I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 317 Only crazy people can win!

Li Chengliang stared at Li Chengcai's body, his eyes red and tears silently sliding down his face.

Slowly squat down and gently stroke his face!
Brother, you left one step ahead of me.

Brother, how could you leave one step ahead of me!

Although we knew the outcome from the moment we went to the battlefield for the first time when we were teenagers, either we would achieve great success and achieve wealth and glory, or we would die on the battlefield, wrapped in our horsehide.
Third brother, how do you want me to explain this to father and mother?
Woohoo——!
Li Chengliang's cry was heartbreaking.

The biting north wind made the red tassel on his helmet flutter. Not far away, a large flag with the Chinese character "Ming" fluttered in the wind, emitting smoke and flames.

Ye Mengxiong stood aside motionless, like a lonely tree.

Li Chengliang stood up suddenly, turned around, pounced on him like a wolf, and stared at Ye Mengxiong fiercely.

"How did my third child die?"

Ye Mengxiong closed his eyes, unable to bear the thought, and replied sadly: "It was all my fault. I harmed Lieutenant General Li."

"Tell me!" Li Chengliang waved his hands, jumped up and down, and shouted, "What's going on? Tell me now!"

Ye Mengxiong opened his eyes and said, "I was the one who took the initiative and organized the civilians to fight the enemy."

Li Chengliang flew into a rage, pointing at Ye Mengxiong and cursing, "You bastard, civilians and soldiers are two different things, they can't be mixed together!

Soldiers who have seen blood and killed people are veterans. New recruits can't bear it, and civilians are useless. You still send them to the front to kill the enemy. You are a bookworm who doesn't know how to fight. Don't give random orders. "

Ye Mengxiong lowered his head, "I was wrong. I didn't understand military affairs and gave orders recklessly, thinking that the people could kill the enemy just as the books said, just give them a knife and a gun and give them some encouragement.

Unexpectedly, the civilians collapsed at the first blow, and a gap appeared in the chariot formation. Lieutenant General Li, who was patrolling outside, immediately led his troops to rush over and block the gap, not wanting to be surrounded. "

Li Chengliang rushed forward, grabbed Ye Mengxiong by the collar, his red eyes widened, and he gritted his teeth, wishing he could eat his flesh alive.

"You bastard, you killed my third child, I want you to pay with your life!"

The battalion commander and the team officer next to him rushed up and grabbed Li Chengliang's arms, one on the left and one on the right: "General, Patrol Officer Ye didn't mean it. Lieutenant General Li was surrounded, and Patrol Officer Ye immediately organized the musket team to rush out and risked his life to rescue Lieutenant General Li.

"General Li, look!"

The battalion commander grabbed Ye Mengxiong's hands and opened them in front of Li Chengliang, revealing a pair of bloody hands.

"When the situation became urgent, Patrolman Ye and a few of our gunners rushed to the front with their submachine guns. After firing several rounds, they finally created a gap and brought Deputy General Li and his men out."

Ye Mengxiong slowly pulled his hand back, "I only hurt my hands, but Lieutenant General Li and his men lost their lives."

Li Chengliang looked at Ye Mengxiong, whose face was black and whose light armor was in tatters. He was so angry that he didn't know how to vent. Tears streamed down his face and he howled to the sky.

"The third child!"

Ye Mengxiong closed his eyes, lowered his head, and cried.

The big flag with the word "Ming" on it fluttered even more violently, as if it would be blown away by the wind at any moment.

"Report! General Qi and Minister Xu are leading their troops!"

Xinghua City, Tongliao City, and Chifeng City form a triangle, and the distances between them are similar. Ye Mengxiong and his men were surrounded, and in addition to Tongliao City, Chifeng City and Xinghua City also sent people to deliver the message.

The nearest Chifeng City had few soldiers, so the primary task was to hold on and guard against Heishitan's feint to break through the city defenses, so they only sent scouts to investigate and no soldiers were sent to provide reinforcements.

Xinghua City was a little far away, so the reinforcements led by Qi Jiguang and Xu Wei arrived a little late.

Qi Jiguang and Xu Wei hurried in, and seeing Li Chengcai lying on the ground, they asked repeatedly, "What happened?"

The battalion commander stepped forward and gave a brief report on the situation.

Qi Jiguang stepped forward silently, patted Li Chengliang on the shoulder, pulled Ye Mengxiong aside and asked for details.

Xu Wei walked up to Li Chengliang and asked bluntly, "Ruqi, do you still want to kill Ye Nanzhao to avenge Chengwu?"

It is strange to say, Li Chengliang was arrogant and proud, and he didn't even take Qi Jiguang seriously. However, he admired Xu Wei the most and respected him as his brother. He always wanted his sons and nephews to worship Xu Wei as their teacher.

"Mr. Wenchang, my heart aches."

"You feel pain, I feel pain, and everyone feels pain." Xu Wei pointed to the dead Ming soldiers who were being carefully carried together and washed in the distance, "Don't their parents, wives, and children feel pain?
Ruqi, since we stepped onto the battlefield, you, me, Chengwu, Qi Shuai, Ye Zhaonan, and thousands of other soldiers have all decided that we must die.

The battlefield is ruthless. Today the third brother died in battle, and tomorrow it might be me."

Xu Wei grabbed Li Chengliang's shoulders and said sadly: "Ruqi, we are soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. It is our duty to protect the country and the people and kill the enemy to serve the country. Do you still want to die in bed?" Li Chengliang shook his head, "Mr. Wenchang, I know what you said, but my heart hurts, as if it was cut by a knife."

"What's the joy of living, and what's the sorrow of dying? The third brother died on the battlefield, which is a worthy death. What's the point of dying? Just let your body rest in the mountains. Ruqi, I also want to avenge the third brother. Who should I avenge? Chahar, Tumen Khan!"

Li Chengliang stared at Xu Wei's eyes for a while, then turned his head and said bitterly: "Tumen Khan, you old thief!"

Qi Jiguang came over with Ye Mengxiong, and after receiving Xu Wei's gaze, he said loudly, "Ruqi, this commander and Wen Chang will submit a written report to report Chengwu's heroic deeds to the Western Garden, so that they will be known to the world and recorded in history."

Li Chengliang nodded and said nothing more.

Seeing that his emotions had stabilized, Qi Jiguang continued, "Did you catch the black carbon?"

"Yes." Li Chengliang replied.

"Bring him up here so we can interrogate him."

An hour later, Qi Jiguang, Xu Wei, Li Chengliang and Ye Mengxiong started a heated debate in the makeshift tent.

Xu Wei said: "Now that Tumen Khan has led the main force of the Chahar tribe to Liaodong, the royal tent is empty, and it is a good time for us to use our troops. Heishitan explained that Tumen Khan's royal tent is on the bank of the Ulus River, at the foot of Khanatu Mountain, less than 500 miles away from Tongliao City.

We will gather our troops and march north, and we will be able to sweep through the Tumen Khanate within ten days."

Qi Jiguang firmly objected: "Ridiculous! Can we trust what Heishitan said? What if he is lying to us?"

Xu Wei explained: "During the interrogation, Heishitan's words were half true and half false. We used trickery to find out the location of the king's tent. Compared with the intelligence we collected before, it is correct.

Based on the information I received earlier, I analyzed that the Tumen Khanate's tent could be in three locations, and the bank of the Ulus River was one of them. Now what Heishitan said has been confirmed.

This is also corroborated by the confessions of other captured generals.”

Qi Jiguang shook his head and said, "Even if the location of the king's tent is correct, it's going to snow soon. If we can't get back after we clear the king's tent, tens of thousands of soldiers will be left alone in the ice and snow. It will be too dangerous."

Xu Wei shouted: "Why do you want to come back?

If the Chahar tribe can spend the winter there, why can't we? We swept the Tumen Khanate and stationed there. When the spring comes and the snow melts, we will continue to sweep the other Chahar tribes."

Xu Wei's words shocked everyone in the tent.

This idea is crazy!

"We now have cotton-padded clothes, coal briquettes, dry food, medicinal materials, tents, and hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep in the royal tent. Our supplies are more abundant than those of the Chahar people. How can they survive the winter while we cannot?
If we can't even endure this bitter cold, how can we reproduce the martial arts of our Second Ancestor, drive the enemy north to the desert, and seal the Wolf's Lair!"

Qi Jiguang remained silent.

Ye Mengxiong was persuaded and felt excited, and wanted to speak out to agree with Xu Wei's suggestion.

But when he thought about his reckless command that resulted in Li Chengcai's death, his heart turned cold again and he shook his head and said, "It's too risky."

"Take a risk?" Xu Wei became more and more excited as he spoke. "Zhaonan, you might as well say I'm crazy! Tumen Khan is crazy, but we can't be crazy! If we're crazy, we can win the battle!
Our army is now in a difficult situation. How can we break out of it if we don’t fight hard?

First, we should immediately march eastward to help Liaodong. What if the heavy snow blocks the road before our army reaches Liaodong, or we are ambushed by Tumen Khan? The northern barbarians are much more familiar with this grassland than we are. We don't have much advantage if we leave the castle.

Even if we have no obstacles on the way and arrive in Liaodong, we will learn that Tumen Khan has broken through Kaiyuan and plundered Liaodong. Do we have to follow the northern barbarians who broke through the border, fight in various places, and then send them out of the country with courtesy as we did in previous years?"

Xu Wei glanced at everyone, "Everyone, we don't know how many troops Tumen Khan left in the Liaohe River and Hetao area. We don't know whether Dong Huli is a friend or an enemy. We don't know whether there are other leaders besides Heishitan. If the army moves lightly to support Liaodong, the northern barbarians who stay here will see the opportunity, go south along the Luan River, break the border wall, and go straight into the capital, we will be held responsible!"

Everyone's face changed. The capital had been invaded and plundered, which was much more serious than the plundering of Liaodong. No one could take this responsibility.

Xu Wei said firmly: "So my strategy is to first defend the Hetao area, to protect the capital behind us, and to be invincible. Then I will wait for an opportunity to counterattack with a small army and attack the Tumen Khan's tent. He will attack us, and we will attack him!"

After a moment of silence, Qi Jiguang slowly said, "Wen Chang, if I were not the commander-in-chief, I would have led the troops to the north, but now I am the commander-in-chief of the entire army. I have to think about the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and cannot risk their lives."

Xu Wei turned to Li Chengliang and asked, "Ruqi, what do you think?"

Li Chengliang replied in a deep voice: "General, General Xu, I am willing to lead the elite cavalry to the north to chase the grasslands south of the desert and flatten the tent of Tumen Khan!"

Xu Wei looked at him, nodded, and then said to Qi Jiguang: "General Qi, if we can destroy the Tumen Khanate and damage its vitality, his 60,000 Chahar cavalry will be left alone and will be destroyed soon.

Even if he manages to break through the border and plunder Liaodong, we will still be evenly matched with him, neither winning nor losing. Yuan Jing, we should not only think about ourselves, but also about Xiyuan."

Qi Jiguang looked up suddenly.

(End of this chapter)