On the first day of October, at dawn.

In Tumu Fort, Chen Xi is ready to attack.

More than 4,500 soldiers and 2,000 civilians have been prepared. This is a war without a retreat. The two thousand Tatar soldiers and horses in front of them must be defeated in order to avoid being harassed by the two thousand cavalry on the way back to Juyong Pass, unable to march quickly, and then being caught up by the enemy's central army, bringing the fate of being wiped out by the entire army.

Just like the situation when he fought with Huo Ling's soldiers before, Chen Xi did not leave many men in the city. At most, there were only two hundred infantrymen, dozens of gunners and loaders, and more than five hundred wounded soldiers, and the remaining two thousand civilians guarded Huo Ling and the Tatar prisoners of war.

Chen Xi never planned to kill prisoners, but he also knew that if this battle failed, these prisoners of war would likely fall back to the Tatars and re-equipped to attack the Ming border.

So Chen Xi issued a military order, if the troops were defeated outside the city in this battle, prisoners of war in the city must be killed on the spot and cannot be left to the Tatars.

But Chen Xi knew that it was difficult to implement this military order.

If the infantry, wounded soldiers and civilians in the city knew that the front was defeated, their first reaction was to escape, rather than killing prisoners and wasting time.

Leaving a prisoner of war with one life may save one's life... If all the prisoners of war were killed, the angry Tatars would never stop. Even if they chased Juyong Pass, they would never die. The chance of survival under the pursuit of cavalry is too small.

Being in a feudal dynasty and a war against aggression, there shouldn’t be any kindness, but Chen Xi came from later generations and had enlightened ideas, and was unwilling to commit acts of killing prisoners of war indiscriminately.

As the sky in the east became brighter and brighter, Chen Xi stood at the top of the city after sleeping, and used a telescope to look into the distance.

Chen Xi carefully observed the Tatar camps outside the city. They were fine at the beginning, but for some reason their faces became increasingly ugly.

The two sides were five miles apart, and the Tatars were very vigilant. The camps were built on high ground, so it was not realistic to win by night attacks. Instead, the previous military formation was the most suitable. Unfortunately, the Tatars were prepared now, and it was difficult to achieve the previous great victory that had been so refreshing with Huo Yan's troops.

Even if he fought with Huo Yan's troops, he was lucky. Now he wanted to defeat the two thousand Tatar soldiers on this road. Chen Xi calculated that the chance of victory was actually less than 30%. He relied on the opponent's command of the army to be foolish and gathered again to fight with himself face to face.

"Sir, the troops are ready. If dawn is just breaking today, the Tatars are probably still sleeping in. If the Tatars are prepared after the sunrise, they will not achieve unexpected results!"

Behind the battlements temporarily built by the West City Wall, Hu Song came to Chenxi to report.

In Hu Songyue's eyes, Chen Xi was a head coach with a strange temperament. Every day he liked to stand at the city wall to look at the Tatar camp in the distance. He didn't say what he saw, but he guessed that Chen Xi would not see more than him. At this time, the sky was just dawn, and he couldn't even see clearly dozens of feet away. Only faint lights could be seen in the camp in the distance. He didn't know how Chen Xi determined the movements of the Tatars through the small cylinder.

"No need, it seems that this battle cannot be fought today!" Chen Xi suddenly said.

Hu Songyue was stunned at first, and then asked, "Sir, what are you talking about? Bei Zhi doesn't quite understand. Isn't it ready? Why... I suddenly stopped fighting again?"

Chen Xi turned his head and glared at Hu Songyue, saying, "If I say that the Tatar reinforcements are coming, and we are leaving the city to die, what do you think?"

"Aid...reinforcements?"

Hu Songyue's feet were unstable and almost fell from the top of the city. Fortunately, someone was supporting him from behind. When he came to his senses, his eyes did not leave the Tatar barracks in the distance. "Sir, this is dark, are you looking at me? How did you know... the Tatar reinforcements have arrived?"

Chen Xi was about to hand the telescope to Hu Songyue, but was afraid that Hu Songyue would accidentally fall to the ground and break it. He said, "Take it, please see it yourself!" Then he handed the telescope to Hu Songyue.

Hu Songyue saw it through the small round hole and couldn't understand it for a long time. When the vision finally became clear, he found that he seemed to have opened his eyes and could actually see the soldiers walking in the camp far away, as well as the Tatar cavalry that were constantly coming from the intersection of heaven and earth in front.

Hu Songyue pointed to the West, his face was filled with panic: "Sir, I saw the Tatar camp and reinforcements... There are a lot of them, and there are probably six or seven hundred cavalry in the field of vision alone, and maybe there are thousands of cavalry in the entire reinforcement!"

"Did you see clearly?"

Chen Xi took back the telescope. Hu Songyue did not make any fuss, but just looked at Chen Xi curiously. He suddenly understood that the reason why Chen Xi could see so far was entirely due to the gadget.

"Sir, this is a good thing. I wonder where you got it?" Hu Songyue looked at Chen Xi with a whistle.

Chen Xi thought that a rough man is a rough man. He didn't ask what the principle of this thing was, but he just asked where it came from so that he could turn around and do something. He replied angrily: "Isn't the treasure given by the emperor good enough before going to war?"

"Gived the Lord? What His Majesty gave it?"

Hu Songyue swallowed his saliva and was jealous, but he immediately realized that now is not the time to worry about this issue, but should focus on the continuous Tatar reinforcements from the Tatar camp. "Sir, the situation is not good. Does the sudden arrival of the Tatar reinforcements indicate that Xuanfu and Zhangjiakou Fort have already..."

"It's not that fast. Even if the Tatars want to conquer these two cities, it will probably take a few days... Now that the Tatar reinforcements arrive, the number of Tatar cavalry outside Tumu Fort is expected to be 5,000 or 6,000. Adding the previous four thousand cavalry, that is 10,000 troops... We have indeed successfully attracted the Tatars to divide the troops and won precious time for the defending of Xuanfu and Zhangjiakou Fort, but if our Ming Dynasty does not have reinforcements arrive, everything will be futile!"

Chen Xi said with a look of worries.

"Then...master...master, what should we do next?" Hu Songyue was frightened at this time and his tongue was not working.

Chenxidao: "I ordered the three armies to continue to station in the city. While the Tatar reinforcements had just arrived and had not arranged a defensive formation, I sent cavalry to the south of the city to transport water. How much could I transport it back!"

“Yes, yes!”

Hu Songyue no longer wants to attack or escape now.

Once the Tatar reinforcements arrived, it meant that the hope of escape was completely cut off. There was only one way at present, which was to fight the Tatars to the end and must defend them in danger. If there was no basic protection of the city wall and fighting face to face with the Tatars, the combat power would not be strong, the number of soldiers was not as strong as the other side, and the soldiers were not strong in fighting, so they had no chance of winning no matter how they thought.

Originally, the officers and soldiers in the city were ready to attack, but many people were determined to die... They knew that being deserters now would be a life-threatening death, and it would be better to go to the battlefield to fight to the death. Kill one enough money and kill two of them.

With the Chenxi military order issued, the soldiers were not only not disappointed, but were secretly happy, because this meant that their heads could be placed on their necks for a few more days.

"Sir, I will continue to hold on!"

"Sir, order someone to be sent to transport water!"

...

There was chaos inside and outside the Tumu Fort. Because reinforcements had just arrived, the Tatars had to expand the scale of the camp and prepare to improve the encirclement to prevent the soldiers and horses from escaping.

Chen Xi kept standing at the head of Ximen City to observe the enemy's movements.

Shortly after the Tatar soldiers entered the camp, cavalry teams advanced to the two wings of Tumu Fort and encircled the city gates. At the same time, the traps and tripping ropes buried by Huo Ling sent people were rebuilt.

Only the south direction of the city was deliberately left out, as if the Tatars were deliberately asking the defenders in the city to replenish the water.

It seemed that the other party commander had a trick, but Chen Xi could feel the cleverness of the person who arranged this strategy behind him: surrounding three quatrains and one has always been the only way to siege the city. It must not only complete the encirclement of the city, but also not make the soldiers in the city think that there is no way to escape, and they can fight to the death. They simply surround the three sides, giving the soldiers in the city an illusion that they can continue to defend or escape, and they are lazy in fighting.

The direction of the vacancy is naturally the best in the south, because fifteen miles south of Tumu Fort is the source of water. When deserters go south, they can not only replenish the water source, but also mistakenly think that everything will be fine if you cross the river.

Little did they know that there are four 100-man teams of Tartars on the south bank of Yongding River today to inspect day and night. As long as the Ming people are found, they will be killed, whether they are soldiers or refugees.

Although the Tatars have increased their siege of Tumu Fort, they are still using the word "drag". Even though the Tatars sent five thousand cavalry to siege the city, they still dare not rashly launch an attack on Tumu Fort because the Tatars suffered a hardship and knew the power of Chen Xi.

Chenxi was able to defeat the Tatars in the field of fighting, not to mention that the Ming army was good at defensive warfare, and the Folang cannon had a greater role in defending the city.

"Let the water transporters not hurry. Judging from the enemy's attitude, they should not interfere with the city's water collection in the next two days. Then find people to go around the city to find some larger rocks and giant trees to come back, and prepare for defending the city!" Chen Xi ordered.

Liu Xu, who was admitted to the imperial edict, could no longer bear it and came forward to report: "Sir, just take advantage of the fact that the Tatars have not yet completed the encirclement and break through!"

Chen Xi said angrily: "If you say you will retreat again, behead you!"

"grown ups?"

Liu Xu was anxious and was about to argue with Chen Xi with a blushing face. He was pulled down by several commanders.

Chen Xi was extremely angry at this moment. The Tatar reinforcements had arrived. Now the way out was gone. I wanted to replicate the brilliant results of the previous battle with the Tatars. Chen Xi was really unable to do so. The number of officers and soldiers in the city was more than a thousand fewer than before, and there was no chance of winning at all.

Chen Xi thought about it, went down the city tower, called Zhu Lie, who was organizing officers and soldiers to dig trenches in the city, and asked him to select 1,300 people from the two thousand young and strong men selected from the refugees before, replenish the army, and restore the 6,000 amount when he went to war.

In order to increase Zhu Lie's morale, Chen Xi promised to recommend him to the court as the commander of the Beijing camp after returning to Beijing, and Zhu Lie went happily.

"Sir, someone outside the city gates asks for a visit, it seems to be a Tatar envoy!"

The sun rose from the east horizon, bringing warmth and light to the earth. A horse team suddenly appeared in the west of Tumu Fort, surrounded by a gorgeous carriage and came towards the west gate.

"Huh!? What does this mean?"

Chen Xi quickly returned to the city tower, looked at the distance carefully, and silently guessed in his heart what the Tatars meant. But no matter what he thought, the Tatars would not seek peace at this critical moment. You must know that the Tatars currently have an absolute advantage, so how could they take the initiative to come to the door and get their humiliation?

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Chapter completed!