The Haihe River burst its banks, causing the water to flow backward. The entire Datong Prefecture sank into the Wang Yang Swamp.
In the flood, there were all kinds of sand, grass, and trees. The muddy sand and flood were mixed with the grassland horses and soldiers of the Tartar army.
When the flood came, it was swift and fierce, and there was no way to avoid it.
The terrain of Da Tong Prefecture was very strange. Da Tong Prefecture was a basin, and water gathered from all directions, forming a lake in Da Tong…
Wang Shouren's water plan was very dangerous. If the flood wasn't strong enough and couldn't disperse the Tartar camp, it would flood Datong Prefecture and let the Tartars reap the benefits!
Thus, Wang Shouren had to wait until Iron Gut succeeded and the 300,000-strong Tartar army lost their leader before they dared to breach the dam.
Wang Shouren also took a huge risk. Water and fire were merciless. Who knew what kind of casualties the flood would cause?
Da Tong Prefecture was located in a basin. Once the flood came, it would definitely destroy the city gates. If the Tatars were not destroyed, it would create a convenient condition for the Tatars to break through Da Tong Prefecture.
However, in order to keep all the Tatars here, Wang Shouren had to use this plan because there were too few cavalry in Datong Prefecture. They couldn't fight the Tatars at all. If the Tatars retreated, they couldn't send people to chase them.
On the city gate of Datong Prefecture.
Wang Shouren looked at the group of Wang Yang in front of him and frowned.
The officials of Da Tong Prefecture went up to the city pass to report the losses.
"Reporting to Commander, outside Da Tong Prefecture, six counties were hit by the flood, and more than 70,000 houses collapsed.”
"How are the casualties in the six counties?”
"Commander, two months ago, the Tartars learned that the people of the six counties had already moved to the city pass and settled down. However, I'm afraid that the autumn harvest of Datong Prefecture this year will be fruitless.”
" 70 - 80% of the farmland in Datong Prefecture has been flooded…"
Wang Shouren listened to the official's report and frowned.
Qi Jingtong stood beside Wang Shouren. This time, the Datong Prefecture had resisted the 300,000-strong army of the Tartars and killed them all. Their battle results were brilliant, and it was inevitable that their fields would be flooded.
"Sir, but this time, there are countless fish and prawns washed down by the flood. The people in the city are catching fish in the water…
Some of the people brought the dead horses of the Tartars to their homes and cut their meat to marinate…"
Wang Shouren's eyes lit up when he heard the official's report.
The warhorses had just drowned in the flood, so they were naturally edible. It was understandable that the people of Datong Prefecture would cut off the horse meat to marinate it for the winter. After all, the fields were flooded. Without the relief of the court, this winter would be very difficult!
"Sir, within a hundred miles of Datong Prefecture, there are swamps. The Tatars have nowhere to run. More than half of the three hundred thousand Tatars have been killed or injured, and some of them want to surrender.”
When Wang Shouren heard the official's question, he asked,""How long can the rations of Da Tong Prefecture last?”
" Sir, it's enough for two hundred thousand soldiers to eat for three months…"
"What if you count the 800,000 citizens of Datong Prefecture? Their farmlands had been destroyed. Would these provisions be enough to relieve the disaster?”
Cold sweat broke out on the official's forehead.
"Give these Tartars a chance and expel them from Da Tong Prefecture. The food in Da Tong Prefecture is not enough for our own people!”
" Sir, Datong Prefecture is surrounded by swamps…"
Wang Shouren turned to glare at the official and said,""Do you want me to be clearer? I don't want to hurt the people of Datong and leave behind a bad reputation for killing prisoners…"
The official immediately understood.
Qi Jingtong looked at Wang Shouren and immediately understood his thoughts.
Wang Shouren didn't want captives, but he didn't want to bear the infamy of killing captives. However, if he released the captives, would they be able to walk out of Datong Prefecture alive?
They didn't have any boats in the swamp that was a hundred miles wide…
Most importantly, would the soldiers of Datong Prefecture who hated them allow them to escape?
If he let the tiger return to the mountain, he would definitely suffer!
……
Wang Shouren issued one decree after another.
Consume Tartar weapons and provisions.
They marinated the dead warhorses into horse meat. This time, the Tartars sent 300,000 troops, including 400,000 warhorses of various kinds.
Da Tong Prefecture had a total population of 800,000. After marinating the dead horses into horse meat, each person would get half a horse.
In Shouren Wang's opinion, the most important thing was to marinate the horse meat. If another day passed, these dead horses would go bad and the meat would not be fresh. They could only be buried on the spot.
When the flood came, almost all the warhorses of the Tartars died. Out of 400,000 warhorses, only 5,000 survived. The rest were drowned.
When it came to marinating horse meat, the people of Datong Prefecture fought to be the first to do so. Almost all the families, old and young, went to work. The government was responsible for distributing salt, and the people of Datong Prefecture marinated the horse meat on the spot.
After the large pieces of horse meat were cut off, they were smeared with large amounts of salt and marinated in a jar.
In addition to marinating horse meat, the surviving Tartars were pushed off their boats and shot dead on the spot after being expelled from Datong Prefecture.
The food in Da Tong Prefecture was not enough for the people of Da Tong Prefecture to survive the winter, so how could there be extra food to feed the captives?
On the city pass, Wang Shouren seemed to be in pain.
" These warhorses are all excellent warhorses. If we can defeat the Tartars head-on, we can build a cavalry without the flood…"
" More than half of these armaments were also washed away by the flood. What a pity, what a pity…"
War was cruel.
The punishment for the defeated side in war was even crueler.
In Wang Shouren's eyes, his spoils of war had been lost, but the defeated Tartars had lost their lives here.
The total population of the Tartar tribe was only 1.9 million. These 300,000 Tartars were all the young adults of the Tartar tribe.
After this battle, the strength of the Tartar Kingdom would decline severely!
It was not an exaggeration to call this battle a war that destroyed a country.
If the Ming Dynasty loses, the Tatars will invade the Forbidden City!
Now that the Tartars had been defeated, their national strength had declined. The eighteen tribes of the Tartars were all young, old, women, and children. They had almost no ability to resist natural disasters and military disasters.
400,000 warhorses was an astronomical figure in the Ming Empire, and it was also an astronomical figure in the Tartar Empire. The Tartar Empire was good at raising horses, but 400,000 warhorses could also be gathered by the entire country.
Warhorses were different from other horses. Only one out of ten horses could become a warhorse.
"Write a memorial to His Majesty about the situation in Datong and request His Majesty to provide disaster relief, allocate funds, deploy herbs, and prevent the plague!”
"Yes, sir!"
A civil servant wrote quickly. After writing the memorial, he handed it to the courier station. The courier station sealed the red card and sent it to the imperial court.
……
Forbidden City.
Morning court.
Zhu Houzhao and the civil and military officials were discussing in the imperial court.
Hurried footsteps sounded.
"Report! Report! Datong Prefecture, 800 li, urgent!"
"Good news! Good news! Wang Shouren had won a complete victory, and the enemy troops of the Tartars were all killed! Thousands of warhorses and countless weapons were seized!”
All the officials were overjoyed. Wang Shouren did not disappoint them and defended Datong Prefecture!
Zhu Houzhao also suppressed the joy on his face.""Hand it over!"
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