Chapter 444: The Western Expedition (Page 1/1)

Most of the laborers were newly recruited, and they were only trained to use ash poles and spears to thrust.

However, the labor commander and the small flag officer were all guards who did not have the qualifications to be regularized, and they all had arquebuses, that is, bird guns.

Because there was no need to attack fortifications on the prairie, the artillery always carried light one-pound guns, and each one always had six general flags and thirty small cannons.

On the eighth day of September, the holy decree was issued, and the "Red Banner Army" marched westward.

The first target of the five battalions of men and horses plus more than 20,000 men and horses who served with the army was fierce and slaughtered to the hinterland of Yanshan, and the first target of the first battalion led by Huang Han and the first battalion commanded by Hanzi was the left flank of Karaqin about 400 miles away from Ningyuan.

At this time, the road conditions are incomparable with later generations, and the technical force of building roads is even more incomparable.

At this time, there is no possibility of building a tunnel at all, and the winding mountain path may not be able to walk seven or eight miles in a straight line for a day.

Although the altitude of the Yanshan Mountain Range is not too high, it is not so easy to march completely on two legs, and it is already the limit to advance thirty or fifty miles a day.

After five days of marching, the Huang Han did not encounter the Tartar tribe, and only on the sixth day did they begin to discover the yurt.

One of the two general cavalry who went out to investigate was a knight with cold weapons and a light cavalry with hot weapons.

When the small tribe settlement area was discovered, the cavalry was used to outflank the enemy, and the infantry advanced frontally to break the enemy, and the Tartar light cavalry, which was not even fully fur armored, was basically crushed at the touch of a button.

After five days of attack, little gold or silver was captured, but many yurts were dismantled, hundreds of Han people were rescued, hundreds of prisoners were captured, thousands of cattle, sheep and horses were obtained, and a lot of cowhides, wool and carts were obtained.

In the second year of Chongzhen, Jilama Subudi and his uncle Jilama Seleng, two Dataiji of the left wing of Karaqin, led the tribe to take refuge in the Red Gang, which was welcomed.

They were given a title equivalent to Gushan Ezhen by the slave chieftain, and these two men now have no less than 5,000 people under their command, and the population may exceed 40,000 including slaves.

Because the stronger neighbors of Bulgadu Daiqing and Taiji Zhuoerbi were attacked by the Huang Han the year before last, Qingcheng, the only big city within a radius of several hundred miles, collapsed.

In the past two years, the left-wing Subudi and Seleng's uncle and nephew have joined forces to conquer and integrate many small tribes, and their comprehensive strength has surpassed that of the previously invincible Bulgadu and Zhuoerbi, and they are the uncrowned kings of this region.

At this time, the rule of the Later Jin over the Mongols was loose, and the Tartars and Jiannu belonged to the robbers who joined forces to rob, and the Mongol tribes who usually took refuge in the Later Jin were about once every two or three years to pay tribute.

It was not necessarily Taiji who rushed to Shengjing in person, they could send their sons or younger brothers to drive cattle, sheep and horses to the tribute in exchange for rewards and canonization.

By this time, it was already the middle of September, and the first snow had already fallen on the prairie, and the Subudi and Seleng tribes had gathered in the traditional settlements to spend the winter, and the tribes would arrive one after another until the end of October.

Although there is no castle structure like Qingcheng, there are many permanent temple-like buildings.

Nomads are exempt from talking about the rest of the time except in winter, when the sheep need pasture, and only in winter they eat stored forage.

There are many advantages to living together in winter, the big leaders can gather the small leaders of the tribes to brush up on their presence, the tribes can communicate with each other, the tribes in need can also feel the collective benefits, and when it is unusually cold, the tribes can also huddle together to warm up and resist disasters together.

There is also a huge benefit, there are more concentrated tribes, and the population and warriors are naturally larger, and they are better able to resist foreign enemies.

Su Budi and Seleng's uncle and nephew are drinking spirits trafficked by Han Chinese merchants in a luxurious yurt, and they are sorry that all of these wines are produced by Huang's Liquor Industry, and the raw materials are potatoes and sweet potatoes, and they have a lot of stamina.

Now the steppe is very popular to drink spirits, Huang's products of liquor taste good, wine strength, fair price, cost-effective is best-sellers, even the glass bottles of wine, wine jars have become one of the favorite collections of Mongolians.

Shanxi merchants were able to obtain a large amount of liquor from Huang's liquor industry through the relationship of Sifang Express, and exchanged these liquors for horses, cattle and sheep to make more profits.

The bitter cold prairie is really easy to cause people living here to drink too much, because the winter is too long and too cold, how comfortable is it to drink a big meal to make yourself dizzy, and sleep after a warm ocean?

"What? The Ming army attacked in a big way? All the people are flying the red flag? Hearing the scout's report, Suburi, who was about to drink himself up, was shocked.

The scout affirmed: "My lord, it is true, the little ones not only saw the Ming army with their own eyes, but also met many people who had been robbed of their yurts. ”

Unable to drink any more, Subu stood up and walked back and forth irritably in the huge yurt, and his clan uncle Selen wondered: "This place is five or six hundred miles away from Ningyuan, and there are more than a dozen mountains, will the 'Red Banner Army' kill here?" ”

Originally, the straight-line distance from Ningyuan to the traditional wintering area of the left wing of Karaqin was only about 300 miles, but due to the undulating Yanshan Mountain, the distance was more than doubled.

Seleng thought that five or six hundred miles was still a road that the Mongolian light cavalry could walk, and if it was a traditional Ming army car battalion, I was afraid that it would have to go around a thousand miles, and the speed of the "Red Banner Army" frightened the uncle and nephew Taiji.

The scout said: "My lord, you must not be guarded, the Ming army has already appeared in the south of Beizi Mountain, and it is less than fifty miles away from us to bypass Beizi Mountain." ”

Just when Subudi and Seleng's uncle and nephew had not yet reacted, another scout entered the yurt and reported loudly: "My lord, the small one found that a Ming army appeared at the eastern foot of Longfeng Mountain, and I don't know if the Ming army crossed Longfeng Mountain and continued to march westward." ”

Seleng broke out in a cold sweat and asked, "How many people are there in the Ming army?" Is it also a wordless red flag? ”

The scout said: "There are probably thousands of soldiers and horses in the Ming army, their clothes and armor are too neat, and the horses of the cavalry are also good horses. They pushed a lot of carts, and they couldn't see the end of the road. ”

Su Budi stopped and said viciously: "The 'Red Banner Army' has clearly adopted the tactics of two-way flanking attacks to attack our winter camp, what should we do now?" ”

Selen said: "What else can I do?" Run! Immediately run north, the combat effectiveness of the 'Red Banner Army' is not given in vain, and even the masters of the Dajin Kingdom can't withstand their fighting. ”

Su Budi's face trembled, and he asked rhetorically, "Run?" We can run, what should we do if our family is small? What about food, livestock, and household belongings? If we lose these, even if we run out and thousands of people, what will we do? How to spend this winter? ”

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