prosperous age

Chapter 218 Chapter 217
The river is flowing quietly. Because of the nourishment of the river, the vegetation on both sides of the river is also growing lush. If it is not for the large yellow land in the distance, no one would think that this place is close to the Gobi.

Between the quiet world, there was a rumbling sound like muffled thunder in the distance.

Different from the thunder that sounded here in the past, this time the thunder seemed to be overlapping and endless, and the ground began to tremble slightly.

On the horizon in the distance, a group of black dots appeared, and as the black dots enlarged, a team of horses was running fast from far to near.

Farther away from the cavalry, there were sporadic scout teams galloping back and forth around the cavalry, protecting the cavalry from being disturbed by unwelcome people.

"Where are we now, and how far are we from the place you said?"

In front of the horse team, a young man who was guarded by many soldiers turned his head and asked a middle-aged general beside him.

"This should be near Dahuangzhuang, and there is a westward section of the river a little further ahead. Let's go there to rest."

The middle-aged general looked around first, and then he opened his mouth to answer.

"You should work harder during the break. Arrange the scouts in rotation so that they cannot be discovered by the Tartars."

The young man swung his whip on the horse's buttocks, and steered the horse under him to continue running forward.

They were Wei Guangde and Ma Fang who quietly left Huailai County under cover of darkness.

After weighing the balance, Wei Guangde still planned to take a risk and use the strength of the Ming Army in Baoan Prefecture to attack the Alda Department when Yanqing Prefecture and Huailai County were short of troops.

As for Liu Dazhang, the Chief Military Officer of the Xuan Mansion, Wei Guangde had also thought about it and made due preparations.

Before leaving Huailai County, Wei Guangde had already sent letters and memorials to Mr. Weng Puweng in Juyongguan. He was asking Mr. Weng to take over the power of temporary admiral of the Xuanfu Army in Baoan Prefecture. At the same time, he also sued Liu Dazhang. The envoy he sent to Baoanzhou found out that Liu Dazhang, the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, feared the enemy and fought cowardly, and suppressed them under the situation that the generals of the Xuanfu were in charge of the battle, and they were not allowed to fight against the Alda Department.

The memorial is his own detailed battle plan, which he can only deliver to Beijing by transferring to Weng Pu.

Not only because his current position is on the battlefield, but also because up to now, Wei Guangde still doesn't know where the General Secretary's yamen is, as if he hasn't been there yet.

Of course, he will not forget to write at the end of the letter that the military situation is urgent and dare not delay. If Mr. Weng has new orders, please send them directly to Baoan Prefecture.

After the documents were sent away, Wei Guangde immediately summoned the civil and military officials of Huailai County, including the magistrate of Huailai who he didn't think much of.

The meeting was held very quickly, Wei Guangde had no time to discuss tactics with them, and directly released the news that he was leaving Huailai County. The defense of Huailai County was still in charge of the Huailai Guards. Infantry also joined the city defense.

The grain and grass were temporarily stored in Huailai County, and the magistrate of Huailai was in charge, while Ma Fang and Dong Yiyuan's troops were taken away by him, and Qingqi reduced all the way to Baoan Prefecture along the Yanghe River.

In order to prevent being discovered by the Tartar scouts, they scattered many scouts along the way to cover up the news.

Of course, this work is now done by Ma Fang's team, and Dong Yiyuan's more than 400 people are brought by his side as guards. After all, they have been traveling for more than a month, and they are familiar with each other.

Although I came here through time travel, this is not a game, I can start over after I die, God knows if I can go back again when I am in danger, maybe I am really dead.

Better to live than to die, Wei Guangde cherishes his life very much.

This team of people hurried and traveled day and night, and it took more than a day to reach the vicinity of Baoanzhou.

"My lord, Baoan Prefecture is more than ten miles away, and if you go further, you should be able to meet the Xuanfu Rangers."

Ma Fang introduced Wei Guangde.

"Find a place to rest and go to town tomorrow morning."

It should be considered safe when we arrive near Baoanzhou, but the time is wrong.

Although it is better to go directly to the city to rest now, Wei Guangde came here with a purpose, everything must be cut quickly, and he will carry out a surprise attack on the Altan Khan camp on the night of entering the city, so he has no more time to spend here.

You must know that there are not enough troops in Baoan Prefecture, and Ida Khan should also realize that, so the most likely measure he will take is to transfer a team from Yanqing Prefecture to strengthen the combat power in Baoan Prefecture.

It was already late at night, and they found a place nearby to set up a temporary camp and began to rest. After Wei Guangde had put on his clothes and slept, only Ma Fang was still patrolling the camp, arranging patrols around the camp.

Wei Guangde closed his eyes and just looked at it from a distance, he didn't care anymore.

During this day, Wei Guangde also noticed that Ma Fang's ability is indeed very strong, and he is more familiar with the military than Dong Yiyuan. He is very skilled in camping and sending out patrols, and Ma Fang's people are also meticulous in obeying his orders. Obviously They all believed in him as a general.

The people in Huailai County didn't know what Wei Guangde was doing in Bao'an Prefecture. The only people who knew his purpose here were Ma Fang and Dong Yiyuan.

What Ma Fang had always wanted was to raid Al Khan's headquarters. Before that, Liu Dazhang had been suppressing him from acting rashly. Now that Mr. Xiao Wei wanted to scratch the tiger's beard, he was naturally willing to accompany him. He followed orders anyway.

As for Dong Yiyuan, although he also agreed with Wei Guangde's plan in his heart.

In fact, strictly speaking, this plan should be Ma Fang's idea, but he can't implement it, so Wei Guangde must be used to operate it.

Like Ma Fang, Dong Yiyuan only needs to follow Wei Guangde's orders. Anyway, Mr. Wei is responsible for anything, and has nothing to do with him.

And this is also a gamble for Wei Guangde, the winner takes all, and naturally no one will be held accountable for what he did, if he loses, Wei Guangde is not sure whether he will go to the prison.

But judging from the current situation, he feels that the probability of losing is not high, and the best thing is to keep it as it is.

So, it's worth a try.

Early the next morning, after everyone got up, they simply washed up by the river, and immediately rode their horses towards Baoanzhou.

They bypassed Baoanzhou and passed from the west of Baoanzhou, and they didn't want to be discovered by the detectives of the Ministry of Defense.

Such a large team was discovered by the patrol cavalry of the Xuan Mansion ten miles away from the west gate of Baoan Prefecture. Fortunately, there were Ma Fang's men and horses at the front and back, so it was not unfamiliar to the thousands of cavalry in the Xuan Mansion.

Seeing that it was Ma Fang's team, Xiao Qi, the leader of the team, didn't think much about it except that he felt strange.

Ma Fang is also famous for her bravery in the Xuanfu army, she would never do anything to betray the imperial court, she just took a few more glances at the Ji Town cavalry in the team and let them pass, and at the same time sent a fast horse Report back to Baoanzhou.

Wei Guangde and the others didn't delay, they arrived at the city of Baoan Prefecture without slowing down. At this time, the main generals of the Xuanfu Army of Baoan Prefecture had already gathered at the gate of the city to welcome them.

As for Xun Qi, they naturally don't know who Wei Guangde and Wei Censor of the Imperial Academy are, but Liu Dazhang and Tian Shiwei know that they have seen the official documents written by Wei Guangde himself, and Wei Guangde's signature is also on them.

After exchanging simple greetings at the gate of the city, Wei Guangde was welcomed into the city government office by them.

In the lobby, Wei Guangde took Tian Shiwei's seat before, and Tian Shiwei could only sit behind Wei Guangde.

"I don't know Wei Guangde's sudden arrival, but what is the order from Mr. Weng?"

When someone served tea after sitting down, Wei Guangde would not dislike the bad tea, so he took a sip after picking it up, it was a bit astringent, but he could still swallow it.

Regarding Liu Dazhang's words, Wei Guangde just turned his head to look at Liu Dazhang and said with a smile: "Hasn't Mr. General Soldier received the official document we sent from Juyongguan?"

Wei Guangde pretended to be surprised, and said loudly: "I wrote an official document with my own hand, and later my clerks also wrote such an official document. The seals of Mr. Weng and me are all printed by myself."

Wei Guangde arrived in Baoanzhou without waiting for Weng Pu's instructions in Huailai, but there was an official document before that Wei Guangde would escort food and grass to Baoanzhou to supervise the battle.

But when Huailai came, he changed the itinerary and reported it to Weng Pu, but he didn't know whether Weng Pu passed the news to Baoanzhou.

Now, he is also testing whether Liu Dazhang knows that the previous official document has been invalidated.

As for the question raised by Liu Dazhang, he had already figured out how to deal with it before leaving Huailai County.

There were two official documents before and after urging the Xuanfu army to fight, and I was here to supervise the battle, so naturally there was no need for Master Weng to issue a new order.

Saying it out loud here today is a joke, but it is actually telling all the generals in the hall that they have already ordered the Xuanfu army to fight the Tartars, and they did not stand still like Liu Dazhang did.

"Master Tian, ​​hasn't the Commander's Office received any orders from Lord Weng?"

Wei Guangde turned his head and asked Tian Shiwei, the deputy commander of Xuanfu.

"this."

Tian Shiwei had a smile on his face at the moment, and he really hesitated and didn't know how to answer.

Wei Guangde opened his mouth at this moment to take advantage of the fact that there is a military order, so he can only look at Liu Dazhang, and it is Liu Dudu who is here to answer the question.

"Master Wei, it's not that we don't want to fight, it's that there are more than [-] Chen soldiers from the Ida Department in the city of Bao'an Prefecture, which is comparable in strength to our Xuanfu army, so we can't fight this battle."

When Liu Dazhang saw Tian Shiwei looking at him, he cursed inwardly as a waste, but he couldn't help but answer Wei Guangde's question.

"We have received the official document, so we naturally know what Mr. Weng means, but this time the Xuanfu dispatched more than 10,000 troops, which are only comparable in strength to the Ida Department. I think it is better to wait for the Datong Army to arrive before fighting. Our army has a better chance of winning. Bigger, please also learn from adults."

Liu Dazhang said.

For a small official from the seventh rank, Liu Dazhang can only have one adult at a time.

There is no way, these days, the gentlemen are noble and the military are cheap, and the other party is still a member of the Imperial Academy, so he is considered one of the prime ministers, so it is best not to offend.

Then Wei Guangde looked back at Liu Dazhang and said with a smile: "Master Weng knows your difficulties, so he sent me here."

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde looked around at all the generals in the hall, and then said word by word: "That's why this Huailai operation happened, I asked some soldiers to go to Huailai County to deploy defenses.

Now that the number of troops in the Anda Department of Baoan Prefecture has been greatly reduced, it is time to fight, what does Lord Liu think? "

While exchanging greetings at the gate of the city, Wei Guangde asked how many people the IDA Department had dispatched to Huailai County in the past two days. After leaving Huailai County, Liu Dazhang couldn't hide it at the time, so he naturally said that there were about [-] people sent to Huailai County twice.

Only now did he understand what was going on, it was Weng Pu and Wei Guangde's plan to let me take part of the troops, so that the Xuanfu army had no reason to continue to delay and not fight.

Liu Dazhang never doubted the authenticity of Wei Guangde's identity. Although he didn't know Wei Guangde, he still knew Dong Yiyuan who was next to Wei Guangde, Dong Yang's son.

In fact, when Dong Yiyuan appeared, some of the Xuanfu generals recognized him. His brother was still serving as a guerrilla general in Xuanfu, but he was not transferred this time.

Naturally, during the meeting ceremony, he also knew that the guards sent by Jizhen this time when Weng Pu and Wei Guangde patrolled the border were Dong Yiyuan's subordinates.

Although it was strange that Wei Guangde came to Baoan Prefecture suddenly, but now the mystery has been revealed, and they still want the Xuanfu Army to fight.

Helpless, at this time he could no longer find a reason to refuse.

"I don't know what the adults are planning."

Liu Dazhang can no longer fight timidly at this time, he can look the same in front of the Xuanfu generals behind closed doors, but he can't at this time.

"Of course it was a sneak attack."

Wei Guangde simply said five words, and then saw Liu Dazhang's complexion changed, and then continued: "According to the documents you sent before, the food and grass in Baoan Prefecture are only enough for the army to use for a few days, and the food should be exhausted. , so we can't wait any longer.

What's more, as time drags on, once our Ministry gets over it and transfers people from Huailai County, or transfers people from Yanqing Prefecture, the current situation in Baoan Prefecture will change. The county is here for a reason. "

Wei Guangde didn't intend to say that the grain transport convoy led by Li Zhen would arrive at Yanghe after a big detour in the next three or four days, to bring urgently needed grain and grass to Baoanzhou.

Quick battle, lack of food and grass is also one of the reasons.

Seeing Liu Dazhang sitting there without speaking for a long time, Wei Guangde turned his head to look at Tian Shiwei again. At this time, he was secretly glad that Baoanzhou didn't know the plan he and Weng Pu made, and he didn't know that he didn't come here Mission gone.

For the veteran who was used to fighting against the Tartars in the Xuanfu, he naturally knew that this was an opportunity to start a war, not to mention that the admiral had already used a trick to mobilize the troops around Altan Khan, so it was really unreasonable not to fight again.

It's just that in Xuanfu, he, the deputy general, can only act according to Liu Dazhang's face.

In Xuanfu, there can only be one voice, and that is Liu Dazhang's.

You can mess around below, but when it comes to major events like the start of war, everything depends on Liu Dazhang.

In fact, at this time, everyone's eyes in the hall have shifted from Wei Guangde's immature face to Liu Dazhang, waiting for their commander-in-chief to make a choice.

"Admiral Weng counts for this, so please ask Master Wei to order it, and the Xuan Mansion will follow the master's plan."

In the eyes of everyone, Liu Dazhang finally made a decision, just fight, if you lose, Weng Pu will take the blame, and he can just follow the order.

Liu Dazhang's approach played into Wei Guangde's arms. What he worried most was that Liu Dazhang was timid and afraid of death, and insisted on refusing to fight.

In fact, this is a misunderstanding of Liu Dazhang. Liu Dazhang is a native of Dongning Guard in Liaodong. His family inherited the command of Dongning Guard.

Although his achievements in battle are lackluster, he has accumulated some fame in the border town for a long time.

Later, he was dismissed because of "smuggling". After knowing the Gengxu Revolution, he was reinstated as the general officer of the Xuanfu.

Since Jiajing 32, he has been fighting in the Xuanfu and the Alta Department. He is not greedy for life and fear of death, but because of the experience of being dismissed from office, he is more cautious in doing things, not seeking merit but seeking nothing.

(End of this chapter)