Wulahai City is also known as Wulahai City, Wuna City, Wulahai City, Wulanghai City, and Uluohai City.
According to historical records, Genghis Khan made five expeditions to Xixia, three of which involved this city.
It was shot down twice by Mongolia without any effort.
The first time was to use spies to intimidate, disguising themselves as herdsmen and going into the city to spread the news, saying that anyone in the city who dared to defend the city would be massacred, which made the defenders unwilling to resist desperately. Since Mongolia had run out of food and grass, it continued to move south and could not attack, so in
After looting the city, they withdrew.
The second time was even more straightforward. The Xixia army was defeated in Hexi (where Yue Feibeng attacked and blitzed), and the defender of Wu Lahai City was so frightened that he surrendered directly to Mongolia.
With a territory of 70,000 soldiers and the most important fortified city in northern Xixia, this city seemed to have little effect against the Mongolian army.
What about facing Ming Dynasty now?
Yue Fei and Han Shizhong captured the Tiande Army City, and grain and grass were continuously shipped from Shanxi. They let the old, weak, women and children return to their pastures, and the chiefs of various ethnic groups followed them westward with their young and strong men. Their troops numbered more than 35,000!
Most of the soldiers come from various grassland tribes.
The equipment of these prairie cavalry all depends on their own economic strength. Not all of them are without armor. Some iron armors and leather armors have been passed down from father to son for several generations, from grandfather to grandson, and they can continue to make do with repairs.
Use it.
Yue Fei came all the way as part of the guest army, and Han Shizhong took the initiative to take charge.
They claimed to have an army of 200,000, and drove away the scattered herdsmen who had not fled along the way, allowing these herdsmen to spread fear to the Xixia army.
Due to the delay in attacking Tiande Military City, Brother Richard's leading troops have arrived at Wu Lahai City.
Xixia sent out thousands of Qingqi to explore the grasslands and compete with Ming Qingqi for the initiative.
Han Shizhong and Yue Fei's main forces were still thirty miles away, so the prairie cavalry from both sides started fighting. There was a win or loss for each other, so it was considered a draw.
"Two guardians, the imperial court has sent troops to help!"
"How many reinforcements are coming?"
"Three hundred heavy cavalry!"
Han Shizhong and Yue Fei looked at each other, but they didn't expect the emperor to throw the heavy cavalry over.
Not long after, three hundred heavy cavalry arrived.
But there are more than 2,000 horses, more than 800 men, and more than ten mule-drawn four-wheelers. Not only does each heavy cavalry have its own retinue, but it is also equipped with some public logistics personnel.
Those retinues can also fight on horseback, and their equipment can crush ordinary prairie cavalry.
"Meet Han Duhu and Yue Duhu!" Li Shifu dismounted and made a military salute.
Han Shizhong smiled in return. He was not familiar with Li Shifu.
But Yue Fei said happily: "I haven't seen you for several years, and you are actually commanding a heavy cavalry."
Li Shifu said: "These three hundred heavy cavalry were built by your Majesty two years ago. The human armor and horse armor are all made of new heavy cotton armor, and even the auxiliary cavalry (retard cavalry) are selected from the entire army." He
He turned around and pointed, "General, look who this is?"
Yue Fei raised his eyes and saw that the man had dismounted, stepped forward and saluted, "Greetings to Yue Duhu."
It is nineteen-year-old Yue Yun!
Yue Fei said happily: "Why are you here too?"
Yue Yun replied: "After graduating from the military academy last year, I first served as an auxiliary cavalryman for the heavy cavalry. In addition to training, I did odd jobs. I was too embarrassed to tell my father in the letter. This year, an officer was promoted and transferred to Shaanxi. Because of his outstanding performance, the child
He transferred to heavy cavalry and became an officer, and now he can command thirty troops."
"What a bastard." Han Shizhong commented enviously.
In his early years, Lao Han spent a lot of time in the army. He was transferred back and forth to fight in many wars. He and his wife were often together and separated, but he never gave birth to an heir. After joining Ju Ming, his wives and concubines gave him two sons and one daughter.
The eldest son has just grown up, but unfortunately he doesn't like military service. He plans to take the imperial examination and become a civil servant.
Yue Fei smiled and said: "I heard that your eldest son is very talented and learned. From now on, he will be proud of his ancestors by wearing a big turban."
Han Shizhong muttered: "I hate people wearing big headscarves the most!"
When the generals heard this, they burst into laughter.
Continuing forward for a while, Han Shizhong chose a place to camp near the river.
Yue Yun put on his armor as if he were offering a treasure, and even put armor on his war horse. He ran to his father and said, "Father, look at my majesty."
"It's really majestic." Yue Fei nodded and smiled.
In fact, this kind of full set of cotton armor is far less majestic than the Zha armor in terms of appearance.
Those who don’t know the details may still think it’s a fake product!
However, it is lighter than traditional Zha armor, has stronger defense than Zha armor, and is more convenient for daily maintenance. The disadvantage is that the production cost is higher.
Today, the Ming Dynasty's heavy cavalry troops have expanded to 5,000 men, all of which were replaced with heavy cotton armor last year.
The number of the Ming Dynasty's cavalry troops was expanded to 30,000, and about 60% of them were replaced with medium-sized cotton armor.
There are also 60,000 Imperial Army infantry and 130,000 Northern Outer Town infantry, all of whom have also gradually put on various types of cotton armor.
The reason why they didn't change all the armors at once is not because the ordnance factory can't keep up with the output, but because they don't know where to throw the replaced armor!
Nowadays, the armor coverage rate of the second-line troops in some local states and counties has reached 100%. The armor they wear was eliminated during the large-scale change of uniforms.
Yue Yun whispered: "Father, I heard that the cavalry units of the three major military governors in the north will start to replace their cotton armor next year."
"Where did you hear that?" Yue Fei asked.
Yue Yun smiled and said: "Teacher of the military school. Many senior officials from the Privy Council and the Ministry of War have to take time to come to the military school to teach. They will tell many not-so-confidential inside stories. The children performed well in the military school, and several princes and princes were
Very good to me."
…
Brother Richard finally arrived with reinforcements. When he saw them, he asked: "How many Ming troops have arrived?"
"I'm not sure. I heard it was two hundred thousand." Li Quanlu replied shyly.
"Nonsense!"
Brother Richard was furious: "If there were 200,000 Ming troops coming to kill here, the Ming troops would have sent out all their troops in Shaanxi. The Tiande Army City was lost, and the land in Hexi was lost. You haven't figured out the enemy yet."
The number of troops."
Li Quanlu could only argue: "It is difficult for detective cavalry to rush over. The grasslands are full of light cavalry of the Ming army. All the grassland tribes of the Liao Kingdom in the past took refuge in the Ming Kingdom, and they were brought here to kill them this time. Really... really
I don’t know how many Ming troops came.”
Cao Yu, the supervisor of the Weifu Military Division, said: "His Royal Highness, it is better to defend Wu Lahai City until it snows heavily and the army retreats."
"Don't decide whether to defend the city or fight in the field. Let's find out how many Ming troops there are!" Brother Richard became more and more angry as he spoke.
He dispatched three thousand infantry to increase the number of troops blocking the city along the way, and at the same time sent more light cavalry out to investigate.
Han Shizhong and Yue Fei, on the other hand, attacked Yucheng along the way.
Those barrier cities are small castles, either built on the edge of the Yellow River or at the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain.
When Xixia was a little wealthy, each castle had to stock up on food and carry out repairs every two or three years. But now it is no longer possible. The food supply is seriously insufficient, the castles have not been repaired for many years, and some castles are even in a state of neglect.
Why is this happening?
One is that the court allocated insufficient funds, and the other is that money and food have been embezzled.
The monarchs and ministers in the Xixia court were naturally afraid of the Ming Dynasty and believed that the military should be revitalized. But how could the local civil and military affairs be in charge? Especially in the area west of Tiande Military City, which was far from the border of the Ming Dynasty, none of them thought they knew how to fight or handle the war.
Money and food can be greedy.
Just yesterday, Han Shizhong and Yue Fei divided their forces to attack a blocked city. The leading troops were still more than ten miles away from the castle, so the defenders in the castle abandoned the city and fled.
Whoever sticks to it is a fool.
One wall of the rammed earth castle is about to collapse. It has been exposed to wind, sun and rain for a long time and has not been repaired for 30 to 40 years!
The last time it was repaired was when Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty just ascended the throne.
In order to shirk their responsibilities, the Xixia defenders who fled back from various castles all claimed that the Ming army had arrived at least 100,000 people, and some even claimed that the Ming army had arrived at 300,000 people.
The light cavalry sent out by Brother Richard were also unable to approach the main force of the Ming army, and could only fight with the Ming army's light cavalry on the grasslands in the middle.
After the Ming army wiped out 70% to 80% of Xixia City, a Xixia warrior finally led more than a dozen light cavalry to sneak into the vast grassland, disguised as Khitan cavalry and approached the Ming army camp. They also detoured to the Ming army camp.
On the way here, carefully look at the ashes left behind by the Ming army when they made rice.
Another Qingqi from Xixia went around to the south bank of the Yellow River, hiding in the desert during the day, galloping along the Yellow River at night, and sneaking outside the Tiande Army's city to observe the situation secretly.
Brother Richard finally had a rough idea of the strength of the Ming army: there were thousands of soldiers left in Tiande Army City. Han Shizhong and Yue Fei's main force should not exceed 50,000, or even only 30,000 or 40,000.
Brother Richard began to wonder whether he should fight in the open air or defend the city.
These days, Weifu Military Division is recruiting troops like crazy, and the local military strength has exceeded 35,000.
Brother Richard brought reinforcements, totaling more than 40,000 infantry and cavalry.
Further west, more than 10,000 reinforcements from the Zhenyan Army Division also arrived.
In other words, the total strength of Brother Richard has exceeded 90,000, which is more than twice the strength of the Ming army!
However, Weifu Army Division and Zhenyan Army Division have not fought for a long time, and their combat effectiveness is really limited due to the lack of soldiers and armor.
The reinforcements Brother Richard brought from the south are relatively more elite.
Of course, there is no need to go into details about the iron kite. Even the soldiers who were drawn out of the army can at least have an ancestral leather armor, and many even wear ancestral iron armor. The tribes there are richer, and their ancestors often plundered the Song Dynasty. Some tribes even
There is armor given by the imperial court.
Brother Richard thought in his mind: The main force of the Ming army killed 30,000 to 40,000 people, many of whom came from various grassland tribes. Those grassland cavalry were nothing. Then the real elite of the Ming army was probably only about 10,000. With 10,000 elite Ming soldiers, I
Can the soldiers under his command be able to defeat him?
In the past, Brother Richard would not have thought so much and would have led his troops to kill him long ago.
But in the Hehuang Valley, he was psychologically shadowed by Yang Zhi's use of firearms, and also psychologically shadowed by the Jin Kingdom's cavalry. The Ming Dynasty destroyed the Jin Kingdom again, which made Brother Richard even more fearful of the Ming army's combat effectiveness.
As a result, Brother Richard did not dare to go into battle rashly, even though he had twice the strength of the enemy.
"His Royal Highness the King of Jin, there is an urgent message from the capital!"
When Brother Richard opened the letter, he immediately became furious and depressed.
He had received news of the rebellion in Dingzhou before, but now he received news that there were tribal rebellions in Jingzhou, Huaizhou, and Shunzhou.
The imperial court was in the process of quelling the uprising armies everywhere. Since it was difficult to raise food and grass quickly, it had to transfer food from the military warehouse of the Chaoshun Army Department - that was Brother Richard's starting station for military food.
Brother Richard stared blankly outside the city. He could no longer defend the city and had to go out to fight the Ming army.
An army of 90,000 people can't sustain themselves with food and grass.
With the food stored in Weifu Army Division, we could have survived the winter.
But that damn Li Quanlu, who led troops to rescue the Tiande Army City last time, inexplicably fled without a fight, and also left a large amount of grain and livestock to Han Shizhong. Brother Richard even wondered whether that guy had embezzled too much and was trying to settle the accounts.
When Brother Richard summoned the generals, he did not say that there was not enough food and grass. He only said calmly and said with a confident smile: "I have found out the strength of the enemy's army. Although the main force of the Ming army is 30,000 to 40,000, the real elite is only 50,000.
Six thousand. You all go back and prepare, and I will choose a day to fight the Ming army on the grassland!"