On October 13, the first year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou was ordered to lead a large army of 27,000 people to go out to the side wall to punish the Kalaqin tribe who dared to invade.

The army went north from the border gate, and the team ran for more than ten miles, passing Chaotianwa, Chahandra all the way to the bottom of the Malibaba. The roads they walked were rugged valley roads, with high cliffs on both sides. When marching, they often heard wilderness.

The wolf howls.

This road is also the only road leading to the grassland from Zhangjiakou, which is the Zhangku Avenue in later generations.

The northward, the higher the terrain and the more rugged the roads. Fortunately, this terrain is not suitable for marching and is also not suitable for cavalry running. Apart from the occasional Mongolian cavalry looking around from afar, they were not attacked.

After walking twenty miles northward, the vanguard troops reached Yehu Ridge, and Hong Chengchou ordered the troops to be stopped and rectified. After passing Yehu Ridge, they left the rugged mountainous areas, and the north was a flat grassland.

"In the fourth year of Jiading in the Song Dynasty, Genghis Khan of Mongolia led a large army of 100,000 to defeat the Jin Dynasty's 700,000 troops at this Yehuling, thus laying the foundation for the unification of the world."

Standing on the ridge and looking at the grassland in the north, Hong Chengchou sighed. For more than five hundred years, the Mongols have been driven back to the frontier. The Jurchens established the Later Jin in Liaodong, and the Ming Dynasty inherited the former Song and Han dynasties. Han people, Mongols,

The Jurchens are still fighting on this land.

As Hong Chengchou inspected the terrain, Hou Shilu and Huang Degong and others did not know the history of the previous Song Dynasty. They instinctively felt that the terrain of the Wild Fox Ridge was very dangerous, because after passing the Wild Fox Ridge, it was a vast grassland, and the Wild Fox Ridge was in the north.

Connecting to the north of the desert, the natural barrier of the Central Plains in the south.

"It's so strange that Nakalaqin Khan did not send troops to garrison with such a dangerous terrain." Huang Degong felt very strange.

Hou Shilu knew the Mongols better and explained now: "The Mongols have always been unfair to defend and do not know how to defend the city. In addition, there have been decades of peace with the Ming Dynasty, and for more than a hundred years, the Ming army has been on the defensive stance,

If the border wall has not been attacked, the Mongolians will naturally not spend their energy on the Wild Fox Ridge."

Huang Degong smiled and said, "The Mongols are negligent in preventing us, but we can easily attack the grassland and capture the old nests of Kalaqin tribes."

After occupying Yehu Ridge, he occupied a great advantage and was basically invincible, which made Huang Degong and others feel very relaxed.

Hong Chengchou shook his head, "Don't be careless. The Mongolians' strength is riding and shooting, not guarding the city. Its intention to give up the Wild Fox Ridge is to lure us into the grassland."

Hong Chengchou immediately ordered to repair it in Yehu Ridge for one day.

On this day, Mongolian whistle cavalry came from time to time, looking at the Ming army's formation from afar. Hong Chengchou ignored the small group of Mongolian whistle cavalry who came to watch. The army formed camps on the mountains and stuck the important roads at the pass.

, not afraid of attacks by Mongolian cavalry.

One day later, the army recovered its strength, and Hong Chengchou ordered troops to be sent. Xinghe City, the old nest of Kalaqin's tribe, was less than thirty miles away from Yehu Ridge.

Two thousand troops were left behind to guard the Yehu Ridge Pass, and the army drove down Yehu Ridge.

Not many miles after going down the mountain, a large group of Mongolian cavalry indeed attacked.

The Ming army was prepared for the attack on the Mongolian soldiers. The front army quickly formed a square formation to defend, and the musket soldiers shot and killed the enemy on both sides of the square formation.

Mongolian cavalry roared and flew past the Ming army formation, shooting arrows into the Ming army formation, and from time to time, Ming soldiers were caught and fell down.

The Guards' musketeers returned with their colors, and rows of muskets shot down dozens of Mongolian knights.

"Boom boom boom boom."

The artillery roared, and projectiles shot into the Mongolian cavalry formation. The formation was scattered when the cavalry attacked and did not cause much damage. However, some war horses were shocked to run around and the Mongolian cavalry collided with each other.

After a quarter of an hour of battle, the Mongolian cavalry finally retreated, leaving more than a hundred corpses on the battlefield, and the Ming army also suffered a hundred casualties.

Mongolian cavalry fired bows and arrows faster than muskets, and the shooting rate of archery was also high. Every soldier of the Ming army had a mandarin duck battle jacket, and officers above the general flag had armor, and had strong defense against bows and arrows. The two sides could be said to be indistinguishable in this battle.

Win or lose.

Hong Chengchou didn't care and ordered the army to continue to advance. Although the advancement was slow, he was steady and steady, without any rush or impatience.

The Kalaqin tribe has been in the herd of Xinghe City in Zhangbei for more than 60 years. While grazing, it also recruits Han people to cultivate nearby land. It has a great family and a great career in Xinghe City, which is different from the traditional Mongolian nomadic tribes. In addition, it also attracts Han people to cultivate nearby land.

Winter is coming soon, and in a hurry, the Kalaqin tribe will not be able to leave Xinghe City, unless the Kalaqin Khan is determined to abandon cattle, sheep and livestock, and abandon the accumulated forage and sneak into the depths of the grassland. But in that case, they will never survive the cold.

winter!

As they traveled northward, Mongolian cavalry attacked from time to time, trying to stop the army from advancing.

Hong Chengchou ignored the small group of Mongolian cavalry, but ordered Huang De to power the cavalry guards to guard both sides of the army, and the musketeers were on guard on both sides.

As for the large group of Mongolian cavalry attacking, the army quickly formed a defensive formation, using large chariots to resist horses as a formation, and relying on muskets and cannons to kill the enemy.

Faced with the Ming army's infantry formation that was defending on the spot, the Mongolian cavalry had no ability to attack. When the Ming army marched, they could not find a chance to attack. In the end, they had to retreat helplessly and retreat to the other side of the Angu River, burning the fire.

After falling off the floating bridge built on the river, he tried to rely on the river that was not wide to block the Ming army's attack. After crossing the Angu River, Xinghe City was several miles away. Standing by the river, you could already see many white yurts in the distance

.

More than 10,000 Mongolian cavalry and more than 20,000 Ming troops confronted each other through the Angu River, which was less than ten feet wide.

Hong Chengchou did not rush to cross the river, but ordered the army to set up a stance, and then artillery lined up on the river bank and opened fire on the Mongolian cavalry across the river.

The two battalions of imperial guards had more than 60 artillery guns in total. The farthest range of the Folang aircraft was two miles, which was enough to shoot into the Mongolian cavalry array.

Amid the roar, shells crossed the river and fell among the Mongolian cavalry. The solid shells were not very powerful, but they died while trampling and dying, causing great psychological panic to the Mongolian cavalry.

Moreover, the distance between the two armies exceeded 100 steps at this time, and the Ming army was completely outside the range of Mongolian soldiers' bows and arrows, and the Mongolian cavalry was in a situation where they could only be beaten but not fight back.

When dozens of Mongolian soldiers were killed by artillery, other Mongolian cavalry retreated one after another and left the river.

Hong Chengchou was about to send his troops to set up a floating bridge to cross the river, but suddenly, Mongolian cavalry rushed to the river bank and shot arrows.

"Kalaqin Khan wants to negotiate peace." After seeing it, Hong Chengchou said to the generals with a smile.

"We have reached this point, we are already at the city, so what are we still talking about?" Huang Degong said disdainfully.
Chapter completed!