Xiao Ruxun, who was tired of the journey, had just arrived in Kaiyuan. Ma Chengxun had already made all preparations before the expedition. Three thousand Majia soldiers and 30,000 guards and Liaohai guards were responsible for their respective responsibilities. Ma Chengxun served as the main force of the cavalry. They followed Xiao Ruxun into the battle, and the two guards were responsible for taking over the defense after Majiada's troops left the fortress.
There were also two additional reinforcements: the Hada Department sent 1,500 cavalry after receiving Ma Chengxun's notification, and the Jianzhou Right Guards also sent 500 cavalry. The five hundred cavalry of the Jianzhou Right Guards are a bit interesting. They had not long since established the garrison and had limited financial resources. They originally sent five hundred infantry, but the Hada tribe's camels were too emaciated to be bigger than the horses, so they temporarily lent them a batch of horses, but in the end they were transferred Became horse infantry.
Although the 500 people brought out by the Jianzhou Right Guards were not many in number, they were basically the elites from the early days of Nurhachi's army. They were actually capable of fighting on horseback, but they were in a bit of a quandary at the moment, with some people and no horses, so they got the horses temporarily borrowed by the Hada Department. After that, it can be done on foot or on horseback.
Ma Chengxun himself planned to lead 3,000 troops. After adding the two supporting troops of Hada and Jianzhou Youwei, it would become 5,000 cavalry, which was quite strong.
Xiao Ruxun originally only had 5,000 cavalry here, and they were plundered from the entire east of the Liao River. There were some guards from each state. Individually, almost all of them were the elite servants of the generals in various places. But whether they could form a good whole, then It also depends on Xiao Ruxun's integration ability.
Looking at it this way, it seems that some masters are indistinguishable. After all, Xiao Ruxun is the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, and Ma Chengxun is just the chief military officer. The two men have about the same amount of troops, which may lead to some disputes.
Fortunately, Gao Pragmatic intervened to change the situation. Four thousand Jinghua cavalrymen directly joined Xiao Ruxun's command, doubling Xiao Ruxun's direct strength almost instantly, and Jinghua's cavalrymen were all trained and equipped according to unified standards, that is, It can be regarded as a whole, and it is very suitable for serving as the core of the Chinese army or as the vanguard.
Xiao Ruxun's choice was to let Jinghua Cavalry serve as the core of the Chinese army. The main reason why he did this was not purely military considerations, but more importantly, he was worried that using the Jinghua Cavalry as the vanguard might lead to heavy casualties, and he would be embarrassed to face Ondo-sama.
Although Gao Pingshi didn't mention these things at all when he handed the cavalry to him, in China, being a person is often more important than doing things. If the leader's own interests are compromised, everyone will feel that they are going to be ruined.
Once the two armies were assembled, Xiao Ruxun had 9,000 and Ma Chengxun had 5,000. The total was 14,000, exceeding the 12,000 that Gao Pragmatic had previously expected.
After waiting for another two days, Ye He's elite main force also arrived. It was a coincidence that the two Baylors from the two cities in the east and west each brought their own elite 3,000 cavalry, which was exactly 20,000 after joining the main force of the Ming army.
Although there are only 20,000, they are all cavalry and elite. It should be said that they are also a very powerful force. Considering that Li Rusong in western Liaoning still has 40,000 cavalry, the cavalry force that can be used in the entire Liaodong at this moment can be regarded as as high as 40,000 to 50,000, which is indeed much stronger than twenty years ago - after all, this assembly is relatively hasty. If there is enough time, it is actually not difficult for Liaodong to gather another 10,000 mounted Ming troops.
In other words, even if Jinghua, Ye He, and Hada are not counted, Liaodong's approximately 200,000-strong army already has around 60,000 cavalry, accounting for one-third of the total. Their strength, especially their field capabilities, is considerable.
Xiao Ruxun asked the general's opinion on how to rescue Horqin in the pre-war military meeting. Ma Chengxun was as "reckless" as ever, thinking that although Tumen Khan had not heard the news of the advance, as long as the previous intelligence was true, at this moment Tumen should have already moved, either on the way to Horqin, or planning to snipe our army first.
Generally speaking, since the other party may come to snipe our army, of course we should be cautious and be prepared for sneak attacks at any time. But Ma Chengxun's view was just the opposite. He believed that they should move forward quickly with a wide range of outposts and try to reach Horqin as early as possible to join the main force of Horqin's troops.
From his point of view, Horqin will definitely not be in a state of waiting at this moment. They must be fully prepared and prepared. According to the agreement, they should want to move southeast to try to get as close as possible to Kaiyuan and Ye He. The two cities formed a cornering situation.
In other words, after the Ming-Manchu coalition forces leave the fortress, they should not be too far away from the main force of the Horqin tribe. If Tumen wants to ambush our army, they will actually be between the two armies. As long as Horqin's reaction is not too slow, they will have a good chance of catching up and forming an encirclement trend after the Ming-Manchu coalition forces engage in battle with Tumen.
Although it is said that if Tumen sends more troops, this encirclement may not be able to encircle the opponent. Although the number of people is important in war, the "situation" is sometimes more important. Generally speaking, any army that is outflanked or surrounded will naturally waver and easily lead to a rout.
Moreover, even if he can hold on, his commander may not dare to take such a gamble, and will often choose to withdraw his troops proactively, first striving to ensure that his side will not be in danger of defeat.
Therefore, what determines success or failure is the speed of the Ming-Manchu coalition's troop dispatch. The faster the advance, the shorter the time left for Tumen Khan to carry out ambushes and sneak attacks, and the longer time left for Horqin to attack from inside and outside. Abundant.
Yehe Dongcheng Beile Nalinbulu, West City Beilebuzhai and Hadabele Menggebulu also agreed with this view. Wu Erkun, the leading general of the Jianzhou Right Guard reinforcements, said that everything is based on military decisions, and he himself does not hold Attitude, just do as you are told.
However, there are also people who oppose this method of marching. For example, You Shigong, the former garrison of Yansui Shuangshan Fort and the current garrison of Qinghe Fort, has different views.
He believed that since the purpose of this expedition was to rescue Horqin, Horqin himself should be more proactive. They could not just wait in their own territory. Instead, they knew that the Manchurian coalition forces were rushing here at the risk of being sniped. But in the end, the great success of "surrounding" Tumen's troops was lost to Horqin.
In his opinion, the Ming-Manchu coalition forces and the main force of Horqin should switch their tasks. The Ming-Manchu coalition forces would stop as soon as they leave the fortress and ensure their own safety first, while the Horqin troops would take the initiative to join the Ming-Manchu coalition forces.
According to his idea, in this way, the Ming-Manchu coalition forces would first ensure their invincibility, and in defensive battles - even in field defensive battles, the advantage would always be in the hands of the Ming-Manchu coalition forces. Even if Tumen Khan knew If you get the news, you may not kick this iron plate, so the situation will naturally be reversed.
That is to say, Tumen couldn't find the opportunity to sneak attack the Ming-Manchu coalition forces, so they had to look for Horqin's bad luck. Horqin would definitely come to join the Ming-Manchu coalition forces, so the place where the battle broke out would not be too far from the Ming-Manchu coalition forces' station. Once the battle started, As long as the sentry scouts on the Ming-Manchu coalition are reliable, they can quickly learn about it and rush to attack in a pinch - in short, the positions of the Ming-Man coalition and Horqin are reversed, and the degree of danger they face is also reversed.
In this way, you can get the most credit and minimize the losses, which is the best of both worlds.
This view was supported by a large number of Yansui trilateral generals, and Xiao Ruxun himself was quite tempted by it, because he knew that You Shigong's view was actually the most considered by the Shaanxi trilateral generals.
Why do you say that? The situation of generals from the three sides of Shaanxi taking turns in Liaodong is not particularly high. However, after the Northwest War, Gao Pragmatic almost had the dominant power of the main generals in the entire nine-sided system, so that he could judge from the height of the entire nine-sided system. To deploy forces, a large wave of trilateral generals were transferred to Liaodong.
In addition to Xiao Ruxun himself, Gao pragmatic also took the lead in the selection of the then Jizhou Yanhe Battalion Staff General Ren Ziqiang, Datong Town Central Army Camp (with the same guerrilla title) Gao Ce, Datong Guards guerrilla Shen Dong, Xuanfu East Road guerrilla Jiesheng (Mongolian), Datong Ninglu Fort garrison Paosai (Mongolian), Ningxia Yuquanying garrison Dusong, Yansui Shuangshanbao garrison You Shigong, Datong Shoukou Fort garrison Yang Dengden came to Liaodong to serve, and all generals were The prospective servants will be at your disposal.
In fact, in Gao Pragmatic's mind, this group of people was preparing to enter the DPRK to fight, but because this matter could not be discussed in advance, the trilateral generals themselves did not know it. Of course, if you don’t know the purpose, you can only speculate. Therefore, they believe that the most likely situation is that Gao Pragmatic wants to firmly control the situation in Liaodong, lock down the Li Chengliang clique in western Liaoning from Jizhen and Liaoyang, and ensure that the pragmatic school controls the overall situation of the Nine Borders. The intensity does not diminish.
Since it was to strengthen control, it was obviously necessary to strengthen strength, so at that time, Gao Pragmatic gave these trilateral generals through the Ministry of War a very high servant rating - that is, they were allowed to recruit as many servants as were paid by the court.
How many posts have been given? Xiao Ruxun, the deputy commander-in-chief of Ningxia at that time, gave an additional 5,000 yuan to his servants. Ren Ziqiang, the commander of Yanhe Camp in Jizhou, gave 2,000 yuan to his servants. The Chinese army in Datong Town took charge of the camp, and Datong went to defend Shen Dong and Xuanfu. The three East Route guerrilla fighters were each given 1,500, and the guards at Datong Ninglu Fort, Bai Sai, Ningxia Yuquanying, Jun Jun, Yansui Shuangshan Fort, guard You Shigong, and Datong Shoukou Fort, Yang Dengden were each given 1,000. rated.
Therefore, based on the rated number of personnel, when the Ministry of War mobilized them to Liaodong, a full 15,500 servants were given. Even if Cao Yu later took away 5,000 servants to take office in Jizhen, the military strength of the generals of the Liaodong Practical Studies Department could still reach 40,000, exceeding or at least equaling the direct troops of the Li family army.
The guesses of the trilateral generals could not be wrong up to this point, because Gao Pragmatic did have such considerations, but then they began to become incorrect. The biggest misunderstanding is that the trilateral generals believe that under Gao Situ's layout, their primary purpose is not to lose strength or to lose as little strength as possible to avoid an imbalance in the balance of power between western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning.
But in fact, Gao Pragmatic didn't care too much about some changes in the balance of power at this time. The reason is that at the entire Jiubian level, the power of the Li Chengliang faction of the Practical School and the Xin School is crushed. The Xin School is not trying to maintain the Li family army. In turn, suppressing the generals of the Real School - at least at the moment, this situation is completely unrealistic.
What the Heart School wants to do is nothing more than to "leave an incense", not to lose all the right to speak in the entire nine-sided system and have no sense of existence at all. If there is no military presence at all, when border affairs are discussed in the court in the future, will the Xin School have no choice but to say nothing?
From Gao Pragmatic's point of view, certain losses are not unbearable, and he is not worried about replenishing the losses. The accompanying servants are paid by the court, and the standard of pay is much higher than that of ordinary guardsmen, almost three times or even higher than that of guardsmen, and their respective commanders will also find ways to give more rewards to win them over. Therefore, the treatment is excellent and there is no fear of not being able to recruit soldiers.
The reason why Jinghua can "command the heroes" is that in addition to its high pragmatic political power, there is no doubt that it also has strong economic strength. This kind of strength does not mean that Jinghua directly pays the generals. That is definitely not possible. It is at least bribery in nature. , it can even be regarded as evil intentions.
But Jinghua is a giant in both industry and commerce, and it provides too many cooperation opportunities. Generals who casually participate in a certain Jinghua business and become a part of Jinghua's supply chain can earn a steady stream of profits and have the ability to "pay subsidies" to their own troops.
So in this way, even if they lose their strength in a certain war, they can quickly be replenished in the rear, and it is basically impossible for them to be defeated - unless the entire establishment is wiped out, in which case it will be very difficult to recover. slow.
This battle to rescue Horqin seemed to Gao Pragmatic to be inevitable, so the issue of losses had already been taken into consideration. He believed that even if the battle was the worst, it would not lead to total annihilation.
The generals of the trilateral faction did not know Gao's pragmatic intentions. They just thought about the way to fight based on the safest situation. Although it may not be right, they cannot be wrong.
However, an anomaly emerged among the trilateral generals. Jun Song, the former garrison of Yuquan Camp in Ningxia and the current garrison of Zhenxi Fort, expressed different opinions.
Jun Song's view was actually more reckless than Ma Chengxun's. He believed that the purpose of this battle seemed to be just to rescue Horqin, but in fact it had a deeper meaning. Horqin was originally outside the Great Wall, and unlike Ye He, the core area was close to Kaiyuan, an important place of the Ming Dynasty. Their small Khan Court was far away from the Ming Dynasty border wall.
what does that mean? This means that every time the Tumen want to launch an attack on them, the Ming Dynasty has to travel hundreds of miles to carry out rescue. Once or twice may be no problem, but if it happens more times, the Tumen can completely wear down the Liaodong Army and waste their strength in vain. .
Therefore, Jun Song fiercely advocated: The key to rescuing Horqin is to defeat the main force of Tumen Khan. Even if it cannot be defeated at once, Tumen Khan will suffer heavy losses. He must understand that as long as he dares to attack Horqin, the Ming Dynasty will It will definitely break one of his legs! Only in this way can it be regarded as a deterrent to Tumen, so that he does not dare to act recklessly.
What Du Heizi said was actually very profound, and Xiao Ruxun also thought it made sense. However, Xiao Ruxun was a little skeptical. He currently only had 20,000 cavalry in his hands. He would definitely be in a weak position when facing the main force of Tumen Khan. It would be good if he could hold on. , what else are you talking about defeating, "breaking one of his legs"?
Juniper's answer to this was simple: "If the outcome can be determined by comparing the strength of both sides, why should I wait for these generals?"
----------
Thanks to book friends "KIKI Kai", "Dirty Dragon First Pot 2021", and "Old Bear 929" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
