Chongzhen Chat Group

Mengmi was originally just a town under Mubang. It produced jade. The Ming Dynasty sent eunuchs to supervise the mining here. Later, the leader of Mengmi bribed relevant officials of the Ming Dynasty and became independent from Mu State. The two tribes fought, but the Ming Dynasty stepped aside and made Mengmi an independent pacification department, eventually forming another state.

However, as Dongwu's ambition grew, he continued to launch wars and border conflicts with the Ming Dynasty. As a result, Mengmi, Mubang, and even Mengyang in the northwest suffered from military disasters and the people were in dire straits. These areas, which were originally prosperous due to jade mines, etc., have long been in decline, and their population has declined massively.

King Long led his hundred thousand troops, claiming to be half a million, and marched northward in a mighty and mighty manner. Villages everywhere, as long as they had some brains, fled their homes one after another to avoid the disaster of the army. But those who had no brains thought that they would be safe if they took refuge with King Long. Those villages that escaped the disaster were plundered, their supplies confiscated, and the men, women, and children were reduced to civilians and became members of the army.

Dongwu's army encountered no resistance from the Ming army along the way. Finally, the troops arrived at the main city of Mengmi.

It was just after noon, the weather was sunny, the climate was neither cold nor hot, it was a good day. King Talong was riding on an elephant, watching his troops densely packed, roaring and provoking, but the enemy on the opposite side closed the city gates and village gates tightly, and stood ready, with a different momentum. He couldn't help but feel very happy. Pointing at the Ming Dynasty flag in the distance with his hand, he shouted loudly: "I will give you five days to see who can dedicate those flags to Gu?"

Upon hearing this, the generals hugging him beside the elephant rushed to answer: "Your Highness, you are the best at killing the general and seizing the flag at the end of the battle!"

"The general doesn't need five days, it only takes four days. Meng Mi can be captured in four days! Present those flags and the head of the Tang Dynasty king in the Ming army to His Highness!"

"Your Highness, it only takes three days for the general to capture the Tang King alive and lead him to Your Highness like a dog!"

"..."

Anyone with eyes can see that the morale of the two armies is not at the same level at all. Not to mention, the number of armies on both sides is such that everyone can flood Mengmi City just by spitting. With such a huge gap, it would be strange if we can't win this battle!

At this time, Mengmi's city, including Dongwu's city, was far from comparable to the cities in the interior and north of the Ming Dynasty. Although it is also made of bricks stacked on top of each other, it is only about one foot high at most. If an elephant attacks a city, even if a man is on the elephant's back, the city can be leveled.

King Talong listened to the words of his generals with a smile on his face and looked at the enemy in the distance.

The Ming army adopted the strategy of occupying and defending the city. There were multiple military strongholds at the four corners of the city to protect the city. Judging from the flags, the military villages outside the city were mostly composed of chieftain troops from various places, and the Ming army seemed to be concentrated in the city.

King Talong looked at it, and after looking carefully, he found that the troops of the two chieftains he was paying attention to were also outside the city. This made him a little regretful. Otherwise, he would have launched a direct attack. The two chieftains' armies started an uprising in the city at the same time. Under the attack from both inside and outside, he could live in the city tonight.

Although it was a bit regretful, he also understood that the Ming army was not so easy to deal with, and this battle would have to be fought for several days. With this in mind, he ordered to set up camp and rest until he could attack the city again tomorrow.

At the same time, at the top of Mengmi City, King Tang was also watching the enemy formation.

Previously, the Ming army relied on its own strength to capture Mubang, Mengmi, Mengyang and other places in the blink of an eye. He felt that Togo's army was actually like this. If he hadn't decided on the strategy from the beginning, if it hadn't been for Min Ge Lao's request, he would have wanted to change this steady strategy and directly attack Avade.

Therefore, when the war began, the King of Tang insisted on coming to Mengmi. He also said that as the King of Tang, the vassal king of Dongwu could not always stay behind. Even this time, his attitude was so firm that he even went to Emperor Chongzhen. Of course, in the chat group.

After enfeoffing Dongwu, the vassal king combined military and political power. In a sense, King Tang was the founding king of the country. He did not want to hide in the back and enjoy the success, which would have no sense of accomplishment or prestige. As a descendant of Taizu, how could we miss such an opportunity?

Emperor Chongzhen could vaguely guess this idea of ​​the Tang King based on his deeds in the original history. To put it nicely, he has an ambition! Thinking that the war had already been arranged and there was little danger, he agreed to King Tang's request.

After a lot of twists and turns, King Tang finally stood on top of Mengmi City as he wished.

To be honest, he didn't think much of Donggo's army before. At least he had this common sense. The number of troops must be exaggerated. Even the Ming army itself, with a strength of 10,000, is not called 50,000? Dongwu claims to have 500,000 troops, but he may only have tens of thousands of troops. Moreover, he learned from Ye Bushou's report that the equipment of Donggo's army was very crude, which made him a little unconcerned.

At this time, King Tang's face was a little pale. Seeing the people outside the city shouting horses neighing, and the sound of elephants, especially the densely packed heads, which could not be seen at a glance, finally shocked him. With so many people, even pigs, if they were allowed to be chopped down by the Ming army, they would be too weak to kill, right?

Can the two sides win if they fight like this with huge disparity in strength? King Tang thought so in his heart. For some reason, he suddenly felt a little regretful and felt that he was committing suicide. How could I have forgotten that Dongwu's military strength was indeed strong, otherwise, it would not have been possible for him to come to provoke the Ming Dynasty repeatedly.

"Your Highness, these barbarians are nothing more than chickens and dogs. You can rest assured and watch how our army of the Ming Dynasty displays its power!" Zhong Lizhi, the general of the Imperial Guard who was guarding him, had been with him for about two years and was already familiar with his temperament. Seeing his expression, Shi smiled and comforted him.

After hearing this, King Tang reluctantly smiled at him, then turned back and looked at the elephant army in the distance. To be honest, nothing shocked him the most than this elephant army. He couldn't imagine, once these war elephants charged, who could be their opponent?

At this time, a general came over for inspection and saw that King Tang's face was a little pale, so he smiled and said to him: "Leave the top of the city to the general. Your Highness, you can go and rest in peace. We will start fighting when you come back. It's a little noisy. I'm afraid I won’t be able to sleep well.”

When the King of Tang heard the words, he turned around and saw that it was the commander Deng Kruu whom he had spent so much effort to recruit. Speaking of which, this Deng Kruu was also from a famous family, and his grandfather was Deng Zilong, a famous general in the late Ming Dynasty. When he led the troops to attack Dongwu, Deng Kruu happened to have some experience and served as a personal guard beside Deng Zilong. Later, Deng Zilong was promoted to the commander-in-chief and died in the Korean battlefield. He was already the commander-in-chief at that time, suppressed bandits all the year round, and had rich combat experience.

In this case of Dongwu, the king of Tang hired Deng Kruu, who was already on guard, to serve as the commander-in-chief of the army he was training. It can be said that he has high hopes. Hearing Deng Kruu's confident words at this time, he couldn't help feeling relieved. He squeezed out a smile and said, "Okay, Nagu will entrust everything to you!"

After saying that, he turned around and looked at the elephant army in the distance again before turning around and heading down the city.

Deng Kruu watched with a smile as King Tang came down to the city, then turned back and stared outside the city.

If it hadn't been for the strong support of the imperial court, Deng Kruru would never have been so confident in the face of the menacing Dongwu army. After all, he is the one who leads the troops to fight, so he naturally knows that the army in his hands now, not to mention that it has been trained for more than a year and has won the battle, is still not strong in his eyes.

In fact, in the previous victorious battles, any Ming army could win. The main reasons for the victory were that one was the surprise attack, which caught Dong Wu off guard; the second was that the preparations were sufficient in advance. Not only the terrain and routes were already known, but also the enemy's strength, the general's ability, etc. , also inquired clearly, and even sent an internal agent first. Under these conditions, it would be strange if he didn't win!

An army can become a strong army only after it has experienced the test of tough battles, rather than just fighting smooth battles! If they were to attack Ava in one go according to King Tang's wishes, and engage in a decisive battle with Donggo's main force, even if they were well prepared in advance, the outcome would be difficult to predict.

But now, the tough battle created by the elder Ge, or the emperor, to defend the city is the best training for this army. What's more, he knew that there was a strong army outside. In this case, it would be strange if he couldn't win!

With this thought in mind, Deng Kruru started patrolling again. Because he knew that the enemy was coming fiercely, and many soldiers were under great pressure and needed him to give them confidence.

Far outside the city, King Talong was already sitting on a high platform, with plates of fruits placed in front of him, drinking wine and looking very excited at the work of his army.

When his royal tent was set up, the person he had been waiting for finally arrived.

Suddenly, his personal guards were on tight guard around the king's tent. In the king's tent, apart from him and his personal guards, there was only one plainclothes messenger.

When this man saw the appearance of King Long, he was very respectful. He immediately stepped forward to salute him, and then took the initiative to report in detail: "Your Highness, the Ming army has a total of about ten thousand people, of which there are only five hundred cavalry and about two thousand pikemen. , there are less than a thousand archers...The commander-in-chief is the king of Tang Dynasty, he is very young, and the general is named Deng Kelu, who is the grandson of the former Ming general Deng Zilong..."

King Long was very satisfied with the detailed information about the Ming army, and his eyes seemed to burst into laughter. But when he heard the name Deng Zilong, his face suddenly darkened. This name can be said to be prestigious among Dong Wu. It was him who made Dongwu's previous efforts in vain, and all the chieftains from all over the north returned to the Ming Dynasty. It was not until after he was transferred that Dongwu sent troops to attack again, and then regained Mubang and other places.

"...Total the chieftains from all walks of life, the actual army is about 15,000 people. That's the situation on the Ming army." When the messenger said this, he looked at him and King Long said, "That Deng Kelu is cunning. , and arranged our troops outside to defend the city for them. My Lord asked, how should we cooperate with His Highness? "

Hearing this question, King Long frowned. When he was observing the formation before, he had seen the two chieftains' armies being arranged outside the city, and thought of this problem, but for a while, he didn't have any good ideas to make good use of these two chieftains' armies.

After a moment of silence, King Talong suddenly had an idea and said to the messenger: "In this way, tomorrow I will send an army to attack your village. You can pretend to be defeated and retreat to the city gate. When the Ming army comes out to rescue, take advantage of the opportunity. Capture the city gate and help Gu Gu capture Meng Mi, this is a great achievement!"

When the messenger heard this, he was immediately overjoyed and quickly agreed. King Talong was also happy. If he could win Meng Mi like this, it would be the most labor-saving way. Otherwise, it is an siege after all. Although there are many people and high morale, there will still be a lot of losses. The population of Dongwu is small to begin with, so it would be better to have fewer people die!

After giving some details, the messenger withdrew and returned after nightfall.

King Talong sat in his seat, thinking about the news the messenger said, and the more he thought about it, the happier he became. This Ming army is not as powerful as imagined. In the past, there was no matchlock gunner, the most common type among the Ming army. Presumably, the Tang Dynasty King felt that the quality of the matchlock gun was too poor, so he abandoned it, right? What surprised him even more was that the army in the city was not the regular army of the Ming Dynasty, but was selected and trained from the refugees and disaster victims at the expense of the Tang Dynasty.

As a person who often fights on the battlefield, King Talong naturally understands that this kind of army, no matter how long it takes to train, will never be a strong army without being tempered by real war. So what if Deng Zilong’s grandson is the main general? Now that you are coming with an army alone, you have no chance!

After thinking for a while, he sent an order from the king to his vanguard general Shi Demeng.

This Shi Demeng was his confidant and a brave general who was deeply appreciated by him. As soon as he entered the king's tent, Shi Demeng immediately greeted him, then patted his chest and said: "Your Highness, give me two days, and I will definitely capture Meng Mi!"

Obviously, he was still thinking about what his King Long said before. Thinking of trying to win the credit, during this meeting, he expressed his stance again!

Seeing this, King Talong smiled slightly and said, "Two days is too much, how about I give you one day?"

"..." When Shi Demeng heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned. One day? Do you really think that the Ming army in Mengmi City is made of clay? Even if you are a fool, you must first capture the stronghold outside the city before you can attack Mengmi City! When His Highness said this, he must be a little dissatisfied with himself, right?

With this in mind, when he was about to change his mind and express his position again, he heard King Long say again: "The chieftain of Longchuan has secretly surrendered to Yu Gu. Tomorrow you will lead the army to attack his village..."

After Shi Demeng listened to his explanation and added the situation of the Ming army in the city, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. He was not a fool. He immediately understood in his heart that he was His Highness's confidant. This was a great achievement for him!