After sending Zhang Wudian and his party away, Yang Fan immediately threw himself into urgent preparations for war.
The four gates of Jiuyuan City were also closed, and the entire city was under martial law. The walls were fortified and the fields were cleared, and preparations were made to welcome the enemy's attack.
Yang Fan probably stimulated them enough this time.
Based on Yang Fan's understanding of the Mongolian character in the past few years, they will definitely come to take revenge. Jiuyuan City is not a place with a network of rivers like Houtao. Except for the Yellow River at the back, it is surrounded by plains on all sides.
Jiuyuan City is located at the junction of Qianluo and Houluo. The geographical location is extremely important. The terrain here is particularly suitable for cavalry combat. The Oirat people have a natural advantage.
In the center of the North City, a large tent was set up on a twenty-meter-high platform built with steel pipe scaffolding. This was the location of the former enemy headquarters.
Standing on the aisles on all sides of the platform, you can clearly see the outside of Jiuyuan City and far away in the wilderness while holding on to the railings. It can be said that if the enemy comes to fight, you can have a clear view here. The enemy's deployment can be seen clearly.
There is no way, this is all plains, there are no mountains to hide in. And because of the drought, there are no tall trees on the land, and there is no shelter.
On the third day after Yang Fan returned, a large number of Oirat's cavalry began to appear on the horizon. The sentries on the city wall immediately blew their horns. For a while, the bell tower also began to ring the bell. A tense atmosphere spread throughout the city.
At this time, Yang Fan still had 60,000 Beijing infantrymen and 20,000 regiments training. The troops were sufficient to defend the city, but they were insufficient to go into battle.
The 120,000 Oirat Alliance army surrounded Jiuyuan City from three sides.
With the deep sound of Mongolian horns, a large number of cavalry galloped, the dust they brought was overwhelming, and the majestic momentum of thousands of horses galloping brought huge psychological pressure to the 20,000 regiments guarding the city wall for training.
Many soldiers were trembling, and their legs were as soft as noodles.
At this time, screams and confusion also came from the south pier of the city.
The 30,000-strong army of the Yarkand Khanate crossed the western section of the Yellow River and entered Henan. They camped across the Yellow River and faced the dock across the river.
Fortunately, Yang Fan deployed a large number of scouts in advance. The scouts were released from a distance and conducted repeated reconnaissance. After discovering the arrival of the Yarkand Khanate army in time, he immediately ordered the racecourse and local personnel to shrink to Dongsheng, abandoning all the western part of the Ordos Plateau.
.
At this time, Yang Fan and the generals were carefully marking the situation between the enemy and ourselves on the sand table.
"To the east of our army, the Qinghai Haixi Mongolian tribes are the main force. The Tumut headquarters, Qinghai Tumut Seven Tribes, Yongxie Bu Tribe and other remnant troops total about 25,000 people, all of whom are cavalry."
"In the northern part of our army, the Junggar and Dulbert tribes have a total of 50,000 cavalry."
"In the western part of our army, there are 50,000 cavalry from the Heshuote tribe and 20,000 cavalry from the Torgut tribe."
Hearing this, Yang Fan asked: "Didn't the Torgut tribe move westward? Why do they still have so many people?"
"Commander, the main ones who moved westward were the Torgut tribe, and there were people from several other tribes who followed. There are also many people who did not leave."
Yang Fan nodded and looked towards Henan. There were 30,000 new arrivals from the Yarkand Khanate there. The total number of Mongolian cavalry on all sides was more than 200,000. This does not include the troops settled in the two oases in the Alxa area.
Tremendous stress!
Although troops like the Beijing Camp had won some battles in the early stage, their overall level was there. They were no match for Mongolia in the Mongolia. If they went out to fight, they would be courting death.
Now the morale of the Beijing camp is quite high because of sufficient food and salary.
They had never experienced this kind of money and food on time in their lives, and a copper was as much as a copper. In addition to the emperor's salary on time, Yang Fan also made a huge income from the cattle and sheep he had previously auctioned. He had enough financial resources to win over the morale of the army.
Now the rewards offered by Yang Fan will be cashed in immediately and will definitely not last overnight.
It aroused the desire of the officers and soldiers to kill the enemy. In fact, it was not that the officers and soldiers were not brave, but that they were deceived and afraid. Fighting desperately, except that they might be disabled, could not fulfill the promise they made in front of the station.
Once a soldier is disabled and ends up very miserable, the court will not take care of him for the rest of his life.
The imperial court's reward is the head of a true Tatar, a reward of fifty taels of silver, or an official promotion.
As time went by, no one believed him. Especially after the Qi family army came back from North Korea and asked the commander-in-chief for pay, demanding payment of arrears of military pay and rewards. After being tricked into Wengcheng and massacred.
Now, as long as you take the Tatar's head to the war merit office, pay immediately after verification. And now there is a mobile point of Xinghe Bank with the army. Officers and soldiers can deposit their money and valuables in the bank, and they only need to take the deposit certificate and
A bankbook is fine.
As long as you have this piece of paper, you can make deposits and withdrawals at more than a dozen Xinghe Bank outlets in Daming. It is very convenient.
These officers and soldiers no longer have to sleep with one eye open to prevent someone from stealing.
Moreover, Dingyuan Bo's military law is now strict, and officers do not dare to extort soldiers' property.
Even if someone is killed in battle, Xinghe Bank will allow his family members to withdraw money. The credit in this area is very good. There will never be any incidents in the past where banks embezzled money from deceased depositors.
There was no need to worry about food and drink in the military camp. After arriving in Mongolia, the beef and mutton were so delicious that they were spoiled for choice. They could not afford meat in the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, the Mongols began to set up camp. Yang Fan looked around with a telescope. Dulbert's tribe outside the North City took a large number of slaves. These slaves were craftsmen captured from West Asia. They were used to build offensives for the Mongols.
City weapons.
Under the whips of the Mongolian soldiers, these people worked silently with their heads down, for fear of attracting the attention of the Mongols.
There were sawdust flying everywhere. Thousands of people were wielding various tools and building siege weapons.
Yang Fan looked at it for a while and recognized some siege weapons.
The most commonly built is the tower cart, a four or five-story siege weapon with wheels underneath that can be pushed. This kind of tower cart is as high as the city wall. Put down the springboard, and soldiers can move directly along the tower.
Enter the city wall.
Yang Fan looked at it for a while and found that there was nothing new in Mongolia. It was still the same old thing.
All they built were ladders, carriages, battering rams and other things.
Yang Fan looked at it for a while. It would take three to five days to build these things. It seems that the Mongols will not attack in these two days.
"On each section of the city wall, every fifty meters, prepare an iron-making furnace. Go to the dock warehouse to get the iron materials."
Seeing the puzzled looks of many people in the capital, Yang Fan explained: "The siege weapons are all made of wood. We built an iron-making furnace on the city wall, and when it boiled, we used a big spoon to pour out the wooden weapons that came to our door.
Siege weapons.”
"When splashed with high temperature, the red-hot iron juice will burn these broken wood in an instant."