Chapter 760: Altan takes action in advance
"The good news was delivered a little late."
The fighting between the two armies was still in full swing. Yan Song, who had gradually adapted to the atmosphere of the war, mentioned this matter when he saw that the war was stabilizing.
"The people at Luanling Pass were ecstatic. It's fine that Prince Yu is a newcomer, but Chen Yi, as a veteran, forgot to report the victory." Jiang Qingzhi said, "Also, the messenger had to avoid the enemy's possible collapse along the way. He was only half a day late, so it's okay."
"But you delayed for another half a day. Don't think that I didn't know. You did it on purpose." Yan Song said.
"That's right." Jiang Qingzhi nodded.
"Why?"
"The capital has been quite turbulent recently. Some people say that I was defeated, and some people say that I surrendered to the enemy..." Jiang Qingzhi laughed and shook off the ashes from his cigarette.
"Then why did you hold back the good news for half a day before sending it out?" Du He asked in confusion.
Yan Song stroked his beard and sighed, "Are you planning to follow suit... to give those people a surprise?"
When the old prime minister mentioned the word "surprise", the corner of his eye twitched slightly.
"That's right." Jiang Qingzhi nodded, "Since you want to slap someone in the face, it should follow naturally."
"You're more confident."
“I can’t help but be confident!”
"I am watching the current war situation. Although our army's guards have not been dispatched, even if they were dispatched, the most that Altan can do is to lead his troops to withdraw."
"I want a big win."
"How can we win a great victory?"
Jiang Qingzhi raised his eyebrows and pointed to the north with the medicine cigarette, "Look."
“There are fireworks!”
Du Bao suddenly pointed to the north and shouted.
Wisps of fireworks rose in the north.
The autumn wind quickly swept away the fireworks, but the fireworks grew higher and higher, and actually became a force. The wind swept the fire, and the fire drove the wind, whistling and sending a smell to Altan's rear army.
"It's the smell of burning food!"
Yan Song stared at Jiang Qingzhi, "What is this?"
"This is the surprise I prepared for Altan!"
From the very beginning, Jiang Qingzhi regarded Ma Song's troops as the breaking point of this battle.
He quietly left the pass and quietly entered the north. Then he went around to the rear of Altan's army, using his armor and weapons, as well as his speech and behavior habits, including tactics, which were exactly the same as those of the grassland people, to deceive Altan's scouts...
Finally, it dealt a heavy blow to Altan's supply line!
"It's Altan Khan's baggage!" Du He shouted excitedly, "Altan Khan's food supply has been cut off!"
Jiang Qingzhi held a cigarette in his mouth and said calmly, "Ma Song's 1,000 cavalrymen are right there now."
Yan Song thought of the imaginary enemy army he had seen last time, and suddenly realized, "You... those 1,000 cavalrymen are exactly the same as those under Altan."
Jiang Qingzhi nodded and said modestly, "Just make the best use of it."
Yan Song's face flushed slightly. "An Da's baggage has been destroyed. In this case, we have to act early. This is your plan!"
"Let Altan feel proud first, then give him a slap." Zhao Wenhua murmured, "Altan's face must be swollen right now."
"Great Khan!" Altan was concentrating on the battle. He turned around when he heard the voice and asked, "What's going on...what is that?"
When Altan saw the fireworks in the distance, his body trembled instantly and his face turned angry. "Who is neglecting his duty?"
From the beginning of the expedition, Altan was on guard against Jiang Qingzhi's sneak attack on the grain route, so he deployed scouts far and wide. Even if Jiang Qingzhi turned into a flying bird, he could not escape his eyes and ears.
So after seeing the fireworks, Altan's first reaction was that his subordinates had accidentally set the baggage on fire.
"Great Khan!" Meng Xian's expression changed slightly, "That's because... some baggage arrived today."
Altan's face tensed, "Go and ask."
Several riders galloped away from the center of the army.
Altan looked back and saw that his men were still attacking the Ming army's defense line, which also seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
"It seems that the Datong defenders can't hold out for much longer." Someone said optimistically, "Maybe Jiang Qingzhi will send out the Beijing Guards later."
But Altan's expression calmed down, and the knuckles of his hand holding the handle of the knife turned white.
Meng Xian whispered: "Khan, if the baggage was accidentally set on fire, there wouldn't be so many..."
If a fire breaks out accidentally, at most a dozen carts of supplies might be burned.
But looking at the scale of the fireworks, it was clear that a huge amount of baggage was burning at the same time.
"Shut up." Altan shook his head slightly, with determination in his eyes.
But the noise coming from the rear army was getting closer and closer.
"It was the food that was burned."
"God, without food and grass, how can we get home?"
Ma Tianlu rode his horse to Zhao Quan's side and whispered, "The baggage train was set on fire."
"That was the last batch of food and grass." Zhao Quan's eyes were filled with shock. "As far as I know, there were dense scouts along the way, and there were 2,000 cavalrymen escorting them. Even if Jiang Qingzhi sent people to sneak in, there would be no more than a few hundred people. These hundreds of people would have to avoid the dense scouts and fight with the 2,000 cavalrymen... How could they defeat them?"
"I don't know either." Ma Tianlu said, "The variables of this battle have come."
Zhao Quan said: "The morale of the army is already unstable."
"I'm afraid we'll have to fight a decisive battle ahead of time."
At this moment, Altan showed his heroic temperament. When more than ten riders rushed into the central army in a panic, Altan said calmly: "You neglected your duty and I will kill you."
The guards around him rushed forward.
"No, Khan, it's the enemy..."
More than a dozen people who had managed to escape were killed in an instant by their own people.
Altan said angrily: "They neglected their duties and caused the burning of food and grass. Send out an order to execute the entire family of the leading general!" "Yes!" Tuotuo agreed, but there was worry in his eyes.
Everyone around Altan knew what the general was trying to accomplish.
It's the enemy!
Rather than neglecting your duties.
But dereliction of duty can stabilize the morale of the army.
If the enemy launches a sneak attack, the army will always feel the threat from behind.
Once this happens, 30% of your strength must be used to pay attention to the direction behind you.
Altan Khan's decisiveness in killing made Zhao Quan praise him, "He is indeed Altan Khan."
"It's hard to reverse what has been done." Ma Tianlu said, "In the past few days, people have been saying that Jiang Qingzhi is hiding in the city and dares not go out to fight. Now it seems that he is waiting for the battle of Luanling Pass to be over before leaving the city..."
"Then he ordered people to burn our army's food and fodder, thus disrupting the Khan's wishful thinking."
“This is the art of war!”
"Yes."
"It is completely different from the military tactics we learned from books."
At this time, Altan waved at Zhao Quan. After Zhao Quan came over, Altan said, "Send a signal to the city, and take action today."
"Yes." This was within Zhao Quan's expectations. He was not worried but happy. "Don't worry, Khan. There will be chaos in the city today."
"If you can do this, you will be the first to do this!" Altan promised, "You have more people on your side, and the place to accommodate them is a little smaller!"
——If you succeed, I will give you a bigger piece of land!
Zhao Quan was waiting for this sentence. At that moment, he had tens of thousands of people under his command, but there was obviously a shortage of arable land, so Zhao Quan had to slow down the move to persuade the people to migrate from the Ming Dynasty.
More than a dozen trumpeters raised their horns and began to blow.
Oh oh oh!
Oh oh oh!
The desolate sound of the ox horn reached the city of Datong. In a house inside the north gate, a man listened attentively, "One horn, two horns, be silent..." He glanced at his wife and children and said dissatisfiedly.
"Three, four..."
"Nine sounds!"
The man looked up excitedly, "Let's do it today!"
His wife and children looked at him with some fear, and the man stood up and said, "I'm going to go out for a while."
The man quietly walked out of the house from the back, went through several alleys, and entered a house.
"Nine trumpets were heard outside the city!"
"it is good!"
The news was passed to Yang Xun, who was stunned. "Why advance? Whatever, it's advance if it's advance."
He went to the backyard and saw Zhou Yuanshan doing acupuncture. Several silver needles were inserted into his calves, which was terrifying to watch.
"There's news from outside the city. We're going to take action today!" Yang Xun had a look of dissatisfaction in his eyes. "Brother, it's urgent."
"I know." Zhou Yuanshan pulled out the silver needle calmly, wrote down some of his feelings, put the silver needle away, stood up and said, "Then... let's do it!"
Yang Xun said, "Should we follow the earlier plan and attack the General's Mansion first?"
Zhou Yuanshan nodded, "To capture a thief, we must first capture the leader. Zhang Da is in the general's residence right now. Only if we capture him will the city be in chaos."
"Then I'll go to the general's mansion!" Yang Xun's eyes flickered.
"What are you worried about?" Zhou Yuanshan said coldly.
"I'm worried that my brother... won't be able to bear to do it." Yang Xun simply expressed his concerns. "Once the rebellion starts, there will be murder and arson. If we worry about this and that, Zhang Da is not a fool, and the army will come to kill us... If we go to the paradise, where will the great cause of the Holy Religion be?"
Paradise... There was a hint of confusion in Zhou Yuanshan's eyes.
The White Lotus Sect’s methods of deceiving its followers are very down-to-earth. The people are poor, the people are suffering, the people... the world is a sea of suffering, so just give them hope.
That hope is called the Pure Land.
As long as you believe in it sincerely, you will ascend to the paradise after death. There is no suffering, no oppression, only wealth and happiness...
The lower class people were suffering in the sea of misery, and at first glance, it seemed that there was no end to these days of suffering. Just when they had given up hope in life, the White Lotus Sect came.
What people need in times of suffering is not comfort, but faith!
Once they have spiritual sustenance, they are not afraid of any suffering.
Because they saw light ahead.
This is the role of faith.
It can calm people’s hearts.
Make people willing to suffer.
Therefore, no matter how many dissatisfactions the rulers have with religion, they will forgive them because religion can calm people's hearts.
"I'll go to the general's mansion!" Zhou Yuanshan said, "You take your men to the city... and set it on fire!"
"Okay." Yang Xun knew Zhou Yuanshan's hesitation. He took note of it and planned to meet Zhao Quan and report to him privately after Datong City was captured.
When the two men arrived at the front yard, they saw more than a dozen big men ready to go. They had long swords on their waists and even bows and arrows.
"Today is the day for us to contribute to the Holy Church." Zhou Yuanshan took a long sword with a sheath and said, "The army is fighting outside the city. You should mobilize the believers immediately and set fire everywhere in the city..."
Zhou Yuanshan looked at everyone and said, "Let Datong City fall into chaos!"
"Yes!"
There was madness in every pair of eyes.
"For the Holy Church!"
Yang Xun raised his hand, "Even if you die in battle, you can still ascend to paradise!"
"Go to Paradise!"
"set off!"
(End of this chapter)
