Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 246
Zhu Youjian once clearly pointed out in the match with Hong Chengchou: Ning Jin’s army is not guarding Liaodong, but the Liaoxi Corridor; and the several strongholds established by Mao Wenlong in the Liaodong Peninsula are only to harass and contain the Qing army. It was not the Ming Dynasty's line of defense against the Jianlu invaders, and its effect was minimal.

In the battle of Liaoshen in the first year of the Apocalypse, Jianlu conquered Shenyang and Liaoyang one after another, leaving only Guangning as the fortress of the Ming Dynasty in the north of western Liaoning.

During the Battle of Guangning in the second year of the Apocalypse, the [-] new army formed by Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong, spent a huge amount of food and salaries. Hundreds of thousands of Liaodong soldiers and civilians withdrew into Shanhaiguan, abandoning all the fortresses built on the entire Liaoxi Corridor. From this point of view alone, Xiong Tingbi's death is not a pity.

Fortunately, the Eight Banners of Jianzhou was still in its infancy at that time, and the strength of the entire Jianzhou was not very strong. Nurhachi had to lead his subordinates to conquer the tribes adjacent to Jianzhou and plunder people and materials in order to expand their influence. Powerless and unwilling to occupy the entire Liaoxi Corridor, let alone the ambition to enter Shanhaiguan and compete with Ming Dynasty.Therefore, after successive victories against the Ming army, the wild boar skin just ordered to dismantle all the fortresses built by the Ming army on the Liaoxi Corridor, and moved those bricks, stones and timber back to Shenyang and other places in batches, and the remaining ones did not have time to withdraw The common people in the city also became the coated slaves of Jianlu, and the Liaoxi Corridor temporarily became a vacuum zone.

After the Battle of Guangning, Mao Wenlong's Department took some small-scale harassment actions against Jianlu, and also established several strongholds at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, but this kind of scratchy move was not enough to threaten Jianzhou. The defense of direction is still the top priority.

As for the direction of Ji Town, because Jianzhou does not yet have the strength to aggressively invade Horqin, Chahan and other Mongolian tribes, these Mongols can temporarily serve as a barrier against the invasion of Jianzhou, and there is no need to worry about the Eight Banners attacking the capital from the mountains.

At that time, Sun Chengzong and Wang Zaijin, as civil officials who were familiar with the affairs of Liaodong, had proposed two different solutions: Sun Chengzong advocated strengthening the defense in depth and rebuilding the corridor in the west of Liaoning; Soldiers, defend when there is an enemy, set up fields when there is no enemy, support each other between camps and forts, and push the defense line further.

This move is roughly consistent with the strategy adopted by Fan Zhongyan in the Northern Song Dynasty when he was in the Northwest.But the only difference is that the Song Dynasty was too rich back then, while the finances of the Ming Dynasty have gradually dried up.

Although this plan was supported by most of the courtiers, after careful calculation, the cost of money and food was too staggering, and it was really unbearable for Taicang, which was already depleted day by day.

However, Wang Zaijin advocated shrinking the defense and building a heavy city outside Shanhaiguan to consolidate Shanhaiguan;

The biggest advantage of this plan is that it can save a lot of expenses, and the burden on the court will be greatly reduced, but the disadvantages are also obvious: as long as Jianzhou becomes stronger and the front line is pushed to the vicinity of Shanhaiguan, then the capital will not be safe. The pawn is afraid that he will be on his deathbed.

In addition, this plan is superfluous.

Shanhaiguan is already a dangerous pass, and there are enough soldiers to guard it. What's the use of building a big city outside the closed gate?
After discussions between Tianqi and the courtiers, Sun Chengzong's plan finally won, and Wang Zaijin was sent to Nanjing to retire.

The reason why Sun Chengzong's plan was approved by most important ministers and the emperor is nothing more than a few reasons: First, recovering the lost land occupies the name of righteousness. Now that there are no civil servants and generals who expanded the territory, the lost It should be no problem to get the land back, right?

Second, the farther the battlefield with Jianzhou is pushed away from the capital, the safer the emperor and courtiers feel. This is the reason why what is out of sight is pure; and Wang Zaijin's plan cannot give the emperor enough sense of security.

Third, Jianzhou's wild boar skins did not take advantage of the victory to occupy the Liaoxi Corridor. This made the government and the public underestimate the enemy, thinking that Jianzhou did not have the strength to wrestle with Daming. As long as the defense is strengthened, Jianlu will never be able to defeat the enemy Beijing.

As for the need for huge amounts of money and food, it would be better to levy Liao's salary.So Liao's salary of more than 600 million taels per year was born, and the result was that the Ming Dynasty's finances went bankrupt and the country was destroyed.

After comprehensive consideration, Sun Chengzong's plan is more in line with the interests of all parties in the ruling and opposition parties, and is also more positive, so winning is inevitable; the consequence is that in the subsequent battle of Dingmao in the seventh year of the apocalypse, Horqin, Chahan, and Ka The Erka Department, the Mao Wenlong Department of the Liaodong Peninsula, and North Korea were all defeated by Huang Taiji. Jianlu took the complete strategic initiative, and he can safely carry out long-term reinforcements to the strongholds on the Liaoxi Corridor without worrying about the rear. These strongholds It also became a bleeding wound for the Ming army.

At the same time, since the Mongolian barriers around Jizhen were cleared by Jianlu, the Qing soldiers could smoothly pass through the territory of Mongolian tribes to enter and plunder. The defense in depth outside Shanhaiguan had lost its original extremely important strategic significance. The complexity of the passage, the convenient Liaoxi Corridor is still very important.

As long as these strongholds south of Jinzhou exist, the emperor and his courtiers will always feel safer psychologically, and the court has invested so much manpower, material and financial resources in the west of Liaoning. Once they give up, they will lose everything. The decision to give up is not so easy, and if a mistake is made afterwards, the decision-maker has to bear huge political risks.

Since last year, Zhu Youjian ordered to strengthen the defense forces of Gubeikou and Xifengkou. It has become very difficult for Jianlu to break through these two passes.I believe that Jianlu will still focus on western Liaoning after sending people to investigate.

Even if the Qing soldiers broke through these two passes regardless of the casualties, and the army forcibly entered the area around Gyeonggi, under the encirclement of Xuanda, Jizhen, Jingshi, and even Shanhaiguan and other Ming armies, the rear road was very likely to be cut off. Next, I don't know how many Qing soldiers who entered the customs will be able to escape back.

What's more, if a detour is chosen, then the Ming army on the front line of the Liaoxi Corridor will pose a greater threat. As long as the coach's judgment is accurate and he takes advantage of the situation to send heavy troops directly to Shengjing's old nest, it is difficult to predict the outcome.

Therefore, bypassing Mongolia can only be plundered and not lived for a long time. If Jianzhou really wants to compete in the Central Plains, it needs to control the Liaoxi Corridor.

Historically, during the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties never completely occupied the Liaoxi Corridor, let alone captured Shanhaiguan.Until the 17th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng led an army to besiege the capital, and Wu Sangui, who received the order of the King of Chongzhen Qin, had no choice but to voluntarily abandon the line of defense from Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan, and led troops into the pass to rescue the capital. Finally, before reaching the capital, the emperor died for his country After receiving the bad news, Wu Sangui led his troops to retreat to the Shanhaiguan Pass, and did not open the door until the Qing Dynasty finally surrendered to let the Qing army enter the interior.

When Zhu Youjian was considering how to deal with the Guanning Army last year, at some point he also thought about giving up the territory outside Shanhaiguan, actively shrinking the line of defense, and rebuilding the defense lines of Shanhaiguan, Jizhen and the capital.

This is also because he has serious doubts about the combat effectiveness of the Ming army.

The Battle of Sarhu has already shown that the fighting power of the Ming army is far inferior to that of the Qing army, and the Guanning iron cavalry, which was boasted so miraculously by later generations, just retreated in the city, and did not dare to fight the Qing army in the field.

The Eight Banners soldiers from the fishing and hunting ethnic group, together with the Mongolian Eight Banners incorporated later, are mainly cavalry and are extremely mobile. It is almost impossible for the Ming army to win in a head-to-head confrontation.

The advantage of Daming is that the land and resources it controls are far more abundant than Jianzhou, so Zhu Youjian wants to implement the policy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country, completely abandoning the Northeast, and shrinking the front, it also lengthens the front of Jianlu, making it difficult to supply.The Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, used the capital city as a bait to lure the Qing soldiers to attack, and then concentrated all the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty to defend the surrounding areas of the capital, to fight more and less, to fight guerrilla warfare and wars of attrition. , Accumulating small victories into big victories, gradually eroding the main force of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.Even if the price of destroying the Gyeonggi area is paid, the main force of the Qing army must be wiped out, and the vitality of the Jianlu will be completely destroyed. After the Ming Dynasty recovers a few years later, it will mobilize soldiers to recover the entire Northeast in one fell swoop.

This idea is a bit extreme. As the Ming army gradually gained the upper hand in the war against thieves, Zhu Youjian also gained a new understanding of the combat effectiveness of the official army, and finally this idea was left behind by him.

　Thanks to the book friend Qingfeng Qinyuan for the reward that this account is no longer used.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)