Bright Spring

However, all of this can only maintain the morale of one's own people, and cannot affect the actions of the enemy, and the situation has not changed.

In late September, the weather is even colder.On the grassland desert, there is almost no green leaf, and the trees are bare, as if they have died.The first snow has already fallen, and the snow stopped soon, and the cold wind howled and the air was extremely dry and cold.

The safe vanguard came to report that the farthest forward scout had moved to the south of Yuyuerhai (Bale Lake), but no one was found.

Many traces of campsites, haystacks, burnt cow|dung, etc. were found on the pasture.Obviously, the Tatar tribe used to graze in the southern part of the Fishing Sea, after all, there are many good pastures with abundant water and grass; but at this time, the tribes have withdrawn.

The area around Yuerhai used to support more than 10 Northern Yuan clan troops, and it was here that the Ming army defeated the Northern Yuan army.

Now, the Ming army came again, but they didn't catch anything.

Chapter 684 The Eagle's Message

"Hoo!" A high-pitched eagle cry sounded in the air.The very strong Ping An raised his head, his eyes chasing the Costin hovering in the sky.

The grassland was really too monotonous, suddenly there was some strange movement, many soldiers around were attracted attention, and many people looked up at the sky.But it was of no use. No one in the Ming army could understand the language of eagles.

After a while, the eagle trainer came over on horseback, and he said, "Commander, there seems to be an enemy army in the northwest direction!"

"Distance, number of people." Ping An immediately said.

The surrounding soldiers made a noise, all of them looked elated.Damn, he walked so far without seeing the enemy army, and now he can finally fight!Everyone is looking forward to it, ready to do a big job!

At this moment, the falcon trainer looked embarrassed and bewildered, apparently he didn't know either.Ping An also noticed that the eagle trainer used the word "like" when reporting the enemy's situation just now.

"Commander! Commander..." All the generals stared at Ping An, and some of them were already gnashing their teeth.

Pingan squinted his eyes, his body was heaving and shaking on the horseback, he raised his hand and said: "Command all the ministries, pay attention, and continue marching. General Chen, you send more scouts from the headquarters!"

"Decree!" Lu Lianghou Chen Zhen clasped his fists and said.

Pingan turned his upper body, pointed to the northeast of Yuyuerhai, and said, "Send more people to watch over there. Put that sea dongqing to Yuyuerhai!"

Chen Zhen and the eagle trainer answered together.

The enemy army seemed to be coming from the northwest, but Ping An sent out more probing horses to the northeast.

Because he is also a man of tricks, there is a large piece of good pasture on the other side of the fishing sea, and it is reasonable for the Tatars to attack from the northeast; so, who knows if the Tatars will play "striking east and west" and the like trick?

The message brought by the eagle stirred | the emotions of the soldiers.But soon there was no movement. When people looked around, there was still only endless dry grass and the howling cold wind in the air.

For a while, Ping An looked at the scene on the horizon, and for a while, he looked back at the front and back of the team.All the generals know peace, he responds quickly to things, he is courageous, and never drags his feet when doing things; at this time, his action of looking around is serious thinking, which is rare.

The vanguard army is the smallest army among the eight armies of the Northern Expeditionary Army, with only more than 2 people.But the striker is the most powerful force!

The reason is simple. The army has a large proportion of heavy soldiers, and there are even civilians.Baggage soldiers generally do not fight, and undertake heavy military duties such as escorting baggage, building camps, setting up tents, lighting fires and cooking meals; they have little armor and equipment, and simple ordnance, and can only provide some assistance and defense in critical situations battle.

However, the supply battalion of the Northern Expeditionary Army had more people.After the army left Kaipingwei, there was no follow-up food road; the marching route in the northern section could only rely on the accompanying army and the captured pasture animals.Fortunately, most of the war horses of the Ming army are also Mongolian horse breeds, which are very suitable for the pasture on the Mongolian plateau.

Therefore, it is meaningless for the Ming army to build grain roads on the grassland.Without a strong army escort, on the long front of more than 1000 miles, the food team is like sending sheep to the tiger's mouth!

Ping'an's vanguard army is different. It is backed by the central army as the rear. Most of the army is soldiers, and more than half of them are cavalry.So he has the smallest number, but he is not such an easy-to-eat army.

Ping'an is still very calm until now, and still keeps the army marching in columns like a long snake formation!

After a long time, there was still a long way to the northwest, and someone shouted: "Report!"

Several riders rushed to the vicinity of the handsome flag with "Ping" written on it, and after finding safety, one rider got off his horse, knelt down on one knee and said, "Twenty miles to the northwest, the enemy's riders have more than a thousand or two thousand, and they are marching in formation. Come!"

"Hey!" A general raised his fist in the air, and his face turned red.Everyone was noisy again.

Pingan asked: "See clearly? Did you see other people?"

The scout general said: "Back to the commander, there is a desert over there, and there is no shelter in the four fields. We have not misread it! We lost a few brothers, but we have detoured to a farther place to inquire, and have not found other people. !"

It took less than half an hour for the horse team to raid twenty li!

A general beside him said in a deep voice, "Marshal, do you want to order the entire army to form a formation and stabilize the position first?"

Ping An still had a sneer on his face, as if he was not in a hurry.

The general's suggestion is obviously not because he is afraid of the one or two thousand enemy cavalry, but because he is worried that there are still undiscovered enemy troops!After listening to Ping An, he understood. He turned his head again and glanced at the direction of the fishing sea in the northeast.

On the right front side (northeast), there is no intelligence from the scout army at this time.This place is nearly a hundred miles away from the southern part of Yuyuerhai, and there are no Tatar activities there...but it was already two days ago.

After only a short while, Ping'an issued an order: "Yanshan Zuoying will charge forward, Zuo Chong will attack with the whole team, and stop the enemy cavalry!"

"Order!"

A member of the army hurriedly said: "Commander! The Tatar cavalry can't gather together. We have more than 1000 cavalry to meet the enemy. We will chase them everywhere, and we can't stop the enemy cavalry. Our army's rear camp is far away, and we will be harassed!"

Ping An said with a smile: "I think you can become the Duke of the state. How about I speak for you when I am in front of the Holy Majesty?"

The general seemed quite happy for a moment, but immediately the surrounding generals laughed "hehe", and he touched the back of his head in embarrassment, and his face turned red.

Pingan then deployed Chen Zhen and other generals to rectify the cavalry and arrange strategies for advancing and retreating.

After the deployment was completed, Ping An recruited another civilian officer accompanying the army and asked him to write a report.Kuaima reported to the Chinese army behind, explaining the military situation.

... On the withered grassland, the hoarfrost remaining on the grass leaves has not completely melted away under the sun.The roar of horseshoes and the shouts of the crowd resounded through the world.There are at least 3000 horses on both sides, and they are galloping on the grassland. The battle is like ten thousand horses galloping together.

The red military flag with the word "Ming" fluttered in the wind, and a high-pitched voice of a Beijing camp general shouted: "Brothers, it's time to confer the title of marquis and prime minister!"

"Long live the Holy One!" "Long live..." Countless jogging horses began to speed up, and the sound of horseshoes on the field became louder, gradually forming a large area.

The wide-brimmed iron helmets and armor of the Ming army glowed with a metallic luster in the sun, and the red tassels raised on the helmets were particularly bright on the gray earth.

On the galloping horses, all the soldiers stared wide-eyed, with no hesitation in their expressions.Amidst the clamor of shouts, a "ho" shouted in unison from time to time to strengthen the momentum.The positive cavalry that was laid out rushed to the distance like a torrent of steel, unstoppable!

On the Tatar horse army formation in the distance, in a place where the dust was slightly scattered, suddenly it seemed like birds and beasts scattered. A group of horses divided into multiple groups and began to run in different directions!

The horses of the Ming army originally charged in the northwest direction and frontal. At this time, under the command of the general, the two cavalry soldiers charged left and forward divided into two groups, and continued to attack the left front and right front.

After the Mongolian cavalry ran past, the dust was still on the ground, and the Ming cavalry rushed in immediately. "Swish, swish..." came the sound of the wind, and in the misty air, black shadows flashed from time to time, and arrows flew head-on!

Among the galloping horses of the Ming army, there was a "jingling" sound on all sides, and there were screams and horses neighing from time to time.When a sergeant falls off his horse, he will roll a long way on the ground.

The cavalry of the Ming army in front of them in the dust ran on horseback while leaning over to draw their bows, and the string sounded like fried beans for a while.

The nearest Mongolian cavalry was very close, and the shadows of the soldiers and horses could be faintly seen in the dust.The soldiers of the Ming army shot straight at the shadows, causing casualties on both sides, but the Ming army suffered a lot from riding and shooting!

This is the "horseback arrow" commonly used by the Mongols, which took advantage of the wind!

(There is not much difference in the riding speed of the two sides. The Mongols ran in front and the Ming army chased after them. The "relative speed" of the two armies was approximately static; in theory, shooting arrows back and forth had the same range and damage to each other. But There is also the factor of wind resistance!

Compared with the static ground and air, the speed of the Ming army's arrows leaving the string must be added to the speed of the horses running; the "absolute speed" is very high, and the wind resistance it brings is also great.The Mongols shoot arrows backwards, and the off-string arrows must offset the forward speed of the horses; the "absolute speed" is relatively low, so the wind resistance is small, and the range and strength are greater!

The Mongols probably don't know much about it, but they have a lot of experience in horseback riding and archery. )