More than three thousand Mongolian cavalry, one man and two horses, headed southeast along the river valley.
"All troops dismount!"
Handu gave an order and the horn sounded.
All the Mongolian cavalry stopped advancing, not only dismounted, but also took off the armor and food from the horses. The cavalry first fed the horses, salt and water, and when the horses were full, they took out the dry food to fill their stomachs.
The marching rations of the Mongolian cavalry were mainly dry cheese. The water taken from the Jinsha River was put into skin bags without being boiled, and could be drank at any time.
Handu had determined Huang Yao's position and also determined that there were no heavy troops on the grain road in the rear.
He started from Yushu and went south along the Jinsha River Valley. He could cut off the grain road when he reached Dengma. Dengma was near Dengke, a later generation. According to archaeological discoveries, it was the legendary territory of King Gesar.
Some sentries had already gone ahead to explore the way, while the rest of the cavalry were sitting and taking a nap.
"Mount!"
I don't know how long it took before Handu gave the order to set off.
Armor and food were carried on one horse, while the Mongolian cavalry rode another horse and advanced rapidly along the river valley.
There were still more than ten miles away from Dengma, and the sentry cavalry from the front rushed back: "Taiji, the Han soldiers have built a low wall in Dengma, and there is also a beacon tower on the upper reaches of the other side of the river.
We were far away, but the Han soldiers discovered us, and then they lit up the beacon. We didn't see the beacon tower on the other side, but the Han soldiers on the other side saw us, and we didn't know how their eyes could see so far away.
"
How can you see so far?
Telescope!
Handu was a little depressed and said: "Han soldiers are in Zaquka (Shitang). There are Han soldiers in Dengma. There are only Han civilians there! How high is the low wall?"
"How tall is one person?" the sentry replied.
"Is that a low wall? That's a high wall!" Handu's lungs were almost exploding with anger, which meant that his trip was probably in vain.
Moreover, Handu couldn't figure it out anyway.
Half a month ago, he sent troops to investigate and found that Deng Ma only had a grain and grass transfer station and civilians. In the blink of an eye, there was a high wall, and there was a beacon tower on the other side?
In fact, it is very simple. There is no beacon tower at all. There are only a few sentries guarding it, firewood and yak dung are piled up, and a layer of oilcloth is added to prevent it from getting wet.
If Handu wants to attack the grain road by surprise, he must come along the Jinsha River. The sentries guarding the other side of the river can easily see it.
There is no other shortcut, so you can take a detour if you want, but it will take at least a month or two.
Why does Huang Yao know?
There are guides in the army. This surprise attack route in Handu is the ancient Tea Horse Road that the caravans often take. Whether you are starting from Yunnan or Sichuan and want to do business in northern Tibet, you can follow this road. The caravans have already walked
Hundreds of years.
As for a wall as high as one person, it is also easy to build. WZ5
Choose the narrowest river valley, use sacks that have been used up to load the nearby earth and rocks, carry them across on mules and horses, and finish the work in just a few days.
Han Du still did not believe in evil and continued to lead his troops to kill. He believed that Deng Ma was only a civilian husband of the Han army.
It is true that there are only civilian husbands, but these civilian husbands are all recruited from peasants and soldiers.
"The Mongols are coming!"
When the civilian leaders guarding Dengma saw Handu's cavalry troops, instead of being afraid, they became excited.
There are only 200 civilians guarding the earth and stone wall, but there are more than a thousand people a few miles behind them. There is a grain and grass transfer node. The civilian laborers who transport grain from the southwest can rest for a day when they arrive at the main station. The civilian laborers in the station
Then continue to transport grain to the north, anyway, the scale of thousands of people is maintained at any time.
The smoke quickly rose, and the grain depot several miles away also moved into action, leaving half of the civilians to guard the area while the other half came to support.
"This time I can finally make a contribution!"
"Oh, it would have been better if it were a few years ago. Now we don't even have to divide the fields even if we achieve military merit."
"As long as you have the money, you still want to reward the fields?"
"In my opinion, money doesn't matter. If you make a great contribution this time, you will definitely be selected from among us when recruiting soldiers from Sichuan. If you become a member of the Datong Army, you will eat royal food. That Deng Liu in our village is not good at farming or working.
, I don’t know a few characters. Hey, I retired from the army, became a senior and returned to my hometown. I was invited by the caravan to pledge goods. I can earn sixteen taels of silver for a round trip!"
"Really or not, you're depositing sixteen taels for one trip?"
"I lied to you about getting a hammer? Their caravan doesn't even have to go to India. They come back when they get to Shegar (Tingri). They can make two trips a year."
"Two trips a year? That means you can get thirty-two taels!"
"Don't be jealous. Deng Liu is very good. He learned archery skills from his comrades in the army."
"Just brag, the Datong Army has no archers for a long time."
"Hey, you still don't believe it..."
Two hundred civilians hid behind an earth and stone wall as high as one person, facing the murderous
The more than 3,000 Mongolian cavalrymen were still in the mood to chat and talk nonsense.
The fierce Mongolian cavalry, in the eyes of these civilians, is all about military merit and silver rewards.
On the contrary, Handu, who led the army, was very worried at the moment. An earth and stone wall as high as one person was indeed nothing, but he had no ladders and no artillery to blast away.
There are not many trees on the canyon cliffs of the Jinsha River, but it is very dangerous to climb up and cut down the trees. Moreover, they did not bring axes, only machetes and waist knives, so it was difficult to manufacture large quantities of siege equipment.
This time we came here for a surprise attack on the grain road, not for a siege!
But when he returned home without firing an arrow, Handu was unwilling to do so and ran around for fun?
"Chop down trees and build ladders!"
Two hundred civilians were lying on the earth and stone wall, happily watching the enemy climb the cliff and use scimitars and waist knives to chop down trees there.
The nearest few small trees were cut down and tied up with leather straps to build seven or eight pairs of short ladders more than two meters long. It took almost an hour. The main cliffs were mostly meadows, with trees here and there.
It's not easy to climb up or down.
After more than two hours of tossing, Handu finally made twenty pairs of ladders, and reinforcements from the grain depot were quickly arriving.
It is useless to build more ladders, because the terrain is narrow and only twenty or thirty ladders can be built at the same time.
Handu said to his soldiers: "I have already found out that the main force of the Han people is in Zaquka, and the people here are all Han people. As long as they rush up to the stone wall, the people will be defeated! Then they will rob the Han people's food and grass, and they will not be able to take them away.
Burn it all!"
The Mongolian soldiers cheered up. They had been operating in the Kham area for a long time, and suppressing the Tibetans was like beating up Sun Tzu.
Previously, Handu retreated step by step, luring the enemy deeper. They still felt aggrieved, so why not just kill them? Do the Han people have one more head than the Tibetans?
Now, finally we can fight!
The first batch of Mongolian soldiers to attack the wall only numbered more than 300 people.
The one at the front held up a shield to guard against the archers behind the wall. The one at the back had a few people carrying a ladder, mainly because the newly built ladder was too heavy. The one at the back held a bow and arrow in his hand, intending to throw it towards the wall.
.
"Are these ten thousand people useful?"
"Use five first to strengthen your reputation. If you are in danger, use ten. Use them sparingly, and only gave us more than a hundred. Also, hold the bamboo hat steadily, I have hid them all, Mongolian Tartars
I know how to shoot arrows."
While talking, the Mongolian soldiers were already shooting arrows.
The only tool for archery used by peasants and soldiers is a bamboo hat. Compared with ordinary hats, this kind of hat is very densely woven, and it is made of tough and good bamboo. The strips are woven into double layers with coir leaves and brown hair sandwiched between them (
(coir raincoat material), which can provide shade from the sun and rain.
It also protects against arrows!
Two layers of strips and one layer of brown hair are all tough. It will certainly not be able to defend against a foot bow, but a horse bow will be difficult to shoot through.
Chop chop chop chop…··
Arrows were thrown upwards and kept falling on the bamboo hat. Occasionally, there were arrows that penetrated, but only half of the arrows could get through.
When the Mongolian soldiers discovered that the peasants were not shooting arrows, they simply stopped raising their shields. Under the cover of their own arrows, they rushed forward with ladders.
The five civilian men holding the enemy in their arms, holding the orchid hemp rope that had been lit in their hands, hid under the bamboo hats held by their comrades, their hearts beating wildly. Most of them were doing this for the first time.
On the battlefield, only the leaders are veterans.
To be honest, I'm still quite scared.
Seeing the ladder reach the wall, the five people panicked and lit the fuse, and then pushed down the ten thousand enemies.
Boom boom boom boom!
Five explosions sounded, and the Mongolian soldiers who were climbing the ladder, as well as the Mongolian soldiers behind the ladder, were immediately killed and injured.
After years of improvements, Ten Thousand Enemies has eliminated all the messy additives, and even chili powder is no longer used. However, it has increased the amount of iron sand, and once it explodes, the iron sand will fly everywhere.
"ah!"
The Mongolian soldiers who were not killed on the spot had iron sand burrowed into their flesh, rolling around and screaming in pain.
The first attack of the Mongols was repelled.
Should we attack a second time?
Handu was in some trouble.
The enemy has obviously been prepared for this kind of explosive thing.
You know how many are hidden. If there are hundreds of them hidden, there is no way you can attack them.
Moreover, Handu began to suspect that the intelligence was wrong. There might be Han soldiers here, not civilians who specialized in transporting grain. How could ordinary civilians be so well-trained?
After thinking about it, Handu gritted his teeth and said: "Withdraw!"
They didn't dare to retrieve the corpses of friendly troops, and they didn't care about those who were seriously injured. No one dared to go over and suffer a few more explosions.
"We won, we won!"
"We have made a contribution!"
After confirming that the Mongolian soldiers had gone away, the civilians cheered. One by one, they jumped down with their spears and killed the Mongolians who were not dead yet. Then they were a little disappointed. They only wiped out more than 30 enemies. This was a collective military achievement.
, if you divide it evenly, you won’t be able to share a few rewards.
Fortunately, they had additional merits. They defended against the enemy's surprise attack and successfully protected the grain road.
Over at the grain station, hundreds of civilians came to provide reinforcements.
Hearing that the Mongols had retreated, and looking at the corpses on the ground, everyone was envious and jealous. It would have been better if they had been able to defend the enemy, but all the credit they had gained was gone in vain.
As early as when Handu led people to approach, someone went to the grain station to report the news, and the grain station sent a horse to notify Huang Yao.
Huang Yao received the news and immediately ordered the march. He wanted to rush to Yushu. Even if he could not block the retreat route of Handu, he could still find the station of the Mongolian tribes.
There are still too few soldiers, otherwise it would be so troublesome to just divide the troops and ambush them in Deng Ma. If Handu's surprise attack force comes, they won't be able to leave.
However, the area in Kham and Tibet was too large and it was difficult to transport heavy supplies. Huang Yao and Ma Hongjie's 10,000 troops were already at their limit. If 20,000 troops were sent to the Kham area, all the ministers in the DPRK and China would jump up and object.
You know, when the Manchu Qing army entered Tibet for the first time, its strength was only a pitiful 3,000 men.
