Zhu Cijiong also turned around and looked at Xu Yingwei with excitement in his eyes.
He also didn't expect that Xu Yingwei actually planned to attack Shengjing by surprise. However, he liked Xu Yingwei's idea of attacking Shengjing, the old capital of the slaves, very much. Just thinking about it made him extremely excited.
After a long while, Li? finally recovered from the huge shock.
Li Yu subconsciously wanted to refuse, but he did not dare to refuse, because if he refused Xu Yingwei's conditions, the Ming army would not be able to send troops to help him seize the throne of the crown prince.
And once he can no longer be the prince, he will lose his value.
In this case, the Ming army would imprison him for a long time at best, or even execute him at worst.
Thinking of this, Li Jian immediately made a decision and said: "Please give me some advice to Master Xu, what should I do to help the Heavenly Soldiers seize Shengjing City?"
"It's very simple." Xu Yingwei said, "Go back to Shengjing and your people."
"Go back to Shengjing?" Li Qi didn't understand for a moment and asked again, "What should we do next?"
Zhu Cijiong said: "The next thing will be even simpler. As soon as my Ming Dynasty's heavenly soldiers arrive, you will lead the Korean army to cooperate with us to annihilate the slaves in Shengjing City."
"Ah?" Li Hu's expression suddenly changed when he heard this.
"Your Highness Prince Ding, I am afraid that this matter will be very difficult to accomplish. There are many members of the slave-building faction in the Korean army, and I cannot command the 5,000 Korean troops in Shengjing City."
Xu Yingwei asked: "Then how many people can you control?"
After thinking for a moment, Li? said: "Five hundred people at most."
"Five hundred people are enough." Xu Yingwei said, "When our soldiers arrive outside Shengjing City, and you find an opportunity to open the Shengjing City Gate, what happens next will have nothing to do with you."
Li He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. It seemed that it was not difficult to say this.
"Okay, you go back and prepare first." Xu Yingwei waved and said, "We'll leave tonight."
"In this case, I will take my leave first." Li? He bowed to Zhu Cijiong and Xu Yingwei respectively, then turned around and left Xu Yingwei's residence.
After Li? left, Zhu Cijiong couldn't bear it anymore.
"Xu Gijian, is the surprise attack on Shengjing the father's order?"
"No, the Holy One did not issue an edict, but the minister made an impromptu decision."
"What, a sudden idea?" Zhu Cijiong couldn't help being startled when he heard this.
This was disobedience! However, Zhu Cijiong did not say this out loud.
Because he was worried that after saying this, Xu Yingwei would change his mind and stop fighting Sheng Jing.
However, Xu Yingwei smiled and said: "Prince Ding, you don't have to worry. Although the surprise attack on Shengjing is suspected of resisting the decree, the Holy One will definitely not blame you and me, because doing so is in line with the grand strategy set by the Holy One."
"Grand strategy?" Zhu Cijiong was stunned, "What grand strategy does my father have?"
"The Holy Emperor's grand strategy is to consume as many slaves as possible before the decisive battle."
After saying this, Xu Yingwei continued: "Since our army came to Gaizhou at the beginning of the year, it has not actually achieved the strategic intention of consuming Jiannu, because Jiannu did not invest a single soldier in Gaizhou Guards, but this time, etc.
If we take Shengjing, Jiannu will definitely launch a crazy counterattack, and then we can severely consume Jiannu."
Xu Yingwei understood Chongzhen's strategy the most thoroughly.
Many people only think about completing one battle and fighting a beautiful strategic decisive battle, but they often ignore the long preparation work done before the strategic decisive battle.
This preparation process is like building momentum.
The greater the amount of water you accumulate at a high place, the stronger the downward impact will be when the gate is opened. Conversely, the less the amount of water you accumulate, the weaker the downward impact will be after the gate is opened.
At this time, a qualified commander will want to save as much water as possible.
In addition to accumulating as much water as possible, a good commander will also try to destroy the opponent's accumulating water as much as possible to increase his own chances of winning as much as possible.
…
"Long live my lord, and the prince, please take a look."
Gao Qiqian said and pulled gently, followed by a brushing sound.
Chongzhen and Zhu Cixiang looked up and saw a huge yellow silk scroll hanging on the north wall of Yilun Hall falling down. When unfolded, it turned out to be a huge map.
This map takes up the entire huge wall.
A conservative estimate is that it is at least six meters high and more than ten meters long.
"Long live my lord, this old slave and several slaves in the palace spent half a month embroidering this."
Gao Qiqian pointed at the huge map, his face turned into a daisy with a smile: "Every mountain, every river and every road on the map is embroidered according to the new complete map drawn by the Ministry of Internal Affairs."
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has drawn up the entire map of the Ming Dynasty.
It must be admitted that this version of the complete map of the Ming Dynasty is very close to the maps of later generations.
After several busy years, the basic disciplines of Ming Dynasty were gradually established, including geography.
"Gao Banban, you are thoughtful." Chongzhen couldn't help but praise, the eunuch really knows how to serve people.
With this complete map of the Ming Dynasty, it will be much more intuitive to make decisions related to the dispute between the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the future. Having a map is convenient and clear at a glance.
Zhu Cixiang scanned the map, then turned to ask Chongzhen: "Father, I have something unclear."
Chongzhen noticed that Zhu Cixiang was looking at Sichuan Province just now, and asked: "Are you wondering why my father launched the Sichuan War at the beginning of the year?"
"That's it." Zhu Cixi asked puzzledly, "This year and next are the most critical two years for accumulating national strength to fight the decisive battle against the slave establishment. Shouldn't we be accumulating strength at this time?"
Chongzhen said: "It is right to accumulate strength, but we should not give up eating because of choking."
"Canted to eat because of choking?" Zhu Cixiang asked puzzledly, "What do you mean by what the father said?"
Chongzhen said: "My father's meaning is very simple. The Battle of Sichuan will not consume too much national power, nor will it affect the strategic decisive battle with Jiannu. Instead, we can train troops through the Battle of Sichuan."
"Train troops?" Upon hearing this, Zhu Cixi understood Chongzhen's intention.
"That's right, it's military training." Chongzhen said, "There are still few opportunities for the new army to participate in actual combat. Only 20,000 new troops were used to quell the rebellion in Yunnan, and only 15,000 new troops were dispatched to Gaizhou Weijia and Dugukou.
The new army, and a considerable part of it first participated in the Battle of Yunnan, and then went to Gaizhou Guard or Dagukou."
"This leaves a serious shortage of new troops with actual combat experience."
"As of now, less than one-tenth of the new army has actual combat experience."
Of the 270,000 new troops, less than 30,000 have actual combat experience. This ratio is indeed low.
After saying this for a while, Chongzhen said again: "If there is a decisive battle with Jiannu at this time, the Ming army will have the most fatal weakness compared to Jiannu. Actual combat experience is too expensive!"
Lack of practical experience can lead to disastrous results.
Especially at the beginning of the war, there will be huge casualties.
Because almost all of Jiannu's side are veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles.
Because of this, Chongzhen launched the Battle of Sichuan and transferred nearly half of the New Army to Sichuan. The purpose was to allow the officers and soldiers of the New Army to receive battlefield training.
Although the combat effectiveness of the rebel soldiers is far inferior to that of the Jiannu, they can always allow the new army to accumulate some experience.
Even if there is no war, it is still beneficial to just let the new army go to Sichuan and walk along the Shu Road.
"So that's it." Zhu Cixiang suddenly nodded and said, "So, when my father transferred 100,000 new troops from Wuchang to Nanjing and Xuzhou more than a month ago, was he also using the Jiannu slaves for training?"
More than a month ago, Chongzhen once again adjusted the deployment of troops.
Yang Weizhi's 100,000 town troops have returned to Yunnan, and Qin Liangyu's command has only 150,000 Huguang town troops left. In addition, Li Xiangjun has 20,000 Zunyi soldiers. The remaining 100,000 new troops have switched defenses and returned to Wuchang. The troops originally stationed in Wuchang
One hundred thousand new troops were transferred to Xuzhou and Nanjing by Chongzhen.
Among them, 80,000 new troops were transferred to Xuzhou.
The remaining 20,000 new troops were transferred to Nanjing.
Zhu Cixiang could not understand Chongzhen's intention before.
But now he figured it out, it was for military training.
Chongzhen nodded and said, "I have this plan, but it may not come true."
"Because Jiannu must have planted many spies in our Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to know that we are not ready for a decisive battle with Jiannu at all, so Jiannu may not pay attention to our offensive posture on the Xuzhou battlefield
, then the 80,000 new troops transferred to Xuzhou will not have the opportunity to train."
After a short pause, he added: "However, Nanjing's 20,000 new troops should have a chance."
Zhu Cixiang also made it clear: "Father, do you think there is going to be a big move in Dagukou?"
"It's not just Dagokou." Chongzhen said with a slight smile, "The actions in Liaodong may be bigger."
In fact, before he decided to send Zhu Cijiong to lead his troops to North Korea, Chongzhen had already been brewing a plan in his mind, a plan that was based on silence, a plan that could greatly consume the manpower, material and military power of the slave builders. In a word, he wanted to
Use every possible means to consume Jiannu's manpower, material and military strength and weaken Jiannu's war potential as much as possible.
Then a month ago, after receiving an urgent delivery from Xu Yingwei, the plan finally took shape.
For reasons of confidentiality, Chongzhen did not reveal even a word about his two sons.
"Liaodong?" Zhu Cixiang's eyes suddenly widened and he asked in surprise, "Father, Xu Yingwei and his third brother will not send troops to attack Shengjing, the old capital of Jiannu, right?"
Hearing this, Wang Chengen and Gao Qiqian, who were next to them, also looked surprised.
Chongzhen said: "Xu Yingwei didn't mention it in the newspaper, but I guess he will attack Shengjing."
"But, father, didn't you issue an imperial edict strictly prohibiting Xu Yingwei from attacking without authorization?" Zhu Cihong said, "Does Xu Yingwei still dare to resist the edict?"
"Don't you hear that the general is not going to accept your order?"
Smiling, Chongzhen continued: "Besides, Xu Yingwei is originally a daring character. If such a good opportunity is missed, then he will no longer be Xu Yingwei."
