prosperous age

Chapter 537 536 Intercept
In the big tent of the central army in the temporary camp of the Xuanfu Army, Ma Fang was reading the official documents of the battle reports from all sides, when suddenly there was a report from outside the big tent.

"Marshal, the messenger from Mr. Wei's residence in the capital is here."

Without looking up, Ma Fang just said, "Come in, please."

Wei Mansion in the capital is naturally Wei Guangde's place.

Now Ma Fang has the signboard of King Yu's Mansion on his head. In this era of respectability and humbleness, ordinary civil servants really dare not underestimate him.

And all of this was just brought about after he decisively took refuge in that small Hanlin official.

When you are an official, you must stand in line.

When the team stands up well, not only is it easy to be an official, but it is also easy to make progress.

And now, he is fully enjoying these benefits.

Wei Guangde can see through the current situation, can stand in a good team, and by the way lead his subordinates well.

Since he took office, not only has he been promoted quickly, even if he occasionally loses in border conflicts, the court just reprimanded him without pain, and he was not allowed to enjoy the treatment of the elevator.

The Ministry of War and the Bingbei Road received food and equipment, and they also gave priority to supplying the Xuanfu.

Although the position of the Xuan Mansion itself is very high, the priority status does not seem to have improved, but the things are given a lot more than before, although this is all forcefully obtained from the mouths of other border towns.

Ma Fang didn't realize that she was sorry for others because of this, anyway, it was issued by the court.

Anyway, he got the benefits in real terms, and his subordinates became more obedient and hardworking because of this.

Soon he was brought into the big tent, and Ma Fang recognized him at a glance and knew him very well.

We meet several times a year, are you not familiar with it?
"My lord asked you to come here overnight?"

Ma Fang thought of the letter he had sent to the Wei Mansion, and calculated the time. Wei Guangde probably arranged for them to leave the city after reading his letter. The time was very tight.

"Marshal Ma worked hard, working hard for days without rest, he is really a role model for the imperial court."

Seeing that Ma Fang was at work instead of taking a break so late, the two soldiers of the Wei family hurriedly flattered him.

While talking, the person on the right had already untied the bamboo tube behind his back, took out the letter in it, and handed it to Ma Fang's personal soldiers who came over.

"Does Master Wei have anything to say?"

Ma Fang was not in a hurry to read the letter, but asked.

"The master only said that the commander-in-chief should act as soon as possible after reading the letter, and there should be no delay. The Tartars should be going to the grassland."

The person on the left immediately replied.

"Oh?"

Ma Fang whispered, hurriedly put down the official document in her hand, took Wei Guangde's letter from the soldier, opened it and read it.

The letter was written on high-quality rice paper, and the mark of Prince Yu's Mansion was actually printed on the edge of the paper.

This was written by Wei Guangde in King Yu's mansion, either because of lack of time, or to represent the importance, reminding him that this was what King Yu meant.

After reading the letters from beginning to end, most of them analyzed the recent battle reports, and finally came to a conclusion, but the main meaning, in fact, Ma Fang felt the same way when she read the battle reports just now.

Of course, seeing Wei Guangde's request, he marched lightly to the east, intercepted and wiped out all the Tartars.

In fact, after entering Ji Town, the scouts of the Xuanfu army had several contact battles with the scouts of the Tartars. They had already discovered the identity of the other party, that is, members of the Xin Ai tribe, elite cavalry.

Thinking of the soldiers and horses that entered the customs this time, the Ministry of War now also indicates that there are tens of thousands of people in the pond newspaper, which is basically consistent with the situation that the Xuanfu has grasped.

With [-] elite troops, relying solely on the cavalry of the Xuan Mansion, it is really not sure that they can survive in the field.

But Wei Guangde didn't ask him to wipe out all the Tartars, but to eat one of them, and that's how it can be done.

At least, in Ma Fang's view, it is not difficult.

This time, after receiving the imperial edict from King Qin in the capital, Ma Fang did not gather the Xuanfu army to come to the rescue.

The various departments are scattered in various places, and it is time-consuming and laborious to deploy, and this will lead to the emptiness of Xuanfu's defense, which is definitely not a good strategy.

However, under Ma Fang's subordinates, there is a troop trained by him all the year round as the main force.

When the Xuanfu was invaded by the Tartars, he personally commanded the department to fight, and the combat power was relatively strong.

Ma Fang brought all of this army this time.

There are not many people, nearly 2 people, more than [-] people to be precise.

Among them, there were 5000 cavalry.

The light soldiers rushed forward and intercepted the tail.

At this moment, Ma Fang is not thinking about whether the strategy is correct, but what should be done.

After all, the order this time has the shadow of Prince Yu's Mansion, and things must be done well according to King Yu's requirements.

Even, Ma Fang already had some calculations in her heart.

Even if it is too late to go east to Pinggu this time, then continue to chase north, even chase beyond the Great Wall and enter the edge of the grassland, and bring back the heads of the Tartars.

The five thousand cavalry must be taken away, and the speed must be fast.

Even if the opponent is the Mongolian elite, with this group of soldiers trained by himself, he can fight the same number of Tartar elites.

"I won't reply. Go back and tell Mr. Wei that Ma will leave tonight."

After speaking to the messenger of the Wei Mansion, Ma Fang immediately sent two personal soldiers, one was responsible for notifying the cavalry commander, one general and more than ten guerrilla generals, and the other was to arrange the luggage.

When the cavalry is dispatched, they must bring dry food, bean cakes, and none of them.

Without these things, it is impossible for the war horse to have the strength to burst out in the subsequent battles.

When the two messengers were sent out of the Xuanfu army camp, the entire Xuanfu army camp was already boiling.

A large number of torches were lit, and the cavalry camp was full of voices, so the cavalry had already been awakened, and they were now noisyly waiting for their generals to come and arrange tasks.

Working under Ma Fang's subordinates is much better than before.

Not only is there enough to eat, but there are also many rewards for winning battles, and they are not in arrears. Although there are deductions, they all have a clear ratio.

Therefore, after a battle, the soldiers knew how much reward they could get, unlike in the past, they couldn't even think about it.

The people above are very black, they eat up and wipe it clean, and if there is any leftover, it will fall into their hands.

In other words, only those above are satisfied, but those below are not satisfied at all.

But now that Ma Fang has become the chief military officer of the Xuanfu, it is clear how much they can get below, and everyone has hope in their hearts.

Basically, after leaving the camp to fight the battle, you will start to report meritorious service on the way, and when you return to the camp, you will give as much as you need for the soldiers.

Therefore, the soldiers of the Xuanfu are still very enthusiastic about participating in the war, which means that there is money to be made.

This time I rushed from Xuanfu to the capital, I only heard that there was a conflict between sentry cavalry along the way, and they didn't even see the shadow of the Tartars, so many people thought this trip was a waste of time, but they didn't expect this At that time, they were suddenly called out from their sleep. It was said that there might be a big war, so they talked constantly with each other.

No one wants to make a trip in vain, let alone be afraid of fighting.

For those of them who live in border towns, it seems that they have been unable to escape from the war since birth.

After entering the guard, their lives are actually not their lives, and no one knows when they will die.

Therefore, they don't care about their own lives, they just hope that they can earn more money for their family before they die.

Opportunities that were not there before are different now.

Follow Ma Fang to earn money, and he can bring a lot of things to the family, so what he thinks at this moment is not the danger of the war, but how many Tartars he kills in the battle, and how much reward he can get.

Wheelbarrows ran back and forth in the barracks, transporting the dry food and bean cakes that the cavalry needed to distribute.

This is the sign before the outbreak of the war.

As the generals received orders from the large tent of the Chinese army to leave and returned to their barracks, the news of sending troops to Pinggu quickly spread in the big camp.

When the morning sun appeared in the eastern sky, a long cavalry team had already passed the Miyun border and headed straight for Pinggu in the east.

At this time, Pinggu County was also turbulent. Although more than a thousand Ming troops resisted the county before, countless Tartar cavalry swarmed in and filled the surrounding villages and towns of Pinggu.

The county magistrate and other officials could only stand on the city wall in panic and look out through the battlements.

Groups of Tartar cavalry passed by and headed north.

Although they knew they were going back to the grassland, they could only watch and dare not do anything.

Even, for fear of making a noise, the captives outside the city would find them, and then give up going north to attack the city.

Although Pinggu is an important defense area along the Great Wall and belongs to one of the four counties in Jizhou, there are not many people in the county.

The Pinggu garrison was actually located on the Pinggu section of the Great Wall to the north of the county seat. There were more than 2000 sergeants guarding the five pass villages in Pinggu, and there was no spare power to support Pinggu County.

In fact, during this period of time, the ministries of the Ming army on the Great Wall were also extremely nervous, because they did not know from which direction the Tartars would break through the wall and return to the grassland.

Of course, none of them hoped that their defense zone would be selected by the Tartars.

"Why are there so many Tartars outside the city?"

At this time, on the city wall of Pinggu County, the county magistrate and the guerrilla generals of the Ming army who entered the city before watched the actions of the Tartar army through the crenels.

Yesterday, there were only a dozen or so captive cavalry sparsely, but the number of Tartars appearing today is obviously several times that of yesterday.

"It might have been the forward army yesterday, but it should be the Chinese army brigade now."

The person who spoke was a guerrilla from Ji Town of the Ming Army, and now he regrets it a bit. If he had known this, he would have walked slowly and waited for the Tartars to pass Pinggu before driving over.

Well, go faster, stuck in the city now.

But fortunately, I didn't encounter so many Tartars before entering the city.

With more than a thousand people in my hand, even if they form an formation to meet the enemy, look at the elite Tartar cavalry outside the city, it is only a matter of one or two charges.

As far as the fierce aura he saw revealed, it was difficult to find an opponent in Jizhen's army that could match it.

"How much property has to be robbed, what a crime."

The county magistrate saw dozens of carriages piled up with things at the moment, so he didn't need to think about it, they must have been robbed by the Tartars.

This kind of carriage was seen yesterday, there were two or three of them, and today there are even more, passing the official road outside the city like an endless stream, heading straight north.

At this time, the magistrate will only show his concern for the country and the people, and will never say that he is jealous of so many property.

However, the guerrilla general of the Ming army still glanced sideways at him. His red eyes were from staying up all night or something.

"Brothers cheer up, the tartars should be gone by tomorrow at the latest, and the big guys will be fine."

The guerrilla ordered the soldiers behind him to pass a message to the people below.

This should be the last moment, and he didn't expect anything to happen at this time, throwing his life here.

Or I can only remind my subordinates to guard the city wall with spirit from today to tomorrow, and then I will also be able to make a contribution to defending the city, and there should be some rewards.

Soon, a group of hundreds of cavalrymen appeared beside the carriage, and the elite knights passed by these few people who were obviously Tartar generals.

No, why did they stop outside the gate of Pinggu City, and pointed here with their hands.

At the next moment, the Ming army guerrilla felt a sudden shock.

The few people who were obviously Mongolian nobles immediately went outside, gesturing at Pinggu County, they couldn't be attacking the city, they should grab it again before leaving.

Although there is a city wall, Pinggu's city wall is not very tall, at least in this guerrilla's mind, compared with other Ming city walls, Pinggu is easier to fight.

But fortunately, they ran to the north after gesturing for a while, and they should not attack the city.

Soon, several groups of cavalry with hundreds of people crossed the border majesticly, and the horse convoy finally passed through and left at this moment.

Those carriages stopped in front of my eyes, it was really heartbreaking.

At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Zhenlu camp in the north were also frightened. From time to time, a group of prisoners passed by the city and continued to walk north, which was in the direction of Qiangziling Pass.

The city walls they guarded were all built against the mountains, and their defensive power was mainly aimed at the outside of the pass, while the defense against the inside of the pass was much smaller.

For the Tartars with a scale of tens of thousands, or the elite among the Tartars, what can more than 2000 of them do.

Fortunately, we only need to guard the city walls. Anyway, as long as we don't leave the pass, we can just let these Tartars do whatever we want.

Although there is probably a guess, the officers and soldiers of the Zhenlu camp did not dare to take it lightly.

I don't know when, the tartars also learned to use tactics, and they were suspicious of soldiers at every turn. They pretended to deceive them, and then launched a surprise attack.

Just like this time, it was agreed to go to Liaodong, but they were allowed to pass through the Miyun defense zone. In the capital, there was a riot at the feet of the emperor.

"Huigukou Village, Xiong'ergu Village, and Yuzi Village, these places are not considered dangerous, but the Ming army built many hollow enemy towers here, and the five villages, large and small, protected them layer by layer. will be small."

At this time, Huang Taiji and others who had just passed Pinggu County were also discussing where to leave the customs while heading north.

Putu'er was cautious, and felt that it was best to go back from the place where they entered the customs.

Although it was abandoned after they came in, it was impossible for the Ming army to rebuild it in such a short period of time.

Even if built well, it is very easy to attack.

When calling, Sun felt that he might as well find a random place on the Great Wall, and go out of the closed wall first.

However, Baduer knew that the Great Wall to the north of Pinggu looked easy to fight, but there were too many hollow enemy towers, and those enemy towers were really difficult to conquer.

It is easy to pass, but when the Ming army uses bows and firearms on the enemy platform, they will inevitably pay a lot of casualties, which is really not worthwhile.

The two inevitably had a dispute immediately, but Huang Taiji's attitude was ambiguous and he did not express his opinion.

If he had the perspective of God and could look at the ground from a high altitude at this time, he might find that, from the direction of Huairou, a huge cavalry unit of the Ming army was coming at high speed, approaching them from the west.

(End of this chapter)