In the civil fort, there was a chaos of soldiers. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

This fortress, located between Xuanfu and Juyong Pass, once remembered the shame of the Ming Dynasty, became the last barrier used by Shen Xi against the Tatars.

"My lord, the first batch of fast horses sent back to Beijing have been off for more than ten days, so why should there be a reply at this time? But now there is no news, won't they all be robbed by the Tartars halfway? ”

Shen Xi needs to deal with a lot of affairs every day, in addition to the whole army's food, drink and Lazar, he also has to be vigilant at all times when the Tatars launch siege battles, and at the same time try to increase the defense of the city and increase the cost of saving his life. However, these generals under him could not let him worry, and the three generals, Hu Songyue, Liu Xu and Zhu Lie, were noisy and shouting in his ears every day, so that he could not have a moment of leisure.

At this time, in the lobby of the command post in the west of the city, Shen Xi was being harassed by Liu Xu and others. The reason why Liu Xu and the others were able to stay in Tumubao with peace of mind and did not join the ranks of deserters was precisely because Shen Xi said that he had passed on the current military situation to the Beijing Division, and as long as the Beijing Division sent men and horses to help, they could have the exploits of annihilating the 4,000 Tatar cavalry and capturing the enemy's important general, Huo Aya.

Shen Xi did think so before, because Shen Xi really couldn't think of a reason why the imperial court would not send reinforcements.

However, a few days ago, Shen Xi accepted an envoy who was being pursued by the Tatar rangers into the Tumu Fort to take refuge, so that he knew that Liu Daxia was using troops on three sides, and everyone was in Ningxia Town, Shen Xi knew that the court was now full of doubts about him, and it was difficult to say whether his recital could be presented to the emperor.

Shen Xi thought that Xie Qian could help him in this matter, but now he had no confidence at all, because Xie Qian was a middle-of-the-road courtier who lacked keen judgment of the current situation and courage in action.

Putting down the case at hand, Shen Xi raised his head and looked at the few people in the lobby who were looking at him...... In addition to the three commanders, there are also several commanders, all of whom Shen Xi now relies on. Without the assistance of these people, Shen Xi would no longer have to think about how to defend, and he would join the ranks of the deserters first.

Shen Xi said: "This official arranged to build trenches and other fortifications in the city before, can you follow orders?" ”

Liu Xu originally asked Shen Xi about the reinforcements of the imperial court, but Shen Xi suddenly turned the topic to the fortifications, and was a little puzzled. Liu Xu replied: "My lord, the last general doesn't understand, shouldn't this fortification be built outside the city, what do you mean by digging so many ravines in the city?" Are you guarding against the escape of the soldiers in the city? ”

Hu Songyue hurriedly agreed: "Yes, my lord, although the soldiers do not have a high fighting spirit, they are always thinking about their wives and children at home, where do they dare to run away easily?" You can't always defend your soldiers like thieves! ”

Zhu Lie said: "My lord, I am a rough person and don't understand any big truths, but I agree with Lao Hu and Lao Liu's words, you can't help but give an explanation to the soldiers!" ”

For a while, what Shen Xi Qianfu pointed out seemed to have become the public enemy of the whole army. I saw the prison soldier Zhang Yong rushing out and shouting: "Oh, what are you people thinking about?" Don't you see that the Tartars will come at any moment? If the Tartars come to fight, if the city wall cannot be defended, it must be fought in the city. Isn't it good that after these trenches are repaired, the Tatar cavalry will be useless? ”

Hu Songyue said: "Father-in-law Zhang knows the battle situation very well!" There was a bit of sarcasm in his words, although Zhang Yong was not angry in his heart, he didn't directly reprimand, but his face was full of displeasure.

Shen Xi didn't speak, there was a lot of quarrel in the hall, Shen Xi didn't want to establish his prestige in front of this group of generals, but he didn't think it was necessary.

The group of generals in front of them is simply a bad breed and a soft egg, and now they can achieve a little success, it is because they are forced to a dead end, if they are allowed to go out of the city to fight to the death with the Tatars, they will escape as soon as the war starts.

Although Shen Xi said that building fortifications in the city was not to deal with his own people, in fact, he really had plans to prevent soldiers from deserting, such as the trench around the city, four meters wide and three meters deep, and only a few main passages were guarded, and the officers and soldiers could not escape from the leaky city walls.

The Civil Fort is an abandoned fortress, not one with a well-defended system.

Taking a step back, even if the civil fort was well defended, such as Zhangjiakou Fort or Xuanfu, it might not be able to stop the Tatar iron cavalry.

Tumu Fort is just a small city within a radius of a few miles, and it is an exaggeration to say that you can smell the stench in the west of the city and the east of the city, and if such a small place is not backed by a solid defense system, the future is worrying.

The city wall of Tumu Fort has long been riddled with holes, but even if the city wall is intact, the Tatars have experience in attacking the fortress of the Ming Border Pass, and the low wall of Tumu Fort cannot add much help to the defense, so he is ready to move the focus of defense from the city wall to the fortifications inside and outside the city fortress, which is a bold attempt.

Shen Xi scolded sharply: "This official is now in the civil fort, advancing and retreating with the soldiers. Isn't it right that the imperial reinforcements are in sight, and that some necessary fortifications should be built in the city so that we can hold out longer when the Tatars are killed? ”

"But, my lord, ......"

Hu Songyue opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but was stopped by Shen Xi raising his hand.

Shen Xi said: "Even if General Hu has any opinions, he will have to wait until the fortifications are built." Beginning tomorrow, fortifications will be built not only inside the city, but also outside the city walls. Except for the road that could be used by two wagons in parallel, trenches of the same width and depth were to be dug in the rest of the city. ”

"In a day or two, our army will inevitably have a war with the Tatars, if you don't want to die here, let the soldiers work harder!"

……

……

Fortifications were built in the Tumu fort, while in the Tatar barracks outside the city, the same fortifications were built, but the purpose of the Tatars was to prevent the soldiers and horses from escaping.

The Tatars dug many trenches and traps five or six miles from the Tumu Fort, and also set up traps for horse traps and tripping horses.

These traps can prevent the Ming soldiers and horses in the city from escaping, but they also cause some trouble for the Tatars, that is, the Tatar cavalry will also have trouble if they want to successfully kill the city.

The Tatars were not in a hurry to attack, they clearly knew that Shen Xi was very good at controlling the Franc cannon, and they understood that the soldiers and horses commanded by Shen Xi were not easy to deal with.

The idea of the Tatars was to trap Shen Xi in Tumu Fort, and could not rush to the aid of Xuanfu and Zhangjiakou Fort, nor could they return to Juyong Pass.

When the Tatar follow-up soldiers and horses came, under the disparity in numbers, Shen Xi could not fly.

"Zhao envoy, the Ming army has artillery, and we also have it, and it is the artillery that the Ming army used to bombard us before. The Ming army had only sixty or seventy artillery pieces in the Tumu Fort, but we had hundreds, and we brought a large number of shells, so it made no sense that we would lose to them. ”

Five miles west of the city of Tumubao, in front of the newly established tents of the Tatars, not only dug traps, but also built high platforms with sand and earth, and on each of these temporary high platforms there were one to three Franc cannons.

These Franc cannons were recaptured by the Tatars from the border army of the Ming Dynasty, although the imperial court sent special personnel to help the border army train gunners, but the border generals were mostly honorable or hereditary officers, high on top, and did not like to go deep into the grassroots to learn, the performance of the Franc cannon was not understood, usually the gunner was trained and turned to other work, so that the power of the Franc cannon could not be reflected to the greatest extent, and the Franc cannon gradually became a chicken rib in the city fortress in a few years.

After the Tatars conquered the city, these Franc cannons became the trophies of the Tatars.

The Tatars were diametrically opposed to the border army of the Ming Dynasty, and they regarded artillery as sacred, after all, Shen Xi used the Franc cannon to give them a taste of defeat.

It is a pity that the Tatars have even inferior qualifications in the use of such advanced firearms, they do not know what to shoot at all, they do not know how to load the ruler, they simply set up the artillery, according to the instructions of the Ming prisoners, one board at a time, the result is often far from the target and the impact point, can not play a decisive role.

In addition, it has been a year or two since most of the Franc machine guns in the border cities of the Ming Dynasty have been cast, because the gunners have been transferred for other purposes, and the artillery has naturally not been maintained, which makes the degree of rust in the barrel very high, and the gunners do not know much about the number of shells and gunpowder added, so that the probability of the Franc cannon blowing up is very high.

The Tatars were overjoyed at first, but when they found that it was not as powerful as they thought, it was inconvenient to carry, and they always blew up their own people, it slowly became an ornament for the army.

As the supervisor of the Tatar Yismayin Division, Awulu took the initiative to invite Ying to Tumubao as a lobbyist this time, and after entering the city to investigate, out of fear of Shen Xi, she did not dare to enter the city again, so as not to be taken hostage by Shen Xi.

"There are a lot of artillery, but are there so many people who can fire?"

After seeing the Ming artillery used in siege warfare, Awulu felt that it was unremarkable, and did not think that this kind of artillery could cause much damage.

"Back to the Zhao envoy, this time we have a lot of gunners who have entered the east, all of them have been instructed by the Ming prisoners, and when the time comes, we will gather all the artillery and bombard it in the direction of the city, and the morale of the other party will inevitably drop greatly. The Ming army in the Tumu Fort saw that our troops were so strong, so they could only obediently retreat into the city, not daring to move. As for those sporadic deserters of the Ming army, don't bother at all! ”

"How can you ignore it?"

Ah Wuli shouted loudly: "Have you ever thought about what would happen if Shen Xi, the governor of Yansui in the Ming Dynasty, left among the deserters? This person is the mortal enemy of my grassland, and he must be eliminated as soon as possible! ”

"I order, from this day onwards, it is strictly forbidden to let deserters leave the city, and all communication between the fort and the outside world is blocked. If the Ming reinforcements arrive, and we can't conquer Xuanfu immediately, the war will undergo many changes, and everything must be cautious! ”

"Yes, Zhao Envoy!"

The Tatar general said respectfully.

"Dispatch people, I will enter the city again tonight to negotiate with the governor of Yansui of the Ming Dynasty to discuss the exchange of prisoners. If I can't come back, you will lead your troops to break the city and report to the Great Khan with the head of Shenxi. Make no mistake! Awulu said.

A group of Tatar generals bowed their heads and obeyed: "Yes! ”

*************

PS: First update!

It's almost 1 a.m. to finish this chapter, so I'm going to give you an update! Although the time is a little late, everyone must have seen the efforts of the Son of Heaven, so why not vote for a wave of monthly votes to show support?

Ask for a subscription! Ask for a commuter pass! (To be continued.) )