The Prosperous Era of Longwan

At the side door of the Baoan Prefecture Temporary Government Office, shortly after all the generals left, a soldier in full armor looked at the three people leaving, sighed, and just waited there quietly.

After a while, the side door was opened, and a soldier wearing the same clothes as him came out.

"Are you sure there's no uncle here?"

The soldier asked the man outside the door.

"I didn't see it. I only saw Zhang Heng, Commander Zhang, and Zhang Zhuo and Liao Yuan. The others are just acquaintances. Their relationship with the master and uncle is only average. By the way, what does it say inside?"

The man asked after answering.

"It's not bad. The commander-in-chief has sent Ma Fang to take care of the convoy. We'd better rush back to report the news immediately."

After a brief conversation, the two went to the nearby stables to fetch four war horses, greeted the guards and rode away.

The two of them rode out of the south gate of Baoan Prefecture and ran directly to the Sanggan River before turning west. This route was also the route Wei Guangde and the others had planned before.

However, less than half a day after they left Baoan Prefecture, another dozen horses rushed into the east gate of Baoan Prefecture.

It was obvious that the dozen or so patrolling cavalry on the outside were protecting the two knights in the circle. The two looked dusty and exhausted. One of them had an arrow stuck in his back, but the arrow seemed to be caught by the armor. Resistance, not deep into the flesh.

However, from the blood stains on the gauze wrapped around the arrow, it can be seen that the bandage was sloppy, just to stop the bleeding, but for some reason the arrow did not rise.

Soon, the cavalry rushed to the door of the temporary government office in the center of Baoan Prefecture. The cavalry dismounted one after another, and then helped the injured soldier to dismount. Some people had already gone to the side to ask the army doctor to come over and shoot the arrow, while the other person untied the arrow from his back. He ran into the official office with the bamboo tube held high in his right hand.

Early two days later, the gate of Huailai Acropolis, which had been closed for a long time, suddenly opened. As groups of cavalry rushed out of the gate and dispersed towards the surrounding plains, they quickly disappeared from sight.

Wei Guangde stood on the tower and watched the cavalry go away. Then he turned to Li Zhen and said, "Master Li, tell them to set off."

"good."

Li Zhen agreed and nodded to the commanders of the Huailai Guards nearby, then turned and walked down the city wall. Soon, with the sound of creaking wooden wheels rolling on the ground, carriages filled with grain bags and fodder slowly came out. Driving out of Huailai Acropolis.

It wasn't until the convoy was more than halfway out and Dong Yiyuan arrived at the city gate with a large group of cavalry that Wei Guangde turned around and cupped his hands at the commanders of the Huailai Guard and smiled: "I've been bothering you for the past few days. We are leaving this time. I also ask you all to guard the city closely and make sure no mistakes are made."

"Master Wei, please rest assured. We all have the responsibility to protect the land and bring peace to the people, and we will never neglect our duties."

The commander of Huailai Guard responded quickly.

Wei Guangde smiled and nodded, "When the Datong Army arrives, you will hand them the warrant I wrote and ask them to come to the county seat immediately without delay."

In fact, this is the key point. Wei Guangde cherishes his life and does not want to confess to Huailai County.

From the so-called powerful frontier troops he had seen so far, Wei Guangde had given up hope and expected them to defeat the Anda tribe. The goal seemed a bit far away.

We can only use the advantages of the Ming army, which is to defend the city, and go to Huailai County, hoping to attract some of Anda Khan's men here to attack the city, and use the Xuanfu army and the Datong army to win the battle. His mission is nothing. Completely completed.

After getting off the city wall, Li San led the horse to greet him. Wei Guangde jumped on the horse skillfully, joined Dong Yiyuan's troops and rode out of Huailai Acropolis.

Not long after leaving the city, Wei Guangde slowed down his horse and asked Dong Yiyuan beside him: "Did you tell them? Let a Tatar scout ride in."

"Don't worry, sir, nothing will go wrong."

Dong Yiyuan cupped his fists on his horse.

"Is Ma Fang really good at fighting?"

This has been done, so what remains is whether the people transferred from the Xuanfu can hold on at the critical moment. If they are still weak in the end, Wei Guangde, Mr. Wei, will be in danger.

The emergence of grain transport fleets is absolutely attractive to the current Anta department, even if a certain price is paid.

Based on the current battle reports from various places and Wei Guangde's analysis, the 20,000-man Anzha Division was stationed near Yanqing Prefecture to monitor the Ming army's movements in Yanqing Prefecture. This division continuously dispatched reconnaissance cavalry to explore the road between Yanqing Prefecture and Juyongguan, and also Be responsible for the investigation in the direction of Yongning.

But Wei Guangde didn't think there were many Tatars here. He initially judged that there were a few thousand horsemen, and their mission was not difficult to guess. They must have been prepared for reinforcements from Jizhen in the pass. Whether they were blocking or retreating, it would serve as an early warning.

In the direction of Baoan Prefecture is the main force of the Anda Division. Tens of thousands of troops are gathered there. At the same time, the main force of the Ming Army, the Xuanfu Army, is also gathered here.

According to Dong Yiyuan's words, there is no problem for the Ming army to defend Anda's attack in Bao'an Prefecture, but it seems difficult to attack Anda's troops, let alone defeat the opponent.

According to Dong Yiyuan, the overall strength of the upcoming Datong Army is actually about the same as that of the Xuanfu Army, and because the Xuanfu Army has been at war with the Anta tribe all year round, it seems to be slightly better.

I'm divided into two parts. No matter which one is defeated, it's difficult to fight, at least not with the current strength of the Ming army.

Wei Guangde could only choose to find ways to disperse the Anda troops, hoping to find an opportunity to defeat a relatively weak force.

However, after Li Zhen and Dong Yiyuan participated in the analysis, they were keenly aware that Wei Guangde's idea was correct, but his approach was very dangerous, which was the attraction of grain and grass to our department.

Once it is determined that there is a large amount of grain and fodder in Huailai County, if the Anta tribe chooses to attack with all its strength and seize the grain and fodder, the Ming army in either Baoan Prefecture or Yanqing direction may not dare to mobilize in full force to fight the Tatars, and they will be in danger by then.

If only a small number of Ming troops appeared in Huailai County, Anda Khan would probably ignore them, because with the Ming army's field strength, he would not believe that the Ming army dared to go out of the city to block the passage between Yanqing Prefecture and Bao'an Prefecture.

Then it was necessary to increase the attractiveness of Huailai County, so they still loaded a lot of food for Huailai Acropolis, but the grain trucks were reduced by more than half, and the soldiers escorting the trucks were only 800 soldiers recruited from Huailai Acropolis and Dong The cavalry led by Yiyuan.

The remaining grain trucks will set off from Huailai Acropolis in the afternoon. Their destination is not Huailai County, but the long detour that they gave up before. After leaving Huailai Acropolis, they will proceed along the west bank of the Yongding River. Travel along the Sanggan River for a while before crossing the river towards Baoan Prefecture. At that time, Li Zhen will send a messenger to contact Baoan Prefecture to send people and horses to meet them on the Yang River.

The reason why Li Zhen still had to lead most of the grain trucks to Baoan Prefecture was mainly because the Xuanfu Army did not have much leftover grain and grass, only enough to last for about ten days.

This time attracting some soldiers from Anda, the final result will be unknown so far.

The final evolution of the battle situation was that either one of the Anta troops was repulsed by the Ming army, or a triangular formation was formed to contain each other.

The main force of the Ming army in Xuanfu was defended in Yanqing Prefecture, Baoan Prefecture and Huailai Prefecture, and the Anda Division was also divided into three parts.

In this situation, at least the Ming army remains undefeated. If they need to win, they can only ask Lord Weng Puweng of Juyong Pass to mobilize the town's army to leave the pass, and defeat the enemy in front of them with the Yanqing Prefecture garrison. Only then can they win. War situation.

However, even if the Jizhen army leaves the customs and enters Xuanfu, will they definitely be able to defeat the Anda tribe?

In short, after weighing the combat power of the Ming army and the troops that could be mobilized, Wei Guangde chose a battle plan that at least guaranteed invincibility.

In fact, Weng Pu's strategy was basically the same before. Even when the Datong Army rushed to the battlefield, it was to maintain a balanced situation, hoping to win a victory at a certain point to force An Da's troops to withdraw from the Great Wall.

If you can't do it naturally, you won't force it, that is, if you maintain a stalemate situation, it is really a severe decline in the overall field combat capability of the Ming army at this stage.

Since Emperor Hongzhi came to the throne in the Ming Dynasty, especially the implementation of the Nayin Kaizhong Law, the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops began to accelerate downhill. Although Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao briefly rose up once, and defeated the then people on the battlefield many times. The grassland overlord Dayan Khan, but due to the short life of Zhu Houzhao, this military reform failed to reverse the decline in combat effectiveness of the Ming army.

In the view of Wei Guangde, who was on the battlefield for the first time, victory required the Ming army to have an overwhelming advantage on the battlefield. Otherwise, it was best not to take any military risks.

He also wanted to be like Zhuge Liang in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", giving a bunch of tips to Xuanda's generals and then winning the war.

Well, with the explosion of information in later generations, Wei Guangde already knew that most of the things in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" were fiction. Zhuge Liang did not have very good military command skills. He should be said to be an outstanding politician with a strategic vision.

The Burning of Bowang was commanded by Liu Bei, and the Burning of Xinye was completely fictional in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The person who contributed the most to the Battle of Chibi was Zhou Yu. In fact, until Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang was not able to conduct a truly independent united force battle.

Of course, we cannot deny Zhuge Liang because of this. He should also have military talents. After all, after Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang went south to defeat the southwest barbarian tribes and gentry armed forces, and also made several northern expeditions to Cao Wei. Although they all failed in the end, it at least showed that he was able to unify Soldiers fighting.

Wei Guangde's soul comes from later generations. He knows very well what he should do as the first brother on the battlefield at this time. If he doesn't want to become a shooting star in the Ming Dynasty's official circles, then he should arrange the battle plan honestly.

Now go to Huailai County first. Huailai County is defended by 3,000 infantry. According to Dong Yiyuan, even if the Anda Department mobilizes 10,000 troops, it may not be possible to win it in a short time.

In Huailai County itself, there were soldiers from two thousand households of the Ming army. In addition to the soldiers they brought in, there were also local young men who could be recruited at any time.

As for the transfer of Ma Fang from Baoan Prefecture, Wei Guangde's small idea was that if there were not many troops coming from the Anda tribe, he would mobilize the Ming army to eat them. If the opponent was strong, then he would hold the city gate tightly.

If you really can't hold on, you can follow Ma Fang and Dong Yiyuan's cavalry back to Huailaiwei.

In war, strength will ultimately speak for itself.

There are many cases in the history books of wars in which the enemy took advantage of the enemy and won by surprise, but relatively speaking, there are still very few.

Sun Tzu has an explanation for the way of righteousness and righteousness, "Any warrior must use righteousness and harmony to win with miraculous principles."

Just looking at this paragraph, it seems that Sun Tzu is saying that when two armies are fighting, the frontal battlefield is often in a stalemate, and it is difficult to distinguish the winner from the loser.

The sudden appearance of surprise troops from either side breaks this dynamic equilibrium, thus changing the battlefield situation. The war tilts in favor of the side that surprises, thus allowing the side that is "good at surprise" to take the initiative in the war. Win.

But in fact, there is another sentence behind this sentence, that is, "The battle situation is not as good as Qi Zheng, and the change of Qi Zheng is invincible."

There are no fixed surprise soldiers, and there are no fixed regular soldiers. As for who is a surprise soldier and who is a regular soldier, it will change according to the situation on the battlefield. There is no fixed truth, so it is invincible.

As for how Wei Guangde knew these things, it was also thanks to the Internet of later generations. Although I don’t know whether the author who wrote these things was right or not, Wei Guangde thought it made sense at that time, and it still makes sense now.

As for why Wei Guangde wanted to come here, it was also because when they ran from General Shiguan to Huairou, Wei Guangde went to find a copy of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" to cram into it.

We have to rush the ducks to put them on the shelves, can you not be in a hurry?

Wei Guangde had read a lot of books, but not many military books, almost none. He never realized that one day he would go to the battlefield and become a small commander.

As the brigade was marching, as expected, two groups of people appeared on the hills in the distance. The group in front of them had a slightly smaller number of knights, with only about a dozen horses, while there were more than 20 horsemen behind them.

"Sir, here we come."

At this time, Dong Yiyuan, who had been following Wei Guangde, whispered.

"Go ahead and hunt them down with all your strength."

Wei Guangde pointed in that direction with his riding crop, and Dong Yiyuan turned his horse's head and rushed forward with nearly a hundred cavalry.

Although the smoke and dust splashed by the horse's hoof is not large, it is enough to indicate the target.

When the cavalry galloped here, they were obviously surprised when they saw the long convoy in the distance. However, they did not slow down. Instead, they slightly adjusted their direction and drew a perfect arc from one side of the convoy to the other. They ran in the distance, and behind them two groups of cavalry were already chasing them, one on the left and the other on the right.

Watching Dong Yiyuan chase the group of Tatar scouts away, Wei Guangde suddenly became nervous.

It was just a plan before, but from this moment on, it was really put into action. As the saying goes, there is no turning back.

After finally suppressing his nervousness, Wei Guangde waved his riding crop and hit the horse's butt to make the horse run faster. At the same time, he turned to Zhang Ji behind him and said: "Notify the team officers below and ask them to urge the soldiers to speed up. Rush to Huailai County as soon as possible."

Yes, the wilderness in Xuanfu is not safe at this time, and you may encounter a surprise attack by the Tatar cavalry at any time.

In fact, no matter how hard they traveled, they would not be able to reach Huailai County tonight, and they would have to spend the night in the wild.

But it doesn't matter, as long as the temporary camp is set up, just relying on a hundred or ten Tatar scouts around here can't make any big waves.

As for whether the Tatar reconnaissance team would rush back to deliver the message, Wei Guangde was not worried. Even if they ran away, neither the security nor the Anta troops under Yanqing City would have time to intercept them halfway.

At this time, only by entering a city protected by city walls can Wei Guangde feel a little safer.