At noon on May 7th, Wang Yongji received a report from Tang Tong.
This is bad news.
After reading the contents of the Tangbao, Wang Yongji felt a chill on his back.
The appearance of enemies in Jinzhou is not scary. What is scary is that he cannot distinguish the authenticity of the information!
Because apart from the news that the Jiannu troops were approaching Yizhou and Li Chengdong led his troops south, all other news was mixed with various speculations.
If Li Chengdong was telling the truth, then Yuan Zongde must have surrendered.
If Tang Tong's guess is true, then Li Chengdong must have surrendered, but it is unclear whether Yuan Zongde surrendered.
After all, Li Chengdong could spread rumors that Yuan Zongde had surrendered, or he could cooperate with Yuan Zongde to put on a show.
Li Xingzhong picked up the newspaper and took a quick glance at it before saying in a deep voice, "The newspaper said that the Jiannu had several thousand soldiers, while Li Chengdong and Yuan Zongdi had a combined force of eight thousand. If they all surrendered... Tangtong and Jinzhou would be in danger!"
"Not necessarily," Wang Yongji quickly calmed down, "Whether it's the Jiannu, Li Chengdong or Yuan Zongdi, they all lack siege equipment. If Tang Tong chooses to defend the city instead of fighting in the field, Jinzhou will not be lost for a while, and the same goes for Songshan and Dalinghebao!"
"Then...what is the purpose of the Jiannu moving south from Yizhou?" Li Xingzhong asked with a frown.
"Disrupt our army's food supply and force the main force of the Ping Liao army to withdraw." Wang Yongji replied in a deep voice, "or surround and attack our reinforcements on their way back."
"Impossible!" Li Xingzhong shook his head vigorously. "The main force of the Jiannu is in the north. If we want to surround the enemy and attack their reinforcements, we have to move the main force to the rear of our army. But the main force of the Jiannu is in front of our army. Unless the Jiannu have wings, we can never do it."
"This is also what I don't understand." Wang Yongji fell silent.
Tang Tong, who was far away in Jinzhou, was also silent.
Because he received news from Li Shunzu.
Thousands of Jiannu cavalry appeared in the Liaoxi Corridor. Although Li Shunzu gathered troops to pursue and suppress them, the Jiannu did not engage in a head-on battle, but instead played a game of hide-and-seek.
The Ming army captured them and the Jiannu hid.
The Gaotaibao section of the Liaoxi Corridor is about sixty to seventy miles wide.
It was too difficult for Li Shunzu to find and defeat the Jiannu in such a wide area.
However, if the Jiannu were not defeated, the grain route would be unstable and the grain transport teams would be likely to be attacked at any time.
"Where is Li Chengdong?" Tang Tong asked the people around him.
"We are still in the Liushuibao area. We are neither advancing nor retreating!" someone answered.
"You are trying to lure me to Liushuibao to give up my life," Tang Tong sneered and ordered, "Send the news about Li Shunzu to the grassland, and ask Li Dingguo for help. He has more than 10,000 cavalrymen, the largest number of friendly troops nearby, no one else!"
When the news was sent out of Jinzhou, Wang Yongji had also made up his mind.
No matter where the main force of the Jiannu was, the main force of the Ping Liao army had to retreat from the grassland.
First of all, the Ping Liao army had already penetrated 300 miles into the grassland, which was deep enough.
Secondly, Jinzhou, Songshan and Dalinghhe Fort were the bridgeheads for the Pingliao army to enter Liao.
Nothing can happen here.
After deciding to withdraw troops, the question became how to do so.
On the grassland.
Infantry without cavalry are nothing more than sitting ducks.
The problem is that infantry marches much slower than cavalry.
The same distance of three hundred miles.
The cavalry only needed two to three days, while the infantry needed five to six days.
If he let the cavalry accompany the infantry, it would be unknown what would happen to Jinzhou and Songshan when he retreated back to the Great Wall.
Even if the defending general did not leave the city to fight from beginning to end and held the city, the food supply of the Ping Liao army would be cut off.
The army that was ultimately affected was the Ping Liao army.
But he couldn't withdraw some cavalry to support Jinzhou. After all, in his opinion, the main force of the Jiannu was on the grassland.
Once the cavalry is withdrawn, the Jiannu will take advantage of his insufficient military strength to launch a counterattack.
After careful consideration, Wang Yongji issued an order: "Inform all units, the tail of the team will become the head of the team, and the head of the team will become the tail of the team, and withdraw from the grassland immediately. When withdrawing, the infantry will be in front and the cavalry will be in the rear. There must be no mistakes!"
"Also, give an order to Huang Fei at Bijia Mountain, and order him to send a navy that is good at land warfare to rush to Jinzhou to ensure that Jinzhou is safe."
"Governor, Li Dingguo is just to the east of Jinzhou. Should we let him join the war?" Huang Degong suggested.
"No," Wang Yongji shook his head. "If the main force of the Jiannu is not in the grassland, then it must be in the east. Leaving Li Dingguo there is to deal with emergencies."
Following Wang Yongji's order, the Ping Liao army slowly stopped like a huge machine.
Then slowly turn around and drive back the way you came.
Late at night on May 8, Wang Yongji received bad news from Tang Tong and Li Shunzu again: Li Chengdong was motionless near Liushuibao, north of Jinzhou! Jiannu cavalry appeared in the Liaoxi Corridor, and Li Shunzu was short of troops and could not drive them out of the Liaoxi Corridor! "
"Governor, the Liaoxi Corridor is the food route for the entire Ping Liao army. Nothing can happen here! Should we send troops to support it?" Huang Degong personally came to Wang Yongji's tent and asked.
"We will definitely provide support, but not from Liaodong, but from the interior!" Wang Yongji came to the candlelight with his clothes on and his hair turning white. "There is a Guanning cavalry of more than a thousand people at Shanhaiguan, and Gao Jie's cavalry in Jizhou. We can temporarily transfer them to the Liaoxi Corridor for support."
Wang Yongji wanted to write a military order to the governor, but he put it down again after picking up the pen: "If nothing unexpected happens, the court and His Majesty will also know about the Liaoxi Corridor. They will definitely mobilize troops at the first opportunity."
After mumbling to himself, Wang Yongji picked up the pen again: "Well, let me write a military order, just in case the court doesn't mobilize the troops!"
With a swish sound, Wang Yongji wrote a military order and several letters.
The postman took the letter, left the camp, mounted his horse and galloped away.
The stars and the moon were moving in the sky, and the east was gradually getting brighter.
Woo!
Outside Xining Fort on the west bank of the Liao River.
As the horn sounded, Man Dahai set off with 40,000 troops.
In order to win this battle, Jirgalang handed over almost all his main forces to Mandahai.
He himself took a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people and Mongolians to act as bait on the grassland.
The 40,000-strong army first headed north to Wujiafen Village.
After confirming that there were no ambushes nearby, the army did not continue to advance northward, but turned west and headed straight for Dalingh Fort!
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