Yang Cong originally thought that it would be difficult for these elite border troops to defeat the Northern Yuan cavalry with those simple weapons in their hands, but he never thought that Zhang Da would have won a few battles.

He couldn't help but wonder, "Oh, you can defeat the Tartar cavalry with just these weapons?" ”

Zhang Da said with a little smugness: "Of course, these weapons are specially designed to restrain the Tartar cavalry, first shoot with longbows at a long distance to disrupt their formation, and then use giant shields and spears to slow down their pulse, as long as the troops are sufficient, the Tartar cavalry will not be able to eat and walk around." ”

Enough troops?

Yang Cong couldn't help but ask: "General Zhang, how many troops are enough?" Don't you use other weapons? ”

When Zhang Da heard this, he said embarrassedly: "This is more than twice the number of Tartar cavalry, but unfortunately after those few battles, the Tartars did not dare to divide their troops anymore, they rushed over with 50,000 or even 100,000 cavalry at every turn, and it was too difficult for us to defeat them." As for the other weapons, they are either rusty or blunt, and they are not as good as the wooden spears and short blades, and we have basically returned to the furnace to make spear heads and arrows. ”

There is also this kind of thing, Yang Cong was curious: "What about the musket, isn't it easy to use?" ”

Zhang Da said inexplicably: "Of course the musket is good, the problem is that now only the Beijing Shenji Battalion has it, and our border army has not been equipped for a long time." ”

Yang Cong nodded, and then asked, "What if you are equipped with a musket, do you think it is good?" ”

Zhang Da shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Don't talk about this, in fact, it's useless to match dozens or even hundreds of muskets, because the Tartar cavalry rushed too fast, and the muskets rushed up with a round of Tatar cavalry at most, and there were no more than a thousand shots, so it didn't play much of a role at all, how could the imperial court match us with so many muskets, so instead of expecting the imperial court to match muskets, it was better to find a way to match more longbows." By the way, Lord Yang, what are you going to do with the Tartars? ”

Now it's Yang Cong's turn to be embarrassed, what people just said is that it is impossible for the imperial court to match so many muskets to them, and he has to talk about muskets again, which is a bit of a thing that he knows he can't do.

However, everyone has said so much, he can't say it anymore, he can only repeat what he said in the current affairs policy in detail.

When Zhang Da heard this, his face really showed a strange look.

This champion is really a bit on paper, if the imperial court can give so many muskets and artillery, what else is there to say, the Tartars will definitely not be able to kill them!

However, he didn't want to sweep Yang Cong's face, he pretended to think carefully for a while, and then said euphemistically: "Lord Yang, your tactics of recruiting chariot soldiers plus muskets and artillery are indeed good, and we also thought about lining up the grain carts in front to resist the impact of the Tartar cavalry. However, we didn't have many grain trucks in the first place, and it didn't work much to block the front, and the chariots and horses were not so well prepared. Like us, according to the standard configuration given by the Ministry of War, it should be three steps and seven horses, which means that we should have 3,000 cavalry, but now we don't even have a thousand war horses. ”

Impossible!

Yang Cong said in surprise: "Isn't there three herdsmen under the Shanxi Dusi, one herd has more than 1,000 guards who specialize in raising horses, and the three herdsmen will not be able to gather 3,000 war horses?" ”

Zhang Da couldn't help but laugh shamefully: "Hehe, three herdsmen, I don't know how many war horses they raise, anyway, we haven't seen a single one." ”

Yes!

Yang Cong was dumbfounded and said, "Then how did you get these hundreds of war horses?" ”

Zhang Da smiled bitterly: "Our hundreds of war horses were either equipped a long time ago and then raised from generation to generation, or they were snatched from the Tartars in previous wars. We really haven't seen the war horses in the herd house, I heard that they are all used by those officials to make money, how can they give them to us for free. ”

There was also this kind of thing, Yang Cong couldn't help but think of the tattered uniforms on the border soldiers on the city wall, and he couldn't help but ask: "Except for the grain sent to you by the salt merchants, who is responsible for the other baggage, weapons, and equipment?" ”

Zhang Da sneered: "Who is the biggest official and who is responsible, I don't know how many times I have begged, not to mention the war horse, I can't even ask for a few pairs of chain mail, according to the official text, the elite armor rate of our border army is about 20%, in fact, we don't even have 10%, and we are wearing old armor that I don't know how many years, and I don't know how many years I haven't changed." ”

Who is the biggest official and who is responsible?

Taiyuan Town is under the jurisdiction of the Shanxi Capital Division, that is to say, Taiyuan Town is under the jurisdiction of the Shanxi Three Law Divisions, so who is the biggest official among the Shanxi officials?

There is no need to ask, Chen Da, the governor of Shanxi, he is supervising the civil affairs and military affairs of Shanxi on behalf of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Chen Da, this guy, doesn't seem to care about the life or death of the border army at all!

Yang Cong not only came to investigate why the border army couldn't do the Tartar cavalry, he also wanted to find some fault with Chen Da, but at the beginning, Zhang Da pulled him to talk about how to deal with the Tartar cavalry, and he focused all his energy on this matter, and forgot about Chen Da's affairs.

When Zhang Da said this, he immediately reacted.

Okay, Chen Da, you are a good governor!

He cautiously probed: "Are you talking about the governor Chen Dachen?" ”

Zhang Dana is also a violent temper, since he has said it, he has no scruples, he snorted coldly: "This governor is comfortable, you don't have to worry about anything, just make money, I don't know how many times I have begged him, what do you want." He didn't stay in the border town or what, the governor of Shaanxi was not like him at the beginning, although there are not many war horses, Ma Sanbu Qi can barely do it, and weapons and equipment can often be sent down some new ones, he is good, nothing! ”

When Yang Cong heard this, he also sneered in his heart, and then he said tentatively: "It's impossible for Lord Chen to ignore everything, right?" ”

Zhang Da was also out of the way, he couldn't help but sarcastically said: "Lord Chen doesn't care about anything, in the thirteenth year of Jiajing, when the Tartars attacked Xuanfu, Zhao Bo, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, sent an eight-hundred-mile rush to us for help, I was originally going to wave the army to rescue, after all, the Tartars only came to a total of thirty or forty thousand horses that time, if the border troops of Xuanfu, Datong and Taiyuan were gathered, it would not be impossible to kill them, but Lord Chen not only did not mobilize people and horses to rescue, but also strictly ordered me not to attack, so as not to lose Taiyuan Town!" As a result, Zhao Bo, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, was killed in battle, and Xuanfu Town was also looted by the Tartars, hum, when he was in Shaanxi, the governor wanted to be a bastard like him, Ganzhou Town, Ningxia Town, and Guyuan Town were not all finished! It's a pity, General Zhao Bo Zhao died in such a vain battle, and I can't do anything here, wretch! ”

Damn, Chen Da is too much of a bastard, not only does he not care about the life or death of the border army, but he also does not allow the border army of Taiyuan Town to assist Xuanfu Town!

Yang Cong continued to probe and said, "General Zhang, didn't you report this matter to the court?" ”

Zhang Da shook his head helplessly and said: "Alas, Lord Yang, you don't know, once the border pass loses the battle, the responsibility is ours border generals, and they always have a way to excuse themselves as governors. ”

There is also this kind of thing, it seems that this Zhang Da is very resentful, perhaps, he can join forces with him to give Chen Da some fierce medicine.

()