There will be a battle between the Ming and the Tatars, Yang Cong knows this, and Altan Khan also knows it in his heart, after more than half a year of confrontation between the two sides, the Ming army finally took the lead.

Early in the morning, before the hour, outside the west gate of Baodezhou City, Taiyuan Prefecture, more than 100,000 soldiers of the Ming Army lined up in a neat formation early, silently waiting for the arrival of the moment of departure.

At this time, the Ming army was very different from the past, almost all the Ming soldiers had cars in front of them, either chariots or artillery wagons, a full 10,000 chariots and 10,000 artillery wagons, neatly lined up there, the scene was simply spectacular.

Yang Cong stood on the city gate tower, scanning the Ming army below like a vast ocean, and couldn't help but be extremely proud in his heart.

100,000 troops, 100,000 troops, the Ming Dynasty has not organized so many border troops for many years, and this moment will surely go down in history.

He took a deep breath and calmed down his excitement, then he took out the text and read it impassionedly.

The general meaning of the text is that the Tatar Department of the Northern Yuan Dynasty has entered the Ming Dynasty for many years, so that the soldiers and ordinary people of the Ming border pass are miserable, this time, the Ming Dynasty vows to drive it out of the Hetao, let them go to the south of the desert to eat the soil!

This may sound a bit vulgar, but it is the most suitable for the appetite of the border soldiers, yes, they have been in the prison for so many years, and everyone has suffered enough, this time, they must be driven out of the desolate fortress, let them taste what is called suffering!

After an impassioned speech, Yang Cong raised his hand without hesitation, waved it vigorously, and then shouted: "Go." ”

Immediately afterwards, he led a group of generals to walk down the city gate tower, stepped on the war horse, and went straight to the Yellow River crossing.

It is not so easy to attack the Hetao, especially from the relatively rich direction of Shanxi, not to mention the long distance, and you have to boast of crossing the Yellow River, the personnel have to go through a lot of hardships in the past, and it is even more difficult to transport grain and grass.

Of course, even if we start from relatively close Shaanxi, we will also face the problem of transporting grain and grass, and Shaanxi will not have so much grain and grass for the army to fight.

Therefore, the Tartars have occupied the Hetao for so many years, and the Ming Dynasty has not recovered it, not because they don't want to, but because it is too difficult.

This time, if Yang Cong hadn't taken advantage of the railway, he wouldn't have dared to easily organize an army of 100,000 to recover the Hetao.

However, it is still unlikely that he will want to build a bridge over the Yellow River at this time, so he still has to face the problem of crossing the river.

It is precisely for this reason that he chose Pault as the place where the army would assemble and depart.

Because Baode Prefecture is on the edge of the Yellow River, and the opposite side is not the territory of the Tartars, but the Fugu City of Yansui Town, he doesn't have to worry about what the Tartars will play half-crossing, so that he can't take care of the end.

At this time, the ferry port from Baode Prefecture to Fugu has already gathered hundreds of Cangshan boats, these are all new steamers, there is no need to paddle at all, let alone rely on the wind direction, crossing the Yellow River with a width of less than two miles, which is quite fast.

These Cangshan boats were specially transferred by Yang Cong from the Southeast Naval Division, in order to facilitate the crossing of the river by the army, and at the same time, it was also for the convenience of transporting grain, grass, baggage, etc.

Because the entire Hetao is surrounded by the Yellow River on three sides, and the width is only more than 500 li, that is to say, if you use a boat to transport grain and grass baggage, no matter where the army goes, the grain and grass baggage can be quickly transported within 300 miles, and its speed is even faster than that of a train.

The ferry port of Baode Prefecture has already been expanded, at this time, there are more than ten wharves deep into the river, more than 100 Cangshan ships are all surrounded by these wharves on both sides, and the deck is basically level with the wharf, the soldiers board the ship, it is very convenient, even if it is a chariot and gun carriage, as long as a large wooden plank is mounted, it can also be directly pulled on the ship.

Yang Cong carefully inspected the various wharves, then boarded the warship that had been waiting there, followed the first batch of soldiers across the Yellow River, and went straight to Fugu County.

At this time, Tang Kekuan had already led a group of Shaanxi army generals to wait in Fugu County, in order to prevent the Tartars from raiding, he also sent 10,000 horses to garrison in Fugu County, it can be said that this place has been guarded by him as impregnable, and it is almost impossible for the Tartars to destroy the main force of the Ming army to cross the river.

After Yang Cong arrived in Fugu County, he convened the generals of the Shanxi Army and the Shaanxi Army and a group of civilian officials to hold the first combat meeting, and the theme of the meeting was the overall plan for recovering the Hetao.

All the generals were a little excited at this time, recovering the Hetao, it was a once-in-a-century battle, and the great feats were no less than expanding the territory.

The civil officials are also a little excited at this time, although they don't have to participate in the war, but as long as this battle is successful, their merits are also indispensable to them, and when the time comes, they will be added to the knighthood, just around the corner.

So, can Yang Cong really lead everyone to recover the Hetao?

Everyone's eyes were almost on the Governor, and they couldn't wait to know what strategy the Governor wanted to use to recover the Hetao, and what the chances of success were.

This specific combat strategy Yang Cong will naturally not announce in advance, if the news is leaked and the Tartars are prepared, it will be troublesome.

It was only at this moment that he ordered someone to take out a huge map of the Hetao, hang it on the wall behind him, and then said loudly: "Everyone, from today onwards, we will focus on recovering the Hetao, and I hope everyone can work together to achieve success in one fell swoop." ”

When everyone heard this, the expressions on their faces became even more excited, and it was finally about to start, and everyone's eyes were almost focused on the combat map.

They hadn't seen the map of the Loop, but the one hung by the Governor was obviously different from the one they had seen, because it was densely packed with markings, and what they had seen was basically blank, it was the territory of the Tartars, who knows what it would look like at this time.

Yang Cong actually didn't know the specific situation of the Hetao at this time, he just analyzed the terrain of the Hetao according to the previous map, and then made specific deployments according to the terrain.

Although he ordered someone to hang up the map, he didn't explain it immediately, and at first, he actually asked Tang Kekuan, who seemed to have nothing to do with the battle: "Changsheng, how are the defense facilities of the three towns in Shaanxi repaired?" ”

When Tang Kekuan heard this, he said with a little shame: "My lord, when the Marquis of Xianning Qiu Luan was in power, he almost didn't care about any defense facilities, so the city fortresses everywhere were seriously damaged, and the Great Wall was also full of gaps. ”

Unexpectedly, Yang Cong nodded with satisfaction: "Well, the Great Wall is repaired, you can mobilize all your men and horses along the Great Wall to listen to it." ”

Yes!

What does this mean?

Although Tang Kekuan couldn't figure it out, he still didn't hesitate to give his hand and said, "The last general will obey the order." ”

Immediately afterwards, Yang Cong stood up, turned around and pointed to the map, and said: "Our specific strategy for recovering the Hetao is just four words, step by step!" ”