Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 321 Lan Yu: God is really helping us! [Please subscribe]

Lake Baikal is not Lake Baikal, but is located south of Hulun Lake in northeastern Inner Mongolia.

However, the names of the two lakes at that time were different from those in later generations. Lake Baikal was called Buir Lake.

On the river bank dozens of miles northeast of Buyuer Lake, you can see rows of yurts, like dirty white clouds falling on the early spring grass, which are simply countless.

Surrounding this large area of ​​yurts are herds of cattle, sheep and horses.

Among the many yurts, there is a huge yurt with a huge golden top ornament. Hundreds of elite Yuan soldiers are guarding outside. It is the tent of the current Emperor Tianyuan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

This yurt was also the location of the Northern Yuan Dynasty court.

However, due to the needs of nomadism and local garrisoning, the power of the Northern Yuan Dynasty court was not concentrated here, but was divided into two places.

To the west, in the central grassland (Mobei), there were also important officials of the Northern Yuan Dynasty such as Prime Minister Yaozhu, Grand Marshal Nairbuhua, and Minister Aruttemur, who led tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to guard Helin.

In some places further south (south of the desert), there was the Grand Tutor Halazhang (the eldest son of Tuotuo), who led more than 20,000 households of soldiers and civilians to garrison Yingchang.

As for the western grasslands, they are now occupied by the Oirat nobles. Although they are still nominally under the rule of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, in reality, neither Yesüder, a descendant of Ariq Böke (Kublai Khan's brother), who used the area as his fiefdom, nor the Oirat nobles who controlled the real power in the area, took the Northern Yuan Dynasty seriously.

Therefore, the areas where the Northern Yuan court could truly and effectively rule were only the eastern grasslands, the central grasslands and part of the grasslands south of the desert.

Emperor Tianyuan Toghon Temur was the second son of Emperor Tianshun, but he inherited the throne from his elder brother, making him the third emperor of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

The team left by his father and brother when he ascended the throne was not bad, but Emperor Tianyuan was mediocre in ability. In the past ten years, both the historical Ming army and the current Ming army were actively preparing for the Northern Expedition, but the Northern Yuan court had made little progress.

Therefore, during the nearly ten years of Emperor Tianyuan's reign, the Northern Yuan court changed from a stalemate with the Ming Dynasty to a defensive state, and even suffered two major defeats starting from the 14th year of Hongwu.

In addition, the Ming army also won most of the victories in other small-scale battles. Now the emperor, ministers, soldiers and civilians of the Northern Yuan Dynasty have a feeling of "changing color at the mention of the Ming army."

Inside the Golden Tent.

The forty-year-old Emperor Tianyuan sat on a golden dragon throne, but his face was filled with worry and uneasiness.

"Gentlemen, the Ming army has marched north to the grasslands again. What should we do?"

Emperor Tianyuan spoke Chinese, not Mongolian, and even his appearance did not reveal any trace of Mongolian.

First, Emperor Tianyuan's mother was Queen Ki, a Goryeo woman; second, Emperor Tianyuan grew up in the Central Plains, and his diet and lifestyle were deeply influenced by Han culture, which could not be easily changed by escaping to the grassland.

This can be seen from the layout and decoration inside the golden tent. If you only look at the inside without looking at the dome, most people would probably think it is in a garden or house in the Central Plains.

Prime Minister Shi Liemen stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, Buir Lake is too close to the Ming border and is not safe. Now that we know the Ming army is heading north, I implore Your Majesty to quickly move to Helin."

Upon hearing this, Taiwei Manzi, who was in charge of guarding the area and held real power over the troops, immediately shouted in Mongolian, "Why is it not safe? The Ming army doesn't know Your Majesty is here! Besides, if Your Majesty goes to Helin, won't the Ming army also head for Helin?!"

Shi Liemen frowned and said, "Khorum is in the northern desert. Even if the Ming army wants to go, it will be a long and arduous expedition. When the time comes, whether we flee and avoid fighting or wait for the enemy to tire themselves out, it will be safer than staying in Buyuerhai!"

The barbarian snorted, "Shiliemen, I think you've stayed in the south for too long and have become as cowardly and timid as the Han people. Otherwise, why would you flee in fear just because you heard they were coming, without even seeing the Ming army?!"

The barbarian's words offended almost everyone in the tent.

Because many of the important officials around Emperor Tianyuan today were born in Central China, not to mention that the Yuan court still employs some Han people - before the 14th year of Hongwu, Han people could even become important officials at the level of the chancellor.

The barbarian, unaware of his own offense, said rather arrogantly, "If you want to leave, go ahead. I won't go to Helin!"

Emperor Tianyuan and Shiliemen both looked rather unhappy.

At this time, the chief minister, Nieqie, came to persuade him, "General, it is said that the Ming army has sent out at least three armies, with 200,000 to 300,000 soldiers and horses. If they really find this place, how can we stop them?"

"The Ming army's firearms are very powerful now. It's best for us to avoid fighting and wait until they have penetrated deep into the grasslands, their efforts are futile, and their troops are exhausted. Then we can launch a counterattack and win."

The barbarian thought what Nieqie said made some sense, but he still disliked the idea of ​​fleeing without a fight, so he added, "There are many Ming spies on the grasslands right now. If you rush to take His Majesty, what if you run into an ambush?"

Shi Liemen was annoyed. "How could it be so easy to be ambushed on the prairie?"

Although mediocre, Emperor Tianyuan still had some courage. Seeing that no one could persuade the barbarian, he said, "Since the general is unwilling to leave, he should continue to stay in the east. I only hope that you can hold back the Ming troops from Liaodong."

"Prime Minister, Magistrate, please make arrangements immediately. I want to move to Helin!"

"As you wish!" Emperor Tianyuan came to Buyuer Lake with tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians. He arrived in the spring after the snow had melted a little, and did not stay in the Buyuer Lake area for long.

Now the cattle, sheep and horses that had been hungry for the whole winter had not yet gained weight. When they heard that Emperor Tianyuan had issued another decree to move back to Helin, both the lower-class herdsmen and the upper-class nobles complained. Under their resentment, the preparations for the migration were naturally greatly slowed down...

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On the eastern foot of the Greater Khingan Range, north of the Huang River, Lan Yu led more than 50,000 troops brought from Liaoyang and joined forces with the Mongolian soldiers of Doyan, Fuyu and Taining who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. The number of troops under his command finally reached 60,000.

He then led his army northward, heading straight for Buyuer Lake. When the Yuan court decided to move its camp to the Buyuer Lake area after the New Year, the Guangming Guards passed the news to the Ming Dynasty.

The mission of the troops led by Lan Yu in this northern expedition was to break through the Yuan court as quickly as possible and even capture the Yuan emperor and his ministers.

In just four or five days, Lan Yu led his army for nearly a thousand miles and arrived at the southern shore of Buyuer Lake.

If there were no Guangming Guards, Lan Yu would have sent out spies (usually Mongolians who had defected to the Ming Dynasty) to look for traces of the Yuan court.

Whether you can gain anything depends entirely on luck.

However, with the ability of the Guangming Guards, the Ming army not only knew very early that the Yuan court had moved to the Buyuer Sea area, but also had the opportunity to learn the specific location of the Yuan Emperor's Golden Tent!

Sure enough, on the afternoon of the day when Lan Yu's troops arrived at the southern shore of Buyuer Lake, a captain of the Guangming Guard in the army brought a seemingly ordinary Mongolian herdsman into the central military tent.

After a simple salute, the captain said, "General Lan, this is a spy from the Bright Guard under the command of the Canyuan Grand Commandant Manzi. He has brought important intelligence."

Lan Yu has matured a lot compared to a few years ago, but this is his first time to be the commander of a large army, and he is more ambitious than when he was young.

He was standing in front of a tiger-skin chair, one hand on his waist and the other holding the hilt of his sword. He said, "Tell me, what's the information?"

The spy clasped his fists and said, "General, the Yuan Emperor's Golden Tent is eighty miles northeast of Buyuer Sea. However, the Yuan court seems to have learned of our army's northward advance and ordered the relocation of the tent to Helin two days ago."

Lan Yu said, "The Ming army's four-pronged northern expedition has caused quite a stir. It's not surprising that the remnant Yuan court knew about this. But how did the Yuan emperor know that we already knew he was in the Buir Lake area?"

The detective shook his head, "I don't know."

The captain said, "General Lan, according to the intelligence we, the Guangming Guards, have previously obtained, the Yuan Dynasty's rulers and ministers are now terrified of our Ming army."

"Since the Yuan court knows we are heading north, they will surely try to avoid fighting and make our efforts in vain."

Lan Yu stroked his short beard and nodded. "That makes sense. When did you leave the Yuan court camp? Was the Yuan Emperor's Golden Tent already relocated by then?"

The last two sentences were asked to the secret agents of the Guards of Light.

The spy said, "General, I left the camp a day and a half ago. The soldiers and civilians complained about having to move back to Khorum so quickly, so the Golden Tent hadn't moved when I left. Barring any unexpected events, I estimate it will take another two or three days for the Yuan court to complete its preparations for the move."

"How far is the Yuan court from here?" Lan Yu asked again.

"About three hundred miles."

"It's more than three hundred miles. If we march quickly, we can get there in one or two days." A gleam of light flashed in Lan Yu's eyes, and he had made up his mind.

He then ordered his personal guards to summon all the generals to discuss matters, and forced them to adopt a battle plan of "marching north quickly to attack the Yuan court."

Lan Yu finished this military meeting in less than an hour.

Then the Ming army broke camp within an hour and marched north overnight.

By the afternoon of the next day, Lan Yu's troops were more than a hundred miles away from the Yuan court.

On the prairie, this distance is quite close.

When the Ming army stopped to rest, a cold wind blew in early February and light snow began to fall!

Seeing this, Lan Yu laughed loudly on his horse: "Hahaha! God is really helping us! Pass the order down, rest for half an hour, and then the entire army will attack and assault the Yuan court camp!"

"As ordered!"

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)