Ming Empire

Chapter 91 Prepare for Battle
"Report to Commander-in-Chief, the rogues led by Li Yan are only twenty miles away from Datong City!" The scouts sent out once again reported the situation of Li Yan's troops to Cao Yue who had been staying in the temporary camp in Datong City.

Cao Yue didn't say anything in particular, he just waved his hand and asked the sergeant who reported the situation to step back.

Li Yan's men and horses will arrive at the city of Datong, and Liu Zongmin's army is still nearly two hundred miles away from Datong. Li Yan, who arrives first, will take the lead in attacking the city, or will Liu Zongmin's troops arrive together?Cao Yue tends to the former possibility.

It may be influenced by some unofficial historical records. He always thought that Li Yan, who was talented in all aspects, had a bad relationship with other important figures in the peasant army. In the end, Li Yan was killed after Li Zicheng was defeated in the Battle of One Stone, which further confirmed this point. .Therefore, Cao Yue believes that Li Yan, who thinks he has good command and combat ability, will definitely take advantage of the vigor when he first arrived in Datong, and try to attack first.

After receiving a series of military reports, Cao Yue also summoned his generals to discuss the military situation again.

Zhao Liang, who was appointed by Wu Ming as the deputy commander of Datong, suggested to Cao Yue that he could take advantage of Li Yan's unsteady foothold to preemptively attack and catch him by surprise. "My lord, the general is willing to take a battalion of soldiers out of the city to meet the bandits," Zhao Liang also took the initiative to ask for a fight.

After Cao Jie heard this, he immediately stood up and expressed his willingness to lead his first battalion soldiers out of the city to take the initiative to meet the bandits.

However, some people stood up and opposed, thinking that they should not give up the strong city in order to win, and go out of the city to face the battle. Even if they win, they will pay a heavy price.Although Datong's military strength is still sufficient, these are all elite soldiers trained by Cao Yue, the commander-in-chief, through hard work, so there is no need to pay for unnecessary losses.With the strong city of Datong to defend, with sufficient food and weapons, let the bandits meet and bleed under the city of Datong.

"Master General, if we go out of the city to meet the attack, we will fall into the hands of the rogues. They can lose a lot of our troops outside the city. Even if all the troops of Li Yan's troops are lost, there is still Liu Zongmin's army. In the end, our Datong army is completely finished, and there are still many troops left by the rogues, and Datong will also fall into the hands of the rogues." Another deputy commander, Zhao Tai, held the opposite opinion. He did not agree with Zhao Liang and Cao Jie, etc. People said, "Unless the army of rogues approached the city of Datong like the last time Jiannu was built, we can fight with our backs to the city and use the powerful lethality of the Musket Battalion to deal a blow to the rogues."

"My lord, the rogues are just a group of rabble, and their fighting power is far inferior to Jiannu. We can wipe out nearly ten thousand Jiannu elites in Datong. Are you afraid of tens of thousands of rogues?" Cao Jie, who was dazzled, didn't take Zhao Tai's words seriously, "As long as someone covers our flank, my first battalion can defeat Li Yan's troops."

"If Li Yan ordered the cavalry to attack the flanks of the Musketeer Battalion repeatedly, and the men and horses covering the flanks couldn't resist the attacks of the bandits, what would happen in the end?" Cao Yue couldn't help but asked Cao Jie, "Your troops can still organize to resist or attack in an orderly manner." ?"

"What the Chief Soldier said is," Zhao Tai couldn't help but feel proud when he saw that Cao Yue supported them watching the battle. "Although the power of the Musketeer Battalion is huge, if the rogue cavalry rushes to the vicinity, they will only be slaughtered!"

"Won't Vice President Zhao doubt the combat effectiveness of the cavalry he leads?" Cao Jie was a little depressed, but he still couldn't help but refute Zhao Tai. As Cao Yue's most trusted general, the current First Battalion General, he doesn't have many psychological disadvantages in front of Zhao Tai and others.

"It is precisely because I know that the cavalry under my command is not strong enough to fight, so I am worried that I will not be able to withstand the attack of the rogue cavalry." Seeing that Cao Yue did not express his position further, Zhao Tai continued to state his point of view, "Li Yan has 8000 cavalry under his command. There are more than [-] of us, and most of them are recruits who have not been trained for a long time, and their combat effectiveness is not much better than that of the bandits. What's more, the weather is warm now, and the cavalry attack is very fast."

"The general thinks that what Vice President Zhao said is very meaningful, we must be careful and not be careless!"

In the end, Cao Yue agreed with what Zhao Tai and others said, and if he didn't take the initiative to go out of the city to meet the attack, he let Li Yan's troops slowly prepare for the siege.What Zhao Tai said is right, the current Datong soldiers have finally trained well, and he doesn't want to lose it easily.Also, after all, this is not a battle against foreign captives, but a fight between compatriots in the same room. The large-scale offensive battle outside the city must have caused a lot of casualties, and he does not want to see this situation.

Now in war, Cao Yue relies most on firearms. In the current situation where firearms are relatively backward, the chances of winning by defending the city are obviously much higher.Cao Yue hoped that by using the great power of firearms to deter the rogues and make them retreat, it is unnecessary to turn Datong into a super slaughterhouse.Now, although the bandits and the bandits are the enemy and us, they are both citizens of Ming Dynasty. Cao Yue hopes that the war will save some Han people from dying.

In the end, the result of the military discussion was not to leave to fight, but to wait for the bandits to attack the city.

Even if the 10,000+ army of rogue bandits can surround Datong City, they cannot stay under Datong City for a long time. After all, the 10,000+ army needs a lot of money and food, and they cannot meet their needs by plundering the people near Datong.What's more, the rogues still appear as the saviors of the people. Unless there is an extreme situation, what they want to make the most is the official warehouses in Datong City and nearby states.

It's just that Cao Yue and Wei Daben have already prepared for a rainy day and are fully prepared.Although there is no way to fortify the wall and clear the country like the last time when dealing with the slaves, but at least it can make it more difficult for the rogues to obtain food.

Cao Yue still believed that after Li Yan led his army to Datong, he would directly attack the city with the help of soldiers, but it turned out that Cao Yue's thought was wrong. Instead, they camped on a sloping field backed by mountains ten miles away from Datong City, and did not directly drive to Datong City.After Li Yan's army was stationed at Yingkou, they began to cut down nearby forests to make ladders and other siege tools.

Li Yan's original plan was to take advantage of the fast rush to catch Cao Yue by surprise, but in the end he knew that this was just his wishful thinking in vain. The scout horses sent by Cao Yue had already detected the whereabouts of his army, and it was impossible to launch another surprise attack war.

In the end, Li Yan decided to camp and rest first, and wait for Liu Zongmin's army to come, and the two groups of people joined forces to attack Datong City.The soldiers under his command were exhausted after a long march and needed a rest urgently.Li Yan has been in the army for many years, and he knew that when he arrived near Datong, he had to beware of sneak attacks by the officers and soldiers, so he chose a place not far from Datong City, and the terrain was very conducive to defense but not conducive to sneak attacks.

After scouting the situation, Cao Yue probably guessed Li Yan's plan, and he immediately made arrangements.

The special training team that has been training for more than half a year can also be used to try their skills. Cao Yue immediately ordered the special training team that had followed Li Yan's troops back to prepare for a sneak attack on the bandit camp.

(End of this chapter)