"Please come in!" Li Xingzhong didn't care whether it was true or not and ordered hurriedly.
At this point, truth or falsehood is no longer important to him; what is important is hope!
A quarter of an hour later.
Li Xingzhong stared at Fang Dahong suspiciously and said, "No written letter, only a verbal message?"
"Yes! The bandits have a sentry every three steps and a guard every five steps, and the inspection is extremely strict. If you carry the letters with you, the consequences will be unpredictable if you are caught." Fang Dahong answered seriously.
"This..." Li Xingzhong hesitated.
Although he desperately hoped that Fang Dahong was not lying, no one knew whether he was lying or not.
If this was Li Zicheng's trick, then all the previous persistence would be in vain.
"What is General Huang's plan?" Regardless of whether the matter was true or not, Li Xingzhong decided to ask clearly first.
"Divide the troops, attack at night, and attack from both inside and outside!"
Next, Fang Dahong revealed Yin Hongsheng's plan in full.
King Zhou was only nine years old and could not understand these things at all, so he went straight back to sleep after eating his midnight snack.
Prince Zhao, the prefect of Daming Deng Xingwang, Li Xingzhong and several senior generals under his command stood in the room, pacing back and forth.
"Do you want to do it?" Deng Xingwang asked.
Li Xingzhong didn't dare to make a decision on his own, so he looked at Prince Zhao and said, "Your Highness Prince Zhao, what do you think?"
The King of Zhao said unhappily, "Don't look at me, I'm still a child. You are the general, and you have the final say on how to fight this battle."
"But...if we fall into the trap, we will be destroyed and our city will be destroyed."
"I'll die if I want to. Who's afraid of who?" King Zhao almost shouted, "What else can Li Chuang do besides killing people and setting fires? I'm a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty. How could I be afraid of him?"
Seeing everyone's resolute attitude, Li Xingzhong finally made up his mind: "Pass the order, take out all the stored food first so that the brothers can have a full meal, and then work together after the meal."
With the order given, the entire Daming Prefecture became busy.
Outside Daming Prefecture, the Shun army camp was as quiet as before.
When Li Zicheng was about to fall asleep, he heard hurried footsteps outside the tent.
After the guards gave permission, Liu Zongmin's voice rang out from outside the tent: "Your Majesty, Datong Pond News, Guanxian Pond News!"
The sleepiness that Li Zicheng had accumulated with great difficulty disappeared in an instant.
He put on some clothes casually, stood up, asked someone to light a candle, and said, "Zongmin, come in and talk."
Liu Zongmin lifted the tent cloth and walked in, just about to salute, but Li Zicheng stopped him with his hand: "No need to salute, tell me what's in the newspaper."
Liu Zongmin hummed, opened the newspaper, and read quickly in the candlelight: "Datong News, on the afternoon of June 30th, 60,000 Ming-Mongol troops surrounded Datong. Datong is in urgent need of reinforcements from the emperor."
"Military intelligence came from Guan County. Gao Jie's 30,000 troops appeared outside Guan County at the end of the afternoon today. The army did not enter the city but camped outside the city. Their intentions are unclear."
Datong? Ming-Mongol coalition forces!
Gao Jie!
Li Zicheng rubbed his blind left eye, the desire to fight burning in his heart.
He certainly didn't expect the Mongols to join the war! He also didn't expect the Mongols to help the Ming army.
However, this does not affect his strategy.
Thinking of this, Li Zicheng sneered: "Although the Ming-Mongol coalition army is large in number, there are definitely more Mongolians and fewer Ming soldiers. Datong is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Mongolians are good at field battles but not at attacking cities. He Jin will definitely be able to defend the city with his strong city."
"Reply...Reply to the Emperor, the Ming-Mongol coalition forces, like our army, are surrounding but not attacking! The food and grass in Datong City are only enough for one month." Liu Zongmin said in a low voice.
The besiegers besiege without attacking, and the defenders are short of food and fodder...
It sounds so familiar! It's exactly the same as the situation in Damingfu where they besieged!
But on Datong's side, the attacking and defending sides swapped positions!
"Hahaha!" Li Zicheng laughed.
He is not afraid of the Ming army!
On the contrary, he preferred to fight a field battle with the Ming army.
The main reason for the previous defeat in the Battle of Beijing was that it was difficult to attack but easy to defend. Facing the strong fortress of Beijing and its powerful artillery, the strength of his soldiers was restricted by the city walls.
To put it bluntly, an ordinary civilian on the city wall could tie up two or three Dashun soldiers.
It's so unfair.
Now both sides are standing at the same level, and it is still unknown who will win and who will lose.
As for Gao Jie, Li Zicheng asked: "What day is today?"
"Your Majesty, today is the fourth day of July," Liu Zongmin replied. "The news of Datong was first sent to Pianguan County, more than 400 miles away, and then sailed down the river. It was only sent to Daming Prefecture after landing in Zhengzhou. Four days was the maximum time it took."
"If we go upstream...I'm afraid twenty-four days won't be enough."
Liu Zongmin was reminding Li Zicheng that if the war in Daming Prefecture could not be resolved quickly, Datong would be lost.
If Datong is lost, Ningwu Pass will be exposed to the Ming-Mongol coalition forces.
This is not the worst news. The worst news is that if Ningwu Pass is also lost, the entire Shanxi will be indefensible.
Li Zicheng certainly knew this truth. After a brief thought in his mind, he asked, "How far is Guan County from Daming Prefecture?"
"About eighty miles."
“In time.”
"What does the Emperor mean?"
"Attack the city! Eat at the first quarter of the hour, gather at the second quarter, and march out at the third quarter. Divide the troops into two groups. Zongdi will lead his troops to guard the north to resist any possible attacks from Huang Degong's direction."
"Please mobilize 70% of your remaining troops to follow me in attacking the city. We must take Daming Prefecture within half a day!"
"The first thing to do after entering Daming Prefecture is to find silver. After getting the silver, do not stop there. Reorganize your troops and move south immediately to prevent Gao Jie and Huang Degong from joining forces."
"I obey the order."
Liu Zongmin saluted and left the central military tent, then asked the messenger to convey the military order to each camp.
The Ming army did not know that the Shun army was going to attack the city, and the Shun army did not know that the Ming army was going to break out.
Both parties were making their own preparations without knowing each other.
Before the hour of Chou, Yin Hongsheng and others had already made preparations.
They were ready to go with oil-soaked torches, various flammable materials and new weapons.
"Wait..." Yin Hongsheng lowered his voice and said, "There are footsteps outside."
Before everyone could react, a shout came from outside the tent: "Stop sleeping, get up and eat!"
"After dinner, let's go to Daming Mansion to rob silver and women! If you rob silver, you will split it in half with the court, and the women you rob will be yours!"
"At one quarter of the morning, eat; at two quarters, assemble; at three quarters, march out! Only rations are allowed; no fires are allowed. Violators will be executed immediately!"
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