Chapter 149: Facing a dire situation, making initial plans
"Great Commander!"
"A team of intelligence officers that we sent out just now sent back good news!"
On the official road leading to Deshengbao, the northernmost pass of the Great Wall, a huge team that seemed endless and had no end in sight was marching along. A spirit beast warhorse was galloping from the front. The rider dismounted and reported to Li Dingguo.
This female knight was none other than Wei Jinfan, the head of the intelligence department, who had just broken through to the early third level of warrior yesterday.
"Commander-in-chief, we just received a report from intelligence personnel saying that they have been closely monitoring Desheng Fort. A quarter of an hour ago, the city gate was opened, and the garrison officer Ma Ruhu, along with dozens of servants and hundreds of soldiers, escorted dozens of large carriages and hurriedly fled the city!"
"The Victory Fort three miles ahead has no defense at all. Even the front and rear gates that block the fort's entrance are wide open. There are no defensive measures at all."
"Two of our intelligence officers even entered the Victory Castle to take a look. They have found out that the enemy really abandoned the city and fled. It is not false."
While Wei Jinfan was reporting, the expression on his little face was very strange, as if he was about to laugh out loud.
Yes, not long ago everyone was still considering whether to break out by force.
Although Li Dingguo did not want to make any big noise now, he would not show mercy if the other party did not open the door and surrender.
Their team had too many people and too many carriages and horses, so it was impossible for them to quietly bypass the border without alerting the enemy.
Therefore, Li Dingguo simply ordered the army to march along the official road and not to take a detour to cross the Great Wall to exit the country.
Anyway, his army was too large to escape the eyes and ears of various forces, including the government and border troops within a thousand miles.
It would be better to speed up openly, travel along the official road at the fastest speed a large army can achieve, and get out of the border as soon as possible to avoid the crisis from the Ming Dynasty officials as soon as possible.
After hearing the good news, Li Dingguo was overjoyed and said with a smile, "Ma Ruhu is quite appreciative."
"In that case, I will not send cavalry soldiers to pursue them."
"This cowardly garrison commander will be of great use to us in the future. It is much better to keep him than to kill him."
He's right.
The Fuxing Army is temporarily out of the country and developing well on the prairie, but the most crucial point is: the continuous recruitment and replenishment of manpower, and they still have to plan to move into the interior of the country.
This is a dead knot that cannot be untied.
Keeping corrupt officials like Ma Ruhu who are afraid of death and love life will be of great convenience to send professional personnel to recruit Fuxing Army soldiers and logistics personnel from the interior in the future.
"Send the order!"
"Let Hongmei lead the Royal Guard Cavalry Battalion and set off immediately to enter the Victory Castle and take complete control of it!"
"The mission of the Royal Guard Battalion is to eliminate hidden dangers and maintain order in the city!"
"Anyone found doing something wrong will be killed without mercy!"
Desheng Fort is three miles ahead. Li Dingguo will certainly not waste any more time. The top priority is to pass through this border fortress castle as quickly as possible and get the entire army into the prairie.
This is to prevent the government troops from coming and triggering a meaningless battle.
At present, Li Dingguo does not want to make a big deal out of this, and does not want to attract too much attention from the enemies for the time being. He wants to be as low-key as possible and lead the soldiers of the Fuxing Army out of the country.
If you show off before you have enough strength, it will be tantamount to seeking your own death.
That is stupid behavior and should not be accepted.
"Yes, Commander-in-Chief!"...
Several messengers beside him immediately took the order and left.
Just a moment later, Hongmei personally led the cavalry battalion of the Royal Guards and served as the vanguard of the large army. Together with Xiao Douya, she led her 300 elite cavalrymen and galloped towards Desheng Fort not far ahead.
The other four battalions of soldiers also received orders and were divided into three parts: front, middle and rear. They protected nearly 150,000 civilians and soldiers from the logistics battalion, accelerated their march, and moved quickly towards Fort Victory!
Half an hour later, when Li Dingguo led the soldiers with the Suzaku Camp as the central army into Desheng Fort, this nice border fortress town was already completely under the control of the Fuxing Army soldiers.
As the astonished natives along the way looked on, this large army with strict military discipline marched straight through the city without stopping for a moment!
After nearly three hours, this huge team finally crossed the border and officially entered the vast grassland ahead!
This large army, which seemed extremely strange but strictly disciplined and did not harm any civilians in the city in the eyes of the native residents of Desheng Fort, left Desheng Fort half an hour later. The garrison officer Ma Ruhu, who returned after hearing the news, felt relieved after inquiring about the situation, and continued to serve as the garrison officer steadily, just like usual.
He has his own way of being an official, and of course he would not be foolish enough to report the true situation and bring trouble upon himself and invite accountability from his superiors.
So he quickly had someone suppress the matter, as if it had never happened.
……
In the evening, about ten miles north of Desheng Fort, beside a small lake with lush grass and water, 150,000 soldiers and civilians of the Renaissance Army were gathering around the lake, preparing to camp for the night.
Li Dingguo ordered his men to call all the commanders of the five combat camps to his side.
Just now, Wei Jinfan's intelligence department and the scouts of each camp have divided into three groups and marched a hundred miles to collect specific intelligence from all parties. Tomorrow's large-scale troop movement will need to wait until the intelligence is transmitted back before a decision can be made.
Know yourself and know your enemy. This is common military knowledge that Li Dingguo could not have failed to understand.
Otherwise, it would be easy to lose your way in the vast prairie, wandering around like a headless fly, and even bring about a huge crisis.
His plan was to be at least 1,500 miles away from the border before choosing a place to settle the Renaissance Army and build the first survival base for his own forces.
As for the Ming Dynasty, which still has its power, he holds the thought that he cannot afford to provoke it but can afford to avoid it. It is a major matter that must be treated with caution to temporarily avoid the other party's sight.
Otherwise, once faced with the pincer attack from the Ming Dynasty and the Tartars, no matter how capable Li Dingguo was, he would have no choice but to flee and would not be able to survive and develop temporarily.
Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty was now facing serious internal and external troubles. It could not even handle the chaos within its own territory, so it had neither the time nor the ability to care about things outside the country.
Li Dingguo was very clear that in less than four years, the Later Jin Tartars would invade the pass again.
At that time, Huang Taiji divided his troops into four groups, with Datong and Xuanhua as the main attack directions. They broke through the passes and entered as if they were in an empty space, burning, killing and looting, tearing the last fig leaf of the Ming Dynasty to pieces!
Li Dingguo was highly vigilant about this.
Because his restoration army is entrenched in the Dongtao Plain, there is a high probability that he will be invaded by a large Tartar army.
I only have less than four years to grow and develop.
During this period, if the speed at which the Renaissance Army grows and develops fails to meet its expected goals, it will undoubtedly face a catastrophic disaster!
"The Commander-in-Chief."
Hongmei was the first to speak, "According to the intelligence we have obtained, on the Dongtao Plain, the three most powerful tribes are Yijin, Holo, and Jungar."
"However, they are all entrenched in the northwest and northeast of the Dongtao Plain. The closest Holo tribe to us is tens of thousands of miles away."
"In the short term, there will be no intersection with us."
"The remaining Tartar tribes are all 5,000 miles away, so we won't encounter them for the time being."
"South of the Great Salt Lake, there are all some small and medium-sized tribes of the Tartars. It is almost unheard of that there are masters of the fourth level of Qi Refining in their tribes."
"Anyway, according to rumors, they don't have this kind of expert, but we can't rule out the possibility of unexpected situations."
She told everyone about the comprehensive intelligence information she had compiled in the past two days, so that the four combat battalion commanders, Cao Yongxiang, Tang Guangqiang, Huang Zhanglong, and Liang Hetang, could have a preliminary impression of the powerful enemies that the Fuxing Army would encounter in the future.
"The enemy we need to be most vigilant about in the near future is not the Tatar tribe, but the large wolf pack monster tribe entrenched in the Langya Mountain three thousand miles away."
"Rumor has it that the demon king of that wolf pack demon beast clan is already a level five demon beast!"
"In addition, the wolf monster tribe it commands numbers over ten thousand. We simply cannot afford to provoke them in the short term!"
"So the location we choose to build a survival base in the near future can only be the prairie within 2,000 miles to the north."
She reminded everyone of the dire situation that the Renaissance Army was about to face, and asked everyone to be vigilant so as not to miss out on important matters.
"On the edge of the great desert three thousand miles to the west, there is an ancient battlefield."
"This is a forbidden place with a great reputation!"
"There are countless evil spirits lurking in there, and I heard there are even level five monsters!"
"This forbidden area is also where our Renaissance Army has to stay away from and avoid for a long time."
"In short, although our 150,000 soldiers and civilians of the Restoration Army have successfully passed through the border, there are many dangers that we will face. We must think twice before doing anything and not be careless."
"Add to that the countless large and small bandit groups, and it can be said that danger is everywhere! Everyone must not take it lightly."
The more Hongmei spoke, the more solemn her expression became, making the atmosphere at the scene depressing.
"But our Renaissance Army also has a considerable advantage. As long as another month or two passes, our number of combatants will probably reach tens of thousands!"
"When the time comes, we will first wipe out all the bandits within a thousand miles. The surrounding environment will basically become stable, laying a solid foundation for us to develop with peace of mind after establishing our base."
"The most urgent matter now is to first wipe out the Tatar tribes within a thousand miles in radius, so as to obtain a suitable survival base and settle our 150,000 soldiers and civilians first."
This temporary meeting was actually held by Hongmei, the commander of the five battalions of the Fuxing Army, to announce the advance development plan formulated by Li Dingguo.
The main purpose is to reassure everyone, set an initial goal, and then achieve this goal as soon as possible according to the plan.
Next, Li Dingguo worked with the commanders of the five combat battalions to perfect this initial development plan.
Half an hour later, night had fallen, and everyone dispersed and went about their business separately...
(End of this chapter)
