moyuer Lake after the reign of Emperor Chengzu. From Lan Yu to us, it took more than two hundred years to reach this lake.

The world is full of cycles, and the laws of nature are cyclical. Two hundred years ago, Lan Yu led the Ming army to defeat the Northern Yuan ruler here. Today, we are going to ambush the direct descendant of the Northern Yuan ruler, Tumen Khan.

He was beaten like a stray dog ​​by the Ming Dynasty in the east, and is now fleeing westward in panic. Everyone, follow in the footsteps of your ancestors and build on your achievements today!"

The generals were inspired by his words and their blood boiled.

"Report!" A military school student rode over on horseback.

"Say!"

"Tumen Khan and his remnants appeared seventy miles to the east, and are galloping towards this side."

"How many troops are there?"

"Three thousand."

Li Chengliang nodded.

The scout team discovered Tumen Khan's whereabouts and used the reflection of bronze mirrors and flag signals to quickly transmit the message back. The advantage was the speed, but the disadvantage was the simplicity of the message.

But knowing that he was Tumen Khan and that he had 3,000 soldiers and horses was enough.

"Seventy miles, we will arrive in less than two hours. Everyone, return to your units immediately and restrain your troops. Do not alert the enemy!"

"Yes!"

Tumen Khan rode a blue-and-white horse, pulled the reins, and whipped the horse continuously.

He knew that Qinghuacong was not running slowly, but he felt irritated and always felt that there were Ming cavalry following him.

Last autumn, facing the Ming army's strategy of building cities and setting up iron chains in the Liaohe River Basin, Tumen Khan was at a loss. He sent troops to harass the Ming army in turns, but failed to stop them.

But he did not dare to send all the main forces of the Chahar tribe to the Liaohe Hetao area. No matter how stupid he was, he could see that it was a trap.

When the Ming army completed the construction of the castle along the river, the Liaohe River would be occupied by the Ming army. Not only would they lose a piece of pasture with abundant grass and abundant water, but the Ming army would also directly put a knife to the belly of the Chahar tribe.

In the past, I could organize troops to plunder the south at any time. After that, the Ming army could organize troops to plunder the north at any time. It was a life of unrest day and night!

What is even more worrying is that the Ming army was gradually clearing out the Jianzhou Haixi Jurchens in Liaodong. They were playing both sides, sometimes acting as their internal supporters and guides when they went south to plunder, and sometimes supporting them to directly plunder Liaodong to tie down the Ming army.

Once the Ming army has wiped out the Jurchens and occupied Haixi and other places, they can then calmly cross the Black Mountain and attack the northern pastures of the Chahar tribe from the east, thus cooperating with the Ming army in the Liaohe Hetao area from the north and south.

Seeing that the Chahar tribe was about to fall into trouble, Tumen Khan would certainly not sit idly by and wait for death, so he tried every possible means to find a solution.

Unfortunately, he was not as resourceful and capable as Altan Khan, and he tried many ways, but to no avail. Suddenly one day, he suddenly had an idea and invited a "senior shaman" to ask for help from Changshengtian.

Who told us that our Borjigin family is the son of Eternal Heaven?

The shaman conveyed the will of Changshengtian that hope lies in the east. Tumen Khan suddenly had an idea and came up with a brilliant plan, which ended up destroying the Chahar tribe.

Of the 60,000 Chahar warriors, some fell under the swords, guns and firearms of the Ming army, while others died from hunger and cold in the wind and snow.

The past winter became the most horrific nightmare of Tumen Khan’s life. Evil deeds that he had never thought of before, cannibalism, happened right before his eyes in that cold winter.

When the roads were clear in the spring, he just wanted to leave that hell.

After crossing the Black Mountains, he learned that his royal tent had been destroyed by the Ming army, and more than half of the Chahar tribe were wiped out by the Ming army, with the rest fleeing in all directions. The Duoyan, Taining, Kharashen, Khorchin and other tribesmen who had previously kneeled at his feet and were willing to be his running dogs, all turned against him and surrendered to the Ming army.

When Tumen Khan was hesitating on the banks of the Chor River, tens of thousands of Ming troops clamored to the north, and he was so scared that he immediately fled westward.

I will move back to my ancestors' heritage, and restore it by the Hanan River, in the land where the Mongols first rose to power.

In Tumen Khan's heart, the tribesmen on the grassland are like cattle and sheep. After a few springs, they will naturally multiply and increase in number on the grassland. Then he can gather a powerful army again and go south to take revenge!
I am a direct descendant of the Borjigin family. I have the noble blood of the Golden Family flowing in my veins. I will definitely be able to...
A long horn sound interrupted Tumen Khan's thoughts. He looked up and saw three red flames rising in the distance, standing out against the clear sky.

Tumen Khan's face changed, and before he could react, a cavalry rushed towards him from the front. He quickly pulled the reins to stop his mount. Turning around, he saw another cavalry rushing out from the rear.

Damn!

He was ambushed by the Ming army.

Tumen Khan waved his hand, called over his trusted followers, and said with gritted teeth: "Protect this Khan!"

Li Chengliang saw from afar that his 10,000 cavalrymen surrounded Tumen Khan's 3,000 remnants from the front and back, and there were another 5,000 cavalrymen as mobile forces patrolling the periphery to provide support, ready to pursue any fish that escaped the net at any time.

I couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

The left army had 35,000 cavalrymen, who captured tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep along the way, and sent a detachment of 10,000 soldiers and horses to escort them south.

Li Chengliang also needed to allocate 10,000 troops to the west to prevent the Khalkha troops from ambush Tumen Khan here and get shot from behind.

It now seems that the outcome has been decided.

Xiao Ruxun stepped forward and said, "General Li, please allow me to lead the troops to clean up the battlefield."

Li Chengliang pondered in silence.

"Uncle Li, I followed my father to the battlefield when I was twelve years old. You don't have to worry about me. Besides, my 300 cavalrymen are the elite troops in western Liaoning." Xiao Ruxun played the family card.

"Okay, you take our troops to the periphery first, and then clean up the battlefield after the battle is over."

No matter what, Li Chengliang didn't want Xiao Ruxun to have an accident at his hands.

"As ordered!"

In Li Chengliang's telescope, the two Ming cavalry units in front and behind, like two sledgehammers, smashed hard at the Chahar troops who were gathered together, one in front and one behind.

These Chahar warriors who had survived hundreds of battles were not afraid at all. They first drew their bows and arrows and shot at the Ming cavalry. Then they brandished their swords and held their spears and collided fiercely with the Ming army.

Two hours later, the military school came to report in a hurry: "Report! The remnants of Tumen Khan have been annihilated, but..."

"It was just that Tumen Khan disguised himself and hid in a mountain valley with more than fifty riders, waiting for an opportunity to escape to the northwest."

"What!" Li Chengliang was furious. He had carefully prepared a sumptuous meal, but the most important guest did not stay.

This Tumen Khan is not good at fighting, but his ability to escape is damn good!

"Military Colonel Xiao led his troops to chase after them."

"Xiao Ruxun led his troops to chase after them?"

"Yes."

"Tell Deputy General Wang Shikai to immediately lead 3,000 cavalrymen to chase after them."

"Yes!"

After the heralded military school had gone far away, the staff member next to him came up and said, "General, Military School Xiao is General Xiao's son, there won't be any accidents."

"The elite cavalry of the Ming Dynasty are in the northeast and northwest. The northeast is good at bravery, while the northwest is good at tenacity. The 300 cavalry led by Xiao Ruxun should be the cavalry transferred from Ningxia and Shaanxi to western Liaoning. To chase the enemy for thousands of miles, we need wolves, not dogs.

Let's see if Xiao's Qilinzi is a wolf or a dog."

(End of this chapter)