The substitute prince: Reported the emperor's brother at the beginning

Chapter 289: 4 Troops Arrive at Hushan Pass

As for Ning Yi, roughly speaking, he actually has a total of nearly 200,000 available soldiers.

In addition, Hushan Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack, so it is not a big problem.

Moreover, he secretly has nearly 50,000 private troops in the mountains ready to attack at any time.

Ning Yi was not too worried.

But he was more worried about the winter supply problem.

"How many cotton-padded clothes has the imperial court collected?"

Qin Haifeng smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, it's just the beginning of autumn, and the court doesn't pay much attention to it. At present, it's good enough to collect and produce a few thousand sets every month."

"Nonsense." Ning Yi snorted coldly, "Just a bunch of termites."

"Continue writing letters to the emperor, telling him that the barbarian army of 400,000 is approaching Hushan Pass. Without 200,000 sets of cotton-padded clothes, Hushan Pass cannot be held until winter."

We must threaten the emperor and let him know that if you want Hushan Pass to resist the barbarian army, you must provide enough supplies, otherwise you can't count on those people in the court to embezzle everything.

After saying this, Ning Yi asked again: "Is there any news from Han Dingtian?"

"Yesterday, General Han sent a letter saying that he can only defend the cities in Hezhou and Yunzhou. He has less than 70,000 soldiers left. The rest are relying on the help of the civilians to withstand the barbarian army's attack."

"But we are also short of military rations. I hope Your Highness can help us find a solution."

"What can we do about it?" Ning Yi snorted coldly, "There's no way this prince could get through the barbarian army and intercept the food in his hands."

"Hundreds of thousands of troops on the border have collapsed one after another in less than a year. Han Dingtian's crime is enormous."

Everyone knows that Han Dingtian is actually powerless. After all, not everyone on the border listens to him.

The barbarian soldiers were too powerful, and the vassal kings' soldiers who were also going to the front line to support were also lagging behind. He was also helpless against the vassal kings' soldiers.

It’s already pretty good that we can still withstand the barbarians’ attacks and defend the last few cities.

But the border has been breached, that is a fact. No matter how you say it, the responsibility lies solely with you.

Han Dingtian has not surrendered to the barbarians until now, so he can be said to be a loyal minister.

Otherwise, if other people had reached this point, knowing that no matter whether they won or lost, they would be sentenced to death in the end, they would have surrendered long ago and become the vanguard generals of the barbarians.

Ning Yi asked Zeng Rou to write a letter to Han Dingtian as well: "Tell him that this prince has attracted the entire barbarian army, and only tens of thousands of soldiers are left in front of him."

"He dealt with those tens of thousands of soldiers and horses and threatened the barbarian army from behind. He has nothing to lose."

"If he can't annihilate or drive away these tens of thousands of soldiers and horses on his own, he deserves to starve to death."

Zeng Rou carefully wrote very beautiful regular script with a brush, then took Ning Yi's seal of the commander of Hushan Pass and the prince's private seal, stamped it, sealed it with wax and placed it on the table.

Have the guards at the door take it and send someone to quickly deliver it to the capital and the border.

After saying this, Ning Yi began to talk about the events at Hushan Pass.

It is nothing more than that all the armies cooperate well, defend the city strictly, and prepare sufficient city defense equipment.

Next is the time to confront the barbarians head-on.

No matter how powerful he was, he knew that facing the endless stream of 400,000 soldiers and horses, it was impossible for him to go out and have fun with the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses at Hushan Pass.

Also for safety reasons, two guards from the Beijing camp were sent to various fortresses on the east and west wings.

Prevent the barbarians from launching a large-scale attack across the board.

At the same time, he hid his private army in the mountains to prevent the barbarians from breaking through the fortress and quickly blocked the roads in the mountains.

In the entire Hushan Pass, the real combat-ready armored army was at most 110,000 to 120,000 infantry, and that included the two temporary armies that he had just formed.

Of course, there are more than 20,000 miscellaneous soldiers who are responsible for cutting down trees, making equipment, transporting supplies, and carrying wounded soldiers.

Either they were forced to join the army out of fear of being killed, or they were deserters from the border who escaped back.

They were organized into groups, each with their own duties, and lived a much more stable life, with no shortage of food or necessities.

But at critical moments, Ning Yi would still give them weapons and armor, allowing them to return to the battlefield.

After all, they are soldiers themselves, and once they pick up weapons, they can still fight.

Ning Yi mobilized almost everyone he could at Hushan Pass.

Even some lightly wounded soldiers were gradually incorporated into the army.

For example, among the more than 5,000 wounded cavalrymen from the northwest, more than 1,000 of them were almost recovered, and they were immediately given good weapons, armor and horses.

Directly organized into a direct cavalry army.

As the Sixth Prince, it’s not too much for him to use the wounded soldiers to raise a cavalry army that belongs only to him, right?

Who asked the Northwest Cavalry Army to replenish a lot of newly arrived men from the Northwest?

Ning Yi naturally trained these more than a thousand people well and provided them with all kinds of delicious food and drinks.

Especially those rough guys who performed well were promoted directly, and those who had sons at home were advised to accept their sons as students of this prince.

Be good to me, even if you don't get married, after the war, I will personally give you wives.

If you are injured or disabled, this prince will arrange a job for you that you can do and support you for the rest of your life.

But if you died in battle and have no sons, I will find you an orphan to continue your family line.

Various benefits were promised, which made this group of rough and tumble soldiers from the Northeast Army extremely excited, and they shouted that they would follow His Highness to the death.

Qin Haifeng was speechless. His Highness was really spending a lot of money.

With so many benefits, I believe that soldiers from all over the world are willing to follow you and work hard. Not to mention just obeying your orders, they are even willing to rebel with you.

There are hundreds of wounded and disabled soldiers in the Northwest Army. Once all their injuries are healed, it is estimated that 4,000 cavalrymen can be gathered.

These cavalrymen are truly elite cavalrymen, and are much more reliable than those drawn from the vassal kings' troops.

The 3,000 cavalrymen in that group seemed loyal, but they followed the Northwest Army's cavalry to gain military merits, and their total casualties were less than 200.

But no matter what, they are now Ning Yi's direct cavalry team, so naturally they listen to Ning Yi.

But it’s hard to say how many people have different ideas in their minds.

As for the criminal army, it has expanded from about 20,000 people to 30,000 people, forming two criminal armies.

In fact, they are just cannon fodder, but they see hope for promotion.

Some criminal soldiers in the border army were appointed as minor officers in the Beijing camp because of their good combat performance. Who wouldn't be jealous?

Moreover, the criminal army was expanded, and those who performed well were promoted one after another. They were all very active.

They even hoped that the war would continue because they were brave enough to fight and they would be the next to be promoted.

I also hope that Your Highness can capture more prisoners. With more prisoners, the criminal army will have more people, and they can still be promoted.

More importantly, Ning Yi's treatment of the criminal army was not bad, although their weapons and equipment were leftovers.

But the food was not cut back, and except for the military pay, everything else was good.

Even if they are injured, they will be treated the same as other wounded soldiers.

With so many benefits, they were already grateful in their hearts.

He was also frightened by Ning Yi's knife and sweet dates.