"Lord Liu, but Khan is commonly known as cunning, what if he sees through your strategy? It is not too late to march until a foolproof plan is found. ”

"Lord Lu, the disaster of the three armies originated from suspicion!" Liu Cheng's voice became louder: "Where is the perfect strategy on the battlefield?" If there really is such a perfect plan, how can you not know about sweating? As long as we move quickly, even if he learns of the situation, it will be too late to send troops to come. If you can trust the last general, please sit in the tent and wait for the last general to defeat the enemy! ”

"Trustworthy, trustworthy! This official is naturally trustworthy to Lord Liu. Lu Boqi was startled by Liu Cheng's loud voice, he and Liu Cheng had known each other for a long time, but it was the first time to speak in such a rough voice.

At this time, a personal soldier ran up from under the watchtower, bowed down to Liu Cheng, and took out a report from his arms: "My lord, there is an emergency military situation!" ”

Liu Cheng nodded, and when he opened it, he couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, he never expected that Du Gu's fleet would actually lose the battle. Liu Cheng was thinking about how to deal with it, but he heard Lu Boqi's voice: "Lord Liu, what is written in this Tang newspaper?" “

In an instant, countless thoughts had flashed through Liu Cheng's mind, and he immediately made a decision, but on the surface, he folded the Tang Bao lightly and said with a smile: "It's nothing, Du Gu led the sailors to win the Tartar yesterday, killed more than a thousand people, and set fire to a grassland in the Tartars." “

"Good, good!" Hearing that he had won another battle, Lu Boqi smiled and said: "Sure enough, there are no weak soldiers under the strong generals, and the flag is victorious, and the official must write a good pen in the guarantee paperwork." ”

"Then I'll thank you for Mr. Du Qian!" Liu Cheng owed a slight debt to Lu Boqi, and at this time he had already made up his mind, he must hide the news of the defeat in the Dugu Water War, otherwise I am afraid that the group of pig teammates around him will not know what tricks they will play.

As Liu Cheng had predicted, Lin Dan Khan's main attention was drawn to the feints of the Ming army on the river. By the time he learned that the main force of the Ming army was crossing the river behind near Wuzhong Fort, it was already the third day of the river crossing. Nearly 20,000 Ming troops had crossed three-quarters of the way, leaving only Liu Cheng's cavalry and the governor's standard battalion still on the east bank of the Yellow River. To Liu Cheng's surprise, Lu Boqi, who was the governor of Ningxia, readily agreed to the proposal to cross the river together, which made a large part of his pre-prepared rhetoric useless, which also made Liu Cheng's opinion of this old bureaucrat change greatly, and he was not so useless.

"Liu Cheng, why don't you let me cross the river with you?" Unlike usual, Minmin's voice was a little weak, and there was a hint of crying when you listened closely.

"Minmin, you should know why I did this!" Liu Cheng's voice was not loud. But he was resolute: "This battle is different from the past, the outcome is unpredictable, and I don't want you to take unnecessary risks." ”

"But—"

"Nothing! Minmin, you are in Hedong, even if I lose here, I still have a chance to rise again, but if something happens to you, even if I win here, I can't make up for this loss, do you understand? Liu Cheng's voice became smaller and quieter the more he spoke. In the end, only he and Min Min could hear clearly. In the end, Min Min nodded and said in a low voice, "I hope you can return safely!" “

"Don't worry, even if the war is unfavorable, I personally shouldn't be in any danger!" Liu Cheng smiled: "You know I'm not the kind of person who is desperate!" ”

Min Min nodded. Didn't speak.

Before crossing the river, Liu Cheng summoned Zhu Lin, who was in charge of building the pontoon bridge, and secretly advised: "When the river crossing is completed, you will demolish the pontoon bridge." Got it? ”

"Tear down the pontoon?" Zhu Lin was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously asked, "My lord, why is this?" As soon as the words came out, I realized that I had said the wrong thing. The dignified deputy chief soldier gave orders to a hundred households in his own area, when was it his turn to ask the reason? He hurriedly bowed down and thanked him. Liu Cheng didn't think it was wrong, and said in a low voice: "You don't have to ask, just do it, I will leave you twenty Mongolian cavalry, if anyone dares to resist the military order, you just let them deal with it." ”

"Yes, sir!" When Zhu Lin heard this, he didn't know the intention of Liu Cheng to leave him twenty Mongolian cavalry, and he couldn't help but shudder in his heart.

"After the pontoon bridge is demolished, you have to have all the boats that build the pontoon bridge in your hands, and use these boats to transport supplies, understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

After the armies crossed the river, the Ming army began to march along the west bank of the Yellow River to the encircled Ningxia Fucheng, and there was a fleet of more than 100 large and small ships on the river, which played a great role in boosting the morale of the Ming soldiers, as long as they did not leave the riverbank, they did not have to worry about being cut off by the enemy to cut off their supply lines, and this was the biggest problem of the infantry in the face of cavalry for thousands of years. The first day of the march was uneventful, with only a handful of Mongol cavalry spouts encountered, and they were quickly driven away by Liu Cheng's cavalry.

In the evening, the camp.

Lu Boqi wiped the dust on his face with a wet towel, sighed comfortably, he looked at the generals sitting on both sides, and said with a smile: "Everyone can do their own thing, it's okay to take off a little on the battlefield!" ”

When everyone heard Lu Boqi say this, they hurriedly thanked Lu Boqi, took off their helmets one after another, and took wet cloths to scrub them. Lu Boqi looked at everyone and said with a smile, "I hope that the next few days will be like today, everything will go well!" “

The scene was quiet, and Lu Boqi suddenly noticed something unusual, he turned to Liu Cheng and asked, "Lord Liu, is there anything wrong with what I just said?" ”

Liu Cheng didn't answer directly, his gaze swept over the people present, and casually smiled at one of the generals near the left: "General Wang, why don't you explain it to the governor." ”

"Yes, Lord Zhentai!" General Wang Shen owed Liu Cheng, turned to Lu Boqi and said: "Lord Governor, according to the last general, it may be calm tomorrow, but it will not be like this from the day after tomorrow." ”

"Why do you say that?"

"My lord, our baggage is on the ship, the soldiers can march lightly, today we have walked thirty miles, if we walk another thirty miles tomorrow, then it will only be one hundred and twenty miles away from the city of Ningxia, and the foot soldiers will walk slowly It is four days' journey, if the cavalry is just one night. If we get closer to the city of Fucheng, then the Tartars will have to return to the division and fight me to the death. If you win, it's just that, and if you lose the battle, Lord Du in the city will definitely send troops, and attack back and forth, but I'm afraid that I will end up with sweat and not be able to cross the river. There is no room for manoeuvre, and the sweat will certainly not leave us to continue north. “

"Then why didn't the Khan withdraw his troops to relieve the siege?" Lu Boqi asked a little strangely.

"Your Excellency. Khan will never let our army enter the city without a fight! General Wang replied categorically: "Most of the women, children, old and children under his command, and most of the livestock herds are in the west of the river, and there is no one who cannot cross the river for six or seven days." If we were allowed to enter the city without a battle, then we would have 20,000 people, at least 5,000 soldiers in the city, and the walls of the city would be protected. At that time, we lost the most and retreated into the city. If the Tartars lose, the whole army will be wiped out, they can't run and run, and they can't win the battle, and the Tartars won't do this kind of loss-making business. ”

"Is that really the case?" Lu Boqi's gaze turned to Liu Cheng, he still couldn't believe that the war was coming so quickly.

"General Wang is right, if it is according to my estimate, the chief should already know at this time, and it is estimated that there will be a lot more spies tomorrow. So I'm not going to leave tomorrow. Let the soldiers dig a trench outside the camp and wait for the battle to meet the captives! Speaking of this, Liu Cheng stood up and said loudly: "Pass the order." Kill all the sheep and camels that accompany the army, let the soldiers have a full meal, and prepare to fight tomorrow! ”

As the general had predicted, it began the morning of the next day. The frequency of the Tartar cavalry increased dramatically, and these cavalry no longer fled as soon as they were driven away by the Ming cavalry, as they had done a few days ago, and these sturdy knights even risked being killed and captured to approach the Ming camp. Sometimes even within the range of firearms, apparently they had received orders from their superiors to find out the details of the Ming army, and the air above the camp rang out from time to time with the sound of bird's gunfire, the neighing of horses, the sound of horns and the sharp chirping of the sound of the dwarf, a tense atmosphere of impending war.

Liu Cheng stood motionless like a stone statue on a mound of earth, and his place was on the commanding heights of the riverbank, covering a river beach behind him, where hundreds of auxiliaries under the command of craftsmen were building a trestle bridge so that large ships could easily unload their goods. In front of the knoll, thousands of auxiliaries were struggling to dig a trench one and a half feet wide and nine feet deep, with sharpened wooden stakes inserted at the bottom of the trench, and behind the trench was a dozen feet high earth ramparts, and above the earthen ramparts was a row of wooden stakes with sharpened tops. The fortifications left several exits for sorties, which could be filled with moving vehicles if necessary. This fortification protected the saddle-like lowland between the hillock where Liu Cheng was located and another hillock more than a thousand paces away, and Liu Cheng planned to place the main force of the Ming army in the saddle between the two mounds, which would minimize the damage of the Mongol bows and arrows.

It was evening, the main part of the fortifications had been completed, the auxiliaries were working very hard, they knew very well that they had no way to escape, the Yellow River behind them, the two-legged infantry on the plain could not outrun the cavalry, and their only way to survive was to defeat the enemy in front of them.

"Lord Liu, come down and eat something!" Lu Boqi's voice came from behind, Liu Cheng turned around, and saw that he didn't know when Lu Boqi had gone to the top of the hill, holding a clay pot in his hand, and the servant behind him was holding a basket containing Hu cakes and chopsticks. He hurriedly turned around and said with a smile: "Lord Lu, why did you do such a thing yourself, and you were so embarrassed!" ”

"That's it, you and I are now grasshoppers on the same thread, and what are we sharing from each other!" Lu Boqi motioned for his subordinates to retreat, regardless of the dust on the ground, sat down cross-legged, poured a bowl of rice porridge for Liu Cheng, and suddenly asked in a low voice: "Lord Liu, how sure are you in this battle?" As soon as the words came out, Lu Boqi's face was slightly red, and he said with a wry smile: "I had already made up my mind when I crossed the river, but now I feel a little scared. ”

"It's okay!" Liu Cheng laughed: "How can anyone not be afraid of death, Lord Lu, don't worry, if the situation is unfavorable, you can cross the river by boat and escape, I will never blame you." ”

"No need! Lord Liu, I, Lu Boqi, am just a man from a high background, and I can rely on you today, if you lose this battle, I can still sit firmly in this governor if I flee back? Speaking of this, Lu Boqi met Liu Cheng's surprised gaze, shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Lord Liu, let you laugh, I, Lu Boqi, have been a foolish official all my life, and I climbed to this position when I was old, but I really cared about it, fame and fortune, once this thing tasted it, I couldn't let go of it anymore!" “

Liu Cheng looked at the man in front of him and felt strange, as if he had met him for the first time. He was about to say something to comfort the other party, but he saw a ripple in the porridge soup in the pottery bowl on the ground, and then his butt also felt a slight vibration on the ground, he was stunned for a moment, then jumped up from the ground, and looked northwest, only to see a dense black line appear on the horizon, Lin Dan Khan is coming!

"Here comes the Tartars, here comes the Tartars!"

The sound of war drums mixed with shouts was like a gust of wind over the position, and the frightened auxiliaries put down their work and retreated behind the fortifications, and from time to time people were squeezed down the trenches and let out miserable cries. The soldiers were busy putting on their armor under the command of the officers, crawling up to the earthen ramparts, the auxiliaries pushing the carts distributed gunpowder and arrows to the shooters, and in the camp behind the earthen ramparts, more than a dozen bonfires were lit, and the craftsmen were busily melting lead blocks and casting lead bullets, and the air was full of the tense atmosphere of the approaching war.

There was a shouting of the guards and the collision of the leaves under the hillock, Liu Cheng turned around, just in time to see the generals walking up, their faces were pale, and they looked extremely nervous.

"Lord Liu, the big war is coming, and this place will be handed over to you!" Lu Boqi's deep voice came, Liu Cheng nodded to him gratefully, turned to the generals and said: "The captives are great, the overall situation in the northwest is decided today, and the monarchs should be reluctant!" ”

Everyone nodded, Liu Cheng was about to assign the tasks to the generals, but heard one person say: "Lord Zhentai, I think the most important thing at the moment is to let the soldiers rest well." “

Liu Cheng followed the voice to look where it came, but it was the general Wang who spoke, and he saw that his pale face had a hint of a smile, which was quite conspicuous in the rows of tense faces.

"Why do you say that?"

"It's getting late, the Tartars have a lot of people, and they haven't even set up a camp, if I am the leader of the Tartars, I will definitely take the foundation first, and then attack tomorrow." (To be continued.) )