Ming Empire

Chapter 130 The Red Lady Returns

In the few days since the Jiannu Artillery Battalion arrived in Datong, they did not launch a large-scale attack on the city. At most, they only sent some troops to make a big attack on the city, but they retreated immediately after attacking the city.

Soon, even the ordinary sergeants guarding the city knew that Jiannu was just a feint attack, with the purpose of causing panic to the guarding Ming soldiers and consuming the weapons and ammunition in the city.Since everyone thought so, there wasn't much panic.The great victory a few days ago was too much to boost morale. Now the soldiers and civilians in Datong no longer take Jiannu seriously. Many people joked that as many Jiannu came, they would be wiped out.

But Cao Yue was not too optimistic, he knew that the crisis was coming step by step.

Jiannu's artillery battalion cannot be completely wiped out, at least with a few hundred special forces, it is impossible to wipe out all of the tens of thousands of Jiannu's elite and closely guarded artillery battalion.In addition, the quantity of gunpowder in the city cannot be continuously guaranteed, and muskets cannot be mass-produced.Another problem that cannot be ignored is that the 10,000+ bandits led by Liu Zongmin and Li Yan went back and forth.

Even if Liu Zongmin and Li Yan did not join forces with Jiannu, but sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight, it would be a very big test for the defenders of Datong.

The 10,000+ army of Jiannu attacked the city with all their strength, and they vowed not to give up until Datong was captured.Combining Jiannu's experience of attacking Jinzhou and Songshan, Cao Yue can draw the conclusion that Jiannu also wanted to besiege for a long time.Don't look forward to the reinforcements. Only by relying on the soldiers in Datong City to defend the city with all their strength can they win the final victory.

Cao Yue regretted that another war would come so soon and the intensity of the war was still underestimated. He also had no ability to manufacture more muskets and ammunition. He is not afraid of the army.

No matter what, weapons such as muskets and explosives have an absolute advantage in lethality when facing cold weapons such as bows and arrows, knives and guns.If there is a regiment or even a battalion under him equipped with machine guns, automatic rifles and other weapons that are commonly equipped in later generations of armies, then he has full confidence in destroying tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of enemy troops with cold weapons in the city of Datong.

Unfortunately, all this can only be a dream and obscenity.

But now he has a musket in his hand, a musket that is not too powerful, as well as artillery, grenades, and explosives, which gave him enough confidence.

Of course, what Cao Yue hopes most is that Jiannu can't bear the huge casualties and retreats without support. He doesn't want to fight Jiannu to the end in this battle, he still wants to preserve his own strength.Now is not the time for the final battle with Jiannu, he has not yet developed more and more powerful firearms.

Jiannu's artillery battalion was originally expected to be transported to the city of Datong in three to four days, but under the harassment of the elite squad sent by Cao Yue, it was delayed for many days.Seven days have passed, and they are still at least a day or two away from Datong.After the members of the special training team had no way to infiltrate into the Jianslav camp to wreak havoc, they could only choose to attack on the way.

They planted mines, explosives, destroyed roads and bridges, until the escort Duoduo was devastated.He didn't dare to leave the artillery battalion to chase down the destroying Ming army, so he could only proceed cautiously.

This situation somewhat relieved Cao Yue, but he didn't dare to be careless because it was about the future and lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Datong.

During this period of time, Wei Daben, the prefect of Datong, and his officials were very conscientious. In addition to appeasing the people, arranging hundreds of thousands of villagers outside the city to move into the city and resettle temporary residences, as well as preparing food and various supplies, he He also prepared a lot of strategic materials for Cao Yue, including 10,000+ catties of saltpeter. In addition, in response to Cao Yue and Sun Chuanting's call, he temporarily recruited nearly [-] young and middle-aged people from the common people, and prepared to pull them to the top of the city to serve as guards in times of crisis. army strength.Wei Daben's conscientiousness made Cao Yue very satisfied. He was glad that the partners around him were all good people, otherwise life would be even more difficult.

Six days after Hong Niangzi left Datong, she returned.

But she entered the city alone, and the two maids Xiaoyun and Ruyi who followed her disappeared.

Hong Niangzi herself was also in a mess, as if she had experienced some hardships or fierce battles.

"Miss Hong, what happened?" Cao Yue was a little surprised when he saw the appearance of the lady who was being led by the sergeant, so he hurriedly asked.

"On the way back to the city, I encountered Jiannu's cavalry, and there was a conflict. In order to protect the slave's house, the two maids of the slave family led the Jiannu patrolling cavalry away. It is still unknown whether he is alive or dead," Hong Niangzi roughly told Cao about the situation. Yue, it turned out that when they were preparing to sneak back to Datong City, they encountered Jiannu patrolling horses more than a dozen miles outside the city. The conflict inevitably occurred. Pulling away, Hong Niangzi was able to escape.

When returning to the outside of Datong City, it was extremely difficult to enter the city. Fortunately, they met a group of Daming cavalry outside the south gate of Datong, and they were able to enter the city after showing the handwritten letter given by Cao Yue to the leading officer.

Seeing the bloodstains on the red lady's face, and her expression seemed to be in pain, Cao Yue asked with concern: "Are you injured too? Let me let the military medical officer heal you!"

"A little injury, it's nothing to do with it!" The red lady coyly refused, and immediately told Cao Yue about the matter: "General Cao, the slave family saw Li Yan and persuaded him face to face. He promised that he would never join forces with Jiannu to fight against the officials." Army. The rebels and Jiannu have a sworn feud. In this life, he...he will definitely destroy Jiannu and return the Han people to peace. The Nu family believes that he will do what he says. He also knows that you deliberately let him go last time. The rebel army has a way to survive, and he will not take advantage of the fire to loot and attack Datong while the official army and Jiannu are fighting to the death."

"That's good," Cao Yue knew that there must be a lot of hidden secrets behind the red lady's expression, but he believed that since the red lady would say so definitely, then Li Yan would definitely not join forces with Jiannu to attack Datong together, saying It is uncertain that Li Yan's tens of thousands of horses can still pose a threat to Jiannu.

"Li Yan told the slaves that he and Liu Zongmin were ordered by King Chuang to take the opportunity to attack Datong. He didn't know how Liu Zongmin would act, but he believed that Liu Zongmin would not help the king to do evil and help Jiannu attack the official army. The rebels revolted , It’s all for the people of the world, Jiannu is the life-and-death enmity of our Han family, and there is no possibility of resolving it, so don’t worry about Liu Zongmin’s army colluding with Jiannu!”

Seeing that the red lady was not very confident when she said this, Cao Yue knew what was going on, but he didn't point it out. He nodded and smiled to express his gratitude: "Thank you, red lady, if this battle can repel To build a slave and keep Datong, I will definitely ask the court for credit and let the emperor reward you as a strong woman. I also believe that your two maids will be safe and sound. There are many brothers outside the city, and they will definitely give a helping hand!"

"I hope so, but I don't need the reward from the dog emperor, but I want to kill him with a sword and seek justice for the people of the world." The red lady forced a smile: "General Cao, the slave family is going to rest first, and you can come here if you have something to do." Let’s ask the servants!”

"Okay, you go to rest first, or live back in the original small courtyard, if you need someone to serve, I will arrange for you!"

"Thank you very much!" The red lady gave a slight blessing, turned around and left.But as soon as he took a step, he tilted his body with an ouch...

(End of this chapter)