Chapter 537 536 Intercept

In the tent of the Central Army in the temporary camp of Xuanfu Army, Ma Fang was reading the war reports from all sides, when a report suddenly came from outside the tent.

"General, the messenger from the residence of Lord Wei in the capital has arrived."

Without looking up, Ma Fang only said, "Please come in."

The residence of Wei in the capital is naturally Wei Guangde's.

Now Ma Fang has the sign of Prince Yu's residence on his head. In this era when civil officials are respected and military officials are despised, ordinary civil officials really dare not look down on him.

And all this is just what he brought after he decisively joined the Hanlin official.

To be an official, you have to stand in line.

If you stand in line well, not only will it be easy to be an official, but you will also be able to rise to the top.

And now, he is fully enjoying these benefits.

Wei Guangde can see through the current situation, stand in line well, and lead his own disciples well.

Since he joined the army, he has not only been promoted quickly, but even if he occasionally loses in border conflicts, the court will only reprimand him with a few words and let it go, without letting him enjoy the treatment of elevators.

The Ministry of War and the Military Preparation Department also gave priority to Xuanfu when they received food, wages and equipment.

Although Xuanfu was located very close to the front and its priority did not seem to have improved, it was given a lot more things than before, although this was all squeezed out from other border towns.

Ma Fang did not feel that he was sorry for others because it was all given by the court.

Anyway, he got the benefits in a real way, and his subordinates were more obedient and hardworking.

Soon the person was brought into the big tent, and Ma Fang recognized him at a glance. He was very familiar with him.

How could he not be familiar with him after seeing him several times a year?

"Did the master ask you to come overnight?"

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

"Marshal Ma has worked hard and has not rested for days. He is really a role model for the court."

The two Wei Mansion soldiers saw that Ma Fang did not rest so late but was working, and hurriedly flattered him.

While talking, the man on the right had already untied the bamboo tube behind him, took out the letter inside, and handed it to Ma Fang's personal soldier who came over.

"Does Lord Wei have anything to say?"

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

"The master only asked the Marshal to act as soon as possible after reading the letter. There is no time to delay. The Tartars should be running back to the grassland."

The man on the left answered immediately.

"Oh?"

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

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

This was written by Wei Guangde in Prince Yu's Mansion, either because he didn't have enough time, or to represent the importance and remind him that this was Prince Yu's intention.

After reading the letter from beginning to end, most of it analyzed the recent battle reports and finally drew conclusions. The main meaning was actually the same feeling that Ma Fang had when he was reading the battle reports just now.

Of course, he saw Wei Guangde's request and marched eastward with light troops to intercept part of the Tartars and annihilate them.

In fact, after entering Jizhen, the scouts of Xuanfu Army had several encounters with the Tartars' scouts. They had discovered the identity of the other party, that is, the elite cavalry of Xin'ai's army.

Thinking of the troops entering the pass this time, the Ministry of War now also noted in the Tangbao that there were about 10,000 people, which was basically consistent with the situation in Xuanfu.

Ten thousand elite troops, relying solely on Xuanfu cavalry, are really not sure to survive in a field battle.

However, Wei Guangde did not ask him to annihilate all the Tartars, but to eat up one of them, which could be done.

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

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

The various parts were scattered in various places, which was time-consuming and laborious to withdraw, and would cause Xuanfu's defense to be empty, which was definitely not a good strategy.

However, under Ma Fang's subordinates, there was a troop of troops that he personally trained all year round as the main force.

When Xuanfu was invaded by the Tartars, he personally led the army to fight, and the fighting power was relatively strong.

This time, Ma Fang brought all the troops.

There were not many people and horses, nearly 20,000 people, to be precise, more than 18,000 people.

Among them, there were 5,000 cavalry.

Light troops rushed forward and cut off the tail.

At this moment, Ma Fang did not consider whether the strategy was correct, but what to do.

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

In fact, Ma Fang had already made a plan in his mind.

Even if it was too late to go east to Pinggu this time, he would continue to chase north, and even chase out of the Great Wall and into the edge of the grassland to bring back the heads of some Tartars.

All 5,000 cavalry must be taken away, and the speed must be fast.

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

"I won't reply. You go back and tell Lord Wei that I will set out tonight."

After speaking to the messenger from the Wei Mansion, Ma Fang immediately sent out two personal soldiers, one to notify the cavalry commander, a lieutenant general and more than ten guerrilla generals, and the other to arrange the baggage.

When the cavalry is dispatched, they must bring dry food and bean cakes, nothing less.

Without these things, the war horses will not 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 abuzz with people, so the cavalry had been awakened and were noisily waiting for their generals to come and arrange tasks.

Working under Ma Fang is much better than before.

Not only was he well fed, but he was also given a lot of rewards for winning the battle, and he was not in arrears. Although there were deductions, there were clear ratios.

Therefore, after a battle, the soldiers knew how much reward they would receive. Unlike in the past, they could not even think about it.

The people above are very black. They eat everything and wipe it clean. If there is any leftover, it will fall into their hands.

In other words, only the top is satisfied, but the bottom is not satisfied at all.

And now that Ma Fang has become the chief military officer of the Xuanfu, it is clear how much they can get, and everyone is looking forward to it.

Basically, after leaving the camp to fight, you will start to report your merits on the way. When you return to the camp, you will give as much as you should give.

Therefore, Xuanfu soldiers are still very enthusiastic about participating in the war, which means they can earn money.

This time we rushed from Xuanfu to the capital. Along the way, we only heard that there was a conflict between the sentries and cavalry. They didn't even see the shadow of the Tatars, so many people thought that this trip was in vain. Unexpectedly, this At that time, they were suddenly woken up from their sleep. It was said that there might be a war, so they kept talking among themselves.

No one wants to travel in vain, let alone fight.

For those of them who live in border towns, it seems that they have been inseparable from war since they were born.

After entering the guardhouse, their lives are actually no longer their lives. No one knows when they will die.

Therefore, they don't care about their own lives, they just hope to make more money for their families before they die.

Opportunities that didn’t exist before are different now.

You can earn money by following Ma Fang, and you can bring a lot of things to your family, so what you are thinking about right now is not the danger of the war, but how many Tatars you kill in the battle formation, and how much silver reward you can get.

Wheelbarrows ran back and forth in the military camp, transporting dry food and bean cakes that the cavalry needed to distribute when going on expeditions.

This is the sign before the war breaks out.

As the general accepted the order from the Chinese army's tent and left, returning to his barracks, the news of sending troops to Pinggu soon spread in the camp.

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

At this time, Pinggu County was also in turmoil. Although there were more than a thousand Ming troops resisting the county before, countless Tatar cavalry soon swarmed in from the surrounding areas and filled the surrounding villages and towns of Pinggu.

The magistrate and other officials could only guard the city wall in panic, looking out through the battlements.

Groups of Tatar 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.

They were even afraid that they would make a noise so that the cavalry outside the city would notice them, and then they would give up heading 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 garrison in Pinggu is actually on the Pinggu section of the Great Wall in the north of the county. That is the defense area of ​​the Zhenlu Camp. There are more than 2,000 soldiers guarding the five passes in Pinggu. There is no spare power to support Pinggu County.

In fact, the various departments of the Ming Army at the Great Wall were also extremely nervous during this period, because they did not know from which direction the Tatars would break through the wall and return to the grassland.

Of course, none of them expected their zone to be picked by the Tatars.

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

At this time, on the city wall of Pinggu County, the magistrate and the Ming army guerrilla generals who had entered the city before were watching the actions of the Tatar army through the crenellations.

Yesterday, there were only a dozen or so sparse groups of Tatars, but today the number of Tatars that appeared was obviously several times that of yesterday.

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

The speaker was a guerrilla from Ji Town of the Ming Army. Now he regretted it. If he had known this, he would have walked slower and waited for the Tatars to pass Pinggu before driving over.

Well, go faster, now you are stuck in the city.

Fortunately, we didn’t encounter so many Tatars before entering the city.

With the more than a thousand men in his hand, even if he formed a formation to face the enemy, looking at the elite Tatar cavalry outside the city, it would only be a matter of one or two charges.

Judging from the fierceness he saw revealed, it would be difficult to find an opponent in Ji Zhen's army who could match him.

"How much property must be robbed? What a crime."

The magistrate now saw dozens of carriages piled with things. He knew without even thinking that they must have been stolen by the Tatars.

We saw such carriages yesterday, there were two or three, and today there were even more, passing through the official road outside the city in 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 properties.

However, the guerrilla general of the Ming Army still glanced sideways at him. His red eyes looked like he had stayed up late or something.

"Tell the brothers to cheer up. The Tatars should be gone by tomorrow at the latest, and everyone will be fine."

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

This should be the last moment. He didn't want anything to happen at this time and throw his life away here.

All I can do is remind my men to guard the city wall from today to tomorrow. If I can be successful in defending the city by then, I should be rewarded in some way.

Soon, a team of hundreds of cavalry appeared beside the carriage, and the elite knights passed by around the few people who were obviously Tartar generals.

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

The next moment, the Ming army guerrillas were shocked.

Those people who were obviously Mongolian nobles immediately gestured to Pinggu County outside. They were not going to attack the city and rob it again before leaving.

Although there were city walls, the walls of Pinggu were not very tall. At least in the mind of this guerrilla, compared with the walls of other Ming cities, Pinggu was easier to attack.

Fortunately, they ran north again after gesturing for a while, and they should not attack the city.

Soon, several teams of hundreds of cavalry passed by again, majestically, and the carriage team finally passed and left.

Those carriages stopped in my eyes, which was really heartbreaking.

At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Zhenlu Camp in the north were also terrified. From time to time, a group of cavalry passed by the city and continued to go north, which was the direction of Qiangziling Pass.

The walls they guarded were built on the mountain, and the defense was mainly aimed at the outside of the pass, and the defense inside the pass was much smaller.

What can they do with more than 2,000 people against the Tatars of more than 10,000 people, or the elite among the Tatars.

Fortunately, they only need to guard the city walls. Anyway, as long as they don't leave the pass, these Tatars will be fine.

Although there are probably guesses, the officers and soldiers of the Zhenlu Camp did not dare to take it lightly.

I don't know since when, the Tatars have also learned to use strategies, and they often use the strategy of confusing the enemy, feinting to deceive them, and then launching a surprise attack.

Just like this time, it was agreed to fight Liaodong, but they passed the Miyun defense zone and made a big fuss in the capital, under the feet of the emperor.

"Although the terrain of Huigukou Village, Xiongergu Village, and Yuzi Mountain Village is not dangerous, the Ming army has built many hollow enemy towers here, and five large and small castles are protected layer by layer. Going out from here will not be a small loss."

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

Baduer was cautious and thought it would be best to go back from where they entered the pass.

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

Even if it was built, it would be very easy to attack.

Dalai Sun thought it would be better to find a Great Wall and go out of the pass first.

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

It was easy to pass, but the Ming army used bows and crossbows and firearms on the enemy towers, and they would inevitably pay a heavy price in casualties, which was really not worth it.

The two of them inevitably started arguing, and Huang Taiji was ambiguous and did not express his opinion.

If he had a God's perspective and could look down from the sky at this time, he might find that a large Ming cavalry unit was coming at high speed from the Huairou direction, approaching them from the west.