Dragon Sea Empire

Information about the inside story of the Ming court, various passes around the capital, terrain, city defenses, generals' personality, morality, talent, and army composition, etc., are obtained through the spy network carefully built by the Commercial Intelligence Department of the Chinese Company and the Military Intelligence Department of the Chinese Army over the past ten years. , A steady stream was sent back to the camp of the Chinese Army.

The standard battalion directly under Zhao Tie arrived late on the fourth day after Huang Lue and others were stationed outside Chaoyang Gate of the capital.

When he saw Huang Lue, Yang Dacheng and others, he cursed: "His grandma, you two are taking the lead, and you don't even care about me as a teacher. You are really embarrassing me. Fortunately, the officers and soldiers are slow and timid. , not daring to come out and besiege you, otherwise you are not all finished, "

Huang Lue cupped his hands and said: "Master Zhao, brother Zhao, you see, we are trying to win the first merit for your first division. How can we be neglecting you? Our first division is all here. The old battalion Are they all here too?"

Zhao Tie sat at the head of the division's large tent, nodded and said: "General Manager Chen Zhongji is leading the rear team to rush here, and it may take a day to reach the camp. There is no way, the artillerymen are too heavy. Most of the roads from Wei to here are in disrepair, and the water transportation is too slow... Leave them alone, let me ask you, what are the actions of the officers and soldiers these days,"

After discussing with Yang Dacheng for a while, Huang Lue took out a document and handed it to Zhao Tie. Zhao Tie frowned and said, "Speak directly, what's going on?" Those who learned to write in the military camp are still very disgusted with all written things.

Huang Lue had no choice but to say: "This is the information sent by our company who is lurking in the capital; at present, the officers and soldiers have assembled more than 30000 main forces of the three major battalions of the Beijing army in Changping, led by Xiangcheng Bo Li Guojia, former Liaodong General Soldier Li Rubai is the deputy general; in Changping, there is also Wang Pu, the general soldier of Datong, Yang Guozhu, the general soldier of Xuanfu, Tang Tong, the general soldier of Jizhen, and Ma Ke, the general of Jizhen. The total number is about 18000 people. Three days ago, the Liaodong Army General Zou Chuxian of Tieling led a Liaodong army to attack us recklessly, but we were defeated in one fell swoop, and probably dispersed to the north of the city, and probably also went to Changping."

"What action did Wang Keshou, governor of Jiliao, do?" Zhao Tie asked.

"I made a detailed report the day before yesterday. He has left Jizhou. He probably went to Shanhaiguan to urge the main force of the Liaodong Army's entry troops to speed up the march. Liaodong General Zhang Chengyin led the leading troops of the standard battalion directly under him and the deputy general Po Tingxiang. He arrived in the capital yesterday. In Tucheng in the north (that is, the ruins of the city wall in the north of the Yuan Dynasty), Wang Keshou probably went south with the rear brigade of the Liaodong Army, led by Pu Shifang, a general of Fushun in Liaodong, and Liang Rugui, a guerrilla. The total strength of the Liaodong Army entering the pass was 25000. On the left and right, there is another group of troops also coming from Shanhaiguan, led by Du Song, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, and led by Dusi Canyou Liu Yujie, Gong Niansui, Chai Guodong, Wang Hao, Zhang Daji, Yang Qin, Wang Hailong, and Yang Ruda, most of them are from the border of Jiliao Army, the number is about 9000, divided into patrols and prepared by deputy envoy Zhang Shuan to supervise the army, "

Huang Lue finally added: "Wang Xuan, the general of Baoding, led more than 3000 people to the Ritan in the eastern suburbs of the capital yesterday. The guerrilla Zhang Jing led more than 2000 reinforcements from Jizhen to join him and guard the Ritan together. The nearest official army unit,"

……

Thirty miles southeast of the Chinese Army camp in the eastern suburbs of the capital, Chen Zhongji was resting his horse by the side of the road, while shouting encouraging slogans to the continuous marching team:

"Brothers, hurry up, the golden palace of the palace is waiting for us, our emperor is waiting for us,"

"Brothers, capturing the capital is a first-class achievement. It is 200 acres of land. The future of future generations is in your hands. Work hard and move on,"

"Brother Artillery, don't worry about the cattle and horses, as long as you get to the capital city, you can choose the horses from the three battalions, hurry up,"

Zeng Qing, the Northern Director of the Military Intelligence Department, came to Chen Zhongji quickly and reported: "Director Chen, the news ahead: the camp in the eastern suburbs of the capital has been basically completed, and nearly [-] officers and soldiers have gathered around the capital. It was a mess like a pot, everyone was anxious and at a loss what to do, when the scholar-bureaucrats met each other, they could only say no, or they said they were harmless, or they had no choice but to do anything. Fang Congzhe, the chief assistant of the cabinet, ordered that except for the officials sent by the imperial court, other officials and their family members were not allowed to leave the gate of the capital. spy……"

Chen Zhongji couldn't help but muttered: "How much effect can the imperial court take such measures now?"

Zeng Qing smiled and continued: "In order to restrain Li Rubai, Juniper, Liu Ting and other officers and generals, the emperor specially bestowed on the chief officer Huang Jiashan Shangfang Jian, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and those who are not ordered by the commander-in-chief can be engaged in military law... In addition , Ten days ago, Li Liang, the commander-in-chief of Shandong, led 8000 troops from Dezhou to aid Beijing, but yesterday they were stopped by the sailors and muskets of the Maijian Army near Linqing. Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, led 5000 soldiers to attack Penglai City and was defended by our army. The sailors and marines killed more than 5000 people with cannons, and Yuan Keli himself was injured. Penglai City was firmly under our army's control. Guan Xinbing Youying former guerrilla Zhao Qihe, Zhongying general Li Yingxuan and others led [-] troops to attack Jinzhouwei. However, under the cover of the Fifth Artillery Sentinel, the Taiwan Aboriginal Regiment of our army attacked from Kaesong. army defeated,

Chen Zhongji smiled slightly: "Director Zeng has worked hard. It seems that our army's retreat is still very safe. Is there any news from the Ryukyu side?"

Zeng Qing nodded: "Ryukyu Naha reported that a group of Japanese people were stranded on the coast of Nakijin Castle by boat. They didn't seem to intend to cause trouble and harassment. They said they just asked to land for survival and begged our company to save them."

"Save them, what do you mean?"

"They are Catholics who were kicked out by the shogun of Japan and left homeless,"

Chen Zhongji suddenly realized: "Understood, I heard that General Tokugawa issued a ban on preaching, prohibiting the spread of Western Catholicism in the Japanese country. Those Japanese people are probably Christians. You use flying pigeons to send letters to the Ryukyu troops. In Nakijin Castle Designate a place to accommodate these Japanese people, first lock them up, and deal with them after we finish the war,"

After Zeng Qing left, the last tail of the artillery team was almost finished. Chen Zhongji jumped on his horse and galloped away towards the capital.

……

The intelligence gathering work of all aspects of the Chinese army court is afraid that the collection is not enough. Their meticulous work is pervasive. The Chinese army command department can basically know the details in time for various actions such as mobilization of officers and troops, marching, and transportation of grain and grass.

After Lu Xiaotian's cavalry arrived at the camp in the eastern suburbs, they attacked and harassed all directions of the Beijing city for several days, causing the entire city of the Beijing Normal University to have numerous policemen, officials and gentry, and all the grass and trees were filled with soldiers.

At the same time, the arrival of the special battalion detachment made the eastern suburbs of the capital a restricted area for officers and soldiers to scout horses and catch novices. Every day, secret agents sent by the officers and soldiers were killed and their bodies were thrown outside the city gate. In the interior, it successfully established an overwhelming advantage in intelligence warfare, making the Eastern Suburb battlefield a unilateral intelligence transparency situation that is beneficial to the Chinese Army.

When Chen Zhongji arrived at Daying in the Eastern Suburbs, all the court troops finally gathered around the capital.

However, Wang Keshou felt that it was not possible to send troops to fight the Chinese army immediately. All the troops came from various defense areas, and the coordinated operations of various weapons had never been practiced together. More importantly, the situation of underpayment was serious, and the soldiers had no battles. Xin, he learned from the Liaodong General Soldier that Liaodong's military salary was three months short, so he had to raise a loud voice: the Liaodong military salary that should be paid by the household department was more than [-] yuan from last autumn to this summer, even if it could not be fully paid, It is also necessary to allocate half of the officers and soldiers who participated in the war first to save the urgent need. The best way is for the emperor to make up for the lack of military pay. Emperor Wanli answered him clearly: the internal funds are empty, and the Ministry of Households will do its best to deal with the lack of pay. Now that the matter has come to this point, the emperor still has to push it away, and Wang Keshou has nothing to do.

Huang Jiashan, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Zhao Xingbang, Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs, ignored practical problems such as the fact that the armies had come all the way, were exhausted, food, grass and ammunition had not been replenished, and sent red flags to Wang Keshou's camp every day to urge the battle. Fang Congzhe wrote to Wang Keshou In a hurry, he sent troops to fight, drove away the pirates and recovered Tongzhou.

On the second day after Chen Zhongji arrived at Daying, that is, after all the main forces of the Chinese Army’s northern line arrived at the capital city, a small-scale conflict triggered a big battle in the eastern suburbs of the capital.

Li Liang, the commander-in-chief of Shandong, returned to Dezhou after being defeated by the Chinese army. However, the eunuchs sent by the imperial court forced him to send troops north again. Li Liang had no choice but to call up some troops from the south of Shandong. Zhou Wen, the governor of Shandong Guandu, led 5000 people to go north again.

Zhou Wen chose to detour Zhending and go northward with Daming instead of marching in the direction of Tianjinwei, because the canal has been firmly controlled by the Chinese army.

His troops hurried to Yongding Gate in the south of the capital.

He discussed with the guerrillas of the Shenji Battalion guarding the city whether they could open the Yongding Gate to let the troops enter the city to rest. The guerrillas of the Shenji Battalion said that foreign troops were not allowed to enter the city of Beijing. He planned to go northward around the city to Changping and join the imperial army.

At this moment, a cavalry unit of the Chinese Army suddenly rushed out of a forest, and a large group of black-clothed and black-armored men rushed towards Yongdingmen.

The Shandong Army was in disarray. They marched long distances here, hungry and exhausted, and were suddenly attacked by cavalry. As you can imagine, the collapsed Shandong Army fled in all directions, and was chopped melons and vegetables by the Chinese cavalry massacred like a cat.

The defenders of the Shenji Battalion on Yongding Gate panicked, disregarding their allies, and regardless of whether their allies were under the city, they shot down all the firearms such as the General Cannon, Frang Machine Gun, and Firebricks at the top of the city.

The sound of artillery in Nancheng shook the entire capital.

Emperor Wanli urgently summoned Fang Congzhe, the chief assistant of the cabinet, showing displeasure on his face, and asked coldly: "Can you keep the capital safe, sir? Where are the bandits now? How many pirates are there in the eastern suburbs? How many firearms are there?" "

The Chinese Army did a good job of concealing battlefield intelligence. Fang Congzhe couldn't answer any of these questions from Emperor Wanli.