Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 268: Stealth Expedition
The strength of the Dilibortaiji tribe was not bad, but it was not as good as Tana's tribe. However, because the tribe had suffered a great loss of strength after the turmoil, the other was slightly stronger than the other.

But even so, Zhu Shenzui still decided to send troops. He had considered this battle carefully and decided that he must fight, and he must fight as soon as possible, and he must win.

For the sake of a battle, Zhu Shenzui assembled the tribe's cavalry and selected more than a thousand brave warriors from them. Although these cavalry were not as good as Hadan Bater's two thousand elite cavalry, they were still considered elite in the tribe today.

If this army is defeated, then the Tana tribe will completely lose the force that can deter other tribes, and the entire tribe will become cattle and sheep at the mercy of others. This risk is huge, Zhu Shenzhui knows this very well, but in this situation, no matter how big the risk is, he must take it.

As long as they defeated the Dilibortaiji tribe, everything would be solved. No one in the entire Tumed tribe would come to spy on the tribe, and the safety of the tribe would be guaranteed. In addition, the status of Tana, Tenger and himself would be completely stable inside and outside the tribe. Even Lin Danhan would take this into consideration and readily acknowledge Tenger's status and formally confer him the title.

The sooner the better, the better. The longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for the tribe. After discussing with Tana, Zhu Shenzhui acted quickly. Apart from the thousand elite cavalry, Zhu Shenzhui did not use his new army. After all, this was a cavalry battle and a surprise attack. Although the new army was powerful, it had huge limitations as infantry in grassland combat, and it would be useless to send out the new army.

It would be more appropriate to leave the new army in the tribe as a defensive force. However, although Zhu Shenzhui did not send out the new army, he selected a few people to bring the new army's powerful firearms, including three Portuguese cannons.

This time, the new army brought two Portuguese cannons to the grassland. Zhu Shencui had a Portuguese cannon in the tribe before, which he brought with him when he was a merchant. He brought the Portuguese cannon with him because the caravan was attacked. For safety reasons, Zhu Shencui made this arrangement. Later, the Portuguese cannon was left in the tribe, and the gunner was given to Tana.

However, due to Galiba's sudden attack, the tribe was in civil strife. When fleeing the tribe, they did not have time to take the Portuguese gun with them, and it fell into Galiba's hands.

Fortunately, Galiba did not know how to use the Portuguese cannon, and he did not have a suitable gunner. In addition, he had just taken control of the tribe, and he was arrogant and did not take the Portuguese cannon seriously. It was because of this that Zhu Shenzhui was able to sneak into the camp and launch a sudden attack at night when the enemy was careless, thus eliminating Galiba.

If Galiba had placed this Portuguese cannon near his tent and had a suitable gunner, Zhu Shenzhui would have suffered a lot. Under the fierce Portuguese cannon fire, even if his new army was very good at fighting, they would not be able to withstand it. One shot would cause blood and flesh to fly everywhere. Not to mention killing Galiba, if things went wrong, all of Zhu Shenzhui's troops would be doomed.

To ensure success this time, Zhu Shenzhui directly called on this Portuguese cannon, plus the two Portuguese cannons he brought this time, a total of three cannons. In addition to these three cannons, there are also gunners who operate the cannons, and they will cooperate with the cavalry troops.

After the personnel were mobilized, Zhu Shenzhui personally led the troops to the battle.

Wearing Mongolian clothes and armor, Zhu Shenzui rode on a horse and looked at the cavalrymen under him, feeling quite emotional.

This was his first time to fight with cavalry. Even though Zhu Shencui was a good rider, he had never led cavalry in battle. However, Zhu Shencui was not worried at all. This battle had to be fought. Moreover, as a judge and the father of the current Taiji, he was the most suitable person to lead the troops in every aspect.

He had two deputy generals, one was Wang Hai and the other was Hatulig. They each led 500 cavalry, and the remaining several hundred people served as Zhu Shenzhui's direct troops.

Each man was riding two horses and was well-equipped. In order to ensure a strong attacking power, Zhu Shenzui brought out all the tribe's secrets. All the men were wearing leather armor and the weapons in their hands were not bad either. More importantly, this cavalry also had powerful firearms like the Portuguese. As long as they attacked unexpectedly and the enemy was unprepared, this battle should not be difficult to win.

A spear was hung on the right side of the horse, a saber was on the left waist, and in his hand he held a mace. There was also a strong bow and three quivers beside the saddle. These were Zhu Shenzui's equipment.

Horse fighting is different from foot fighting. Things like maces and nails are more suitable for horse fighting than sabers, and their lethality is greater. Not only him, but most of the whole team is equipped in this way. Such sophisticated equipment is unprecedented for these Mongols. You have to know that most of the Mongolian warriors in the tribe are ordinary herdsmen. They only mount horses when they are conscripted. Most of the weapons they carry are also varied. Some of them don’t even have a decent saber except for crude bows and arrows. How can they have such rich equipment?

"set off!"

There was no pre-war encouragement, nor any fancy speeches. After a quick glance, Zhu Shenzui raised his hand and waved forward, and the tribe headed towards the target. The sound of horse hooves suddenly became a sound, and after a moment it gradually faded away. At this time, Tana, who had watched them leave, knelt down in the direction where Zhu Shenzui was going, clasped her hands together and murmured, as if praying for the protection of Eternal Heaven.

The tribe of Dilibortaiji was not far from Tana's tribe. It would take only about five days for a fast horse to arrive there. According to the marching speed of Zhu Shenzhui and his men, they would arrive in about seven days.

Moreover, when the envoys were sent out before, they had already scouted the terrain and routes along the way. Zhu Shenzhui and his team marched quite smoothly. Along the way, they did not go straight through the grassland. In order to hide their tracks, they went to more remote places. But then again, the grassland is endless, and even in more remote places it is impossible to hide so many people. It is inevitable to encounter small tribes or lone herdsmen on the road. Zhu Shenzhui has been prepared for this situation.

Whenever such a situation occurred, without Zhu Shenzhui saying anything, Wang Hai and Hatulig would lead their men to ride forward and resolve the issue. Within a few breaths, due to the absolute gap in strength, the opponent would not be able to escape at all. Anyone they encountered, regardless of gender, age or status, would be killed by this army.

Although this approach is somewhat cruel, it has to be done. A merciful army cannot be commanded. The key to launching a war this time is suddenness. If these herdsmen are not killed, there will be no way to cover up their tracks if any of them are left alive. Moreover, they are going to fight, and there is no way to deal with the prisoners. Instead of tying them up and leaving them on the grassland to die, it is better to kill them quickly and avoid that kind of pain.

In order to reduce the risk of exposure, Zhu Shenzhui has been taking a detour, but even so, if they still run into them, it can only be considered bad luck. As for the herdsmen's cattle and sheep, they are too lazy to take care of them and just abandon them there and wait for an opportunity to deal with them later.

They continued forward like this, and by the evening of the sixth day, Zhu Shenzui had already approached the location of the Dilibortaiji tribe. If they continued forward, they would reach the enemy's camp. At this time, Zhu Shenzui ordered to stop, and the large army found a place to hide and rest. He had sent scouts to find out the situation half a day in advance and wait for their final intelligence.

Sitting on a slightly raised earth slope, Zhu Shencui tore the dried meat and bread in his hands with some effort. These things were not very delicious, but they were what they had eaten all the way. For safety reasons, Zhu Shencui did not let anyone open fire, and everyone had eaten only dry food along the way.

After finally finishing his meal, his throat was dry and uncomfortable, so Zhu Shenzhui took a sip of water from the water bag and swallowed the food stuck in his throat. After plugging the lid of the water bag, Zhu Shenzhui stood up, patted his butt, and walked around the temporary camp to check on his men.

After a round, Zhu Shenzui felt a little more relieved. Although most of these cavalrymen were herdsmen and could not be considered truly elite, after the initial training some time ago and the cooperation along the way, the situation of the cavalry was better than he had imagined.

Returning to his resting place, Zhu Shenzui waited patiently for the scouts he had sent out to return. After more than an hour, the sound of light horse hooves was heard in the distance. The cavalry on guard outside noticed it and rode forward. Soon they all came towards the camp together. It seemed that the scouts had returned.

"Master, the person is back." Wang Hai trotted up to Zhu Shenzhu and said.

"What about people?"

"They're at the back." Wang Hai turned around and pointed, and saw two scouts dressed as herdsmen coming towards them.

"Zaluhuchi!" Upon seeing Zhu Shenzui, the scout stepped forward and knelt on one knee.

"Thank you for your hard work." Zhu Shenzhui nodded. They both looked exhausted. He raised his hand for them to stand up and then asked about the situation.

The two scouts did not beat around the bush and reported immediately.

They have found the location of the camp of the Delibortaiji tribe. According to their inquiries, the location of the Delibortaiji tribe has not moved, and the camp is still in the original place. Moreover, the entire camp is very quiet. Apart from the usual alert, the herdsmen around the camp are grazing normally, and no other situation can be seen inside the camp.

According to what they said, the security of the camp was not strict, or very loose. In fact, this is not surprising. There has been basically no conflict in the entire Tumed tribe in recent years. In addition, the location of the Delibortaiji tribe is in the west, not in the central area of ​​the Tumed tribe. Moreover, their tribe is the largest tribe nearby, and there are some scattered small tribes around it. Under such circumstances, it is normal for the Delibortaiji tribe to be not vigilant.

After carefully inquiring about the layout of the camp and the surrounding area, Zhu Shenzhu picked up a stone and drew on the ground, determining the location details as he drew.

The two scouts had good memories and were quite courageous. They kept moving to the area three miles from the camp and observed for a long time before quietly leaving. With their description, Zhu Shenzhui drew a picture of the entire tribal camp without much effort. After confirming it was correct once again, he nodded and waved his hand to let the two go down to rest first.

(End of this chapter)