I

  Chapter 793 790 [The Frog at the Bottom of the Well]

  If the students of Nanjing Military Academy were to analyze this military deployment, they would probably score a zero directly.

  Two hundred miles north of Chifeng, 11,000 Datong troops are stationed on the banks of the Xilamulun River.

  Two hundred miles further north, 11,000 Datong troops were stationed on the banks of the Heimulun River.

   Eighty miles further north, 11,000 Datong troops were stationed on the banks of the Wuliji Mulun River.

  Two hundred miles further north, 11,000 Datong troops were stationed on the banks of the Huolin River.

  Forty-four thousand troops, just spread out like this. It is no longer a long snake formation, but four biscuits are spilled, waiting for the Khalkha army to come and eat them one by one.

   Li Dingguo dared to propose such a military plan, and Zhang Tieniu really dared to adopt it and implement it immediately.

  Li Zheng, with a conservative personality, was speechless when he led the army to meet up. He couldn't overthrow Zhang Tieniu's arrangement, so he could only remedy it as much as possible. He personally led two infantry divisions to sit on the other side of the Wuliji Mulun River, so that he could coordinate with other troops. He also asked Wang Tingchen to lead the cavalry division to join forces with Zhang Tieniu. .

  Zhang Tieniu, Li Dingguo, and Wang Tingchen led the mobile force to continue the pursuit northward. The Khalkha army is still retreating northward, and they are almost retreating to the main line of the Greater Khingan Mountains.

  However, Gulu Shixi, the younger brother of Chahun Dorji, took 10,000 cavalry and a large number of livestock, and went south to cut off the grain road of the Datong Army.

   When Gulu Shixi detoured from the direction of Tongliao to the Xiliao River, smoke billowed suddenly from the south bank. Immediately, every few miles, the smoke of the beacon rose, extending westward to the camp of the Datong Army.

  At each beacon point, there were only a few dragoons. After setting off the smoke, they immediately ran away on horseback without waiting for the enemy to cross the river to pursue them. On the river, there are occasional small boats to deliver food to the beacon fire points along the river, and when they see the beacon fire, they quickly row and run away.

  The grain road is further to the west. When the grain transportation team saw the smoke, they withdrew to the nearest Datong military camp. All the ministries took out all the dragoons as a mobile force to cover the food transport team at any time. If it was too late to retreat, they would gather to fight according to the situation of the war.

  Gulu Shixi did successfully cut off the grain road, but he didn't even touch the shadow of the grain transport team.

   This guy brought 10,000 Khalkha cavalry, and he was a little confused, not knowing which way to run. He could continue to get stuck in the food channel, but he always felt that he would be surrounded because he was too far away from the main force.

  A few days later, the dragoons from the six divisions, a total of 12,000 people, gathered in the Kailu County of the later generation, looking for Gulu Shixi everywhere.

   After searching hard for two days, I finally identified the traces on the grassland.

  Jiang Yan, who was born in the Ming Dynasty, looked at the trampled and messy grass, and said depressedly: "This guy is running fast. It seems that he has been away for two or three days. There is no need to chase any more. It is important to go back to cover the camp."

   Chahun Dorji, farther north, was unwilling to fight with the main force of the Datong Army, so he seized the opportunity and chose to detour southward. He sent out a partial division to trample the prairie back and forth, leading Zhang Tieniu to pursue it to the northwest. With the main army, he turned back from the southeast and went south, preparing to break through the camps of the Datong army one by one—each camp of the Datong army blocked his way back to Mobei.

  When detouring to the west of Tongyu County in later generations, wolf smoke was also ignited by the river, exposing it one after another.

Chahun Dorji sneered: "What's the use of this method? Divide the troops and go south at full speed, harassing every river, let the enemy all light up the smoke, so that the Han army doesn't know where we are going to attack. Then come back immediately and meet, we will go Attack the Han army in the direction of Huolinhe!"

   There are several rivers in the north and south, and in the next few days, there will be rising smoke everywhere.

   Li Zheng, who was in the middle to support him, kept receiving similar news, and his mind was almost confused, and he couldn't figure out the real situation of the enemy at all. He ordered: "Scatter out all the dragoons, each unit should not be too far apart, and must detect the direction of the enemy's main force. Also, quickly go to the north to inform Zhang Dudu (Zhang Tieniu), the main force of Khalkha must be in the south. They're not going to go any further north."

  At the beginning of October in the lunar calendar, the weather suddenly turned cold, and there seemed to be signs of snowfall.

  Gulu Shixi's 10,000 cavalry finally joined Chahun Dorji successfully, and the main force of Khalkha suddenly rushed along the Huolin River. Along the banks of the Huolin River, beacon fires were ignited again, clearly becoming the main target of the enemy's attack, but the friendly forces from the north and the south were still two hundred miles away.

  The Datong garrison there will be led by Wang Hui from Hunan, and the deputy will be Huang Fei, a surrendered general of the Ming Dynasty. Originally there were 11,000 troops, but 2,000 dragoons were dispatched, and now there are only 9,000 left, including more than 10,000 civilian husbands.

  The main force of Chahun Dorji is more than 90,000 people.

   "Before the enemy rescues, step down here quickly!" Chahun Dorji ordered.

   These guys don't have binoculars, so they can only climb up the nearby slopes to roughly observe the battlefield. Then send the riders to run over and get closer to observe the details.

   Soon the Khalkha cavalry came back and reported: "Khan, all around the enemy camp have dug deep ditches."

   Chahun Dorji said: "Let Lama Shixi's cavalry dismount and fill up the deep ditch there!"

   Lama Shixi was very upset, but who told him to take refuge halfway, so he could only send soldiers as cannon fodder to fill the trenches.

"what is that?"

   At this moment, a hot air balloon suddenly rose above the camp of the Datong Army.

   Lama Shixi felt that his chance to perform had come, so he galloped forward and said, "Khan, that is a magic weapon of the Han people, and it can ascend to heaven to observe the battlefield."

   Chahun Dorji said: "This is a good thing. Standing on the slope, I can't see the whole situation clearly. The enemy ascended to the sky, and they can see clearly how I lined up my troops."

Lama Shixi also said: "The Jurchens are fighting with the Han people, and the Han people like to dig ditches. They sweat profusely, and the Han people have powerful artillery. When we fill up the ditch, the Han people's reinforcements will soon arrive. I don't think we should attack here by force, but go to the Attack the reinforcements of the Han people. Divide 30,000 cavalry and hide in the nearby mountainous area. When the reinforcements of the Han people come, rush out and kill him by surprise!"

   "I think so too," Chahun Dorji nodded and said, "Withdraw the camp one after another, divide the troops to the mountains in the south at night, and start filling the trenches tomorrow morning!"

   Datong Military Barracks.

  The watchman on the hot air balloon keeps sending messages through semaphore.

  Lieutenant General Huang Fei said: "The enemy retreated. They should have seen the trenches. They are not going to attack directly. They will attack slowly after setting up the camp. Do you want to go out to attack the camp tonight?"

"No need," Wang Hui shook his head, "Most of the dragoons in our army have been dispatched, leaving only 500 cavalry. The enemy has a large number of cavalry, and if the night attack fails, we will be the ones who will suffer. Slowly guard and put The enemy drags here and waits for friendly troops to come to rescue."

  Huang Fei worried: "We didn't block the access to the mountain, what should the main force of the enemy army flee westward along the valley? After crossing the valley, they can return to Mobei."

  Wang Hui said with a smile: "Even if the enemy cavalry escaped, so many cattle, sheep and food can also be taken away? If they didn't bring enough food and supplies, they would encounter heavy snow on the way, and they would all freeze to death and starve to death on the grassland."

Wang Hui squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil, and said with emotion: "There is also black soil here. I heard from the Han people in Chifeng that this kind of black soil is very good for growing food, and they don't need to be composted. You have to go to the court and immigrate more. Occupy all the places with black soil."

  In the vast Horqin grassland, there are a large number of river plains, many of which are black soil.

  The Khalkha army gradually retreated to the west with their luggage, and camped against a mountain. If they don't continue to fight, they can get into the mountains, pass through the mountains along the river valley, and then return to Mobei without hindrance. However, the river valley meanders for more than 200 miles, and marching with a large amount of logistics supplies, the speed cannot be fast at all, and it is easy to be overtaken by Datong cavalry.

  At night, more than 30,000 Khalkha cavalry crossed the upper reaches of the Huolin River and hid in the Hanwula Mountains.

  If the Datong Army in the south comes to rescue, these Khalkha cavalry hidden in the mountains will most likely attack the Datong Army halfway from the rear.

   Until now, Chahun Dorji has not yet decided whether to quickly eat up the Datong army in front of him, or change the combat goal to encircle the spot to fight for aid.

  The second day.

   Lama Shixi's Horqin soldiers were sent out to fill the trench with soil. It is all extremely fertile black soil, instead of being used to grow crops, it has become a material for filling trenches.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  The artillery of the Datong Army fired in turn, and the Horqin soldiers carrying the mud rushed forward with the shells on their backs.

   As they rushed forward, they fled one after another.

  These Horqin soldiers don't want to fight at all. To be precise, they didn't want to fight for Khalkha. They lived well here, and for some reason followed the leader to defect to Khalkha, and now they are used as cannon fodder to fill trenches. Who is willing?

   Several times in a row, Chahun Dorji finally became angry, and called Lama Shixi over: "If your soldiers are greedy for life and fear death, I will deal with it by military law. You... go to supervise the battle yourself!"

   In desperation, Lama Shixi could only bite the bullet and personally command the troops to fill the trench with soil.

   Chahun Dorji thought about it, and felt that Lama Shixi could not be bullied by himself. As a result, the conquered tribes from the Hulun Buir Grassland were also organized to fill the trenches.

   Immediately afterwards, thousands of Khalkha cavalry were sent to the rear to supervise the battle, and anyone who dared to retreat would shoot arrows immediately.

  The morale of the supervisory team was obviously "boosted". There were actually more than 2,000 Mongolian soldiers who rushed dozens of meters outside the trench with the shells on their backs.

   "Tiger crouching gun, reload all bombs!"

  After the reform, the Datong Army is equipped with a lot of tiger squat guns. Although most of the dragoons of this division were transferred away, the tiger squatting artillery remained.

  With the sound of cannons, countless small shells were fired. Iron eggs, lead bullets, and even stones, like celestial maidens scattered flowers, were thrown at the Mongolian soldiers at close range. The smallest cannonballs were even as thick as a thumb.

   "Ah, my legs!"

   "My belly was pierced!"

   "Run!"

   Chahun Dorji looked at the battlefield from a distance, and said dumbfounded: "Why do the Han people have so many artillery pieces? Call Lama Shixi back!"

  He also has artillery, which he bought from the Cossacks. But only a few guns were bought, and the barrel was only as thick as a calf, so two people could carry them around. Even so, due to the lack of gunpowder, the small cannons were used sparingly, and they were generally used as secret weapons to deter other tribes.

   Lama Shixi, who was personally supervising the battle, quickly rode back.

   Chahun Dorji asked, "Why do the Han people have so many cannons?"

   Lama Shixi replied helplessly: "Khan, as I said earlier, the Han people have many cannons, more than the Jurchens. Not only are there cannons, but also countless firecrackers, which can be fired from a long distance."

   "Bastard, you only said that there are many artillery pieces, but you didn't say that there are so many!" Chahun Dorji scolded, "Do other Han armies have so many firearms?"

  Lama Shixi nodded and said, "It's all like this."

   Then what a fart!

It was only then that Chahun Dorji realized that something was wrong, and called the leaders of the various ministries: "Send all the slaves you have captured to fill the trenches. It only takes two days to fight. If you can't fight for two days, you will immediately retreat into the mountains." !"

   "Great Khan, many of the slaves robbed from Horqin are Han Chinese who can farm..." Darhan said.

   Chahun Dorji interrupted: "Shut up, don't care if he knows how to farm, now we are going to fight!"

  (end of this chapter)