Daqin arrests alchemists, what does it matter to me as a qi refiner?

After Yang Ling and the rebel army arrived at the battlefield, he immediately ordered the soldiers to strengthen the defense measures on the city wall.

Outside the city walls was a flat and spacious grassland area without any obstacles, so it was difficult for the Tatars to transport enough stone from the grassland.

But they still thought of other ways to deal with the defenders.

After discussing with his generals, Yang Ling decided that as long as the defenders held the city for three days, until the autumn harvest was over, the grain was abundant, and the people were able to be self-sufficient, the Tatars would retreat. Otherwise, even if they fought desperately to break through the city, they would not gain anything after suffering heavy losses.

That night, Yang Ling led his personal guards to sneak out of the city to investigate the movements of the Tatars.

The moonlight was hazy, and the bright moonlight poured down on the earth. The entire Liaodong grassland looked quiet and peaceful. The breeze was blowing gently, and the air was filled with the faint fragrance of flowers.

But in this peaceful and tranquil situation, there was a sudden burst of loud shouts and cries of killing.

"Ah!" Almost at the same time, a deafening roar sounded from the top of the city.

Several defenders at the city gate had just stuck their heads out to look in when they were chopped to the ground by the charging enemy.

Next to the moat under the city wall, more than a dozen Tatar cavalrymen were waving their sabers and bravely attacking the earthen wall compacted with mud by the defenders.

The defenders on the city wall drew their weapons and jumped off the wall, fighting with the Tatars below near the wall. The two sides fought back and forth with great pleasure, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

The guards led by Yang Ling did not participate in the melee. They took advantage of the chaos to sneak into the Tatar cavalry camp, charged with shields and spears, and immediately smashed dozens of Tatar cavalry on the opposite side into pieces.

Afterwards, Yang Ling led his guards around to the rear of the Tatars and set up ladders at the edge of the trench.

The ladder itself is very simple. It can be used by simply sharpening the front end of a wooden pole or nailing a few wooden boards to it. Because of the height of the city wall, each ladder requires more than ten people to build.

These ladders were assembled temporarily. As the pressure on the city wall became less and less, the people responsible for building the ladders gradually relaxed their vigilance and they did not even check the safety of the ladders.

Yang Ling was the first to climb to the top of the ladder, followed by the second, third, and fourth
Seeing this, the Tatars rushed forward one after another, but Yang Ling on the ladder was extremely agile. He used his physical advantage to dodge left and right among the enemies. Not only was he unharmed, but he also killed several enemies in succession.

"Hurry up, crawl faster, don't let the Han people get away!"

The enemies on and under the ladder cooperated with each other and quickly controlled the situation. Finally, the ladder was completed with everyone's efforts.

Yang Ling stood on the top of the ladder and looked at the city wall in the distance.

The Tatars have deployed a large number of artillery on the city walls. Yang Ling estimated that the city's moat had been filled up. If he rashly landed now, he would easily be bombarded by the Tatar artillery.

"Send an order, order the soldiers to stop attacking the city and build trenches first."

Yang Ling ordered a halt to the siege, and then sent out sentinels to notify the leaders of each tribe to gather under the city wall.

Yang Ling had just returned to the commander's office when he saw Li Debiao hurriedly walk into the room: "Brother, this is so refreshing!"

Yang Ling asked in confusion: "What? Any good news?"

"There is no good news, but there is a surprise!" Li Debiao said mysteriously.

"What surprise?" Yang Ling asked even more curiously.

"I heard that last night, you picked up 100,000 taels of silver and 5,000 kilograms of grain halfway up the mountain!" Li Debiao asked with a smile.

"Yes, it is true." Yang Ling nodded and admitted.

"Haha, I guess there must be a lot of people coming to you to buy." Li Debiao said, patting his chest.

"Well, there are indeed quite a few, but we didn't sell too many. After deducting the cost, we made a net profit of more than 96,000 strings of cash!" Yang Ling said with a smile.

Li Debiao's eyes widened when he heard this: "So many!"

"Yes, we now have about 2,000 refugee households. If each household takes out 20 strings of cash to buy them, the total is 80,000 strings of cash, equivalent to 120,000 copper coins. Based on the price of 200 coins per mu of cultivated land, our total assets are now about 700,000 strings of cash."

Li Debiao swallowed his saliva and sighed: "I'm afraid even the Ming Dynasty can't come up with so much money."

"Hehe, this is just a conservative estimate." Yang Ling said proudly: "Our business is not finished yet. As long as we have enough money, we can continue to expand."

Li Debiao suddenly came close to Yang Ling and asked in a low voice: "Brother, do you think we should join Zhang Fu and his men?"

"What do you mean?"

"We have so much money now, Zhang Fu and the others shouldn't refuse us to join, right?"

Li Debiao's proposal made Yang Ling frown, he shook his head and said: "No, we can't reveal our identities at the moment, let alone our ambitions.

If the news of our surprise attack on the Tatar camp spreads, it will probably alert the coalition forces of various countries, and then we will have all kinds of troubles.

Now we can only develop and grow in secret, and when we are strong enough, we can take the initiative to choose which faction to belong to. "

"But you also know that the imperial court will fall sooner or later. What else can we gain if we continue like this?"

Yang Ling smiled and said, "Now our food and wages are enough to feed ourselves. When we become stronger, we can naturally choose other forces to pledge allegiance to. It's just like paying taxes. It doesn't matter who we pay to. What's the difference?"

Li Debiao thought about Yang Ling's words carefully, and suddenly realized something. Then he asked worriedly: "So you mean we should continue to be patient and wait for the opportunity to rise?"

Yang Ling smiled and nodded, "Of course, we need to accumulate strength, and then seek better development."

After that, Yang Ling took out two gold ingots from his arms and stuffed them into Li Debiao's hands, and warned him: "Remember, the content of our discussion today must not be leaked, otherwise I will not forgive you!"

Looking at the heavy gold ingots in his hand, Li Debiao's eyes suddenly brightened, and he said solemnly: "Don't worry, brother, I won't say a word today even if I die."

Yang Ling said with a smile: "Don't worry, you have done a great job for me. I will report it to the Marshal and the Marquis, and I will reward them according to their merits. You will definitely be included in the reward."

"Thank you, brother!" Li Debiao clenched his fists excitedly.

After Li Debiao left, Yang Ling sat on the chair with a changing expression.

Although the sneak attack was successful, the Tatar reinforcements continued to arrive, which made Yang Ling feel difficult. According to Yang Ling's plan, the mission of this sneak attack on the Tatar camp was to feint, then lure the enemy deep into the camp and annihilate the Tatar cavalry.

If the Tatars retreated, Yang Ling would immediately order the army to withdraw and return to Jinzhou for rest.

However, since the Tatars suffered a loss this time, they will definitely not give up. They will definitely come back again. Yang Ling does not want the opportunity he worked so hard to create to go to waste.

But Yang Ling racked his brains to figure out how to annihilate this Tatar army as quickly as possible, but he had no idea.

"Yes, you can ask Zhang Fu for advice!"

The figure of Zhang Fu suddenly flashed before Yang Ling's eyes. He quickly stood up and walked out of the commander's office, heading straight for the military tent where Zhang Fu was.

Zhang Fu was discussing the battle situation with several of his generals. When he saw Yang Ling coming in, he quickly stood up to greet him.

Zhang Fu enthusiastically invited Yang Ling to the table next to him and asked him kindly, "Ling'er, where have you been having fun these days? Even your uncle almost forgot you existed."

Zhang Fu was Yang Ling's elder, so Yang Ling did not dare to neglect him because of their responsibilities. He bowed and replied hurriedly, "Uncle, I followed the commander-in-chief to conquer the northwest a few days ago. Now I am back in Jinzhou, and I have come to report to you!"

"Oh, how are you doing now?" Zhang Fu asked.

Yang Ling said: "The Marshal has the elite Tiger Guards, Flying Leopard Battalion and Flying Bear Guards, plus more than 2,000 infantrymen. My more than 2,000 refugees are also well-trained and have very strong combat effectiveness. Now the Marshal is stationed in Yulin with his men, preparing to encircle and destroy the Mongols' rear. It is expected that the Mongols will be completely defeated within half a year."

Zhang Fu stroked his beard and smiled, "Ling'er, your plan is very good. If we can encircle and annihilate the Tatars' rear, the Mongolian cavalry will lose their supplies and will inevitably collapse. Then we can gather troops and pursue them. Even if we can't kill them all, we can severely hit their spirit and reduce the pressure on the Liaoxi defense line!"

"Uncle, thank you for the compliment!"

Zhang Fu asked again: "Where is the Marshal now?"

"I went to visit the Marshal just now, but he sent people to chase me out. The Marshal has ordered the gates of Yulin to be blocked, and no one is allowed to enter without permission!" Yang Ling said helplessly.

Zhang Fu couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. Although Yang Ling was the Marshal's most beloved son, he was not favored. Instead, his granddaughter Zhang Rou was more favored by the Marshal, even more favored than Zhang Yong.

"Ling'er, to be honest, your plan is brilliant, but it is a bit risky. After all, you are too few in number now. If you rashly attack the Tatar camp, you may be wiped out."

Zhang Fu paused for a moment and continued, "So, this sneak attack on the Tatar camp ends here. We will look for a suitable opportunity to ambush the Tatars. Go back and comfort your brothers and tell them that we will not fight the Tatars for the time being, so as to avoid heavy casualties."

"Yes!"

Although Yang Ling was a little depressed, there was nothing he could do. The current situation was not favorable to him. Rashly attacking the Tatar camp would be pure suicide, so he had to agree and solve the current problem first.

"Uncle, I just received a secret report saying that Tatar Khan Abatai has agreed to negotiate with our army under the persuasion of Chamubu Taiji, but the condition is that our army needs to release the prisoners and compensate them with 2,000 war horses."

Zhang Fu snorted coldly when he heard this: "Peace talks? Wishful thinking!"

Yang Ling asked doubtfully: "Uncle, what do the Tatars want to do? Do they really want to negotiate with us?"

Zhang Fu shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. We are all aware of the Tatars' ambitions. If it's a negotiation, it's not called peace talks, it's called surrender."

"But are they worth such a huge price?"

Zhang Fu sighed and said, "Perhaps. The Tatars are now at the end of their rope. If we can use the opportunity of peace talks to turn hostility into friendship, it may be the wisest choice at this moment."

"Since the Tatars have proposed negotiations, what should we do?"

Zhang Fu frowned and pondered for a moment before saying, "I think we might as well delay first, and then wait for an opportunity to take action."

.

When Yang Ling returned to the headquarters, he immediately ordered: "Come here, pass on my order. Order the Third and Fourth Regiments to be on high alert and ready to be ordered at any time!"

"Yes!"

Yang Ling soon took over the military power. The soldiers of the third and fourth regiments quickly adjusted their defensive formations and selected some of the elderly, the weak, women and children to assist in the defense.

Excluding the Feixiong Guards led by Yang Ling and two thousand refugees, there were about five thousand people in Jinzhou City, divided into three phalanxes. Each phalanx had four hundred soldiers and eight hundred old and weak. The remaining eight hundred or so were fully armed as reserve troops.

After Yang Ling's order was issued, the battalion officers of each regiment came out one after another to receive the order.

Yang Ling looked at everyone and said, "This is my initial idea. If you think there is no problem, just follow it!"

After that, Yang Ling took out the battle plan he had made, handed it to Zhou Huaian and said, "Teacher, take a look at this plan!"

Zhou Huaian took the paper and lowered his head to read Yang Ling's plan carefully.

This plan was a combat plan formulated by Yang Ling based on the battlefield situation. Taking the issue of refugees into consideration, Yang Ling organized them into three echelons, with two hundred people in each echelon.

Two hundred of them were responsible for vigilance and reconnaissance, and their main job was to protect the property safety of the refugees; two hundred were responsible for covering the transportation of materials in the rear, and were responsible for transporting food and other military supplies to Yulin City; the last two hundred were the main force at the rear, responsible for blocking the enemy's reinforcements, and also for buying time for the front troops to retreat.

Yang Ling's battle plan seems unreasonable, but it can produce unexpected results in actual implementation.

First of all, this type of group combat can avoid confusion among the various units, allowing the troops to cooperate in combat more orderly and outflank the enemy's rear from the flank.

Second, Yang Ling’s plan can greatly enhance the combat capability of the troops and fully demonstrate the flexibility and diversity of tactics.

In the end, this unit stayed behind to resist the enemy, which had a great training effect on the unit. It could train the soldiers' ability to respond to battle and improve the unit's survivability on the battlefield.

In summary, Yang Ling's strategic thinking was very agile, and he quickly designed a targeted combat plan.

Yang Ling saw Zhou Huaian looking down at his tactics, so he continued to report: "Excluding the reserve, our total force is still 6,500. However, due to the large number of refugees, the combat effectiveness of the troops is likely to decline, because this unit lacks the experience of long-term combat. Because there are too many refugees, if we have to divide the troops to protect them, we can't concentrate our superior forces to attack a certain target. This will put the troops in a dilemma of being attacked from both sides, and even lead to a total loss."

Yang Ling smiled bitterly and said, "So this time, we shouldn't use a large-scale attack to avoid causing too much loss of refugees, because if we do that, the combat effectiveness of the troops will definitely drop significantly."

Zhou Huaian nodded slowly after listening to it. Yang Ling's plan did have some flaws, but the flaws did not outweigh the merits. This plan was the best choice Yang Ling could make at the moment. (End of this chapter)