Chapter 360: Huang Taiji leads his army to arrive, and Shanxi merchants cooperate well
"Great Commander!"
In the meeting hall of the newly completed Huigouzhai Fortress City Lord's Mansion, Wei Jinfan stepped out from the crowd and reported to Li Dingguo, "It has been exactly two months since the Later Jin Tartars divided their troops into three groups and launched a long-distance attack."
"The 800,000 elite troops led by Huang Taiji arrived at Laoniuwan, a pass in the northwest of Jin Province, yesterday."
"Those Shanxi merchants are really very powerful. They have already assembled a huge fleet for Huang Taiji from the various merchant caravans outside the Great Wall."
"After Huang Taiji's army arrived at Laoniu Bay, this large fleet of Shanxi merchants sailed down the Yellow River from the north yesterday evening, traveling 5,000 miles at full speed, and joined Huang Taiji's army at midnight."
"Fortunately, our large fleet consisting of the Three Xuanwu Battalions and the Suzaku Legion sailed upstream from the center of the river when they left the border at night and headed north. We were not discovered by the spies of the Shanxi merchants and were able to hide outside the border successfully."
"Otherwise, Huang Taiji will notice this round of closing the door and beating the dog before it even starts."
"With Huang Taiji's strategy, it won't be difficult to come up with a solution, or just find another place to enter the pass, which will make our ambush plan fail."
"We can't let these Shanxi merchants go on like this anymore. After this war, we must focus on striking them. Otherwise, they might cause big trouble for our Fuxing Army one day."
Wei Jinfan's face looked very unhappy.
They had made all kinds of calculations, but they had never imagined that the Shanxi merchants were so powerful and had such a large fleet hidden outside the Great Wall.
Fortunately, in order to be on the safe side, the commander-in-chief ordered the Three Battalions of Xuanwu and the Suzaku Legion to board a large fleet in the middle waters of the vast Yellow River in the middle of the night and go upstream to find a suitable hiding place.
He also let the sixth-level golden eagle escort them and eliminate all the spiritual pigeons and other spiritual birds he encountered along the way, so that his large fleet would not be discovered by the spies of the Shanxi merchants.
Thinking about it now, it makes me break out in a cold sweat.
This time, the main force of the Fuxing Army came out in full force, ready to go to war with the 800,000 elite troops led by Huang Taiji himself. This was a war that could not be lost.
If we lose the opportunity as a result, the series of consequences will be unimaginable.
Before the two sides were about to go to war, if Huang Taiji saw through his plan, the Fuxing Army would be in a very passive position, becoming flustered and unable to focus on one thing while focusing on another.
Now that Shanxi Province is no longer under the control of the Fuxing Army, Huang Taiji can find any pass and lead his army through.
He didn't even need to enter the Ming Dynasty from Shanxi Province. He could directly lead his troops westward and head straight for the Dongtao Plain controlled by the Fuxing Army, which would make most of Li Dingguo's early preparations in vain.
"Commander-in-chief, according to our intelligence personnel, Huang Taiji will lead his army into the pass tomorrow at the latest."
Wei Jinfan continued to report the real-time military situation and said, "If everything goes as expected, they will arrive at the Huigou Fortress in three days and launch an attack on our army."
"In order to eliminate the worries after entering the pass, Huang Taiji must take down this Huigou Fort and Tangjiahui Fort downstream."
After Wei Jinfan finished reporting the military situation, he returned to his seat.
In the meeting hall, except for the 1st and 3rd Xuanwu Battalions and the Suzaku Legion who were on emergency missions, almost all the core generals of the rest of the Renaissance Army were present.
This was the last military meeting before the war.
After the meeting, each legion will rush to the designated battlefields according to the plan and make preparations to encircle Huang Taiji's army.
"You all now understand the military situation reported by Wei Jinfan."
Li Dingguo looked forward and said solemnly, "When our army begins its operation, all units must pay attention to hiding the traces of their soldiers, so that the ambush that we have spent so much time preparing will not be discovered by Huang Taiji in advance."
"According to the information obtained by the intelligence department, the Western Route Army of the Later Jin Tartars led by Huang Taiji personally brought four Gaker Falcons with him."
"This shows that Huang Taiji attaches great importance to our Fuxing Army."
"When he was planning his army's movements before and after entering the pass, he would definitely have those Saker Falcons conduct aerial reconnaissance in advance. After determining the general situation of our army, he would order his army to enter the Yellow River Pass and directly attack the heartland of our Fuxing Army."
"Facing Huang Taiji's army, our only advantage is that we are equipped with enough psychic cannons and psychic crossbow carts. We can use concentrated fire to deal a head-on blow to the Later Jin Tartars and disrupt their formation."
"Given Huang Taiji's caution, he will certainly advance by land and sea after entering the pass. He will not gather all his soldiers on the large fleet, lest they be surrounded by our large fleet and wiped out in one fell swoop."
"The soldiers following the Jin merchant fleet should be the Tatars' 100,000 logistics troops and the Han army's three-flag firearms battalion."
"The Tatars' spiritual beast warhorses are similar to ours, but they have hundreds more dragon-scale horses than we do."
"With the strength of their spirit beasts and war horses, the Tatars can easily cross mountains and ridges with light equipment. It is difficult for us to successfully encircle them."
"Only by making full use of the terrain of each fortress can we block the Tatars' retreat route."
"After all, the movement of the Tartar army is different from the movement of a small team. It is difficult for hundreds of thousands of troops to cross those barren mountains and wilderness."
Li Dingguo was well aware that Huang Taiji was a difficult guy and he naturally would not think that he could easily defeat the Tartar army by an ambush from his side.
"Hongmei, distribute the detailed battle plan to everyone, and then adjourn the meeting!"
"The Tartars' attack will come soon. You must be careful and not be careless. Try to make the most of the psychic cannons and crossbow carts equipped by each unit."
"For this battle, our Renaissance Army has cleared out all the soul beads, magic cores, and demon beast inner cores in our inventory."
"As long as we win this battle, it will be worth it no matter how much it costs!"
As the Tatar army was about to attack, Li Dingguo issued the order and then announced the adjournment of the meeting.
After receiving the plans distributed by Hongmei, the generals of each legion hurried out of the meeting hall, flew back to the large dock outside the city, and boarded the treasure ship that was ready.
"Dudu..."
As the naval horns sounded, treasure ships left the dock in groups and rushed in all directions of the Yellow River.
The soldiers of each legion had already been deployed and hidden at the designated locations. The two pairs of Saker Falcons of the Later Jin Tartars were looking down from the sky and it was difficult for them to spot the soldiers of the Fuxing Army who were hiding on purpose.
Huang Taiji knew clearly that Li Dingguo had nearly ten level five spirit birds in his hands, and he did not dare to let his four Saker Falcons leave the army too far, let alone let them go deep into the hinterland of the Great Wall for reconnaissance.
If he could find an opportunity to kill the two pairs of the Tartars' spiritual birds, the Saker Falcon, Li Dingguo would never miss it.
He asked Da Jin to fly to an altitude of 30,000 feet above the area to patrol when he had nothing to do, and hunt all the spiritual birds that did not have his own markings, including spiritual pigeons.
Li Dingguo attached more importance to concealing information on the battlefield than anyone else and naturally would not give up his advantage in this area.
After Dajin broke through to the sixth level, this advantage was brought to the extreme.
Nowadays, it is difficult to see various enemy spirit birds around the defense line of the Renaissance Army.
The enemy spirit birds that dared to enter deep into this designated battlefield area were basically hunted down by the Great Jin.
Da Jin is now too fast. Once discovered by it, even a peak level five spirit bird will not be able to escape.
In this war, the Jin Dynasty also had an important task, which was to find a suitable opportunity to kill the four Saker Falcons brought by Huang Taiji.
……
"Fan Yubin, our army's logistics soldiers and Han Eight Banner soldiers, as well as a large amount of logistics supplies, will be entrusted to you to be responsible for transporting this time."
At the Laoniuwan Wharf in the northwest of Shanxi Province, Huang Taiji told Fan Yubin, the leader of the Shanxi Merchants Alliance fleet, "After your fleet enters the pass, don't sail too fast. Be careful to keep a distance of no more than a thousand miles from our cavalry army, so as not to be ambushed by Li Dingguo's men."
"According to various intelligence reports, Li Dingguo's favorite tactics are ambushes and surprise attacks, which he uses to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and inflict heavy damage in one fell swoop." "Our Western Route Army is coming here from a long distance to destroy Li Dingguo and his Fuxing Army, not to die."
After studying all the information about Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army, Huang Taiji had a good understanding of Li Dingguo and certainly would not repeat the same mistake.
The Later Jin clan suffered two consecutive losses at the hands of Li Dingguo because they were not careful enough. They were then successfully ambushed by Li Dingguo and lost two of the clan's spiritual birds, the Saker Falcon, as well as the navy fleet led by Geng Zhongming and his son Geng Jingzhong and a large amount of treasure and supplies.
The reason why Li Dingguo developed and expanded his navy so rapidly in Jiaozhou Bay on the southeast coast was definitely one of the main factors because of the massive resources seized from the Later Jin clan by Li Dingguo.
If there weren't those three great treasure ships loaded with a large amount of cultivation resources, how could Li Dingguo, who was on an island off the southeast coast at the time, have so many cultivation resources to easily train hundreds of thousands of warriors?
Whenever he thought of this, Huang Taiji felt so angry that his chest was uncomfortable and he was so depressed that he wanted to kill someone!
It was entirely by stepping on the Later Jin clan that Li Dingguo was able to build the most powerful navy in the coastal area of the Ming Dynasty in less than a year on Lingshan Island in Jiaozhou Bay.
"Great Khan, I will have the fleet keep a careful eye on it and keep a good distance from the Khan's 800,000 cavalry, so that the fleet will not be ambushed by Li Dingguo's men."
Fan Yubin hurriedly spoke to Huang Taiji respectfully.
As the current head of the Fan family, the reason why he came in person this time to lead the large fleet prepared by the Shanxi Merchants Alliance for Huang Taiji's entry into the Pass was not for anything else, but to see with his own eyes that Li Dingguo, the mortal enemy of the Fan family, was killed by the army led by Huang Taiji.
Otherwise, there is no way to resolve the hatred in his heart!
The Fan family's main residence in Jiexiu was wiped out by Li Dingguo in one fell swoop. In the past few years, the Fan family has lost countless manpower and supplies at the hands of Li Dingguo. The hatred between the two sides is higher than the sky and deeper than the sea!
Fan Yubin was certain that Li Dingguo would definitely die this time.
Of course, I have to come and witness his death with my own eyes, and watch his Renaissance Army be destroyed with my own eyes, only then can I eliminate the demons in my heart.
Fan Yubin, who possessed the Fan family's great fortune, almost went insane when he broke through to the middle stage of level five not long ago.
If he hadn't had his own innate divine artifact, the Money Tree, to protect him, he would have been doomed.
After this lesson, Fan Yubin knew very well that as long as Li Dingguo was alive, he would never be able to break through to the sixth level due to his inner demons.
It is conceivable to what extent Fan Yubin's hatred for Li Dingguo has accumulated!
As the most outstanding genius of the Fan family in his contemporary era, Fan Yubin is certainly not stupid.
Even if Huang Taiji did not say it, he would lead a large fleet loaded with various logistical supplies, logistical soldiers, and the Han Army's Three Flags Firearms Battalion, and would try to keep pace with Huang Taiji's main cavalry army to avoid being attacked by Li Dingguo.
His research on Li Dingguo was much more comprehensive than Huang Taiji's, and he certainly knew what fighting style Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army were best at.
Seeing that the logistics battalion of the Later Jin army and the firearms battalion of the three flags of the Han army had all the manpower and supplies on board, Fan Yubin immediately said goodbye to Huang Taiji and led a team of the Fan family's most elite servants and guards to the deck of the flagship Shangpin Dabao Ship.
This large fleet, assembled from all the major Shanxi merchants, consisted of three high-quality treasure ships, eighteen medium-quality treasure ships, and sixty low-quality treasure ships.
Among them were one high-quality treasure ship of the Fan family, three medium-quality treasure ships and twenty low-quality treasure ships.
Most of the Fan family’s existing treasure ships are here.
Two years ago, after the southern gentry alliance evacuated their caravans from the three northwestern provinces, all the big Shanxi merchants sent most of their family caravans and treasure ships to the outside of the Great Wall, greatly increasing the volume of trade with the Mongolian Tartars and the Later Jin clan.
Unexpectedly, it would have the effect of hitting the mark. Since the beginning of last year, when Li Dingguo led his troops into the pass and blocked the Yellow River waterway in Qin and Jin provinces within the pass, it did not affect the large treasure ships of the major Shanxi merchants outside the pass, which continued to sail and trade on the rivers on the northern prairie.
The Laoniuwan Fortress, originally located at the edge of the gap in the Great Wall, became the most important foreign trade gateway for all merchants in the three northwestern provinces because it was far away from the sphere of influence of the Fuxing Army.
Everyone spent a lot of manpower and resources to transform the Laoniuwan Fortress into a large water transportation hub.
Laoniuwan Fortress and Huigouzhai Fortress in the lower reaches of the Yellow River respectively guard the east and west sides of the border between northwest Shanxi and the prairie.
The terrain of the two border fortresses is that one end is backed by the Great Wall and the other end is connected to the mighty Yellow River.
Between the two border fortresses is the mighty Yellow River, which stretches for thousands of miles.
Here, the Yellow River became a real natural barrier, separating this long area where the Great Wall was not built from the grasslands outside the Great Wall, and became the most important natural water border section of the Ming Dynasty.
In this long area through which the Yellow River flows, the Yellow River replaced the Great Wall, completely separating the Ming Dynasty from the prairie.
This time, Huang Taiji chose to lead the army along the banks of the Yellow River in Shanxi Province, and advance both by land and water with the large fleet led by Fan Yubin, and make a long-distance attack on Huigouzhaibao, Tangjiahuibao, Yangtubao, and Baodezhou City occupied by the Fuxing Army.
The reason why he did not choose to lead the army across the Yellow River and march along the other bank by land and water was for safety reasons.
On the other side of the river is the Dongtao Plain occupied by the Fuxing Army. God knows what kind of trap Li Dingguo has set, waiting for his army to fall into it?
The Dongtao Plain, which the Fusion Army has occupied for four years, can be said to be their home ground.
If the Western Army led by himself encountered Li Dingguo's tactics such as attacking the enemy halfway across the river, it might suffer heavy losses.
Huang Taiji read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a masterpiece written by the Han people.
This ancient and wonderful book, which he regarded as a holy book, recorded a large number of battle examples of attacking the enemy halfway across the river.
It is no exaggeration to say that if one army intends to ambush and the other army is attacked by the enemy halfway across the river, it is inevitable that they will suffer heavy losses.
The Later Jin soldiers, who were not good at water combat, were most afraid of being attacked by the enemy halfway across the river.
Don't forget that Li Dingguo has nearly ten level five spirit birds in his hands, and can easily grasp the movements of the Later Jin army.
This time the Later Jin army's attack caused such a big fuss that it was impossible for Li Dingguo to say that he had not heard of it.
Huang Taiji was certain that the Fuxing Army led by Li Dingguo was not far ahead, waiting for him to run into them.
If the insidious and cunning Li Dingguo had not done anything stupid, he would not have allowed the army of the Later Jin clan to march straight into their occupied areas and cause devastating damage to the area under their jurisdiction.
"Order all cavalry soldiers to set out immediately and advance along the banks of the Yellow River towards the southwest!"
"Order the Yangguli tribe, which is the vanguard, to send scouts a hundred miles forward. We cannot let any ambush tactics of the Renaissance Army succeed!"
"I will have the four Saker Falcons, the clan's sacred birds, advance in sync with the vanguard army in the sky to prevent the possibility of being ambushed by Li Dingguo."
After seeing Fan Yubin leading a large fleet to set sail from the Laoniuwan Wharf, Huang Taiji waved his hand and ordered the dozen or so messengers around him to officially enter the pass.
"Yes!"……
More than a dozen messengers responded with a loud bang, flew to the backs of the spirit beasts and war horses beside them, and rode away separately to convey Huang Taiji's orders to various departments.
A moment later, the 800,000 Tatar soldiers, who had already prepared for a long-distance attack, with a 30,000 elite cavalry of the Plain Yellow Banner led by Yangguli as the vanguard, quickly advanced into the territory of the Ming Dynasty along the river bank.
Some low hills and mountains along the way are no problem for these spiritual beasts and war horses that can climb over them as if they were walking on flat ground.
The spiritual beast horses ridden by the Later Jin soldiers were at least mid-grade dragon-scale horses. Not only did they have long-lasting physical strength, they also possessed powerful combat capabilities.
The small and medium-sized groups of demons and monsters encountered along the way were dispersed by the blood and energy smoke stimulated by the army, and had no effect on the march of the huge elite army.
Long-distance raids and battles by large cavalry armies were the forte of the Later Jin clan and the Mongolian Tatars. It was not difficult at all for them and they were very familiar with it.
On the bank of the Yellow River, where the snow from the severe winter had just dispersed, this Tatar army, whose end was as far as one could see, was marching at an extremely fast speed.
With the help of Shanxi merchants' large fleets to transport supplies, logistics soldiers, and firearms battalions, the Later Jin soldiers were free from any encumbrances and could make long-distance raids very easily.
(End of this chapter)
