On August 17, 16th year of Hongzhi, Chen Xi once again embarked on the journey out of Beijing.

Early in the morning that day, Chen Xi, under the escort of eight Beijing soldiers sent by the Governor's Office of the Five Army, came out of Zhao back to Jinggongfang's home, rode his horse along the street at the Gulou to the north, passed Gulou, and turned northwest, and exited Deshengmen from Gulou Xixi Street.

From Deshengmen to the west of the city, it will take about six or seven miles to the Xidaying of Jingying. No one came out to see you off that day, and even the court did not send anyone to practice it.

Chen Xi met with Zhang Yong who was riding a carriage at Deshengmen. Just as he was about to set off, a carriage arrived quickly on Deshengmen Street to the south.

Before dawn, the city gates had not officially opened. In addition, the martial law in the capital was strict, most of the city gates in the west, north and south of the city would not open. Only the Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen in the east of the city would open for less than half an hour every morning and evening. Even the people entering and leaving the city would not go to Deshengmen.

"Mr. Shen, it seems that the court has sent someone to come." Zhang Yong was very happy. He was not forgotten by the emperor and actually sent someone to see him off.

At this time, Deshengmen had been ordered to open. Chen Xi was about to head to Xidaying, but at this time he had to stop and see who came.

When Ma Wensheng got off the carriage, Chen Xi was a little surprised.

When he left at home, Chen Xi had already received a notice from the Ministry of War that the court had specially sent him 800 livestock, saying that this was a "charter" by the court, and he guessed that the matter might have something to do with Ma Wensheng.

Taipu Temple obeyed the Ministry of War. Now the Minister of War Liu Daxia is in the northwest and can allocate 800 livestock at a time. Looking at the capital, there is no one except Ma Wensheng.

Chen Xi quickly turned over and got off the horse, greeted him, and said respectfully: "Shu Ma."

Ma Wensheng waved his hand, without sticking to etiquette, and said directly: "Chen Xi, I am here to see you off today."

Not only did Ma Wensheng arrive, but he also brought wine. It was just like "I advised you to have a glass of wine and go out to Yangguan without any friends." Chen Xi was inexplicably moved because only Ma Wensheng came to see him off all over the court, and others did not take him seriously... After accepting the emperor's order on the night of August 15, Chen Xi did not communicate with Xie Qian, and Xie Qian did not explain to him in the last time before leaving the city.

The Minister of Personnel personally toasted Chen Xi, and he had to drink all this wine.

Ma Wensheng helped him obtain 800 livestock, which did not have much effect on cavalry combat, but with these 800 livestock, the speed of transporting military rations and materials would be accelerated, and the marching speed would be increased, bringing higher mobility to the troops he commanded.

Chen Xi even imagined that if he was trapped in an isolated city, he could slaughter these 800 livestock to satisfy his hunger. It would be a great gift.

It is said that he practices wine, but the wine is light. After drinking it, Chen Xi feels that it is no different from drinking water.

Ma Wensheng put down his wine glass and said, "You have some daily marching strategies here, as well as guidance on the road conditions in the northwest in the past few years. I hope it will be helpful to you!"

Ma Wensheng asked the servant to take a brocade box and open it. There were many scrolls of books in it. Because it was too many and complicated, even if it was helpful to Chen Xi's march, he would not open it to check it carefully. Chen Xi bowed: "Thank you, Shangshu Ma, the student will say goodbye!"

"Um."

Ma Wensheng nodded and finally instructed, "The battle in the northwest is about seeking stability. Do not advance lightly. It is good that Yansui can take it back. If you can't get enough, you might as well wait three months later. Beiyi will not be in love with the battle! Go!"

What Chen Xi thought before, it was unlikely that the Tatars would continue to use troops in winter, because the north of the Little Ice Age, the snow and ice, whether it was the grassland or the North China Plain, were basically the case, and it was easy to be occupied by the Ming Dynasty to be in a good position in time, place, people and defeated, and at the same time, the Tatars were not so stable.

The strong prey on the grasslands, one rises and the other goes down. The Tatars were originally in internal strife, and they had to be wary of sneak attacks by tribes such as Urianha, Ola, and other tribes. The Tatars had a high possibility of choosing to stop when they were better. Chenxi rushed to the northwest. As long as they could drag the Tatars to withdraw their troops until the day the Tatars withdrew their troops, the team would not suffer much. If they achieved some results or even falsely reported some results, they could get away with it.

Chen Xi thought to himself: "Before the expedition is on the way, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of Personnel, came to give me a face-to-face message, and was talking about how to deal with the court's errands to save his life. The pace is wrong! Shouldn't he come to persuade me to be loyal to the country?"

Chen Xi did not say more, but after bowing, he rode on his horse. As the commander of the central army, he would always be detrimental to the barracks when he rode a horse and went to the barracks in a carriage. It was not that Chen Xi had to ride a horse. After the army set off, he was about to get into the carriage and go to bed. After all, he had not had a good rest these days.

...

...

In the military camp, six thousand soldiers were all in one go.

It is said to be six thousand soldiers, but in fact it is the reorganized personnel of three thousand households in Beijing, and more than two thousand scattered personnel, most of whom are rebellious and mixed with the old and weak. The situation of this team is disappointing at first glance.

As the garrison army in the capital, the Jingying camp was very aging and weak during the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods.

Originally, when the veterans were thirty years old, they had to pass their qualifications to their children and nephews, which was basically in line with the Ming Dynasty's military household registration system. However, due to the serious military affairs, many elderly, weak, sick and disabled people continued to stay in the army. These people took the salaries of the court and let young people work, farm and support their families, which in disguise weakened the combat effectiveness of the Ming army.

Chen Xi didn't have time to check how powerful the six thousand soldiers and horses Zhang Heling had. He only knew that the number of these six thousand soldiers should not be small. After all, no one dared to tamper with it, so he would have to be beheaded.

In addition, the people who transport food and supplies should have a number of 2,000 people according to the configuration of one person and one horse, and the entire team should have a total of 8,000 people.

But these eight thousand people were not enough to make Chen Xi muster up the courage, because Chen Xi alone knew that the number of Tatars invasion south was 50,000 or 60,000. Even if he had collected the remaining troops along the way, it would not be possible to gather an army that could fight head-on with the Tatars in a short time.

Unless he was preparing to pass Juyong Pass and dive into it casually, the Tatars would not continue to move westward if they did not retreat, but the consequence of this would be that he would be impeached by the court immediately.

Even if according to Ma Wensheng, he could passively avoid war when facing the Tatars, he led his troops through Xuanfu and Datong, and could only be carried out when approaching the three sides. In this way, even if a small-scale battle with the Tatars was fought, he could report a "great victory" to the court.

Zhu Hui, Qin Hong and others have done this before. Even if the court knew that there was a false claim of merit, they would turn a blind eye because the court needed to explain to the people of the world and needed to use the Northwest Victory to establish authority for the emperor and the court, making the people of the world feel that no one can shake the Ming Dynasty.

If the emperor and the court were calculating with these people who falsely claimed their contributions, they would be shooting themselves in the foot, which would be very unwise.

When you leave the capital and go to the three northwest areas, you usually walk through Juyongguan and exit the Nei Great Wall, then pass through Huailai, Xuanfu, Tianzhen, Yanghe, and arrive in Datong.

Chen Xi didn't dare to think about how to go west in Datong, because most of the roads in the first half were along the Great Wall line, which was a panic and could meet the Tatars all the way.

This road was basically the route that Emperor Yingzong of Ming was personally in charge of the army. Emperor Yingzong of Ming led hundreds of thousands of troops and horses to finally be unable to return to Juyong Pass. Chen Xi only led eight thousand old and weak, and it was a luxury to walk around outside and want to come back.

Unlike the previous expeditions, where women were accompanied by him, Chenxi's expedition was completely alone. The personal guards around him were assigned by the Governor's Office of the Five Army, and the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp were famously difficult. The Zhang brothers caused him a lot of trouble. The commanders, commanders, and leaders under his commanders did not even look at the most basic respect for him.

Chen Xi even felt that these people would scatter after leaving Juyong Pass, because none of them were going to fight the Tatars.

As the army became farther and farther away from the capital, the soldiers in the army almost burst into wailing, and the marching speed was very slow. At this speed, it would take five or six days to leave Juyong Pass alone.

However, the road from Juyongguan to Beijing was quite stable. A group of soldiers in the Beijing camp were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, acting procrastinated and listless, and Chen Xi had no good idea about this.

Even Chen Xi himself showed a cold attitude during the first few days of his expedition, as if he had nothing to do with him.

I have no acquaintances around me. I can move my guards on weekdays, lying in the carriage to sleep during the day, and lighting candles in the central army tent until late at night.

I don’t know anything about the future, but behind it is the power of various emperors, so no matter what, the team still has to continue moving forward.

The court put a lot of pressure on Chen Xi, and seemed to be counting on Chen Xi to lead these 6,000 soldiers to save the war in the northwest. However, there were more than 200,000 Ming soldiers in the northwest. With so many soldiers, the individual combat capabilities were far greater than those of the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp led by Chen Xi. Chen Xi really couldn't figure out the reason why he could become the savior.

...

...

On August 21st, the party finally arrived at Juyongguan.

During the journey to the border, I didn’t see any remnants who retreated from the front line. There were many people fleeing. In addition, the autumn rain kept coming, making the road very difficult to walk.

Chen Xi knew that he was ready to confront the Tatars head-on at any time after Juyong Pass. If he could stay in the pass for one more day, he would give the Tatars an extra chance to withdraw.

"Sir, you see that this war has been going on for a while. The soldiers want to ask, when will the reward be given? Before the war, I didn't have any confidence. Not many people were willing to fight to the death!"

When they approached Juyong Pass, the middle and lower-level officers found that Chen Xi had no intention of paying the soldiers, so someone took the initiative to ask Chen Xi for it.

The intention of this group of soldiers in Beijing was very obvious. They took advantage of Chen Xi's failure to understand the rules of marching and fighting, and thought that they would issue some rewards to stimulate the morale of the army before the war. After receiving the money, they could make a perfunctory approach to Chen Xi. After passing Juyong Pass, they would scatter. At worst, they would say that Chen Xi's team was destroyed after the defeat of the war, and that it was not an active deserter, so that they could escape the fate of being beheaded.

It makes sense that the law in the military does not blame the public. If all the soldiers of the army are deserters, they can only be regarded as defeat, not blamed on one or two people.

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ps: The second update!

I hate winter so much. It’s basically noon to wake up in the morning, two chapters in the afternoon and one chapter in the evening. It’s so difficult to code the fourth chapter!
Chapter completed!