Xi'an Fort is located between Datong City and Yingzhou, next to Huairen County in the south.
The day after the fall of Datong City, the general guarding Xi'an Baobao learned the news.
"What about ethics?"
Outside the gate of Cao Shou Mansion, a general wearing armor greeted him.
The soldier guarding the door said respectfully: "Master Chengshou is taking a rest. Zeng Guang is waiting for something to come."
"What the fuck, you're sleeping in broad daylight. Don't you know your eyebrows are burning?" Mr. Zeng in front of the door took a step and rushed in.
The soldiers outside the door hurriedly stretched out their hands to stop him, and at the same time begged: "General, please don't make things difficult for me. The great master of ethics has given an order. No one will come before I wake up."
"Get out of here." Mr. Zeng pushed away the soldiers blocking him and walked inside.
The soldier didn't dare to use force and could only follow him inside, constantly trying to persuade the other party not to rush in.
However, Mr. Zeng ignored him at all and kept walking towards the main house in the yard.
The Chengshou Mansion is a courtyard that is not too big.
Whether compared with the general's mansion in Xinping Fort or the garrison mansion in Lingqiu City, it is small, but in Xi'an Fort, it is a large courtyard.
The only courtyards in Xi'an Fort that can be compared with the courtyard of Chengshou Mansion are the two wealthy families in the fort.
Bang!
Mr. Zeng came to the door of the main house, kicked the door open and stepped into the house.
The soldiers of the Chengshou Mansion who came with him did not dare to follow him in, so they had to stay outside the door with helpless expressions.
After entering the house, Mr. Zeng opened the door curtain of the east room.
At this time, a woman's scream came from the room.
Zeng glanced at the president, his complexion was quite fair, and then his eyes fell on the undressed man on the bed.
"Mr. Zeng, you barged into my room without even saying hello. Isn't this appropriate!" The man on the bed glanced at Mr. Zeng, then picked up the trousers on the ground and put them on himself as if no one was watching.
Mr. Zeng said with an ugly face: "What time has it been? How can you still think about playing with women here? Datong City has lost it."
"Datong City didn't just lose it today, it was already lost yesterday." He Caoshou, who had put on his trousers, leisurely put on socks on his feet.
General Zeng said: "The brothers guarding the city gate sent news that a small group of bandit cavalry was found outside the city. It is suspected that the bandit army is coming towards Xi'an Fort."
"What? The gangsters are here so soon." He Caoshou's face was startled, and he began to put clothes on his body quickly.
General Manager Zeng said: "Fort Xi'an is only more than 60 miles away from Datong City. If the bandits captured Datong City, how could they let our Fort Xi'an go? Not only Fort Xi'an, but Huairen County can't escape either."
"Why did you send such important news so late?" He Caoshou complained.
President Zeng said with an ugly expression: "Yesterday, when I received the news of the fall of Datong City, I said that we should be prepared to be prepared for the incoming bandits, but your conduct is not taken seriously at all."
As he spoke, he glanced at the woman huddled at the foot of the bed.
I'm not embarrassed to say that the other person plays with women all day long.
"Hurry up and pack your things, take the garrison in the fort, and we will set off for Yingzhou immediately. Xi'an Fort cannot be defended." He Caoshou said to General Zeng after getting dressed.
Mr. Zeng shook his head and said: "We can't leave. If we had a chance to leave yesterday, there are already rebel cavalry outside the city. We can't avoid these cavalry when we leave the city."
"Then we have to leave. Xi'an Fort only has more than a hundred defenders. It can't even defend a fortified city like Datong City, let alone us." He Caoshou insisted on leaving.
General Manager Zeng said: "After leaving the city, can we outrun the cavalry of the bandits outside? Since we received the news yesterday and did not leave, now we can only defend Xi'an Fort."
"I don't think that the rebels have just taken Datong City and will not come to Xi'an Fort for a while. As long as we stick to Xi'an Fort and the imperial army arrives, we will not be considered a fugitive official who abandoned the city and fled." He Caoshou said. explained himself.
Mr. Zeng said: "We can't leave now. Let's wait for the reinforcements. I hope the reinforcements can come early, otherwise we will all become the victims of the bandits."
Hearing this, He Caoshou fell down on the bed.
"Is there really no hope of escaping to Yingzhou?" He Caoshou asked again, unwilling to accept his fate.
Zeng thought about it for a while and said: "If you change into common people's clothes, you might have a chance to escape, but if you are honest, you may not be able to keep any of the wealth you have accumulated over the years."
"Then I'm so stupid. Even if I escape to Yingzhou, when the imperial army arrives in the future, I might be the first to take the flag as a sacrifice." He Caoshou cursed.
Like a clear mirror in my heart.
Without this wealth, unless he is willing to live a life of poverty in anonymity in the future, the crime of losing the city will cost him his head.
However, after being domineering in Xi'an Fort for so many years, he could not live the life of a poor man.
General Zeng said: "Since we can't leave, we should stay and defend the city. There are more than a hundred guards in the city. If we gather all the young men in the city to defend the city, we might have a chance to hold on until the imperial army arrives."
"When will the court's reinforcements arrive?" He Caoshou looked at Mr. Zeng who was standing at the door of the house.
General Manager Zeng said: "I don't know, but the imperial court cannot leave such a big thing as the fall of Datong City. Maybe the imperial army is already heading towards Datong City."
"Even the city of Datong cannot withstand the rioters, and I'm afraid our little Xi'an Fort will be even less able to defend it." He Caoshou was not optimistic about the other party's suggestion to defend Xi'an Fort.
Xi'an Fort is located on Jingping Road, North Hebei Road, and is far less important than the border forts on Yanghe Road and Zuowei Road.
In terms of the size of the border fort and the garrison, it is far inferior to the other border forts.
General Manager Zeng said: "Fort Xi'an may not be undefendable. The reason why Datong City fell was that, first, it was too big, and second, there were not enough defenders in the city to take care of several walls. Once the bandits attacked, the defenders in the city could only Tired of running for their lives.”
"You mean Xi'an Fort can be defended?" He Caoshou asked with a frown.
General Zeng said: "As long as we find more young men to defend the city, it doesn't take too many. One or two thousand people are enough to defend several walls."
"How can there be so many young men willing to defend the city? It's not easy to get hundreds of young men to go up the city wall, let alone one or two thousand." He Caoshou said unfavorably.
General Manager Zeng said: "It's easy to get more young men to defend the city. We can publicize that the bandits will slaughter the city when they enter the city, and on the other hand, we can use part of the money to distribute it to the young men who defend the city."
Liu Heng picked up the teapot on the table and took a sip of water, and said: "The new army this time is mainly composed of captured Ming troops, and the missing parts will be supplemented by the military households in the guards. These are the personnel that the Third War Division needs to mobilize. Take the list back and prepare it."
With that said, he handed the list on the table to Zhang Hong.
