vast ocean,

This is the direction that the previous administration has been working towards.

According to the strategy designated by the new party at that time, after taking Monan, annihilating Jiaozhi, and recovering Liaodong, Ming Dynasty aimed to consolidate the country, open up maritime territories, and broadcast the culture of the Central Plains to the world.

This was the established strategy at the time, so the imperial court invested a lot in the navy during the Tianqi period. On the one hand, it rebuilt the huge navy of the Yongle period, and on the other hand, it developed more water station weapons. Even iron-clad ships were launched, which was enough.

See how much the imperial court attached great importance to the navy and the ocean.

When Zhu Youjian arrived, he didn't care about the sea at all, and he couldn't see the ocean. He destroyed the entire Nanyang Navy. These things finally fell into the hands of the Zheng family, and the original Zheng Zhilong also relied on this.

It has become the strongest maritime overlord along the southeast coast.

Facing Zheng Zhilong, who occupies Xiaoliuqiu and is entrenched in the South Sea, he can retreat, defend or attack, and with Jiangnan Puppet Ming providing assistance, he will definitely become an obstacle when the army goes south in the future.

Zheng Zhilong is now an important minister of the pseudo-Ming Dynasty. Emperor Chongzhen originally thought that Zheng Zhilong was dispensable, and appointed him as the Fujian Commander-in-Chief just to prevent Zheng Zhilong from invading the coast. However, as Zheng Zhilong took over most of the inheritance of the Nanyang Navy of the Ming Dynasty,

It has expanded to a point that cannot be ignored.

Especially after the Ming Dynasty was defeated across the board south of the Yangtze River, Chongzhen could not ignore Zheng Zhilong's role if he still wanted to preserve his ancestral foundation and preserve the land of Longxing in the south of the Yangtze River.

Nowadays, Zheng Zhilong is no longer a simple military commander of the Ming Dynasty. He is an independent warlord, entrenched in Xiaoliuqiu, and the coastal areas of Fuguang and Guangzhou are within his sphere of influence. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong's threat has become a real threat to Datong.

Zhang Haogu mused that the military generals did not support placing the strategic focus in the southwest for the next stage, but supported placing it on the sea. Zhang Haogu would not ignore the opinions of so many generals: "In this case, then I

Let’s have a meeting with some of the naval officers. Let’s go ahead.”

Soon, four naval admirals, Qi Mingguang, Shen Yi, Yu Huaiming, and Han Yunzhi, were invited by Zhang Haogu.

In the small conference building of the Datong Military Headquarters, Zhang Haogu watched the four people sit down and picked up the tea with a smile: "In the next stage, the central strategic focus may be placed in the south of the Yangtze River and the southeastern coastal area. At that time, it will definitely be based on

The navy is the main one. After all, the enemies we face are not just the pseudo-Ming Chongzhen in Jiangnan."

"On this aspect, Mr. Cao and the others proposed to hand over the task to the Navy. I, as for me, would like to hear your thoughts."

Qi Mingguang and the four of them looked at each other with joy in their eyes.

As Datong officially went to war with the Ming Dynasty, there was a lot of noise in Liaodong, Gansu and Shaanxi, but there was no big movement on the navy side, which was when it helped Zhou Yuji transport troops to Shandong.

But whether it was the Battle of Zhili or the Battle of Huaibei that ended a few days ago, the center of gravity was Huaibei, and the main force was the land division, which had nothing to do with their navy.

We are all generals, and we all have arrogance. Who wants to watch others make meritorious deeds and stare at them from behind?

Now that there is finally an opportunity, several people have clearly understood what the others mean: they must seize the opportunity!

"Chief, the center is willing to hand over this responsibility to our navy. Our navy promises to live up to the trust of the chief and the center and will complete the task beautifully!" Qi Mingguang was the first to stand up and express his stance.

Shen Yi followed up and said: "Chief, our navy is now in Liaodong and Shandong. There are hundreds of warships of various types, including 150 large and small fortune ships, as well as various assault and cruise warships.

There are eight iron-clad ships; it can be said that it is powerful, has a strong eye on the ocean, and is capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility of the center."

Zhang Haogu is naturally aware of the power currently possessed by the Datong Navy. These things are also the inheritance of the Tianqi Dynasty. If the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty in Jiangnan inherited the Nanyang Navy from the Ming Dynasty's Four Seas Navy, Datong owns the East Ocean.

There were three naval divisions in the Beiyang and the Western Seas, but at that time Datong also lacked enough space, so they had to survive and eliminate the fittest. The warships were streamlined to the point where these warships are today, but all that remain are warships in good condition, and the few ironclad ships are also retained.

It's just been repaired and improved since then.

"With eight armored ships, how many can be moved now?" Zhang Haogu asked.

Shen Yi replied: "Chief, if we need to move now, we can move three armored ships."

Zhang Haogu nodded and said with a smile: "The next strategic focus must be on the sea, and your navy should not be too impatient right now. As I said, keep training and wait for orders."

"Yes, chief!" Qi Mingguang and the others left excitedly.

After all these generals left, Zhang Haogu also began to figure out how to fight this battle and to what extent it would be fought.

In the three-story building of the cabinet, Zhang Haogu invited Lu Xiangsheng and Zhang Ruitu. The three of them sat at a small table and chatted wordlessly.

"The next step for the Center is to restore the economy, industry and commerce of the northern provinces, and to provide relief to the victims and appease the people. As for the military, it is to attack the south and southeast coasts of the Yangtze River to ensure that the Puppet Ming Dynasty does not have enough maritime power to interfere with the imperial court.

Final strategic deployment.”

"We have to spend money everywhere, including transportation construction, relief for disaster victims, water conservancy repairs, industrial and commercial recovery, etc., as well as military mobilization. Do you think the central government has enough money to spend?"

Listening to Zhang Haogu's words, Lu Xiangsheng said slowly: "Chief Assistant, you are the head of the family, and you know best that everything is not easy for this family. No matter how rich the central government is, it cannot withstand the use of so many places."

"We have just taken over the Central Plains, and it is a time when everything is waiting to be done. It is important for the military to carry out the next phase of military operations, but the stability of the provinces in the Central Plains is more important right now. The center only has so much money, so use a little.

Then use a little bit, who should use it first, and who should use it later. There is always a distinction between one and two."

Zhang Haogu said with a smile: "I heard it, Jiandou, you meant something. Yes, the head of the family must know how much money the family has and how many things he has to do. Our family only has this half at the moment.

, but this half is still in a state of disrepair. This half of the house is in such a dilapidated state, so naturally it needs to be tidied up first."

"In the past few years, the Central Committee's energy has naturally been focused on internal affairs. What I said today is a reminder that in the next three years, the Central Committee must try its best to handle internal affairs well.

, stabilize the provinces, and in the process, the center must leave enough money and food to cope with the subsequent war."

"We can afford to wait for three years. We will spend three years cultivating our internal strength. When we go south again, the autumn wind will sweep away the fallen leaves and sweep across the south of the Yangtze River, unifying the world."

"We only have three years. The longer we delay, the more suffering the people in the south will suffer."

Zhang Haogu was chatting with Lu Xiangsheng and Zhang Ruitu, and an area was planned for a street in Shuntian Mansion. This area was originally a wine shop called Gongdelin, which was the property of a certain minister of the Puppet Ming Dynasty. It is now owned by Datong

Recruited and used as a temporary prison camp.

Among them are Sun Chuanting, the former commander-in-chief of Jiliao in the Ming Dynasty, Yang Shengwu, the former governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, Hong Chengchou, the former governor of Huaibei in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Chunchen, the former governor of Huaibei in the Ming Dynasty, Duke Chengguo, and Zhu Guobi, the former envoy to Huaibei in the Ming Dynasty and Duke Baoguobi.

It can be said that all the important military generals of the Ming Dynasty and the enemies that Datong fought against are all here.

It was here that Hong Chengchou met Zhu Chunchen and Zhu Guobi. Miraculously, the three of them joined forces to fight Datong in Huaibei. As a result, the three of them did not meet each other during the war, but they all met in this merit forest in the end.

Yang Shengwu and Sun Chuanting were recently transferred here and were imprisoned with these fellow prisoners.

"Dong Chengguo, Duke Baoguo, I didn't expect that we would meet here." Hong Chengchou's expression was very complicated.

Although he sometimes disobeyed military orders, those were Chongzhen's orders which were too unbelievable. In addition, Chongzhen had no military knowledge at all, and his command was chaotic. He would rather disobey orders, so that at least he could save the army.

But to be honest, Hong Chengchou was loyal to the Ming Dynasty. He did not want to be a warlord, but a famous minister who could turn the tide, run the army on horseback and govern the country on horseback, and be a famous minister who could become a general or prime minister and leave his name in history.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou tried his best in the Battle of Huaibei. He even ignored the Ming army's fine tradition of abandoning teammates and insisted on saving Zhu Chunchen.

Hong Chengchou's expression was complicated, and the expressions of Zhu Chunchen and Zhu Guobi were even more complicated. After all, the reason why the Battle of Huaibei failed was that all three of them were war criminals, but the biggest war criminal was definitely not Hong Chengchou. Both of them made fatal mistakes.

Especially Zhu Guobi's strategic mistakes were the beginning of the complete defeat of the Ming Dynasty in the Battle of Huaibei.

Compared with Hong Chengchou, Zhu Chunchen and Zhu Guobi had complicated expressions, but Sun Chuanting and Yang Shengwu were now able to see clearly. The two of them were reviewing the Battle of Jinzhou, and together with a group of generals and soldiers, it was quite lively.

The noisy commotion over there made Hong Chengchou and the others look over. They heard that Sun Chuanting and Yang Shengwu were reviewing the battle situation, so in order to avoid embarrassment, the three of them also went over separately.

As I got closer, I heard someone talking: "In the battle of Liaoning, the reason why our army of 300,000 soldiers was defeated was, in the final analysis, not only because of the mistakes in the court's strategy, but also because of the favorable weather, location, and the lack of people and people in our court.

"

"Of course, let's talk about the court's strategic mistakes first. The initial plan made by His Majesty and several ministers in the cabinet was to send 200,000 troops out of Shanhaiguan. According to the information obtained by the court at that time, there were only six towns in Datong in Liaodong, and the total was only ten

Thousands of people. Our army's strength is twice that of the other party..."

"But in fact, we have ignored Datong's five-year foundation accumulation in Liaodong. There are not many strong cities and towns in Liaodong, but every village and town is a hidden barracks of Datong. Datong's militia is no less than the main force."

"Let's look at Governor Yang's strategy at that time. He divided his troops and stationed them along the way. The main force went straight to Jinzhou. There was no problem with his strategy. However, he was blocked by the Datong militia along the way. The grain road was cut into several sections. The main force was tested with the rear, and there was no way to communicate with the front and rear.

, as if a dragon had its body cut off, unable to survive..."

Listening to this man's analysis and the arrangement of the stones on the ground, one by one, Hong Chengchou couldn't help but sigh.

At this time, someone asked: "Governor Hong, you have 340,000 troops in Huaibei. With the many important towns in Huaibei and the defenses in the shape of a Zigzag, how did you get defeated by Datong?"

As soon as these words came out, Hong Chengchou's face immediately became ugly. Those who watched the defeat of the Liaodong Battle all looked over curiously. Hong Chengchou looked at Zhu Chunchen. Now everyone was a prisoner, and the rank of the imperial court was no longer important, so Hong Chengchou asked : "Mr. Cheng Guo is willing to assist me in reviving the situation in Huaibei?"

Zhu Chunchen sighed: "Well, what are you talking about now? That's all. I have so many questions and my brain is full of questions."

Soon, Hong Chengchou and Zhu Chunchen worked together to draw a new simplified situation map of the Battle of Huaibei on the ground.

Hong Chengchou held a branch and pulled it: "Look, I have 100,000 troops, with Xuzhou as the main force and Xiao County as the auxiliary. Yunlong Mountain and Sanxiantai are both guarded by military strongholds to prevent Fang Yun from coming out from the front. , there are eight towns in Zhou Yuji; among them, Fang Yunchu is opposite Xuzhou, at the entrance of the town, the line of tea city is across the river and looks at our army."

"And Zhou Yuji's troops are on the Pizhou and Xin'an front lines, so he has to ask his officers to strengthen the defenses in Suqian and Juning. Most of the Huai'an Prefecture's troops are mobilized here."

"There is no problem with Lord Hong's deployment. Duke Cheng, where are you?" someone asked.

Zhu Chunchen snorted coldly: "The 150,000-strong troops of our government were attacked by Zhao Yuqi's troops before and the battlefield was divided. The main force was in Guide, Xiayi, and Yongcheng. The other troops were blocked in Qixian County and could not pass. This time The long snake formation has actually been broken."

"Later, Zhao Yuqi's main force attacked Guide. I led the main force to retreat to Xiayi and Yongcheng, facing Governor Hong for protection. I thought we could hold this line, but unexpectedly, Zhou Yuji's troops actually came around from behind. .”

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Zhu Guobi. Zhu Guobi's face turned red: "Forty thousand of our troops are stationed in Suzhou, serving as the rear of the army. But who would have thought that the four towns under Zhou Yuji's command would bypass Suqian, and Ju Ning would go straight into Suzhou?" ! They marched in a hurry at night. Suqian and Juning were unprepared, and no news came out from the guard posts along the way. Our army did not react until it was surrounded in Suzhou City."

Everyone looked at Hong Chengchou again: "Master Hong, didn't you contain Zhou Yuji's troops in Pizhou?"

Hong Chengchou said with a straight face: "How could I have imagined that the soldiers and horses of Huai'an Prefecture were so unlucky? Zhou Yuji's main force made a surprise attack at night, which was a risky move. Isn't he afraid of going deep into Huainan and being surrounded and suppressed by our army?"

Sun Chuanting understood now: "I see, I finally know why Zhou Yuji dared to risk a surprise attack."

After hearing this, everyone looked at Sun Chuanting again, and Sun Chuanting said without raising his head: "As you all know, there is actually a gap between the imperial army and Datong's army, whether it is combat experience or... In terms of physical strength or morale, they are not as good as Datong."

"Of course, this is only one aspect of Zhou Yuji's surprise attack. His army can see at night, and the sergeants have good physical strength and have enough food and grass to support them."

"The most important thing is the series of actions taken by Zhao Yuqi and Fang Yun. They first mobilized Cheng Guogong's army, and forced Cheng Guogong's army to gather in Guide Mansion through encirclement and reinforcements. Then they gathered in Guide Mansion. Use your strength to divide the dragon; in this way, the heads and tails of Duke Cheng's troops cannot look after each other."

"It seems that the 150,000 troops are in a line, but Qixian, Guide, Xiayi, and Yongcheng have been separated. At this time, Zhao Yuqi seized the seven-inch vital point of Guide and fought for a while, while Fang Yun came out and

Zhou Yuji took advantage of the situation to force Master Hong to be unable to send troops easily, thus forcing Duke Cheng and Master Hong to fight independently..."

"And the situation in Huaibei was successfully divided into three parts. Later, Zhao Yuqi sent troops to contain Duke Cheng, and Fang Yun sent out to contain Master Hong. Our army only had so many troops in Huaibei, and the main force was all contained. Zhou Yuji also

What else is there to worry about? With his previous record, he can run freely in Huaibei without hindrance."

Listening to Sun Chuanting's analysis, everyone took a breath. Not only did they secretly admire the tacit cooperation of the three generals of Datong, but they were also impressed by such a layout.

He is indeed a famous general who has fought all the way from the Tianqi Dynasty. His military experience and commanding skills combined with Datong's high-quality middle and low-level generals and veterans with rich actual combat experience can really lead to such a beautiful battle.

Hong Chengchou was silent for a while, and then slowly said: "It is true. After reviewing the review, I found that our army is far behind Datong. In terms of physical strength alone, a town in Datong can attack dozens of people overnight with lightly armed soldiers."

If it is daytime, the emergency march can reach hundreds of miles, which is simply impossible for our army."

"And its organizational ability is also very high. The entire army can avoid getting lost or falling behind. The morale of the army is extremely high, and it can even go into battle after a short rest."

Zhu Guobi said angrily: "They surrounded Suzhou in a very short time. I have tried my best to organize resistance, but the soldiers have no fighting spirit, the morale of the army is low, and they don't know how to transport a large number of artillery to attack."

City, and the quality of our artillery is extremely poor. It either explodes or fails to fire at all. How can we fight this?"

Zhu Chunchen also sighed and said: "The morale of Zhao Yuqi's troops is high, the soldiers are like tigers and wolves, and their firearms are sharp. Our army was forced to evacuate. Considering the fire in the rear, I originally planned to go to Xuzhou to join Lord Hong, but I was blocked halfway."

"We were blocked in Huicunji and Chenguanzhuang, and were finally surrounded by Zhao Yuqi and Zhou Yuji in Chenguanzhuang."

Hong Chengchou couldn't help being stunned when he heard this: "You are surrounded in Chenguanzhuang?!"

Zhu Chunchen nodded.

Hong Chengchou sighed: "I sent a lot of soldiers and horses to pick you up, but they couldn't reach Chenguanzhuang and were blocked at Qulipu."

"It seems that the six towns of Datong are surrounding you. Outside alone, there are many people trying to contain and block our army. They have calculated everything step by step, including where we will run and where we will end up.

We have already planned the siege, but we dove into the net without knowing anything..."

Listening to Hong Chengchou's words, these Ming army generals were quite emotional. Who said it was not the case? I don't know why they were beaten by Datong. I don't know when they were surrounded. As they ran, they found more and more soldiers and horses.

In the end, he was even kidnapped by his men and sent to Datong to surrender...

The battle has reached this point, how can we fight it?

All the generals sighed with emotion, and someone suddenly said: "If the imperial court still maintains the new army, and if His Majesty and the cabinet ministers are willing to listen to advice, how could we be in today's situation?"
Chapter completed!