Chapter 45 Preparing for the Autumn Harvest Battle

"Now in July, at most one month or a month and a half before autumn harvest, the Tartars will send troops south to the end of this month or early August," said Xu Wei: "I will be very embarrassed by that time. I will have to reduce the grain output this year, but I don't know how much it has been reduced. The original grain reserves in Datong have also bottomed out. Although due to the supervision of the governor, the grain exported to the border in various places has been in place in advance, with a total of 710,000 stones, which is a case in previous years. The governor wants to fight for more, but it cannot. This year's court is also in difficulty. The Shandong earthquake and the northwest have drought. All of them need disaster relief."

"Even so, all food can last until the beginning of next spring. Seventy-one stones of food is military pay. It is not something that the people come to eat. And the food at the people's homes has already reached the bottom."

"In other words, if there is no harvest in this season, or it is burned by the Tartars, next spring will be the time for the Great Famine to break out."

Xu Wei's face was heavy and everyone's face turned pale when they heard it.

Ma Lu, who had always been calm, couldn't help but say: "The court always has difficulties."

It seemed that he had said nothing in a word. But it revealed the deep complaints from Datong and the people of the court.

It can be said that the resentment has been accumulated for a long time. It is nothing else. Since Jiajing, it has been raised by Datong people, and it has changed from being raised by his own mother to being raised by his stepmother.

Zhengde may be the top nonsense in the eyes of civil servants. But for the border army, it is really a close friend, so it cannot be kissed anymore. Not to mention the four other families, Datong Town is just a family, nor do they say that General Zhu Shou has lived in Datong for a long time. Just talking about Zhengde's famous Battle of Yingcheng was fought in Datong. In folk legend, Zhengde's favorite woman is also a Datong person.

It is true or false. It is no longer possible to verify.

But there is no doubt that during the Zhengde period, Datong and Xuanfu, especially Datong, enjoyed the first-class treatment.

Now it has become the one that can be sacrificed if something happens to the Ming Dynasty court, and the stepmother can be raised.

To be honest, there would be problems if there was no such a large territory in the Ming Dynasty that year. Therefore, the resources needed by Datong were always not satisfied. Therefore, Datong had suffered from the imperial court for a long time, and even after the two mutinies in Datong, the general who took office led a total of thousands of Tartar soldiers, that is, the Mongols who served for the Ming Dynasty, were considered to be stable.

It is hard to say whether this army is used to deal with the enemy or to suppress the local soldiers of Datong.

From a certain perspective, the newness between the army and the court was also the fundamental reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Looking at Li Zicheng's rebel army, the backbone of them was almost all the frontiers. It is hard to say that it is not an inevitable situation.

"Say a few less words." Ma Fang pulled Ma Lu.

Ma Lu then said, "I will make a mistake. Please punish me."

Zhou Mengchen said: "It's okay, Mr. Xu continues."

Xu Wei said: "Yes, the only thing that is certain is that there are not many Tartars. Because of the civil war of the Tartars, about 30,000 to 40,000 people went south this year, with the Mongolian national teacher Xiao Qin as the commander. This may be good news."

Zhou Mengchen had no expression on his face and felt uncomfortable with the good news in front of him.

Yes, this is good news. If the Tartars move south in a large scale, even if Xin Ai is not as good as Altan, he can easily struggle with more than 100,000 cavalry. Faced with this number of enemy troops, in the face of absolute strength, all Zhou Mengchen could do was to stick to the support.

Wait for the Tartars to retreat.

As for harvest or something, don't think about it.

But this number still makes Zhou Mengchen very troubled.

Zhou Mengchen said, "The situation is now, this is what? Let's talk about it. Ma Lu, you have been in Datong for a long time and are familiar with the situation of the border wall. Tell me where the Tartars might come from? Can they defend it?"

Ma Lu said: "No, absolutely not. Now the border wall is broken, and there are no soldiers to fight in various Dunbao garrisons. Now even if the border wall is repaired, it is too late. And even if it is repaired, there is not enough manpower. After all, autumn harvest is about to be approached, and people are guarding against autumn. What should I do if the crops are done?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "It goes without saying that. I can now state that the purpose of this battle is not to expel the Tartars, but to ensure the autumn harvest. Therefore, not only can the number of people who have the autumn harvest not be reduced, but also to find a way to mobilize everyone, they can only take a breath and snatch the harvest for me. Lord Yang, this matter is handed over to me."

Yang Jisheng said, "The official understands."

Zhou Mengchen said: "I would like to emphasize again that we will fight two games at the same time. Once, we will fight the Tartars, and we cannot let the Tartars enter the surrounding area of ​​Datong. This will affect the autumn harvest. In addition, the autumn harvest must be collected into the city in the shortest time. Receive more grain today and less people will starve to death next year."

"No matter what the price is paid, this goal must be achieved. All troops are deployed for this purpose."

"Malu, do you have any ideas?"

Ma Lu said: "The route of the Tatar army can enter the border wall, one is to enter from the Khukou, but from the north of Datong, or to attack at the junction of Xuanda. These three areas are weak areas of the border wall. With 30,000 soldiers, the gap cannot be blocked at all. Now the only way is to give up guarding the city wall. The army gathered in Datong, and the entire Sanggan River was only Datong's valuable. The Tatars were pursuing profits and stenched. They would definitely not let Datong go. Instead, they could only adapt to the situation. It would be best to force the Tatars to fight a battle and defeat the Tatars head-on."

"This is the only way."

Zhou Mengchen heard this. He knew that there was too much uncertainty in this plan.

The Datong grain planting area is planted along the Yu River, Shili River and Sanggan River, forming a "upper" shape. The bottom horizontal line is the Sanggan River. However, the Sanggan River is a little far from Datong. Datong is at the confluence of Shili River flowing from west to east and Yu River flowing from north to south.

It is these two rivers that laid the foundation of Datong's agricultural foundation.

The farmland is arranged along the river, which seems very long and irregular. The Tartars are all cavalry, and they run faster than the infantry in Zhou Mengchen's hands. If the Tartars are not determined to fight, they will just send cavalry to burn the farmland. Zhou Mengchen's work will be destroyed in one year. It is simply impossible to defend against.

Zhou Mengchen said: "Ma Fang, what are your opinions?"

In fact, he didn't need to ask, he had a plan for Ma Fang. The reason why he asked Ma Lu first was that he was a veteran Ma Lu who had been stationed in Datong for a long time, and perhaps he had any idea of ​​winning unexpectedly. Ma Fang's idea was too simple.

Ma Fang said: "Sir, blind defense is to control people, not to people. The last generals think that the Tartars did not move south in large numbers, which is a very wrong move. The last generals are willing to raise their cavalry and hunt on the front line of the Great Wall with the Tartars. They will not return if they cannot win."

Ma Fang is quite confident.

Because when Zhou Shangwen was there, he often tied with enemies that were several times more than him, which forced the Tartars to retreat.

It’s just that many things can never be solved by just focusing on light.

Ma Fang is confident.

Zhou Mengchen didn't dare to make the decision.

It's easy to say, when it comes to fighting the Tartar cavalry, Ma Fang is Zhou Mengchen's only bargaining chip. Once Ma Fang is defeated, the situation will not be until next year's famine.

Zhou Mengchen said, "General Li, what do you think?"

Li Ru hesitated for a moment and said, "Can't you ask the court for help?"

Xu Wei said: "We have asked for help. The Ministry of War ordered that Shanxi Town and Jizhou Town send two guerrillas respectively, one of which had about 3,000 cavalry and a total of 6,000 cavalry. This is the limit that the court can take out."

Shanxi Town and Jizhou Town either don’t have to face the threat of the Tartars, or they are in the east of the capital and have the assistance of Liaodong. Only then can they draw some people and horses.

But how good are the Shanxi cavalry and Jizhou cavalry? Zhou Mengchen is also doubtful.

"Enough." Ma Fang said: "There are more than 10,000 cavalry in the two towns, which is enough to meet the Tartars."

Zhou Mengchen said, "Let's do this, you will make a plan according to your ideas and set aside. In addition, Xu Wei, you summon all the horses in Quan Datong. No matter what horse it is, it's okay to have a mule. In short, you can do as much as you can."

Ma Fang instantly realized it and said, "What do you mean by sir?"
Chapter completed!