Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1291 Arrangements for the End

"Did Zhu Dadian and Xie Sanbin ask for food?"

"Report, no." Huang Ande replied, "Xie Sanbin didn't say anything. Zhu Dadian gave me 150 taels of silver, 50 taels to me, and 100 taels to the soldiers of the cavalry company. I have handed them all in."

"That's right." Lu Wenyuan nodded, "We are fighting for the Senate, for the people of the world, not for a few dollars." He already knew about this, and it seems that the discipline education of the past few years has not been in vain.

"Serve the Senate and the people!" Huang Ande stood at attention.

"You have worked hard this time, go back and have a good rest." Lu Wenyuan said, "The Senate sent us frozen mutton, radishes, and Chinese cabbage. I have already taken care of the kitchen and will cook you a mutton hot pot tonight."

"Thank you, Chief." Huang Ande saluted and retreated.

"It seems that my family is quite sensible." Zhu Mingxia, who had been silent all this time, said with a smile.

"The biggest problem for Lao Zhu now is how to explain to the emperor." Lu Wenyuan said, "Now his arrogance is not so arrogant. Now the troops in the Shandong camp need to be rectified, and he has to rely more on Sun Yuanhua." He was a little elated , "This was originally his credit, but I didn't expect to share it with Lao Sun. Our presence in Shandong is also guaranteed."

Zhu Mingxia said: "The following is how to deal with Li Jiuzheng and Kong Youde."

The strategic situation of the rebels has not been broken. This is what Zhu Mingxia estimated a long time ago. Under such climatic conditions, the rebels who lacked winter clothes were able to chase dozens of miles in the snow already because they had the advantage of having cavalry. .Even so, the rebels suffered staggering losses during the pursuit: the scout cavalry following the reconnaissance reported that there were corpses of the rebels' frozen troops and horses everywhere along the way.

The rebels could neither break through Laizhou, nor did they dare to move to Pingdu, Qixia and other places when the main force of officers and soldiers remained—this meant abandoning Dengzhou, the only port where reinforcements and escape could be obtained.

"In my opinion, after the beginning of spring, they must go out to sea by boat and flee to the Dongjiang River as in history." Lu Wenyuan said, "Dengzhou is already a dead end. Unless we take action, they will not be able to break the end."

Of course they don't need to take action. The "vitality" of the rebel army has gradually declined, and it is no longer necessary to collect population through the rebel army.And through a series of operations, they have also created a "fait accompli" in Dengzhou. The next step is how to extract the maximum benefit from the destruction of the rebels.

There are more than [-] rebels and soldiers and civilians in Dengzhou city. A considerable part of these people are local people. According to historical data, Dengzhou city has begun to "lack of food", and by the end of the year it will even fall to the point of "killing people". food, boiled to the point of candle".According to a recent report by intelligence personnel, although a large number of supplies and food for the officers and soldiers have been seized, the rebels have also begun to slaughter cattle, horses and livestock for food.

Moreover, in history, Kong Youde carried out a comprehensive massacre and looting of the whole city when he fled.So the three of them discussed and put the recovery of Dengzhou on the agenda in order to avoid too much loss of population and livestock in the city.

It is not very difficult militarily to regain Dengzhou and eliminate the rebels. The main considerations are political factors and the impact on the future development of the situation.

The most critical question is whether to let Kong Youde go and cast Manqing.Historically, after Kong Youde and others escaped from Dengzhou, they had been exiled in various islands in the Bohai Bay for several months. Obviously, they had a lot of hesitation about whether to vote for Manqing. During this period, they also made several requests for security. Figure continued to maintain a small situation between the Ming and Qing Dynasties and North Korea.There was an element of "forced" in the final surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

However, Kong Youde’s surrender brought about a great change in the strategic balance of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Ming army who accompanied Kong Youde to the Qing were all well-trained firearmsmen and craftsmen who forged cannons. Ability has gone up a big step.As a result, in the subsequent course of the war, the advantage of using artillery gradually shifted to the Qing side.

The Standing Committee of the Senate held several discussions on this issue, during which the elders of the Great Library and the Foreign Intelligence Service were called to hold a hearing.In the end, it was decided not to allow Kong Youde's troops to surrender to the Manchu Qing, but to eliminate them directly.

Although the Huanghan faction cheered for this, the degree of enthusiasm was second only to the time when a large number of Southeast Asian slaves were used to mine.But as far as the Executive Committee is concerned, this decision is entirely out of consideration of comprehensive interests.

If Kong Youde was allowed to flee, he must have drifted on the islands of Bohai Bay for several months to find a way out, just like in history.There are almost all Dongjiang troops on these islands. They either confront the rebels, or join the rebels to fight against the official army and the Korean army.A large number of people died.When Kong Youde fled from Dengzhou, he took away 2000 soldiers and civilians, and when he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, there were only less than 10 people left.Not only his headquarters, but also the power of Dongjiang Town in the Liaodong islands has been greatly reduced since then, which eventually caused the fall of Lushun and the death of Huanglong.This is very uneconomical for the Senate.

A secondary reason: After Kong Youde voted for the Qing Dynasty, the monopoly of the Senate as an arms dealer would be threatened, and the influence of the Senate on the Qing Dynasty would also decline.

"We need to move faster and let the Ming army take Dengzhou before the [-]th of the lunar calendar." Lu Wenyuan said with complacency, "At the beginning of the new year, giving Chongzhen good news will make him feel much better."

"It's a bit difficult to help the Ming army capture Dengzhou." Zhu Mingxia said with a smile, "It's about the same for me to command the northward detachment alone."

Now that the Ming army has been newly defeated and is panting, I am afraid that they will not have much interest in besieging Dengzhou again.Moreover, if they really want to come, the northward detachment with different training, tactics and equipment will not be able to cooperate with them. At that time, whichever force will compete for success will disrupt the rhythm of the offensive; finally, the military discipline of the Ming army is extremely bad. In history, after the Sichuan army invaded Shuicheng, they fought and robbed women's property, but were driven out by the rebel counterattack.After the city of Dengzhou was broken, various government troops carried out a comprehensive looting of Dengzhou. The population in the city was slaughtered and looted, and Dengzhou became ruins. It was not until the ninth year of Chongzhen that the city was gradually restored.
"We'll do it alone, and after we're done, we'll hand it over to Sun Yuanhua and Zhu Dadian—it's a pity that Sun Yuanhua can't take the credit for it." Lu Wenyuan now has a lot of affection for the governor, "The property and population in the city are naturally all The rebels killed and looted..."

While discussing how to attack Dengzhou, someone suddenly came to report: Kong Youde sent an envoy to ask for an interview with the owner of the village.

"It's just right, it's delivered to your door." Master Lu smiled, "Alright, let's hear what they want to do first—Old Chen, you should come forward."

Chen Sigen and Kong Youde had a second secret meeting on Dazhushan Island.Kong Youde proposed that he was willing to exchange the population of the city for food.

Now there are more than [-] people in the city, and a large number of them were kidnapped and plundered.Kong Youde and the others discussed that keeping these people in the city would consume food and there would be many unstable factors in the city, so it is better to hand them all over to the owner of the deer village—anyway, he likes the population the most.

With enough food in reserve, it is not difficult to persist until the beginning of next spring.Otherwise, if they can't survive the winter, they will be reduced to the point of cannibalism-although the Qiubas in the troubled times have long since become hard-hearted, and cannibalism is no problem, but if there is food, everyone would rather eat food.

After deliberation, the three of them decided that they could agree to Kong Youde—since they had set the goal of seizing the population of Dengzhou, it was their duty to support these populations, and it was better to start supplying them now than to starve to death and supply them after a lot of people were eaten. Can save more manpower.

The current plan to exchange population for food is still implemented at the same price as the previous exchange for refugees.But this time all the food used in exchange for refugees is potatoes from Jeju Island.Because fresh potatoes are not durable for storage, in addition to being used to supply Jeju, they are also transported to Qimu Island in large quantities to support refugees.

The population agreed to be exchanged by the two parties was transported to Changshan Island by ships of the rebel navy, which is currently guarded by the rebels as an important stronghold to guarantee sea routes.Then, Qimu Island will send ships to transport the population away.Potatoes, which are exchanged for population, are also delivered here.

According to this agreement, Zhu Mingxia proposed a combat plan.

"Let's exchange the population first, and reduce the population of the city to a lower number," Zhu Mingxia said. "They must keep the core troops. I estimate that there should be 4 to [-] people including their dependents and craftsmen. Are these people? It will be handed over to us. When they stop exchanging population for food, we will jointly launch an amphibious attack with the navy to directly occupy Changshan Island and control Miaodao Islands."

The Miaodao Islands are close to Dengzhou and are the sea gate of Dengzhou. The rebels have deployed defenders here.Historically, Zhu Dadian sent troops to attack Changshan Island during the siege of Dengzhou, but was defeated by Kong Youde, and finally failed to block the rebels in Dengzhou.

"As soon as we take the Miaodao Islands, the door for the rebels to escape at sea will be closed. Kong Youde and the others know that they are not our opponents at sea, so they must negotiate with us. At that time, we can ask him to hand over the boarding On the condition of the state city and treasure, he is allowed to board the ship and leave Dengzhou with his direct troops and all firearms."

"Then why not simply occupy Changshan Island? It saves you the trouble of changing the population." Chen Sigen was puzzled, "Besides, isn't it said that the rebels can't be let go?"

Lu Wenyuan understood Zhu Mingxia's plan: "When they go out to sea, they will have no choice."

"Exactly. This way we can minimize the loss of the population." Zhu Mingxia said, "We have to consider that they may reject this condition and stick to Dengzhou. By then, the population will be wasted in vain?"

(End of this chapter)