Chapter 363 362 Capital and Datong

Wei Guangde was still inexperienced. He just thought that the Ming army could attack Hetao and mobilize Anda Khan to divide his troops for rescue. However, he did not expect that due to the distance between the two places, Anda Khan might choose to give up because he could not rescue him.

Gao Gong also had no substitute troops and did not consider this possibility at all, so he regarded Wei Guangde's idea as a magic weapon for the Ming army to win.

Now, hearing the loophole pointed out by Yang Bo, Gao Gong was speechless for a moment.

Indeed, they only thought that the importance of the Hetao area could mobilize the Anta cavalry for rescue, but they did not consider what would happen if the other party chose to give up.

Once Anda Khan did not fall into the rhythm of the Ming army as Yang Bo said, then the effect of this strategy would be greatly reduced. It would not achieve the purpose of allowing Anda Khan to divide his troops, and it would actually be a failure.

After a long silence, Gao Gong finally said: "Then how should we remedy it? Or just give up?"

At this time, Gao Gong also wavered.

"Mobilize the Shandong and Henan Guards, as well as the Liaodong Town soldiers and horses to prepare for reinforcements at any time. This will consume a lot of money, but it can ensure that there will be no loopholes in the nine-sided defense."

Yang Bo responded calmly.

At this time, Yang Bo, although he pretended to be calm on the face, was actually a little irritable inside.

After receiving the military report from the Xuanfu, the entire military department was thinking about how to mobilize heavy troops to defend against the Tatar invasion. No one proposed such a strategy of attacking instead of defending, although even if it was proposed, there is a high probability that it would be considered by him. Alternative options will not be sent to the emperor.

It is a pity that the Ming army's combat power has declined seriously. If it still has more than half of its combat power in the early Ming Dynasty, Anda Khan's invasion this time is actually an excellent opportunity to encircle and annihilate Anda's troops.

Unfortunately, everything is just a beautiful fantasy.

However, Wei Guangde's plan to attack the Hetao area to disperse the troops of the Anda tribe was quite suitable.

Although the Ming army's combat power has declined sharply, it still has an absolute advantage for ordinary Mongolians. What's more, the main force of the Tatars is in Xuanfu, and there is no force on the grassland that can resist the encirclement and suppression of the two major military towns.

According to Yang Bo's experience in contact with Emperor Jiajing since he took charge of the Ministry of War, Emperor Jiajing was a very decent person.

For more than ten years, the Ming Dynasty has been repeatedly invaded by the Anta tribe and has been struggling to cope. From the impatience on the emperor's face when reporting battle reports every time, he can see that the emperor is extremely dissatisfied with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.

At the time of his cousin Emperor Zhengde, the Ming army was strutting in and out of the Great Wall, and could fight the Tatars outside the pass. But in his hands, the situation was completely reversed.

Yang Bo was still thinking about the other side of Xiyuan, but Gao Gong here asked eagerly: "Please tell me, Grand Sima, how to improve Guangde's strategy?"

After retracting his thoughts, Yang Boluo thought for a while and said: "As I said before, if Anda Khan chooses to temporarily abandon the Hetao area, still concentrates his forces in an attempt to destroy the Xuan army, and then breaks through the Juyongguan wall to threaten the capital, then we need to mobilize Shandong and Shandong in advance. Guard stations in Henan and other places came in to help.

The Qingzhou Guard, Pingzhou Guard, and Tai'an Guard under the Shandong Dusi were transferred to Dezhou, and they joined the Dezhou Guard to form a force and stationed in Hejian Prefecture. The Dezhou Left Guard sealed the border between Northern Zhili and Shandong to guard against Tatar rebellion.

The three guards from Changshan under the jurisdiction of the Henan Dusi were transferred to Baoding Prefecture. If the Anda tribe really breaks into Ji Town, two armies can go to the capital to aid.

The Shandong soldiers and horses plus the Hejian Prefecture garrison have six guard posts. Baoding Prefecture has five guard posts that can be dispatched. Together with the Henan soldiers and horses, there are eight guard posts. There are Tianjin Sanwei, Tongzhou and Zhuozhou near the capital. There are also more than ten guard posts nearby that can be mobilized, and the number of reinforcements can exceed 100,000.

I think that with these troops at his side, Anda Khan may not dare to break into Jizhen and act recklessly. "

Yang Bo had a good memory and quickly thought of summoning the troops around Beizhili. He even had an idea of ​​how many guard posts to mobilize.

Yang Bo's words made Gao Gong on the side nod repeatedly. Even Xu Jie, who was sitting above him, was smiling and stroking his beard. Only Yan Song was still sitting there with no expression, as if he was in a state of mind and was indifferent to their conversation.

The plan formulated by Wei Guangde did miss the safety of the capital. It's not that Wei Guangde didn't think of it, but he didn't think that An Dahan would dare to enter Ji Town from the beginning.

At first, the Anta tribe was able to advance to the vicinity of Tongzhou. Although some Tatars were said to have passed under the walls of the capital, Wei Guangde believed that the Tatars at that time were at the end of their war effort and had no strength to attack Tongzhou. Otherwise, they would never give up the attack on Tongzhou. Opportunity, that is the granary of the capital, and countless materials are stored here.

By capturing Tongzhou, Anda's troops could gain a foothold in the north, because the grain and fodder in the city could support his tens of thousands of troops for at least half a year.

But what happened? Anda Khan gave up the attack on the fortified city and wandered around the capital. After grabbing enough, he chose to run away.

After seeing the reactions of the three people, he didn't feel proud. Yang Bo was slightly surprised at this time, because he found that he had been here for a long time, but why was he the only one here?

Didn't other ministers come together to discuss such an important matter?

Thinking of this, Yang Bo asked about the doubts in his heart.

Before Yan Song and Xu Jie could speak, Gao Gong on one side opened his mouth to explain.

After listening to Gao Gong's explanation, Yang Bo nodded slightly. The war strategy between countries really should not involve irrelevant officials, such as people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so he did not feel the need to involve them.

"Two elders, should we send Yang Shangshu's opinion to Xiyuan as a draft, or write a new memorial?"

Although Yang Bo pointed out that Wei Guangde's plan had major mistakes, Gao Gong still didn't want to give up the plan, because the method of sweeping the Hetao area was very much in line with his temperament.

Why should you Tartars be allowed to run into the pass to rob? We, the Ming Dynasty, can also fight our way out of the pass and take things back.

At this point, Xu Jie looked at Yan Song with an inquiring look. Such military and national affairs must be led by the Prime Minister, and it is not easy for him to express his opinions directly.

At this time, Yan Song seemed to have just woken up from a dream. He looked at Gao Gong with cloudy eyes, then looked at Yang Bo. He didn't know what he was thinking. Then he turned to Xu Jie and said, "Let Cun Zhai write the draft, add Wei Yue's plan, and send it to Xiyuan for your majesty to review."

"But."

Xu Jie was about to say something, but Yan Song waved his hand, "Only Wei Yue and Shan Dai, who have led troops and fought in wars, know this plan. Since they think it is feasible, I think it should be feasible.

Besides, this matter will ultimately be decided by your majesty, and we just need to do what we should do."

When he said this, Yan Song looked at Xu Jie with a grim look. Xu Jie felt a chill in his heart, and knew that he couldn't say anything more, so he nodded and agreed.

Gao Gong on the side was happy in his heart, and he didn't notice the eye contact between the two cabinet ministers at the top.

But all this was seen by Yang Bo, the Minister of War, and he looked at Yan Song with a little teasing.

The memorial drafted by Xu Jie was sent directly to the palace by Yan Song. Gao Gong was temporarily safe. If His Majesty saw it, he would probably summon them again urgently.

After Gao Gong bowed to the three people in the room and left, he went back to the Hanlin Academy. At this time, Wei Guangde was still on duty, but he didn't read the book. He was still pondering the content of the memorial in his mind to see if there were any errors in the calculation.

After Gao Gong arrived, Wei Guangde knew the loopholes in his memorial pointed out by Yang Bo, the Minister of War. Wei Guangde smiled bitterly in his heart. Altan Khan didn't have enough troops to threaten the capital, so why worry about it.

But what he didn't expect was that the people who read the memorial, except Yang Bo, were all people who had experienced the Gengxu Incident in the 29th year of Jiajing. They were surrounded in the capital and reminded to be nervous for more than half a month. Such an experience cannot be easily erased.

In their view, nothing is more important than the safety of the capital.

So when Yang Bo mentioned another possibility, Gao Gong knelt directly.

When Xu Jie was writing the draft, Gao Gong and Yang Bo were discussing quietly on the side, constantly helping Xu Jie to modify the content. As long as it was what Wei Guangde was considering at the time, they would just make minor adjustments to the original plan, so the time was not very urgent.

For example, the troops of Yansui and Ningxia, the Ministry of War had already sent a letter to summon troops, but this plan changed their direction of advance from eastward to support Xuanfu to northward to sweep the Hetao area.

The guards in Shandong and Henan were both guards stationed near Northern Zhili, and they should have received documents from the Ministry of War now, asking them to reorganize their troops and prepare for war.

This is also the reason why Yang Bo could easily say that so many guards were mobilized. In fact, everything was within the scope of the Ministry of War.

Once the war went wrong, these guards would be transferred to the north to support.

As for their new tasks, they only needed to wait for the war report of the war in Xuanfu to be sent and then send it out.

However, what disappointed Gao Gong was that two days after the memorial was sent to the palace, he still did not receive the imperial edict of the palace to summon him.

At this time, Gao Gong, sitting in the Imperial College, couldn't help but think, could it be that the secret words he said to the cabinet made the palace start to pay attention, thinking that he was just the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and had nothing to do with the war, so they kept it secret from him.

However, he also knew that this was just his fantasy. If Emperor Jiajing really had intentions, Wei Guangde would never let him go.

In the past two days, as far as he knew, Wei Guangde had not received any orders from the palace.

Obviously, something he regarded as very important was ignored by the palace.

Perhaps, Hetao is really a taboo in the court.

"Dangdangdang."

A horse rushed to the gate of Datong City at a high speed with the sound of the horse hanging the imperial bell.

From a distance, the soldiers guarding the city saw the messenger with the "Order" flag on his back riding a horse and rushing to drive the people blocking the road to both sides of the road to make way for the messenger.

The fast horse did not slow down when it arrived at the city gate, but directly passed through the city gate and ran to the general's mansion of Datong Town.

Soon, Liu Han, the general officer of Datong Town, rushed to the governor's office of Datong with the handwritten order of the governor of Xuanda, Ge Jin, to meet with the governor Li Wenjin.

"Sir Li, the Tartars are attacking Xuanfu."

As soon as he entered the door, Liu Han shook the handwritten order from Xuanfu in his hand and said loudly.

"It will be about these few days. What is coming will eventually come."

Li Wenjin stood up to greet Liu Han. After taking the handwritten order from him and reading it quickly, he said with a little surprise: "Is Altan Khan attacking Longmenguan Fort? They really want to defeat the three guards of Xuanfu."

"What should we do now? Do it as agreed before, or obey the handwritten order of the governor and go north to rescue Xuanfu immediately?"

Liu Han also thought of it on the way here, but it was not important. He needed to confirm whether Li Wenjin still insisted on giving up supporting Xuanfu and leading the army to attack Bansheng City.

Before Li Wenjin could speak, footsteps sounded outside the door. A moment later, Yu Dayou walked into the room and saw that General Liu had arrived, so he clasped his fists to him.

Yu Dayou was also a general. Although he was demoted for offending the boss this time, Liu Han knew that he was capable after contacting him. Moreover, he had Li Wenjin's face, so he did not treat him as a criminal official or a criminal, but still treated him as an official of the same level.

"Dayou, the Tartars attacked the Longmenguan Fort in Xuanfu. It seems that they are targeting the three guards of Xuanfu. Governor Ge ordered us to move east immediately to support Xuanfu."

As Li Wenjin spoke, he handed the military order in his hand to Yu Dayou.

After Yu Dayou took it and read it quickly, he said with a serious face: "All preparations are ready. We will definitely take down Bansheng City in this battle. I just don't know how many of the White Lotus rebels followed the Tartars to Xuanfu."

When Li Wenjin heard Yu Dayou's words, he knew that he had made up his mind. He then looked at Liu Han and said: "General Liu, let's follow the strategy we agreed on before. You and I will report to the court and Governor Ge respectively."

According to the previously agreed plan, before they leave the pass, Li Wenjin will report to the court as the governor of Datong about the plan to attack Bansheng City, and Liu Han needs to report to the governor of Xuanda, Ge Jin.

However, after they send out the official document, they will leave Datong and attack first without waiting for the reply from the court and the governor.

Reporting is just to avoid being accused of "abuse of power". Although it may still be used by others to make trouble afterwards, for the civil and military officials in the border areas, as long as they win in the end, the court will only reward them and will not punish them.

The key to everything is to successfully raid Bansheng City, mobilize Altan Khan's troops to come back for help, and resolve the crisis in Xuanfu.

"Okay, I'll send the written documents when I go back. When will we set off?"

To mobilize Altan Khan's troops to come back for help, we need to race against time. We must act before the war escalates, so that Altan Khan will rush back to rescue.

If they are already entangled with the Ming army, Altan Khan will not be able to withdraw his troops even if he wants to, and then their strategic intention will fail.

If Xuanfu really goes wrong at that time, they will all be guilty of disobeying orders and dereliction of duty.

"The Tartars attacked Longmenguan Fort three days ago, and I'm afraid they have already broken through the pass now."

Li Wenjin pondered, "Speed ​​is the essence of war, and the army will leave the pass tomorrow."

After speaking, Li Wenjin looked at Yu Dayou.

Yu Dayou just nodded silently after hearing this, just as he said to Li Wenjin and Liu Han at the beginning, it is safe to go on an expedition, and the most dangerous thing is actually the way back after winning, which is a road full of thorns and bumps.

After the three of them agreed, they quickly separated and prepared for the expedition tomorrow.

Just as the Datong Army was preparing to go, the messenger from Xuanfu waved his whip and whipped his mount to rush out of Changping City and galloped towards the capital.