Ming Empire

Chapter 88
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Datong's general soldiers are walking, and Cao Yue is discussing matters with his generals.

"Everyone, this general has confirmed that Li Yan's troops are coming in the direction of Datong. They are preparing to attack Datong." Cao Yue stood in front of the map of Datong he had drawn and told the generals the information he had obtained. "Li Yan Yansuo's department is still more than [-] miles away from Datong, and it is estimated that they will arrive in five to six days. Liu Zongmin's department originally went to Taiyuan, but now it suddenly changed direction and came to Datong, and now it is more than [-] miles away from Datong Obviously, more than [-] rogues from these two parts are coming towards us in Datong, we must strictly guard against them, and don’t let the rogues take advantage of it.”

Cao Yue originally thought that he planned to attack Datong because the servants of the king had lost all of the Datong army, and Datong's defenses were empty and it was easy to attack.

But unexpectedly, Li Yan and Liu Zongmin still came straight to Datong. He couldn't think of the reason for the rogues.

Could it be that Li Zicheng sent Li Yan and Liu Zongmin to lead an army to attack Datong, with the purpose of possibly restraining the Ming army in the capital area and preventing them from going south.Now that the threat of establishing slavery has been temporarily lifted, the troops in Liaodong and the capital can be dispatched to reinforce Henan and Shaanxi and encircle and suppress the bandits.Li Yan and Liu Zongmin's army attacked Datong, and the northern officials and troops would definitely be restrained. In this way, Li Zicheng would have no worries, and he could attack Henan and Shaanxi freely, and take all these two places into his pocket.

Today, although Daming claims to have nearly a million troops, most of the elite have been consumed. Many of the nearly one million troops are false reports, and most of the real troops are mobs. It is almost impossible for them to defeat the rogues.Moreover, Li Yan and Liu Zongmin's 10,000+ army attacked Datong and made a gesture of attacking Beijing. Then the government troops in other places must be reinforced in the direction of the capital, not Henan and Shaanxi. Li Zicheng can give it a go. Take all of these two provinces as your own.

Today's rogues have a large scale. They claim to have a million troops, and they are fully capable of fighting on two fronts.And the officers and soldiers also have to take care of Liaodong. If the rogues divide their forces and attack in this way, Henan and Shaanxi will not be able to take care of them, and they will probably be occupied by the rogues.

This was an inference made by Cao Yue, Wei Daben, the magistrate of Datong, and Zhang An, the guardian eunuch, but they had no way of knowing what the specific situation was and what Li Zicheng's plans were.

However, all signs show that the two bandit armies, Li Yan and Liu Zongmin, are planning to invade Datong. Cao Yue can't take any chances and must be on strict guard.Rogue bandits are different from Jiannu, and they will not leave without winning. They may confront other troops for a long time under the city of Datong.

Datong cannot be lost, it must be defended, and it must be defended with the strength of the local town army, and no reinforcements can be expected to arrive.

The rogues may also attack Taiyuan or other places in an attempt to open the gateway to Beijing. It is impossible for other military towns to have the strength to divide their troops to rescue them.Moreover, Cao Yue sneered at the combat effectiveness of the town troops in other places. Even if these places could send reinforcements, it would only increase the number of people who needed military pay for food, and the increase in combat effectiveness would not be obvious.

Under Cao Yue's strict order, inside and outside Datong, prepare to fortify the wall and clear the country again.However, this time the people were not as willing to hide in Datong City as they were the last time when the Slaves came. They will treat them better than the government, so they refuse to temporarily go to Datong City to escape the war for various reasons.

Cao Yue did not expect this situation, and in the end he did not insist on this point and let the people do what they wanted.There is no way to force people's hearts. At that time, the people will have their own judgments. For those people who are willing to go to the city to escape, Cao Yue also asked Wei Daben to make arrangements for them. If they don't want to, they will not force them, let alone punish them.

Cao Yue also wrote letters to Li Yan and Liu Zongmin. In the letter, he elaborated on the current general situation in the world, told them how powerful Chen was, and hoped that they would not help the tyrant to do evil, and gave Jiannu a chance to take advantage of.Today, the main enemy of the people of Ming Dynasty is Jiannu, who fights with each other in the same room, and it will be Jiannu who will benefit in the end.Jiannu is a foreign race, and when they pass, the Han people will be wiped out, and another Mongolian Yuan will appear.What needs to be done most now is to unite all the forces of the Han people to completely wipe out the Jiannu and Mongols. Other things will be discussed after the foreign captives are wiped out.

Cao Yue's letter was quickly delivered to Li Yan's hands. Li Yan, who was surprised that Cao Yue would write to him, could not help but sneer after reading Cao Yue's letter: "What a Cao Yue, he is usually full of male robbers and female prostitutes. Now, with an awe-inspiring appearance, he wrote a letter to persuade the corrupt Ming Dynasty to fight against the Jiannu who only dared to enter the customs to grab things, it really makes people laugh."

Li Yan, who had a deep prejudice against Cao Yue, ignored the words written in Cao Yue's letter, because he had never seen Cao Yue or witnessed the situation in Datong with his own eyes, but Hong Niangzi was humiliated again and again, all because of Because of Cao Yue, he has classified Cao Yue among the villains.

He didn't think that what Cao Yue said was really for righteousness, for the people of Ming Dynasty to stop suffering, and to prevent Jiannu from taking advantage of it. On the contrary, he thought that Cao Yue was hypocritical, and he also thought that Cao Yue was showing weakness.Datong's defense was not strong. Now that he and Liu Zongmin were attacking Datong, Cao Yue was afraid, so he wrote to persuade him not to attack Datong, but to deal with Jiannu together.

"If I listened to him and fought against Jiannu with the officers and soldiers, maybe he would stab us in the back," Li Yan analyzed in this way when he showed Cao Yue's letter to the generals, and finally ordered He concluded, "Datong's defense is weak. We must take advantage of this opportunity to capture Datong in one fell swoop, seize military supplies, and then coordinate Chuang Wang's actions in Henan and Shaanxi."

Li Qing, the general under Li Yan, also immediately stood up and echoed: "Cao Yue's letter is just a tactic to slow down the enemy. Most of them were lost in the Battle of Songshan, and the newly recruited troops are definitely not strong. Cao Yue’s men claim to have 5 horses, but the actual number of [-] is already very good. Our two rebel armies have more than [-] horses. It is easy to capture Datong .”

Because the red lady and Cao Yue couldn't tell the truth, Li Yan was dubious about what the red lady was probing, and even suspected that it was Cao Yue's suspicious strategy.Knowing some things that Hong Niangzi experienced in Datong, Li Qing also has a different view of Hong Niangzi from the past. In addition, he is not very clear about Datong, so he thinks that Datong's defense is still empty, and he can take the opportunity to take it.Li Yan and Li Qing's words became the mainstream thinking of this rebel army. They ignored Cao Yue's letter and continued to march eastward, preparing to attack Datong.

Liu Zongmin also received Cao Yue's letter. He also sneered at Cao Yue's proposal to fight against foreign captives in the letter. Like Li Yan, he thought that Cao Yue was showing weakness. Datong's defense is now empty, and he can take the opportunity to take it.So Liu Zongmin ordered a part of the troops to harass Taiyuan and Shunde, and the main force bypassed Taiyuan and went north, preparing to attack Datong, an important northern town, in one fell swoop.

Because he knew less about Cao Yue, Liu Zongmin also believed that after the Battle of Songshan, after Wang Puqijun, the commander-in-chief of Datong in the Central Plains, fled, Datong's defense in Jiubingjun Town should be the weakest.

(End of this chapter)