Chapter 614 Four Directions

On the Gubei Terrace.

"The sun sets in the west and the sky turns dark, every household closes the door..."

A soldier on guard sang at the top of his voice.

"What are the ghosts howling?"

Zhang San was so annoyed that he wrapped his cotton jacket tightly and changed his direction to sleep on his side.

"Bullshit ghosts howling, I am practicing the lyrics of the dance. The Tartars are best at raising evil spirits. If you don't get along well with the immortals, who will care about you if you really run into trouble?"

Zhang San's heart moved, and he smiled awkwardly: "Then you can also say hello to the immortal for me. If a fight really breaks out, let him take care of it?"

"Hey, no problem!"

In the pier, some soldiers were sleeping, and some were doing some needlework. They usually knew a little needlework when they were not on duty. In addition to mending clothes, they could also sell the excess to supplement their family income.

On weekdays, the most taciturn flag officer suddenly said: "The beacon fire was burning for a few days before, and I don't know how many people the Tartars will come in this time."

"Hey, why think so much, His Majesty led the army in person, and the whole court of civil and military officials accompanied him. That was the Jingnan period. The old generals who followed Grandpa Chengzu were brave generals. Can an army of hundreds of thousands be defeated by the Tartars?"

"Boss, if you have the time to worry about it, you might as well sew two more net scarves and exchange the money to send to my sister-in-law. The weather has been getting colder and colder recently. I wrap myself up very thickly every morning, but I still feel like an ice cave when I wake up."

"Before it gets dark, Lao Liu, let's go to the forest to chop more firewood."

The flag officer said: "Go, but be careful, the Tartars are invading the border, and our number is limited. Before you came, several brothers were abducted by the Tartars when they went out to chop firewood."

Risks are risks, but firewood must be chopped.

According to the convention, they had to cut enough firewood for the tower for half a month each time, but this time, a large number of Tatar cavalry invaded the border a few days ago, so they did not go out to cut firewood. Now there is almost no firewood available in the tower.

Lao Liu smiled and said, "Let the big eyes keep a close eye. The Tatars are very generous this time. I think they will not leave anyone to fight our small tower to the death."

The tower can serve as a lookout and a beacon, because it is stationed at a high place, with the advantage of terrain, and a water cellar built. It is full of water in warm months and ice in cold months. If it is really surrounded, it depends on food and stored water.

Small enemies are difficult to bite, but large enemies are not willing to bite.

The lookout on the top of the tower suddenly reminded: "Wait, it seems someone is coming!"

A black dog jumped out of the lookout and barked at the night.

Frontier towers often have a dog and a chicken. The former is for night watch and the latter is for dawn. The chicken coop and kennel are all kept in the shed on the tower. Every morning when they go down to fetch water, they will first let the dog down to find out if there are any enemies or monsters lurking.

The flag officer ordered: "Light up the lanterns and bring out the muskets. If it is a Tartar, wait for my order before firing. If it is a wolf pack, just treat it as a snack."

"Got it!"

The soldiers guarding the tower were on guard, but they were not very nervous.

Although the garrison of their tower was limited, it also meant that there was little money. If it was not crazy with poverty, no one would be willing to fight with them here.

"It seems to be a woman!"

The lookout said, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

But he found that the flag officer who was singing and dancing just now also had his face turned pale.

"How could a woman come to this wilderness at this late hour?"

"Could it be those... unclean things?"

After half a day's march, Losar and his party were setting up camp.

In the general's tent with a strong oriental style, he lit a candle and was thinking about how to deal with the nomadic cavalry that came and went like the wind. He had dealt with many nomadic cavalry before.

The Magyar cavalry, the Turkic cavalry, the Bedouin cavalry. But they were certainly not comparable to the Tatars. After all, they were the people who had established the world's largest land power empire, and their strength should not be underestimated.

After thinking about it, he decided to pick a small group of enemies first to see their quality.

The Yebushou Xiaoqi was in his tent, slowly telling him the information he knew.

For example, the gap between the Wala tribe and the Northern Yuan court, at least Toghtobuha and Yesen Taishi were not of the same mind.

Although the Wala "nomadic empire" seemed powerful, it could produce a large number of cavalry with a small population.

But he still couldn't get rid of the characteristics of the tribal alliance. If he really fought, if he focused on Yesen's main force, those from other tribes, including the Three Guards of Duoyan and the Jurchens, would definitely not come to rescue with all their strength.

Along the way, listening to Ye Bu Shou's description of the situation, Losa gradually came back to his senses.

"So, as long as His Majesty the Emperor keeps his troops in place and defends Tumubao, the Tatars will not be able to attack it for a while?"

This is a normal way of thinking.

But in history, Zhu Qizhen was defeated and all six divisions were lost. He, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was captured alive by the Tatars. I'm afraid this man will have some tricks.

Ye Bu Shou's small flag was not optimistic. The food supply was cut off. It was better to say that the army of the Beijing camp was driven to Tumubao than to say that it was stationed in Tumubao.

The food and water sources carried with them were probably cut off.

"Messenger, please understand that when I broke out, the food and grass in the camp were almost used up."

Lothar replied without raising his head: "Relax, you won't starve to death even if you don't eat for a day or two. Besides, when you broke out, the food and grass were almost used up, but weren't they not used up yet? Please give me an estimate, how long can His Majesty's army last?"

Xiaoqi estimated: "We still have enough food for a few days, but we have almost run out of water."

"It doesn't matter. If you carry the pack animals and mules with the army, you can kill them and drink their blood and eat their meat. They can survive for a while. Now I have the heavy responsibility of rescuing His Majesty, so I can't be impatient."

Lothar reassured him again.

The flag officer smiled bitterly and said, "It all depends on the envoy's arrangements."

He also saw that the envoy and the team really wanted to rescue him. Otherwise, if he were rushing to Tumubao now, could he still take the initiative to join the Oara people?

…

At this time, at Tumu Fort.

Zhu Qizhen looked at the eunuch who walked quickly into the tent and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, it's a good thing, a great thing. The Tartar chief also agreed to negotiate a peace and withdraw his troops!"

Zhu Qizhen was overjoyed. The army's food and grass were cut off. Although it could not shorten his food and drink, it was still a hardship and he had already had enough.

"Wang Daban, do you believe what the Tartar chief said?"

The eunuch known as Wang Daban, who was the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch at the time, was the most trusted confidant of the orthodox emperor.

Eunuch Wang said respectfully: "Your Majesty, a bunch of stinky grassland Tatars are going south just for the money, food and cloth. Just let them go. Where do they have the courage to fight to the death with me, the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Qizhen breathed a sigh of relief.

During this time, he felt that he had suffered too much.

This battle is nothing like what I imagined.

"Those Tatars are really cunning. If they were to fight head-on, they would definitely not be my opponent."

Zhu Qizhen was very dissatisfied, but he also gave up the idea of ​​imitating Emperor Wen's chariot and conquering personally.

Fighting is really not an easy job. If nothing else, just marching is torture enough.

I can't do it anymore.

…

And the other side.

Wala contacted a large camp composed of tens of thousands of people.

Grand Master Ye Xian looked cheerful.

"The emperor of the Ming Dynasty is so stupid. As long as they leave the turtle shell, won't they be trampled to pulp by our cavalry?"

Before he went south this time, he told his confidants that it was just a matter of looting and getting some money and food.

There was a huge disparity in strength between the Ming court and them. He had never thought of fighting a decisive battle with the Ming army before, let alone conquering the capital, reviving the Yuan Dynasty, and returning the old capital.

However, the Ming army was weaker than he imagined. Many of the guards' strength was less than half of what it was on paper. The generals had no fighting spirit, no fighting spirit, and no trace of the power that they had when they chased people north and destroyed the Yuan Dynasty.

This made his ambitions expand infinitely.

One of the generals under his command beamed with joy and said: "If the Grand Master can conquer most of the capital and achieve great achievements, how can we support that little kid Tuo Tuo Bu Hua to do the profuse work?"

He took a deep breath first, his eyes shining with ambition.

If it can be done...even if it is just to divide the world with the Ming Dynasty, and the north and the south will confront each other.

Even if I don't have the blood of the Golden Family, I can still be a legitimate Khan!