Ming Empire

Chapter 94 Take the initiative
After receiving information that Li Yan's troops retreated [-] miles to set up camp, Cao Yue planned to take the initiative to attack.

Of course, Cao Yue didn't expect to wipe out Li Yan's main force in a single battle. He only hoped to defeat Li Yan's troops and make them retreat without support.

Regarding Liu Zongmin's troops, Cao Yue also planned to defeat them. He didn't think he had the strength to completely annihilate these two troops. After all, he had never commanded such a large-scale war, and he had no confidence in the outcome of the war. blind optimism.

From the results of the last sneak attack and the movement of Li Yan's troops later, Cao Yue believed that the military spirit of the rogues had been shaken. He could use Liu Zongmin's troops to be delayed and unable to arrive in a short time to defeat Li Yan's troops.

If Li Yan's troops were repelled or defeated, then Liu Zongmin's men might not dare to attack Datong again.

Originally, Cao Yue was a little jealous of the famous Li Yan, but the special training team severely damaged his troops in the First World War, which made him see the fact that rogues are rogues, and it is impossible for a rebel army composed mainly of farmers to be well-trained. There are many, but it is just a group of rabble, and these rigorously trained men and horses under his command can defeat them, even if they do not rely on a strong city to defend.

Taking advantage of the situation to attack, this is a new decision made by Cao Yue after discussing with all the generals under his command.What he wanted more was to let Li Yan and his wife fully understand the situation after severely injuring Li Yan's troops, and turn to him, so that he would be happy, and with tens of thousands of people supplementing him, his power would be completely strong, and he could be a warlord. The orders of the imperial court can also be violated.

In order to boost morale, Cao Yue held a large-scale military parade before attacking.The military parade was held in the military barracks in the city and was open to the people of Datong City.

With neat military appearance, mighty military posture, and sonorous and powerful strides, many people in Datong have witnessed that this army destined to become a legend is completely different from other armies.When groups of sergeants lined up neatly, armed with various weapons, and walked vigorously past the reviewing stand, those ordinary people who were originally worried that the officers and soldiers would not be able to defend Datong City completely changed their attitudes, and they couldn't help it. cheered.

Cao Yue, together with the officials of Datong, including Dai Wang Zhu Chuanqi and others, inspected the new army of Datong. As the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, Cao Yue swore in front of everyone that he would destroy the bandits, wipe out the slaves, and return the people of the world. ethereal.

The tsunami-like roar of the soldiers resounded over the sky of Datong City, making countless people excited.

Then tens of thousands of Datong troops drove out of the city amidst the cheers of the common people, preparing to fight against the "rebel army" led by Li Yan.

What Cao Yue didn't expect was that after the military parade, he led the army out of the city, and received unexpected results. The acting king Zhu Chuanqi thought that the Datong new army was preparing to borrow the opportunity to fight in the city, and moved to other places, abandoning Datong City.Because Zhu Chuanqi and his think tanks have always believed that Cao Yue will rely on the strong city of Datong to repel the invading bandits with the strong artillery of the city, and it is impossible to go out of the city to take the initiative to seek battle.

The same is true of Cao Yue's previous strategic arrangement. The commander of the Datong New Army suddenly changed his strategic arrangement, which left them dumbfounded.Zhu Chuanqi naturally thought of Cao Yue's previous threats, and was afraid that Cao Yue would really come to his table to join him, saying that he had colluded with the rogues.In the end, he made a hasty decision, surrendered to Cao Yue, and was willing to donate the money and food that Cao Yue needed. The only request was that Cao Yue not give up Datong City.

Seeing that Zhu Chuanqi succumbed much earlier than he expected, Cao Yue, who had prepared a lot of tricks, did not refuse. After a few polite words, he accepted it with a smile, and immediately ordered the sergeant to carry the silver and grain on behalf of the palace.

After Zhu Chuanqi fell out with Cao Yue, he took the initiative to admit defeat, and lost 50 taels of silver and [-] shi of grain after showing his favor to Cao Yue. This almost shocked Wei Daben, the prefect of Datong, and Zhang An, the guarding eunuch.They thought that Zhu Chuanqi would definitely fight Cao Yue, and they were all worried about Cao Yue, but they didn't expect that the matter would come to a conclusion soon, and the result was something they never thought of.

Cao Yue is still No. 1 for being able to extract so much money and food from Zhu Chuanqi's pocket.

They thought that Cao Yue had used some means during this period to seize Zhu Chuanqi's handle, and threatened Zhu Chuanqi to finally succumb.

Cao Yue also did not expect that Zhu Chuanqi would be frightened by his move to lead the army out of the city to fight Li Yan, and would take the initiative to show weakness.But no matter what, this is a very good result.He didn't care too much, after accepting Zhu Chuanqi's big gift, he also gave a guarantee to His Royal Highness, with so much money and food, he would definitely not give up Datong, and would definitely defeat the bandits and keep Datong safe.

Cao Yue did not forget to hint to Zhu Chuanqi again that if the war progresses unfavorably and more money and food are needed, His Royal Highness Dai Wang still needs to support him vigorously.

Zhu Chuanqi is a dumb man who eats Coptis chinensis. He can't tell what he has suffered, so he can only wish Cao Yue the victory and return to Datong City safely after defeating the bandits.

Cao Yue left behind 5000 troops, led by General Gao Qing, to guard Datong City, so as not to be caught off guard by Li Yan's troops after the main force went out of the city to fight the bandits.

Cao Yue went out of the city to fight his men and horses in a high-profile manner, which Li Yan did not expect. When he got a report from the scouts, saying that the main force of the army was going out of the city to fight and was coming in the direction where they were stationed, Li Yan was thinking hard about how to strike Cao Yue's arrogance let Cao Yue know how powerful Li Yan is, but he didn't think of any clever tricks.

Hearing the sergeant's report that Cao Yue led the main force out of the city to fight, Li Yan was taken aback, but immediately thought of the unusual situation behind the incident. He could not take it lightly, or he might suffer a big loss.

Li Yan immediately summoned his men and horses to discuss the military situation. The generals who were already aggrieved, after hearing that Cao Yue led the army out of the city to fight, immediately became enthusiastic and stood up one by one to fight.Most people think that if Cao Yue hides in Datong City and does not come out, it will be difficult for them to deal with the black hands from time to time.What they hoped most was for the Datong army to go out of the city to fight, so that they could take advantage of the impact of the rebel army's more than [-] elite cavalry and the follow-up cooperation of the infantry to defeat the main force of the Datong army.

They have more than [-] troops. If they attack Datong City by force, they cannot be said to have enough troops. After all, the Datong Army has more than [-] people.However, if the two armies confront each other outside the city, the more than [-] rebels who have been fighting for a long time will definitely be able to defeat the new Datong army that has just formed an army.Many generals thought that this was an opportunity to make meritorious service, so most of the generals scrambled to stand up and ask for the battle, lest the meritorious service would be snatched away by others.

Seeing that the generals under his command had turned from depression to fanaticism, Li Yan was overjoyed immediately, and immediately made up his mind to stop retreating and switch from defense to offense, trying to wipe out the Datong army outside the city of Datong.

After the military meeting, Li Yan immediately ordered the whole army to move out and take the initiative to meet them.

Soon, the two sides drew closer and formed their positions in a flat field more than [-] miles outside Datong City, ready to fight to the death.

(End of this chapter)