The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 126 The Tumed Tribe Was Scared Away
Wanli started to act unconventionally again.

He actually ordered the soldiers of the Shenshu Camp near Guihua City to form a battle formation and advance southward.

It seemed that what they did was useless, because the chariots were too slow, advancing only a hundred miles a day, and could not catch up with the cavalry at all, and even the elderly, the weak, women, children, cattle and sheep could not catch up.

Because the nomadic tribes were accustomed to migration and had horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts, when they saw the Ming army approaching from afar, they would pack up and run away.

The speed at which they migrate is almost the same as the speed at which chariots advance. What's the point of advancing like this?
If we let the Shenshu Camp surround Guihua City first, and then let the Shenji Camp rush over, wouldn't that be a direct attack on Huanglong and eliminate the Tumed headquarters in one fell swoop?

Sanniangzi and Xin Ai Huang Taiji were afraid that the Ming army's armored chariots would come to besiege Guihua City.

Once they are surrounded in the city, there is no way to escape and they can only defend the city with all their might.

Can this Guihua City be defended?

The Ming army had over 100,000 troops, and at this moment they could only muster 40,000 at most.

Moreover, Guihua City is not big. The surrounding city walls are less than a mile wide, and the area inside is at most three or four hundred acres.

Such a small place would definitely become crowded if 40,000 people came in.

The key point is that there is not much food left in Guihua City. If all 40,000 people are allowed to rush into the city to defend it, they will run out of food within two months.

In other words, even if the Ming army surrounded the city without attacking, they would not be able to withstand a siege of two months.

In this situation, they could only hope for reinforcements to rescue them.

The question is, will the Weiwushen tribe, the Kharchin tribe, the Duolun Tumed tribe, and even the three guards of Doyan and Tumen Khan send reinforcements?

What if there is no reinforcement?
Sanniangzi and Xin Ai Huang Taiji were just feeling worried when the Ming army's armored chariot soldiers actually formed a formation and headed south!

They all couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. They had tried every possible way to prevent the Ming army's armored chariot soldiers from besieging the city.

Not only did they gather nearly 40,000 troops to the south of Guihua City, they also ordered people to dig trenches in the south. Now the grassland south of Guihua City has been dug into a mess, and there are trenches about ten feet wide everywhere, like a spider web.

Perhaps their trenches worked.

After all, they piled the soil dug out from the trench on the north side of the trench. The earth wall on the north side of the trench was almost as high as a person. When the Ming army came to fill the trench, they could have people behind the earth wall fire rockets or even throw torches to harass them.

Now, the Ming army finally realized the difficulty and retreated, fleeing to the south.

Sanniangzi and Xin Ai Huang Taiji were relieved, but Gelige Taiji was terrified.

Because the tens of thousands of Ming troops who were originally blocking the river valley also ran out, and this group of Ming troops was forming a formation and advancing eastward.

Moreover, tens of thousands of cavalrymen from Datong Town also ran to the south bank of the Qingshui River.

The grazing area of ​​the Dalat tribe is from the southeast corner of the Qiantao Plain to the Qingshui River!

The Ming army was clearly coming to surround him.

If we are surrounded, it's over.

The Ming army had over 100,000 troops, while he only had more than 30,000 troops in total.

Moreover, the chariots in the north and the grain carts in the east were all against his cavalry. There were also many fortresses built by the Ming army on the south bank of the Qingshui River. He could not rush through at all. Even if he rushed through, he could not do anything about those fortresses, not to mention that there were still tens of thousands of cavalrymen in Datong Town there.

Gelige Taiji was frightened and quickly sent out fast riders to take a detour to ask Sanniangzi and Xinaihuang Taiji for help.

Sanniangzi and Xin Ai Huang Taiji dared not come to rescue.

They also suspected that this was a trick of the Ming army to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Once all their troops ran to rescue the Dalat tribe, the other side would simply use chariots and food carts to block their troops and prevent them from returning, and then send some troops to take Guihua City.

Since Sanniangzi and Xin Ai Huang Taiji did not send troops to rescue, Gelige Taiji had no choice but to flee with his troops before the Ming army surrounded them.

There was a sudden chaos on the Qiantao Plain, with cattle and sheep running around in panic.

The Dalat tribe and several small tribes that surrendered to them hurriedly packed up their belongings and ran northwest, hoping to escape before the Ming army closed its grip on the north and east.

It seemed that the Ming army had worked in vain for three days. When the two groups of troops reached the southeast corner, the grassland was already clear and there was nothing there. They didn't even catch a single wool.

At this time, the northern part of the Qiantao Plain was overcrowded with cattle and sheep.

The Tumed tribe has a large population. After they occupied the Hetao area, their reproduction speed has obviously increased. In addition, the Hetao area has lush grass and water and no snow disasters, so there is an endless stream of small tribes coming to submit to them.

During the Gengxu Incident in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign, the number of cavalry under Altan Khan reached a terrifying 120,000. Even if we calculate the population based on the number of cavalry at that time, the Tumed tribe must have had a population of 500,000 to 600,000, and the number of cattle, sheep and horses was even in the millions.

Although Altan Khan later gave some men and livestock to his younger brother Kunduliha, and gave four major tribes and some small tribes to his four sons, the Tumed tribe had grown to 50,000 to 60,000 men and women after more than 30 years of development. Based on this number of men and women, the Tumed tribe alone had a population of at least 200,000.

The Dalat tribe has more than 30,000 men and women. Based on this number of men and women, the Dalat tribe has at least more than 100,000 people.

In other words, the combined population of the Tumed and Dalat tribes was at least over 400,000, and the number of cattle, sheep, and horses was in the millions.

So many people and so many livestock were driven to the northern half of the Qiantao Plain. You can imagine how crowded it was there.

Sanniangzi, Xin Aihuang Taiji and Gelige Taiji were all very worried.

The pasture in the northern part of the plains is simply not enough to support so many livestock.

The question is, can they still recapture the southern part of the Qiantao Plain?

Without reinforcements, it would be impossible.

Now the Ming army's armored chariot soldiers and soldiers pulling grain carts alone are more numerous than the troops of their two major tribes combined.

All they could do was send fast horses to urge for reinforcements.

At this time, the Ming army's armored chariot soldiers and grain cart soldiers actually deployed their battle formations again and advanced northward from the eastern and central positions of the Qiantao Plain.

Moreover, tens of thousands of cavalrymen from Datong Town also ran between the two groups of people and horses, cruising back and forth, like a fishing net covering the north.

These three groups of people seemed to be in no hurry at all. They had only advanced about 200 miles in two days and had not yet reached the northern part of the Qiantao Plain.

Sanniangzi, Xin Aihuang Taiji and Gelige Taiji were extremely anxious.

Even if these three groups of troops advance slowly, they will eventually advance to the northern part of the Qiantao Plain.

What will they do then?
Are you going to fight with them to the death?

If they don't fight to the death, they will have to withdraw from the Qiantao Plain and migrate north, which will be a death sentence for them!

The cold wave outside the Great Wall is no joke. Once the white disaster comes, countless livestock will be frozen to death, and people may even be frozen to death.

They were just hesitating whether to gather troops and fight these three Ming troops. Early in the morning of the third day, tens of thousands of Ming cavalry rushed over from the southwest of Qiantao Plain.

This time, they didn't have to think about it. They couldn't even defeat these tens of thousands of cavalrymen!
The Ming army assembled more than 100,000 troops, and they still fought desperately with them, which was seeking death.

Sanniangzi, Xin'aihuang Taiji and Gelige Taiji hurriedly fled north with all their troops and cattle, sheep and horses, leaving even Guihua City behind.

The cavalry of Shenwu Camp and Datong Town rushed forward and frantically robbed the old, young, women, children, cattle, sheep and horses that were left behind.

This time, they didn't know how much they had stolen.

When Wanli received the news, he couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and smile evilly to himself.

In fact, his strategy took advantage of a characteristic of nomadic tribes, which is to run away if you can't win.

Nomadic tribes basically do not fight with enemies that are obviously stronger than them. For example, during the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, the Ming army was too powerful and they could not defeat it at all. So, as soon as the Ming army went out of the border, they ran away and did not fight with the Ming army at all.

Otherwise, Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Yongle would not have had to make more than ten or twenty northern expeditions. If these guys dared to fight to the death, they could have been wiped out in one or two battles.

It was precisely because of this characteristic of nomadic tribes that the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties failed to achieve complete success despite more than ten or twenty northern expeditions.

He took advantage of this characteristic to defeat the enemy without fighting and scared them into running away.

In this way, he could take over the Qiantao Plain without sacrificing a single soldier, and he could also capture countless elderly, children, women, cattle, sheep, and horses who were left behind.

In fact, his goal was to recapture the Hetao region. As for pacifying the Northern Tartars, the current number of troops in the Beijing camp was not enough.

If they force the Tumed tribe to fight desperately, the battle will definitely not be resolved in a few days. By the time the enemy reinforcements arrive, it will be a big melee.

If the three major families of Puzhou took advantage of the opportunity and launched a wave of support, all the northern barbarians would rush forward, and the 120,000 troops of the Beijing camp would probably be wiped out here.

Therefore, there was no need for him to force others to fight to the death. It would be enough to scare away the Tumed tribe this time.

(End of this chapter)