See your documentation for Visual C++ for details about compiling and linking an application for MS-DOS. The DB-Library sample programs include sample build files. The following command illustrates a typical compilation with automatic linkage:
cl /AL app.c rldblib.lib
The name APP.C is the name of your application. The large model (/AL) is used. Notice that the large model library, RLDBLIB.LIB, is specified.