Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1423 "The Legend of Zhang Poqiang" [Happy New Year]

The capital, the household department, and the Shangshu are in the flower hall outside the value room.

The incense is fragrant, the stove is warm, and a red sandalwood mountain water screen at the door blocks the snow scene outside, and also keeps the conversation between the two ministries in the flower hall indoors, so that no outsiders can hear it.

"Things are roughly like this, and the latest news is that Li Chengliang coerced Jianzhou, and Nurhachi took the initiative to surrender, invited him to Hetuala for inspection, and promised to return the land he had seized in the past few years." Liang Menglong, the visiting minister of the Ministry of War With a sigh, he shook his head and said.

Gao Pragmatic sat opposite Liang Menglong's host and guest, and he seemed a little surprised when he heard the words. He frowned and pondered, and tapped rhythmically on the armrest of the red sandalwood chair with the five fingers of his right hand.

Liang Menglong has known Gao Yushi for a long time, knowing that this is Gao Yushi's habitual action when thinking, so he didn't urge him, and quietly waited for Gao Yushi's conclusion.

Not long after, Liang Menglong, who was holding a small tea in his hand, suddenly heard Gao Wushi chuckle, couldn't help but raised his head, and said in a little surprise: "Why do you laugh when seeking the truth?"

Gao Wushi seemed to be unable to hold back his laughter, he laughed again "hehe", shook his head and said, "I laugh at Li Yincheng who has been invincible in Liaodong for more than [-] years, but I'm afraid he will suffer a big loss this time."

Liang Menglong was very surprised, his eyes widened, and his face was in disbelief: "How do you say that?"

Gao Wushi raised his eyebrows lightly, and asked, "Master Mingquan, do you know Zhang Poqiang's old skills?"

"Zhang Poqiang?" Liang Menglong thought about this somewhat unfamiliar title, and asked, "Qiuzhen refers to Zhang Xiu, the general of Poqiang at the end of the Han Dynasty?"

Gao Wushi nodded and said, "Of course."

Liang Menglong's complexion changed: "You mean... Nurhachi's false surrender?"

"Nurhachi is by no means a person who asks to surrender easily." Gao Yushi's eyes sparkled, and he said decisively: "I expect that in his performance of surrender this time, his words must be extremely courteous, and he would even be servile, isn't it?"

"Yes." Liang Menglong replied, and then asked: "What is the strategy of this arrogant soldier?"

Gao Wushi smiled: "Cao Cao's defeat in Wancheng, forcing Zhang Xiu's aunt Zou to stay in bed was the trigger, but his victory was too easy, and he became a proud soldier because of his complacency. This is the root cause. In my opinion In the battle of Jianzhou, Uncle Ning Yuan already has the appearance of a proud soldier, even if Nurhachi has not made up his mind, he should follow the strategy of Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu after seeing him."

Liang Menglong thought about it and said: "But Li Chengliang's generals are like a cloud, and the soldiers are capable, and Nurhachi has just defeated him and asked to surrender. I am afraid that the morale of the barbarian soldiers under his command is low..."

Gao Yushi said: "That's true, but the low morale of Nurhachi's troops is not irreversible. As the saying goes, the mourners will win, and Nurhachi only needs to pretend to be pitiful, and then design one or two, such as pretending that Uncle Ning Yuan is bullying others, etc., then Jianzhou barbarians You must be furious, this is what mourning soldiers are."

Liang Menglong frowned and said, "Li Chengliang is not a man of few wisdom and resourcefulness, why is he so negligent this time?"

"I'm afraid he didn't overlook it, but he missed it." Gao Wushi shook his head and said, "Uncle Ning Yuan intends to go to Hetuala in person, which is the biggest failure of this battle. If he keeps an army outside Hetuala, Even stationed far away at Yahuguan and Qinghe Fort, Nurhachi was still the softshell in the urn, and when to arrest him, I will take the initiative.

But he was afraid that the west and north roads would take the lead and weaken his reputation as the commander of Liaodong. Therefore, starting from the deployment before the battle, he planned step by step: he knew that Cao Yu was cautious, but instead of giving a shortcut, he gave one The difficult road is deliberately taking the slowest; he knows that Ma Chengxun is brave, but he does not impose strict orders, but tells him to go alone, deliberately taking the quickest.

Between fast and slow, one strong and one weak, Nurhachi would naturally think of defeating Ma Chengxun first, and regard Cao Yu as nothing.I expected that Uncle Ning Yuan wanted to see Ma Chengxun's defeat but Cao Yu's help was not enough, so that he could turn the tide when Ma Chengxun was defeated again, and let the emperor and the court see his power in Liaodong.

I don't know if Uncle Ning Yuan had expected Nurhachi's request to surrender.However, I think Nurhachi's request to surrender is not the best situation for Uncle Ning Yuan, but it is acceptable-although it has less military exploits, it has more power, and it can also make people see that he plays a pivotal role in Liaodong.

It was also because of this that he went to Hetuala for an inspection—this inspection was actually nothing more than Xiang Zhuang's sword dance, aimed at Peigong. Uncle Ning Yuan didn't really want to embarrass Nurhachi, he just wanted to show the court experience. "

Liang Menglong's complexion gradually turned ugly, and he said in a deep voice: "Since he wants to show the imperial court a lesson, Li Chengliang will definitely become more domineering after he arrives in Hetuala. Because only the more domineering he behaves, the more he will be able to reflect his reputation and awe. Under the circumstances, even people like Nurhachi in the various Jurchen ministries can only be obedient and dare not complain."

Gao Wushi spread his hands slightly: "That's probably the case."

Liang Menglong's anger began to rise, he gritted his teeth and said, "I don't care if Li Chengliang is defeated or not, but if he really loses the battle at this time, wouldn't this so-called four-way army besiege Hetuala be just let it go, And the prestige that my Ming Dynasty has established in Liaodong for 200 years will collapse in one day?"

This time, Gao Wushi did not agree immediately, but pondered for a while, and said: "The prestige established by the Ming Dynasty in the court for 200 years will not collapse once. Especially for a defeat like Uncle Ning Yuan, even if it spreads, Jurchen The ministries can only say that he lost Jingzhou carelessly, and it will not be pushed to the whole of Daming. But in this way, the next battle will be difficult to fight, or the pressure on Cao Yu will be greater.

Now that Ma Chengxun is injured, although he has sent news that he is fine, he just won’t be able to use his left arm in the near future, but after this battle, even though I haven’t been to the place, I also feel that there is really no way to deploy most of the cavalry there... ..."

The words were obviously not finished yet, but Liang Menglong made an apologetic gesture this time, interrupting Gao Yushi's words, and said: "If this is the case, then Li Chengliang will have to be charged with another crime!"

Gao Wushi knew what he meant: when the imperial court planned to send troops, it only controlled the number of troops to be dispatched, and did not specify how to match the troops. This must be handled by the frontline generals themselves. Specifically, Li Chengliang will do it The details are determined, and the imperial court is not a remote control.

Li Chengliang must be very familiar with the local terrain. He has broken through Gule Village twice, and Gule Village is not far from Hetuala. Normally speaking, after passing through Salhu, the next stop is Jiefan Village, the next stop is Gule Village, the next stop is Mardun Village, and finally Hetuala.

Since Li Chengliang was familiar with the local terrain, he naturally knew that a large group of cavalry would not be able to use it there, so he still arranged for Ma Chengxun's entire army to lead four thousand cavalry. Wasn't this intentional? Was it just a joke?Obviously, he deliberately made Ma Chengxun's troops have high mobility, so that only Ma Chengxun could run fast in the four-way army.

However, after Liang Menglong finished speaking, he suddenly thought of a big question, and said in surprise: "No, Li Chengliang himself has all cavalry, and the number of them is twice that of Ma Chengxun, how can this be explained?"

Gao Pragmatic has thought about this question a long time ago, and immediately replied: "Without him, Uncle Ning Yuan didn't go to this battle for the sake of fighting, he just went to Xuanwei."

"Oh?" Liang Menglong frowned and thought for a moment, then said sullenly: "Li Chengliang, what does he think of the imperial court's military order? I think according to his estimation, he will probably enter the army immediately after Ma Chengxun's defeat, and scare him back." Nurhachi, this has achieved the effect of proclaiming power. If things go wrong, he is not in a hurry, because his troops are all cavalry, and if the battle is really bad, he can always run away. Then he has Cao There are nearly [-] infantry in the two divisions of Yu and Yang Yuan, both of which are elite, as long as the siege is successful, Hetuala will still be taken by him! What a 'sure-fire strategy'!"

Gao Wushi added, "Although Uncle Ning Yuan's troops are all cavalry, they have brought the artillery battalion. This probably means that if Nurhachi dared not fight him in the field and refused to surrender, he would directly take the cavalry to Hetuala, use artillery to break the city, so that he can even monopolize the great merit after Ma Chengxun's defeat."

Liang Menglong sneered and said: "It's really not as good as man's calculation. Although Ma Chengxun was injured a little, he was not defeated in the battle, and the strength of the army under his command still remained. Instead, Nurhachi was in a desperate situation and had to resort to the strategies of Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu. However, Li Chengliang was so intent on asking for credit that he fell into the trap... Hmph, this is the reincarnation of heaven, and retribution is not good."

Gao Yushi was too lazy to discuss the issue of retribution or not, but turned the topic back, saying: "If Uncle Ning Yuan really fell into Nurhachi's trick this time, we have to discuss a countermeasure earlier: whether to fight this battle or not , if you want to continue fighting, how should you fight?"

Liang Menglong waved his hand: "Then how can we fight, we can only rely on Cao Yu."

Gao Wushi hesitated for a moment, then slowly shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

"Oh?" Liang Menglong was a little surprised, and asked, "What's the best way to seek the truth?"

Gao Wushi said: "Although Uncle Ning Yuan's defeat is largely foreseeable, it is still difficult to determine whether it will be a big defeat or a small defeat. If it is only a small defeat, it is nothing more than retreating a certain distance to regroup and make a comeback; if it is a big defeat... ... Then naturally we can only withdraw to the closed wall for repairs.

Let's plan according to the worst situation first: Bo Ningyuan was defeated and his troops could no longer fight. What is the situation of the battle of Jianzhou at this time?Ma Chengxun's strength in the North Road still exists, and Cao Yu and Yang Yuan are still the new force, unaffected by Ning Yuanbo's defeat.In other words, our army still has [-] troops available.

On the other hand, Nurhachi's troops killed more than [-] people in the ambush on the North Road. According to the general casualty ratio, there should be [-] to [-] serious injuries and [-] to [-] minor injuries.Liaodong is extremely cold, and the slightly injured are not easy to get the disease and can recover quickly, but the seriously injured are more difficult to treat.

Calculated in this way, the battle of Nurhachi should be regarded as a loss of about 500 people. This is the biggest loss since he inherited his grandfather's post.Even... counting from the time of defeating Nikan Wailan, the sum of the casualties he suffered may not have reached this number. "

This high-practical estimate is quite accurate. Nurhachi's previous series of wars were relatively small in scale.Especially in the series of battles against Nikanwailan, almost all Nurhaci chased and Nikanwailan fled to another place. There were not many actual battles.In terms of losses, the largest battle loss was only 30 people.

Fighting Hada is also quite funny. When Nurhachi charged, Hada was directly defeated, and the loss was only double digits.Nurhachi lost hundreds of battles in the first two battles against Dong E's tribe, but there were only more than 100 people.Therefore, it can indeed be said that the battle with Ma Chengxun was the biggest loss Nurhachi has suffered since he raised his troops.

There are also reasons why he changed his mind immediately after that battle, no longer insisted on the pre-war plan, and instead carried out a very risky trick of feigning surrender against Li Chengliang's troops.

He originally planned to "send" Li Chengliang a meritorious service and then surrender, but the ambush of Ma Chengxun made him realize the elite and strength of the Ming cavalry.He was worried that the "send merit" was not delivered well, and Li Chengliang was eager to ask for credit, and he would beat him to death regardless of his feelings, and it would be completely over.

Therefore, Nurhachi thought about it and felt that his fate should still be in his own hands. He simply used war to promote peace, first defeated Li Chengliang, and then looked at the movements of the Ming army.

If the Ming army withdrew its troops back, he would directly confess his mistake to the emperor. Presumably at this time, the emperor should be able to face up to his status in Jianzhou and acquiesce in his previous actions; if the Ming army was unwilling to fail, he would continue to fight... A Jianzhou left guard would definitely not be able to beat Daming, but there were conflicts within Daming, and the conflicts in Liaodong were even more intense.

To put it simply, Li Chengliang's defeat is Li Chengliang's business, and he, Nurhachi, can go back and ask Cao Yu to surrender.

Liang Menglong listened to Gao Wushi's analysis, and immediately expanded his thinking, saying: "Nurhachi's design of Li Chengliang is likely to succeed, but Li Chengliang's troops are all elites after all, even if they fall into the trap, they will not be easily defeated. In this way, Nurhachi may lose a lot of people in Hetuala.

His Jianzhou Zuowei has a total of only seven or eight thousand soldiers and horses, and as far as I know, these soldiers are usually Dingli (labor force) among the tribes.Therefore, even if he defeats Li Chengliang, his own loss will reach the limit that he can bear.Unless he really wanted to wipe out the Zuowei in Jianzhou from now on, or completely reduce them to an insignificant small tribe, otherwise, he would have to really surrender. "

This is the real weakness of the Jurchens at this time. The population is too small, resulting in a poor ability to withstand war damage. Once there are a few fierce battles, it will not be able to recover for a long time.

In fact, not to mention the current Jurchen situation where various tribes are competing for supremacy, each tribe has a population of tens of thousands. Even after Nurhachi unified the Jurchen and established the Houjin in the original history, the Houjin army’s casualty tolerance is actually very high. Difference.

After a battle like the Bloody Battle of Hunhe, it would take a long time for Houjin to recover.If it weren't for the fact that the Ming court was still busy with party disputes, the emperor and the officials were in serious confrontation, and the court's elite soldiers were almost exhausted, Houjin would not have been so difficult to settle down.

According to Gao Yushi's past thinking, as long as the Ming army can win even one large-scale field battle, it can use this as an opportunity to build confidence in Houjin, and then overwhelm and destroy Houjin wave after wave.

At present, Nurhachi's ability to withstand casualties is even worse. As long as Li Chengliang doesn't mess around because of other factors, the Ming army can really fight and win.

Gao Wushi sighed, and said: "I said before that we can't completely wipe out Jianzhou Zuowei now, otherwise Ye He will become unrestrained again. I think if this is not the case, if Uncle Ningyuan is really defeated, The Ministry of War immediately took his command and handed over the front line to Cao Yu."

"There is no problem with the Ministry of War, but the emperor..." Liang Menglong said immediately.

Gao Wushi waved his hand: "I'll talk to the emperor."

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Today is New Year's Eve, I wish all readers a happy new year, a happy family, a prosperous year ahead, and all the best!

(End of this chapter)