Wang Bao noticed the way Yang Guozhu looked at Li Guangyi and immediately understood that there was something going on.
"The rebels were able to capture Xinping Fort, which shows that their strength is not weak. I was worried that Datong's own soldiers and horses were no match, so I did not agree to use troops against Xinping Fort. Now that Wang Zongbing and Xuanfu's soldiers and horses have arrived, they have broken the chaos in one fell swoop. When the bandits have a chance, I hope that the two generals can cooperate sincerely. When the bandits are eliminated, I will definitely go to the emperor to ask for credit for the two generals." Li Guangyi looked at the two generals in front of him and said.
Yang Guozhu and Wang Bao stood up from their seats.
The two men faced Li Guangyi and said: "General, I will obey the orders of the military commander."
"Commander Wang, do the soldiers and horses of Xuan Mansion need a few days to rest?" Li Guangyi looked at Wang Bao.
Wang Bao said: "Please rest assured that the general and his troops can go to war at any time and will not delay the military affairs of the army."
"Okay." Li Guangyi nodded and said immediately, "I will prepare the food and grass for you. Now I order you two to immediately send troops to Xinping Fort to wipe out the bandits stationed in Xinping Fort in one fell swoop."
"The last general takes orders."
Wang Bao and Yang Guozhu saluted again.
On that day, two troops from Datong and Xuanfu set out from two directions to Xinping Fort.
As the commander-in-chief of the army, Li Guangyi did not need to go out with the army. He only needed to sit in Datong and wait for the news Wang Bao and Yang Guozhu brought back from the front line.
The atmosphere of war filled the sky over Datong.
Yang Guozhu and Wang Bao are both general soldiers, and neither one is inferior to the other in terms of rank, so there is no one who is in charge of the other. Because of this, the two talents did not go together. Instead, according to Li Guangyi's arrangement, they each started from different positions. Head to Xinpingbao.
The government offices and border forts along the road received official documents from Li Guangyi early.
The food and fodder needed by the army along the way were prepared by the local government.
Datong is nearly two hundred miles away from Xinping Fort, and the official army's marching speed is no more than twenty or thirty miles a day. No matter how fast it goes, there will be a shortage of soldiers in the army.
However, this is less than 200 miles, and the villages along the way suffer.
After all, the border forts and county towns along the way were fine, and the officers and soldiers would not dare to enter the city privately no matter how brave they were, but the same could not be said for the villages along the way. The officers and soldiers would cause harm to each place before they reached it.
Especially the soldiers and horses from Xuanfu were not originally from Datong. They were only temporarily deployed to Datong, so they caused harm to the local people, no matter how minor or serious. This caused many villages to attack the people one by one without waiting for the official troops to arrive. Fleeed to the mountains for shelter.
The soldiers passed like a grate.
The people of Datong once again experienced the suffering of military disaster.
It's a pity that the local government doesn't care about the life and death of the people in the villages under its control, and it can't control it even if it wants to. It can only close the gate of the county town to block the government troops from entering the city, causing harm to the people in the city.
The secret spies of the Tiger Character Banner in Datong Prefecture had early sent people to use fast horses to send the news of the officers and soldiers going to Xinping Fort to Xinping Fort.
Compared with Wang Bao's troops and horses, the troops led by Yang Guozhu marched faster.
After all, his troops were local troops from Datong. Even if they harmed the villages passing by, they were not as capable as Xuanfu's troops, leaving no way for the people to survive.
In addition, Yang Guozhu ran the army more strictly than Wang Bao, so the situation was much better.
Even so, the daily march was only forty miles at most.
It's not that they don't want to go faster, but it's true that many of the soldiers in the camp can't even get paid, and most of them are sallow and thin, and they can't march faster even if they want to.
Before the two officers and troops arrived at Xinping Fort, Zhang Hong, the division commander of the Second Battle Corps stationed at Xinping Fort, received the news.
Several battalions of the Second Battle Division were all summoned by Zhang Hong to the general's mansion in Xinpingbao.
Huang An's family, who originally lived in the General's Mansion, were taken to the grassland together when Du Yan left.
Today, the top and bottom of Xinping Fort are all garrisoned by soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag. In addition to the city, there are also two combat barracks and a supply camp of the Second War Division stationed outside Xinping Fort.
A study room in the General's Mansion was converted into a war conference room by Zhang Hong.
A map of Datong is hung on one wall.
Zhang Hong stood on the side of the map, holding a wooden stick in his hand. He clicked on two places on the map and said: "These two directions are the marching routes of the official army, and these two directions are from Xuanfu." and Datong’s border troops, as long as we defeat these two troops, Datong will no longer have much power to stop our tiger-character flag army.”
As he spoke, he tapped the end of the stick twice on the map.
"Shizheng, my subordinates are requesting to lead a large battalion to stop one of the officers and soldiers." Pan Yi stood up and asked for a fight.
Another battalion next to him also stood up and said: "The other officer army can be handed over to the subordinate battalion."
Zhang Hong waved his hands towards the two of them and said immediately: "No, I am not going to divide my troops and attack them proactively."
The several battalions sitting below were stunned for a moment.
I heard Zhang Hong continue to say: "With the speed of the officers and soldiers, they will be able to reach Xinping Fort in four days, so I decided that we will wait for the work and wait for the officers and soldiers to arrive at the gate of Xinping Fort and annihilate them all in one go."
The gaze in his hand clicked on the place marked Xinping Fort on the map.
When he received the official army's dispatch of troops to Xinping Fort, he had already decided to defeat the two official troops in one fell swoop, and then take advantage of the situation to attack the counties around Xinping Fort.
If it were just for a Xinping Fort, there was no need for him to lead a military division. Only Pan Yi, the large military camp, was enough to securely defend Xinping Fort.
After all, on the grassland twenty miles away from Xinping Fort, there is also the pier of their Tiger Flag. It can be said that supplies from Xinping Fort can be continuously transported to ensure that Xinping Fort will not be captured by the army due to lack of supplies.
Du Yan went to the grassland with the last group of miners heading north to the grassland.
Datong Mansion also welcomed soldiers and horses sent by Xuan Mansion.
Inside the governor's office of Datong.
Li Guangyi sat in the middle, with Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, and Wang Bao, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, on his left and right respectively.
"Junmen, the general has just received news that Tiger Character Banner has sent a troop of troops to Xinping Fort, with nearly 20,000 people." Yang Guozhu said with an ugly expression.
They waited for the soldiers and horses sent by the Xuanfu, but the bandits in Xinping Fort also waited for their own reinforcements.
Li Guangyi nodded slightly with an expressionless face.
However, Wang Bao on the other side said: "Since we have known for a long time that Xinping Fort was captured by the bandits, why didn't we send a large army to destroy the bandits? Now that the bandits have come with reinforcements, if they want to take back Xinping Fort, it will be even more difficult." Difficult."
Yang Guozhu glanced at Li Guangyi and was speechless.
However, he also knew that the other party was right. Although the troops under his command captured Xinping Fort, it was because Huang An was frightened by the shelling, otherwise Xinping Fort would not have been captured so smoothly.
Compared with his temporary troops and the regular combat barracks commanded by Pan Yi, there is still a big gap.
A few days passed.
