Zhang Wanbang's words seem to be careless, but they are actually completely reasonable.

The current situation of the two cities in the east and west of Yehe is that the Tumen have taken the west city and used the west city as the big tent, and the troops who came out are encircling and fighting in the east city not far away.

However, the characteristics of the Tumen division were that the field battles were relatively strong, while the siege was always weak. There are two reasons why he was able to take Xicheng this time: one is that although the east and west cities of Yehe are known as "cities", compared to the cities of the Ming Dynasty, it is really not worth mentioning, and it is a walled city.

Although the two cities of Yehe and the east and west also used the rammed earth method learned from the Ming Dynasty, the earthen walls of the two cities were not high and steep, and they were not thick enough. (Note: I didn't hack them, there were ruins found in later generations, and this can be speculated based on the remnants of the ruins.) )

The second reason is the siege method, Buzhhatu does not know whether he intercepted some of the gunpowder he had grabbed in the northwest or where he got a small batch of gunpowder, but this time he repeated the old trick when attacking the eastern city, and blew down a small section of the earthen wall.

Although the gap in the explosion this time was very small, and Yehe Dongcheng even held on to the gap for another two days before it was lost, but no matter what, Dongcheng was still lost.

At the same time, the news reached the camp of the Ming army, and Cao Yan was more cautious about the news at that time, he was worried that Buzhihatu might still have gunpowder in his hand, maybe not much, but it was always a hidden danger.

The generals of the Shaozhuang faction all believed that even if Buzhhatu really had some gunpowder, it would not matter in the overall situation of the war. As for the reason, since the Ming army arrived, even if Buzhhatu blew up Xicheng again, it would not be able to change the overall situation.

After all, everyone believed that the gunpowder of Buzhhatu could only be looted, and that the Mongols of Chahar did not have the ability to make gunpowder themselves, and could not have possessed large quantities of gunpowder.

Of course, if Burihatu really has more gunpowder, then in addition to this battle, the pressure on the city defense of Kaiyuan or other places in Liaodong will also increase suddenly, but since this situation is unlikely, there is no need to think about it for the time being.

Another point is that the means of using gunpowder in Buzhhatu are too simple after all. His method of blowing down the city wall mainly relied on the other party's defenselessness, approaching the foot of the city wall by digging tunnels, then burying gunpowder, and then blocking the tunnels, leaving only the fuse, and finally blasting at a distance.

For this method to be successful, the first thing is that the other party does not find out, or does not have countermeasures after discovering it. But in fact, in this era, such siege methods are very similar to digging tunnels directly into the city in the early years, so countermeasures are also ready-made. For example, using "geolistening" to determine the location of the tunnel, and then sending someone to dig back and pour in poisonous smoke and the like, is one of them.

At the same time, the "city digging and blasting" method is not easy to use in some places where groundwater is too abundant. The Ming army, which had relatively strong engineering capabilities, may still have the ability to engage in waterproofing and drainage in the tunnels, but the Mongols basically don't have to count on it, they usually don't have this ability, which also greatly limits the use of this method.

As Zhang Wanbang said, now don't care about him in the east and west of the city, it is the same for anyone to fight: if the Ming army hits the west city, the Mongols in the east city will inevitably retreat to the rescue, so the siege of the east city can be solved; If the Ming army attacked Dongcheng, the enemy in Dongcheng was unlikely to be willing to fight a positional battle with the Ming army, and most of them still had to withdraw, and the siege of Dongcheng could still be solved.

Cao Yan thought about it, and had made up his mind in his heart, so he said to Gao Yimin: "Surround Wei to save Zhao or take Dongcheng directly, I don't know what advice does Staff Officer Gao have?" ”

Gao Yimin hurriedly said: "In front of the general Rong, how dare the little one speak out. However, with the current situation, considering the master's intentions, the little one thinks it is better to take Dongcheng directly. ”

Cao Yan laughed, nodded and said: "The hero sees the same thing, and Ben Shuai also thinks the same way-go straight to Dongcheng, Ye Hefang knows that I am as kind to him as a mountain." ”

The plan is set, and the army is out. An army of 20,000 marched forward on the land of Liaodong in early winter, and thousands of war horses and pack horses dragging artillery made countless hoof prints on the black earth.

Unfortunately, it didn't go far and it started to rain lightly. The winter rain in Liaodong, no matter how small it is, has to be guarded against, not only the road surface has become slippery and muddy, which seriously affects the transportation of artillery, but more importantly, everyone does not dare to get caught in the rain at will.

Although the army carried a large amount of ginger and other things, which could ward off the cold afterwards, the possibility of frostbite after the rain was still very high, so everyone greeted them with rain gear and clothes and cloaks, but this increased the difficulty of the march.

Yehe Dongcheng, which was originally expected to be reached in two days at most, finally dragged on for nearly four days before he could see the valley where Dongcheng was located.

The eastern city of Yeh was built on a mountain, and the entrance to the city was in the valley. Although the mountain on which it is backed is not a peak, it can still increase the difficulty of attacking the city, especially since the Tumen are all cavalry, and they will not easily go up the mountain, so the army is basically gathered in the valley.

The valley is quite large, and Tumen has about 14,000 men and horses here, and it still looks very empty, and it can be used as a field battlefield.

Although Cao Yan has been too cautious since the defeat of Chang'an Fort, he is a veteran of a hundred battles after all, and he feels that this terrain is a bit desperate at a glance.

Where is it? Although the battlefield is big enough, once the winner is divided, the losing side will not even be able to run. Don't say that if the army is defeated, it will definitely be difficult to run, even if the Mongols are defeated, it will not be easy to run.

The advantage of the Mongols is that the whole army is cavalry, and they can run fast, but although this valley is large, there are still mountains around it after all, and the mountains are all woods - don't look at the name of this place is Bald Mountain, but the mountains are not "light". The reason why it has the name of "bald man" is only because the top of the mountain is a stone forest, and the battlefield this time is not near the main peak. Therefore, if the Mongols are defeated, they will be blocked by the woods if they want to run, and if the Ming army chases fiercely, it is difficult to say how much the Mongols can run.

There are 20,000 people on the side of the Ming army, of which about 13,000 are pure infantry (including artillery), and about 2,000 are still "mounted infantry", and the real cavalry is only about 5,000, basically all of them are family members.

The combat effectiveness of the Jiading cavalry is not worse than that of the Mongolian cavalry, and even because of the more dominant weapons and equipment, the combat effectiveness is much higher than that of the Mongolian cavalry, but their number is limited, and they are probably either used to break the formation or pursue, and generally do not participate in long-term positional battles.

Infantry artillery frontal combat could theoretically be superior, but now it is raining. Although these Ming troops are all equipped with Jinghua firearms and have waterproof devices, after all, the era is here, in fact, whether it is musketeers or artillery, the power of fighting in rainy days will be reduced to varying degrees.

In this case, if you lose, then the fun will be great. Infantry artillery is notoriously unfast, especially this army is particularly well-equipped, resulting in a high load on the body, which is even more inconvenient to escape.

Therefore, if they really suffered a defeat, the only way they could consider escaping was to run into the city of Yehedong. Otherwise, it is useless to run anywhere, as long as the victorious Mongols are willing to chase, they will definitely be able to chase and kill.

Cao Yan, who was standing on the mountain overlooking the valley, fell into thought, and Gao Yimin next to him saw it, smiled slightly, and said, "The marshal is worried about the impact of the rain on our army?" ”

Cao Yan's face was solemn, he nodded, and said, "This rain is a little untimely, can our cannons still fight?" ”

As soon as Gao Yimin heard this, he knew that Cao Yan, a veteran, had a somewhat insufficient understanding of "infantry and artillery coordination", and even did not have a thorough understanding of the essence of the previous bayonet formation's "riding on foot" operation. His combat thinking probably still stayed at the cannon to open the way, and then the family Ding Jing cavalry rushed to break the enemy.

Of course, this old style of play cannot be said to be outdated, in fact, this set of play still works in Liaodong, but the efficiency fluctuates greatly, relying too much on the enemy's fear of our artillery and the ferocious killing of the family elite cavalry. In addition, it is not very cost-effective in terms of exchange ratio - this set of playing style does not necessarily have a lot of losses, and the reason why the exchange ratio is not very cost-effective is because once it is lost, it is basically a loss of elite families.

As the core force, once the loss of the elite family is large, it is a typical "broken muscles and bones", and the loss of the guards is not at the same level at all.

This is like the Liaodong cavalry of the Li family in the original history, which was originally invincible in Liaodong, but after the Korean battlefield suffered too much loss, it directly led to the rise of Nurhachi in the later period. At that time, there was not much change in the part of the guards in Liaodong, just the loss of the Li family's family formed a reversal of power, which shows the importance of the elite family.

Cao Yan's combat thinking is like this, Gao Yimin can't change it with one mouth. In his opinion, Cao Yan mainly did not personally experience the battle of southern Liaoning, so he couldn't turn the corner in his mind, and he could only think of letting him see the power of the new tactics, and he would naturally change his mind.

If you want to use new tactics without making Cao Yan doubt or resist in her heart, then there are not many ideas you can think of. Gao Yimin's brain teaser and said with a smile: "You don't have to worry about the artillery problem, Jinghua's artillery has waterproof testing, although it will definitely not be able to be used under the downpour, but such a light rain is still not a problem." ”

Cao Yan listened and breathed a sigh of relief. In his opinion, as long as the cannon can sound, a cannon bombards it, and then he personally commands the elite cavalry, because the Mongols have too small a population and uneven armor, they have never refused to fight against the elite cavalry, and they are bound to withdraw.

As long as they withdraw, when the time comes, whether their own army will enter Yehedong City to take refuge in the rain and wait for another battle in the coming day, or take advantage of the victory to pursue and end the battle once, then it can be considered, in short, it is enough to lay the victory.

However, Gao Yimin smiled and said: "Congratulations to the handsome, a hearty victory is just around the corner, and the time has finally come to wash away the bad luck of Chang'an Fort!" ”

Cao Yan was stunned, and said with some surprise: "I am also confident in winning this handsome, but I will win a big victory...... Where to start? ”

It is not difficult to win, according to Cao Yan's idea, the artillery fire opens the way, the elite cavalry rushes to kill, the Mongols are simply unwilling to bear the same losses as the Ming army, and there is no doubt that they will retreat when the time comes, as long as they are repulsed, it will naturally be a victory.

But a big victory is not, a big victory must be indispensable to take advantage of the situation to cover up, and today there is rain, and it is not so convenient to cover up the killing. What's more, the number of cavalry on the other side is three or four times more than that of the cavalry on this side, and in the case of not directly defeating the opponent, the pursuit must be careful and careful, otherwise, the opponent will come back with a horse pistol, maybe it will be another Chang'an Fort.

Gao Yimin had already expected Cao Yan's reaction like this, and immediately smiled and said, "What does the eldest marshal think is the elder of the Qi family?" ”

Cao Yan said without hesitation: "Motionless as a mountain, moving as thunder." ”

"You don't have to move like thunder this time, as long as they don't move like a mountain." Gao Yimin's eyes lit up, staring at the Mongolian cavalry in the valley who had begun to pose for battle, and said in a deep voice: "The Qi family army has set up a mandarin duck formation with the support of the Che battalion, and resisted the Mongolian Tartars head-on, Zhang Wanbang and Pu Yuanyi guarded the flanks for them, and the marshal and the elite cavalrymen of the Ma Shenrong Department only need to wait for the Tartars' momentum to exhaust, and then find an opportunity to enter in one fell swoop, and then they can defeat the enemy army." ”

Cao Yan was a little unconvinced, and reminded: "Brother Gao, Qi Yourong only brought two thousand Qi family troops this time. ”

The number of Qi's army may be less than 6,000 when it is at its largest, and it is even less when it is guarded in Jizhen, and later Qi Jiguang went to Beijing to serve as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, and brought some with him, and the rest of the generals were stationed in various places and also took some away, and finally came to Liaodong with Qi Jin about 3,000.

This time, 1,000 were left to look after the family in Shenyang, so the Qi family army under Qi Jin's department was only 2,000 people. Relying on 2,000 people to face the elite of the more than 10,000 Khan's lineage in front of the figures, this is obviously a bit big in Cao Yan's opinion. Even if Gao Yimin named Zhang Wanbang and Pu Yuanyi to protect the flank of the Qi family's army, it would still be a big deal.

Gao Yimin knew that at this moment, theory alone would not be able to convince Cao Yan, so he expressed it from a different angle: "What the marshal said is very true, although the Qi family's army is strong, it is unwise to have more than 2,000 enemies. However, since the headquarters of the marshal and the headquarters of Ma Shenrong are not moving, I am afraid that the Tumen do not have the courage to put all their troops into it and fight to the death in front of Qi Yourong's formation, right? ”

Cao Yan really accepted this statement, nodded and said: "Since the main force of my family has not moved, the figures naturally dare not make a desperate bet. ”

"That's it." Gao Yimin smiled and said: "As long as the front army is in a stalemate, and the marshal finds another opportunity to attack the enemy formation, at this time, the Tumen can only passively face the battle because they dare not give up their subordinates." In this way, wouldn't the marshal strike from wherever he wanted? ”

When Cao Yan heard this, he laughed and praised Gao Yimin for being reasonable.

Gao Yimin was modest, but he smiled secretly in his heart, in fact, his original intention was not like this.

According to his thoughts, the Qi family's army did not want to move like a mountain this time, but to "Xu Xu like a forest", and slowly approached forward, forcing the Tumen to send troops to repel.

At this time, the Qi family army can turn into a state of "immobile as a mountain", and it is necessary to attract the Tumen like a magnet, forcing the Tumen to continuously increase the size of the Chinese army and form a refueling tactic.

After this situation stalemate for a period of time, the forces in the hands of the Tumen were attracted to the Chinese army in large quantities, and the elite families of Cao Yan and Ma Chengxun found another opportunity to kill the generals, and at the same time, Qi Jin, Zhang Wanbang, Pu Yuanyi and other troops all turned to the counteroffensive...... At this time, the figures were naturally powerless.

The only concern is whether Burihatu will see through this strategy.

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Thanks to the book friends "What's wrong with my name Sonny", "The last love is to let go of your hands", "zhou4770", "Born like a summer flower 980705", "誡訫", "Fat can't fly", "athulla", "Apodes", "Cloudy day, good mood", "New Yangzhou good guy" monthly pass support, thank you!

PS: Tomorrow will be December, and a year of many disasters and difficulties is about to pass, I wish the motherland a better tomorrow.