"The Governor-General of Ping Liao, Lord Wang Yongji, has issued a military order, ordering Li Shunzu to lead a thousand cavalrymen to Gaotaibao to investigate the military situation immediately. There must be no mistakes!"
"I obey your orders!"
After receiving the military order, Li Shunzu counted the troops and led them away under the watchful eyes of his uncle Li Xingzhong.
Before dusk, Li Shunzu arrived near Gaotaibao.
To his surprise, there were not many signs of fighting at the scene.
Led by a soldier, Li Shunzu met Cha Binxun.
"Deputy General Cha, how is the battle going?" Li Shunzu asked.
Cha Binxun seemed to have become deaf.
Not only did he hear nothing, he also stared at Li Shunzu's face as if looking for something.
Li Shunzu walked up and patted Cha Binxun's shoulder hard: "Are you deaf? I'm asking you a question!"
"Ah?" Cha Binxun woke up as if from a dream. He shook his head: "What did you ask me?"
"I asked you how the battle went!" Li Shunzu asked angrily, "I heard that you encountered Jiannu cavalry, and the governor immediately ordered me to come to support you! But you are just playing dumb here!"
"Oh..." Cha Binxun said apologetically, "Thank you for your concern, Governor-General. Thank you for your support, Brother Li! We only had a small-scale conflict with the Jiannu cavalry today, and no large-scale battle took place."
"What's the result? Who wins or loses?" Li Shunzu asked.
"It's a draw!" Cha Binxun replied, "The Jiannu's advantage is horseback archery, and our army's advantage is firearms and close combat. Both sides have suffered casualties."
"That's good! I didn't bring shame to His Majesty!" Li Shunzu calmed down and continued to ask, "Where are the Jiannu?"
"Retreat to the grazing area of the Mongolian Kalachin tribe!"
"Yes!" Li Shunzu breathed a sigh of relief. "Since the troops have withdrawn, I feel relieved. Is there anything else? If not, I will go back and report tomorrow morning."
"Uh..." Cha Binxun hesitated to speak.
"If you have something to say, just say it! You're so annoying all the nagging!" Li Shunzu started to curse.
Cha Binxun raised his head and began to stare at Li Shunzu's face again.
Li Shunzu was frightened by the stare and subconsciously took a step back, "You... I am a serious man and I don't do messy things."
Cha Binxun was stunned by Li Shunzu's words, and then realized the hidden meaning of Li Shunzu's words.
He glanced at the other person with disdain, then took a half step forward and whispered, "Today I personally led my troops into battle to kill the enemy, and ended up encountering a man who looked somewhat like you. This man is a general of a high rank, and his troops fly the flag of the Plain Yellow Banner and the flag with the character Li on it."
"Looks similar to me?" Li Shunzu asked with a frown.
"Yes!" Cha Binxun described the other person's appearance in detail.
After listening to Cha Binxun's description, Li Shunzu's heart beat faster.
However, he did not show any abnormality, but said calmly: "There are thousands of similar people in the world, there is nothing strange about it!"
"It seems to make sense!" Cha Binxun stopped asking questions and invited Li Shunzu to have dinner together.
The sky darkened and then brightened, and Li Shunzu led a thousand cavalrymen back to report.
When he caught up with the main force, the Ming army had already used the old method to cross the Yantai River, passed through the remains of Ningyuan Zhongyouso, and headed towards Ningyuan City!
Ningyuan City was first built in the third year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty and was originally the Ningyuan Wei City.
The circumference of the city wall at that time was five li and one hundred and ninety-six steps, the city wall was three zhang high, about two zhang wide at the bottom, and about one and a half zhang wide at the top.
The city wall is made of giant stones mixed with rammed earth, and is paved with blue bricks on the outside. Strictly speaking, it is a brick and stone city.
There are four gates in the city, namely Weiyuan Gate in the north, Chunhe Gate in the east, Yanhui Gate in the south and Yongning Gate in the west.
The third year of Tianqi.
Yuan Chonghuan, Zu Dashou, Man Gui and others repaired Ningyuan City and built an outer city outside the city with rammed earth.
The outer city is nine li and one hundred and twenty-four steps long, the city wall is thirty feet and two feet high, the bottom of the city wall is thirty feet wide, and the top is twenty feet wide.
There is a moat outside the city, which is ten feet deep, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight feet in circumference, and about twenty feet away from the city wall.
If Ningyuan City only had these defensive measures, an isolated city would not be able to stop the Eight Banners.
The key to stopping the Eight Banners Army is the terrain.
Ningyuan City is surrounded by mountains on three sides and water on three sides.
If you want to attack Ningyuan from Liaodong, you must advance from two mountain roads in the northeast.
After passing the mountain road, the army will come to an open area.
Although the terrain here is flat, it is impossible to attack the city directly and we need to go around to the northwest of Ningyuan City.
Why?
Because Ningyuan City is surrounded by two natural rivers.
(The Liaodong Military Commissioner in the Ming Dynasty Unified Records records that the Ningyuan River originates from the valley in the northwest of Ningyuan Guard, flows south to the west of the city and splits into two branches, which surround the city walls and merge into one, flowing south into the sea.)
The march route is red, the river is blue, and the siege direction is black. There is a Juehua Island on the right side of the sea, which was the base for the Ming army to store supplies and was garrisoned by the navy.
The east wall of Ningyuan City is less than one mile away from Ningyuan East River, and the west wall is less than two miles away from Ningyuan West River (one mile is 576 meters).
To attack the city from these two directions, one needs to cross the river first, then land, and finally attack the city.
The entire process was within the range of the Red Cannon.
Attacking the city from here is like hitting a rock with an egg.
The south of the city is where rivers converge, which is not only within the range of the Red Barbarian cannons, but is also a dead end.
It would be fine if the siege goes smoothly, but if it doesn't, we will be faced with a situation where we have no way to retreat.
The only way is to attack the city from the northwest.
However, there is a mountain in the northwest direction. Although it is not large, it makes the originally wide road narrow.
Marching from here not only requires bypassing the mountains, but also considering whether there are ambushes in the mountains.
Under the influence of multiple terrain factors, Ningyuan City has become a fortified city!
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