Wang's compound, Wang Punuan Pavilion.

The news of the Wang family is not slower than that of the government, almost at the same time that Wei Daben knows the news, Wang Pu also knows that the army of thieves has killed the Octagonal Fort, and Wei Daben's secret discussion with Zhang Zi'an and the acting king has not yet reached a result, but Wang Pu has already begun to discuss with Zhen Youcai how to defend Datong.

To defend Datong, Wang Pu has the unshirkable responsibility to do so, and he does not think second-hand.

Wang Pu has long said that even if the imperial court temporarily sends someone else to be the chief soldier of Datong Town, he still has a way to put people in the air, and the real commander of the Datong border army can only be him Wang Pu, not others.

At this time, Wang Puzheng and Zhen Youcai studied countermeasures around the map.

Zhen Youcai pointed to a certain place on the map and said to Wang Pu: "General, look, this is the Octagonal Fort, and dozens of miles further is Shuozhou, from Shuozhou along the Sanggan River to the east less than two hundred miles to the mouth of the old river, and then from the mouth of the old river along the ten miles to the north of the river is Datong, and the whole journey is only about three hundred miles." ”

Wang Pu nodded and did not speak.

Zhen Youcai continued: "Although it is already the beginning of April, the weather in Datong is still very cold, and the freezing of several big rivers has not melted at all. ”

Wang Pu said: "That means we still have three days to prepare?" ”

Zhen Youcai nodded and said, "That's pretty much it." ”

Wang Pu asked: "Youcai, if you are the chief soldier of Datong Town, facing the attack of hundreds of thousands of thieves, how do you plan to defend Datong?" ”

Zhen Youcai said: "There is no other way but to clear the wilderness." ”

"Kiyono Fortified?"

"That's right, Kiyono Fortified! All the people of Datong Mansion were moved into the city, and then all the domestic animals and grain were also concentrated in the city, and the government set up porridge sheds to distribute the people's regular rations, so that there would not be a grain left for the thieves, and the thieves could only go to other prefectures and counties if they could not find food. ”

Wang Pu frowned and said, "You mean that you want to move all the people into Datong City within three days, is it possible?" ”

Zhen Youcai said: "The problem should not be big, except for the tens of thousands of military households distributed in the border area, most of the remaining more than 100,000 people are distributed in the valley area of the Shili River and the Sanggan River, and the vast majority of villages and towns are only 100 miles away from Datong, and most of the people should be able to move most of the people into the city in three days." ”

Wang Pu asked: "With so many people taking refuge in the city, is the food prepared enough?" ”

Zhen Youcai said: "Assuming that 100,000 people are moved into the city, plus the original more than 30,000 people and troops in the city, the population in Datong City will surge to 130,000, assuming that each person eats half a catty of rice every day, the daily consumption of grain needs at least 65,000 catties, that is, almost 350 stones, and the 80,000 stone stored grain stored in the Wang family's compound is enough to support nine months." ”

Wang Pu said: "It seems that the food is enough. ”

Zhen Youcai said: "The humble post is worried that the 20,000 stone grain stored in the camp of Lei Gongshan and more than 5 million catties of bacon, if this batch of grain and bacon falls into the hands of the thieves, the thieves will be able to cook the meat and wild vegetables together to save food, as long as they survive for two months, the wheat outside the city should be ripe, and then the trouble will be big." ”

Wang Pu thought for a while, shook his head and said: "The camp of Lei Gongshan is a natural fortress, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there is a water source, the thieves may not be able to defeat it, when the situation is critical, they can also send troops to threaten the thieves behind them, and Datong can just 'be the horns of each other', so it must not be easily given up." ”

Zhen Youcai was able to understand it at a glance, and said respectfully: "The general's vision is far-reaching, and his humble position is far from it. ”

Wang Pu got up slowly, turned his eyes to the outside of the warm pavilion, and said in a low voice: "The secret discussion of the government should almost have a result, right?" ”

"General!" Wang Pu's voice fell, and Lu Liu's voice sounded outside the warm pavilion, "Datong prefect Wei Daben Wei asks to see you." ”

Wang Pu turned around and exchanged a look with Zhen Youcai, and said with a smile: "Hehe, say Cao Ying Cao Ying will arrive." ”

Zhen Youcai showed a wicked smile on his face, and said in a low voice: "General, this time they are asking for us, and the initiative is in our hands, General, you might as well ask for a price all over the sky, let them hand over all the silver and grain in the Datong Domain, and it is best to let Zhang Zi'an's old gelding and the iron rooster of the acting king also have some blood." ”

"Hmm." Wang Pu nodded, and said thoughtfully, "These two guys have sucked too much people's fat and people's ointment, it's time for them to make some blood, they have to understand, it's better to donate part of their property, or wait for the thieves to come into the city and rob their net worth and lives." ”

Zhen Youcai smiled evilly: "General Mingjian." ”

"Let's go." Wang Pu waved his hand and said loudly, "Let's go meet this Wei Daben." ”

■■■

Shuozhou, Li Yan line account.

Because it takes time to transmit the Tang Newspaper, the actual itinerary of the Shaanxi Righteous Army is half a day faster than that of the Guanfu Tang Newspaper, and the Tang Newspaper sent by Wang Qiaonian, the governor of Shanxi, to Wei Daben, the prefect of Datong, said that the thieves had arrived at the Octagonal Fort, but in fact, the elite of the Righteous Army led by Li Yan had passed the Octagonal Fort half a day ago, and now Shuozhou had been captured.

It is said that it is the elite of the righteous army, because Li Yan left all the old, young, women and children in the army in Mizhi, and only brought more than 50,000 strong men to the battle.

Along the way, the progress of the rebel army was beyond Li Yan's imagination!

When the route was first formulated, Li Yan hesitated, because there were two roads to go from Mizhi to Datong.

The first road is to walk along the side plug, this road is close, but along the way the guards, institutes, forts of the Ming Dynasty official army are lined up, Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Yongle have operated nine sides twice, set up a large number of military strongholds along the Great Wall, in the narrow area within the Great Wall, the number of military strongholds can be described as many.

The second road is to hit the hinterland of Taiyuan Province to the east first, and then hit to the north to Datong, the advantage of this way is that you can bypass the military strongholds that there are many people in the border area, and the disadvantage is that the distance will be greatly extended, originally less than 300 miles, and it is likely to be extended to 5 or 600 miles.

After repeated trade-offs, Li Yan finally chose the first path!

Facts have proved that Li Yan's choice was correct.

Because they could not receive military salaries for a long time, and they had to endure the oppression and humiliation of generals at all levels, the Ming border army stationed in the border stronghold had already been completely disappointed in the imperial court, and almost the righteous army had just killed, and these border army soldiers who were fed up with the oppression rose up one after another, and they killed the border town generals who rode on their heads as a prestige, and then defected to the rebel army without hesitation.

By the time Li Yan's army conquered Shuozhou, they had already broken through dozens of military strongholds along the way, and at least more than 8,000 officers and soldiers became soldiers of the Righteous Army.

What's more, among the more than 8,000 officers and soldiers, there are indeed many real elites.

More importantly, these renegade border troops also brought a lot of information about Datong to Li Yan, including how many border troops were there in Datong Town, and how many people were in Datong Mansion? How many border troops were scattered in the surrounding military strongholds, and how many were stationed in Datong City?

For a general like Li Yan, the value of this information is even far greater than that of the 8,000 border army officers and soldiers themselves!

The rebel army had just captured Shuozhou, and taking advantage of the opportunity for the army to rest for a while, Li Yan urgently convened Ma Shouying, He Yilong, He Jin, Liu Xiyao, Lin Yangyang, Li Hu, Jing Maocheng, Li Xuan and others to discuss the matter.

Li Xuan was originally the commander of Gushan Fort in Yansui Town, because the garrison of Gushan Fort wanted to kill him by the hand of the righteous army, so he killed the Gushan garrison in a fit of rage, and then took more than 800 officers and soldiers in Gushan Fort to defect to the righteous army.

When everyone arrived, Li Yan said loudly: "Generals, it can now be determined that the total strength of the border army in Datong Town is about 18,000, of which 8,000 troops are stationed in the camp in the north of Datong City, and the remaining 10,000 people are scattered and stationed in more than 100 guards, stations, and forts, which are quite scattered. ”

"Great." Ma Shouying said loudly, "Now our army has more than 70,000 elites, but the Datong defenders only have 8,000 people, and our army has nearly ten times the strength advantage, haha, we have won this battle!" ”

"Nope." Li Yan shook his head and said, "There are not only 8,000 border troops in Datong City, but also 5,000 members of the Wang family!" ”

"The Wang family actually has 5,000 families?" He Jin said in a loud voice, "Obediently, this Wang family is worthy of being the richest man in Shanxi, rich enough, and can afford to raise so many families!" ”

"So what." Ma Shouying said disapprerovingly, "Even if you add the five thousand Jiading of the Wang family, the Datong garrison is only 13,000 people, and our army still has an overwhelming strength advantage." ”

Li Yan nodded and said: "Our army does occupy an overwhelming advantage in terms of strength, but this battle still can't be careless, after all, Wang Pu is in Datong City, this Wang Pu is not a simple character, last August he only broke Shengjing with more than 1,000 horsemen, and captured Huang Taiji alive!" ”

"Wang Pu is in Datong?" Ma Shouying said in horror, "This is really a piercing character, and you really can't be careless." ”

The rest of the generals also nodded and said yes, they have heard of Wang Pu's name for a long time, and it can even be said that it is like thunder, as the so-called famous people are not vain, and they really have to be careful at all times when fighting with such a powerful person.

"However, the generals don't have to overestimate Wang Pu." Li Yan smiled faintly, and then said, "No matter how powerful Wang Pu is, he is just a person, he can defeat Shengjing because Jiannu is too careless, because Jiannu didn't expect the Ming army to dare to go against the trend and attack Shengjing by surprise, and Wang Pu can take Huang Taiji back to Daming, not because he will escape to the sky, but because Jiannu is busy fighting for power and profit, and he has no heart to save Huang Taiji!" ”

"In the face of absolute strength, all intrigues and tricks will be useless." Li Yan had a faint calmness on his face, and then said, "In this battle of Datong, as long as our army fights steadily and steadily, and does not give Wang Pu any opportunity to take advantage of, we will be able to win the final victory by virtue of our absolute superiority in strength!" ”

Ma Shouying said loudly: "Brother Li Yan, just say it directly, how should we fight now?" ”

Li Yan said calmly: "If you want to win the battle of Datong, there are two things that are crucial. ”

Ma Shouying said: "What two things? ”

Li Yan said: "First of all, we must not let the 10,000 troops scattered in more than 100 military strongholds around Datong retreat into Datong City!" As long as we do not allow these 10,000 troops to retreat to Datong, the defenders of Datong will be reduced by 10,000, and our army will be increased by 10,000. ”

Ma Shouying said: "What else? ”

Li Yan said: "Also, you can't let the people outside Datong City withdraw into the city!" Although our army has an absolute superiority in strength, this battle is likely to drag on for several months, and now there are still more than two months before the wheat is ripe, and we must not lose the support of the people outside the city if we survive this time. ”

"Hmm." Although Ma Shouying didn't understand Li Yan's strategy very well, he still nodded and said, "The two things that Brother Li Yan said are indeed very important, and the brothers must do a good job seriously. ”

A faint smile flashed across Li Yan's face, and then said: "Therefore, the juniors want to ask the five generals to lead an elite army to set off first, and strive to forcibly march more than 200 miles to Datong City in one day and one night, so that the people of Datong Mansion and the border troops of the surrounding military bases will have no way to retreat into Datong City in time." ”

"This ......," Ma Shouying frowned, "Who will lead the follow-up army?" ”

"The juniors haven't thought about it yet." Li Yan asked rhetorically, "I wonder if General Ma has a suitable candidate?" ”

This question stumped Ma Shouying, he couldn't offer to let his cronies lead the army, right? What's more, even if he said so, He Yilong and the four of them might not be willing to agree, thinking about it, Ma Shouying proposed to let Li Hu lead the follow-up army, and He Yilong, He Jin, Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng agreed out of the same consideration.

……

(To be continued)