March is supposed to be the time for spring outings. However, due to the clouds of war, most people in Beiping Province have to retreat into the city of Beiping. The prefectures and counties outside the city have become empty cities, with no one taking care of the farmland and mining areas. It was abandoned, and even the materials were packed and transported back to Beiping City.
Fortunately, the city of Beiping was already wide, and millions of people crowded in, so it was only slightly crowded. At the same time, there were many old and weak women and children who took the train to retreat to Liaodong. The remaining civilians in Beiping City were They were gathered together and conducted militia training to deal with the Ming army's attack.
The entire city has entered a state of emergency preparation. Wan Lei goes to and from various military camps every day, calming the emotions of the people and boosting their fighting spirit. After all, these are ordinary people who keep their jobs and defend the city. Now they are required to prepare to go into battle to defend the city. , they all had some complaints.
In fact, in order to quell the complaints of the people, Wan Lei never relaxed his control over public opinion. The journal that was originally published every ten days became a daily newspaper. The contents of the daily newspaper mostly promoted the glory of defending the homeland and the shame of surrendering to the enemy and betraying the country. At the same time, it also severely exposed the Ming Dynasty's perfidy and evil tyranny, and called on the people not to succumb to its tyranny.
"My dear nephew, there are 700,000 dan of grain in the granary now. According to the current consumption rate, I'm afraid we can only survive for half a year. Should we implement wartime military regulations and collect grain from the people?" Tie Xuan is in charge of logistical supplies. We still know how much property we have, but the province of Beiping has had good harvests every year, so people still have a lot of food stored in their homes.
"Don't worry, this time the war will not last for half a year, it will only be a fierce battle for two months at most." Wan Lei shook his head, "Don't touch the people's food until it is absolutely necessary. After all, they all Not easy."
"Well, let's not levy it for the time being. However, there are too many people in Beiping City now, and some people are taking the opportunity to drive up the price of food and vegetables. This must be dealt with," Tie Xuan said.
"I'll go back to the Yan Chamber of Commerce and ask them to take care of themselves and their subordinates. Whoever wants to take advantage of the opportunity to make war fortune, I will bankrupt him." Wan Lei said coldly, he was not joking, don't look at his usual He was so angry with people that during special periods, he would kill people without batting an eyelid, let alone kill some profiteers to scare the monkeys.
"My dear nephew, those who take the opportunity to drive up prices are definitely not from our Yan Chamber of Commerce. They should be those small traders. These small shrimps cannot make any big waves. Later, I will ask Hengsheng Company to release a batch of grain at a fair price to those who want to speculate. "It's so crowded." Zhao Hongru said, Hengsheng Company is a department store run by his Zhao family, and its main business is the trading of grain and oil. The company has hundreds of thousands of grain stocks.
"I know Brother Zhao is serious about it, but don't be serious about it yet. Focus on education. They really can't change after repeated admonishment. It's not too late to teach them a lesson." Wan Lei patted Zhao Hongru on the shoulder and said with a smile. In fact, as Wan Lei's earliest ally, Zhao Hongru has some relatives, so of course he is on Wan Lei's side.
"Report!" While Wan Lei was discussing matters with Tie Zhao and others, a Jingzhong Guard came quickly.
"Come in."
"Mr. Wan, good news came from North Korea." Jingzhongwei said, handing over a military report.
Wan Lei opened it and took a look, his face suddenly filled with joy, "Okay, Commander Zhao has indeed lived up to our trust."
"Commander Zhao can plan a good battle, and with him taking action, success will be achieved immediately," Tie Xuan said with a smile.
"Haha, my nephew, you have planned this well..." Zhao Hongru's round face also burst into laughter.
"Needless to say, this time it was Commander Zhao who planned well and deserves the first credit. He surrounded part of the Japanese army and led other Japanese troops to come to the rescue. In a big battle yesterday, the main force of 40,000 Japanese troops was wiped out. This encirclement point was used for reinforcements. The technique was used brilliantly. After this battle, the main force of the Japanese army was wiped out, and the Korean War was basically a foregone conclusion." Wan Lei said with a smile.
There were about 120,000 Japanese troops entering the DPRK. At the beginning of the war, more than 20,000 Japanese troops who entered the Liao Dynasty and more than 10,000 Japanese troops stationed on the Yalu River were annihilated. Now, another 40,000 Japanese troops have been annihilated, and the Japanese troops have been reduced by 30%. Of course, after being divided into two parts, they were unable to fight anymore and had already fled away.
After the main force of the Japanese army was wiped out, the Peking Army did not need to deploy heavy troops in Korea. It only needed to leave 10,000 cavalry to guard the riverside, and the 40,000 main force could be transferred back to Peiping to deal with the upcoming Ming army. With these 40,000 main force Once the troops returned to defense, the defense of Beiping City became even easier.
As the saying goes, soldiers value elites rather than numbers. Although the Ming army deployed more than 400,000 heavy troops on the border of the North Parallel Province, most of these 400,000 soldiers were temporary recruits. They were more than enough in quantity but not in quality. Many of them were Minzhuang has never even touched a sword, and those who are proficient in equestrian archery are even more pitiful. It is a fool's dream that these people want to capture Peiping in one fell swoop.
The only thing the Ming Dynasty could rely on was the newly minted artillery, which was also the source of the Ming army's confidence. However, Wan Lei was not afraid at all, because the artillery used by the Ming Dynasty was inferior in terms of range, firepower and accuracy. The Peiping Army is ahead of the curve.
If the Ming army bombarded the city with artillery, Wan Lei could also let the artillery on the city head fire, directly using the three major advantages of range, firepower and accuracy to directly destroy the artillery array. Once there were no siege artillery, the Ming army could only To attack the city with men, given the height and thickness of Beiping City, even if hundreds of thousands of people were used to attack the city, they would not be able to cross the top of the city.
In addition, the Ming army was obviously inferior to the Peking army in terms of rusticity. Once there was no hope of victory, morale would be even lower. Even if they used harsh military laws to force the soldiers into battle, those soldiers would only fight passively. Wan Lei would take advantage of this opportunity. With a propaganda campaign, the entire Ming army may defect. After all, the Ming army has done something unjust.
While Beiping City was actively preparing for war, the vanguard of the Ming Army had already marched from Zhending Prefecture to Baoding Prefecture. The Ming Army from the direction of Shandong also set up a pontoon bridge across the river, preparing to attack Hejian Prefecture, and the Ming Army from the direction of Datong. They are also gathered in the Zijin Pass area and will enter the Pass at any time and approach Shuntian Mansion.
Located at the headquarters of the Northern Sweeping Army in Zhending Prefecture, in the Chinese army camp of Northern Sweeping General Geng Xuan, Geng Xuan and his generals were discussing how to arrange their troops. At this time, a sentry came to report: "Pioneer General Li is reporting urgently." .”
Geng Xuan took the military report, read it, handed it to the military supervisor sitting next to him, and asked: "Master Jing, what do you think?"
The person who was sent to supervise the army was Jing Qing, the imperial official. In fact, as early as the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the imperial station to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. However, after Emperor Jianwen came to power, he followed Fang Xiaoru's suggestion and restored the ancient system. The envoy doctor is the chief of the imperial envoy station. He sent all the chief officers of the imperial envoy station, which shows that Emperor Jianwen attached great importance to this northern expedition to Peiping.
Jing Qing read the military report carefully, closed his eyes and pondered for a while, and then said: "The Peiping thieves abandoned Baoding and left. I'm afraid there is a conspiracy inside."
"What kind of conspiracy could there be? The Peiping thieves must have seen my king's army approaching the border and knew that they could not resist, so they ran away with their heads in arms. Our army should pursue them bravely and annihilate them in one fell swoop." A general sitting next to him said.