"Pa~~"

“Bah~bah bah~~”

Liaodong, Kuandian Fort. Hundreds of Ming army soldiers wearing fine plate armor and red helmets and tassels are conducting live-fire training with flintlock rifles on the shooting range outside the fort.

"Observe, the slave-building spies are spying on us over there again."

"Hmph! These idiots think they are hiding well, but unfortunately they are completely invisible in front of the telescope sent by His Highness."

It was September 1610, four years after Xiong Tingbi left the town.

In the past four years, Zhu Youdong's support for Kuandian was 100,000 taels of silver per year in the first two years. In the third year, it rose to 200,000 taels. In addition, Xiong Tingbi was not the kind of civil servant like a Taoist gentleman, and he kept investing money in His Highness.

After Kuandian's food supply was no longer a problem, he organized the military households in the fort to hunt game nearby, felled virgin forests to sell wood, and dug wild ginseng. In short, he also made various incomes. So in the past four years, Kuandian Six

The people of the fort have changed from the difficulty of finding food and clothing in the past, and now have some spare money in their hands.

With such a large sum of money invested in such a small place, Kuandian Liubao has entered a kind of abnormal prosperity in a short period of time: the output of the place itself is very limited, but the residents of the fort are relatively

With money and a strategic location, businessmen from Liaodong Town, the mainland of Ming Dynasty, Jianzhou, North Korea and even Mongolia gathered here. In just four years, Kuandian actually became a logistics distribution center on the border between China and North Korea.

Originally, the geographical location of Kuandian was such that Jianzhou Jurchen was very uncomfortable. Now the trade here is so prosperous. Why not make Nurha red with jealousy? His desire to bring the Six Forts of Kuandian under his rule has become even more intense.

.

Unfortunately, as long as he did not make up his mind to completely break with the Ming Dynasty and start a war, Nurhachi would not dare to use the knife where the Ming flag was hoisted. Besides, now that Nurhachi wants to use the knife, Kuandian is not that easy to fight.

Four years have passed. In addition to the 600,000 taels of silver Zhu Youdong invested here, starting from Li Guozhu's surrender, he also received flintlock guns, Mini bullets, military uniforms, medicines, telescopes and other equipment, cement and even 12-pound and 16-pound cannons.

Wait, almost all were opened to be transported to Kuandian. After Henghaiwei was rebuilt in November 1609, the organization and training methods of Kuandian local soldiers were completely the same as Henghaiwei!

Now, the walls of Kuandian Liubao have all been hardened by cement, and they have been built according to the drawings given by Zhu Youdong into the popular bastion style in Europe at this time. Sixteen-pound cannons are installed in key parts of the bastion. Others

The stocks of defensive materials such as grain, bows and arrows, gunpowder, etc. are also extremely abundant.

Kuandian Liubao originally had more than 60,000 households. Xiong Tingbi was tight at first and only had 3,000 troops. Later, Zhu Youdong increased his support, especially after the Henghai Guards were rebuilt. In line with the principles of His Highness,

In line with the principle of uniformity in the formation of personal soldiers, Xiong Tingbi increased the number of Kuandian soldiers to 5,600, and also set up five thousand households and an artillery team. The slight difference is that the Kuandian army has five thousand households, with four

One is a pure infantry team, and the other is a pure cavalry team.

Moreover, the Kuandian Army has two advantages over Henghaiwei: First, the auxiliary personnel are extremely rich and cheap, so the Kuandian Army has as many as 3,000 auxiliary soldiers. Second, the Kuandian Army needs to train, and this place

I don’t know how much wider it is than Henghaiwei.

In short, according to Zhu Youdong, next year, both sides will form a mixed team of thousands of households to conduct exercises. Xiong Tingbi is very confident about winning.

"Observe, what is this Jiannu thinking about all day long? He is coveting my Kuandian wealth, and he can fight him if he wants! What's the point of peeping like this?"

"Haha, Mao Qianhu, I want to ask you, if Kuandian Guards were to confront Jiannu alone at this time, could we defeat him in battle?"

"Hmm..." Mao Wenlong thought seriously for a while and then said: "Observe, if Jiannu comes to attack us, we rely on the fortress to hold on, consume its energy and then counterattack, so we have a greater chance of winning. If we attack directly,

Our troops are still a little short."

"Then it's over, so if he wants to see it, he can see it. His Highness has done great things in the south these years, and his support for me in Kuandian has also grown. Not to mention anything else, except for the two hundred thousand dollars a year

, the artillery, muskets, ammunition, clothing and other equipment sent here probably cost no less than 200,000 yuan a year."

"Yes, His Highness's kindness is really unrequited. Sometimes I wonder why Nurhachi is so cowardly? Hasn't he always wanted to capture the Jurchens in the East China Sea behind us and become a veritable Jurchen Khan? Then

Just come, he has a population of 30,000 to 40,000 in Jianzhou, so it is not difficult to recruit 50,000 to 60,000 men to join the army, right? We only have more than 5,000 people here."

"Hey, if Nurhachi comes now, I will be happy. Although we will be trapped in the fort in the short term and beaten, as long as he dares to attack the place where the Ming flag is hung, let alone the emperor, grandson Ningyuan

Bodu will not let him go! What a pity..." After a long sigh, Xiong Tingbi raised his head melancholy: "This animal can be so patient. It is really a serious problem for my Ming Dynasty."

"Yes, observe. Last year, Nurhaci killed two of Shuerhaqi's sons and completely deprived Shuerhaqi of his military power. The internal affairs of the Jiannu were completely integrated. Hey! To be honest, this Shuerhaqi is humble.

Erhaqi is such a fool. He wanted to stand on his own mountain and went to Tieling. But when Nurhachi went to get him, Tieling Guards didn't react at all. If this guy had come to our Kuandian Guards in advance..."

"Hey, who told the Tieling Guards to be inside the border wall, and we are the only ones in Liaodong hanging outside the border wall? That idiot Shuerhaqi must think that it is safer to have a wall. But Wenlong, what do you think?

It makes sense. After Shuerhaqi’s death, Nurhaci within the Jurchens of Jianzhou was completely consistent with his words. Haha, it’s ridiculous that Ning Yuanbo even told the court that he would support Shuerhaqi to contain Nurhachi..."

"Observe, I have a bold idea."

"Huh? Wenlong, you tell me."

"Observe, how about we take the initiative to provoke the slaves, so that they can't stand it anymore and take the initiative to beat us."

"Hahahaha~~" After laughing up to the sky for a while, Xiong Tingbi said: "I have thought about this many times, and I also want to do it, but..."

"Why is this? Observation! According to what I heard from my humble position, Sun Chengzong, Sun Observation, has a very high reputation in the mainland because he won the Ming Dynasty."

"Haha, Wenlong, you only know one but not the other. Sun Kaiyang's victory over Mubang is not considered meritorious. After winning it, he can develop the jade mines there so that the output can feed our Ming garrison and also turn it over to the imperial court.

Money, that's merit. Jianzhou is a remote and remote place. Even if we conquer it, our Ming Dynasty will not be able to stay there permanently. Therefore, if Nurhaci's strength hadn't expanded too fast, I don't think his grandson would have invested money in our Kuandian!

"

After saying this, Xiong Tingbi raised his head proudly and said: "I have worked with Sun Kaiyang in Xinghua Palace for nearly two years, and I know this person very well. When it comes to learning and coordinating the relations between all parties, I am ashamed of myself.

But in terms of military affairs, I think I am not inferior to him! If I had commanded the battle in Mubang, it would have been a more beautiful fight!" Then he spread his hands again: "But what can I do?

Regarding the emperor's salary and loyalty to the emperor, His Highness Taisun has not spoken, so we can only focus on defense."

Just as the two people looked at each other speechlessly, a group of cavalry came quickly from a distance dragging a column of smoke.

"Observe!" Yang Ruda, a cavalryman from Qianhu, dismounted and approached Xiong Tingbi and whispered: "Observe, His Highness Taisun's secret envoy has arrived at the humble Changdian Fort. Please rush there as soon as possible."

"Okay!" Xiong Tingbi quickly stood up and quickly mounted a horse brought by Yang Ruda. Xiong Tingbi quickly ran towards Changdian Fort in the south.

Xiong Observation was very strict in running the army, so at this moment Mao Wenlong had no intention of coming over to inquire about the news. He just bowed his hands to Yang Ruda and turned to pay attention to his soldiers.

…

"I am lowered to the post of Nanjing Jinyi Guard Qianhu Tian Ergen, and I pay my respects to Xiong Observer."

"Tian Qianhu? What is so important that I have to work with you to deliver the letter personally?"
Chapter completed!