Of course Zheng Yiluan couldn't take them all with him.
According to the plan, Cai Liang will lead a thousand security guards, militia and workers' guards to stay behind to prevent Wang Huaxi from making a surprise attack.
After the previous battles, the militiamen have realized the significance of the weapons in their hands, and it is more than enough for them to defend themselves with their own strength.
Zheng Yiluan led the internal security detachment and most of the security detachment, plus three thousand basic militiamen... After a winter of intensive special training, most of Tangshan's militia reserves have reached the standards of basic militiamen.
He will lead these 10,000 troops to attack!
Among them, two thousand served as logistics soldiers, and only eight thousand actually participated in the battle.
"Can't you bring more people with you?" Although Tang Hulu was still very reluctant for Zheng Yiluan to go with the flow, he hoped that he could stay in the position honestly and wait for the main force to go ashore.
With such a great achievement firmly in hand, not to mention being promoted to administrative level 6, even being promoted to administrative level 5 would not be a luxury.
But he now considers himself as a future senior executive of the group and reminds himself to have a bigger vision.
"You are going deep into the tiger's den, why don't you bring more men with you?"
"Haha, no need. I can't command too many people." Zheng Yiluan pointed to the three silver stars on his collar and refused with a smile: "I'm just a small colonel. I can't do the work of a general."
Tang Hulu couldn't help but roll his eyes. Here it comes again...
Excessive modesty is extreme pride!
"Do I have to go?" Tang Hulu still wanted to try.
"Mayor Tang, this is an order from the headquarters. Military orders are as powerful as a mountain!" Zheng Yiluan said sternly, "Besides, passively taking a beating is not the style of our soldiers! If someone offends me, I will offend him!"
"What if no one offends me?" Tang Hulu asked with a wry smile.
"Well, it depends on the situation..." Zheng Yiluan said after thinking for a moment.
"The headquarters does allow us to counterattack appropriately on the premise of maintaining stability." Cai Liang patted Tang Hulu's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I'll protect you here."
"Oh, okay." Tang Hulu finally stopped talking.
"But you must not get too carried away." Cai Liang warned Zheng Yiluan again. Without him to restrain him, he was really afraid that this guy would attack Beijing in one breath.
From the perspective of the combat itself, there is not much danger.
But our soldiers have been obeying military orders since their time as coast guards, not to mention that they are an internal security force.
If you cross the line, you will be sent to a military court...
"Remember, within a hundred kilometers, not even one meter can be added!"
"Don't worry, even a meter won't be more than a hundred kilometers!" Zheng Yiluan saluted gracefully. "For the people!"
"For the people!" Cai Liang also returned the greeting solemnly.
~~
In the Forbidden City in the capital, the roar of the Roaring Emperor was heard again in the eastern warm room of the Yikun Palace!
"You really have no shame! An army of 100,000 is attacking Tangshan, and you dare to withdraw without firing a single shot?!"
"That was an order. Attacking Tangshan was an order. How could they ignore my order? That's outrageous!"
"All those generals are disloyal cowards! Good-for-nothings! Traitors! I will torture them all to death!
"Everyone is deceiving me, including you! Is this how you serve as military supervisors? You too will be tortured to death!"
Hearing the voice that sounded like the roar of an evil spirit, the palace servants were silent, and many young eunuchs were frightened to the point of peeing. Because this meant that several of them would be beaten to death by the emperor to vent his anger...
I heard that many eunuchs who left the capital to deliver imperial edicts were beaten to death on the way. Now, if you leave the palace, you may be beaten with clubs at the foot of the imperial city... In the past, people castrated themselves just to enter the palace and have a stable job. Who would have thought that this profession would be so dangerous!
In the warm room, three eunuchs who supervised the army knelt at Wanli's feet with pale faces. While the emperor was tired of scolding, Hou Yong bravely said:
"Your Majesty, the officers and soldiers are cowardly on the one hand, but the rebels' artillery is too powerful! They fire accurately and quickly, and the shells fall on our heads like hail. No one can withstand it..."
"Yes, they also have guns that can hit the target without missing a target from 500 steps away. General Zhang is already very brave, but it is really like an egg hitting a rock, and there are heavy casualties!" Eunuch Pang also said with a stiff face.
He was not thanking Zhang Chengyin for not killing him. But with a powerful enemy at hand, the emperor might have to think twice before killing the general. But killing the military supervisors to vent his anger was something he didn't have to frown at.
"Bullshit! Bullshit!" Wanli was so angry that he threw the teapot, teacups, and snack plates on the table at the three eunuchs and said hysterically:
"Do you think I'm a fool? I've been practicing martial arts for five years! How could I not know that a musket can only hit me at a distance of fifty steps?! Five hundred steps! Why don't you say that they can shoot me directly at a distance of five hundred miles!"
"But Your Majesty, I saw it with my own eyes. It can really hit that far..." Eunuch Pang was almost crying and said to his two companions, "You saw it too, right?"
Hou Yong and the other man hesitated for a moment, but still shook their heads.
"Drag him out and beat him to death with sticks!" Wanli pointed at the poor eunuch Pang and decided to beat him to death first to vent his anger.
"You two!" Then he said to Hou Yong and the other two, who were like quails, "Immediately take the king's banner and the supervisory team back, remove their official positions, and sentence them to death!"
"Your Majesty, will this provoke a mutiny..." Hou Yong and the others' eyes went dark. Those soldiers had long wanted to kill them. Why didn't they immediately chop off their heads and say they surrendered to the enemy?
"I haven't finished yet!" Wanli said with a dark face, "Order them to make amends for their crimes and attack Tangshan City again! This time, fight to the last soldier and never retreat! Otherwise, I swear, I will kill all nine of their clans! No, ten clans!"
"Yes." The two eunuchs responded in a trembling voice, trying to save their lives first.
After the two military supervisors left, Wanli's cursing and the sound of things being smashed could be heard again in the warm room.
~~
Wanli was injured too badly.
He was confident that this time he would be able to achieve a great victory by using a sledgehammer to kill a chicken and turn the unfavorable situation around.
I didn't expect it to turn out like this. Now both public opinion and the war situation are even more disadvantageous...
Fortunately, he soon put the pain behind him because there was more exciting military intelligence that diverted his attention - just two days later, the front line reported that the rebels in Tangshan had actually left their lair and started chasing the Central Army!
"How many troops does the rebel army have?" Wanli stood in front of the map of the capital with a gloomy face.
"About ten thousand." Yin Bingheng, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp who came to report the news, replied.
"So few people?" Wanli's tense expression relaxed a lot and he asked, "Is the thief general planning to steal a chicken?"
"Not really." Yin Bingheng shook his head slowly and said, "Their pursuit speed was not fast, even a little slow. This is mainly because they were laying the rails while moving forward."
"Laying railroad tracks?" Wanli asked curiously.
"Yes, it is mainly used to transport their heavy artillery." Yin Bingheng frowned and said, "It seems like they are going to attack the city instead of stealing chickens with such a big effort."
"Attack the city?" Wanli's mouth twitched and he looked down at the map.
Yin Bingheng apologized, stepped forward and pointed at the map to explain: "Before, Xishan Group built a railway from Mentougou to Tangshan. Although we dismantled the railway last year, the roadbed is still there, so they only need to lay the railway again, and they can advance ten miles a day."
Wanli nodded and looked at the railway passing by the north of the capital, feeling a chill on his neck.
Although ten miles a day is not much, Tangshan is not far from the capital!
Moreover, the rebels don’t even need to attack Beijing, they can just kill us in Tongzhou!
Tongzhou is the end point of the Grand Canal. Most of the imperial court’s granaries are located there. Even the office of the Governor-General of the Granaries is in Tongzhou!
"They must be planning to attack Tongzhou City!" Wanli made a judgment and clapped his hands vigorously, saying, "It must be like this! No matter how arrogant the rebels are, they would not use only 10,000 people to attack the capital, right?"
"Yes." Yin Bingheng nodded. This number of people was indeed too few.
"So they deliberately pretended to attack the capital, frightening me so much that I withdrew all my troops to the capital, and then suddenly attacked Tongzhou!" Wanli pointed at Tongzhou on the map and said, "It is impossible to transport grain from the south to the north at the moment. The court relies on the 20 million dan of grain in Tongzhou City to stabilize people's hearts!"
"This is the intention of the rebel general. He wants to take advantage of the victory to seize Tongzhou! If he succeeds, the capital will be in chaos!"
Yin Bingheng nodded. No matter what, the grain in Tongzhou City is also the largest wealth of the court at the moment, and it must not be lost.
In fact, Zhang Juzheng left behind 30 million dan of grain, which means that 10 million dan of grain was lost. This means that every day after Zhang Juzheng's death, the grain stored in Taicang would decrease by 10,000 dan...
"We must not let them succeed!" Wanli punched the map heavily and said, "This scene reminds me of the tenth year of Zhengtong, when Yesen led the Wala army southward and also intended to occupy the Tongzhou granary first and then besiege Beijing."
"Your Majesty is right." Yin Bingheng nodded. He was an in-depth student of military history, so he naturally knew everything about the events before and after the Battle of Tumu.
"At that time, Tongzhou's warehouses stored about 19 million dan of grain. If this huge amount of strategic materials fell into the hands of the enemy, the consequences would be disastrous. So someone suggested setting fire to the warehouses immediately to prevent them from providing aid to the enemy. However, Yu Shaobao, who was in charge of the defense of Beijing, was unwilling to destroy the grain. He cleverly mobilized the people of the city and announced that anyone who could transport 20 dan of grain from the Tongzhou official warehouse to the official warehouse in Beijing would be given one tael of silver."
"As soon as this order was issued, all the soldiers and civilians in the capital were mobilized. On the official road from Beijing to Tongzhou, there were carriages and horses all day long, and torches were lit at night. In just a few days, millions of soldiers and civilians emptied the Tongzhou granary! The capital had stored enough food for the entire city's soldiers and civilians to eat for more than a year, and every household had food stored. As a result, people's hearts were at peace, and finally the defense of Beijing was won!"
"The situation was extremely critical back then, how can it be compared to now?" Wanli encouraged the other party and himself: "At least the three major camps are still there, and your emperor is still there! There is no reason why we can't get through this time!"
"Your Majesty is right!" Yin Bingheng nodded quickly. He thought that the latter one might not be a good thing. But he said loudly: "God bless the Ming Dynasty! It will surely be a blessing in disguise!"
"I have made up my mind!" Wanli finally pulled himself together and ordered, "Lord Yin, you will immediately lead the three battalions to move to the east of Tongzhou and line up with your backs to the North Canal!"
"Yes!" Yin Bingheng responded in a deep voice.