I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 327 Zhu Houzhao's Deployment
In fact, Zhu Houzhao's arrangement made some sense. After all, it would take time for the Mongols to assemble, and it was unlikely that the 150 to main forces of the Datong border army would be swallowed up by the Mongols in one fell swoop. They could still hold out for a few days. Zhu Houzhao was only about miles away from Datong City, and could arrive in three or four days by marching.

But this is the ideal situation, and there are many factors that affect the battle.

The Mongolian army is composed entirely of cavalry, and it is hard to say what the morale of the Datong border troops is. Once they fight recklessly, they may be defeated in one battle. That is the main force of the Datong border troops, and the next battle will not be easy to fight.

"I have made up my mind. Anyone who objects will be asked to resign from his military power and return to the capital," Zhu Houzhao shouted.

……

Datong Mansion.

When Wang Xun, the general of Datong, received the military order, he was completely confused. He asked the deputy general Zhang Li: "Brother Zhang, what should we do?"

Zhang Li scratched his head and said, "The emperor asked us to march south, so we have no choice but to go. Be careful. If we encounter the main force of the Mongols, we should camp safely and not take the initiative to attack."

Wang Xun said with a headache: "If it were previous years, I would definitely leave the city without hesitation, but this year there are too many Mongolians coming..."

"His Majesty has been in the border town for more than half a year, and has been sorting out military affairs. He also gave so many rewards to the soldiers some time ago. He is looking forward to a decisive battle with the little Mongolian prince. If we don't obey military orders, His Majesty will not let us go." Zhang Li said with a wry smile.

Wang Xun sighed and said, "We deserve this bad luck. Let's go to the south and try our luck. Maybe we'll get better luck."

Wang Xun and Zhang Li had no choice but to bite the bullet, leaving behind a small number of troops to guard Datong Prefecture, and marching south with the main force in fear.

Before they passed Huairen County, they encountered many scattered Mongolian cavalry.

These Mongolian cavalrymen robbed everywhere and immediately fled when they encountered a large group of Ming troops. The Ming army could not catch up with them and their own marching routes were exposed.

The little Mongolian prince, Dayan Khan, the leader of the Mongolian revival and known as the "second Genghis Khan", was robbing north of Yingzhou at this moment.

Dayan Khan had only a few thousand cavalrymen with him, and the rest were all sent out to plunder.

This approach was very arrogant, and it took advantage of the fact that the Ming Dynasty had few cavalry and the border troops did not dare to go out of the city to fight.

This has been the case for decades. The northern border of the Ming Dynasty has become a public toilet, where the Mongolian army can come and go as they please.

Since there is no danger, why should we concentrate our troops?

They were all thrown out in a scattered manner and the task was completed quickly, as everyone was in a hurry to return to the grassland to spend the winter.

"What? Datong's main force actually dared to leave the city and come to me!"

After learning about the military situation, Dayan Khan was not surprised but happy. If he could kill the main force of Datong in one battle, his prestige would rise to a higher level, and he might even be able to capture the city of Datong.

Moreover, if he goes south from Datong, Yansui Town and Xuanfu Town on both sides of Datong will definitely send troops to support him.

After killing the main force of Datong, the whole situation will come alive, and the reinforcements from Xuanfu and Yansui will not be able to form a military advantage against him. He can even use the time difference to attack the reinforcements from Xuanfu, and if he is lucky, he can eat up the reinforcements from Xuanfu and then rob Xuanfu again.

At that time, he could use the situation to force the Ming court to bow to him.

So he immediately gave the order: "Send a message to all nearby tribes to gather in Yingzhou immediately. Send some people to the north to lead the main force of Datong here, so that they won't get lost along the way. Also, don't send too many people. Two thousand cavalry are enough. If you send too many, the enemy will be scared away."

Although Zhu Houzhao and the Mongolian prince had never met, they had the same ideas.

Although Zhu Houzhao had been staying in the border town with the new army for more than half a year and had cut off the smuggling route in Xuanfu, the little Mongolian prince was unaware of the existence of the new army.

At this time, not only did the Ming Dynasty not attach importance to intelligence work on Mongolia, but the Mongols also did not attach importance to intelligence work on the Ming Dynasty. To a certain extent, this pair of enemies were competing with each other.

The Ming Dynasty did not attach importance to intelligence work against Mongolia because what good would it do even if it obtained so much intelligence? The Ming Dynasty did not have the national strength to break out. Even if it did, the risks were too great and it was hard to say what results could be achieved.

Mongolia did not attach importance to intelligence work on the Ming Dynasty because the northern part of the Ming Dynasty had become a public toilet for the Mongolian army. Do they need to count the number of maggots in the toilet? There is absolutely no need!
Even though the little Mongolian prince unified the left and right wings of Mongolia and achieved revival to some extent, the productivity of the grassland was limited. They could plunder in the north, but they were really unable to break through the fortresses and cities under the guard of the Ming army.

So the Mongols gave up and decided not to do any intelligence work on the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, Zhu Houzhao's title of a mighty general did play a confusing role. The Mongols actually thought that the interruption of trade routes was caused by a mighty general going to Xuanfu to reorganize military affairs, and they didn't think much about it.

So the little Mongolian prince had no idea that danger was approaching.

On the other side, Zhu Houzhao was about to take 20,000 new troops and more than 5,000 cavalry out of the city to Yanghewei to join the 20,000 new troops there, and then take 40,000 new troops and 5,000 cavalry to Datong Prefecture.

Except for Zhu Houzhao and Jiang Jiangong, all other generals expressed opposition to this move.

Because in their opinion, the troops were still too few. Even though these new troops were trained by them, they were still worried and confused. The emperor's presence greatly affected their judgment.

Judging from the military intelligence they have received so far, the Mongols must number more than 8, while the emperor has only people around him plus civilians. Moreover, the main force of the Mongols has appeared near Huairen, which is not far from Datong City. It would be dangerous if the main force of the Mongols headed northwest and ran into Zhu Houzhao who was heading south.

Therefore, it would be better to wait for the arrival of the 10,000 new troops and 30,000 reinforcements from Xuanfu, and then form an army of 85,000 people and march south. That would be much safer.

However, it would take at least four days for the reinforcements from Xuanfu to arrive, and Zhu Houzhao was not willing to wait at all.

This was also the reason why Jiang Jiangong supported Zhu Houzhao. He still remembered the military order Zhu Houzhao gave to the general of Datong. If they waited here for four days, it would take seven or eight days for them to arrive in Datong Prefecture, and the main force of Datong Town that had already left the city could not wait that long. By then, the Mongols might have assembled 50,000 or 60,000 cavalry to destroy the main force of Datong Town.

The other generals also understood this logic. They saw it very clearly and did not want Zhu Houzhao to take any risk. As for the main force of Datong Town, let them die.

Zhu Houzhao also understood this, so he insisted on rushing to Datong City immediately.

They encountered only sporadic Mongolian cavalry along the way, but the new army soldiers and civilians showed extraordinary endurance and reached Datong City in less than three days.

(End of this chapter)