I'm in the Red Mansion

At this time, the Manchu general Tu Hai couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty, I wonder which direction we should go south from next?"

Kang Mazi looked around at his ministers and asked, "I wonder if you, my dear ministers, have any good ideas?"

At this time, the Minister of State Affairs, Soltu, said, "Your Majesty, I think we can make a gesture of invading the south in all the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun."

"This will certainly attract the attention of Daxia, who will station troops on the border to resist our heavenly soldiers."

"And in this way, Daxia's border defenses are weak, and we can take advantage of this opportunity to send troops to Jizhou and capture Caogu County in one fell swoop."

"Then, with Caogu County as the center, we will continue to station troops to encroach on the territory of Daxia."

The Minister of War Mingzhu echoed, "Lord Suo is right. Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Jizhou is the passage to the south."

"We can station troops in Jizhou and launch a massive invasion to quickly occupy the land north of the Yangtze River in Daxia and seize half of Daxia."

"After the Qing Dynasty has digested all these places, we can march south to destroy Daxia and occupy the Central Plains."

After Soltu and Mingzhu finished speaking, other ministers also echoed them.

They all felt that Soltu and Mingzhu's strategy was feasible and easy to implement.

At this time, Princess Gulun said, "Your Majesty, no."

"We, the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, are indeed invincible and victorious in every battle."

"But our military strength is still too small. We can certainly capture a large number of Daxia cities in a short period of time."

"Then should we divide our forces to guard these conquered cities?"

"And the total number of our Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty is less than 200,000. If we divide our forces too much, how can we have enough troops to continue to capture the city of Daxia?"

"If Daxia were to fight to the death, the situation would be disadvantageous to us."

The greed of people is like a snake swallowing an elephant. If you have such a big appetite, you may end up eating too much and die.

Therefore, after Princess Gulun finished speaking, Kang Mazi and several other ministers fell into deep thought.

They also had to admit that what the eldest princess said made a lot of sense.

After a while, the Minister of War Mingzhu couldn't help but ask, "Princess, what do you think should be done?"

Princess Gulun said: "In my opinion, it is better to attack the heart than the city."

"We can take the initiative and occupy a part of Daxia's cities, and then we don't have to rush to advance."

"We can even negotiate peace with Daxia and make them pay tribute every year."

"It won't be too late to advance after we have digested the occupied territory."

"What we need to do is to break their spines, so that Daxia will fear the Qing Dynasty like a tiger, and they will not dare to think of becoming our enemy."

"In this way, they will inevitably retreat step by step until they give up the entire Jiangbei!"

Hearing this, Kang Mazi nodded and said, "Good!"

The other ministers also nodded.

……

Ningguo Mansion, in the martial arts arena.

Jia Cong was directing the fifty-one members of the Jia family who were preparing to join the army, as well as their servants, to conduct a military formation drill.

After many days of training and coordination, their military formations became more sophisticated.

The spirit and energy of each of them also underwent an amazing transformation.

Commander experience +1
Commander experience +1
A quarter of an hour later, Jia Cong stopped training and disbanded the team.

Open the proficiency panel.

[Commander (skilled): 22/200]

After a period of continuous experience gain, the commander has been brought to a skilled level.

Of course, during this period of time, Jia Cong actually spent very little time training personally every day.

The daily training time is only about fifteen minutes.

Such a short time will not attract much attention.

Jiao Da was in charge of most of the training.

Jia Cong discovered that even if he was not the one training personally, as long as the person being trained improved, the experience would eventually be added to him.

This is also the most important reason why he was able to advance his command experience to a proficient level in a short period of time.

Well, the command ability at the skilled level is barely enough for now.

As for other armors and weapons, they can only be forged when there is unrest and people join the army.

……

In the court, urgent reports from border regions all over the country were received within just a few days.

The Manchu garrisons in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were all preparing for battle and were ready to take action.

Even the Manchu cavalry from many states were dispatched to the border areas with Daxia to forage for food.

The term "dacaogu" originated from Khitan.

The Khitan leader said: "There is no such law in our country." So he let the Hu cavalry go out in all directions, in the name of herding horses, and plundered in groups, which was called "tapping the grass and valley."

After the Manchus occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in Daxia, they would inevitably raid the grasslands and allow their soldiers to plunder during the autumn harvest season every year.

However, in the past, they were just minor fights, and never like this year, the entire Sixteen States of Yanyun are ready to move.

The rain is coming from the wind!
These border reports made the ruler and his ministers of Daxia extremely nervous.

In fact, the total number of the orthodox Eight Banners cavalry of the Qing Dynasty was less than 200,000.

The orthodox Eight Banners troops dispersed to the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were even more limited.

Generally, if it is not a very important place, there are only about three to five hundred Eight Banners cavalry.

Most of the other defenders were Mongolian troops affiliated with the Qing Dynasty, or Han troops who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

In most of the cities in the Sixteen Cities of Yanyun, the Qing Dynasty had very limited garrisons, perhaps only about 10,000 or 20,000 people.

With just these troops, they can at most plunder, but it is impossible to launch a large-scale invasion.

However, the Qing Dynasty's current posture is definitely not just bluffing.

Next, I am afraid that they will invade Daxia on a large scale from somewhere.

War is coming again!
Next, in the court, civil and military officials began to discuss countermeasures.

The conservatives, led by Prime Minister Qin, strongly advocated sending envoys to the Qing Dynasty for peace talks.

The pro-war faction, led by Kou Xiang, advocated strengthening border defenses and seeking help at any time.

Gather the army and be ready to go to war with the Qing Dynasty at any time.

In the end, Emperor Yonglong made the final decision and decided to take a two-pronged approach.

While sending envoys to the Qing Dynasty to seek peace talks, he was also actively preparing for war.

The combat effectiveness of the Daxia army is not as good as that of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty.

Otherwise, Daxia would not have lost the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

However, the Manchus' desire to destroy Great Xia never died.

Now, the young Manchu emperor is in power, and he is probably planning to launch an attack on Daxia, preparing to gradually erode Daxia.

At this time, even Emperor Yonglong, who strongly advocated war, felt hesitant.

The Qing army was too powerful, and when the time came to wage a war to determine the fate of the country, Emperor Yonglong had no confidence at all.

Ten days later, the envoys sent by Prime Minister Qin brought back news from the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty agreed to peace talks, and their condition was that Daxia cede the land north of the Yangtze River.

From then on, the Qing Dynasty and Daxia looked at each other across the river and became friends forever.

To cede the land north of the Yangtze River was almost like handing over half of Daxia to someone else.

Anyone who dares to agree to this condition will definitely be insulted by the people and nailed to the pillar of shame for thousands of years, never to be able to turn over.

Not to mention the pro-war factions like Emperor Yonglong and Prime Minister Kou, even the surrender factions like Prime Minister Qin did not dare to agree to this condition.

Therefore, Daxia flatly rejected the humiliating conditions of the Qing Dynasty.

He also said that since the Qing Dynasty was not sincere, then let's go to war!
Next, the Qing Dynasty backed down again, saying that as long as Daxia was willing to cede the three continents of Daizhou, Dingzhou and Yizhou, the two sides could sign a ceasefire agreement and the two countries would be forever friendly.

This time, the Qing Dynasty seemed to be retreating, but in fact it was not much different from ceding Daxia and the entire Jiangbei region.

The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were themselves a barrier to protect the Central Plains region from nomadic peoples of the grasslands.

They occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which allowed them to attack or defend.

The three states of Daizhou, Dingzhou and Yizhou just filled the gap in the south of the Sixteen States of Yanyun.

After ceding these three places, the northern part of Daxia will no longer have any strategic locations to defend.

Therefore, Daxia refused again.

Then, the Qing Dynasty put forward a new demand, which was to let Daxia cede Daizhou, so that the two countries could be friends forever.

It was not until this time that the Qing Dynasty revealed its true intentions.

It turns out that what they had always wanted was Daizhou, and the conditions they proposed twice before were just exorbitant demands.

Daizhou is an extremely important location for Daxia.

Known as the No. 1 pass in China, Yanmen Pass, the first of the nine passes in the world, is located in Daizhou.

The name of Yanmen Pass began in the early Tang Dynasty. Due to the rise of the Turkic people in the north and repeated internal aggression, the Tang stationed troops in Yanmen Mountain and set up a pass at the commanding height of Tieguomen, with garrison soldiers to defend it.

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, the Yanmen Pass area was a battlefield fiercely fought between the Song and Liao dynasties.

After the patriotic general Yang Ye was appointed as the governor of Daizhou and the commander of the troops stationed in Sanjiao, he defeated the Liao army many times with a small force. At that time, people praised Yang Ye as "Yang the Invincible".

Yanmen Pass is an important barrier outside the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. How can we give it up to others?

At this point, Emperor Yonglong, Prime Minister Kou and others also saw through the evil ambitions of the Qing Dynasty.

I know that they had no intention of peace talks from the beginning to the end.

However, the conservatives led by Prime Minister Qin felt that the Qing Dynasty had made concessions again and again and that the only concession now was Daizhou, which was not off the table.

If ceding Daizhou can bring peace, then it is not a bad idea.

The pro-war faction and the conservative faction engaged in a fierce confrontation in the court, with each side holding its own views and refusing to give in.

In the end, Emperor Yonglong made the final decision, refused to cede Daizhou, and decisively prepared to fight.

Next, Emperor Yonglong sent an additional 50,000 troops to Daizhou to ensure the safety of Daizhou and Yanmen Pass.

At this time, Jia Cong also learned the news.

However, Jia Cong did not think that the Qing Dynasty would attack Daizhou.

There is Yanmen Pass in Daizhou, which has majestic and steep terrain, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

If you want to capture Yanmen Pass, you must pay a heavy price.

The Qing Dynasty occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, so they could choose only a few directions to attack.

How could they choose the most difficult place to attack?
However, from the perspective of Daxia, Daizhou and Yanmen Pass are of vital importance and must be guarded against.

As the situation between the two countries continued to deteriorate, news began to spread among the people.

The people of the capital were all terrified, and even the atmosphere on the streets became solemn.

Some wealthy families, wealthy businessmen and landlords have already made preparations to move south.

For Jia Cong, his opportunity to join the army is about to come.

In recent times, Jia Cong no longer needs to hide his feelings, but has increased the intensity of his liver attributes.

His command ability is also growing rapidly.

It seems that with some more time, I will be able to reach the minor success level.

……

On the third day of September, the Manchu general Tu Hai led 20,000 Plain Yellow Banner cavalry and 80,000 Mongolian troops.

They left Jizhou and headed towards Caogu County.

Although the 10,000 garrison troops in Caogu County had been on guard beforehand, they had never expected that the Qing would invade from Jizhou.

Due to insufficient preparation, the 10,000 defenders were almost massacred, and the defending general died for his country.

Caogu County was taken by Tu Hai.

Tu Hai did not stop. After a brief reorganization, he continued to move south, attacking cities and villages along the way. In three days, he captured three cities in a row.

Thanks to the early warning from the city in front, the city behind stepped up its defenses.

This slightly halted the Qing Dynasty's offensive.

These defenders, while organizing their manpower to defend as best they could, also sent an urgent message of 800 miles to the court for help.

After receiving the military intelligence, Emperor Yonglong did not dare to delay and hurriedly appointed First-Class Bo Niu Jizong as the General of Pingbei, leading an army of 150,000 to Jizhou.

We must resist the attacks of the Qing Dynasty and recapture the cities that have been taken by the Qing Dynasty.

At this point, the war began.

Many people in the capital became more and more panicked.

At this time, Jia Cong guessed that Niu Jizon might not be able to stop the Qing Dynasty's attack.

Although the number of troops led by Niu Jizong was half that of the Qing Dynasty.

But the bravery of both parties could not be made up by half the strength of the troops.

Niu Jizong was a general who was good at defense but not good at attack.

If he were given a strong city to defend, Niu Jizong would be able to exert his greatest abilities.

However, this time we are not simply going to let them guard the city!
Moreover, the Qing army was very cunning and would never let them stay in the city and defend it.

Therefore, it would be better for me to wait until Niu Jizong loses one or two battles before joining the army.

It is better to provide help when it is needed than to add icing on the cake.

During this period, Jia Cong also had to make some targeted arrangements against the Eight Banners Army.

The Eight Banners Army was not just about cavalry and mounted archery.

In fact, simple cavalry and archery are not difficult to deal with.

The Eight Banners Army was actually a mixed military force of multiple branches.

There are light cavalry, heavy cavalry, heavy armored troops, light infantry and other arms.

Xu Guangqi in the late Ming Dynasty once described it this way:
I have also seen people who have returned from Liao saying that the armor, masks, arms and hands of the bandits were all made of fine iron, and the horses were also made of fine iron. Therefore, when the Xian camp was facing the enemy, the enemy infantry suddenly advanced, and the generals immediately removed the barricades. The Xian soldiers were not without guns and arrows, but they were helpless because of their strong armor.

It can be seen that the heavy armored troops of the Eight Banners Army were also a type of troops that they relied on very much.

Their cavalry was usually only used for harassment or to harass the flanks when two armies were fighting.

Of course, the most powerful military force of the Eight Banners is naturally the cavalry.

As for the combat methods of the Eight Banners Army, Jia Cong could make some arrangements in advance.

At this time, Jia Cong's craftsmanship came in handy.

At this point, his manual experience had reached perfection.

During this period, Jia Cong was very busy.

Every day I am either gaining experience or making something by hand.

These things will be useful on the battlefield in the future.

And he is the only one who can make these things.

It can only be produced with his experienced and perfect craftsmanship.

Because of being busy, he neglected his wives, concubines and maids.

On this day, Jia Cong was busy all day.

After taking a bath in the evening, he went to Lin Daiyu's room.

After a moment of joy in the rain, the two fell asleep in each other's arms.

Lin Daiyu asked softly, "My dear, what have you been busy with these days? Is there anything I can do to help you?"

After hearing what Lin Daiyu said, Jia Cong felt a little guilty.

These days, Lin Daiyu has been neglected.

Jia Cong couldn't help but say, "Madam, I'm almost done, and I don't need your help."

"Don't worry, I'll be with you after this busy period!"

Lin Daiyu suddenly asked quietly, "Husband, are you going to fight in the battlefield someday?"

Lin Daiyu's words made Jia Cong's body stiffen.

Lin Daiyu was indeed very smart. She didn't want to make her worry, and thought it would not be too late to tell her after some time, when she was about to join the army.

This would also give her a few days less worry.

But she didn't expect that she would see it herself.

Jia Cong couldn't help but ask, "Madam, why do you ask this?"

Lin Daiyu said softly: "Husband, you once said that every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country!"

"You are a real man who stands tall and proud. How can you sit back and do nothing when the country is in trouble?"

"Ever since Master Feng came to see you last time, I noticed that you were worried about something."

"After the war broke out on the Qing border, I guessed what you were thinking, my husband."

She had guessed it long ago, but had never asked.

Now I felt that I was about to leave, so I couldn't help but ask.

Jia Cong hugged Lin Daiyu tightly and whispered, "My dear, it's not that I want to hide it from you, but... I'm sorry!"

Lin Daiyu hugged Jia Cong and said with a smile, "My dear, you are a real man who stands tall and proud. Why do you need to apologize to me?"

"You are not just my husband, you are also the hero of Daxia!"

"I understand my husband's mind. I asked for a long rope when I was young, so how can I let the scholar ruin my life?"

"I just hope that when your husband goes to the battlefield, he will remember that you have a wife at home, leaning against the door, waiting for your return."

A young man asked for a long rope when he was a captive, how could he let a scholar ruin his life!
Lin Daiyu really understands herself.

Jia Cong wanted to join the army because he followed Feng Ziying's advice and wanted to hold military power.

However, don’t you have the desire to gallop on the battlefield and kill the enemy?
With the proficiency panel in hand, you can acquire a set of skills.

Now that I have a platform to display my talents, if I cannot go into battle and kill the enemy, and just spend my whole life writing poetry, wouldn't that be a waste of my talents?
It turns out that under the appearance of being willful, capricious and stingy, Lin Daiyu is actually so considerate and reasonable.

At this time, Lin Daiyu suddenly said: "Husband, I, I want to give birth to a child for you."

"Not only me, but also Qin, Zijuan, Qingwen and the others hope that my husband will be busy."

This is to leave a legacy for him.

Once you go to the battlefield, life or death is unpredictable.

If Jia Cong had no descendants, this huge Ningguo Mansion would probably be taken over by someone soon.

It is understandable that Lin Daiyu wanted to leave a descendant for him.

It’s a pity that Jia Cong had no intention of having children before.

Just because he is an adult, he is eighteen years old this year.

And Lin Daiyu is only sixteen years old this year.

It hasn't grown much yet!
It would be best to wait until she is around 20 years old before having a child.

It can't be any longer. If it is longer, it will definitely cause gossip.

Therefore, during this period of time, Jia Cong calculated the menstrual period to prevent Lin Daiyu from getting pregnant.

And today is her safe period.

Even if you want it now, you can't have it.

But this is not easy to explain to her.

Therefore, Jia Cong had to be busy.

In the next few days, Jia Cong had to work hard under Lin Daiyu's urging.

This time, Jia Cong was not sure whether the girls could get pregnant.

In fact, he has always been calculating the menstrual periods of the women.

After all, Lin Daiyu is the legal wife, so there will be no accidents.

Jia Cong still wanted her to be the first to get pregnant.

This will save you a lot of trouble in the future.

But now, because I have to go to the battlefield, I can't care about so many things.

Among the girls, there were actually two who were in danger.

I don’t know if I can get pregnant this time.

……

During this period of time, the situation on the battlefield was just as Jia Cong had expected.

Niu Jizong soon suffered two defeats.

Niu Jizong led an army of 150,000 and stationed them in three cities on the front line.

These three cities are in a pincer position and can protect each other.

The Qing army that invaded this time only had a hundred thousand troops.

It is nothing but a pipe dream for an army of one hundred thousand to capture these three cities.

However, the Qing army was as cunning as Jia Cong had expected.

They didn't even attack the city.

The Eight Banners' bravery lies in their cavalry and heavy armored soldiers, but these two types of soldiers are not good at attacking cities.

In other words, the Eight Banners soldiers were good at field battles but not at siege warfare.

Besides, it would be difficult to capture the city without double the number of people.

The Qing Dynasty's military strength was even half of the troops brought by Niu Jizon this time.

How could they choose to attack the city?
The Manchu general Tu Hai had no intention of attacking the city, but instead sent out his soldiers to plunder everywhere.

They even captured a group of Daxia civilians and beheaded them in public in front of the three cities.

They would even strip women naked so that the Qing archers could shoot them as prey.

But they deliberately did not shoot them at once. They deliberately avoided the vital parts, often causing these women to be hit by dozens of arrows and eventually crawl on the ground and die from excessive bleeding.

The Xia army on the city wall were so angry that they wanted to jump off the wall and kill all these beasts.

Niu Jizong was so angry about this that his teeth were itching.

Niu Jizong naturally knew that the best way was to hold his ground and allow the Qing army to plunder.

Because these three cities were not conquered, the Qing army did not dare to plunder too deeply.

After all, these three cities have blocked their way back, and they must be careful not to be besieged by the Daxia army.

Therefore, holding on is the best way.

But Niu Jizong really can't choose to stay and not go out!
He led 150,000 troops and watched the Qing army burn, kill, loot and plunder everywhere without moving.

I'm afraid he won't be able to hold on to his position as a general for long and will be removed from his post soon.

He might even be caught and put in jail, and it was unknown whether he could keep his title of First Rank Earl.

Therefore, although extremely reluctant, Niu Jizong had to send out cavalry to intercept the Qing army that was plundering from all directions.

This would be exactly what the Qing army wanted.

They plundered everywhere in order to lure out the Daxia army. (End of this chapter)