I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 279 Daming wields a sledgehammer to find someone to PK
In the Qinzheng Hall of Ziguang Pavilion in Xiyuan, the military strategy meeting against Tumen Khan of the Chahar tribe is still going on.

Everyone was discussing heatedly and expressing their own opinions. Even Zhang Rong, Gu Yuan, Xue Han and other old nobles could not help but come up with several ideas.

It’s just that everyone has been struggling with how to find Tumen Khan’s main force.

Now the Ming army's military power has been greatly boosted. All weapons, armor and firearms have been updated and are more sophisticated and sharp. The combat effectiveness has doubled. In addition, after winning several battles in a row, the morale is high.

Now the combat strategies of generals such as Qi Jiguang and Ma Fang have evolved into taking the initiative to attack, find the main force of Tumen Khan, and kill it directly, once and for all.

But Tumen Khan was not a fool.

The great changes in the Ming army were seen by everyone, especially the Kharchin tribe led by Xin Ai, which was directly destroyed by the Ming army, which greatly shocked the heroes on the grasslands south of the desert.

The Ming army wanted to find the main force of the Chahar tribe and engage in battle, taking advantage of their large numbers, well-trained personnel, and powerful weapons and firearms, but how could Tumen Khan fall into their trap so easily?

After all, he is the lord of the southern desert. How could he be so foolish as to come up to you and let you beat him to pieces with your superior forces and leading weapons and equipment?

Tumen Khan would certainly make full use of the advantage of his cavalry's high mobility, mobilize the Ming army back and forth, and then find a gap to sneak into the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, make a fortune, and rob wealth and people!
The biggest question now is where is Tumen Khan’s main force?

If you know where it is, you will know where it will attack, so you can prepare defenses in advance, set up ambushes, and smash it to pieces.

Not knowing where it was, the Ming Dynasty had to set up defenses everywhere along the nearly 2,000-mile border line from Luan River to Tieling.

With such a long defense line, no matter how strong the Ming Dynasty’s military force is, it will not be enough.

Passive defense is not a big deal. Hundreds of years of passive defense have taught us that the final result will definitely be that the northern barbarians will find a loophole and break in.

How to do?
Gradually, everyone turned their attention to Zhu Yijun, looking forward to his good ideas.

"First of all, we must be clear about our strategic goal, which is to destroy the Chahar tribe, occupy the Liaohe Hetao area, and completely eliminate the major threats to the northern line of the capital and the eastern line of the Liaodong region."

Zhu Yijun's voice was not loud, but clear and powerful, and everyone listened quietly.

"After conquering Chahar and occupying the Liaohe River and Hetao area, we can switch our offensive and defensive positions against the northern barbarians in the south and north of the desert. We can also focus on managing Haixi without distraction.

After a few years of operation, we can go north from the sea and across the Black Mountains, south from the Liaohe River and north, and attack Buyer Lake and the Onon River area where the Mongolian dragon was born. "

Zhu Yijun glanced at everyone and said, "This is our Eastern Front strategy. It is our direction for the next ten years. We must keep moving forward unremittingly!
Now, the Chahar tribe is the first mountain in front of us! The best strategy for this battle is of course what everyone expects, which is to find the main force of Tumen Khan and defeat it completely.

If people survive, the land survives; if people die, the land is lost! This is what I have always emphasized to everyone. Regardless of the gains and losses of a city or a place, the primary goal is to destroy the enemy's vitality."

Everyone nodded. This was what the Military Strategy Department of the Military Academy directly under the Supervisory Office had repeatedly emphasized.

Since the military reform, it has become a common practice for officers and generals at all levels to go to military academies for further study in batches, and nobles are no exception. As long as you are going to hold an actual position in the army, you must first go for further study for a period of time, and the same applies to going to the supervision office to assist in military affairs.

As long as you have taken advanced studies, you have taken military strategy classes, so everyone present knows this.

Zhu Yijun continued: "We can think about it the other way around. We know this truth, but Tumen Khan may not know it.

The Liaohe Hetao area is vast, with beautiful water, abundant grass and a warm climate. It is the most important pasture of the Chahar tribe and their foundation.

The reason why Tumen Khan could dominate the southern desert was that this place fed millions of cattle and sheep, hundreds of thousands of good horses, and provided tens of thousands of soldiers.

Zhu Yijun walked to the map and drew a big circle on the vast Liaohe River. "The upper reaches of the Liaohe River are the Huanghe River and the Tuhe River. They are very close to the Luanhe River and originate from a mountain range.

The Huanghe River and the Tuhe River merge to form the Xiliao River, which flows eastward to the Black Mountain. When the road is blocked, it turns south and passes through Tieling Mountain and enters the hinterland of Liaodong.

Zhu Yijun stood in front of the map and looked at it for a while, then slapped the map with his right hand.

“In that case, let’s not go after Tumen Khan’s main force and let them come to us.

We attacked from two directions. One route relied on Xinghua City on the Luan River and Fengning City, and built cities at strategic locations on the Huang River and Tu River.

The other route relies on Tieling and Liaodong, goes up along the Liao River, builds forts in strategic locations, advances east and west, and uses castles to form an iron chain to lock up the Liao River. Our strategy is very simple. Build a fort in front and gather troops in the back. If Tumen Khan wants to lead troops to stop us from building the fort, then his main force will come, right? "

Everyone's eyes lit up.

This is a vicious move!

The Ming Dynasty's city-building ability was unparalleled in the world. In addition, a business firm had obtained the "secret method" in the past two years. After several years of experiments, it finally produced cement, and its production capacity quickly increased in the two major industrial centers of Shanxi and Kaiping.

This thing, combined with the threaded iron frame produced in Kaiping, mixed with gravel and river sand, was made into a concrete wall, which was simply amazing. It was much better than the Ming Dynasty's previous frontier castles built with bricks and rammed earth. With the addition of firearms, the northern barbarians could only sigh in despair.

The three cities on the Luan River were built in one year, and then expanded and reinforced every year. They soon became the military, political, economic, cultural and religious centers of the middle and upper reaches of the Luan River, each firmly controlling an area of ​​hundreds of miles in radius.

Tumen Khan sent troops to test many times, but each time he returned in failure, with his teeth falling out.

If the Ming Dynasty built cities along the Huang River and Tu River in the west and along the Xiliao River in the east, the powerful Tumen Khan would surely go crazy.

If the Ming Dynasty really were to build a string of castles along the Xiliao River and enclose the Liaohe Hetao area, how would the Chahar people be able to graze happily in the future?
Without this foundation, would Chahar still be called Chahar?

Without pastures, people, cattle, sheep and horses, how could Tumen Khan dominate the southern desert?

If Tumen Khan understood this, there would be no way that he would allow the Ming Dynasty to build the city smoothly!
We must fight. If we fight, we may suffer heavy casualties. If we don’t fight, the entire tribe will be destroyed.

By then, there will be no need to look for them, because Tumen Khan will come uninvited with his main force.

Zhu Yijun's method gave everyone an idea, and everyone immediately spoke out their suggestions to improve the details of the plan.

More than half an hour later, a very complete battle plan was drafted.

The plan was divided into surveying and building cities, reinforcing and setting up ambushes, and being on guard in sections.

Tang Shilong raised his doubts: "Your Highness, if the Chahar tribe has great talents, they can adopt the strategy of "encircling Wei to save Zhao" against our Ming army.

Instead of going to the two fortified places to engage in battle with our army, they will break through the border and go straight into Liaodong or the capital.

So how do we deal with it?”

Yes, this is also very likely. How should people deal with it?

Everyone looked at Zhu Yijun, waiting for his answer.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and then spoke slowly: "He fights them, and I fight ours. We continue to build the city. If Tumen Khan uses the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao, let him use it.

All we need to do is defend the Luanhe and Jizhou lines, prevent the northern barbarians from entering the capital to plunder, and shock the world.

Even if they manage to break into Liaodong, I can hold on and will not panic. I will stick to the established strategy! Victory and defeat are common in the military. A temporary defeat can be exchanged for a lifetime of victory. I accept it!"

Zhu Yijun looked at everyone with a determined look on his face.

“War is a test of national strength and the ability to mobilize national strength!

Now, compared with Chahar, we, the Ming Dynasty, are the big men holding the sledgehammer, and Chahar is the child holding the awl.

We protected our vital points and let Chahar pierce them with an awl. It would hurt, but it would not cause any serious harm. However, as long as we caught Chahar's main force and hit them hard, they would be crippled if not killed.

So we must have determination. They fight their battles, and we build ours. We build a circle of castles along the Huanghe River, Tuhe River, and Xiliaohe River, encircling the Liaohe River. If the Chahar tribe wants to graze there in the future, they must ask us if we allow them to do so.

I just don't believe that Tumen Khan can remain calm and watch us take over his inland pastures!
As long as he loses his temper, our chance will come!"

Everyone was solemn!

(End of this chapter)