gnovel Chapter 72 Decision Making
Chapter 72 Decision Making
When Li Chengye and his men withdrew from Yanchang County, they already knew some specific intelligence about the Shaanxi Standard Battalion. But now, even after receiving definitive information, they still felt immense pressure.
Although the enemy did not send out their entire battalion this time, they still numbered two thousand, including six hundred cavalry and one thousand four hundred infantry.
Moreover, they were the most regular Ming army, fully equipped with weapons and armor, and were on a completely different level from the garrison troops they had previously fought against.
Furthermore, hearing that Zheng Guangqiu's troops were defeated by them in just one encounter further reinforced and confirmed their impression of the army's fighting prowess.
After all, everyone knew that although their own troops had been well-fed and clothed recently, their armor was not so complete, and as a newly gathered force, it was somewhat difficult to confront a regular government army like the Standard Battalion head-on.
After much discussion, no one had any good suggestions.
At this point, Gao Jinze and other newly recruited sergeant commanders proposed:
"Should we temporarily avoid their sharp edge?"
This prompted Luo Dai to retort, "Temporarily avoid the limelight? Where to retreat to? To Qingyang Prefecture or Pingliang Prefecture?"
Liu Ye quickly smoothed things over, saying, "Brother Gao didn't mean that; it's just that the government troops are indeed very powerful right now."
"The government troops are indeed powerful, but we cannot retreat, nor can we escape."
After listening to them for so long, Li Chengye understood and then spoke up to express his opinion. The crowd stopped arguing and began to listen attentively.
"Have you ever wondered why the Shaanxi governor directly dispatched his standard battalion to suppress the bandits?" Li Chengye continued, "When Liu Yingyu suppressed bandits before, he was still able to recruit local soldiers."
As the governor of Shaanxi, wouldn't it be much easier for him to mobilize troops from other garrisons? Why is he only deploying the standard battalion now, without any other troops to coordinate?
The generals looked puzzled upon hearing this.
Li Chengye continued, "I previously learned from Yu Shideng that the new emperor has ascended the throne and the eunuch faction is about to be purged. Today, I learned from Li Hongjian that Wei Zhongxian has already been executed. The purge of the eunuch faction in the court has already begun."
"What does this have to do with us?" Luo Daidi asked, echoing everyone's thoughts.
What does what happens in the capital have to do with the bandits in Shaanxi?
Knowing that everyone was puzzled, Li Chengye continued to explain: "When the eunuch faction was powerful, which of the provincial officials in office did not sing its praises? Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, and is young and impetuous, he has decided to purge the eunuch faction. He will not tolerate those old ministers, and among them should be Hu Tingyan, the governor of Shaanxi."
There is another layer that Li Chengye has not mentioned.
From that memory from later generations, he already knew how harsh, stubborn, and suspicious the emperor, whose reign title was Chongzhen, was.
In his mind, everything in the world was either black or white, and ministers were either loyal or treacherous. He never understood "blending in with the world" and did not believe in "sharing weal and woe".
Throughout his reign, he had thirteen different Grand Secretaries, and very few of the six ministers served a full year.
"It's not that the Shaanxi governor doesn't want to mobilize troops from other garrisons, but that he can't." Li Chengye looked at Liu Ye. "Gangfu, do you remember the official document we copied at the Garden Post Station?"
Liu Ye's eyes lit up. "Is the manager referring to the document from Suide Guard requesting Xi'an Prefecture to supplement their equipment due to insufficient supplies?"
"Yes," Li Chengye nodded and continued, "In this year, civil unrest is frequent. The various garrisons are only willing to manage their own jurisdictions now, and they don't even have the motivation to open their eyes to look beyond their jurisdictions. Hu Tingyan should have issued orders to assist in the suppression not only to Suide Garrison, but also to garrisons like Qingyang Garrison."
Judging from their current actions, they are probably refusing to cooperate in the suppression, just like the Suide Guard, citing reasons such as insufficient equipment. Therefore, only his standard battalion can be mobilized now.
"Then, why don't we just hide now and wait until Hu Tingyan is dismissed?"
After listening to Li Chengye's analysis, everyone agreed. However, Cao Xianchong then made this suggestion: although he had become a bandit, he still wanted to avoid fighting with the government troops if possible.
"There's no way to avoid it," Li Chengye said, looking at Cao Xianchong. "Hu Tingyan sent men to suppress the rebellion in order to leave an impression of being concerned about the country and its people and being dedicated to his duties in front of the new emperor, all in order to gain greater merit. Therefore, his elite battalion must be eager for battle."
"Then let's fight him!" Deng Xian, who was usually so taciturn, finally spoke up tonight, drawing everyone's attention.
"Yes, only by defeating this battalion will the imperial court be wary, and only then can we enjoy a period of peace again."
Luo Dai also supported his old subordinate, speaking with a firm tone.
"Can we do it?" Some people still have doubts.
"We can do it!" Li Chengye replied. "As I just said, they currently lack supporting forces and are short of supplies. They are sending troops to collect food in various places while simultaneously gathering information about Yan'an Prefecture. We only need to take the initiative and concentrate our forces to attack their small groups that are out collecting food. By accumulating small victories into a major victory, as long as we can continuously weaken them, victory will surely be ours."
After the military meeting concluded, Li Chengye kept Liu Ye behind and asked, "Gangfu, do you think our scouting system should be reorganized?"
Liu Ye asked疑惑地问道, "Why would the shopkeeper have such an idea? Did Cao Xianchong and the others not investigate thoroughly enough?"
"No, no," Li Chengye waved his hand and said, "Cao Xianchong and his scouts are very thorough in their reconnaissance. But today's ambush on Li Hongjian has given me a wake-up call."
He then took out a book, which Liu Ye saw was "New Book of Effective Tactics".
"These days I've been reading Qi Jiguang's military book, which mentions 'five men per outpost, each outpost reporting news,' which divides outposts into front, middle, and rear outposts: the front outpost goes out to monitor, one person in the middle relays the message, and the rear outpost has two people, one on guard and one holding the stronghold. Within a ten-mile range, two more riders are added every five miles, so two riders for the first five miles, four riders for ten miles, until there are twelve riders. Compared with this method, our army's outpost deployment does seem rather crude."
He continued, "I was lucky today. Li Hongjian's men were gathered together and unprepared, which is why we were able to surround and capture them in one fell swoop. If the other side had set up scouts as described in the military treatises, the news would probably have leaked out this time."
Looking at the "New Book of Military Efficiency" in Li Chengye's hand, Liu Ye smiled wryly and said, "Qi Shaobao's book is excellent, but nowadays there are probably not many troops in the border army that can follow it."
"What do you mean?" Li Chengye pressed.
Liu Ye explained: "Whenever a large army goes out, it needs to scout at least thirty miles away. The vanguard is the Tang cavalry. Moreover, as the eyes and ears of the army, the Tang cavalry also need to be familiar with many flags and orders."
While ordinary cavalry could travel fifty li, the Tang cavalry would travel at least one hundred li, and they often clashed with the enemy first, resulting in heavy casualties once the battle began.
Therefore, the rewards and treatment for the Tang cavalry should have been the most generous in the army.
"However, border towns like Yansui Town, where I left, still have elite troops, but due to insufficient food and pay, they have begun to downsize."
"Our successful ambush of Li Hongjian today was due to two main reasons. First, his cavalry were not regular Tang soldiers; they were likely a troop randomly assigned by their superiors, not proper Tang cavalry. Second, Li Hongjian lacked experience and was unfamiliar with warfare."
Li Chengye nodded: "I see. So, Gangfu, what do you think we should do to deal with the proper Tang cavalry?"
"Although the government troops are not as strong as before, they are still much stronger than our army. The best way to quickly increase our combat strength now is to increase manpower. Military books say that five people are needed per unit, so we will have ten people per unit, which doubles our manpower. If one person cannot finish the work, two people will share it. More people are always better than fewer people."
As he spoke, Liu Ye said with some concern, "But if that's the case, the loss of horses and the consumption of fodder will increase significantly."
"These are not problems," Li Chengye said firmly. "As long as the march can proceed smoothly, I will tell Mr. Xu to draw extra grain, fodder and horses from various outposts to replenish the vanguard first."
Liu Ye nodded upon hearing this.
"There's one more thing," Li Chengye added. "Han Sanhu's training corps is decent in drills and martial arts, but I'd like to ask Gangfu to give us officers of rank 1 and above, including myself, some extra lessons. He could talk about military strategies and examples from the 'New Book of Military Tactics.' What do you think?"
Liu Ye hesitated slightly, so Li Chengye quickly asked, "Brother Liu, is there something you're worried about?"
Liu Ye quickly explained, "I'm not being modest, it's just that I've only led about a hundred people at the border. If I were to actually go on stage to give a lecture, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to do it well."
Upon hearing this, Li Chengye comforted him, saying, "Gangfu, don't worry too much. You've been studying military strategy since you were young and have a family tradition of it, so you're better than the rest of us. As long as you talk, everyone can learn something."
Liu Ye replied, "Understood. Then please arrange the time."
Li Chengye laughed and said, "Alright! Let's begin after this battle."