Chapter 78 Borrowing Guanning Iron Cavalry to Be a Dead Man
Only ten days after Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen set sail, Shen Shuren finished handling other trivial matters in Nanjing and embarked on his return to Wuchang.
Shen Shuren's return trip was much safer and faster than Zheng Chenggong's.
Twenty days passed quickly.
One day at the end of February, when Shen Shuren returned to Wuchang, Zheng Chenggong and his party just arrived at Shanhaiguan, and it would take several days to unload this year's military rations for Wu Sangui.
In early spring, it is impossible to encounter typhoons at sea. After years of practice and improvement, the Shen family's ships are extremely stable.
Hundreds of ships make a total of two to three thousand voyages every year, and the accident rate is only one or two thousandths at most.
The days along the way were without incident, so they were naturally boring and need not be described in detail.
Zheng Chenggong had never been to the north before, so when he first arrived in Shanhaiguan, he was still very curious.
Taking advantage of the time needed to unload the grain, he also went ashore with Zhang Mingzhen for a walk. He also asked the Liaodong Army to buy a small number of war horses, rode them up the mountain, and visited the outside of the pass -
They themselves could not ship large numbers of war horses from the Yangtze River Estuary, because the health of the horses would be easily damaged during the bumpy journey on the long sea.
Horses are rare and expensive in the south. Even if they may be used in subsequent operations, it is better to buy them in the northeast.
Although the Ming Dynasty was relatively weak against the nomadic Tatars, its horse administration was still much better than that of the Song Dynasty. The army was not only severely short of horses, but also retained some large areas of natural pasture.
In the Northeast, as long as you are willing to pay for it, you can always buy horses in small quantities through overt and covert channels.
"Is this the easternmost end of the Great Wall? Cao Mengde's Jieshi Mountain in the east to view the sea must be here." Zheng Chenggong rode up to the Jieshi Mountain inside Shanhaiguan Pass.
Looking at the boundary between the mountains and the sea, the wall stretches all the way to the rugged rocks on the seaside, and is finally hit by the stormy waves. His heart is filled with excitement. Having grown up in the south, he has never seen such a scene of roaring waves and majestic passes coexisting.
In "Guan Cang Hai" written by Cao Cao, the "Jieshi" on which the Jieshi is located in the east is Changli County, which belongs to Qinhuangdao in later generations. Shanhaiguan is also on Qinhuangdao, and the distance between the two places is less than one county.
Zheng Chenggong was not a fan of textual research. Looking at the majestic terrain along Shanhaiguan, he mistakenly thought that this was Jieshi Mountain.
Zhang Mingzhen has also been dealing with the sea for half his life. He was in charge of coastal defense in Ningshao for eight years and was stationed in Zhoushan Islands to fight against Japanese pirates. But he had never seen such a dangerous and strange scene with a mountain pass directly connected to the sea. He was still amazed and in his heart Suddenly heroic.
The two of them had not been playing for long before they were spotted by the Shanhaiguan garrison. However, since they had official documents and seals for transporting military rations, the garrison did not embarrass them.
These garrison soldiers looked very lethargic. They must have just returned from breaking out from the front line in the winter a few months ago, and had just been regrouped by Wu Sangui.
After a while, Wu Sangui himself seemed to have heard that the shipping officer escorting the army rations this year had been replaced by a new person. He was very young and belonged to the Zheng family in Fujian. He was on a mountaineering inspection. He also hurriedly asked people to prepare game meat and came over to make friends.
With Wu Sangui's current status, it is said that he does not need to pay so much attention to the grain transport officer coming from behind, but the Zheng family is the god of wealth, so he should try his best to curry favor with him.
In addition, Wu Sangui and several other generals were defeated and fled back last year. So far, the court has only questioned Wang Pu, the "first fleeing" general in Datong. However, the other three generals have not yet been decided. Wu Sangui is a little nervous and lets him go every day. People inquired about the news in Beijing, hoping that the matter of him abandoning Hong Chengchou and fleeing back would be revealed.
Therefore, he was very polite to any officials who came from behind.
Seeing a group of cavalry approaching, Zheng Chenggong and others also lowered their hands and watched what happened.
"The person here is Zheng Tiju, Nanjing? Since he is here to transport grain, why did he come here privately? I, Wu Sangui, should show my courtesy as a landlord."
"It turns out it's Wu Junmen. I've admired you for a long time. I'm glad to meet you." Zheng Chenggong waited for the other party to announce his family name. He also raised his hands and clasped his fists in return.
He was soon brought to Guancheng for a rest and banquet.
Zheng Chenggong's current job is to promote maritime transportation. This position is newly created, and the salary is similar to that of the original water transportation yamen.
In the era of water transportation, there were rivers under the governor of water transportation, and the Ministry of Industry assigned a senior official to each section of the river to be responsible for maintaining shipping conditions.
After the change to maritime transportation, of course there will be no waterway management, but there will be a need for officials responsible for escorting and escorting, and they can be promoted according to the treatment of the six-rank and six-department chiefs.
It turns out that the person in charge of river transport was sent by the Ministry of Industry, while the director of maritime transport was sent by the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs, because there were no engineering errands to be done, and it was mainly financial supervision work.
From this perspective, Shen Shuren's father, Shen Tingyang, is now the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, and is Zheng Chenggong's direct boss.
It is equivalent to one being in charge of the deputy department, and the other being the director of a certain department under the department. With this relationship, the Zheng family can only be more cooperative with the Shen family, and cannot act rashly.
Zheng Chenggong is not a time traveler, and of course he will not have any disdain for the current Wu Sangui. He only thinks that this is a hero who fought bloody battles for the country, and his first impression of him is very good.
Wu Sangui felt that Zheng Chenggong had a fortune of tens of millions, tens of millions of taels, and was willing to personally travel to the sea to supervise grain for the country. He was no longer a playboy.
Wu Sangui wanted to get close to him, so he praised him: "Zheng Ti's youthful spirit and majestic appearance reminded me of a person. Two years ago, Shen Futai, who was going to Beijing to take the exam, personally escorted the army rations on the ship. This is Shanhaiguan.
I hit it off with him. He was only in the seventh rank at that time, and he never imagined that he would become a governor in just two years. Brother Zheng Xian, I think you also have the style of Shen Futai."
Zheng Chenggong was just being polite to Wu Sangui. Hearing his unique and simple words of praise, he was overjoyed: "Is it true? Wu Junmen, do you really think I am like Brother Shen? I accept your words, I have been in the official position for many years, really. Follow Brother Shen's example everywhere.
Brother Shen is a hero who serves the country and the people with integrity. If you can learn three to five points of his skills, it will be enough to fulfill your lifelong wish... By the way, you just called him Shen Futai? Isn't it Taotai? Could it be..."
Wu Sangui was stunned for a moment, and then he immediately reacted: "Brother Xian, I have been wandering at sea for more than half a month, and I don't know the current situation in Beijing. I am ashamed to say that since I was defeated and retreated last year, I gathered up the defeated troops, and I have been worried in my heart. I have been exploring Beijing for a long time. Current situation.
Recently, we learned that Mr. Zhou Ge had arrived in Beijing seven days ago and officially assumed his duties. Five days ago, the imperial court had issued a decree to officially elevate Futai to Wanfu.
It has jurisdiction over the five prefectures of Sui Huang in Huguang, Xiangxiang, Wuhan, Xinyang Prefecture in Henan, three prefectures in Anluchi in the south, and Jiujiang Prefecture in Jiangxi, a total of ten prefectures. It will eliminate the remnants of the fifth camp of Gezuo and pacify the areas."
After Zheng Chenggong heard about it, he was also very happy for Shen Shuren. However, these were all expected. Most of the credit required for promotion was done last year. This year's forced landing was just the last step to close the door. The foot is also caused by Chen Shuren being too young.
He is only twenty-two years old this year, and becoming governor is already very, very extraordinary.
Zheng Chenggong was so happy that he inevitably spoke without restraint:
"Brother Shen is finally the governor of one side. It's great to congratulate you. Oh, by the way, speaking of it, the Shanhaiguan guard has always been a combination of civil and military forces. This time when I came to transport grain, why did I only see you Wu Junmen? Governor of Liaodongqiu
Woolen cloth?"
When Wu Sangui accidentally mentioned Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, his face darkened, but then he thought that the other party might just be ignorant and had no ill intentions, so he tolerated it.
Wu Sangui adjusted his expression and tone, and then said slowly: "I'm ashamed that Governor Qiu and Governor Hong are still besieged in Songshan City. We are incompetent and unable to rescue them!"
Zheng Chenggong was stunned, and he knew that his topic had touched the other party's sore spot, but he was originally here to inquire about the military situation and understand the situation, so he had no choice but to continue to follow this question to get to the bottom of it.
Fortunately, Wu Sangui is not a traitor yet, nor is he likely to betray his allies. Seeing Zheng Chenggong, he said that he just had a "temporary idea" and wanted to see if he could help.
Wu Sangui also agreed to cooperate and try his best to provide the latest military situation in Liaodong: "Are you planning to see if there are any defenders in Tashan, Xingshan and other places who can break out and escape, and you will support the retreat from the sea?"
Zheng Chenggong: "What? Is it too fanciful? Could it be that the Tatars are guarding it to the death?"
Wu Sangui's eyes flickered, and he seemed to have thought of a few possibilities: "It's not that... maybe it's really possible to succeed. To be honest, in the past few months, I have occasionally sent out scouts.
There were even some points in the Western Liaoning Corridor where the terrain was dangerous and easy for Tatars to set up jams. I also asked Ye Bu to take away the Bohai Sea and walk around on the ice. Being so undaunted by the hardships, I was able to detect the enemy situation around Tashan and other places outside the pass.
.
It is bitterly cold in western Liaoning, and even in the harsh winter, the Tatars are not willing to stand frozen in the snow. Therefore, except for Songshan, which is trapped by Governor Hong himself, it must be strictly guarded by Huang Taiji.
In the other two small cities, the Tatars mainly used sentry patrols and sieges. The main force usually lived in other nearby fortresses that had been breached and did not want to camp in the wild for siege.
But despite the fact that the Tatars are loose on the outside and tight on the inside, this is actually a tactic to lure the enemy. In September last year, just after the field battle of Songjin Battle, more than 50,000 of our Ming soldiers were killed, and tens of thousands of people died at sea.
At that time, corpses were placed on the seashore of Beacon Mountain, and people could ride horses directly from the shore to Beacon Island.
This time the Tatars seemed to be leaving a way for the defenders of Tashan and Xingshan, but in fact the defenders did not have many cavalry left. After being besieged for only half a year, they were afraid that all the horses would be killed and eaten. Even if they broke through, they would not be able to go more than a few dozen miles.
Will they be overtaken by the Tatar cavalry, and then the whole army will be driven into the sea and drowned? The Tatars are eager to lure the defenders out and annihilate them, so as to save them the pain of forcibly attacking the enemy.
But if you can have a sea ship and take advantage of the Tatar cavalry to catch up before they rush into the sea, you are really sure. But you must move quickly, otherwise the rear troops will be crowded and board the ship, and they will be covered up by the Tatars from behind.
It’s still miserable. However, no matter how miserable it is, how much worse can it be? If nothing is done, they will all end up starving to death in the isolated city.”
After Zheng Chenggong listened, he checked with Zhang Mingzhen next to him and felt that according to Wu Sangui's intelligence, the key to accomplishing this matter was suddenness -
If the Tatars had known that the Ming Dynasty had dispatched a navy to respond, they would definitely have adjusted the deployment of the siege troops. They would no longer just monitor the city with cavalry patrols as they do now, with the main force stationed in a nearby city.
Therefore, before the Navy finally takes action, it must not be exposed in advance, and it should not even send out a large fleet of sentinels to investigate.
At most, we can only send a few light boats, coupled with a small number of cavalry scouts, to understand the situation ahead.
If we could take advantage of the Tatar patrols and sneak into Tashan to contact the defenders in advance and make an appointment for a breakout time and date, we would be more confident.
But relying on Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen is definitely not enough for this matter. Neither of them are cavalry generals, nor are they familiar with the terrain of Liaodong.
We still have to ask Wu Sangui to borrow some cavalry officers to serve as dead soldiers for liaison and investigation.
Wu Sangui also felt that this mission was very dangerous and did not want his close warriors to take risks. However, the people in Xingshan City in Tashan were all brothers of the Liaodong Army and he was really reluctant to abandon them all.
In the end, Wu Sangui agreed to lend him a guerrilla and some elite Yiding cavalry to help carry out this reconnaissance and liaison mission.