The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 139 Arranging Defense
When the Jiaoshui County Magistrate heard this, he was so frightened that his face turned pale and he couldn't speak for a long time.

Madam Gong Er, however, perked up and turned to the guards around her and shouted, "Order the entire army to prepare for battle."

She ran out of the county government office in a hurry. As soon as she reached the square outside, she saw Yue Wenxuan standing under the eaves, waving at her gently.

Madam Gong Er was overjoyed: "Master, when did you come?"

Yue Wenxuan: "I was up there, and when I saw the scouts running for their lives, I came down."

He was editing a video beside the sand table when he saw the scouts galloping on their horses through the streets of the county town, almost knocking down civilians. He was so angry that he quickly got off the horse.

Madam Gong Er was about to report the situation with the Jin invaders when Yue Wenxuan waved his hand. "I know about the Jin thieves. You must quickly deploy defenses. Also, call that scout and give him a good scolding. Tell him that no matter how urgent the military situation, there's no need to rush for a few seconds. He's not allowed to ride recklessly into the crowd. It's too dangerous. If I see anyone doing that again, I will punish them severely. If anyone kills a civilian, he will be punished with his life."

Madam Gong Er quickly responded.

The scout was soon defeated and went to the street to apologize to the people in shame.

Madam Gong Er quickly summoned all the important figures in the rebel army and gathered them together.

While Qian Zhuoqun was away, he stayed in Jimo to manage internal affairs.

Prince Zhao Zai was not there either. He also stayed in Jimo on purpose because Zhao Zai was just an empty shell most of the time and didn't even have his own lines. It was not appropriate for him to see people often, so they deliberately let him stay in Jimo County and rarely come out.

Wu Jialiang and Guan Sheng were also away, so he led the Jimo archer troops to stay in Jimo County.

The only people in Jiaoshui County now were Yue Wenxuan, Madam Gong Er, the prefect of Laizhou, the four Ma clan leaders, the Jiaoshui County Magistrate, and others. There were also Zhang Dalang and Wu Zhan, who had been promoted from among the rebel soldiers to become generals.

By the way, there is also Qi Jiguang. I don’t know if he is considered a human being, so I list him separately at the end.

After becoming a general, Zhang Dalang began to feel dissatisfied with his name, so he asked a scholar to help him choose a new name. Now he is called "Zhang Yong". He feels that with this name, he is like a big shot.

Madam Gong Er said, "Everyone, the Jin thieves will arrive within three days! How should we fight this battle?"

She was asking everyone, but her eyes were fixed on Qi Jiguang, and it was obvious that she wanted the general to make the decision.

But this time Qi Jiguang did not speak...

Yue Wenxuan didn't let him speak. He couldn't let the plastic man finish the job. He had to train the real man's ability, otherwise when the territory expanded in the future, the rigid-minded plastic man would not be able to take care of it.

Seeing that the True Lord and the Heavenly General did not speak, Madam Gong Er had no choice but to turn her gaze to the others.

The Laizhou prefect was, after all, the highest-ranking official and the most capable of the group. He was the first to speak, "According to our scouts, these Jin thieves are all fake, mostly surrendered soldiers from Hebei. They are almost entirely infantry, and they are not as skilled at circling the city and attacking from all sides like the real Jin thieves. They are also not good at driving directly into the heartland and using fighting to support the enemy. Therefore, they will definitely attack the city. We don't need to fight outside the city, just defend it to the death."

When infantry fight, they cannot go around the city like cavalry and rely on looting for supplies along the way.

Behind the infantry there must be a logistics supply line. They must attack one city at a time, along the cities and fortresses, one by one, in a carpet-style advance. If they bypass the city without fighting, their own logistics line will be cut off, and they will die without a burial place.

Therefore, as long as the Jin bandit cavalry does not come, the pseudo-Jin bandit infantry will have no choice but to attack the city.

The Jiaoshui County Magistrate shouted anxiously, "They are definitely coming to attack our Jiaoshui County." Wasn't that nonsense? Everyone present knew that the first wave of the Jin bandits would most likely attack Jiaoshui.

The word "Jiaodong" in the Jiaodong Peninsula refers to "east of Jiaoshui".

Jiaoshui County is the face of Jiaodong region!

That's why Madam Gong Er is leading the main force here now.

Madam Gong Er said, "We have long planned to link Jiaoshui, Laizhou, and Jimo into a defensive line to prevent the Jin thieves from entering the Jiaodong Peninsula. The Jin thieves are most likely to attack Jiaoshui County, but the other two cities must also be defended. Jimo is guarded by County Magistrate Wu and General Guan Sheng, but only Laizhou is lacking in defense. My Lord, I'm afraid you must return to Laizhou immediately and organize the local militia."

The Laizhou governor looked embarrassed and said, "The local militia is useless. Please ask Gong Yishi to divide the troops and send a team there."

The Jiaoshui County Magistrate's face darkened upon hearing this. "We absolutely cannot divide our forces. We don't have many troops to begin with. We can't even defend Jiaoshui County, so how can we divide them? Let's gamble! Gather the entire army in Jiaoshui County and bet that the Jin bandits will only attack this county. We can use archers to defend Laizhou. That should be enough. Isn't Jimo County also defended entirely by archers?"

The prefect of Laizhou glared at the magistrate of Jiaoshui County in annoyance, thinking, you are a coward, you even dare to contradict me, the prefect.

Jimo County dared to garrison with archers because the Jimo archers were all trained by Wu County Wei, and their training methods were almost exactly the same as those of the soldiers under Gong Yishi, so their combat effectiveness was not weak.

But the militia in Laizhou City are all useless, they have just started training...

Madam Gong Er thought for a moment and said, "Laizhou City must be defended. If the Jin bandits fail to capture Jiaoshui and send a detachment to attack Laizhou, there won't be anyone there to defend it. Once the city is breached, the entire state will panic, and it will be too late to rescue it."

She turned and looked at Wu Zhan.

Wu Zhan's position in the rebel army is not low now. The island refugee soldiers have been in the rebel army for quite some time and have been trained into a very reliable force.

Madam Gong Er said, "Brother Wu, you go to Laizhou."

Wu Zhan clasped his fists and said, "As you command!"

Seeing that Madam Gong Er was willing to divide the troops, the prefect of Laizhou breathed a sigh of relief. However, before he could calm down, he heard Madam Gong Er add, "When fighting the fake Jin bandits, try not to use new weapons, so as to avoid leaking the news and making the Jin bandits wary. We should save them for when we fight the real Jin bandits."

Wu Zhan: "Yes, sir!"

When the two men said this, the Laizhou prefect could no longer sit still and jumped up. "Ah? Not using new weapons? Then how can we win? Forget about the real gold thieves and the fake gold thieves, just use everything we can!"

Yue Wenxuan and Gong Erniang rolled their eyes at the prefect at the same time, almost saying: You know nothing.

Wu Zhan immediately led his army to Laizhou, bringing with him one hundred refugee soldiers from the islands and another hundred bandits from Laiyang who had surrendered. The one hundred refugee soldiers had been trained for a long time and were considered the main force. The bandits who had surrendered had also been trained for several months.

Qi Jiguang only needed one month to train ordinary people to be stronger than the regular Ming army, so the combat effectiveness of these two hundred people was really not weak.

The prefect of Laizhou also followed. He was able to gather several thousand local militiamen, but these thousands of people could only serve as cheerleaders for Wu Zhan's two hundred men.

Madam Gong Er waited until they left before speaking, "Blindly defending won't work. Only by combining defense with offense can we hold a secure position. Pass on my orders. Send out scouts... block the enemy scouting area. We'll try to ambush them first."

(End of this chapter)