The warm spring breeze blew, the wildflowers on the roadside bloomed, Zhu Cijiong sat on the dragon chariot, and from time to time swept the beautiful scenery in the distance with a telescope, and his heart was extremely comfortable.

The ice and snow in Liaodong finally melted completely, and Zhu Cijiong immediately led the Tianxiong Army and the First Legion of the Praetorian Guard Army to rush to Liaodong with more than 100,000 prisoners and more than 1 million taels of silver and more than 1 million stone grains. ”

This time, the accompanying team is even larger than last time, needless to say, Wenchen military generals, Qin Liangyu, Lu Xiangsheng, Qin Yiming, Qin Gongming, Sun Yuanhua, etc., the list is endless, what is particularly puzzling is that this time Zhu Cijiong even brought Zheng Chenggong and Shi Weila.

If you want to say that there is a little reason to take Zheng Chenggong, after all, he is one of the most famous generals in the late Ming Dynasty, and he is the right-hand man deliberately cultivated by Zhu Cijiong, so that he can come out to see the battlefield as soon as possible and become familiar with the feeling of blood and fire, which is more conducive to his growth.

It's a bit weird to bring Schwilla, this is strictly a civil war in the Ming Dynasty, what is the purpose of bringing a foreigner?

Actually, it wasn't that Zhu Cijiong wanted to take him, but he himself strongly requested it, since this thing was shocked twice by the powerful army of the Ming Dynasty, it seems that something really has a problem with his brain. He seemed to have forgotten that he was the governor of Macau, and stayed in the capital all day long, making friends with the Ming magnates everywhere, opening his mouth that I was the emperor's sincere uncle, and closing his mouth was that I was not only an official of Portugal, but also an official of the Ming Dynasty, so that the officials in the capital really thought that he was an official of the Ming Dynasty.

Is he really an official of the Ming Dynasty? Zhu Cijiong actually just gave him a false title just to win him over, and he has no position and no power, he is a fart Ming official! But the idea of this goods is different, now Portugal has not yet returned to the country, what about being an official in Daming, not to mention anything else, at least he can be familiar with the magnates of Daming, who wants to come to rob him of the official exclusive agent of Daming in the future, basically don't think about it.

The reason why he strongly asked to go to Liaodong with Zhu Cijiong this time was not because he wanted to pat Zhu Cijiong on the back and use his poor guards to 'help' Daming to destroy the rebels, but purely to see what a war of millions of people looked like. It was a war of millions of people, and there have been several such wars in human history, which makes people's blood boil when they think about it, and they can boast of it for a lifetime!

Zhu Cijiong was also drunk, and originally just wanted to win over the spokesperson among the great powers, but he used too much force, and he directly pulled the goods on his body, and he couldn't shake them off. Forget it, look at it, let's see, after reading it, let me go to the middle of the powers to blow, the best powers are frightened, and they don't dare to think about the Ming Dynasty in the slightest.

200,000 troops plus more than 100,000 prisoners plus Zhu Cijiong's entourage, as well as grain carts, silver carts, artillery, and baggage, the team stretched for at least hundreds of miles, and in the evening of the same day, Zhu Cijiong arrived at Shanhaiguan with the first legion of the Janissary Guard, and Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong army pressed a bunch of prisoners and supplies just past Changli!

Zhu Cijiong is not in a hurry, the battle of one million people is not a matter of one or two days, it takes several days for both sides to mobilize troops and grain and grass, and it is not beneficial to rush too fast, but it is easy to cause excessive fatigue of the soldiers, which is not conducive to the later big battle. So he had already set a schedule, from Zunhua to Gaizhou and Sanchahebao, and walked in three days, rushing to Shanhaiguan on the first day, Guangning on the second day, and Gaizhou on the third day.

Shanhaiguan, known as "the first pass in the world", is "the throat of the border county, the guarantee of the Beijing division", outside the pass is one of the nine sides of the Liaodong Town, inside the pass is the North Zhili Yongping Mansion, the importance of the pass can be imagined. Shanhaiguan is not a pass, but a city with a circumference of nearly eight miles, and Zhu Cijiong's first stop in Liaodong is Shanhaiguan City.

Long Yuan is still a few miles away from the city, Zhenguo Gong Sun Chengzong took a group of Liaodong generals to fight horses to meet up, after a gentleman etiquette, only Sun Chengzong alone beat horses to accompany Long Yuan forward, the rest of the generals can only follow far behind.

Although Sun Chengzong is in his sixties, his long military career has allowed him to practice a good physique, so although he is now gray, he is still in good spirits, deaf and clear, and dexterous in his hands and feet, not at all like an old man. Especially now that Quan Liao is hopeful, he is even more high-spirited and flushed, as if he is more than ten years younger in a blink of an eye.

The two are not so much monarchs and ministers as grandchildren, Sun Chengzong is the first emperor of the Apocalypse, and he has always regarded Zhu Cijiong as his own and cared for him; Zhu Cijiong is even more grateful to Sun Chengzong for his help and teaching, he has always been very kind to him, there is no difference between monarchs and ministers at all, the two talked and laughed and entered Shanhaiguan City and came to the city guard.

At this time, the guards of Shanhaiguan had already moved elsewhere, and the entire city guard was cleaned up, waiting for Emperor Chongzheng to come. When the dragon chariot arrived at the city guard's mansion, the brocade guards, eunuchs and palace maids were already in place, Zhu Cijiong got off the dragon chariot and greeted Zheng Chenggong not far behind, and followed Sun Chengzong inside.

Sun Chengzong seemed to have something important to discuss with Zhu Cijiong, and he didn't stop all the way, and directly led Zhu Cijiong to the study of the City Shou Mansion, he turned around and was about to beckon Zhu Cijiong to sit down, but he saw Zhu Cijiong beside him I don't know when there was a child in a dragon robe, scratching his ears and cheeks, excited like a little monkey!

He glanced at Zhu Cijiong embarrassedly, and was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to do.

Zhu Cijiong didn't think there was anything wrong, he walked directly behind the desk, sat down, and then pointed to his side, and asked Zheng Chenggong to stand obediently, and then explained with a smile: "Taifu doesn't have to see outside, this is the prince of Zhennan, my royal brother Zheng Chenggong, and he will also stand alone for me in the future, this time I brought him out to let him have a long experience, see how the battle was fought, Taifu has something to say but it doesn't hurt." ”

Sun Chengzong coughed dryly, bowed and saluted: "Has the emperor ever thought about a place to store grain?" ”

Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but say curiously: "Oh, is there anything else to say about this?" Isn't it appropriate for me to hoard all the grain and grass in the Sancha River Fort and then send heavy troops to guard it? ”

Sun Chengzong patiently analyzed: "This time, with the power of my Ming 600,000 heavenly army, even if Jiannu gathers all the horses of the Mongolian tribes, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist, Weichen thinks that their only chance of victory is in this grain and grass, once the grain is cut off, even if there are millions of troops, they can only starve to death, so this grain storage place must be cautious." Leaving aside where to hoard for the time being, dare to ask the emperor how much grain and grass he brought this time, and knowing the specific amount, Weichen can make specific arrangements. ”

Zhu Cijiong was very clear about this, and couldn't help but blurt out when he heard the words: "The military rations are 1.2 million stones, and the forage is 500,000 catties, and they will be sent over one after another." ”

When Sun Chengzong heard this, he nodded slightly, and continued: "Well, it is enough for the army for two months, plus the accumulation of Liaodong in the past two years, it is barely enough for three months, so much grain and grass must not be hoarded in one place, otherwise if Jiannu sacrifices his life and burns our grain and grass, then this battle will not be able to be fought." Weichen thought that this grain and grass should be hoarded in three places, respectively in Dalinghe Fort, Santaizi Fort and Sanchahe Fort, so that the army would not run out of food if there was a problem in any place, and we could say that we would win the battle. ”

Zhu Cijiong was quite moved when he heard this, but there was a question he didn't know if Sun Chengzong had taken it into account, so he couldn't help asking: "Then how to arrange this army guarding grain, to ensure the safety of the three places, wouldn't it be necessary to arrange 300,000 troops, so that the frontal battlefield will not be enough." ”

Sun Chengzong shook his head and said: "There is no need for an army of 300,000, the Liaodong army is good at defending, as long as there are 30,000 or 40,000 horses in each city, even if Jiannu gathers 100,000 troops, it will not be able to break through, Weichen wants the Liaodong army to defend 100,000 horses, and the rest of the 500,000 troops will attack, so that Jiannu will be defeated without a doubt." ”

Zhu Cijiong thought about it when he heard this, isn't it, Zu Dashou led 30,000 Ming troops to defend a city that was not repaired, and Huang Taiji led 100,000 troops who were helpless, and in the end they could only surround them until they ran out of food, and then persuade them to surrender, the Liaodong Army was indeed an expert in defending the city.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but nod in agreement: "Taifu Gaojian, let's do it, it just so happens that this time I also brought 60,000 flintlock pistols and 100,000 grenades, all of which are allocated to the Liaodong Army, so that it is even more foolproof." ”

Sun Chengzong saw that Zhu Cijiong had agreed to his suggestion, so he took out the map of Liaodong from the bookshelf on the side, spread it on the table, and discussed with Zhu Cijiong the specific deployment of troops. Final Decision:

The chief general of the Liaodong Army, the commander and the commander of the Tongzhi Mangui led 40,000 horses to guard the Santaizi Fort to protect the grain and grass, and at the same time protect the safety of the grain road;

He Kegang, the deputy general of the Liaodong Army and the general soldier, led 30,000 horses to guard the Dalinghe Fort to protect the grain and grass, and at the same time to respond to the follow-up grain transportation team;

The deputy general of the Liaodong Army, the chief soldier Zu Dashou led 30,000 horses to guard the Sancha River Fort to protect the grain and grass, and was responsible for the grain and grass dispatch of the front-line army.

This can be regarded as Zhu Cijiong's luck, it is impossible to hoard the grain and grass of hundreds of thousands of people in the city, because the grain and grass of the 100,000 army is not as simple as piling up mountains, it can pile up dozens or even hundreds of hills, and the general city is full of civilians, where is the grain piled up, and is it piled up in the homes of civilians? Unrealistic, I don't know how many civilian homes will be buried; Heaps on the streets? What's even more unrealistic, the streets are full of grain and grass, people can't walk, and it will definitely be a mess. Therefore, in general, hundreds of thousands of people in a big war have to build a special place to store grain, and it is impossible to build a city in a hurry, at most a ring of wooden fences around it, which gives the enemy an opportunity.

Zhu Cijiong's luck is good here, Dalinghe Fort, Santaizi Fort, and Sanchahe Fort are all newly built cities, and they haven't had time to migrate civilians inside, so the three cities are basically empty, just to be a place to store grain, and the city is naturally much safer than the temporary grain storage place built in a hurry, plus the Liaodong Army, which is the best at defending the Ming Dynasty, Huang Taiji's plan to sneak attack the grain and grass is afraid that it will not work.

Sun Chengzong and Zhu Cijiong discussed for nearly half an hour before reassuring to retire, at this time Zheng Chenggong, who had been holding back for a long time, was finally liberated, he yawned and asked puzzledly: "Your Majesty, aren't we going to war, why do you talk about some grain and grass for a long time, what does this have to do with fighting?" ”

Zhu Cijiong was stunned when he heard this, this kid just thought about fighting, killing and killing, fighting is so simple, how to explain it to him?

He thought about it, and finally thought of an example, and then he taught: "The so-called soldiers and horses have not moved, grain and grass go first, people do not eat, horses do not eat grass, how can we have the strength to fight with the enemy?" Have you read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the battle of Guandu, how was Cao Cao's troops, what were Yuan Shao's troops, and how did Cao Cao defeat Yuan Shao? ”

When Zheng Chenggong heard this, he immediately said excitedly: "I've seen it, I've seen it, Cao Cao only has 30,000 troops, and Yuan Shao has at least 120,000. ”

The more Zheng Chenggong spoke, the quieter his voice became, and in an instant he understood that this grain and grass was really the most important thing, heavy enough to decide the outcome of a war, and it was impossible to be too cautious.

At this time, Qin Mingyue and Liu Ru came to serve them to eat, and Zhu Cijiong laughed and said: "Hahahaha, go, eat, you can't go to war hungry." ”