Chapter 376 375 Sick Leave

The loss of four thousand households was secondary to the loss of men and horses. It was mainly a blow to the morale of the army.

Those four thousand men and horses cannot be counted on in the short term. If they cannot win a victory, it will be difficult to restore their will to fight.

Thousands of households in Mongolia are also in trouble.

If we continue to attack, who will we send?

Four thousand people attacked in batches but failed. There are still six intact Qianhu under his command. If they attack again, what if the two wings of the Ming army's cavalry rush forward?

For the first time, he felt that the Ming infantry was so difficult to defeat, and he also felt that his troops were insufficient.

This combat power is a bit weird. I have never seen such violent guns and artillery when attacking those military forts before, but there are more powerful firearms on them.

Yesterday, when he had confirmed that the Ming army only had 8,000 horse and infantry troops, he was still full of confidence, but now, his mood has completely changed.

Now he was a little undecided and didn't know what measures to take.

Yu Dayou has already felt the hesitation on the other side, and he can understand the other side's difficulties with just a little thought in his mind.

Liu Han behind him also thought about it at this time. He inadvertently urged the war horse, but he only took a few steps and was restrained by him.

"go ahead."

Yu Dayou didn't think much before he issued the order he had prepared long ago.

As the war drums sounded, the Ming army's military formation no longer remained dormant, but slowly moved towards the enemy formation on the opposite side.

Not long after, the Ming army's military formation had already marched to the area where the battle was still taking place. The place was filled with the corpses of Tatars and war horses. The wheelbarrow chariot showed its superiority at this time, and the Ming army carried it hard. You can make the wheelbarrow roll over obstacles on the road.

In the Ming army formation, which had been firing guns before, soldiers from time to time showed signs of discomfort when they saw the corpses around them. Fortunately, there were relatively few such soldiers.

After all, although the governor's Biao camp is not an established guard soldier, it is still selected from the remaining soldiers from the border and military households. In these years, the people here are used to life and death.

However, the reaction of some soldiers still made Yu Dayou behind him frown slightly.

I made up my mind to let these people clean the battlefield after the war and practice their courage.

The central army of the Ming army continued to advance, and the cavalry on both wings began to slowly follow up, guarding the sides. The power of the army finally fully exploded at this moment.

For the soldiers of the Ming Army, what they thought about most before the war was whether the mutton they ate this morning would be their last breakfast. No one thought they could win so easily.

But now, all the soldiers understand that they are probably going to win a beautiful victory in this battle, and they have a chance to go back alive.

At this moment, the soldiers' desire for victory exploded, and their military appearance was completely different from before. Inadvertently, the military power rose sharply, completely overwhelming the opposing army.

But while the morale and military power of the Ming army were rising rapidly, the fear in the hearts of our soldiers was quietly growing.

The first battle was lost. Although many people were shocked by the power of the Ming army's powerful firearms, those troops were composed of Han people after all. However, the long-term victory made them still doubt the combat effectiveness of the Ming army on the opposite side.

It wasn't until the defeat of the four thousand households who were also Mongolians that they realized that the Ming army on the opposite side was really powerful.

None of them were able to get close, and even the riding and shooting skills they relied on to travel across the world were not used at all. Fear arose, and no one wanted their team to be sent into battle by Master Wanhu.

Now the Ming army is slowly advancing, getting closer and closer to them, and the pressure is even greater.

Mongolian households were in a dilemma at this time. They continued to attack, but they couldn't find a way to win. Should they retreat?

The Mongols are not a nation that fights to the death. They rely on their war horses. They know the principle of fighting if they can and retreating if they cannot.

"General, please make a decision as soon as possible. There is almost no speed left."

As the Ming army continued to advance, the distance between the two armies continued to shorten.

It takes a certain distance for the cavalry to speed up, and the Ming army obviously relied on the car formation to shorten this distance.

Looking at the wall-like shield car, Wan Hu frowned. He finally understood why the car had only one wheel, making it easier to turn.

Even if he gathered his team at this time and inserted the Ming Army's formation diagonally from one side, the Ming Army's central army could easily turn around so that the entire front line was always facing the direction of their charge.

Tricky.

Time was lost in his hesitation. When the distance between the two armies was no more than four or five miles apart, he still could not send solid bombs into the Tatar army's formation, and they had to continue to advance.

"We still need to get a mile or two closer before we can blast him with solid bullets."

Yu Dayou couldn't help but think about it after the Ming army formed its formation.

However, the closer the two armies are, the more cautious they must be. If the other side is crazy and rushes forward regardless of casualties, even if the battle can be won, if Biaoying suffers heavy losses, he will not be able to explain to Master Li Wenjin.

Thinking of this, Yu Dayou waved his hand, signaling for the army to pause for a while.

The purpose of the pause is of course not to start another war with the Tatars here, but to rearrange their formation.

After advancing such a long distance, some problems inevitably occurred in the Ming army's military formation, which no longer seemed so strict and orderly.

The Ming army stopped advancing, but the Anda troops on the opposite side did not feel the pressure ease.

After thinking for a long time, Mongolian households still couldn't think of a way to deal with this Ming army. Since they couldn't think of it and seemed unable to defeat it, they could only take that step.

Retreating is not that simple.

Of course he would not give in willingly. If he showed his defeat, he might not be able to attract the cavalry on both wings of the Ming army to follow him. As long as the cavalry of the Ming army separated from the infantry, he would eat the cavalry first and then fight back to attack the infantry. Too much.

Although the front of the Ming army showed strong combat power, Wanhu still believed that if it were not restrained by the powerful cavalry groups on the two wings, he would only need to dispatch three Qianhu to attack from the center and the two wings together, and he would be defeated. This seemingly tight Ming army formation fell apart.

Seeing the Ming army stop advancing, Mongolian households were shocked. They didn't know what the Ming army generals were planning. Until he saw the army on the opposite side starting to form, he knew that there was no hope of defeating this army now.

Quickly giving orders to the messengers behind him, Qianhu, who had previously retreated to the military camp, quickly packed up the equipment for the camp. No matter whether it was a real withdrawal or a fake withdrawal, nothing that should be brought should be left behind.

When the Ming army completed its formation and continued to advance, Mongolian households shook their heads and issued a retreat order seemingly unwillingly.

The three thousand households under his command formed one team, and the three thousand households of the Royal Guards formed another team. They walked around the camp behind them and began to retreat.

The Ming army, which had just advanced a few steps, saw the Tatar army retreating on the opposite side. Many people were still in a daze, wondering why the opposite side had retreated.

You know, on the battlefield they passed earlier, less than 3,000 Tatars were killed. This was a battle with 20,000 people. Is it over with the death of just these people?

The changes in front were all seen by the commander-in-chief Liu Han.

Liu Han was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered from the shock.

The Tatars didn't know how to break the Ming army's formation, and since they had their own cavalry to protect them, they couldn't find a chance to win, so they retreated.

Thinking of this, Liu Han waved the riding crop forward almost without thinking, and said fiercely: "Attack."

As Liu Han finished speaking, he remembered the sound of war drums behind him, and the military flags commanded from the side and rear began to dance.

He needed a hearty victory so much. If the credit for burning Bansheng City was not enough for him to be promoted to an official position, then this victory, a head-on victory against the main force of Anda, should be enough.

As the offensive order was issued, the cavalry on both wings of the Ming Army began to advance slowly and began to accelerate. They also planned to bypass the Ming Army's central military formation from the left and right and begin to pursue Anda's troops.

Hearing the roar of horse hooves behind him, Yu Dayou, who was still calm, felt bad.

The Tatars retreated but maintained their formation. With such an army retreating, they could counterattack at any time and bite back.

Liu Han also had the same idea as him. After a brief excitement, when countless Ming army cavalry passed by him and kept urging their horses to move forward, he also realized that the Tatars on the opposite side were just retreating, not retreating. .

At this time, the leading troops of the Ming Army's cavalry had caught up with the Chinese army's formation, and were about to rush forward past the infantry. Almost at the same time, two harsh golden sounds came from behind.

"Dang Dang Dang"

Hearing the golden sound behind him, Yu Dayou breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It seemed that Liu Han had not been dazzled by the victory yet.

Although Yu Dayou discovered something was wrong at the beginning, when he issued the order to withdraw troops from Ming Jin, Liu Han was the first thing he considered.

This is so offending!

So he hesitated for a while. Although he finally issued the order of Ming Jin, he heard the sound of Ming Jin behind him almost at the same time.

The advancing, accelerating Ming cavalry queue began to slow down slowly after hearing the sound of ringing gold behind them, although the faces of the Ming cavalry were full of unwillingness.

The Tatars were defeated, and when it was time to pursue them, the Commander-in-Chief actually refused to let them pursue them, so they could seize the title of the head.

On the opposite side, Mongolian Wanhu, who was running at the end of the opponent's army, was happy at first when he saw the Ming army's cavalry pursuing them. However, not long after he was happy, he heard the sound of gold, and his mood instantly fell to the bottom.

There is no chance of turning defeat into victory, and the opposing general is very strong.

This is the thought in the hearts of thousands of households in Mongolia at this moment.

Capital, Wei Zhai.

Wei Guangde returned home directly from Xiyuan, and wrote a note of leave to the hospital the next day, saying he was ill at home.

This is not because Wei Guangde is being pretentious, but the more he calculates, the more he feels that if he had not given any suggestions at the beginning, the current situation should be just right. The troops from Yansui and Ningxia supporting the Xuanfu have just arrived in Datong, which is enough to resist the Anda troops. Offensive against the Datong Army.

The few troops of Anda's army were dispersed to the Datong Theater and the Xuanfu Theater, which was of course a great thing for the Ming Army.

There are troops from Datong, Yansui and Ningxia towns in the Datong war zone. Although Xuanfu only has troops from Shanxi to help, don't forget that the army from Ji Town is still watching.

All the Anda Department's trump cards have been revealed, and Jizhen doesn't need to do anything to hold back. It can just fully support Xuanfu.

On both battlefields, the Ming army had an absolute advantage.

Unfortunately, it was the Ming army that was dispersed now, and the situation was completely reversed.

Wei Guangde has been staying in his study for the past two days. On the desk is a map of border towns that he drew silently. Although it is not comparable to the ones in the palace and the Ministry of War, it is still relatively detailed.

After just thinking about it for two days, Wei Guangde still had no good solution.

Calculating the time, the battle on Datong should have been completed. I don't know whether the Tatars will choose to attack Datong directly or go to Hetao first to eliminate the soldiers and horses in the two towns.

"Sir, my wife has invited you to have lunch."

Outside the study door, the little maid said coquettishly.

"knew."

Wei Guangde replied, stood up and walked a few steps. He inadvertently looked back at the map on the desk, and his eyes fell on Datong in the center.

"I only hope that Yu Dayou can display the strength of the God of War in Datong at this time. If he can keep Datong intact, the responsibility he will bear in the future will be much smaller."

Wei Guangde thought to himself, and looked away. From the corner of his eye, he inadvertently caught sight of a dark mark on the ground.

It was a note sent by Gao Gong after rising from Xiyuan the day before yesterday. Wei Guangde burned it and threw it there after reading it.

Gao Gong was also responsible for what happened this time. He did not pass the blame. He just wrote a note asking Wei Guangde whether he planned to stay in the capital or go abroad.

This is also planning for possible liquidation after the war.

Wei Guangde decided that he would use his connections with Prince Yu's Mansion to help with the matter.

From the perspective of Gao Gong and other members of Prince Yu's family, what happened this time was that Wei Guangde was unlucky and had to deal with two unreliable chief officials in Datong.

But no one can blame this. Originally, such a thing would not have happened if Governor Xuan had not moved to Xuan Mansion.

In the afternoon, fellow villager Lao Kan actually came to Wei Guangde and said he was catching the autumn wind.

Lao Kan still didn't settle down in the capital, and still lived in a house provided by the yamen, so Wei Guangde's place became his canteen, and he would go here whenever he had something to do.

In fact, Wei Zhai is already a place where Jiujiang officials in Beijing often come.

"By the way, this is the letter from Zhang Ke yesterday. Please read it."

At the banquet, Lao Kan suddenly took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Wei Guangde.

"Is it okay if he goes to Shaanxi?"

Wei Guangde smiled and reached out to take the letter, and asked casually.

"What can happen to his censor? If he can't just go around and take a look, but he said in the letter that he went to Huashan, I don't understand. What do you think Huashan has to do with him as a censor?

Could it be that the mountain god is also under his control?

hehe"

As he said this, Lao Kan himself laughed.

"Then why did he write back?"

Wei Guangde said in surprise.

Last month I received a letter from Zhang Ke, saying that he had gone to Shaanxi to take over as the censor for a one-year term.

As a censor, in order to clean up the officialdom, he naturally has to travel around frequently. It is difficult to get to Shaanxi, so he must have a look at the famous mountains and rivers here.

"He went to Huashan and met Zhu Shilong's gang. He said that he had a spiritual talk with them on the mountain. Now Mr. Zhu plans to go back to Jiujiang Mansion to study behind closed doors and participate in the next Spring Festival."

Lao Kan smiled.

"I've been traveling around in the past few years, and I'm afraid I won't be able to sharpen my ink anymore."

Wei Guangde smiled and shook his head.

"By the way, do you have any ideas about what that fellow countryman asked you to do? I heard that there might be a position available in the Criminal Division for Shi Zhong at the end of the year."

Lao Kan is talking about Ouyang Yijing, who was a Jinshi in the 38th year of Jiajing and has now gone to Xiaoshan County to serve as magistrate. He wrote to Wei Guangde some time ago, asking him to help with activities in the capital.

Well, he wants to go back to the capital.