The army led by Wang Bao finally marched faster.
It originally took several days to arrive at Xinpingbao, but in the end it only took two days to arrive in an open space five miles away from Xinpingbao.
The army set up camp.
Oppositely, another army also set up camp not far from Xinping Fort.
The camps of the two official armies were less than twenty miles apart.
It wasn't dark yet, and the army camp had already begun cooking pots. Smoke was rising in the camp, and the aroma of the food filled the air above the camp.
"General, General Yang has sent someone to ask for an audience." A soldier wearing armor entered the tent to report.
Wang Bao, who was sitting at the top, said to him: "Bring the people in."
Not long after the soldier exited the tent, he came in from the outside with a scholar wearing a long gown.
"Student Xue Mu, I have met Mr. Wang." The visitor faced Wang Bao and bowed.
Wang Bao, who was sitting in his seat, did not get up. He stared at the person who came and said, "General Yang sent you here. If you have anything to say to me, I will bring it to you."
He had seen Xue Mu before him in Datong Mansion and knew that he was an effective aide around Yang Guozhu.
Seeing that it was almost dark, Yang Guozhu sent his staff over at this time. He must have something to discuss with him. After all, it would be inconvenient for the leader of the first camp to leave the camp without authorization.
"My general hopes to cooperate sincerely with General Wang. At 03:00 tomorrow, soldiers and horses from the two towns of Datong Xuanfu will appear together at the gate of Xinpingbao." After saying that, Xue Mu looked at Wang Bao in front of him.
The chief generals on both sides are all generals, and the soldiers and horses they command are also soldiers and horses from their respective border towns. There is no one who leads whom, otherwise the two officers and soldiers would not rush to Datong from two directions.
Wang Bao twirled his beard and said: "Does your general carry enough general cannons? The sentries in the general's camp discovered that the bandits in Xinpingbao City have general cannons in their hands."
The imperial edict was urgent.
In order to lead the army from Xuanfu to Datong as early as possible, he did not bring those heavy cannons.
"Don't worry, general. My general came to Xinpingbao this time and brought twelve general cannons, specially used to deal with the bandits in the city." Xue Mu said with a smile.
It is no secret that the Tiger Flag has artillery in Datong.
In order to deal with the tiger-shaped flag, Yang Guozhu dispatched more than a dozen general cannons and sent them to the firearms camp after receiving the imperial court's order to suppress the tiger-shaped flag.
Wang Bao nodded lightly and said: "Now that everything is ready, go back and tell General Yang that this general will definitely appear at the gate of Xinpingbao at 00:00 tomorrow."
"Student, I won't disturb the general anymore. I'll go back and inform my general of the general's intentions." Xue Mu cupped his hands and offered to leave.
The soldiers in the big tent sent Xue Mu out of the camp.
As soon as the people left, Chen Gong, who had been staying in the tent, said to Wang Bao: "General, we will attack Xinping Fort tomorrow. Isn't it too hasty? The soldiers below have been marching in a hurry every day for the past few days and are already exhausted. We should rest for two days before attacking Xinping Fort."
"I can understand what Mr. Chen means," Wang Bao said. "Sir, what you want to say is that the army has arrived at Xinpingbao. It is difficult for the bandits stationed in the city to escape. There is no need to rush to attack the city, right?"
Chen Gong nodded and said, "That's exactly what the student meant."
"Your idea is good, but Yang Guozhu may not be willing to wait." Wang Bao said, "Yang Guozhu sent his staff over, ostensibly to discuss with the general, but in fact he just told the general that he will not care about us at 10 o'clock tomorrow Datong's soldiers and horses will take action no matter what."
Chen Gong frowned when he heard this and said: "The more this happens, the less we should follow them, as if our Xuanfu soldiers and horses have become his Yang Guozhu's soldiers and horses."
"No, it is precisely because Yang Guozhu will take action against the bandits in Xinping Fort tomorrow that I must lead the army to Xinping Fort." Wang Bao said, "Otherwise, when Datong's soldiers and horses are defeated at Xinping Fort, I and I will The Xuanfu soldiers and horses clearly arrived near Xinping Fort, but they did not participate in the siege. The blame for the failure will probably fall on this general, so our Xuanfu soldiers and horses must appear at the gate of Xinping Fort tomorrow."
There was another reason he didn't say.
If he and the Xuanfu soldiers and horses had not appeared at the gate of Xinping Fort, once Xinping Fort was captured by Datong soldiers and horses, all the benefits would only fall on Yang Guozhu.
"General, are you not optimistic about tomorrow's battle?" Chen Gong asked hesitantly.
Wang Bao waved his hand and said: "On the contrary, I feel that the bandits in Xinping Fort cannot defend Xinping Fort. Tomorrow, Xinping Fort will be captured by the imperial army."
Since it is decided to attack the city tomorrow, the army must prepare the siege equipment needed to attack the city in advance.
Tools such as ladders for siege are indispensable.
Xinping Fort is located on the border, and there is grassland twenty miles to the northwest. Therefore, although the walls of Xinping Fort are old, none of them have collapsed. They will be repaired every now and then to ensure the strength of the walls.
Xue Mu led a group of cavalry and left Wang Bao's camp and galloped back to the camp where Datong soldiers and horses were stationed.
When he came back, he didn't need to report everywhere like he did in Wang Bao's camp. Once he returned to his own camp, he went straight to the big tent where Yang Guozhu was.
At this time, the sky was already a little dark.
Candles were lit in the tent.
"Dong Weng, the students have fulfilled their mission. General Wang has promised to lead his army to appear at Xinping Fort at 3:00 tomorrow and attack Xinping Fort with our Datong soldiers and horses." Xue Mu said to Yang Guozhu who was reading the military book in the tent.
Yang Guozhu put down the military book in his hand and asked, "Did he make any demands?"
"That's not true. I agreed very happily." As soon as Xue Mugang finished speaking, he seemed to have thought of something, and then added, "I asked about the cannon. The student told Mr. Wang that we have prepared twelve general cannons."
Yang Guozhu nodded and said: "He is not completely a fool. He also knows that Tiger Character Banner has prepared cannons in Xinpingbao City to defend the city."
Xue Mu, who was standing below, twitched the corners of his mouth and did not dare to answer.
His own commander-in-chief could call the other commander-in-chief a idiot, but he did not dare to challenge him at this time. If word got out, Wang Bao would be unable to do anything to his commander-in-chief, but it would be extremely easy to deal with one of his own staff.
"Don't think that the general called him a idiot because he was deliberately humiliating him." Yang Guozhu said, "If he hadn't allowed the Tiger Flag to grow in Xuan Mansion, how would Liu Heng have the strength to go north to the grassland to conquer the Tumote tribe? It's even more shocking. What’s annoying is that the dignified commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu actually allowed Tiger Character Banner to build forts on the grassland outside Zhangjiakou. Do you think he is a fool?”
As he spoke, he snorted coldly.
He believed that the tiger-character flag could become bigger because of the laissez-faire of the generals in Datong and Xuanfu.
It's a pity that he was no longer the commander-in-chief at that time, so it would be difficult to mobilize the border troops. If he were the commander-in-chief of either place in these two places, he would never give Tiger Character Banner a chance to increase its strength.
"What Dong Weng said is absolutely true." Xue Mu followed the other person's words and responded.
