Chapter 365 364 Bansheng outside the city

Chapter 365 364 Bansheng outside the city

After a fierce battle, the Anda cavalry broke through the Longmen Pass. However, they did not have time to continue the assault because the Longmen Guards stationed on the back of the Longmen Pass issued an emergency summons. The Longmen Guards were subordinate to the Qianhu Station and the Baihu Station. They rushed to Longmen Pass for reinforcements like a tide, although in the end it was still a step too late.

However, this is a mountainous area, which greatly limits the combat effectiveness of the Tatar cavalry. They can only barely maintain their front for the time being to prevent the Longmen Pass from changing hands again.

The Ming army counterattacked at a great cost, but faced with a steady stream of Tatar troops entering the border wall, their numerical disadvantage was quickly exposed.

Seeing that it was no longer possible to recapture Guancheng, the commander of the Longmen Guards wisely chose to retreat temporarily. However, this retreat was not a collapse of thousands of miles. Instead, he chose dangerous places on the mountain roads to build sniper positions to delay the Tatar advance.

In short, they can only take advantage of the geographical advantage to fight against the Anda tribe. This is also something they can't do. The Xuanfu has already issued an order and they must fight to the end.

It's just that the commander of the Longmen Guards felt that he was unlucky. Why was Anda Khan picked on him in the Qianli Xuanfu defense line?

The border troops of Xuanfu are still fighting fiercely against the Tatars in the mountains. The troops stationed in various places in Xuanfu have received orders and acted in accordance with military orders. They abandoned some military forts that were in disrepair and concentrated the people and soldiers in important fortresses and military forts. , implement strong walls and clear the country.

These time needs to be fought for by the Longmen Guards with their lives.

"Rumble"

There was a continuous thunder-like sound from the horizon in the distance. An old herdsman raised his head and glanced at the sky, and then looked curiously towards the direction of the sound. But soon, his expression changed slightly.

In the distance, a black spot appeared at the end of the green carpet and gradually enlarged.

There is a blue sky above the head, with occasional white clouds drifting over. There is no sign of rain, and the sound coming from the distance indicates to the owner that something is coming.

All the young men in the tribe were summoned by the Great Khan, saying that they wanted to take advantage of the good weather to go south for a tour. Now those who remain in the tribe are as old as sick and disabled.

Who is coming from the other side?

The old herdsman was still thinking that no matter what, the Khan's army should not be in this direction, as it was close to Akito's territory.

As for whether it was Ming people, the old herdsmen were not worried. The Ming army had not dared to set foot on the grassland for many years.

Another possibility is that other tribes came over, but I just thought about it. Altan Khan is now in power, and each tribe has been allocated pasture. If you dare to mess around, aren't you afraid of the Khan's punishment?

Although the old herdsman was wary, he just looked over curiously, wanting to know what was coming over there.

Closer, closer, it was not the herd of cattle he thought, but a team of horses. It looked like there were quite a few people, thousands of them. Also, why were they wearing red clothes? It was so luxurious, so many people were wearing them.

The old herdsman looked at the original horse team and was still thinking about it. Suddenly he understood. He was so frightened that he no longer cared about the sheep scattered in all directions. He turned the horse's head and waved his whip, heading in the direction of the tribe as fast as possible. Go away.

At this time, he only had one thought in his horrified mind, "The Ming army is coming, so run away."

The Anda tribe broke into the border wall for property and population. They would not show mercy to those who disobeyed, the old and the weak, and would only kill them.

And now that the Ming army appears here, what will they bring to the tribe?

There are many Ming people, and they have no shortage of people. They will not take all the prisoners back, so the rest will only kill, and now the tribe has no resistance at all.

Although he can still draw a bow and ride a horse like this, he is old after all, and he is not as good as when he fought with the little prince and Emperor Mingren in the past.

It is impossible for people not to obey.

The old man rushed towards the tribe on horseback and started shouting to the people around him from a distance: "The Ming people are coming. Hurry up and get on your horse and run. There are many of them."

He roared crazily, even though his voice was hoarse. Many people around him looked at him with confused expressions on their faces, and many of them had mocking looks on their faces.

When the old herdsman saw the tribal leader checking at the fence, he immediately rode over to warn him. However, facing his words, the leader waved his hand disapprovingly.

"Akito, there are many, okay, then we will kill them all and seize the war horses they sent."

The leader sneered and summoned the remaining 20 or so young people in the tribe, as well as some middle-aged and elderly herdsmen, to mount their horses and bring their bows and arrows, ready to go in the direction mentioned by the old herdsmen.

The old herdsman looked disappointedly at the people who kept passing by. Finally, he chose to run in the direction of his home, ride a horse, take the only food his family had, and escape from here.

Fortunately it is not winter now, otherwise something like a tent to keep out the cold would be essential.

Although it is very cold at night, it is not enough to freeze to death. You can survive as long as you have a bite to eat.

There was a roar in the distance, and the old herdsmen who ran out of the tribe with their families turned back and looked in that direction. The dozens of people led by the leader were dumbfounded when they faced the black and red sea. Some people had already turned their horses to go back. run.

They were too late.

The old herdsman just thought so in his heart and couldn't control too much. He chose to take his family and escape from here.

In the land of Mongolia, the current owner is called Borjijin Anda. He was originally the Khan of the Tumut tribe, but now he is the recognized great khan of all tribes in this grassland.

On the vast grassland, in addition to the large tribes, there are also many small tribes like the one in front of me, with hundreds or even dozens of people.

Some of these tribes are originally members of larger tribes, while others are just independent small tribes that are dependent on larger tribes.

It is impossible for a large tribe of tens of thousands of people to gather in one place to herd sheep. They need to be divided into several small tribes and scattered on the grassland. Small tribes that surrender to them are also allowed to exist.

The tribe of the old herdsman is not an independent tribe, but part of the Tumut tribe. It can also be regarded as the direct tribe of the Great Khan. It has just moved to this pasture not long ago.

Altan Khan led a large group of troops to Xuanfu. He also heard from the leader that the children would definitely bring back a lot of iron pots, tea leaves and cloth when they came back this time. However, he did not expect that the Ming army would be the ones waiting first.

This Mongolian tribe was wiped out after only a short resistance. The Ming army only stayed here for a short time, killing some cattle and sheep and eating them, while the remaining cattle, sheep and old horses were all slaughtered and the remaining war horses were used. were taken away.

"General Yu, what should we do with those people?"

A guerrilla leader rode up to Yu Dayou and asked in a low voice.

Although he was asking, the fierce expression on his face clearly reflected his mood at this time.

They didn't have time to take away these prisoners, not to mention those people were as old as sick and disabled.

Yu Dayou knew that their expedition needed concealment and speed, and no one could be left alive along the way. Otherwise, who knew if there were other undiscovered tribes nearby.

Moreover, he understood the meaning of this guerrilla, and he also knew that this was not necessarily just his idea, but the idea of ​​all the generals and soldiers who followed him out of the fortress, and he could not go against public opinion.

"According to your habits, lead the team to follow as soon as possible."

Yu Dayou just gave a simple order, and then rode away without looking back. The soldiers around him also chased after him.

According to the plan, Yu Dayou and the others were purely cavalry to attack Bansheng City, so in addition to hurrying on the road, they directly found fords and waded across the Huihe River and Heihe River they encountered on the way. He did not have time to wait for the infantry carrying the baggage.

Only on the way back, they would carry the supplies looted from Bansheng City. It would be more troublesome to wade through the water, so Liu Han and Li Wenjin were asked to lead the troops to build pontoon bridges on the two rivers to facilitate the troops to pass quickly.

The retreat roads were carefully selected, and they were all in places where the rivers were deep and the water flowed quickly, making it easier to cut off the pursuers behind them.

At that time, you only need to pour kerosene on the bridge to quickly destroy the pontoon bridge, so that the Tatar pursuers will not have time to cross the river to pursue them.

After the Ming army passed by, the entire tribal camp became quiet, with only the strong smell of blood filling the air.

Bansheng City is located to the north of Datong, about 300 miles apart. Originally, the Han people who fled to the grasslands settled here, forming a large settled agricultural settlement, which was called "Bansheng" at the time.

The scale of Bansheng is very large, "there are more than 100,000 people, stretching from Bianqiang in the south, Qingshan in the north, Weining Sea in the east, and the bank of the Yellow River in the west. It is four hundred miles from north to south and more than a thousand miles from east to west. As far as the eye can see, there are plains and rivers." risk".

They changed the nomadic economic model of the Mongolian Plateau into a composite economy that combined agriculture and animal husbandry, and promoted the economic transformation of the Mongolian Plateau during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

"Farming in the market, flowers, willows and vegetable gardens are no different from China, and all ministers are unified", "bees and tigers watch, farming and herding in spring and summer, and hunting in autumn and winter".

The Han people who fled to the Mongolian Plateau were mostly bankrupt farmers and White Lotus followers.

Bansheng is divided into multiple tribes to form a self-administration system, and the talented people among them are appointed as the heads of each tribe.

As a result, a situation similar to that of a pass appeared on the prairie, with the big Bansheng City as the main body and dozens of small Bansheng cities of various sizes scattered around.

However, as the White Lotus cultists became more and more powerful outside the Great Wall, this place gradually became a place for farmers from the fortress to live and work in peace and contentment, and became a base for the White Lotus cultists to display their ambitions and avenge their losses.

At the beginning, Ada Khan did not manage much here, but treated the Han people who came here very roughly. When the White Lotus cultists appeared here in large numbers and became the most powerful force here, the Han people began to be ruled by the White Lotus cultists.

They established an official government here similar to that in the mainland, managed and levied taxes on the Han people in the territory, so as to strengthen their own power.

After a long journey, the Datong Army quietly appeared in a lowland hiding place thirty miles away from Bansheng City. This was already the fourth day since they left Datong.

The Datong Army is not unfamiliar with this place. In fact, smuggling caravans from the relevant areas come here every year, and the caravans are escorted by spies from the Datong Guard Station to observe the surrounding environment and find out what is going on in the city.

And here is one of the routes where caravans travel all year round.

At this time, Yu Dayou was sitting on the slope, and a Ming soldier dressed like a man was telling about the situation he had heard around Bansheng City.

Although this man was a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, his appearance was slightly different from that of the Han people. He was obviously a Mongolian.

In fact, this is not surprising. Most of the Han people who escaped to the grasslands reclaimed and cultivated land here, but a small number were absorbed into the Anta army. Some Mongolians around the Great Wall were oppressed by the Mongolian nobles, or for the sake of To live a better life and choose to join the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there were Mongolians in the Ming army. During the period of Emperor Zhu Di, a special army - Three Thousand Battalions - was formed specifically for the recruited Mongolians.

Following the soldier's narration, Yu Dayou also roughly understood what Bansheng City looked like. It was roughly similar to the county seat in the border town.

The not-so-high earthen wall serves as a city wall. The city gates are covered with bricks, obviously to strengthen the defense of the city wall. However, there is no suspension bridge and no moat. There is only a trench dug out for the construction of the earthen wall. Defense outside the city walls.

As for the closing time of the city gate, it is closed at sunset, which is similar to that of Guancheng in the mainland.

"You said that there were no Anda troops around Bansheng City, and only Han soldiers were guarding the city wall?"

Yu Dayou asked curiously after the soldier finished speaking. This was beyond his understanding.

This is the prairie, and it is also the core area controlled by the Tumut tribe. Can Anda Khan be so confident that he will leave this place to the White Lotus Cult for guarding when he goes on an expedition?

Although the Mongols do not have the concept of a royal city, in their view, the place where Amada Khan is present is a royal city, but this is the place where Amada Khan has stayed for a long time, so the symbolic meaning is different.

"No, the Great Khan's troops were all taken away. I heard that many Han troops were also taken away. Well, it should be the White Lotus Army that went to Xuan Mansion to help in the battle."

the soldier replied.

"There aren't many people in the city now, are there?"

Yu Dayou asked again. Strictly speaking, all the Han people in the city were treasonous, not just the White Lotus followers.

Before coming, Yu Dayou naturally understood the meaning of Li Wenjin's words, but he didn't want to cause too much evil.

Now we know that there are not many people in Bansheng City, which is said to have nearly 100,000 people. Most of them went to escape the summer outside Daqing Pass and have not returned yet. In this case, it becomes okay to carry out Li Wenjin's order.

However, the soldier knew before that there were not many young Mongolians in the city, which also meant that the number of heads in this expedition would probably be relatively small.

Although there were some in the Ming army who killed good people and took credit, after all, the appearance and living habits of the Han and Mongolians were different, so as long as they were strictly supervised, it was actually very difficult for the generals in the border towns to take credit.

Since it’s not easy, what’s the point of doing it.

If most of the White Lotus cult bandits in the city are now, Yu Dayou plans to act according to Li Wenjin's wishes. He only hopes that there is a White Lotus cult bandit leader in the city, preferably someone who is known to the court, otherwise the credit this time will be greatly reduced.

"Notify everyone to rest early tonight and recharge their batteries. We will have dinner at 9:00 tomorrow and then attack Bansheng City."

Yu Dayou did not intend to waste time here, and his choice was very simple. He rested for one night, and early the next morning when Bansheng City opened the gate, he used a group of troops to change clothes and pretend to be Mongolians to seize the gate of Bansheng City. , and then all the troops rushed into the city.

Yu Dayou now expected that the White Lotus cult bandits in Bansheng City would not have thought that the Ming army would come here when An Dahan attacked Xuanfu. It was the moment when they were relaxed and they could catch him off guard.