Seven years ago, Genghis Khan defeated the Naiman tribe, the last powerful enemy on the Mongolian grassland, and then gathered the leaders of various tribes, Nayan, at the source of the Onan River to hold the khuriltai, the position of Great Khan, and established the Great Mongolian Kingdom.
At that time, the total strength of the various Mongolian tribes was ninety-five thousand households.
Among them, captives from different clans and tribes were mixed into several thousand households. For example, the victory over the Naiman tribe gave Genghis Khan more than twenty thousand households.
Important affiliated tribes and clans formed their own independent Qianhu, such as the Hongjila tribe of Genghis Khan's mother tribe and the Wanggu tribe who took the initiative to seek refuge.
There were also some heroes or close ministers who, with the authorization of Genghis Khan, reunited the dispersed members of the tribe and organized them into thousands of households. For example, when a close minister lost his fortune, he called back the descendants of the Tatar tribe.
Among the ninety-five thousand households, five thousand households belong to Uluse of Tuo Lei. Their scale is the same as that of his outstanding brother Ogodei, but much higher than that of his uncle He who also followed Genghis Khan in his expeditions.
Sar, Timuge, Belgutai and others.
Tuo Lei's mind is more delicate than the average Mongolian. So he knew very early that many of the leaders on the grassland were jealous of him.
He could also feel that among these five thousand households, the tribesmen who came from all over the place and had recently escaped from prison status by virtue of their military exploits did not really believe in him.
But this situation is easy to solve. The principle on the grassland is that the weak will eat the strong and the strong will be respected. Tuo Lei is convinced that he will be able to make great achievements in the process of going south to attack gold and make all those who doubt him bow their heads respectfully.
After receiving Genghis Khan's order, Tuolei immediately sent two Nak'er horses to gallop, ordered his subordinates to speed up their march, separated from the main army, and turned eastward.
The fastest mover was a hundred households composed mainly of prisoners.
Centurion Naminfu is a majestic Mongolian. When he was young, he was injured in the Battle of Thirteen Wings. The tendons in his arms were broken, so he could not straighten his arms; there was a mark on his right eyebrow bone.
There was a terrible incision. Due to the impact of the knife wound, the eyelids and eyelids have shrunk, making the eyeballs appear to be very bulging.
He rode a tawny horse unsteadily and moved forward briskly. On the left and right of the horse, he was followed by two vigorous hounds.
Naminfu was a very senior centurion and had received the black five-cornered flag personally given by Genghis Khan.
One of his young slaves, named Qian Buhua, held the flag and rode behind him.
Qian Buhua was a slave who surrendered when the Mongolian army besieged Zhongxing Prefecture in Xixia. Although he was born in Xixia, he was a Han. Na Minfu could not remember his Han name, but only remembered that the first pronunciation was Qian.
This Qian usually herds cattle for Na Minfu. In Mongolian, cow is pronounced "no flower", which is a very common name. So Na Minfu called him "Qian Buhua".
After the black five-pointed flag was drawn, all of Naminfu's subordinates urged their horses.
Following the centurion, they quickly crossed the field and joined many families.
The actual number of people in this hundred households is more than 220, which is very large. If you include the Boolers and the slightly higher-status Wu Lachi, the total number is nearly 400.
At this time, there were a total of 113 people enrolled in the army, half of whom were slaves. If they could survive this battle for gold and make contributions, then the status of the slaves would be improved and they would have
Property, livestock and women.
Every time he thinks about this problem, Naminfu's mood becomes very bad.
Because most of his tribesmen were slaves or captives, they came here naked, without family members or property. Therefore, in the entire hundred households, there were many men and few women, and they were very poor. Last year, his hundred households had another
It was not the turn to attack Xixia, so no female slaves or property were distributed.
Fortunately, this time, we are attacking the Kingdom of Jin. Everyone says that the wealth of the Kingdom of Jin is as inexhaustible as gravel, and there are more women than sheep, more tame than sheep, and their bodies are better than the best wool.
Even softer...
Na Minfu thought about it several times before making up his mind. First, he must grab more women. This is very important!
The reason is very simple. With women, there can be more cubs in a hundred households. When the cubs grow up and gain strength, they can continue to rob and kill. Therefore, women are more important than any property, horses, or weapons!
However, these beautiful expectations are all attached to the noble Prince Tuo Lei.
You can do whatever you want, but first you have to let Prince Tolei see your military exploits. Then you have to rely on everyone to fight!
Naminfu clenched his fist and looked around at his subordinates.
The year before last, the Mongolian army broke through the Great Wall, looted the important military towns on the edge of the Jin Kingdom, and obtained a large amount of weapons and equipment. Hundreds of households in Naminfu also participated.
At this time, almost every knight was wearing armor, and some capable warriors were still wearing iron armor. When they gathered together, the light reflected by the armor was simply cold and terrifying.
Most of them were carrying sophisticated weapons, mainly spears and spears captured from the Jin army, and their usual ring knives were hung on their waists. Many of them had leather bags hanging on the sides of their saddles, with short swords in them.
an ax or a lasso.
On the other side of the saddle is a quiver filled with light and heavy arrows, as well as their own long and short bows that are easy to use.
Those selected for service were mostly strong warriors in their thirties, with outstanding riding skills and courage.
Naminfu's deputy, Captain Abel, who was famous for his bravery, followed not far behind. This man was good at singing and dancing when he was drunk, and he was very good at unarmed fighting.
Like Naminfu, he had old wounds on his face. The wounds were on the left and right cheeks because they were penetrated by arrow clusters before. After the wounds healed, there were high bulging scars on both cheeks. When he crunched the mutton
When dry, the scar will turn red.
Because he was about to fight, Abel's eyes were particularly cold, and he looked at the people around him as if he were looking at dead people. At this time, the follower who was following Abul on foot, the big fool named Huga, also tried his best.
He opened his eyes and looked fierce.
Huga is a Shaojiezi person from the northernmost part of the grassland, near Beihai. He has dirty yellow hair and a yellow beard, and his eyes are green, like a ghost.
About ten years ago, the Shaojiezi tribe was wiped out by the Mongolian army. All the adult tribesmen were killed and thrown into the wild to feed the wolves. Abul was the one who slaughtered them with a knife.
After all the adults were killed, all the children of the Jujiezi clan became slaves. Huga followed Abul from then on. In ten years, he grew from a small child to a giant man, but his brain was never good.
Even though he doesn't know how to speak, he imitates Abel in everything he does.
Naminfu nodded to Abel.
His expression was much more relaxed than Abel's. After all, he was following the Fourth Prince out to kill the enemy. It was said that what he had to deal with was only a small team of the Golden Army hiding on the edge of the battlefield.
In the past few years, the Mongolian army has fought too many battles with fewer victories. Sometimes dozens of Mongolian light cavalry can kill thousands of gold troops, leaving them unable to fight back, forcing them to flee in panic. What's more, at this moment, with multiple attacks
few?
Naminfu had no doubts about victory and firmly believed that it would be an easy victory.
At this time, a long horn sound came from the distance, which meant that the noble man was coming. Na Minfu and others quickly dismounted and knelt on the ground.
A moment later, the horse swept past like a strong wind, and the mud it kicked up splashed on the faces of Naminfu and others.
The sound of dragging thunder came from far to near, and then from near to far. Everyone could hear it clearly. He shouted loudly: "Don't delay, follow me to the east. Pull out your sword, prepare arrows, and be ready to kill the enemy."
Prepare!"
So everyone got on their horses and ran wildly.
The whole cavalry team consisted of about two thousand knights. Each of the five thousand households had men, and each unit was arranged in a long queue according to the thousand households it belonged to, and walked straight around the high slope.
It was very quiet behind Gao Po. The sounds of fighting on the battlefield seemed to be suddenly cut off, and there were no people around.
But when everyone took a closer look, they found obvious footprints and hoof prints, as well as a lot of ruts. Because the back of the high slope was close to a swamp, the ground was very wet, and water accumulated in the ruts.
Following the footprints, the cavalry continued to chase east. After walking for about two or three miles, they could see the sparkling lake beyond the reeds as tall as a person.
There must be a road deep in the lake, but it is probably not easy to walk. Only five or six miles away, dozens of horses were crossing the water. The knights on the horses were dressed as golden soldiers, and some were waving their swords as they moved forward.
Cut down overgrown shrubs.
The distance between the two sides is not far. If it were on flat ground, it would be only the distance of a sprint by a war horse. But at this moment, there are lakes, swamps, shrubs and woodlands blocking the road in layers. It seems difficult to pursue?
Tuo Lei came excitedly, but at this time he was a little hesitant.
He reined in his horse and walked back and forth twice on the edge of the water.
Naminfu's two hounds barked twice at this time.
Tuo Lei's eyes lit up, he waved and asked: "Na Minfu, is your dog smart?"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Uluth: people, fiefdom.
Bouler: Slave.
Wu Lachi: Horse herders, mostly held by captives and slaves at that time.