Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 330 Dilemma
"He is Yuan Keli?"

Looking at the Ming army that had held out for three full days, Lindan Batur gnashed his teeth in hatred.

"It's him..." Dai Qing looked far ahead, "A few years ago, this man was the governor of Liaodong. Our Aohan tribe traded with him in Dakangbao. We thought he was just a well-mannered scholar..."

Now is a brief truce.

No matter which side it is, it is impossible to launch a continuous attack, and there always needs to be time to rest and recuperate.

What’s more, the news from the other three sides is not good. It’s time to prepare well and make a final attack.

"They were able to hold their formation in the wilderness for so long, even when Du Ling himself led the army to charge, they didn't lose their composure. This guy can't be kept alive!"

After hearing what Lindan Batur said, Dai Qing remained silent and looked to the west and south.

It’s not a question of whether to keep this person or not, but whether we can break through.

"Wounded soldiers..." he whispered.

Lindan Batur turned his head somewhat unnaturally and looked away, then said: "Let them rest. Next time, we will definitely defeat them! They have suffered many casualties, and they brought so many civilians with them. Even though it seems that there are more people now..."

After a series of bloody battles, both sides did suffer heavy casualties.

Li Chengliang looked far to the northeast and ordered his men to rest for an hour and have a full meal. He also sent brave scouts to bypass the area, hoping to get to Yuan Keli to learn about the battle situation of the previous two days and find out about the casualties.

"After this battle, if you still want to make military achievements, you should ask for advice from General Yuan." Li Chengliang was also a little surprised. "General Yuan is very courageous. I originally thought that he was a civil official who was not afraid of the powerful, but I didn't expect that he could be so brave as a leader. If he hadn't guarded the Daling River so tightly, the Tartars would have rushed across the river by now."

Zhang Weixian nodded, but he didn't quite understand: "Lord Li, the Tartars have fast horses, why do they have to break up Governor Yuan's camp here?"

In his opinion, if they wanted to fight in all directions and cause chaos in Liaodong, they could just go around them at their speed.

"Crossing the river is not that easy." Li Chengliang's tone was still full of admiration. "After Ning Lubo left the border, Governor Yuan was in charge of the situation inside the Liaodong border wall. The Tartars must have sent cavalry to investigate first. If I am right, Governor Yuan must have left a lot of people in the section east of Daling River. He led the army to the west of Daling River and formed a battle array in the wilderness to defend. The government army is fighting a desperate battle, so the Tartars can't delay any more."

Zhang Weixian felt that Li Chengliang still did not answer his question.

Li Chengliang looked at him, then raised his hand and pointed to the sky: "Weather. Although the water is shallower now, if we don't prepare calmly, we will be seriously injured when crossing the river. Can people withstand this cold water, or is the water no deeper than a horse's hoof? Whether it is building a floating bridge or blowing up a sheepskin raft, it will take time. If we leave the government troops alone, Governor Yuan can approach them calmly and attack them halfway across the river."

"I see……"

"Besides, this chieftain seems to be a stubborn, ambitious but incompetent man. He insists on going deep into Liaodong, but is unwilling to hide in this area first. Wouldn't it be much more convenient to wait until all the rivers in Liaodong are frozen?"

If the Khanate's army was powerful and the Liaodong border troops were defeated immediately after fighting against them, then this army would certainly cause great damage if it moved around the Liaodong hinterland like the wind.

But now Yuan Keli has managed to stop them here, although it only lasted less than three days.

Li Chengliang now needs to confirm how long he can hold out.

I'm afraid there will be a lot of casualties, after all, it's a battle in the wilderness. Under the Tartar's arrows, there is no wall or even city wall to protect them, only shields and armor... The Ming Dynasty cannot let everyone in the border army wear armor.

In Yuan Keli's camp west of Dalingh River, he had a lot of things to do.

"Just rest and recover. Give the leather armor to those who can still fight. It doesn't matter if you only brought seven days' rations, just eat as much as you want! The Tartars rested longer this time, so reinforcements must have arrived from the west!"

He had to distribute supplies and arrange for the civilian laborers to take care of the wounded and ensure food and water.

The outer perimeter of the makeshift camp was filled with vehicles that brought supplies with the army. After using them to surround the camp, the central army suffered little loss.

After all, there are always sword and card players who set up the formation in advance to delay the attacking enemy cavalry.

Yuan Keli was not greedy for merit, and was not determined to kill the enemy. He just stayed there.

When they came, we mainly defended them. We used guns, cannons, bows and crossbows at a distance, and infantry swordsmen and shieldmen to fight them at a distance.

After all, the reason why it never collapses is probably because he is always here.

He is the Right Commander of the Left Army, a lowly forty-seven-year-old official, and one of the best figures in the Privy Council.

He was able to stand firm and although he was not as able to lead the troops as a military general, he had his own calm and composed demeanor.

"The Tartars are getting more and more impatient. Jinzhou was a place that the imperial court had agreed to open long ago, but now they have fallen into the trap and are surrounded!"

"Captain Fei, do you still have time to cut off so many Tartar ears? If we go into battle again, we can't chase them anymore. We will be the first to accomplish this if we stop them!"

Behind him, a man who looked a little weak but was actually lean, brave and determined, was watching Yuan Keli's back as he was encouraging morale everywhere.

The battle was actually very close, but Yuan Keli always seemed to think that he would win.

This young man's name is Qiao Yiqi, and Yuan Keli is his savior.

That was more than a decade ago, when Qiao Yiqi was still a scholar. He was good at both literature and martial arts, and was a famous young man in Wuxi and Suzhou.

Later, when they were listening to an opera and talking about the Chenqiaoyi mutiny, he and two friends imitated some lines from the opera after drinking. They were then reported by their enemies for calling themselves "I" and plotting against the law and committing treason. The Emperor Wanli even knew about this, and all three were thrown into death row.

It was Yuan Keli, who was a prosecutor in Suzhou at the time, who did a lot of research and finally overturned their cases. However, both friends died in prison, and only Qiao Yiqi survived.

Later, Qiao Yiqi joined the army.

Thinking of making great achievements to avenge his previous humiliation, these are what Yuan Keli said to him after he was stripped of his honor and title because of his "unable to escape the punishment while alive".

Now is the time for great achievements.

"After learning about the Tartars' movements before they came out of Dalinghe Fort, this governor had already predicted that the Tartars were going to make a desperate move to the east. The transfer order has already been issued, and the defenders of Yizhou and Jinzhou are rushing here. Let's hold on first. Seven days of military rations are enough for the Liaodong army to encircle the Tartars. This is a great feat of killing the Khan's chieftain in battle or even capturing him alive!"

Yuan Keli had to talk about the future and achievements to his generals and soldiers over and over again.

This was his "stupid method". Since he couldn't lead the troops directly into battle, he would try to get in front of as many generals and soldiers as possible to make them feel his confidence.

Then about ten people came over, carrying a few people. Some of them were shot by arrows, and some were in a miserable state.

"Commander-in-chief! It's a brother from the Beijing Camp. Ningyuan Hou has arrived. He should be crossing the Xiaoling River north of Songshan Fort!"

"Okay!" Yuan Keli's eyes lit up, "Didn't you guys respond well?"

"Don't blame me, Commander. We were chased by the Tartars for several miles after we crossed the Xiaoling River." One of them who was in a better condition clasped his fists and said, "Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission. The Marquis asked me to tell the Commander that in half a day, or at most a day, the Beijing camp and the armies from Jinzhou and Yizhou will arrive. The Marquis said that it would be best to force the Tartars to the seaside."

"Beachside..." Yuan Keli nodded slightly, "I understand. You help them get bandaged first. Ask their names, hometowns, and military positions so that you can record their merits later."

I don't know how many people died along the way.

Now the Ming army is surrounding the Khan's army from the outside, and the Khan's army is surrounding Yuan Keli's part here.

Li Chengliang had already arrived at Xiaoling River, only twenty miles away.

This news certainly boosted the morale of Yuan Keli's subordinates.

But it is not easy to drive the Tartars to the seaside.

Of course, they should have already learned about the intelligence in other directions. The army was marching in the wilderness near Jinzhou, and no one could hide it from them.

Towards the seaside, the Daling River and the Xiaoling River are wider, and the side facing the sea is even more desolate.

Yuan Keli put himself in their shoes and thought that the Tartars might be thinking of taking a gamble, so he might as well bypass them and head straight north.

"Bogui!" He turned to Qiao Yiqi and said, "You cross the river quickly and have the Youtunwei immediately build a floating bridge in the southeast to show that we can come to your aid."

Qiao Yiqi asked him, "Are you showing it to the Tartar scouts?"

"Set it up for them to see!" Yuan Keli nodded, "You lead a thousand men to guard the west bank of the Daling River."

"We must fight hard and never retreat!" Qiao Yiqi already understood Yuan Keli's intention.

With the remaining military strength of the Tartars, the government troops here cannot suppress them by force and drive them to the south, so they can only lure them to the south.

Now that the pontoon bridge has been built, the risk of going south is of course very high, but the Ming army from the direction of Yizhou is heading south. Will it be easier for them to cross the river if they go north?
When the time comes, they will really meet on a narrow road, and it will depend on whether the Tartars are willing to fight.

After crossing the Daling River, the world to the east is of course wider. Whether it is to fight to support the war and plunder supplies, or to use the weaker military forces in the Liaodong hinterland to the east, the Tartars will achieve their strategic goals.

The thousand men he was going to take were the bait with hooks.

In the brief interval before the decisive battle, Qiao Yiqi sent people to cross the Daling River by boat, and he was also organizing his death squad to guard the bridgehead on this side.

To their west, Dai Qing and Lindan Batur started arguing again.

"They are tired, and so are we." Lin Danbatuer firmly disagreed. "Now that they have failed to advance eastward, they have turned to attack Yizhou in disgrace. Their morale is completely gone!"

"It's not that fighting to the death here is useless. They thought we were at the end of our rope and the defenders had all left the castle to surround us. The defenders of Jinzhou and Yizhou had fought hard with us before, but didn't gain any advantage. Now they don't have the city walls to rely on, and their superiors are not here to supervise the battle in person..."

Dai Qing advised with his last remaining patience: "Great Khan, whether we seize Jinzhou or Yizhou, there must be a lot of food and military supplies in the city. If we delay for a while, many places will freeze!"

"They have taken over Aohan and Daning, and the army over there is heading eastward. If we go over now, won't we run into them head-on? No way!" Lindan Batur was already blood-thirsty, and it was really hard for him to accept the situation where he was like a stray dog ​​after breaking through the Jinzhou border wall.

Now he pointed his whip to the east: "This man is the governor of the Ming Dynasty, commanding the Ming army of several provinces. How could he not bring enough food and military supplies when he set up camp here? We are only one breath away. If we break through their battle formation, the Ming army in the north and west will be scared and retreat back to the castle. Who can stop us from advancing eastward!"

Dai Qing really didn't know what to say, and felt depressed looking at the young Khan.

If he had not wasted time in destroying the ambush of the Ming army, and had suddenly appeared at that time, it would have been possible to capture not only the Jinzhou border wall, but also Jinzhou and Yizhou.

Now... could he still divide his forces? Would he continue to damage his dignity as the Khan?

(End of this chapter)