Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 251 Bring the breech-loading cannon up here! [Seeking monthly votes]

The announcement came at just the right time, instantly bringing Anda and the other Tatar leaders, each with their own thoughts, back to reality.

Resentment is temporarily silenced, guilt is temporarily concealed, and feelings are temporarily set aside.

Anda grabbed the precious sword, surveyed the crowd with an arrogant air, and shouted:
"Men, tie these two up and bring them to the front lines to fight alongside me. In this battle, I will surely capture Yan Maoqing alive and see how this scoundrel tries to bargain with me when he kneels before me!"

"Capture Yan Maoqing alive!"

The Tatar leaders also let out a muffled shout, each drawing their swords and standing up.

This time, each of them brought only a small number of tribal troops, so they mainly stayed by Anda's side to watch the battle.

In their hearts, the outcome of this battle was not in doubt at all, or rather, the only suspense was how long it would take Anda to capture Yan Maoqing alive.

After all, Anda's direct subordinate tribes alone had more than ten thousand elite cavalry. How could Yan Maoqing's less than two thousand infantrymen who came by carriage possibly contend with them? They were simply rushing to their deaths.

Therefore, what they were looking at was not Yan Maoqing at all, but Anda's abilities.

They need to know how much strength Altan Khan still possesses, and whether his deterrent effect on them is still what it used to be.

It should be noted that besides Anda, there are two other powerful figures within the Tatars.

The first one was the most legitimate Tatar Khan, named Borjigin Bodi, who was called the Little Prince by the Ming people.

The Little Prince now commands the chaotic Left Wing Thirty Thousand Households, whose rebellion has yet to be quelled, and who frequently need to seek aid from the Right Wing Thirty Thousand Households.

The second one was Anda's elder brother, named Borjigin Gunbilik, who was also called Jignya because of his position.

Normally, Ji Nang is the leader of the Right Wing Sanwanhu, and now the Hetao region is also in his hands.

However, due to his illicit affair with the prostitutes he had abducted from Daizhou, he has now fallen ill and it is unknown how much longer he can live.

As for my answer.

He should have been Ji Nang's subordinate, only in charge of the Tumed tribe among the 30,000 households on the right wing, and obeying Ji Nang's orders.

However, with Ji Nang seriously ill, and Altan taking advantage of the terrain of Fengzhou Beach, he was often able to lead his troops south to plunder relatively fertile areas such as Shanxi and the capital region, thus gaining even greater benefits from the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, Anda did indeed possess extraordinary military capabilities, and the Tumed tribe was more powerful than other tribes. As a result, more Tatar tribes submitted to and pledged allegiance to them, and they were now able to rival the Jilang tribe among the 30,000 households on the right wing.

Some even speculated that once Ji Nang died, Anda would immediately become the de facto leader of the Right Wing Sanwanhu.

Even the Little Prince would likely have to bow down to him then, if not become a puppet, he would at least have to give Anda greater power and territory.

In this way, they would naturally receive more rewards and acquire larger and more fertile pastures.

This is the main reason why some tribal leaders pledged allegiance to Altan Khan. To put it bluntly, it's no different from the situation in the Ming Dynasty. In the end, they were all looking at their own interests and playing the game of choosing sides.

of course.

Even if Anda is no longer reliable, they still have other options.

They could turn to the Little Prince for allegiance.

Alternatively, they could pledge allegiance to Ginny, since even if Ginny dies, his son will inherit the title.

Although Ji Nang's son currently has little prestige among the Right Wing Thirty Thousand Households, this may not necessarily be a bad thing. Wouldn't it be perfect for him to become their puppet and fight for more benefits for them?
However, as I said before, the key point is that Anda is no longer powerful and can no longer deter them.

Otherwise, their fate would be the same as that of the Yibula and Buerhai tribes that Anda had wiped out a few years ago: their lives would be taken and their tribes annexed...

"call--!"

Yan Shifan breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, at least he had managed to keep Anda and these Tatar leaders in check, so they wouldn't die for the time being.

During this process, he also keenly noticed some problems within Anda's camp.

His divisive remarks had clearly yielded some unexpected results, as evidenced by the brief silence and wandering glances these people had just exchanged.

This is perhaps an extremely important point.

Whether it's to save their own lives or to secure benefits for their uncle and the Ming Dynasty, they can be put to good use.

And now...

He sincerely thanked Anda for deciding to bring him to the front lines instead of binding him and imprisoning him in the royal court to await the outcome.

Who wouldn't want to see for themselves the "truth" that Yan Maoqing speaks of?

This is the first time the Hero Battalion has officially participated in combat, which is completely different from the small skirmishes in Shanxi before. It is the time to prove whether the Hero Battalion is a mule or a horse!
Such an important moment.

Moreover, it was a moment that concerned his own situation, so how could he bear to miss it?
Come on, Uncle!

Please give me a shock, please give these Tatars a shock, please give Anda a shock... It's better to live a miserable life than to die, I really don't want to die in a place like this, Uncle!

……

Anda's troops had already assembled.

At this moment, the gates of the royal camp were already open, but Anda did not ride out of the camp.

Instead, he led a group of Tatar leaders and Yan Shifan, who was tied up like a rice dumpling, up to the wooden city tower.

"Boo! Hah! Hah!"

As a whistling arrow shot into the sky, the previously noisy scene instantly fell silent. More than ten thousand elite cavalrymen were fully armed and ready to go, waiting only for Anda's order to surge like a tide towards the hero's camp, which was already very close at hand.

The Ming army, numbering less than two thousand, didn't even need command or flanking maneuvers; a single frontal charge was enough to scatter and crush them with their iron hooves alone.

"Wait!"

Anda Khan took a deep breath and then let out a deep voice.

"The enemy force numbers less than two thousand, having traveled hundreds of miles to come. We need not go to meet them; we can simply wait for them to tire themselves out!"

"Warriors of the Tumed tribe, I stand here, and the tribal leaders stand here as well. Let me and the leaders witness your courage, strength, and fearlessness as we crush them head-on!"

"I have only one request: capture the enemy general Yan Maoqing alive!"

"Whoever captures this man alive will be rewarded with ten horses, ten camels, a thousand sheep, and promoted to the rank of commander of a thousand men!"

"Roar!!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the crowd.

This reward is incredibly generous, comparable to that of a leader of a small or medium-sized tribe, and may even lead to future involvement in decision-making within Altan Khan's court—a meteoric rise to power.

"..."

Upon hearing this, the Tatar leaders exchanged glances.

They could also see that Anda was indeed trying to establish his authority in front of them this time, intending to use this battle to give them a little shock.

Anda did not treat this battle as a war, but rather as a live-fire military exercise.

However, it's understandable. If Anda couldn't even handle a mere two thousand Ming soldiers, then he really wouldn't be qualified to lead them anymore.

At the same time, they also had to consider just how powerful the Ming army had suddenly become, and whether they would still be able to freely advance south in the future...

"..."

Yan Shifan, however, kept his eyes downcast and his mind at ease, secretly pleased with himself.

Anda's disdain played right into the hands of the hero's camp.

The Heroes' Battalion is least afraid of facing the enemy head-on. Their formations and "three-stage attack" were designed for frontal combat, which is their strength.

On the contrary, if Anda sends cavalry to harass and attack from all sides, it will cause some trouble for the hero and affect the frontal firepower.

However, Yan Maoqing did not seem to be unprepared for this...

When he, Shen Kun, and Gao Gong devised their strategy, they had considered this situation: once the war started, those hundreds of simple horse-drawn carriages would follow the flanks of the Heroes' Camp and be used as barricades to hinder the Tatars' charge.

In addition, the support from Ma Fang and Zeng Xian was also crucial.

As long as Ma Fang's cavalry arrives in time, the Tatar cavalry will be unable to attend to their retreat and will have no time to deal with the Hero Camp, this "porcupine" covered in thorns, and with flying thorns at that.

Zeng Xian's supply corps was in the rear. Although it was some distance from the Heroes' Camp, it could arrive within a few hours if they marched quickly to provide support.

According to Yan Maoqing's prediction.

Even when isolated and without help, the Hero Battalion, like Li Ling of the Han Dynasty, could hold out until they ran out of ammunition.

The timeframe depended on the frequency of the Tatar cavalry's charges, ranging from as short as three days to as long as... or even as long as the Tatar cavalry dared not approach and slowly fled back to Datong.

After all, Li Ling had fought his way back while retreating, leading his soldiers on foot all the way back to a place only a hundred miles away from the border.

……

"General Yan, the camp of King Anda is almost in sight."

Shen Kun and Gao Gong were already in their positions and it was inconvenient for them to leave without permission, so they could only send a messenger to report.
"The Tatar cavalry have already arrayed themselves outside the camp gate, numbering at least ten thousand, and seem to be waiting for our arrival!"

At this moment, all the soldiers of the Heroic Battalion had disembarked from their carriages and were marching in formation on foot.

Just as the previously planned strategy had been devised, the carriages were led and flanked the heroes' camp, advancing and retreating together with the soldiers.

Yan Maoqing had already alighted from the carriage, and had even loaded ammunition into the two self-propelled short guns at his waist beforehand. After hearing the report, he said to the personal guard beside him:
"Come on, help me up."

He quickly climbed onto the roof of his only carriage with a sedan chair, and, mimicking the Monkey King, looked towards the direction of Anda's court.

The weather is nice today, and the view is quite open.

Besides the dense mass of Tatar cavalry in front of the camp gate, Yan Maoqing also vaguely saw more than a dozen figures on the city wall.

He couldn't make out who those dozen or so figures were, but he felt that anyone standing in that position with a panoramic view must be very valuable.

So Yan Maoqing decisively turned around and shouted to the messenger:
"Pass down the order: maintain formation and continue advancing. Fight the same way you trained back then. As for how to respond to changes, let Shen Kun and Gao Gong handle it themselves."

"In addition, notify the centurion of the Frankish artillery battalion."

"Make him load the ammunition for his mother's breech-loading cannon ahead of time."

"Once that gate tower of the Anda King's camp comes within firing range, even if it's just barely within reach, you must fire a few shots at it!"

(End of this chapter)