Chapter 116                                                                                                                             

Spring plowing lasted for half a month.

This was the result of Zhou Mengchen's efforts to promote. Most of the strong men in Datong were on the front line. Even the troops under Datong were on the periphery. They worked hard to defend the best arable land along the Shili River to ensure the smooth spring plowing in these places.

While Zhou Mengchen was dragging the plow in the ground, he looked through the battle reports on the front line. As before, there was no big battle, and small-scale battles were held every day, and the intensity was getting greater and greater. The two sides had the meaning of real fire. People were never rational creatures.

Before, the Tartars came and left as soon as they wanted to. Although they suffered some losses in the hands of the Ming army, they still took the strategic initiative in general.

But now I have suffered a considerable loss on the mines.

There were even some tribal leaders who died under landmines unknown. Many people didn't know how to die. So they were very angry and even fought to death when they met Ming army infantry. It seemed that they were dangerous to march south of the border wall. Instead of bombing to death on the road, it would be better to fight with the Ming army with real swords and guns.

In this way, almost all the troops distributed in the seven or eight castles, including Baoan Fort, Juema Fort, Juemen Fort, Jimang Fort, and Jimang Fort, had bloody battles with the Tartar cavalry.

Zhou Mengchen did not visit the front line in person, but it was already shocking to read the war report.

There was no other way, a large number of officer casualties occurred.

Although this is certainly a large number of officers are unqualified, many officers are promoted from lower-level officers and have not adapted to their command positions at all. Once the fight becomes fierce, they will be punished. In the end, five or six thousand households were killed in a row, and even the supreme commander was killed.

This is also the Datong Army. The soldiers and civilians of Datong have a deep feud with the Tartars. Many soldiers do not need the above orders at all, but just want to kill the enemy.

After the officer above died in battle, he could still fight.

Of course, there were scattered soldiers, but there were absolutely no surrendered soldiers. Under such circumstances, the Tartars also suffered considerable casualties.

So much so that the war has undergone a dramatic transformation.

On March 20, Jiajing, the Tatars defeated Yanghekou. Yanghekou was not in garrison. Zhou Mengchen was shocked. Just when he was trying to save the situation, he received the news that the Tatars did not advance towards Datong at all. Instead, he flew a shot, bypassed the Datong troops, rushed for more than a hundred miles, and directly attacked Xuanfu.

For a moment, Zhou Mengchen didn't know what to say.

Zhou Mengchen thought about it carefully and smiled bitterly. It felt reasonable.

Since the beginning of spring this year, there has been no war with thousands of casualties, but the wars have accumulated a lot of small amounts. The Datong guards have suffered a lot of casualties and are already in trouble. However, the Tartars have no absolute advantage in any battle.

Therefore, a series of wars since the beginning of spring, from this perspective, are standard wars of attrition.

Datong Town and Boyan's troops cut each other into wounds. Of course, fundamentally speaking, the Datong Army suffered more casualties. After all, after the use of cavalry, each army was more like fighting on a front line. If it weren't for the large number of mines that made the Tartars frightened. They dared not try to go south easily, and were worried about being bombed.

In fact, if they go south without hesitation, there is a way from the side wall to the city of Datong.

After all, Zhou Mengchen's landmines were not as high as this. But it was different in the eyes of the Tartars. During the war, it was difficult to judge the facts of the other party. Not to mention that the casualties were so great and there were not much gains, the soldiers below had long complained.

Among the Mongolians, Xiao Qin may have an obsession with Datong Town. However, most Mongolian generals do not care about Datong, Xuanfu, or even Shaanxi, or Shanxi. The most important thing is victory, which is the spoil.

Therefore, it is reasonable for Boyan to play with a beautiful cavalry to detour.

But the Xuanfu Army, who had always been watching the wall, sat on wax all of a sudden.

I was originally watching the show, but the director asked me to go on stage without notifying me.

However, the Xuanfu Army is still somewhat powerful. After all, since the 29th year of Jiajing, it is not only Datong Town that has been strengthened. It is just that the biggest difference between the Xuanfu Army and the Datong Army is that Datong already has the initial hematopoietic function.

Millions of stones of food are distributed to Datong's military and civilians as food, and after people eat horses, the amount left to Zhou Mengchen is quite small. But the problem is that the court has given military expenses of about one million taels per year.

In essence, Zhou Mengchen received double military expenses. After all, he cleaned up the original land of the garrison. In addition, Zhou Mengchen was purged and his blood was not dry. Datong did not dare to say that there was no corruption, at least it was not so blatant.

The Xuanfu Army, originally a quota of 150,000, was not much less than Datong Town. But it was just like Zhou Mengchen had just arrived in Datong. He could fight only 30,000 to 50,000 troops, and the Xuanfu area was even shallower than Datong's strategic depth, so that the Xuanfu Army had to send troops to station in various places and must not let the Tartars harasse the capital.

The motor power that can be sent is only 10,000 or 20,000.

This is also the reason why the Xuanfu Army did not support Datong. It is because their own strength is quite limited.

When the Tartars rushed into Xuanfu, the Xuanfu wanted to resist one or two years ago, but Boyan ate one or two thousand cavalry troops. The Xuanfu became honest. He hurried in the city and gave all the control outside the city to the Tartars. He even passed the wolf smoke to the capital for a while.

All I can say is that I feel so embarrassed.

Although Zhou Mengchen sympathized with the people of Xuanfu, he was the governor of Datong after all, and he had to consider the people under his rule. During this period, Zhou Mengchen could accumulate more landmines and even began to produce some cement with Datong cement workshop to repair the side walls so that he would not be so passive in the future.

This cement workshop is Zhou Mengchen’s daughter-in-law’s dowry. After a winter of construction, it has been produced.

In short, accumulate strength to wait for the future.

However, the Xuanfu can't sit still.

Several official documents asking for help were ordered by Su You, the Governor of Xuanda, and the Minister of War, and then the letters of Xu Jie, and even the letters of Fengcheng Hou. In short, countless official urgings, friendship with private affairs, and various pressures hit Zhou Mengchen.

Forcing Zhou Mengchen to take action.

But how to act? Zhou Mengchen couldn't figure it out for a while.

But he doesn't do anything. He can't explain it both public and private.

After all, the general manager of the border affairs is Xu Jie. If he really makes a big fuss, Xu Jie will naturally be unable to take advantage of it. He gave Yan Song a great handle for nothing. It would not be of any benefit to Zhou Mengchen. But Zhou Mengchen also knew that there were only 20,000 cavalry soldiers who could be used.

But Zhou Mengchen's own cavalry was not enough. Even the 20,000 cavalry were extremely tired. Many war horses were not in good condition. If we report it to Zhou Mengchen at this time, we would say that the following war horses were killed in batches. Zhou Mengchen would not be surprised at all.

Zhou Mengchen thought about it and discussed with Xu Wei, and ordered: "Let Ma Fang take his ten thousand cavalry to Xuanfu to take him to Xuanfu. Remember, he is going to rescue him. Don't interfere. This is the business of Xuanfu. After that, there should be reinforcements from Jizhou Town and Jingying, so that he will not show off."

For a moment, Zhou Mengchen seemed to have become the person he hated the most.

Zhou Mengchen had previously hated that the support of each town to Datong Town was not strong enough, and there was a gateway view. However, now that Zhou Mengchen was placed in a rescue position, he had to understand this idea. After all, the soldiers of the Datong Army died in Xuanfu, and even if the court had pensions, there would be no supplements. Zhou Mengchen needed to recruit soldiers and supplement the various departments by himself.

Not to mention the high quality of war horses. Just to say, the population ratio of Datong now is more than a few men and girls. The use of Datong’s people’s power is almost at its limit.

Although Zhou Mengchen was kind and did not take charge of the army, he always saw women and children on the streets of Datong. The middle-aged man didn't see much, so he couldn't let the people of Datong fight the extinction, right? Therefore, in this kind of war, Zhou Mengchen could only take care of the idea of ​​other military towns. Stay calm and preserve his strength. He didn't want to win any great victory. He just wanted to bring all the soldiers below back.
Chapter completed!