South Limburg, on the top of the canyon outside the city, Altan Khan set up his Chinese army camp here, not in South Limburg.

Although it is said that the defense capability of Nanlimburg is better, the place is still too small, and when the Tang Army was built and rebuilt several times, because of the tight time and the shortage of manpower and resources, the repair was not large.

At the beginning, it was designed to accommodate only 1,000 people, and later when it was rebuilt for the third time, it was estimated to be larger, but it could only accommodate 2,000 people.

The Tang Army actually doesn't attach much importance to this kind of earthen fortress, and it has never planned to deploy too many troops, the enemy will attack, and if it is breached, it will be breached, and it will be able to counterattack when it comes back.

Therefore, although it occupies South Limburg, for the nearly 40,000 troops under Altan Khan, it is actually no different from being in the wilderness, and 40,000 people cannot be stationed in a small South Limburg.

Therefore, Altan Khan was stationed outside the city with most of his troops, leaving only more than 2,000 people stationed in the city, not because he didn't want to put more troops, but because he couldn't let go, and it was useless to force so many people in.

And Altan Khan himself went directly to the top of the mountain to set up his own camp tent of the Chinese army, where he wanted to wait for the Southern Tang barbarians, and then fight to the death!

Although standing on the top of the mountain, he still has a single-pass telescope produced by the Tang Empire in his hand, but the terrain here is not really a flat river, and there are relatively low hills, plus the top of the mountain he occupies Although it is said to be the top of the mountain, it is actually just a low mountain, and it is impossible to see too far away.

Finding everything in the telescope, Altan Khan put down the monoculars and handed them to the attendants on the side, who carefully took them, then carefully wrapped them in silk cloth and put them in a wooden box.

Telescopes were a rarity for the Tatars.

Although it is said that the Tang Dynasty has long mass-produced telescopes with glass lenses, and even sold them to the private sector, they are also sold on a limited basis, usually only to the captains of the Tang Empire who are registered, because when the telescope first came out, it was included in the list of export controlled materials by the Import and Export Commission.

Except for those captains, it is basically not sold to other people, and as for exporting to foreign countries, it is even more difficult to count on, so there are very few telescopes in foreign countries.

The pair of binoculars in Altan Khan's hand is just like the cannon under his hand, it is a trophy!

The long strategic confrontation, the small and medium-sized armed conflicts that have occurred, coupled with the continuous fighting between the two sides in the past few months, have led to the fact that although the Tang Army was able to capture a lot of Tatar horses, the Tatars were also able to capture some of the Tang Army's ordnance, flintlock pistols and even artillery, bullets, shells, binoculars and other military supplies, but the number was not very large.

For example, when the Tang Army retreats, if it can't take away the artillery, it often chooses to blow up the barrel directly, which is very simple, just come to an overcharge and then open the cannon.

As for the telescope, this thing is usually distributed by Datang's school-level officers, and the items on Datang's school-level officers are not so easy to capture.

Of course, if you don't get it, it doesn't mean that you don't, many of the senior generals of the Ming Dynasty had a pair of binoculars from the Tang Army on hand.

After putting down the binoculars, Altan Khan did not continue to stare outside, but turned around and entered the tent, it was already early winter, the weather was very cold, and a blizzard was almost sent to completely announce the arrival of winter.

Fighting in such cold weather is not a pleasant thing.

But war is a thing, and there is no time to fight, especially the troops of the Tang Dynasty, which are all professional armies, and they can fight all year round, regardless of the busy agricultural season.

The Datang Army had long expected that this Hetao Battle would be fought from autumn to winter, and even to spring, because the preparation of various materials was quite sufficient.

A large number of autumn and winter clothes have been prepared, so the officers and men of the Tang Army are wearing thick cotton jackets to fight, plus the Ninth Army has been stationed in the north for a long time, and it has long been accustomed to the cold weather, and there is no problem of not being accustomed to the climate.

As for the Tatars, they are free to live in the northern steppes, so naturally there will be no problem of getting used to it.

It was cold, and many Tatar soldiers would not be stupid enough to form outside, but hide in tents in a leeward place.

The tents of these tens of thousands of troops are almost all over the mountains, so that people can see from afar that there are large armies stationed here, and idlers get out!

Altan Khan did not intend to conceal his intentions, and he was not even too lazy to intercept and kill those scouts of the Tang Army along the way, but exposed his strategic intentions.

He just wants to cut off this supply line, and he wants to force the Tang Army to fight with him in the wilderness!

Although the decisive battle is risky, it is much better than storming a city like Tokatsu Castle.

As everyone knows, Deng Xide also had such an idea, he led his troops all the way east, and after arriving at Zhenyu City, the scout cavalry sent back the news, saying that Nanlinbao had been broken again.

Nanlimburg was conquered, Deng Xide couldn't help but be infected, this Nanlimburg is really unlucky, why every time the Tatars choose to conquer this place, but he doesn't care much about the safety of Nanlimburg, the left and right are just more than 1,000 people killed and wounded, and it will definitely cause a lot of Tatar cavalry casualties, no loss.

He was more concerned that the Tatars stayed in South Limburg, and did not leave only part of their troops after conquering South Limburg as usual, and the main force would be withdrawn.

Today, the main force of the Tatars is stationed in South Limburg, as if they are going to spend the winter here!

Deng Xide doesn't know if the Tatars will spend the winter in South Limburg in the end, but since the Tatars stay in South Limburg and don't leave, then he is not welcome!

Immediately, the First Corps, which was stationed south of Yulin City, quickly felt that it was near South Limburg, and was ready to join up with the headquarters of the Ninth Army and the cavalry corps, and at the same time, more scouts were sent to closely monitor the movements of the Tatar cavalry, and once the enemy's main force moved, then he would also make corresponding adjustments.

Time, day by day!

Deng Xide led his troops east from Zhenyu City, and the First Corps also set out from Yulin City, preparing to go to Nanlinbao.

This east and west, the two armies are just heading straight for South Limburg!

However, the Tatars still did not move!

When a Tatar general proposed to attack one of the roads first, Altan Khan said wait, wait, wait!

When?

When the Tang Army in the east is far enough away from Yulin City, far enough away that they can't withdraw to Yulin City in time!

When the time comes, Altan Khan will come to break through one by one, taking advantage of the strong mobility of the cavalry, to fight a time difference.

Altan Khan's plan, although the Tang Army did not know yet, but it was expected, but whether it was the headquarters of the Ninth Army or the First Corps, they continued to take firm steps towards Nanlimburg.

Even if Altan Khan wants to break through each of them, then the Tang Army will give them this opportunity, otherwise, how can they have a strategic decisive battle with themselves.

A very important goal of this series of arrangements for the Battle of the Hetao was to get an opportunity to engage in a decisive battle with the Tatars, and to inflict heavy damage or even annihilate the enemy's main cavalry in one fell swoop through a strategic decisive battle.

For this reason, even if it is a certain loss, Deng Xide will not hesitate to do it.

Whether it was the headquarters of the Ninth Army or the First Corps, it was a bait used to show weakness, and as long as the Tatars dared to open their mouths and swallow them, they dared to leave these Tatars behind.

The two sides said that they were fighting wits and courage, but in the end, they actually had to rely on the hard power of both sides to solve the problem.

Because so far, in fact, the two sides have not exposed too many obvious loopholes, the Tatars have not made mistakes, and the Tang Army has not made mistakes, although the two sides have fought several small and medium-sized battles back and forth, and each has suffered a lot of casualties, but it still has not been able to change this situation.

But this situation can not continue forever, the Tatars want to pull out the nail of Dongshengcheng, so they chose to cut off the supply line of the Ninth Army of the Tang Army, forcing the Tang Army to reopen the supply line, and in the process of fighting a decisive battle, and strive to defeat the Tang Army in the field.

In order to force the Tatars to completely withdraw from the loop, and by the way annihilate the main force of the Tatars, the city of Dongsheng was established, which maintained a long and fragile supply line, and now the main force is converging towards South Limburg, which is of course to open up the supply line, but it is also to have a strategic decisive battle with the enemy.

When the strategy of both sides is inclined to fight a decisive battle, it is possible to have a decisive battle in this vast grassland terrain.

Otherwise, one of the parties chooses to flee, or defend the city, and this decisive battle will not be fought.

On the evening of the fourth day after the capture of South Limburg, the scouts of the Ninth Army suddenly returned with a rapid horse, saying that the main force of the Tatars had been drawn up today and headed east.

As soon as Deng Xide learned the news, he immediately ordered the whole army to say: "Order the whole army to speed up the march, and then order the cavalry corps to accelerate the eastward march to aid the First Corps!" ”

He guessed that the Tatars were ready to swallow this temptation of the First Corps, and he should be ready to reel in the line.

However, the next morning, Deng Xide received a report from the scout cavalry, saying that the scout cavalry was suddenly hunted by a large number of Tatar cavalry, and it was difficult to break through the blockade of the Tatar cavalry to reach the First Corps.

In the early afternoon of the same day, Deng Xide sent a cavalry reconnaissance force composed of a full cavalry regiment, which broke through the Tatar blockade and headed towards the First Corps, and in the early morning of the next day, fast horses returned to the Ninth Army garrison one after another, and reported to Deng Xide that the First Corps had not been attacked by the enemy.

The main cavalry units of the Tatars were also not found along the way!

The Tatars did not go to fight the 1st Corps, so where did they go?

At the same time that Deng Xide received the report from the reconnaissance cavalry, in a small basin more than 20 kilometers away from the Ninth Army, Kang Changning looked at the Tatar cavalry slowly coming in front of him and was stunned.

After being stunned for a few seconds, he suddenly cursed: "Damn, how did the scouts on the periphery do it, why didn't they raise the alarm in advance!" ”

Then he turned to a group of subordinates and said, "What are you still doing in a daze, waiting for death, hurry up to meet the battle!" ”