Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 494: Entering the Great Wall

After the war in the south subsided, the entire Qian Dynasty turned their attention to Liaodong, and more supplies began to support the Korean rebels. The Guanzhong area also began to focus on restoring the economy, clearing out bandits and other local affairs.

Western Mongolia and the Central Plains are quite far apart, and there had been no hatred between them before. Lin Shiqi did not expect that the Dzungars would come to attack Guanzhong, and they came with an army of 100,000 cavalry.

The war is about to begin, so everything will serve the war. Lin Shiqi immediately issued various military orders.

The clerk beside him hurriedly wrote down Lin Shiqi's order: "First, immediately send scouts to find out the Junggar's military strength, equipment, and horses.

Second, he urgently ordered all the passes along the Great Wall to strengthen patrols and immediately light beacons to sound the alarm if the enemy was spotted.

Third, he ordered all prefectures to recruit militia and able-bodied men to serve in the army.

Fourth, evacuate the people along the Great Wall.

Fifth, the military report must be sent to Beijing at an accelerated speed of 800 miles to report to the imperial court!"

After giving the order, Lin Shiqi urgently ordered his subordinates who were scattered throughout Guanzhong to suppress bandits to return to Xi'an.

For a moment, the gates of Xi'an were wide open, and team after team of messengers whipped their horses and hurriedly delivered Marshal Lin's military orders to all directions.

Guanzhong, Yongshou County, at the foot of a mountain called Langshan by the locals.

Liang Sanhu stopped his horse at the foot of the mountain, watching the troops searching the mountain. He could not help but frown. Liang Sanhu said in a deep voice: "These bandits dare not take my surrender order seriously. Pass on my military order. The bandits in Langshan are not allowed to surrender. Kill them all!"

When Lin Shiqi was suppressing bandits, he certainly didn't use cannons to kill mosquitoes or use tens of thousands of troops to attack a small mountain stronghold. Instead, he ordered his subordinates to be responsible for an area each.

However, the morale of the generals was not very high. Marshal Zhao Yongping was leading his troops to the north, and would definitely be the commander-in-chief in the future attack on the Qing Dynasty. While they were here doing the job of suppressing bandits, the generals were definitely not interested in the task.

Liang Sanhu had just issued the order when the sound of horse hooves was heard not far away. Liang Sanhu looked carefully and saw a team of dozens of cavalrymen galloping from the south.

The leader waved his whip and shouted, "Liang Tongzhen... Liang Tongzhen, General Lin's urgent order!"

Liang Sanhu rode forward, and the messenger dismounted. He then ran to Liang Sanhu and knelt on one knee, saying, "Liang Tongzhen, this is General Lin's order!"

Liang Sanhu took the warrant, unfolded it and immediately showed joy on his face.

Deputy General Yang Wulie asked, "Commander-in-chief, what are Commander Lin's orders?"

"The Mongols in the western desert are invading, General Lin is calling us back to the army." After saying this, Liang Sanhu closed the military order, turned to Yang Wulie and said, "Pass the order down, leave one group of people to continue to suppress the bandits in Langshan, and you lead the rest of the troops back to Xi'an immediately. I will go ahead and return to Xi'an to discuss military matters."

After Liang Sanhu issued the military order, he kicked his horse and led a team of personal guards to gallop towards Xi'an.

The same scene happened in various places in Guanzhong. As soon as the generals received the military order, they returned to Guanzhong first, and the troops were left to the deputy generals to lead.

The first year of Zhaowu, the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

A group of generals of the Qian army gathered in the government office. All the generals had already rushed back to Xi'an one after another. After the generals gathered, Lin Shiqi convened a military meeting to discuss the battle plan against the Western Mongolians.

Occupying the main seat were Lin Shiqi, Wu Tiao, Zhang Yingwei, Liang Sanhu, Yuan Zongde, He Zhen, Tan Wen and other senior generals, who sat on both sides facing each other.

Lin Shiqi sat in the middle, looked around, and said, "Everyone, the Junggars are coming with great force this time, and we must not take it lightly."

Lin Shiqi started the conversation, and all the generals nodded in agreement. Lin Shiqi paused, then continued, "The scouts have found out that the Western Mongolian cavalry is about 100,000 strong, with countless cattle and sheep. Less than 10% of their troops are wearing armor, but they are all cavalry."

Zhang Yingwei was a little surprised and said, "Less than 10% of them are wearing armor. Aren't they just a group of bandits on horseback?"

Yuan Zongdi snorted and said, "What bandits! General Zhang's words are full of ulterior motives!"

Wu Tiao interrupted, "The armor rate is so low, which shows that the Western Mongols are extremely poor."

The generals discussed the matter many times. Some suggested stopping the enemy cavalry at the Great Wall, while others suggested luring the enemy deep into the territory and annihilating the Mongolian cavalry in one fell swoop.

With such a low armor rate, the generals had no fear even if they were all cavalry. These were all light cavalry and could only harass and cut off logistics but could not raid the army at all.

The reason for suggesting to stop the Western Mongols outside the Great Wall is the fear that once the light cavalry broke through the Great Wall, they would plunder the Guanzhong area, which would cause great damage to the area, and Your Majesty would feel that it was everyone's fault.

Lin Shiqi thought for a moment and said, "You can only be a thief for a thousand days, but you can never be on guard against thieves for a thousand days. We have been wasting time at the Great Wall for a long time. Sengge can come and go as he pleases. I will not fight such a cowardly battle!"

………………

After Sengge led his army to Hetao, the Qing court kept its promise and handed over the Yuan Dynasty's national seal to Sengge.

After Sengge obtained the national seal, he claimed to be the successor of the Yuan Dynasty, and then he ascended the throne of Khan in the Hetao area in the presence of various tribes.

After Sengge proclaimed himself Khan, he declared that he would rebuild the Yuan Dynasty. He then led more than 90,000 cavalry, broke through the Great Wall, and advanced towards Xi'an along the Jing River.

The main purpose of Sengge's military expedition this time has been achieved: he obtained the imperial seal of the Yuan Dynasty, was proclaimed Khan, and subdued all the tribes. These goals have been achieved one by one.

Now the only thing left to accomplish is weakening the other three tribes in western Mo, but Sengge has no intention of withdrawing his troops just like that. If he withdraws his troops right after being proclaimed the Great Khan, it will definitely be a huge blow to his prestige.

Therefore, Sengge wanted to defeat the Qian army just like the Huns besieged Liu Bang and the Turks attacked Chang'an in the past, to earn some prestige for himself, and then make a fortune, return to take over Yarkand, occupy the entire western desert, and finally unify the grassland to establish a great Khanate.

But Sengge was also worried that there were elite soldiers of the Qing Dynasty in Guanzhong, who would catch him off guard. The Qing envoy vowed to Sengge: "Great Khan, Meng Jun's troops are all gathered in the north, and they want to launch a war against our Qing Dynasty. Therefore, there are no elite soldiers in Guanzhong, and at most there are some useless local militia."

Sengge was skeptical about this, but the Qing envoy kept instigating Sengge from behind, as if Chang'an, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, was now a deserted city.

Sengge felt that things should not be that simple, but along the way, it was indeed as the Qing envoy said, as if entering an uninhabited area. There were no soldiers stationed on the Great Wall, and no one was guarding the cities and towns along the way. The only regret was that these places were not only unguarded, but even the country folk could not be found.

Compared with the tribes west of the desert and south of the desert, the Mongols in the west are just poor relatives, and compared with the Central Plains, the tribes south of the desert are just beggars.

However, being poor also has its advantages. Sengge was ambitious and more cunning than the average Mongolian. But he could not resist the Qing envoy, and what he said was indeed very reasonable.

The Qing envoy said: "The Central Plains has been in chaos for decades. The Guanzhong area is full of bandits. This Chang'an City is the foundation given by the Eternal Heaven to the Khan to rebuild the Yuan Dynasty!"