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 Qianhu Station and 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 power of the Tatar cavalry. They can only barely maintain their front line for the time being to prevent the captured Longmen Pass from changing hands again.

The Ming army paid a huge price for its counterattack, 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. There is no other way to do this. 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. How could he be picked by Anda Khan on 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 fields.

This time requires the Longmen guards to fight for it 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.

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

Who is coming across from you?

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 Mingren's territory.

As for whether they were 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's not the herd he thought, but a team of horses. It looks like there are quite a few people, thousands of them. Also, why are they wearing red clothes? It's so luxurious, so many people are 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 Anta tribe breaks into the border wall for property and population. They will not show mercy to those who disobey, the old and the weak, and will 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, he is old after all, and he is no longer as good as when he fought with the little prince and Emperor Mingren in the past.

It's impossible for people to be dissatisfied.

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 the 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.

"There are many Ming people, okay, then we will kill them all and seize the war horses they sent."

The leader sneered and summoned the remaining twenty or so young people in the tribe, as well as some middle-aged and elderly herdsmen, who mounted their horses, took their bows and arrows, and prepared to go in the direction mentioned by the old herdsmen.

The old herdsman looked disappointedly at the people who kept passing by him. 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 now, you will not 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 facing the black and red sea. Some people had already turned their horses to go back.

run.

They are 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 this land of Mongolia, the current owner is called Borjijin Anda. He was originally the Khan of the Tumut tribe, but now he is recognized as the Great Khan by all the tribes in this grassland.

On the vast grassland, in addition to the large tribes, there are also many small tribes like the one before us, 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 the old herdsman belongs to 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 to eat, and slaughtering all the remaining cattle, sheep and old horses, and using the war horses.

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 old, 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 movement, and he also knew that it 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 others were purely cavalry to attack Bansheng City, so in addition to hurrying on the road, they directly found fords and waded across the Hui River and Black River they encountered on the way. He had no time to wait for the infantry carrying the baggage.

Only on the way back, they would carry the supplies looted from Bansheng City, and it would be 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 were all located in places where the rivers were deep and the currents were rapid, 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, leaving the Tatar pursuers with no time to cross the river to pursue them.

After the Ming army passed by, the entire tribal camp became quiet, and only the strong smell of blood filled 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.

Bansheng is very large, with "more than 100,000 people in total, stretching from the border wall to the south, Qingshan to the north, Weining Sea to the east, and the bank of the Yellow River to 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 is a plain and there are no mountains or 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 the same as in China, and all ministers are unified", "bees and tigers watch, farming in spring and summer, hunting in autumn and winter".

Most of the Han people who fled to the Mongolian Plateau were bankrupt farmers and the White Lotus cult.

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 fortress, 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 defeat.

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 a government office here similar to that in the mainland, to manage and collect taxes from the Han people in the territory, in order to strengthen their own power.

After a long journey, the Datong Army quietly appeared and hid in a lowland 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 move throughout the year.

At this time, Yu Dayou was sitting on the slope, and a Ming soldier dressed like a hoodwink 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, and 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 reign 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 Bian Town.

The not-so-high earthen wall serves as a city wall. The city gates are covered with bricks, which is 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 no Anda troops were seen 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.
To be continued...