On the evening of February 26, the sixth year of Jiajing, at the southern end of the Xilin Gol prairie, the 50,000 main troops of the Northern Expedition were still stationed here.

After two days of construction, the high slope next to the river bay has changed greatly, and out of thin air there is an extra fortress that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, not only has a several miles long earthen embankment been erected along the river, but also a large number of trenches several meters deep have been dug in the open area on the right side of the high slope, both open and dark ditches, and it is difficult for the cavalry to exert themselves here without filling these trenches.

And once the enemy army intends to fill in those trenches, the artillery in the Ming camp is not vegetarian. There are not many people in Xu Jin's Northern Expedition this time, but there are not many people in the various Franc machine guns, a full 200 guns, if these things are fired together, it will be a catastrophe, otherwise where did our Jingda Duke have the confidence to lead only 50,000 people to the Northern Expedition?

At this moment, the lights were still on in the coach's tent, and Xu Jin, who had just taken a bath, was studying the map under the lamp, only to see four red circles drawn on the map, which were Chahar Khanting, Yongxie Buwanhu Headquarters, Fengzhou Chuan (Tumut Wanhu Headquarters), and Ordos Headquarters.

Xu Jin held the red pen in his hand, his sword eyebrows were deeply locked, and he stared at the map tightly and fell into deep thought. He personally led 50,000 main forces to attack the Khan's court in Alta, while the general troops of the three towns of Xuanfu, Datong, and Yulin attacked 30,000 households on the right flank of Tatar respectively, so as to attract Altan troops to return for reinforcements, so as to achieve the goal of reducing the pressure on the frontal battlefield.

However, along the way, Xu Jin successively received news from Jinyiwei who had placed his eyeliner outside the plug, and all kinds of signs showed that I didn't seem to follow the script at all, and he did not divide his troops to return to the right flank of 30,000 households, that is to say, Xu Jin's 50,000 main force may be about to face several times, or even seven or eight times the number of enemy forces, which is undoubtedly quite terrifying.

However, fortunately, Xu Jin is very cautious in his northward advance, and is currently only five hundred miles away from the Ming border, and has also built a fortress in this Luanhe Bay, which can be attacked and defended, with the firepower of the Ming army, even if it is several times the enemy army to attack, it is easy to defend him for ten days and half a month, and even a counterattack is not a problem.

Xu Jin's only concern is the supply of grain and grass, I hope Qiu Luan will not drop the chain, because the current grain and grass brought by the army is only enough to supply for ten days, once the supply of grain and grass is not available, the army's heart will inevitably fluctuate.

"Someone!" Xu Jin suddenly put down his pen and shouted, and the guards guarding outside the tent immediately walked in and asked respectfully, "Does the marshal have anything to order?" ”

"Can the rear army pick up today?" Xu Jin asked, the rear army in his mouth refers to Qiu Luan's 20,000 horses, in order to ensure that there are no problems, the front and rear armies will send messengers to communicate once a day.

The guard replied, "Marshal, I haven't seen the messenger of the rear army so far. ”

Xu Jin chuckled in his heart, what are you really afraid of, Qiu Luan won't be a problem?

"Send someone to contact the rear army immediately." Xu Jin commanded decisively.

"It's handsome!" The sergeant said yes and withdrew from the account.

Xu Jin stood up and paced back and forth a few steps a little uneasily, hoping that Qiu Luan would never have an accident, but at this moment, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves in the quiet night. Xu Jin frowned, walked out of the tent quickly, and a group of personal soldiers guarding outside immediately surrounded him, and someone put a big coat on Xu Jin.

"Big head, what's going on?" Xu Jin asked in a deep voice.

Zhao Datou replied: "Dashuai, the sound of hooves is from the south, and it is not clear whether the enemy is friend or foe, but the number of the other party is obviously not much, so there is no need to worry." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Isana and Chiru come over nervously, they were living in a tent near the tent, and they obviously heard the movement as well.

"Grandpa Yasukuni, but I sent troops to commit it?" Chilu Buhua asked a little flustered.

Xu Jin smiled calmly: "Don't panic, it's just a small force, I don't know if I am friends or foes, even if I answer a big attack, why be afraid, the county lord of Isana can sit back and relax, come and send the county lord of Isana back to the camp to rest, at night, the county lord is a daughter after all, and it is inconvenient to move around in the barracks." ”

The six personal soldiers immediately walked up and said politely: "The county lord, please go back to the tent and rest." ”

Yisana snorted coldly, turned around and left indignantly, returned to her tent, and after entering the tent, she called Chilu Buhua in, and commanded in a low voice: "Chilu Buhua, this Yasukuni Duke Xu Jin is not very reliable, he only led 50,000 main forces to the Northern Expedition, and he underestimated me too much. ”

Hearing this, Chilu Buhua couldn't help but secretly smile bitterly: "His Royal Highness the County Lord of Isa County, now we only have a few dozen guards left under our hands who came from the Khan Court, once the Ming army is defeated, we will inevitably be in trouble, even if we are vigilant, what can we do?" ”

Isana frowned and said: "Chilu doesn't spend, you have lived for dozens of years in vain, you are so confused, once the Ming army is defeated, the surname Xu may betray us to me to ask for peace and save your life." ”

Chi Lu was shocked and said, "It's still the county lord who is thoughtful." ”

Isana said in a deep voice: "So we must always be vigilant, as long as the situation is not right, we will wait for an opportunity to escape from the Ming army, and if it is really not possible, we will seize the surname Xu as a hostage." ”

Chilu swallowed his saliva without difficulty, alas, I hope it won't come to this point, this Yasukuni Duke Xu Jin has made great achievements in the Ming Dynasty, known as Xu Changsheng, won't it be so inferior, right?

It is said that after Xu Jin ordered someone to "send" the troublesome Isana back to the tent, he walked to the camp gate under the escort of all the relatives and soldiers, at this time, the rumbling hooves were heard more clearly, and in the dark night, the direction of the downstream of Luanshui clearly saw the sporadic torch light.

When Xu Jin came to the vicinity of the camp gate, he found that the deputy general Wang Lin'er and the generals had already arrived first.

"I've seen the big handsome!" The generals saluted Xu Jin one after another.

Xu Jin nodded and asked calmly, "What is the situation?" ”

Wang Lin'er replied: "Commander Qiqi, the last general has already sent scouts to investigate, and there should be news soon." ”

As soon as Wang Lin'er's words fell, he saw three fast horses rushing from the downstream of Luanshui, they held torches, very skillfully bypassed the light and dark trenches, and smoothly came to the camp gate, obviously their own people, looking at the clothes, the two horses in front were the scouts who had just been sent out to investigate.

"It's three shots!" The eldest brother-in-law, Xie Yidao, had sharp eyes, and at a glance recognized the third horse following the two scouts, and it was Xie Sangun.

Xu Jin chuckled in his heart, and a sense of foreboding arose in his heart.

At this time, the guards at the camp gate verified their identities and let them go, and the three horsemen rode up the high slope with torches, and came to Xu Jin and others to turn over and dismount.

"Back to General Wang, it turned out to be his own people who came from the south, and the leader was General Xie Sangun, who was guarding Gubeikou, and General Xie said that there was an urgent military situation, so he was brought under the mark." The scout reported loudly.

"The last general, Xie Sangun, see the marshal!" Xie Sangun landed on one knee and saluted Xu Jin.

Xu Jin glanced at the disgraced Xie Sangun, couldn't help but be secretly surprised, and said quietly: "Xie Shou get up, let's talk to Ben Shuai in the tent." With that, he turned and walked away.

The generals glanced at each other, followed Xu Jin back to the tent, and under the bright light, everyone could see clearly that Xie Sangun was not only disgraced, but also bloodstained on his body, obviously after a tragic battle.

"Three shots, what the hell is going on?" Xu Jin asked in a deep voice.

It is said that after Xie Sangun successfully broke through and got rid of the Tartars' pursuers, he took more than 2,000 brothers all the way to the north, but he got lost in the desert, and it took a long time to get out of the desert, and at this time it was completely dark, and he didn't know where he was.

So everyone went upriver along the river, just when the lights in the Ming army camp were bright, working overtime to build the camp defense, Xie Sangun and others found the Xu character handsome flag on the high slope, couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly rode a horse to this side, and soon met the scout sent by Wang Lin'er to investigate. The scout found out that the comer was his own person, so he stepped forward to inquire, and after learning that the leader of the team was the Gubeikou guard Xie Sangun, he led him back to the camp.

At this time, Xie Sangun said with a heavy expression: "Great marshal, Qiu Luan encountered 20,000 cavalry of the Tartars in Duolun, the whole army was exhausted, and hundreds of thousands of stone of military rations were also lost!" ”

"What!" The generals were shocked when they heard this, and Xu Jin was also shocked, he already had an ominous premonition when he saw Xie Sangun, but he didn't expect the situation to be so bad.

Next, Xie Sangun told the story in detail, and the generals were shocked and angry after hearing it, and some people even scolded Qiu Luan Wang Bastard. Xu Jin's face at this time has returned to calm, the matter has come to this, scolding the mother is useless, now the most important thing is to find a way to get out of the predicament, and the others have to be put aside first.

Wang Lin'er's face was extremely solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "Marshal, now that the grain route has been cut off by the Tartars, our army food is only enough to last for ten days, and before the news spreads in the army, it is still too late to withdraw the troops immediately." ”

The eyes of all the generals were all cast towards Xu Jin, there is no doubt that Wang Lin'er's proposal is the most feasible, now that the grain route has been cut off, the food supply is not available, once the food is exhausted, there is no need for the enemy to attack, and the army itself will have to collapse.

However, just as everyone was waiting for Xu Jin to make an idea, a front-line scout hurriedly came to report, and found a Tatar army about eighty miles to the north, with at least 100,000 people, estimated to be the main army of Tatars, moving to this side.

In an instant, it was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and now it was broken, a strong enemy was killed in front, and the retreat behind was cut off again, and the military rations were in an emergency.

Xu Jin's army of 50,000 instantly fell into a dilemma, and the situation was extremely dangerous!