unclear

Chapter 798 Just give up when you’re ready
In fact, this plan was almost rejected when it was submitted, as Hong Tao felt it was too risky. If there was an accident in any link, there would be a big loss, such as weather or terrain restrictions.

However, they were persuaded by the young staff officers from the General Staff and the Army Staff. They said that according to the intelligence collected in recent years, the rainy season in Liaodong region had not yet arrived. Even if an accident really occurred, the situation was so close to the sea that the possibility of being completely wiped out was extremely small.

Using a very small probability of failure to gamble for a very high success rate is a win no matter how you look at it, and this idea just happened to come from their teacher. His Majesty the Emperor has a famous saying, "Man proposes, God disposes." Even if you are 100% sure, you should leave 10% to God's will.

This time Hong Tao was really speechless. The staff's analysis was very correct and the intelligence collection was relatively comprehensive. Even the beaches and reefs near the landing point were clearly marked. They basically achieved the goal of "people plan, things work".

If they are still not allowed to take risks, then they will become indecisive, hesitant, and yes-men who dare not do anything unless they are 100% sure. Compared with losing thousands of troops, this result is what Hong Tao is more reluctant to see.

It was not unfair for the Jurchens to be defeated by the world's biggest thief and his group of petty thieves. Almost exactly as planned, three days after the attack on Haizhou Weicheng, the 2000 Jinzhou defenders led by Tang Guda were surrounded and annihilated on the banks of Sancha River.

Facing the sudden attack from both sides, Tang Gudai was even more miserable than Abatai. He did not even have the chance to commit suicide. He was hit in the chest and abdomen by two bullets in the first round of shooting and died on the spot. Except for a small number of elite soldiers of the Zhengbai Banner who jumped into the Liaohe River and were unknown whether they were alive or dead, the rest were killed or wounded.

When Hong Tao received the first-hand battle report, he laughed in front of Yuan Keli and Li Ruzhang. The annihilation of several thousand elite Jurchens and the burning of the war supplies that the Jin Dynasty had stored for several years could not make him lose his composure like this. The increasingly mature, stable, and daring young staff officers were the biggest gain of this battle.

As long as these young people can continue to work hard on their posts, they will become a large number of military reserve talents in a few years, with not only theoretical knowledge but also practical experience. I dare not say that everyone can take charge of a guard, but they are more than enough to lead a guard.

The most important thing is that these young people have a very special relationship with him and can be trusted in terms of loyalty. In other words, with them controlling the armed forces of the Ming Dynasty, his throne can be truly secure and he doesn't have to be afraid of anyone.

However, they cannot be entrusted with important tasks at this moment. As soon as they achieved some results, they started to feel proud. Along with the battle report, there came a combat plan temporarily added by the General Staff.

They suggested that the emperor should not be content with a small fortune, but should seize the opportunity to pursue the victory, quickly send two guard armies to Liaodong, use Jinzhou as a base, use the Linghe River to set up positions, and fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Jurchens who were about to come to support. Even if Huang Taiji did not intend to fight in a hurry, he would have to suffer a lot if he wanted to take a detour to return to the hinterland of Liaodong!

"Don't be so arrogant. The main force of the Jurchens cannot be left behind this time, but the Mongolian army that attacked Shanhaiguan must pay a price! Give Liu Yingqi an order to go out and fight. Then order Li Shi to advance westward from Jinzhou and attack from both sides. The land warfare commander should withdraw to the ship to monitor the battle situation and be ready to land and assist at any time."

Hong Tao read the plan and rejected it on the spot without even looking at the map. Trying to completely solve the northern border problem by frontal battle is like trying to persuade the girls in the brothel to change their ways by persuasion and education. It is a waste of effort and fantasy.

The reason why the northern border troubles lasted for hundreds of years and troubled several Han dynasties, and are still alive and well today, is not because of the lack of large-scale military decisive battle capabilities, but the correct cognition. The so-called northern border troubles are nothing more than nomadic and hunting peoples. Their common feature is that they travel, they rely on travel for production and life, and they go wherever the climate is good, the land is fertile, the water and grass are abundant, and the products are abundant.

There is no need to settle down, and there is no land, city, or property to protect. All property can move around with you, and wherever people and livestock go, that is home.

To deal with this kind of ethnic group, sending a large army to chase and encircle them is the dumbest and most exhausting way. If you send more people, they will retreat. The deeper you go into the grasslands, Gobi, deserts, and mountains, the greater their advantage will be, and the greater the consumption of the Han army will be.

Even if there are some results in the end, after careful calculation, it is likely that the income is not enough to cover the expenditure. The losses of nomadic and hunting peoples are relatively much smaller. Retreating a few hundred miles north does not affect their production and life. As long as you withdraw your troops, they will continue to move south.

At this time, the Han regime was in a lot of trouble. Sending troops to suppress them was futile and costly. If they ignored it, they would often be robbed and the border would be in turmoil. The slightest negligence would allow the enemy to take advantage of the situation and cause huge losses.

In fact, all the Han dynasties were worn out in this way. They exhausted their national strength to drive away the Huns, Turks, Khitans, and Jurchens. Within a few years, a new nomadic or hunting tribe appeared in the north, like weeds that could not be burned or cut.

Is there no solution? Hong Tao can answer responsibly that it is not. However, if we want to completely change this situation, we must have two prerequisites.

First of all, on the technical level, we need to have weapons that can surpass the performance of bows and arrows; secondly, in terms of thinking, we need to find a new way and no longer try to eliminate anyone, let alone passively drive them away. Instead, we must actively control them and take advantage of the loose internal structure of nomadic and hunting peoples and their preference for using force to solve problems, so as to control the barbarians with one another.

Now that the two prerequisites are basically met, how can we go back to the old ways and drive the army into the swamps, dense forests and mountains of Liaodong, braving the biting mosquitoes and insects, the heavy snow and the raging floods to play hide-and-seek with the hunters who were born and raised here? Anyone who does this is a fool!
"If there are no soldiers guarding Jinzhou, will it be occupied by the enemy and threaten our army's retreat?"

Yuan Keli was actually more in favor of sending troops to Liaodong to kill Huang Taiji. Although the price might be high, the imperial court was no longer the poor it once was and could fully afford the military expenditure under the new policy.

But the emperor was so determined to deny it that it was difficult to dissuade him directly, so he tried to save the country in a roundabout way. He first emphasized the risks of the Warrior Battalion's westward advance. As long as the emperor planned to send troops to occupy Jinzhou, there was still room for persuasion.

If Huang Taiji really wanted to cross the Daling River and head south, the army stationed in Jinzhou would go out of the city to fight. At that time, the emperor would have to send troops even if he didn't want to. Anyway, there were armed cargo ships of the navy available, and they could reach Songshan Port outside Jinzhou City in one day by boarding the ship from Shanhaiguan.

(End of this chapter)