Wen Du was taken aback when he learned that there was a Ming army of tens of thousands of horses breaking through from the Northern Yuan defense area outside the western city, and when the shelling occurred in the south of the city, he realized that the situation was not right, and thought that the Ming army was deceitful, but he did not expect Li Yuntian to dare to divide his troops to break through.

"My lord, they haven't run far yet, if they pursue now, can they catch up?" Wen Du was pondering the intention of Li Yuntian's move when a general bowed to him and said in a deep voice.

"How many Ming troops have fled?" Wen Du groaned for a moment and asked Taiping quietly.

"It was easy to tell how many enemy troops there were in the night, but judging from the road they had walked, there were at least 40,000 men." Taiping had been prepared for a long time, and replied in a deep voice when he heard the words.

As for why the Taiping didn't take the initiative to intercept it, no one cared about the reason, if they were to make the same choice as the Taiping, because in addition to preserving their strength, it was the best tactic to put the Ming army outside the city and then exterminate it, so that they could avoid the high walls of Qinglong City.

In other words, the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan were not afraid of engaging the Ming army outside the city, and they very much wanted the Ming army to abandon the city and flee so that they could pursue and kill.

"More than 40,000 people!" Wen Du groaned when he heard this, and his brows furrowed slightly, "In this way, King Zhongwu is still in the city." ”

For Wendu, Li Yuntian is the target he pays the most attention to, because Li Yuntian is related to the development of the entire war situation, as long as Li Yuntian is still in Qinglong City, then the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty will firmly control the war situation in Guanxi.

"General Along, you lead an army of 50,000 to pursue, and you must eliminate those fleeing Ming troops, although they are not a big problem in the Kansai war, but if you let them wander around, you will really hate it." Then, Wen Du looked at a general of the Timurid Empire on the side and said in a deep voice.

In Wendu's opinion, Aaron led 50,000 troops enough to annihilate the Ming army that broke through, and he still had considerable confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Timurid Empire's army.

Even if Aaron is defeated, then it will definitely inflict heavy losses on the Ming army that broke through, which also achieved his goal, so that the Ming army that broke through would not cause him any big trouble.

"Rest assured, the general will definitely kill them all!" Hearing this, Aaron bowed to Wen Du and said murderously.

Except for the battle of Blue Leaf City, Aaron had never fought with the Ming army, and according to his experience in fighting the Ming army, the Ming army was no match for the cavalry of the Timurid Empire in the field, and he could easily kill those Ming troops who broke through like a duck.

"Along, the Ming army in Qinglong City is different from the Western Expeditionary Army of the Great Ming, and their strength is even stronger." Seeing Ah Long's relaxed face, Wen Du's brows suddenly furrowed, as if he saw himself before the defeat of Sunset Valley, and then admonished in a deep voice, "Especially since they have won over the Kansai Army, their cavalry is not weaker than ours!" ”

"The general's lesson is that you must be careful when you are in a humble position." Hearing this, Ah Long's face quickly turned pale, and he bowed down and said honestly, but his eyes looked a little disdainful, he looked down on the guys in the Kansai Army who were afraid of death, and they actually went out of the city to surrender in order to survive.

Wen Du noticed the disdain in Ah Long's eyes, and couldn't help but shake his head secretly in his heart, but since this time he was fighting in the field, Ah Long should be able to destroy those Ming troops who broke through.

However, what made Wen Du feel a little puzzled was why Li Yuntian sent troops to break through, was it to ask for help? Or did you want to disturb the rear of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan?

Thinking about it, Wen Du didn't understand Li Yuntian's intentions, and he really couldn't figure out what medicine was sold in the gourd of this Ming Zhongwu King.

After Bai An and Timur left, Li Yuntian began to inspect the militia in the city, the so-called militia refers to the paramilitary team formed by the young and strong men of Qinglong City, who gather together in the neighborhood every day in their spare time to conduct military drills, and return to their respective homes after the drills, and are responsible for assisting the officers and soldiers in maintaining law and order in the city and defending the city during wartime.

In fact, the number of militias in Qinglong City is not very large, there are only 50,000 people in the full fight, and according to the rules of Qinglong City, every household must contribute to join the militia, which is the obligation of the residents of Qinglong City.

However, since the refugees from Kansai entered the trenches of Qinglong City, the size of the militia has reached 100,000, and the extra 50,000 are selected from the refugees.

It is worth mentioning that those refugees are voluntary militia groups, because if they want to become residents of Qinglong City, or move to the territory around Qinglong City, then joining the militia is the most convenient way, which is very attractive to those refugees.

The reason why Li Yuntian dared to let Bai An and Tuhuan Timur leave, in addition to the strong defense of Qinglong City, the militia in the city gave him enough confidence, although the militia members could not go into battle to kill the enemy, but it was more than enough to defend the city.

With the development of the war situation in Kansai, the Ming army in Qinglong City will definitely go out of the city to meet the battle, so that the defense of the city will be shared by the militia group, and Li Yuntian must grasp the situation of the militia group, so that he can make a good plan for the next operation.

After some inspection, Li Yuntian was very satisfied with the militia in the city, although this was only a paramilitary organization, but the military skills of the regiment were not weak, much stronger than those guards in the interior of the Ming Dynasty.

"Lord Wang, Grandpa Guo has news that Jiayuguan has fallen!" One afternoon at the end of March, when Li Yuntian was practicing calligraphy in the study, Lin Xin walked over quickly and handed over a scroll of paper in his hand.

The pen in Li Yuntian's hand then stopped, a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then leaned over to continue to finish writing the words on the paper, and then reached out to take the small paper scroll.

On the paper scroll, Zhou Zheng told Li Yuntian that Jiayu Pass had fallen, and under the frantic attack of the enemy, all the artillery on the wall of Jiayu Pass and Dongguan had been scrapped due to overuse, and the muskets were almost completely damaged, which showed the tragic situation of the battle.

For this reason, Zhou Zheng had to retreat to the city of Lanzhou, where he had built a strong defensive line to welcome the arrival of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan army.

"Lord, what should we do?" Lin Xin knew that the situation was serious, Jiayuguan was the northwest gateway of the Ming Dynasty, and once it fell, the troops of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty would enter the northwest region of the Ming Dynasty, and then threaten the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty.

"If it were you, what do you think this king would do?" Hearing this, Li Yuntian put the small paper roll in his hand on the bed and looked at Lin Xin quietly.

"Lord Yu, in the eyes of his subordinates, the prince should immediately go out of the city and resist the combined forces of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Lanzhou City with the prince of the country, so as not to break through the Lanzhou defense line and enter the Central Plains, so that the Jingshi and Jiangnan of the Ming Dynasty will be in danger!" Lin Xin thought about it carefully, bowed to Li Yuntian and said in a coquettish voice.

In Lin Xin's view, with the fall of Jiayuguan, Li Yuntian's center of gravity should be shifted from Guanxi to the northwest, and it was imperative to prevent the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan from continuing to advance eastward.

"The enemy army in Jiayuguan has been greatly injured after capturing Jiayuguan, and it is impossible to shake the Lanzhou defense line of Zhongguo Gong, in order to reduce the pressure of Zhongguo Gong, this king must drag the enemy in Guanxi, so that he does not dare to rush east."

Li Yuntian knew what Lin Xin meant, shook his head and said with a serious expression, "As soon as Jiayu Pass is broken, Qinglong City will lose its strategic value, so what this king has to do now is to lead the army to attack and attack the ancient city of Dunhuang while the enemy army is unprepared." ”

"Attack the ancient city of Dunhuang!" Lin Xin was taken aback when she heard this, and looked at Li Yuntian in disbelief, it was hard to imagine that Li Yuntian would make such a crazy decision.

"This king has observed these days, the last battle outside the west city caused tens of thousands of casualties to the enemy, but later the strength of the besieging enemy army was replenished, presumably from the ancient city of Dunhuang."

A smile appeared at the corner of Li Yuntian's mouth, "After the White Marquis and the King of Zhongyi broke through, the enemy army sent men and horses to pursue, but the troops were not replenished, and it is difficult for the ancient city of Dunhuang to draw troops again, which shows that the troops stationed there are limited, and this king has a chance to take them." ”

"Lord Wang, you have to think about it, it's very dangerous to do this." Lin Xin suddenly showed a look of concern when she heard this, she knew that Li Yuntian had always liked to win by surprise, but now there were more than 200,000 enemy troops outside the city, and the commander of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty living in the ancient city of Dunhuang must not be less than the troops.

Obviously, it was impossible for Li Yuntian to bring too many men and horses with him in this attack, otherwise he would attract the attention of the enemy forces outside the city.

"If it is not broken, it will not stand, this king has already calculated, as long as it can deceive the enemy army outside the city, then this king still has a good hope of taking the ancient city of Dunhuang."

Li Yuntian saw Lin Xin's worriedness, so he smiled disappreciatively and said, "The enemy army in the ancient city of Dunhuang will definitely not fight hard, their task is to protect the upper leaders of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, so as long as this king can break through a city gate, then they will definitely retreat for safety." ”

"In addition, the ancient city of Dunhuang has hoarded a large amount of military rations, as long as the king burns those military rations, then the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty will not rush eastward, and they will not dare to enter the northwest until the arrival of Hami's grain and grass.

As he spoke, Li Yuntian's eyes flashed with a fine light, "If they knew that this king personally led the army to attack the ancient city of Dunhuang, they would definitely send troops to encircle and suppress it, and then this king could take them around in circles in Guanxi." ”

"Lord Wang, it turns out that you are going to the grain and grass of the ancient city of Dunhuang." It was only at this time that Lin Xin suddenly realized that Li Yuntian not only wanted to give the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan a salary this time, but also used himself as a bait to drag the enemy army in Guanxi, which greatly reduced the pressure on Zhou Zheng.

However, in this way, Li Yuntian will have to face the all-out encirclement and suppression of the enemy army in Guanxi, and the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan will definitely want to capture him, so that they will have no worries.

Li Yuntian naturally knew the danger of doing so, but now that Qinglong City had lost its strategic value with the fall of Jiayuguan, he had to drag the enemy army in Guanxi, otherwise once the hundreds of thousands of enemy troops in Guanxi entered the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, the Lanzhou defense line that Zhou Zheng had painstakingly managed would be in danger!