Yang Zaixing of the Southern Route Army was faster, and his men were all mountain infantry and mountain cavalry.
Moreover, we didn’t bring so many immigrants as a burden, and we didn’t even bring artillery pieces weighing more than fifty kilograms—the Tiger Crouching Cannon weighed about forty kilograms.
Yang Zaixing had only 7,000 regular troops. In order to prevent the rebellion of the Guangxi native chiefs, he ordered all the chiefs of the Guangxi tribes to personally take their eldest sons and warriors with him to attack the Dali Kingdom.
Tribes that fail to send troops within the time limit will be regarded as conspiring to rebel!
While Bai Qi, Lin Chong, Zhong Yu and other civil and military officials were still busy dealing with Guizhou affairs, Yang Zaixing had already divided his troops into two groups and reached the border of Dali.
Along the way, the coalition of chiefs of various ethnic groups in Guangxi took the Temo Road to the west to attack the Huimo tribe.
Temo Road is the large area of ​​Guangnan and Funing, and the Huimo tribe is one of the thirty-seven barbarian tribes in Dali.
The other group, led by Yang Zaixing personally, went to the destroyed Ziqi Kingdom (Xingren, Anlong, Xingyi) to attack the Luoxiong tribe in Luoping County.
The Luoxiong tribe is also one of the thirty-seven barbarian tribes. The original meaning of Luoping County is "Luoxiong has been leveled".
What kind of hero do you have?
Just call me Luo Ping.
These places are more difficult to travel than Guizhou!
But Yang Zaixing's troops have become accustomed to it. Their troops are all from Lingnan, and they have been stationed in Guangxi all year round to quell the rebellion of the native chiefs. Even 15% of the soldiers are from naturalized tribes.
Although they are elites, they all wear light armor. Even the generals only wear light armor.
The logistics troops carry a large number of southwestern ponies. These ponies are not very good at fighting, but are very useful in carrying goods in the mountains. After long-term training, one person can control multiple horses. That is, a person leads one in front and one behind.
The horses carry their own loads and follow the mountain roads, and only need help when the road is extremely difficult.
Food road?
Yang Zaixing has no food channels.
He only brought 40 days' worth of food and fodder with the army. He would take whatever he had to fight, and he would figure out how to get food when the time came.
If it doesn't work, kill and eat the pony that is carrying the grain. Anyway, there is no grain to transport, and if you keep it, you will waste grain and grass.
Yang Zaixing's army was very fast, and the vanguard he sent was even faster.
"Commander, the Ming army is coming to kill us!"
"How is that possible? We just reached Lingtou Village yesterday. Did they fly here?"
Puwa, the chief of the Luoxiong tribe, was shocked.
The barbarian chiefs in southern Sichuan and western Guizhou call themselves "ghost masters", while the barbarian chiefs in eastern Yunnan and western Guangxi are called "jun chief", and the title of "jun chief" is also recognized by the Duan family.
Puwa learned that the Ming army was suddenly attacking, and immediately ordered all villages to gather troops, and at the same time sent envoys to request the division and Zongbu for rescue.
He hadn't even finished gathering his troops here before Yang Zaixing's vanguard troops had already come over.
Puwa took the tribal warriors and rode Yunnan horses to check it out in person.
There are tens of miles of long and narrow dams here, which are flat lands between mountains, which are very suitable for farming, and naturally also suitable for cavalry operations.
But they saw five hundred Ming mountain cavalry, one man and three horses galloping towards them, bypassing two villages along the way.
Puwa saw it from a distance, as if he had encountered a ghost, and immediately returned to the village without saying a word.
The five hundred elite mountain cavalry were not something Luo Xiong's tribe could contend with head-on, so they could only rely on the fortress for defense.
The main village of the Luoxiong tribe is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and there is a lake next to it. However, there is a few miles of flat land to the southeast, and all of that flat land has been reclaimed into cultivated land. The narrow dams dozens of miles outside are also mostly cultivated land. Here,
The agriculture is quite developed and the tribe is relatively strong among the Thirty-Seven Barbarians.
Therefore, Luo Xiong's tribe can gather thousands of troops!
As long as you are young and strong, you can fight, and even women can fight at critical moments.
"Go and persuade him to surrender."
The cavalry general is called Cao Xun, who is the nephew of the giant pirate Cao Cheng. He also went to Kaifeng Military Academy for further studies.
He said to the guide accompanying the army: "Tell Puwa, either surrender or annihilate the clan. There are tens of thousands of troops behind me. They are just passing by this time. The real goal is to destroy the Dali Kingdom. He is a vassal of Dali and a rebel of Dali.
Let him think it over on his own."
The guide was a businessman who often traveled to Yunnan, and he ran to the outside of the village to shout.
Puwa called the little chiefs under his command, discussed for a long time, and hesitated.
Because Yang Zaixing's methods were extremely cruel, he had already massacred two villages of the Luo Xiong tribe and robbed all the grain in the village and nearby areas. One was to collect grain and grass, and the other was for the safety of the rear.
Puwa and the little chiefs were very worried. What if Yang Zaixing suddenly ordered a massacre after they surrendered?
But if you don't surrender, you will have no choice but to flee into the mountains, and you will never win.
However, Yang Zaixing's vanguard troops arrived too quickly. If they chose to escape at this time, it would be difficult for Puwa to take away the money and food. If there was a slight mistake, they might be hunted down by Ming cavalry and collapse.
While he was thinking about it, the Ming army's cavalry had already taken action.
A dozen squatting tiger cannons weighing about 40 kilograms were taken off the horseback. These things could not destroy the fort, but they could cover the attacker's advance.
Of course, this time the light troops advanced rapidly and did not bring many artillery shells.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
More than ten rounds of artillery shells were fired, and the effective range was only a hundred meters.
Not a single enemy was hit. They seemed to be firing cannons to cheer up the fire, but they frightened the barbarians in the village to their core.
After two rounds of shelling, Poix sent an envoy to discuss surrender.
In the middle of the afternoon, Puwa and the little chiefs formally opened the gate of the village and knelt down to ask for surrender.
Cao Xun did not lead his troops into the stronghold, but chose to camp twenty miles to the south. The army guarded the entrance to the mountain to prevent Puwa from sending someone to report a message to the division's headquarters. As long as the place was blocked, even if someone went to report the message, they would have to go through it first.
Go up the mountain or take a remote trail.
He said to Puwa: "Give me some food and fodder, and then send your troops home, leaving only three hundred warriors in the stockade, waiting for the follow-up army to pick them up. By the way, one of my soldiers is sick, so for now
Stay in your village to recuperate."
"Is it just like this?" Puwa was a little confused.
Cao Xun said: "You must personally lead three hundred warriors, and take your adult son with you, and then follow the army to attack Dali. I am the pioneer, you do not need to follow me."
Puwa said: "I can help persuade the Shi Zongbu to surrender."
"No need." Cao Xun shook his head.
In the Luoluo Kingdom established by the thirty-seven tribes of barbarians, the chief of the Maitreya tribe was the king and the chief of the Shizong tribe was the prime minister.
But when it comes to wealth, the Shizong tribe ranks first, being the tribe with the most money, food, and soldiers among the Thirty-Seven Barbarians!
As for the Maitreya tribe, it is the tribe with the most fierce soldiers.
Even if the Shizong tribe surrenders directly, Yang Zaixing has to be on guard against rebellion at all times. He must beat them severely and persuade them to surrender, so that they will have more memory when they want to rebel in the future.
What's more, the imperial court has set its sights on the land of the Shizong tribe and plans to resettle some Han soldiers and civilians there. How to free up space without killing some natives?
After watching Luo Xiong's troops disband the army, he replenished food and grass here, and rested for fifteen or six hours, Cao Xun continued his march the next morning.
The reinforcements from Shizong's tribe were already on the way, and they didn't know yet that Luo Xiong's tribe had surrendered.
Luo Xiong's tribe did secretly send someone to inform them of the surrender, but the best passage was blocked by the Ming army's cavalry. The envoy took a detour and took a small path, setting off more than ten hours in advance, but was quickly overtaken by Cao Xun and his cavalry.
The two armies met in a hilly area.
One side was in a hurry to rescue the allied tribes, and the other side was in a hurry to rush over and attack for reinforcements. Neither of them seriously explored the route. If they ran into each other, they would just start a war.
"How can there be Ming troops here?"
The chief of the Shizong tribe was serving as prime minister in Shicheng at this time, and it was the chief's second son who was responsible for leading the army to help.
He was shocked when he saw the Ming army, because this place is located in the "rear area" and should be absolutely safe.
"Change horses and charge forward!"
Cao Xun gave the order and all the cavalry moved quickly.
These guys were wearing light armor even on the road, and at this moment they were all switching to spare war horses.
To be honest, this place is not suitable for cavalry combat.
One hill is connected to another hill. Although the hill is not high and not very steep, it is covered with thorns and thorns, making it difficult for even infantry to walk.
To be continued...