Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 456: Imitating Wei Wu's Old Tricks
The time came to 1621, which was called the third year of Tianqi in the Ming Dynasty.
On the first day of the first lunar month, at the Ming army camp on the shore of Lake Baikal.
At around nine o'clock in the morning, the high-latitude winter sun finally rose completely, the morning mist gradually dissipated, and the vast expanse of Lake Baikal reappeared in everyone's sight.
As the vision became clearer, the Ming army camp, which stretched for dozens of miles, gradually extinguished the torches that were lit last night, and then the cooks began to prepare meals. As the smoke rose higher and higher, the smell of beef and mutton mixed with it became , and the footsteps in the camp became more and more frequent, the figures of officers at all levels began to appear.
"I am honored to see you, Marshal. I would like to wish you a happy new year."
"Hahaha, congratulations to everyone, Happy New Year!"
After the generals exchanged New Year greetings, they surrounded Cao Wenzhao and climbed up a watchtower that the engineers had just built by the lake last night.
Looking far away, even with the help of Fangshan's latest telescope, Cao Wenzhao could not see the edge of the lake. After staring for a long time, he took off the telescope and let out a long sigh: "Is this the North Sea where Su Wu grazed sheep in the past? It is indeed magnificent. But why is the lake not frozen now?"
"General, I have asked the Mongolians around here, and they said that this lake is too big, and it freezes very late. It usually starts to freeze from the north at the end of the year, and it will freeze at the south end of where we are now in late January or even early February."
"Tsk! This is a bit troublesome." Cao Wenzhao lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and said, "Now that Tiger Dun and Rabbit Han, are you sure they have escaped into the lake?"
"It is confirmed, Marshal. The Buryat Mongols nearby are completely under our control. According to them, this lake is thousands of miles in radius and contains dozens of islands. The largest one, I estimate based on the Mongolian description, is probably no smaller than a county in the interior of our Ming Dynasty."
"TMD!" After swearing, Cao Wenzhao said angrily, "It's hidden in so many islands, and the lake is not completely frozen. How can we find it? We didn't bring the navy this time."
From March last year when the troops were dispatched to January this year, the 120,000 Ming troops in the east and central routes, which were mainly responsible for conquering Mongolia, had been on the march for almost a year.
During the ten months, the Mongolian Khan Lindan did not just flee northward. He organized two or three large-scale counterattacks and more small-scale raids. However, the Ming army, which was equipped with top-level muzzle-loading infantry and Western horse cavalry, had an absolute advantage over the Mongolian army, which was almost entirely equipped with cold weapons. Not to mention that later, after Fangshan sent a small number of machine guns and breech-loading rifles, the equipment gap between the two sides widened to a desperate level.
In short, during these ten months, there were three major battles involving more than 10,000 people, and dozens of small- and medium-scale battles involving hundreds or thousands of people. The casualties each time made Lin Danhan extremely embarrassed. In fact, over the past ten months, the 120,000 Ming troops lost a total of more than 8,000 people, mostly due to fatigue and disease, and less than 3,000 people were actually killed in battle.
Thanks to the Industrial Revolution that began in the Ming Dynasty, the huge increase in productivity has made products extremely abundant. In addition, the Ming Dynasty now dominates East Asia, and a large amount of food from Southeast Asia is quickly transported to the north by sea. Therefore, although this army has a huge demand for supplies every day, Yuan Keli, who specializes in logistics, still feels at ease.
Along the way, the Ming army did not move very fast: every time they conquered a new tribe, the Ming army would stop and the engineers from Fangshan Laboratory who followed the troops north would teach the local Mongolian people how to shear wool, make wool yarn, and how to store fodder in summer and autumn. As for the liberal arts students from Fangshan, they usually liked to call the local herdsmen to hold a grievance meeting, and after the meeting, they encouraged the lowest-level herdsmen in the tribe to kill the extremely evil Tabunang...
Therefore, after ten months, Cao Wenzhao was very clear in his mind: the whole of Mongolia was slowly changing. By the summer of this year, when the large amount of wool on the entire Mongolian grasslands was truly converted into cash, the heavy military pressure on the nine border towns for more than two hundred years would be completely relieved.
As for why they have to continue heading north, on the one hand, as a Chinese in the 21st century, Zhu Youdong has a special affection for Lake Baikal: if the world's largest freshwater lake is in the hands of the Chinese in the 21st century, with China's infrastructure maniac characteristics, there will be no water shortage problem in northern China at all - Lake Baikal, this super reservoir that contains 7% of the world's fresh water, must be included in the direct territory of the Ming Dynasty in this era. This is his obsession as a time traveler!
On the other hand, of course it was because of Lin Dan Khan: it was better to cut off the direct bloodline of the Golden Family. Besides, although Lin Dan Khan was not highly regarded in the historical plane, it was because he met a son of the plane like Huang Taiji. To be honest, this person's ability was not low. It was better for the Mongolian Khan, who was so far beyond the average, to die.
Therefore, although the Ming army played a more propaganda role in this expedition, in the autumn of that year, after a large number of Mongolian herdsmen had their lives greatly improved, even if Lin Danhan was still there, he could not come back after the Ming army retreated. However, Cao Wenzhao still faithfully carried out Zhu Youdong's orders, leading more than 100,000 Ming troops, and continued to advance until they arrived at the shore of Lake Baikal.
"Wenlong, what's the situation with the Western Route Army?"
After confirming that he had no way to deal with Ligdan Khan who was hiding on an island inside Lake Baikal for the time being, Cao Wenzhao simply gave up the idea and asked about the situation of Man Gui of the Western Route Army.
"Yes, yesterday the cavalry sent a battle report. More than two months ago, Marshal Man fought a great battle with the so-called Western Regions coalition organized by the Yarkand Khanate and won a complete victory, beheading more than 30,000 people, while less than 2,000 of our people were killed. Now, the Hami Guard that was abandoned during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong has been regained by our Han family, and the Turpan tribe near Hami Guard has surrendered. Uh... there is another piece of news in the latest court report."
"What's wrong?"
"After Hami Guard was taken, the news reached Beijing, and the Emperor Taishang wanted to visit Dunhuang."
"Dunhuang? The Grand Emperor?"
Speaking of which, this is also one of the changes that Zhu Youdong, the time traveler, has brought to this era.
In the historical plane, Zhu Yijun died in 1620. But now , thanks to medical advances and Zhu Youdong's early involvement in Zhu Yijun's health care, and more importantly, the Wanli Emperor retired many years earlier, and there was no stimulus like the defeat at Sarhu. Therefore, it is now 1621, and Zhu Yijun, who is less than 58 years old, is still in good health.
As for why Wanli had the interest to go to Dunhuang, it was of course because when Zhu Youdong was chatting with his grandfather, he mentioned the large number of cultural relics and murals still sleeping in the Mogao Grottoes, as well as the magic of Crescent Lake.
Moreover, ever since Emperor Xiaozong gave up Hami Guard, the Han people in the vast area west of Lanzhou have been groaning under the iron hoofs of foreign races for more than a hundred years. The royal family invited the retired emperor to go on a tour, which also had the meaning of comforting and calming people's hearts.
"The Emperor went to the northwest to win the hearts and minds of the people there."
"I see. It is because you have been in a high position for a long time that you can have such a commanding view."
"Ha! Wenlong, when did you learn to flatter? But speaking of the issue of public opinion, we have won a lot of support from ordinary Mongolian people along the way, but we don't seem to care enough about the Mongolian taijis."
"What does the Marshal mean?"
"We pushed the Mongolian nobles too hard all the way north. You see, according to the information from the Buryat Mongols nearby, there are still about 20,000 to 30,000 people following Ligdan Khan. Among them, the Tabunangs, Taijis and their cronies from the Tumed, Khalkha and Kharchin tribes account for the vast majority. It can be said that the people around Hudun and Tuhan are basically all Mongolian nobles. Who would want to run around all day long, drinking ice and snow or eating sand? But why did they grit their teeth and persist for so long? It's because we pushed them too hard."
"...Does the commander want to learn the same trick that Wei Wu used to deal with the three sons of the Yuan family?"
"Hahaha, that's right. When Yuan Benchu died, Wei Wu immediately led his army to attack Hebei. As a result, the three brothers Yuan Tan worked together to defeat Wei Wu. So Wei Wu simply withdrew his army back to Henan. Without external pressure, the three sons of the Yuan family immediately began to fight for power, and Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan became enemies. Wei Wu divided them and attacked them, and swallowed up the four states in Hebei."
"What the commander said is very true. Later, when the brothers Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang went north to Liaodong, Gongsun Kang did not understand Wei Wu's intentions and protected the Yuan brothers. When Wei Wu made it clear that he had no intention of going to Liaodong, Gongsun Kang took the initiative to hand over the heads of the Yuan brothers."
"That's right! So, I have made up my mind. The whole army will temporarily withdraw, and then send envoys to contact the taijis of various Mongolian tribes. I believe that after we take the initiative to relieve the pressure, the nobles of so many Mongolian tribes will gather together and soon have conflicts. Then, they will take the initiative to send us the head of Hu Dun Tu Han."
