Volume 1: The Wind Rises in Tumubao Chapter 27: Empty City Strategy
"During this night attack, the Ming army lost at least half of their catapults. If our army takes this opportunity to launch a general attack, they will definitely not be able to defend against it with their current strength! "
Boyan came to Yesen's tent with a big grin on his face, full of joy, as if he had seen the dawn of victory.
"good!"
Yesen nodded in satisfaction, then asked, "What time is it now?"
Boyan replied: "It's already past the third watch!"
Yesen thought for a moment and said, "There is no time to lose. Pass the order. Cook at 4am and attack at 5am!"
Orders were passed down one by one, all the soldiers began to prepare, and the entire camp became busy.
The 100,000 men were divided into ten teams, each led by a captain and assigned corresponding attack routes.
Each team of ten thousand men was further divided into ten teams of one thousand men, and each captain of a thousand men had his own marching route. In this way, almost all the positions of the Ming army were covered.
As the sun slowly rose from the horizon, the gate of the Wala camp slowly opened, and teams of soldiers began to walk out slowly.
However, the soldiers in the front row immediately discovered that something was wrong on the other side of the river. The Ming army's position was five miles away on the other side of the river, but why could they see the catapults as soon as they looked up?
This distance... is at most two hundred steps!
Yesen and Boyan were also surprised when they heard the news. They mounted their horses and came to the Guishui River.
Sure enough, it was clearly visible that the Ming army's catapults were arranged in a row, more than 200 steps away from the east bank of the river.
The two men looked at each other and thought to themselves, the Ming army actually moved out all the remaining catapults overnight!
This thing is only good at defense, how come it can attack us?
Besides, the kiln where you burn lime is five miles away. Do you have to go back to get it after throwing it away?
This is unreasonable!
"Brother, what ?"
Yesen was also confused and said, "I don't understand. Logically, they should have defended. Why would they take the initiative to attack? It's very unreasonable!"
Boyan scratched his head and said, "Could it be that the little southern emperor has some trick up his sleeve?"
"I can't think of it!" Yesen shook his head and said, "Their trebuchets are temporarily assembled and of very poor quality. Fortunately, there are many trees over there, so they can make a new one when one breaks. However, there are few trees here, and there is no way to replenish wood. Also, their kiln for burning lime is not here. If a trebuchet breaks down, there will be one less, and if a pound of lime is used up, there will be one less. No matter how you look at it, it is not a wise move to take the initiative to attack!"
Boyan couldn't help but ask, "What should we do? Should we fight or not?"
Yesen looked at the army ready to go and felt uneasy.
"Someone, bring Wang Lin here!"
Boyan asked in confusion: "Brother, what do you want to do with that guy?"
"The Han people understand the Han people best. Wang Lin has many tricks up his sleeve. The surprise attack last night was his idea. Have you forgotten?"
Although Boyan was unwilling, he had to admit that he was not as good as those dog-like southerners when it came to plotting and scheming .
Soon, Wang Lin was brought forward and said with a smile on his face, "Master Yesen, General Boyan, what do you want me to do?"
Boyan pointed to the other side of the river and asked, "Tell me, why did the Ming army switch from defense to offense? What tricks were involved?"
Wang Lin stood on tiptoe to look around, and when he saw the catapult on the other side of the river, he became puzzled.
Boyan waited for a while, and when he saw that he didn't say anything, he said impatiently: "I'm asking you a question, are you deaf?"
Wang Lin still had a puzzled look on his face, and just murmured: "Abnormal, abnormal..."
Boyan couldn't wait and reached out to grab him, but was stopped by Yesen.
Wang Lin thought for a long time, then raised his eyebrows and said, "I know!"
"What do you know? Tell me now!"
“Master Yesen, General Boyan!” Wang Lin smiled respectfully at first, then said, “The Han people have a saying that when things are out of the ordinary, there must be something fishy. In my opinion, this is the empty city plan set up by the Ming army!”
"Empty City Strategy?" Boyan was puzzled and asked, "What does it mean?"
At this time, Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms was already very famous, especially for some history and military enthusiasts, who were familiar with the classic scenes in the book.
Boyan was a rough man and naturally didn't understand the ins and outs of it. However, Yesen liked Han Chinese things very much, including Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Therefore, when Wang Lin mentioned the three words "empty city plan", Yesen understood.
"Are you saying that the Ming army is bluffing?"
"Yes, this must be the reason!" Wang Lin nodded and said, "It is very unusual for the Ming army to abandon defense and take an offensive posture. I am sure that they suffered heavy losses in the surprise attack last night. The existing war preparations and supplies can no longer support them to fight, so they came to this place. Grand Master, this is the psychological tactic of the Ming army!"
Boyan finally understood and said excitedly: "Brother, give the order. We must capture the little emperor alive today to avenge my brother's glare!"
Although Yesen was always uneasy, he thought about it and could not find a more reasonable explanation for the Ming army's abnormal behavior except that it was a mystery.
Unless the Ming army is determined to use up all its resources to fight to the death with him.
Don’t forget, the little emperor is still in the formation, do they dare?
Seeing that Yesen was in hesitation, Boyan suddenly became very anxious.
Brother, could you please stop thinking about it? You always keep thinking about it and it delays things!
If we had decisively sent troops to form a pincer attack with Ala, would the situation be like this today?
"Brother, give the order!"
Yesen knew clearly that the Wala army urgently needed a victory to stabilize the morale of the army.
If the Ming army really used the empty city plan and escaped from under their noses again, it would be a huge blow to morale.
"Order, attack!"
Boyan was overjoyed, and immediately rode forward, shouting, "All troops, attack!"
The Wala army began to cross the river. The front row were all cavalry. The water level of the Guishui River today was much lower than in the past, just above the calves of the war horses. They waded across at a trot with almost no effort.
After landing, the formation began to deploy, and each group of troops attacked the Ming army positions at the same time according to the established route.
Bayan led the most elite cavalry and charged towards the Ming army positions.
However, just as they started to move, they saw the Ming army's position move.
To be precise, it was the stone-throwing machine that was activated.
whoosh!
puff!
A lime bomb fell from the sky and exploded beside Bayan. The familiar white dust flew all over the sky and quickly penetrated into the mouths, noses and eyes of the cavalry and horses, causing chaos in the formation.
"Don't be afraid, the Ming army doesn't have many lime bullets left, just follow me and keep charging!"
Encouraged by Bayan, the Oirat people regained their fighting spirit and continued to charge forward.
At the same time, lime bombs were thrown one after another, and the Wala people were once again trapped in the sky full of lime powder.
The Ming army's position was only two hundred steps away from the river bank, which meant that the Oirat people were within the attack range of lime bombs as soon as they landed.
As more and more lime bombs were thrown, the troops in the front began to riot, while the troops behind were still crossing the river, and suddenly a large-scale traffic jam occurred.
