Qinglong City south of the camp, Li Yuntian's study.

An Yonghou, the commander of the left capital of the left army, Bai An, the commander of the Guanxi battalion of the Xiaowu Army, Yiwu Bolu Minen, the commander of the Liaodong Guard, Ning Mingbo, Xue Wu, and Li Zixi sat on the seats on both sides of the house, talking to each other.

It was very strange that Li Yuntian had summoned the four of them here, because he had just finished the senior generals' deliberations not long ago, so he felt that something big must have happened, so Li Yuntian called them over again.

"Lord Wang!" Just when the four of them were discussing curiously, Li Yuntian walked in, and the four of them got up to greet each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this king has summoned you this time to tell you one thing, according to the reliable information that this king has received, the enemy army invading Guanxi will bypass Jiayu Pass and go to Hetao, and then cross the Great Wall through Hetao to attack Datong."

After taking a seat behind the desk in the study, Li Yuntian glanced at the four Bai An people present, and said with a serious expression, "This is the last thing this king wants to see, now my army in the north of the Ming Dynasty is concentrated in Qinglong City and Jiayuguan, and the local area is empty, once the enemy army enters the Hetao and captures Datong, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

"Lord Wang, no wonder they marched so slowly, it turned out that they had made such a calculation, and they actually avoided the main force of our army and went to the Hetao at a distance!" Bai An was taken aback when he heard this, and looked at Li Yuntian in surprise.

The Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan coalition army had the advantage in Guanxi, as long as they captured Jiayu Pass, they opened the door to enter the Ming Dynasty, but they gave up the decisive battle with the Ming army in Guanxi and went to the Hetao area thousands of miles away, which really surprised him, and the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan were undoubtedly showing weakness to the Ming army.

In other words, the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, who defeated the Ming Western Expeditionary Army in the Western Regions, are now full of fear of the Ming army in Guanxi, otherwise they will definitely go all out to capture Jiayu Pass according to their style of action, so that the northwest of the Ming Dynasty is at their fingertips, and the east can attack the Beijing Division, and the south can go down to the south of the Yangtze River, and they will be in an invincible position strategically.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the defense of the north has been strengthened, and its main forces are concentrated in the north, not only along the Great Wall to build a nine-sided fortress, but also the Hongwu Emperor has sealed the fiefs of his sons in the north, in order to defend the center.

Emperor Yongle paid more attention to the safety of the north than Emperor Hongwu, and even moved the Beijing division to Beijing, and guarded the northern part of the Ming Dynasty with the respect of the Son of Heaven, which can be seen from the strong military strength of the northern Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, although the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan chose to attack Datong through the Hetao, although they could avoid a decisive battle with the Ming army in Guanxi, they were bound to suffer from the desperate resistance of the military and people of the Northern Military Region.

Most importantly, the three inner passes of the Great Wall would stop the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan from moving south, and they would have to break through one of them in order to enter the western and northern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan chose to attack the three passes of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, it means that they believed that the military strength of the Ming Dynasty was inferior to that of Jiayu Pass, and they would pay a smaller price to conquer it.

I have to say that this decision of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty has very important strategic significance, once the inner three passes of the Great Wall are broken, then the Ming Dynasty's Beijing division will repeat the mistakes of a few years ago and be surrounded by it, and the Ming Dynasty is unable to organize an army rescue in a short period of time, and will definitely transfer troops from Jiayuguan at that time, what can be more important than the safety of the Beijing Division?

"Ning Mingbo, this time the enemy army will send 200,000 horses to Hetao, including 150,000 troops in the West Chagatai and 50,000 troops in the Northern Yuan.

Li Yuntian knew that this news would shock the four Bai An, and after a deep sigh, he said to Ning Mingbo Xue Wu with a serious expression, "In this battle, the Mongolian political envoy will provide about 50,000 troops, and the enemy is outnumbered. ”

"The prince can rest assured, the lowly people will go all out, and the people of the Western Chagatai and the Northern Yuan Dynasty can only step on the corpses of the lowly people if they want to cross the Great Wall." Xue Wu immediately got up when he heard this, solemnly bowed his hand to Li Yuntian, and replied with a resolute expression.

Although this battle was extremely dangerous, there were only 70,000 troops in Liaodong, and the 50,000 troops of the Mongolian political envoys were only 120,000, which was as much as 80,000 different from the strength of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, but he knew that this was a golden opportunity to wash away the shame of the Western Expeditionary Army, and the safety of the Beijing Division was at stake, so he would definitely fight to the death.

Since the defeat of the Western Expeditionary Army in the Western Regions, the soldiers of the Liaodong Army who remained in Guanxi have endured a lot of psychological pressure, and have been labeled as "defeated soldiers" by the outside world.

"Lord Wang, at this time, the transfer of the Liaodong Army out of the city to Hetao will definitely alarm the enemy's spies in Qinglong City, and it will also make the Guanxi Army in the city panic, if the Guanxi Army has different intentions, the consequences will be unimaginable." Looking at Xue Wu, who looked resolute, Lu Minen's brows furrowed and then looked at Li Yuntian.

Bai An and Li Zixi all showed worried expressions when they heard this, the army in Qinglong City can now be divided into four parts, namely 30,000 Xiaowu Army, 70,000 Liaodong Army, 20,000 Western Expeditionary Army rescued by Li Yuntian from Beishu Bali City, and nearly 100,000 Guanxi Army.

For the Kansai Army, Lu Minen, Xue Wu and others did not believe them, after all, the Kansai Seven Guards only surrendered to the Ming Dynasty in name, and God knows if these people would defect to the enemy when the battle situation was critical.

If the Liaodong Army does not leave, there are 120,000 Ming troops in Qinglong City, which has an advantage over the Guanxi Army in terms of strength, and it is also a deterrent.

Now that the Liaodong Army is gone, the Ming army in Qinglong City is only 50,000, and the strength of the Guanxi Army is twice as large, so if something happens, it will be difficult to control the situation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the prince has secretly transferred the Liaodong Army and the defenders of Jiayu Pass, and now the Liaodong Army is all located in the pass, and the garrison of the Liaodong Army in the city is stationed in the Jiayuguan Garrison!" Li Yuntian knew Lu Minen, Bai An, and Li Zixi's worries, so he nodded to Xue Wu, and Xue Wu explained the mystery in a deep voice.

"I see!" Lu Minen, Bai An and Li Zixi were taken aback, a shocked look appeared on their faces, and their eyes were full of admiration when they looked at Li Yuntian, no one thought that Li Yuntian would quietly complete the transfer of troops, which meant that Li Yuntian had already sensed the intentions of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, and then made a countermeasure.

Because the garrison barracks in Qinglong City were isolated from each other and did not communicate with each other, and the city was always defended by the Xiaowu Army, no one knew about the changes that had taken place in the military camp of the Liaodong Army, except for Li Yuntian, Xue Wu and Lin Xin, no one knew about the transfer of the Liaodong Army.

"See the prince!" Just when everyone was surprised, the door of the study opened, and a handsome captain wearing a military uniform walked in quickly, came to the desk and bowed his hand to Li Yuntian in a coquettish voice.

"Side concubine!" Seeing this, Bai An and the four of them hurriedly got up and bowed to the handsome captain, who was none other than Nuomin.

"Ning Mingbo, the battle of Hetao is very important, and this king has asked the county lord of Dexin and Adjutant Li to go to Hetao with you to assist you in the battle." Li Yuntian bowed slightly to Nuo Min, and then said to Xue Wu in a deep voice, "They are your subordinates, and they will only propose a battle plan to him, and will not interfere with your decision." ”

"Thank you for your grace!" Xue Wu knew that Li Yuntian did not want to set him up, but to win the battle of Hetao, so he hurriedly thanked Li Yuntian, having Nuo Min and Li Zixi undoubtedly made him like a tiger.

Nomin was a small Mongolian lord, and Xue Wu had never dealt with the Mongol envoys before, so if Nomin reconciled with him, it would be much easier for him to act and command those Mongol soldiers.

As for Li Zixi, he is a rising star of the martial arts, not only with Li Yuntian pacifying the troubles, but also smoothly leading more than 10,000 Western Expeditionary troops to get out of Blue Leaf City, and his military talent has been clearly presented.

What is especially important is that Li Zixi is a staff officer next to Li Yuntian, and what he is best at is formulating military battle plans, Xue Wu is only a general in the end, and his ability to strategize on the battlefield is limited, so Li Zixi makes up for his disadvantage very well.

As the Liaodong Military Region that was reorganized by the Xiaowu Army, Xue Wu naturally knew that although the generals in the Xiaowu Army were responsible for issuing orders, it was those outstanding staff officers who graduated from the Jiangwutang who formulated the battle plan, and the generals who led the army only needed to choose according to those battle plans.

Li Zixi naturally can't go to the Hetao alone, he will definitely bring a powerful staff team with him, and this is what Xue Wu needs most now, because of the disadvantage in troops, he needs to use the best battle plan, which can not only deal a major blow to the enemy, but also reduce his own casualties, and drag the enemy army to the snow in the Hetao area.

After all, now is not the time for the Liaodong Army to fight hard with the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Coalition Army, because the Ming Army has limited troops in Guanxi, so the Guanxi battlefield still needs the help of the Liaodong Army.

As long as the troops of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan were kept out of the Great Wall before the heavy snow fell, so that they could not cross the Great Wall to attack Datong, then they would be in a passive position by that time, and it was obvious that the Shanbei Military Region and the Gyeonggi Governorate would urgently recruit troops from the civilian population while they were blocked in the Hetao area.

Although the recruited soldiers could not fight head-on on the battlefield, it was still enough to defend the city, and all the Ming army had to do was to hold it out and fight a war of attrition with the troops of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan.

Due to the urgency of the situation, Xue Wu, Nuo Min, Li Zixi and others secretly left Qinglong City that night and hurried to Jiayu Pass, from which they would rush to Datong, and then go out of the Great Wall into the Hetao area to set up an ambush.

"Take care!" Li Yuntian sent Xue Wu and his party outside the city, and when he said goodbye to Nuo Min, he hugged Nuo Min in his arms and whispered in her ear, "Remember, stay in the green mountains without worrying about running out of firewood, don't care about the gains and losses of a battle and a city." ”

"Hmm!" Nuo Min's heart warmed, nodded his head heavily and hugged Li Yuntian tightly, she was very happy to be able to solve Li Yuntian's problems.

"Lord Wang, the latest military information, the vanguard of the enemy army has passed through the Yumen Pass, and it is estimated that it has now entered the ancient city of Dunhuang." When Li Yuntian stared intently at the back of Nuo Min and the others leaving, Lin Xin came to his side and said in a deep voice.

After learning of the withdrawal of the Ming army at Yumen Pass, the vanguard troops of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty stationed outside the pass occupied Yumen Pass and then took the ancient city of Dunhuang.

The soldiers and civilians in the ancient city of Dunhuang have already retreated, and it is completely an empty city, so the vanguard troops took this city without blood, and it can be expected that this fortified city in the west of the Guanxi after the Qinglong City will become the base camp of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, commanding the troops under his command to fight with the Ming army in Guanxi.

Li Yuntian nodded when he heard this, and returned to the city of Qinglong City with an expressionless face, with the vanguard troops of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty stationed in the ancient city of Dunhuang, the hard years of the siege of Qinglong City were coming.