unclear

Chapter 745 Anti-Ming Alliance
"Now you know why I didn't withdraw the Tieshan Ironworks, right? You can't rush to treat a boil. You have to wait until it's fully ripe before you can squeeze it. The Kingdom of Korea is a boil on the body of the Ming Dynasty, always waiting to pop up. If my attitude is too cold, they will be wary and dare not act rashly.

The ironworks is like an ointment for treating boils, but it does not cure the disease, but accelerates its ripening. With its existence, Li Hun could mistakenly believe that the Ming court still adopted a policy of appeasement, and thus had the courage to secretly collude with the Jurchens. "

After listening to Yuan Keli's report, Hong Tao smiled without worry and proudly explained why he knew that North Korea was two-faced but never imposed sanctions on it and even deliberately played nice with it.

"Your Majesty's plan is far-reaching, and I sincerely admire it... But if this is done, the strength of the Jurchens and the Mongolian left wing will increase greatly, and they may move south and west at any time. The pressure on the thousand-mile border wall of Zhili will increase greatly, and a little carelessness will lead to a disaster."

Yuan Keli was already somewhat immune to the emperor's boasting. In terms of character, the emperor was indeed not very good, without any gentlemanly manners. However, in terms of results, the emperor seemed like a king who could restore the country. At least he was very talented in military affairs, and it was no exaggeration to describe him as far-sighted.

But no matter whether he was a wise ruler or a foolish one, the current situation was really not relaxing. The main reason was that the General Staff lacked effective means of obtaining intelligence in the left wing of Mongolia and the territory of the Great Jin Dynasty. They could only wait anxiously all day long, like a deaf and blind person, and were very passive.

"...Is it really that serious?" Seeing that no one flattered him even when he was bragging, Hong Tao realized that Yuan Keli was a little anxious. Well, let's relieve the pressure on the chief of staff first, and don't let him worry too much.

"The Liaodong team of the Statistics Department wrote a report that I think makes a lot of sense and deserves attention. They opened a shop in Jinzhou City, specializing in inland herbal medicine, to get close to Mongolian merchants.

In the past three months, the sales of wound medicine in the pharmacy have increased significantly, and by last month it had increased fivefold. After they discovered the anomaly in the accounts, they immediately went to inquire at two other herbal medicine stores in the city, and found that the situation was similar.

The sales of golden wound medicine also increased significantly, and there were many unfamiliar faces among the Mongolian herdsmen who came to buy. After many inquiries, some of them turned out to be from the farthest Khorchin tribe.

After seeing this report, I specifically asked the Maritime Affairs Office and the Customs of Songshan Port, and got similar results. In the past four months, the sales of grain, cloth, fine salt, strong sugarcane wine, farm tools, hemp ropes, and canned goods shipped to Jinzhou have almost tripled.

The prices of sugar, silk and glassware, which were popular in the past, fell. In addition, the amount of gold, silver, gems, furs and wild game that herders often traded also decreased, and they were replaced by a large number of horses, cattle and sheep.

At the same time, according to the statistics of the Navy Patrol, since the second half of last year, the number of North Korean smuggling ships captured in the East China Sea has suddenly increased by nearly ten times, and most of the goods on board are of this type, especially food and wound medicine. As a result, the prices of food and herbal medicine in South Zhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions have risen by 30%. "

Yuan Keli was not really anxious for no reason. Having worked with the emperor for so many years, he knew exactly what he liked to hear. If he didn't come up with some solid information, no matter how much he talked, it would be a waste of words. If it weren't for the data, he should have entered the palace to see the emperor a month ago.

"... click... click... click..." Hong Tao didn't speak for a long time, his eyes fixed on the large map on the wall, his mind calculating the pros and cons of various possibilities. In this situation, his advantage as a time traveler almost disappeared, and he could only make decisions based on his experience and ability.

The current situation is very clear. Left-wing Mongolia, the Jin Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Korea have secretly formed an alliance against the Ming Dynasty and are actively preparing for war. It is highly unlikely that they can avoid the war, and it is not easy to delay. They must choose between offense and defense, and then start making more detailed plans. Let's talk about defense first. If the Kharchin tribe does not relapse, then the northern border wall from Yanqing Prefecture to Shanhaiguan needs to be strictly guarded, with a total length of more than 800 miles.

These include the four relatively large passes of Huangyakou, Gubeikou, Xifengkou and Taolinkou, as well as many small and medium-sized passes such as Heihanling, Huangyayu, Malanyu, Longjingguan, Lengkou, Jianganling and Yipanshi.

If they were only defending against the Jin Kingdom's westward advance, they only needed to guard the passes near Shanhaiguan. But if they added the Left Wing Mongols, they would have to guard all the large, medium and small passes, which would increase the difficulty several times. Du Song's border troops and Li Ruzhang's army alone would be a bit weak.

If any place was breached, the enemy could rely on the mobility of the cavalry to advance quickly into the depths and effectively harass the woolen mill in Changping, the iron smelting base in Luanzhou, the light industrial base in Tianjin and the numerous warehouses in Tongzhou.

Once these places suffer large-scale destruction, the losses will be very large, and it may not be possible to recover 100% within two or three years. In particular, the loss of skilled workers is difficult to make up quickly. Even if the invading enemy is completely wiped out, it will be a losing business.

On the contrary, there is no need to worry too much about the capital city. Relying on the tall city walls and dense artillery, there is no need for border troops and the army to assist in defense. The enemy can be defeated empty-handed just by relying on the Imperial Stables, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Sea Guards.

If the Kharchin tribe showed signs of rebellion, or was unwilling to break off relations with Ligdan Khan and turned a blind eye and allowed the left-wing Mongolian cavalry to pass through the border, there would be even more defense loopholes, not to mention the entire Xuanfu town, and even the Datong town.

As for attacking, no matter what military tactics you use, when you encounter unavoidable danger, attacking always takes precedence over defending. It is definitely much easier to take the initiative on the battlefield into your own hands than to passively plug holes everywhere.

But the current situation does not seem to be conducive to an attack. Judging from the enemy's signs of purchasing large quantities of war supplies, they should have learned the lessons of the battles of Tashanbao and Xinghecheng and do not intend to confront the main force of the Ming army face to face.

Under such circumstances, it was very difficult to lead the main force of the army out of the pass to seek opportunities for battle. The terrain and topography of both the left wing of Mongolia and Liaodong were very favorable for large-scale mobile operations of cavalry.

It doesn't take much, just ten days or half a month to make the army unable to take care of both ends. If they continue to go deep into the grasslands and forests, the logistics supply will be easily harassed or even cut off by the cavalry. If they defend in place, the Mongolian cavalry can harass the border wall more calmly.

At that time, the army would not be able to advance or retreat, and once the generals became impatient, they would easily make mistakes in judgment. Even if they could advance all the way to Hetuala, the capital of the Jin Dynasty, if Huang Taiji was a ruthless person, abandoned the city and continued to retreat eastward into the mountains, and resolutely refused to confront him head-on, the army would still be helpless.

(End of this chapter)