There were still 4,000 to 5,000 Khitan remnant troops retreating to the inner city. Cao Shili advocated an aggressive attack. Taking advantage of the panic of the enemy, he directly surrounded the city and attacked, catching them off guard and capturing the entire city of Datong in one fell swoop.
Ge Huaicong was worried that the inner city wall of Datong was high and thick, and the raiding troops were all cavalry. They had been running long distances for several days, and they were exhausted. He did not want the seven thousand cavalry to dismount in a hurry to attack the inner city, so he decided to wait until the troops behind him arrived.
In the early years of the Dai Viet Forbidden Army, in order to prevent generals from taking over their power, mid-level and senior generals, including battalion commanders, were strictly rotated and re-appointed every three years, and generals were strictly prohibited from controlling a certain army for a long time.
This made the Dai Viet Forbidden Army have many soldiers and horses, but the soldiers did not know the generals, and the generals did not know the soldiers, which seriously weakened the combat effectiveness of the Forbidden Army.
During the Yuanxi period, in order to eliminate old disadvantages, middle-level generals such as battalion commanders, generals and commanders were allowed to command a certain army for a long time to maintain the stability and combat effectiveness of the grassroots army. However, senior generals such as commanders and commanders were allowed to
The old system is still maintained for the appointment and promotion of military commanders; even most of the general posts such as commanders and commanders are intentionally vacant for a long time.
When the war requires it, the imperial court will temporarily appoint generals to serve, or they will directly appoint the highest-level commander on the battlefield at that time, and they will also serve as governors and lieutenants.
When the war came, Ge Boyi served as the military envoy and also took charge of the Western Route Army. He had the authority to control the Tianxiong Army, including the Tianxiong Army, and assemble troops and horses heading north from Lanzhou. However, the control of the Tianxiong Army was still vacant.
Ge Huaicong was not only the eldest son of Ge Boyi, but as the third general of the Tianxiong Army, he was also the highest military general when Dai Viet entered the Khitan Datong battlefield. Not only did the cavalry units that had entered Datong come under his control, they were also borrowing a road from Shuozhou to
Datong's 18,000 troops and horses were all under his control.
As a newly attached general, Cao Shili had too many concerns. Although he was worried that the opportunity to fight would be fleeting, Ge Huaicong did not adopt his suggestions and he did not persist.
Zhu Hang did not comment on Yuehai Tower. The battle plan he had drawn up long ago was to wait for the follow-up infantry to arrive and then attack the strong enemy in the city who was stubbornly resisting. The general changed the established battle plan without authorization.
Unless there is a very necessary reason, even if 7,000 cavalry can dismount and capture the inner city, it will be a failure.
More people think that Ge Huaicong’s proposal is a sound solution.
Outside of Datong, the Khitan had 30,000 to 40,000 troops in Yingzhou, but they were all attracted by the main force of the Eastern Route Army. Even cities such as Jincheng and Huairen each had thousands of troops, and their combat effectiveness was extremely limited.
There was no way to gather reinforcements inside Datong. At this time, they cleared out the remaining enemies in the outer city and controlled the situation in the four gates. When the main infantry force of the West Route Army arrived, even if it was difficult to capture the inner city in a short time, they already had the chance to win.
among.
It is even possible that the Khitan troops in Yingzhou were defeated without a fight after hearing the news that Datong, south of Shuozhou, had been raided and fell. The main force of the Eastern Route Army would not need three to five days to reach Datong City.
In short, there was no room for Xu Huai to intervene, and he was not even qualified to sit next to Ge Huaicong and observe the military discussion.
At noon, Cao Shili and Ge Yu's troops had already controlled the area near Shengde Gate. After that, the main force of the Han army in the garrison either fled or surrendered, and only four to five thousand remaining soldiers retreated to the inner city. This was the time for the main cavalry to enter and control the outer city.
, create favorable conditions.
Datong City covers an area several times larger than Lanzhou and Shuozhou. Ge Huaicong is not in a hurry to control the other three city gates.
In addition to the 1,000 warning troops and horses left inside and outside the Shengde Gate, more than 6,000 other cavalry were stationed directly in the West City area. While clearing out the remaining enemies here, extinguishing the houses that the remaining enemies had set on fire before withdrawing to the inner city, they were waiting for the west road.
The arrival of the main force of the army.
Xu Huai's subordinates were the soldiers of the Military Supervisory Commission. On the one hand, they did not need to undertake combat tasks. On the other hand, Ge Huaicong would not really agree with Zhu Hang's decision to send soldiers from the Supervisory Military Commission to picket and restrain military discipline.
The house in the northwest corner is designated as the residence of the military envoys.
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Xu Wukun, as the military governor, attended the military meeting and rushed back to the station. He saw that the generals had settled down. Xu Xin'an, Tang Pan, Tang Qing, Yin Peng and others were all in Xu Huai's yard.
The station is close to the northwest corner of the city wall. When you stand in the yard and look up, you can see the towering turrets on the rammed earth city wall. The city wall is about four feet high, and the two-story turrets are for overlooking and shooting arrows, which are also more than two feet high.
Xu Huai and Xu Xinan are studying the topography of the city wall and turrets.
Xu Wukun walked in and asked, "Have you contacted Lao Wu and the others?"
Xu Wukun and Zhou Jingzhao planned to sneak into Datong City early yesterday morning, but after Xu Wukun entered the city, he stayed with Zhu Hang and had no time to pay attention to other things.
"The secret message they left has been found, and Han Qi is bringing people to pick them up," Xu Huai said.
Now the Xicheng area is full of Dai Viet soldiers and horses. People in civilian clothes in Datong City cannot move around freely. When they see the marks left by Xu Wuqi and Zhou Jing, they can only send people to pick them up.
As soon as Xu Huai finished speaking, there was a burst of footsteps outside. He looked over and saw Xu Wuqi and Zhou Jing walking in accompanied by Han Qi and wearing a dog fur shirt and business attire.
"Lao Wu, what's the current situation in the city?" Xu Wukun asked eagerly.
"As Xu Huai guessed, although the news in Shuozhou was well blocked, the news that the Forbidden Army was killing and plundering the people in Landai and other places has spread in Datong City, causing quite a stir. Some people even secretly instigated and stirred up
Contradiction, there were many fights and killings yesterday, with dozens of Han and Tibetan casualties each," Xu Wuqi said. "Cao Shili and Ge Yu raided Shengde Gate, and the Han army's will to fight was very low. After Ge Huaicong led his troops to arrive,
, the Han army collapsed without any decent resistance, which is more or less related to this..."
"Since Xiao Linshi expected all this, why didn't he strengthen the defense in Datong in advance and let us capture the outer city of Datong so easily?" Xu Xin'an asked doubtfully.
In Xu Xin'an's view, Datong has stepped up its guard, the cavalry cannot attack and capture the outer city of Datong, and the main force of the West Route Army cannot continue to advance towards Datong.
"The Khitan soldiers and horses are even more unbearable internally. They cannot support two-sided fighting, and even the confrontation in Yingzhou cannot last long. They have to use tricks to eat up our partial troops in order to turn the crisis into safety." Xu Wuqi said.
"This is what Uncle Wu said for one reason. Another reason is that Xiao Linshi's position in Xijing Road is relatively embarrassing at this time. The military and political affairs of Xijing should not be under his control at this time." Xu Huai said.
Xiao Yanhan now lowered her guard against him. If Xu Huai kept trying to trick her, he had already confirmed that Xiao Linshi was indeed exiled to Xijing two years ago to serve as a herdsman.
The Yue court established a group animal husbandry department to take charge of the country's horse breeding; the Khitan people also had a group animal husbandry department, but they mainly moved some tribesmen to border states to herd cattle and horses. Their purpose was not to obtain war horses, but to use them.
This means to strengthen the control and defense of border states.
The Khitan people who migrated to the border states were both civilians and soldiers. However, as the imperial army and their families, they were directly under the jurisdiction of the Deployment Division of the Khitan North Privy Council. The Xijing Road Defense Envoy Division and the Xijing Remaining Division had no authority to control them.
As a herding officer, Xiao Linshi could only choose the best among these Khitan people to take control personally during the war.
This also explains why Xiao Linshi led only 3,000 cavalry from Yingzhou to aid Datong in the memory that flashed in Xu Huai's mind.
However, after the Great Unification War, Xiao Linshi, who had a very deep foundation in Xijing Road, will undoubtedly once again dominate the military and political power of Xijing Road.
The weakened Khitan court, which was struggling to protect itself, could not stop Xiao Linshi from rising again on Xijing Road.
"The previous order to Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili to purge the Khitans and the young Tibetan people in Shuozhou was to relieve the last doubts about the Cao brothers, but it is no longer necessary at this time. During the military meeting just now, Zhu Hang and Cao Shili both advised Ge Huaicong
Ge Huaicong also fully agreed to restrain the generals," Xu Wukun frowned and said, "I thought that if Ge Huaicong could really do this, he might be able to escape the disaster. Now it seems that it is very difficult..."
Military discipline is like a wild horse. Once it runs wild, it is extremely difficult to restrain it.
Xiao Linshi doesn't even need to deploy many people in Datong City. As long as he provokes a little at the critical moment, the conflict will intensify like a burning flame.
What's more, when Ge Huaicong promised to enforce military discipline, he looked quite reluctant!
Xu Huai looked up at the turret on the city wall and said to Xu Wukun: "It is impossible for Ge Huaicong to ask us to guard any city gate, and we have no position to ask for it, but we must take over the security of this turret!"
In the established historical trajectory, during the Datong War, only a few hundred soldiers and horses from Vietnam attacked Datong and fled back. Naturally, they were caught in a trap in the city of Datong.
Xu Huai and the others, as guards of the military envoy, are not responsible for combat duties. At this time, they have no position to guard which city gate. He also has no illusions that with the few troops in hand, Xiao Linshi can personally lead the reinforcements.
Three thousand elite.
If they don't want to be caught in a trap, what they can do now is to take control of the turret in the northwest corner so that they can directly climb over the city wall to break out at the critical moment...
