During the Xiaoice period, the temperature in the north dropped sharply, and everywhere was a frozen world, and in April, the mountains and rivers of Liaodong began to thaw, and it was not until May that the permafrost and ice slowly disappeared.

At this time, on the vast plain west of the Shuangtaizi River, tens of thousands of Ming soldiers were desperately repairing the fortress destroyed by the Houjin.

Xiping Fort, East Lianzi Fort, Zhenwu Fort, Wujia Fort, Pingjin Bridge Fort, almost every ten miles is a fortress, these are the fortresses built by Sun Chengzong in Liaodong, as long as these fortresses are held, the vast plain west of the Santaizi River can be returned to the control of the Ming Dynasty.

It's a pity that at that time, the eunuch party gained power, Wei Zhongxian instructed his henchmen to desperately attack Sun Chengzong in the court, and finally Sun Chengzong was dismissed as the Liao Governor, and had to return to his hometown gloomily, and the first thing that succeeded the eunuch Gao Di when he came to Liaodong was to order all the Liaodong soldiers and civilians to withdraw to Shanhaiguan, abandon the Guanning Jin defense line, abandon the plains west of the Santaizi River, and give up recovering the territory!

A series of fortresses that cost huge manpower and material resources to build were handed over to the Houjin, and the Emperor Taiji went west for more than 500 miles without effort, and almost all the great rivers and mountains in Liaodong were occupied by the Houjin.

Fortunately, Yuan Chonghuan refused to carry out Gao Di's order, led the army to defend Ningyuan, and successively won the victory of Ningyuan and Ningjin, forced Huang Taiji to retreat, and kept the defense line of Guanningjin.

Later, because of a series of shameless actions by the eunuch party, snatching military merits and deducting food and wages, Yuan Chonghuan was forced to resign and return to his hometown, and the Guanningjin defense line was in danger.

Fortunately, immediately after Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, Yuan Chonghuan regained his usefulness, returned to Liaodong, and guarded the Guanningjin defense line.

Originally, according to the trajectory of history, Yuan Chonghuan was framed by the remnants of the eunuch party and Huang Taiji, and was cut by a thousand knives, so that the situation in Liaodong was eroded, but because of the arrival of Zhang Bin, the trajectory of history was deviated, and he saved Yuan Chonghuan from the remnants of the eunuch party, which made the situation in Liaodong also greatly improved.

At this time, because Yuan Chonghuan was stationed in the Guanning Jin defense line, Huang Taiji had no interest in the Guanning Jin defense line, and even, in order to prevent the Ming army from sneaking attack, on the vast plain west of the Santaizi River, he not only did not send a single soldier to garrison it, but also destroyed Xiping Fort, East Lianzi Fort, Zhenwu Fort, Wujia Fort, and Pingjin Bridge Fort, making it a deserted buffer zone.

Since Huang Taiji attacked the capital, it has been more than three years, Yuan Chonghuan according to the strategy set by Zhang Bin, with Mao Wenlong, not slow, the fortress advanced, has controlled the entire Daling River Basin, and the Ming territory has recovered more than 200 miles.

If it continues like this, ten years later, he should be able to steadily recover Shenyang and drive Houjin out of the customs, but Chongzhen can't wait, he wants to be a generation of Ming Jun, he wants to recover the lost land, and this lost land is not slowly recovered, but quickly recovered, and at least a few hundred miles a year!

After the peasant army was defeated by Lu Xiangsheng in Huaiqing Mansion, he began to plan, and in the end, he chose to pack up Jiannu first and recover Liaodong.

This idea, it should be said that there is no big problem, after all, the peasant army has the nature of a rogue, looting everywhere, grabbing a handful to change places, running away if you can't beat it, and it is difficult to exterminate it; And then Jin has been relying on the land of Liaodong, the goal is obvious, people are there, as long as you dare to go, you can definitely do it!

The main problem is that the Liaodong Army is not the opponent of the Houjin Iron Cavalry in the field, and the number of Guanning Iron Cavalry is too small, so there is no way to defeat the Houjin Iron Cavalry in the field.

There is a huge risk for him to force this Yuan Chonghuan to advance like this.

Yuan Chonghuan has no choice, Chongzhen has already decreed, no matter what, this year he must break through to the west of the Liao River and recover at least four hundred miles of lost land!

Fortunately, there is a fortress built by Sun Chengzong to the west of the Santaizi River, although the city wall has been destroyed by Huang Taiji, but it is impossible for them to even remove the foundation, and it is easier to build a circle of city walls on it than to call it.

Therefore, as soon as the mountains and rivers in eastern Liaodong thawed, Yuan Chonghuan poured out of the nest, led 50,000 Liaodong Army foot soldiers and nearly 50,000 Guanning iron cavalry to the west bank of the Santaizi River, and ordered his soldiers to desperately repair Xiping Fort, East Lianzi Fort, Zhenwu Fort, Wujiabao and Pingjin Bridge Fort.

As long as these five fortresses are repaired, even if Huang Taiji comes, he is not afraid, and the Guanning Iron Cavalry cooperates with the defenders of these five fortresses, which is enough to resist the 100,000 army of Houjin!

On the plain west of the Santaizi River, the city walls are rising from the ground, and the fortresses are slowly being repaired, and the 50,000 Ming army foot soldiers are cutting down trees and trees day and night, opening mountains and gravel to repair the fortress, and Yuan Chonghuan is leading 50,000 Guanning iron cavalry to be stationed in the field in front of the Pingjin Bridge Fort, nervously paying attention to the movements east of the Santai River.

Pingjin Bridge Fort is already the easternmost fortress, and a few miles further is the main trunk of the Santaizi River, and if Huang Taiji wants to cross the river to prevent them from building a fortress, this place will become a battlefield.

In the early morning of this day, more than 100 horsemen suddenly galloped out of the camp of the Guanning army and went straight to the Santaizi River, a few miles of road for the cavalry is less than a quarter of an hour, and soon, the more than 100 horsemen came to the bank of the Santaizi River.

Yuan Chonghuan stood at the front of the horse, carefully scanned the plain on the other side of the river with a telescope, and then said loudly, "Fuyu, how many miles have the detectives entered the east, is there any situation?" ”

Fuyu is the word of Zu Dashou, Zu Dashou heard the words and hurriedly said, "My lord, the reconnaissance cavalry has traveled more than 100 miles east and arrived on the west bank of the Liao River. ”

When Yuan Chonghuan heard this, he turned around and carefully observed the Pingjin Bridge Fort under repair with a telescope, and then muttered, "What does Huang Taiji mean?" If he doesn't come again, the five fortresses on the west bank of the Santaizi River will have to be repaired, and when the time comes, even if he leads a large army to rush over, he will not be able to please him. ”

Zu Dashou said with a grin, "That kid may be afraid, after all, we have an army of 100,000 here, and the total strength of his Jiannu is less than 100,000, if they come out of the nest, Mao Wenlong will rush to their backyard to steal people, if they don't come out of the nest, they may not be able to beat us, hehe, I guess that kid will not dare to come this time." ”

Yuan Chonghuan shook his head and reprimanded, "You, you are just too careless, is Huang Taiji such a wreck?" ”

Zu Dashou was not angry, but laughed and said, "I don't know if he is a wreck, but in the past few years, he doesn't seem to have won any battles, at that time he ran to attack the Guanning Jin defense line, and was beaten by us, and then he ran to attack the capital and was beaten by the governor of Fuguang, Zhang Bin, and the big man Zhang, after eating these two defeats, he should know that our Ming Dynasty is powerful, and he dare not act rashly." ”

Zu Dashou was born in Liaodong Wang, Ningyuan ancestor, his ancestors moved to Ningyuan since the Xuande period, hereditary Ningyuan guard military position, and because of military merits continue to be promoted, his grandfather Zu Ren is Ningyuan chief military officer, his father Zu Chengxun is the official to Liaodong deputy chief soldier, with Ning Yuan Bo Li Chengliang east expedition to the west, meritorious service innumerable.

In his generation, it is even more incredible, his brothers Zu Dale, Zu Dacheng, Zu Dabi, and his sons and nephews Zu Zeyuan, Zu Zepei, Zu Zesheng, Zu Zefa, Zu Zerun, Zu Kefa, etc., are all generals of the Liaodong Army, up to the general army, down to the deputy generals, generals, guerrillas, the entire Liaodong Army is full of his ancestral family, the Songshan General Soldier, the Shanhaiguan General Soldier, the famous traitor, the Pingxi King Wu Sangui of the Mites Qing is also his nephew.

In the Liaodong Army, the status of their ancestral family can be described as extremely respectful, if a civilian official had been reprimanded like this, it is estimated that he would have turned his face with others a long time ago, but Yuan Chonghuan was different, because Yuan Chonghuan had saved his life.

When the emperor Sun Chengzong served as the governor of Jiliao, he was young and ignorant, committed military regulations, and should be beheaded according to the law, it was Yuan Chonghuan who desperately pleaded for mercy, and Sun Chengzong exempted him from the death penalty and allowed him to wear the crime and make meritorious contributions.

Therefore, he has a lot of respect for Yuan Chonghuan, let alone reprimanding him, even if Yuan Chonghuan beats him, he will not blow up.

Yuan Chonghuan saw that he was so dead-faced, so he had to reluctantly admonish, "Fuyu, it's not me talking about you, your arrogant temperament should also be changed, Huang Taiji is as cunning as a fox, you will fall into his way if you are not careful, you know?" The reason why he hasn't led the army to make trouble is definitely not because he is afraid, it is estimated that he is arranging and preparing to give us a ruthless attack. ”

Huang Taiji is indeed not afraid, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, one or two defeats are not enough to make an ambitious hero like him feel afraid, Yuan Chonghuan is right, he is indeed arranged, ready to give the Liaodong army a ruthless attack.

Last time he ate a turtle in the capital of Daming, he realized the shortcomings of the Houjin Iron Cavalry, and he began to pay attention to the cultivation of footsteps, and in recent years, he is trying his best to train and equip heavy infantry.

At the same time, he also strengthened his control over the Mengyuan tribes and the Han people in Liaodong, and imitated the lighting system, set up three courts and six departments, and established a relatively complete state mechanism, making his rule more stable.

Since the occupation of Liaodong, the population of the Jurchens has also grown very rapidly, at this time the children of the Eight Banners have reached more than one million, and the young and strong have also reached more than 200,000, anyway, they don't have to work, there are captured serfs to do everything, Huang Taiji simply expanded the scale of the Eight Banners Army, and recruited nearly 60,000 recruits.

At this time, he already had 60,000 Houjin Iron Cavalry, 60,000 hoplites, nearly 50,000 Han Eight Banners and nearly 100,000 Mengyuan Infantry Cavalry.

The reason why he didn't run over immediately to stop Yuan Chonghuan from building the city was mainly because he felt that it was too late, because Yuan Chonghuan came prepared, and the combat effectiveness of the Liaodong Army has been greatly improved under Yuan Chonghuan's training in recent years.

Yuan Chonghuan suddenly led an army of 100,000 to rush to the west bank of the Santaizi River, which really caught him a little off guard, and he couldn't organize so many men and horses to fight the 100,000 Ming army for a while.

However, it is impossible to say that he was afraid and did not dare to come.

He has a large number of internal lines on the Guanningjin line and even inside and outside the capital of Beizhili, so he knows that Chongzhen is asking Yuan Chonghuan to recover at least 400 miles of lost territory within the year, that is to say, Yuan Chonghuan will definitely lead the army to advance to the front line of the Liaohe River this year.

His thoughts, just as Yuan Chonghuan said, since it was too late to cross the Santaizi River to prevent the Ming army from repairing the fortress, then why not give the Ming army a hard time on the front line of the Liao River, there are not many fortress ruins for Yuan Chonghuan to repair on the front line of the Liao River, because Sun Chengzong was pushed to the front line of the Santaizi River by Wei Zhongxian, and he has not had time to advance to the front line of the Liao River.

There is no ready-made fortress, so it will be more time-consuming to build a fortress, he has already ordered the Mengyuan tribes and the Han Eight Banners to slowly assemble to the east of the Liao River, and when the time comes, once Yuan Chonghuan begins to build a fortress on the west bank of the Liao River, he will lead the Meng Eight Banners, the Han Eight Banners and the Houjin Iron Cavalry to go up together, and surround Yuan Chonghuan on the plain between the Santaizi River and the Liao River, to see where he is going!

As long as the Liaodong Army is defeated, it will be easy to recover the west bank of the Santaizi River that they have seized at that time, and even he wants to take this opportunity to rush into the Guanning Jin defense line and take down Jinzhou, an important town outside the Ming army.

However, this time he did not plan to bring hoplites, because the hoplites were mainly used to deal with the Ming army and the chariots, and it was the rooks that suddenly appeared last time that made him suffer a loss, so he was ready to hide the hoplites first, and then pull them up to surprise the Ming army.

He also knew that those chariot soldiers were not Yuan Chonghuan's subordinates, and there was no such terrifying steel chariot in the Liaodong Army, so instead of rashly bringing them to expose their strategies and tactics, it was better to let them stay at home to guard against the surprise attack of Mao Wenlong's piece of kraft candy.

Although Yuan Chonghuan knew that Huang Taiji was engaged in conspiracy, he had to continue to advance, because if he did not advance to the Liaohedong case within the year according to Chongzhen's requirements, then he, the Liao Governor, would be able to do it, and Chongzhen's impatience would definitely replace him with someone else and rush forward desperately!

About a month later, Xiping Fort, East Lianzi Fort, Zhenwu Fort, Wujia Fort, Pingjin Bridge Fort, the five forts were finally repaired, the west bank of the Santaizi River was under control, Yuan Chonghuan transferred 5,000 Liaodong Army infantry soldiers from the rear, and let them be stationed in the five fortresses, thinking that the army was backing, and then, he wrote a letter and ordered people to take a fast boat to Dongfan, and arranged all this, he led 50,000 foot soldiers and 50,000 Guanning iron cavalry, crossed the Santaizi River, and went straight to the west bank of the Liao River.

There, not a fortress, the Ming army built a huge Xining Fort at the junction of the Great Wall and the Liaohe River outside the Guan, although Xining Fort was also destroyed by Houjin, but its foundation is also there, Yuan Chonghuan's goal is there, he is ready to concentrate on repairing Xining Fort first, first make a foothold on the west bank of the Liaohe River, and then build a fortress, and slowly advance around.

Zhang Bin is addicted to the test of the train at this time can not extricate himself, after the last brake system failure, he took Wang Zheng and others to investigate for a few days, after several improvements, the problem of the braking system was finally solved, the final test results, the speed of the train sample can reach about 30 yards.

This speed should be enough for Da Ming at this time, but this is only the result of empty loading, and there are only ten empty carriages hanging behind, they fill the carriages with grain and try again, and the train can reach about fifteen yards at the highest, this speed is definitely not enough, and the power must be increased.

Just as he was busy in the front of the car with Wang Zheng and others, suddenly a guard outside said loudly, "My lord, Liaodong is urgent." ”

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