There should be no one in this world who likes to be a slave of the dead country, and the same is true for Jin merchants.

But objectively, the Jin Merchants and the Donglin Party pushed Daming hard and pushed Daming into the abyss.

The Donglin Party demanded that more troops be added outside the Guan, consolidate and open up the Guanningjin defense line, and not let Sun Chengzong's years of efforts come to naught.

The eunuchs felt that in addition to leaving Ningyuan City and Juehua Island, which were convenient to defend, they should withdraw all the troops outside the Guanwai in order to reduce military expenditures.

Wei Bao's defensive thinking is actually the same as that of the eunuchs.

But Wei Bao did not approve of withdrawing all, Wei Bao's idea was that there were 50,000 defenders at Shanhaiguan, 20,000 in Jizhou, and 30,000 outside the pass, focusing on defending several castles.

In fact, the current Jiliao defense is carried out in accordance with Wei Bao's ideas.

It's just that I don't know why, Wei Zhongxian seems to feel that there are more than 100,000 people.

Wei Bao understood what Wei Zhongxian thought.

Wei Zhongxian actually knew that Wei Bao completely controlled the soldiers and horses of Shanhaiguan, and it could even be said that the garrison of Shanhaiguan had been reduced to Wei Bao's private army.

That's hard to change.

Rather than this, it is better to withdraw troops further!

The 30,000 troops outside the pass were also cut down, which was equivalent to packing the defense of Liaodong to Wei Bao and Wu Xiang, and the imperial court basically didn't care, and the military expenses of 70,000 troops every year were still affordable by the Ming court.

Therefore, the Donglin Party is a brainless ultra-leftist ideology, and it will not have a backache when it stands and talks, but only empty talk.

The eunuch party is an ultra-right-wing ideology, and the withdrawal of troops is a bit outrageous.

Only Wei Bao's idea is reliable, take the median, defend with limited troops, fight with Jiannu, fight a protracted war, tug of war, no longer invest, and no longer reduce.

In Wei Bao's opinion, the Guanning Jin defense line is actually very chicken, and it may be useful during the Apocalypse, but it is completely useless when Chongzhen.

Because this was not a line of defense, Sun Chengzong proposed to build a fortress group in western Liaoning, which was used for attack, with the purpose of shortening the logistics line and squeezing forward step by step.

He himself made it clear to the Apocalypse, and later Li Lusheng impeached Sun Chengzong in the military department: "From the ancient conquests, there have been no people who have not advanced in the realm of Chen Shi for several years, and there have been no people who have gone to the enemy, and there are more than 100,000 people who sit and eat and trap themselves, and some people who defend the army instead of making an enterprising journey." ”

This passage is talking about Sun Chengzong's strategic goals.

If Sun Chengzong built the fortress to defend, Li Lusheng would not have impeached him like this.

To put it bluntly, Sun Chengzong just told everyone to repair the city and fight forward, but it couldn't be beaten, and more than 100,000 people spent money on the front line every day, completely deviating from Sun Chengzong's original promise to the imperial court.

Sun Chengzong's strategy was out of shape, turning offense into defense.

Sun Chengzong's strategy was feasible on three prerequisites: first, the Ming Dynasty must have enough available field troops in western Liaoxi, and the army had the ability to attack; Second, the western flank must encircle Mongolia and let the Mongols be close to it; Third, the eastern flank must have the strength to attack Houjin, Denglai Naval Division, Dongjiang, and preferably North Korea can also cooperate.

When Sun Chengzong proposed this strategy in the Heavenly Apocalypse Dynasty, the second and third conditions were basically valid, and the first condition was not valid, so it may be useful.

But it is of little use, it costs people and money, and it has no effect.

Therefore, Wei Bao has always been inconsistent with Sun Chengzong's military views, and even has irreconcilable contradictions.

After taking office, Sun Chengzong spent a lot of time organizing military training, but the deteriorating situation shattered his illusions.

The Ming Dynasty was no longer able to form a usable army that could compete with the Houjin Field War in a short period of time, and Sun Chengzong only then discovered that the water in Liaoxi was very deep, and at the same time realized the financial problems of the imperial court, and desperately resigned to leave.

After leaving office, Sun Chengzong changed his mind and began to oppose the construction of Jinzhou.

In fact, before Sun Chengzong returned to his hometown, he had been conquered by Wei Bao's ability and strength, and recognized Wei Bao's defensive strategy.

In the original history, Hong Chengchou, who went to Liaoning West to investigate thirteen years later, also opposed the construction of a large number of buildings in Jinzhou.

Wei Bao, Hong Chengchou, and Sun Chengzong all saw how dangerous it was to hoard heavy troops in Jinzhou in the absence of elite field soldiers and financial difficulties.

Therefore, the Guanningjin defense line, in the eyes of the proposer of the strategy, is not a defense line, but a springboard for attack.

Once it can't attack, its role is lost.

For defense, as Li Lusheng said, you can only "sit on the ground and trap yourself". The ending of history also verified these four words, and the Liaoshen Battle hundreds of years later also verified these four words in Jinzhou City.

In the Chongzhen Dynasty, with Huang Taiji getting Mongolia on the west flank and Korea on the east flank, the Ming Dynasty cut off the Dongjiang River, and the other two prerequisites no longer existed, followed by the Qing army bypassing the Guanningjin defense line five times.

At this time, the strategic situation was completely different, the Qing army opened up the two wings, was in a very strong offensive situation, formed a pincer offensive against Liaoxi, and Liaoxi became an excellent place to encircle and help.

The best choice of the Ming Dynasty was to give priority to the security of Gyeonggi in the Guannai, and the top priority was to strengthen the defense line of Jizhou and Shanhaiguan, even if the Qing army came to attack, it would be decisive at home at home, and the logistics and reinforcements would be guaranteed, and the chances of victory would be greater than that of Jinzhou.

Wei Zhongxian's mind is very clear at this point, which coincides with Wei Bao.

is still clinging to Jinzhou, in essence, it is in the "Ouroboros dilemma", so that the result of the Battle of Songjin being eaten by 60,000 elites is inevitable.

In fact, Chongzhen is not unclear about this, he has also discussed with the minister whether to shrink, and the army generals and civilian officials of the military department have also repeatedly proposed to abandon Jinzhou and strengthen the defense of Jizhou.

As for why this decision has never been made, there is a word called "sunk cost", the investment is huge, the tail is big, and a very large interest group has been formed around the border army and the court in western Liaoning.

Judging from Chongzhen's indecisive emperor's career, Chongzhen is not a wise monarch.

In Wei Bao's opinion, the level of Emperor Apocalypse and Wei Zhongxian is there, at least Chongzhen.

Emperor Zhu Youxiao's possible talent is not as good as that of his grandfather Wanli, who is lazy but has a very high level.

But Zhu Youxiao is higher than his younger brother Chongzhen, and I don't know how many ranks.

Zhu Youxiao became the emperor at the age of sixteen, and in just seven years of his reign, he was able to re-establish the stall that his confused father Taichang smashed in a month, which was not easy.

Zhu Youxiao has an assertive opinion in the general direction, is not an amateur on military issues, has a very good understanding of the situation outside the customs, and is very patient in solving the Houjin problem; Understand the ways of checks and balances of power.

After reading "Xizong Record", you will find that he, like his grandfather, has a set of grasping the big and letting go of the small, pulling one faction and fighting another.

Specific evaluation of the apocalypse score two stages, when the Donglin people were just ascending the throne, the apocalypse was not only fooled and wronged Xiong Tingbi, but also lost two yangs in a row because of the Donglin straw bag Yuan Yingtai's appointment, until the proud disciple of the Donglin boss Ye Xianggao Wang Huazhen lost the last important town in Liaodong, Guangning, and the Ming Dynasty completely lost Liaodong, which can be said to be erosive.

Then the apocalypse closed the door and let the dogs go, cleaning the internal affairs, after the battle of Ningjin, Liaoxi also began to shrink, although the Houjin took Guangning, but the shortcomings of logistics and troops made it unable to go deep into the western Liaoxi corridor for a long time, and when the pursuit of Guangning rout, it was because "the Qing soldiers chased Huazhen and other 200 miles, and they could not eat, but returned." ”

It fully shows that at that time, if the Houjin army had no food to grab along the way for supplies, it would be difficult to support the long-distance march of tens of thousands of people on its own, and it had a fatal shortcoming in the logistics distance.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty began to return to the correct strategy of Xiong Tingbi shrinking and lengthening the Houjin supply line in the front, clamping and compressing the Houjin strategic space on both wings, and attacking and disrupting the Houjin ruling order in the rear.

During the Battle of Ningyuan, Gao Di's order to ask the Ming army on the front line to "annex all the people and grain of Jinyou" to Ningyuan is the embodiment of this strategy on the front.

If we do not understand the background of this strategy and the operational characteristics of the Later Jin, it is difficult to understand why Wang Zaijin, Gaodi, and Wang Zhichen served as successive governors, and even Sun Chengzong, who stepped down from the position of Jiliao Governor, advocated abandoning the Jinyou region, because it was a bloody lesson at a heavy price.

Fortunately, after the Battle of Ningjin, Tianqi fully realized the correctness of this strategy, and drove the military strategist who "advanced and did not retreat" back home.

The biggest mistake made by Tianqi was that in order to deal with the runaway party struggle provoked by Donglin, he also lost control of the situation when he released Wei Zhongxian to bite.

For example, Yang Lian, although the impeachment of Wei Zhongxian seems narrow-minded, and alludes to the affairs of the palace and is extremely immature politically, but as Taichang's minister, this person's loyalty and honesty are beyond doubt, he is both Donglin Ke and a firm imperial party, and his conduct and ethics are higher than Zuo Guangdou and later Han, Qian and others, so it is okay to dismiss the official and exile or be locked up for a few years, no matter what, it will never be killed.

This is called the expansion of political struggle.

Compared with Wanli, Tianqi is much more immature in this regard.

In the end, if Wanli died too inappropriately, then Apocalypse died too early.

One of these grandfathers and grandsons died five years late, and then Jin collapsed.

Because in the year of their deaths, the Later Jin Dynasty began to fall into great difficulties under the suppression of the correct strategy that had only been formed by the Ming Dynasty after several tosses.

At the end of Wanli, Xiong Tingbi stabilized the situation, and while Shenyang was impregnable, the frontal defense flank attack harassed, gradually squeezed the living space of Houjin in the periphery, and gradually gathered the elite guest army in the Guannai to wait for the opportunity to advance, Nurhachi had no chance at all.

As a result, as soon as Wanli died, Xiong Tingbi was taken down, not only Liangyang was lost, but tens of thousands of elite guest troops were also sent away in waves, and the Ming Dynasty lost the best opportunity to solve Houjin.

At the end of the apocalypse, the Ming Dynasty contracted to Ningyuan to implement a tripartite arrangement in the Qingye of the fortified wall in western Liaoning, and then there was no grain in Jin and fell into famine.

This situation lasted for less than three years, and then Jin was bound to be in civil strife.

At this time, the apocalypse died, Chongzhen came to power, the front-line commander-in-chief was replaced, and he began to "send" food, and "helped" Huang Taiji to solve the biggest crisis at the beginning of the succession to the throne.

Overall, both the Ming Dynasty at the end of Wanli and the end of the Apocalypse resumed and maintained a strategic offensive against the Later Jin. But when the Later Jin Dynasty used the emperor's mistake in the second year of Chongzhen to successfully break the containment force of the two wings of the Ming Dynasty, it meant that the strategic situation of the two sides was reversed.

Since then, Kim has become the side of the strategic offensive, and there is no pressure in the rear, and he can clean up Mongolia, conquer Korea, and enter the pass and plunder without any scruples.

Compared with his younger brother Chongzhen, the successor who is more serious about small things and confused about big things, Tianqi is already a very qualified emperor.

In the early days of his reign, the Emperor of the Apocalypse convened several courtiers to discuss the strategy, and finally decided on the strategy of sticking to Liaoxi, and the key to sticking to Liaoxi was Guangning.

At that time, Xiong Tingbi's previous "tripartite arrangement strategy" was to focus on Guangning, focusing on fortification here, and deploying elite infantry cavalry; Then take Shanhaiguan as the place to respond, garrison heavy troops, set up a strategy, and control the three parties.

In Tianjin, Dengzhou, and Laizhou, each set up a boat division to respond, and contained it from the sea, taking advantage of the weakness to enter the coastal areas of southern Liaoning, and attack the flank of the Jurchen.

In fact, Xiong Tingbi has always adhered to the strategy of defense, and his idea is to "defend the border and build a fort on the wall", Xiong Tingbi, who took over the mess after the rout of Kaitie, strongly advocated taking a defensive position against Houjin, rectifying the defense, and quickly stabilized the situation.

Xiong Tingbi's insistent defensive strategy made it impossible for Houjin to give full play to his advantages in battle. Later, Yuan Chonghuan's strategy of using artillery in Jiancheng absorbed the positive factors of this strategy.

In order to cooperate with Xiong Tingbi, the Emperor of the Apocalypse and the courtiers in Beijing appointed him as the secretary of the military department and the right deputy imperial envoy of the Imperial Inspectorate.

However, Wang Huazhen was appointed as the right of the Imperial Court of the Imperial Palace, supervising the affairs of Guangning, governing Guangning, and being slightly controlled.

After some arrangement, it can still be seen that the Ming Court at this time still has considerable strategic layout capabilities.

Under the various plans of the imperial court, Xiong Tingbi brought 260,000 troops, plus the original soldiers, close to Xiong Tingbi's demand of 300,000.

Among them, 120,000 people were stationed in Quang Ninh, so the role of Wang Huazhen, the governor of Quang Ninh, became very important at this time.

Because the governor of Liaodong is concerned with military affairs.

At this time, the Ming court's finances were already quite tight, and the treasury was empty, so it added land and silver per mu, and the two Huai and two Zhejiang years into more than 824,060 taels of silver were released by each side of the real "self-transporting and self-urging".

Other quantities such as war horses, grain and grass, weapons, and armor staff were prepared and distributed according to the quantities reported by Xiong Tingbi.

In addition, there are 214,060 catties of nitrate yellow gunpowder and solution to Guangning.

Wang Zaijin, the prime minister, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry, later ridiculed Xiong Tingbi and said: "At that time, the ministers were like proud sons, and they did not ask for anything", and the trust and support of the Emperor of the Apocalypse and the ministers for Xiong Tingbi was unparalleled at this time.

Before leaving, the Emperor of the Apocalypse gave him an edict, which was a new edict, and according to the custom, after the governor took office, he either gave the decree "according to the original edict" or gave a new one.

Xiong got this way, and the ox fork was in the end, because the deputy chief soldier cut first and then played. He carefully selected 5,000 soldiers and 6,000 war horses from the Beijing camp to escort Xiong to his post.

The emperor let the ministers see them off outside the city and give them a banquet, which is a very rare special honor, and it also shows that the Emperor of the Apocalypse attaches great importance to the situation in Liaodong.

At the time of this arrangement, the situation in Liaozuo was not optimistic, and Nurhachi did not hide his intention to continue to march into Guangning, although he was delayed by the Han people rebellion during the period, but the sentinels on the front line kept passing the same message to the rear: the old slave was coming to fight Guangning.

As a result, Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen turned their faces.

Xiong Tingbi and Wang turned their faces for the reason.

Wang Huazhen, as the governor of Liaodong, praised military affairs and was the supreme commander of the front.

Wang Huazhen advocated going out of the city to fight hard steel and steel frontal, saying that if you don't fight, there will be no conditions for defending.

Lao Xiong was stunned when he heard this, and felt that he was being played by the court, so he sent such a thing to himself as a partner.

Xiong Tingbi said: Defending is for the sake of fighting, now there are repeated defeats, people are hungry and tired, even defense is very difficult, and people's hearts are suspicious, why do you go out to fight with the Jurchens.

Wang Huazhen: Because of this, the conditions for defending the city are almost there, and Lao Tzu's strategy is to defend with war.

Xiong Tingbi: The three armies have not moved, grain and grass go first, and now the overall situation is so bad, it is so difficult to transfer grain and grass, since you want to be tough, you should consider how to ensure food supply.

Wang Huazhen: Once my soldiers and horses cross the Liao River, won't all the grain hoarded in Haizhou be mine? Hehe.

Xiong Tingbi: Even if you cross the river, you have to think about how to defend against the attack of the Jurchen soldiers, and how to support if there is a dangerous situation.

Wang Huazhen: When I capture Niuzhuang, the people there will definitely respond to me, and there will definitely be people who will seize the rebel and surrender to me, what are you worried about?

Wang Huazhen is a stubborn person, who has never understood military affairs, and likes to brag. He even ingeniously proposed to take Li Yongfang, who was in Jin after surrendering, as an internal response, and asked Lin Dan Khan of the Chahar Department to borrow 400,000 troops to implement the technique of internal and external attack. He really implemented this ridiculous strategy, and sent people to appease Li Yongfang many times.

As a result, Li Yongfang turned against Wang Huazhen's henchman Sun Degong.

Sun Degong also felt bleak about the future at this time, and it was better to surrender to such an intelligent superior.

Wang Huazhen used the money to implement his strategy of connecting with Western Mongolia, but did not give the soldiers who were ready to fight at the front line, and whenever there was a stir, he urged the soldiers to go out of the city and line up, and when the soldiers were out of the city, they could not see the so-called Chahar soldiers to come to support.

In July of the first year of the Apocalypse, Wang Huazhen sent Mao Wenlong to attack Zhenjiang, and then immediately reported to the imperial court, blowing it up, and the ministers who were confused thought that it was a victory to blow up the sky, so the military department began to urge Xiong Tingbi to quickly lead his troops out of Shanhaiguan to support Lao Wang.

Xiong Tingbi, who had no choice, could only lead the army to be stationed in Youtunwei, which was 120 miles away from Guangning, and then began to write a report: "According to my strategy, all the arrangements have not been fully implemented, Wang Huazhen is too impatient, and the Jurchens have gone crazy to retaliate, slaughtering the people of the four guards, and the hearts of the righteous army who are ready to respond to the imperial court have been lost, and you still listen to his miraculous feats?" ”

After discord, the two became more and more fierce, and the more fierce they became, the more fierce and noisy they became, and the border generals agreed with Xiong Tingbi's proposition during the meeting.

Wang Huazhen quarreled with him, and Xiong Tingbi wrote a report to pout Wang Huazhen.

Wang Huazhen promised the court that before eating cakes in autumn, you should lie at home and listen to Lao Tzu's good news.

As a result, in the course of a year, Wang Huazhen marched into the army five times, and none of them succeeded.

Xiong Tingbi wrote a report: "Tell the ministers to behave cautiously, and don't be laughed at by the enemy." ”

After Wang Huazhen heard about it, he blew a super big bull and gave me 60,000 soldiers, Lao Tzu leveled Houjin in one fell swoop, and asked the emperor to issue an order to let all the soldiers obey his orders, less than a month after this sentence was said, Wang Huazhen lost Guangning and was almost captured by Houjin.

The contradiction between the two was sharp, and the soldiers below were at a loss, not knowing who to listen to.

Xiong Tingbi's personality is very strong, confident, and likes to scold people, never taking the powerful in his eyes.

Zhang Heming, the secretary of the Ministry of War, had a falling out with him, so Zhang Heming strongly supported Wang Huazhen, as long as Wang Huazhen invited him, there was no disagreement.

Xiong Tingbi said that it was a strategy and that the place should be controlled, but Zhang Heming actually ordered without authorization.

Before Zhang Heming urged Xiong Tingbi to get out of the customs, Xiong Tingbi scolded him: Lao Tzu has no soldiers in his hands, doesn't going out of the customs shake the hearts of the army?

After Mao Wenlong's surprise attack on Zhenjiang, Zhang Heming also advocated that he immediately take the initiative to fight with the Jurchens, and Xiong Tingbi ordered: "Those who dare to cross the river will be killed."

The dispute between King Xiong and Wang involved most of the court, when the eunuch party was in power, Xiong Tingbi's character was not favored by the eunuch party, and Ye Xianggao was in power in the court, he was Wang Huazhen's "teacher", so he naturally leaned towards Wang Huazhen.

Xiong Tingbi was neither loved by the eunuchs nor by the civil official Ye Xianggao.

These contradictions, the Emperor of the Apocalypse and the courtiers also mediated many times, and even reprimanded, but the more and more trouble, and even the final meeting to discuss, Zhang Heming presided over the work, a total of more than 80 people participated, on the issue of Jingfu's stay was discussed, and finally the emperor decided.

The ministers submitted a total of fifteen or sixteen plans, and the opinions were not unanimous at all, and only Xu Yangxian made it clear that Wang Huazhen would be transferred to Denglai and exchanged with the governor there.

The emperor ordered the military department and the official department to discuss together, and after retaining one person, he was specifically responsible for Liao affairs. After the discussion between the two departments, the opinion was to keep Wang Huazhen and use Xiong Tingbi as appropriate.

Before the results of the discussion came out, Houjin had already launched a large-scale attack.

In the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse, it took Nurhachi nearly a year to complete the preparations for the attack on Quang Ninh, and more than 50,000 Jurchen soldiers advanced in three directions.

In the early morning of the twentieth day of the first lunar month, Nurhachi's soldiers crossed, and the soldiers deployed here by Wang Huazhen saw the dense Houjin soldiers, and immediately turned around and ran, and the Houjin cavalry chased them all the way to Xiping Fort.

Just when Houjin was gathering troops on the east bank of the Liao River, Wang Huazhen was also deploying troops and horses in order to realize his strategy.

Wang Huazhen thought that the old slave did not dare to cross the river at all, and even planned to let the subordinate general Luo Wanyan cross the river to lure the enemy, but these unrealistic plans were denied by the generals.

Xiong Tingbi put forward the defensive strategy of "protecting Guangning internally, and strangling Zhenwu and Luyang externally" from the very beginning, insisting on sticking to Guangning and concentrating troops in one place. Fortresses that rely on defense support each other and do not divide their forces.

Later, the Jin army spent a huge price to conquer Xiping Fort, at this time Xiong Tingbi, who was in Youtun, immediately sent an order to Wang Huazhen to ask him to support Xiping, Wang Huazhen transferred all the troops of Zhenwu City, and listened to the proposal of Sun Degong, who had already rebelled, to send out the soldiers of Guangning.

Sun Degong shouted on the battlefield that the army was defeated, and the army was defeated, which caused the Ming army to rout in an uproar, and Sun Degong, who fled back to the city, spread rumors everywhere, and even closed the treasury and powder magazine.

On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, the general Wang Chaodong escorted Wang Huazhen, who was unaware, to escape from Guangning City.

Sun Degong, a traitor, was later killed by Mang Gurtai, the son of the old slave, and he deserved it.

The rebel general Sun Degong was killed by the fifth son of the slave chieftain, and the fifth son was killed by the fifth son, King Jinglue, on the 24th day of the first month of the Jin Dynasty, and Houjin occupied Guangning City.

After the defeat of Quang Ninh, the dynasty was shaken, and the most urgent thing at that time was to quickly send important ministers to the front to stabilize the situation.

Zhang Heming, who was afraid of being held responsible, asked himself to be a supervisor, and after a short delay in Shanhaiguan, he resigned and went home on the grounds of illness.

The atmospheric Emperor of the Apocalypse even sent another 300,000 yuan to Zhang Heming, who knew that Zhang Heming was so unbearable.

Zhang Heming was caught by Li Zicheng's peasant army in the eighth year of Chongzhen, and cut off his brain, although he was timid, he liked to engage in power schemes and invade ministers, but he did not lose his discipline, which is one of his advantages.

Then the emperor appointed Xie Jingbang, the governor of Xuanfu, as the right attendant of the military department and the right servant of the capital of the Imperial Palace, passing through Liaodong.

As a result, he was worried, repeatedly asked for resignation, refused to accept the order, and was finally dismissed from his post and never resigned. The original text is: The newly promoted Liaodong Jingluo explained the three forces of the state to resign from the heavy responsibility, and took refuge in the words of the state, lost the friendship of the ministers, and dismissed the people from his post and never used it.

In the entire imperial court, no one was willing to do Liaodong Jingxue at this time.

On the eighth day of the first month of March, Wang Zaijin was officially appointed as the secretary of the military department and the right deputy imperial envoy of the Imperial Inspectorate, and passed through the military affairs of Liaodong, Jizhen, Tianjin, Denglai and other places.

Wang Zaijin, who had ridiculed Xiong Tingbi, pondered it for a while, felt that this job could not be done, and also reported that he could not do it, so the emperor gave a reply and hurried to take office.

After thinking about the consequences, Wang Zaijin didn't dare to shirk anymore.

Shanhaiguan is in the throat area of the Hexi Corridor, is the northeast into North China on the land must pass through, the Ming Dynasty people's evaluation of it is: the inner arch of Shenjing, the outer defense of the captive, the most tight place.

Since the war between the Ming and Later Jin in the northeast region, Shanhaiguan has been the general headquarters and strategic reserve of Liaodong, because it is a place to accumulate soldiers and horses, and reserve food and weapons.

After Wang Huazhen lost Guangning, for a time the 700 miles of western Liaoning were all foreign, and the whole Liao was lost, and outside the mountains and seas, slaves were full.

In the month of March when Wang Zaijin was appointed as the economic strategy, Xizong recorded this passage: ordered the household department to issue 2,000 taels of silver to Yuan Chonghuan, the supervisor of the Shanhaiguan Army, to recruit troops; Shanhaiguan was directly exposed to the front of Houjin at this time, but after capturing Guangning, the Houjin army pursued Ningyuan and withdrew, and Houjin's troops were thin, and they did not dare to divide their troops to be stationed everywhere, so the narrow and long places such as Linghe, Jinzhou, Ningyuan, Zhongqian, and Zhonghou became a buffer zone for both sides.

The night of the Ming army and the rangers of the Houjin army haunted each other in this area, chasing and fighting.

By the end of the second year of the Apocalypse, the more pragmatic Emperor of the Apocalypse and the courtiers in a very short period of time, in Shanxi, Sichuan, Huguang, Shandong, Hebei and other places to recruit troops, at the end of the year there were already 79,869 soldiers, 12,760 war horses, the number of war horses is easy to be ignored in the past, the actual record was originally recorded, Shanhaiguan originally had more than 30,000 war horses, this 12,760 should be increased to supplement the past.

By the time of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, the garrison in the Shanhaiguan area reached 117086 people, 59,500 horses, and the hoarded grain and grass, weapons, gunpowder, armor staffs, etc. were all large and sufficient, and this strength was incomparable to that of Houjin.

There were many problems in the areas occupied by the old slaves in the later period, coupled with the shortage of materials.

In a short period of time, after stabilizing the situation in Shanhaiguan, the ministers of the imperial court began to meet again to discuss: how should Shanhaiguan be defended, how should troops be arranged, and what should be the strategy of battle and defense?

Like Wang Huazhen, Wang Zaijin does not understand military affairs, and he is also super confident and loves to talk rhetorically. When he was in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, he wrote a book "Three Dynasties Liao Facts". He included his own notes and commentaries on current events.

Sun Chengzong said that he "has a more rapid pen and tongue, but Shen Xiong is not broad."

Because Wang Zaijin and Wang Huazhen, the two old kings, have a common bad problem, that is, whoever disagrees with him, Lao Tzu will mess with you.

Wang Zaijin said: To defend Shanhaiguan, we must have a castle as a fence, a camp as a horn, a beacon to closely monitor, and send sentinels to investigate and transmit information at night. He also said: "Join the cavalry at this time has not taken the initiative to invade, lead the soldiers out of the customs quickly, recover Guangning, Qiantun, wait for the opportunity, and gradually recover the lost territory, then this is a great achievement that has been passed down for a hundred years!" ”

He also rebuked the generals on the front line: "Look at you, one by one, you are shrinking your head and brain, you have easily abandoned the country and the land, and you are scared half to death before you see the enemy."

When the courtiers recommended him to do the strategy, Wang Zaijin was stunned, and the ministers said that Wang Zaijin's views on Liao affairs were very sharp and pertinent, and his words were also generous and brave, so he did all the way to the addition of the military department squire, as the reserve of the Liaodong strategy, which is good.

Wang Zaijin knew that he could only talk about it, where was the level of being the Jiliao Governor, and he didn't want to take office when he wrote a report: Shanhaiguan had nothing to guard; I want to rely on the soldiers, but the soldiers can't rely on it, I want to rely on the hearts of the people, but the hearts of the people can't be relied on, and there is no danger to defend this place, in short, I can't do this job.

At the beginning, he said how important the strategic position of Shanhaiguan is, how to arrange the defense, and now what to say: Shanhaiguan's customs defense is just for the use of military and civilian, business travelers, the left is the mountain, the right is the sea, but the city of the county, which will Liaoyang, Shenyang, Kaiyuan, Tieling, Guangning and other important towns have been occupied by the enemy, what role can a Shanhaiguan play?

Wang Zaijin even said unabashedly: "If you let me go home, it will be the luckiest thing for me." ”

Seeing such a contrast between Wang Zaijin and before and after, the imperial historians came back to their senses, and Chen Baotai said suspiciously: "Can Wang Zaijin handle the war?" Jianya opened, the python robe and jade belt given by the wearer, and Shang Fang's sword, maybe even the deserters couldn't be scared, can you expect this guy to scare off the slave chief? ”

On March 18, Wang Zaijin set off for Shanhaiguan, and half a month after taking office, he put forward the strategy of "rejecting slaves and taking prisoners, blocking the narrow and guarding officials".

Fu Yu is like Yuan Yingtai and Wang Huazhen, who used silver to buy Mongolia; He wanted to use the Mongols to attack Guangning, and Wang Xiangqian, the governor of Jiliao, gave him an idea: It is not of much use for you to recover Guangning, and you can't hold it at all, but build another defensive gate outside Shanhaiguan.

Wang Zaijin planned to build a 30-mile-long Guancheng, so that the outside of the pass is related, there is a wall outside the wall, including a stone, Jiaoshan, Huanxiling and other important places, plans to send 40,000 soldiers to garrison, the total cost of the project is one million taels of silver.

Xizong will be very generous, and he will give 200,000 taels of gold first, and the rest will be given one after another.

Then Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Yuanhua disagreed, Yuan Chonghuan supported the society, and wrote a letter to Ye Xianggao, a scholar of Shoufu University, to express his opinions.

Ye Xianggao said that it is so far away, I can't figure out which of you is right and who is wrong.

Sun Chengzong, a university scholar, said that this is the case, I will go to Shanhaiguan to see the situation, and then say.

Sun Chengzong is the emperor's teacher, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse, who doesn't like to learn, likes to listen to Sun Chengzong's class, and every time Sun Chengzong gives the emperor a lesson, the Apocalypse is so happy.

Sun Chengzong was elected by the ministers as a squire of the military department in the first year of the Apocalypse, responsible for the military affairs of Liaodong, but the emperor was reluctant to leave him, and waited until Guangning was lost, and then appointed Sun Chengzong as the secretary of the military department and a scholar of the Eastern Pavilion University to participate in the Liao affairs.

At this time, Sun Chengzong was specifically in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of War, not just the title of secretary of the Ministry of War.

On 26 June, Sun Chengzong, accompanied by Lu Shanji, the head of the military department, arrived at Shanhaiguan and debated with Wang Zaijin on the issue of defense.

Sun Chengzong: If you give you money to build a new city, is it to transfer 40,000 troops from the original Shanhaiguan?

Wang Zaijin: No, send another troops.

Sun Chengzong: Okay, then within eight miles, there are 80,000 defenders, so don't you want to garrison heavy troops in the northwest of Shixi? You are building a city here, and behind the new city is the old city, and there are a lot of mines buried in it, are they buried for the enemy or for the defenders of the new city? If the new city can be defended, then what do you need to do in the old city? If the new city can't be defended, these 40,000 soldiers run to the old city, should they switch and let them go, or do they retreat and don't care if they live or die?

Wang Zaijin: There are three passes outside the customs, and they can be let in.

Sun Chengzong: Okay, as you said, the enemy is coming, and the soldiers are still fleeing as before, so what's the use of building a new city?

Wang Zaijin: Then I plan to build three military fortresses on the nearby mountains to receive the defeated troops.

Sun Chengzong: Before the soldiers are fighting, you have to build a military village and wait for them to run away, don't you teach them to run away when they are fighting? And if the rout can enter the pass, the enemy can't follow in? Now we don't think about how to regain the lost territory, but we think about these things, if you do this, we all feel unsafe in Beijing.

Wang Zaijin still insisted on his own point of view, Sun Chengzong showed Wang Zaijin the recital written by Yuan Chonghuan, and Wang Zaijin's face changed on the spot after reading it.

Sun Chengzong convened the generals to discuss the defense issue, and the supervising army Yan Mingtai advocated the defense of Juehua Island, and Yuan Chonghuan advocated the defense of Ning Yuanwei.

Sun Chengzong took everyone out of the customs to observe the situation, and immediately felt that Ning Yuanwei was the natural "new city" of Shanhaiguan, and felt that there must be no problem relying on Ning Yuan.

Therefore, Sun Chengzong had a clear attitude and supported Yuan Chonghuan to build Ningyuan City.

After returning to Beijing, Sun Chengzong wrote an observation report, and a few days later, when he was giving a lesson to the Emperor of the Apocalypse, he said: "Wang Zaijin is unreliable."

The Emperor of the Apocalypse transferred Wang Zaijin to Nanjing to be the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and this matter ended here.

In August, after Wang Zaijin was dismissed, Sun Chengzong invited himself to be the guide, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse did not agree, and Sun Chengzong recommended Yan Mingtai to be the governor of Liaodong.

On September 2, after his arrival, Sun Chengzong did several things, and the general soldier Jiang Ying ordered to sort out the military system; Yuan Chonghuan repaired the barracks; General soldier Li Bingcheng supervised the manufacture of firearms; Quang Ninh Soldier Preparation Road Wanyoufu Logging; Secretary Sun Yuanhua built the fort; The guerrilla Zu Dashou was stationed on Juehua Island and was responsible for the supply of food and equipment.

After his arrival, Sun Chengzong made well-organized defense arrangements, and the most long-term strategic significance was that he and Yuan Chonghuan built a Ningjin defense line that connected Ningyuan, Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan.

On the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse, Yuan Chonghuan was appointed as the chief judge of Shandong and the supervisor of Shanhaiguan.

After Wang Zaijin took office, he sent Yuan Chonghuan to move to Zhongqiansu, where many fleeing people gathered and needed to be resettled.

Yuan Chonghuan walked alone through the wilderness, or at night, and entered the city before dawn, and the soldiers were shocked by his courage.

Wang Zaijin also asked Yuan Chonghuan to be promoted to Ningqian to prepare for the army.

However, Yuan Chonghuan felt that Wang Zaijin's battle and defense strategy was on the left side of his views, and the two argued several times.

Ning Yuan rebuilt it once in the 43rd year of Jiajing, with two institutes and 155 side platforms, and 6,814 officers and soldiers stationed in Tun.

However, the strategic position of Ningyuan was not high, and after the opening of the railway, Liaoshen and Guangning, the strategic position of Ningyuan City was revealed.

Not long after Sun Chengzong sent Zu Dashou to repair Ningyuan City, Yan Mingtai was impeached and removed from office, and replaced by a timid and cowardly Zhang Fengyi, who was at odds with Sun Chengzong.

In order to realize the strategic plan, Sun Chengzong accelerated the construction of castles, sent troops to garrison, reclaimed fields, and then vigorously developed coal mining, salt boiling, shipping and other undertakings to enrich the people's strength and assist military supplies.

After a series of rectifications, the form of customs outside the border has changed greatly.

On September 8, the third year of the Apocalypse, Sun Chengzong went out of Shanhaiguan, toured three hundred miles eastward, arrived near Xingshan in Ningyuan, and convened the generals to discuss the defense issue, and as a result, most people agreed with Zhang Fengyi's strategy of holding the Guannei, and only Yuan Chonghuan insisted on defending Ningyuan.

Sun Chengzong decided to defy public opinion and decided to keep Ning Yuan as a decision.

So Yuan Chonghuan redesigned it and completed it in the fourth year of the Apocalypse, and Ningyuan City became an important town outside the Guan.

At this time, the imperial court was calmed down and there were many discussions about the strategy of Yining Yuanwei's portal, especially Zhang Fengyi, who strongly opposed it, he said: "The imperial court is to give up the entire Liaodong, and it is still vast, you see that Daning and Hetao have given up, but is it harmful to the country?" Now that no one in the whole world plans to recover the whole Liao, can Sun Chengzong recover alone? ”

He even said: "Shufu wants to put me in the desolate border fortress in front of Ningqian, this is to kill me!" He was so scared that he sent his wife back to his hometown.

The imperial court engaged in a heated debate around Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan, and due to the insistence of Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan, the Emperor of the Apocalypse finally agreed to this plan.

In the fifth year of the Apocalypse, Sun Chengzong discussed with Yuan Chonghuan and sent generals to defend the cities of Jinzhou, Songshan, Xingshan, Youtun and Xiaolinghe, so that Ningyuan's defensive line advanced more than 200 miles and became the "hinterland".

It's not that there were no capable people in the Ming Dynasty, Sun Chengzong passed through Liaodong for four years, reused a large number of loyal and upright civil and military officials, the defense of the border pass was solid, and the people's hearts were stable, which greatly reversed the original decline after the loss of Guangning, and the overall situation tended to be favorable.

The Later Jin Dynasty did not launch a new offensive in recent years, but the internal struggle within the Ming Dynasty became more and more intense.

Wei Zhongxian, who held the authority, sent Liu Chao, Hu Liangfu, Ji Yong and other 45 people to transport a batch of military supplies, gold and silver to Shanhaiguan to work the army.

Sun Chengzong, who was on the way to the inspection, immediately wrote to the emperor, "The Chinese envoy has watched the soldiers, and there have been precepts since ancient times".

After Liu Chao and others arrived, Sun Chengzong only entertained them with tea.

In accordance with Wei Zhongxian's request, Liu Chao tried his best to win over Sun Chengzong during this trip to the labor army, but Sun Chengzong disdained him, which made the "wise" nine thousand years old very hateful.

Sun Chengzong pondered that the emperor might not see his own concert, so he happened to go out to Jizhou and Changping, so he thought of taking the opportunity to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor of the Apocalypse to return to Beijing to play.

So Sun Chengzong first wrote a note to the emperor asking for instructions, expressing his desire to return to Beijing.

As a result, Wei Zhongxian's henchmen knew about it, and they ran to spread rumors that Sun Chengzong had tens of thousands of troops and wanted to return to the side of the Qing monarch in Beijing, and Li Banghua, the squire of the military department, was their internal response, and you were about to be cut to pieces by them.

Wei Zhongxian, who was so frightened that the six gods had no master, immediately ran to the Emperor of the Apocalypse to cry, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse ordered Sun Chengzong to comfort him, and then strictly ordered him not to leave the defense area without a decree.

That night, Wei Zhongxian ordered the palace gate to be opened, summoned the military department to enter the palace, and sent three flying horses to prevent Sun Chengzong from entering Beijing, and even falsely passed the holy decree, saying that once Sun Chengzong dared to enter Beijing, he would be killed immediately.

Sun Chengzong received three flying horses and was forced to return to the pass.

The event that prompted Sun Chengzong's resignation was the Battle of Liuhe in August of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, when Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, mistakenly believed the words of Liu Boxi, a student who had returned from Houjin, and sent his deputy general Lu Zhijia and general Li Chengxian to lead an army to cross the Liuhe River and attack Yaozhou. Because of the fishing boat to transport troops back and forth, the carrying capacity was small, and after four days and nights of crossing the river, it was discovered by the Houjin Sentinel Cavalry, ambushed heavy troops, attacked the Ming army crossing the river in the middle of the night, and defeated the Ming army.

In this battle, the Ming army lost more than 400 people, Lu and Li also killed, and lost 670 horses and a large amount of armor and military resources.

This skirmish was seized by the eunuchs, who besieged Ma Shilong and impeached Sun Chengzong.

Sun Chengzong "begged" twice, but was "comforted" by the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

The eunuch party was unwilling, and once again used the defeat of Liuhe to squeeze out Sun Chengzong, and even pushed his henchman Gao Di to the post of secretary of the military department.

Gao Di is not stupid, he knows in his heart that as long as he does the secretary of the military department, he will go to the front line according to the convention, he is afraid of being the secretary of the military department, and he will "kowtow and beg" in front of Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian ignored him, and Gao Di "wept day and night" because of this.

On October 15, the imperial court officially appointed Gao Di as a former official to manage military affairs in Liaodong, Jizhen, Tianjin, Denglai and other places, but Gao Di did not dare to resign and reluctantly accepted this position.

On the 15th, the imperial court agreed to Sun Chengzong's request to return home to recuperate.

Until now, Wei Bao's rebirth has not had any impact on history.

The only impact was that Wei Bao dismantled more than 100,000 troops outside the Guan, and in the process, firmly controlled Shanhaiguan in his own hands, and replaced all of them with Bao Army.

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