stubborn thief

On the southern foot of Xing'an Mountains, on the banks of the Xilamulun River.

Liu Chengzong lifted the reins and stepped onto the earthen platform, his eyes sweeping across the rolling hills.

This barren earthen platform, two miles long from east to west, one mile wide from north to south and six miles in circumference, was the capital of Songmo Military Governorate in the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, Liu Chengzong originally had no idea where this place was. When he sent out his troops, he even set up camp on this wild earthen platform covered with beets and weeds. After sleeping for half the night, he just felt that the terrain here was flat and extremely strange.

It was not until the Northern Yuan camp reached the front line and successfully raided the tribes that had betrayed Chahar, capturing more than 100,000 people and livestock, that Liu Shizi thought about withdrawing his troops and asked Zhang Xianzhong to lead his troops to dig trenches in the rear in order to delay the pursuers.

Only then was a stone tablet from the 22nd year of Zhenguan unearthed, which recorded the surrender of the Khitan leader Daha, and the establishment of the Songmo Military Governor's Office by Emperor Taizong of Tang, with Daha as the governor, dividing the Khitan tribes into nine states, and appointing governors to lead the Khitan tribes.

Liu Chengzong and the generals in the headquarters then realized that this riverside platform in the deep mountains and old forests was once an important town that governed the Khitan.

Zhang Xianzhong had made great contributions in digging stones, so Liu Shizi immediately ordered Ding Guodong to lead the troops to retreat, and took more than 20,000 prisoners here to collect earth and stone materials and start building the city.

Building a city is a very complicated matter from site selection to construction, and it cannot be finalized in a short period of time.

But Liu Shizi’s idea is simple.

Since the Tang Dynasty built a city here, the preparatory work required for building the city must have been done in history.

The population outside the Great Wall is small, and the changes in the natural environment over the past thousand years have not been as great as those inside the Great Wall. So he can skip the preliminary preparations and plan the city construction first.

First, build city walls and dig trenches, and then send out Tangqi to conduct simultaneous surveys of the mountains, rivers, geography, hydrology, resources and other aspects of the environment.

In fact, the location of Songmo Dudu Fu City is indeed strategically located and suitable for building a city and defending it.

It is backed by mountains to the north, and the mountains all run from north to south, which means that the ravines can be used for troops to set up camps. There are rivers originating from the mountains to the east and west, and the Xilamulun River to the south. The banks of the Baicha River on the opposite side of the river are also suitable for building forts and defending.

At the same time, the banks of the four or five surrounding rivers are rich in water and grass, and crops can also be grown in the river valleys and flat hills.

If there is spare time, sufficient manpower and enough money, a complete defense system can be built with Songmo Prefecture as the center, along the main transportation routes at the southern foot of the Greater Khingan Range.

Of course, this is impossible for Liu Chengzong.

"The Eastern Tartars chased E'linchen everywhere in Khorchin. The fleeing Mongolian soldiers couldn't hold him back for long."

Liu Chengzong pointed his whip at the two banks of the river and said to Zhang Xianzhong beside him: "Don't worry about the other side of the river for now. There is no need to rush to burn bricks or mine stones. First, build a wooden fort on the high platform and tamp the soil to build a castle one mile square."

Zhang Xianzhong did not find this request difficult, and said: "General, if we just want to build a fort with a square mile of rammed earth, 20,000 laborers, including the elderly, the weak, women and children, will be enough for half a month."

"Um……"

Hearing this, Liu Chengzong slowly shook his head and said, "There are not so many people. I have ordered Wu Sihu of the Northern Yuan Camp to check the captured able-bodied men from all tribes, those aged 15 to 50 without disabilities, and recruit them to be soldiers and give them to the wives and children."

Zhang Xianzhong raised his eyebrows.

As a leader who had once started an independent uprising, he was very familiar with personnel matters. He had done these things himself when he was escorting prisoners and digging trenches. He knew what was going on, but he did not report them to Liu Chengzong.

Among the more than 20,000 captives from various tribes, there were 47 nobles and more than 6,500 able-bodied men of military age.

However, Zhang Xianzhong counted people aged 16 to 60, and was very lenient with regard to disabilities. As long as one could dig trenches or cut wood, it was not considered a physical problem.

If Liu Chengzong wanted to recruit soldiers from them, the requirements would definitely be stricter. He estimated that only about 5,000 people would be left.

This was mainly because there was a Chahar chieftain named Sang'elinqin Daiqing in the Northern Yuan camp. He used to be stationed in the Ongniud tribe and harbored deep hatred for the various tribes that betrayed Chahar.

For this battle, this guy received troops from Liu Chengzong and followed the Northern Yuan camp to attack various tribes. He cut off the right thumbs of all the enemies who dared to shoot an arrow after they surrendered. The more than 700 strong men he captured could only dig trenches and could not draw bows or serve as soldiers.

However, different people have different views on cruelty.

At least in the eyes of Zhang Xianzhong and others, Elinqin's actions in the war had nothing to do with cruelty, and could even be said to be very merciful.

On the contrary, Zhang Xianzhong could not understand Liu Chengzong's plan to give wives and children to the captured men. "This, Marshal, we are not short of troops right now, let alone these defeated generals..."

Liu Shizi shook his head decisively: "There is nothing we can do. More than 20,000 old, weak, women and children mean more than 20,000 mouths to feed. Even with the livestock harvested from sweeping across Lingdong, they can't afford to eat like this."

"The men will be organized into camps, and the wives and sons will be sent back to the southern desert to be distributed among the various Wanhu tribes. Only the able-bodied men will be kept here to repair the city wall first."

Mainly not cost-effective.

The elderly, the weak, women and children could play a very limited role in building city walls and digging trenches.

Rather than staying in the Greater Khingan Range and wasting food and fodder and the army's attention, it would be better to divide them up and start families, assign them to various tribes, and return to the south of the desert to raise sheep.

Liu Shizi estimated that there would be only a few thousand people left here, and with the second-line troops such as Ding Guodong's battalion, there would be enough manpower to repair the city wall.

In fact, even with the livestock harvest from the Beiyuan Camp, the Marshal's Army still did not have enough food and fodder.

The first war they prepared for was the Battle of Mo Nan.

To be precise, the farthest preset battlefield was no more than the north of Zhangjiakou, and the imaginary enemy was Ajige's Eight Banners Corps.

Even if the generals and officials of the Marshal's Office accepted the deployment to fight against Dai Qing in Mo Nan, the logistical supply line could only barely reach Guihua City.

We should be thankful that northern Shaanxi can be self-sufficient, as it simply has no ability to supply food and fodder.

Their grain distribution center was Xi'an Prefecture, and it was very difficult to transport grain to Guihua City.

Even this was all thanks to the Qin army's endurance in fighting. The Western Army was so accustomed to being hungry by the Ming Dynasty that the fried noodles, which were emergency military rations, could be eaten by the army as a full meal and tasted delicious.

Unfortunately, the progress of the war was not as expected. In order to avoid the Marshal's army, Ajige jumped into the wall of Xuanyun. Liu Chengzong did not want to return empty-handed, so he had to continue advancing. Now he rushed to the front line facing Huang Taiji, blocking Ajige behind.

Advance another thousand miles.

This is not easy to deal with.

The Marshal's Army usually carried enough fried noodles for each person for half a month. The first batch had already been eaten up, and the second batch was almost finished as well.

The carrier in the rear just sent someone to deliver a letter saying that there is not enough food in the back and it will take about half a month to deliver.

In other words, the Marshal's Army was literally about to run out of food.

And this is not a problem of transportation. They have no problem storing, producing, and transporting grain.

The problem is that after taking over Ningxia and most of Yansui, the army is increasing and there are more mouths to feed.

Fortunately, in the battle on the eastern foothills of the Greater Khingan Range, although the outcome was not determined on the front battlefield, the Mongols south of the desert and the Northern Yuan camp around Liu Shizi made two plundering expeditions and won a great victory.

Liu Chengzong now has 90,000 sheep and more than 6,000 cattle, enough to last for a while.

But soon the problem arose again. The Northern Yuan camp went out to plunder, and the people they robbed were all the tribes that had betrayed Chahar in the past.

The tribes did not experience the subsequent wars between Chahar and Tumed, and their people and livestock were still prosperous. They were also afraid that Huang Taiji would retreat to Khorchin, so they surrendered one after another.

The Beiyuan Camp not only brought back more than 100,000 livestock and horses, but also brought back more than 20,000 mouths to feed.

The total number of those small tribes was only 30,000 people, and they had captured more than half of them. This was not the most terrifying thing. The terrifying thing was that the Nenkorchin tribe had a large population. According to the confessions of the captives, there were more than 20,000 households on the left and right wings.

E'erlinchen and Sanang Taiji from Mo Nan have not returned yet.

Really, given the current food and grass situation, Liu Shizi is not afraid that they will suffer losses at the hands of the Eight Banners. He is just afraid that these two will return with a great victory with thirty or fifty thousand people.

By then, Marshal Liu would have gone really crazy.

Right now, Liu Chengzong's most urgent task is to quickly organize the more than 20,000 mouths into 3,000 to 4,000 families. Even if he has to give away 10,000 sheep and 4,000 cows, he has to quickly distribute them to the 230,000 households in Mo Nan.

Even if each of them only had one meal a day as a regular soldier, they had to get it to the back quickly.

Zhang Xianzhong, holding his helmet and wearing a green hat, scratched his head and said, "Without anyone, it will probably take more than a month to build this city. I'm afraid the Eastern Tartars won't give me that long."

At the end, the Eighth Prince said with a bitter face: "General, if you ask me, we might as well hold on for another half a month. After all, we have gained something from this robbery. We can drive the cattle and sheep back to Huihua City and withdraw our troops on the spot. Let the Ming Dynasty fight the Eastern Tartars. The General will take us back to Xi'an to claim the throne and live a comfortable life."

"I'm not surprised that others think so."

Liu Shizi just looked at Zhang Xianzhong strangely and asked in surprise: "With your understanding, why do you think so?"

Zhang Xianzhong was dumbfounded by the rhetorical question.

Zhang Xianzhong totally didn’t understand why he was thinking this way. What’s wrong?

Now most of the generals in the Marshal's Army think this way. Their strategic goal, namely protecting Mongolia south of the desert, has been fully achieved.

Although Wang Chengen and others fought with the Eight Banners in the north and suffered a minor loss, they won a great victory in the local battle between Mongolia and Mongolia and reaped rich rewards.

In Zhang Xianzhong's view, under the current situation, there was only one reason not to withdraw troops, and that was Liu Chengzong's face.

In his understanding, Liu Shizi is not a person who cares much about face.

Otherwise he would not have dared to half-truthfully propose the withdrawal of troops.

Zhang Xianzhong clasped his fists and said, "General, I am stupid. In the current situation, the Northern Yuan Tartars who are attached to the Eastern Tartars were easily defeated and plundered by our Da soldiers. It will take us ten years, not to mention two or three years, to recover. Once their forces retreat, those high officials of E'linchen will be able to push the ranch to the north of Liaoze..."

Listening to Zhang Xianzhong's serious analysis, Liu Shizi laughed out loud and raised his hand to interrupt, "Brother, you are thinking too far ahead!"

"First, E'linchen and his men must come back. More than 10,000 cavalrymen invaded Khorchin, but only 1,000 have returned so far. All 230,000 cavalrymen have fled. If we retreat, where will they go?"

"Second, the war has not stopped yet. We don't need to think about where the tribes in the south of the desert can push their territory after the war. If we don't control Xing'an Mountains, how can we guarantee that the nobles who advance to the east of the mountains will not collude with Dai Qing?"

"Finally, I also want to go back to Shaanxi."

"The Eight Banners soldiers march fast and are fierce in field battles. How could Huang Taiji let it go after suffering such a huge loss?"

Liu Chengzong looked at the rolling mountains in the distance, shook his head with a serious expression, "I am stationed here, Dai Qing may not want to fight with me, but if we withdraw to the west, his division will surely collide with us. If we don't inflict heavy damage on him...it will be difficult for us to return to Shaanxi."

This is actually the most critical point.

Liu Chengzong knew very well that although his Mongolian army helped Dai Qing's Mongolian tribes reduce the number of people by more than 10,000, this was a blow to the war potential rather than directly causing any serious damage to the Eight Banners.

Huang Taiji's troops still have field combat capabilities.

In this situation, people won't let them leave easily.

Liu Chengzong said no more, but dismounted and called on his guards to fetch the detailed map drawn by Tangqi while he was in the mountain valley.

He pointed with his hand on the map and said, "The southern foot of Xing'an Mountains, from west to east, is divided into two routes, north and south, through Keshiketeng. The northern route has the chariot camp of He Huchen and Feng Rang, and one man guards the pass; the southern route, I'll trouble you to supervise the construction of Songmo Prefecture City."

"As for the former territory of the Balin tribe in the east, Gao Yingdeng led the First Brigade to build trenches and forts."

"Songmo Prefecture has an excellent terrain. The Qingshan Road in the west leads to the northern route, where soldiers can be hidden and stationed, making it easier for the north and south routes to support each other."

"We will build a mountain city here. We will first tamp out the four sides of the city so that it looks like a city. If we retreat after a battle, we can also have a place to rest. As for how to build it later, don't worry about it. Wait for me to design it."

To be honest, Liu Chengzong now only knows that the Daiqing Eight Banners have strong siege capabilities.

But he didn't know how capable the Marshal's army was in defending the city.

I can only go by my feeling and think it's not bad.

Therefore, if circumstances permit, he does not plan to build a traditional castle in Songmo Prefecture, but wants to rely on his long-term accumulation and terrain advantages to design and build a new castle that can make full use of the marshal's military equipment.

It connected Yuanshangdu, Songmo Prefecture and the Balin tribe in the east, which not only protected the environment for the tribes in the south of the desert to recuperate, but also served as a transit base for blockading and attacking the Daiqing Kingdom.

"The wall doesn't have to be too high. If it fits the terrain, 15 to 25 feet will do. But the wall needs to be thick. Take the largest of the nine Later Jin-cast red barbarian cannons seized by Sanang Taiji from Daiqing as an example. Leave enough space for horses to mount the cannons and add another three feet."

Huang Taiji's nine cannons were all made of bronze, weighing about 2,500 pounds each. There were inscriptions on the cannon bodies, calling on God to support the great general.

It took 180 cows to serve the nine cannons alone. It was impossible for Liu Chengzong to bring such big guys back to Shaanxi.

Songmo Prefecture is the most suitable place to build a fort, with artillery powerful enough to control the entire southern route.

Even if Liu Chengzong cast cannons on the grassland, the cannons would not be much larger than those of General Tianyou. As long as the city walls and horse trails can accommodate this type of cannon, they can basically meet the needs of setting up subsequent cannons.

Zhang Xianzhong asked his adopted son to write down the request. He was not sensitive to numbers, so he didn't think much of it.

Instead, his adopted son Zhang Nengqi beside him whispered, "It's 15 feet high and 30 feet thick?"

Few people have seen a city wall with such a high-to-wide ratio. Its height is like a Shaanxi earthen wall, but its thickness is thicker than that of many provincial capitals.

The cross-section of the rammed earth city wall is trapezoidal. The top width is three zhang, which means the bottom width must be four zhang.

Not to mention that Zhang Nengqi had never seen such a strange city wall, even Zhang Xianzhong, who was experienced in breaking through cities, had never seen one.

Zhang Xianzhong was puzzled after hearing what his adopted son said, and asked, "General, it's so thick, what's the purpose of leaving three feet?"

"Battlements. The walls are afraid of being shattered by artillery. The battlements must be thick so that soldiers can fire calmly with firearms behind the walls."

"If the city walls are too thick, caves can be built on all sides of the inner walls, and cellars can be dug inside the city."

The Greater Khingan Range and even the entire southern desert do not have the foundation to support a large number of troops in the long term.

The entire Xing'an Mountains defense system can only support one or two battalions stationed for a long time. In fact, it is difficult to station two battalions, and it still needs to be managed.

If you want to rely on this small number of troops to hold the strategic points, you must build good fortifications.

However, Liu Chengzong was pressed for time, so he could only confront Huang Taiji on the front line while building a square fort in the rear and act accordingly.

In case the battle situation goes badly, this place will just be a base for counterattack. After the battle, they will all have to withdraw. There is no need to build it so well. It would be bad if others take it away.

"First fight and then repair."

Liu Chengzong held the whip in his hand, full of confidence: "Don't move outside the city. If we can survive this battle, we will build a sharp-angled enemy tower outside the city in the future to make it as solid as a rock, so that Dai Qing will never have a chance to plunder the west again!" (End of this chapter)