"What is this place called?" Chongzhen asked, pointing to his feet.
Zhou Yuji immediately replied: "Your Majesty, this place is called Xinglonggou."
Zhou Yuji is undoubtedly qualified as a general. He can recite the terrain and names of this generation. Zhou Yuji has done his homework seriously.
This is a big pit, surrounded by mountains on all sides and a large basin in the middle. The exit to the south is Lamakou. The exit to the north is Yuanbaoshan. The exit to the east is Ningcheng.
This is the only area beyond the Great Wall where the two armies can position themselves for a big fight.
With more than 400,000 people on both sides fighting in groups, there is no room for them to fight.
"Okay, Xinglong, what a good name. This will be my place of great resurgence in the Ming Dynasty." Chongzhen's face flushed with excitement.
This was the first time in his life that he went into battle. He was eager to prove his military prowess, so he was very concerned about things like winnings.
This is a stone hill less than 100 meters tall. It is a commanding height in the middle of the basin. Chongzhen suddenly took action and occupied this place. The imperial camp was stationed on the mountain, while the Cheying camp surrounded the entire hill.
Because Chongzhen’s military books and tactics in the past two years have all talked about the importance of this kind of terrain.
Zhang Geda was riding on a Don River horse. He picked up the telescope hanging on his chest and looked around. Then he shook his head. He directly ordered the civilian husband group to go out as a group to collect ice in the Laoha River five miles away.
Zhang Geda is not from the Beijing camp, and he does not abandon these noble officers in the Beijing camp at all. The Xinghe regiment training troops are Yang Fan's private soldiers. The reason why they are here is to protect the emperor. They don't care about other things. No.
Take orders from anyone.
The leader of the Civilian Husband Group is Yu Youming, who was born in his hometown. He was injured and retired from the army during the Battle of Rock Beach. Later, he was transferred to the local reserve department as director.
He has only one arm, and his left arm was amputated during the war.
This time, Yang Fan attached great importance to protecting the emperor, so he personally led the team out.
Yu Youming rode on a green horse, shouted loudly, and came to the camp gate with thirty caravans and one hundred and fifty people.
Guard Yang Lin was responsible for guarding the gate. When he saw a group of civilians wearing civilian clothes, driving a carriage to leave the camp, he quickly came out to stop them.
"The camp has been closed. No entry or exit is allowed without His Majesty's order."
"We are not officers and soldiers, but tenants of Dingyuan Marquis. We were ordered to collect ice from the Laoha River. We are responsible for the food of the imperial camp. There is no water source on the mountain. Your Majesty and your lords, the generals must use water. Please do me a favor.
convenient."
Yu Youming said, took out a small bag from his arms and threw it to Yang Lin.
Yang Lin took it, weighed it, and made a squeaking sound. It was obviously full of silver coins. This kind of silver coins from the Yang family is very popular. Yang Lin is no exception.
This is a reasonable request. We are all running errands and it is convenient for each other.
He rolled his eyes and said, "Go early and come back early. Don't cause trouble."
"Also, if you encounter a Jian slave, will I send troops to rescue you?"
Yu Youming laughed and said, "Sir, please rest assured, we are not easy to mess with."
The group of people left the camp, driving the carriage toward the Laoha River five miles away in the east in a cloud of smoke and dust.
It was early in the morning, and nearly 400,000 troops from both sides were watching with keen eyes. A team, all dressed as ordinary people, was galloping on the winter wasteland as if there was no one around.
Both the Eight Banners and the Mongols were dumbfounded. Who is this person? How dare he act so boldly in the gap between the armies of both sides.
Huang Taiji looked at the arrogant team with sharp eyes. He turned to Li Youfang and asked, "Who are these people?"
Li Yongfang narrowed his eyes, looked carefully at the flags placed on the car, and said: "These are the servants and slaves of Dingyuan Marquis. Their flags are the flags of the militia. I saw them in Haraqin last year. That one
The one-armed man is Yu Youming, the director of the reserve department under Marquis Dingyuan."
Huang Taiji nodded, indicating that he understood.
Although this man only had one arm, he was sitting on the carriage shaft with a stern look on the world. His eyes were wandering around like a hungry wolf.
In the past two years, the name of Marquis Dingyuan is no longer so loud that his ears are ringing with noise. He has not met anyone from Marquis Dingyuan. None of the people from Eight Banners who have met Marquis Dingyuan have come back.
.So much so that the Eight Banners became afraid of Dingyuan Hou.
It can be said that Zhenglan Banner has no eggs left after the overthrow of the nest. So far, the lives and deaths of Sanbeile Manggurtai and Qibele Abatai are not known. There is no news about the more than 3,000 people who were captured.
The losses this time were too great, and the Eight Banners had been seriously injured.
Huang Taiji has been trying to get Li Yongfang to find an opportunity to establish a relationship with the people of Dingyuanhou. He plans to spend money to redeem these living Zhenglan Banner bannermen. After all, Liaodong is not short of money now, but it is short of supplies.
However, Li Youfang's son did things poorly and messed up the matter.
He wanted to break up with the family, but in the end, Liu Xingzuo's family members were kidnapped in the middle of the night.
These people are dressed like farmers.
But their backs were straight and their gestures were more military than soldiers. In this era, both the Eight Banners and the Ming Army were actually very unorganized and did not have much military temperament.
"Are those carriages the legendary four-wheeled carriages?" Huang Taiji asked with some envy.
"The Great Khan is a four-wheeled carriage." Li Youfang replied affirmatively. "Only Uncle Dingyuan has this kind of carriage."
Huang Taiji's eyes flashed as he stared at these carriages. These carriages were pulled by two majestic shire horses, because ordinary horses could not move a seven-ton caravan.
These majestic draft horses have a shoulder height of 1.9 meters. The best war horses of Jiannu are as small as donkeys compared with Shire horses. One horse can drag five tons of weight.
At this moment, Huang Taiji looked at the war horse under his crotch, and then at the Sharma horse pulling the cart, and suddenly felt a little depressed.
"Great Khan, those horses are also unique to Dingyuanhou. No one knows where they come from. I heard they were transported from the sea, so they should be from overseas."
Huang Taiji asked: "Why does their carriage have four wheels? How does it turn?"
The carriages that Huang Taiji knew were all two-wheeled, with the shaft clamped on the back of the horse. The horse had to bear a certain load of the goods on the vehicle, and at the same time, it also had to bear the force of forward dragging. Therefore, the two-wheeled
In a cargo carriage, the burden on the horse is very heavy.
This also leads to a great limit on the load of this kind of carriage. Because the horse's spine has a load limit. This is different with a four-wheeled carriage. The weight of the cargo is completely borne by the four wheels. The horses are only responsible for towing. This greatly reduces the load.
A burden for horses. Increased speed and range.
There are many reasons why the Ming Dynasty and Jiannu did not engage in four-wheeled carriages.
One is that the roads and bridges are too bad. It is difficult for carriages that are too heavy to move. Another important reason is technical problems. No reliable bogie has been invented, which makes it difficult for carriages to turn. There is also a lack of heavy-duty draft horses for towing. The load is up.
, the horse is also a problem, if it can’t pull it, it’s not in vain.
Li Yongfang rolled his eyes and asked: "Khan, do you need me to send someone to intercept this carriage convoy?"
Huang Taiji shook his head and said, "Don't worry, let's see what they want to do first."