Ming Empire

Chapter 53 Cao Yue's Confidence

The last one to arrive was Wu Ming, the deputy commander guarding the West Camp.

Wu Ming came half an hour later than the other generals. When he came, Cao Yue had already informed the generals of the situation and were discussing how to defend against the enemy.Cao Yue was very dissatisfied with Wu Ming's late arrival, and severely reprimanded him in front of all the generals.

Cao Yue's public reprimand made Wu Ming feel ashamed.However, he suppressed his anger and sent someone to Beijing to report on Cao Yue's conspiracy. He believed that if Emperor Chongzhen received this report, Cao Yue's good days would come to an end.

If Cao Yue is arrested and imprisoned, he will be the commander in chief of Datong. At that time, what Cao Yue did in Datong will become his achievements, and he will also be able to command [-] troops. No one dares to underestimate him when he is dispatched as the commander-in-chief.

A little intolerance can lead to a big conspiracy. Wu Ming didn't have any rivalry with Cao Yue, but immediately admitted his mistake, saying that he came from outside the city, and the road was very difficult due to the ice and snow everywhere, so the time was delayed, and he also asked the commander-in-chief Adults punish.

Seeing that Wu Ming admitted his mistake, Cao Yue didn't care too much, and immediately notified everyone of the latest enemy situation.

Hearing Cao Yue say that Jiannu invaded south in this weather, and the distance from Datong was only more than a hundred miles away, many people's faces changed suddenly.

Although Datong now has 5 horses, most of them are recruits. Although Cao Yue has been trained very strictly during this period, he has not experienced actual combat, and everything is unknown.Jiannu's invasion of the south could never be a small number of troops. With Datong's [-] recruits, it is uncertain whether they can withstand most of them.Many people felt a chilling feeling in their hearts, especially Wu Ming, the deputy commander, who already regretted coming to Datong.

If he hadn't come to Datong, he wouldn't have met this battle years ago, maybe he is still enjoying the blessings in Shandong now.The pride in Wu Ming's heart that he wanted to replace Cao Yue just now disappeared suddenly.All he thinks about now is how to escape this battle.

"Jiannu came from a long way, the weather is so bad, they must have suffered from lack of people and horses, and their combat effectiveness has been greatly reduced. In Datong, we have a town army of [-], with sufficient guns, bows and arrows and other weapons, and there is no shortage of food. Now we have discovered Jiannu's whereabouts again. There is no need to be afraid!" Cao Yue also saw the nervousness on the faces of some generals, so he encouraged them first.

After a pause, he continued: "However, we must not slack off in any way. We must be extremely vigilant and use all means to keep Jiannu out of Datong City. The general has already asked the prefect of Wei to block the people outside Datong City. The people moved to the city, and the people in other counties also hid in the city as much as possible, so as not to give Jiannu the opportunity to burn, kill and loot. Under the strong walls and clear fields, even if we can't defeat Jiannu, Jiannu is impossible under this weather Stay under the city of Datong for a long time. Before the general announces the order, you can speak out what ideas and suggestions the generals have."

As soon as Cao Yue's words fell, Cao Jie, the general of the first battalion, immediately stood up and said proudly: "What the commander-in-chief said is very reasonable. In today's bad weather, even if we defend the city without fighting, we can still force Jiannu They had to back off. They ran for a long distance in this weather, just to take advantage of our unpreparedness and catch us by surprise. Now that they have lost this opportunity, we will be able to thwart the plot to build slaves."

Zhao Tai, the deputy commander in chief, also stood up immediately to express his opinion: "Master Chief Soldier's strategy is very good. He fortified the walls and cleared the fields, and moved the people and their food to the city, and did not give Jiannu a chance to replenish food and grass. Even if they brought dry food, they would not It is impossible to stay under the city of Datong for too long, and the troops will retreat soon. If they dare to attack forcefully, they will definitely be defeated in the city of Datong."

Other Cao Yue's cronies also stood up one after another, expressing similar meanings, don't have any fear of building slaves, their capital city Shengjing was destroyed by the commander-in-chief himself, and now there are many soldiers in Datong What are they afraid of?
Lieutenants Gao Qing and Zhu Yang, who had already handed over their certificates to Cao Yue, also stood up together, expressing their confidence in defeating Jian Nu.

Wu Ming, the deputy general, finally expressed his opinion, saying that he hoped that under the leadership of Cao Yue, he could create another miracle and defeat Jiannu.

Seeing that all the generals expressed their views in this way, but no one made any substantive suggestions, and Cao Yue immediately announced his plan.

Datong Prefecture has Hunyuan Prefecture, Yingzhou, Shuozhou, Weizhou and seven counties of Datong, Huairen, Mayi, Shanyin, Guangling, Lingqiu, and Guangchang. These counties are basically in the south of Datong. It can't play a role in defending Datong.Jiannu came from the north, and the city of Datong was the first to bear the brunt.

It can be said that Cao Yue only needs to defend Datong City in this battle, and basically don't care about other counties.However, just in case, Cao Yue sent out a military order overnight, ordering the guards in all prefectures and counties to be on strict alert to prevent sneak attacks by Jiannu.

Soon, the sergeants who delivered the military order braved the severe cold to deliver the news overnight.

Cao Yue invented skis and sleds, and the sergeants who conveyed military information did not need cavalry anymore. They could just march with skis, which was much less strenuous than riding a horse.

Most of Cao Yue's newly recruited troops were inside and outside Datong City. He planned to have all the battalions stationed outside the city come into the city early tomorrow morning.How to defend, he also made arrangements.He personally guarded the north gate with the first and second battalions. Deputy commander Zhao Tai led the third and fourth battalions to guard the west gate. Deputy commander Wu Ming and deputy general Gao Qing led the fifth and sixth battalions to guard the east gate. Zhu Yang did the same. Lead two battalions of soldiers to guard the south gate.

The other two battalions were used as a reserve team, and civilians were recruited to serve as transportation and logistics personnel.

After assigning the task, all the generals also took orders to go, and Cao Yue left Cao Jie to discuss how to fight the battle that will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.After the two summed up the time, Cao Jie left.After fully understanding the training situation of the firearms battalion led by Cao Jie and the performance of the muskets in the freezing weather, Cao Yue became more confident.

He believed that even if muskets could not be used, based on the current strength and preparations of the troops, he was confident of repelling the incoming Jiannu.

One of the most important factors that made Cao Yue full of confidence was that Datong City was built very solidly. Jiannu without heavy firearms wanted to attack Datong City in the middle of winter, which was tantamount to nonsense.

Because it is the Pingfan of Gyeonggi Province, Datong's military position is very dangerous.In the fifth year of Hongwu, Xu Da, a general in Hongwu, built on the basis of the old city. 54 new watchtowers and 96 nest shops were built around the city wall.The protruding part is the wall buttresses, twelve on each side, plus four corner piers.The pier is a trapezoidal structure, and a control platform is built outside the four-corner pier, and the upper steps are connected with the city wall.

The city wall of Datong is tall, and there are strong urns at the east, south, west and north gates.

Datong City has a unique phenomenon. It is not a single square fortress-like city. The pattern of Datong City is composed of four parts: the main part is a tall and strong town, and there are another one outside the south, east and north walls of the town. The self-contained quadrangular small towns are called South Town, East Town, and Playground City, and each small town also has its own independent Wengcheng and Yuecheng, which are not far from the town and are connected to the main city by a suspension bridge.

If you want to enter Datong Town, you must first pass through one of the three small cities, and you need to pass at least four to six city gates.Even if you enter the small town on the outskirts, if you don’t take the initiative to put down the suspension bridge in the main city, you still can’t enter Datong Town. An important town and a famous city.

With 5 troops under his command and relying on the strong city to defend, it would be no wonder that Cao Yue's self-confidence did not skyrocket!
(End of this chapter)