Datong City.

In the past few days, nearly 70,000 defenders of Datong City, plus more than 100,000 people in the city, can be said to be in strict formation, waiting for the arrival of the Tartars who have committed crimes.

Originally, these soldiers and civilians who had long been accustomed to the peaceful days for decades still did not believe that the Tartars dared to launch an attack on the always impregnable Datong City in this season. However, after the general soldier Hu Sui was assassinated by the Mongolian assassins on the street, this statement was recognized by the vast majority of people, so the city and the city head had already put on a pillow and waited for the day, and countless city defense equipment was placed neatly early, and a major battle seemed inevitable.

But after a few days of waiting, what they were waiting for was an army of more than 1,000 people, and it was also Daming's own soldiers and horses - the defenders of Ulzhou!

When they saw the defenders of Ulju suddenly appear under the city, the soldiers defending the city were full of surprise and puzzlement. Fortunately, they still knew Wang Bing, who was leading the troops in front of them, and Lu Jin, who was beside them, otherwise they would have thought that they were disguised by Tartars to open the city gate.

But even after verifying their identities and maintaining a cautious attitude, the generals defending the city did not let the army of thousands of people enter the city so smoothly, but only let Lu Zhen and Wang Bing enter the city to report the relevant battle situation to Hu Sui. In this regard, Lu Zhen and they have no objection, anyway, after that big defeat, I am afraid that the Tartars no longer have the courage to attack Datong in the south, so it is not dangerous to stay outside the city.

Sitting in a bamboo basket down from the head of the city, the two of them were able to come to the city, and under the leadership of a soldier, they went straight to the temporary command post of Datong, not far from the north gate. In order to deal with the possible bitter battle, Hu Sui went all out, and he moved from the General Military Mansion to the bottom of Beicheng a long time ago, in order to be able to participate in this big battle as soon as possible.

But the result was ......

"What do you say? The Tartars have been beaten back? Hu Sui, who was already puzzled by Lu Jin's arrival, was even more surprised after listening to their report, and even bounced up from his seat, and kept sweeping his face on the faces of the two with suspicious eyes: "Mr. Wang Qian, this is a major military event, can you not tolerate the slightest difference?" What is the crime of lying about military intelligence, you should be clear, right? "Lu Jin is a civil official, and he can't control it, but Wang Bing is his subordinate, so this is a bit heavy.

Wang Bing immediately stepped forward, clenched his fists and said solemnly: "The chief soldier is above, such a matter related to the safety of my Datong, how dare the general talk nonsense." This is indeed a fact, the 20,000 Tartar army that came to attack was defeated and retreated yesterday by the defenders of Ulju who took the initiative to attack. Although the last general did not dare to guarantee that they would not dare to invade our Datong border defense again, the heads of the corpses that killed and injured them can prove that they are now being left outside the city. ”

Seeing that he was so sure, and also mentioned that there was a corpse and a head as evidence, Hu Sui squinted his eyes and believed it seven or eight times. However, he was still full of doubts about this statement: "You are only a thousand defenders in Ulzhou, how can you repel tens of thousands of Tartar cavalry in the wilderness?" What the hell is going on? ”

Facing the question of the chief soldier, Wang Bing's face suddenly showed excitement: "All of this depends on Lu Zhizhou's clever calculation. It is precisely because of his repeated arrangements that our Ulzhou defenders were able to win by surprise, defeating the strong with the weak, and killing tens of thousands of Tartars without the slightest power to fight back. With nearly 5,000 enemies killed, my own casualties were less than 10 ......"

"What?" Hu Sui changed color again when he heard this, and the pro-soldiers around him also screamed at the same time. Just now they didn't dare to speak because of the presence of the chief soldier, but this fact was too unbelievable, and they finally couldn't help it: "How is this possible?" You're talking in your dreams, are you crazy? ”

Indeed, this kind of statement, anyone who understands the comparison between the strength of the Ming and Mongolian people today will not believe it, in their opinion, these two are talking crazy, either they themselves are fools, or they think that everyone in this city is stupid, otherwise how could they say such unrealistic words. Even the most powerful army could not have achieved such an impressive record.

At this time, Lu Zhen finally opened his mouth: "Lord Commander, generals, please listen to the words of the lower officer." In the end, what the truth is, as long as you go out of the city to see, you can know the truth or falsehood. As for how we got to where we got to this point, we have to start from the beginning......"

In Lu Jin's unhurried and unhurried talk, everyone listened quietly. Although their faces were still full of disbelief, they gradually began to accept that there was such a miraculous victory. Hu Sui's gaze kept sweeping over Lu Jin's body, this young official really brought too much surprise to himself, what kind of person is this.

“…… Therefore, although there is a certain element of luck in this battle, it can only succeed with the efforts of all the soldiers. When Lu Zhen said everything in an orderly manner, there was no sound in the hall, and everyone looked at him with strange expressions, as if they were looking at a monster.

In fact, these strategies are not very clever when they are said, but they have exerted unimaginable power in Lu Jin's use. And if you think about it carefully, it makes sense that you can have such a result this time.

After being silent for a long time, Hu Sui finally got up and spoke: "Let's go, go outside the city and see if the Tartars who were killed are as many as you said." ”

At his voice they all gathered and walked out, and soon came to the gate. After an order from the chief soldier, the heavy city gate, which had been closed for many days, finally creaked and slowly opened, and then everyone's eyes fell on the large carts parked not far from the gate.

These ordinary cars can now be described as shocking in the eyes of people. Because this head is full of heads, as long as you look closely, you can easily recognize that their hairstyle is the unique hair and small distinction of the Mongolian people, coupled with the concave eyes and wide nose face, which is completely fake.

Seeing the generals in the city come out, several more soldiers quickly escorted more than a dozen Mongolian prisoners with wounds and white faces to come up: "Generals, these are the captives found after the battle that day, and we will also bring them back to Datong together." ”

With these living mouths, Lu Jin's statement is even more convincing. After all the heads and prisoners of war looked fixedly, their faces showed ecstasy.

And Hu Sui, after finally breathing a long sigh of relief, laughed haha: "Okay! Lu Zhizhou, Mr. Wang Qian, you really made an unprecedented contribution to my Datong and my Ming Dynasty this time. This general soldier will definitely report to the court truthfully and ask for credit for you! ”

These words can be regarded as a complete implementation of their military exploits. The other soldiers finally let out a cheer. Afterwards, the cheers spread throughout the city, first the soldiers at the gate of the city, then some of the people who rushed to see what was going on after hearing the news, and finally, these people quickly rushed to the city to spread the good news of the victory.

It's just a meal, and the good news that the Tartars were defeated and fled, and thousands of beheaded by our Ming soldiers has been spread all over the city. For a while, cheers filled the entire Datong and soared into the sky.

In Datong City, both the military and the people were jubilant at this time, which was not only a rebound against the suppression of the previous days, but also a catharsis for the Ming Dynasty in the past few decades. Yes, since the Yongle Dynasty defeated the Mengren, and they were so defeated that they did not dare to peep at the land of the Central Plains again, the Ming Dynasty has never achieved any decent victories.

It can even be said that in the past few decades, the Ming Dynasty has been on the passive side militarily, and it is the side that has been constantly suppressed and violated by the Mongols. In the face of the Mongols who constantly harassed the border areas, they could only defend themselves, but it was difficult to really give a strong counterattack to the old enemy in the north. All these feelings are particularly strong for the military and civilians of Datong City.

And today, Daming finally achieved a hearty victory again after a lapse of decades. The placement of the heads of a few thousand Mongolian Tartars outside the city was enough to make everyone raise their eyebrows.

So when the news spread, the entire Datong City rejoiced. As the leaders of this war, Lu Zhen and Wang Bing's reputation has reached a high point, and it is not even inferior to Hu Suihu, the general soldier who has worked hard for many years.

In this regard, Hu Sui did not have too much dissatisfaction, he was not a small-bellied chicken intestine, jealous of the virtuous and jealous. This is of course because of his character, but it is also inseparable from his knowing the rules of the game in the imperial court. Although the military and civilians of Datong City now regard Lu Zhen and them as the greatest heroes, he knows that when the war report is sent to the capital, as the chief soldier of Datong, he will definitely be able to get a credit no less than Lu Jin, because in the eyes of the imperial court, all this can only be achieved under the command of his general soldier Hu.

But before that, of course, he had to consult Lu Jin's own opinion. If it's just Wang Bing, it's naturally easy to say, but Lu Zhen is a civil official after all, so he has to be cautious about some things.

In this regard, Lu Zhen saw it very openly: "Everything is up to General Hu to decide, and the lower officials have no other opinions." But if you really want to talk about it, in fact, you can win this time, and the soldiers below have also made a lot of meritorious contributions, so ......"

"This official understands that I will truthfully show everything to the court. But overall, Lu Zhizhou, you are still the first to take credit. Presumably, in a few days, the imperial court will issue an order to recall you to the capital and entrust you with a heavy responsibility. Hu Sui didn't praise Lu Jin because he was happy, because he knew how big the credit was, and Lu Jin's contribution in this battle as a civil official was naturally more eye-catching, and the court naturally would not wronged him.

In this regard, Lu Zhen just smiled indifferently, what he wanted was such a result!