Colonial Era: From Remnants to European Dominator

The grasslands of southern Mongolia are still quite beautiful this season, as winter has not yet arrived. The last vestiges of warmth from spring and summer are still dancing the final dance of the year on this grassland composed of various leagues.

For the Left Middle Banner, located on the Horqin Grassland, this autumn was not pleasant at all. First, the Jungar people came south and robbed a large number of cattle and sheep when they passed through the Horqin Grassland. Before they could react, the other party had already run away. Although they lost some cattle and sheep, they only suffered some property loss, and they could still get by.

However, an imperial edict issued a few days ago from the Zhili Governor-General's Office has left everyone in a dilemma.

According to the imperial edict, their left-wing alliance was required to send troops toward Yulin, and the number of troops must be no less than four thousand.

Four thousand cavalrymen! Good heavens, what does that number mean? The entire Left Wing Alliance only has a little over ten thousand able-bodied men who can go to the battlefield and draw their bows. Normally, the maximum number of soldiers they can spare is only five thousand. If four thousand are taken away at once, and something goes wrong at this time, let alone receiving the imperial court's reward, even whether they can occupy this fertile Khorchin grassland is an unknown.

The surrounding allied banners may not dare to do anything openly because of the imperial court, but they will definitely continue to encroach on their grasslands in secret, and then there will truly be no peace.

However, the imperial edict could not be disobeyed. In the end, they could only gather 2,500 elite cavalry, and also mixed in some old and weak to make up the numbers. Anyway, the alliance had everything except horses, so they made do and the so-called 4,000 cavalry set off.

The same was true for the Khorchin Left Banner, as were the other five banners and leagues in the southern grasslands. Most of them sent one to two thousand troops, and the weakest banner, Utra Front Banner, sent less than eight hundred cavalry.

Finally, the six southern banners and leagues managed to gather 10,000 cavalry. As required by the newly appointed General Cheng Gunzhabu, the Khalkha Mongol prince, they quickly advanced to the main road that the rebel army would inevitably take on their return journey, and intercepted the people and property they had plundered.

As for whether they can get a share, that depends on how fast they run.

As a result, the originally lazy Six Banners Alliance has been marching at a speed that has more than doubled in the past two days. They originally planned to plunder some villages along the way to make up for their losses, but they did not plunder during this period. Instead, they spent most of their time on horseback except for fetching water and cooking. This saved the people in the Hetao region along the way from a man-made disaster.

Cheng Gunzhabu, being a Mongol prince, knew all too well the nature of his relatives. If he had listened to the idea of ​​the Zhili Governor-General Fang Guancheng to send troops quickly and punish those who disobeyed, the people in the six banners might have arrived, but the morale of the six banners would have been shattered.

"These fools from the southern desert only know how to follow and occasionally fire a few arrows, but they never engage in a direct confrontation. They have completely disgraced their ancestor Genghis Khan."

"Shame on my ancestors!!"

Bumping on his horse, Hu Wu, who had just led his troops in pursuit of the Chahar Left Wing Mongol cavalry, was now panting and cursing in frustration. After all, this kind of fighting style was particularly difficult for the Jinshan Army, who always preferred head-on confrontations and wanted to achieve victory in one battle.

Cat chasing mouse is certainly a fun game, but if two cats chase and test each other for an entire day, that's not a good thing.

"Mongolian horses are not good at charging into battle, but they are good at endurance and can withstand roughage. These Mongols from the south of the Gobi Desert are not much different from their ancestors hundreds of years ago. They are essentially using the advantages of Mongolian horses to wear us down and avoid the sharp edge of our army's front line."

Compared to Hu Wu, Lu Heng saw things more clearly and immediately grasped the secret. Hu Wu's first reaction upon hearing this was:

"We've robbed quite a few Mongolian horses along the way. If all else fails, next time I come, I'll get a Mongolian horse and see who can outlast whom."

"It's not the horses, it's that they have no intention of fighting us at all."

"Why? Aren't they afraid the Qing dogs will cause them trouble?"

"Hmph, just trying to be the fisherman."

Li Yuanheng spurred his horse forward, reached for the binoculars strapped to his waist, and when he saw the scattered cavalrymen constantly harassing the civilians, a flash of resentment crossed his eyes, but it quickly vanished, replaced by a cold indifference.

"Heysik, you lead your troops to reinforce the rear. Remember, they can harass us, and we can harass them in return—"

"Yes, ma'am!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a young-looking man with two braids, wearing gray plate armor, and with features slightly resembling those of a Semu person rode out from behind Hu Wu.

This man was none other than Heishike, the newly promoted battalion commander of the Sixth Battalion, who came from a Turkic tribe around Jinshan. Because of his outstanding military achievements in the Battle of Yulin, he was directly promoted to the commander of the Sixth Battalion, which was composed entirely of steppe soldiers.

Looking at the steppe cavalry under Heishik, whose horsemanship was no less than that of the Mongols, Li Yuanheng put away his binoculars with satisfaction, and then rode his horse to the group of scholars.

Upon seeing Li Yuanheng, several local scholars from Yulin immediately knelt down to pay their respects, exclaiming:

"Greetings, General."

Actually, there were the words "Restore Han" before "Grand General," but Li Yuanheng asked him to remove them, which is why there is now the so-called "Grand General."

"What lessons did you all teach last night?"

"Reporting to the General, most of the grassland soldiers are illiterate, so they are still learning to read. As for books, they have only taught Captain Hu Wu and others some annotations of Sun Tzu's Art of War and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching."

The leading scholar was Luo Guisheng, and the one who answered before him was Yan Yunzhong, a scholar from Yulin. This man was not a proper scholar who had passed the imperial examinations; rather, he seemed to be a Taoist priest. He had been a monk in a Taoist temple in Xi'an in his early years, and after returning to secular life, he still referred to himself as a Taoist. Later, everyone called him Taoist Yan.

"Whether it's Sun Tzu's Art of War or the Tao Te Ching, you might not even get a superficial understanding of them in a year. Ultimately, fighting a war still relies on calculating military supplies, organizing military affairs, and even arranging troops. If any of you know these things, you should learn more about them."

Although some scholars considered Li Yuanheng's words somewhat barbaric and crude, Yan Daoren didn't care and simply kept echoing them:

"General, what you say makes sense. When I was young, I studied arithmetic and military strategy with a great Confucian scholar from Hebei. Starting tonight, I will teach it all to others, which can be considered as my small contribution to the Han army."

After he finished speaking, some people looked at Yan Daoren with disdain. After all, wasn't this kind of practice, where whatever the superiors said was the only thing that mattered, lowering the status of the scholars of Yulin?

"Is the General currently troubled by those pursuing Mongol troops?"

Li Yuanheng was about to leave when he heard this, so he turned his horse back. Seeing that it was Yan Daoren, who had just echoed his words, he asked in surprise:

"You have a brilliant plan for me??"

"no."

Yan Daoren answered decisively, and Li Yuanheng, somewhat displeased, cracked his whip, making a few whooshing sounds as it went through the air.

"So you're just toying with this general??"

"It's not that we're making fun of the general, but rather that the general has gone astray."

Ignoring Li Yuanheng's surprised gaze, Master Yan flicked his sleeves a few times and spoke frankly:

"The Dzungars are in front, and the General is behind. General, are these Qing troops surrounding you, or are they encircling the Dzungars?"

Li Yuanheng frowned, initially surprised and doubtful, but then relaxed:

"Naturally it's Junggar. Compared to me, the Junggar people took the most."

This wasn't entirely untrue. After all, Li Yuanheng was a Han Chinese, and when raiding for supplies, he actually had the most basic principles. He had prerequisites regarding population size and such. But the Dzungars were different. They didn't care if you were old, weak, sick, or disabled, or rich or poor. They treated everyone as food and robbed them. They traveled and stopped along the way, also raiding some small tribes in southern Mongolia. They robbed more than 100,000 people and emptied out most of several counties. If the main Qing army hadn't arrived, these places and counties would probably have been reduced to empty cities.

When Li Yuanheng captured Yulin, he only robbed less than 40,000 people. It is clear who is rich and who is poor.

"But the Great General destroyed Yansui Town. If they kill him and take his head, they can claim a reward from the higher authorities. They might even be able to exchange it for a prince. Compared to the Dzungar Khanate, which is more important?"

"Hmph, nonsense. I am only a branch of the Junggar Army with only seven or eight thousand soldiers. How can I compare to the Junggar Army headquarters, which has expanded to nearly twenty thousand?"

Feeling the gazes across from him that were interested in his head, Li Yuanheng felt a surge of annoyance. After all, he had only incidentally incorporated the remaining two thousand soldiers in Yulin City, and the rest had been scattered into the ranks of the common people. Yan, on the other hand, led his troops indiscriminately, not only incorporating the small Mongol tribes but also including the constables and cooks from the county government into his own army, providing them with weapons and arrows to serve as auxiliary soldiers.

It wasn't until he learned the news that Li Yuanheng realized that although he grew up on the grasslands and was usually decisive and bold, he was not a true grassland person. When it came to having no bottom line, he really had to learn from them.

Upon hearing this, Master Yan burst into laughter:

"The general prides himself on being clever, yet he still can't see through the situation."

"These Mongol pursuers chased without engaging in direct combat. The Qing army's Green Standard Army acted like nails, firmly anchored along the return route, in military towns, county seats, and even villages. Meanwhile, the Dzungars, like cunning and shrewd wolves, constantly maneuvered against the Qing army. So far, the two sides have only fought four battles involving more than a thousand men each. Even with the imperial court's death order, does the General truly believe that those Mongol tribes can unite and fight against the Dzungars, or even the General's own Turkic army?"

Li Yuanheng had basically guessed what Yan Daoren meant, but he had already ruled out such a decision:

"No need to say anything more, just go back."

"General, do not forget that the war in the Northwest is not over yet, and the destruction of Yansui is still imminent. The imperial army will only increase, not decrease in the slightest. If we follow the Dzungars now, we will either bring about our own destruction or fail at the last moment!!"

Li Yuanheng pulled on the reins, looked directly at the Taoist priest who seemed to have some skill, and said coldly:

"How can we persuade the Dzungar headquarters to join forces and protect our rear?"

Master Yan shook off his patched sleeves again and answered with absolute certainty:

"The General has his own methods; there's no need to ask me."

The north wind howled past, causing his cloak to billow and cling to his armor. Looking at the scholars with their varied thoughts, and at the Daoist Yan before him who bore a resemblance to Master Wang, Li Yuanheng retaliated against the north wind with a crisp crack of his whip:

"Come with me to see that old devil Niyaz tomorrow."

"How dare I disobey!!"

Yan Daoren knelt on the ground, letting the north wind beat against his thin clothes.