In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 223 40 young men and women

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Lin Rui had wanted to occupy Datong. However, he was weak at that time and his opponent was a strong man like Lu Xiangsheng who dared to fight. So he did not want to lose both sides, avoided his edge, and finally retreated to the grassland. .

Now, after three years, I have returned to Datong again. Not only do I have Hetao as my base, but I also have more than [-] troops at my disposal. Coupled with more than three years of word-of-mouth promotion, the good reputation and reputation of the Lin Jiajun have already penetrated all military households in Datong. In his heart, it can be said that he occupies Datong at this time, and he has occupied the right time, place and people.

The army has entered the Great Wall and reached Datong City. On the other hand, the Ming armies are still outside Xuanda, so the geographical advantage is definitely on their side.

If you advance, you can attack the city and take out the stronghold, or you can take the initiative to choose the Ming army to attack it. If you retreat, you can go directly back to the grassland from the north of Datong. The initiative is already in the hands of the Chinese side.

Needless to say, people and people can be seen from the fact that they were able to recruit [-] to [-] young military households to help attack the city in a short period of time.

The only thing that doesn't account for it is the weather.

Therefore, Lin Rui naturally wanted to capture the three important towns of Datong, Shuozhou, and Yanghe before the various Ming armies arrived.

As for other small towns and forts, there is no need to attack them one by one. As long as these three important towns are captured and then the Ming army is defeated, the rest of the small towns and forts can basically be announced.

Otherwise, the total number of castles in Datong is not one thousand, but eight hundred. Even if one castle has an average of several hundred casualties, it will be a terrifying number.

Although he must recruit ordinary young and strong military households to attack the city, but he actually wants to occupy Datong, Lin Rui naturally does not want to see that in the end, every family in Datong will wear filial piety, and the young and strong young people will suffer heavy losses.

There is no need for Xuanfu to rush to attack. Xuanfu and Datong are closely interdependent. As long as Datong is captured, Xuanfu will be in the bag sooner or later.

So Lin Rui decided to divide his troops into three groups, one of which was Shang Kexi. Huang Ben and Takuyan were commanders in chief, and went to attack Yanghe, with a total of [-] horse infantry.

All the way, commanded by Zhang Cunren, Ebutu, and Wang Gouwa, they went to attack Shuozhou, also with an army of [-] horse and infantry.

Lin Rui himself and Na Muzhong led the main army to attack Datong.

At this time, after the two armies joined together, the total strength had almost reached 14, including more than [-] cavalry, [-] elite infantry, [-] garrison, [-] firearms and longbowmen each, plus [-] carpenters. Blacksmiths and a small number of female medics.

Even if 8000 soldiers and horses were assigned to attack Shuozhou Yanghe, plus the [-] people who stayed in the mountainous area, the number of troops under Datong City was still close to [-].

After allocating the troops and horses, and giving some careful instructions, Shang Kexi and the other six men led the troops and horses to kill Yanghe in Shuozhou.

It only takes a day's journey from Datong to Shuozhou and Yanghe Kuaima, so Lin Rui is not worried about the two armies, because the main force of Datong can support the two armies at any time.

As for the eight thousand soldiers and horses in the mountainous area, Lin Rui planned to withdraw them to Datong after they captured Yulin Acropolis.

At this time, it is absolutely a stupid decision to divide the troops to attack those small towns and forts in the mountains. It is not cost-effective at all. Even if they want to fight, they should sweep up the surrounding areas of Datong.

"It's Mr. Lin..."

"It's really Mr. Lin."

"See you son."

When Lin Rui came to Datong City, some sharp-eyed military households immediately recognized him and shouted excitedly.

Obviously, those who recognized Lin Rui had made a fortune with Lin Rui in the past, and many of them were even longbowmen who had participated in the original three-party battle.

The common people and military households who had only heard of Lin Rui's name but never seen him also threw down their carts, sandbags, baskets and other objects and gathered around.

Lin Rui asked people to maintain order, summoned everyone, and climbed onto a high platform.

When tens of thousands of people had gathered, Lin Rui said loudly: "Yes, I am Lin Rui, folks, I, Lin Rui, have come back with the Lin Family Army, and I will not leave again this time.

Similarly, as long as Datong is conquered this time, everyone will not only be able to get food, but they will no longer have to worry about being oppressed by those evil landlords and gentry. Their days of domination are over.

Here I declare that as long as our country of China occupies Datong, we will abolish all exorbitant taxes and ensure that everyone can have land to farm, and will no longer be hungry or oppressed! "

Lin Rui's voice, accompanied by hundreds of big men shouting in unison, spread to almost everyone's ears, and also reached Datong City in the distance.

Although Lin Rui did not shout slogans about attacking the local tyrants, dividing the land, and not collecting taxes, tens of thousands of people were still trembling with excitement and crying with joy.

As those who had made a fortune with Lin Rui knelt down and shouted, tens of thousands of people finally knelt on the ground, kowtowed to the high platform, and shouted long live Mr. Lin and long live China.

These people don't care whether they are orthodox or not, whether they are rebellious or not. They will kowtow and shout long live to anyone who can keep them and their families fed.

Lin Rui's credibility is convinced by everyone.

On the distant city tower, listening to the noise outside the city, Wang Pu had a solemn expression on his face. What he was worried about had finally happened. The man surnamed Lin would indeed incite the people and confuse the people. I am afraid that the world of Datong will change.

The magistrate on the side, the wealthy people in the city who came after hearing the news, and the king who was wearing a python robe and jade belt were already frightened to the point of turning pale and their legs were trembling.

"Ping Lupo, the bandit army is strong, are you sure you can defend Datong City?"

Dai Wang asked in a trembling voice, and everyone else also looked at Wang Pu.

Obviously everyone placed their hopes on this Pinglupp.

After all, he has [-] troops in his hands, which is the main force defending the city. "The prince has also seen it. Lin Rui is the best at deceiving people. It is not difficult to defend Datong City, but it is easy to say!"

Wang Pu first cupped his hands, then pointed to the outside of the city and said slowly.

"Oh, what does that mean?"

Dai Wang frowned, and everyone else also looked puzzled. They didn't know what kind of riddle this guy was playing.

"Since Lin Rui is good at deceiving people, if we want to defend Datong City, we must be united. And if we want to be united, it is easy. It is nothing more than money and food. As long as the money and food are sufficient, my soldiers will not be incited. , Datong City will be as solid as a rock!"

Wang Pu didn't show off, he raised two fingers and explained.

When everyone heard this, they immediately rolled their eyes. After all, they still wanted everyone to contribute money and food.

But looking at the current situation, if the [-] soldiers are not fed, drank, and given some sweets, they may be tempted to defect directly from the city, or they may not work hard, but everyone has already been killed. , it is really painful to have to pay for food again.

"Everyone, everyone knows Lin Rui's evil reputation all too well. Once the city is destroyed, all your wealth will fall into the hands of thieves, and your beautiful wives and concubines will also be ravaged by them. I won't say much about the choice. .”

Wang Pu obviously wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a big profit. Seeing the hesitation on everyone's faces, he added to the fire without saying anything shocking and threatened.

But the wealthy families are not stupid either. If the bandit army attacks them and they can't escape, can the Wang family escape?
Doesn’t the Wang family have a huge fortune and a lovely wife and concubines?

Therefore, they were only willing to give out more than ten or twenty shi of grain and three to fifty taels of silver. King Dai generously expressed his willingness to give out ten big fat pigs and a hundred jars of fine wine to reward the army.

Although he was not satisfied, Wang Pu also knew that the meat had to be eaten one bite at a time. It was probably unrealistic for these guys to spend too much money and food at once. After all, the bandit army had not yet attacked the city, so he had to accept it as soon as possible.

For several days, Lin Rui was not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, he sent people to various places to recruit more young men. At the same time, he selected young men from the common people and signed long-term prostitution contracts with them.

With such a good opportunity, Lin Rui would naturally not miss the opportunity to expand his troops, especially the infantry battalion.

Although there are only more than 2 veterans, it can at least be doubled to increase the number of infantry to [-].

And with more than 2 veterans as the basis, the old guide the new, and they are influenced by their own eyes and ears. As long as they train for two or three months, get the equipment in place, and fight two battles, they will be fully elite.

After all, an army has a heritage and a sense of honor. When the newly joined teenagers hear about the veterans’ past achievements and brilliance, and have the same background and the same age when they joined, the teenagers will take this as an example and become even more Desperately fighting for the first place.

Not only will it not lower the overall morale of the army, it will actually increase it.

This time, Lin Rui's requirements for young people are much stricter. The age is strictly controlled under 19 years old, and over [-] years old, they must be honest and honest farmers and soldiers.

As for the garrison, Lin Rui has no plans to expand, but those young men over [-] will also plan to reorganize and train them. They will assist the soldiers during war and work together with their families in their free time.

After the two armies arrived in Yanghe Shuozhou, they also built siege equipment while recruiting people from all over.

Every two days, Lin Rui would take turns going to the Second City to boost people's morale.

By the end of September, 20 civilians and military households had gathered outside Datong City, and nearly [-] young men and women had gathered outside Shuozhou and Yanghe cities.

Just when Lin Rui was about to order a siege on the three cities, God was not in his favor and it started to snow heavily.

This made Lin Rui angry and scolded her, because most of the civilians who came from the military households were very thinly dressed. In the past, when winter came, they almost spent the winter hiding in their houses.

"Rui Lang, this is really irritating. This thief has no eyesight. Now all those people are shivering with cold and can't do without fire. How can they attack the city?"

"Hey, the key is that we don't have much food supplies."

Originally, Lin Rui planned to capture Datong in one go after everything was ready, because past siege experience proved that the first attack was the easiest to capture the city.

That's why he spent more than half a month filling in all the moats and building hundreds of trebuchets and more than 200 ladders.

He just wanted to attack from all sides at the same time and destroy the city in one go.

As long as Datong is captured, there will be no shortage of food, materials, weapons, and iron tools.

"For the current plan, we have to attack the city ourselves and capture the three cities with lightning speed."

Lin Rui hit the target hard and sent those young and strong women to attack the city. I am afraid they would rush to the wall, and their hands and feet would become stiff from the cold, and they would undoubtedly die.

"But what if the attack is frustrated?"

"The Ming army has already arrived at Xuanfu, with a total of 15 troops. There are also [-] Ming troops stationed at Ningwuguan in the south. Once we suffer too many casualties when we attack the city, the next battle may not be easy to fight!"

Na Muzhong said with a worried look.

The city of Datong was tall and solid, with walls more than three feet high. There seemed to be a lot of defenders in the city. No matter how well prepared they were, there was no guarantee that they could break through in one fell swoop.

(End of this chapter)