"The Ming army is coming, everyone gather to meet the enemy!"

"Everyone except women and children must fight!"

Near the Chahar nomadic area, hundreds of Mongolian cavalry galloped past and conveyed the news to various tribes.

After receiving the news, the herdsmen of the tribe immediately packed up their weapons and armor, rode their horses and told the news to their tribesmen below.

The news of the assembly spread quickly throughout the Chahar headquarters' grazing area.

The herders mobilized immediately.

A herdsman rushed into the tent, picked up a bow and arrow and a sword, led out his war horse and was about to leave.

"Where are you going?" the herdsman's wife asked anxiously.

"The Ming army is coming. They want to kill our people and steal our livestock. I will fight them off with the tribe!"

"Can we win?" the wife asked worriedly.

"I don't know, but we have to fight even if we can't win!"

"But if we can't win...what will happen to me, my children, and my cattle and sheep?"

"Here...you guys pack up. If you lose the battle, you must drive the cattle and sheep north immediately. As long as you don't get caught up by the Ming army, you can survive." The herdsman tightened the reins of the warhorse.

"How can we survive? Winter is coming. Where can we find pastures with water and suitable for grazing? The further north we go, the colder it gets. If we encounter another heavy snowfall like last year, I'm afraid we will go bankrupt again."

The herdsman did not answer his wife's question, but gritted his teeth, jumped on his horse, and galloped in the direction of the assembly.

An hour later, the messenger came to Abunai's tent and said, "Report! The troops near our headquarters have been assembled. Please give the order, Your Majesty!"

"How many troops have been assembled?" Abunai walked out of the tent and asked.

"About twenty thousand," replied the herald.

"Why are there so few people?" Abunai asked angrily.

Twenty thousand may seem like a lot, but it is actually very little.

It is no exaggeration to say that the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled account for at least half of the population.

Although they were able to fight in battle, they had almost no chance of winning against the Ming army whose faces were covered with cotton armor.

Among the remaining ten thousand strong men, less than half wore armor, while the rest only had homemade leather armor or no armor.

How long can they hold out against the Ming army's brutal and vicious firearms attack?

The messenger replied with sweat on his back, "These are the only troops that can be assembled near our headquarters. The rest are dozens or even hundreds of miles away. The message has been passed on. Considering the long distance to Thailand, they will definitely not be able to come to support us today."

Abunai snorted coldly and jumped on his horse: "Twenty thousand is twenty thousand! The Ming army only has three thousand cavalry. The advantage is on my side!"

Led by Abunai, the leader of the Chahar tribe, 20,000 Mongolian cavalry set out.

Since each Mongolian cavalryman had three or even four or five horses, they didn't care about the horses' physical exhaustion at all, so they sprinted at full speed after identifying the direction.

They had to stay as far away from the tribal grazing areas as possible so that after a defeat they could use space to buy time and allow the herders to escape smoothly.

......

"Report!" Li Xingzhong, who was marching at a steady pace, was stopped by a scout: "Mongol cavalry were spotted fifteen miles ahead, and are rapidly approaching our army."

"How many soldiers are there?" Li Xingzhong asked.

"There are too many. The dust raised by the Mongolian cavalry's horses is like a wall that blocks our vision. It is impossible to count them." The scout replied.

Li Xingzhong frowned and thought about it.

According to the intelligence of the Imperial Guard, the total population of the Chahar tribe is about 70,000 to 80,000, half of which are near the Chahar headquarters, and the rest are scattered in the east, west and north of the headquarters.

According to the scout's description, the Chahar tribe has most likely gathered all its combat-capable troops this time.

(When Lin Danhan was alive, he claimed to be the ruler of 400,000 Mongolians (Mongolia in the south of the desert), but in fact, the only tribe directly under him was the Chahar tribe. At that time, Chahar had 10,000 households. Calculated based on five to six people per household, the population of Chahar was about 50,000 to 60,000. Considering the possibility of overstaffing, the total population was about 70,000 to 80,000.)

"Stop advancing, retreat at a steady speed and lure the enemy deeper into our territory!" Li Xingzhong began to give orders: "Tell Tang Tong, Li Shunzu, Zha Binxun and others to keep their distance from us, so as not to be discovered by the Mongolian scouts."

"After the battle begins, have them outflanking from the left and right wings and attack them by surprise!"

"Also," Li Xingzhong said to a lieutenant general beside him after issuing the military order, "I'll give you a thousand soldiers and you go around behind the Mongols..."

"Are we going to attack from both sides when the battle reaches a stalemate?" the lieutenant general asked impatiently.

"Wrong! We are going to raid their nest!" Li Xingzhong's eyes were deep. "Looking at the situation, the Chahar tribe is likely to come out in full force. There are only women and children who can't ride horses at home. You should find a way to sneak attack their nest from behind."

"In addition to killing and setting fire, you must remember one thing when you rush in. Do not chase after the person who reported the news. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" The lieutenant general received the order and assembled his troops to leave.

After slowly retreating five miles, the Mongolian cavalry caught up with the Ming cavalry.

The Ming army did not dare to retreat any further and could only line up to meet the enemy.

Any further retreat would likely lead to defeat.

The Mongolian cavalry could survive a defeat, but the Ming army could not.

Because they couldn't outrun the Mongolian cavalry.

If a defeat occurred, they would be completely wiped out by the relentless pursuit of the Mongolian cavalry.

Abunai personally commanded the battle.

He rode to a high ground to observe.

On the vast grassland, two thousand Ming cavalrymen were lined up in neat formations.

They were divided into teams of twenty-five men, riding on sturdy war horses, holding bows and arrows and various firearms in their hands, wearing bright armor, and standing solemnly in the autumn breeze of the grassland.

The Ming national flag and the Li character general flag behind him fluttered in the wind, giving people a feeling that it was impossible to look directly at them.

"They are indeed the elite of the Ming army," Abunai said with great emotion, "It would be great if we Mongols had such an elite army."