Chapter 693 One Hundred Excuses

In the middle army camp late at night, a scream came from time to time, which was very scary.The Ming army was torturing the prisoners.

Zhu Gaoxu was not asleep yet, so he paced back and forth in front of a basin of charcoal fire.

There was a map on the ground, but he didn't look at the picture. He still walked around for a while and squatted down in front of the brazier.His face was filled with the light of charcoal fire, looking dazed and stunning.

In addition to Zhu Gaoxu, there was another person in the tent, Duan Xueheng.She sat quietly beside her, sometimes with her eyes closed, occasionally looking up to observe Zhu Gaoxu... He seemed a little restless at this time.

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and said: It's very late, you can go to bed first.

Duan Xuehen raised his head and said softly: I used to not sleep at night, and I was mostly alone.I feel good to be by the side of the Lord tonight.

Zhu Gaoxu stopped talking.However, the two of them stayed in the tent late at night, and he gradually felt a unique atmosphere.

The taciturn Duan Xueheng and the young woman with little smiles have pale skin in the night; the concave and tight figure makes people feel lust vaguely.

At this time, the tent seemed to be shrouded in a decadent atmosphere.

This situation is really a bit unsuitable.

Duan Xueheng's previous hatred and wandering situation had long ceased; Zhu Gaoxu had also asked her if she was unhappy, but she did not.

However, a person's dull personality formed over a long period of time will not become cheerful immediately because his situation improves.

Zhu Gaoxu was sleepless and was thinking about it in the tent, not knowing how long it took.

At this time, Hou Hai's voice came from outside the tent: Haven't the emperor fall asleep yet?Someone replied: I am not sure.

Zhu Gaoxu lifted the thick oil cloth curtain and saw Hou Hai standing outside the account with his neck huddled.Zhu Gaoxu immediately waved and said: Come in and speak.

Hou Hai hesitated for a moment and bent down and walked into the warm tent.He glanced at Duan Xuehen sitting on the felt blanket, and clasped his fists and said: I will pay homage to the emperor and Depin.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and waited for Hou Hai to continue speaking.When Hou Hai comes outside the account late at night, there must be something important.

Sure enough, Hou Hai quickly said: Report to the emperor, I tortured and interrogated nearly a hundred prisoners and received important news.The tent of the Tatar Khan Benyari was on the south of the "Luke of the Sea" (Hulun Lake).Many prisoners confirmed the news, and the officials carefully interrogated and determined that the military situation was true!

Hou Zuozang did a good job.Zhu Gaoxu praised, immediately squatted down in front of the map, and looked at it.

After a while, he said: Our army is still about two hundred miles away, but the Tatars' camp tribes cannot all run on horseback, and the monks can't run away...

Hou Hai bowed and said: The wise man!He then said: Please take care of the dragon body, please give up.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded in agreement.But he didn't take off his clothes all night, and he slept for a while on the blanket against the tent in the early morning...

The next morning, just dawned, Zhu Gaoxu walked out of the tent.He suddenly saw sparse snowflakes floating in the sky.

The snow falls silently, which often surprises people.

The scene of the military camp and countless tents in the snow seemed quite different from before, and suddenly became hazy.

The originally endless wilderness also seemed to be no longer so wide.

The grasslands to the east are particularly flat, with almost no ups and downs.Zhu Gaoxu stood in the snow and looked at him for a while, and a vague illusion was created, as if the plains in the distance were hanging high.

He reached out to pick up a few snowflakes. When the snowflakes melted in his warm palms, he shook off the water droplets and walked towards the central army's tent.

Zhu Gaoxu came to the big tent and put on his armor.The civil and military officials came to the tent to meet him early in the morning.

After the civil and military officials were greeted, Zhu Gaoxu cleared his voice a little and said straight to the point: I learned about a military situation last night. Ben Yari was in the south of the "Luke of the Sea", two hundred miles away from this place.The news is relatively reliable.

The generals immediately looked up at Zhu Gaoxu, but only the Minister of War Qi Tai was still burying his head, as if he was thinking about something.

Zhu Gaoxu said: The tent of the Tatar Khan, the tents and supplies of the tribes, and the family members of the tribes, cannot go as fast as cavalry.I also believe that many of the Tatar tribes were still in the area near the "Lu of the Sea".

He frowned and pondered for a moment, and continued: If our army set out immediately and pursued the Tatar tent in the northeast, he would have the chance to chase it in the northern part of the Lake of the Sea.Then retreat south from the east of Ruhai Lake and the fish sea to sweep along the road, which will surely expand the results of the war and further shock the Tatar tribes!

Wu Gao, the Marquis of Jiangyin, clasped his fists and said: Yesterday, Qibutang reported that the military rations were insufficient. If this is the case, the time would be delayed by more than half a month. The emperor will observe it.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and Wu Gao clasped his fists and returned to the queue.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu stood up from his seat, took two steps, and said: Benyari has been traveling around for many years and has received support from Timur. He insisted on his own initiative and wanted to call on Mongolian tribes to restore the status of the Yuan Dynasty, so it was difficult to get along well with the Ming Dynasty.This time Benjali may run away if he loses sweat, but the "museum" cannot escape!

If our army can seize and kill the king's tent and level the Tatar tribe that follows the king's tent, it will definitely be able to deal with the prestige of Benjali's Khan!If the forage tent supplies of the Tatar tribes were destroyed at the beginning of winter, the number of people and animals in the Northern Yuan tribes could also be reduced this winter, which would be of great effect to weaken the enemy's troops.

At this time, Qi Tai stepped forward and said, "Master, I will discuss the words of the Marquis of Jiangyin."At this time, the central army had to pay attention to the food and military supplies.If the army attacks again this time, the time and the personnel consumption will be extended, and the team will probably face an extremely serious shortage of food and grass on the way.The central army must not fail to make plans for the long term.

There were a few people in the generals' queue, and subconsciously nodded slightly, as if they agreed with Qi Tai's words.

Don’t we have tens of thousands of horses?Zhu Gaoxu said calmly.

Qi Tai was stunned for a moment.

Zhang Fu, the Hou of Xincheng, said in the voice of: On the way back, if the food is finished, the soldiers can kill the horses and fill their hunger!

The tent was suddenly very quiet, and even Qi Tai didn't say anything anymore.The war horses were expensive, and Zhu Gaoxu was actually preparing to serve as military rations. Only the emperor dared to make such a decision in advance!

Everyone was quiet for a while, and at this time, Zhu Gaoxu said in a deep voice: We are fighting!There is no need to be sufficient and abundant at all times. To achieve victory, it is inevitable that you must try your best to do everything.

Seeing that no one agreed, he said again: As long as we have the determination, we can overcome many difficulties. But if you want to find a reason, you can easily find a hundred excuses to retreat for any major event!

Finally, generals such as Wang Bin, Zhang Fu, and Liu Sheng all stood up and said, "I obey the will and ask the emperor to make a decision!"

Qi Tai, Minister of War, also said: Where to go, the emperor still needs to make a decision.

Zhu Gaoxu sat down and was silent for a while.

After a while, he spoke: If we are lucky, we have seized a large number of livestock near the "Sea Lake" and found camps that hoarded grass, so we will no longer have to slaughter the war horses.I've considered that even in the worst case, we are not completely unable to overcome it.

When he said this, he slapped his thigh with a palm, his eyes stern: That's it!Deploy the entire army and continue to pursue the Lake of the Sea.

People in the big tent held rituals one after another, and ministers and others followed the imperial edict!

Then Zhu Gaoxu arranged the march routes of each army.

The order was heading northwest to meet with Quneng's army and marched eastward after joining the Quneng's front army; the remaining armies marched northeast along with the Central Army camp.

The snow was getting heavier and heavier without realizing it.This snow seemed to be true; the first light snow on the grassland had fallen for a day and soon cleared.

The troops set out to camp and continued to march on snowy days.The whole world seemed to be shrouded in the vast snowflakes.

The main forces of the Central Army and other armies began to march northeastward in the area west of the Huoyuerhai.The forward had sent several small horse teams to the front line to search and monitor the Tatars' tent.

Five days later, the army joined forces with Qu Neng and others on the southeast bank of Ruhai Lake.

The Tatar King's tent had left here, but the soldiers dug out the snow and found a large amount of burned cow dung everywhere, and found traces of the camping.

The endless lake like the sea is already in sight.

As long as people look north, they can see the vast lake surface; but the lake surface is not very obvious at this time, the lake water has frozen, and it has snowed for several consecutive days and covered the lake with snow.

In five days, no battles have occurred.The Ming army only burned down some Tatar tribe tents and robbed a few piles of grass and some livestock.

Zhu Gaoxu felt that it would be difficult for a decent battle to happen again next.The Tatar army gathered and would not last long; after the battle to the west of the Fishing Sea, their cavalry should have been scattered.

The Tatar army gathered tens of thousands of cavalry. If it was to be maintained for a long time, it was usually when it raided the territory of the Ming Dynasty, because it could grab the food from the village.

However, on the grassland, if tens of thousands of enemy troops deployed for a long time, it will be difficult to ensure supply in winter.

At night, Zhu Gaoxu stood on the shore of the Lake Like the Sea, observing the scene in the north.

Although there is snow on the ground, you can tell the junction between the lake and the land by watching carefully.

Like the east shore of the lake on the sea, the shore seems to extend in the shape of the syllable character.

There is no strange situation on all sides of the vast horizon.However, Zhu Gaoxu still repeatedly reminded himself that the Tatar king's tent must be ahead and he will catch up with the target sooner or later!

If you continue chasing like this, Zhu Gaoxu hopes that the army can enter the attack range of the Ming cavalry in the north of the Lake Ruhai and the Xueshui River (Hailar River) basin...

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the snow-covered lake and stood in the snow for a long time.When he came to his senses, he felt very stiff and cold all over.