The court refocused on the war in the northwest, but the focus of attention was not on Xuanfu Town between the inner and outer Great Wall, nor on Zhangjiakou Fort, not in Juyongguan or Tumubao, but on Ningxia Town on the three sides. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

At this time, it was reported that Ningxia Town had found the main Tatar force, whether it was true or not, no one discussed, because the main Tatar force had been missing on the battlefield for a long time, and the Ming Dynasty and the opposition felt that this war should be over, so the battle in Ningxia Town was regarded as imperative.

Perhaps the Tatars had withdrawn north, and the main Tatar force of the Ningxia Town was only compiled by the defenders in order to make the court more decent.

Liu Daxia led the troops to Ningxia Town, because Liu Daxia didn't want to be a Ming sinner, and he didn't win the battle with the Tatars in the frontal battlefield, and he always needed to show some achievements in the follow-up, so it was easy to explain to the imperial court, and the imperial court could also explain to the Ming soldiers and the people.

Look, although my Daming encountered "a little disadvantage" at the beginning of the war, he still turned the tide in the end and won a big victory.

At that time, no one will care anymore, in fact, this little "disadvantage" has damaged tens of thousands of Ming soldiers, and the last "big victory" is actually just to kill the heads of dozens of Tatars, and how many of these heads are good and risky.

The whole court was waiting for such a "great victory", and they did not know that at this time, under the nose of the Gyeonggi defense area, several bloody and cruel battles were being staged in the jurisdiction of Xuanfu Town, including the bloody battle of Tumubao, which was about to begin.

In the case of soldiers, this situation is called "darkness under the lamp", and although the lamp can illuminate the whole house, there is darkness under the lampstand.

On September 24, dawn appeared.

Shen Xi stood on the west wall of the Tumubao fortress, facing the blue and yellow horizon, he was observing the white tents that had just been raised last night, where the Tatars were stationed, about five miles away from the Tumubao, and the artillery on the head of the city was not capable of hitting that far.

"My lord, I just sent someone out to investigate, the Tartars have set traps on all the roads to Juyong Pass and Xuanfu, even if we succeed in breaking through, we will have to go through the barren mountains and mountains, I'm afraid it will be difficult to withdraw the troops as we wish!"

Hu Songyue informed Shen Xi of a not-so-good news.

"Hmm."

Shen Xi nodded slightly, looking at the sky in the distance, "General Hu, ask you something, have you ever been on the battlefield?" ”

Hu Songyue shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The last general used to lead troops to suppress bandits in southern Qiannan, killed a few thieves, made meritorious contributions, and finally transferred from the southwest to Beijing, I thought that I could enjoy comfort, and my family could live a good life in the capital from a remote place, who knows ......"

"Alas, the Beijing camp is not a good place, except for training, there is no chance to go into battle to kill the enemy, yesterday led the troops out to grab water, it was the first battle experienced after the last general arrived in the Beijing camp."

Shen Xi nodded: "I understand, or my experience on the battlefield is richer than yours, not only have I experienced life and death only on the front line, but I have also experienced running for my life on the battlefield, or fighting to the death, facing the Tatars face to face, and in the end I survived by luck, and now I am a little afraid when I think about it...... Maybe I've been lucky enough to keep my life alive until now! ”

Hu Songyue thought for a while and asked, "My lord has been to the northwest before and experienced wars?" ”

Shen Xi said: "Yes, it was the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, first under the Yulin Acropolis, and it was also a desperate shot at that time, and he was almost caught up by the Tatar cavalry. Then came the bloody battle of the Yuxi River, where life and death were only on the line, and I watched my guards fall from my side, and at that time I even got under the ox cart to save my life. Thanks to the soldiers and horses sent by Liu Shangshu, I was rescued. ”

Hu Songyue heard the "ox cart", his heart was a little frightened, as the general of the Ming Jing camp, he heard a lot of stories about the "ox cart breaking the formation", and all parts of the northwest would often use the seemingly inconspicuous ox cart to break the enemy formation in the winter of the thirteenth year of Hongzhi to boost the morale of the army.

Hu Songyue came to the northwest for a while, and he just felt that since the war in the thirteenth year of Hongzhi was fought by Liu Daxia, the person who designed the "oxcart to break the formation" was Liu Daxia. Now he knew that Shen Xi was present at the time, and he also got under the ox cart, which sounded a bit of a nest, but next to the ox cart, which was the most critical to the victory of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Xi's status in that battle must have been very high.

Hu Songyue said: "The fact that my lord can go from being the champion to becoming the governor of Yansui in just a few years is also admired by the generals. ”

"There is nothing to admire, it is to sacrifice life and death on the battlefield, fight one battle after another, and succeed in one battle for eternity, and if you are still alive at that time, you will naturally be able to make meritorious contributions...... Of course, many more can only die on the battlefield and never have a chance to leave! ”

Shen Xi said with feeling, "Lao Hu, in a few hours, the war will start, I need people all the way to help me succeed in the battle, can you do it?" ”

Hu Songyue's body trembled: "Your ......, adult"

Shen Xi said: "Last night I tried to dig a well in the city fortress, but so far there is no effect, as long as we are besieged for more than three days, due to the lack of water, the soldiers in the civil fort will lose more than sixty percent of their combat strength, it is better to take advantage of the current soldiers still have spirit, and fight to the death with the Tartars." ”

"If we can succeed, we can take the opportunity to kill back to Juyong Pass and complete our strategic defense. Even if he fails, it is only a life, and he will be a hero again eighteen years later! ”

Hu Songyue has been in the army for so many years, and no one has ever said such emotional words to him, and in the face of Shen Xi's words, he didn't know what to say for a while.

"Are you scared?" Shen Xi asked.

"I didn't ...... Adults, but ...... The cavalry of the Tartars is really fierce, this man and horse...... If you go out of the city, you can't fight, why ......"

Hu Songyue's head was buzzing, and Shen Xi's strategy of taking the initiative to find death was unacceptable to him.

Shen Xi said: "I said, if you stay in the city fortress, you will definitely die, and you will die a nest, and the eldest husband will eventually die, or vigorously, or do nothing, do we want to be the turtle with a shrunken head, die in the city fortress, and be laughed at by the Tatars?" ”

Hu Songyue was speechless.

Shen Xi said again: "After noon, the three armies launched an attack, first put together the mule carts, and mounted twenty guns. The cavalry cleared the way, and the musketeers covered. When the Tatar cavalry charged head-on, our cavalry spread out on both flanks, and the Tatar cavalry could not stop using the momentum of the Tatar cavalry, and opened artillery to meet the attack. If the enemy cavalry is close, shoot with a firearm. When the Tartar cavalry dispersed, the cavalry took the initiative to rush forward and take the opportunity to cover and kill! ”

Hu Songyue listened to the clouds, probably meaning that he understood, but for this kind of bloody battle, he had no bottom in his heart, he would rather hide in the city and wait for death, than go out of the city to fight the Tatars in the most direct way.

Shen Xi said: "This official observed the number of Tatars everywhere and determined that the number of Tatar soldiers and horses besieging the city was about 6,000, excluding the Tatars with one person and two or three horsemen, and the current strength we faced may only be about 2,000." ”

At this moment, Hu Song jumped to his senses and asked, "My lord, are you only two thousand tartars?" ”

Although Shen Xi knew that this number was not right, he still nodded, saying that the number of Tatars was less, but it was to boost the morale of the army.

Two thousand Tatars chased us eight thousand like rabbits, and now with the help of new artillery and firearms, don't you fight for face?

Shen Xi said: "The number of Tatars is only two thousand, and they are divided into four directions, if we concentrate all the soldiers and horses to kill, the Tatars are caught off guard, and they must rescue one side with three parties, and then the tactics of adding fuel will be formed, and our army only needs to deal with one way, do you think we have a chance of winning!" ”

Hu Songyue thought to himself: "This is a good idea, attack one side first, there are not many Tartars, it must be to transfer the other three sides of the Tartars, the time in place is in order, each time you only need to face a few hundred Tartars, and at the same time, the other three directions of the castle will also fall into a blank state, at that time, there may not be a chance to escape!" ”

Then he thought about it again: "Since the Tartars have set traps on the way forward and backward of the Civil Fort, I'm afraid they have also thought of this, so it is better to do their best to destroy the Tartars in one go, and not only deal with a few hundred Tartars at a time?" If you don't concentrate on the enemy and flee for your life, even if you can leave the Tumu Fort for twenty miles, you will not be able to return to Juyong Pass, and you will always be caught up by the Tartar cavalry! ”

"My lord, how can you be sure that the Tartars will move in the direction of your main attack?" Hu Songyue asked suspiciously.

Shen Xi smiled: "Just because of my existence...... The Tatars want to get rid of me quickly, and it was I who commanded the ox cart artillery formation to break through the Tatar tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and now if I command the mule cart artillery array to attack, the Tatars will inevitably come to seek revenge. The Tatars focused their garrison on the east side in the direction of Juyongguan, and the west side in the direction of Xuanfu was the weak point of their defense, so we went out of the city through the west gate. ”

"Lao Hu, I hope you can take two thousand cavalry and kill them from the flanks!"

Hu Songyue hurriedly reminded: "My lord, the number of cavalry in the city ...... At most, there are no more than three or five hundred, and ...... There are many good and bad military horses, and many of them are horses that like to be on the go, so they may not come in handy! ”

Shen Xi said: "Aren't there still mules and donkeys?" ”

"Huh?"

Hu Songyue was stunned by Shen Xi's words.

The mules and donkeys in the army have always been used to transport supplies, and they will not be used as mounts on the battlefield at all, but Shen Xi seems to feel that mules and donkeys can also play a role on the battlefield, and Hu Songyue thought of the Ming officers and soldiers riding donkeys, wielding sabers and fighting with Tatar cavalry riding tall horses, which felt very strange.

"Old Hu, you have to remember that we have to make full use of all the resources at hand to complete this battle, because we have been cornered, do we have to be polite to the Tatars?"

Shen Xi said, "The mules and donkeys I am talking about are not used as cavalry, although mules and donkeys cannot be compared with war horses at all, but if they are used as suicide weapons...... The power is still not small! ”

"Suicide weapons?" Hu Songyue heard a new term again.

Shen Xi smiled and said, "Yes." To put it bluntly, if the mules and donkeys are tied with grass or cloth on their tails or buttocks, sprinkled with tung oil and gunpowder, and let them charge the Tatar cavalry, although they may not be able to hurt the Tatars and their mounts, the Tatar horses, seeing such a situation, will inevitably be in disarray and dare not meet them, and then ...... It's your chance to lead your troops and horses to cover up the killing! (To be continued.) )