prosperous age

Chapter 361 360 The high arch has changed
"Assault on Bansheng City, how many troops do you think is appropriate?"

As the commander-in-chief of Datong, Liu Han is relatively clear about the number of his subordinates.

The number of soldiers under the jurisdiction of Datong Town is as high as 12 on paper, but in fact there are only more than 8.

Even if it was 8 people, it seemed that the army was not weak, but these people were scattered among the 640 castles stretching 72 seven miles from Taikou of Xiyanghe Town, which was connected to Xuanfu Town in the east and Yajiao Mountain in the west.

The defense system of Datong Town is not only a linear city wall defense body, but also a deep echelon defense body.

72 The castles are divided into three levels according to their geographic location: those close to the outer Great Wall are called "jichong places", such as Weiyuan City, Youwei City, Zhuma Fort, Desheng Fort, Hongci Fort, Xinping Fort, Datong Town Wait;

The castles located in the south are called "Cichong places", such as Zuowei City, Yanghe City, Shuozhou City, etc.;
Castles close to the Inner Great Wall are called "slow places", such as Weizhou City, Guangchang City, Lingqiu City, Guangling City, Hunyuan City, Yingzhou City, Shanyin City, Huairen City, Mayi City, etc. Wait.

According to historical records, from the west of Xuanfu Town to the edge of Shanxi Town, "all are steep walls and deep moats, connected by battlements." Every pass open to vehicles and horses is guarded by "hundreds of households", and the company can only accommodate woodcutters. The pass through which the herdsmen pass alone is also guarded by ten frontier soldiers.

More than 8 people have been scattered in this way, and there are not many remaining mobile forces.

This time, he received an order from the governor of Xuanda, Ge Jin, to mobilize troops to support Xuanfu at any time. From receiving the order to entering the Datong governor's office, Liu Han was either issuing orders to gather troops or thinking about how to move forward. Where to squeeze out some manpower.

"It doesn't take too many troops to raid Bansheng City. According to the news I received before, I Da Khan led all the main forces to march towards Xuanfu. This time the plan is not small."

Speaking of this, Yu Dayou couldn't help but think of the Battle of Baoan Prefecture a few years ago.

Although he also said that when he met Wei Guangde later, that battle was actually unbeatable, but for Altan Khan, who had never been defeated before, he was so proud that he naturally regarded that battle as a great shame and humiliation.

It was because of the lack of troops, and the Ming army's reinforcements may be rushing to the battlefield in a steady stream, so he had to choose to retreat.

Gathering the entire army this time is naturally to wash away the shame left by that time.

What Yu Dayou thought of was to take advantage of the opportunity when the Tartars came out in full force, and burn down Bansheng City. This would not only hurt the morale of the Tartars, but also indirectly support the Xuanfu. As long as he came back from the prairie alive, his credit It should be enough to restore the hereditary military position passed down by the family.

"Now Bansheng City is empty of troops. I calculate that 3000 people are enough."

Yu Dayou continued, looked at Li Wenjin, then looked at Liu Han, and then said: "With 1000 soldiers under Mr. Li's banner, please send me another 2000 troops, and I will lead the team directly to the north to sweep up Bansheng City. As for the return journey”

Speaking of this, Yu Dayou paused for a moment before saying: "Please also ask the two adults to send troops to the Huihe River and Heihe River separately, and prepare the materials for building the pontoon bridge. Once our army returns, the pontoon bridge will be built so that we can retreat quickly."

Li Wenjin knew it. Yu Dayou had told him from the beginning that the chance of success in this battle was high, but it was still necessary for Governor Li to go out of the Great Wall to protect the retreating route of the army and to welcome the army back.

When Li Wenjin heard about Yu Dayou's plan, he felt intuitively that there was a great chance of victory. He commanded and dispatched the nearby Great Wall by himself.

There are risks, but not great.

Moreover, according to Yu Dayou's plan, a small number of people should stay in Heihe and Huihe to protect the materials for building the pontoon bridge, and he only needs to stay in Heihe.

This place is only a few tens of miles away from the Datong side wall. Even if Alta Khan personally commanded the army to intercept and kill him, he still had the opportunity to "retreat" back to Datong Town and continue to command and defend against the attack of the Tartars.

As for Huihe, it depends on whether Liu Han wants this credit.

If he wants, he can go to Huihe, which can be regarded as directing the attack of Yu Dayou's troops nearby.

Although Li Wenjin's grade was lower than Liu Han's, he didn't think Liu Han dared to reject his suggestion. In Datong Town, although Liu Han was number one according to the court system, in fact Liu Han also listened to him.

By this time, Liu Han had also fully understood the details of Yu Dayou's battle plan for this raid on Bansheng City, leaving them two "key" positions, Heihe and Huihe.

Obviously, the Heihe River closest to Datong must be entered by Li Wen, and he can only cross the Heihe River on the bank of the Gray River.

But Liu Han didn't worry about anything, the worst thing was that he wouldn't take them at night, just increase the scope of the investigation. In terms of safety, it was much better than Yu Dayou and the others.

"You want all the soldiers to be equipped with horses?"

Thinking that the key point Yu Dayou said was the word "raid", to achieve the extremely fast marching speed, it is only possible to equip the infantry with sufficient horses.

He wasn't worried about the supplies. Since Li Wenjin supported the plan, he would definitely ensure sufficient supplies.

As expected, Yu Dayou nodded, he wanted to turn all the infantry accompanying the army into mounted infantry, only whether it was attacking or retreating, the probability of surviving would be much higher.

Liu Han finally nodded, "You can choose whatever you want, and Master Li and I will each bring a thousand cavalry to cover your retreat."

Seeing that Liu Han agreed to Yu Dayou's battle plan, Li Wenjin looked at Yu Dayou and asked, "You need to prepare a list of what materials you need to prepare. You can decide when to attack." '

For Yu Dayou's battle plan, the time of attack is also very important.

"Do you have a detailed plan?"

In Wei Guangde's duty room, Gao Gong walked back and forth for a long time, maybe his legs hurt from walking, or maybe his head was dizzy, but now he completely stopped, sat back to his original position, and spoke to Wei Guangde.

"The Ministry of War should send military orders to the two towns of Yansui and Ningxia today. The timing of the attack is after receiving the news that the Alta Ministry has broken through the side wall. At that time, the Tartars will enter the Great Wall, and they will inevitably divide their troops to attack the surrounding military fortresses. attack to ensure the safety of the retreat.

At this time, it will take a few days to send people flying horses to send orders to attack there. During this time, the Tartar troops should gradually disperse and loot, and they will not regroup until they detect the movement of the Xuanfu army. "

Wei Guangde calculated according to the preparation time before the army of this era went out. Even if the Xuanfu army was prepared, it would take time to mobilize troops, horses, food and supplies to confirm the news and press the three guards of the Xuanfu.

At this time, Xiang Yansui and Ningxia ordered an attack on Hetao, and it would take a few days for the tribes in the Hetao area to find out and then ask Alta Khan for help.

Then it took another ten days to deploy troops to rescue, and the time left for the Ming army to ravage Hetao was less than [-] days, but it was enough for them to make a small fortune.

"The two towns of Yansui and Ningxia all need cavalry to attack, lightly armed and raid, and support war with war"

Wei Guangde continued to talk about his campaign concept, there was no need to prepare any logistical supplies, just snatch them from the Tartar tribe to supplement them.

Grass, the grassland and those tribes have it, and the food is the cattle and sheep that cover the grassland.

If you attack in a short time, you will come in a circle. Naturally, you don't need to prepare high-quality horse feed such as soybeans.

Gao Gong doesn't understand military affairs, but Wei Guangde's explanation is fairly detailed. He can understand that at least the Alda Ministry sent reinforcements to the Hetao area. From the Ming army's attack to the arrival of the Tartar reinforcements, there was about 20 days in between. The army is safe during this time period.

What's more, the grassland is vast, and the Tartars may not be able to find the enemy if they rush back. For the Ming army, they can enter and exit freely at any pass, so it is very convenient to retreat.

"Come on, follow me to the cabinet to meet the old man."

Said, just sat down for a while and stood up with a high arch and a rub, and stretched out his hand to grab Wei Guangde's arm to pull him up.

"Wait, this, it's definitely inappropriate for me to go now."

Wei Guangde said hastily.

"There is nothing inappropriate. This is for Daming. Your plan feels much better than Ge Jin's passive defense strategy. You only know defense."

Gao Gong said indifferently, after thinking about it, he had fully accepted Wei Guangde's proposal, so he must let Wei Guangde follow him to the cabinet to meet Mr. Yan Ge, after all, the cabinet can't make the decision for such a major change At that time, I will definitely have to discuss with the Ministry of War, and finally report to Emperor Jiajing.

But fortunately, this matter is not so urgent now. After all, Xuanfu's side is only fighting with scouts from both sides, and the main force of the Anda Department is still gathering, and it is not ready to launch an attack.

It will also take time to gather soldiers and horses in Yansui and Ningxia towns. After the court meeting ends today, the Ministry of War will order the two towns to gather troops and horses. At that time, they can directly use these troops to go out of the fortress.

"In my opinion, it's better for me to write this idea into a memorial and submit it. Please ask the cabinet to discuss it after deliberation. If I need to explain in detail, I will go there."

Wei Guangde rejected Gao Gong's proposal, insisting that he could not go to the cabinet at this time, and wanted to overthrow the strategic plan just made. It seemed that he was just expressing his personal views, but in fact he offended all the six ministries and nine ministers.

As far as you Wei Guangde can, they are all trash.

For such a thing, Wei Guangde would not do it even if he was beaten to death.

Wei Guangde's attitude is very firm, and Gao Gong seems to have gradually understood Wei Guangde's concerns, and he is no longer so eager to pull him out.

"That's okay, you write it as a memorial, write it today, and hand it over to me tomorrow, and I will send it directly to the cabinet, not the Secretary of General Administration."

Gao Gong, who had calmed down, said, "At the beginning, you said that the yamen of Tongzhengshi is too leaky, and military and state affairs cannot be taken lightly. How could it be spread so casually?"

When chatting in the past, Wei Guangde remembered the summaries about the Ming Dynasty that later generations had read, among which the issue of secrecy was also repeatedly mentioned.

Therefore, when Wei Guangde was drinking and chatting with Gao Gong, he said the danger of "if the king does not keep secrets, he will lose his ministers, if his ministers do not keep secrets, he will lose his body, and if he does not keep secrets, he will suffer harm."

Thinking about it, the Xuanfu sent an urgent report to the capital, and both the Ministry of War and the General Administration Commissioner received the memorial.

As the yamen in charge of the war, the Ministry of War knows it should. After all, they have to make war decisions and dispatch troops.

The memorials received by the Tongzheng envoy were originally supposed to be sent directly to the palace by the Tongzheng envoy to be handed over to the emperor, but now the system has changed, and they are handed over to the cabinet for drafting.

The key point is that the Tongzhengshisi is still a leaky house on all sides. As soon as the memorandum arrives, the content of the memorandum will spread quickly, and there is no privacy at all.

Thinking about the decision made by the imperial meeting, in such a short period of time, I told Wei Guangde that he was an official of the Imperial Academy, so what about the others?
Obviously, everyone will also inadvertently leak the battle plan. Although it is Ge Jin's proposal, the leak of the final decision is actually the most deadly.

Although Gao Gong didn't think that any minister in the court would have an affair with Al Da Khan, but this is not possible.

For this reason, Gao Gong thought of a plan just now, that is to "secretly hide the old warehouse".

On the surface, he implemented Ge Jin's suggestion and actively defended himself, but in fact he implemented Wei Guangde's suggestion to make a braking attack to sweep the Hetao area, forcing Altan Khan to divide his troops to rescue.

If this is the case, naturally Wei Guangde cannot be allowed to send the memorial to the Tongzheng Envoy. After entering the Tongzheng Envoy, all the officials in the capital will know it within half a day.

"You send it directly to the cabinet?"

Wei Guangde looked at Gao Gong with a frown, a little strange how he, who always pays attention to rules and regulations, would do this, it was a matter of bad rules.

"Before you talked about the General Secretary, I think it makes sense."

Gao Gong replied concisely, and after thinking about it, he continued: "I sent it to the cabinet to try to let only Da Sima participate. According to your opinion, there is actually no need to raise too much food and grass, even Da Situ can use it." consider."

The two towns of Yansui and Ningxia came out of Hetao to support the war, which naturally greatly reduced the consumption of money and food for this military mobilization, especially the consumption during the long-distance march, which can be almost completely ignored.

As for the other troops from Xuan Da and Ji Town, the distance is still relatively close, and their consumption is limited.

When Wei Guangde heard Gao Gong's words, his eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't say anything.

However, Wei Guangde also saw something in his heart, that is, Gao Gong's decisiveness is very strong, and his desire for control seems to be not small. He dared to arrange two ministers for the current position of Minister of Taichang Temple.

It's just that Wei Guangde is not too sure about this now, after all, he didn't notice it before.

That's right, the communication between Wei Guangde and Gao Gong is not like that of Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen, who have been dealing with Gao Gong in Yuwang Mansion all year round.

When Wei Guangde and Gao Gong were together, they were either purely chatting or discussing things. Everyone spoke directly and didn't beat around the bush, so the communication was simple.

Regarding Gao Gong, Wei Guangde can only make up his mind in his heart, and he will observe for a while in the future to see what kind of person he is.

Today, just today, Wei Guangde has felt that Gao Gong seems to be slightly different from before.

From the moment he entered the room, perhaps because Gao Gong had realized that he was very different from the man he was then after being called into Xiyuan by Emperor Jiajing today to participate in the imperial meeting, so his behavior also changed subtly.

However, there was not much time left for Wei Guangde. Under Gao Gong's urging, Wei Guangde had no choice but to get up and sit back in front of the desk, and began to grind ink by himself, preparing to write his memorial on Xuanfu's strategy for the First World War.

(End of this chapter)