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Chapter 858 Surprise
But as winter approached, the Xining City Wall had not yet been completed, and the emperor had not dispatched major forces to Lanzhou. It was estimated that the war would not start this winter, and the earliest would be next spring, or even summer.

The weather on the plateau is different from that in the inland areas. It can be freezing cold enough to freeze people to death. The most suitable time is during the transition from spring to summer, which lasts exactly half a year until late autumn.

"No, this matter cannot be delayed. If we want to solve it, we must do it in winter. If we cannot solve it, we can put it off until next year. Giving Sun Chengzong 30,000 troops will be in vain!"

But Sun Chengzong was wrong. His emperor was not smooth-headed, cunning, full of nonsense, always making big promises, and even cruel. After receiving the Qinghai strategy formulated by the General Staff, he became impatient after reading only one-third of it.

He insisted that it was too late to attack in the summer and forced Yuan Keli to re-formulate a winter combat plan, which could not be started later than the first month of the next year. In order to achieve the effect of surprise, he did not consider the life and death of the soldiers on the front line at all.

"The winter on the plateau is too cold, even the northern soldiers find it difficult to resist. Your Majesty, please think twice!" The emperor may not consider the details, but Yuan Keli must consider it, otherwise he will have to bear most of the blame for the defeat.

"What do you mean by 'think twice'? Have you ever been to the West Sea? Or has anyone who has been there provided detailed information?"

If we ask Hong Tao which places in ancient times he is most familiar with, Hainan Island, Luzon Island, and Hehuang area must be ranked in the top three. The reason is simple. In a certain lifetime, when he traveled through time, he not only lived there for a long time, but also managed there. It would be unreasonable if he was not familiar with them.

Where is Hehuang? It is the West Sea, which is the eastern part of Qinghai Lake. The local climate was known as early as the Northern Song Dynasty, and it would not change much in the Ming Dynasty.

"I have specially consulted Liu Minkuan for this. He served as the deputy military envoy of Xining in the 23rd year of Wanli and participated in the Battle of Huangzhong."

Yuan Keli was no pushover. In order to formulate this plan, he and his confidential staff specially visited several Northwest generals and found one who had fought in Qinghai and was still alive. According to their suggestions, it was not recommended to fight on the plateau in winter.

"...How about this, you just make a plan, and I will personally lead the army to the plateau. After we return safely, we will go and ask Liu Minkuan why we can't fight on the plateau in winter?"

Hong Tao roughly knew who Liu Minkuan was. During the Wanli period, the Ming Dynasty court fought against the Mongolian tribes entrenched in Qinghai to deal with the threat from the northwest border. They won several crucial victories, which were called the Three Victories of Huangzhong.

Liu Minkuan was one of the generals at that time. He retired due to health reasons a few years after he ascended the throne. He might be the only general who had combat experience in the Hehuang area who is still alive. I didn't expect Yuan Keli to put in enough effort to find him.

However, Hong Tao did not think that Liu Minkuan knew the topography and natural climate of the Hehuang area better than himself, but he could not tell Yuan Keli that he had fought with the Western Xia, Tubo, Uighurs and Tatars in the Hehuang area for many years.

This really choked me. I bit my cigar for a while, but I still couldn't figure out how to explain it. I simply didn't explain it. I took out the emperor's domineering attitude and went. What's wrong?

"...If your Majesty insists on this, I will obey your order. But how should the soldiers deal with the bitter cold weather on the plateau? I hope your Majesty will give in!" Seeing that the emperor began to be unreasonable, Yuan Keli had no choice but to give in. But he really didn't know how to deal with winter plateau warfare, so he had to ask for advice humbly. "Well... that's right. Nothing is difficult for those who are determined. As long as your mind does not slip, there are always more solutions than difficulties... uh... it's actually very simple. Just prepare more camels, felt tents, felt, sheepskin, coke, and guides, and adopt a step-by-step tactic to defeat the enemy."

This is why Hong Tao admires Yuan Keli the most. Not only is he talented, but he can also put his talents into practice. He does not have the bad habit of traditional literati of being arrogant and conceited. He always has a learning attitude towards new things and can humble himself to listen to other people's opinions.

"Well... we have also thought of using camels instead of horses, felt tents instead of military tents, and sheepskin coats to keep out the cold, and have noted them in the plan. What about the coke, felt, and guides?"

Yuan Keli listened and took notes, nodding and frowning from time to time. He and his staff had already thought of some things, but there were a few things that he didn't quite understand the specific uses of.

"Felt is used to make boots, not ordinary boots, but overboots that are worn outside shoes. Multiple layers of felt are steamed with water vapor, then put into a mold and compacted by a machine to shape it. Wearing it outside shoes in winter can not only keep out the cold, but also keep out the snow and moisture.

Coke is used for heating. It has higher heat than charcoal and can be easily ignited with solid alcohol. It is better to have a cast iron stove, but you can also use it if you don't have one. There are ventilation holes on the top of the felt tent, which is suitable for heating with coke, and even a chimney is not needed.

The guide was naturally a herdsman who was familiar with the local area. Lakes were not uncommon in that area, but most of them were salt water and could not be drunk by humans and animals. Someone was needed to lead the way to find water.

I have already prepared the specific candidates. You can also look for people like Liu Minkuan who participated in the three victories in Huangzhong, and then look through the case files of that year to find useful maps. If the water source problem is not completely solved, no soldiers can go out to fight!"

At this time, it depends on the ability of the King of Liangzhou during the Northern Song Dynasty. There are only two key points in winter combat on the plateau: keeping warm and eating. If these two key issues are solved well, the Ming army equipped with muskets will win no matter how they fight.

The felt overshoes were taken from the hunters who lived in the Greater Khingan Range all year round. In order to go out hunting in winter, they came up with the idea of ​​weaving boots with a plant called 靰鞡草 to cover the outside of their shoes to keep out the cold and moisture. Ginseng, mink fur, and 靰鞡草 were the three treasures of Northeast China in the late Qing Dynasty.

After liberation, when materials became abundant, the technology of steaming felt to replace taro was invented. The performance of the two is similar, and the output of industrially produced felt overshoes is much larger than that of hand-woven taro overshoes.

There are few trees on the plateau, but the plateau needs to be heated. The herdsmen would collect horse and cow dung all year round, dry them and save them for firewood in winter. Outsiders would definitely not have time to make such preparations, and carrying firewood and coal on the plateau would be too heavy, so there is a saying that it is impossible to fight on the plateau in winter.

However, with the development of technology, coke, which is light and high in calorific value, has appeared. In addition to iron smelting, this thing is also a very good fuel, with a much higher calorific value than charcoal. As long as you pay attention to avoid gas poisoning, it can solve the heating problem very well.

Another factor that restricted the army from entering the plateau was water. Anyone who has traveled to Qinghai should have the impression that there is no shortage of water in that land, and there are many lakes of various sizes. However, most of them cannot be directly drunk, including the vast Qinghai Lake, which is all salt water.

(End of this chapter)