The court again paid attention to the war in the northwest, but the focus was not on Xuanfu Town between the Great Wall inside and outside, nor on Zhangjiakou Fort, nor on Juyongguan or Tumu Fort, but on Ningxia Town on three sides.

At this time, I received a report saying that Ningxia Town discovered the main force of Tatar. No one discussed whether it was true or false, because the main force of Tatar was missing on the battlefield for a long time. The Ming Dynasty and the people thought that the war should be over, so the war in Ningxia Town was regarded as imperative.

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

Liu Daxia led his troops to Ningxia Town because Liu Daxia did not want to be a criminal in the Ming Dynasty and did not win the battle with the Tatars in the front battlefield. He always needed to show some results in the future. This would be easy to explain to the court, and the court could also explain to the Ming soldiers and the people.

Look, although my Ming Dynasty encountered "slight disadvantage" at the beginning of the war, it turned out to turn the tide and won a big victory.

No one will care about it anymore. In fact, this small "disadvantage" has damaged tens of thousands of Ming soldiers, and the final "big victory" actually only killed dozens of Tatars' heads, and we have to calculate how many of these heads are killing good people.

The court was waiting for such a "big victory". They didn't know that at this time, under the nose of the defense of the capital, several bloody and cruel wars in the jurisdiction of Xuanfu Town were taking place, including the upcoming bloody battle of Tumu Fort.

In military affairs, this situation is called "dark under the lamp". Although the lamp can illuminate the entire house, it is dark under the lampstand.

On September 24th, dawn appeared.

Shen Xi stood on the wall on the west side of Tumu Fort City, facing the blue and yellow horizon, and was observing the white tents that had just risen last night. It was a camp where the Tatars were stationed, about five miles from Tumu Fort. The artillery on the top of the city was not capable of hitting that far away.

"Sir, I just sent someone out to investigate. The Tartars set up traps on all the roads to Juyongguan and Xuanfu. Even if we successfully break through, we have to go through the barren mountains and rivers, and it is unlikely that we will withdraw our troops as we wish!"

Hu Songyue informed Shen Xi of a bad news.

"Um."

Shen Xi nodded slightly and looked at the sky in the distance, "General Hu, ask you something, have you ever been to the battlefield?"

Hu Songyue shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The last general had led troops to suppress bandits in Qiannan before, killed several bandits, made contributions, and managed to make some efforts. He finally transferred from the southwest to the Beijing camp. He thought that he could enjoy the peace and his family could live a good life from remote places to the capital. Who knows..."

"Oh, the Jing camp is not a good place. Apart from training troops, there is no chance to go into battle to kill the enemy. Yesterday, I led the troops out to grab water. This was the first battle that the last general experienced after he arrived at the Jing camp."

Shen Xi nodded: "I understand, or my experience on the battlefield is richer than you. Not only have I experienced life and death but only on the front line, but I have also experienced escaping on the battlefield, or fighting to the death, facing the Tatars face to face. In the end, I survived by chance. Now I feel a little scared when I think about it... Maybe my luck has always been good, so that I can survive until now!"

Hu Songyue thought for a while and asked, "Sir, have you been to the Northwest before and have you experienced war?"

Chen Xidao: "Yes, that was the thirteenth year of Hongzhi. First, it was under the Yulin Weicheng. At that time, it was a critical moment. I was almost caught up by the Tatar cavalry. After a bloody battle, I finally saved my life. Then there was a bloody battle in Yuxi River. Life and death were only on the front line. I watched my guard fall from my side. At that time, in order to save my life, I even got under the ox cart. Thanks to the soldiers and horses sent by Liu Shangshu to save me."

Hu Songyue felt a little scared when he heard the "ox cart". As a general of the Ming Dynasty's Jing camp, he heard a lot about the story of "ox cart breaking the formation". In the northwest, he often used the seemingly inconspicuous ox cart to break the enemy formation in the winter of the 13th year of Hongzhi to boost the morale of the army.

Hu Song came to the northwest for a while. He had just thought that since the war in the 13th year of Hongzhi was led by Liu Daxia, the person who designed the "ox cart to break the formation" was Liu Daxia. Now he realized that Chen Xi was there at that time and was also under the ox cart, which sounded a little cowardly, but next to the ox cart that could defeat the enemy and win the Ming Dynasty, Chen Xi must have a high position in that battle.

Hu Songyue said: "It is also the last general who admires him very much when he can become the governor of Yansui in just a few years."

"There is nothing to admire. It is to sacrifice one's life on the battlefield, fight one after another, and achieve success forever. If you can still live at that time, you will naturally make achievements... Of course, more people can only die on the battlefield and never have the chance to leave!"

Chen Xi said with emotion, "Old Hu, in a few hours, the war will begin. I need all the troops to help me succeed in the battle. Can you be competent?"

Hu Songyue's body trembled: "Sir, you..."

Chenxidao: "I tried digging wells in the city block last night, but it has no effect so far. As long as we are besieged for more than three days, due to lack of water, the soldiers in Tumu Fort will lose more than 60% of their combat power. It is better to fight the Tartars while the soldiers are still energetic and have a desperate battle."

"If we can succeed, we can take the opportunity to return to Juyong Pass and complete strategic defense. Even if we fail, it will be just a life, and we will be another hero in 18 years!"

Hu Songyue has been in the army for so many years, but no one has ever said such emotional words to him. Faced with Chen Xi's words, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Are you scared?" Chen Xi asked.

"No... sir, but... the Tartars' cavalry are really fierce. This man... can't fight even if he leaves the city gates, why..."

Hu Songyue's head buzzed, and Chen Xi's strategy of taking the initiative to seek death was unacceptable to him.

Chen Xidao: "I said that if we stay in the city, we will die, and we will die in a cowardly manner. A real man will die in a grand and vigorous manner or mediocre manner. Do we want to be the turtle that shrunk and die in the city and be laughed at by the Tatars?"

Hu Songyue was speechless.

Chen Xi said again: "After noon, the three armies launched an attack. First, piece together mule carts and put twenty cannons on it. The cavalry opened the way and the muskets covered it. When the Tatar cavalry charged head-on, our cavalry wings dispersed, and the Tatar cavalry could not stop, so they fired cannons to fight. If the enemy cavalry approached, they would use muskets to shoot. When the Tatar cavalry dispersed, the cavalry would rush forward and take the opportunity to cover it up!"

Hu Songyue was confused and he understood the general meaning, but he had no idea about this bloody battle. He would rather hide in the city and wait for death than go out to fight the Tatars in the most direct way.

Chenxi Road: "I observed the number of Tatars everywhere and determined that the number of soldiers and horses in the Tatars besieged is about 6,000. Excluding the Tatars' two or three cavalry, the current force we are facing may only be about 2,000."

Hu Song then jumped up and asked, "Sir, only two thousand Tartars?"

Although Chen Xi knew that the number was wrong, he nodded and said that the number of Tatars was smaller, in order to boost the morale of the army.

Two thousand Tatars chased us eight thousand like rabbits. Now we have new cannons and muskets to help us. Why don’t we fight for face?

Chenxidao: "The number of Tatars is only 2,000, and they are divided into four directions. If we gather all our troops and horses out, the Tatars will be caught off guard and they will inevitably rescue one side with three parties. At that time, a tactic of adding fuel will be formed. Our army only needs to deal with the whole way. How many chances do you think we have to win!"

Hu Songyue thought to himself: "This is a good idea. To attack one side first. There are not many Tartars, so they must draw the Tartars from the other three sides. There are some time to get in place. Each time, you only need to face a few hundred Tartars. 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 again: "Since the Tartars set up traps on the road of forward and backwardness of Tumu Fort, I'm afraid that they have thought of this. It's better to try their best to eliminate the Tartars in one go. Wouldn't they only deal with hundreds of Tartars at a time? If they don't concentrate on fighting the enemy and just rush to escape, even if they can leave Tumu Fort twenty miles, they will not be able to return to Juyong Pass, and they will always be caught up by the Tartar cavalry!"

"Sir, how can you ensure that the Tartars will move in full swing towards your main attack?" Hu Songyue asked in confusion.

Chen Xi smiled and said, "Just because of my existence... Tatars wanted to eliminate me and quickly. At the beginning, I was the one who commanded the ox cart artillery array to break out tens of thousands of Tatar soldiers and horses. Now if I commanded the mule cart artillery array to attack, Tatars would definitely come to seek revenge. The Tatars focused on the garrison on the east side and the direction of Xuanfu on the west side was their weakness of defense, so we would leave the city from the west gate."

"Old Hu, I hope you can lead two thousand cavalry and strike out from the flank!"

Hu Songyue quickly reminded: "Sir, the number of cavalry in the city... is only three to five hundred at most, and... the quality of the army and horses is uneven. Many of them like to slap their horses, and may not be useful!"

Chen Xidao: "Are there still mules and donkeys?"

"Um?"

Hu Songyue was stunned by Chen Xi's words.

The mules and donkeys in the army have always been used as transportation supplies and are not used as mounts on the battlefield at all. However, Chen Xi seemed to think that mules and donkeys could also play a role in the battlefield. Hu Songyue's mind saw the scene of Ming soldiers fighting with Tatar cavalry riding donkeys and waving their sabers, which felt very strange.

"Old Hu, you have to remember that we must make full use of all the resources at hand to complete this battle, because we have been forced into a desperate situation. Are we going to be polite to the Tatars?"

Chenxidao, "The mules and donkeys I mentioned are not used as cavalry. Although mules and donkeys cannot be compared with war horses at all, if used as suicide weapons...the power is still quite good!"

"Suicide weapon?" Hu Songyue heard another new term.

Chen Xi smiled and said, "To put it bluntly, it is to tie the mules and donkeys, with weeds or cloth strips on their tails or butts, sprinkle with tung oil and gunpowder, and let them charge towards the Tatar cavalry team. Although it may not hurt the Tatars and their mounts, the Tatar horses will inevitably be disorganized when they see this situation. At that time... it is a good opportunity for you to lead your troops to cover up the killing!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!