The Ming army under Gao Pangshi's command stayed in Ixibal for four full days, which seemed very inconsistent with the planned plan for a quick victory, but in Gao Pragmatic's view, this was a necessary move.
In these short four days, Taigalzhungenhatun rushed from Yijinhuoluo day and night, and announced the announcement under the "recommendation" of Gao pragmatism, Tuotuo and Yilduzi.
Temporarily acting as regent of Boshu Ketu Jinong in Ordos.
Of course, theoretically speaking, neither Gao Pragmatic nor Tuotuo are actually "recommendations." The most formal expression of this process should be that Ilduqi initially recommended Taigalzhungenhatun to Tuotuo, the envoy of King Shunyi, to serve as acting regent.
Then Tuotuo recognized Han Naji on behalf of King Shunyi and forwarded it to Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War and Seven Towns Manager, who represented the Ming Dynasty, and Gao Jingshi, the admiral of the northwest military affairs. Finally, Gao Jingshi expressed his approval and submitted it to the emperor for final approval.
There is no doubt that the emperor has the final decision-making power, but when Gao Jingshi came, the imperial edict clearly stated that he was given the right to act expediently, so the report to the emperor itself was just a formality. From the moment Gao Jingshi agreed,
Taigal Jungen Hatun is truly the Regent Hatun of the Ordos Department - equivalent to the Queen Mother Regent in the Ming Dynasty.
The Mongolian regent Hatun (or queen) can lead troops in battle, just like Dayan Khan's wife Manduhai, who is twenty-five years older than him. Because Dayan Khan was young, Manduhai went out to fight.
He even put him in a quiver and carried it on his body for protection.
Manduhai’s first expedition against Oirat was recorded in the Genealogy of Mongolian Borzigit as follows: “Manduhai Saiyinhatun’s own cavalry led Alaitong of the Keshiketen tribe to clear the way to Tesibul.
In the capital city, he fought with Willett and won a great victory. He subdued 40,000 Willett. He ordered Willett's generals: From now on, the houses cannot be called palaces, the tassels cannot be longer than four fingers, and people are not allowed to kneel when they live.
Sit down, eat meat but not cut it, change the name of "Usuk" (yoghurt) to "Zage". His tribe kneels down with a knife to ask for meat, agrees, and I know now. Willert still follows it to this day.
"Willert is Vetra.
It can be seen from this that the power of the regent Hatun is no different from that of the Great Khan, and it is completely reasonable to lead troops in battle. The Mongols are accustomed to this and will not reject it in any way. In addition, the power of Taigalzhungen Hatun in Boshuk
Tu "qinzheng" had served as regent for many years before, so this matter went smoothly, and Gao Pragmatic also negotiated with her the terms of atonement for the Ordos Ministry.
Four days later, the army set off.
At this time, the high-pragmatic army officially exceeded 100,000 people, but the Ming army headquarters was less than half of the total, and more of them were Mongolian cavalry.
Block the road.
Perhaps it was due to the restoration of the Hetao, perhaps to block Kuaibai, or perhaps there were other reasons. In short, Gao Pragmatic still did not go south and entered the jurisdiction of the Yansui governor. Instead, he moved his troops westward and recovered the crucial Huabai first.
In the Machi area, Yanchi is under control again.
At this time, Gao pragmatic received a report from Li Rusong. Li Rusong's troops were marching very fast. They had passed Qingyang two days ago and were reinforcing Guyuan as planned. The main purpose of his report was to ask Gao pragmatic for instructions. His army had arrived.
What are the combat missions after Guyuan?
Li Rusong also reported a rather shocking news: the subordinates of Jinghua Trading Company in Ningxia City rescued Liang Wenmeng, the former governor of Ningxia who was imprisoned by Kuaibai! At the same time, Zhou Zhe, who had previously organized a resistance against the Kuaibai rebels in his hometown of Ningxia Zhongwei,
The father and son also fled to Guyuan with the help of Jinghua Trading Company.
Li Rusong asked for instructions: first, how to treat Liang Wenmeng, and second, whether it was necessary to reward Zhou and his son.
Normally speaking, under the current situation, the most appropriate strategy for Li Rusong's troops would be to cooperate with Gao Pragmatic Headquarters' westward and northward march, with both sides attacking in separate attacks to encircle Ningxia.
However, Gao Pragmatic's appetite was obviously greater. His reply to Li Rusong was to order the latter to show off his power around Guyuan for a day, and then leave the city at night and drive directly to Lanzhou to prepare for the next phase of the combat mission.
At the same time, Gao pragmatically generously placed the three thousand cavalrymen under Cao Gan's command who had been transferred to Guyuan under Li Rusong's command.
As for Liang Wenmeng and Zhou Zhe's father and son, the former was an unexpected joy - of course, it is hard to say whether it is a real "happy" for the time being, because although he did not surrender to the enemy, he maintained his loyalty as a civil servant, which can arouse Ningxia
It was difficult to get rid of the charge of the coup, and even Gao Pragmatic did not dare to characterize it. He could only ask Li Rusong to temporarily "leave Liang Wenmeng in Guyuan to be raised" on his behalf. In fact, Gao was put under house arrest first.
Pragmatic himself immediately went to court to explain the matter to the court, and at the same time revealed a little bit of his own voice.
The matter of Zhou Zhe and his son was relatively simple. Gao Pragmatic went to the Shu to ask for rewards for them without saying a word, and also suggested in the memorial that they could be allowed to serve in the army temporarily until Ningxia made a decision before discussing their merits. "
Or it can be entrusted to the prefecture and county."
Zhou Zhe himself was just a civil servant, and his son Zhou Bang was just a student. Now he had the opportunity to serve as a prefect after the war, or at least a county magistrate. It was really an unexpected blessing.
Gao Pragmatic's move was supposed to continue Gao Gong's previous reform ideas in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which was to reuse juren. At the same time, more directly, it was to use Ningxia's gentry and celebrities to appease the local area and lay the foundation of "harmony" for eliminating hidden dangers after the war.
After arranging the tasks for Li Rusong's unit, Gao Pragmatic replied to the governor and the general of the army who had also sent a letter to inquire about the move, telling them not to rush to counterattack and to just guard the final passage to Zhuanglangwei with peace of mind.
During the day of repairs in Huamachi, the Ming army allocated a batch of grain and grass to be distributed to three groups of Mongolian cavalry, and at the same time replenished military supplies such as gunpowder pellets. The three groups of Mongolian cavalry spent a day feeding their horses in the Huamachi pasture and recovered.
A little more horsepower.
The next day, all armies were ready and no longer gathered in one place. Under Gao Pragmatic's orders, they attacked in separate directions towards Ningxia.
On the North Road, Xiao Ruxun, deputy general of the Ningxia Army, was the commander-in-chief, and Ma Kongying, the general of the Datong West Road sent by Ma Gui to assist him, was the deputy. Together with 5,000 troops, they returned to Pinglu City. The regent of the Ordos Department was Taigal Jungen Hatun.
Leading 30,000 troops, as a support force for Xiao Ruxun's troops, it was planned to be used to trap the Tu Wenxiu tribe to death, preventing them from having the opportunity to go north and escape to the grassland.
The south road is the Gao pragmatic headquarters. The headquarters has returned to its previous state. It is mainly composed of the Gao family's escorts, the first department of Jingying and the Magui headquarters. It goes all the way west from Huamachi and approaches Ningxia. Because the Magui headquarters
Three thousand people were separated. At this time, the main force of the Gao pragmatic South Road headquarters was about 35,000. However, Yansui guerrilla Jiang Xianmo, Yulin guerrilla Yu Shangde and other Yansui town soldiers were already approaching Gao pragmatic headquarters. By then, all armies would gather
, Gao Pragmatic Headquarters can still exceed 40,000 troops, perhaps reaching 45,000.
The largest force and the most mobile force is the Tumut-Ordos coalition army formed by Tuotuo and Ilduzi. However, although this army is strong, with 50,000 cavalry, it is not suitable for use. In order to attack Ningxia, Gao Jingyi was used to attack Huo Luochi who was attacking Zhuang Langwei, and was led by Brother Tu.
Huamachi is already south of the Great Wall, so the joint cavalry does not need to take a detour. Under the defense provided by Gao Jingshi, they only need to run all the way to the southwest. At the same time, Gao Jingshi also sent a messenger and ordered The yamen of various places provided military ration supplements along the way, but considering that the current relationship between Ming and Mongolia in the northwest was relatively tense and could not be compared with Xuanda in Shanxi, he also allowed various places not to open city gates and only "work troops" outside the city.
It has only been half a month since Gao Jingshi sent troops to Datong. The Ming court has already passed the chaos when the rebellion first broke out and began to be fully involved in the counterattack.
In addition to Gao Jingshi and Li Rusong's reinforcements, Guyuan's general Li Yan was ordered to guard Guyuan. However, after Gao Jingshi's headquarters approached Lingzhou from the Ningxia rear guard (near Huamachi), he would send troops north to Weizhou. If It would be best if we could seize Weizhou. Even if we couldn't, we should prevent the Weizhou rebels from returning to aid Ningxia or Lingzhou.
In addition, Commander-in-Chief Liu Chengsi in Gansu and Commander-in-Chief Dong Yikui in northern Sichuan are actively mobilizing their troops, either to defend key areas in Gansu or to go north to Tao to block Huo Luochi's brother's return journey. In short, all directions are now open. let's move.
With Gao Jingshi's current status as the prestige admiral in charge of the northwest military affairs, and he also carries the Shang Fang Sword, none of the generals and generals below dare to take their own heads seriously. After all, the gap between the status of the two sides and the Holy Family is too big. It was too big. To put it bluntly, if Gao Pragmatic wanted to kill them at this time, it would be the same as trampling an ant to death.
If all these armies are included, the total number of troops participating in the battle in the northwest at this time is estimated to be close to 200,000. The scale is sufficient and the momentum is strong, but the difficulties it faces are only known to Gao Pragmatic himself. .
In fact, military pay has almost bottomed out. Gao Pragmatic still has only about 50,000 taels of silver left on hand. The remaining part is either used to reissue military pay to the armies, or used to purchase grain and grass to distribute to various ministries, and some of it is similar. In "Kaiba Silver", it was given to the generals to encourage their servants.
And this is not all the expenses. In fact, because of Gao Jingjing's order, many areas still in the hands of the Ming army are mobilizing supplies and silver. These supplies and silver are all local. Gao Jingjing almost purely relies on the majesty of Shangguan. To mobilize them based on the reputation within the Real School, let alone whether there will be disputes in the future, it is hard to say whether these things are sufficient or not.
After all, these money and materials are equivalent to local treasury to a certain extent, and the number of small treasury in various places is completely uncertain. Some are more, some are less, and some are even so little that they are almost nothing. .There is also a lot of balancing work that needs to be done with high pragmatism - for example, places that pay a lot of money will definitely be dissatisfied. High pragmatism requires using various means to appease, and occasionally even forceful pressure. Of course, more often Use both soft and hard tactics.
War is never just as simple as fighting. The work behind the scenes is often more important than how the front line is fought. This is just like Liu Bang has Xiao He behind him, so even if he loses so many times, he can always make a comeback.
, and since Xiang Yu did not have his father Fan Zeng behind him, he could hardly afford to lose.
Let’s leave aside the rest and say that the main force of Gao Pragmatic Headquarters sent troops from Huamachi and arrived at the outskirts of Lingzhou three days later, eyeing this "South Gate of Ningxia" with eager eyes.
The troops in Lingzhou City were not sufficient, with only 2,000 men, and the guard was none other than Kuai Cheng'en.
However, this shortage is only compared to Gaowu Shi's current army of more than 40,000. In fact, before the Ningxia Revolution, the garrison of Lingzhou City was less than 2,000, only about 1,500 or 600.
Now it is a manifestation of Kuaibai's strengthening of the city's defense.
Lingzhou has always been a battleground for military strategists throughout the ages, and there have been countless wars. However, by the time of the Ming Dynasty, Lingzhou City itself was not that majestic. Chi Chengen had two thousand troops to guard Lingzhou.
It's quite normal, and it doesn't look like the city's defenses are not in repair.
However, all this was based on the past city defense situation. What was the situation in the past? Lingzhou's main task was to defend against the Mongols, and the Mongols were characterized by having almost only cavalry and not much powerful siege capabilities.
The situation is very different now. Gao Pangshi's headquarters is almost entirely made up of infantry. Although many of them come on horseback, they are actually "mounted infantry". Whether these people defend or attack the city, they are undoubtedly far from the best.
Mongolians can compare.
What frightened Yi Chengen the most was that his scouting horse told him that Gao Pingshi's army not only "stretched for more than ten miles", but also had "more than a hundred generals" - this does not mean more than a hundred generals, but more than a hundred generals.
There are more than a hundred large artillery pieces. To be precise, it means that the No. 1 and No. 2 cannons have more than a hundred.
Of course, the words of these rebels were actually exaggerated. Because they wanted to fight quickly, Gao Pragmatic did not carry many heavy artillery. In fact, there were no No. 1 cannons at all, and there were actually only more than thirty No. 2 cannons. On the contrary, there were quite a lot of No. 3 cannons.
Up to eighty-four doors.
However, because Gao Pangshi's troops had elite Majia soldiers acting as scouts, the rebel scouts did not dare to pry in depth. They could only take a glance at it from a distance, so they looked away and regarded all the artillery as heavy artillery.
-At this time, most people's attitude towards artillery is not very scientific. They all think that the bigger the thing, the better, and its level is similar to that of Yuan Chonghuan in the original history. As for the difficulty of transportation, whether it is suitable for use, etc., they generally do not consider it.
Kuai Chengen, who received the wrong information, was also frightened. He was also a Mongolian, but he just grew up in Ningxia. In his mind, artillery was not easy to use in the field - the opponent was Mongolian.
Of course, people usually refused to fight in the field with the Ming army under the bombardment of artillery. They usually took roundabout ways to harass and attack slowly, bullying the Ming army's artillery into being unable to turn around.
But Yi Chengen knows how powerful artillery can be in attacking a city. Although these days they are all solid bullets, but except for Ningxia City, most of the city walls in the northwest are not tall and majestic bluestone brick walls, but mostly made of bluestone.
It was built of rammed earth. Huge solid bullets hit it. As long as a certain place was hit by two consecutive rounds, the nearby wall would be cracked. If the bombardment continued, it was almost certain that the city wall would collapse. It was only a matter of time.
Gao Jingshi has "more than a hundred generals" on hand. According to Yi Chengen's understanding, as long as Gao Jingshi is willing to spare the money, he might be able to knock down the walls of Lingzhou City in one day, and then it will be 40,000 versus 2,000...
How to fight this?
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