After hearing Xiao Ruxun's conjecture, Li Chengliang and Chai Guozhu looked at each other in dismay.
They were only thinking about defense. Seeing the cowardly state of their soldiers, who would dare to attack? Even if they dared to lead troops to attack, these old soldiers from the capital would also dare to abandon their generals and run away, just like those old soldiers from the Wei Suo who abandoned Qi Jiguang and ran away.
If he had the twenty thousand cavalrymen that Li Rusong had brought with him, Li Chengliang would have dared to have Chai Guozhu lead a night attack to test the strength of the other party. However, he had not received any reinforcements, so he could only passively defend.
After hearing Xiao Ruxun's words, he thought again. Huh? It seemed like this was really the case!
Other than a few times when the Northern Barbarians attacked the Daming, they basically robbed and left, not tangling with the Daming's main forces. Their cavalry would not be at an advantage when encountering a tight infantry formation, so they had to rob and leave quickly before the Daming could react. The Daming's cavalry did not dare to rashly pursue and could only suffer in silence.
But this time, it was very abnormal. They suddenly attacked the south, and they even wanted to attack the capital. There were no prior signs. The large-scale invasions of Anda and Yexian had a political precondition. But this time, they didn't have a unified government, yet they brazenly attacked the south and even wanted to plunder the capital. What was going on?
"Even if they wanted to attack the capital, there should have been some prior signs. For example, the conflict between the Daming and a certain tribe has reached an irreconcilable level, thus causing a major crisis.
However, this time, it is only a problem of a lack of food. Robbing and robbing should be their only goal. What's the point of attacking the capital? Aren't they worried that the Daming will be angered and come back to take revenge? Guihua City is not far from us. "
Xiao Ruxun kept raising his doubts, leaving Li Chengliang and Chai Guozhu at a loss for words.
Li Rusong felt that Xiao Ruxun's words seemed to make sense, so he asked, "Then what do you mean? These Northern Barbarians attacking Zijing Pass is a smokescreen? Do you have other motives? "
Xiao Ruxun nodded.
"In the art of war, reality is false, and false is real. There must be a reason behind it. The current Northern Barbarians are not the Northern Barbarians of the past. Without a unified government and command, they have no basis to wage a large-scale war against the Daming Empire. Attacking the capital and waging war against the Daming Empire is definitely not their goal. Their only goal is to steal food."
Li Rusong furrowed his brows and said, "But the intensity of the Northern Barbarians' invasion this time is too great. A hundred thousand of them heading south, no matter how I look at it, it looks like a war between nations!"
"That's not right. They don't have a motive. What is their motive for fighting a Kingdom War with Daming? The north is suffering from a severe cold, and they want to steal food. The cold in the north is too severe, and they need to send more people to steal more food. I don't believe that King Guiyi is really an ambitious and ruthless person. Otherwise, why would he be suppressed by a woman until today before rebelling?
The Tumet Tribe has not had any major conflicts with the Daming Empire for three generations. Suddenly having a conflict with the Daming Empire can only be the most direct cause of a food shortage. If they want to fight a Kingdom War with the Daming Empire, I'm afraid that more than a hundred thousand people will come. They must be doing this for food and survival. "
"Then what is their motive for doing this? Attacking Zijing Pass to threaten the capital, isn't it to plunder the capital region? They have done this before! "
Chai Guozhu hurriedly asked.
"They have done it before, but it doesn't mean they will do it now. In the past, if they did, they would have to answer first. Now, they don't have such a person, and they don't have a unified government. Who is going to give orders? Who is going to command?
Having a unified government on the prairie isn't something that can be achieved with a mere alliance meeting. There will definitely be countless bloody battles to decide the strongest person. Have we heard of any major battles happening on the prairie over the years? "
"Indeed, we haven't …"
Chai Guozhu muttered in a low voice.
"Therefore, I believe that they are definitely not attacking Zijing Pass to plunder the capital and threaten the Daming Empire. They must have another motive, and it must be a big one."
Xiao Ruxun lowered his head in contemplation.
Li Chengliang suddenly said, "At this time, the Northern Barbarians have nowhere else to go. If they don't come to Zijing Pass to plunder the capital region, they can only go south to Taiyuan. Taiyuan is guarded by Supervisor Wang's more than a hundred thousand soldiers. Even if the Northern Barbarians have tens of thousands of cavalry, they won't dare to rashly go south. Other than that, they can either go north or go west.
"Going west is impossible. To the west, the major military towns of Yulin, Ningxia, and Gansu are all guarded by valiant generals. They definitely won't dare to mobilize all nine borders. They don't have that many soldiers. Going north is possible, and that means that they want to retreat and have sent people here to guard Zijing Pass to cover the retreat of the main army.
But they are cavalry and can move quickly. If they want to retreat, the Daming Empire will temporarily be unable to stop them. If it's just to cover the retreat, there's no need to attack Zijing Pass to provoke the Daming Imperial Court. It's enough to just guard Pingxing Pass. Why would they attack Zijing Pass? "
Li Rusong's analysis was very reasonable.
Xiao Ruxun raised his head and looked at Li Rusong, a pensive look on his face. "If that's the case, the most likely reason is to go south. To attack Zijing Pass to attract the attention of the Ming Dynasty Army, what is their goal? Taiyuan?
Supervisor Wang's more than a hundred thousand soldiers are at Taiyuan. Do they really have the confidence to take Taiyuan? And more importantly, how do these Northern Barbarians replenish their rations? "
The three of them looked at each other, unable to come up with an answer.
At present, there was too little information available. Other than the observation of the scouts, there was only some information brought by the fleeing commoners that was difficult to distinguish between true and false. If they didn't leave Zijing Pass, it was likely that they wouldn't be able to obtain more information. Based on the current information, Xiao Ruxun couldn't analyze anything.
Thus, he turned his gaze to the Mongolian barracks.
"If they use artillery, catapults, and ballistae, it proves that they must have captured a group of soldiers from the border towns to operate these siege weapons for them. These Northern Barbarians don't know how to operate these weapons, so they must have a large number of captives in their barracks. These captives might have been captured all the way from Datong."
As soon as Xiao Ruxun said this, Li Rusong's eyes immediately lit up.
"If we can capture some of the captives, we will definitely be able to find out the movements of these Northern Barbarians and what they saw along the way from their mouths. This way, we won't be as blind as we are now!"
Xiao Ruxun smiled and nodded. "That's right. If we want to know the actual movements of the Northern Barbarians, we must capture those captive garrison soldiers and rescue them. There's no time to lose. We must immediately make preparations. It's already late today, and the weather is even colder. It's inconvenient to fight at night. When they attack again tomorrow, we'll defeat them in one fell swoop!"
"What if they don't come?"
Chai Guozhu asked. "They didn't attack today."
"Don't come? That's easy. I'll directly lead the troops over! Soldiers are trained for a thousand days to be used in a single day. If soldiers don't dare to fight, what kind of soldiers are they? "
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