Zhu Cijiong began to conquer North Korea, and Chongzhen also stood in front of the main entrance of Chongde Hall in the inner city of Shengjing.
"It's been twenty years." Looking at the main entrance of Chongde Hall, which was not too majestic, Chongzhen said with a sigh, "I still remember when I first came to the throne, I summoned Yuan Chonghuan to play a duet on the platform."
"When Yuan Chonghuan said that the Liao Dynasty could be pacified in five years, I was so happy."
After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "At that time, I really believed that Yuan Chonghuan could do what he said and could really pacify Liaodong within five years and completely resolve the Jianlu Rebellion."
"But Yuan Chonghuan failed to conquer Liaodong after all. He broke his promise after all." Zheng Zhilong said, "Now twenty years have passed, but it was the Holy One who conquered Liaodong himself."
"Hey, Zheng Qing, what you said is wrong."
Chongzhen waved his hand and said: "Liaodong was conquered by Youzhen, not me."
Xu Yingwei quickly said: "The fact that I was able to capture Shenyang City was not due to me. I first relied on the Holy Spirit to work hard to govern and build up the troops, and then the soldiers used their lives."
As an emperor, Chongzhen did not covet the merits of his ministers.
Xu Yingwei is a minister, but he is not willing to covet the merits of heaven.
Seeing Chongzhen and Xu Yingwei being humble to each other there, Zheng Zhilong also felt emotional. Such monarchs and ministers are really rare. Comparing the two, does he care too much about fame and wealth?
Xu Yingwei added: "What's more, I only captured Shenyang, but did not completely pacify Liaodong. Before the Horqin Mongolian tribes are pacified, there is still a risk of recurrence in Liaodong."
"Youzhen is right." Chongzhen said, "Now it depends on what Dorgon will choose. If Dorgon refuses to send troops to rescue, we will send troops north to solve Horqin Mongolia. If Dorgon sends troops to rescue, then We have been fighting an open and honest field battle with Jiannu in Liaodong for thirty years, and it is time for the matter to be settled."
This year is exactly thirty years since Lao Nu complained to Heaven about the seven great hatreds and raised an army.
"A field battle with Jiannu?" Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong, Xu Yingwei and others were a little stunned. How could it be a field battle?
You must know that since the bloody battle of Hunhe, the Ming army has never fought a field battle with Jiannu. During the Songjin Battle, Hong Chengchou led the general troops of the eight towns in Liaodong to help Jinzhou. After walking to Songshan, they fought a defensive battle with Jiannu. .
All subsequent wars, including the Battle of Xuzhou, the bloody battle of Shanyang, and Yan Yingyuan's defense of Dagonkou, were all defensive battles.
The Battle of Guting Town could barely be considered a field battle, but Jiannu only used cavalry and did not use infantry and artillery, so it could not be considered a true field battle.
Therefore, neither Zheng Zhilong nor Xu Yingwei thought that Chongzhen would choose to fight an upright field battle with Jiannu in Liaodong at this time.
"Yes, fighting with Jian Nu!"
Chongzhen also had his own considerations.
The dispute between the Ming and Qing Dynasties was not a simple military dispute, but a systematic dispute involving politics, military, economy and even people's livelihood. In the face of a systematic dispute, national confidence is particularly important.
Until now, the people and even the officials of the Ming Dynasty actually feared the establishment of slaves as much as tigers.
After the Jiashen national calamity, although they fought many victorious battles, almost all the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty, including Qin Wang and his disciples, believed that the Ming army could win the battle only by fighting defensive battles, but they would definitely not be able to defeat Jiannu in field battles.
This can be seen from Zheng Zhilong's expression just now, and even Xu Yingwei lacks confidence.
The self-confidence of the military is more precious than gold, and the collective self-confidence of all citizens is especially indispensable.
Therefore, we must use iron-clad facts to tell the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty that the Ming army could not only defeat the Jiannu in defensive battles, but also defeat the Jiannu in the field.
The current Liaodong War is an excellent opportunity to build confidence.
For this reason, Chongzhen even gave up the overall strategy of building a stronghold and fighting a dull war.
Zheng Zhilong was still a little worried. He frowned and asked, "Your Majesty, would it be too risky to fight with Jiannu in the field at this time?"
Chongzhen asked in reply: "Then when do you say that it is not risky to fight against the Jiannu in the field? If there is no accident, the Ming Dynasty will definitely launch a large-scale Northern Expedition as early as next year or the year after that. At that time, it will definitely be unavoidable to fight against the Jiannu. Zheng Qing, you
Say, is it better to have a medium-sized field battle with Jiannu at this time, or is it better to wait until the Northern Expedition and then have a decisive field battle with Jiannu?"
"Of course it's better to have a field battle with Jiannu now." Zheng Zhilong said without thinking, "This way we can accumulate some experience in field battles, and then we will have a solid foundation for the Northern Expedition next year or the year after."
"The most important thing is confidence." Chongzhen said, "If the Ming soldiers are still not confident enough during the decisive battle of the Northern Expedition, then the possibility of final defeat will be greatly increased. On the contrary, if our Ming soldiers are full of confidence in the victory of the Northern Expedition, then we will win the Northern Expedition."
The possibilities will also be greatly improved.”
Perhaps Chongzhen was overthinking this matter, but in order to win the decisive battle, no matter how cautious he was, he couldn't be too cautious.
The reason is also very simple. The Ming Dynasty can afford to lose this Liaodong war, but the decisive battle next year or the year after that, the Ming Dynasty cannot afford to lose. Once it loses the decisive battle next year or the year after that, not to mention that the Northern Expedition will be hopeless from now on, but it will drag on for ten years and eight years.
Years are very likely. Chongzhen didn't want to waste so much time. His time was very precious.
"I understand." Xu Yingwei said, "This battle in Liaodong is a battle to build confidence."
"Yes, this is a battle to build confidence." Chongzhen said solemnly, "The Liaodong War is used as a model to inform all the Ming soldiers, and also to inform all the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty that the Ming army can not only defend the city in the battle, but also
Defeating Jiannu can also defeat Jiannu in a field battle. The Ming army will be fearless and invincible!"
…
At the same time, Dorgon's army had just arrived at Shanhaiguan.
During this expedition, Dorgon brought a total of 60,000 regular soldiers, including 10,000 from the Eight Banners Manchurians, 10,000 from the Eight Banners Mongolia, 20,000 from the Eight Banners Han Army, and 20,000 from the Green Camp.
Not long ago, Dorgon listened to the suggestions of Hong Chengchou and others, and made a clear division of the composition of the army based on the characteristics of the Green Camp soldiers and the Eight Banners soldiers.
In the future, the Eight Banners Manchurian and Eight Banners Han armies will all be equipped with flintlock muskets and become musketeers.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Of course, at this stage, the Qing army only has a total of 50,000 flintlock muskets. It is temporarily impossible to change all the Eight Banners Manchurian and Eight Banners Han armies.
, so it can only be changed in batches.
Those who have not yet changed their uniforms still use large bows and swords as their main combat weapons.
However, the 18,000 Manchu and 28,000 Han troops who followed Dorgon on this expedition have all changed their uniforms, and now all have flintlock guns in their hands, but the large bows and horse-cutting knives have also been retained.
Due to the characteristics of the Eight Banners Mongolia's arms, they are mainly used for pursuit and expansion of battle results, so they still retain mounted archery.
Except for Liaodong Town, Datong Town and other 30 towns, most of the Green Battalion soldiers had very weak fighting will and often collapsed at the first touch on the battlefield. In view of this, Dorgon made a large-scale adjustment to the Green Battalion. The original Liaodong Town,
The 30,000 green battalion troops in Datong Town were carried up as the Eight Banners Han Army.
So now, the Eight Banners Han Army has increased to 182 Niulu.
Moreover, these 182 cattle records are all full of 300 people.
Now Jiang Xiang, Wu Sangui and Wang Fuchen are also members of the Eight Banners Han Army.
Then there are the remaining 90,000 Green Battalion soldiers. In addition to the 60,000 Green Battalion soldiers stationed in Beijing, Dorgon has adapted them into artillery.
In the future, the 60,000-strong Green Battalion guarding local areas will also be transferred to Beijing and reorganized into artillery.
In the future, the Green Battalion will become a full-time artillery force. The 20,000 Green Battalion who followed Dorgon in Liaodong this time are all artillerymen.
The 20,000 green battalion was equipped with more than a thousand cannons, including 200 Hongyi cannons, 200 Fran machine cannons, 400 camel revolving cannons, and in addition to 600 tiger squatting cannons.
Because they carried more than a thousand artillery pieces, especially two hundred red cannons that weighed more than two thousand kilograms, this seriously affected their march, and the Qing army could only walk thirty miles a day.
So seven days have passed, but the Qing army has only reached the vicinity of Shanhaiguan.
Hong Chengchou said worriedly: "Master, it is not possible to march at this speed. There are still more than 800 miles from Shanhaiguan to Shengjing, and it will take at least a month to walk."
"You may not be able to walk in a month." Fan Wencheng continued.
After finishing Ning, I wiped the raindrops from my face and said, "The rain may not stop for a while, and the roads in western Liaoning will only become more muddy and difficult to walk in the next half month."
Dorgon said in a deep voice: "So what are your opinions?"
Hou Fangyu replied: "Master, the red cannon and the Folan cannon are too heavy and heavy, so just leave them alone. Only the camel swivel cannon and the tiger crouching cannon are enough."
"Chaozong is right." Hong Chengchou nodded in agreement.
"With the Camel Swivel Cannon and Tiger Crouching Cannon, they are enough to destroy the Ming Army's hollow square formation, and there will be no worries in field battles."
"You don't have to bring the Folan cannon, but how can you attack the city without the red cannon?" Dorgon was a little worried, "If the Ming army insists on defending Shengjing, doesn't it mean that there is nothing we can do against them?"
"You can bring tens of thousands more kilograms of gunpowder," Hou Fangyu suggested.
Hong Chengchou also said: "Yes, digging one or several tunnels directly under the city wall, and then burying thousands or even tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder can blast the city wall. It just takes more time."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Dorgon frowned and said, "A long-term siege not only consumes time, but also consumes food."
Money is actually not bad. The Qing Dynasty is actually not short of money, but food is really short. If the Ming army in Shengjing had a stalemate for a year and a half, and the wartime rations were issued to the regular soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers for a long time, this consumption would be really high.
big.
Seeing Dorgon mentioning food, Hong Chengchou, Hou Fangyu and others shut their mouths in a sensible manner.
Because this is an unsolvable problem, no matter how resourceful they are, there is no way to solve it.
Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou couldn't help but feel emotional. How did Chongzhen solve the problem of military food supply?
You must know that in addition to adding 20,000 troops to Liaodong, Chongzhen also sent 200,000 troops to the battlefield in Xuzhou. In addition to the more than 300,000 troops previously stationed in Guide and Kaifeng Prefecture, it was possible to support such a large number of troops.
