Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 943 Night Battle
At this time, the sky was still dark, and the sound of killing could be vaguely heard in front. The light of torches was also reflected on the ground in the distance. An army composed of countless torches was surrounding another team. The torches of this team were like a manic fire dragon, biting the enemy in the middle. On the other hand, the torches of the surrounded team were sparse, and they were struggling left and right, and seemed to be at the end of their strength.

The ones surrounded in the middle were obviously the "bait" spread by Chang Mao and others. In order to attract the main force of the Tatars, this bait could not be too weak, lest Bayanchur and Arutai could eat it with just a small army; nor could it be too strong, lest it scare away this group of cunning Mongolian bandits. Therefore, after discussion, the number of troops of this group of "Yi Chenggui's remnants" was kept at 3,000.

It was enough to lure out the main force of the Tatars, and at the same time, it had a certain ability to protect itself, and could guarantee support until the army of the Daningdusi came to help...

It was originally a perfect plan, but now it seems that there are still some mistakes: the fighting power of the Tatar team is stronger than expected, and the damage suffered by this "bait" team is far beyond expectations. It should have been able to protect itself, but now it seems that it is struggling to hold on.

Chang Mao saw this from the top of the earth slope and became very anxious. He estimated that the cavalry on the left and right wings had already completed the encirclement in the dark, so he hurriedly ordered: "Raise the fire! Beat the drum!"

"Destroy all the bandit troops!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! The deafening sound of drums suddenly exploded, and the messenger on the hot air balloon in the sky waved torches and sent out "flag signals". As if in response to the drum sounds and flag signals, the two sides of the battle suddenly lit up with flames that were enough to cover the sky and the earth. The flames were so wide that even the dark night was illuminated in an instant. Zhu Xiongying was blinded by the sudden flames, but he didn't want to miss any moment of the battle between the two armies, so he squinted his eyes and continued to watch carefully.

"Sun, moon, rivers and mountains!" The silence of the grassland at night was suddenly dispelled by the shouts of millions of people.

In Zhu Xiongying's eyes, the Tatars in the middle obviously paused for a moment, and then they immediately gave up the attack, instead shrank back and began to retreat at a very fast speed.

The speed of the change of formation is astonishing.

"You Tatars, you react so quickly." Chang Mao also saw the Tatars retreating, and he quickly asked the messenger to wave the torches as flags to indicate the enemy's movements to the two wings of the cavalry who were blocking the Tatar army. The two wings of the cavalry who were slowly closing in suddenly increased their speed, and each wing sent out a fire cone composed of torches, rushing towards the Tatar formation.

Both sides were cavalry, one wanted to suppress, the other wanted to escape. Even if you were watching from a distance, you could feel the race against time and the lightning speed of both sides. Zhu Xiongying watched it all, his eyes did not blink, and his heart was beating as fast as a drum. The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and finally, they finally fought.

"Kill!" Even the rear army could hear the shouts and the sounds of metal clashing which suddenly became much louder.

The three torches collided with each other for a moment. The distance was too far, so it was impossible to tell who had the upper hand in the battle. Zhu Xiongying was extremely anxious and wanted to ask his uncle Chang Mao, but seeing Chang Mao staring with his eyes wide open like copper bells, he did not dare to distract him. This battle lasted for half an hour, and finally, a group of people broke through the siege and began to flee to the north.

"The Tatar gecko has cut off its tail and is trying to get away." Chang Mao said. He waved his fist fiercely: "Stop them!"

The hot air balloon in the sky had a wide field of vision and had already seen the Tatars' movements. The Ming cavalry on both sides had already completed the encirclement, and several Ming troops separated from them and began to pursue the team.

The scene suddenly became more chaotic, with the encirclement, the killing, and the pursuit all mixed together in the night of the grassland. Zhu Xiongying tried hard to judge the situation, but the more he looked, the more chaotic he felt. He could only feel the drums and shouts of killing, which were also mixed together in his mind.

I don't know how long it took, but suddenly I heard someone shouting, "The Tartars have run away!"

Zhu Xiongying hurriedly went to see what was going on, and saw that, in the tangled battle formation, a group of soldiers had somehow broken through the Ming army's encirclement and were rapidly fleeing towards the northwest. Chang Mao was extremely angry, and he waved his flags repeatedly, commanding his men to chase after them.

But it was too late. Several Ming troops were like flames, trying to catch up with the fleeing Tatars and kill them all. However, the Tatars were even faster and disappeared into the skyline in the blink of an eye.

"This bunch of thieves!" Chang Mao raised his fist in anger, his brows full of resentment. "He escaped again!"

"Uncle." Zhu Xiongying stepped forward and asked, "Only this group of people left. Isn't this a great victory?"

"Well... Your Highness doesn't know."

"This group of Tartar birds are like mice. Once the big ones leave, they will give birth to several more nests after a few days..." As he said this, he explained to Zhu Xiongying the origin of this Tartar rebel army.

The key figure of these Tatar rebels was Arutai of the Asut tribe. Arutai was the leader of the Asut tribe. His ancestors were Asut people who migrated eastward with the Mongol army during the Western Expedition. The Asut tribe was a very influential and prestigious tribe among the Mongol tribes at that time. However, the main force of the Tatar rebels was mainly composed of Mongols and herdsmen from other tribes.

Strictly speaking, the Ming Dynasty entered the grasslands. This was the first time that the Central Plains dynasty tried to take over the vast grasslands. Naturally, many people in the grassland tribes were dissatisfied. However, the Northern Yuan Dynasty had been disbanded by the Ming Dynasty, and the Oirat leader Yesudiel also died at the hands of the Ming Dynasty. Although many tribal leaders were dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty, they were leaderless and could not make a difference.

Aluta is one of them.

It was not until Bayanchur's "return as king" from Samarkand that the clever Arutai immediately realized the value of Bayanchur. With the help of Bayanchur's "Golden Family" name, he quickly united a group of grassland tribes that were dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty, and began to raise the banner of "Recovering Mongolia" and harassed the Ming Dynasty's roads, pastures, and markets on the grassland.

Although the Northern Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, Genghis Khan's influence on the grasslands was still unparalleled. The Golden Family had long been deified by many low-level herdsmen on the grasslands because of Genghis Khan. As long as the flag of Bayanchur's Golden Family did not fall, there would naturally be a steady stream of herdsmen joining the Tatars.

"That group of Tartar bandits are willing to use so many people to cover their retreat in order to protect this group of people from breaking out... I think Ben Yashili and Aluta must be among them." Chang Mao said angrily.

(End of this chapter)