Summer nights are very short, and Chen Kan found that he only fell asleep for a while before it was light again.
With two dark circles under his eyes, he handed over everything to the Xuanfu guard, in the Xuanfu guard's envious eyes.
Chen Kan led the people out of the gate and plunged into the mountains of the Yanshan Mountains.
The Yanshan Mountains are the only line of defense that separates the Central Plains from the grasslands. The Great Song Dynasty wanted to take back the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture because of this mountain range.
Throughout the dynasties, once the barbarians on the grassland broke through the Yanshan Mountains, the entire Central Plains would be exposed to the iron hoof of the barbarians.
It is a pity that even if the Northern Song Dynasty took back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun at the last moment, it could not stop the Jin people from going south.
The lessons learned from the Song Dynasty have well proved a truth: the rise and fall of a country depends not on the danger of mountains and rivers, but on the people's hearts.
Among the undulating mountains of Yanshan Mountains, Chen Kan led two thousand people to march rapidly.
Chen Kan was already familiar with how to travel through the mountains.
After all, the tall Yanshan Mountains are nothing more than small hills compared with the mountains in Sichuan and Yunnan.
Marching eighty miles every day was a rule set by Chen Kan.
A distance of forty kilometers is not a difficult condition for a cavalryman with two horses.
Before evening, Chen Kan led everyone to finish today's eighty-mile journey.
"Go down with the order and set up camp on the spot."
Chen Kan gave the order and the soldiers immediately took action.
The lightly-armed cavalry did not need to prepare too many things when setting up camp, so soon a series of simple tents were erected on the mountain road.
By the time the soldiers had dug the horse trap and prepared the horse ropes, the Huotou Army had just prepared their meals.
The main food used during the march was millet noodles. Although millet grains hurt the throat when eaten, they are very resistant to hunger and will not spoil even after many days of marching.
This time they went into battle lightly, so the whole army only carried dry food for twenty days. After twenty days, they had to go deep into the grassland to cut off the supply lines on the grassland.
Chen Kan took a rough noodle cake and gnawed it slowly.
The pancakes made from millet seeds taste slightly bitter, but fortunately there is no shortage of salt in the Ming Dynasty, so the saltiness in the pancakes can barely outweigh the bitterness.
Many soldiers chose to break the bread into pieces, put it in their helmets, add water and mix it into a paste before eating it.
Chen Kan originally wanted to do this, but the finished product looked too much like that, so he gave up.
After eating the cake, Chen Kan summoned several senior generals to come for a meeting.
The map was spread out, and the riding whip in Chen Kan's hand pointed at the Tumut Grassland and said: "Everyone, we can cross Yanshan in three days at most. The Tatars used heavy troops to confront the defenders in the Datong area of Xuanfu on the Tumut Grassland. So we definitely can’t go to Tumut Grassland. Let’s make an idea about where we should go after passing Yanshan Mountain.”
Looking at the unfolded map, a group of people immediately began to discuss it.
It's good that they want to go deep behind enemy lines, but now that the way out is blocked, the only option is to take a detour.
But which way to take a detour has put everyone in trouble.
The detour was too far. This time they only brought twenty days' worth of food and grass, and they might starve to death before reaching their destination.
If you get too close, you will be easily noticed by the Tatar scouts.
Don't catch up with the main force of the Tatars, then the joke will be big.
Thinking about Li Guang's fate in history, Chen Kan didn't want to be Li Guang's second best.
After arguing for a long time, Fang Xu, who finally decided on the strategy of dividing the troops, was the first to speak: "Master Marquis, the general thought that since the Tatars deployed a heavy army in Tumote River, they were naturally ready for the Ming Dynasty to send a small force to attack. , if we don’t want to expose our whereabouts prematurely, we can only turn to the northeast and enter the grassland from Saihan Mountain."
As soon as these words came out, everyone frowned.
If that's the case, the road is too detoured.
Chen Kan tapped his fingers on the table unconsciously, and then fixed his gaze on the map.
The roads to the northwest and north are blocked by the Tatars. Now there are two roads they can choose. One is to turn west and go to Lingzhou and Suzhou, and then go north to the Hetao Plain. The other is the fortress mentioned by Fang Xu just now. Hanshan, the distance between the two roads is almost the same.
But one problem is that if you take such a long detour, it will take longer. If you don’t have enough food halfway, it will be over.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Kan asked, "Where are the others? Do you have any suggestions?"
Zhou Shi took a step forward and said in a deep voice: "Master Hou, if we follow General Fang's instructions and go around the Saihan Mountains to get behind the Tatar army, not to mention whether our food is enough to eat, even if the food can barely support us to go to Saihan Mountain, the army must be exhausted after a long-distance attack."
Zhou Shi's worries were exactly what Chen Kan worried about. Although Fang Xu's proposal was sound, the road ahead was too long.
Chen Kan nodded: "Then what's your opinion?"
Zhou Shi pondered for a moment, then suddenly pointed to the small channel of the python water on the edge of the Tumut grassland: "Instead of taking a detour, I will end up tracing the source of the python water."
As soon as he said this, Chen Kan's brows furrowed even deeper, because the upper reaches of the Mang River is another inland river, that river is called the Little Yellow River, and according to the news from the scouts on the grassland, the Tatar army is Stationed by the Little Yellow River.
If we follow the python water to trace its origin, wouldn't we be heading straight into the Tatars' lair?
Seeing the worried look on Chen Kan's face, Zhou Shiyou continued to point to the upper reaches of Mangshui River and said: "Look, everyone, this is the Sanbulechuan River. The west of the Sanbulechuan River is the Hetao area, and further west is the Hetao area. Yinshan.
The purpose of the Tatars deploying troops in the Xiaohuang River is to deal with the defenders of Xuanfu and Datong. Since Sanbulechuan is a mountain range, it is impossible for the Tatars to deploy troops on the mountain. Even if they did, it would only be a small force. If we can read the past, we can reach the land west of Hexi. "
Everyone looked in the direction of Zhou Shi's finger, and sure enough they saw the small characters "Sambulekawa".
But everyone here is a battlefield veteran who has been confronting Bei Yuan all year round, and they all know that there is no road above the Sambulek River.
Therefore, this plan was rejected by everyone as soon as Zhou Shi said it.
It is a stupid act for the cavalry to go over the mountains instead of walking on a flat road.
Can we go over the past two and say that the bigger problem is that there is an army of Tatars at the foot of the mountain. Once they are discovered by the army of Tatars, let alone crossing to Hexi, it will be a problem whether they can get down the mountain safely.
Chen Kan stared at the Sambulechuan thoughtfully and murmured to himself: "It would be great if there was something that could attract the Tatars' attention and buy us time to cross the mountain."
"Uh~"
Hearing Chen Kan's muttering to himself, all the generals couldn't help but be stunned.
As Chen Kan said, if something can attract the attention of the Tatars, even if there is no road on the mountain, it is not impossible for them to climb over it. At worst, they can open their own way.
But what can attract the attention of tens of thousands of Tatars?
Should Xuanhua's defenders be forced out in full force?
For a moment, this was the only answer everyone could think of.
But Xuanda's garrison is different from Chen Kan's army. Chen Kan's army belongs to the forbidden army. As long as Zhu Di recognizes the generals of this army, it doesn't matter even if Chen Kan takes them to the horizon.
Xuanda's imperial edict belongs to the local army, and Zhu Di's imperial edict is necessary to take any action.
"Pa~"
Chen Kan suddenly slapped his forehead, he had Zhu Di's imperial edict.
When he was planning the kingdoms, Zhu Di gave him a blank holy paper to use to save his life at critical moments.
Now if Chen Kan uses this imperial edict to mobilize the Xuanfu Datong army, they do not need to actually set foot on the grassland. They only need to go to the Great Wall pass to conduct military exercises, and the Tatars' attention will definitely be attracted there.
In just three days, Chen Kan was confident that he could lead 2,000 people across the Sambulek River.
Going over mountains and ridges is nothing to him.
After a while, Chen Kan stared at Fang Xu with burning eyes. Fang Xu was a little frightened by Chen Kan's eyes and couldn't help but ask aloud: "Master Hou, what's wrong?"
Chen Kan waved to him, Fang Xu came over, and Chen Kan told him about the imperial edict.
After listening to Chen Kan's words, Fang Xu's eyes suddenly widened, and he couldn't hide the panic in his eyes.
"Master Marquis, falsely conveying an imperial edict is a capital crime."
Fang Xu comforted him in a voice that only the two of them could hear, and his heart was filled with turmoil.
Chen Kan shook his head and glared at him dissatisfied: "Just go and do it if I ask you to do it. Why are you talking so much?"
Fang Xu had a tangled look on his face. After all, what the Marquis said was too bold. Maybe he would get stabbed in the end instead of getting any credit.
Using a blank imperial edict to deploy troops, this kind of thing made him tremble just thinking about it.
Seeing Fang Xu's useless look, Chen Kan couldn't help but kick him on the butt, and said angrily: "If the sky falls, I will hold it up. If you have anything to do, just do it." , if you can’t handle it, I don’t mind asking someone else to handle it.”
In the end, Fang Xu could not resist Chen Kan's power and returned to the capital on a fast horse.
Of course, Chen Kan couldn't carry something as important as the imperial edict with him at all times, so Fang Xu needed to go back to the capital first, go to Chen Kan's study to find the imperial edict, fill in the contents in the imperial edict, and finally go to the Xuan Mansion to announce the edict. They went to the Great Wall for joint military exercises.
The entire process takes at least three days.
But compared to the time it takes to make a detour, these three days are not a waste at all.
The only thing that made Chen Kan feel a little distressed was that the blank imperial edict could only be used once, and it would be invalidated after use.
It seems that when I come back from the grassland this time, I have to ask Zhu Di for a few more imperial edicts to prepare. Maybe they will be used when.
Others looked at Fang Xu's sudden departure with bewildered expressions.
They didn't quite understand why Fang Xu showed such an expression after Chen Kan just whispered a few words, and finally ran away with a face full of reluctance.
Seeing everyone's doubtful glances, Chen Kan cleared his throat and said, "Okay, let's all disperse."
Chen Kan did not intend to publicize the fact that he had a blank imperial edict, so as not to involve them.
After hearing what Chen Kan said, everyone was curious, but they were too sensible to ask any further questions, and finally dispersed.
