Thinking of this, Dong Ce sighed again.

In the Chongzhen Dynasty, in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army had really weakened to an extreme, that is, even these rogues with poor combat effectiveness could not be defeated, let alone fight with the Jiannu of Liaodong.

Of course, the reason why this battle is like this is also the reason for the mistakes of the decision-making level. If it weren't for Hong Chengchou's forced to destroy the enemy in June, it would have been impossible for Ai Wannian, the deputy commander-in-chief of Gushan, and his deputy general Liu Guozhen and others to lead their troops so rashly, so they suffered a great defeat. In fact, Hong Chengchou was reluctant to lead his troops forward, but destroying the enemy in June was a task given to him by the imperial court.

To put it bluntly, the imperial court and Emperor Chongzhen are too eager for quick success.

"Let it go, let it go."

The sound of horses' hooves sounded, and several cavalrymen in armor and armed weapons came from the northeast, and one of them shouted. His forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and his heart was very nervous, for fear that one of the homeless people would accidentally be knocked to death or trampled to death, if so, he would be punished by adults.

Fortunately, when they saw people dressed as officials and soldiers coming, the displaced people got out of the way.

This group of scouts arrived in front of Dong Ce's horse, and they all saluted on the horse, and said in unison: "I've seen my lord." ”

It's all Chinese, but except for one person, the accent is a little weird.

Dong Ce's march has always paid attention to sprinkling scouts, and the scouts he sent out can even reach more than ten miles away.

These three people are a scout team sent out by Dong Ce. In the process of advancing, Dong Ce consciously disrupted the soldiers and reorganized them. There were about fifty or sixty people under his command, so he divided the team into several squads, making sure that each squad had one of his original members. Moreover, this Ding still plays the role of the team.

This is a very normal thing. After all, compared to these Chahar tribesmen, Dong Ce's own family is more trustworthy and more smooth to command. Dong Ce did this not for the purpose of division, but for the purpose of assimilation -- a family member led a few Chahar tribesmen, taught them to speak Chinese, taught them the precautions when marching and fighting, and even trained them as instructors in the process of camping and resting but marching.

Slowly, they blended into a whole, downplaying the differences between ethnic groups, they didn't care whether they were Mongols or Hans, they would only value one of their identities: Dong's subordinates.

At this time, the three hundred elites of the Chahar Department in front of Dong Ce were completely different from when they first left the Great Caotan in Gansu. Along the way, Dong Ce was not idle, and when he was on the road, he was training these Chahar tribesmen who had not received formal military training before.

If they gave people the impression that they were ordinary people before, now they have the meaning of some elite soldiers.

In the past, although they were skilled in horse control, they knew at a glance that they had not received formal military training, and no matter how good their horse control skills were, they were just ordinary people. And now, they give the impression of a real cavalry elite.

Such a strong army with strong armor and a well-groomed army can easily bring great psychological deterrence to people. Therefore, there were no displaced people within a hundred steps around Dong Ce's team. Seeing them from afar, the displaced people are all out of the way.

But at this time, it is really difficult for Dong Ce and the others to go further, the large number of displaced people in layers has blocked the road ahead, they want to go over with such a large group, even if they want to make way, there is no place for them to give way.

The best Chinese in that group of scouts was naturally Dong Ce's original family member, and he reported: "My lord, my subordinates and others just went to Ningzhou City to make contact, but the defenders in the city said that they would not let us in, saying that they were afraid that once the city gate was opened, the displaced people would also pour in. ”

When Dong Ce heard this, he couldn't help but be silent for a while.

Once a large number of displaced people are found near the city, the city gate is immediately closed and the displaced people are not allowed to enter, which is the usual method used by officials of the Ming Dynasty to deal with the problem of displaced people in this era. This is not only the case for the displaced people born of the war, but also for those who have lost their homes and been displaced by floods, droughts, locust plagues, and many officials in the same way.

The door is closed, and no one is allowed to enter, and it doesn't matter if you're dead or alive outside, just don't let me see it anyway.

Those who have a little conscience also know that if they get some food or something outside the city to help the victims, even if it is of no practical use, at least it will be an appearance. Those who have no conscience don't care at all.

Dong Ce had already guessed this result before, so he also instructed the scouts to find a suitable place to set up camp.

He asked, and the scout immediately said: "My subordinates found it, it is in the east of the city, it is a high ground, and there is a small river next to it, there is not much Lulu water in it, but there are still some people, there are also homeless people there, but the boundary we chose is upstream, there are fewer homeless people, and it is convenient to take Lulu water, and Lulu water is still clean." ”

Dong Ce nodded and ordered the team to go to the high ground.

Since the road ahead was blocked and impassable, Dong Ce ordered the soldiers to get off the official road, advance from the field, and let the displaced people in front go.

After squeezing forward in the dense crowd for half an hour, Dong Ce and the others came to the end. It's really good, the ground is spacious and open, higher than the surrounding terrain, and there is a Lulu water source.

Dong Ce ordered the camp to be lowered. Because it was a temporary camp, and it was a rush rather than a war, the camp was very sparse. Outside, a shallow circle of trenches had been dug in a shallow circle, three feet deep and five feet wide, and behind the trenches was a wall made of wood. There are several gaps in the wall, not even the gate, and the gaps are also very large.

In this way, this camp is too simple, even if it is a temporary camp, it is too unsophisticated. After all, a camp is built strongly, not only is it beautiful, but it also has better defense capabilities. But Dong Ce also has his reasons, and his construction of such a camp is related to the current composition of his subordinates. If he is now leading the infantry army of Rock Fort, then he must honestly build the camp according to what is written in the war book, and he will not lower the requirements at all. But now, he has a team of horses at his disposal, so there is no need for that. The current appearance of this camp is most suitable for horse teams to gallop in it, and the gate is big enough, and it is easy to fight out of the camp.

This is the camp, and further inside, the tent. However, it occupies more than half of the camp, but it is not the boundary where people live, but the horse pen.

The horse circle is very large, because Dong Ce's team has too many horses, more than 800 horses.

In addition to the 500 horses given by the Empress Dowager Sutai, there are also 300 horses, which Dong Ce bought from the Empress Dowager Sutai. These three hundred horses cost Dong Ce 10,000 taels of silver, and when calculated, it looks like a horse is almost thirty taels of silver, which is not cheap, which shows that the Empress Dowager Su Tai knew that Dong Ce was rich, and she was not polite to him. But the problem is that in the pass, war horses are scarce, and even those war horses that cannot be bought at once if they have money.