After sending Qinggele and the others away, Lu Jinhui turned around and looked at Wang Bing, who had come to send those sergeants away: "Mr. Wang Qian, can you take a step to speak?" ”

Wang Bing's face hesitated for a moment, then he nodded, and followed Lu Zhen to the side, and then several of his personal soldiers scattered to the sides to prevent anyone from approaching the two and eavesdropping on their conversations.

"That Lord Lu, do you still want to try to convince me to lead the army in the city to take the risk of stopping the invading Tartars?" After standing still, Wang Bing asked directly, just from his words, he could hear that as Tian Tao and the others expected, he did not approve of taking this risk.

Indeed, as long as you know a little about military affairs, and understand the characteristics and strengths of the Ming army and the Mongolian people, they will not agree with Lu Jin's proposal. If it weren't for the fact that Lu Jin and Wang Bing had a good relationship, I'm afraid he wouldn't have given Lu Jin a chance to mention this matter again.

Lu Zhen stared at him without evasion: "Yes, this is an opportunity to change the entire battle situation, Wang Qian, don't you have the slightest meaning?" ”

"It's not a question of intentionality, it's that doing so is no different from sending you to death. And once our defenders are really broken by the Tartars, then the city of Ulju will be in danger. As a general of the garrison here, I must not take such a great risk and do such a ridiculous thing. Knowing that the obscure words before could no longer convince Lu Jin, this time Wang Bing refused very resolutely and did not give Lu Jin any chance.

Lu Zhen glanced at him and suddenly asked, "Mr. Wang Qian, do you really think that this official is a person who acts arbitrarily and does not care about victory or defeat at all?" ”

Wang Bing was stunned when he heard this, indeed, the Lu Jin he knew was a person with great plans, calm and resolute, and by no means a whimsical and reckless person. It's just that his proposal this time was too difficult for people to accept, so he ignored it.

"Lord Lu, what do you think, I hope to tell you the truth." Wang Bing's heart moved, and he asked sincerely.

"I didn't tell the inside story in the barracks because I was worried that the wall would have ears. But now, there is no need to worry about this on the edge of this wall, so there are a few things I can tell you. Lu Zhen first made some explanations, and then continued: "If you want to ensure that this battle can be won, you must buy enough time for the defenders of Datong, Wang Qian, you don't deny this, right?" ”

"Of course." Wang Bing nodded and said: "To be honest, with our little soldiers and horses, even if we go out to fight with the Tartars, we can't stop them for a while." "That's still optimistic, if the thousand Ming troops meet the Mongolian cavalry in the field, it will not be enough for people to stuff their teeth, and they will only be wiped out under a charge from the other side.

"So the meaning of this official is, of course, not to let you go out of the city to fight the Tartars to death, but to strategically delay their progress. In another sense, it is guerrilla warfare, which is mainly harassment. Lu Zhen finally said his intentions. 、

"Guerrilla ......" Wang Bing repeated the word, and gradually had a different understanding of Lu Jin's statement in his heart. But then, he frowned again: "It's not easy." Although we are familiar with the local terrain, the terrain of our Datong is not too complicated after all, and trying to harass them with guerrilla tactics may have some effect, but on the whole it seems that the effect is still limited. ”

"So, that's going to have to be done by something else. I've checked before, and there are still a lot of things left in my warehouse in Ulzhou, which can pose a big threat to the Tartar cavalry. And the current climate and snow cover obviously give us a better chance, what does Wang Qian think? ”

This time, the look of rejection on Wang Bing's face had slowly dissipated, and after muttering for a while, he couldn't help but nod: "Those thistles can indeed play a role in slowing down their footsteps." In fact, not only the warehouses below the state government have stock, but also the warehouses in our military camps, and there are also a lot of them. ”

"That's even better. With these, combined with the harassment of our defenders, I dare not say anything else, it can definitely slow down their three-day journey. And these three days were enough for the Datong army to make corresponding preparations. Lu Zhen said, looking at Wang Bing with a serious expression: "Mr. Wang Qian, this is a great opportunity to make contributions, don't you want to take this risk for my Daming, for Datong, and for your future?" ”

Encouraged by Lu Jin's extremely inflammatory rhetoric, Wang Bing's heart finally moved, and after some weighing, he nodded: "Okay, just bet on this." In the past few decades, no general in my Ming Dynasty has dared to lead troops to take the initiative to fight against the Tartars, so I, Wang Bing, will take a risk! "To be honest, it's not just the honor of being a soldier, it's also because of the huge benefits behind it. For a middle-level general like Wang Bing, if he wants to go to the next level, he must make a dazzling military exploit, and what can be a greater opportunity than the current battle?

Seeing this, Lu Jin also laughed: "Then let's do this well, and let the Tartars who come to attack know that I am not to be insulted!" ”

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After persuading Wang Bing to obey his will and go out of the city to meet the enemy, Lu Jin's next thing to do was to make sufficient preparations before the battle. After all, this is a battle with a huge disparity between the enemy and our forces, and if you want to achieve enough victory in the case of self-preservation, you must be fully prepared.

For example, the food supply after leaving the city is an extremely critical part of this. As the saying goes, the three armies go first before they move food and grass, and only when the soldiers are well fed can they have the courage and strength to fight the enemy, and this has always been a problem that restricts the Central Plains army from taking the initiative to attack.

The reason why the steppe tribes can run long distances, often riding horses for hundreds of miles, to attack an important target, is not only because they have more horses, but also because they are very simple in food. Often, some of the jerky they carry with them can make up for a meal, and they also have a large number of milk-producing mares in their mounts, so even the problem of drinking water is solved.

But the Central Plains army is different, the appetite of the Han people is not as rough as that of the grassland people, the kind of jerky that has to fight with the stone is okay to eat a few meals occasionally, but if you rely on this to satisfy your hunger, I am afraid that it will not take a few days for the team to get sick. In addition, the supply of water is also a top priority, which makes the Central Plains army must have sufficient logistical supplies when it goes out.

Only when Emperor Yongle did the Northern Expedition to the grassland and the strength of the Son of Heaven gathered the strength of the world to fight this war, can the logistics supply be truly guaranteed. But even so, they have to beware of the problem that the supply lines are too long, which will give the enemy a chance.

And the current problem of eating and drinking in the Ulzhou army has to be handed over to Lu Zhen to solve. In fact, judging from the reality that there is still a lot of snow outside, drinking water is not a problem, but the supply of food is still a bit troublesome.

Each soldier has a limited strength, and if he wants to maintain his combat ability after carrying weapons, it is impossible to carry a large bag of food on his shoulder. As for letting the people follow, it is even more unrealistic, even Hu Sui does not dare to do this, because the people also have to consume a lot of food, and the army simply cannot afford it.

Fortunately, this problem was perfectly solved when he came to Lu Jin. As a lover of literature and history before the crossing, Lu Zhen has also seen a lot of how our party marched in a hurry under difficult conditions. Even with a will and discipline of steel, man has to eat. So at that time, the army was equipped with sausage bags and fried noodles for soldiers.

The so-called intestinal bag is a slender cloth bag long enough to be coiled around the soldier's chest or waist; Fried flour is a food that is fried with a small amount of oil after grinding wheat, beans and other grains into flour. When it's time to eat, just take the water and brew it, or even eat it directly and fill it with a few sips of water, and you can make do with it. Although the taste of this fried noodles is worse than that of compressed biscuits in later generations, and it is not nutritious, it is better than simple and can fill the stomach. Moreover, this fried powder is filled into the intestine bag, and a long strip is enough for dozens of catties, which is enough for the sergeants for several days, and because it is wrapped around the body, it does not affect the actions of the soldiers very much.

Therefore, when Lu Zhen brought these things to Wang Bing, he was amazed: "Lord Lu is really extraordinary, just this simple invention has solved the problem of food shortage that has plagued my Ming Dynasty for nearly a hundred years, and the general will admire it!" When he said this, he stood up and solemnly bowed to Lu Jin.

His performance is indeed not excessive, although these two things seem very simple, and they cannot be compared with the airships that Lu Zhen built before, but in terms of helping the army, they are even better than airships.

In this regard, Lu Zhen just smiled modestly: "It's just some small means, it's not worth mentioning." The official has ordered the people in the city to help make this kind of intestine bag and prepare fried noodles, and I believe that in a day or two the portions of a thousand soldiers will be prepared. By the way, are you ready for thistle? ”

"Of course." After solving the food problem, Wang Bing was a little more confident than before: "Those things have been withdrawn from the library. In addition, I also found some good things that had been hidden for decades from the library, which should have been left over from Emperor Taizong's northern expedition to the grasslands. ”

"Oh? But what is it? Lu Jin asked with interest.

Wang Bing didn't sell it either, and immediately took a long strip from the side, more than half a foot long, and looked at something similar to an ordinary jar: "That's it." ”

Lu Jin's gaze only looked at this thing for a while, and a light appeared in his eyes: "Is this actually this thing?" With it, our odds are much higher this time, enough to make the Tartars suffer enough and slow them down! In his opinion, this can be used as their secret weapon for this attack!