Chapter 221 220 Attack Signal

The dark figures moved forward quietly in the wilderness. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the faint footsteps.

This extremely discordant scene was being played out in the quiet wilderness outside the Baoanzhou City.

The bonfires in the distance seemed to be the light that attracted them to move forward.

At this time, the soldiers of the Xuanfu Army had gradually calmed down from the panic after lining up to leave the city. Especially when the troops inside and outside the city had completed the assembly, they set up the army formation and began to march quietly in the wilderness. Only the footsteps could be heard, which made people feel a little relieved.

They had seen their own strength, at least there were so many comrades around.

Although every time I think of the previous defeats of the Ming army, I still can't help but feel a little scared.

There were still a large number of cavalry behind the infantry army, but at this time they did not ride on horses and gallop away, but dismounted one by one, holding the reins and walking, and I don’t know whether it was to save horsepower or to maintain the quiet environment here.

After leaving the gate of Baoanzhou or the military camp outside the city, all the soldiers of the Ming Xuanfu Army were biting a small wooden stick in their mouths. As the saying goes, "people hold the stick in their mouths, and horses take off the bells." The bells on the war horses were also left in the military camp and not taken out.

After leaving the city, the Ming army did not rush directly to the Altan army camp under the city, but walked forward from the west of the Tatar army camp. According to the current military formation, the Ming army was obviously going to be placed on the flank of the Altan army and launch an attack from here.

After the infantry army formation arrived, after a simple reorganization, the whole army sat down and began to rest. At this time, the sky was still dark, the moon was blocked by clouds, and it was unknown whether it would rain. It had not rained in Xuanfu for a long time.

During the march of the entire army formation, no one lit a torch to light the way. They could only move forward holding the hem of their robes in their hands, and judge their own trajectory by the imperceptible campfire in the distance.

The person leading the way in front obviously had a strong sense of space and was very good at controlling the direction.

The infantry began to rest, while the cavalrymen who led the horses were still moving forward slowly.

Many of them had served as patrol riders, so they naturally knew where they were sent. There was a Tartar camp behind the Altan camp, although they didn't know what was inside.

At this time, many people were already wondering if there was a granary there, and whether their generals wanted to learn from Cao Mengde's Battle of Guandu and burn Yuan Shao's military rations to win the war.

Although they didn't understand why the Tartars separated the granary and the camp, they thought that what the storyteller said seemed to be true, that is, Cao Cao's cavalry attacked Wuchao and burned Yuan Shao's military rations, and Yuan Shao's army collapsed without a fight.

Well, maybe the Tartars learned to set up camp from Yuan Shao, and the food and grass were placed separately from the army.

The Xuanfu cavalry continued to move forward in a confused state.

The bonfire in the distance behind them was no longer visible, and a little spark appeared in front of them.

Soon, the cavalrymen in front found something wrong, because the cavalrymen behind them did not catch up, but stopped halfway. The cavalrymen in the middle suddenly realized that they had become the rear team.

It was not until the horses in front stopped moving forward and the cavalrymen behind gradually stopped. As the flag officer trotted over and whispered "Rest in place", the cavalrymen sat down.

They didn't understand why they were asked to walk over instead of riding horses directly like in the past, which would save at least half of the time.

The sky was still dark, and the moon was blocked by clouds, unable to cast any light on the earth.

"We are so lucky today. There is no moon. Otherwise, we would have to go a longer distance to form a formation to avoid being discovered by Altan's tribe."

This is the back of the army formation, where hundreds of war horses gathered to guard the high-level Xuanfu Army in the center.

Tian Shiwei looked up at the sky and said with some relief. Although he couldn't see the faces of others clearly, he felt that what he said should be correct, and everyone should think so.

But after he finished speaking, no one else took up his words. Everyone just stood there quietly on horseback, waiting for the sky to brighten.

The final result of the discussion yesterday morning was that after Wei Guangde insisted on a quick battle, everyone finally changed the time of launching the attack and began to attack Altan Khan's camp at dawn, thus opening the prelude to this war.

The night covered the army's march and formation, and the attack was launched at dawn. At this time, most of the Tatars were still asleep and had not woken up. The night watch soldiers were also the most tired, which was very helpful for them to observe the battlefield situation and issue orders.

Before there was absolute strength to crush the Tatars, it was not advisable to fight in the dark. The risk was still too great.

Most of the mobile forces of the Xuanfu Army were assembled here. If this battle was defeated and suffered heavy losses, the entire Xuanfu would become the pasture of the Altan Khan's army, and the Xuanfu Army would completely lose the strength to confront the Altan Khan's army.

At that time, they could only ask for help from the capital and other border towns.

Tian Shiwei's words made him feel bored. No one responded to his words, so he could only return home in disappointment without saying anything.

After an unknown amount of time, Wei Guangde's voice came out from the darkness, "What time is it?"

The Ming army had been marching in silence since its departure. In order to avoid the noise of the march attracting the attention of the night guards of the Altan tribe, they not only made a big detour before returning, but also deliberately slowed down their pace. Therefore, although Bao'an Prefecture was not far from the Tartar camp, it took a long time.

"It should be two quarters of the yin hour now, and it will be dawn soon."

Dong Yiyuan, who had been following Wei Guangde as a guard, answered Wei Guangde's question in a low voice.

In ancient China, instead of using the current 24-hour system, the twelve-hour system was used, namely, Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xin, Hai.

Each hour is two hours, and the hour is divided into the first quarter and the right quarter, each with five small quarters, so there are ten quarters in one hour, namely, the first quarter, the first quarter, the second quarter, the third quarter, the fourth quarter, the right quarter, the right quarter, the right quarter, the right quarter, the right quarter, the right quarter, the right quarter, the right quarter.

Among them, the first quarter is the shortest, and the other four quarters are the same.

The second quarter of the Yin hour is about 4:30 in the morning of later generations. According to the past situation, the sky here in Xuanfu will be slightly bright at the Mao hour, which is 5 o'clock.

Calculated, it will be half an hour later, and the eastern sky will gradually light up, and that is when the battle will take place.

But at this time, an untimely voice still sounded in Wei Guangde's ears.

"Sir Wei, a decisive battle with the Mongolian Tartars in the wild is too risky. I don't think it's necessary. We can just wait until the Datong Army arrives at the battlefield.

As for the problem of food shortage in the army, since the military rations are in Huailai County, we can just collect food on the spot and reduce the rations of the soldiers during this period. As long as we wait until the army converges to fight the Tartars, I think Altan Khan will be intimidated by our military prestige and will be defeated without a fight."

The speaker was Liu Dazhang. Perhaps because he had been in the border town for many years, he was used to the Tartars coming and going like the wind, which was beneficial to their advantage of riding horses to attack the Ming army for a long time, making the Ming army always in a weak position.

Well, in the final analysis, the courage was beaten away.

Liu Dazhang's words made many people who were still looking forward to winning this battle feel a chill in their hearts for no reason.

In fact, yesterday morning, although Liu Dazhang had previously expressed his support for going to war with Altan's tribe, he was very hesitant afterwards. Basically, he was against any plan to go to war, and his willingness to not go to war was extremely obvious.

But no one around expected that Liu Dazhang would still say such discouraging words at this time.

Yes, the army has already assembled and deployed, but they are still hesitating whether to fight.

However, what people didn't expect was that Wei Guangde's attitude at this time was extremely firm, "It's impossible. We have already come here. If we withdraw, the Xuanfu Army will really be finished. No one will be willing to fight against the Altan tribe in the future. Don't say such words today."

Wei Guangde, who was very polite to Liu Dazhang yesterday, showed his firm side at this time.

"Wait, if you are tired, you can dismount and rest for a while."

Wei Guangde continued.

According to the previous plan, the time of the war was actually controlled by Ma Fang.

Yesterday afternoon, the Xuanfu cavalry was divided into two teams, led by Ma Fang and Liu Huan respectively.

The battle plan was not much different from the plan that Ma Fang had considered before, but the attack time was adjusted to avoid the influence of darkness on the command.

Not far away from them, there was a row of tall black shadows, which were war drums carried by carriages.

Time passed by minute by minute, and Wei Guangde, who was riding on his horse, had already seen a glimmer of light in the sky.

The sky was about to get light.

"Start a fire."

A few miles away from Wei Guangde and his group, in front of a large group of black shadows, the leader suddenly whispered.

As the voice fell, a man behind him took out a fire starter in a place where many people were shielded by their bodies. A soldier next to him had already piled up a pile of fire starters. As the man gently shook the fire starter, when the flame rose, he used the fire starter to dance in the air twice to inform the others behind him.

After that, he squatted down without hesitation and lit the fire starter on the ground. The flame grew from small to large and soon burned violently.

Obviously, there were more than just dry firewood piled on the ground, and tung oil or "kerosene" produced by other military towns should have been poured in.

After the fire on the ground was lit, dozens of fires soon appeared behind.

"Go."

It was still the same voice, very simple, just one word.

But after he finished speaking, more than a dozen figures behind him had already galloped out. When they passed by the fire, they all waved torches over it. After the torches burned, they had already surpassed the person standing at the front of the queue.

The sound of horse hooves began to sound in the previously quiet wilderness, followed by the barking of dogs.

The speed of the horses gradually increased, and soon they were close to the fence of the Tatar army camp. The people in front had already seen a wooden stake inserted into the ground and a dog tied to the stake.

Without much hesitation, they held a torch in one hand and a saber in the other. When the horses passed by the big dog, the blades cut across the barking dog.

Then more than a dozen torches were thrown out by them, some fell in front of the fence, and some fell to the ground after hitting the fence.

The torches did not go out immediately. Under that little light, the dozen people were already holding the ropes to catch the horses and began to dance. When the force was right, they threw the ropes in their hands.

The rope flew to the wooden fence, and most of them were successfully put on it. Then they began to ride their horses backwards and began to pull the unstable wooden fence.

"Flax mixed"

At this time, the sound of Tatar soldiers was heard from the wooden fence. Perhaps it was because of the fierce barking of dogs just now, but now it was quiet again. The patrolling soldiers thought that their companions were passing by here for something, so they asked in the camp who was outside?

However, the only answer they got was a "boom". After the wooden fence was pulled by a dozen strong soldiers, a large number of torches appeared behind them at some point. Under the torches were faces, helmets and fiery red armor.

"Boom boom"

As the horse team accelerated, the sound of horse hooves gradually became louder, and the earth began to tremble slightly.

The soldiers who pulled the wooden fence had turned their horses' heads and became the first cavalry to rush into Altan Khan's camp.

"There is a fire in the east."

The crowd was quiet, and suddenly a guard on the periphery reported loudly to the inside.

Everyone here knew that the Ming army had begun the attack, and they had been waiting for this moment to come.

However, what surprised everyone was that after the guard reported, Liu Dazhang, the general of Xuanfu, who was supposed to give orders, did not move.

Wei Guangde was riding on Liu Dazhang's side at this time, and Tian Shiwei, the deputy general of Xuanfu, was on the other side.

Wei Guangde frowned slightly. Although it was only a moment's wait, he couldn't wait any longer. He couldn't let Liu Dazhang hold him back and affect this war. He was gambling with his future career.

Wei Guangde didn't have to do this at all. For example, at the beginning, he could stay in Juyongguan and wait for the Ming army and Altan's tribe to fight. Whether they won or lost, it would not affect him much.

But in the end, he couldn't stand the influence and chose to go out of the pass and finally came here.

He was still too young and couldn't suppress his restless heart.

In fact, when Wei Guangde observed the Tartar camp from a distance yesterday afternoon, he had a little regret.

And after leaving Bao'anzhou City in the early morning, this mentality became even heavier.

However, judging the situation, this is definitely not the time to be indecisive.

Even if he really lost the battle, he would just run away. At most, he couldn't be an official and continued to go back to lend money to make money. It would be no problem to be a rich man.

Now, even if he was deprived of his official status and even if he had no fame, he was confident that ordinary people would not dare to provoke him.

Because his peers would not ignore him or not care for him just because he was deprived of his fame. On the contrary, they would try their best to help him if they wanted to gain a good reputation.

Wei Guangde was not dismissed for a crime, but was demoted because of a bloody battle with Altan Khan. He was different from those cruel officials who were corrupt and accepted bribes.

Without waiting for Liu Dazhang's order, Wei Guangde simply shouted: "Light torches and give the order to attack."

Soon, several fires were lit here, and the war drums were beaten three times on the carriage not far away, which was the signal for attack.

The sound of the drums spread far, passing through the Ming army formation that was already in full battle array in front, and also reached Altan Khan's camp.