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Arukorqin Banner.

This is the first stop of Horqin's eastward migration a hundred years ago. The tribes that continue to migrate to the east are collectively called "Nen Horqin", which is the most widely known Horqin tribe. Those who stayed here and did not leave are called "Alukorqin".

Khalkha's 100,000 Mongolian army came to kill, and Weng Niute's troops were so frightened that they fled to join the Datong army.

The next one to be attacked was Alu Horqin's department. There were only more than 2,000 cavalry left in this department, and they fled away from a long distance. They took their livestock and sought shelter from the Nen Horqin Department.

"Great Khan, 1,500 cavalry from Jarut's troops are coming to meet up, and they have reached the north a few miles away."

"It's good to receive them."

Chahundorji, "Waqilai Tuxietu Khan with both faith and strength", is holding a military meeting in the sweat tent at the moment: "The Mongolian tribes here have lost the bravery of the Golden Family. Alu Horqin and Ong Niut They will only run away when they meet us. Conquering the entire Horqin Grassland seems to be a very easy task. According to the news from the Bahrain Ministry, the Badali of the Horqin Right Middle Banner was rejected by the leaders of the Horqin tribes. If we attack Pakistan first Dali, it's easier to fight alone and helpless..."

"No," Morgan interrupted suddenly, "Badali was rejected by the Horqin tribes because he took refuge in the Han emperor. When we attack Badali, the Han Datong Army will definitely send troops to rescue. The Han soldiers are so powerful that even Manchuria The Jurchens were wiped out by them."

Chahun Dorji's face was ugly, and when he was interrupted, he thought his authority was being challenged, and immediately sneered: "How strong can the Han soldiers be? Every Mongolian tribe has been made so weak by the Jurchens. They didn’t dare to go north. Monan Mongolia, which the Han soldiers dared not attack, we easily seized pastures after we came. Compared with this, our Khalkha warriors can completely defeat the Han soldiers!”

Darhan, another leader of Khalkha, put it relatively tactfully: "Khan, although we are stronger than the Han soldiers, but the tribes of Horqin are still alive, there is no need to provoke the Han people in advance. Make them anxious, just in case Horqin and the Han people united, didn't we have many enemies for no reason?"

The current situation is very delicate, Horqin is sandwiched between Khalkha and the Datong army.

Khalkha was afraid that Horqin would fall to the Datong Army, and the Datong Army was also afraid that Horqin would fall to Khalkha. However, both the Datong Army and Khalkha want to send troops to Horqin!

Lama Tenzin, who accompanied the army, said: "Korqin and we are both Mongols, and we don't have to conquer by force. The Khan can be more tolerant, and as long as they are willing to surrender, he promises to protect the interests of the leaders of Horqin's tribes. But there is one prerequisite, Horqin Ministries, must abandon their shamanism."

Morgan echoed: "Yes, if you give up Shamanism, you will allow Horqin to surrender!"

Chahun Dorji succeeded his father only last year. Although he had been leading the army before, now he also needs military exploits to consolidate his authority. He held the handle of the knife and said: "The tribes of Horqin will not surrender easily. Everything must be beaten. If you don't beat them hard, even if they surrender today, they will rebel tomorrow. Since you are opposed, then go ahead Instead of hitting Badali, go directly to the most fertile grassland in Horqin (Tongliao)!"

Morgan was still afraid of the Datong Army, and reminded: "Great Khan, the father of Great Khan last year sent envoys to the south to request the canonization of the Han emperor, but he was called back halfway. Now the war is about to break out. In order to prevent the Han soldiers from getting involved, You can send envoys to the south again..."

"Nonsense! Am I afraid of the Han people? I want to be the sweat of all Mongolia, and sooner or later I will have a decisive battle with the Han people!" Chahun Dorji was furious.

Darhan quickly smoothed things over: "Khan, Morgan is not afraid of the Han people, but is using a strategy. The envoys sent out do not need to go to Nanjing, but only need to contact the generals of the Han soldiers. We declare that we will surrender to the Han emperor, so that we can Confuse the generals of the Han soldiers and make them hesitate to send troops for a short time. When Horqin is annexed, it will not be too late to turn their backs."

Chahun Dorji was somewhat able to accept this statement, nodded in approval and said: "It is indeed a good strategy."

Immediately, Khalkha Mongol envoys went south and ran to Hebei to fool Zhang Tieniu, delaying time under the guise of asking for surrender.

At the same time, the Khalkha army continued to advance eastward.

In addition to the soldiers of the seven tribes of Khalkha, there are many conquered tribal warriors. For example, the Hulunbeier Grassland also has a branch of Alukorqin, which was annexed by Khalkha two years ago. Another example is the Xilin Gol Grassland, where the Chahar Mongolian branch has also been conquered by Khalkha. There are also the Bahrain Department and the Zarut Department, all of which sent troops to follow the war.

The combined strength of the various ministries has exceeded 100,000 people, plus the livestock accompanying the army, it can be called magnificent when marching on the grassland.

Mongolia is really in decline, and the Khalkha tribe tried their best to gather 100,000 cavalry. And a hundred years ago, Altan Khan, who only occupied Hetao, could pull out 100,000 soldiers and horses to fight.

When the army marched to the Tongliao area, they only saw lush grasslands, river valleys and even farmland, but they could not see the shadow of the Horqin tribe.

The tribes of Horqin have declined so badly that they can only gather 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and horses, including children aged twelve or thirteen. How dare they go head-to-head with Khalkha's 100,000 troops? He ran away with livestock and food a long time ago, preparing to lure the enemy to go deep.

Chahun Dorji ordered: "A 100,000-strong army, divided into two groups. Sweep the pastures along the way and look for the main force of Horqin!"

The population and livestock of Horqin's various tribes also retreated in two ways. Withdrew all the way to the hilly area of ​​the Xing'an League area, all the way to the north bank of the upper reaches of the Nen River. These guys chose to run north, while avoiding Khalkha, and by the way, staying away from the Datong Army garrison. They were not worried about being attacked by the Datong Army, and they could expect the Datong Army to fight Khalkha.

...

Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, by the Huolin River.

This river, originating from the remaining veins of the Daxingan Mountains, not only flows out of the lush grasslands, but also flows out of pieces of farmland.

Most of the farmland is cultivated by Han people. For more than a hundred years, some Mongolians have also learned to farm.

After Badali defected to join the Datong Army, although he was far away, he still received support. The food support was second to none, and the Datong Army even sent 500 pairs of cotton armor, 2,000 pairs of leather armor, and 2,000 waist knives, which greatly increased the combat effectiveness of Badali's army.

And the reward he gave was to fight with Horqin's other tribes. At the same time, all Han slaves who were plundered by the Manchu Qing must be given freedom, and no more Han slaves are allowed to be kept as slaves!

Badali's approach was that, anyway, there were a lot of young and strong casualties under his command, so he simply selected relatively strong Han slaves and intermarried with Mongolian widows in the clan. The widow's livestock and fields are inherited by her Han husband, but the Han husband must change his Mongolian name. The rest of the weak Han slaves were released as free people to work and earn money for the Mongolian nobles by farming or grazing.

This approach has already made great progress.

After all, not everyone can treat the Han people equally like Al Da Khan, so that the Ming border soldiers and common people went over the Great Wall to seek refuge.

"Nuoyan (Lord, Sovereign), there are wolf smoke in the northeast!"

"Call the people to fight!"

Ba Dali blew the trumpet to gather the cavalry, and the tribes on both sides of the Huolin River rode their horses to join them. Nearly a thousand of them were actually Han people married to Mongolian widows.

A large number of serfs were released, and the Datong Army supported food and soldiers, which caused the military strength of Badali to soar. In the case of being besieged, not only did he not lose the wind, he even expanded some territory. He has a cavalry force of 6,000.

"Da da da da!"

Badali led the soldiers under his command and soon collided with the enemy's vanguard.

The two sides stopped far away, and came to negotiate on a fast horse: "We are not here to be enemies with your ministry, please let us pass through here, Khalkha Mongolia is our common enemy!"

Hearing this, Badalley immediately laughed, understanding what these guys were up to.

Khalkha's 100,000 troops pursued towards the east. The main force of Horqin's various ministries, however, circled a large circle from the northwest and went straight into the Jalut tribe that had already surrendered to Khalkha.

Badalley said: "If you think about it, you can go there. When you come back, I will collect a thousand sheep to make road gold."

"Yes!" The other party readily agreed.

After the leading troops passed by, the follow-up troops arrived soon, and there were more than 20,000 cavalry in total. However, the equipment was poor, most of the cavalry did not wear armor, and there were many old people and children-due to years of fighting, the young and strong of Horqin's various tribes suffered heavy casualties.

More than 20,000 Horqin cavalry took advantage of Badali's territory to quickly attack the pastures of Jalut's department.

Most of the young and strong members of the Jalut tribe followed the Khalkha expedition, and those who remained were basically old, weak, women and children. Facing more than 20,000 Horqin cavalry, they were completely powerless to parry, and those who could ride horses fled to the west of the mountains.

"Run!"

"Leave none, kill them all!"

The Horqin cavalry fought in raids, and they really didn't need prisoners, they just slashed at them if they saw a living person.

After raiding the old nest of the Jalut Department, the Horqin cavalry continued to move forward and raided the Left Banner and Right Banner of Bahrain. Along the way, the old and weak, women and children were hacked to death, and they took the stolen livestock over the remaining veins of the Greater Khingan Mountains, and went straight to the Xilin Gol Grassland.

In this way, not only Khalkha, who had returned to the army, was in vain, but also Badali's tolls were not received.

Immediately, the Horqin cavalry headed north and crossed the river valley from the Xing'an League area.

Chahun Dorji led the army to chase all the way, only to see the robbed Zalut and Bahrain departments, and even Xilin Gol was robbed of two pastures.

"Bastard, how dare you tease me like this!"

Chahun Dorji led his troops in pursuit, and he was dumbfounded when he chased into the mountains of the Xing'an League. Earth walls were built in several river valley passages, and the Khalkha cavalry had to dismount and "siege" the city.

"Cut down trees, build ladders, I want to level this place!"

Chahun Dorji no longer cared about the casualties, he just wanted to let out a bad breath.

The earth wall is not high, only two meters, but Khalkha Mongolian soldiers are really not good at siege warfare. And no matter how many there are, they can't be deployed in the river valley. The extra soldiers can only stand far away, throwing bows and arrows towards the earth wall.

Inside and outside the earth wall, arrows were flying all over the sky. On the first day of the battle, hundreds of Khalkha soldiers were killed or injured.

As the defender, the Horqin army faced the same difficult situation.

"Sweat, sweat, it's not good!"

"explain!"

"We retreated to the north bank of the Nen River, and tens of thousands of Khalkha soldiers chased them. The tribes are continuing to retreat north, but sooner or later they will be overtaken by the enemy."

If a large number of people evacuate with all their belongings, they will leave traces on the grassland, and the marks of vehicles and livestock are difficult to erase.

Horqin gathered the main force to sneak attack on the enemy's garrison, and Khalkha also divided his troops to pursue Horqin's tribe.

On the north bank of the Nen River, there are Hong Guoer's people and all his property.

Hong Guoer said anxiously: "We can't continue to entangle, let in the enemies outside the earthen wall, and lure them into a more dangerous valley to ambush them!"

Another day passed, the defenders obviously released water, and Khalkha's offense quickly had an effect.

One Khalkha soldier after another chased them out over the earthen wall, and the Horqin soldiers were beaten and fled. Khalkha soldiers carried logs again, knocked down several earthen walls, and led their horses through the ruined walls.

Just when the whole army was about to chase after them on horseback, Chahun Dorji looked at the valley in front of him: "Blow the trumpet and send orders, the whole army advances slowly, send more soldiers to explore, and don't fall into the enemy's ambush. The enemy's defeat is very strange, It doesn't look like it's broken."