"My lord, how is it good? The fort is full of fleeing people! ”

He took Liu Xu to investigate, and when he returned, he reported that the soldiers who had entered the castle had been blocked by refugees at the west entrance of the fort. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The refugees didn't know why so many officers and soldiers suddenly came, and many of them were cold and hungry, and they didn't have much fear when they saw the officers and soldiers, and they actually rushed up to beg for food.

As a result, the officers and troops could not enter the city, and the baggage such as artillery, guns, ammunition, and grain and grass could not be transported to the city.

Hu Songyue drew his saber and shouted angrily: "My lord, you order, your subordinates will go and kill a bloody way!" ”

Shen Xi scolded angrily: "What kind of anger is there, go to the Tatars, and be a man to the people of the Ming Dynasty?" Let the cavalry rush in from the north and south gates of the fort, dismount and quickly set up barricades to control the main intersections, and then let the troops divert and enter through the north and south gates! ”

The refugees in the civil fort blocked the city gate, but only the area west of the city was relatively crowded, and the soldiers who entered the city were not allowed to do so, resulting in the city gate being blocked, and even disputes.

A group of soldiers patronized and took refuge in the city, and they usually liked to show off their might in front of the common people, and they would not be polite to deal with these refugees at all.

Shen Xi could only make a detour of the cavalry to enter the city from behind the refugees and open the passage.

At this time, it is absolutely impossible to distribute food mercifully, otherwise refugees everywhere will swarm and run after the officers and soldiers, and the city fortress will not be able to enter at that time.

The city gate alone was blocked for half an hour, Shen Xi looked at the sky, it was already past noon at this time, the sun began to set westward, Shen Xi knew that if he didn't enter the city again, he might be in trouble, and now there were many groups of scouts who reported that the Tatars were getting closer and closer to the civil fort.

As the north and south gates were cleared, soldiers swarmed in.

At the same time, the baggage soldiers who arrived at the front began to distribute food in the Tumu Fort, and the refugees crowded at the West Gate began to gather in the center of the Tumu Fort after hearing the news, and it was not long before the city gate was restored to the open air.

The soldiers all entered the city, and Shen Xi just breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could go to the city wall to deploy the Franco machine gun, a bad news came.

The scout who was ordered to investigate the situation of the civil fort replied: "My lord, there are eight gaps in the city of the civil fort about one zhang, and there are about 20 gaps of about three feet, and there are no complete door panels in the north and east of the city, please show me!" ”

Shen Xi was noncommittal, Hu Songyue said angrily: "What kind of bird place is this, the city gate doesn't even have a door panel, how can it be stationed?" There are eight gaps above one zhang, and if the Tatars forcibly break the city, how can the city fortress be defended? ”

A secretive smile appeared on the corner of Shen Xi's mouth, and he thought: "There are only a few gaps in the city wall, and there are two less door panels in the four city gates, so it should be regarded as a fuss, this is nothing compared to the lack of water sources in the city, it is simply a small thing!" ”

Shen Xi, who knows the history well, is more familiar with the surrounding environment of the civil fort, when the civil fort changed, the pro-conquest army led by Yingzong was stationed in the civil fort, because the terrain of the civil fort is higher, the water source is cut off, and the water can not be seen when digging a well, and the nearest water source around the civil fort is fifteen miles south of the city of the civil fort.

At the beginning, the Warat people pretended to withdraw their troops, so that the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers unearthed the wooden fort to replenish the water source, but the hungry and thirsty Ming army arrived at the river, and when they rushed to replenish the water, the Warat people suddenly killed from the flank, so that the Ming officers and soldiers fell into a tragic situation where almost all the army was wiped out, and finally even the emperor was taken captive.

Now the garrison of the civil fort will encounter the same dilemma as the original change of the civil fort, that is, the lack of water. As for the problem of a few breaches in the castle, it was not a problem, and Shen Xi wished that the Tatars would take the initiative to attack from the gap, so that they could give full play to the role of artillery and firearms, and even hope to turn defeat into victory.

If the Tatars did not besiege the city, then he would have nothing to do, let the soldiers be thirsty for three or four days, and die of thirst before they died in battle.

In order not to demoralize the morale of the army, Shen Xi did not mention the issue of water sources for the time being, but only ordered the soldiers to properly take care of their water bags and ensure the most basic drinking water needs first.

As for the drinking water of the livestock, it is directly cut off, and the people are almost out of water to drink, and the livestock will not be of great use at this time, and it is possible to kill the animals and let the blood to drink if they are so thirsty.

"Order the three armies, repair the gaps a little, the city gate must be filled, look for trees inside and outside the city fortress, and let the people cut down and make it!" Shen Xi Road.

Because there was not much time to prepare for battle, Shen Xi was not sure when the Tatar cavalry would come, it was originally a city that was almost abandoned, and it was indeed too difficult to use it as a barrier.

Shen Xi can only use dead horses as live horse doctors now, and if he has a glimmer of life, he must do his best, maybe the cavalry sent by the Tatars to pursue him is less than a thousand horsemen?

As long as the Tatars do not have the ability to besiege the city, then Shen Xi feels that the odds of winning this battle can be increased by one or two percent, Shen Xi has estimated that once the number of Tatar cavalry exceeds two thousand, he can only hope that the Tatar generals who come to make mistakes will make mistakes, otherwise the Ming army will not have the slightest chance of winning with only the combat power on paper.

The sun was setting a little westward, and Shen Xi climbed to the top of Xicheng City, and immediately commanded the men to set up twenty Franc machine guns. The north and south sections of the civil fort are one mile of the city wall, two miles from east to west, the scale is not very large, a large number of refugees are gathered in the city fortress, and the preparation time is in a hurry, and Shen Xi is a little anxious for a while.

However, there are still various things to trouble him, and one by one they will gather in front of him: "My lord, there are no trees in the city fortress, but there are some nearby, but it is difficult to nail the door panel for a while, and the city gate can only be temporarily blocked with branches!" ”

"My lord, there are a large number of refugees in the north of the city, and these refugees are coming from the direction of Xuanfu!"

"Your Excellency, the Tartar cavalry has arrived, you see...... The sky in front of us is covered with smoke and dust, and it is the dust stirred up by the galloping of the horses! ”

……

Shen Xi felt that his head was about to explode, but when he heard the news of the arrival of the Tatar cavalry, he still unconsciously raised his head and looked in the direction of the western official road.

The front of the Tatars was only about five or six miles away from the civil fort, but at present, only the artillery was erected on the west wall, and the northern, eastern, and southern walls were undefended.

There was a shortage of crossbowmen and arrows in the city, and the firecrackers who trained on weekdays did not have time to concentrate, and the city gate was open, so how bad the situation was.

If the Tatars attacked the city from the other three directions as soon as they arrived, Shen Xi had no way to deal with it.

Fortunately, the Tatars did not know what was going on with the Tumu Fort.

If it were the Warats, they might have known something about the fort, but the Tatars had never touched it.

"The whole army is ready!"

The soldiers of the Beijing camp were originally lazy and loose, but now that the knife was on their necks, they also knew that the only end of being a deserter now was to die in a nest, and they could only prepare for battle in the city.

The firecrackers gathered in the city, and the sword and shield soldiers dragged their belongings to the city, only to find that the city wall here did not even have a battlement, but only an earthen wall, and if the Tatars shot the arrows on the city, there would not even be a place to hide, and one by one they immediately retreated.

At this time, Shen Xi had already set up twenty artillery pieces, fortunately, he had come from Juyong Pass together with the gunners, and a group of loaders had been recruited from the people along the way to train together, otherwise if he had to teach again now, Shen Xi would probably even have the heart to die.

"Remember, first fill the cannonball, put the weight of the mother gun, and wait for me to give the order before lighting the fire rope, the steps must not be wrong!"

Due to the lack of experience of the artillery and fillers, Shen Xi, as the coach, once again acted as a teacher in the city, so that everyone strictly followed the daily training.

The Tatar vanguard was getting closer and closer to the fortress, and finally, the Tatars stopped about three miles away from the fortress, Shen Xi took out the self-made binoculars he used when he was quelling bandits on the southeast coast, looked into the distance, and found that the Tatars were not numerous, and it seemed that there were only three or four hundred horsemen.

At this time, the sharp-eyed soldiers also discovered the details of the enemy, and looked at the chief Zhu Lie with wide eyes, and said with great annoyance: "It's really infuriating that three or five hundred Tartars actually drove us all the way, Lord Shen, why don't you send troops to annihilate them!" ”

Shen Xi said coldly: "Is General Hu taking the initiative to ask for battle?" ”

Zhu Lie had a big tone, but after listening to Shen Xi's words, he couldn't help swallowing his saliva, and he didn't dare to squeak when he stood in place.

Even if there are only three or five hundred Tatar cavalry, it does not mean that it can be defeated by defeat, the key is that the number of cavalry under Shen Xi's command is too small, and there is a serious lack of actual combat experience.

Correspondingly, the Tatar cavalry has been in battle for a long time, and three or five hundred Tatar cavalry are deployed on the plain, and in the case of sufficient charging distance, it is definitely not a problem to defeat one or two thousand Ming infantry with long knives and shields, not to mention that this is not a border infantry, but a Beijing battalion soldier who has always been weak.

Even if Shen Xi had the certainty of coming out to win, he would not do so, because the Tatars had arrived first, and the follow-up men and horses would not be too far apart.

The Tatar march pays attention to echoing before and after, and when the war is halfway here, the follow-up Tatar cavalry does not need too much, and there are three or five hundred horsemen, and the Ming Dynasty soldiers and horses will eventually be defeated.

Shen Xi put the binoculars back in his arms and said, "The Tatars don't have many forward soldiers and horses, which is a good thing...... The Tatars should not rashly attack the city and continue to strengthen the fortress! ”

Now that he has entered the civil fort, Shen Xi said that he would not rush out if he said anything, there are artillery, there are city fortresses, and there are 8,000 people in his hands, and the defensive force in the civil fort is not not strong.

In Shen Xi's eyes, the Tatars definitely came with hatred, and if they wanted to get rid of themselves quickly, they might use siege warfare that they were not good at, and at that time the cavalry would not be able to exert their due power.

Shen Xi looked at the city for a while, and made sure that the main Tatar force had not arrived for the time being, so he went down the city wall along the horse road, preparing to go in other directions to check the situation.

"General Hu, come here!"

Shen Xi looked at the sky, night was about to fall, he estimated that the war would not be able to be fought after night, and it was time to solve the water source problem.

"What do you command?" Hu Songyue looked at Shen Xi with a puzzled expression.

Shen Xi said: "You immediately collect water bags, and after nightfall, send fast horses to the south of the city, find a place with a small river, and transport a few batches of water back." Remember, this water is likely to be a source of life in the city for the next few days! (To be continued.) )