From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 625

Outside the city, drums roared and roared. In the cold wind, heavy horns resounded throughout the world.

The towering Great Wall was like a giant dragon entrenched in the earth, blocking the cold wind from the north, blocking all the noise, and guarding the earth with its body.

The soldiers stood in awe, holding their swords and spears tightly, with murderous intent in their eyes.

In the beacon tower, Zhou Yuan looked at Shi Yi, Wang Xiong and Liu Fang with a calm gaze.

"The five towns of Ningxia, Datong, Yulin, Guyuan and Sanguan have a total of more than 200,000 troops, and there are a large number of logistical troops in each city. As long as we hold the Great Wall and don't go out, the enemy will not be able to take us down."

"The five military camps will not participate in the battle to defend the city. I want the three of you to lead 20,000 troops each, divide them into three routes, go north in a roundabout way, and destroy the major camps and tribes of Mongolia."

Zhou Yuan took out a map and said solemnly: "The content provided by the Inner Court is very detailed. These tribes range from a few hundred people to tens of thousands of people. They are scattered in various grasslands, providing food, horses and various supplies for the Mongolian army. They are also often used as a foothold for soldiers, making it convenient for the Mongolian army to divide its troops everywhere."

"When the stalemate here, you must strictly follow the route, destroy these tribes, and cut off the retreat of the Mongolian army."

Liu Fang carefully He looked at the map and said in a deep voice: "General, the specific plan will be distributed in the future to ensure that our three armies will proceed at the same time and support each other."

Zhou Yuan said: "Remember, if you encounter Mongolian cavalry, you must not take the initiative to fight with them, otherwise you will suffer a great loss."

"Even if your mission has little effect, it can put huge pressure on their 80,000 cavalry on the front line, so you must continue to go deep and keep clearing northward."

"In case of special circumstances, or if the Mongolian front-line army returns to support, you will go northeast to the Khorchin grassland and join the Jurchen Yehe tribe."

"I will arrange for Shanxi merchants to follow the battle and show you the way."

Wang Xiong and Shi Yi have been carrying out such vanguard tasks since the recovery of the Central Plains, and have accumulated rich experience. At this moment, they immediately accepted the order and were full of confidence.

"Remember, this trip is not about fighting, but about disturbing, not about advancing, but about chaos."

"You three should keep in touch with each other by carrier pigeons at all times. The inner court will send someone to follow you and help you keep in touch with each other."

"Finally...pay attention to Song Wu's position. If you can save him, you must save him. If the current situation does not allow it, you can't mess up the plan because of him alone."

Liu Fang clasped his fists and said, "I obey your orders. I must act cautiously and complete the task."

Zhou Yuan nodded and said, "In the next two days, the Mongolian army will fully occupy the Hetao area. You go out in the middle of the night and don't look back."

"If you encounter a tribe, you will fight to support the war, rob horses and food, until you meet up with the Yehe tribe."

Zhou Yuan made detailed arrangements and asked the three to come up with a detailed plan before walking out of the beacon tower.

Under the tower, the dense Mongolian army watched from afar, and finally did not start the siege.

As Zhou Yuan expected, they had to give priority to recovering the Hetao area to prevent Ningxia Town and Datong Town from supporting each other in a straight line.

On September 21, the Mongolian army completely occupied the middle section of the Hetao area, but there was no gain, no people and no food, and it was completely in vain.

(Correction: "September 3" in Chapter 622 should be "September 13", and "September 8" in Chapter 624 should be September 18.)

Sabdan was furious and sent someone to deliver a letter, asking Zhou Yuan to open the city gate and surrender within three days, otherwise he would order an attack on Datong and then massacre the city.

This threat was naturally meaningless, and the other party was obviously just testing. After waiting for Zhou Yuan's reply and even the messenger failed to return, Sabdan finally took action.

The 80,000 Mongolian troops began to shrink in the Hetao area and continued to gather towards Datong Town, looking like they were going to fight to the death.

Zhou Yuan naturally did not dare to slack off. After all, there were only more than 50,000 defenders in Datong Town. He could gain some advantages in the battle to defend the city, but he would pay a price for underestimating the Mongolian army.

Without hesitation, he asked the 40,000 troops of Sanguan Town to come to support him, and gathered a 100,000-strong army, ready to fight, waiting for Sabdan to attack the city.

But until September 25, Sabdan's army was still camped on the plain 20 miles away from Datong, and did not attack.

This made Min Tianrui a little confused. He occupied Hetao, but did not fight. What does this mean?

"If this goes on, no matter how much food and grass they prepare, it will not be enough!"

Min Tianrui frowned and said, "Did they not plan to attack the city from the beginning?"

This sentence made Zhou Yuan's heart tremble.

According to intelligence, Sabdan only conquered the Mongolian tribes in the south of the desert and gathered 40,000 troops.

Why did the Mongolian tribes in the north of the desert suddenly submit to him?Why did they also organize 40,000 troops to join the southern invasion camp? This seems to be related to the Eastern Tartars.

So now they are besieging but not attacking, just putting pressure on Datong Town. Does this mean that they may be deliberately delaying time?

If this is true, then they can only delay time for the Eastern Tartars. What are the Eastern Tartars going to do?

Could it be that Huang Taiji has really taken power completely and is going to launch a second war while the Five Army Camps are being dragged in Datong Prefecture?

No matter from which aspect, the possibility is not very high. After all, Huang Taiji has a shallow foundation. If he wants to compete with Daishan and others, it is impossible for him to defeat the strong with the weak and seize power in such a short time.

And even if he seizes power, he cannot organize a large-scale military plan.

"General, I think something is fishy."

Min Tianrui said in a deep voice: "80,000 troops, the daily food and drink expenses are huge. Judging from all kinds of intelligence, Sabdan is an extremely smart leader. He should not make such a low-level mistake. Every day of delay is very disadvantageous to him. If he does not move his troops, there must be a conspiracy."

Zhou Yuan did think so, but there was no threat from the Eastern Tartars. Where would there be a threat? What exactly did the other party want to do by delaying time?

He felt uneasy and simply found Zhuang Xuansu and said solemnly: "What is the recent situation in the Eastern Tartars? Do you have detailed information?"

Zhuang Xuansu shook his head and said: "No, I just received the latest news a few days ago. Huang Taiji is very capable and keeps winning over tribes. His momentum has gradually overwhelmed Daishan and Abai, but it still takes time to inherit Nurhaci's power."

"At present, there will be no particularly big changes in the Eastern Tartars for at least half a year."

Zhou Yuan frowned. The Eastern Tartars are fine. What is Sabdan waiting for?

While he was thinking, an urgent shout came from under the tower.

"Marshal! Marshal! Flying pigeons from the south! Flying pigeons from the south!"

A dusty young man quickly ran up, knelt on the ground, and held a small piece of letter paper.

There was a special magpie symbol on the paper, which was the mark of Zhou Yuan's Shenque organization.

When he opened it, he saw that it was written on it: "On September 22, the chieftains of Guizhou rebelled together, and the rebel army of 150,000 besieged Guiyang Prefecture. General Xiang Yong was struggling to hold on."

Zhou Yuan immediately took a breath of cold air. Damn, Sabdan has a spy in Guizhou?

No, it's not a spy. His intelligence can't be faster than mine!

There are traitors inside the chieftain! Colluding with Mongolia! The north and the south are rebelling together!

In this way, Zhou Yuan can only take care of one side and can't support the south.

But the chieftain rebellion must be resolved after all, so Sabdan stationed troops outside the city and waited for Zhou Yuan to leave.

To be precise, it was waiting for the Five Army Camp to leave.

This newly appointed Khan was still afraid of the Five Army Camp after all.

"What happened?"

Seeing his ugly face, Zhuang Xuansu couldn't help asking.

Zhou Yuan handed the letter to her, then frowned and thought, the Tusi obviously didn't have that many soldiers with 150,000 troops, and more than half of them should be ordinary civilian militiamen to strengthen their momentum.

Xiang Yong was calm and methodical in doing things, and it was not a problem for tens of thousands of soldiers to defend the city.

Besides, no matter how big the appetite of the Guizhou Tusi was, he only wanted Guizhou at most. No matter how bad the situation there was, it was not as bad as the north.

No need to support, wait until the north was pacified.

"What should we do!"

Zhuang Xuansu looked at him, a little anxious, and said: "The chieftain really knows how to pick the time!"

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: "According to the original plan, the five military camps will be interspersed vertically and horizontally, encircling and detouring, and first cut off the retreat of the 80,000 troops."

"Fifteen days! As long as we hold on for fifteen days! The situation will change!"

"At that time, I will eat up these 80,000 troops!"