Chapter 18 The battle begins
Only Ezhe, the son of Lindan Khan, stood up and said sternly: "These Ming dogs really don't take us seriously. Please allow me to lead 10,000 warriors to flatten Datong Prefecture and teach the Emperor of Ming a lesson."

Immediately, a general objected, "Great Khan, you must not do that! We are migrating westwards to the territory of Kalachin Uriankhai. The thirty-six tribes of Ximen are planning to unite to deal with us. We should keep our troops to deal with the counterattack of Kalachin Uriankhai. It is unwise to go to war with the Ming people at this time!"

In fact, there was one thing the general did not say, which was that Lin Danhan's westward migration was actually to avoid the attack of the Later Jin army, which was a bit like a stray dog. After a long journey, his people were already exhausted, and it was indeed not a wise choice to go to war with the Ming Dynasty at this time.

However, Lin Danhan was not less angry after hearing this. Instead, he scolded: "Shut up! I am the common leader of the grassland. If my son-in-law is killed and I do nothing, how will my people view me as Khan!"

However, after Lin Danhan reprimanded, he slowed down his tone and explained: "But this Khan is willing to give the Emperor of Ming a chance. We will first plunder around Datong to teach the Ming people a lesson, and then go to Datong to ask for the city rewards that have been owed for the past two years."

Soon, Ligdan Khan's army began to move out and headed towards Datong Prefecture. However, when it was still more than a hundred miles away from Datong, it began to divide its troops and began to plunder scattered villages and towns.

However, to Lin Danhan's surprise, the army sent out to plunder soon returned empty-handed.

The returning teams all reported a strange phenomenon: all the villages and towns were empty.

Not to mention people, there is not even a dog.

"Those damn Ming people must have killed Guiying and then fled because they were afraid of our revenge!" said Khan Prince Ezhe angrily.

Lin Danhan's face was not looking good either, as the tribe that migrated westward did not carry much food.

The looting of the areas around Datong was done to demonstrate to the Ming Dynasty and force it to give a reward. The second reason was to go out "hunting" and obtain some food and grass to support the tribe.

However, the Ming people's strategy of clearing the countryside put Ligdan Khan in a dilemma.

If they just went back home like this, not only would they be laughed at for not daring to retaliate when their son-in-law was killed by the weak Ming people, but their tribesmen would also quickly lose their fighting power without sufficient food and fodder.

It would be fine if only the tribesmen went hungry for two meals, but the main problem is that if the war horses lack beans and salt to replenish their energy, they will not be able to exert the power of cavalry, which will put Ligdan Khan in a dangerous situation.

But if they continued with the original plan, the Ming Dynasty had already relocated all the people in advance, and they would not be able to obtain supplies around Datong Prefecture, so they could only attack Datong.

Datong City has high walls and thick sieges, and the Mongolian army is not good at it. Once the war breaks out, it will cause certain casualties as expected. If the casualties are too heavy, it will be somewhat not worth the loss.

This also means that Lindan Khan will completely break off relations with the Ming Dynasty and will no longer be able to successfully obtain supplies and rewards from the Ming Dynasty in the future.

"Father Khan, give the order! These Ming people think that we can't do anything to them just because they are hiding in the city!" Ezhe urged.

Lin Danhan glanced at his generals who were all staring at him, gritted his teeth, waved his hand and said, "Let's go and capture Datong!"

As a result, tens of thousands of troops rushed towards Datong Prefecture in a mighty force.

…………

Datong Prefecture, on the city wall.

Looking at the vast cloud of smoke and dust in the distance, the Datong defenders felt as if the whole earth was shaking.

Fang Zikun turned around with a solemn expression, looked at the defenders on the top of the city wall, stomped the sword in his hand heavily to the ground, and stood on the steps in front of the city gate tower under the puzzled gazes of the soldiers.

At the same time, the door of the city gate tower behind him also opened, revealing boxes of silver inside.

The box had been opened in advance, revealing the silver inside, which made the soldiers' eyes widen. Fang Zi Kunming took out the silver and said, "This is the salary that His Majesty urgently sent. His Majesty said that it will be distributed for three months first, and there will be rewards if the battle is good!"

"If it's more, I won't bother to say more. One tael of silver for each Tartar head. The more you work, the more you get!"

Then, he turned to the generals in front of him and said, "Each team should bring people to collect the silver. This general will watch here and see who dares to withhold the soldiers' wages!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the soldiers on the city wall, who were originally nervous and worried, suddenly cheered.

The imperial court has owed military pay for six months, and many families are so poor that they can barely make ends meet.

Although only half of the unpaid wages were paid, it was enough to make the soldiers happy. What's more, the commander-in-chief had already said that killing a Tartar would be rewarded with one or two taels of silver.

One tael of silver is one month's salary!

At this time, when the soldiers looked at the Tatars rushing towards them from afar, they no longer felt fear. Instead, it was as if they saw a pile of silver that could move by itself.

"This is all money!" a young soldier muttered to himself.

The army quickly approached the city and stopped a hundred steps away from the city to prevent being shot by arrows from the top of the city.

A Tartar soldier came out of the line quickly with a report in hand and ran straight to the city gate. Experienced veterans knew that he was the enemy's messenger.

Before a battle began, the metropolitan area would film a messenger like this to intimidate the soldiers defending the city into surrendering and killing them.

Generally, they will not attack directly with arrows, but will let the other party finish speaking.

Firstly, archery may not be able to hit cavalry in high-speed movement. Secondly, the main general defending the city sometimes has a weak will to fight, and he also wants to see what conditions the other side can offer to make him give up defense.

However, the enemy's messenger had just approached the range and only said half a sentence, "The Ming people on the city wall, quickly open the city wall..."

Before he could finish his words, Fang Zikun personally drew his bow and shot an arrow at the messenger.

The messenger was caught off guard and was shot in the shoulder and fell off his horse.

There was a sudden cheer on the city wall, and the army's morale was greatly boosted.

However, Lin Danhan and others on the opposite side were furious. Ezhe was even more furious and said, "Father Khan, the Ming people don't take us seriously at all!"

Lin Danhan also felt very ashamed. He had originally planned that if the Ming people were sensible, they would send large amounts of food and silver, and he could just pretend that nothing had happened.

But the Ming people attacked the messenger without saying a word, which clearly showed that they had no intention of negotiating.

This made Lin Danhan, who had suffered so much at the hands of Nurhaci, feel extremely humiliated. He immediately stopped talking nonsense and shouted angrily: "Attack the city!"

Soon, infantrymen carrying makeshift siege ladders approached the city, and two teams of cavalry began to circle the city gate and shoot arrows at the top of the city to cover the attacking infantrymen.

The battle officially begins.

(End of this chapter)