Volume 1 Nightfall Border City Chapter 58 Predicament

  October, but it's not harvest season.

  The drought-stricken grassland is like a scalp with dandruff, with patches of withered yellow and green.

  On the top of the mountain, Princess Wulan granted Che Feng the title of Khan's Guard and temporarily assigned 20 khan's cavalrymen to his command. As the drought worsened, the Tumet people had never relied on the Han people like today.

  Personally inspecting the Han village, she saw that the millet and rice had just been transported out of the fort, filling the earthen houses. Princess Wulan's mind was slightly calmed, and such a small request from Di Zhe was naturally not a problem.

  First and foremost, people must be allowed to live. Without sufficient pastureland, even if the Chahar were defeated by the Jurchen, the southern grasslands would no longer belong to the Tumet.

  Inside the village, Shaanxi's two consecutive years of drought have made Di Zhe worried.

  The drought on the grasslands will continue until when depends on the mood of Changshengtian, if it's still like this next year, I'm afraid all the people on the Mongolian plateau won't be able to hold on. The Chahar and Tumet people can migrate to the cold lands of northern or western Mongolia, but he can only lead these Han people into the Ming dynasty. Join the peasant army? Zhai Zhe shook his head with a bitter smile.

  More and more horse thieves fleeing west from Daqing Mountain, Liangcheng to Hohhot are mostly Tumet people, with a small number of Han pastoral slaves, and the Han camp system recruits them under their command. Even Tumet herders need the help of the Han camp to survive, and the horse thieves who fled west without the Han camp would not be able to survive.

  By the end of October, the weather turned cold, and this year's winter seemed to have arrived particularly early. The still water near the shore of Tuoma River had already formed a thin layer of ice. Di Zhe urgently summoned the heads of various departments back to Hanzhai.

  The conference hall, Di Zhe sat in the middle, Xiao Zhishen, Che Feng, Lei Yanqian, Meng Kang, Zuo Ruo and Wang Yi sat on both sides.

  Zong Mao and another personal soldier, Ma Gui, stood up to report. For more than half a year, they had followed Wang Yi in managing the grain and money of Di Village, were familiar with various operations of the main affairs office, and were also ordered by Di Zhe to follow and listen to discussions.

  "All the leaders of the Han Department have arrived. I've gathered everyone here today because there's an important matter to discuss!" said Di Zhe with a slight cough.

  "The situation on the grasslands is well known to everyone. With the arrival of cold winter, the houses in the Han village are fully repaired, and all personnel will be transferred back to the mountain stronghold three days later, with a dozen or so people left behind to guard Lao Ya Mountain and Hei Mountain."

  "There's another thing," said Zhai Zhe with a serious expression, "the food supply for each department will be reduced by 20%, allocated according to the number of people, and managed uniformly by the Main Affairs Office. Please settle your subordinates, anyone who dares to cause trouble and refuses to listen to advice will be expelled from the Han camp, and those who incite others to cause trouble will be beheaded without exception!"

  "Is there not enough food in the mountain stronghold?" Xiao Zhiyan's words were filled with concern, this was a matter of life and death.

  He had been escorting a mule team with Meng Kang from Sha Hu Kou to Han Village for the past two months, but he didn't understand the details.

  "Whether it's enough or not depends on how long you're prepared to hold out!" Zhai Zhe took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Xiao Zhishen. It was the confidential document he had received just two days ago.

  Xiao Zhiyan took out the letter and scanned it quickly, his expression changing slightly.

  King Jiaxin, the leader of the Shaanxi militia stationed in Hequ, was unable to withstand the attack by Cao Wenzhao's Guanning Iron Cavalry and was forced to flee. This year, Shanxi suffered a severe famine, and the government's disaster relief efforts were ineffective, leading some people to follow the example of the Shaanxi bandits and take to the hills. After leaving Hequ, King Jiaxin made contact with the Shanxi refugees, and tens of thousands of Shaanxi bandits secretly crossed the Yellow River into Shanxi.

  Bandits encountered refugees, dry firewood encountering fierce flames, the southern part of Shanxi Province was in great chaos. The bandits successively broke through several county cities, and the government army could not resist, only daring to shrink within the strong city walls, sending urgent memorials to the imperial court requesting support.

  "Next year we will definitely be unable to buy grain and exit the pass. We are facing an unbeatable enemy. Whether we, along with the Tumeds, can survive depends on heaven's pity."

  "Time can drag on for a while longer, and the hope of getting through will be a little greater!" Zhai Zhe's voice was low.

  Natural disasters are beyond human control!

  The Mongolian grasslands are in deep crisis, and anyone with a hint of awareness is preparing to flee.

  Lindan Khan led 30,000 Chahar cavalrymen out of Xinpingbao and rushed to the eastern edge of the Mongolian grasslands, surrounding the Arukorqin tribe, the Four Tribes, and the Aroyisu tribe who were fleeing east. He forcibly relocated the three tribes back to the Guoyuan grasslands, which had also been affected by drought, with poor water and grass conditions, causing widespread discontent among the herders.

  Winter has quietly arrived, and this is indeed the coldest winter Zhai Zhe has ever encountered.

  In the fort, there was a lack of warm clothing and fur. Fortunately, during the summer and autumn, they had cut down a large number of trees in the deep mountains, which could be burned for warmth. However, some people still occasionally died on cold nights.

  Having lost the only pasture on the grassland, the Tumet people could not hold on any longer. They watched as their livestock grew thinner and thinner, so it was better to slaughter them early. The weather was cold, and the meat would not spoil easily. Even if they were cleaned and processed properly, the cattle and sheep could still be preserved.

  Princess Ulan began to demand that the Han camp transport rice and millet to relieve the Tumet herders, with Wang Yi and Zong Mao jointly in charge of this matter, strictly limiting the daily consumption of grain and fodder. To survive, the Tumet people and the hunting teams organized by the Han camp searched for animals every day in the mountainous grasslands, from small mountain rats to large yellow sheep, not missing a single one.

  On the plains near the Yellow River, the Han cavalry did not get a rest due to fear of famine.

  More than 1,600 cavalrymen rode onto the frozen Yellow River and into Hexi, all Han cavalry were concentrated here.

  The bugle sounded, the cavalry took their positions, and with great effort they formed into lines. Although it took some time, and the formation was still somewhat disorganized, at least they were on the right road.

  When the left wing gives the order to blow the horn, each knight must control the speed of his horse according to the rhythm of the ox horn, maintain a neat and tidy charging formation, without requiring the fastest charging speed of the horse, but must maintain a tight formation.

  Xiao Zhiyan had just returned to the Han camp when he saw Xiao Zhe and Zuoruo training their cavalry. He laughed in praise, saying: "I didn't expect you two to train your cavalry like this! You're really not willing to be horse thieves for the rest of your lives!"

  "How can you bear it?" Zhai Zhe wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  "What?" Xiao Zhi's words revealed a playful and irreverent smile, followed by an unending stream of words about cavalry training techniques.

  The charging formation of cavalry is divided into two types, one is wedge-shaped and the other is parallel column. If you want to charge the enemy's line, the wedge shape is more suitable, because the point of attack is smaller, so the local attacking force is greater. If you want to charge a loose opponent, the parallel column is more suitable, because there are more people in combat, and it is easier to form an encirclement from both sides. No matter what kind of formation, the tighter the cavalry is arranged, the more obvious the advantage is when the short arms meet, so long-term training is needed.

  "Eight years ago, I was fighting against the Mongols in Yulinwei! But what you're doing now is that these Mongolian cavalry who are good at riding and shooting can only become targets. The dense formation cannot avoid the arrow attack at all! What I like is the light cavalry like horse thieves, coming and going freely, tracking thousands of miles."

  Zuo Ruo overheard from the side and wanted to refute, but after thinking about it, she closed her mouth and didn't speak.

  "Xiao brother, your words are wrong. When the two armies face each other, light cavalry can only harass, but the main battlefield is where victory and defeat are decided!" Di Zhe shook his head and said: "One day, we will no longer be tracking down a few hundred horse bandits, but instead clash head-on with thousands of cavalry."

  "I want to train a powerful army that can shake the northern border, and I ask Brother Xiao to help me!" Di Zhe clasped his hands together, it had been a long time since he spoke so seriously with Xiao Zhi.

  "A strong army isn't trained, it's forged in battle!" Xiao Zhiyan narrowed his eyes as he gazed out at the distant and unseen Great Ming.

  "How can you fight if you don't practice? How can you survive on the grasslands?" Zhai Zhe growled, "I didn't risk coming to the grasslands just to be a horse thief."

  "What are you shouting about? Did I say I wouldn't practice?" Xiao Zhiyan burst out laughing, his eyes shining with unprecedented enthusiasm. It turned out that this lifetime still had a chance to not become a bandit, and there was still a chance to realize the dream of leading the great army, riding iron horses across the land.

  Zuo Ruoqiang, standing on one side, suppressed his smile.

  All dreams are based on surviving the famine, and there is only hope if one stays alive.