Xie Qian would not unprincipledly favor Shen Xi, nor would he go against the interests of the civilian clique and think from Zhu Houzhao's standpoint, because he was actually completely hopeless about the current situation in Tumubao...... Even fortified cities such as Zhangjiakou Fort and Xuanfu Town were lost under the onslaught of the Tartars, and there was no reason why the civil forts, which had been abandoned for many years, and perhaps the city walls did not even exist, could be preserved under the gathering of the main forces of the Tartars. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

No one believed that at this time, Shen Xi was still intact guarding the city, waiting for Liu Daxia's reinforcements, and he didn't even think about withdrawing his troops.

Because Shen Xi knew that without reinforcements, even if he took his soldiers and horses to kill Tumu Fort, he would not be able to go back to Juyong Pass, it was better to stay in Tumu Fort honestly, as long as he did not die of thirst and starvation, the Tatars would not have any soldiers and horses to break through here, unless the Tatars went crazy and suddenly gave up attacking the inner pass of the Great Wall and besieged Tumu Fort.

However, even if the Tatars concentrated all their forces to attack the Tumu Fort, it might take three to five days, and Shen Xi was very confident in the defense of the Tumu Fort.

But now Shen Xi had to think about a war, that is, how to destroy the two or three thousand Tatar soldiers and horses stationed in the west of the city.

This road of soldiers and horses belonged to the Qikeli tribe under the command of Yismayin, with a total number of about 2,300 people, all cavalry, the main purpose of which was to monitor the movement of the Ming army in the Tumu Fort.

The commander of the army is the general of Yismain, Ulica, at this time, Ulicha is not as important as before, because he has misunderstood the meaning of Yismain many times before, and he repeatedly spoke wild words before the siege, but in the end he was defeated.

In Yismayin's view, in addition to being loyal enough, a general must also have a certain brain, and he can't be like Ulica who can't even observe words and colors, but only knows how to blindly use brute force to kill, and in the end he fails but will not sum up the lessons and lessons, and will make similar mistakes next time.

“…… Lord Shen, the Tartars retreated west along the post road of Xuanfu in the Ming Dynasty, taking the line of the Jiming Station, as for the surrounding counties, the subordinates have sent people to investigate, but they have all been lost, and even several acropolises have fallen, and the people are nowhere to be seen...... This time, the Tartars killed countless people, leaving no prisoners, and the people died tragically under the Tartar butcher's knife except for fleeing. ”

Yun Liu, as the person in charge of the intelligence system, detailed the situation around the civil fort during the promotion of the account, so that those grassroots officers who did not often attend the meeting also knew the environment they were in.

"The total number of Tartar soldiers and horses in the large camp west of the city of Tumubao is about 2,000 to 2,500, mainly cavalry, the camp is wide, and the defense is relatively tight, once our army attacks from the front, the Tartars are very likely to choose to fight from the north and south flanks, or flee from the rear."

"The Tartar camp was far away, almost three miles long, and was bombarded with artillery...... The range is up to the front of the Tatar camp......"

Yun Liu's report was very detailed, and those officers who had been in battle for a long time were stunned when they heard it.

Many words, they had only heard from Shen Xi before, and they originally thought that only Shen Xi could say such professional words and sentences, and could give them enough tactical analysis, but they didn't expect that a eunuch in the prison army also had such a high level.

Hu Songyue used to look down on Yunliu and others, and felt that the two little eunuchs, Yunliu and Xi'er, relied on Shen Xi's "favor" to stay in the army, and also took over the vital intelligence power. But at this time, he knew that Yunliu and Xi'er's abilities were indeed good.

Shen Xi beckoned: "Come here, list the situation of the Tatar camp investigated in detail, and take a look with this official!" ”

"Yes!"

Yun Liu walked up to Shen Xi, picked up the red pen, and on the white paper in front of Shen Xi, she described the situation of the Tatar camp she investigated, and the peripheral defense facilities included ravines, horse rejections, deer barricades, etc., which were clearly drawn, Shen Xi looked at it carefully, and bowed his head from time to time.

At this time, in the lobby of the command post, there was silence.

The only sound was Shen Xi's occasional cough...... After recuperation, although Shen Xi's body has improved, his cough is still very severe.

However, with the withdrawal of the Tartars, there is no longer any need to worry about water, the conditions in the army are much better, Shen Xi can already drink hot water at any time, and he is also ready to take a good bath before leaving the civil fort to wash away his bad luck.

But for this plan to be realized, it must be after annihilating the Tatar soldiers and horses outside the city, whether it is to give an explanation to himself or to the imperial court, Shen Xi will not allow this road of soldiers and horses to be withdrawn from under his nose.

Yun Liu quickly finished drawing on the white paper, carefully studied it before putting down the pen and looking at Shen Xi with expectant eyes.

I saw Shen Xi nodding with satisfaction and complimenting: "Good, very good, simple and clear, very intuitive and vivid...... Ladies and gentlemen, I have come forward to see it, I wonder what your opinion is on sending troops? ”

All the generals rushed to gather to know how the map was drawn, but unfortunately there were very few of them who could read and write, and even fewer who knew how to read the map.

"Lord Shen, this ...... Tartar barracks, is there anything special? ”

Zhang Yong, the eunuch of the supervising army, was in a good mood in the past two days, the Tatars chose to withdraw their troops, he finally didn't have to worry about his head being lost inexplicably, and now the class teacher can receive credit when he returns to the dynasty, saying that he may not be able to get the reuse of Emperor Hongzhi, not to mention how beautiful it is.

Zhang Yong doesn't have as many problems as Liu Jin, as long as he satisfies his desires, he won't pick his nose and raise his eyes, and the more he looks at Shen Xi, the more pleasing he feels.

Liu Xu pretended to be smart: "Can't you see this?" The Tartars are ready to withdraw their troops at any time! Knowing that the soldiers and horses in our city are several times larger than them, why don't you run away with your tail between your legs? ”

Zhang Yong sneered: "Mr. Liu, which eye did you see that the Tartars were ready to retreat?" Since they are bent on withdrawing, why don't they simply take this road of soldiers and horses away, could it be that they deliberately stayed for us to annihilate and destroy their own prestige? ”

Liu Xu still wanted to refute, but at this time, Shen Xi had already raised his hand, so he gave up.

Shen Xi pointed to the map and explained: "The Tatar barracks were built both offensive and defensive. Don't underestimate the more than 2,000 soldiers and horses, on the plains, our soldiers are not their opponents......"

Zhang Yong shook his head with a wry smile, and secretly thought: "I was still fighting for Lord Shen just now, and in the blink of an eye, he destroyed his own prestige, Lord Shen's temper is really not ordinary and difficult to guess, which sentence should I listen to him?" ”

Hu Songyue asked, "Lord Shen, how do you say this?" Could it be that our army's successive victories are not the opponent of this small Tatar soldiers? ”

Shen Xi Zhengse said: "Our army has only fought one battle with the Tatars in the field, and it is condescending, with artillery and ox cart formations as support, and the victory is very thrilling. In the past, our Ming army fought with the Tartar soldiers and horses in the plains, and basically ended in failure, but one big victory was on the north bank of the Yuxi River, the Jedi counterattacked, and defeated the Tatars, but that was a few years ago......"

When it comes to the battle of Yuxi, many of the generals present stood up, although they did not personally participate in this battle, but they also knew that this was the most beautiful battle of the Ming Dynasty in recent decades, and it can be said that the momentum of the Ming Dynasty was played in one fell swoop.

After the Battle of Yuxi, the Tatars were divided internally, giving the Ming a few years of peace.

Shen Xi continued to analyze the strengths of the Tatar army: "...... The Tatars were good at fighting in the plains, and when the two armies faced each other, the Tatars opened the way with heavy cavalry, and the men and horses were protected by iron armor, and the follow-up light cavalry was interspersed with cover, and the battle formation was varied, and a battle could undergo several tactical changes. ”

"If you purely talk about combat effectiveness, the Tatar cavalry with a number of 2,000 can basically be on par with the 12,000 or so infantry of our Ming Dynasty who are well-equipped and have relatively rich battlefield experience, and it is almost one enemy of six!"

The officers and soldiers present gasped when they heard this, mainly because most of them were Beijing soldiers, and they rarely had the opportunity to appreciate the power of real Mongolian cavalry.

In a series of battles they followed Shen Xi, Shen Xi used his wits and military formation to eliminate the advantages of the Mongol cavalry, and the Tatars could not give full play to the advantages of the Mongol cavalry in cavalry archery and impact power from beginning to end.

Zhang Yong asked puzzledly: "Lord Shen, now that the Tartars have suffered a series of defeats, their combat power should be greatly reduced, right?" ”

Shen Xi shook his head: "Don't underestimate the Tatar cavalry, if you count the loss of morale of the infantry after the cavalry, as well as the chain reaction brought about by the breaking of the battle formation, the real combat power ratio is likely to reach about one to seven, which is still the quality of the well-equipped border army that has been fighting the Tatars head-on for a long time, not my Beijing battalion soldiers and horses!" ”

Zhang Yong shouted: "Then listen to Lord Shen, there is no need to fight this battle?" Just waiting for this road of Tatar soldiers and horses to evacuate on their own, right? ”

"This official has no such intention!"

Shen Xi patiently explained: "This battle should still be fought, but the timing of the war must be grasped well, and we must give full play to the advantages of our army and suppress the threat of the opponent's cavalry." ”

"The reason why the fort has persisted until now is, in the final analysis, because of the power of the fortifications and artillery, and in addition to the determination and courage of the soldiers to fight to the death. But if the battlefield is set up in the wilderness below the mountain, the soldiers cower in the face of the Tatar iron cavalry, and if the battle does not go well, the number of deserters increases......"

"You say, how can you win this battle?"

Zhu Lie raised his arm: "Lord Shen, don't worry, which turtle grandson dares to run, see if Lao Tzu doesn't chop off his leg." In the past, I just ran away, and I didn't look at what time it was now, I followed Lord Shen to win the battle, just waiting for the reward for sharing the credit, eating and drinking spicy food, at this time, I didn't have any eyesight, and I still wanted to escape? Hmph, I've asked Lao Tzu about the steel knife in his hand first! ”

Hu Songyue was slightly dissatisfied: "Old Zhu, is it okay to listen to Lord Shen?" ”

Shen Xi continued: "In this battle, no matter what, we must prevent the generation of deserters, and the only way is to compress the battle formation as much as possible. Such an advantage can make full use of the density of the spear to resist the charge of the Tatar cavalry, of course, there are also disadvantages, once there is a gap, it is easy to cause a large area of casualties, leading to the final rout......"

Let's first explain the two results, Shen Xi doesn't just pick up good words.

In a head-to-head battle with the Tatar cavalry, if the two flanks are not protected enough, it basically means that the attack is a failure. Only when the flanks are intact should the formation be compressed as much as possible so that the Tatar cavalry is not adapted to this high-density infantry defensive formation, and then use crossbows and firearms for long-range attacks, or enter close combat and engage in hand-to-hand combat.

This requires close cooperation from top to bottom of the armed forces.

Shen Xi originally had some other tactics available, but he knew that if he didn't train at this time, even if he withdrew to Juyong Pass in the future, he would not dare to go out of the city to reinforce the Beijing Division.

At that time, the soldiers and horses of the King of Luqin were no longer only the cavalry of the small and medium-sized tribes of the Tatars, but the soldiers and horses of the Dayan Khan, which were the most elite cavalry on the steppe, and were basically a copy of the invincible Mongol cavalry that crisscrossed the Eurasian continent in those years.

Shen Xi adopted the method of training by fighting.

……

……

Beijing, Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Zhang Mao, Ma Wensheng, Zhang Heling, Xiong Xiu and other seven people waited outside the palace for Emperor Hongzhi to come to see him.

The faces of the seven advisory ministers were heavy, and a haze was shrouded in their hearts, they were only a wall away from the Son of Heaven, but they had to wait for more than half an hour.

Finally, Xiao Jing came out of the dormitory and brought the emperor's edict.

"Your Majesty, please come in and see you!" Xiao Jing had a bit of sadness on his face.

The seven advisers and ministers finally met Emperor Hongzhi after a few days of absence, they recalled the last time they met the saint, or when the crown prince was appointed to supervise the country, now the war situation is tense, but the emperor is completely ill sooner or later, and the ministers have no way to communicate with the emperor through the celebrant eunuch, but most of the time Zhu approval can only be done by the celebrant or the prince.

Soon, several important ministers of the court, plus Xiao Jing, stood in front of Emperor Hongzhi's dragon couch.

After Xie Qian saluted, he glanced up and said in his heart: "Your Majesty used to be able to sit up and talk, but now you can only lie down, and the situation looks very bad...... Do you want to prepare for the funeral? "There are some things that can only be imagined in the heart, and a little slander must not be said, which is a great disrespectful thing.

Xiao Jing said: "Your Majesty, several important ministers are already in front of the dragon couch, do you have something to ask them?" ”

"Hmmm......"

Zhu Youzhi made a sound, and he didn't know whether he responded or not, even Liu Jian and Zhang Mao, who were standing in the front row, didn't hear it clearly, they could only glance at the bed with suspicious eyes, and then looked at each other and lowered their heads again.

Xiao Jing looked embarrassed: "A few adults, if you have anything to say, just say it, Your Majesty can hear it!" ”

The seven advisers and ministers present all had a very bad premonition, and now Emperor Hongzhi can only hear it, and he can't give an intuitive comment on the affairs of the court, and he can't even speak, so why do you still come to the Qianqing Palace to face the saint? Isn't this deliberately blocking the emperor?

None of the people present thought of this, but someone had to come out to be the bad guy, and everyone looked at Xie Qian and Xiong Xiu, as if among the people present, he was the most suitable to come out and light the powder keg.

Xie Qian is known for his ability to speak and speak, and he always asked him to come out and say anything difficult in the past, as for Xiong Xiu, because of his low official position, he was either a prince or a cabinet scholar or a secretary of the ministry, but he was the only one who was a squire in the military department.

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ps: Today, the Son of Heaven is visiting the New Year, and a lot of relatives and friends have come, just this chapter, and the three watches will be resumed tomorrow!