As Kang Changning's cavalry advanced eastward, the main force of the Tatars also followed eastward, and Deng Xide was also relieved!

Before, he was worried that these Tatars would not be moved, directly ignore Kang Changning's cavalry troops, and then continue to move south, in this case, those cavalry would collide with his main infantry.

At that time, things will not be so easy to do, because under the coercion of the cavalry, he will definitely not be able to continue to the north with his troops smoothly, and then go straight to the old site of Dongsheng City.

He immediately ordered his troops to speed up the march, and before the Tatars could react, he should first arrive at the old site of Dongsheng City and plant a big nail there!

And there they waited for the Tatars to come and break the blood flow, in order to prevent the attack, and to kill and wound a large number of the enemy's living forces, so as to achieve the strategic goal set by the Holy Son of Heaven.

Deng Xide led the infantry all the way north, and when he marched, he did not forget to build some small fortresses, which are said to be small fortresses, but they can also garrison hundreds of people.

These castles that are directly made of earth are very rudimentary, and even if they are not repaired in the future, it is estimated that they will not be able to collapse in a short time, but these shortcomings are nothing now.

Because what is needed now is fast, and at the same time, in the tactical positioning of the Ninth Army, these temporary fortresses are called fortresses, let alone field fortifications.

Their role is to connect the entire long logistics and transportation lines in series to achieve the functions of early warning and defense.

And don't look at these humble fortresses, but the actual defense capability is not bad, because each fortress will have about 500 people left, half of the main force and half of the reserve division, and equipped with artillery.

With 500 troops with complete guns and cannons to defend, it is estimated that it will not be able to take down a few thousand Tatars, if the Tatars are really willing to pay the price of thousands of dead and wounded to seize these fortresses, Deng Xide can wake up with laughter!

One infantry for ten cavalry, make a lot of money!

If he really wants to fight like this, he will be able to exhaust the entire Tatar youth and strength in one Ninth Army!

However, what was the population of the Tang Empire? What is the population of the Tatars?

To put it mildly, even if the infantry of the Ninth Army is exhausted on the grassland, with the empire's abundant reserves of soldiers and ordnance, it will be able to redeploy 40,000 or 50,000 troops to the battlefield again!

Even if you want to rebuild, it won't take a few months!

Fighting for the consumption of soldiers, ten Tatars combined, that is not the opponent of the Tang Empire!

150 million people, but not for seeing, if you really want to mobilize, the empire can pull out an army of millions of people every minute, although saying that will make the entire empire's finances bankrupt, but when it comes to a critical moment, who cares if the military budget is enough.

There is no money to recruit volunteers, so it's a big deal to recruit soldiers, and there are many young and strong people who are willing to be soldiers without a salary, and even if they don't want to, they can pull strong men, no matter what type of regime, but it doesn't mean that you don't want to be a soldier and you can't go.

Nowadays, the Tang Empire, although it is said that it is the implementation of the conscription system, but there are also some relevant regulations for compulsory soldiers, but they are temporarily limited to retired soldiers and militia units.

Although there is no forcible conscription for ordinary young and strong, but I really want to have it, that is also a matter of an edict.

It's just that Li Xuan won't do this until the last resort!

With the huge population of the Tang Empire, even if it is a large-scale war, it will not need to be forcibly recruited, which is a last resort for countries with small populations.

If you want to consume the more than 3 million soldiers of the Tang Empire, so that you want the Tang Empire to forcibly recruit ordinary young people, on the earth today, there is no country that can do it.

This is also the reason why the Tang Empire has never been in a hurry to use any compulsory military system, but only uses a recruitment and mobilization system that combines volunteers, retired soldiers, and militia.

This can not only ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops, but also avoid irritating the population too much.

Fighting consumption, especially population consumption, no one in the Tang Empire is afraid, even a direct confrontation with the world!

Those Tatars probably also knew, and they would not attack these seemingly rudimentary, but in fact each of them was a meat grinder.

Some of the core buildings of these earthen fortresses are made of cement, and most of them are made of local materials, using mud, stone, wood, etc., which is not very large, and the conditions are very simple.

Each fortress is 15 kilometers apart, and each is 15 kilometers apart, which is also very exquisite.

First of all, this distance is comparable to the post station in the mainland, which is the limit distance for a horse to gallop quickly, and you can rely on these earthen fortresses to establish an effective post station communication system.

In addition, among these forts, there will also be some small forts with only a few people stationed, which are used to light wolf smoke and transmit messages.

At the same time, the distance of 15 kilometers is just the distance that most of the foot baggage transport troops can maneuver every day, and if the distance is a little farther, the daytime of the day will not be enough, and it will be too short and wasteful.

In the event of an emergency, if a nearby friendly army marches on foot to support, fifteen kilometers is about three or four hours of marching time, and if there is a carriage to take the road, it can be faster.

Considering the road conditions and detours, the plan set by the Ninth Army was to start from Datong Mansion and build ten such earthen fortresses along the way, all the way to Dongsheng City.

In fact, such a direction of the earthen fortress, that is, the outer defense line of the Ming army, roughly passed through Yulinwei, Yunchuanwei, and Dongshengwei, with a total length of more than 100 kilometers.

Don't look at this line of defense seems to be very short, it is very inconspicuous in the vast grassland, but in this short period of more than 100 kilometers, it presents a sword-like situation, directly inserted into the hinterland of the grassland, and controls the connection between the eastern part of the Hetao and the Tumo River area.

If the Tang Empire succeeds in building this line of defense, then the entire northern direction will repeat the situation in the early Ming Dynasty, and the nomads on the grassland will be like a dagger inserted in their hearts, even if they are strong, but in the end they will not be able to avoid the end of fleeing north.

Of course, not only in the early Ming Dynasty, but in fact, for thousands of years, most of the wars between the Central Plains Dynasty and the steppe nomads were also fought around this small area.

In this small area of Fengzhou, there have been many wars between Gujin and Jin, and most of the wars that develop here will directly affect the situation in the entire north.

If it weren't for the importance of this place, the civil and military ministers of the Tang Dynasty would not have been clamoring for three days to recover the Hetao and rebuild the border cities of Yulin City, Fengzhou City and Dongsheng City.

If the above three places can be controlled, then if these three cities support each other, then it is basically announced that they can completely control the eastern part of the Hetao and the Fengzhou River area, which is equivalent to advancing the entire northern direction to the north for hundreds of kilometers, so that the Great Wall in the rear will no longer have to bear huge pressure.

This is also the reason why almost all Central Plains dynasties have wanted to control these areas in the Central Plains throughout the ages, of course, there are not many who can do this, even if they can do it for a while, but it is difficult to maintain it for a long time.

But there is the same characteristic here, that is, the Central Plains Dynasty that controls the above areas is often the Central Plains Dynasty at its peak, the kind that can beat the surrounding natives.

Only the Central Plains Dynasty at its peak had enough energy to maintain a military presence in the above-mentioned areas, and when the situation deteriorated slightly, it was often unsustainable.

Guarding the frontier is not a small cost!

Today's Tang Empire is just in the founding period, and its military strength is also in its heyday, so naturally it does not dare to lag behind, and is ready to follow the example of its predecessors to go north to the grassland and control the Hetao.

This is basically the same old routine of the past few thousand years, and Altan Khan knows with his toes what the southern barbarians in the south want to do.

But if you want to go north and control the Hetao, you have to ask him if Altan Khan agrees!

As early as when Altan Khan, the loser of Zhengde Lao'er, was defeated in Shandong, and he Altan Khan suffered heavy losses, he Altan Khan had been guarding against the lowly bandit emperor who wanted to go north that day.

Over the years, he has frequently launched wars, attacking the Chahar Department and attacking the Warat people, in order to seize more grazing, more population, and hoard more power, what are these hoarded forces used for, just to fight against the Tang Dynasty!

Now, the Tang Dynasty finally can't help but do it, although the confidence is a little insufficient, but Altan Khan knows that it is time to work hard.

The last six or seven years of preparation are for today!

If you survive this wave, you will be able to exchange for at least five years or even more peace, and give yourself more time to develop, so that you can completely annex the Chahar tribe and the Warat people, and finally swallow all the Tibetan people.

Wait until five or even ten years later, if you fight with the Tang Dynasty, maybe it will be the time for you to have a great advantage, because at that time, so many years have passed since the founding of the country, and the Tang Dynasty, which has been peaceful for many years, will most likely be like most of the Central Plains Dynasty, and will slowly lose its enterprising spirit!

Decades later, the Tang Dynasty over there will be a former Ming again, a former Ming who allows his cavalry to plunder in the south!

If they can't resist this wave, then there is no hope, they can only prolong the war, fight slowly, slowly consume, attack their logistics supply lines, so that they can't support the final initiative to retreat.

As for completely withdrawing from Fengzhou and withdrawing from the Hetao!

Altan Khan never thought of such a possibility!

This is where the foundation of his right-wing 30,000 households lies, and if they lose this place, they will become lost dogs, and in the end, like those poor Warat people, they will run to the west to survive, be divided, annexed, and finally completely disappear in the long river of history!

So!

He won't leave even if he dies!