The autumn of the ninth year of Zhengde came early, and the leaves in most parts of the north began to turn yellow and fall, and people also put on cotton clothes early.

However, not everyone has a grudge against the winter of the seventh year of Zhengde, such as the Xuanfu area in the west of Beijing, the people here have a sense of gratitude for the cold winter of the seventh year of Zhengde, although they also suffered a lot in that winter, but because the imperial court brought food in time, so there were not many people killed in the Xuanfu area, but the Mongolians on the grassland not only froze to death a lot of cattle and sheep, and even people froze to death a lot, I heard that when the spring of the eighth year of Zhengde was opened, the grassland was full of dead corpses, And often one death is a tribe of people.

It is precisely because of the winter of Zhengde seven years that so many Mongolians froze to death, so the Mongolians were greatly injured, and when Zhengde was eight years old, the Mongolians who had recuperated for a year were unable to go south, and Xuanfu as the frontier of the Ming Dynasty and the grassland, it was also very rare to have a year of calm, which made most of the Xuanfu people excited, after all, only in the war, the men in their family did not have to go to the battlefield, and there would be no casualties, and they could finally live a peaceful year.

In addition to not having to fight, the people of Xuanfu also encountered another happy event, that is, the promotion of sweet potatoes and corn, which they are very close to Beijing and have long heard of the names of sweet potatoes and corn. So when the imperial court began to promote sweet potatoes and corn. The people here in Xuanfu immediately received seedlings and seeds from the government without hesitation. Then planted in the field, as a result, a large amount of grain grew in the originally very barren land around Xuanfu, and Xuanfu also appeared self-sufficient for the first time, after two years of bumper harvest, almost every household has stored a lot of dried sweet potatoes and corn, almost enough for every household to eat for a year, but even so, no one is willing to sell. After all, everyone is scared of hunger.

As the so-called family has food, do not panic, after the people of Xuanfu in Zhengde for nine years have eaten their stomachs, what they hope most is to have another cold like the seven years of Zhengde, and freeze all the Mongolians on those dog days on the grassland, so that they can live in peace for another year in the coming year, and now this early autumn has also made all the people of Xuanfu see some hope.

However, the Mongols are not stupid, and they still remember the cold winter of the seventh year of Zhengde, in the memory of all Mongols. That winter was full of raging white devils, and their yurts were crushed several times by heavy snowfall. Many people are trying to build the yurt again, and then run outside in the wind and snow, but by the time they find them, all of them have been zombies, and there are also some tribes because they have not been able to reserve enough fuel, and as a result, the whole tribe has frozen to death even the elderly and children, not to mention the cattle and sheep, and the sheep that no one has taken care of by herdsmen are also dying in patches, which also indirectly led to the flood of wolves in Zhengde for eight years, and once again caused a lot of casualties to the Mongolians.

It is also with the lesson of the cold winter in the seventh year of Zhengde, so in the ninth year of Zhengde, the Mongols who finally recovered a little strength learned a lesson, especially when they saw that this year's autumn came very early, they were even more afraid, so at this time, the little Tatar prince who unified Mongolia led an army of 50,000 to attack Xuanfu, ready to rob enough supplies for the winter.

The little Tatar prince's real name is Batu Munk, is the fifteenth grandson of Genghis Khan, because he was young when he inherited the throne of the Khan, so the Han people called him the little prince, but now this little prince is not small, but has become a middle-aged man in his forties, he defeated the tribes such as Warat and Huosieve during his reign, and finally unified the Mongolian steppe, known as the lord of the Mongols.

Since the unification of Mongolia, the little Tatar prince has taken the restoration of the Great Yuan as his duty, and will lead the army to the south every year, and as long as he enters the customs, he will plunder the army, bringing endless suffering to the people of the Ming frontier, so the people in the north hate this little Tatar prince to the core.

This year, the little Tatar prince was ready to enter the customs from Xuanfu, so the 50,000 army came from the grassland, ready to break through Huai'an, Ulzhou and other places, and then plundered, the little Tatar prince was very confident, and felt that the 50,000 army he brought could definitely grab enough supplies for the people to spend the winter, but he ignored the changes in the Ming army.

The telescopes and artillery, muskets and other items that Zhou Zhong dedicated to Zhengde before have begun to be equipped in the Ming army, especially the border army like Xuanfu, which is the priority of equipment, so when the guards of Huai'anwei saw the Mongolian cavalry rushing from a distance through the telescope, he immediately ordered the artillery and muskets at the head of the city to prepare, and as a result, the Mongolian cavalry just rushed within the range of the artillery, and the dense artillery sound sounded on the city.

These cannons are all newly equipped Franco cannons, the rate of fire is extremely fast, and because it is relatively easy to cast, so now a large number of armed armies, such as the city wall of Huai'anwei, there are enough thirty such artillery, when these cannons are fired in a volley, although the lethality is limited, but the momentum can simply destroy the world.

Although it is not the first time that the Mongols have encountered artillery attacks, but the number of artillery in the Ming Dynasty was small in the past, and it was easy to explode, and it could not be fired continuously, so in the experience of the Mongols, as long as they had passed the first round of shells, and then the artillery of the Ming Dynasty became an ornament, but today's continuous cannon sound broke their previous experience, especially when they saw their partners around them being hit by shells, and even people and horses became a puddle of flesh, everyone couldn't help but feel a chill.

The little prince of Tatar did not expect that he had not gone south for only a year, and the firearms of the Ming Dynasty had become so sharp, and these artillery pieces could not only be fired continuously, but the most important thing was that the rate of fire was also very fast, he stood on a dirt hill and looked at the artillery on the head of the city, and then secretly calculated the time, and found that the artillery of the Ming Dynasty could be fired again after firing a shell, and it stopped for less than five breaths, which made him also shocked, after all, his ancestors had suffered a big loss of firearms, I didn't expect that the firearms of the Ming people would develop so rapidly now, if it continued like this, I am afraid that his wish to restore the homeland of Dayuan would never be realized.

However, although the little prince was shocked by the firearms of the Ming Dynasty, he was not too afraid, after all, there were not many officers and soldiers stationed in Huai'anwei of the Ming Dynasty, even with the help of artillery, his 50,000 army was enough to fight down, the only annoying thing was that Huai'anwei had just been repaired, the city wall was much taller and wider, and the surrounding people also moved to the city, which made Huai'anwei even more difficult to overcome.

In fact, the cavalry brought by the little prince is not suitable for attacking the city, according to their habits before, if they encounter a strong city, they will generally bypass, and then rob the people in the rear, anyway, they are all a number of horses, the speed of travel is very fast, generally speaking, even if they rob all the places, the army of the Ming Dynasty may not be able to arrive.

However, after suffering a few losses, Da Ming also slowly found a way to deal with it, such as the various guards under the rule of Xuanfu, as long as the guards in front of them found that the grassland cavalry was going south, they would immediately release wolf smoke to notify the rear, and as a result, those people would all take food and livestock to hide in the guards, and when the grassland people arrived, the people in the rear had already run out. Form an encirclement with the Ming army in front, if the grassland people are not careful, they are likely to be dumplings by the Ming army.

It is precisely because of this that now the grassland people rarely dare to bypass the guard in front of the Ming Dynasty and attack the rear, every time they go south, it is an honest attack of a city and a city, after all, if they go around, in case someone makes dumplings, not only will their grassland cavalry be finished, but the grassland in the rear will also die more old and weak women because of no food, so they dare not take risks.

The grassland cavalry naturally couldn't ride horses to attack the city, but after they approached Huai'anwei, they immediately took down the equipment they brought on the horse, and then assembled them one by one, and finally became a siege ladder, and the trees around Huai'anwei had already been cut down, so they could only prepare materials from the rear, otherwise there would be no siege equipment at all.

Seeing that the steppe people were about to attack the city after assembling the siege ladder, if it was in the past, Huai Anwei's commander would have been in a hurry a long time ago, and even began to prepare people to retreat, but today this commander did not look anxious at all, obviously relying on something.

After the steppe people dismounted, these natural cavalrymen carried ladders on their legs, and rushed forward desperately with arrows overhead, although many people fell on the way forward, but no one dared to stop or turn back, even if it was a wounded person, as long as it was not a fatal injury, these steppe people would pull out the arrows and follow again with a roar.

Seeing the siege ladders standing on the city wall, insisting on those steppe people holding scimitars, grabbing the ladder and climbing up quickly, the Ming army above pushed away the ladder with a push rod, and at the same time threw rolling wood and thunder stones under the city, and even boiling boiling water, this thing is the most vicious, and it immediately opens the skin and flesh on the face, which is simply a supreme weapon of disfigurement.

In addition, the muskets on the top of the city finally fired, but instead of hitting the steppe people below, they suppressed the steppe people who were riding around the city and throwing arrows with the archers. However, the entire Huai'anwei is only a few thousand people, which is ten times worse than the grassland people, even if they have the advantage of the city wall and weapons, but in the face of the strong attack of the grassland people regardless of losses, it has become a little precarious for a while, and it is possible to fall. (To be continued......)