Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 516
Zhu Cijiong started the Korean offensive, and Chongzhen also stood in front of the main gate of Chongde Hall in the inner city of Shengjing.

"20 years." Looking at the not-so-majestic main entrance of Chongde Hall, Chongzhen sighed, "I still remember when I came to the throne, I summoned Yuan Chonghuan to perform on the platform."

"When Yuan Chonghuan said that the Liao Dynasty would be pacified in five years, I was so happy."

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "At that time, I really believed that Yuan Chonghuan could do what he said, and he could really pacify Liaodong within five years and completely resolve the Jianlu Rebellion."

"But Yuan Chonghuan failed to defeat Liaodong after all. He broke his promise after all." Zheng Zhilong said, "Now that 20 years have passed, it is the Holy Majesty who defeated Liaodong himself."

"Hey, Zheng Qing, what you said is wrong."

Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "Liaodong was brought down by Youzhen, not Zhen."

Xu Yingwei quickly said: "I was able to take down Shenyang City, but it was not due to my merits. Firstly, I depended on the sage's hard work and hard work, and then the officers and men used their lives."

As the emperor, Chongzhen was not greedy for the merits of his ministers.

Xu Yingwei is a courtier, but he is not willing to be greedy for the merits of heaven.

Seeing Chongzhen and Xu Yingwei giving way to each other there, Zheng Zhilong also felt emotional. Such a monarch and minister are really rare. Compared with the two, does he care too much about fame and fortune?
Xu Yingwei added: "What's more, I only took down Shenyang, but did not completely pacify Liaodong. Before the Horqin Mongolian tribes are pacified, Liaodong is still in danger of repeating itself."

"Youzhen is right." Chongzhen said, "Now it depends on what Dorgon will choose. If Dorgon refuses to send troops to rescue, we will send our troops north to solve Horqin Mongolia. If Dorgon sends troops to rescue, then we will We are fighting a field battle with Jiannu dignifiedly in Liaodong, and after 30 years, the Eastern affairs should be settled."

This year is exactly 30 years since the old slave raised his troops with the Seven Great Hatreds.

"A field battle with Jiannu?" Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong, Xu Yingwei and the others were a little surprised. Why is it a field battle?
You must know that since the bloody battle at Hunhe, the Ming army has never fought a field battle with Jiannu. During the Songjin War, Hong Chengchou led the generals of the eight towns in Liaodong to help Jinzhou. After walking to Songshan, he fought a defensive battle with Jiannu .

All subsequent wars, such as the Xuzhou War, the Sanyang Bloody Battle, and Yan Yingyuan's defense of Dagukou, were all defensive battles.

The Battle of Guting Town can barely be regarded as a field battle, but Jiannu only used cavalry, not infantry and artillery, so it cannot be regarded as a field battle in the true sense.

So neither Zheng Zhilong nor Xu Yingwei thought that Chongzhen would choose to fight a dignified field battle with Jiannu in Liaodong at this time.

"Yes, field battle with Jiannu!"

Chongzhen also had his own considerations.

The dispute between the Ming and Qing Dynasties was not a simple military dispute, but a system dispute involving politics, military, economy and even people's livelihood. Facing the system dispute, national confidence is particularly important.

Until now, the common people and even the officials of the Ming Dynasty are actually afraid of building slaves like tigers.

After the Jiashen national calamity, although there were many victories, almost all officials, gentry and common people in Daming, including the sons of Prince Qin, believed that the Ming army could win battles in defensive battles, and would definitely not be able to defeat Jiannu in field battles.

This point can be seen from Zheng Zhilong's expression just now, and even Xu Yingwei lacks confidence.

The self-confidence of the military is more precious than gold, and the collective self-confidence of the entire nation is especially indispensable.

Therefore, it is necessary to tell the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, the officials, the gentry and the people of the Ming Dynasty with iron facts that the Ming army can not only defeat Jiannu in defensive battles, but also defeat Jiannu in field battles.

The current Liaodong War is an excellent opportunity to build confidence.

For this reason, Chongzhen even did not hesitate to give up the overall strategy of building a stronghold and fighting a dull battle.

Zheng Zhilong was still a little worried, and asked with a frown, "My lord, would it be too risky to fight Jiannu at this time?"

Chongzhen asked back: "Then when do you say that you don't take risks in field battles with Jiannu? If there are no accidents, it will be sooner or later next year or the year after that. The Ming Dynasty will definitely launch a large-scale northern expedition. At that time, field battles with Jiannu will definitely be unavoidable. Zheng Qing, you In other words, is it better to have a medium-scale field battle with Jiannu at this time, or is it better to wait until the Northern Expedition and fight decisively with Jiannu?"

"Naturally, it would be better to have a field battle with Jiannu now." Zheng Zhilong said without hesitation, "This is also a good way to accumulate some experience in field battles. Then next year or the year after the Northern Expedition, we will have the bottom line."

"The most important thing is confidence." Chongzhen said, "If the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty still lack confidence during the decisive battle of the Northern Expedition, then the possibility of final defeat will be greatly increased. Possibilities will increase enormously.”

Chongzhen may have thought too much about this matter, but in order to win the decisive battle, no amount of caution can be overstated.

The reasoning behind it is also very simple. Daming can afford to lose this Liaodong War, but Ming can’t afford to lose in the decisive battle next year or the year after next. However, it is very possible that Chongzhen does not want to waste so much time, his time is very precious.

"I understand." Xu Yingwei said, "This battle in Liaodong is a battle to build confidence."

"Yes, this is the battle of building confidence." Chongzhen said solemnly, "It is to use this Liaodong War as a model to inform all Ming soldiers, and at the same time inform all Ming officials and people that the Ming army can not only defend the city Defeating Jiannu can also defeat Jiannu in the field, the Ming army is fearless and invincible!"

……

At the same time, Dorgon's army had just arrived at Shanhaiguan.

For this expedition, Dorgon brought a total of [-] soldiers, including [-] from the Manchuria of the Eight Banners, [-] from the Mongolian Army of the Eight Banners, [-] from the Han Army of the Eight Banners, and [-] from the Green Battalion.

Not long ago, Dorgon listened to the suggestions of Hong Chengchou and others, and made a clear division of the composition of the army according to the characteristics of the Green Battalion and the Eight Banners.

In the future, the Eight Banners Manchuria and Eight Banners Han armies will all be equipped with flintlock guns and become Musketeers.

Of course, at this stage, the Qing army only has a total of 5 flintlock guns. It is temporarily impossible to change all the Eight Banners Manchuria and Eight Banners Han troops, so they can only be changed in batches.

Those who have not changed their costumes still use the big bow and saber as their main combat weapons.

However, the [-] and [-] Banners Manchuria and the [-] and [-] Banners Han troops who followed Dorgon this time have all changed their outfits. Now they are holding flintlock guns, but the large bow and saber are also retained.

Because of the characteristics of its arms, the Eight Banners Mongolia is mainly used to pursue and expand the results of the battle, so it still retains cavalry and shooting.

Except for [-] towns such as Liaodong Town and Datong Town, most of the Green Battalions have a weak fighting will, and they are often defeated when they arrive on the battlefield. In view of this, Dorgon made a large-scale adjustment to the Green Battalion. The [-] Green Battalion soldiers in Datong Town were raised as the Eight Banners Han Army.

So now, the Eight Banners Han Army has increased to 182 Niu Lu.

Moreover, these 182 journals are all full compilations of 300 journals.

Now Jiang Yu, Wu Sangui and Wang Fuchen are also members of the Eight Banners Han Army.

Then the remaining 9 green battalion soldiers, in addition to the 6 green battalion soldiers guarding the place, the other 3 green battalion soldiers stationed in Beijing have been converted into artillery by Dorgon.

In the future, the 6 Green Battalions guarding local areas will also be transferred to Beijing and reorganized into artillery.

In the future, the Green Battalion will become full-time artillery, and the [-] Green Battalion who followed Dorgon to Liaodong this time are all artillery.

The [-] Green Battalion are equipped with more than a thousand cannons, including [-] Hongyi cannons, [-] Fran cannons, [-] camel swivel cannons, and [-] tiger crouching cannons.

Because they carried more than 1000 artillery pieces, especially [-] red-clothed cannons weighing more than [-] kilograms, this seriously affected the march, and the Qing army could only walk [-] miles a day.

So seven days have passed, but the Qing army has only walked near Shanhaiguan.

Hong Chengchou said worriedly: "Master, marching at this speed is not enough. There are still more than 800 miles from Shanhaiguan to Shengjing, and it will take at least a month to go."

"It may not be possible to walk for a month." Fan Wencheng continued.

After Ning Wan, I wiped the rain from my face and said, "I'm afraid the rain will not stop for a while, and the roads in western Liaoning will only become more muddy and difficult to walk in the next half month."

Dorgon said in a deep voice, "So what's your opinion?"

Hou Fangyu replied: "Master, the red cannon and the Frang cannon are too bulky, so don't bring them with you. Only the camel cannon and the tiger squat cannon are enough."

"Chaozong is right." Hong Chengchou nodded in agreement.

"With camel swivel guns and tiger squat guns, it is enough to break the hollow square formation of the Ming army, and there is no danger in field battles."

"Flang cannons can be left out, but how can we attack the city without the red cannons?" Dorgon was a little worried, "If the Ming army defends Shengjing firmly, is there nothing they can do?"

"You can bring tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder." Hou Fangyu suggested.

Hong Chengchou also said: "Yes, digging one or several tunnels directly under the city wall, and then burying thousands of catties or even tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder can blast the city wall, it is nothing more than spending more time."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Dorgon said with a frown, "The long-term siege of the city is not only labor-intensive, but also food-consuming."

The silver is actually good, the Qing Dynasty is not short of silver, but the food is really short, if it is really a year and a half with the Ming army in Shengjing, and the war rations are given to the regular soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers for a long time, this consumption is really a bit Big.

Seeing that Dorgon mentioned food, Hong Chengchou, Hou Fangyu and others shut their mouths wisely.

Because this is an unsolvable problem, no matter how resourceful they are, there is no way to solve it.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou couldn't help feeling emotional again, how did Chongzhen solve the supply of military rations?

You must know that in addition to adding 20 troops to Liaodong, Chongzhen also added 30 troops to the Xuzhou battlefield. In addition to the more than [-] people stationed in Guide and Kaifeng, so many soldiers can even support them?Very angry.

(End of this chapter)