Chapter 51 Defense Meeting
"It seems that what Aying said is true. There are indeed capable people in Songming City, and we really underestimated them." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled.
However, it didn't matter to Zhu Yuanzhang that he didn't get any information about Songming City. Now his arrow was on the string and he had to shoot it whether he wanted to or not.
What kind of confidence does Zhu Yuanzhang have? The former Yuan Dynasty was so powerful that even Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang combined were no match for him. He mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to take down a mere city. If he couldn't take it, then something strange would have happened.
So a day later, Zhu Yuanzhang's decree was delivered to the homes of Fu Youde and others, ordering Fu Youde and others to rush south and attack Songming City.
With an order from Old Zhu, the huge chariot of the Ming Dynasty began to move quickly. Nearly 500,000 troops began to assemble in Qujing Prefecture. At this time, Zhu Chong had no idea about his father's deployment.
At this time, Zhu Chong had already left Songming City with an army of 200,000 and 100,000 civilians, heading towards the area west of Yunnan and Yunnan.
After repeated surveys by Yu Jin and others, they found a location that met all the conditions for Zhu Chong to build a new city just the day before yesterday.
So at this moment, Zhu Chong took Li Xiuning, Yuan Chenghuan, Lin Shu, Changsun Shunde, Yu Jin and others, and led 300,000 soldiers and civilians to the destination.
On the other hand, in Songming City, led by Yuchi Gong and assisted by Huang Yueying and others, the daily life of Songming City continued as usual.
When the Ming army set out from Qujing Prefecture to Songming City, Zhu Chong also arrived at Wuding Prefecture, where the new city was located, near Dali, with his 300,000 soldiers and civilians.
Wuding Prefecture is adjacent to Sichuan in the northeast, Dali and Nujiang in the southwest, and is located at the junction of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Hengduan Mountains.
The terrain here is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, and the landform is complex and diverse. Like Songming City, it was once the main battlefield between King Liang and the Sichuan Red Turban Army. There is no one living within hundreds of miles, so it is a very good place to rebuild a new city.
Like the environment of Songming City, Wuding Prefecture has no shortage of water, resources, or land. Moreover, unlike the first time Zhu Chong built a prefecture in Songming, this time when he came to Wuding Prefecture, Zhu Chong had made sufficient preliminary preparations for building a new city.
Among the baggage of 100,000 civilians and 200,000 troops, a considerable portion was cement and various building materials. In order to build the city as quickly as possible, Zhu Chong also specially exchanged more than 100 outstanding construction talents.
With these talents and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians working together to build the city, the new city map designed by Zhu Chong was quickly built into a framework, with different changes taking place every day.
Just as the construction of the new city was in full swing, Fu Youde, Mu Ying and others finally arrived in Qujing Prefecture.
After Fu Youde and others arrived at Qujing Prefecture, they did not stay for too long. They immediately gathered their men and horses and headed straight for Songming City.
According to Zhu's plan, this time the army would be dispatched with 300,000 elite soldiers from the Beijing camp, plus the 200,000 troops previously in Yunnan and Yunnan, now commanded by Fei Ju. With a total of 500,000 troops approaching the border, the victory would surely be decided in one battle.
The news of the Ming army's attack quickly spread throughout Songming City. Yuchi Gong did not dare to delay and immediately convened a defense meeting on the top floor of the Victory Tower.
Now in Songming City, Yuchi Gong is the top military and political leader. Under him, Huang Yueying and Zhang Chunhua are in charge of civil affairs, Shangguan Wan'er and Liang Hongyu assist Yuchi Gong in managing military affairs, and Fu Shanxiang is the military advisor.
Secondly, there are the generals exchanged by Zhu Chong and left for Yuchi Gong to use, such as Pan Feng, the general of Hebei in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhou Cang, the big knife, Luo Shixin, the leader of the four fierce men in the Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, and Xin Wenli, the eight-horse general.
Therefore, even without Zhu Chong, Songming City still had many elite soldiers and generals. Any one of them would be a top-notch figure in the world today.
Yuchi Gong, now sitting high up in the main seat, looked around and asked calmly, "I'm sure you all have heard about the Ming Dynasty's attack. Now that our lord is away, we will be the only ones left to handle all the military affairs. Do you have any clever strategies to repel the enemy?"
Hearing Yuchi Gong's words, Luo Shixin, the leader of the Four Fierce Warriors, stood up and shouted, "General, we don't need any clever strategies to deal with the Ming Dynasty. Give me 10,000 soldiers and I will beat them to a pulp!"
"You sit down, and you all, keep quiet!" Yuchi Gong couldn't help but rub his forehead, ignored Luo Shixin directly, and glared at the other side. This made Zhou Cang, Xin Wenli and other generals who were eager to try stop and dared not say anything.
The generals that Zhu Chong left for Yuchi Gong were all good at charging into battle, but they were all impulsive and only knew how to show off their bravery, which gave Yuchi Gong a lot of trouble.
As a last resort, Yuchi Gong looked towards the female general, his eyes falling on one person, and he took the initiative to ask, "General Shangguan, do you have anything to say?"
Shangguan Wan'er and Liang Hongyu both served under Yuchi Gong as deputy generals. Based on Yuchi Gong's recent understanding of the two women, he certainly knew who to ask as the more reliable person at this time.
Shangguan Wan'er was a famous female official in the Tang Dynasty. Because of her intelligence and good writing skills, she was highly valued by Emperor Wu and was in charge of drafting imperial edicts in the palace for many years. At that time, most of the memorials from the ministers were decided by her for Emperor Wu, so she was known as the female prime minister.
It was precisely because of this that Yuchi Gong was impressed by her ability to make decisions and asked her the first question.
"General," Shangguan Wan'er stood up and bowed. "The Ming court is coming with great force this time, and with the lessons learned from the last time, they will surely be well prepared this time."
"Judging from the Ming court's previous battle records and tactics, Fu Youde, Mu Ying, and Zhu Di were all famous generals of their time, and their strength was extraordinary."
"The Ming army that arrived this time is also the elite of the Beijing Camp. According to intelligence, they also brought nearly half of the Ming court's firearms. Therefore, I believe that rashly leaving the city to engage in a field battle with the Ming army is a bad idea."
"If we don't fight the Ming army in the field, do we have to hide in the city and act like a coward?" Luo Shixin was immediately dissatisfied when he heard this.
Shangguan Wan'er retorted, "The Ming army excels at firearms. Their firearms have a long range, a high rate of fire, and great power. Compared to our Ma Jun crossbows, they are even more powerful. Fighting outside the city will only result in additional casualties and be of no use at all."
"General Luo, do you think that all our soldiers are as brave as you? If that's the case, it's not impossible for us to go out of the city and fight."
Luo Shixin was speechless after being interrupted by Shangguan Wan'er. After hearing this, everyone agreed that what Shangguan Wan'er said was the best strategy to defend against the enemy.
However, military commander Fu Shanxiang raised a different objection, "General, defending the city can certainly repel the enemy, but truly repelling the enemy is difficult."
"Although the Ming army has come from afar, they are fighting on their home turf. Qujing and other places are not far from Songming. Moreover, the Ming court has sent 500,000 troops this time, clearly determined not to give up until their goal is achieved. If the enemy attacks and we defend, this battle will surely be protracted."
"Our army is entrenched in the city, completely in a passive defensive posture. Without any external constraints, we can only passively take the attack. In my opinion, it would be better to send some troops to disperse outside the city to harass the enemy's food supply and other supplies to serve as a diversion."
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