Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 305: Many Scruples
"Happy! So happy!"

Looking at the Tatar cavalry appearing in the distance, Ma Gui's blood boiled.

The grasslands are indeed vast, but if the offensive and defensive situation suddenly changes, will the Tartars be willing to avoid fighting? Can they avoid fighting?

They have been migrating south for many years, and the pastures between tribes have long been closely connected. Where can they hide?
Now the Ming army was advancing northward from Guangning to Kaiyuan, and the Tatar cavalry finally arrived.

The time was well chosen. Ma Gui's 3,000 standard bearers, the cavalry led by Deputy General Sun Shoulian stationed in Liaoyang, and the cavalry led by Lieutenant General Du Song, a total of 10,000 troops had just crossed the Xiushui River west of Tieling and arrived at the confluence of the upper reaches of the Xiushui River and its tributaries. The east, south and west sides were all covered with melted river water.

But Ma Gui felt very happy. He was not afraid of anyone coming, but he was afraid that the fight would not be successful.

"Don't tell me that I am afraid of you because you are the former generals of Ningyuan Marquis. The military achievements are right in front of us!" Ma Gui waved his sword and pointed it forward, looking at Sun Shoulian, the deputy general of Liaodong on his right, "Here comes Chaohua! Kill this thief, and you will repay Ningyuan Marquis for his support and also avenge your comrades who died in the battle in the past!"

Then he looked at Du Song on his left: "You followed me from the northwest, and now it's time to make achievements!"

Then he gave the order solemnly: "Follow my command, form a battle array and hold on!"

That’s right, it’s persistence.

It looked like a do-or-die battle, but the Ming army was not without cavalry.

It was the "Liaodong Iron Cavalry" left behind by Li Chengliang.

Sun Shoulian was an old general under Li Chengliang.

The Chaohua mentioned by Ma Gui was the revenge for his comrades who died in the past. They were Li Rusong who died in the battle on the banks of the Hunhe River in the 26th year of Wanli, as well as the deputy generals Li Pinghu and Zhang Yu.

That year, Chaohua led his people to invade. At that time, Li Chengliang had long been idle in the capital. The commander-in-chief of Liaodong was his eldest son Li Rusong, who was good at fighting, and the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong was his adopted son Li Pinghu, who surrendered to the Tartars and was promoted by him.

That year, like now, Liaodong's top and second-in-command generals were both there. The battle went smoothly at the beginning, so after Li Rusong won the first battle, he led the light cavalry in pursuit, but was ambushed by the main force of the Tatars.

In that battle, most of the 3,000 elite cavalrymen in pursuit were lost, and generals such as Li Rusong and Li Pinghu were killed in the battle. This led to the later suppression of Li Chengliang's former generals by the Liaodong governor.

After Ma Gui arrived in Liaodong, he took the initiative to request that Sun Shoulian be appointed as the deputy general.

Sun Shoulian looked at the Tatar cavalry approaching slowly from a distance, clasped his fists and said, "I obey your orders!"

Then he whipped his horse and headed towards the Liaodong cavalry on the right wing.

These are the elite cavalry left behind by Li Chengliang, of which only a few are left now.

When we say there are not many left, we are referring to the veterans and soldiers from that time.

In the 17th year of Wanli, the enemy invaded Yizhou, and the army led by Zhu Yongshou, the captain of Taipingbao, was completely wiped out; in September, the 30,000 cavalrymen of Doyanchang Changang attacked Pinglubao again, and the defending generals Li Younian and Feng Wensheng were both killed in the battle, and hundreds of Li Chengliang's servants were killed in the battle.

But Sun Shoulian is still there, and the Liaodong cavalry is still there.

"The commander-in-chief has given the order! Defend the position with all your might!"

Cavalrymen have their own laws to abide by, and Sun Shoulian was not in a hurry this time.

He knew that Ma Gui first ordered to defend because he had a bigger appetite.

Neither Ma Gui, the Ninglubo who is as famous as Li Chengliang, nor Du Heizi who came from Ningxia on the left, are cowardly generals.

Now, Juniper is really itching.

"General, the commander-in-chief has issued a strict order. You must not be greedy for merit and advance rashly. You must hold your ground first!" The one who reminded him was Ma Gui's son Ma Chengzhao.

"I know, I know!"

People called Du Song Du Hei Zi because he liked to roll up his sleeves and fight when he was fighting, and his arms were very black.

But when he was in the Western Three Borders, he fought more than a hundred battles with the barbarians of all sizes there and was invincible, earning himself the name "Master Du" among the barbarians.

He knew that he was easily overwhelmed, and now that Ma Gui had sent his son to him as a captain, Du Song was very troubled.

If he was worried about something happening to him, Du Song would of course have to be more cautious.

On the central army side, Ma Gui had only three thousand standard bearers in front of him.

He looked quietly at the Tatar cavalry in front of him, then looked to the northeast.

There is no problem in holding off their attack, but I don't know how determined they are. I don't know if this time is enough for the Tieling Guards to reach the north.

There is also the Yehe tribe.

If their main force is not dispatched, Sanwanwei and Liaohaiwei can only support Qingyang, Zhenbei and other forts from the center.

Ma Gui has already sent someone to report the news. He is afraid that once the Tartars see that they are holding on first, they will also realize that a quick battle is needed.

He quickly put his complicated thoughts aside.

There is nothing much to say. It would be better if we could wipe out all the cavalry that have appeared in this battle, but it doesn't matter if we can't do that.

If you want to fight, then engage in battle. If the enemy retreats, then I advance. This is essentially a mopping-up operation.

On a small hill four miles north of them, fried noodles were as delicious as water.

The terrain here is flat, with only small hills like this one.

"...Damn it, why haven't the people who were beaten by Ebo Ge arrived yet?"

After Chaohua finished speaking, his generals looked towards the northeast with worry: "Is there going to be any problem in Bahrain?"

There were five tribes in Inner Khalkha, and Chaohua and his other four brothers led one tribe each. But now, his elder brother, Subahai, the leader of the Balin tribe, had been killed by Li Chengliang many years ago, and Chaohua's great-nephew Ebogeda was in charge of the Balin tribe.

According to the agreement, Chaohua should act together with the other two tribes. After discovering the traces of the main force of the Ming army, Chaohua had sent people to inform them, but now only the people of Hongjila tribe joined him. Together, there were less than 20,000 people, which was not an absolute advantage compared to the Ming army in front of them.

The key is the particularity of this battle.

The Ming army seemed determined to fight them head-on. If they couldn't hurt them directly, they would push northward while burning the wasteland.

So will we still let the sheep graze this year?
Further to the northeast, this time Yu Zigao brought only the remaining 300 men under Zhang Shenwu to the outskirts of Yehe East City.

The atmosphere was tense, and Yu Zigao looked quietly at the small town in front of him.

The city is not really that big, but it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is built on a mountain, which the people here call Longshou Mountain.

Strictly speaking, the mountain city has three layers. The outermost layer is where the Yehe people live outside the city wall, and inside it there is an outer wall covered with bricks and an inner wall made of stones.

But Yu Zigao didn't take it seriously.

It is certainly difficult to capture this mountain city with just over 300 people, but it does not necessarily mean that there is no way out.

Of course, he didn't come here to attack the city.

Yu Zigao's arrival brought pressure to the Yehe tribe.

Finally, Buyanggu led nearly a thousand strong cavalry out of the outer city wall and slowly came to Yu Zigao from the slope.

"General Yu..." He forced a smile on his face.

Yu Zigao interrupted him directly: "How long will the Yehe tribe wait?"

Buyanggu's expression froze, and then he said, "To be honest, there were many more tribesmen last year, and we slaughtered too many lambs. We have to let the horses give birth to calves to save horsepower..."

"Seven small tribes." Yu Zigao stared at him coldly. "This Marquis led his soldiers in a bloody battle, and you followed behind and captured people and livestock from seven small tribes. If the Yehe tribe still disobeys my order, don't blame this Marquis."

"...Of course I dare not disobey your order, but my uncle just passed away..."

"Buyanggu." Yu Zigao called him by his name in a stern voice. "Nalinbulu was quite decisive. Knowing that he had just passed away, I have eliminated a few small tribes to help you win the support of the tribe. I have done my best. I will only wait here for two hours."

After that, he ordered proudly: "Two hours later, if the Yehe tribe hasn't gathered its elite cavalry to follow me to the west, the Tianshu Camp will attack the west city first. I will guard outside your mountain city, and you wait until the Yehe tribe is left with only an isolated city."

Buyanggu's face changed drastically: "General, why do you have to do this?"

"This Marquis has given you four months." Yu Zigao suddenly waved his hand, "Prepare for battle!"

"Understood!" Zhang Shenwu shouted, his eyes bloodshot as he ordered, "Stand guard at the front, and the rest of you rest on the spot."

"Here!"

The three rows of musketeers in the front immediately raised their guns and pointed them at the Yehe cavalry and Buyanggu. The rest of the people behind them got off their horses, some ate and rested on the spot, and some went to the horses behind that were carrying military supplies to get their weapons.

Buyanggu's hair stood on end, and the guards behind him couldn't help but panic.

He could confirm that there were no other Ming troops leaving the border wall in the south.

But from the first month of the year to now, the entire Yehe tribe has known about the capabilities of the Tianshu Camp.

Although they were only small tribes with a population of only a few hundred or a few thousand, the Tianshu Camp had managed to conquer seven of them by fighting in the ice and snow. The distance they had to travel was more than two thousand miles.

At this point, they didn't even look tired.

According to messages sent back by subordinates who went to receive the prisoners and the surplus livestock of the Tianshu Camp, the last time they saw their largest concentration, there were still over a thousand of them.

That is to say, over such a long period of time, they may have lost only dozens or hundreds of people at most, and some of the others were naturally just wounded, but they didn't know where to recover.

Maybe it was an exaggeration to say that the Yehe tribe had only one isolated city, Yehe East City, but they did have the ability to reduce the Yehe tribe to only two or three strong cities. How could those places without strong walls resist them?

More than 300 people wanted to guard the main force of Yehe tribe and not provide support, and they seemed very confident.

The key point is that if Buyanggu attacked them, perhaps the Ming army that was still waiting inside the border wall would go out and head north.

"General Yu..." Bu Yanggu said in a hoarse voice, "We must keep some troops for defense in our tribe's territory. A total of 5,000 elite cavalrymen from the East and West Cities are on standby, but..."

"I don't care what you are afraid of. If you are still on guard against the Ming Dynasty wanting to eliminate your Yehe tribe, then I can only say that the more you guard against it, the more likely it will come true." Yu Zigao was very disdainful of him and said, "The rise and fall of the Yehe tribe depends on your thoughts. I am marching north alone, and the Ming Dynasty is showing its sincerity. Do the Yehe tribe have the heart of a villain, or do they have the ambition of a real man?"

"…But my sister…"

Yu Zigao was really fed up with him.

"Her honor and disgrace, isn't it you, as her brother, who should fight for her? Are there any men left in the Yehe tribe?"

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "There's nothing to be alarmed about. Get something hot to eat for two hours, and let them figure it out on their own."

Zhang Shenwu glared at Buyanggu fiercely, and then asked them to set up the pot and cook mutton as if no one was around.

If the Yehe tribe had not been hesitant in making up its mind, he would have lost fewer brothers under his command.

"My Lord, can we really count on such a loser?" He muttered in dissatisfaction, "Send the message to the 30,000 guards, and wipe them out outside the border wall."

Yu Zigao just glared at him.

"What's wrong with being a coward? The Tartars have such a large territory, why not let the coward tribe help guard it?"

Isn't it because of this that he was so strong, patient in explaining and provoking others?

(End of this chapter)