Finally, Wanli decided to appoint Wang Huaxi as the commander-in-chief to lead the 40,000 troops of Yongping Town as the left wing.

Du Tong was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief to lead 30,000 troops from Baoding as the right wing.

Zhang Chen was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief to lead 30,000 troops from Changping as the central route.

A total of 100,000 troops were divided into three routes to attack Tangshan City!

According to intelligence gathered by the East Factory, Tangshan City has a total population of 300,000 people, with only a security team of 4,000 people and no standing army.

Even if they really mobilized everyone to fight as they boasted, there would only be more than 30,000 but less than 40,000 militiamen.

How could a bunch of peasants possibly defeat the regular army, and the elite soldiers of the Beijing Guards? !

Moreover, Tangshan is located in the plain in front of the mountain, with a terrain that stretches from the road to the sea, and there is no strategic location to defend!

What's even more ridiculous is that Tangshan City didn't even have a city. Of course Wanli knew why. Tangshan was too close to the capital, and building a city was too taboo. Even if his father was the prime minister, he couldn't handle it.

In a battle on this kind of battlefield, when the cavalry charges, the firearms will just make a noise!

One hundred thousand elite soldiers versus forty thousand militiamen! Again, how can you lose when a flying dragon hits your face? !

Wanli confidently formulated the "Zunhua Battle" plan. He stipulated that the army would set out at the end of January at the latest, and completely razed Tangshan City before the end of February to thwart the rebels' attempt to land in Caofeidian!

After listening to Wanli's plan, Yin Bingheng hoped that the Beijing Camp could also participate in the battle, or at least send the Shenji Camp to offset the enemy's firearms advantage.

Wanli refused, "Why use a butcher knife to kill a chicken? How can you play your trump card right away? The Shenji Battalion is heading south. As for the rebels' advantage in firearms, there is nothing to worry about. Admiral Qi Jiguang has trained the four towns of Ji, Yongchang and Bao, and they have all been reorganized. The number of muskets and artillery in these four towns is no less than that of the Shenji Battalion."

"Yes." Yin Bingheng had no choice but to retreat.

The four generals came out of Huangji Gate and couldn't help but smile bitterly at each other.

But now the Dongchang thugs were too rampant, so they didn't dare to speak casually. They walked all the way to the empty square before Du Tong sighed and said:

"It's said that the emperor doesn't know military affairs, but he talks about it very clearly. It's said that the emperor knows military affairs, and he can make us march in the first month of the year."

"Yeah, this damn weather is unbelievably cold!" Wang Huaxi touched his moustache. It was already frosted after just a short while outside.

Wouldn't it be fatal to march and fight in such weather? How could there be any morale?

In fact, Wanli originally planned to send troops before the New Year. He planned to imitate "Li Su's entry into Caizhou on a snowy night" and take over Tangshan City while the rebels were celebrating the New Year.

It was only after the four men urged them to do so, saying that the rebels had too many spies and it was impossible to hide their tracks, and that they might end up making matters worse, that Wanli reluctantly extended the deadline to the end of the month.

To put it bluntly, Wanli was indeed very concerned about military affairs, but he also did not treat soldiers as human beings...

"It should be warmer at the end of January," Zhang Chen said softly.

"It was cold in previous years, but I don't know what's going on these years. It's getting colder every year!" Yin Bingheng said worriedly, "It would be great if it thaws by the end of February."

"Or we can just delay it..." Du Tong said in a low voice.

"Don't even think about it," Wang Huaxi said calmly, "If you delay for one day, the eunuchs in charge of the army will have to ask for the king's order!"

"Damn it, I used to think civil servants were hard to serve, but I didn't expect eunuchs to be even worse." Zhang Chen cursed. This was the first time for his generation of soldiers to deal with eunuchs.

"Be careful with your words!" Wang Huaxi coughed, so as to prevent his deputy from dying before the mission was accomplished. Then he bowed to Yin Bingheng and said, "The admiral will have to take care of winter clothes, ammunition, and artillery."

Now there are no civil servants, and the warehouses of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Works are all controlled by the eunuchs. But the eunuchs know nothing and still have to listen to Yin Bingheng, the general who leads the Beijing camp.

"Don't worry, I can't fight with you, but I will definitely make sure you don't have to worry about anything." Yin Bingheng nodded and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, don't think too much, let's work together now to win this battle!"

"Yes!" The three of them clasped their fists solemnly.

No matter what, someone has to be loyal...

~~

Tangshan City.

Tang Hulu sometimes secretly sighed that personal struggle was indeed no match for the tricks of fate...

How come Tangshan City, which was once the envy of everyone and was the most comfortable and safest city, has suddenly become the front line?

Of course, most of the time, he had no time to sigh. This Spring Festival was destined to be the busiest and most anxious New Year in Tang Hulu's life.

Since the group ordered the first-level combat readiness, the entire city of Tangshan has entered a complete wartime state.

The militia workers' guard entered round-the-clock military training, and even the elderly and women began to learn rifle shooting.

All factories were turned over to the production of military supplies. Steel mills even went into three shifts, pouring molten steel day and night!

The Tangshan Farm Implement Factory also became an arsenal and began to pull barbed wire, produce gun barrels, bayonets...which were then assembled into muskets by the Tangshan Woodworking Factory.

Tangshan Foundry begins manufacturing cannons...

The Tangshan Fertilizer Plant was transformed into a gunpowder factory, producing tons of gunpowder every day...

The factory is full of skilled workers, equipped with complete lathe, milling and grinding equipment and scientific production standards. As long as the drawings are given, senior engineers will modify the production line and give some instructions, there is nothing that cannot be done.

If it hadn't entered the first level of combat readiness, Tang Hulu would have had no idea that his own harmless city of Tangshan actually possessed such a terrifying ability to rebel.

However, he was still very nervous, because according to the intelligence provided by the Special Operations Group, the government troops would most likely launch a large-scale offensive against Tangshan before the beginning of the New Year!

Although Inspector Zheng, who was in charge of commanding the operation, oh, now called Colonel Zheng, told him to put his mind at ease, Tang Hulu was still very panicked.

The militia and workers' guards in Tangshan were all ordinary people who had never seen blood. No matter how good their weapons were or how hard they were trained, would they be of any use on the battlefield? He was really not optimistic.

"Fortunately, we still have Colonel Zheng and the others..." Mayor Tang couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

In order to ensure the success of the "Wild Boar Skin Hunting Operation" at the beginning of the year, Zhao Hao secretly dispatched 4,000 internal guards to Tangshan, ready to use the army to block Nurhaci if he escaped from the capital.

As a result, Nurhaci was unable to walk out of the capital upright, but his body was transported to Tangshan.

Tang Hulu originally thought that this internal security detachment would escort the target person's body away.

But the new order is that the Internal Security Detachment is stationed on the spot, with the mission of comprehensively improving Tangshan City’s war potential…

Tang Hulu was a little depressed for a while, because this was contrary to his goal of building Tangshan into the group's first economically strong city.

This bunch of energetic guys would always organize military training and would take away half of his male labor force.

When winter came and there was no farming season, he wanted to concentrate the farm labor force on the project, but they started a "large-scale military training" and dug ditches everywhere!

Tang Hulu was furious! Wouldn't it be better to dig ditches to build water conservancy projects? Digging up good roads and railways would delay the normal production of the coal and steel complex!

Unfortunately, Officer Zheng Yiluan was also a prominent figure. He was the second son of Zheng Ruozeng, the former senior advisor of the big boss. Moreover, the internal guards were the big boss's personal guards. He could only protest constantly and did not dare to make a big fuss...

Unexpectedly, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and Tangshan became the front line. This made Tang Hulu extremely ashamed, and he felt that he was too short-sighted to question the long-term planning of the group. But he was glad that he didn't rely on someone above to report the matter, otherwise he would embarrass his father and brother.

In order to repair his relationship with the Internal Security Detachment, he has been visiting the detachment's base quite frequently recently.

Just after the Chinese New Year, he came to express his condolences again with a large amount of pork, beef and mutton.

"Hahaha, Mayor Tang, welcome, welcome." Upon hearing the news, Zheng Yiluan and his partner, the detachment's police commissioner... now called the military commissioner... Cai Liang, came out to greet them with big laughs.

They won't bear a grudge against him. Isn't that nonsense? Who would bear a grudge against the son of a Level 2 administrator?

"Mayor Tang is so polite." Cai Liang is Cai Ming's younger brother. He is also very sociable like his brother. He smiled and clasped his fists and said, "We haven't finished eating the New Year's goods sent last time, and now so much has been sent again."

As he said this, he pointed at the first captain Liu Dan and the second captain Cai Yi behind him and joked, "Look at their waistlines. They are about to have pot bellies."

"It's too cold. I need to gain some fat to resist the cold." Tang Hulu smiled and patted his belly. "Besides, the war is coming. The people of the whole city will rely on our soldiers. We can't let you starve and become thin!"

"Haha, Mayor Tang, please tell the folks to just sleep peacefully and work hard!" Zheng Yiluan encouraged Tang Hulu again, "As long as we have our soldiers here, the enemy won't be able to cross the line!"

"Of course I have confidence in my soldiers." Tang Hulu said with a wry smile: "I am worried about the militiamen. Will they be able to perform well on the battlefield?"

"Mayor Tang said so." Zheng Yiluan invited him to go into the brigade headquarters to warm up, and said with a smile: "It's as if our detachment has been to the battlefield."

"Uh..." Tang Hulu almost fainted, and said with a dry laugh, "Commander Zheng is too humorous."

"I'm not kidding you. We are the Internal Security Brigade. What enemy can force us out?" Cai Liang also laughed and said, "We are really lucky this time!"

"Haha, what good luck!" All the officers were grinning from ear to ear.

"Okay, okay, I won't tease Mayor Tang anymore." Seeing that Tanghulu was about to cry, Cai Liang said seriously, "Don't worry, our detachment has never been to the battlefield, but all of our officers and soldiers are veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time!"

"Uh..." Tang Hulu was confused and was about to ask what this meant.

His eyes were drawn to the military map on the table.

He had taken military theory courses in school and could barely read a military map. Among the red and blue arrows of various sizes and shapes, a long red arrow stood out because it pointed in the direction of the capital.

"Oh my god, are you going to repel the enemy and then march directly into the capital?" Tang Hulu's jaw dropped to the ground. Is this reasonable? Is this reasonable? I was worried and couldn't sleep, but they were so arrogant that they wanted to become the emperor...

"No, no." Zheng Yiluan quickly rolled up the map and laughed dryly, "We just did some calculations when we were free. How could we be that capable?"

"Yes, yes, let's wait until the main force arrives next year. We can't steal the show..." The officers also laughed awkwardly out of guilt.