There was still a commotion in the civil fort, Shen Xi mobilized all the officers and soldiers and people in the city, and what he did was not to strengthen the city defense, but to build fortifications, not only to build trenches underground, but also to build bunkers and hidden forts on the ground, and to build a large number of civil works, it was almost like turning over the civil fort. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Tatars outside the city fortress were also strange, they found that the number of Ming troops on the city was significantly reduced, the city was almost in an undefended state, and there were no soldiers and horses stationed at the city gate, giving people a feeling that Shen Xi was going to use an empty city plan.

But the Tatars didn't believe in this at all, and if it weren't for the order from above not to attack the Tumu Fort, in the past, they would never let go of such a good opportunity.

Now they can only look at the empty city head, and there is nothing they can do.

Ah Wulu's mind is more flexible, and after checking the situation on the front line, she came to a conclusion: "The Ming army clearly wants to dig tunnels and escape!" ”

As soon as this conclusion came out, the Tatar generals were really nervous, because the military order they got was to watch Shen Xi's men and horses, and they must not let Shen Xi lead the army to Xuanfu or escape back to Juyong Pass, and no moths were allowed.

Since the combat strength of Shen Xi's troops is not clear, then try to make the situation as simple as possible, Shen Xi will not come out of the Tumu Fort, and the Tatar army will besiege the city fortress, no matter how many soldiers and horses Shen Xi has under his command, as long as the main Tatar force kills the Tumu Fort, this battle can be successfully ended.

What Shen Xi was doing in the city was not under the care of the Tatars stationed outside the city, their purpose was only to prevent Shen Xi from escaping. But if Shen Xi really digs tunnels in the city, they have to be careful, they heard that the Ming Dynasty people can do everything in the sky, and now they are very afraid that the Ming Dynasty soldiers have a strong ability to dig tunnels, and they can dig a tunnel more than ten miles or even dozens of miles long in a few days, either flee or launch a sneak attack from behind them.

But the Tatars clearly overestimated the capabilities of the Ming army.

Now it's not like there will be an excavator in the future, digging a pit for a mile or two a day as if it's playing. When Shenxi left the fortress, only some shovels and shovels were prepared in the army, which were used for camping. Today, the hoes, steel drills, iron rakes and other equipment used by officers and soldiers to dig trenches and other fortifications are still purchased from refugees in the city.

When refugees flee, they take everything of value with them at home, and farm tools are no exception. After Shen Xi led the army to settle in Tumubao, in order to dig a well, he bought them at a price of one or two silver per farm tool, and the refugees sold the farm tools they carried, so that when the war subsided and returned to their homeland in the future, they could use the silver that was easy to carry to buy again. Even if you can't go back, you can use this money to buy food on the road and survive in this troubled world.

But relying on manual work alone, it is simply impossible to dig too far. What's more, even if he can dig behind the Tatars, Shen Xi can't escape with his troops, the key point is that Shen Xi's command is basically infantry, and the Tatars are usually equipped with two to three horses, and it is very easy to catch up.

In addition, even if the tunnel can be passed, the horses can't pass, if Shen Xicun wants to escape, he will go out day and night on the field in disguise, and it will be much easier to return to the pass.

During the overhaul of the fortifications in the city, Shen Xi's daily work was no longer to observe the movements of the Tatars at the head of the city, because he had already figured out one thing, that is, the Tatars would never take the initiative to attack before the arrival of the Chinese army.

If the Tatars attacked the city at this time, and the Ming army in the civil fort set up an iron bucket array, there might be a glimmer of life, but if the Tatars surrounded the city and then sent reinforcements, then Shen Xi would have no way at all. Since it came to this point, Shen Xi thought very simply, that is, to use all the resources at hand to improve the defense of the city fortress.

However, this increase in defense was not based on the solidity of the walls, but on the fortifications within the fortresses, so that the Tatars understood that it was useless to break through the walls, but only to break the city as the first step.

Because the civil fort has fallen into a siege on all sides, the officers and soldiers in the city have no way to retreat, so they will no longer think nonsense.

Most people don't know what Shen Xi is going to do, they only know that building fortifications is very tiring and troublesome, and they complain every day, but because of the credit for following Shen Xi, Shen Xi also spread the news of the upcoming reinforcements in the army, and the soldiers want to persevere, follow Shen Xi back to Beijing triumphantly, and convert their military exploits into rewards.

Many soldiers did not want to be deserters, but on the one hand, under the threat of Tatar rangers, the chances of surviving after escaping were very low, and at the same time, the family of Kyoshi was implicated, and on the other hand, they were reluctant to make meritorious contributions in the battle with the Fire Ayabu. If you become a deserter, then your previous efforts will be in vain.

Shen Xi commanded the soldiers and people to work in full swing, and Hu Songyue, Liu Xu and Zhu Lie were always in opposition behind Shen Xi.

Hu Songyue and the others are not heroic people, their purpose is to return to Juyongguan alive, and they will not care about the safety of their own family and country.

In the lobby of the command post that day, Shen Xi said clearly: "You don't want to be stationed in the city, dare to ask, can this civil fort still go out now?" ”

Liu Xu said: "Didn't your lord say before that he was going to fight with the Tatars outside the city? Even if you lose, it's a good thing to lose, it's better than being a turtle with a shrunken head in the civil fort! ”

Shen Xi asked with a smile: "General Liu is really a model for my generation, but I don't know if it is more effective to wait for reinforcements to arrive in the city fortress, or is it more pleasant to go out of the city to send him to death?" ”

Such a question made Liu Xu and others speechless.

With Shen Xi's hypothetical two ways to choose, they naturally prefer to defend the fortress and wait for reinforcements to arrive, but they are not as simple as the soldiers, and they clearly realize that the probability of reinforcements arriving is not high, and the chance of surviving in the city is slim, but if they are killed from the city, the probability of defeating the Tatars is even lower, and the probability of surviving as a deserter is okay.

From the beginning, the purpose of this group of people was not to fight the Tatars, but to attract the attention of the Tatars, and then suddenly flee.

Shen Xi understood this, so he no longer advocated taking the initiative to fight the Tatars, and his original plan was to gradually encroach and destroy the Tatar cavalry outside the city.

Zhang Yong was greedy for life and afraid of death, his thoughts were not as complicated as Liu Xu and others, he knew that even if he killed out of the city, he would not have the strength to ride a horse as a deserter, because his body and bones could not withstand the toss.

Therefore, Zhang Yong advocated staying in the civil fort and waiting for reinforcements, and immediately jumped out and shouted: "What are you yelling about? Lord Shen's words are military orders, and whoever does not obey them will be reported to the court and handed over to His Majesty for disposal! ”

As a eunuch in the army, Zhang Yong did not have much authority in his own right, and his task was to scare these generals in the army and move out of the court and the emperor.

But he obviously ignored a problem, now this group of soldiers and ruffians are not even afraid of being deserters, let alone being sinners of the court, they are dead inside and out, what is the difference between early and late death? It's better to be a deserter and live a good life for a few days! Maybe the court won't pursue it after being incognito? Or was the Ming Dynasty destroyed by the Tatars, and the new dynasty was not to blame? Or do they end up in the grass and live another life?

At this time, they didn't want to kill Zhang Yong to vent their anger, but they felt that there was no need, because Shen Xi's status in the hearts of this group of people was not low, before Shen Xi fought with the Fire Ayabu, this group of people didn't think that Shen Xi would win in the end, but now that they have won, maybe next time they will have the opportunity to create a miracle?

When Shen Xi fought with the Tatars, his command was determined, and the soldiers and horses of the three armies changed from the previous plate of scattered sand to orderly scheduling, and almost all of them were completed by Shen Xi alone.

They would rather believe that Shen Xi had a way to take them out alive, and what they thought in their hearts at this time was: "Lord Shen's identity and status are much higher than ours, that is the champion of Sanyuan and the first, the feudal official of the second grade, and the red man in the eyes of His Majesty...... Even Lord Shen himself didn't escape, we can't say anything about it, how can we hold on to it to the end! ”

In addition to perfunctory and prevaricating the group of generals under his command, Shen Xi arranged how to build the fortifications in the city.

“…… The area of the civil fort is narrow and the resources are limited, and many things can only be made by themselves. In the east and north of the city, a few brick kilns will be opened temporarily, and the water in the city will not be dug up, but the mud can be dug out? This mud, together with the soil excavated from the trenches, was used to burn bricks and build fortifications. As for the construction of the moats in the city, it must be done according to what the ruler says! ”

In order to turn the civil fort into a complete defensive fortress, Shen Xi spent a lot of effort, drew up drawings, and personally led people to arrange the construction.

Shen Xi felt like an engineer and an architect, and the civil fort in front of him was no longer just a two-mile square fortress, but a fortified fortress that could withstand the invasion of thousands of troops.

"I can only hope that the reinforcements from the imperial court will arrive sooner!"

No matter how strong the fortifications are, if the disparity between the forces of the two sides is too great, they will inevitably be defeated in the end, and even Shen Xi himself is looking forward to the unreachable imperial reinforcements in his heart.

Hu Songyue said: "My lord, what's the use of digging so many trenches? Even if the ditch can stop the Tatar cavalry, but the Tatars still have combat effectiveness when they dismount, and we may not have a chance of winning in a white-knuckle battle with them in the trenches! ”

"When encountering difficulties, it is not to complain, but to find a way to overcome them."

Shen Xi scolded sharply, "We have brought so much gunpowder, we can build guns and ammunition by ourselves, and the other thing is to go out and grab ...... Didn't you investigate clearly these days, there was a large number of artillery in the Tatar battalion? Those were originally in my Ming army, but now they turn their guns to my Ming officers and soldiers, this is really a huge irony! ”

"In any case, the divine weapons created by our own Ming Dynasty cannot fall into the hands of barbarians."

Hu Songyue was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth: "My lord, you don't want me to wait...... Go out of the city to die, right? ”

Shen Xi smiled dumbly: "This official has his own arrangements, do you think it is so simple to seize the cannon?" Let's wait a few days, whether the imperial reinforcements will arrive, this official doesn't know, but I believe that the reinforcements from Juyongguan will soon arrive at Tumubao, and that is the day we will go out of the city to meet the battle......"

"Under the attack from both sides, we must let the Tatars understand that our Ming officers and troops will not only shrink back to defense, but also make them unable to defend against attack!"

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PS: The second update is here!

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