Hang Nan learned from Qianlong about paying wages to civilian husbands.
Although Qianlong has been criticized and called a "stamping maniac", a "foolish king", and a "tyrant"...but he himself can be regarded as a good boss.
Not only did he generously reward his meritorious officials and give them money through promotion and promotion, but he also knew how to admit his mistakes when he made them, and did not let his officials take the blame for him.
What is even more rare is that it is not easy to recruit civilian workers to transport grain and grass and also think about paying them wages.
You must know that the emperors of all dynasties liked to serve people in vain. Every time they went to do corvee work, the people needed to bring their own dry food and transportation. Even to serve as soldiers, they needed to buy their own weapons, armor, and horses.
Heifu Hejing, who came from the Qin Dynasty, wrote at home that he hoped his mother would send some money to buy summer clothes; "Mulan Ci" also recorded that Hua Mulan prepared her own equipment, buying horses in the east market and saddles in the west market...
This is true for soldiers, not to mention the civilian men who go out with the army and are responsible for transporting food. Therefore, every time the imperial court goes to war, the unlucky ones are the common people.
…
The army left Juyongguan and arrived at the grassland via Xuanhua.
All the Mongolian ministers heard the news early and did not dare to stun their fronts. They have already entered the desert.
Xiang Nan has a way to deal with it. Using the skill of taming birds, he subdued dozens of falcons to help him detect the enemy's whereabouts. In less than half a day, the enemy's position had been found.
It turns out that after learning about Xiang Nan’s Northern Expedition, all the Mongolian ministries did not dare to relax. After all, Xiang Nan had just conquered the Eastern Chagatai Khanate two years ago.
As for the strength of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, I dare not say that it ranks first among the Mongolian tribes, but it is also quite powerful. It has a vast territory, a prosperous population, and a military strength of one hundred thousand.
But even such a large part of the country was completely defeated in less than two years, and even the territory was occupied. So they were naturally frightened.
In order to avoid being defeated individually, the various tribes in the desert Mongol country also had to hold meetings to put aside their old grudges, hoping to work together to fight against the enemy.
Of course, this alliance was not too successful, because there were many discords between various tribes, and there were many conflicts over power, property, territory, population, livestock, etc., and many were even blood feuds that had lasted for hundreds of years.
If there is a strong political figure, it may be possible to unite the ministries. But it is a pity that the previously recognized strong men in Wala, such as Ye Xian and Tuo Tuo Bu Hua, have all passed away.
There are only a few decent figures left, so it is natural that they cannot unify all the Mongolian tribes.
Although the Ming army is now engaged in the Northern Expedition, life and death hang on a thin line, but it is still difficult for them to give up their prejudices and unite as one, so in the end it was just a few tribes that united to form a large army with the intention of fighting against the Ming Dynasty.
Other tribes either thought of going it alone, migrating, or surrendering. In short, each had their own plans.
The army Xiang Nan discovered was a joint army composed of those tribes, with about 50,000 people.
…
After discovering the target, Xiang Nan ordered the army to attack and ordered the falcons to continue to scout.
According to the news from the Harrier Eagle, the enemy troops are also arranging their troops. They are preparing to set up a pocket formation. When the Ming army enters their encirclement, they will first cut off the Ming army's baggage and make them disorderly, and then take advantage of the chaos. Attack and kill.
I have to say that their tactics are still very cunning.
If it were the old swords and spears, their fighting method would still have advantages. But now that we have long guns and cannons, their tactics are very problematic. Don’t say Xiang Nan won’t be fooled and enter the encirclement. Even if they really enter the encirclement, the Ming army's firepower can still suppress the enemy's fire. At that time, it is not certain who will eat whom.
The Ming army advanced into the desert in the direction of the target.
In the desert, there are not only endless grasslands, but also forests, mountains, lakes, rivers, etc.
For example, Dehua County has many high mountains such as Dajue Mountain, Huanghua Mountain, Gongchangling, and Cross Mountain, which are the remnants of the eastern section of the northern foothills of the Yinshan Mountains.
The place where Xiang Nan led his army was in Coiling Snake Valley. This valley is named after its shape. The valley is shaped like a coiled snake. It is thin, narrow, and winding. It is really very dangerous.
The enemy troops were lying in ambush on both sides of the Snake Valley. When the army entered the valley, they would rush out from the rear and cut off the baggage. When the Ming army is in chaos, the front will take the opportunity to attack. In this way, if they attack from the front and back, the Ming army will be defeated.
They had a good idea, but Xiang Nan was not fooled. Instead of leading his army into the Coiled Snake Valley, he led his army to surround the outside of the Coiled Snake Valley.
There are no mountain streams or wells in Panshe Valley. Once surrounded, the Mongolian troops on the mountain will soon be in a situation where there is no water to drink.
If you don’t drink water for three days, your life will be in danger. At that time, if the Mongolian troops on the mountain wanted to avoid dying of thirst, they would have no choice but to rush down and break through, and they just happened to enter Xiang Nan's encirclement.
This is also Xiang Nan's retaliation against them.
The Tumubao Incident first cut off Zhu Qizhen's retreat, which resulted in the Ming army's morale being completely depleted and they could only be slaughtered. Now it's considered retribution.
…
Sure enough, when the Mongolian army knew that Xiang Nan had not been fooled and instead led his army to surround them on the mountain, they couldn't help but panic and immediately organized their troops to prepare for a breakout.
But their army had just rushed down the mountain. Before they could get close, dozens of artillery shells were fired at them. Suddenly, the mountains collapsed and the ground cracked, and sand and rocks flew everywhere. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of people were killed. They were frightened. He quickly ran back to the mountain.
The Mongolian army today is no longer the same as the Scourge of God that swept across Asia and Europe a hundred years ago.
What's more, these tribes originally chose to unite because of the situation. In fact, they are at odds with each other in words and hearts, which is not much better than a loose sand.
So if the start is successful, they may still be able to play with the wind. But if they lose at the start, they immediately split.
The tribes in the Snake Valley are like this now. They have become torn apart because of fierce differences over whether to fight, drag, or surrender.
But time waits for no one, and two days passed quickly. The Mongolian army on the mountain tried to break out several times, but was beaten back by Xiang Nan, leaving corpses everywhere.
Because they could not break through and had no water to drink, they had begun to kill horses and drink their blood. If no action is taken, they will literally die of thirst.
Therefore, four days later, the Mongolian army on the mountain had no choice but to surrender to Xiang Nan. After all, if they don't surrender, they will really die of thirst. When the time comes, the whole army will be wiped out.
In comparison, although surrendering loses one's spine, one can still save one's life.
Xiang Nan accepted their surrender and incorporated them into his own army to serve as his vanguard. As for whether they will rebel, Xiang Nan is not worried.
Because he would send people to control the men, women, and children of their tribe. If they dare to rebel, they will never want to see their relatives again in this life.
As a result, they will naturally fight tooth and nail.