It is not an exaggeration to say that the infantry fought the cavalry, and the difference in numbers between them was negligible, and in the end it was the infantry that won a great victory. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The officers and men of the three armies were very excited, they had never experienced such ups and downs in a life-and-death battle in their lives, and now after a war, they were able to escape from death, in addition to being glad to see the sun tomorrow, they couldn't help but feel sad for those robes who were buried on the battlefield.

Shen Xi boarded the wooden platform of the mule cart, inspected the battlefield, and after getting out of the car, he ordered several generals around him to gather around him, collect all the remains of the Ming army officers and soldiers, and pull them to the high ground in the north of the city, and arrange for a thousand people to bury the officers and soldiers as soon as possible. As for the corpses of the Tatars, they need to be carefully scavenged and beheaded, and left to the wilderness.

These Tatars broke through the Yulinwei from the Yulin Guard, and did all kinds of evil along the way, burning, killing and looting, and everyone had bulging pockets, and now all of them are cheaper than the Ming officers and soldiers. At the same time, the weather was getting colder, and the nights were difficult, and all the robes and leather clothes worn by the Tatars were taken off.

The wounded soldiers in the Ming army were sent back to the city on donkey carts or mule carts, and Shen Xi ordered two thousand strong soldiers to be selected from among the refugees to take care of the wounded soldiers.

The only pity is that when the Ming army followed the fleeing Tatar cavalry into the Tatar camp, the remaining Tatars had taken all their horses with them.

Fortunately, the Tartar battalion has stored a large amount of dry food such as beef jerky and cheese, as well as materials such as salt and tea, and the war horses that died on the battlefield can be dragged back to be pickled and can also be used as food, so it can be said that this victory is enough for 10,000 troops to not worry about food in the next two or three months.

In addition, in the Tatar military camp, more than 100 boxes of gold and silver were also seized, which was the looting income carried by several thousand Tatar households, and now all of them are cheaper than the Ming army soldiers, and the harvest is unprecedented.

When Hu Songyue appeared in front of Shen Xi again, his attitude towards Shen Xi was no longer the unruly appearance he had before, and he regarded Shen Xi as a god like the others.

Although on the surface, Shen Xi commanded an army of 8,000, but in fact, after removing 2,000 people, there were less than 5,000 infantry and a small number of cavalry, and they actually fought a bloody battle with the cavalry team of 4,000 Tatar households, and the decisive battle location was still in the plains, and the final result was a complete victory for the Ming army, which was completely beyond Hu Songyue's cognition.

In the early stage, he hoped that he would gain credit on the battlefield, but he never dared to imagine that he would have such an overwhelming victory over the Tatars in front of him.

Hu Songyue's brows were completely stretched at this time, and he stood straight next to the donkey cart where Shen Xi was sitting, and saluted respectfully: "My lord, more than 600 Tartars were captured in this battle, 3,200 Tartar heads were obtained, and 500 intact war horses were also captured, but it is a pity that the Tartars who stayed in the enemy camp fled with all the war horses in the camp!" ”

Shen Xi nodded and asked, "There was no pursuit, right?" ”

"Don't worry, my lord, the last general will take people to chase after him, and he must not let the Tartars pass on the message of the civil fort!" Hu Songyue patted his chest and said.

"Didn't you say that the Tartars took all the horses in the camp with them? In other words, each of them can have at least ten horses to change, can you catch up? ”

Shen Xi reprimanded angrily, and then ordered: "Since the head of the Tartar has been removed, you naturally don't have to worry about losing your share in terms of military merits." Hurry up and give the work to the other generals, and take your horse-crew, and your mules, donkeys, and waterwheels, and go fifteen miles south of the city to carry water. ”

Hu Songyue asked in surprise: "Lord Shen, this battle has been won, what else is there to worry about?" Why don't you let the three armies clean up and stop and immediately reorganize the troops and horses to move eastward...... Are we going to stay in this dilapidated civil fort? ”

When Hu Songyue asked this question, Liu Xu and the others also leaned over, and they also wanted to know Shen Xi's next plan of action, which was when to withdraw the troops.

The great victory of annihilating more than 4,000 Tartars is enough to explain to the imperial court, and the next step should be to consider how to invite merit, in the eyes of Hu Songyue, Liu Xu, Zhu Lie and others, it is most appropriate to withdraw the troops and return to Juyong Pass to wait for the reward of the imperial court.

Shen Xi smiled bitterly: "This time, it's just the Tartars all the way, according to the rules of the Tartars, there must be the second and third waves of people and horses on the way to come, if you can't quickly pack up and prepare the water to transport back to the city, maybe the second wave of Tartars will arrive tonight, and the previous victory will be in vain." ”

Liu Xu persuaded: "My lord, this is the best opportunity to withdraw the troops and return to Juyongguan!" Besides, even if we don't withdraw to Juyong Pass, we can go to Huailai Acropolis for temporary refuge, how can it be safer than staying in Tumu Fort, right? ”

"Your Excellency, please think twice!"

Many commanders came over to talk to Shen Xi.

Before, these people were all above the top and didn't discuss anything with others, but after today's battle, they found that without Shen Xi, it was impossible to win the battle at all, and even if there was only a chance of survival as a deserter, it was more promising than staying.

Now that Shen Xi put forward the order that he must stay in Tumubao, what they hold is no longer the idea of "what do you like to do, why don't Lao Tzu serve", but come over to persuade him, hoping that Shen Xi can "understand the overall situation, withdraw troops and return to Juyongguan or retreat to Huailai Acropolis".

Shen Xi explained: "We organized the digging of wells overnight last night, and today we came out to fight for most of the day, and there are not many officers and soldiers who can move. At this time, how long will it take for us to get to Huailaiwei? If we happen to collide with the second wave of the Tatar army, then we will most likely face total annihilation, so what does today's victory mean for us? ”

"Therefore, the top priority is to organize the water grabbing on the one hand, and then clean up the battlefield, and when it is almost over, withdraw to the civil fort. Regardless of whether the enemy comes or not, the more water in your hand, the better, if you are sure that the enemy has no reinforcements in the future, then we will rest for one night and set off back to Juyong Pass tomorrow! ”

Liu Xu and the others did not speak.

If it is really according to what Shen Xi said, the Tatar cavalry happened to arrive, and the Ming officers and soldiers had already been exhausted after a hard battle, if the two sides encountered, the Tatars would definitely not give the Ming army a second chance, in the case of the formation is not in order and the officers and soldiers are not mentally and physically poor, Shen Xi's men and horses will not have a second result except for the rout.

Shen Xi ordered: "Pass on the military order of this official, immediately send all the cavalry, as well as 500 foot soldiers who can ride horses, bring the 500 war horses captured in this battle, and together with 1,000 people, take all the waterwheels, mules, horses and donkeys in the city, and go to the south of the city to replenish the water source, and if anyone escapes, they will be killed on the spot." ”

"Also, open the east gate of the civil fort...... Except for the 2,000 strong people selected, the rest of the people were sent away, and each person could send a pound of dry food. ”

"The three armies must not do anything to disturb the people, otherwise they will be dealt with with knives and axes!"

At this time, Shen Xi emphasized the importance of military regulations, military discipline, and military orders.

In this battle, there were not many Ming deserters, mainly because the Ming army was trapped in Tumu Fort, and then it was compressed by Shen Xi in a small military formation, but there were still more than 20 people who escaped, mainly when the war was stalemate.

These deserters are currently not far away, if they send cavalry to pursue, they can still recover people, but Shen Xi feels that there is no need for that, and he can't change the grand strategy in order to chase dozens of people, and the focus now is to concentrate troops and horses, prepare water sources, stay in Tumu Fort and wait for changes, if the time is ripe, immediately retreat east without hesitation.

……

……

Inventory and cleaning of the battlefield continued until the last shift.

Shen Xi's request to the officers and soldiers of the three armies was that the battlefield must be cleaned up within three hours, the remains of the soldiers must be filled in, and the civil fort must be withdrawn.

Hu Songyue went to a place more than ten miles south of the city to transport water, and he couldn't take more than three hours before and after.

This time, it was Liu Xu's turn to buzz in Shen Xi's ears like a fly: "My lord, why don't you order the three armies to go south of the city and come back after drinking water?" ”

Shen Xi couldn't cry or laugh: "You go to drink, how much can you drink?" Even if it can be shipped back, if the Tatar cavalry kills it, can there be a barrier to defend it? ”

As soon as Liu Xu wanted to say that the Tatars might not be killed, he saw a fast horse arriving in the distance.

One of them jumped off his horse and said in a loud voice: "The cavalry of the Beikou Road arrived at the Rooster Song Post in the early morning today!" ”

Liu Xu frowned: "What kind of information is this, it has been reported for a day, is the news too lagging behind?" ”

After thinking about it, Shen Xi said: "The Tatar follow-up men and horses arrived at the Jiming Post as early as early this morning, and the Tatar cavalry's daily travel speed is about 100 miles, and the people and horses have not come yet, which means that they have been delayed halfway, and they should not know what happened here at Tumu Fort." ”

"Order the three armies to withdraw to the city after the Tartars' tents are demolished, as for the people in the city who have not had time to evacuate, don't drive them out of the city for the time being, only leave the south gate of the city, and wait for General Hu to carry water into the city at any time!"

It is impossible to stay outside the city for a long time, and even if the battlefield is not cleaned up, it must be stopped immediately and it is best to return to the city to take refuge.

At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty used the beef jerky and sheepskin water bags captured from the Tatar cavalry to have a full meal, and they had the strength to regain the languishing appearance at the beginning of the war.

But the biggest problem facing the city at present is still the lack of water, if Hu Songyue takes the horse team as a deserter, or when he comes back from carrying water, he collides head-on with the Tatar reinforcements, then Shen Xi must take advantage of the Tatar pursuit of the men and horses to launch an attack in order to ensure combat effectiveness, but that is a last resort, and the probability of victory is very low.

Shen Xi said in his heart: "Lao Hu, Lao Hu, I don't care about you scumbags, you are as timid as a rat on weekdays, don't be a deserter, it's almost time to transport water into the city, a drop of water is a drop, and the civil fort can survive for one more day!" ”

Shen Xi did not know the number and combat strength of the Tatar pursuers, and he only hoped that the fortresses such as Xuanfu Town and Zhangjiakou Fort in the north could hold out for a few more days, and if these places were lost, the Tatar soldiers and horses would definitely free up their hands to engage Shen Xi head-on.

Annihilating 4,000 Tatar soldiers and horses at a time, the Tatars were caught off guard, and there was an element of luck in it, as long as the Tatar follow-up soldiers and horses heard the report of the Tatars who broke through and fled, and knew Shen Xi's strategy, then this trick could no longer be used, thinking that the other party did not need to meet the attack at all, but only needed to maneuver around the perimeter, or simply break into the Tumubao city and cut off the retreat of the Ming army, and the final result could only be that Shen Xi's soldiers and horses faced a big defeat because they could not maintain the formation for a long time.

Soon, the men of the camp withdrew to the fort, and at the same time escorted 600 Tatar prisoners of war in the castle, all of whom were tied up in a variety of ways, along with supplies from the battlefield and from the Tatar camp, as well as the Tatar commander, Huoya.

The only ones who did not come back were the more than 600 cavalry of Hu Songyue sent by Shen Xi, including mule carts, donkey carts, and horse-drawn carts that carried water.

Shen Xi did not see Huo Aya, although he and Huo Aya are old acquaintances, but Shen Xi knew that Huo Aya hated him to the core, and the Tatar people and horses had a fiasco in the battle of Yuxi River, which caused many years of internal civil strife in Tatar, as for Huo Aya who killed her husband, Shen Xi was not clear, and Shen Xi himself would not care about this kind of thing.

In Shen Xi's view, the men and women of the grassland will not pay the same attention to the beginning as the people of the Ming Dynasty, and the women on the grassland are basically the private property of men, and they can even be bought and sold freely.

Men can take women as vassals, and women can do the opposite if they have the ability, and if Huo Aya dies a husband, she can find more than one husband, as long as she has power and status.

Just when Shen Xi was standing at the head of Ximen City and thinking about how to deal with "Hu Songyue as a deserter and no water source to replenish", Liu Xu came in a hurry and said:

"My lord, Mr. Hu has returned, bringing three hundred carts of water, and all the mules, horses, and donkeys have filled their backs with water bags, and the soldiers in the city are expected to drink, but the people are ...... There is some trouble, they are not given water at this time, and they are not allowed to go out of the city, they are making trouble! Adults, do you want to kill a few and stand up? ”

Shen Xi said: "Before the soldiers and horses went out of the city, the refugees in the city were making trouble, but they were making trouble just for water and food. In this way, the civil fort itself is not large, and it cannot accommodate so many people. We have already selected two thousand young men before, and since the rest of the people want to go out of the city, we will open the city gate and send them away, or according to the previous conditions, each person will be given a pound of food. As for whether they are dead or alive, it is not our turn to care. ”

"Even if they stay, we don't have much water and food to distribute to them, and with us guarding the civil fort, we will always make the refugees' escape to the east smoother and farther!" (To be continued.) )

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