The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 182 Datong Town is in Danger

By mid-October, the north has entered deep autumn.

The area around the Gubeikou Great Wall was extremely cold with howling winds and falling leaves.

Looking out from the Wangjing Tower, all you can see is a bleak scene.

Around noon, the sun was shining brightly in the sky and the weather didn't seem to be very cold, but Wanli felt a chill in his heart.

This time he assembled more than 200,000 to nearly 300,000 elite troops to raid the three guards of Doyan.

As a result, the four armies rushed over, but they didn't see a single human hair!
It seemed that the Three Guards of Doyan had abandoned their former base in the Beijing Xingdusi. The four armies all sent out scouts to search the area within two or three hundred miles around their base, but they still could not find any trace of the Three Guards of Doyan.

The remnants of the three major families in Puzhou have joined forces with the northern barbarians to oppose him.

These guys are the eight imperial merchants in history!

The eight imperial merchants in history were extremely powerful.

Many wars during the Chongzhen reign were fought inexplicably, as if they were deliberately given to the Later Jin.

This is not because the Ming soldiers cannot fight, but because there are too many traitors. The enemy knows their every move. How can they win this war?
For example, the Ji Si Incident in the second year of Chongzhen in history.

Huang Taiji knew that the elite border troops of the Ming Dynasty were all gathered at the Guanningjin Defense Line in Liaodong Town, so he did not hesitate to take a detour from Jizhou Town to kill them.

As a result, with the help of the traitor, this guy reached the capital of the Ming Dynasty with almost no effort.

Yuan Chonghuan led his troops to return to provide support, but the vanguard Zhao Luejiao was inexplicably refused entry by the Zunhua defenders, and was eventually besieged and killed by the Later Jin army outside the city.

He finally led the main force to the vicinity of the capital, but when Huang Taiji retreated to Nanyuan to rest, he was thrown into prison and eventually executed by slow slicing!
How is this fight going?
Another example is Sun Chuanting, who led his army to victory after victory, but was inexplicably slandered and imprisoned for several years.

It is rumored that when Sun Chuanting came out of the imperial prison, he was deaf and could not see clearly. Chongzhen still asked him to lead the army to fight a decisive battle with Li Zicheng. How could he command the army to fight after being tortured like this?

Another example is Lu Xiangsheng. The Tianxiong Army he trained was comparable to the Qi Family Army. However, he led several thousand Tianxiong Army soldiers and was inexplicably surrounded by tens of thousands of Eight Banners elite soldiers in Julu. The more than 100,000 Ming troops around him seemed to be unaware of it and did not come to rescue him. They watched him being besieged to death by tens of thousands of Eight Banners elite soldiers!

How is this fight going?
It's really amazing that the eight imperial merchants acted as traitors.

It seems that their main business is not to do business, but to sell out the Ming Dynasty for profit.

Right now, these guys are trying to avenge their beheaded relatives, and they will definitely be crazier than in history.

How to do it?

Wanli held the express reports sent by the four armies and stood on the Wangjing Tower, frowning and thinking for an unknown period of time, but still could not think of any good solution.

At this moment, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds suddenly came from the direction of the Summer Resort in the south.

Not long after, one of Ma Gui's personal guards came up quickly, knelt on one knee, and held up an urgent report: "Your Majesty, the Northern Tartars have suddenly assembled an army of over 100,000 and are attacking Xuandewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang, and Liangmatai. Datong Town is in danger, and General Ma is requesting support."

what?
It seems they fell into a trap.

The three major families of Puzhou and the Northern Tartars are waiting for them to raid the three guards of Doyan!

As soon as they attacked, Xuanfu Town and Jizhou Town had few cavalry and were unable to quickly support Datong Town.

Wanli was stunned for a moment, then said decisively: "Map."

Soon, the two imperial guards spread out the map of the Nine Frontiers in front of them.

Xuandewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang and Liangmatai were the new defense lines they established to the north of the original grazing areas of the Bayuet and Balin tribes.

It is still more than 200 miles away from the new defense line of Pianguan Town. If the infantry of Xuanfu Town wants to get there, they have to go around the mountains with a radius of more than 200 miles.

What a great place the three great families of Puzhou have chosen! He carefully examined the map and then asked, "Has the new Great Wall along this line been completed?"

The guard nodded repeatedly and said, "It's been built, but the walls are only about ten feet high, and most of this two hundred-mile stretch is flat land. The Northern Tartars can attack from anywhere."

Now that the city walls have been built, there is still room for defense.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "How are the troops deployed along this line of more than 200 miles?"

The guard pointed to the map and explained in detail, "This front has a total of 20,000 troops. Xuande Guard has 5,000 border troops stationed there. Tucheng, Maoerzhuang, and Liangmatai forts each have 1,000 border troops stationed there. The remaining 12,000 troops are scattered around the city walls, which are over 200 miles long, and guarding over 100 beacon towers."

The force was too small. More than 12,000 soldiers were scattered on the city wall over 200 miles long, and there were only about 50 soldiers stationed on each mile of the city wall.

Wanli asked again: "Where is General Ma? Where are your cavalry from Datong Town?"

The guard said without hesitation: "General Ma led tens of thousands of cavalrymen to garrison south of the horse-drying platform in the middle. He said that if a place could not be defended, he would send a thousand cavalrymen to the city wall to assist in the defense. This should help us hold out for a few more days.

In addition, General Ma has ordered all the family members of the garrison guards and their captured slaves who are grazing outside to retreat to the south of Yanghe Guard, Gaoshan Guard, and Tiancheng Guard. However, there are only 3,000 troops stationed in this line.

He was afraid that if the Northern Tartars broke through the Xuandewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang and Liangmatai lines, the Yanghewei, Gaoshanwei and Tianchengwei lines would be completely untenable.

As a result, the cavalry had to go up to the city walls to assist in defense, and there were no people stationed on the original Great Wall.

Fortunately, Yanghewei, Gaoshanwei and Tianchengwei are close to Xuanfu Town, so it is very convenient for the infantry of Xuanfu Town to get there.

Now Datong Town is equivalent to two lines of defense. The newly built Xuandewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang, Liangmatai line and the original Yanghewei, Gaoshanwei, Tianchengwei line just sandwiched the main grazing areas of the original Bayuete and Balin tribes.

There are mountains on both sides of this area, so there is basically no need to worry about it.

Wanli stared at the map, frowning and thinking for a while, then said decisively: "Yuan Jing, how about you take your personal guards and General Shan's 10,000 elite imperial guards to provide support?"

Qi Jiguang bowed without hesitation and said, "I obey your command."

Fortunately, there are the Imperial Guards and the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and Qi Jiguang is a duke, and he has 5,000 personal guards under his command.

Wanli thought for a moment, then pointed at the map and gave detailed instructions: "Yuan Jing, all your personal guards will ride over as well. If there are not enough war horses, use the Jinyiwei.

When you rush to Xuanfu Town, please convey my order, ordering all the infantrymen on rest in Xuanfu Town to assemble, and then rush to Datong Town to assist in the defense of Yanghewei, Gaoshanwei, and Tianchengwei.

I will send a fast horse to convey my order, asking Yikui to lead his troops back for support as soon as possible. If he goes outside the Great Wall, he won't have to take a detour. It should only take more than a day for the cavalry to reach the easternmost part of the line of Xuan Dewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang, and Liangmatai. It will only take about three days for the chariots, artillery carts, and food carts of Shenshu Camp and Shenji Camp to get there.

After you rush to the line of Xuan Dewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang and Liangmatai, you hand over 10,000 elite imperial guards to General Ma for command, while you lead your personal guards to the east to wait for Yikui.

After Yikui arrives with the cavalry, don't rush to advance westward. Wait until the chariots, artillery carts, and food carts of the Shenshu Front Camp and the Shenji Front Camp arrive, and then slowly advance westward along the outer perimeter of the city wall.

Do you think we have enough troops? If not, I will order the Shenwu Left Camp, Shenwu Right Camp, and Shenwu Rear Camp to turn around immediately and rush over to support us."

Sixty thousand soldiers from the Beijing camp, plus ten thousand cavalry from Xuanfu Town, ten thousand elite imperial guards, plus thirty thousand troops from Datong Town, totaling 110,000 troops, which should be enough.

Qi Jiguang thought about it carefully, then nodded slowly and said, "We have enough troops, but I'm worried that General Ma won't be able to hold the line of Xuandewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang, and Liangmatai. If that line is breached, Datong Town will be in chaos. The Northern Tartar cavalry is as slippery as loaches. Once they get in, it will be difficult to drive them out."

The Northern Tartar cavalry were indeed as slippery as loaches. Once they felt they couldn't win, they would immediately run away. They were so fast that it was impossible to catch up with them.

It is difficult to surround these guys unless you set up an ambush in advance and let them run into you.

They annihilated large groups of Northern Tartar cavalry twice by relying on ambushes. The cavalry just ran into them on their own and were not surrounded at all.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded repeatedly and said, "Well, there is no time to lose. You should lead the army and set off immediately. The situation on General Ma's side is indeed very critical."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang hurriedly bowed and said, "I obey your order. I will go right away."

(End of this chapter)