"Huh!" Liu Cheng looked at this young man, and couldn't help but secretly doubt, although the military system of the Ming Dynasty had a considerable part of the hereditary component, but a unit like Lingzhou Shouyu Thousand Households must at least have a member of a thousand households, and it is not for nothing that there are hereditary people in their early twenties who have this grade, but they are basically the sons of nobles, how can they go to Lingzhou, a place where birds don't?

"What's your last name?" What is your job? Liu Cheng asked in a deep voice.

"The villain's surname is Zhu Minglin, and he is the head of this thousand households!"

"What?" Liu Cheng's brows immediately furrowed, as the saying goes, the clay man still has three points of earthiness, he is a deputy chief soldier, and a guard is a thousand households, he actually dares not to come to greet him in person, which is unacceptable in any dynasty or generation. He forcibly suppressed the anger in his chest and asked in a deep voice, "What about Zhengqianhu?" “

"Tell your lordship, after the Tartars crossed the river, Lord Qianhu led the troops to the capital city to rescue, and when crossing the river, he was ambushed by the Tartars and died in battle."

"Dead?" Liu Cheng had a wry smile on his face, which couldn't be blamed on the other party: "What about the other Qianhu?" According to the laws and regulations in the army that the general knows, when a thousand households go to war, they must be defended by a thousand households, and he is also dead? “

Zhu Lincheng kowtowed again in fear, and replied: "As expected by the adults, the deputy thousand households defended the city, and two days ago, a small group of Tartars raided, and the deputy thousand households led the soldiers in the guard to defend the city, but he was seriously wounded by an arrow and died!" “

The anger in Liu Cheng's stomach was blocked by the other party's answer, but it became more prosperous by three points, rushing straight towards the top door, he gritted his teeth and asked, "What about commanding a hundred households?" What about pacification? They're not going to die too, are they? “

"Tell your lord, they are not dead, but these two saw that the Tartars were powerful, and they abandoned the city and fled two days ago!"

"Abandon the city and don't leave, the crime cannot be punished!" These eight words almost came out of Liu Cheng's teeth, and the nameless fire in his stomach finally found a person to vent: "Du Gu, if you find out the names of these two people, I will repair the book to Lord Hong." Be dealt with strictly! “

"Yes, sir!" Du Gu responded, he almost sympathized with the two deserters, and wrote a letter to the governor of the three sides to deal with the suppression of a hundred households and a thousand households in the official position of Liu Cheng's deputy chief soldier, which was simply a knife for killing chickens.

At this time, Liu Cheng's head had been shaved clean, and his bare head was shiny, as if it had been coated with a layer of oil. He stood up, and as he dressed, he looked at the kneeling little boss, almost sympathetic to the other party. Shangguan died. If he hadn't led the troops himself, he was afraid that in two days, the cavalry would have cut off his head.

"Your Shangguan has run away, why don't you run?" Liu Cheng asked.

That Zhu Lin knelt on the ground, unable to speak, but his face was swollen and red, almost oozing blood, Liu Cheng looked strange. smiled and said, "You just have to say, no matter what the reason is, this official doesn't blame you." ”

"Yes, Huang family. Huang Jia-" Zhu Lin's voice became smaller and quieter the more he spoke, and in the end he was almost like a mosquito and a fly, Liu Cheng could hear it clearly, so he had to get closer. Urging: "What the hell are you going to say?" The Huang family or the Wang family? ”

"It's the little lady of the Huang family's garment shop, I can't bear the little lady of the Huang family's garment shop!" Zhu Lin shouted out the answer almost with his eyes closed, which startled Liu Cheng. Then he laughed: "I see, the male son is Mu Shaoai, this is also a common thing, you must have worked hard to find out that little lady also knows, right?" “

When Zhu Lin said this, his forehead was already covered with beads of sweat, as if he had done heavy physical work all morning, he shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I am a poor soldier, I don't know when I lost my head, where can a girl from a good family look at it?" ”

"So what?" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "You are so good, this time I will repel the sweat and the official will say it for you!" ”

Zhu Lin was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly kowtowed two more heads, Liu Cheng motioned for him to stand up, and asked him about the Tartar invasion, he didn't know much about how the Tartars defeated the official army, how to cross the river, and the number of troops, and what was known was also unknown. But for the Tartars who transferred Ding Zhuang in the city, collected food and equipment, took turns patrolling, and used the few remaining soldiers in the city as the backbone to repel a few groups of Tartars who crossed the river, Liu Cheng nodded secretly when he heard it, although this Zhu Lin is not very old, but he is very steady and careful, and his current stall is too fast, and some of the useful talents in the entrainment can't keep up, so he has the heart to recruit.

"Good! Mr. Zhu, this time you have made meritorious contributions to defending the city, and this official has already remembered it in his heart. Liu Cheng nodded: "It's just that how much grain is there in the city, how much Ding Zhuang, how much cloth money and grain?" These are what he is most concerned about, after all, there is no army without food, and he currently has more than 6,000 horses on hand, and according to the daily food of three liters per person, it will cost 200 stone of grain a day, which is not a small amount.

"Tell my lord, the grain is okay, Lingzhou is close to the Yellow River, and it has just hit the grain, and when the Tartar broke the border, the villain mobilized the people to harvest the nearby grain, and this year's autumn grain has not had time to be sent, there are more than 17,000 stone thick and fine grain in the granary alone in the city, and there are more than 1,000 pieces of cloth, I have raised more than 600 Ding Zhuang, plus more than 200 soldiers, and there is more than enough to defend myself."

"Good, good!" Hearing that there was no problem with the food, Liu Cheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, and saw that this Zhu General was becoming more and more pleasing to the eye, and he instructed him to quickly send all the craftsmen to the camp after returning to the city, so as to prepare for the production of weapons and the construction of pontoon bridges. After Zhu Lin retreated, Liu Cheng stood up and shook the broken hair on his body: "Du Gu, call everyone here and start a military discussion!" ”

The location of the military discussion is a nearby Guandi Temple, this Guanmiao incense is not bad on weekdays, in addition to the main hall dedicated to Guan Erye, there are two rows of secluded rooms behind the hall for the pilgrims who come to offer incense to rest. The soldiers cleaned the main hall, and set up tables and chairs, and used this place as a place for military discussions, and Guan Erye, who had a long beard in one hand and "Spring and Autumn" in the other, and Zhou Cang, who was standing behind him with a Qinglong Yanyue knife, became the only spectator of the military discussion.

"Rank, this general was ordered by the commander of the army to lead the army to resist the sweat. Now the Tartars and our army are only separated by a water, and the horses will pass, whether it is a battle or a defense, whether it is advancing or retreating, please speak up! Speaking of this, Liu Cheng sat down with a knife and waited for his subordinates to speak.

"Your Excellency!" The first to speak was Du Guoying, who had won the battle against Lao Huihui and Ge Liyan, and he had already faintly stood in the position of the first person under Liu Cheng: "I think it's better not to rush across the river, we have incorporated a lot of border troops along the way, and it seems that there are a lot of more people, but to say something ugly is just fat, the soldiers can't understand the orders above, and most of the generals can't call the names of the soldiers." This battle will definitely show timidity. In my opinion, I still set up camp here in Lingzhou for more than ten or twenty days, first organize the soldiers into a company, and then think about whether to advance or retreat! ”

"Not bad!"

"That's what Master Du said!"

Most of the people who participated in the military meeting were officers at the head of the team, Liu Cheng came from a humble background, and he was promoted too quickly, and these officers under his command were often only in command of fifty or sixty people, or even twenty or thirty people, a few months ago, but now everyone has four or five hundred, or even seven or eight hundred people, and almost half of them are soldiers from the various fortresses that have just been stuffed in. Even if these are not mud-legged recruits who have only held hoes and poles, but the orders, troops, tactics and even accents are very different, these officers are anxious all day long, where do they dare to lead troops into battle.

"Okay, okay, then according to what Master Du said, practice for half a month first!" Liu Cheng nodded, secretly thinking that it was fortunate that Hong Chengchou was not around, otherwise where would he allow himself to delay like this. He turned his gaze to Minmin to the side. "What do you think it should be?" ”

"I don't know about the team!" Min Min said in a low voice: "But I think we should still send spies to cross the river to find out the enemy's situation, and there should also be scouts outside the side wall, maybe this time the sweat will not come from the Yellow River." Instead, they came from the side wall, and they had to inform the defenders in the city, so that they would have the strength to defend it. ”

"That's right!" Liu Cheng nodded, and turned his gaze to the side of the few Mongolian officers who had been silent: "Gesang." Your subordinates have the same language and customs as the Khan Division, so this matter will be handed over to you! ”

"Yes, sir!"

A gentle breeze blows on the river. There was a white mist, and the air was filled with an earthy smell, and the trees on both sides of the river bank were cut down, leaving only a row of low stumps, like a group of beheaded corpses. The barren fields on the other side were full of crops that had fallen unharvested, and the villages in the distance were devoid of cooking smoke, like ghosts.

Gesang shook his upper body, and the movement of his center of gravity alone drove his mount swiftly across the ditch and up to the embankment, and riding a horse was as natural to him as breathing, and behind him were several companions, whose mouths were strangled with wooden pieces to avoid neighing, and they were as agile and silent as their masters, like a group of ghosts.

Unlike the young nobles who followed the Chesang Lama, Gesang came from a much humble background, not even knowing who his real father was, and his mother was an ordinary herdsman. If it is possible for a Han Chinese peasant to elevate his social status to a fairly high position during his lifetime through imperial examinations, business, military exploits, etc., it is almost impossible for a descendant of a herdsman like Gesang to achieve the same promotion. Due to the harsh living environment and backward mode of production, individual families are simply unable to survive on the grassland, and the basic economic unit of the Mongols is the tribe rather than the small family of the Han region, so the Mongols have never had a strict private ownership of property with the small family as the basic unit in the Central Plains, and a considerable part of the property belongs to the tribe. Unlike the Mongols, where the Han peasants could accumulate wealth through farming or business, and raise their offspring to advance their family's social status through the imperial examinations, the Mongols were social organizations bound by blood ties, and the tribal leader could establish his dominant position by controlling the communal property of the tribe, while the status of the tribal member was determined by his blood ties – unless he left the tribe, which often meant death. Wealth and learning can be changed through individual efforts, but blood ties are predestined at birth. Therefore, Gesang knew very well from an early age that no matter how good his riding skills were, how strong his bow he could draw, and how many pieces he wielded with his sword, he was still the "fatherless child", for which he could only endure in silence, and the only thing that could comfort him was the ballad about Muhuali sung by the blind singer in the tribe, this Mongolian hero was once given to Temujin as a slave by his father, but he made great achievements for Temujin and became one of the "Four Heroes". Genghis Khan also generously repaid him, and one of his descendants was the head of the Zarayir tribe, and one of the four cowardly guards of the Great Khan, Xue Heng, was selected from among his descendants. Gesang has always longed to meet his "Temujin" and be able to change the fate of himself and his descendants by fighting for him. After meeting Liu Cheng, Gesang realized that Changshengtian had answered his prayers all along, so he made up his mind to seize this precious opportunity.

Gesang jumped off his horse, walked to the river, threw a branch into the water, looked at the speed of the current, and looked at the other bank to make sure that there was no one, and then turned around and whistled. A cavalryman took the rope from the horse, and Gesang tied one end of the rope to a stump by the river, then took off his armor and tied it to the saddle, and then tied the other end of the rope to the saddle and led the horse down the river.

The river water after autumn was so cold that Gesang couldn't help but shiver, but he endured the cold and focused his main energy on his horse. "Horses are half of Mongolians, and horses that don't know how to love themselves don't deserve to be a Mongolian!" Gesang told himself this as he carefully stroked the neck muscles of his mount and whispered comfort to it. As you get closer to the center of the river, the water flows faster and faster. Gesang paddled hard in the water, struggling to keep his direction so as not to be washed downstream. Finally, after about a meal, he and his mount made it to the opposite bank of the riverbank, and without thinking of drying his body, he quickly found a strong stump and tied the rope to it.

Soon, four or five other cavalry also crossed the river, and with the help of this improvised rope bridge, they crossed the river much easier and faster than Gesang. Everyone quickly disappeared into the mist after drying off their mounts.

Ningxia Province.

The night wind blew through the watchtowers on the city walls, and the flags above made a rattling sound. The soldiers looked to the east with restless eyes, and the scattered fires could not be seen, everyone knew that they were Tartar bonfires, and in the distance, the fires could be seen moving slowly westward, and the soldiers knew that more Tartars were entering the loop through the leather pontoon bridge on the Yellow River. For those nomadic herders who migrate across the grasslands, this narrow plain sandwiched between the Helan Mountains and the Hetao is a land of "milk and honey", a paradise of dreams, full of grain, cattle and sheep, water and a passage to invade the Central Plains. As soon as Lin Dan Khan entered the place, he sent an invitation to all the tribes of the steppe: anyone who was willing to recognize his status as Great Khan, he extended his welcoming hands to him, and the wealth of the Han people beckoned to the brave Mongol warriors! (To be continued.) )