The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 229 Planning the Final Battle

The atmosphere in the temporary camp of the Yellow Army was so oppressive that it was almost suffocating.

Dong Erzhu summoned all the leaders of the Yaohuang Army and relayed Jiang Han's message verbatim.

"My lords, my commander-in-chief's opinion is that a marriage alliance is unnecessary."

Dong Erzhu sat in the main seat, holding a teacup, his tone calm.
"There's no need to go through this process to join."

"Starting as a militia or auxiliary police officer is already the best offer my commander has given."

"You should have seen what our army is really like on your way here."

"Anyone who doesn't come from a military background and wants to join will have to undergo reorganization and training, and you are no exception."

"Of course,"

He then changed his tone, leaving a sliver of room for maneuver.
"If you don't want to live under someone else's roof, that's fine too."

"The commander said that he can give everyone a settlement allowance, and in addition, Long'an Prefecture will distribute land later. I believe it will not be difficult for you to return to your hometown and become wealthy men."

"As I said before, everyone can leave if they want, or stay if they want. We will not force anyone to stay."

After finishing his speech, Dong Erzhu fell silent, slowly sipping his tea and leaving the question to the leaders of the Yellow Army in the tent.

Upon hearing this, Chen Daiyun, standing in the crowd, remained calm, as if everything was within his expectations.

But the leader, Yaotiandong, was in a panic.

To put it bluntly, he was the one who wanted to climb the social ladder.

Although the leaders of these groups had sworn brotherhood, they lived in a chaotic world where only weapons and soldiers could ensure their survival.

Once people have tasted power, few can easily give it up, even if it's a small amount.

The reason why Yao Tiandong was so eager to marry off his third sister was that he wanted to get close to Jiang Han and gain some benefits from it.

But to his utter surprise, they looked down on their rabble.

I came all this way, but I didn't even get to see the person in question!
Yao Tiandong forced a smile, leaned closer to Dong Erzhu, and tentatively asked:
"General Dong, do you think there's still room for negotiation on this matter?"

"Why don't you try to persuade Commander Jiang again?"

"You've seen my third sister's background with your own eyes."

"It just so happens that Commander Jiang is also alone; the two of them are a match made in heaven!"

"Besides, our two families are both rebel forces against the Ming Dynasty. Once Third Sister marries into the family, we'll be truly one family, and we can help each other out then."

Despite shaking his head so much he was almost hoarse, Dong Erzhu remained calm and composed, silently drinking his tea.

The meaning of refusal is self-evident.

Left with no other choice, Yao Tiandong could only look to Chen Daiyun for help, hoping she would step in and try again.

But Chen Daiyun was very open-minded.

She had realized that this so-called "marriage alliance" was nothing more than her elder brother's wishful thinking from beginning to end.

She's making such a big fuss about marrying herself off; she's clearly trying to gain some political capital from Long'an Prefecture.

Although Chen Daiyun wasn't exactly angry, he couldn't help feeling somewhat disappointed.

She stood up, her face resolute:
"Brother, there's no need to persuade me anymore."

"General Dong is right. With our small force, we really can't cause any big trouble."

"Now that northern Sichuan has changed hands, it's definitely not appropriate for us to go back to the Dabashan Mountains and become outlaws."

As she spoke, she gave Yao Tiandong a deep look:

"I don't know what decision you will make, brother. I still have my father's death to avenge, and I can't go back to be a wife and mother."

"Since Long'an Prefecture is willing to take me in, I will start as a militiaman and perhaps I can follow them into Chengdu Prefecture in the future."

Seeing his third sister speak so definitively, Yao Tiandong became somewhat agitated and began to criticize Dong Erzhu:

"General Dong, we surrendered Nanjiang County with our bare hands and traveled thousands of miles to Baizhang Pass, but in the end we couldn't even see your commander!"

"Isn't this a gross underestimation of us?!"

"Is this how your army treats its guests?!"

Hearing this, Dong Erzhu finally put down his teacup and slowly spoke:
"That's a bad word."

"My commander-in-chief is not looking down on you all, it's just that he's been planning a major battle recently and is simply too busy to attend to everything."

"As for the matter of marriage, he also made it clear that it would not be too late to talk about it after we have conquered Chengdu."

"Alright, I've delivered the message. I should return to the central command for the meeting now."

"May we meet again someday!"

Having said that, he stood up and left the tent, leaving the leaders of Yaohuang standing there staring at each other, at a loss for what to do.

After leaving the Yellow Army's camp, Dong Erzhu spat inwardly:
"Pah, I thought this guy surnamed Yao genuinely wanted to introduce a good marriage to Brother Han."

"Unexpectedly, he turned out to be a snobbish man who wanted to climb the social ladder by using women."

"I almost let that son of a bitch get away with it."

He grumbled and cursed as he hurried back to the central command tent.

He lifted the curtain and gave a wink to the figure waiting behind the table.

Seeing this, Jiang Han nodded slightly:

"Now that everyone's here, let's begin."

"The reason for this emergency meeting is that there is a major military operation that I need to make arrangements for you all."

The central command tent was rather deserted this time, with only a few generals such as Dong Erzhu, Cao Er, and Ma Xu present; the rest were not there.

"According to the latest intelligence from Hanzhong, Huang Taiji of the Later Jin has completely defeated the Chahar Mongols and unified southern Mongolia."

"Lindan Khan was defeated and led his remaining troops westward to Qinghai."

"During the journey, in order to survive, Ligdan Khan repeatedly crossed the border to demand rewards, and even sent 50,000 cavalry to invade Ningxia Town from Qingshui and Hengcheng."

"General He Huchen was outnumbered and fought to the death."

"The governor-general of the three border regions, Hong Chengchou, was greatly alarmed upon hearing this and had already personally led the main force of Guanzhong to Ningxia to defend the border a few days ago."

"Meanwhile, Lu Xiang-sheng of Huguang was mobilizing a large army to focus on attacking the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang, and had no time to spare for anything else."

As he spoke, Jiang Han handed several letters to the generals inside the tent for them to read.

"Gentlemen, this is a very rare strategic window of opportunity!"

His voice became unusually excited.
"I plan to take this opportunity to annihilate the main force of the Ming army in Sichuan in one fell swoop!"

"News from Pingwu says that Li Zicheng has returned from the snowy region, bringing back nearly three thousand Hequ horses and two hundred slaves."

"I have sent word to Chai Yu, the foreman of the Iron and Steel Department of the Ministry of Works, to put aside all his work and spare no expense to make saddles, stirrups, and half-padded cotton armor for horses."

"At the latest, we can assemble a cavalry legion of three thousand men in a month and a half!"

Upon hearing this news, the generals in the tent were invigorated, their eyes gleaming.

To be honest, these veterans who fought their way out of the northwestern border towns could only truly unleash their fighting prowess on horseback. After all, back in those border towns, they had to venture beyond the Great Wall to fight the Mongol Tartars even when they were starving.

Now that they have these warhorses, their combat effectiveness will be elevated to a whole new level.

Jiang Han unfolded the map and meticulously analyzed the current situation of the enemy and himself:

"According to the news that Shao Yong brought from Zitong, the main force of the Ming army in Sichuan now consists of two groups."

"First, there is Zhang Ling, the Sichuan Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Baoning Prefecture. He is a veteran general with superb archery skills, known as the 'Divine Crossbow General'."

"He was mainly responsible for guarding the northern Sichuan region, and his station was in Baoning Prefecture, with about five thousand men under his command."

"The second one is Hou Liangzhu, the General of Sichuan."

"He is leading the main force in Sichuan, stationed along the line from Mianzhou to Yanting, to guard against Shao Yong's advance into Chengdu Prefecture. He has about 8,000 elite troops under his command."

"In addition, I estimate that there should be another Ming army in Chengdu Prefecture."

"The Prince of Shu, Zhu Zhishu, is in Chengdu Prefecture. There must be someone guarding the city. It is very likely that it is Zhu Xieyuan, the governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces."

"According to my calculations, he probably doesn't have many troops at his disposal. After all, there are still chieftains causing trouble in Yunnan, and Zhu Xieyuan wouldn't dare to easily transfer troops from Guizhou and Yunnan."

After carefully examining the punctuation marks on the map and pondering for a while, everyone roughly understood the situation Jiang Han was referring to.

Jiang Han pointed to Baoning Prefecture on the map and drew a circle around it:

"Our goal now is simple: besiege the enemy's stronghold and strike at their reinforcements!"

"We and Shao Yong's forces attacked Baoning Prefecture from the west and north."

"We must make it seem like we're willing to pay any price to breach the city, forcing Hou Liangzhu of Mianzhou to come to our rescue."

"After he sends troops from Mianzhou, we will mobilize Liu Ning from Jiangyou to lead the newly formed cavalry corps, set up an ambush, cut off his retreat, and annihilate Hou Liangzhu's reinforcements!"

"Once Hou Liangzhu's troops are defeated, Zhang Ling of Baoning Prefecture will be trapped like a turtle in a jar."

"With his lone army, there is no way he can defend Baoning Prefecture."

"As long as we annihilate these two main Ming army forces, Chengdu Prefecture will naturally be isolated and helpless, and then we can do whatever we want with it."

After hearing Jiang Hang's battle plan, the generals in the tent all nodded in agreement, agreeing that the plan was feasible.

But after carefully digesting it, I still found something was wrong.

They counted on their fingers, over and over again, and found that they simply couldn't find any extra manpower to form this cavalry legion.

It's important to understand that three thousand men is no small number; Jiang Han only brought a total of eight thousand soldiers into Sichuan on this trip.

Jiang Han has already exhausted all available troops in this two-pronged attack on Baoning Prefecture, from the north and south.

Even militia members who had been trained for less than a year were brought out.

Currently, the ratio of militia to elite soldiers in the army is roughly 50/50, with the rest staying in Long'an Prefecture to guard the area.

Cavalry is different from infantry; it is a highly technical and very expensive type of unit.

An ordinary person would probably not be able to learn how to control a horse in less than half a year, let alone charge into battle on horseback or shoot arrows.

No matter how they calculated it, they couldn't gather three thousand men to form this cavalry legion.

Cao Er was the first to raise this question:
"Commander, we don't have enough manpower right now!"

"The army has a total of only eight thousand men, who can ride horses and shoot arrows, and can fight on foot."

"On this trip, we brought about four thousand elite troops from the north and south routes, while the remaining four thousand stayed in Long'an Prefecture to guard the city."

"General, you should know that it will take at least one or two years to train those militiamen into qualified cavalry."

"We can't possibly pull out all our old comrades who are guarding the house and form a cavalry, can we?"

But Jiang Han nodded heavily, his voice firm and resolute:
"That's right! This time, I'm going to go all in!"

"I plan to bring out all the elite troops we brought from the Northwest and put them into battle!"

"I will annihilate the main force of the Ming army in Sichuan in one battle!"

"I've calculated it. Long'an Prefecture only needs to retain one thousand combat soldiers and some militia."

"We have exactly three thousand men left. Let's form a cavalry force with them all!"

These words shocked everyone in the tent.

Dong Erzhu stood up impatiently:

"Three thousand people have been transferred out?!"

"What about Long'an Prefecture?!"

"Once our army moves, the defenses of Long'an Prefecture will inevitably be weakened. What if the government troops take the opportunity to storm Long'an Prefecture?!"

"That's our homeland! How can we allow government troops to burn, kill, and loot everywhere in Long'an Prefecture?!"

But Jiang Han had made up his mind, and with a wave of his hand, he interrupted Dong Erzhu:
"Don't be afraid of these bottles and jars. We can rebuild them in the future."

There's a saying that goes, "If you save the land but lose the people, you lose both; if you save the people but lose the land, you save both!"

"As long as our main force is still intact, everything will be fine."

"Besides, the autumn harvest is over now, so even if the soldiers wanted to loot and burn, they wouldn't have anything to steal."

"Let Li Zicheng make full use of the militia and wage guerrilla warfare in the mountains of northern Sichuan."

"The militia led the people to clear the fields and hide in the mountains."

"If I can hold out for three months, I will definitely be able to take down the main Ming army forces in Mianzhou and Baoning Prefecture!"

With the departure of the generals, a decisive battle that will determine the course of the situation in central Sichuan is about to begin.

Before the decisive battle, Jiang Han had to mobilize all the resources under his command.

Inside the central command tent, he did not sleep all night.

By the dim candlelight, Jiang Han began to draft the transfer order himself.

The messengers stood ready outside the tent, prepared to rush to the various prefectures and counties in the rear to deliver Jiang Han's orders.

"I hereby order Li Laowai, the garrison commander of Shiquan County, to immediately break camp and lead his two thousand troops to relieve the garrison in Jiangyou County."

Jiangyou is the gateway to the Chengdu Plain to the south and a key point to defend against the Ming army from Chengdu to the north. Its flat terrain is conducive to large-scale military operations, so he needs a fierce general to guard the rear.

Then Li Zicheng of Pingwu County led his troops to set off immediately to take over all defenses of Shiquan County.

"Shiquan is located in the mountains, with rugged roads, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack."

"If the enemy comes, it will surely be a surprise attack from a flank. Your troops are mostly skilled in mountain warfare, so you will be in charge of guarding Shiquan and holding our flank and rear. Remember, do not hold the position to the death; preserving your strength is the best course of action..."

Then there's Zhao Sheng from Pingwu County.

Jiang Han ordered Zhao Sheng to gather all the autumn grain from Pingwu, Qingchuan and other places, husk and pack it all, and transport it to the Baizhangguang and Zitong line to ensure logistics.

He also ordered the supervisor of the Iron and Steel Bureau to prepare all the high-bridged saddles, double stirrups, and half-padded horse armor within a month and a half.

Zhao Sheng needs to provide all the materials to the best of his ability.

(End of this chapter)