Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 499 Ping Liao (3)

The nomads on the grassland fear power but not virtue. Without strong military force, it is impossible to make the grassland tribes surrender. People have simple ideas. The tribes south of the desert could not defeat the Qing army, but the Qing army was defeated by the Qian army. Doesn’t this show that the Qian Dynasty was more powerful than the Qing Dynasty?

Although the Qing Dynasty had not yet completely collapsed, the court in Beijing was already making various plans to control Mongolia.

The Qing Dynasty controlled Mongolia for hundreds of years, and one of the important means was to restrict the movement of Mongolian tribes, win over the upper nobles, and use religious means to control the growth of the ordinary pastoral population.

Huang Cheng sent troops to the grassland to attack the Khorchin tribe. On the one hand, the tribes south of the desert attacked because of the Qian Dynasty's strong military power. On the other hand, Khorchin was a staunch supporter of the Qing Dynasty and occupied the most fertile pastures. If a Khorchin was defeated, wouldn't the tribes that followed the Qian Dynasty get to eat meat?

For the grassland tribes, it is normal for the Central Plains to defeat the grassland tribes, but no Central Plains dynasty has been able to control the grassland for a long time. Only the army of the Qian Dynasty left the grassland. Then, wouldn’t the pastures of Khorchin still belong to these people?

The camp of the Horqin tribe was now filled with a depressing atmosphere. Wu Keshan stood outside the tent, gazing at the sky in the distance, his face full of traces of time and worry. He knew that his days were numbered.

The current situation has far exceeded all the difficulties he has encountered before. However, Wu Keshan is unwilling to surrender because he knows that even if he surrenders, the Khorchin tribe will be swallowed up by those jackals.

As for migration, the tribes in Mobei can tolerate the survival of a small tribe, but will never allow a large tribe to appear in Mobei. And with the current strength of Khorchin, it is impossible for it to challenge the entire Mobei alone.

Since surrendering means death and escaping also means death, it is better to fight to the death. However, humans are not plants or trees, and no one can be heartless. Wu Keshan believed that the Khorchin tribe and the Qing court were deeply involved, and he would definitely be the target of the Qian army's desperate pursuit, but his son could not die with him.

Therefore, despite Tunehe's strong opposition, Wu Kesan sent his subordinates with a hundred cavalrymen to defect to the Western Mongolian and Dzungar tribes.

What Wu Keshan didn't know was that Jirgalang had already sent Man Dahai to lead 10,000 Eight Banners cavalry to rush to the aid of Korchin. Huang Cheng came too quickly, and before Jirgalang's messenger arrived, Wu Keshan had already decided to go all out and lead all his warriors to attack the Qian Dynasty coalition forces.

At dawn, with light mist, Wu Keshan led the last of Korchin's forces and set out in the direction of Huang Cheng's coalition forces. The wind on the grassland seemed to have sensed the tragedy and stopped raging, only gently brushing across the cheeks of each knight.

In the second year of Zhaowu, at the beginning of May, the two armies met in an open area. It had just rained and the air was still filled with the freshness of earth.

The neighing of war horses made the smell of war so strong. The flags of the Qian Army and the Twelve-Tribe Allied Forces were flying, and their momentum was as high as a rainbow. In comparison, Wu Keshan's 15,000 knights were completely weak. But even so, Wu Keshan still went to the front of the battlefield in person to boost morale.

After the scouts of the two armies fought each other, both sides stopped to restore their horses at the same time, and a moment later, the Khorchin tribe took the lead in the attack, with 15,000 cavalry divided into two columns, like two arrows lined up side by side.

Huang Cheng waved his hand, signaling the drummers to blow the horn, and then ordered the twelve-tribe coalition forces to encircle and annihilate the Khorchin tribe.

It is impossible to obtain the Korchin Ranch without any effort. The twelve tribes must contribute.

The battle began, drums and horns sounded, the earth shook, and the twelve-army coalition divided the cavalry into four columns, like a pincer, trying to clamp Wu Keshan's arrow.

The twelve tribes fighting for interests and the Khorchin tribe fighting for the survival of the tribe, the gap between the two sides became apparent as soon as they started fighting.

For a moment, both sides were thrown to the ground. As soon as they came into contact, there was a cruel and fierce killing. The sound of swords and spears clashing, arrows piercing flesh, mixed with the roars of knights and the wailing of horses, these noisy sounds filled the battlefield.

In the distance, there was the sound of horses neighing and a noisy chaos. Huang Cheng watched from behind with a frown on his face. If it were not for the scouts of the Qian army who came to report the news from the battlefield from time to time, the generals of the army would not be able to know whether the front line had an advantage or disadvantage.

But the news from the front was obviously not good news. Huang Cheng frowned and said to Gulbuha, "The twelve tribes have more than 40,000 cavalry, while the Khorchin cavalry is no more than 20,000 cavalry, twice as many as the enemy, yet they are at a disadvantage!"

Gulbha was a little embarrassed. He was born in the Bahrain tribe, and Huang Cheng's statement was obviously a bit derogatory, but Gulbha could not refute anything because that was the fact.

Although the Twelve Tribes Allied Forces did not mobilize all their troops, with each tribe sending only 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers at most and only 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers at least, those who were selected were more or less the warriors of each tribe. Gulbuha had not expected that Korchin's desperate gamble might have the ability to defeat the Twelve Tribes Allied Forces.

The leaders of the twelve tribes, seeing that they had lost face in front of the general of the Qian Dynasty, several brave leaders brought their guards and went into battle personally to boost the morale of the troops.

With several tribal leaders personally taking to the battlefield, the Twelve-Tribe Allied Forces barely managed to block Khorchin's assault. For a while, the battle was somewhat stalemate, with knights from both sides falling off their horses from time to time. Cruelty was the main theme of the war.

The battle became increasingly stalemate, and both sides put in all their strength. Wu Keshan, holding a spear, rushed left and right under the protection of his guards, shouting from time to time: "For the Khorchin tribe, charge!"

As time went by, corpses of both sides were scattered all over the ground, and the blood dyed the originally green grassland red. Wu Keshan fought desperately and finally broke through the blockade of the twelve-unit coalition forces and saw the flag of the Qian army in the distance.

Wu Keshan had changed horses several times in many life-and-death battles, and his spear was already breaking. He drew the scimitar from his waist and looked at the huge cavalry in the distance with some despair.

The wounds on his body were horrifying, and blood slid down his cheeks and dripped onto his torn armor. But even so, Wu Keshan looked at the Qian Army flag and made a bold decision.

He made a desperate move and led the remaining Khorchin cavalry to charge towards the flag where Huang Cheng was, attempting to turn the tide in one fell swoop.

However, such an action was doomed to be futile and fruitless. Huang Cheng looked at Wu Keshan's action, straightened up, and said, "What a warrior!"

At this time, General Liu Kun, who was standing by, clasped his hands and said, "General, I will fight you and I will definitely surrender the leader of the bandits to you!"

Huang Cheng nodded and hummed.

After getting the general's permission, Liu Kun saluted firmly without saying a word. He kicked his horse and galloped towards Wu Keshan's location with a large group of cavalry.

The two sides were getting closer, and the spear in Liu Kun's hand was already ready to go. Wu Keshan spat out a mouthful of blood. He was extremely tired at this time, but he still forced himself to go forward?

The two horses met, and Liu Kun's spear stabbed at Wu Keshan at lightning speed, but Wu Keshan suddenly chopped the spear with his scimitar.

At this moment, Liu Kun changed his tactics extremely quickly. He threw away his spear and drew the sword from his waist. He swung it backwards, and with a flash of silver light, he chopped directly at Wu Keshan's neck.

With a crisp metallic collision sound, Wu Keshan's neck armor was deeply cut, and blood gushed out. His body shook, the light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and he fell heavily to the ground.

Liu Kun knew that some of his victories were unfair, but war was not a duel between two people. If he won and Wu Keshan lost, it would only be another entry in his book of merit.

The remaining Khorchin cavalry either died or surrendered. The death of Wu Keshan also symbolized the complete collapse of the Qing government's control over the grasslands south of the desert.