Cutting 1719

Chapter 373 Poison Pill Project
Nian Gengyao's face was as gloomy as water. When the Dayi Army in Xinglin Town secretly evacuated, although he received the news, he was worried that there was a fraud in it, so he didn't dare to send troops to pursue it at night. By dawn, the Dayi Army had already gone away. As a result, he missed the opportunity and rushed to nothing.

"General, this is a letter from the enemy chieftain."

Seeing the expression on his lord's face, Hu Qiheng roughly guessed something in his heart, he couldn't help laughing, but handed over the letter left by Chen Daoxian.

letter?This is a rare thing. How can anyone leave a letter to the enemy general during a war? Could it be that he wants to surrender?
With a bit of disdain on his face, Nian Gengyao casually opened the envelope and took a look at the letter paper. It was just this glance that caught his attention, and then he read it word by word.

Seeing the change in Nian Gengyao's attitude, Hu Qiheng probably understood that the letter was not simple, so he didn't urge Nian Gengyao immediately, and started to savor the tea by himself.

"Good means"

There was a trace of solemnity on Nian Gengyao's face, he handed the letter to Hu Qiheng, and said in a low voice, "Yuan Fang might as well take a look at this letter, this Chen Daoxian is really not simple, and I don't know if there is something behind him. bit."

Hu Qiheng immediately received the letter, and quickly finished reading it, with a smile on his face, "This is really a character, Liu Ruhan released him, I am afraid that he will regret it in the future, and he will not find the grave and cry. He hopes to join the Qing Dynasty. It may be false to live in Qianzhou temporarily, but it is true that he wants my army to deal with Liu Ruhan, does the general want it?" While speaking, he compared his hand to the knife and slashed down fiercely.

Nian Gengyao did not answer, but closed his eyes and thought deeply, "What is certain is that Chen Daoxian really betrayed Liu Ruhan. He took over the 3 people Liu Ruhan sent to him. It is impossible to completely digest it, and if our army pursues him now, even if we can intercept him, it will be difficult to completely wipe him out. However, what good will this do for us?"

Yes, what Nian Gengyao said hit the point. Chen Daoxian fled to Qianzhou, and he must still be on the sidelines. If the Qing army goes north to Qianzhou, I am afraid he will continue to flee further. If they catch up, it will be difficult to completely defeat this army, and then the whole situation will undergo greater changes, which is definitely not a good thing for the Qing army.

On the contrary, if we reach a tacit agreement with Chen Daoxian and directly attack Xi'an, without the 3 troops, it will be even more difficult for the rest of Xi'an's Great Rebel Army to resist the Qing army's full attack. Completely destroy Liu Ruhan to solve the crisis in Guanzhong. What will happen to Chen Daoxian's [-] people?Surrender or die, but he has the final say.

Thinking of this, Nian Gengyao heaved a long sigh, "We still focus on Xi'an, but we can't rest assured about Chen Daoxian. We should keep 5000 people in Xinglin Town to monitor Chen Daoxian's movements. , let the army return.”

Hu Qiheng nodded lightly. He had figured it out in his heart, and this was basically the best countermeasure now, so he agreed.

"Order the whole army to take a short rest and attack Xi'an!"

On November 23, under the leadership of Nian Gengyao, the Qing army conquered Xingping and Xianyang all the way, and arrived at the city of Xi'an. The Dayi Army stationed in these two places were almost defeated in the first battle, and they could not really fight against the When the Qing army confronted each other, the so-called tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were just farmers holding spears temporarily.

At this time, Liu Ruhan in Xi'an City had just received the news of Chen Daoxian's defection, and he had defected with an army of [-]. This made him feel as if he had been fooled by someone, and even killed Liu Quan with a knife, but At this point, he also had to face a problem-that is, can he defend the city of Xi'an?
In Liu Ruhan's original plan, he hoped that Chen Daoxian would take the 3 people to slow down the pace of the Qing army, and then use the hands of the Qing army to kill Chen Daoxian, while he took the opportunity to strengthen the defense line between Xingping and Xianyang. Come and fight an offensive and defensive battle with the Qing army, and use Xingping and Xianyang to drag the Qing army down.

But the problem is, Liu Ruhan didn't expect Chen Daoxian to have such ability. He captured [-] troops in one night, and then went north to Qianzhou to be a fisherman. , took Xingping and Xianyang in one fell swoop, so that only one city of Xi'an was left in Liu Ruhan's hands in Xi'an Mansion at this time.

Facing the [-] Qing troops in the northwest, Liu Ruhan had no confidence in holding Xi'an. On the one hand, he sent people to Gancheng to seek support from Chen Daoxian—anyway, we were all grasshoppers on the same boat, and without him, Chen Daoxian was working hard. Can the city survive?Let’s work together to tide over the difficulties. On the other hand, we should ask Ning Chu for help. The reason is very simple. If Xi’an falls, Henan will become the next target of the Northwest Army.

Although Liu Ruhan sent people to seek support, he actually knew in his heart that both parties wanted him to die, so they immediately recruited troops in the city, hoping that he could defend Xi'an City.

It's just that Nian Gengyao has always been vigorous and resolute, so after besieging Xi'an City, he began to attack the city.

Since Nian Gengyao's Northwest Army had a large number of artillery pieces, while the Dayi Army's artillery power was relatively insufficient, so when the siege battle really started, the firepower of the defending Dayi Army fell into a disadvantage. Most of the soldiers of the Great Rebel Army in the world were not elite, so the casualties were extremely heavy.

Of course, the city of Xi'an is very strong, and both sides invested tens of thousands of people in each battle, so despite the heavy casualties, Xi'an city was not captured after all, but fell into a longer-term siege. A bloody battle for the city of Xi'an was launched.

The movement of Xi'an City can't be hidden from Ning Yu's eyes. In fact, the plan against Liu Ruhan this time was led by the Huitong Military Intelligence Department of the Privy Council. All the details have been mastered by Nanjing.

"Your Majesty, more than half of the 'Poison Pill' plan has been implemented, and it is generally within our expectations, but Nian Gengyao's massacre against Fengxiang Mansion was not expected. This is a mistake in our work."

Dong Ce stood in front of Yutu with a heavy expression on his face, but also a little nervous.

Ning Yu looked at the strategic form map of Shaanxi, and nodded slightly. He also knew in his heart that Fengxiang Mansion was not in Ning Chu's hands at all, and there was no way to take more measures, so the intelligence personnel could not be blamed. When the information revealed that there were tens of thousands of civilians who died at the hands of the Qing army, I felt a little sad in my heart.

When it prospers, the people suffer; when it dies, the people also suffer.

In the foreseeable next few years, similar things will surely happen again. As long as the Qing court is not destroyed, this possibility will always exist.However, at present, Ning Chu still needs more background if he wants to unify the whole country.

After all, the rise time is too short, Ning Chu is like a balloon, blowing up into a giant in just a few years, from a county and a prefecture to the entire south today, this is also true. It is doomed that Ning Chu needs more time to settle and accumulate.

"The follow-up is even more critical. Our goal is not to destroy the Dayi Army, but to replace Liu Ruhan with Chen Daoxian. This is very critical and very difficult. Therefore, it will test whether our methods of action and methods can be more meticulous. .”

Ning Yu gave instructions slowly, pointing his finger at the city of Xi'an, "If we don't intervene, Liu Ruhan and Chen Daoxian alone will obviously not be able to withstand Nian Gengyao's attack, so when necessary, the Fuhan army also needs to participate go in."

"The Privy Council has a plan for this. Right now there are three divisions of our Fuhan Army in Henan, namely the Second Division in Shanzhou, the Eighth Division in Luoyang, and the No.12 Division in Kaifeng. They are currently in We are gradually gathering, but these 3 people still need to guard against the Qing army north of the Yellow River, so we can't all go to Xi'an."

Dong Ce tapped the map with his fingers, his expression slightly dignified, "Your Majesty, the military expansion plan is still on paper, and this will have a certain impact on the follow-up plans of the Privy Council."

But before he finished speaking, he felt the sternness in Ning Yu's eyes, as if he could see through his thoughts, which made Dong Ce panicked, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, I am too talkative."

Ning Yu nodded slightly. In fact, he also understood in his heart that there was a reason for what Dong Ce said. Due to the current mechanism that the Privy Council is only responsible to the emperor, the military is basically not subject to the constraints of the cabinet. As a result, the call for military expansion has become louder and louder, and the desire to make contributions has become stronger.

Of course, this system will definitely not be maintained like this forever, and Ning Yu will continue to make changes in the future.But during this period of time, it seems very necessary, because once the military is controlled by the cabinet, it is easy to make the military involved in politics, which does not meet Ning Yu's requirements and positioning for the military.

"The matter of military expansion will be settled in the next year. There is no major war in Ningchu right now, and 2 people should be enough. We are not the protagonists in this scene. The real protagonist has to be Chen Daoxian. Let's just beat and drum."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After the business was finished, Dong Ce was about to step back, but Ning Yu stopped him unexpectedly. The emperor had a smirk on his face at this time, as if he had caught Dong Ce's sore foot.

"I heard that you plan to marry Xu Chengliang's younger sister?"

Dong Ce blushed suddenly, and said shyly, "Your Majesty, this matter has not been settled yet. But we are not young now, aren't we still in touch?"

Xu Chengliang has now been promoted to the commander of the second division. The two have not seen each other all year round. One is in Nanjing and the other is in Henan. Although the relationship has not become unfamiliar, it is not like in the past. .

Ning Yu laughed loudly, "This is a good thing, you don't have to worry about it, and spend more time with other girls. If you want to get married in the future, I will be the officiant for you."

Dong Ce quickly clasped his fists in salute, "Thank you, Your Majesty. After much deliberation on this matter, His Majesty is the only one who is the most suitable, but I dare not say this. Now that Your Majesty took the initiative to say it, I am relieved."

Ning Yu sighed, looked at Dong Ce and said in a low voice: "You have worked hard all these years, and it's not bad to be able to start a family now, but you don't just care about yourself, Xu Chengliang and others Nian has been leading the army, so I have to help him manage the family business."

Thinking of Xu Chengliang's temper, Dong Ce felt a little distressed, and sighed: "It's not that I haven't helped him, but your Majesty, you know that if there is someone who can be restrained, he will be fine, but isn't this Is it true that no one can tie it down right now?"

Ning Yu thought for a while, and couldn't help but smile wryly, it really makes sense.

After Dong Ce went down, Ning Yu was really concerned about the matter of military expansion, but before the military expansion, he had to settle his own family fortune, so he sent people to send the first assistant Ning Zhongjing and the second assistant Cui Wancai And Dong Lin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance, invited over.

Dong Lin, Minister of the Ministry of Finance, was Ning Zhongyuan's confidant back then. He has always been loyal. Shangshu.

After the three of them arrived at Fengtian Hall, Ning Yu didn't beat around the bush, and took out the Privy Council's original military expansion plan, and said softly: "My dears, now the Privy Council is asking me for money, but I don't have any money, so I can only ask You have asked for it, do you want to come up with a solution here?"

Ning Zhongjing took the booklet, and frowned before he opened it. He knew that the expansion of the army had gone through many twists and turns. Ning Yu even planned to issue national debt in the court, but he did not give up because the time had not come. Right now, this meant that he couldn't wait any longer, so he couldn't help but sighed lightly, read it briefly, and handed the booklet to Cui Wancai.

Cui Wancai also knew the reason for these contradictions. Generally speaking, Ningchu's expansion was too fast, so that the financial aspect could not keep up with the pace at all, and was always on the verge of bankruptcy, so there was no more money to spend on military expansion.

To put it simply, it's not that the cabinet wants to shirk, but that it really can't afford the money to expand the army, or that the family is too weak, and it is difficult to maintain a large-scale army in the face of war, a gold-swallowing behemoth.

"This year, the whole of the south was basically taken over very smoothly, especially the battle between Guangdong and Guangxi ended very cleanly. Strictly speaking, it was much earlier than our expected plan. Originally, this military expenditure could be saved, but His Majesty ordered the south to Several divisions are approaching the Yunnan-Guizhou border, so it is equivalent to advancing the war next year, and naturally the money will not be saved."

Cui Wancai told Ning Yu euphemistically that the reason why the imperial court had no money was entirely because the plan was advanced too much. This is a good thing in every respect, but it does not help much to ease the financial pressure. On the contrary, it has the potential to further improve trend.

Ning Yu was silent for a while, and tentatively asked: "Can the court's other expenses be further reduced?"

(End of this chapter)