Li Qing unfolded the map and looked at it. It was less than two hundred miles away from the Luqu River, but there was still no trace of Qiu Fu's army. There was not even a trace of the army trampling on it as it passed by.
This proves that they are at least a day and a half faster than our own army.
"Commander, we are almost at the Tatar Division. Should we join forces with Qiu Fu as soon as possible?" Li Qing asked.
Lan Yu turned over and dismounted, used the scabbard to poke at a piece of soft grass, and pulled out a piece of black stuff.
"What are you doing?" Li Qing stepped forward curiously, and then saw the dry and hard feces.
"They are too fast." Lan Yu frowned and said, "At such a marching speed, they are too far behind us. We must speed up."
After a pause, he said decisively: "Give me the order to throw down part of the baggage and march at full speed!"
"Ah? This..." Li Qing said in surprise, "There's no need to be in such a hurry, right?"
"It's never a mistake to be cautious." Lan Yu scolded, "It's not too late to come back and look for them after we join forces with them. Damn, I didn't expect them to become like this. If the soldiers march like this, their combat power will be greatly reduced."
In the original battle of Yu'er, it was done as a last resort because the enemy could not be found. But this time it was different. The Ming army had a clear goal and there was no need to do this.
Lan Yu was so angry that it was really unlucky to have such a teammate.
Half an hour later, the army had a meal, unloaded most of their supplies, and then marched lightly.
…
At noon two days later, when the army was about to bury the pot and make rice, the spies sent out hurriedly came to report: "Commander, it's bad, the Tatar army is coming to kill them."
"Where did the Tatar army come from?" Lan Yu was greatly surprised, "Where are our friendly forces?"
"Friendly troops... friendly troops are also back, and they are being chased back." The spy said harshly, "They suffered heavy losses. It is estimated that there are no more than 10,000 soldiers left."
"ah?"
The two of them stood up in a hurry, both with shocked expressions on their faces.
Lan Yu quickly calmed down, "Which direction are they coming from, and how long will it take for them to arrive?"
"Directly ahead, two quarters of an hour at most."
"That's enough." Lan Yu took a deep breath and began to issue combat instructions, "set up artillery, set up horse stakes, form a square formation, spearmen, archers in the front, broadsword soldiers in the center, cavalry scattered on the left and right wings...
"
The opponent's momentum has already begun, and only the square formation can deal with it.
Faced with such a sudden change, even Lan Yu could not help but feel trembling. The 50,000-strong army was less than 10,000, and he had no idea how many people there were on the other side.
Li Qingdao, "According to the information from Jin Yiwei's investigation, the main force of the Tatars should be between 70,000 and 90,000. Excluding those left behind, it is most likely around 50,000."
"Fifty thousand versus fifty thousand, the fight is like this?" Lan Yu scolded, "If this is really the case, I really don't know how he became the Duke of the country."
Li Qing couldn't help but be furious. The suitable candidate that the fourth man said was too inferior, right?
However, now is not the time to care. Li Qing cooperates with Lan Yu to make station arrangements and mobilize...
"Ta-ta-ta..."
The dull sound of horse hooves sounded from far to near, which was heart-stirring.
Li Qing stood on his horse and looked around. After a while, he saw the flag of the Ming army. However, the flag was crooked, and six or seven thousand cavalry were fleeing all the way.
Seeing this, Li Qing immediately went to meet him, but Lan Yu grabbed him and said, "Are you willing to die?"
"I know it well." Li Qing hurriedly replied and rode forward.
The two-way rush was very fast. In less than half a quarter of an hour, the distance between the two sides was less than half a mile. Li Qing stopped his horse, his breath dropped from his dantian, and he shouted: "Avoid the front of our Ming army and follow me."
The sound of this soft drink was long-lasting. Even among the rebels, many people heard it and immediately followed Li Qing's horse.
"Ta-ta-ta..."
A quarter of an hour later, thousands of cavalry deviated from the direction, avoiding the front of the Ming army's own people, and lined up aside.
But soon, the second round of hoofbeats came, faster and more urgent.
The Chinese army was under the command of Lan Yu and the formation was already set up. Li Qing was not in a hurry to go back and shouted: "Follow me to the rear wing army to defend."
The army has lost its backbone and immediately follows Li Qing.
"Dong dong dong..."
The cannons roared ahead, the horses neighed, and the soldiers screamed one after another. The battle had already begun.
With Lan Yu here, Li Qing has nothing to worry about. The first priority is to understand the situation first. He does not believe that there are really only so few of the 50,000 troops left.
Li Qing shouted: "Someone will come out and take care of things."
After a while, two disgraced middle-aged men came on horseback, clasped their fists and said, "Hou Yongqing."
"Where are the Marquis of Anping, Marquis of Wucheng, and the commander?" Li Qing asked anxiously, "Where is the army?"
The two people looked ugly. Wang Cong said in a trembling voice, "The commander underestimated the enemy and rushed into the battle and was killed. The army also..."
Li Yuan was relatively calm and quickly explained, "We found Tatar skirmishers near the Luqu River. The commander led more than a thousand cavalry to encircle and suppress a Tatar minister;
The commander-in-chief listened to the minister's slander and went deep into the hinterland. His entire army was wiped out. Tong'an Hou Huozhen and Jing'an Hou Wang Zhong were all captured... and died in battle unyieldingly;
We were caught off guard, and before we could get into position, the Tatar army rushed up to kill us. Among the chaotic army, there was no commander, which led to... Alas!"
Li Qing felt heartbroken when he heard that the army was really gone, but now was not the time to settle accounts, so he immediately said, "You two need to give up your merits and follow me to fight back from the flank."
The two of them nodded in agreement without any hesitation. After the battle was like this, it would not be unusual to go back and behead them. If they fought hard, there might be room for change.
The two men immediately summoned their soldiers and issued combat instructions.
A quarter of an hour later, a cavalry force of several thousand men charged at the Tatar army at a tricky angle.
The Tatar army on the flanks reacted very quickly. Although they did not start a battle, they also responded effectively.
"Danglanglang~"
"Puff puff puff..."
"Xilulu——!"
Various scalp-numbing sounds kept ringing, and before long, Li Qing's whole body was dyed red.
This was the first time he took the lead in charging among the rebels, and the danger was greater than he imagined.
"Buzz~"
The bright sword came whistling in the strong wind. Li Qing turned his head to dodge, and at the same time gave the man a blow with his backhand. During this period, he maintained his momentum.
"Dang rang ~ poof..."
Li Qing's bravery is unparalleled, and he is invincible as he goes forward.
Suddenly, a biting chill rushed into his heart. Li Qing had no time to think, and instinctively tilted his neck, and the sharp arrow grazed his cheek and shot past.
Immediately, a warm feeling came over me, followed by severe pain.
Li Qing turned his head and glanced, but did not see the man's face clearly. In a quick glance, he seemed to see a familiar look.
In the crowd of thousands of horses, he couldn't think of revenge, or even of being disfigured, he just kept moving forward to kill.
About a quarter of an hour later, Li Qing finally came out and followed the inertia and walked away.
After leaving the battlefield, we counted the number of people and found that there were less than 3,000 people left.
But their rush provided Lan Yu with a huge opportunity. The horn of counterattack sounded, and the Ming army changed from defense to offense.
"kill……!"
The Ming army was powerful, but the Tatars were also very tough, and the battle was extremely fierce.
It lasted for half an hour, and finally the Tatars called for gold and retreated, and then began to retreat in a well-trained manner. The people behind them were all crossbowmen. If the Ming army dared to pursue them, they would be kited.
Seeing that there was no chance, Lan Yu ordered to rest where he was and at the same time, be prepared for the enemy to come back.
This battle didn't last long, only about an hour, but it killed a lot of enemies. With the help of artillery, there were tens of thousands, and the number of kills was no less than 15,000.
The Ming army suffered nearly 7,000 killed and about 13,000 wounded.
Being attacked and beaten like this is really impressive!
However, more than 40,000 people were killed in Qiu Fu's battle. Generally speaking, the Ming Dynasty suffered a loss in this battle, and suffered a big loss.
The army rested for nearly an hour and then rushed to the place where the supplies were left behind.
…
After setting up camp, Lan Yu summoned the generals of various ministries and sighed: "Our current fighting strength is less than 40,000, and the Tatars still have the Lqu River as a barrier. We can't think of a surprise force to attack Huanglong directly, but we can't do it at all;
If we insist on fighting, the other side will definitely start a war of attrition with us. This is their base camp. They can consume it, but we cannot afford it."
All the generals looked ugly, and the battle turned out like this, which was beyond everyone's expectations.
"Shuai Lan, try again, just once." Wang Cong and Li Yuan realized that it would be difficult to recover if they went back, and said with red eyes, "The two of us will be the vanguard and we will fight to the death~!"
In fact, we can't blame them for the death of the army. What can they do if they encounter such a coach.
But someone must bear the responsibility, but Qiu Fu died, Wang Zhong, and Huo Zhen also died in battle.
The bones of a prince, two marquises, and more than 40,000 troops were all buried. The two of them could not bear the crime. They would rather die on the battlefield than be taken to the execution ground.