Volume 1: The Wind Rises in Tumubao Chapter 2 This wave can be fought
Fan Zhong stared at this scene in amazement. After a long while, he said, "Your Majesty, the army has already..."
Before he could finish, Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "Bring me the map!"
Fan Zhong suddenly became alert and quickly took out a map and opened it in front of Zhu Qizhen.
The place where they are trapped now is the famous Tumubao in history. There are cliffs to the north, the Yongding River is fifteen miles to the south, the main force of Yesen's tribe is following them to the west, and the Guishui River to the east is blocked by the Ala tribe.
The more Zhu Qizhen read on, the more his brows furrowed, and finally their furrows formed the shape of a Chinese character "川".
"Who the hell planned this marching route?"
Fan Zhong opened his mouth wide but dared not make a sound.
Because that idiot... is you!
Zhu Qizhen pointed to a location on the map and asked, "Huailai City is only 20 miles away from here, why don't you go into the city?"
Fan Zhong smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, when the army first arrived a few days ago, we were able to enter the city, but now the Wala army is following us, and Huailai garrison commander Kang Neng has abandoned the city and fled. Huailai City has fallen!"
"Fuck his ancestors!" Zhu Qizhen was so angry that he yelled, "When I return to the capital, I will kill all his clans!"
Hearing the emperor swearing, Fan Zhong felt surprisingly friendly, as if the person in front of him was no longer the high and mighty emperor, but a brother who had fought through life and death with the soldiers on the battlefield.
I don't know why this feeling suddenly appeared, but... it feels good.
"Your Majesty is right. Go back and kill all of his nine clans!"
Zhu Qizhen stared at the map and said casually, "It's not about killing his mother's entire clan, it's about killing his entire clan. Human life is at stake, so we can't make a mistake!"
Fan Zhong nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, yes, kill all nine generations of his clan!"
After Zhu Qizhen finished looking at the map, he asked, "How many soldiers do we have left?"
Fan Zhong replied: "Less than 80,000!"
Zhu Qizhen took a deep breath and asked again: "How many people are there in Wala?"
"Yesen's main force in the rear is over 120,000, and the Ala tribe in the front is over 30,000."
Hearing this number, Zhu Qizhen could not help but look worried, and said to himself: "80,000 vs. 150,000, the gap is a bit big, this battle will not be easy to fight!"
Seeing that the emperor was studying the map seriously, Fan Zhong did not dare to disturb him.
Zhu Qizhen suddenly raised his head and asked, "Are the Ala tribe stationed on the east or west bank of the Guishui River?"
"The west bank is only ten miles away from our military base!"
"Ten miles?" Zhu Qizhen lowered his head again, gesturing on the map, and muttered, "If we send out cavalry to raid, this distance..."
"Your Majesty!" Fan Zhong said even worse news, "After the two battles of Jiming Mountain and Yaoerling, the three thousand battalions have been completely destroyed. There are no cavalry left in our army!"
Before the Ming army was trapped in Tumu Fort, it had just experienced two major wars, or to be more precise, two major defeats.
On August 13, the Ming army arrived at Jiming Mountain, east of Xuanfu, and received military news from Xuanfu that the Oirat army was approaching.
If the coach is experienced, he will make a judgment immediately and rush into Juyongguan to escape from danger.
However, Wang Zhen ordered his troops to camp on the spot, claiming that his more than a thousand baggage carts had not arrived yet, and sent Wu Kezhong, Marquis of Gongshun, and Commander-in-Chief Wu Keqin to lead the troops to fight.
The battle was extremely brutal. The 20,000 cavalry of the Ming army were completely wiped out, and the Wu brothers died heroically.
After hearing the news of the defeat at the front, Zhu Qizhen still did not realize the danger. At the instigation of Wang Zhen, he tried to get back at square one. He sent Duke Cheng Zhu Yong and Earl Yongshun Xue Shou to lead 45,000 troops to meet the enemy head-on. As a result, the army mistakenly fell into the trap set by the enemy at Yaoer Ridge. Ambushes rose up everywhere, and Zhu and Xue were both killed in the battle.
After these two battles, the main cavalry forces of the Ming army were completely lost, and they completely lost their ability to conduct mobile operations.
What was more serious was that the Oirat army had completed the encirclement. There were no springs near Tumubao, and all the important roads were blocked. The Ming army watched themselves being dragged into a dead end.
Zhu Qizhen was so angry that he slammed the table and said angrily: "More than half of the 200,000 soldiers have been killed, and the rest are all infantry. What's the point of fighting this!"
Fan Zhong was helpless. Who are you asking? Wasn’t it you who gave the order?
"Where is the Shenjiying?" Zhu Qizhen suddenly thought of a question, "Is the Shenjiying still there?"
"Your Majesty, the Divine Machine Battalion has been following the Central Army and has not suffered any casualties for the time being."
"Then there's still a fight!"
Zhu Qizhen became . What the Mongols feared most was firearms. As long as the Shenjinying was still there, they had the capital to fight.
At this time , Wang Zhen came back, with a flattering smile on his face, and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, the generals have arrived in front of the tent and request to see you."
Zhu Qizhen said without turning his head: "Announce!"
"yes!"
Half of Wang Zhen's face was swollen and he looked a little lonely. He didn't understand why the emperor, who always obeyed him, suddenly turned against him.
As the saying goes, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. Things are about to change!
But where did I go wrong?
The generals entered the central military tent one by one and knelt down to pay their respects.
"No need to be polite, my lords!" Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "Come here, let's discuss the next battle plan!"
Everyone looked at each other, with the same question in their minds: what happened to the emperor today? The style is not right!
Zhu Qizhen waited for a while, and seeing that everyone was standing still, he said, "What are you still standing there for? Come over here!"
"Yes, we obey your order!"
Everyone then stepped forward cautiously, but did not dare to get too close.
"That guy..." Zhu Qizhen looked at the crowd and pointed randomly, "Mr. Zhang's family, Mr. Kuang's family, you two are the most senior officials, tell me what you think!"
Duke Yingguo Zhang Fu and Minister of War Kuang Ye looked at each other and saw the same problem in each other's eyes. The emperor always made decisions on his own or allowed Wang Zhen to give orders recklessly. When did he ever listen to everyone's opinions?
Seeing the two of them in a daze, Fan Zhong couldn't help but remind them: "My two lords, the emperor is asking you a question!"
"Oh, oh!" Zhang Fu hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the biggest problem right now is the water source. The soldiers dug wells on the spot and found more than a dozen places. They dug more than two meters deep, but still couldn't find water. If this continues, there might be a mutiny!"
At this time, Kuang Ye said: "Fifteen miles to the south is the Yongding River. Now Yesen's main force has retreated, why don't we..."
"No, we can't go!" Zhu Qizhen stared at the map and said, "Our army is now backed by mountains and rivers, so we still have some safety. If we move south, it will be a vast wilderness. When the enemy rushes up, our army will be attacked from both sides and we won't be able to take care of both ends!"
Zhang Fu's eyes narrowed slightly as he carefully observed Zhu Qizhen's expression. He felt that Zhu Qizhen today seemed very different from usual.
Leaving a gap in the south was exactly Yesen's trap. He knew that the Ming army could not stand the hunger and thirst, so he pretended to retreat and deliberately let go of the river water south of Tumu Fort. He then set up an ambush in secret, waiting for the Ming army to move to the vicinity of Yongding River. By then, when there was no place to defend, he could launch a general attack.
As the saying goes, those in charge are often confused, while bystanders can see things more clearly. Due to the serious water shortage in the troops, there was endless debate within the Ming army, and many generals proposed to move south. It was unexpected that the emperor could see the problem at a glance, which was a bit surprising.
However, even if we understand this, there is still no way to solve the water source problem.
"We can't wait any longer!" Zhu Qizhen slammed the table heavily, "Order the army to assemble and march eastward. I want to consume the 30,000 troops of the Ala tribe!"
