Julu, the camp of the Ming and Tang coalition forces.

In the distance, the sky was already gray and began to glow. At this time, most of the soldiers were sleeping soundly. In the past day and night, more than 90,000 troops of the Ming and Tang Dynasties, under the order of Wang Lufei, carried out the last rest before the war. These soldiers, except for the 20,000 Eight Banner soldiers and a few elite Tang Army elites, are not elites. Not only is the equipment and training not as good as that of the Ming soldiers, but their physical strength and spirit are also much worse than the real elite soldiers.

After two or three days of marching and construction in the snow, they were already quite tired. If they can't get enough rest and recover to their best before the decisive battle begins, it will be questionable whether they will be able to sustain the next fierce and brutal battle.

However, the soldiers could eat and drink enough to sleep, but Wang Lufei, as the commander of the three armies, did not dare to close his eyes and sleep. Although he also fought this battle, he was really not sure of victory. His status and real power are very great in terms of the governor of the prefecture - not only the governor of the military and civilian affairs of the first prefecture, but also the right to control all the garrisons and officials of the two prefectures of Dongping and Shunde, so it can be said that he is the commander-in-chief of the Ming army in the southern battlefield of Hebei. However, the troops under his jurisdiction were not the elite of the Ming army, but the new army pulled up by Chen Dexing during the last expedition to the south. It is quite reluctant to use them as the main force now.

As for the 40,000 troops that Li Cuixian pulled from Yidu, except for the 1,000 Xuanjia army, which was quite good, the rest of the people were just mediocre. The level of equipment and training is comparable to that of the armies of the Daimyo's Mansion, and the morale of the Tang army cannot be compared with that of the Ming army.

Because the Tang army had suffered heavy losses in the war for more than a year, Li Yanguo fully mobilized the government soldiers in Yidu to recruit more troops. In fact, it is overdrawing the power of the people - not counting the Baoying Prefecture that has just been captured. The territory controlled by Li Yanguo has a population of just over 2 million. Li Pu had already mobilized more than 100,000 government soldiers, almost four to five percent of the total population. On this basis, Li Yanguo mobilized 50,000 government soldiers. In addition, tens of thousands of strong men were conscripted into the people.

That is, almost ten percent of the population. It has already been mobilized for war. Naturally, agricultural production has been greatly affected. Without enough labor, the equalization system would be meaningless.

Moreover, Datang now clearly has lost the battle for hegemony in the world. There is no world...... Of course, the Li family can't compensate the soldiers who fought bloodily. The hearts of the people in the army are considered low.

For this reason, Li Cuixian, Li Xiong, and Wang Lufei have been inspecting all departments of the Tang Army in the past few days, and making wishes to the officers and non-commissioned officers to be crowned officials. Just now, Wang Lufei was still talking with several generals of the Tang Army's Zuowu Houwei.

The conversation ended. On the way back to the Chinese army, Wang Lufei, who had almost never slept all night, felt sleepy for a while. Somehow, he suddenly felt the ground start to shake, and at first he felt that he was tired. So I couldn't stand steadily, and when I looked down, I saw that the stones and ice cubes under my feet were trembling slightly.

This is not an illusion of oneself!

The Mongols are coming!

He hurriedly ran to the nearest watchtower, climbed up in two clicks, and raised his telescope to look around.

In the faintly discernible sky, the figures of teams of cavalry. Suddenly appeared in the distance of sight. By this time the rumbling, dull sound of horses' hooves had been heard. Needless to say, this was the vanguard of the Mongols, which was used to control the battlefield and cover the cavalry and horses of the infantry in formation.

It's not just Wang Lufei. The soldiers on duty on the northwest side of the Ming and Tang coalition camps also discovered the arrival of the Mongolian cavalry at this time. At this time, the sky had not yet been measured, and no one could see the number of Mongolian cavalry in the distance. I can only see them slowly surging over layer by layer like a wall and a forest!

Its Xu Rulin!

Wang Lufei came up with a sentence in the Liuru mantra in "The Art of War" in his heart. These Mongol cavalry just marched slowly. But it already makes people feel breathless.

The desolate cry of the first soldier rang out: "Enemy attack! The Tartars are coming! ”

More mournful shouts and whimpering trumpets followed, and gongs were sounded on the watchtower. The non-commissioned officers who were resting in the camp were alarmed. They poured out of the tabernacle. Those who picked up their armor and swords began to form in the open space in front of their respective tents. Officers at all levels were also prepared, and they were all giving orders loudly and in an orderly manner. Some led their men to their predetermined defensive positions. Others put their subordinates on standby. The troops guarding the northwest sides of the camp were soon in place, armed with a large number of infantry bows, and they were lined up in rows with fencings and hastily piled up breastworks of snow, and they were ready to meet the enemy.

Wang Lufei had already reacted, came down to look at the tower, and ordered loudly in a voice that was a little hoarse due to fatigue: "Don't panic, stay calm!" Except for the Eight Banners, all bows and crossbows are not allowed to be fired without authorization, saving physical strength and preparing for hard fighting! The reserve armies immediately dispatched men and horses to watch over the people, so that they could not mess with themselves! Inform all divisions, brigades, and units of the Tang Army that today's battle will be a protracted and bitter battle! All departments immediately prepared three days of dry rations, and those who had not yet received the military order to go into battle continued to rest! ”

The order was conveyed layer by layer, and the soldiers who had originally drawn their bows and arrows all loosened their bowstrings and took their feather arrows back into their magazines. Only a handful of Eight Bannermen in steel armor went up the line with their foot bows, and each found cover, or leaned behind a large wooden shield; or leaning against a bunker made of snow and dirt; Or simply go up to the watchtower, leaning against the wooden baffle, and only the head with a helmet is exposed.

I don't know if it's because the large amount of equipment of bronze cannons gave the Ming army the strongest long-range lethality in this era, and the original long-range weapon crossbow was not valued by the Ming army. After the popularization of steel armor and phalanx tactics, because the proportion of crossbowmen in the infantry of the Ming army was greatly reduced, even the guns and crossbows were gradually eliminated. The bow, which had a higher rate of fire and higher requirements for the operator, gradually became the only individual projection weapon of the Ming army.

And among the Tang army, there are also very few crossbow machines. The bows and arrows of the Tang army soldiers were all self-prepared, and the crossbows that were responsible for the production of the divine arm bow were really difficult to popularize for Yidu, which had a population of only more than 2 million and a handicraft industry was not very developed.

Therefore, in this battle of the giant deer, there are only two kinds of projection weapons on the side of the Ming and Tang coalition forces: bows and cannons!

More than a dozen 3-inch bronze cannons were also pushed up by the artillery of the Daimyo Governor's Mansion and placed on the artillery positions that had been built long ago. The shotgun was quickly loaded into the chamber, and the black hole pointed straight ahead.

The Mongolian cavalry seemed to know that the Ming army's artillery had been aimed at them, when they were five or six hundred steps away from the Ming and Tang coalition forces. The cavalry halted its advance. A part of the Mongolian cavalry dismounted, took out their infantry bows, put the wicker round shield on their heads as helmets, and then scattered the formation and slowly approached the Ming and Tang allied forces Dazhai. More Mongol cavalry, with bows in hand, sat on horseback and waited.

The Mongol archers, who spread out in formation, soon arrived one hundred and fifty paces away from the Dazhai of the Ming and Tang allied forces. Some people have already started to shoot arrows, and they shoot light arrows, and they are projectiles, so they can shoot very far. From a distance of a hundred or dozens of steps, you can shoot feather arrows into the wall.

"No archery!"

"Keep calm!"

The officers of the Ming and Tang armies shouted and shouted orders. They all knew that the Mongols had only one purpose in shooting arrows at this distance, which was to induce the opponent to counterattack, drain their physical strength, and test the depth of the opponent.

None of these scattered Mongol archers shot a dozen arrows, but the other side did not return a single arrow, so they knew that it was useless to shoot any more - the other side did not seem to be a rabble without refinement, and this time the battle was a little troublesome.

The Mongol archers retreated silently, and then the Mongol cavalry began to gallop on horseback, and they were not stupid to rush the wall—there were still a lot of deer and horses in front of the wall, and it was not possible to rush hard. Instead, he rushed to the outside of the wall, and then hit horizontally, running parallel to the wall, and shooting arrows with a bow while galloping horses. It is a soft bow that shoots light arrows, and it is also harassing temptation. But this time, the Eight Banners archers deployed at the front line pulled their bows one after another and shot deadly arrows!

……

"These guys aren't bad...... You can actually hold back! ”

"Those who shoot arrows should be the Eight Banners...... A hundred paces away to shoot down a Mongol warrior on horseback...... It's a pity that such a warrior is actually used by Chen Dexing! ”

Kublai Khan had already arrived at the front line at this time, and he did not fight the Nine White Lines, let alone a large number of cowardly Xue clusters, only brought a small number of followers, generals and advisers.

"Great Khan, it's better to let the Han army go up!" Carrying the gun, Wan Hu Jian Siding whispered a suggestion, and the look on his face was even more respectful. The two brothers, Liu Yuanzhen and Liu Yuanli, who were squeezed aside by a group of Mongolians and Semu people, heard this, but their faces turned slightly dark.

The Han army always charges ahead and enjoys behind...... I can't live this day! If it weren't for the hundreds of thousands of Mongolians and Semu people watching, he would also want to learn from Shi Tianze and Zhang Rou!

Thinking like this in their hearts, the two brothers had to pretend to be extremely loyal, went up to ask for battle, and were just about to drive their horses forward, but they saw Liu Xiaoyuan and Liu Dastrategist waving at them, what does this mean? Don't ask for war? Can you get out of it? The two brothers glanced at each other, both smiling wryly. They have a very good relationship with Liu Xiaoyuan, they are both surnamed Liu, they are about the same age, and they are both traitors, so they naturally have a common language.

"Great Khan," Liu Xiaoyuan interjected with a smile at this time, but what he said was in Chinese, "The Great Mongols are now ruling the Central Plains with Semu, how will they rule the Western Regions in the future?" ”

Kublai Khan was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Liu Xiaoyuan fixedly. Liu Xiaoyuan said: "There are tens of millions of Han children in the Central Plains, and tens of millions of colored eyes in the Western Regions!" How did the Great Khan rule? (To be continued......)