On the other side of Baode City, Fugu County.

On the Linhe City Tower of Hongchengchou Fugu County, he frowned slightly at Baode City on the other side.

The court's attack on Loufan has been ongoing for a whole month, but the offensives of several armies have not made any progress and cannot capture the opponent's military fort at all.

I don’t know what those rock-solid military forts were built.

According to news from Qinglongdu, the military fort had been bombarded by more than a dozen cannons for a month, but it only broke a big hole, and the city wall did not collapse.

The opponent's artillery had long been transferred to the relatively stable enemy Taichung, and still fired guns out from the enemy's gun hole every day.

Under the suppression of the artillery fire of the Guandi Army, the Ming army attacking Qinglong Ferry Fort was still difficult to advance.

There has been no news about Gujiao Castle in recent days, and Hong Chengchou doesn’t know what the battle situation is there.

But the battle situation is probably not optimistic, otherwise the Guandi army along the Yellow River would have taken action long ago.

If the Guandi army on the other side does not move, Hong Chengchou will not move either.

He had only 40,000 troops, but he could not cross the Yellow River with a natural danger.

Just yesterday, an urgent report came from Yulin. A cavalry of unknown origin suddenly appeared outside the side wall. The number was only about 2,000, but it was well-equipped and had strong combat power.

After crossing the Great Wall with yellow sand, the army raided Heihe Dun with lightning speed and cracked down on the pier with only dozens of troops stationed in just half an hour.

Immediately afterwards, the army marched along Hengshan to Yulin, swept across all the piers and beacons along the way, and collected a large amount of wood along the way.

At first, Zhang Hengzhi, the general of Yinzhou who was stationed in Yulin Town, did not take it seriously. After all, Yulin City is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and only two thousand people pose no threat to Yulin.

Zhang Hengzhi did not send troops to intercept the opponent, but instead ordered the nearby military forts to prepare to gather three groups of troops. After the opponent went deeper, the three groups surrounded and captured them all.

However, before the three groups of troops gathered, an emergency report suddenly came from the side wall: a new army suddenly appeared in the west, with a number of about 15,000, including both Mongolians and Han people. Among them, thousands of main forces were as well equipped as the two thousand cavalry before, with almost everyone wearing armor, and there seemed to be many firearms.

Now, the army that suddenly appeared has arrived near Baichengzi and is coming in the direction of Yulin.

Zhang Hengzhi was shocked and quickly sent an urgent report to Hong Chengchou, who was confronting the Guandi Army across the river near Gushan Fort.

Hong Chengchou knew that it was Qinchuan’s Guandi Army.

Qinchuan's western expedition naturally could not escape the Ming army's provocation. Everyone knew that he led more than 10,000 Guandi Army to the Houtao area and competed with the Later Jin for the remaining troops of Chahar.

In this battle, whoever wins will win the Hetao area.

Now, Qin Chuan returns with more than 10,000 troops mixed up by Han and Mongolia, which means he wins.

But his troops were very different from when he went to war.

According to investigations, Qin Chuan led about 15,000 troops when he went to war, and the remaining troops of Chahar also had a population of more than 15,000, of which nearly 10,000 were able to fight.

If Qin Chuan incorporated the remaining troops of Chahar, his troops would have exceeded 20,000 when he returned, and if he included the elderly and weak, he should have a population of about 30,000.

However, the inquiry from Yulin showed that Qinchuan had only about 15,000 people.

The reason behind this may be that Qin Chuan suffered heavy casualties and suffered heavy losses in the battle with the Later Jin Dynasty in the Houtao area.

But there is another possibility, that is, Qin Chuan deliberately hides his strength and hides a surprise weapon.

No matter what the possibility is, Hong Chengchou has to withdraw his troops.

There are only 3,000 defenders in Yulin City. With the combat power and excellent firearms of the Guandi Army, the 3,000 troops will definitely not be able to defend them.

Yulin cannot be misunderstood, otherwise the Great Wall line in northern Shaanxi will be lost.

If the Great Wall is lost, the Guanzhong Plain principle will only be a barrier in Beishan.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou had to withdraw his troops and return to Yulin, Yinzhou Pass, Shenmu and military forts everywhere.

...

Red Salt Pond, a salt lake two hundred miles northwest of Shenmu Fort.

During the Chenghua period, a major war occurred here. Wang Yue, the governor of Shaanxi, Ningxia and Sui, led the border troops to raid the Tatar camp on the border here, and defeated the other side in one fell swoop, forcing the Mongolian Garslan tribe, Boluohu tribe and Mandulu tribe to escape from the north of the desert.

Until the late Ming Dynasty, the border troops were in ruins and the Mongols frequently stepped into the border walls and robbed everywhere, and the Red Salt Pond became their best campsite.

Today, there is also an army stationed in Hongyanchi, with a small number of only about 3,000 people. It is the Guandi army that followed Qinchuan to Ordos.

Qin Chuan stood by the lake, picked up the lake water and put it in his mouth to taste it. Then he took out his waist knife, hung some sand on a rock by the lake, and put it in his mouth to taste it again.

For a moment, he spat out the sand with a spit.

This salt lake contains little salt content, and the crystalline stone salt on the lakeside is pitifully small and has no development value.

But in the past few days, he has discovered more than a dozen salt lakes of all sizes in the Ordos area. Most of the shores have crystalline stone salts with high pure amounts. Just wash them repeatedly, cook them and crystallize them to obtain the expensive refined salts of this era.

From then on, he no longer had to go to Siyancheng to grab salt.

In addition to the Ordos region, Qinchuan also knew that there were many salt lakes in Mongolia, such as Chaerhan Salt Lake in the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai, Chaka Salt Lake, Jilantai Salt Lake in Alxa, etc. These are all famous salt lakes in later generations and are all within the sphere of influence of Qinchuan.

Today, all these salt lakes have not been exploited. The Mongols lack salt production technology and fuel, so they cannot achieve large-scale salt production. They still rely on trade with the Ming Dynasty to obtain salt.

Qin Chuan didn't know how to make salt, but some of his subordinates must understand that Song Yingxing's "The Creation of Things in Heaven" also contains the top salt making technology of this era.

If you don’t have any help, just go to Siyancheng to grab hundreds of salt cookers.

He wants to build more than a dozen salt making fields in Ordos to make salt on a large scale.

At that time, he will ask Luo Zixi, Caiju and Dongli Sanren to use chemical methods to improve the salt production technology to reduce the content of harmful substances such as magnesium and potassium in the salt as much as possible.

Salt is still a hard currency in this era, and high-quality salt is popular everywhere.

The Hetao region is already in the hands of Qin Chuan. It can not only do business with the Khalkha tribes in the north, Yarkand and Uszang in the west, but also open up the Silk Road and sell goods to West Asia and even Europe.

In addition to salt, some salt lakes also contain a large amount of minerals such as nitr and potassium.

Nitr is an important raw material for making gunpowder, and like potassium, it can make fertilizers.

Potassium fertilizer is one of the three major chemical fertilizers in later generations, and its importance is self-evident.

But making potassium fertilizer is not a simple matter. First, you have to figure out what potassium is, which ore contains potassium, and then figure out how to extract the potassium in it.

There are also nitrogen fertilizer and phosphorus fertilizer, and these two fertilizers also need to be used.

Qin Chuan would throw these problems to Luo Zixi and Caiju Dongli to think about them slowly.

Anyway, with goals and directions, you can always figure it out, just a matter of time.

If you can't make it in ten years, it's OK to have a hundred years.

As for the fuel needed to make salt... In fact, for Ordos, the most undeficient thing is fuel.

In Ordos, it can be said that there are coal mines everywhere, and less than 70% of the ground in the entire area are coal mines.

In later generations, the proven coal reserves in this place accounted for one-sixth of the total national reserves.

Qinchuan only visited for a few days and discovered three open-pit coal mines, one of which was less than ten miles from the salt lake.

Iron ore has not been found, but the minerals in this area are very rich, so there must be iron ore.

It is not too late to send someone to investigate when the situation stabilizes.

Now, Qin Chuan needs to resolve the current crisis first.

On the second day after worshiping Genghis Khan, Ye Bushou at the tilt gate was caught with Zhao Wu's Ye Bushou.

Soon, Qin Chuan learned that the territory was being besieged by the Ming army and the Later Jin Dynasty.

On that day, he issued a series of orders.

To rescue the siege, there must be a surprise weapon.

But all the 14,000 Emperors of the Emperor he brought out were in the Ordos area, and there was a Yellow River blockage between him and Jitou Pass. It took a lot of time to cross the river. Even if he marched in a hurry, it would take at least seven or eight days to return to Jitou Pass.

After returning to the Biet Pass, the army must be mobilized to assist Gujiao or Qinglong Ferry, and a few more days will be spent during this period.

When reinforcements arrive, I am afraid that Gujiao and Qinglongdu will be lost.

Therefore, Qin Chuan decided to take the empty city plan, advance as a retreat, and give it a try.

This plan should be as fast as lightning.

To have a detailed plan, all armies need to strictly follow the instructions.

We must also use the troops in our hands to the extreme, including the Mongolian cavalry of the newly disbanded Chahar tribe and the Ordos tribe, and we must also let them pick up their weapons for the time being.

First of all, he wanted to force Hong Chengchou to retreat and remove the threat from Hequ and Baodezhou.

After the threat is lifted, the Guandi army stationed in Hequ and Baodezhou can be released.

Including Luo Daniu, who is stationed at Midhead Pass.

In addition, Qinchuan also had to take the initiative to attack Yansui Town, that is, the Ming Great Wall and Military Fortress from Yulin to Laoniuwan Fort.

After controlling the Ordos area, Yansui must be defeated, because Yansui is sandwiched between Ordos and Baodezhou, like a sharp knife inserted into the Qinchuan territory.

Only by taking Yansui can we open up the channel from Baodezhou to Ordos.

After learning that Huang Taiji besieged Qingshui River, the two thousand Guandi army that had previously escorted Namuzhong back did not dare to cross the river blindly, but stopped in the Ordos area and quickly arrived at the Sari Lake.

Qin Chuan handed over the two thousand Guandi army to Hu Dawei, and drew 1,000 cavalry from Namuzhong's troops, and transferred 2,000 cavalry from Ordos' troops, and also handed him over to Hu Dawei's command, asking him to march eastward and lie outside the Ming army's Great Wall, a hundred miles north of Huangfuchuan Fort.

Qin Chuan himself led the three thousand Guandi army to camp in the Red Salt Pond, preparing to attack Shenmu Fort.

Li Dingguo had arrived in Yulin and was attacking military forts around Yulin everywhere.
To be continued...