When Zhu Yihai stepped into Dengzhou City under the escort of the imperial guards, this was destined to be a moment recorded in history. In fact, among the officials accompanying him were historians from the Hanlin Academy, compiled from the sixth rank to the seventh rank.
Judging from the seven-level review, they are all full-time historians.
These talented men who came from imperial examinations were very good at writing. They accompanied the emperor all the way to the Northern Expedition and recorded every word and deed of the emperor.
When Zhu Yihai entered Dengzhou City, Xu Fanglie, the editor, took up his pen and wrote down excitedly, "On the first day of May in the second year of Shaotian, the Holy Emperor used Korean grain ships to hide the imperial soldiers and deceived him into Dengzhou Port.
The soldiers broke into the city and captured King Kong Youde of Hunan. He sent his troops outside. There were only 500 servants in the city. They were unprepared and the city fell. He burned himself in Fuya...'
The Emperor's ceremonial ceremony began.
All the gentry and common people in Dengzhou City came to kneel down to greet him. They knelt all over the long street, and everyone shouted long live, with tears streaming down their faces.
At one time, many gentry thought that it was just a matter of changing the emperor, and it would be different who would sit on the throne. So when Li Zicheng's subordinate army came, they quickly surrendered. Later, the Qing army came again, and they welcomed the Qing army. Who knows,
One is more cruel than the other, and one does not treat them as human beings.
In just over a year, the gentry and common people in Dengzhou have experienced hardships, and nine out of ten of them have gone bankrupt. The once lively port is now completely dead.
Zhu Yihai looked at the promising people in Dengzhou and couldn't help but sigh. In such troubled times, the vast majority of the people are just poor cannon fodder.
"Hurry up and give out porridge to provide disaster relief. Don't engage in other forms first. The most important thing is to let everyone eat two mouthfuls of porridge first."
Fu Qingzhu, the imperial guard, read loudly to the people the emperor's imperial edict of benevolence. When the people heard about the distribution of food and porridge, they were even more excited and burst into tears.
The governor's office in the city was still a mess after the fire.
Kong Youde waited for a pile of charred corpses on the ground. Zhu Yihai only glanced at them twice and lost interest.
In Dengzhou, Kong Youde was a famous historical figure. He had a place throughout the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. But now he died here without any fanfare, and his death was even a bit sudden.
But history is like this, there are always surprises.
The imperial camp was still searching the whole city, even outside the city, in order to prevent Kong Youde and Jin Chan from escaping. But Zhu Yihai didn't care too much anymore, so what if he ran away, the important thing now was that he successfully captured Dengzhou City.
"I suggest that we take advantage of the victory and pursue it, quickly attack Laizhou again, advance by land and water, and seize the city before Laizhou can react. Then the Denglai Peninsula will be under the control of our right army."
Among the military officers and ministers who accompanied the emperor, the one who spoke was Tu Guobao, the former governor of Jiangning. After his return, he was awarded the title of Youqiandu Censor. It was just a false title and he was not an actual director of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
There are many like him, such as Li Yuchun, Wu Shengzhao, Zhang Guozhu, Zhang Tianlu and a large number of other civil and military officials who surrendered anyway and received this treatment.
The original grades were retained, and some even had titles added, but for the time being they only had virtual titles and no actual duties, but they could still walk in front of the emperor and summon the staff to praise paintings at any time.
Tu Guobao is also very aware of his current situation, so he keeps a low profile. When the emperor summons him for questioning, he will always provide some good suggestions.
They are all waiting for the opportunity to come back, but they all know that this opportunity is rare, and if they want to come back and take up their posts, it depends on their performance.
It’s about two hundred miles from Dengzhou to Laizhou, and both Dengzhou and Laizhou are by the sea.
Admiral Huang Binqing proposed, "I think we should immediately send troops by sea directly to the Iron Gate Pass at the mouth of the Qinghe River in Lijin. This pass is an important pass at the entrance of the Daqing River to the sea. It is also an important place for floods and droughts and salt transportation. It is known as the Iron Gate to lock the waves. We
We should not waste time attacking Laizhou. Geng Zhongming has 5,000 men stationed in Laizhou. We may not have the chance to encounter an empty city again.
It is better to go straight to Tiemenguan. Although there is Jin Castle here, there are not many soldiers and horses. After we capture Tiemenguan, we can sail the fleet into the Daqing River and arrive outside Jinan City. Your Majesty, Jinan is the must-win in Shandong.
place."
"Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Huainan, and thousands of miles of plains, Shandong is already among them, especially Jinan's location, and there are mountains and hills such as Mount Tai to lean on. This is a rare and dangerous highland. Jinan has the Daqing River in front, Mount Tai in the back, and Mount Tai in the east.
The sea is a rare strategic support place for the entire Shandong Province. To capture Jinan, you can advance and attack, and retreat and defend."
Zhu Yihai looked at the map and felt that Jinan's strategic position was correct, but at this stage, Jinan was a bit too deep compared to the Ming army in the Northern Expedition.
Huang Binqing is right. There are vast plains in Hebei, Henan, and Shandong. They are endless flat terrain. This kind of terrain actually makes the most use of the Qing army's rapid maneuverability. They have many horses and mules, not only the elite Mongolian light cavalry, but also the Eight Banners armored infantry that can maneuver quickly.
At this stage, the Ming army is very short of war horses, horses and mules, and the armor rate is not high. The advantage is the navy. If they enter Jinan, they may be surrounded by Tatars.
Even if the Ming army had artillery to defend Jinan, it would be the most fatal if the Tatars came to encircle them and refused to attack.
During the Apocalypse and Chongzhen period, the Ming army was defeated again and again outside the Pass, and many of them were besieged and defeated.
The strategic purpose of this three-way Northern Expedition is very clear, which is to coordinate the war on the western front and contain some of the Qing forces. At the same time, we should use offense instead of defense, take the initiative to open up a battlefield in Xuhuai, Jiangbei, and prevent the Qing army from reaching it.
Come from the south of the Yangtze River and corrupt the south of the Yangtze River in order to gain an opportunity for the recovery of the south of the Yangtze River.
According to this strategic purpose, it is not appropriate to attack Jinan now because the risk is too high.
It would be better to attack the coast, raid and plunder the coast, and continue to demolish the Tatars so that they cannot resume production in Huanghuai.
"An army rushes to Laizhou. If there is a chance, take it. If there is no chance to attack, then surround it first."
"Send another partial division to attack Tiemenguan, seize this important pass on the Daqing River, threaten Jinan, and disrupt their transportation."
"Send another army to circle back and occupy Mawan (Jiaozhou Bay), Qingdao, and Qishanwei (Yantai), Weihaiwei, Chengshanwei, Xiongyasuo and other coastal port cities...
In particular, Qingdao in Mawan must be captured. Mawan is a rare ice-free port on the Shandong Peninsula, and after capturing Mawan, it will strangle the Denglai Peninsula with Laizhou Bay to the north."
For Zhu Yihai now, instead of thinking about taking Jinan in one step, it is better to control the Denglai Peninsula first and use it as a base camp. Relying on the long coastline, the entire Shandong, Huainan, and even Hebei, Liaoxi, Liaonan, etc.
The entire land was within the attack range of the Denglai Ming Army.
Guqiao
It is impossible to prevent, and it can completely block the Qing army's coastline, attack their maritime transportation, and the coastal salt industry.
Compared with attacking Jinan and defending Jinan, which is a hard-fought battle, the latter coastal strategy is undoubtedly more flexible and proactive.
"The navy immediately sent ships to seize the islands of the Miaodao Islands and cut off the route to the Bohai Bay."
“Do you want to call Port Arthur?”
"It's too early, so we won't consider it for now. After we take over the whole Denglai Peninsula and stabilize it, we will consider devoting a navy to take back the Changshan and Guanglu Islands in the Liaonan Sea, and even the Dongjiang Islands.
"Pi Dao," as long as Zhu Yihai can always control the sea, it is natural to regain the Liaonan Islands in the next step and even attack Lushun in the future.
"In the first stage, there are several objectives. The navy will seize Tiemenguan and Qingdao. The Ma Bujun, with the cooperation of the navy, will capture Laizhou, Pingduzhou and Jiaozhou."
"In the second stage, we will sweep Weihai, Chengshan, Laiyang, Qixia and other inland areas of the peninsula."
"The third stage is to control the Miaodao Islands in the Bohai Bay, and then turn around and capture Haizhou Port and Yuzhou Island."
Gradually seize control of Haizhou Port, Dengzhou Port, Qingdao Port, Weihai Port, Chengshan Port, and Yantai Port. Use these ports as raid bases to move as much money, food, cattle, horses, and people as possible from the surrounding inland areas.
In fact, this combat idea was basically determined before the troops were sent out, but the capture of Dengzhou Port this time was too smooth. It is expected that it may take one or two months to besiege Dengzhou, and it may even cost thousands or tens of thousands of casualties to capture it.
Unexpectedly, they captured this important port city with only dozens of casualties.
It went so smoothly that everyone began to underestimate the enemy.
It is even thought that Geng Zhongming of Laizhou is not difficult to win.
Before setting off, I thought I could capture Dengzhou, but now I have to look forward to Shu. I don't even care about Laizhou, and I already want to capture Jinan directly.
Zhu Yihai was still conscious and decided to act as planned.
He personally took charge of Dengzhou, and a part of the logistics and other troops were stationed in Changdao. Then the main force went to attack Laizhou and divided into two small fleets to attack Qingdao and Tiemenguan.
·······
After the arrangements were made, Zhu Yihai invited Jin Sangxian to have dinner together.
Before eating, give him a will.
Jin Shangxian opened it and saw that the emperor had granted him the title of Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty, and then awarded him the rank of fifth-rank bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. He was also given a purple robe, a gold belt, and a goldfish charm.
Even the imperial edict was written by Zhu Yihai himself, which was very special.
Kim Sang-hyun held this imperial edict and was so excited that he cried again.
"I would like to thank Jin Qing very much. You will know that I have captured Dengzhou, defeated thousands of armies, and reduced countless casualties. Please accept me as a bachelor."
Kim Sang-hyun was so frightened that he quickly stepped back and got out of the way.
In the battle of Dengzhou, although there was a false attack on the city, it was the Ming army that really captured the city. He saw the bravery of the Ming army, which was no worse than the Tatar soldiers at the foot of the Nanhan Mountain.
In his early years, when he went to Beijing as an envoy to meet Chongzhen, the Beijing camp he saw was completely incomparable with these imperial camps. Even the Guan Ning Army he saw when passing through western Liaoning, although the equipment and other equipment were better than the current imperial camps, but the
The momentum is still a bit lacking.
These imperial soldiers were obviously equipped with average equipment, and many of them looked young or even immature, but there was a belief in their eyes that supported them, and they had great goals in their hearts.
In contrast, the fierce Guan Ning Ming army was fierce but also a little cunning.
"Is Kong Youde really dead?" Kim Sang-hyun asked.
"Well, this traitor knew that he had committed a serious crime and did not want to be captured, so he set himself on fire."
Jin Shangxian was filled with shock. Kong Youde's name had already become famous in North Korea more than ten years ago. Mao Wenlong of Dongjiang and several of his adopted grandchildren were all famous, and North Koreans also admired them greatly.
Unfortunately, there was civil strife in Dongjiang and Mao Wenlong died. Several of his adopted grandsons, including Mao Youde, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and became the Sanshun kings of the Qing Dynasty. They even later helped the Qing army conquer North Korea, and many Koreans died.
In the hands of King Sanshun.
But now such a person died so quietly.
Worse dead than a dog on the roadside.
Think again about Shang Kexi last year, who was also attacked and besieged by the Ming army. In the end, he had nowhere to escape, and he was burned to death.
Two of the Sanshun kings died, but they both preferred death to surrender, which is both satisfying and somewhat surprising.
"Your Majesty, Geng Zhongming of Laizhou probably doesn't know about the fall of Dengzhou and the defeat of Kong Youde. I am willing to serve as a vanguard for your majesty and go to Laizhou to repeat the old tricks and win another city for your majesty."
Zhu Yihai smiled and nodded, "I am very happy that the bachelor is so loyal. Since I love you so much, I will try hard for you again."
