Chapter 143                                                             

Not far from them, there was a Tartar army of more than 100 people. This army was nothing else, but Xin Ai's escort. It was also Xin Ai's only escort.

The collapse of the situation is not a sudden collapse. It is a step by step to the present situation.

During the full attack of the Ming army, Xin Ai first arranged defenses for various units. After knowing that the Ming army did not take ordinary roads, walked through streets and alleys, climbed over walls and entered the houses, I don’t know why I killed behind the large group of troops. Xin Ai also wanted to make up for it, but Xin Ai had problems with the surrounding units, so she could only send guards around him. After sending teams out, when Xin Ai woke up, he had only hundreds of guards.

He had no idea what had happened, as if his army had been fought.

It was just the sound of fighting all over the city that told him that things were not that simple.

In short, in Xin Ai's opinion, today's war was extremely strange and inexplicable.

At this time, he saw the Ma brothers who came out of the city and sent the most elite archers around him to ambush. This is why Ma Gui sighed, how many archers were there?

But when these archers were killed, Xin Ai didn't dare to send anyone anymore.

Because there are fewer people around him, they are not much more than the hundreds of Mingmen's households on the opposite side. Moreover, there are fighting sounds in front, back, left and right. Xin Ai dared not let his guard's strength be reduced again.

The left and right advised Xin Ai to take care of her health. Xin Ai could only grit her teeth and retreat backwards.

Where to retreat? Retreat to the palace.

Xin Ai’s palace is quite large in size and can be regarded as a small city. It is the inner city of Qingcheng.

Xin Ai decided to go to the inner city to make the final resistance.

Xin Ai retreated and gathered the various Tartar tribes along the way. Finally, when Xin Ai arrived at the Naturalized Palace, there were as many as one or two thousand people around him. However, he did this but it was very harmful to morale. Many people saw such a large military action even in chaos.

As a result, the morale of the Tartars became even worse.

But at this time, the Ming army also fell into a hard battle.

Because some people can retreat, some people cannot retreat?

Who is the person who cannot retreat? They are the Mongolians living in the south of Qingcheng City.

Most of these Mongolians were military families. When the two sides fought to this point, although the Mongolians had no organization, almost all men, women, young and old began to resist. The Ming army had not let go of their hands at the beginning. They captured some women, so they let several wounded soldiers be locked up. However, if they were not careful, the wounded soldiers were killed by these women.

Faced with such a result, the Ming army was naturally furious.

Such incidents happened several times in a row, and then the Ming army began to clear the house without orders from superiors. That is, along the way, there was no living room they lived in. After all, the Tatars had never let the Datong military and civilians go without permission.

If they surrender honestly, it would be difficult to do anything due to military discipline. But now they give the Datong Army the best excuse.

However, such a thing triggered the most fierce resistance of the Mongols, as some Mongolians fled to the north of the city with the Mongolian army. However, more Mongolians seized all the weapons they could use to resist and exchanged their lives for their lives. The stronger the Mongols' resistance, the less the Datong Army held back, and both sides were red in their eyes.

Now the disadvantages of Qi Jiguang's command and delegating power have also emerged.

By the time Qi Jiguang knew about this situation, it had become a common phenomenon.

After all, the blood hatred between the Mongols and the people of Datong cannot be washed away without blood. What happened in Datong in the 29th year of Jiajing, and what happened in Qingcheng today.

Qi Jiguang stood up and walked, pondered for a moment, and said, "Let the troops prepare to retreat and set fire." Qi Jiguang's face was a little hideous and said, "Let me explain it to the people below. I'm wiping their butts. Remember that the Tartars themselves set fire. Whoever can't even do this is done. Let him report to the adults what they did."

The generals below agreed not to say anything.

As Zhou Mengchen's disciple, Qi Jiguang naturally understood Zhou Mengchen's intentions. What Zhou Mengchen wanted was to establish a long-term rule on the grassland. For the sake of long-term stability, some things that were too much could not be done. However, the army is completely out of control now.

Qi Jiguang understood too much. In this situation, he forced the people below to do this, and he might cause a mutiny.

In Qi Jiguang's heart, he could not help but feel that Zhou Mengchen was a little bit pedantic. It was not that Qi Jiguang had no moral concepts at all, but that the moral concepts of the Ming Dynasty were different from those of later generations. The fact that the robbery of soldiers after siege in ancient times was almost a hidden rule.

The reason is very simple. It is too hard to attack the city. You have to reward the soldiers. But what kind of reward can be compared with your life. The court did not want to pay the money, so it was naturally a blessing from others. It was deeply reflected in the Qin Dynasty system. After that, the dynasty was very different.

Therefore, people in this era had very low moral requirements for soldiers.

If it weren't for Zhou Mengchen's request, Qi Jiguang might not have had to set fire to cover up this matter. He did this more for Zhou Mengchen's strategic service and also for Zhou Mengchen's reputation. Many things, as long as they can't grasp the evidence, were not done even if they did it.

It’s like cheating. Not all cheating is caught and cheating is not caught. How much is the difference between cheating and not cheating?

And Qi Jiguang knew very well. As long as the cover here is almost the same, there may not be anyone who stands up and down the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why he didn't do this before was because he was worried that some of the supplies in Qingcheng would be burned under the fire. After all, the army came from afar and the food route was difficult. Now he found that most of the granaries were on the side of the Naturalized Palace, and at least there was no one in the south of the city.

Qi Jiguang paused slightly and said, "Also, I won't tell you about this before occupying the entire city."

The generals below were afraid of Zhou Mengchen and agreed immediately. They were actually afraid that Zhou Mengchen would get angry.

Qi Jiguang was preparing to retreat a little and use a fire to break through the psychological defense of the Tartars. At this moment, Xin Ai also met a horror in the palace.

Xin Ai returned to the palace and immediately summoned his advisers, but he could not find Zhang Hui for a while after reporting to the left and right. Xin Ai was not worried about Zhang Hui's defection or something, thinking that it was inconvenient for a while, or that Zhang Hui had died in the war.

Xin Ai was still sad for a while. However, she didn't think much about the current situation. She immediately asked the few remaining counselors around her and said, "What should you do now?"

Zhao Quan said: "The Khan left quickly, keeping the green mountains there, and not afraid of losing firewood. Today's situation is unfavorable. It will not be too late to take revenge in the future. What we need to do now is to preserve our strength. The Khan still has tens of thousands of elite cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry outside, which is enough to fight the Ming army. Take a step back today and make a comeback in the future."

"Never be honest." Wang Hao said loudly: "The Khan's foundation is all in Qingcheng. Once Qingcheng is thrown away, there is no food and supplies. Even if there are tens of thousands of elite cavalry, they are still soldiers and horses of Khan. If there are tens of thousands of infantrymen, will they still obey the Khan's orders?"

When talking about the next sentence, Wang Hao looked at Zhao Quan with a special look.

After hearing this, Xin Ai felt a little shocked, and his eyes looked at Zhao Quan differently.

Indeed, the Han infantry has been in the hands of Han powerful men. Although Xin Ai has installed many Mongolian officers, Xin Ai himself doesn’t know how much real power he can hold. Xin Ai was not afraid of Zhao Quan’s rebellion before because his strength was enough to suppress these people. Once he lost Qingcheng, his power would be insufficient.

What will happen then? Xin Ai doesn't know.

Zhao Quan complained secretly in his heart, but he couldn't argue. After all, if such suspicion could be explained clearly in words, then there has been no doubts between the king and the minister since ancient times.

Fortunately, Wang Hao did not get too entangled in Zhao Quan's body. He said, "Great Khan, I have a plan to relieve the troubles of Great Khan."

After hearing this, Xin Ai immediately said, "Let's talk about it quickly."

Wang Hao hesitated slightly and said, "It's hard to tell outsiders about this."

Xin Ai said: "At this point, there are so many taboos, Wang Qing will say it quickly."

Wang Hao said, "I will accept the order." Then he took a few steps forward and whispered beside Xin Ai.
Chapter completed!