"Wuwei Fort" is the same as the other 31 castles distributed in the north and south of the desert, all of them are simple versions of the fortress, which is composed of six rammed earth city walls that are about 30 zhang long, four zhang high, and four zhang wide, each of the six corners has a solid fortress stretching out of the city, and a city gate is opened on each of the six city walls, and a triangular fort is built outside the city gate. Outside the city, there is a ditch surrounding, two zhang deep and three zhang wide. Such a castle, although it cannot be compared with the trading city, but it is not a few thousand cavalry without siege artillery can be captured, and this castle is close to the southern Mongolia that was firmly controlled by the Ming Dynasty, so the battalion of Suiyuan town army guarding this Wuwei Fort has been at ease for a few days, and no one thinks that it will be attacked.

Wu Changqing, deputy commander of the fifth battalion of the Suiyuan Town Army and commander of the first company, walked down from the city wall and smiled bitterly at his top boss Song Qing: "It's still too peaceful, and there is not a shadow of a Tartar soldier." It seems that this 'Wuwei Fort' is the place where the two of us retire. ”

Song Qing is from Shandong, Wu Changqing is from Huainan, and they are not the Huaibei people that Miao Peilin believes in the most, and they have not gone to a regular military school, so this future is also at the battalion level, and it is estimated that after being stationed in Wuweibao for a few years, he will really be able to retire and go home to pick up his children. Fortunately, neither of them knew how glamorous they were in another part of history, so they didn't have much to complain about.

Song Qing really held two wraps in his hand, handed one to Wu Changqing, and said with a smile: "Let's have breakfast first, it's okay if we have peace here, there will be no casualties if there is no fight, this battalion is all our fellow villagers and clansmen, and everyone will feel distressed if they die." ”

The original rule of the Miao army was that soldiers were generals, and the recruitment of soldiers was naturally the responsibility of the leaders themselves, and they generally went to their hometowns to pull people. For example, the fifth battalion of the Suiyuan Town Army has two companies, which are Wu Changqing's fellow villagers. The other two infantry companies and one cavalry company were Song Qing's Shandong hometowns. Because Song Qing brought more people. So he became a battalion commander. Before arriving in Suiyuan. The salaries of the Miao army were all distributed to the leaders of each battalion, and it was common for them to eat empty quotas and deduct military salaries. However, after arriving in Suiyuan, Zhu Jishi allocated 3.2 million mu of land in his "Tengger Khan Territory" and distributed it to 80,000 Miao officers and soldiers, turning them into "military households" registered in the Ministry of War, and at the same time turning the Miao Army into a "semi-central army", and the oil and water at the head of each battalion were much less. Therefore, some of the Miao Army officers who had no hope of being promoted did not have much intention of seeking war, so they wanted to be in peace and stability until they retired. Of course, another part of the officers who drank ink at the Royal Army Military Academy. It's holding back the thought of climbing up.

"Brother Xiaoxuan, you have read, it shouldn't be a problem to get into a military school, right? Why don't you try it later? Song Qing nibbled on the burrito and said to Wu Changqing with a smile, "This time, our Suiyuan Town Army also has two characters, one is Wang Wuming from Fengtai County, and the other is Wu Mancang from Mengcheng, both of whom have studied at military schools. ”

Song Qing is thirty-four years old this year, and he has never studied much, so even if he wants to enter a military school, he has no hope. But Wu Changqing is different. He is only twenty-five years old, and he is from a scholarly family. It's still possible to fight for a while.

Hearing Song Qing's words, Wu Changqing sighed and said in a low voice: "Don't hide it from my brother, brother, I really want to go a different way." However, he didn't want to join the army again, but wanted to transfer to civilian work. The imperial examination in Suiyuan Province is an opportunity, I want to try it, if I can be admitted, maybe I can become a county magistrate. but more than two hundred of my brethren......"

Song Qing patted him on the back: "Your brother is my brother Song Qing, can I still treat them badly?" Don't miss this imperial examination, you are 25 this year, 26 next year, just to take the exam. With the rain Weng (Miao Peilin) covering, he will definitely be able to go to high school. ”

At this time, a gunshot pierced the quiet morning of the grassland, and Song Qing and Wu Changqing both stopped, and both of them listened attentively.

Gradually, the thunderous sound of horses' hooves was heard, and then the sound of smoothbore guns and Colt pistols sounded like a loud sound. Both of them changed their faces, could it be that the legendary Russian Tatar cavalry who ran to the hinterland of Mongolia to spread the wilderness rushed to them?

Song Qing immediately ordered someone to blow the whistle for the assembly, in fact, it was the time for the morning exercise, and a large number of soldiers were lining up, and now they all picked up their rifles and ammunition and rushed to the city wall. Their battalion consisted of four companies of infantry, a company of cavalry, and an artillery squad, a total of 558 men, and all but eight of the artillerymen were not equipped with muskets, and the remaining 550 officers and men were armed with Besemai rifles or Colt pistols, as well as a 9-pounder cannon.

Song Qing and Wu Changqing both ran to a solid fortress on the east side of the city wall, holding binoculars and looking at the horse team in the distance, each cavalry was equipped with three war horses or pack horses, and the cavalry in the front were all armed with horse pistols, and the formation was strict and neat, and at a glance, it was clear that Lu Dao was an elite lancer. There were also some light cavalry with foreign guns on their backs moving around the cavalry, and they should have been the ones who exchanged fire with the reconnaissance cavalry sent by Song Qing just now.

Song Qing loudly gave the order to prepare for battle, asked the soldiers to check the guns, pushed the 9-pounder gun onto one of the solid fortresses, and turned back to Wu Changqing and said, "Brother Xiaoxuan, how many do you think they have?" 6000 or 7000? ”

Wu Changqing observed for a moment: "There are at least 7,000 people!" I didn't expect such a large army of Tartars to infiltrate us! I wish the third brother, these Tatar cavalry should be passing by us, right? ”

"It must be passing by!" Song Qingha smiled, "This is a fortress, what is the use of 7,000 cavalry?" There are not a few heavy artillery, and there is not even a ladder, what kind of city to attack? ”

"Then why did they swagger past us? Not afraid to reveal your whereabouts? ”

Song Qing waved his hand: "Regardless of them, Brother Xiaoxuan, let's quickly send the cavalry to report the news." I'll give you ten cavalrymen, and you'll take them to the railroad site to the east, where there is a telegram to contact Peking and Tengri Khan, and maybe a heavy garrison. By the way, you ride my flying cloud colt, and it runs fast, and the tartar can't catch up. ”

Wu Changqing nodded, immediately got off the city wall, ordered ten cavalry, mounted Song Qing's BMW (also a Mongolian horse), and rushed out of the north gate of the castle. He knew that Song Qing was creating an opportunity for him to make friends with Hu Linyi, a big man in the Xianghu Party. Now that the Xianghu Party is extremely powerful in the political arena, it is always beneficial for Wu Changqing to get acquainted with him in his future career. However, the Xianghu Party has no power in the army (this is also the reason why Zhu Jishi dared to trust Zuo Zongtang, most of the senior generals of the Ming army were from Liangguang), so it was not interesting for Song Qing to mix up his face.

……

"Your Excellency, there are more than a dozen cavalrymen of Ming Dogs out of the castle, probably asking for help, do you want to send someone to chase them?"

Fu Fang received the report from his subordinates, and turned back to ask Rosovsky beside him.

"We don't have to chase after us, so let them chase us, right?" Rosovsky paused, "Fu, is there any place with abundant water and grass near the Great Gobi?" ”

Although the Gobi Desert in Mongolia is not a desert with no grass, it is also not a grassland suitable for grazing, and the horse team led by Rosovsky and Fu Fang wandered around the Gobi Desert for a few days, which was a great physical drain on the horses.

"It's hard to find such a place in the Gobi Desert." Fu Fang thought for a while, in fact, he was not familiar with the terrain of Mongolia, "I'm afraid I have to retreat to the Orkhon River Valley." ”

"Orkhon River...... No, it's too close to Cullen. Rosovsky shook his head, "Is there any other option?" ”

"Then go to the Wengjin River Basin, the southern foot of Yanran Mountain, the aquatic plants of that generation are very good, very abundant."

"The Wengjin River Basin, the southern foot of Yanran Mountain......" Rosovsky took out the map and unfolded it on horseback to look at it, "Okay, this place is very good, close to the Gobi Desert, we are now at least 10 days ahead of Chinese, maybe 15 days away." In other words, we can rest in the grasslands on the southern slopes of Yanran Mountain for 10 to 15 days, and then engage the Chinese cavalry that has just passed through the Gobi Desert! If their total strength does not exceed 20,000, we should have a seventy percent chance of winning! (To be continued......)