The soldiers of the scout battalion led by Liu Tiehan personally encountered the scouts of the coalition army, and the two sides first started a fight, with a total number of no more than ten people, and this battle was almost unnoticed, but it attracted Su Tiancheng's attention.

Both sides have sent a large number of scouts to reconnoiter intelligence, which is very normal, as for the possibility that the scouts on both sides may encounter, this is also expected, the number of scouts in each group will not be very large, as little as three people, as many as five people, which is also convenient for action, this time the encounter took place in a place about forty miles away from Banbidian.

The results of the battle were clear at a glance, three Jiangning battalion scouts faced five Ming army scouts, the Ming army scouts were all killed, and the Jiangning battalion scouts were killed and one was wounded, which was a very brilliant result.

But Su Tiancheng didn't see it that way, he was very surprised by the combat effectiveness of the Ming army scouts.

The combat effectiveness of the Jiangning battalion scouts is extraordinary, it should be said that when they encountered the Ming army scouts in the past, they all won a complete victory, and it was impossible for them to suffer any losses, but this time the situation was different, and the scouts actually suffered casualties, which directly showed that the combat effectiveness of the Datong border army was greatly improved, and it was by no means the kind of situation imagined before.

In the past, when Lu Xiangsheng served as the governor of Datong, the Jiangning battalion sent a lot of soldiers to conduct large-scale training for the Datong border army, at that time, because the border passes were tight, in order to make the border pass peaceful, Su Tiancheng had been committed to improving the combat effectiveness of the Liaodong border army and the Datong border army, and even directly sent sergeants to the Datong border army and the Liaodong border army for training and strict training, and now the results of the training are in front of us.

Su Tiancheng knew very well that Lu Xiangsheng was an excellent general and attached great importance to the training of sergeants. The improvement of the combat effectiveness of the Datong border army is also very good.

This indicates that the Jiangning battalion may encounter an unprecedented fierce battle, the combat effectiveness of the Datong border army is good, and the combat effectiveness of the Houjin Tartars is even stronger, in this case, it is easy to win the Cangzhou battle. I'm afraid it's not that simple.

Su Tiancheng considered more about the problem of disparity in strength, after all, this is a practical problem, if it is only in the face of the Ming army, the problem is not very big, but after joining the Houjin Tartars, things are not so simple, the combat effectiveness of the coalition army is very strong, and it is fully prepared, I am afraid that I have thought of a lot of ways. to deal with the attack of the Jiangning battalion. Thinking of these, Su Tiancheng felt even more that the morale of the soldiers of the Jiangning battalion was likely to become a huge burden, and once the morale suffered a serious setback, would there be a rout, especially the 70,000 troops led by himself, some of which had just joined the Jiangning battalion for a short time. These people can't all stay in Nanjing, they have to go through a life-and-death struggle. It is possible to truly grow up and become a real warrior.

The 40,000 Jiangning battalion soldiers led by Lu Xiangsheng must rush over, and the battle of Cangzhou, as well as the possible decisive battle in Tianjin, is estimated to be a life-and-death decisive battle between the Great Jin and the Ming Dynasty and even the Later Jin. At this time, we must not be able to hold it up, and we must do our best.

The scheduled battle was about to start, and it was a battle without much conspiracy, and the two sides fought in Cangzhou in a dignified manner. Most of the details between each other are knowledgeable, and the fight is also carried out head-on, but in terms of the layout of the battle, it depends on the situation of the two sides on the spot.

The next day, the army of the Jiangning battalion was about to set off, and at this time, the decision was suddenly changed, and even Su Tiancheng could not easily draw conclusions, he could not tell many officers that because of the strength of the opponent, he said that he would temporarily stop the attack, which would make the soldiers below frustrated.

Su Tiancheng, who was facing a knot, felt that it was difficult to make a decision for the first time.

Time passed minute by minute, and it was getting dark, and the time for departure was getting closer and closer.

Hong Chengchou and Qu Qingze and others entered the house again, less than three hours before the time of departure, the army will set off at the end of the hour, and it is estimated that the battle will start within the time from the hour to the hour.

Su Tiancheng's expression was very serious, he didn't ask all the officers above the commander of the guard to come over, the officers and soldiers needed to rest well, so that they could have the energy to hurry and fight.

"Hong Chengchou, Qu Qingze, during the day today, you all know the situation of the collision between the scout camps."

Hong Chengchou and Qu Qingze nodded and did not speak.

"I'm a little worried, the scout is the most brave soldier in the Jiangning battalion, but this time, one of the scouts was killed, although the scouts of the army are the same brave men in the army, and there has never been such a situation in the duel, which shows that our opponent is fully prepared, and the combat effectiveness is also extraordinary."

In fact, Hong Chengchou has noticed this problem for a long time, because there has not been such a situation for many years.

"Your Majesty, the minister has considered this problem, and it really needs attention, the minister thinks that the emperor's previous entrustment is very timely, as long as the soldiers pay attention, in the process of the battle, always pay attention, don't underestimate the enemy, the minister thinks there will be no big problem."

"Hong Chengchou, what you said is good, but the problem is that many officers may not have listened to what I said, they still think that this battle is similar to the previous one, if you still treat the upcoming battle from the perspective of Zhejiang and Nanzhili, maybe you will suffer heavy losses."

Hong Chengchou lowered his head and stopped talking, in fact, in his heart, Hong Chengchou also had a little idea of underestimating the enemy, so many years have passed, even in the face of the Houjin Tartars, the Jiangning battalion is invincible, this has almost become a law, even if the Ming army and the Houjin Tartars jointly fight, it is not much of a big deal, relatively speaking, this is still a good thing, once the Jiangning battalion captures the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the situation in Liaodong will be easy to control.

Qu Qingze looked at Su Tiancheng and also spoke.

"Your Majesty, the minister got accurate information, Sun Chuanting and occupied Dagukou, is attacking Tianjin Sanwei, Ji Lu planned to use the fastest time, occupy Tianjin, Chen Xinjia was a little anxious, scouts learned that there were a large number of Ming troops from Cangzhou, rushed to Tianjin, scouts captured a few people, and finally got the news, there are 50,000 Datong border troops, rushed to Tianjin reinforcements, to prevent Tianjin from being lost, and at the same time stationed in Gaoyang 100,000 Ming troops, also received an order, rushed to Tianjin reinforcements, so that the army faced the coalition army, That is, 150,000 people, although the coalition army has an advantage in numbers, compared with before, it is already a lot less, and the minister feels that the emperor's deployment is completely in place. ”

"If it weren't for Sun Chuanting's involvement in Tianjin, I wouldn't have agreed to launch an attack tomorrow, but the problem still exists, I think this problem is not the strength of the Ming army and the Houjin Tartars, but the vigilance of our army, and the attitude towards this battle."

On the map on the table, the places where the Ming army and the Houjin Tartars were stationed were all outlined.

Su Tiancheng walked to the table.

"I see that the deployment of the overall offensive does not need to be adjusted, but the specific operational steps need to be slightly adjusted, my suggestion is not to launch a general offensive first, not to pounce all at once, first of all, to take a tentative attack, in addition, I have already written to Lu Xiangsheng, asking him to lead the Jiangning battalion soldiers in Kaifeng, Henan, to rush to Cangzhou, to participate in this battle, Nanjing, I also wrote a letter, asking Zhu Xianxuan and other civil and military ministers to prepare, if necessary, Continue to send soldiers to Cangzhou or Tianjin......"

Hong Chengchou and Qu Qingze were suddenly surprised, they had never seen Su Tiancheng so cautious, and even prepared to mobilize the entire Jiangning battalion to participate in the battle, which shows that the battle in Cangzhou is very important, and it may be a decisive battle, but Hong Chengchou and Qu Qingze both think that even if the battle of Cangzhou is won, the army can successfully occupy Tianjin and attack in the direction of the capital, and the Ming court can still mobilize 300,000 Liaodong border troops, anyway, The combat effectiveness of the Liaodong Border Army was stronger than that of the Datong Border Army.

Su Tiancheng didn't explain, he had such a hunch that once Cangzhou and Tianjin were taken and the coalition army was severely damaged, the battle behind me might be much smoother, maybe while defeating the coalition army, it would be possible for the Liaodong border army to be reinforced, after all, Zhu Youzhen could not watch hundreds of thousands of troops collapse like this.

"The army has arrived at Banbidian, but still haven't seen the Ming army and the army of the Houjin Tartars, they are still stationed near Cangzhou City, they don't seem to be in a hurry, this is too abnormal, it seems to be waiting for our attack, there has never been such a situation in the past, I think, Chen Xinjia is not ready to take the strategy of luring the enemy deep, you don't underestimate Chen Xinjia, the defeat in Liaodong made Chen Xinjia learn a lot of things, so I think that the detailed deployment must be adjusted, The early attack must be reserved, and after the arrival of the army led by Lu Xiangsheng, the most reluctant attack will be launched......"

After some deliberation and discussion, Hong Chengchou immediately went out to deploy, the vanguard is still He Renlong, leading the 20,000 army to attack first, the difference is that no matter what kind of combat results the vanguard led by He Renlong, the follow-up reinforcements will not rush forward for the time being, and Hong Chengchou also needs to specially warn He Renlong, don't fall in love with war, this first attack is not a decisive battle, don't think that the vanguard can completely defeat the coalition army. Of course, the more important warning is that He Renlong cannot fall in love with the war, and once the battle situation is unfavorable, he must withdraw his troops as quickly as possible to avoid causing greater losses. (To be continued......)