After nightfall, Zhu Houzhao continued to be romantic and happy again.

Everything was as usual. I had already made a plan to send troops, but it changed in less than two hours. The repeated military orders made Wang Shouren and Hu Lian speechless, and the soldiers in the army were also struggling.

In the palace, Concubine Li arranged a program for Zhu Houzhao that night, but herself did not stay with Zhu Houzhao because she knew that even if she was accompanied, she would not be lucky enough to get Zhu Houzhao.

What Li Fei is most concerned about is military affairs. After she comes out, she goes directly to meet the eunuch Changshi Xiao Tuozi.

After Xiao Tiaozi explained the general situation, Concubine Li realized what had happened before.

Concubine Li said: "...The military sent out has been repeated several times, but it has not been done yet... According to the latest decision, Your Majesty seems to no longer plan to help Lord Shen's troops?"

Xiao Guozi hesitated and said, "Empress Li Concubine, is Your Majesty still useful to send troops at this time? Shangshu Chen has been away for more than half a month, and there has not been any news yet. I am afraid that someone will interfere with it? By the way, did the empress hear any rumors?"

Xiao Tiaozi was often tentative in words, and Zhu Houzhao appointed Concubine Li to be responsible for some of the intelligence work. In this way, Xiao Tiaozi felt that Concubine Li might have known more information than him.

Concubine Li did not answer Xiao Tiaozi's question and continued to ask: "What is your Majesty's arrangement?"

Xiao Zhuozi thought for a while and said, "Perhaps we are asking Eunuch Zhang to send someone to investigate the situation outside the pass. If the Tartars did not increase their troops before May 30, Your Majesty would still send troops as scheduled. Otherwise... Your Majesty might recruit troops from various troops to the Xuanfu Mansion, and Lord Shen would not care about his life or death!"

Concubine Li frowned: "Mr. Shen is dedicated to serving the country and leads a few people out of the frontier, using her body as bait. What is the result in the end?"

Xiao Tiaozi said, "There's no way, Empress, if Lord Shen joins the army with His Majesty, there will be no problem, but... Lord Shen insists on sending troops alone, but now there is no news. If anyone else thinks that something happened to Lord Shen... How can you make Your Majesty feel at ease? After the barrier, it will be the world of the Tatars!"

Suddenly Concubine Li stopped talking.

Everything is indifferent. Concubine Li knew that Zhu Houzhao was stupid and acted according to her preferences. Xiao Tiaozi also understood that most people in the court were greedy for life and feared death. As for military affairs, it had nothing to do with the two, and they were not qualified to participate.

"well……"

After a long time, Concubine Li sighed, "It seems that she still has to find a way to persuade Your Majesty, at least to make Your Majesty believe that only a few Tatars roam around Xuanfu are not on the scale."

Xiao Zhuozi asked, "Is this true? If there is something wrong with Lord Shen's men, or as rumored, Lord Shen immediately finds a place to hide after sending troops, and allows the central army led by His Majesty to become the target of the Tatars' attack. When the situation is critical, what should I do if it appears as a savior?"

Concubine Li shook her head: "People may do this, but Lord Shen is absolutely impossible. Such behavior will anger Your Majesty, which is not what the wise ones do. Lord Shen said it clearly before. The momentum of the uniting troops was too great. The Tatars knew that they would only flee north and flee into the desert. By then, the Ming army would not be able to advance or retreat, and when the food and grass were exhausted, they would have to return without success. Your Majesty and Lord Shen would be the laughing stock of the world."

"It is precisely because of this that Lord Shen proposed a strategy of dividing troops to lure the enemy. If the Tatars knew that Lord Shen led his troops outside and dared to attack Xuanfu indiscriminately? Humph, if the Tatars did not annihilate Lord Shen's troops, they would shrink their hands and feet in everything they did!"

Xiao Guozi originally wanted to defend himself, but he took the words back to his mouth.

He understood the same thing, different people have different interpretations of different things, and there are many variables.

As for whether the Tatars restrained Chenxi's troops and concentrated their main forces to attack Xuanfu, or whether they divided their troops to restrain Xuanfu and used their main forces to encircle and annihilate Chenxi's troops, no one could tell me why.

...

...

Yansui Town, Yulin Cialis.

The border was disturbed by the Tatars for several days, and Wang Qiong, the general manager of the trilateral system, was worried.

Unlike Xuanfu, Datong and other places, Wang Qiong adopted a strategy of fighting you and I hit me, both back and forth, offense and defense. This is because Wang Qiong has the most elite cavalry in the entire northwest army, and he is not a conservative and pedantic commander.

The Tatars showed off their might in other places, but they were hard to separate from each other on the three sides.

In a few days, the Tatars had dozens of casualties, and the two sides experienced five or six small-scale wars. However, neither the Tatars nor the Ming army did their best in the battle. Both sides were testing. During the battle, they were basically mainly attacking bows and muskets.

On May 28th, Wang Qiong learned from various places that many Tatars were attacked by the nine sides, and he had already made plans, but in order to ensure peace of mind, he still asked Xie Qian for advice.

Xie Qian was prepared for Wang Qiong's visit. After sitting down, he asked directly: "...Tartars have committed several attacks on the border, Dehua, are you feeling restless?"

Wang Qiong shook his head and smiled bitterly: "What Mr. Xie said is that the Tatars frequently invaded the three sides of the border, with more than a thousand troops, which shows that the Tatars had begun to make targeted strategic deployments for the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, Xuanfu, Datong and other places were attacked, which shows that the situation of the Shangshu Chen's troops is not good..."

Xie Qian reached out to interrupt Wang Qiong, "Why are you so sure? Isn't it possible that Shen Zhihou was passively avoiding the war and hid after going out of the frontier?"

"this……"

Although Wang Qiong adopted a strategy of appeasement towards Xie Qian and was willing to listen to Xie Qian's opinions, he also had his own pride. He speculated that the Tatars currently adopted a strategy of harassing all over the nine borders, and wanted to hold back the Ming border army and obstruct Chen Xi's previous strategy of mobilizing all walks of life to assist, and earning their contributions to the implementation of the strategy.

Wang Qiong said: "Master Xie Ge, is it unclear? Shangshu Chen led his troops out of the frontier, went deep into the grassland, and arrived at the hinterland of the Tatars. The Tatars had not even eliminated the internal troubles, so how dare they offend the border easily? Now there are news from all the military towns on the nine borders, which shows that the Tatars are already panicked!"

Xie Qian shook his head, obviously having different opinions on this, "Looking at things, you can't look at the surface, Dehua, you have to see that the number of Tatars reported everywhere in the nine borders is not a small number! Perhaps the purpose of the Tatars was to force Shen Zhihou to lead his troops to retreat by invading the border..."

"All we have to obey the order of orders. Your Majesty did not send an order, so we will defend the city. If there is no mistake in this battle, is it a merit. If there is any mistake, can you and I bear the responsibility?"

Wang Qiong was speechless for a moment and thought to himself: "I should have thought that Master Xie would say this long ago. Why should I ask him? Now that he has given the death order, I can't say that I will send troops to echo Shangshu Chen according to the original plan!"

...

...

From Xuanfu Town all the way west to Gansu Town, most of the important towns on Jiubian are worth a pot of porridge.

The Tatars were reported everywhere, with the number ranging from hundreds to thousands. Judging from the current situation, it was no longer a small group of trouble, but a large-scale use of troops. All military and towns were guarding against the Tatars to move south, and no one paid attention to the direction of Chenxi's troops.

At this time, Chen Xi had led his troops across Tucheng, went to the water sea, heading north towards Guanshan.

After the army left the frontier, there were not all grasslands along the way, and there were many mountains, rivers, hills and valleys, and the roads were rugged and difficult to move forward. During the reign of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong, the Ming Dynasty had effectively ruled in the area north of Datong, and established Xuandewei, Guanshanwei, Yunchuanwei, Yulinwei and other garrisons, but gradually gave up after Renxuan, mainly because life in the frontier was too hard and the farming and sericulture could not be implemented. Many cities built by local methods could not effectively resist the harassment of the grassland tribes, and could only undergo strategic contraction.

On the march, you can see some ancient cities from time to time, but unfortunately they cannot be used as a place for garrisons. Most of the lakes and moors around the city have dried up, the city walls have been severely weathered, and many sections of the walls are ruined and they cannot play a defensive role. It is summer, and the heat waves on the grassland are steep and the conditions are difficult. The soldiers cannot move faster. They can walk up to fifty miles a day, but they are much tired than a hundred miles a day in the pass.

After half a month of march, Chen Xi's troops are now exhausted.

Originally, the soldiers went out of the frontier with passion, but as time went by, they were getting farther and farther away from the Ming Dynasty, and their homesickness gradually emerged, and different voices began to appear among the soldiers.

At this time, most officers and soldiers didn't know where they were. They were all in the vast green grasslands. At the beginning, they might be very fresh in seeing this kind of scenery. They felt that the beautiful scenery in the world was just like this, but as time went by, the same scenery was the same every day. After aesthetic fatigue, they felt extremely bad.

Especially recently, the gradual disconnection with the rear has left the soldiers in a state of anxiety and confusion. They don’t know where Chen Xi will take them. As for the wars they once hoped for, those good wishes to make achievements have disappeared by this time, and no one knows what kind of danger they will encounter in the next moment.

On May 27, the troops arrived at the 99 Springs south of Guanshan. This is the old land of Guanshanwei. It is famous for the distribution of ninety-nine lakes on this narrow plateau with an altitude of more than 2,000 meters. The former Mongolian Khan Ogedei's tent was set up here.

The journey was exhausted, and some of the officers and soldiers under Chen Xi actually had a slight altitude sickness, which was unexpected. Seeing that the morale among the army was not high, Chen Xi ordered the troops to station at the former site of Guanshan Acropolis.

That night, Zhang Yong and Ma Yongcheng, two military supervisors, went to the central army's tent to complain to Chen Xi.

Zhang Yongdao: "Mr. Shen, it doesn't make any sense to march north aimlessly. We walked hundreds of miles and didn't even meet a Tatar tribe on the way. Either we were in the wrong direction or the Tatars intentionally avoided it in advance. We had to think of other ways."

Ma Yongcheng had obvious altitude sickness. His eyelids were edema and his breathing was rapid. He said with a sad face: "Mr. Shen, even if we lure the enemy, we don't have to go that far, right? If the enemy doesn't want to pay attention to us, don't be stubborn and not turn back... Let's just change direction. This time, there are a lot of food and supplies, and people are dying from crossing mountains and ridges. Now the horses and mules are exhausted, and I'm afraid they can't continue to move forward."

Chen Xi was looking down at the sand table. He looked calm and said without looking back: "Two people go back to the account to rest first. As for the march plan, I will make appropriate changes and keep it safe and will not do stupid things that cross the desert!"

"I hope Lord Shen can keep his promise."

After Zhang Yong finished speaking, he looked at Ma Yongcheng with helplessness on his face.

Ma Yongcheng left first, and Zhang Yong reminded Chen Xi before leaving the tent: "Mr. Shen, everything depends on the actual situation. It was not discussed before. After leaving the frontier, we will go north for a while and then retreat westward. But you always go north on this road, and there is no sign of turning to the Hetao land... If we face the Tartars here, we will not be able to take advantage of the right time, place and people, and we may not be able to lose it!"

Chen Xi raised his head, turned around and stared at Zhang Yong and asked, "Does my father-in-law not feel at ease with me?"

Zhang Yong sighed: "Our family knows that Lord Shen already has a mature plan, but he is afraid of any omissions in the information. According to our family, don't continue to walk north. Take a good rest here for a day, go west tomorrow, and then wait for an opportunity to retreat south to the pass... It's really hard to rest assured that you always wander on this grassland."

Chen Xi smiled and nodded: "Then do as Eunuch Zhang wants."

...

...

It was late at night and the river was still in the central army's tent.

The camp was quiet, and even the soldiers patrolling the night were very careful, for fear of affecting their comrades' rest.

At this time, Tang Yin yawned, opened the curtain and entered the central army tent. As soon as he saw Chen Xi, he asked: "We are now deeply in the Tatar territory, so it should be seven or eight hundred miles?"

Chen Xi smiled and shook his head: "It's only five hundred miles at most."

Tang Yin sighed: "I dare to ask, how far is this place from the Tatar royal court? Where is the main activity area of ​​the Tatar cavalry?"

Chen Xi took Tang Yin to the sand table and pointed somewhere above: "We are here now... Logically speaking, there are areas around this area where Tatar cavalry frequently move, so we have entered the hinterland of the Tatar."

Tang Yin was shocked: "Shangshu Chen planned to start a war with the Tartars here? This... this is simply self-destruction, and there is no chance of victory at all!"

Chen Xi smiled and asked, "Why did Brother Bohu say that? Don't you know that I have the status and status today because of my continuous victory over the Tatars?"

Tang Yin rolled his eyes: "It would be fine if the Tatars didn't find us. If they intended to let us come here and wait for an opportunity to set up an ambush. After we entered the encirclement, several groups of people would not be enough to fill in the crowd... This is simply seeking death, the chance of escaping is minimal, and the entire army is out of the blue!"

Chen Xi ignored Tang Yin's discouraged words and pointed to the sand table and said, "Brother Bo Hu knows that the Tatars are nearby?"

"What?"

Tang Yin suddenly became nervous and felt that Chen Xi was hiding many things about him, or that he was hiding everyone in the army.

Chenxidao: "Since we entered the grassland, thousands of people were watching, following us all the way north, but never attacked us. After that, there were no less than ten thousand cavalry staring at us on the north and east roads... The Tartar cavalry closest to us was about 80 miles away. If their light cavalry attacked, they would be able to kill us in about two hours!"

Tang Yin looked at Chen Xi with a strange look: "The situation is so bad, Shangshu Chen pretended not to know anything and continued to lead the troops north?"

Chen Xi smiled and said, "Since the Tatars are unwilling to fight with us, what are we afraid of? The more unexpected it is, the more unexpected it is. Didn't Zhuge Kongming also sing a plan to empty the city?"

"Empty City Plan?"

Tang Yin was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The empty city plan doesn't work every time. Shangshu Chen is too risky!"

Chen Xi said confidently: "This is already the hinterland of the Tatars. We are swaying. The Tatars cannot figure out what we are, and they dare not act rashly. This time, I will take the soldiers here to adapt to the environment of the plateau and prepare for the future attack and destruction of the Tatar royal court."

Tang Yin looked strange, "Shangshu Chen has considered it too far. Can we ensure that we return to the Ming Dynasty safely now?"

Chen Xi continued to point to the sand table and said, "From here to the west, Fengzhou, I am going to go there to see it, and then try to go south to the former sites of Yunchuanwei and Dongshengwei... The reason for this is that one is to lure the enemy, and the other is to be familiar with the path, and the latter is to have more meaning..."

"Don't worry, the Tatars would not be too anxious even if they wanted to start a war, because we would be farther and farther away from the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and it would be easier for the Tatars to separate the supply and assistance from the front and rear areas. Only then will they be sure that my men came out to die, and they will try to harass us and then a war broke out."

Tang Yin said: "Mr. Shen means that the Tatars have no intention of touching us for the time being?"

"It's probably that." Chen Xi nodded.

Tang Yin wanted to continue saying something, but the camp outside suddenly became noisy.

"Woooooo"

The sound of the trumpet sounded, and it was obvious that an enemy attacked the camp.

Tang Yin said angrily: "Didn't Shangshu Chen say that the Tatars will not attack?"
Chapter completed!