I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 331 Zhu Houzhao's Decision
Zhu Houzhao was completely impatient. "I still say the same thing. Anyone who does not obey my military orders should resign from his military power and go back to the capital!"

Everyone present was silent and looked at Zhu Houzhao eagerly.

"I have made up my mind. The entire army will be dispatched early tomorrow morning! Go south to rescue the Datong army!" Zhu Houzhao made a dictatorial decision, and then he left angrily, leaving everyone with different expressions.

Zhu Houzhao had his own thoughts and thoughts when making such a decision.

Zhu Houzhao was a very smart man and had been passionate about military affairs for many years. He studied military knowledge all year round and often communicated with generals with combat experience. Even Zhu Houxuan often intentionally or unintentionally instilled some of the military knowledge he knew into Zhu Houzhao.

At this point, Zhu Houzhao was still at the stage of talking about it on paper.

But Zhu Houzhao also participated in building an army from scratch. He spent a lot of effort in this process, which also made him think a lot. It allowed him to have his own views on military spirit and morale, and made him understand what factors determine the combat effectiveness of an army.

In the past six months, he has been inspecting the border areas, which has allowed him to gradually move away from the stage of armchair discussion. In the border areas, he has been able to access a large amount of first-hand information about the Mongols, which has given him a deeper understanding of the Mongols' tactics and strategies, as well as a comprehensive understanding of various things on the Mongolian grasslands. All of this has led him to make this seemingly very reckless decision.

Having been emperor for so long, he had a clear understanding of the minds of his subordinates. He knew that they were all considering his safety, and he also knew clearly that their suggestions were not the best militarily solutions.

The best way is his current decision, to send the entire army south to rescue.

He doesn't think he will have any safety issues in the process.

His confidence came entirely from the 40,000 new troops around him. He knew these new troops too well. In the past six months, he had also seen many so-called elite border troops. After making a fair comparison in his mind, he believed that the new troops were still far superior to those so-called elite border troops.

Putting aside weapons and equipment, the new army's training volume far exceeded that of other armies. Other Ming armies were considered good if they could train once every ten days or half a month, but the new army trained every day and had only a few days of rest.

Soldiers of other Ming armies had many part-time jobs to make a living, but the New Army was a completely full-time professional army.
I won’t go into detail about all the advantages.

With such an army around him, Zhu Houzhao did not think that the Mongols could threaten his safety.

If the 100,000 troops heading south this time were the Mongolian army from two or three hundred years ago, he would definitely have to think carefully, but he was not afraid of the current Mongolian army at all.

Based on his understanding of the Mongolian army, he knew that many of the 100,000 troops were Mongolian herdsmen who were just filling the numbers. They only had leather coats on their bodies and bows and bone arrows in their hands, so they posed a limited threat to the new army.

Moreover, if he could join forces with the Datong army, there would be 7 people. Facing the -strong Mongolian army, although he seemed to be at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, he had no disadvantage in terms of combat effectiveness.

As long as these 7 men can hold out against the Mongols for three or four days, the Xuanfu border troops and new troops will be able to provide support.

Based on his understanding of the Mongolian tactics and strategies, he believed that the new army would have no problem surviving these three or four days.

There were many benefits for him to be able to go south with the army. First, it avoided the division of troops, and secondly, it could boost morale on the battlefield.
All this prompted Zhu Houzhao to make such a decision. In the early morning of October 8, the sun came out, the south gate of Datong City opened, and a steady stream of soldiers and civilians poured out of the city gate.
Zhu Houzhao was already standing on a high slope outside the city gate, wearing armor and carrying a bow. Behind him followed a group of generals in helmets and armor.

The only sound in his ears was the clanking of armor colliding. In the direction he was heading, a crowd of heads moved. The dense armor and helmets reflected countless points of light in the morning sun. The fluttering red tassels on the helmets connected together like a dancing flame.
Zhu Houzhao looked at all this with some obsession. This was the scene he had always dreamed of. How could he not feel great ambition in his heart after seeing all this?
Today he was finally going to step onto the battlefield, and the battle he had longed for was right before his eyes.
Just at 9 o'clock, the first Mongolian scout appeared in Zhu Houzhao's field of vision through the thin morning light. He stood a mile away, quietly observing this somewhat unfamiliar army.
The Mongolian scout rode his horse slowly closer, and more horseback riders gradually appeared behind him. They came to about two hundred steps away and no longer advanced.

There were more than fifty of them, distributed around the army, as if they wanted to surround it.

At this time, the Ming cavalry rushed out and dispersed the Mongolian scouts.

The further south you go, the more Mongolian cavalry there are.

Moreover, they were all in groups of several hundred, and they would come to harass you in turns. If you chased them, they would run away; if you didn't chase them, they would quietly follow you.

This strategy of the Mongolian cavalry had three purposes: first, to slow down the rescue speed of the Ming army; second, to block the view of the battlefield as much as possible; third, once the Ming army revealed a flaw, the scattered Mongolian cavalry would quickly gather and attack.

This naturally made Zhu Houzhao think of an animal - the wolf!

It's very disgusting. I can't hit it, I can't get rid of it, but I can't really ignore it.

Dayan Khan already knew the news that the army was leaving the city, and he ordered more than 10,000 Mongolian cavalry to attack the reinforcements.

Many archers shot arrows from a distance at the marching army. These arrows had little effect on the armored soldiers, but they still posed a considerable threat to the unarmored civilians. This caused quite a commotion among the civilians, but they were quickly pacified.

Zhu Houzhao also changed his formation and protected the civilians in the middle.

The more than 5,000 light cavalrymen who followed the army did not dare to disperse. They kept trying to disperse the cavalrymen around them. Those cavalrymen were also very cunning and did not engage in battle with the Ming cavalrymen at all.
However, this continuous harassment slowed down the army's march, and Zhu Houzhao gradually became anxious. He was really worried that the Datong army could not hold on.
It was another evening, the fighting was over, and everyone was resting.

An emergency meeting was held in the military camp, and Zhang Li said to Wang Xun: "General Wang, the gunpowder in the army is about to run out."

Lieutenant General Xiao Zi said, "Our troops are running out of arrows."

Guerrilla General Ma Sheng said: "The Mongolian cavalry is gathering more and more. The Tartars who were sent out to rob have probably been called back. We are facing at least 50,000 enemies. If reinforcements don't come, we will all die here."

Wang Xun gritted his teeth and encouraged, "Hold on for another day, reinforcements will surely arrive!"

"You said the same thing yesterday." Shi Chun said unhappily, not believing Wang Xun's empty promises at all.

(End of this chapter)