Bright Spring

Duan Xuehen glanced at Zhu Gaoxu in confusion, but still replied obediently: "Because we are far away."

Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile: "Does Xue Hen think that the stars in the sky are far away, or the bonfire is far away? In fact, even if we climb a mountain peak thousands of feet (one foot and eight feet is nearly two meters), the stars we see will still look like this."

Duan Xuehen's eyes lit up, and her usual expressionless expression changed a bit. She raised her head and looked at the sky filled with stars curiously.

Zhu Gaoxu said softly: "Small stars, should they be big things? We shouldn't be complacent."

Duan Xuehen didn't respond, but her beautiful and deep eyes were shining with stars.She seemed to have escaped from the trivial matters in front of her at this moment, and her expression became more relaxed.

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Chapter 683 Don't even think about it

From late August to early September, the Ming army divided 25 cavalry and tens of thousands of strong men into eight armies, maintaining a formation that could reinforce each other, and marching all the time.The army has entered the area where the Tatars are often active.

There are no longer cities and villages along the road, let alone official post stations, and it is desolate.The sum of all the population within a radius of hundreds of miles should not be as large as that of the Ming army.

It rarely rains on the grassland this season, so many people marching, they must take the road with enough water.In addition to rivers, Zhu Gaoxu would see lakes from time to time, all of which were named Naoer, because it was the name first given by the Mongols and transliterated.

Around the "Nur" in front, thick smoke was billowing and fire was flickering.Zhu Gaoxu led the crowd to rush to the lake. He took a cloth towel and covered his mouth and nose, watching the fires by the lake.

The air was filled with smoke and ash, and black ash was flying in the air.

A general came over and clasped his fists and said, "My lord! There should have been a Tatar tribe on the pasture here. They knew that the king's master was coming, so they ran away ahead of time. But the Tatars didn't take all the things away. Heaps of pastures are stockpiled for the winter. General Ping’s forward army passed by here, and they didn’t catch anyone, so they burned the pastures!”

Zhu Gaoxu responded.The general bowed and stepped aside.

At this time, someone behind him scolded angrily: "After winter, first starve their cattle and sheep to death, and then let those people starve to death."

When Zhu Gaoxu heard this sentence, he ignored it, and thought to himself: Wouldn't this tribe borrow grass from other tribes, or exchange cattle and sheep?

The army has left the Beiping chief envoy since July, and has been trekking every day for nearly two months without catching anything; the soldiers seem to be getting a little irritable and angry... they have been walking non-stop for two months, facing the desolate environment every day It is only human nature that everyone has such emotions.So Zhu Gaoxu didn't blame the general, because even he himself was a little anxious.

He pondered for a moment, then turned his horse's head to face the group of generals behind him, and all of them bowed on their horseback.

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth and said: "At the beginning when I was fighting with the Marquis of Jiangyin in Guangxi, the two armies circled around the Guangxi chief envoy's territory and chased for several months before finally deciding the winner. You can ask Wu Gao."

Wu Gao happened to be in the crowd, with a bit of embarrassment on his face, he clasped his fists and bowed.

Zhu Gaoxu said loudly: "Patience is essential for a man to succeed! If the prey will not take the initiative to send to the arrow, let alone a Tatar?"

Many pairs of eyes focused on Zhu Gaoxu's face.

With a smug expression, he pointed to the nearby fire and shouted: "Although the Tatars can move around, their livelihoods on the steppe are very fragile. Winter will soon come, and if they abandon everything and run away, the severe cold weather will be severe." It will take the lives of the Tatars! The King of Ming Dynasty | Division Sweeping | The entire Tatar Mongolia, the enemy has nowhere to escape!"

All the generals clasped their fists together and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Another general shouted "Long live", and the nearby soldiers also shouted.For a while, the atmosphere seemed no longer so dull.

The Chinese army camped near the fire, because there is a lake here.The weather is getting colder, and the piles of fires can make people feel a little warm.WISCO vehicles are lined up around, like a temporary city; tents are set up in the middle, forming a big camp.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in a camp, and the people's voices and horses were very noisy, giving people the illusion of being bustling and noisy.

However, as long as people look outside the camp, there is still a barren, lifeless land.The unburned smoke from the huge haystack hung in the air, and the soot, which looked like fallen leaves blown by the north wind from a distance, was very bleak.

The terrain is not very flat, but there are no mountains and hills, and there are gentle curves on the horizon; there are also some lava terraces that block the line of sight, and the view is not very wide.

Zhu Gaoxu stood near the big tent of the Chinese army and watched for a long time.

When he returned to the tent, he saw the beautiful and virtuous Lord Weng and Duan Xuehen, and he felt a little more at ease.

After the virtuous Weng Lord stepped forward to salute, he asked expectantly: "The concubine heard the generals shouting long live earlier, did the vanguard army win the battle?"

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head.He saw that Duan Xuehen was also paying attention to him.

There are no civil and military officials in the tent now, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head as soon as he relaxed, and then sighed: "No matter how bad the situation is, I can't show my frustration and worry. Otherwise, how can the soldiers believe that I will take them with you?" win the battle?"

The smile on the face of the virtuous old man gradually disappeared, he looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a strange expression for a while, and hurriedly said: "The concubine pours a bowl of hot tea for the sage."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded his head, and sat down on the futon next to the table, exhaustion immediately covered his whole body.It's not that I'm tired after riding a horse for a day, but that sometimes I'm in a bad mood and I don't want to move even if I don't want to move.

The Ming Dynasty was an agricultural country and was not familiar with everything on the grasslands and deserts; let alone fighting on the territory of the Tatars.The information seems to be asymmetrical. The Ming army has not yet arrived, and the opponent seems to already know where the Ming army is.

Zhu Gaoxu led the army to walk more than 1000 miles, and so far he has not touched a single hair. He gradually felt that the Tatars should avoid and retreat in a planned way.

Since ancient times, the Central Plains has been harassed by nomadic armies, but few emperors are willing to go to the grasslands to clear|suppress the enemies.That's not without reason.

For some things, the results may not be predictable, and most of the time you may get nothing, and you can only get a little satisfaction occasionally; subjective confidence cannot change anything.After all, isn't it a gamble? !

However, what he said before to boost morale, he himself thinks, is not completely unreasonable!

The Tatars could indeed move around, but transport capacity was extremely limited anywhere at this time.If the Tatars wanted to escape in time, they had to throw away a lot of things they depended on for survival, and even starved|dead livestock.

If the Ming army swept around the areas rich in water and grass, it might be enough for the Tatars; so they might not just escape passively.

At this time, the virtuous old man brought hot tea, and she comforted softly: "People who are far away in North Korea also know that the Holy Majesty is good at fighting, and you will definitely win the battle."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded with a smile.

At this moment, Duan Xuehen actually said: "The Holy One knew this earlier, and still marched north, no matter what, it's worth it."

Zhu Gaoxu turned to look at her unexpectedly, Duan Xuehen's pool-like eyes had an encouraging expression, she looked at Zhu Gaoxu and nodded slowly.

"It makes sense." Zhu Gaoxu replied thoughtfully.

The virtuous Lord suddenly looked at Duan Xuehen who had always been taciturn with unexpected eyes.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the table.He took a breath, stretched out his hand to grasp the hilt of the sword on the table, fixed his gaze, and said in his heart: If you want to fight, you can fight, no one should think about it!Some things should not be weighed by interests; even if you get nothing and spend a lot of money, this is the determination to fight back!

In the evening, the generals went to the big tent of the Chinese army to discuss matters.

Zhu Gaoxu issued a new military order and adjusted the formation of each army.In addition to Ping'an's forward army, the front army, the middle army, the rear army, the left tuck, the right tuck, the left whistle, and the right whistle seven armies will be re-deployed; ten miles.

In the past two days, the army will form a width of about eighty miles, sweeping from south to north, killing all livestock and living things, and burning all flammable things.

Moreover, the number of soldiers in each army is about 4, and they carry a large number of WISCO vehicles; in case of an enemy attack, it is difficult for tens of thousands of people to quickly break through the defense, and the nearby army can arrive for reinforcements in more than half an hour... …

The new deployment seems to have played some role; or it may just be because the army is getting closer and closer to the hinterland of Tatar activities.The Ming army continued to make gains along the way, but most of them were tribal herdsmen who did not run away, and there were not many in number.The prisoners were tortured in the army, but those people were not nobles of the Tatar Khan at all, and knew nothing about everything.

Judging from the military operations with a scale of 30 people, the record of the Ming army until now is undoubtedly equivalent to nothing.

One after another, the sound of grand footsteps and horseshoes resounded throughout the world; however, on both sides of the noisy road, there were still wild grass and rocks everywhere, and there was nothing else.From top to bottom, the low morale of the soldiers is quietly spreading.

The soldiers of the Ming army, who were used to seeing villages, cities, rivers, and crop fields, felt insecure as they walked farther and farther in such places.During the nearly [-]-mile march, the battle never happened, and the generals were inevitably impatient.

Recently, Zhu Gaoxu would appear in the camps of various armies from time to time.The officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp who followed him in the southern and northern wars often saw the emperor, and their morale was stabilized.

Zhu Gaoxu also ordered the civil servants and eunuchs accompanying the army to tell in the barracks how the Ming army broke through the Beiyuan in Yuerhai (Beier Lake) during the Hongwu Dynasty, so that the brothers firmly believed that although the road is far, they will definitely find the king’s tent of the Tatars. , Make contributions!