Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 245
"Hehe! The words of the eldest uncle are ridiculous! What a certain person just said is just the worst ending. In fact, the court did not believe that Liaodong has a different heart. Hong Gong's trip is also to make Ning Jinjun feel the same! Otherwise, the Holy Majesty You only need to send a few Jinyis to come, why use large soldiers? May I ask, if Jinyis come, would your father and you dare to resist orders?"

Shen Shiyu laughed.

Even in the past few years when the whole territory of Ming Dynasty was in chaos, Jin Yiwei was still an existence that civil servants and generals feared like a tiger.Since Zu Dashou returned to Liaodong with his army in the second year of Chongzhen, because he was afraid of being arrested by the factory guards, he had not dared to cross the Shanhaiguan Pass to the inland for eight years. It can be seen how deterrent the factory guards are. Even Zu Dashou, who holds a heavy army in his hands, only dared to resist the order and did not dare to openly rebel, let alone other civil servants and generals.

Just like what Shen Shiyu said, if the emperor already had murderous intentions towards the Wu family, he would have sent Jinyi to arrest them long ago, so would Wu Xiang dare to lead the army to resist?Will the soldiers of Ji Town, who are sandwiched between Shanhaiguan and the capital, listen to your orders?Even if the subordinates obey orders, can more than 1 people beat the tens of thousands of elites of the imperial court?

"What is Shen Gong's intention? Is my Wu family and my ancestor's family completely torn apart? Forgive me, if this is really the case, I am afraid it will not help the big things. After all, the ancestors have been operating in Liaodong for many years. The power is not comparable to my Wu family. The boy also felt that what Shen Gongshi just said meant that the Holy One didn't seem to have the intention of causing chaos in Liaodong, and the supervisor only brought a few hundred soldiers outside the pass to prove it. The boy and my father are ministers of the Ming Dynasty. Since you should obey the orders of the Holy Majesty and the imperial court, so today I would like to ask Mr. Shen to make it clear that as long as it is not excessive, my Wu family will never say anything!"

Under Shen Shiyu's hard and soft tactics, the young Wu Sangui finally couldn't hold back and was defeated.

"Since the eldest uncle knows that the Wu family is still a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, he should do his duty as a courtier! You are only the deputy commander-in-chief, and you are too condescending with your talents! Relying on nepotism will not have enough capital for promotion! With most of the thieves wiped out, if you want to make meritorious service, next year's Jianzhou War will be your last encounter! But have you ever thought about it? When Liaodong is full of malice, do you still have the opportunity to lead troops out of the customs to participate in the war? You are still young, are you willing to only have a future? If you want to make meritorious service, you must become a general of the army! Hong Gong wants to rectify the Ningjin army this time This is your chance to make the next year’s conquest army work together without any worries. This is your chance! Uncle, let me tell you some heart-wrenching words. Among the famous ministers and generals in history, which one is not a cruel and merciless generation? A person who is indecisive and thinks too much , and end up being mediocre for the rest of my life! At the time of this great change, one must have enough courage to stand out! Uncle, that’s all for now, so you’ll have to figure out how to do it!”

Three days later, after handing over the food and payment, Hong Chengchou left Jizhen with five hundred standard battalion guards and headed for Shanhaiguan, accompanied by Wu Sangui and the Wu family's three thousand cavalry.

After telling his father Shen Shiyu's words, Wu Xiang and his son discussed secretly for a long time, and finally decided to ask Wu Sangui to go to Jinzhou to bring his family back to the pass on the grounds that Wu Xiang was ill and needed someone to take care of him.

As for leading a large group of cavalry out of the customs, it was because there was an imperial decree that Jizhen sent troops to serve as Hong Chengchou's standard battalion guards. The real reason was that Hong Chengchou, who acted cheaply according to the order, promised Wu Sangui the position of Ningyuan's commander-in-chief.

When Hong Chengchou came to Beijing to meet with His Majesty, the two monarchs and ministers had looked at the map and made a comprehensive assessment of the Liaodong defense line, which also gave Hong Chengchou a more detailed understanding of the Ningjin line.

On the map of Kun held in the Forbidden City, the topography of the entire Northeast and Mongolia can be seen at a glance.

Daxing'an Mountains, Qilaotu Mountain, Nulu'erhu Mountain and Yanshan Mountain, this continuous large mountain range cuts the Northeast, the northern border of the Ming Dynasty, and the Mongolian Plateau into three parts, which also makes the exchanges between the three places abnormal. Difficulties.

If you want to attack Daming from the place where Jianlu is entrenched, there are only three ways to go: one is to start from Shengjing, first cross the Liao River, then pass through Chaoyang, Daling River, and Lingyuan to Xifengkou, and then break through the side wall and leave. The other is from Shengjing to the west, crossing the Horqin tribe of Mongolia and then turning south to reach the ancestral court of the Khitan people - Pingquan, cross the Luan River to Gubeikou, and then break into the Gyeonggi area.

The above two roads are all along the river valley, shuttling between the mountains and mountains of western Liaoning, and tens of thousands of horses and horses carry a lot of luggage through it, and the loss during the period is quite amazing; After several years of preparation, the fundamental reason why it was only possible to enter the Daming plunder through these two roads: it was too difficult to walk, and one had to take the huge risk of losing nothing after being defeated by the Ming army.

The road from Shanhaiguan to Ningjin is the most convenient and the closest to Daming, and it is also the one that Jianzhou most wants.

Outside Shanhaiguan, there are endless stretches of mountains to the west, and the vast and boundless Bohai Sea to the east. Between the mountains and the sea, there is a narrow and slender flat land, which is the famous Liaoxi Corridor.

This channel is the main channel that Jianlu most urgently wants to get through, and the fortress Jinzhou City, which is blocked at the northernmost end of this channel, is like a dagger at the throat of Houjin.

If Jianlu wanted to attack Daming from the Liaoxi Corridor, he would first transfer his army to Shengjing, then cross the large swamp called Liaoze in ancient times, cross the Daling River to the city of Jinzhou, and cross the Xiaoling River after conquering Jinzhou. After conquering the castles of Songshan, Tashan, and Lianshan all the way, they arrived at Ningyuan. After conquering Ningyuan, they had to cross six rivers, including the Nuer River and Liugu River, before finally reaching Shanhaiguan.

After looking at the map, Hong Chengchou's confidence in the economic strategy outside the customs increased greatly, and he became even more pessimistic about the prospects of Jianlu.

The distance from Shengjing to Jinzhou is nearly [-] li.Jianlu wants to attack Jinzhou. It will take a month to gather a large army in advance, prepare food and materials, and recruit Han slaves as civilian husbands; and then march to Jinzhou for a long distance. It took nearly ten days; after arriving in Jinzhou, the soldiers were exhausted and needed a few days of rest before attacking the city. Siege has always been Jianlu's weakness. For Jinzhou, which is heavily fortified, it is difficult for Jianlu to break through in a short time.

In history, Huang Taiji also knew the weakness of the Qing army, so he sent Jierhalang to lead an army to build deep moats and barriers on three sides of Jinzhou for a long-term siege.After receiving an urgent call for help from Zu Dashou, the capital dispatched the Eighth Route General Army, 13 infantry, and [-] cavalry, led by Hong Chengchou and Liaodong governor Qiu Minyang, to break the siege of Jinzhou. Unexpectedly, they were defeated in Songshan. Lu Guanjun was ambushed one after another, ruining the last elite force of Ming Dynasty.

Jinzhou was besieged for more than a year before it died because of food shortages.

Of course Zhu Youjian knew the importance of Jinzhou.Although the defeat of Songshan in history will hardly happen, in order to prevent the Qing army from adopting the method of siege of Jinzhou as in history, after discussing with Hong Chengchou, it was decided to strengthen the defense forces of Songshan and Gaoqiao Towns in the south of Jinzhou. Mobilize heavy troops to garrison the two places, and set up a general army in Ningyuan to the south, so as to respond to the possible offensive of the Qing army against Jinzhou at any time.

Wu Sangui's Ningyuan commander-in-chief was not an act of Hong Chengchou's personal favor, but an act after Zhu Youjian's instruction to build a new fortification behind Jinzhou. Even if Jinzhou in front missed, Songshan, Gaoqiao Town, Ningyuan , These three lines of defense will also become an insurmountable gap for Jianlu.

In fact, it is correct to say that Zu Dashou's Ning Jin army leader should be called the general of Liaoxi. Mao Wenlong's Dongjiang town was Liaodong. As for whether to re-establish a position behind the enemy in Liaodong, Zhu Youjian is still considering.

　Thanks to the book friend SHAJIA for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)