The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"How many troops do you think is appropriate for a raid on Bansheng City?"

As the chief military officer of Datong, Liu Han had a relatively clear idea of ​​the number of troops under his command.

The number of soldiers under the jurisdiction of Datong Town is as high as 120,000 on paper, but in fact there are only more than 80,000.

Even if there are 80,000 people, it seems that the force is not weak, but these people are scattered in the Taikou of Xiyanghe Town, which is connected to the west of Xuanfu Town in the east, and to Yajiao Mountain in the west, stretching for 647 miles. Among the two castles.

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

The seventy-two castles are divided into three levels according to their geographical location: those close to the front line of the Outer Great Wall are called "Jichong places", such as Weiyuan City, Youwei City, Zhuma Fort, Desheng Fort, Hongci Fort, Xinping Fort, and Datong Towns, etc.;

The castles located further south are called "secondary places", such as Zuowei City, Yanghe City, Shuozhou City, etc.;

The castles close to the Inner Great Wall are called "slightly slower places", such as Yuzhou 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, "there are steep walls, deep trenches, and beacons connecting each other." All passes for vehicles and horses are guarded by "hundred households", and even the company can only accommodate woodcutters. The pass passed by the herdsman alone was also guarded by ten border soldiers.

With more than 80,000 people dispersed like this, there will not be much remaining mobile troops.

This time, he received an order from Ge Jin, the governor of Xuanda, to mobilize troops and prepare to support the Xuanfu at any time. From receiving the order to entering the governor's office of Datong, Liu Han was either issuing orders to mobilize troops or thinking about what else to do. Where can I squeeze out some people?

"A raid on Bansheng City does not require too many troops. According to the news received before, Anda 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 in Baoanzhou a few years ago.

Although he later told Wei Guangde when he met that he was invincible in that battle, for Anda 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 insufficient troops and the Ming army's reinforcements may be arriving on the battlefield continuously that he had to choose to retreat.

The entire army was gathered this time, naturally to wash away the shame left by that time.

What Yu Dayou thought of was to take advantage of the opportunity when the Tatars came out in large numbers to burn Bansheng City with fire. This would not only damage the morale of the Tatars, but also indirectly support the Xuanfu. As long as he could come back from the prairie alive, he would have his own contribution. It should be enough to restore the hereditary military position passed down by the family.

"Now Bansheng City's troops are empty. I calculate that three thousand people are enough."

Yu Dayou continued, looking at Li Wenjin, then at Liu Han, and then said: "With a thousand soldiers under Lord Li's banner, please give me another two thousand soldiers, and I will lead the team directly north to sweep Bansheng." City, as for the return journey”

After saying this, Yu Dayou paused for a moment and then said: "I also ask the two adults to station some troops and horses in Huihe River and Heihe River and prepare materials for building pontoon bridges. Once our army returns, we can build pontoon bridges to facilitate our rapid retreat."

Li Wenjin knew it. Yu Dayou told him from the beginning that this battle had a high probability of success, but Governor Li still needed to go out of the Great Wall and sit in command to protect the retreat route of the outgoing army and receive the army's return.

After Li Wenjin heard Yu Dayou's plan, he intuitively felt that he had great hope of victory. He went out of the Great Wall to direct and dispatch the troops nearby. He said he was cooperating, but in fact he was sharing the credit.

The risk is there, but it's not big.

Moreover, according to Yu Dayou's plan, a small number of people will be stationed in Heihe and Huihe to protect the materials for building the pontoon bridge. He only needs to station in Heihe.

This place is only a few dozen miles away from the Datong border wall. Even if Anda Khan's own army intercepts and kills him, he will have the opportunity to "withdraw" back to Datong Town and continue to direct the defense against the Tatar attack.

As for Huihe, it depends on whether Liu Han wants the 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 was lower in rank than Liu Han, he did not think that Liu Han dared to refuse his suggestion. In Datong Town, although Liu Han was the first according to the imperial system, in fact Liu Han also had to listen to him.

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

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

But Liu Han didn't have anything to worry about. The worst he could do was to keep him for a long time and expand the scope of the investigation. In terms of safety, he was much better than Yu Dayou and the others.

"You want all your soldiers to be equipped with war horses?"

Thinking that the key point Yu Dayou said was the word "raid", to achieve the extremely fast traveling speed that is naturally required, the only way is to equip the infantry with sufficient war horses.

He is not worried about the baggage. Since Li Wenjin supports this plan, he will definitely ensure sufficient supplies.

As expected, Yu Dayou nodded. He wanted to turn all the infantry that accompanied the army into mounted infantry. Only whether they were attacking or retreating, the probability of survival would be much higher.

Liu Han finally nodded, "You can choose your own men and horses. In addition, Mr. 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, "Make a list of what supplies need to be prepared. It's up to you to decide when to attack." ’

For Yu Dayou's combat plan, the attack time is also a very important link.

"Do you have a detailed plan?"

In Wei Guangde's duty room, Gao Gong walked back and forth for a long time. Perhaps his legs hurt or his head was spinning. At this moment, he completely stopped, sat back to his original position, and spoke to Wei Guangde.

"The Ministry of War should send military orders to the towns of Yansui and Ningxia today. The time for the attack will be after receiving the news that the Anda troops have broken through the border wall. At that time, when the Tatars enter the Great Wall, 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 Pegasus to convey the order to the other side to attack. During this period, the Tatar forces will gradually disperse and plunder, and will not regroup until they detect the movements of the Xuanfu army. "

Wei Guangde calculated based on the preparation time before the army went out in this era. Even if the Xuanfu army was prepared, it would still take time to confirm the news and mobilize the troops, food, grass and baggage to confirm the news and press the three Xuanfu guards.

At this time, Yansui and Ningxia were ordered to attack the Hetao. It would take a few days until the tribes in the Hetao area found out and asked Anda Khan for help. By then, the Anda tribe might have already confronted the Xuanfu army.

Then troops were mobilized for rescue, and it took another ten days. The time left for the Ming army to wreak havoc on the Loop was less than twenty days, but it was enough for them to make a small fortune.

"The two towns of Yansui and Ningxia require all cavalry to attack, and they are lightly armed to make a surprise attack, and they need to fight to support the war."

Wei Guangde continued to talk about his plan for the campaign. There was no need to prepare any logistics supplies. He could just grab them from the Tatar tribe to supplement them.

Forage is found in the grasslands and those tribes, and grain is found in the cattle and sheep that cover the grasslands.

If you attack in a short time, it will come after a round trip. Naturally, there is no need to prepare high-quality horse feed such as soybeans.

Gao Gong didn't understand military affairs, but Wei Guangde's explanation was quite detailed. He could understand that at least the Anta Ministry sent reinforcements to the Hetao area. From the Ming army's attack to the arrival of the Tatar reinforcements, there were about twenty days in between before the expedition. The Ming army is safe during this period.

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

"Let's go with me to the cabinet to meet the elder."

As he said that, he stood up again shortly after he sat down. He reached out and grabbed one of Wei Guangde's arms to pull him up.

"Wait, this, it's definitely not appropriate for me to go now."

Wei Guangde said hurriedly.

"There's nothing inappropriate. This is for Ming Dynasty. Your plan feels much better than Ge Jin's passive defense strategy. It only knows defense."

Gao Gong said nonchalantly. 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 cannot make the final decision on such a major change. , when the time comes, we will definitely have to discuss it with the Ministry of War, and finally report it to Emperor Jiajing.

Fortunately, this matter is not so urgent now. After all, in Xuanfu, only the exploration horses of both sides are fighting, and the main force of Anda is still gathering, and they are not ready to launch an attack.

It will also take time to gather troops and horses in Yansui and Ningxia towns. After today's court meeting, the Ministry of War will ask the two towns to gather troops and horses. When the time comes, they can just use these troops to go out.

"I think it's better for me to write this idea into a memorial and submit it to the cabinet for review. If you need me to explain it in detail, I'll go there."

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

As long as you, Wei Guangde, are capable, they are all useless.

For such a thing, Wei Guangde would not do it even to death.

Wei Guangde's attitude was very firm, and Gao Gong seemed to gradually understand Wei Guangde's concerns and was no longer so eager to take him out.

"Okay, you write it into a memorial. Write it today and give it to me tomorrow. I will send it directly to the cabinet, not to the General Secretary."

Gao Gong, who had calmed down, said, "You said it at the beginning, the General Affairs Office 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 summary of the Ming Dynasty that later generations had read, in which the issue of confidentiality was often mentioned.

Therefore, when Wei Guangde was drinking and chatting with Gao Gong, he said the dangers of "if the king is not secretive, his ministers will lose; if the ministers are not secretive, they will lose their virginity; if several things are not secretive, it will cause harm".

Come to think of it, Xuanfu sent an urgent report to the capital, and both the Ministry of War and the General Affairs Department received the memorial.

As the bureau in charge of the war, the Ministry of War knew that it was the right thing to do. After all, they had to make war decisions and deploy troops and generals.

The memorials received by the general affairs envoys were originally supposed to be sent directly to the palace by the general affairs envoys and handed over to the emperor for inspection. However, the system has changed now and they are forwarded to the cabinet for approval.

The key point is that the General Affairs Office is still a leaky house. As soon as the memorial arrives, the content of the memorial spreads quickly, and there is no privacy at all.

Thinking about the decision made by the imperial meeting, in such a short period of time, he told Wei Guangde about the secret. He was an official of the Hanlin Academy, but what about the others?

Obviously, everyone will inadvertently leak the battle plan. Although it is Ge Jin's suggestion, the leakage of the final decision is actually the most fatal.

Although Gao Gong did not think that any minister in the court would have an affair with Anda Khan, this was not acceptable.

For this reason, Gao Gong just thought of a plan, which was to "secretly infiltrate Chencang".

On the surface, they implemented Ge Jin's suggestion and actively defended. In fact, they implemented Wei Guangde's suggestion and launched an attack to sweep the Hetao area, forcing Anda Khan to divide his troops for rescue.

If this is the case, Wei Guangde cannot be allowed to send the memorial to the General Affairs Office. After entering the General Affairs Office, all the officialdom in the capital will know about it in half a day.

"You send it directly to the cabinet?"

Wei Guangde frowned and looked at Gao Gong, a little surprised that he, who always pays attention to rules and regulations, would do this. This is a bad rule.

"You said something about the General Affairs Office before, and I think it makes sense."

Gao Gong replied concisely, then thought about it and continued: "I sent it to the cabinet and tried to let only Da Sima participate. According to your opinion, there is actually no need to raise too much food and grass. Da Situ can do without it." consider."

The two towns of Yansui and Ningxia came out of the Hetao and supported the war with war. Naturally, the money and food consumption of this military mobilization was greatly reduced, especially the consumption during the long-distance march, which could almost be completely ignored.

As for the other troops from Xuanda and Jizhen, they are relatively close and their consumption is limited.

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

However, Wei Guangde also noticed something in his heart, that is, Gao Gong has strong decisiveness and seems to have a lot of control. For the current position of Minister of Taichang Temple, he dares to arrange two ministers.

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

Also, Wei Guangde and Gao Gong did not want to interact with Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen, who had been dealing with Gao Gong in Prince Yu's Mansion all year round.

When Wei Guangde and Gao Gong are together, they either just chat or discuss things. Everyone speaks directly and doesn't mince words, so communication is easy.

Wei Guangde could only make up his mind about Gao Gong, and he would observe him more for a while to see what kind of person he was.

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 he was summoned to Xiyuan by Emperor Jiajing to attend the imperial meeting today, Gao Gong had realized that he was very different from the person he was then, 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 stand up and sit back in front of the desk, and began to grind the ink himself, preparing to write his memorial on Xuanfu's strategy for the First World War.