Boluo led his army to advance rapidly and walked in the Yishu Valley.
The Qing army was actually very experienced in mountainous marches. During the many years of war with the Ming Dynasty, they often crossed the Yanling Mountains and the Great Wall. For them, the Yishu Valley was already a very flat road.
"If the Ming army blocks Daxian Mountain, defends it at Muling Pass, and then bypasses Haizhou to seize Yizhou, we will be in danger."
During the march, many of Bolo's generals persuaded him that this march was too risky.
But Boluo believed that fighting emergencies was like putting out fires. He could not take long and detours, especially Qingzhou, which was very dangerous, and he could not make any mistakes. He had to rush to Qingzhou before the Ming army captured it.
As for the danger of marching in the valley, he was not afraid.
He even secretly expected the Ming army to intercept him at Daxian Mountain, so that he could have a real battle with the Ming army, and he believed that he could completely defeat the Ming army.
"If the Ming army dares to come, they will not be able to return!"
Bolo put down his harsh words, and the situation has taken a turn for the worse in the past year, but it does not mean that the Eight Banners suddenly failed, but that they lost outside the battlefield.
This Zhu Yihai behaved cunningly, always leaving Manchuria empty of elites, but unable to hit anyone.
It was like this in the south of the Yangtze River, it was like this in the last Northern Expedition, and it is still like this with Zhu Yihai now.
As long as the two armies meet, Bolo is not afraid.
As for the Ming Dynasty army cutting off his rear route and cutting off his food and salary, he never considered it, because he did not arrange for follow-up transportation of food and salary during his trip, it was just a light cavalry attack.
The army carried dry food with them, and they advanced but never retreated.
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Laizhou Bay.
Zhu Yihai is still personally directing the construction of Laizhou Bay forts and water fortresses.
Various detective horses and detectives were sent out.
The atmosphere also became tense.
Huang Zongxi, the new governor of Shandong, was busy rescuing the people and resuming farming. At the same time, he called on the gentry from all over the country to form a security regiment and let them jointly patrol and suppress the bandits.
They even arrange for people to go fishing in the sea, dry salt, etc.
The whole of Denglai was busy, but in Qingzhou and Jinan, the Ming army divided its troops and marched together, singing loudly all the way, and people from all over the country opened their cities to join the army. For a time, the momentum was as great as a majestic one.
But what followed was a large number of hungry people in need of relief.
The Ming army did not have so much food, so they could only reluctantly open some porridge sheds first. For the hungry people, they gave priority to transporting craftsmen and scholars to Denglai and Denglai cities, and then transferred them to Changdao, and then transported them back to Jiangsu and Zhejiang from Changdao.
Everyone will set a priority level and classify the talents currently needed in the rear, and those with higher levels will be shipped first.
Doing so is also a helpless move.
At this stage, even if Zhu Yihai can win the Denglai defense battle, this place will still be a frontline battlefield and it will be difficult to resume development in a short time. Therefore, some talents such as craftsmen and scholars must be transferred first.
The temporary positioning here is to insert a sharp sword into the enemy's back, making it difficult for the Tatars to rest assured, gain a foothold in Denglai, force Shandong, and threaten Beijing, Tianjin, and Liaodong.
However, it is not easy to hold on, and in future confrontations, the Ming army may only be able to retreat to the coastal cities of Laizhou, Dengzhou, Yantai, Chengshan, Qingdao, Haizhou and other port cities, and may not be able to take care of the rest of the mainland.
But Zhu Yihai was not afraid. With the help of the navy and artillery to guard the fortress, it would be difficult for the Qing army to capture it. Even if they used the old method to siege the city, it would require several times the force, and now it is not even as good as what they used to do in the outer Ning Pass.
Jin and other places because they are short of food.
A siege requires several times the number of defenders. A long-term siege requires even more food and fodder.
Denglai is a peninsula, and the Ming army has water advantages and controls the sea. This means that the scattered strongholds of the Ming army are actually connected. Not only can they reinforce each other, but they can even attack at any time, which not only erodes the mainland,
It also threatens their supplies.
This will be a difficult and protracted battle, and it’s hard to say who will be unable to withstand it first.
What's more, Zhu Yihai still has two Northern Expeditionary armies in Jianghuai. If the Qing army attacks Denglai with all its strength, Jianghuai will be difficult to defend.
Zhu Yihai could even send troops to attack Tianjin and Lushun. Even if these two cities were heavily defended, he could still plunder Beizhi and other places in southern Liaoning.
If piracy tactics were really used, the Tatars would be hard-pressed to defend themselves.
In the land of Beijing and Tianjin, do the Tatars dare to move thirty or fifty miles to the sea?
Even if they move thirty to fifty miles to the sea, it will be useless to the Ming army unless they move thirty to fifty miles to the sea and then build a line of defense, erect fences, build forts, and garrison troops.
But the cost of doing this would be huge, and now the Tatars simply cannot afford it.
Nowadays, Zhu Yihai's tactics are actually almost the same as those used by the Tatars to deal with the Ming army outside the pass. They kept attacking, making it impossible to defend, constantly consuming their troops and financial resources, and finally causing them to collapse.
The Guan Ning Army, which was built with a lot of money in the late Ming Dynasty, would be of use even if it could defend Guan Ning?
If the Tatars bypass you, enter the pass and plunder the pass, or even approach the walls of Beijing, then the Guanning Army will have no choice but to follow, and the Guanning Defense Line will become the Ming Dynasty version of the Maginot Line of Defense.
Before the Qing army arrived, Kim Sang-hyun came again.
This time he came secretly, and a larger North Korean fleet came, basically secretly, under the guise of a smuggling merchant ship.
In fact, it was officially organized by North Korea.
The last time Kim Sang-hyun returned to North Korea, he caused a major earthquake in North Korea.
The news is too shocking.
After King Li Zhu found out what had happened, he was so excited that he even fainted and almost drove away to the west.
At this time, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties had officials stationed in North Korea, as well as some Qing troops, but the number was small, and they only played a surveillance role. Kim Sang-hyun returned to the country secretly, and even the fleet docked in the harbor secretly, because Ming Ming
The army claimed to the outside world that it encountered and attacked the North Korean grain fleet off the coast of Dengzhou, and then captured the Koreans, used their ships to defraud Dengzhou Port, captured Dengzhou, and annihilated Kong Youde.
They should still be in the Ming Army prisoner camp in Dengzhou.
The North Korean officialdom was both shocked by the drastic changes in the situation in the Central Plains, and also very excited about the boatloads of Tang goods brought back by Kim Sang-hyun and others.
These goods were quickly sold out in North Korea, and the nobles basically divided them up and then sold them at a profit.
On the one hand, there are drastic changes in the Central Plains, and the Ming Dynasty is in sight. On the other hand, due to the huge trade profits, the attitude of the Korean nobles has also changed drastically. Anyway, Emperor Shaotian of the Ming Dynasty did not let them rise up against the Qing Dynasty now.
They can quietly make a fortune and trade secretly with the great powers.
This kind of treatment was something they couldn't enjoy when the Ming Dynasty was still powerful. Why should they be so polite now?
China also met with the King of Korea under the introduction of Kim Sang-hyun.
Gu Xuan
Anyway, the process was pretty good.
If China proposes to buy grain from North Korea, or trade the most popular Tang goods in North Korea, such as silk, porcelain, tea, etc. from the Ming Dynasty, they are naturally willing.
How many times the profit can be made if this thing is resold. Only fools would not do it. We didn’t have the chance before, but now we can do it openly. Who wouldn’t do it?
Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty is in sight, even if the Ming Dynasty is going to die, they are willing to take risks with such huge profits.
They quickly gathered the food China needed.
Even though North Korea was not actually wealthy at this time, the nobles always had no shortage of food, and even the king directly transferred rice from the official warehouse.
Big boats and small boats came loaded with food.
Small ships with a hundred or two hundred stone, and large ships with a thousand or two thousand stone came in force.
"This time I transported a total of 300,000 stones of grain."
When Kim Sang-hyun paid homage to the emperor, he was very proud.
Zhu Yihai was also very happy after hearing this. This was a large amount of food. The Northern Expedition Right Army had a total of 68,000 auxiliary troops. Based on the most standard daily diet of one liter and five liters of rice per soldier, it would require one liter per day.
One thousand and twenty dan, which means 30,600 dan per month.
If the standard is raised a little higher, based on the daily eclipse of two liters of rice, it is 1,360 dan, and one month is 40,800 dan.
This does not include road wear and tear, etc.
Not counting the consumption of horses, mules, etc.
One person needs one and a half liters of salt per day, as well as pickles, etc.
In contrast, Zhu Yihai's imperial camp army had specialized auxiliary troops, and the Northern Expedition's Right Army took the sea route, so they did not need to recruit a large number of civilians to transport food and grass over long distances, which also reduced extra expenses on the road. Therefore, the Right Army
The road army needs more than 30,000 stones of food a month.
Now, three hundred thousand stones of grain have been transported at once, which can last for almost ten months. Even excluding some other consumption, it should be enough to support the army for half a year.
It has to be said that shipping food by sea is indeed the most time-saving, labor-saving and least wasteful method.
When Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo in Liaodong, he mobilized an army of more than one million people and mobilized countless civilians to transport grain. It is said that two Huainan civilians worked together to push a cart and hauled seven stones of grain. Finally, they transported it to Liaodong, and they had to keep the rations back.
In the end, only one stone was left from the seven stones of grain.
In earlier times, when fighting on the front line, one soldier needed three civilians to transport supplies. The farther the distance, the greater the consumption.
In the Song Dynasty, there began to be military transfer stations, and the consumption of food and grass was much less.
But compared to shipping, they are both younger brothers.
You must know that, let alone fighting, the Ming Dynasty has been transporting grain to the north through the canal for more than 200 years. More than 10,000 canal ships transported grain to Beijing from eight provinces including Jiangsu and Zhejiang, including six provinces in the south and Shandong and Henan in the north.
The two provinces transport more than 4 million tons of grain every year. It is a big project every year, requiring countless officials to supervise and direct, and a large number of troops to transport.
Four million shi of grain are transported every year, and an additional cost of about 3 million shi is added. In addition to the monthly rations and rations for transporting troops, which is about 2 million shi, it equals that the court transports 4 million shi of grain to Beijing every year, and costs an additional 5 million shi of grain.
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In addition, maintaining the Caohe River is also very expensive.
This is still a fixed route. Transportation through the Grand Canal is already relatively low-cost, but compared to sea transportation, there is still a huge gap.
Canal transportation is less expensive than land transshipment, while sea transportation is less expensive than canal transportation.
A canal ship can generally carry two hundred stones, and a sea-going ship can carry one or two thousand stones.
There are various gates on the canal, but mature routes are more convenient.
However, for the imperial court, canal transportation was affected by many other factors and involved many interests, but in terms of pure transportation speed and efficiency, it was indeed extremely high.
For a small country like North Korea, their ships plus the ship sent by Zhu Yihai can transport back 300,000 shi of grain at a time, which is equivalent to almost one-tenth of the amount of grain sent by the Ming Dynasty.
All these Korean grains have been transported to Changshan Island outside Dengzhou, and are distributed to the castles and fortresses in Dengzhou, Laizhou, Weihai, Yantai, Qingdao, and Chengshan ports.
"Jin Aiqing, thank you for your hard work!" Zhu Yihai pulled Jin Shangxian and felt that this old man was extremely cute.
"I would like to introduce two people to Your Majesty. One is the Crown Prince of our country, and the other is Lord Cui Mingji of Wancheng Palace."
The crown prince of Joseon was Lord Fenglin, and Zhu Yihai knew this man. Historically, he had been planning the Northern Expedition, training 100,000 musketeers, breaking into Shanhaiguan, contacting the Central Plains uprising army, and restoring the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, he died young.
As for Cui Mingji, he also knew that this was a peace advocate, but this old man was not entirely a traitor to the DPRK. After the Qing Dynasty invaded North Korea for the first time, he once asked North Korea to send troops to help attack the Ming Dynasty. He firmly opposed it and later went on several missions. Shenyang, ransomed many Korean prisoners.
Although he advocated peace during the second Houjin invasion, he only considered the situation at that time.
The old man was later captured by the Manchus and imprisoned in Shenyang for three years. He became a companion of Jin Sangxian, who criticized the peace faction, and the two reconciled.
As a minister who once served as Prime Minister, he now only participates in government affairs as Wansongfuinjun, but he belongs to the reformist faction of the original Lord Harmony faction.
After learning about the current situation in the Central Plains, he even suggested that the king strengthen ties with the Central Plains in order to get rid of the Qing Dynasty's oppression of North Korea as soon as possible.
This time I came here in person just to see the dragon face.
"Didn't the Tatars stationed in North Korea notice that you brought so much food?"
"We act very carefully," Kim Sang-hyun said.
The young prince who was summoned to meet the emperor said bluntly that even if the Tatars discovered it, they would not be afraid. Now that the Ming Dynasty has revived, North Korea is not alone.
This young Joseon prince had previously been a hostage in Shenyang with his former prince, but unlike the prince who was poisoned, although he had been a hostage in Shenyang for several years, he was not at all close to the Manchus, and even What adds to the hatred is hatred.
Although he also saw how powerful the Manchus were, it did not change his mind at all.
This time he also took the initiative to come to see the emperor, thank the Ming Emperor for canonizing him, and even wanted to show his loyalty and contribute to the Ming Dynasty.
This kind of 'loyalty' can even make people suspicious, but North Korea's feelings towards the Ming Dynasty actually have roots. Especially after experiencing the Japanese invasion, North Korea's whole family has a kind of parental kindness towards the Ming Dynasty, and towards the crown prince. After experiencing the invasion of Hou Jin Dynasty and being forced to hold the Northern envoys as hostages, this feeling became even more profound.
The crown prince said bluntly that he had brought five hundred Korean archers this time and was willing to fight for His Majesty the Emperor.
He didn't even care about the Manchu Qing's revenge after discovering that North Korea was rebelling against the Qing.
This has to make Zhu Yihai admire him. Even though his country is small and the people are few, the prince is indeed quite tough.
After admiring the crown prince, Zhu Yihai mainly talked with Cui Mingji and Kim Sangxian.
The main thing we talked about was trade.
The trade between the Ming Dynasty and North Korea before the Ming Dynasty was mainly tribute trade and mission trade, which were all officially led, and trade was done in the name of tribute, while private trade was basically prohibited.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the smuggling trade activities in Pidao were relatively prosperous, but with the entry of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, trade between China and North Korea basically stopped, and even private smuggling basically disappeared.
Zhu Yihai now hopes to reopen China-North Korea trade!
