Chapter 176: The good rider falls, the master strategist

The northern border of the former Daning Regional Command was between Datong and Jizhen, close to the Yanshan Mountains, more than 500 miles away from Jielingkou and more than 700 miles away from Xifengkou tribute pass.

The hills are undulating and the grassland is endless. Where the two meet, dawn is about to break and the morning light is dim.

The dull sounds of hacking and the explosions of firearms broke the silence of the early morning under the Yanshan Mountains.

The sound is short.

There is a sense of coming to an abrupt end.

The sunlight shining on the earth could not penetrate the mixed fog and smoke, and could only vaguely illuminate a neat and clear-cut army formation, as well as the corpses with hideous faces, broken limbs, and bodies lying in all directions under the horses' hooves, whose heads were being harvested by the soldiers.

The weapons and armor of the army formation are clearly of the Ming Dynasty style.

The clothing of the corpse was, needless to say, of barbaric style.

The blood dyed the grass red.

The unpleasant smell of gunpowder hit my nose.

Military judges moved back and forth among the ranks, counting numbers or recording demerits.

There were seven or eight brave men who had just been on the battlefield and were vomiting while holding their horses.

Some of the young masters who were selected into this department because of their martial arts training in the Imperial Guards even fainted when they saw the soldiers’ severed heads hanging on their waists.

"Stay here for a quarter of an hour, check your firearms, refill your gunpowder, feed your horses, and set off in a quarter of an hour!"

The leading general rode on his horse, looking like a wolf and an eagle.

Hu Shouren was the commander-in-chief of the southern troops in Jizhen. In addition to his high position and power, he also had the unquestionable prestige brought by fighting on the battlefield.

"Time is running out and military law is strict. Don't delay!"

Upon hearing this, the battalion officers and deputy generals at all levels responded with awe and passed the message up and down.

After Hu Shouren gave this order, he took off the water naan on the horse's back and began to drink water quickly for himself and the horse.

The long-distance raid and the unexpected battle exhausted both the men and the horses to the extreme.

In order to prevent Dong Huli from being alerted, Wang Chonggu assisted Sanniangzi in taking a detour through Xuanda and safely pass through Qingbaduer's pastoral area.

They traveled day and night to finally reach the pastoral area of ​​Doyanwei.

The people could still bear it, but the horses were already a little tired.

Fortunately, we will go to Yanshan next and head straight to Duoyanwei’s lair.

Thinking of this, Hu Shouren took out the telescope in his arms again, and looked towards the Yanshan Mountains as the sun just rose.

From Hu Shouren’s official position, it can be seen that he must be the most direct descendant of Qi Jiguang’s direct descendants.

The so-called Southern Troops were led by the Chief of the Southern Troops, an army composed of the core of 3,000 former subordinates that Qi Jiguang brought from Zhejiang.

Hu Shouren, on the other hand, had followed Qi Jiguang all the way from Zhejiang and Fujian to fight against the Japanese pirates, and now he is fighting outside the Great Wall. He is capable of leading a powerful army and can be regarded as the core of Qi's army.

At this time, the military judge had finished counting the military merits of this battle and rode up to Hu Shouren and said, "General Hu, that fellow has been shot by three musket bullets. He must be beyond saving. Cut him off."

Upon hearing this, Hu Shouren nodded and said, "Cut off his head and use it as a military achievement!"

Treat him as Dong Huli's unfavored son.

He was also the unlucky guy this morning - not really unlucky, after all, it was Dong Huli who left him to look after Chang Ang, so it was reasonable for him to run into Hu Shouren now.

But for a general like him, it makes no difference whether this small character is captured alive or dead.

As soon as he finished speaking, Borhan's face suddenly changed, and he said anxiously: "General Hu, Commander Qi promised my father that he would not kill innocent people of the Kelantai bloodline!"

"When all 170 of his people have returned to the embrace of Changshengtian, why would General Hu still want to kill the captives?"

"Does the general want a warrior like Commander Qi to become fat by eating his own promises?"

Hu Shouren turned his head and glanced at Borhan.

This Tartar traitor is the son of Ulus Khan. From the way he speaks, it is clear that his political identity is hard to describe.

Putting aside the strange words about breaking one's promise, the Kelantai he mentioned is the common father of Dong Huli, Ulushan and Yingke.

If the inheritance of power in the Ming Dynasty still needed to be reproduced through local cliques, disciples, former officials, and associations, then the inheritance of power in Mongolia was much simpler - the son of a nobleman must be a nobleman, and the son of a slave will always be a slave.

Therefore, the bloodline of Gelantai is exactly the powerful leaders of Doyan today.

Now the Doyan Guard is sandwiched between the left and right wings of Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty, and these people also have their own positions.

Ge Lantai's eldest son Yingke died during the Ming Dynasty. Yingke's son Changang has now lost power, so we will not discuss him for now.

The second son, Mengke, had more than 200 cavalrymen and settled in the territory of Tangtu, which was more than 200 miles south of Lengkou and more than 300 miles from Gongguan. He was affiliated with the Western Lu, that is, Nalin, the leader of the right wing of the Mongols.

The third son, Menggudai, led more than 700 cavalrymen and stationed them in the border of Tu, Huizhou, which was more than 200 miles southwest of Gongguan and was affiliated with Antan, the right wing.

The fourth son, Ma Kechi, had more than 300 cavalrymen and stationed in the territory of Doe Lu, which was more than 300 miles away from Yiyuankou and more than 500 miles southwest of Gongguan. He was affiliated with the right wing Nasun.

The fifth son, Dong Huli, leaned towards the Chahar tribe and tried hard to get rid of the control of the right wing with the help of the Mongolian Khan.

As for the sixth son, Ulusihan, he was much more sensible and a rare person who was friendly to the Ming Dynasty.

When Dong Huli was looting last year, Ulus Khan went to announce the imperial decree on the orders of the court, ordering him to return the people he had abducted, and to arrest two scapegoats under Dong Huli to give an explanation to the Ming Dynasty.

This time, when Dong Huli once again gathered various tribes to invade Ji and Liao, Ulushan directly reported the matter to Qi Jiguang.

And after negotiating something with the imperial court, he simply sent his son Borhan to act as a guide.

Facing Borhan's questioning, Hu Shouren shook his head seriously: "General Qi ordered me to come to help the grandson of the Gelantai, Changang, to take power. The killing of the disobedient is because Changang succeeded the position of governor of our dynasty, and was respectful to the court and relied on him as the suzerain."

"This includes Mengke, Menggudai, and even my father. They are all like this. They are willing to be the subjects of our dynasty, and only then can they pass the test of distinguishing between friend and foe."

"But what about Dong Hu? He has repeatedly provoked border conflicts, six times in the last year alone! He has killed civilians! He has plundered the market! He is lawless!"

"This year, they are still unwilling to give up and have once again gathered the Eastern Tartars to invade Xifengkou!"

"Boerhan actually said that Dong Huli's offspring are innocent!?"

He was too lazy to explain the power of firearms to the ignorant Tartars, saying things like if someone was shot in the vitals, they would surely die.

Instead, they started to torture Borhan directly.

Upon hearing this, Borhan's face turned red, and he groaned for a long time and was unable to speak.

Seeing that he was speechless, Hu Shouren snorted coldly and turned his head back.

Seeing that the troops were in full marching order and the time was almost up, he immediately reined in his horse and ordered, "Move!"

After the order was given, no one in the army set out.

It seems like there is no discipline at all.

In fact, this reaction was exactly the military order of the Qi family army - in all land and water camps, no matter what the matter was, they had to obey the orders of flags and drums, and no oral orders were allowed. Even if the generals said it in person, they were not allowed to follow it.

Sure enough, after a drum sound, the army finally responded.

The flag is raised.

The trumpet blew loudly.

Each officer and sentry chief went to the central army, and the whistle sounded in response.

The entire army moved in unison, as if they were a whole, and moved slowly in one direction.

Like commanding an arm, the orders are carried out strictly.

……

On top of the Xifengkou city wall.

Qi Jiguang held a telescope in his hand and looked outside the Great Wall frequently.

A few miles away, the scouts were clearly visible, patrolling and running back and forth.

Further away, circles of Tatar tents and organized cavalry were blurry and unclear in the mirror.

Although there were only vague outlines, combined with the fact that tens of thousands of cavalry had charged through the pass several times in recent days, the situation of the enemy at the gates was clear at a glance.

Chen Ziluan, who was standing by, was reporting on the enemy situation outside the Great Wall: "General Qi, according to the scouts, the Habushen and Chaohua tribes seemed to have withdrawn last night, leaving only the Subahai, Heishitan, Beima Taiji, and Laxi Taiji tribes."

Chaohua and Subahai were both members of the Three Guards of Doyan. The former occupied Fuyu Guard and the latter was the chief of Taining Guard. They were both good friends who were trying to conquer Liaodong with Dong Huli.

Heishitan, Beima Taiji and Laxi Taiji belonged to the Chahar tribe of the left wing of Mongolia. These people were always present when invading Jinzhou and Yizhou.

Ha Bu Shen was from the Kharachin tribe of the right wing of Mongolia. Before Altan Khan surrendered to him, he violated the law every year. After Altan Khan surrendered to him, he would engage in trade and then take back the goods.

In short, they are all Tatar heroes.

Qi Jiguang squinted his eyes and scanned the telescope without looking back: "There are at least 10,000 cavalrymen waiting for an opportunity outside Xifengkou."

This number was not obtained by telescope, but was a combination of the understanding of these tribes and the intelligence of the scouts. Finally, the telescope was used to estimate the number of tents and horses.

Ten thousand cavalrymen is certainly not a small number, especially on the vast grassland.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is a torrent.

However, Chen Ziluan was not worried about this number. After all, in addition to the regular recruits for guarding the pass, there were 6,000 cavalry and 13,000 infantry ready to go in Xifengkou - there were originally 10,000 cavalry, and Hu Shouren took away 4,000.

He was confident: "Don't be fooled by the large number of people Dong Hu has gathered. They are just a mob. When they see that there is no advantage to be gained, they will disperse in a short time."

"Chaohua has always had a grudge against the Chahar tribe. Even when he came to the border these days, he had constant conflicts with Beima Taiji, and they almost came to blows. Chaohua was accidentally controlled by his elder brother Qingbaduer, and followed him to enjoy the benefits of our dynasty in the trade. Now he follows Dong Huli, and has the intention of gathering together to ask for rewards, but he has no courage to invade the border and kill people."

"The two of them withdrew. This was expected."

"Besides that, the three Chahar tribes are far away from our headquarters, and the Jurchens are eyeing us covetously. Now that our elite troops have been withdrawn, and we haven't seen any opportunities in the past few days, I'm sure they won't be able to stay for long."

"Once these three are gone, we will be able to take the initiative to meet the enemy and kill them with one blow!"

Qi Jiguang frowned and looked at Chen Ziluan: "Don't be so impetuous! Haven't you learned enough from being impeached by Governor Liu and interrogated by the censor?!"

Chen Ziluan was born a chivalrous hero, and he was far from being cautious as an official and a commander.

All day long, either you are fully confident or the enemy is a mob.

It's a long way from being able to stand on one's own.

It was precisely because of this impetuousness that he was impeached by Liu Yingjie and almost went to jail.

At the end of last year, because Dong Huli had repeatedly invaded the border and killed people and robbed goods, the border army officers and soldiers all regarded the Tatars as enemies. Southern soldiers such as Wu Qing took advantage of the trade to secretly cross the border, killed Altan Khan's people without authorization, and fabricated the Tatars' situation and spread the beacon fire.

Garrison commander Chen Ziluan, deputy general Chen Xun, and inspector Wang Fengming were dispatched upon hearing the call, and they started shouting and killing without asking the reasons, which almost caused a disaster.

After all, he was an old man brought from Zhejiang. While Qi Jiguang brought him along to share the military merit, he also had to teach him a lesson.

Upon hearing this, Chen Ziluan admitted his mistake angrily.

Only then did Qi Jiguang's expression ease.

He gently put down the telescope, put it in his arms, and said earnestly: "Since Fox Dong has left the nest, he will definitely die. If you can take all precautions, don't take any risks."

The adventure he referred to was not only military, but also the desire to avoid too much conflict with the Chahar and Kharchin tribes, the left and right wings of the Mongols.

The emperor and the cabinet had specifically instructed not to turn the matter of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys into a major war with the two Mongol khans.

As for Duoyanwei?
There were only four thousand cavalrymen, they were just jumping for joy, but in fact they had already made a list.

Qi Jiguang had long wanted to kill Dong Huli.

During the Longqing period, after Yingke's death, Dong Huli led 4,000 cavalry to invade Ji border.

Qi Jiguang had reported to the court at that time, saying, "The local barbarians are indeed the chieftains, and Dong Huxiong is the real troublemaker. We should punish him and destroy him."

Unfortunately, the Governor-General of Ji-Liao and the Censor of the Ministry of War did not support the use of military force against Doyan Guard at that time, and the central government did not approve it.

The former said, "The barbarians should be eliminated, but the terrain is rugged and difficult, so it is better to suppress them slowly" - Dong Huli should be eliminated, but it is not quite right to eliminate Dong Huli.

The latter said, "The border is dangerous and the generals are not used to it. We should be cautious and make sure everything is done before we can talk about fighting."

Although the opinion is conservative, it is not groundless.

When the Chahar tribe of the left wing of Mongolia moved eastward, Taining and Fuyu, two of the three Doyan guards, were immediately annexed.

Only the Duoyan Guards, relying on "everyone going into the deep mountains, resisting the dangers and holding out, with sparse vegetation and difficulty in going deep", managed to resist stubbornly for several years.

It can be said that if we want to win the game, we must play away from home and be restricted everywhere.

If not for this, the border troops would have taken action as early as the Longqing period, and Dong Huli would not have been able to continue to cause trouble until now.

It is for this reason that Qi Jiguang said that if the fox Dong left his nest, he would surely die - the fox Dong had been plundering Xuanda, Ji and Liao for more than ten years at no cost, and he probably forgot that the Ming Dynasty border troops still had the option of showing their fangs.

After being scolded, Chen Ziluan became much more obedient.

He tentatively said, "General Qi, General Hu should be arriving soon. What if Dong Huli hears the news and leads his troops to evacuate together with the East and West Tartar Chiefs?"

Now that Dong Huli has sent troops to invade, he has only divided some of his trusted followers into two parts. One part stayed in the Tuguogen realm to guard the old nest; the other part was stationed in the Daningbei realm to restrain Chang Ang.

Hu Shouren was heading for these two places.

After Dong Huli finds out, he may not dare to return to Yanshan.

Qi Jiguang shook his armor and looked outside the Great Wall with a penetrating eye: "Beima Taiji is not Tuman Khan, there is no reason for him to make wedding dresses for others."

At this point, he couldn't help but shook his head: "Don't regard the Tatars as our army. They are just tribal chiefs, barbarians after all."

If they were not barbarians, there wouldn't be such a thing as two people in charge of the left and right wings of Mongolia.

The Mongols have no center and no overall situation.

……

A few more days passed.

The invading Tatar cavalry seemed to be defeated by the immovable Great Wall.

Over the past few days, Dong Huli tried to break through several times, but each time he failed.

They moved quickly to other passes, where the defenders were also well-rested and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out.

The troops were divided into different places, and after leaving behind a few corpses, they gathered together again.

The flags on the city walls were waving, showing no signs of weakness.

The defense of Jizhen is too normal.

It’s so normal that it doesn’t seem like the army of the Ming Dynasty.

at last.

After many days of futile efforts, the Mongolian tribes that had been knocking on the Great Wall finally dispersed.

The yurt was quietly packed up at night.

The scouts quietly withdrew most of their troops, leaving only a small number to look after them.

The leaders of each tribe did not even meet each other, but left in different directions without saying a word.

Dong Huli rode on his horse, looking at the scattered cavalry in the moonlight, feeling heavy in his heart.

Qi Jiguang is too difficult to deal with.

He had been plundering Ji and Liao for more than ten years, and it was only after Qi Jiguang came that he suffered repeated setbacks.

During the Jiajing period, he followed Huang Taiji into Xuanfu and headed straight for the Luan River, as if he was in an empty land.

At the turn of the Gia Long period, Jie Ling Kou was like a back garden, where people could come and go as they pleased, and winter supplies were readily available.

The situation took a turn for the worse only after Qi Jiguang arrived in Jizhen.

In the fourth year of Longqing's reign, he and Subahai and Chaohua led tens of thousands of troops to attack the pass, but their efforts were in vain as the enemy resisted.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, it was thought that the border troops were unstable due to the transition from the old to the new. As a result, after they attacked Xifengkou, it almost became their military achievement.

He had hoped that with the support of Tuman Khan this year, he could gather the people of the Chahar tribe and the three guards of Doyan to make a comeback, and achieve some results and consolidate his position. However, he ended up with everyone scattering in panic.

Maybe... he should have started from Liaodong with Subahai, Black Tan and Chaohua.

It is hard to say whether Li Chengliang could be defeated with just one blow.

Dong Huli was thinking wildly in his mind. After counting and collecting the 4,000 cavalrymen one by one, he returned in a hurry.

Four thousand cavalry is not accurate, it should be four thousand two hundred and ninety cavalry - so Wang Chonggu is extremely reliable in military affairs.

Recalling his experience years ago, Wang Chonggu had roughly estimated the number of people in Doyanwei - there should be 60,000 people, 11,000 young and strong men, and about 4,000 cavalry.

This number is indeed not far from the actual situation.

Duoyanwei was gradually being divided up by the left and right wings of Mongolia.

This is also reflected in the cavalry.

Now, the Doyan Guard cavalry, which was directly absorbed by the Tumed under Altan Khan, had four tribes with 2050 cavalrymen, and the Chahar tribe, which was directly absorbed by Tumen Khan, had five tribes with 1800 cavalrymen.

The remaining fourteen divisions with 4290 cavalrymen were the ones that Dong Huli could directly control. They were also the capital he used to suppress Chang Ang and get rid of the right wing and get closer to Tuman Khan.

Therefore, as long as Dong Huli can preserve the capital of 4,000 cavalrymen, he will be able to make a comeback despite some setbacks.

At this moment.

On the way home, a horse came galloping towards us.

Dong Fox's eyes narrowed.

A bad premonition emerged in my heart.

He was about to stop the other person from speaking so that he could speak to him in private.

Unfortunately it's too late.

As the sound of the approaching horse's hooves got closer, the person's shrill voice also came closer.

"En Xiang! Ujiyet Ulus was wiped out by the Han people! That bastard Chang Ang led the Han people to sacrifice all of En Xiang's descendants to Yuelun Hatun!"

Dong Huli's face changed drastically when he heard this.

(End of this chapter)