Zhang Mengcheng's guidance to the new subordinates did not last long, and as the eldest brother of the supreme commander of this expedition, he rushed here with a large army.

The elite border soldiers who greeted the wind and dust were a roast mutton feast organized by Zhang Mengcheng and others.

Although everyone has been able to improve their lives from time to time, it is naturally not a matter of one level to have a full meal through a successful nest and the carefully calculated quota of dry meat in the military fort.

The others who didn't catch up with the battle were a little regretful, but this expedition did not end here.

Knowing the strength of Dazi outside the wall on the side of the west road, he is now empty to the point of being quite vulnerable. Zhang Mengjin and Cai Zhongming, two military attachés with real power in their hands, planned to advance inch by inch and march towards Xindu City in the north.

According to the information found by Zhou Shaoteng and others, there are not many people left in this ancient city now. After smashing the enemy's negligible resistance, the border troops who attacked the city again killed and captured more than 100 prisoners, and at the same time rescued some of the Ming people who were forced into slavery.

Why say partial? Because there are still a lot of Han people in this ancient city and its surroundings, and there are even more than 100 people in total.

The Han people here were not all taken captive by the Mongols, some of them were embarrassed by the identity of the White Lotus in the Ming Dynasty, and some were forced to pay heavy taxes, so they ran out of the wall and chose to join the Mongols here.

Compared to the environment in which they used to live, at least they put more effort into cultivating the land here, and they could barely get by.

The Mongols did not make it too difficult for them, because compared to the very inefficient nomadic farming system of the Mongols, converting these Ming people into their own tenant farmers could bring more and more stable food output to the Mongols.

What makes Zhang Meng's sincerity even more sincere is that these people who worked as tenant farmers for the Mongols have not all stayed here and no longer moved their nests.

After interrogation, some of them had already returned to the border wall, so they were not captured by the officers and soldiers here.

These people gathered with the Mongols and other Han Chinese in the way of spring and winter, and the settlement was like a village in the interior.

And the farmers who gathered together grasped the agricultural time and followed a variety of things. Adopt a rotation system of extensive planting and thin harvesting, so that you can harvest a certain amount of grain every year. The Mongols also regarded these as important industries and protected them from the Mongols of other tribes by force.

This form now appears to be relatively small and not so tightly organized. However, there was a similar situation about 100 years ago, and the more famous one is the Bansheng in the Jiajing period.

However, those Ming people who returned in spring and winter made Zhang Mengcheng more concerned. Because of this kind of gang model that looks like a goose walker, he happened to have an understanding of it, and he always thought that it would only exist outside the Great Wall of Northern Shaanxi in the Qing Dynasty.

It seems that there are some exceptions to everything, and under the influence of various factors, the Ming farmers and Mongolian herdsmen, who should be hostile, will compromise for the sake of practical interests.

This mode of Hermes-Epitek organizing production outside the border walls attracted Zhang Mengcheng's interest.

Because if you organize people by yourself, you will also organize production outside the border wall every year in accordance with the way of spring and winter. In this way, not only can a small force be established in this area of agriculture and animal husbandry, which is free from the Ming government system, and the daily operation is to grow grain and graze and work hard to harvest.

Moreover, with the help of controlling these forces, the vigilance against the Mongol invasion was greatly expanded beyond the border walls, which was also conducive to the production and operation of Jinding Mountain, their old nest.

It may sound a bit whimsical, but when you think about it, it's not so unrealistic.

One of the founding generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty in history, Ma Yuan, a Fubo general who was famous for his horse leather shroud, led people to do this kind of semi-nomadic livelihood while growing grain and grazing in the area where the imperial court was not in control, and he also got a lot of wealth.

And now, whether it is between Ming and Meng, or between Ming and Jin, there are actually some similar plate rise settings. Although the division of these board liters is not clear, they do survive with roots.

For the Jindingshan gang on Yansui West Road, there are several conditions that also make this idea feasible.

First of all, Jin Dingshan and his close ally Artemisia Peak, both have an armed force of considerable strength. The total number of standing elite troops on both sides even exceeded more than 1,500, and they still had an even larger number of tunding, and they also had a certain amount of training as a reserve military force.

Secondly, this was originally a territory for captives, but since Lin Dan Khan's westward expedition, the Mongols' power has weakened a lot because of the continuous wars. Before and after the Jin Xi Expedition, Lin Dan Khan fled again. Now that this area has become a bit of a tribal area, it is not impossible to include this place as long as the strategy is right.

Third, even if Lin Dan Khan came back again in the future, his prestige and strength had been greatly reduced, and he would definitely not be able to gather all the Mongols in the Hetao. In this case, instead of cheapening Houjin, which is far away in Liaodong, it is better to take the initiative to integrate these free forces into Jinding Mountain to strengthen themselves.

In addition, with the reclamation of the area around Jinding Mountain, some land can still be distributed to other new people who have joined the cottage. But the quality of the remaining land is mostly terrible, and it is really a world away from the abundant water and grass outside the border walls. If Zhang Mengcheng is carefully cultivated, maybe the output will be several times that of Jinding Mountain.

In addition, the big boss of Jinding Mountain is the capital of the Jingbian battalion, and the Cai dwarf of the top of Artemisia is the garrison of the Ningsai battalion. With this relationship, the border wall, the dividing line dividing the sphere of influence between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, will naturally be a lot less obstacle for Zhang Mengcheng, a person who has a lot of close relations between the two families.

Thinking of this, Zhang Mengcheng felt that it was necessary to conduct a more detailed investigation of the intelligence in this area. So he hurried to the place where the captives were and began to gather information that interested him.

……

"What is the third child doing there again, always interrogating in the captives?"

Zhang Mengjin saw that his third brother was always jumping up and down without stopping, and he couldn't figure it out, so he asked the second brother next to him.

"I don't understand, if he wants to find some subordinates to form his own team, then he should go to Dazi more. But now he doesn't even have any skills over there, and he keeps asking questions, and I don't know what he wants to do. ”

After so many days, Zhang Mengguang's combat strength in his team has also recovered. So he finally relented and handed over Wu Dayong, a subordinate, to his third brother again. Now Zhang Mengguang is a little skeptical that the third child wants to collect some new power under his hands.

"Eighth uncle, Uncle Guan, they arrived with the infantry team." did not let the two brothers Zhang Mengjin and Zhang Mengguang continue to guess, Zhang Zhaoen came over at this time with the news that the follow-up troops had arrived.

Also arrived with Guan Zhiqing, in addition to the cavalry stragglers they took in, there were also several leaders of the corresponding infantry team at the top of Artemisia, and there were also a few troops temporarily transferred from several other military forts on the west road.

Now Xindu City, an ancient city with a long history, has thousands of Ming soldiers gathered here. However, there was no news of other Mongol activities in the vicinity, so even if the battle forces were gathered, their brave soldiers would have nothing to do.

After exchanging the results of this operation with Guan Zhiqing, who arrived, the big boss of Jinding Mountain gathered all the leaders, and even did not let go of Xiucai who asked this and that in the pile of prisoners.

"This time, we went on an expedition, and it didn't take much effort to capture and behead 200 of the Dazi's troops. Although there are many old and young in it, this credit is still solid, and everyone has worked hard. ”

The opening remarks were a gesture of condolences and encouragement to everyone, and although this seemed somewhat polite to the brothers who had been with us for many years, there were no other more appropriate words to guide the atmosphere.

"However, this time we are not gathering people to discuss the matter of this expedition. It's related to our expedition to Shanxi later, so let's talk about it with Guan Er in detail. ”

Zhang Mengjin seemed to have some surprises about the news to be announced next, so he quickly got to the point, and after pushing the second master out, he began to smoke a cigarette stick to kill his addiction.

Guan Zhiqing, who led the foot soldiers in the rear team, didn't have time to wash, so he looked like a dusty man at this time. But apart from that, the rest of the spirits look good. After the eldest brother finished speaking, the second master cleared his throat and began to speak.

Liu Sangu, who had received the money before, also knew the news in private, and after the eldest brother took the cavalry out of the camp to attack first, a more formal order was also transmitted. We are indeed going to Shanxi, and He Xiucai estimated well, we will belong to Cao Wenzhao, but the number of soldiers and horses mobilized is less than expected, only three hundred and fifty people. ”

After Guan Zhiqing's words were finished, this news really surprised everyone, and the leaders immediately reacted.

"Three hundred and fifty people, that's too little!"

"It's only half of our troops, what can we do with such a few people?"

"Is someone stumbling on us, no matter what the big boss says, he is also a capital, and there are too few people." ……

Compared with the other leaders who kept sighing in surprise, Zhang Mengcheng, who guessed something, stayed silently on the sidelines, stroking the stubbled beard on his chin with his hand.

The big boss Zhang Mengjin naturally noticed the difference between his third brother, he knocked on the stick in his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then asked.

"Third child, tell me what you think."

Zhang Mengcheng was still a little unsure, so after getting the eldest brother's question, he asked the second boss Guan Zhiqing: "Second brother Guan, how many officers and soldiers are there in Shanxi this time?" ”

Guan Zhiqing received the news from some channels, so he replied directly: "There are only more than 3,500 elite soldiers drawn from various towns in Shaanxi. (Note 1)

Hearing the reply of the second master, the other leaders present were surprised again. Some people with fast brains have already understood that such a small number of troops went to war because of the lack of money and food in the imperial court.

Zhang Mengcheng had to reply, but he could only sigh helplessly. Originally, he thought that although the number of officers and soldiers in various towns in Shaanxi was small, when Dazi outside the border wall was too busy to take care of himself, Zhang Mengcheng optimistically estimated that the imperial court would mobilize five or six thousand people to go to Shanxi to quell the thieves. It seems that the deterioration of the imperial court's financial problems is even worse than I expected.

PS: Note 1: From "Historical Materials of the Peasant Uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty", "The title of the Ministry of War is that the Qin thieves have to be cleaned up a little". The selection of horse infantry officers and soldiers, 3,500 names, are all accustomed to the spirit of war.