I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 713 Qi Jiguang's Defeat in Successive Battles
Zhu Yijun handed the urgent report to Qi Yan, "Show it to the three masters, I will take my time."

Zhang Juzheng took the urgent report. Zhao Zhenji and Tan Lun lifted their collars and stood up, standing on his left and right, looking at the urgent report together.

"In the second month of spring, we left the Yalingkho Pass and swept through the cities of Chelichang and Khotan in the south of the desert. Then, with the locals as guides, we took the Laskumu and Saskuer mountain roads south of Yarkand City and reached the Fergana Valley.
They successively captured the cities of Andegan and Aksi, and planned to surround and attack the reinforcements, waiting for the troops of the Yarkand Khanate to reinforce Fergana.
It was at that time that Abdukhalin Khan of the Yarkand Khanate led the main force to conquer Turpan and won a great victory, and returned to the court from the Beshbaliq and Yile River areas on the northern route of the Tianshan Mountains.

After receiving the urgent report from Yarkand, they immediately gathered the troops of the Yilibali tribes, detoured to the western part of the Fergana Valley, and sent the Prime Minister of the Yarkand Khanate, Girza, to lead troops to block Toyunbashi, the eastern exit of the Fergana Valley, intending to attack our tribe from both the east and the west.
Our troops first encountered difficulties and then moved on to the easy ones. At Zhumuhan on the banks of the Naron River in the northwest of the Fergana Valley, we launched a night attack on the main force led by Abdukhalin Khan, beheaded more than 3,200 people including Khalin Khan, and captured more than 18,000 people.

Then they detoured from the north of the Fergana Valley to Toyunbasi and defeated Girsa's troops.

Gilsa committed suicide and more than a thousand people were beheaded. The remaining sixty-odd nobles and more than 14,000 tribesmen surrendered. At present, our tribe has occupied the important cities of the Yarkand Khanate in the southern Tianshan Mountains, such as Khotan, Yarkand, Hasihar, Saskul, Wuchi, and Asu, as well as Yilibali and Alimali cities in the northern Tianshan Mountains.

We are sending messengers in disguise to Jinshan to contact the main force of the Western Expedition Army's northern route."

After reading this urgent report, Zhang Juzheng and the other two looked at each other.

Zhao Zhenji sat back in his chair, still not coming to his senses, "So the Yarkand Khanate is going to be destroyed?"

Tan Lun stroked his beard and answered without question: "Of course it was destroyed. The Khan and the Prime Minister were killed, the capital was occupied, and the main army was annihilated. If this is not called destroying a country, then what is destroying a country?"

Zhang Juzheng sent the urgent report back to Qi Yan, "We have conquered a country in three months, which is almost comparable to the achievements of Dingyuan Marquis in the former Han Dynasty."

Zhu Yijun came to his senses at this time and asked, "You never know until you fight. Once you fight, you will be shocked. Have Temujin's descendants degenerated to this extent?
The intelligence we collected about the Western Regions and Hezhong states that the tribes in the Yilie River and Chu River regions, that is, the Yilibali region, migrated to Hezhong, defeated the indigenous people there, and drove them to Khorasan and the Indus River. The tribes driven out of Hezhong then killed people everywhere in Khorasan and India.

According to this logic, Yilibali and Yarkand regions should be the combat power ceiling of the Western Regions, Transoxiana and the old Kushan areas.

But this ceiling is too fragile. It was shattered by a single blow from our special forces. It was really unexpected and incredible."

Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but ask, "Will you lie about military intelligence?"

Just after he finished speaking, he shook his head and said, "Brother Huo, there is no need to lie about military intelligence. Qi Laiyang's Northern Route Army is heading towards the Jinshan area, and will sooner or later reach Yilibali. The lie will be exposed once it is exposed.

The emperor didn't give them any missions, he just asked them to conduct guerrilla warfare, so why would they take such a huge risk and lie about military intelligence?"

Tan Lun said on the side: "Maybe we are progressing too fast."

Zhu Yijun, Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji turned to look at him.

"Progress too fast?"

"Yes. Since the Emperor organized the new army, he has been regularizing and professionalizing the Ming army.

Correct the ideas of army building, rectify military discipline and style, improve the army's skeleton, and update tactical qualities. Almost all officers and non-commissioned officers of the Zhenwei Army and Wing Guard Army went to Xishan Military Academy and Qinghe Non-commissioned Officer School for further study, and some more than once.

They are the skeleton and meridians of the Ming Dynasty's royal teacher.

The ordinary soldiers were also cleansed from the inside out, and the entire Ming Dynasty army was completely renewed from top to bottom. It can be said that the emperor made it into a huge machine that was tightly fitted, well-organized, and powered by a steam engine, a war machine of steel and fire. "

Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji nodded repeatedly.

"I feel the same way!"

"Zi Li's words make sense."

Zhu Yijun thought about it and felt that what Tan Lun said made sense.

In the process of establishing the new Ming army, Qi Jiguang's military management ideas were used to carry out the first round of rectification. On the basis of ensuring food and wages, the combat effectiveness was doubled.

The Ming army is invincible if it is fully paid. This is not a joke.

Subsequently, staff, logistics departments and military academies were established to infiltrate modern military concepts bit by bit. When a certain level of accumulation had been achieved, a political work department was established.

This is a powerful weapon. It can be said that it solves the key problem that the feudal dynasties had been unable to solve with the military supervision system for thousands of years: how to unite the military, boost morale, ensure combat effectiveness, and then firmly control the army.

At least for now, my multi-pronged approach has indeed solved the problems that troubled Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhao Kuangyin. Will there be problems in the future? Of course there will be, and I will continue to find ways to solve them when the time comes.

Solving this core problem, coupled with the upgrade of weapons, will be a dimensionality reduction attack on other military forces.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yijun smiled, "I don't know how Qi Jiguang fought in Jinshan. I only know that when he marched westwards into the Yilibali area and prepared to join forces with the southern army, he would be so surprised that his eyes would pop out of his head.

Where are the enemies?
Where are the tens of thousands of cavalrymen that were promised?"

Zhang Juzheng and the other two all burst into laughter.

At this time, Qi Jiguang had lost five battles in a row in the Kobdo River area between the Jinshan Mountains (Altai Mountains) and the Hangai Mountains.

Qi Jiguang led the main force of the northern army from Fengning and other cities on the Luanhe River, first heading north and sweeping across the western route of the Khalkha tribe.

Mongol Dayan Khan unified the eastern part of Mongolia and divided the areas north and south of the desert into two wings with 60,000 households each.

The 30,000 households on the left wing are Chahar, Khalkha and Uriankhai; the 30,000 households on the right wing are Ordos, Tumed and Yongshebu.

Decades later, the Khalkha was divided into Inner and Outer Khalkha. The Inner Khalkha followed Dalaisun, Tumen Khan's father, south and unified the left wing. The Inner Khalkha and the Uriankhai tribes depended on the powerful Chahar tribe. With the demise of Tumen Khan, they all surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and were divided into six tribes on the left wing.

The Outer Khalkha tribe continued to stay in the northern desert and gradually split into two tribes, east and west.

The eastern tribes were headed by the Saiyin Noyan and Chechen tribes, while the western tribes were headed by the Zasaktu and Tushetu tribes*.

After being attacked back and forth by Xiao Wenkui and Li Chengliang, the generals of Liaoxi and Liaodong, the Saiyin Noyan and Chechen tribes in the eastern Outer Khalkha route surrendered early and were organized into the four rear wings of Mongolia.

The rest were the tribes headed by Zasaktu and Tushetu in the western route of the Outer Khalkha.

Qi Jiguang first sent Dong Huli, Li Chengliang, and Xue Lin with the Wing Guard Cavalry to defeat the Tushetu tribe and the Zasaktu tribe. They then crossed the Zabuhan River and reached the Kobdo River basin.

Then things took a turn for the worse.

First, the vanguard led by Song Yaoshi was defeated on the banks of the Tolbo River near Jinshan, then the cavalry division led by Xiao Ruxun fled in Borji, followed by Xue Yi, Fu Yingjia and Li Chengliang suffering three consecutive defeats, and the Wing Guard Army retreated in disgrace to the camp where the infantry was stationed.

The camp is located west of Alakpo, on the bank of Buyantu River, a tributary of Kobdo River. After more than a month of construction, it became a large city with a radius of nearly ten miles, which was called Kobdo City by local herdsmen.

This city is located in the northeast of Jinshan, and happens to control the main road from Jinshan area to Mobei area.

On a hill sixty miles northwest of Kobdo City, Pharmacist Song was riding a horse, looking into the distance with a worried look on his face.

Behind him stood more than a dozen officers on horseback, all of them his subordinates.

Among them were Wu Rufang, the illegitimate son of Wu Jijie, Marquis Gongshun, and Zheng Liang, the nephew of Zheng Kun, Marquis Wuan. They were both only battalion-level officers.

Like Pharmacist Song, they held up binoculars and looked forward.

This place is close to the eastern foot of Jinshan Mountain, and you can see the snow-capped peaks in the distance. In the near distance is the hilly area, with undulating mountains, like one green wave after another, endless.

In front of it is the pasture of the Huite tribe. In the northeast, the vast area around Tangluling is the pasture of the Durbet tribe, one of the four tribes of the Oirat.

The Huite tribe was dependent on the Durbert tribe.

To the northwest is the western section of Jinshan Mountain and the middle reaches of the Yershi River (Ergys River), which is the pasture of the Dzungar tribe, one of the four tribes of the Oirat.

To the southwest, across Jinshan Mountain and continuing southward is the upper reaches of the Yelish River, all the way to the north of Beshbaliq and Hami, which are all pastures of the Khoshut tribe.

Continuing westward, from the Yemir River (Emin River) south and west of Lake Zaysan to Kukchagitens (Lake Balkhash), this area called Tarbagatai is the pasture of the Torghut tribe.

First, the cavalry of the Huite and Durbert tribes gathered together and defeated the Ming army for the first time, and Song Yaoshi led his troops to flee.

Then the Khoshut tribe sent reinforcements and defeated the Ming army for the second time.

The Torghut tribe also sent reinforcements and defeated the Ming army for the third time.

The Dzungar tribe, which was farther away, also sent reinforcements, and they were defeated for the fourth time.

The great taiji of the Khoshut tribe, Haninoyan Honggor, was elected as the dargah (leader of the alliance).

Haninoyan Honggor was a descendant of Hasar, the younger brother of Genghis Khan, and had a noble bloodline. His father, Bobemierza, was once elected as Darga by the Oirat tribes and called himself Oirat Khan, and he was always respected in the Oirat tribe.

This time, the Wala tribes were facing a huge crisis, and Haninoyan Honggor took the lead and stepped forward.

As a Darga, he led a coalition force of 50,000 Oirat tribes and defeated Li Chengliang, a notorious general of the Ming army.

For a time, the morale of the Oirat coalition forces was high, and Oirat cavalry from pastures all over the country continued to join in, and the total strength had exceeded 80,000.

A group of people rode their horses galloping from afar, moving towards this side along the winding river.

Wu Rufang said with sharp eyes and joy.

"General Hu is back with the reconnaissance team!"

The others didn't say anything and waited quietly.

When Hu Zongmei and his group got close, they waded through the shallow water, ran up the hill and approached.

Hu Zongmei, who was leading the group, walked up to Song Yaoshi and said, “The commander, Haninoyan Honggor, leads 80,000 Wala coalition troops and is stationed in Sharabukele, ten miles away.

The camp stretches for more than 60 miles from north to south, divided into three large areas, and it can be said that all the elite troops of the Oirat tribe are in it. "

He took out a handwritten sketch and handed it to Pharmacist Song, "This is a sketch of the distribution of Wala camps."

Pharmacist Song took a quick glance, memorized it, and handed it to the staff officer.

"Make a duplicate and send it to the Military Affairs Office."

"We are facing Honggor's Khoshut and Dzungar army, which has 30,000 troops. Our task force only has the Fuyu 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the Qingyun 1st Cavalry Regiment, 6,000 cavalry.

Tell me, how do you fight? "

Wu Rufang, Zheng Liang and others looked at each other and said, "I didn't expect the Wala tribe to be so strong, tenacious in combat, and determined in combat awareness. They have gathered so many troops in a short time. Eighty thousand! We have touched a hornet's nest!"

"Of course the Oirat was strong. If they were not strong, how could there have been the Battle of Tumu during the Zhengtong period, or the Battle of Beijing by Yu Shaobao?"

"It's really hard to fight now that we're stuck in the middle."

Everyone started talking about it, including the commanders of the Fu Yu Second Cavalry Regiment and the Qing Yun First Cavalry Regiment.

Pharmacist Song waited for a while, then pointed at Hu Zongmei and said, "General Hu, tell me what you are talking about."

"it is good!"

Hu Zongmei turned around and looked at everyone, "We claim to have 150,000 troops in this Western Expedition, but in fact, our Northern Army has seven infantry regiments and two artillery regiments of the Zhenwei Army, totaling 28,000 people.

The Wing Guards had twelve cavalry regiments, totaling 35,000 cavalry, one assault infantry regiment in the Solon Battalion, and two assault infantry regiments in the Sushen Battalion, totaling 9,000 people. A total of 72,000 combat troops.

Our military strength is comparable to that of the Oirat coalition, and I believe our combat power is far superior to theirs.

But the Wala coalition forces are all cavalry, familiar with the terrain and roads in this area. We only have 35,000 cavalry, and the rest of the infantry is just chariots and cavalry. The Solon and Sushen camps are assault infantry regiments, which are heavy grenadiers on horseback.

"In terms of mobility, we are far inferior to the Wala coalition. Once the enemy starts fighting with us and uses the terrain to outflank us, that would be real trouble."

Wu Rufang shook his head and said, "But fighting like this is not a solution. Army after army is attacking like adding oil to the pot. It would be fine if the pot wasn't big, but this pot is so big that even with tens of thousands of us going up, we can't even get a splash of oil."

Zheng Liang turned to look at Pharmacist Song, "Commander Song, how do we fight next?"

Pharmacist Song responded loudly: "Fight according to the deployment of the Dusi Combat Command. Are you all clear about this?"

"Okay, now I will deploy the combat mission. The Fuyu Second Cavalry Regiment will attack head-on, and the Qingyun First Cavalry Regiment will support on the left wing."

An hour later, three thousand Mongolian cavalry rushed down from the hill of Sharabukele. The Junggar camp reacted quickly and immediately rushed out two to three thousand cavalry.

When the two sides were less than a hundred meters apart, the Mongolian cavalry raised their muskets and fired at the Dzungar cavalry.

The sound of gunfire rang out continuously on the eastern foot of Jinshan Mountain, and the Junggar cavalry fell off their horses one after another, but they were not afraid at all and continued to rush forward.

The Mongolian cavalry in the east had degenerated, and they would only use this fire-breathing weapon for one round each time they started a battle. But what was the use? The battle still had to be resolved with sabers and bows, and victory would eventually belong to us.

After the Mongolian cavalry finished a round, they hung their muskets on their saddles, drew their sabers, and swung them at the Dzungar cavalry.

Horses neighed and people shouted as the two sides engaged in a melee. Cavalrymen kept falling off their horses, and some fell into the clear stream nearby. The flowing stream water was soon dyed red with blood.

Reinforcements continued to pour out of the Junggar camp. Although their cavalry kept falling off their horses on the battlefield, their numbers increased as the battle went on, and more reinforcements poured in from camps far away.

Pharmacist Song felt that the time had come, so he turned to the staff officer and said, "Send the order, blow the retreat bugle!"

"Yes!"

At the sound of the trumpet, the Mongolian cavalry turned their horses around and quickly left the battle. The Junggar cavalry chased them closely and soon caught up with some of them. Fortunately, the Qingyun Cavalry Regiment came out to support them, which allowed the Fuyu Regiment to get rid of the entanglement.

The Mongolian cavalry were running in front, and tens of thousands of Dzungar and Khoshut cavalry were chasing behind. After crossing a hill and bypassing a forest, they saw the Mongolian cavalry running into a valley. Suddenly, a horn sounded, and the pursuing Wala cavalry stopped in front of the valley.

They rode their horses and wandered around the entrance of the valley for a few minutes. Then, another horn sounded, and they turned their horses around and retreated.

Pharmacist Song stood in the distance, cursing, "Damn it! I've lost two games in a row, and I still haven't caught these bastards!"

(End of this chapter)