From Kaocheng in Kaifeng Prefecture to Yuntiguan in Huaiyin Prefecture at the mouth of the Yellow River, it stretches for more than 1,500 miles. The 30 garrison towns envisaged by Chongzhen have an average defense of fifty miles per town.
But this is just a statement.
In practice, it is definitely not possible to achieve equal distribution.
The entire defense line must have a focus.
This focus is on the 150-mile area between the Yahe New Canal and the Xiazhen New Canal.
If the slaves were only going south on a small scale, the more than 1,500 miles from Kaocheng to Yuntiguan would naturally be full of breakthroughs, but the slaves going south on a small scale could not destroy the Ming Dynasty.
What's more, a small group of Jiannu may not be able to cross the Yellow River.
Because Chongzhen had already ordered Zheng Zhilong to go north to Huanghuai.
If nothing unexpected happens, Zheng Zhilong will most likely refuse to come.
But Zheng Zhilong’s fourth brother Zheng Zhifeng, also known as Zheng Hongkui, will definitely come.
With Zheng Hongkui's navy stationed in Xuzhou, they could provide water support to the Ming army upstream and downstream along the Yellow River. It would be difficult for a small group of Jiannu to break through the Yellow River defense line.
And if the main force of the Jiannu slaves went south, they would definitely march along the canal.
The reason is simple: advancing along the canal requires the least logistical pressure.
Moreover, if you go south from other directions, you still have to cross the Yellow River, and will eventually be intercepted by the Ming Navy with all its strength. So why not just go south along the canal and fight the Ming army on the canal?
As long as the Jian slaves were not fools, they would definitely choose to fight the Ming army along the canal.
Therefore, the 150 miles from Xiazhen New Canal in the west to Jiahe New Canal in the east is the center of gravity of the entire defense line and is the Xuzhou Defense Line.
When Chongzhen was about to state his strategic concept, Li Ruolian, a fellow commander of the Jinyiwei, walked into the lobby and whispered a few words into Wang Chengen's ear. Wang Chengen whispered a few words to Wu Batan who was standing beside him.
Wu bowed the charcoal in his hand and walked out of the state government hall with a machete in hand.
After a while, Wang Chengen walked up to Chongzhen and whispered: "Long live the Lord, the matter of the pay dispute has been investigated."
Chongzhen put down the long wooden pole in his hand and said calmly: "Let me tell you something, the Jin Yiwei has found out the person behind the pay incident that happened eight days ago."
Whispers suddenly sounded in the lobby.
Li Chengdong's face changed slightly and he subconsciously took a step back.
Chongzhen turned to Li Chengdong and asked: "Li Chengdong, what else do you have to say now?"
Following Chongzhen's questioning, Wu Batan had already rushed into the lobby of the state government office with more than a dozen Yiding men in full uniform, and immediately surrounded Li Chengdong, while the rest of the general soldiers hurriedly distanced themselves.
Huang Degong stood beside Chongzhen without leaving any trace.
Li Chengdong suddenly changed his expression and said: "Your Majesty, what do you mean?"
"Do you still want to deny it now?" Chongzhen said.
Li Chengdong snorted coldly and said: "If you want me to die, I have to die. If the Holy One wants to kill me, you can just do it. Why do you need to make these excuses?"
This is to stir up the emotions of other town commanders.
Unfortunately, it didn't resonate with others.
Not only the general soldiers of the ten towns under Huang Degong and the general soldiers of the ten towns under Liu Zeqing's old department, but also the general soldiers of the other seven towns under Gao Jie's old department were indifferent.
No one is stupid.
Is now the time to show off?
Besides, is Li Chengdong worthy of their standing up for him?
It's just a friendship, not a fateful friendship.
Chongzhen said: "Yes, I have made many mistakes before, but now I have repented. From now on, I will not wrong any loyal ministers and good generals, but I will never let go of any treacherous villain! Li Ruolian, you
Let me tell you what Li Chengdong did eight days ago?"
Li Ruolian likes to speak with facts.
When I came in, I also brought two people in.
The two men's hands were tied behind their backs and their mouths were gagged.
After the two people came in, their eyes widened with anger and they remained silent towards Li Chengdong, looking extremely angry.
Hu Maozhen, Gao Jinku and other generals immediately recognized that these were the two generals under Li Chengdong, and they were the two most trusted generals, responsible for commanding his three hundred servants.
"Mr. Li Zhen." Li Ruolian said, "Your confidants have already explained everything."
"If you want to impose a crime, why bother?" Li Chengdong was still resisting, "If the Holy One wants to kill me, just kill him. There is really no need to bribe these two villains to frame me."
Li Ruolian smiled and made a gesture.
Yi Ding, who held down the two handlers, stretched out his hand and pulled off the strip of cloth.
The two dung balls that always spit out their mouths yelled: "Li Chengdong, you idiot, I didn't say anything, when did I frame you? Om?"
"Ah this?" Li Chengdong was stunned when he heard this.
One of the commanders said extremely angrily: "Since you are unkind, blame us for being unjust. Long live, we have hired you. The pay dispute was instigated by Li Chengdong. He asked us to secretly collude with the commanders and commanders of various commanders and posts.
Official, we agreed to raise wages at the same time, and it was Li Chengdong who instigated all this behind the scenes."
Li Chengdong could no longer keep calm.
However, this guy is indeed fierce. In such a desperate situation, instead of rushing out of the lobby, he pounced on Chongzhen, obviously wanting to control Chongzhen as a hostage.
Unfortunately, Li Chengdong made the wrong calculation.
Huang Degong and Wu Batan had been on guard against him for a long time.
"Bang!" Wu Baotan's scimitar and Huang Degong's iron whip fell on Li Chengdong almost at the same time.
However, Wu Tan's scimitar was blocked by Li Chengdong's body armor, but Huang Degong's iron whip suddenly smashed into Li Chengdong's armor and deflated a large piece of it.
This time, his skull was probably smashed.
Li Chengdong's eyes instantly became dull and he stood still.
After a while, Li Chengdong fell straight forward, twitched twice and then stopped moving.
Seeing this, the other twenty-seven town generals remained silent. For more than half a year before this, they once thought that the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty had declined. But at this moment, they suddenly discovered that the imperial power was still sacred and could not be desecrated. Li Chengdong tried to challenge the imperial power.
He paid the price in blood.
It seems that from now on, you have to do things with reverence and never do anything.
"That's the end of the pay dispute." Chongzhen glanced at the other twenty-seven town commanders and said solemnly, "But I hope this is the last time! If anyone does it again, it will not be a matter of death.
Yes, I don’t want to bring trouble to my family, let alone bring about executions, but some people always force me to do it, so what can I do?”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The commander-in-chief of the 27th Town was silent, the emperor was angry, and blood flowed.
When running an army, one must use both kindness and power. The previous payment of wages was based on the standards of the Guan Ning Army to show kindness.
Now beheading Li Chengdong is a demonstration, but it is not enough to kill Li Chengdong, and further beatings are needed.
After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "There is something I have wanted to tell you for a long time, but I never had the chance. I will tell you today while the general soldiers of each town are here."
"The military strength of the 28 towns gathered in Xuzhou is seriously imbalanced."
"Some towns have six to seven thousand people, while others have less than a thousand people."
"This will undoubtedly have a very negative impact on the defense of the Huanghuai Defense Line."
"So reorganization is imperative. Don't you have any objections?"
Hearing this, the commander-in-chief with more troops showed a bitter look on his face, but the commander-in-chief with fewer troops secretly rejoiced.
Chongzhen said: "Since everyone has no objections, I will make an order. 120,000 frontier troops plus 20,000 local braves, 140,000 horses and horses will be divided equally among the total troops of the 28 towns, with 5,000 people in each town."
Hearing this, the commander-in-chief, who had many soldiers, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It's not bad. If we have 5,000 men, we won't lose much troops.
But Chongzhen's next sentence immediately turned them into bitter faces.
Chongzhen said: "Another thing is that from now on, I or the imperial envoy will be responsible for distributing military pay in each town. I'm afraid you won't have that much money to support your servants."
The commander-in-chief of the 28th Town looked embarrassed.
Even Huang Degong is a bit unnatural.
Because it has become a custom to support family members.
Every military general in the Ming Dynasty did not support his family.
So where does the money to support the servants come from?
Naturally, it can only be deducted from the pay of other soldiers.
Now that Chongzhen has cut off the salary from the source, the generals like them really cannot afford to support their servants.
Chongzhen added: "These servants are all elites. It would be a pity to let them go like this. It would be even more troublesome if they join the bandits or build slaves, so I decided to gather them together to form a separate town of elite soldiers. I will give them
They provide them with the best weapons and armor, and pay them double wages."
All the soldiers in the twenty-seventh town were silent.
Obviously, these general soldiers were not very willing.
But Chongzhen didn't give them a chance to refuse.
After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Time is running out, and I don't have time to spend time with you. Hurry up and send your personal followers back to their respective military camps to make an announcement. All servants in each town must come to the state government before this evening to stand by for orders. If you dare to disobey orders,
Or those who fail to show up within the time limit will be charged with treason and will be killed without mercy!"
The commander-in-chief of the Twenty-seventh Town remained silent.
At that moment, Hu Maozhen and others came out of the lobby and called the attendants who were waiting outside to come over and explain.
Chongzhen turned to Xuzhou Guard Wang Wenming and said: "Wang Wenming, Li Chengdong's town will be handed over to you. You should go to Li Chengdong's camp and bring his servants to me now."
"I accept the decree." Wang Wenming was overjoyed when he heard this and left happily.
After the commander-in-chief of the 27th Town came back after discussing the division of troops, Chongzhen continued: "Continuing to talk about the Yellow-Huai defense line, due to the limited strength, I decided to concentrate our forces and focus on defending the new canal of the Yahe River, the new canal of Xia Town and the triangle area in the middle of the Yellow River.
, the entire defense line is supported by Xuzhou City and Pizhou City on the east and west wings."
"Xia Town supports the northern part of the entire defense line."
"Among them, Xia Town's status is the most important."
"Because Xia Town is at the northernmost end of the entire defense line and its location is prominent."
"Once the slaves moved south along the river, Xia Town would be the first to bear the brunt."
"So Xia Town is the centerpiece of the entire Huanghuai defense line and the top priority!"
