In the lower reaches of the Nenjiang River, the emperor camped.

Li Gan paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back as if he had hemorrhoids, and he couldn't stop at all.

From time to time, he asked the eunuch to open the big tent and go out to take a look, hoping to see the knight holding the blue flag to report the victory.

The news from the front in the past few days is not optimistic.

We all know that Liu Yu is young and has never been on the battlefield, although many veterans feel reasonable after reading Liu Yu's twists and turns, I am afraid that he is just a Zhao Kuo, or maybe he is alarmist to show that he understands Western studies.

But now the situation on the front line is really as Liu Yu expected, the forward department's attack on Muli Jiwei for nine consecutive days, the loss of troops and generals, has not been down so far.

In particular, the three daily reports on the front line verified Liu Yu's words: to storm the fortress, the heaviest place to kill and wound is the slope closest to the fortress, and it takes skill to attack.

At the beginning, Liu Yu did not elaborate on this sentence at all out of the ulterior purpose of "change requires thousands of lives to pay the price", and it was hidden in a pile of nonsense, and it was brushed aside.

And now, when the words that were mentioned in one stroke were turned out, they became prophecies.

In nine days of fierce fighting, 600 soldiers were killed and countless were wounded. If it weren't for the national elite who were transferred, if it weren't for the emperor coming to the front line not far away, the battle would have collapsed, and there would be no way to attack again.

The Rakshasas guarding the fortress are cunning.

On the first day of the siege, the Rakshasa artillery defending the city sparsely fired two cannons.

Half of the gunpowder was loaded, and the muzzle elevation angle was adjusted, so that the siege generals on the front line misjudged the range of the Rakshasa artillery.

The misjudged artillery range led to the selection of the assembly point for the siege attack too far forward, and in the process of assembly, it suffered a surprise attack by the Rakshasa artillery and suffered heavy losses.

The grandson of Yasukuni Gong Yuan Lan broke his leg on the spot by a Rakshasa shell, bleeding profusely and dying.

In the ensuing artillery battle, before Dashun's heavy artillery could completely destroy the Rakshasa artillery, the emperor's military order was that Rushan must break the city on the 15th, so he launched a strong attack.

At the slope in front of the two moats, they were attacked by crossfire from the rakshasas, and the corpses filled in a section of the trench.

After all, Li Gan went on the expedition for the first time, and the emperor drove the expedition in person, and in the heyday, it was best not to go if there was no certainty of victory.

Now, as the agreed day of meeting with the leaders of the Khalkha Mongol tribes is getting closer and closer, there is still no good news from the front, and Li Ganzhen is really anxious.

The increase in troops was useless and could not be carried out at all, so it could only urge the Jilin defense envoy to continue to transfer the artillery downstream.

But it coincided with a mountain rain, the Songhua River rose sharply, the road was muddy, and the reinforcement of the artillery on the front line was not smooth.

In the big tent, several old nobles of the real power faction in the army sat under the military benches, covered in armor, and did not say a word.

Yasukuni Duke Yuan Lan is already sixty-eight years old, stationed on the front line of Rehe all the year round, suppressing Monan Mongolia, ancestor Yuan Zongdi; Li Jiusi, the Duke of Hubei State, was known as Li Dingguo, who was known as Xiaowei Chi and the enemy of 10,000 people, Zhang Xianzhong reverted to his old surname after his death, and returned to the Qing Dynasty under the mediation of Liu Tichun, and also gave him a title like Wei Chi Jingde, and is now in charge of the Beijing camp exercises; Zichuan Hou Xie Wuji, the ancestor was called the first giant in Shandong by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, once killed Sun Zhiqi alive, and now out of the town of Liaodong, before responsible for the construction of the post station.

Yuan Lan, the white-haired man who had just experienced the pain of the black-haired man, was holding a copy of the "Old Tang Book" in his hand, deliberately pretending to be calm.

But the article "Gao Xianzhi Feng Changqing Ge Shuhan Biography" has not been turned over for more than half an hour, and the position where the finger is pressed is the tragic "Battle of Stone Castle City".

He knew very well that the emperor was on his first expedition, and at this time, his old nobles were the backbone of the emperor. If he is as restless as the emperor, the emperor is afraid that he will be even more uneasy.

Even if his grandson had just died, he couldn't show any anxiety, and could only use silence to calm down the emperor.

After a long time, Yuan Lan finally put down the "Old Tang Book", got up and said, "Your Majesty, please sit down." Fortunately, Taizong's vision, Wude Palace must test the method of geometric measurement, and our army's artillery skills are not weak, and there are too many rakshasas. Although the Rakshasa refuses to defend the fort, it cannot last. ”

"Those who are kings should consider the world, not the gains and losses of one city and one fortress. Moreover, the weather has been fine these days, and there are no rain clouds. Since the sons of the front line have been decided, this fort will be destroyed. ”

Li Gan looked at the old minister who had just experienced the pain of losing his grandson and sighed.

Seeing the dreary atmosphere in the big tent, he finally said, "Qing and others don't need to be like this. There are only a few thousand Rakshasa people, not hundreds of thousands of Liao with armor from the Empress Dowager Xiao back then; I am not a true sect who dares to go to the front line but dare not go to the front line, you don't have to learn from Kolai Gong, and be calm to calm my heart. ”

"Those who worry about me are not in this fort, but after. Even if this fort is captured, there are still several forts in the rakshasas, what will happen? It is not easy to transfer heavy artillery, and the soldiers are very fast, so it is necessary to attack the fishing sea before the first snow in winter, otherwise once the Rakshasa increases its troops and contacts the Dzungar Department, what will happen? ”

Li Jiusi, the Duke of Eguo, who was also dying, got up and said, "Your Majesty is very worried. However, as Taizong said, everything should be dialectical. His Majesty's personal expedition this time, the one who conspired, Khalkha Mongolia. ”

"Khalkha Mongolia, worried, Dzungaria. Subordinate to the Celestial Empire and Rakshasa can still be the lord of one party. But if it is broken by the Dzungars, it will be collected and the pastures will be taken away. ”

"In dialectical terms, if the Rakshasa contacts Dzungaria, then the Khalkha Department must be loyal to the Heavenly Empire, and it is not all bad."

Liu Shou often said: Rakshasa is bitter cold, and he recruits more Mongolian tribes to serve in the army, and believes in Dongzheng rather than the Red and Yellow Sect. If the Khalkha Ministry has no choice, it will not vote for the Rakshasa. ”

"Although he is young, he is not a young man among his ministers, and he is not a man of rhetoric, which makes a lot of sense."

This is the old man's words, Li Gan also understood in his heart, but he still sighed: "During the Tang Dynasty and Taizong, Zhuyi surrendered, and no one dared to rebel; After Anshi, Yidi rebelled and rose one after another. It's very different, why not? The armor soldiers of the Celestial Empire are self-reliant, and they are subdued; If the first soldier is weak, he will rebel. ”

"Now that I want to determine the trouble in the northern frontier, how can I count on the threat from the Rakshasa and Dzungaria to the Khalkha Ministry?"

"This time, we must show the military might of our Celestial Empire and deter them. "Tongjian" said: Fear of power but not virtue, this statement is honest and not deceiving. ”

"This time I went north, and I set the Rakshasa frontier; The second demonstration in the Khalkha Department, if only one of them is completed, and the complete work is not completed, how can the northern Xinjiang be in the future? ”

"Even if the Khalkha Ministry is surrendered because of the threat of Dzungaria, Xijing is the place where I am going to Longxing, how can I allow others to sleep soundly? The Dzungar Ministry must be eliminated, and after getting rid of it, the Khalkha Ministry will no longer have the threat of the Dzungar Ministry, will it not turn to the Rakshasa again? ”

"That's why this war must be fought so that the Khalkha people are shocked and convinced, and they dare not have different intentions for decades. If our army can defeat the Rakshasas, the Khalkha people naturally know who they should be loyal to, and they can continue the legacy of Taizong, divide the feudal system, and divide their strength, just like the appearance of Monan, and the northern disaster of our Celestial Dynasty for thousands of five hundred years! ”

"Now, the battle of the Muriji Acropolis is full of elites and heavy artillery, and the result is like this! What would the Khalkha Ministry think if it came? There are only a few hundred Rakshasa people, and they are not even the elite Rakshasa camp......"

Seeing that Li Gan was becoming more and more impatient, Yuan Lan got up and said, "Your Majesty, didn't Liu Shouchang say it?" The same is true of the Westerners attacking the fortress today. Ten times surrounded, heavy artillery gathered, and often took months to shoot. Since he knows Western learning, what he says will be true. All the countries in the world besieging the fortress are like this, and Your Majesty is in a hurry to attack, how can there be no losses? ”

Li Gan stroked his palms and sighed: "The problem is here!" You and I have heard Liu Shouchang say that they know that Westerners attack the fortress like this. But do the Khalkha people know? Can they know that it is so difficult for Westerners to attack the fortress? All they saw was that our army had gathered, throwing more than a thousand corpses in front of the fortress guarded by hundreds of Rakshasa soldiers. ”

"You and I know the details, and what we see is naturally different; But the Khalkha people don't know the details, which is very different. For example, when the Zheng clan attacked Taiwan, our army thought that it was nothing more than that, and more than 10,000 people attacked hundreds of people and could only besiege it, thinking that the Zheng clan was weak. Now that I have really experienced the attack and defense of the fortress, I know how difficult it was to cross the sea and attack the fort. ”

Therefore, the moral saying: When the sergeant hears the Tao, he acts diligently; When the sergeant heard this, if he survived, he died; When the corporal heard this, he laughed. It's not enough not to laugh. The Khalkha Ministry, but the corporal saw it, he could only laugh at it, and he was disdainful, and he would bury the root of the rebellion in the future. In the past, we thought that Zheng's attack on the fort was weak, so how could we expect the Khalkha people to understand how difficult it was to attack? ”

In the final analysis, this battle was a show battle between two North Asian powers in front of small forces. Since it is an exhibition battle, it is necessary to fight as beautifully and beautifully as possible.

It's not a matter of "you can do it", the Khalkha knows very well that he can't do it, but he needs to know who really can do it, Dashun or Russia.

Conquering cities is not an end, but a means. The real purpose is to show military prestige to the Khalkha Mongols. This is a very different purpose from the previous wars.

The DPRK and China have long set a general plan for the settlement of the northern Xinjiang.

It is necessary to make the Khalkha Mongols completely surrender, and then build a post line along the Mobei Mongolian steppe, and send elite troops to take the northern line of this steppe to the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the future.

The southern route follows the old road of the Han and Tang dynasties and takes the Hexi Corridor to form a sandwich between two breads, so as to completely cut off the disaster.

The construction of post stations on the northern line was nominally to solve the great enemy of Khalkha Mongolia, Dzungaria, but in fact it was to prepare for the repair of post stations and military stations in the future to control Mobei.

The Khalkha people are not stupid, and the matter of repairing the post station and military station has been delayed, because they know very well that once the post station and military station are completed, the fate of the Mobei tribes will be the same as those in Monan.

Anyway, they understood that it was impossible for Dashun to allow the Dzungar Ministry to annex them, so as to prevaricate, Dashun had no way at all.

As soon as Dzungaria sent troops, Dashun would help. For the time being, the Khalkha Ministry is not in danger of being completely annexed, so it does not agree to the construction of the post station at all, and does not contribute, and it is even more contrary to the yang and the yin.

It is impossible for Dashun to really be "full of martial virtues", tearing his face and not talking about the strategy at all, and starting a war with the Dzungaria, Rakshasa and Khalkha at the same time, he can only be so disgusted.

Unless this performance battle completely scares the Khalkha Ministry, let the Khalkha Ministry understand who is the real suzerain that Mobei Mongolia can rely on. Use a performance battle against the Rakshasa to make Khalkha understand how many catties and taels he has, and then he will be happy and loyal, send people to repair post stations and military stations, and completely give up the illusion of swinging and independence.

It's just that now it seems that this performance battle is not as smooth as Li Gan imagined.

When the atmosphere inside the tent gradually became anxious, the shouts that Li Gan had been looking forward to finally came from outside.

"Good news! Good news! ”

Li Gan, who could no longer calm down, couldn't wait for the eunuch to open the big tent, so he stretched out his hand to open the big tent, and saw a rider from a distance holding a blue flag symbolizing victory, jumping off the horse without waiting for the horse to stop, shouting loudly.

"The third son of the Duke of Yiguo, Liu Yu, the guard in front of the palace, broke the Rakshasa Castle, the Rakshasa reinforcements, planned to behead 400, captured more than 300, and restored the Acropolis of Luhan Mountain. The Rakshasa King's Moth has been captured! ”