Father can be an enemy to the country

After filling up the water, the Ming army set out again. This time they brought much more water than before.

The Ming army killed the pack horses before and made another batch of muddy water bags.

The so-called Huntuo means peeling off the entire skin. Mud skins from pigs, horses, cows and sheep can be used to make water bags. Mud water bags made of natural cow and horse skins can hold more water and can store three or four stones of water. However, the packhorse cannot carry that much weight, so it can only hold one. Half full.

But even if it only holds one stone of water, it is still two hundred kilograms. Each soldier is rationed two kilograms of water per day, which is enough for ten soldiers to drink for ten days. It's a pity that there is still a bottomless pit of horses, which can only last four days at most.

Therefore, for the sake of safety, Lan Yu required four days to arrive at the fishing beach.

The soldiers traveled day and night, eating and drinking on horseback... Of course, they could not nap on horseback while marching, as that would be too dangerous. They took advantage of the horses to eat grass and quickly dismounted to catch up on their sleep.

After marching continuously for three days with high intensity, they walked out of the gravel-covered Gobi and re-entered the yellow and green grasslands.

This is Mobei.

In any case, the conditions of the grasslands are much better than those of the Gobi. The soldiers' morale was greatly boosted and they continued to advance. When the water they brought was about to bottom out, at noon on the fourth day, a scout came to report that a lake was found ahead!

Although he didn't know if it was the legendary Fishing Sea, the scouts confirmed that it was a freshwater lake.

The entire army was finally relieved. At least they no longer had to worry about lack of water.

Lan Yu then ordered all the guards to take turns to go to the lake to get water for their horses, while the troops who did not take their turn were on guard outside, just in case.

Even if this is not the fishing sea, it should still be in the territory of the Northern Yuan Wu King Duo'er, so one must always be vigilant. Not only to prevent sneak attacks by the Northern Yuan army, but also from being spied on by the Yuan army and herdsmen.

For this reason, the reconnaissance cavalry sent out by Hu Hai were all composed of Han and Mongolians, so that they could deal with the people on the opposite side. Even if you want to kill people and silence them, this can make the other party relax their vigilance.

~~

Accompanied by Wang Bi and others, Lan Yu came to the lake.

The lake was blue and rippling. Although it was already the end of August, the surroundings were still lush with water and grass, so that the war horses who had also worked hard for a long time could finally have a good meal.

"This should not be the Fishing Sea, but a place called Baiyan Spring." After discussing with the Mongolian guides, Guantong gave their judgment: "But it's not far from the Fishing Sea, forty miles to the north. Hunan can be reached within a few miles.”

"Yeah." Lan Yu also saw that the area of ​​​​the lake was a bit small, and it was far from being called a 'sea'.

"Send the order and set up camp here." He took the water from the lake and washed his face, and then ordered: "First send scouts north to look for traces of the Northern Yuan court."

"Yes!" Hu Hai followed the order.

Lan Yu then ordered the generals: "Dig a hole in the ground to make a fire. Don't expose the smoke and firelight."

"Yes." The generals agreed in unison. Although the Ming army's military rations consisted of fried rice, noodles and dried meat, there was no need to start a fire. However, under the promotion of Zhu Zhen and Zhu Ji, the Ming army realized that drinking raw water would harm combat effectiveness, and the water should be boiled.

After the generals dispersed, Zhao Yongcai said to Lan Yu: "We don't have much military rations."

"Yes." Lan Yu nodded: "I know it well."

It has been twenty days since the army set off for the expedition, and supposedly there should be at least ten days of rations left. But half the time they strayed into the Gobi, and the horses did not have enough grass to eat, so they had to feed them more grain, so their consumption was much greater.

Otherwise Lan Yu would not have killed so many pack horses at once.

"How many more days can we eat?" Wang Bi asked.

"Five days." Zhao Yong said: "After five days, we will continue to kill horses."

"Hiss..." Wang Bi frowned and said, "We just solved the water shortage, but now we are short of food!"

But he just complained casually. They are all leaders who lead troops to fight all year round, so they naturally know that this is the normal situation in the Northern Expedition. If the army could never lack food or water, they would have wiped out all the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty long ago. Why would it be necessary to waste it until today?

"Then find them quickly!" Lan Yu said decisively: "Send the scouts to search the entire fishing sea in three days!"

~~

Following Lan Yu's order, thousands of Ming army scouts immediately went north to look for traces of the Beiyuan royal court.

News also continued to spread back to the base camp at Baiyanquan——

"Report, forty miles to the northeast, a large lake a hundred times larger was found. It should be the fishing sea!"

"Report, we have been searching along the west coast of Hunan. We have traveled forty miles and found no trace of the Northern Yuan royal court."

"Report, we have searched along the east coast from Hunan. We have traveled sixty miles and found no trace of the Northern Yuan royal court."

"Report, two groups of scouts have met on the shore of Hubei Province, but no trace of the Royal Court of the Northern Yuan Dynasty has been found..."

The Ming army scouts used superhuman perseverance to search the two hundred miles of Yuerhai coast in just three days.

But still no target found...

Not only was the Northern Yuan court not found, but even the tribe of King Wu Duoer was not found.

"How could this happen?" Lan Yu, who had always been calm and composed, finally began to feel confused.

He didn't let anyone get close to him. He walked alone by the lake from morning to night, walking back and forth hundreds of times.

It wasn't until the sun set and the lake was filled with golden light that he stopped and stared at the lake in a daze.

The sky was getting dark and the lake was dimming. Lan Yu heard footsteps behind her.

"Didn't I tell you that no one is allowed to come over?" He shouted irritably.

"It's me." A rich male voice with a subwoofer sounded, it was Wang Bi.

"..." Lan Yu stopped having an attack. He still respects this brother-in-law who was a pioneer general in those days, not to mention that he is now one of the father-in-laws of the Sixth Prince, so he is even more polite.

Wang Bi walked up to Lan Yu and thrust a package into his hand. "Even if you worry again, you have to fill your stomach before talking."

Lan Yu opened the cloth bag and saw a dozen hot boiled eggs inside. I don’t know what kind of bird dropped it.

"Where did it come from?" Lan Yu asked.

"They picked it up by the lake." Wang Bi said, "The bird was frightened and flew away, but the egg couldn't be taken away."

"Are there any bird eggs in this season?" Lan Yu casually pinched one open and put it into his mouth, feeling that the irritability in his heart had calmed down a lot.

"Some birds also lay eggs in autumn, but there are only a few of them." Wang Bi said with a smile: "You can always find them if you look carefully."

Lan Yu couldn't eat anymore after hearing this, and said with a lump in her throat: "But there are so many scouts, and they have traveled hundreds of miles, but they haven't found a single Mongolian shadow. What does this mean?"

"It means we didn't find it." Wang Bi said.

"..." Lan Yu gave him a helpless look and said to herself: "Bei Yuan Wang Ting plus Duo'er's troops, let alone two to three hundred thousand people, how big is the camp, and how many traces of the movements of the troops are left? As long as They are still fishing in the sea, can my scouts find them?"

"It is said that he can be found." Wang Bi nodded.

"So I suspect that they smelled some clues and fled in advance!" Lan Yu's voice was full of unwillingness and frustration: "We are afraid that we have missed the point again this time."