It was also October 12th, and the war in Xuanfu continued.

The surrounding area of ​​Xuanfu was besieged by more than 80,000 Tatar soldiers and launched an attack on the city from all sides, without any spare time. The continuous fierce battles gradually exhausted the defenders in the city.

Similar to the Tumu Fort, neither side of the Xuanfu war had a retreat. The Ming army could not give up the city defense and retreat southward. The Tatars were not prepared to give the Ming army any chance to breathe. The Xuanfu is currently in a state of being surrounded by enemies and isolated and helpless.

This battle is crucial. If the Xuanfu cannot be taken down in one battle and obtain a large amount of supplies from the Xuanfu, the Tatars will lose the courage to advance eastward.

The Tatars were responsible for leading troops to attack Xuanfu, the national teacher Yisimayin, and they would never allow any mistakes in the Xuanfu battle.

...

...

Two days later, Chen Xi inspected the fortifications in the city and returned to the command post in the west of Tumubao. He had to complete what he would do every day, which was to write the letter of help, and after nightfall, two cavalry were sent to secretly reach the front of the position through the tunnel, and then walked in the dark to Juyong Pass and Zijing Pass, trying to make the letter of help escape from the Tatars' encirclement and pass it back to Beijing.

At this time, Hu Songyue and others were still waiting for reinforcements. In the minds of the Ming soldiers in Tumu Fort, only when the reinforcements arrive can they truly solve the problem and save their lives.

Even if Chen Xi achieved another beautiful victory, as long as all the Tatars outside the city were not wiped out, the entire army would still be unable to withdraw from Juyong Pass.

The two consecutive victories promoted the morale of the army slowly faded away due to continuous high-load labor. The Tatars' reinforcements continued, while the Ming army was isolated and helpless. In contrast, the soldiers lost confidence in defeating the Tatars and could only pull their fingers and calculate when the imperial army would open.

It is approaching dusk and it is time to negotiate before nightfall, which is also the second routine negotiation every day.

In view of the urgent situation, only five trenches were dug out in the planned trenches, and most of the remaining three were dug. Chen Xi decided to dig another night tonight and strive to complete the construction.

The remaining trench can be slowly repaired, and then gradually built horse pits within five miles, buried mines, caltrops and other items, and then gradually improved the light and dark fort on the ground, truly building the Mumu fort into a murderous steel fortress.

Of course, in order to ensure the safety of officers and soldiers, the musket soldiers must be sent out half to enter the built front-line trenches, and be wary of the possible sneak attacks by the Tatar army at any time.

Hu Songyue was tired for a day and heard that he had to continue working at night, so he was unhappy: "Sir, the officers and soldiers have worked hard for a day and have been exhausted. Continue digging at night, which is probably inefficient. In addition, is it too risky to send all the musket soldiers out of the city at once? What if the Tartars attack the city overnight..."

At this time, without Chen Xi's answer, Zhang Yong took the initiative to jump out and shouted, "I'm afraid that the Tartars will attack the city at night? What do you think? The Tartars will attack long ago, so why didn't you see that the Tatars have been timid? Maybe when the main force of the Tartars will come. Follow Lord Shen's orders and quickly build the trenches. If the construction is slow, we might as well wait for this small castle to die!"

Zhu Lie said: "Eunuch Zhang, I don't like to hear what you said, why should I wait for death? At worst, I can fight with the Tartars. Kill one is enough, and kill two people will have a profit!"

Zhang Yong said disdainfully: "General Zhu is such a big statement. I hope the Tartars don't scare you to pee your pants when they come... You big-headed soldiers, one of them, are fierce, but they are cowardly when they are about to fight. If Lord Shen hadn't been well-organized, would you think you could still stand here and talk to me now?"

Before the war began, the senior leaders of the Ming Dynasty defenders started arguing first. To put it bluntly, no one was convinced.

In the eyes of officers and soldiers, Zhang Yong, who was born as a eunuch, looked down on him and thought that Zhang Yong was just a dog around the emperor, who was here to supervise them and specifically report on the news.

In Zhang Yong's mind, the timid and fearful Beijing soldiers were useless.

In Zhang Yong's opinion, these Beijing soldiers are cowards who can only shout slogans. They have been causing trouble since the capital. They are still unruly and unruly. It is really unreasonable! He placed all his hopes for his life on Shen Xi. After all, Chen Xi is a civil servant and has a certain bottom line in his actions. He led troops to win consecutive victories before. Zhang Yong felt that only Chen Xi in the army has the ability to turn decay into magic.

Zhang Yong had only Chen Xi in his eyes, so that he forgot one thing, even though Chen Xi was completely in charge, in terms of military operations, or in Tumu Fort waiting for reinforcements, it was all based on the cooperation of Hu Songyue and others.

Offending Hu Songyue, Liu Xu and Zhu Lie to others was not helpful to the war, but civil strife was the situation that the Tatars most wanted to see.

Chen Xi waved his hand: "Okay, okay, stop arguing, follow my instructions. If you don't build the Tumu Fort into a solid foundation before the main force of Tatars moves eastward, you can consider who to be your companion on the road to the Ultimate to avoid being lonely!"

Zhang Yong stared and said, "Mr. Shen, don't make such a joke. I agreed to leave together and go to Huangquan Road together. How much does it mean to do if you don't help me leave alively..."

Perhaps Zhang Yong was used to showing off his power when he was a military supervisor. At this moment, he wanted to move out the emperor or the court to threaten Chen Xi. But then he thought that Chen Xi was already a person with absolute voice in Tumu Fort. Even the former thorny Hu Songyue, Liu Xu and Zhu Lie obeyed Chen Xi's will, and the threatening words he said were useless at all.

Because the Ming court, which Zhang Yong relied on, did not provide enough assistance to the Tumu Fort. If Chen Xi had not commanded the army to win consecutive battles and lay the foundation for defense, the Tumu Fort today would have been no longer qualified to fight against the main force of the Tatars, perhaps thousands of Tatar soldiers outside the city would be enough to capture the city block.

Liu Xu said disdainfully: "Why don't Eunuch Zhang continue to say it? Don't think about anything? You have to question Lord Shen's words. So please forgive me and ask you if you can ask the court to give us a clear letter and when will the reinforcements arrive?"

Zhang Yong stammered for a while and couldn't answer at all.

When he was so embarrassed, Zhang Yongning chose to be a deserter. He stood up suddenly, shook his sleeves in a quiet voice, and went to the main entrance of the command post, but he had no intention of talking nonsense to Chen Xi and several generals.

Seeing Zhang Yong disappearing behind the door, Hu Songyue's mouth curled up and said hilariously: "An old eunuch, who doesn't even have a son-in-law to die, dares to come out and be proud? If I were me, I was honest, maybe one day he would return to the west, and someone in the army would lead the way for him!"

Chen Xi sneered: "If you have time, think more about how to fight the next battle. Instead of bothering to think about the issue of others holding banners to lead the way, it is better to think about how to make full use of the current terrain and landform, kill as many Tatars as possible, and persevere until the reinforcements arrive!"

In one sentence, the generals present were silent.

The worst result is that after the city was defeated, they fought to the end with the Tatars!

Now there is no news about reinforcements, and it seems that there is only one way to go to death in the battlefield. For Hu Songyue and others, this is almost the same as the end of the road!

When a person reaches a desperate situation, he can only fight to the death, but this is a helpless act in a sad and unretreatable situation. No one wants to truly embark on this path.

...

...

Soon night began, the Ming soldiers in Tumu Fort finished their supper, took a short rest, and then started to set off again.

It was surprisingly cold that night. Even in winter clothes, the officers and soldiers were still trembling with cold. Six thousand people, with hundreds of households, went out of the city with excavation tools, continued to dig trenches. Along the way, they walked through the tunnels they dug out before, and could only see the stars everywhere they looked up.

As for where the Tatar barracks are and whether the Tatars will launch an attack, they are not considered, because they are indeed unable to see them.

Even if they were asked to stick their heads out, they could not see clearly what was outside Tumu Fort in the darkness of the night.

The soldiers are now digging the fourth and fifth trenches in the middle. Now the three trenches in the front and two trenches in the back have been dug. The two trenches in the excavation play a role in connecting the past and the future. It is precisely because it is very important that the entire defense system must be constructed before the main force of the Tatars came.

Chen Xi had high requirements for the project and urged to rush to work almost every day, but in fact he was very satisfied with his current speed. In order to save his life, the Beijing soldiers in the city burst out a hundred times more energy these days. As the trenches were built, the chance of survival increased greatly.

"Do it well!"

In the middle of the night, Chen Xi left the city and joined the supervision ranks, which can be said to be sharing the joys and sorrows with the officers and soldiers.

"Everyone works hard. After the entire defense system is built, we can make full use of these fortifications and kill the Tartar soldiers!"

"Work harder, when I return to the capital, I will ask for merit from the court for you. Each person will have at least twenty coins to reward you. I will cheer up all my house and land. If I die in this Tumu Fort, as long as I am healthy for Chenxi for a day, your wife, children, and the court will not forget your contributions..."

Chen Xi had transformed into an orator at this time, going deep into the officers and soldiers, and using his extremely inflammatory words to inspire the morale of officers and soldiers.

The commanders, team leaders and team leaders used to convey his thoughts, but now they have gradually lost their effect. Only when the front-line officers and soldiers feel that the commander and the commander are in the same heart as them and are together at any time can they truly feel at ease.

Because soldiers always think that they are the ones who fight in the war, and when the commander is the leader, they will only hike behind and take the lead when they are trying to get credit. Now Shen Xi is trying to give the soldiers an illusion that there is no coward in the entire army and everyone is working together.

The reason why it is said to be an illusion is that Chen Xi knew that he could not appear on the front line of fighting on the battlefield, and he always had to rely on these soldiers to work hard for him.

Chen Xi then encouraged: "...Do your best work. Those who don't have a wife can get a reward when they go back. Those who have a wife can take a beautiful concubine and give birth to a few more fat boys for you!"

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ps: The third update is here!
Chapter completed!