People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 617 Confrontation
it's too cold.

Lothar exhaled a puff of white mist and looked at his soldiers. The knights took off their iron gloves and rubbed their hands. These people who were used to the hot Egypt found it unbearable to be thrown into such an environment.

Many of the mounts carried by the foot soldiers were pack animals, including dromedaries, which were loaded with armor, equipment, food, and other supplies.

If the march continued for a few more days, many war horses and pack animals would die of disease on the grassland.

The impact of the Little Ice Age has begun to show. In the Middle Ages, Iceland, Greenland and other places were important fishing areas. When the Vikings first discovered Greenland, they even called it the "Green Island", which meant that even here near the pole, some crops could still be grown and livestock could be grazed. The Vikings often traveled back and forth on long ships for trade exchanges, and the Pope even stationed a bishop here.

But at this point in time in the combat record world, due to the extremely cold weather and frequent storms at sea, these two large islands have been almost completely isolated from the outside world.

With the help of the guards of Gubeitai, Losa and his party found a well they usually used, replenished their water source, and set off again.

Unfortunately, Jeanna and her group were moving much faster than them. Since their destination was also Tumubao, Lothar had no intention of speeding up the march to catch up with them. If others failed to catch up, the army would be exhausted.

Along the way, they encountered several groups of Tatar cavalry who were looting everywhere. The number of them was only a few hundred. They were all killed in a wave of charges by Lothar's winged cavalry.

These ordinary Tatar cavalrymen were poorly equipped. Only a few leaders were equipped with scale armor, lamellar armor, and cloth armor. Most of them only wore leather armor or padded jackets. The arrowheads they used would only be bounced off and deformed if they hit the breastplate of the Winged Hussars.

After all, "the enemy cannot fry food", and iron pots are strategic resources on the grassland. How can a small tribe afford good armor?
After annihilating a group of Tatar cavalry, Lothar asked, "Whose troops are these?"

Yebushou, a small flag officer, carefully identified them for a while and guessed, "I don't know either, but please know that Yesen's Choros tribe has more than 10,000 armored cavalry. They are his elite troops and cannot be compared with these."

He paused, and continued, "Apart from the Alazhiyuan tribe, those who did not go to the Tumubao Alliance and went to the Ming territory to plunder are all small tribes. The Alazhiyuan tribe is a large Wala tribe with strong strength. Looking at their combat power and equipment, we know that they are definitely not Alazhiyuan's tribe."

Seeing that he was being vague, Losa frowned and said, "Tell the truth."

The flag officer had no choice but to answer honestly, "They should be a Han tribe that surrendered to the Tatars. They may have been driven to the north along with the Yuan court. When Taizu and Chengzu attacked the Yuan court, they captured a large number of these people. They were all half-naked and suffered a lot."

Lothar nodded and said, "I understand. From now on, when it comes to military matters, just speak the truth. There is nothing to hold back."

It seemed that every dynasty in the Central Plains was fighting with the nomadic peoples in the north.

Donghu, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, Khitan, and the current Tatars (the Jurchens were fishermen and hunters, not nomads).

It seems as if new barbarians always appear on the borders of the Central Plains dynasties.

But in fact, Losa felt that the grassland was there, and anyone who lived on the grassland would become a barbarian. Even if the grassland was cleared, nomadic peoples from other places would still fill it in.

Some Han people who either rebelled voluntarily or were forced to be abducted to the grassland would quickly assimilate into the big melting pot of nomadic peoples.

Just like the Turks in Asia Minor, where did so many Turks come from? A large part of them were Greeks who were gradually Turkified under the rule of Turkic princes.

This situation was not reversed until the late Ming Dynasty, when large numbers of Han people began to immigrate there on a large scale.

At first, there was a group of people who went to the grassland in the summer to help the Tatar landlords with farming. After the weather turned cooler, they returned to the mainland with their wages to celebrate the New Year. They brought back the news that many lands on the grassland were very fertile.

It happened that natural disasters were frequent in the late Ming Dynasty, and some places had no rain all year round, making the land, which was already unbearable for labor and extremely barren, unable to grow any food at all. This gave rise to a large number of Han people who rushed to the Tatar steppes.

The Tatar princes were also happy to have these Han people, who were good at farming and handicrafts, settle in their territories, and the two sides hit it off immediately.

This is what is called going west.

An eagle flew across the sky, and the flag officer exclaimed: "It's the Tatars' falcon. They should have discovered us."

The Tatars in this world also tame falcons, and it seems that all nomadic peoples have this habit.

"Prepare for battle!"

The entire "delegation" led by Lothar immediately became alert. According to their experience in fighting against the Saracens, wherever falcons appear, the enemy is not far away.

The flag officer hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, please send a few men to follow my orders and go forward to investigate the enemy situation!"

"Hans, take a few people with him."

Scouts were sent out.

The delegation did not stop, but helped each other take off the armor from the horses and chariots, equip themselves with weapons, feed the horses with fine fodder, and make preparations for the war.

About a quarter of an hour later, Ye Bu Shou's flag and several scouts came running over from afar, shouting, "There are well-equipped Tatar cavalrymen besieging our baggage train ahead. Please help us!"

Baggage train?
Losa's expression moved slightly.

"Is it the troops led by Alazhiyuan?"

Ye Bu Shou Xiao Qi said: "It should be."

"How many people are there in the enemy army?"

"A rough estimate is that there are at least two thousand people."

Losa frowned and said, "Let's explore again! If it is Alazhiyuan's troops, there must be at least 10,000 people."

He had to first figure out where the enemy was, and then consider whether to kill off the Wala cavalry that was looting the baggage train, or to surround them and attack their reinforcements.

A large number of scouts were sent out.

It would be great if Fulin was around. She could just summon a gargoyle and provide a pair of eyes for the army.

The delegation, ready for battle, began to move forward slowly.

"Prepare for battle!"

Hans waved the command flag, and the fastest Winged Hussars came to the front of the battle.

They raised their red-painted lances, with their own swallowtail flags or square flags tied to the spear heads, and the lances looked like a forest.

Below, thousands of light cavalry were besieging a Ming army baggage train like jackals. They urged their mounts from afar and shot a hail of arrows that overwhelmed the Ming army, making it unable to raise their heads.

The Ming army numbered only a few hundred, most of whom were wearing cloth armor. They had many shield soldiers, crossbowmen and musketeers, and relied on carts and horses loaded with baggage for defense. Although the enemy cavalry was numerous, they could not do anything to the baggage train.

As the delegation led by Lothar gained a foothold on the top of the mountain, the two sides fighting at the foot of the mountain slowly distanced themselves from each other.

On the opposite hill, several Tatar generals in armor appeared. The leader looked at Lothar and was stunned. He asked his subordinates, "Who is the general wearing a golden mask?"

Someone beside him immediately replied, "Looking at the style of their armor, they should be the foreign envoys who are said to be quite powerful and were appointed by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to accompany the army on the expedition."

Alaziyuan burst into laughter.

After a while, he said, "There is no one left in the Ming Kingdom, so send a mixed Hu Semu to lead the army to fight."

Although there was a sneer on his face, his eyes were full of fear.

Where did this masked man come from?
Even a glance at it from a distance is enough to make people tremble with fear.

All the troops also laughed, but the laughter was really not very impressive. Anyone with eyes could see that this group of enemies was well-equipped, and the masked man riding on a magical giant horse at the leader looked three times more terrifying than the big demon in the north of the mountain.

(End of this chapter)