It is about two hundred and fifty miles from Shanhaiguan to Ningyuan.
If you drive on the highway in later generations, it will only take more than an hour. According to ancient calculations, you can get there in about half an hour.
But during this period, the cavalry march usually lasted sixty miles a day, and it took about four or five days to reach Ningyuan City.
This gap is really not that big!
During this process, the Jianlu at Guangning's center and rear post and Ningyuan's center and right post were all as dumbfounded as the Jianlu at Guangning's front garrison. The Ming Dynasty's cavalry army of about 20,000 came in force, then ignored them and continued marching eastward towards Ningyuan.
At first, when they saw the Ming cavalry, they were shocked, thinking that the walled city in front had been demolished by the Ming army.
Not long after receiving the news, it was captured by the Ming army?
But when the Ming cavalry went directly around, they suddenly realized that the Ming army did not attack the walled city in front at all, but just crossed over!
They really can't understand this situation.
When marching and fighting, the retreat is most important. Generally speaking, you must attack the city and ensure the safety of your retreat before you can continue to advance.
However, not only did the Ming cavalry suddenly appear, they actually ignored their fortresses and just crossed over!
What's happening here?
They couldn't figure it out and didn't dare to make any changes.
One is that they are worried that the Ming infantry will appear, and the other is that there are more than 20,000 cavalry in their rear, and no matter how much they believe that the Qing Dynasty is invincible, they dare not go out.
Just like that, they could only huddle in the walled city and wait for further developments.
………………
On the Ningyuan City side, the abnormality of the Hailu Ming Army finally attracted Turge's attention.
After all, the Ming Dynasty navy could not be idle. For about a month, so many ships traveled back and forth from Shanhaiguan to Juehua Island.
In addition, no matter how hard the Ming army tried to cover it up, the signs that the number of people on Juehua Island was increasing were finally observed by Ningyuan Jianlu.
It can be said that if it were not for the incident in Shengjing, Turg would probably have paid attention to the abnormality of the Ming army earlier.
That afternoon, he was on the side of Ningyuan City near the sea, looking in the direction of Juehua Island, and listening to the reports of the situation from his subordinates arranged here.
"According to reports from coastal sentries, Ming ships have stopped coming and going in the past few days and have stopped. This is very abnormal!"
Turge frowned immediately when he heard this, and immediately asked: "How many days has this been abnormal?"
It was precisely because Ming ships had been coming and going for so many days that they felt it was normal. Suddenly, the Ming Dynasty ships stopped at Juehua Island and stopped going back and forth, but they felt strange.
"Three days!" His leader immediately reported, "Today is the fourth day!"
After answering, the leader asked again: "Sir, do you think that the Ming army on Hua Island is almost ready and want to make a sneak attack on the hinterland of Liaodong?"
He never thought that the Ming Dynasty would attack Ningyuan City, which was heavily guarded by the Qing Dynasty.
Turge was surprised when he heard this and said: "Why didn't you report it earlier?"
Because just two days ago, the Eduotai of the former garrison in Guangning sent a horse to report, indicating that the country seemed to have signs of attacking the former garrison.
At first, Turg was nervous, but since there was no follow-up report, he thought it was just the night-busting fight a while ago, only on a larger scale, so his thoughts were still on Shengjing.
Now combined with the abnormality of the Ming Army at sea, he suddenly remembered the express report from Guangning's former garrison.
What on earth is the Ming army trying to do?
This doubt flashed through Turge's mind?
As one of the eight Jianlu ministers, and as the chief general guarding Ningyuan when Jierhalang was away, he certainly knew some things that ordinary Jianlu didn't know.
For example, he is qualified to understand most of the situations mentioned by Hong Chengchou.
In the Battle of Songjin, the Ming Dynasty mobilized all the troops within the pass to rescue Jinzhou, which was besieged by the Qing Dynasty. In the end, the entire army was annihilated. After this battle, there was no longer a decent army in the Ming Pass!
However, it has only been about two years, and there are still bandits making trouble everywhere in the Mingguo Pass. Under such a premise, he did not think that it was possible for the Ming Dynasty to organize a large-scale attack on the Qing Dynasty!
Taking a step back, if the Ming Dynasty really wanted to launch a large-scale attack, why did it need to abandon the important town of Ningyuan in the first place?
Because Turge really couldn't understand these actions of the Ming army!
He was thinking about it when suddenly, he saw a scout horse rushing up to the top of the city, panting and reporting to him: "My lord, it's not good. The Ming Dynasty has arrived at Ningyuan Zhongyou Station without collecting thousands of horses at night!"
Upon hearing this, Turge was immediately shocked: Why did thousands of knights arrive at Ningyuan Zhongyousuo without stopping at night? Why is there no news from the first few cities? Because the Tanma making the report in front of him belongs to Ning Yuancheng.
In the past, there had never been such a large number of Ming troops who refused to collect at night.
Based on various abnormalities, Turg suddenly felt pressure.
So, he immediately returned to the Yamen and began to mobilize his troops and generals. He sent a large number of scouts and horses towards Shanhaiguan to find out what the Ming army was doing!
However, before Turg calmed down and thought about the abnormality of these days, another subordinate rushed in and reported to him: "Sir, the Ming Navy of Juehua Island has mobilized in large numbers, heading north along the coast. go!"
When Turge heard this, he immediately frowned and asked, "Is it the Ming Navy that is making up mysteries again?"
In the past, the navy of the Ming Dynasty swaggered north along the coast, more than once or twice. However, in the end, they still returned to Juehua Island, just to make things mysterious.
Naturally, his subordinates were not sure of the answer to his question.
After Turge heard this, he went to the top of the city again to see the situation.
Ningyuan City is located to the northwest of Juehua Island. If the Ming army on Juehua Island wants to go north along the coastline to the hinterland of Liaodong, they will inevitably pass through Ningyuan City.
After reaching the top of the city, we could indeed see the densely packed Ming Dynasty ships on the sea, heading north in a mighty manner.
What on earth are the Ming army doing?
This thought flashed through Turge's mind again, and he felt a little annoyed.
Just when something happened in Shengjing, the Ming army also came to join in the fun, which really upset him.
While he was hating the Ming army, he saw a horse galloping from the coastal defense line. He shouted to him at the foot of the city: "Sir, the water line of the Ming navy is very deep. This time it is really true." It’s over!”
The navy of the Ming Dynasty played tricks several times, and finally the Jianlu discovered the problem, that is, the waterline of the Ming Dynasty ships was very shallow, indicating that there was nothing in the boats, so they no longer paid attention to the tricks of the Ming Kingdom ships. After this, Ming ships made no movement further north.
This time, seeing the Ming Navy marching northward again, after reporting the situation to Turg, the experienced Jianlu took a closer look at the waterline of the Ming ships, and hurried over to report again.
When Turge heard this, he was shocked and quickly sent an order to send people to the Zhongzuo Station in Ningyuan, asking them to send people to Wanghaitai to carefully observe the movements of the Ming Navy. At the same time, people should also be sent to the hinterland of Liaodong to provide early warning.
"Report..."
Before Turge had finished dealing with the situation of the Ming army at sea, another spy horse came galloping towards him. One look at that, and you knew there was an emergency military situation.
"A large number of Ming cavalry troops were found at Ningyuan Zhongyou Station, at least about 5,000 cavalry. The follow-up situation is unknown!"
When Turge heard this, he was immediately shocked. About five thousand Ming cavalrymen had arrived at the Ningyuan Zhongzuo Station. What happened to the front garrison in Guangning? Why is there no news about Eduotai? Could it be that it has been surrounded by the Ming army?
At this time, Turg finally felt that the situation seemed serious.
Although he felt that it was possible for the Ming army to counterattack, it was theoretically impossible. But the urgent report heard now proves that the Ming army is indeed making big moves.
Therefore, he immediately ordered Ningyuan City to be on alert, gather troops, and prepare to rescue several villages including Guangning's former garrison.
In Ningyuan City, there are 3,000 Mongolian Eight Banners and 2,000 Manchu Eight Banners, making a total of 5,000 cavalry troops. There are 5,000 Korean artillery soldiers and 10,000 Han soldiers under the Eight Banners. These are all infantry or artillerymen. The armies of other tribes are probably around 4,000.
Guangning's front garrison has about 3,000 troops, the Guangning Center and Rear Post behind it has more than 2,000 troops, and the Ningyuan Center and Right Post closest to Ningyuan City has only about 1,000 troops.
In total, Jianlu deployed a total of about 30,000 troops in Ningyuan's defense system.
Turg led all the cavalry and mobilized 10,000 infantry, and hurriedly gathered to prepare to go out of the city for rescue. As a precaution, he also sent a messenger to inform Jinzhou of the situation in Ningyuan as soon as possible.
However, before he had time to leave the city, another scout horse came galloping towards him and reported to him: "Sir, the navy of the Ming Dynasty has not yet arrived at Wanghaitai, but it docked in front of Zhaier Mountain Fort and landed there on a large scale. Got it!"
"What?" Turge was very surprised when he heard this. The Ming Navy actually landed?
Zhaier Mountain Fort is a place between Ningyuan City and Ningyuan Zhongzuo Station. Where did the Ming Navy land? Could it be that they want to occupy it?
With this thought in his mind, Turg was shocked again!
Because as soon as he put the entire situation together, he found that an unknown number of Ming troops were fighting out of Shanhaiguan on land. But now, the Ming army from Juehua Island suddenly landed again. This posture seems to be...
Thinking of this, Turg felt a little stunned. Because he came to the conclusion that the Ming army's intention seemed to be Ning Yuancheng!
This...how is this possible!
You know, not only is Ningyuan City tall and strong, it is also where the Qing Dynasty stockpiled heavy troops.
According to past experience, if the Ming army wanted to defeat the 20,000 Qing army, it would have to dispatch at least 50,000 troops.
If Turge ordered to hide in Ningyuan City and wait for reinforcements, at least five times more troops would be needed to besiege them.
The Ming army is plotting against Ningyuan City. Is this crazy?
