In November, King Lu and Zheng Chenggong had already withdrawn to Luzon, and the Nanjing court had completed the integration of the Tang and Lu armies.

In terms of internal affairs, under the pressure of the imperial court, Wude compromised and gave in, suspended the recovery of arrears, and various workshops in Jiangnan were able to take a breath and resume work one after another.

After the internal problem was solved, Wang Yan began to focus on dealing with the situation in the north and focused his attention on the preliminary preparations for the Northern Expedition.

Jin Guo joined the Qing army, which was expected by Wang Yan and reasonable, and he was not surprised, but Wang Yan did not expect that the Jin army would progress so quickly, directly forcing Jiang Xiang to be trapped in Taiyuan, and the originally good situation in Shanxi actually collapsed.

According to the previous situation, Wang Yan thought that Jiang Xiang would have no problem persisting for a year, but now it seems that the situation is no longer so optimistic, and Wang Yan must be prepared to attack in the spring.

In November, Jiangnan was covered in snow as in the north, the weather was wet and cold, and no one got up in the morning except for the hired workers who had to go to work in Waiguo City.

Before dawn in the morning, several maids brought hot water, towels, and mouthwash tea to Wang Yan's bedroom.

One of the maids at the head called softly: "Rise at dawn, all opportunities are ready to be taken care of!" ”

After speaking, the maid stepped forward to the bedroom and listened, but there was no movement inside, so she raised her voice outside, "The regent of the country, self-denial and public service, content with pleasure, and prolonging the descendants." ”

Wang Yan was still asleep in his dream, Xu Yanyan sat up from the bed, gently pushed Wang Yan, who was sleeping soundly, and said softly, "Your Highness, it's time to get up." ”

The more power a person has in a high position, the more things he needs to deal with, and the more he cannot be idle.

Wang Yan opened his eyes and sat up from the bed, Xu Yanyan sat behind him, pressed his head for a while, and waited for him to sober up before ordering: "Come in!" ”

Several maids came in, helped Wang Yan put on the four-clawed dragon robe, put on the winged crown, put on his shoes, helped him take care of it from head to toe, and did not need him to wash his face and rinse his mouth, and then brought ginseng porridge, Wang Yan drank a few sips casually, and left the palace.

At dawn, Wang Yan held a hand stove for heating, sat in the carriage, and went to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies under the escort of a hundred guards.

The horse-drawn carriage drove slowly down the street under a layer of snow, and the steamers in the noodle shops on both sides were opened, steaming up layers of heat.

Wang Yan listened to the excitement outside, lifted the curtain with one hand, and saw several handymen who were responsible for cleaning the streets, squatting on the side of the street eating steamed buns that had just come out of the cage, and some low-level officials of the imperial court, as well as the officials of Ying Tianfu, were sitting around the square table in the shop, eating noodles and other snacks.

"Go, buy two for Lonely!" Wang Yan got up too early, and he didn't have any appetite at all, but now when he sees such a scene with a breath of life, he can't help but have a great appetite.

The guard next to the carriage was embarrassed for a while, the king of Chu's diet was strictly controlled, and he couldn't do whatever he wanted, after he reported to Lu Shikui, the latter swallowed a few in a row, and then gave Wang Yan two.

Today, Wang Yan did not go to the cabinet, but to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies to formulate a plan for the entire Northern Expedition with the generals.

In the existing system of the Ming Dynasty, the Governor's Office of the Five Armies had the right to command the army in wartime, as well as the power to formulate battle plans.

The Northern Expedition is a major event, not a single person's energy can be completed, it requires careful planning, as well as logistical supplies, this time, in addition to the commander in charge of the front rushed back to participate in the formulation of the plan, the officials of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Industry also had to observe, so as to be able to cooperate with the army.

When Wang Yan came to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, all the civil and military officials who came to participate in the deliberations had already arrived, which was a rule in the officialdom, and there was no reason to let the commander and other subordinates.

The people who came first were talking privately in twos and threes, telling their views on the situation in the north, when a guard shouted: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu has arrived!" ”

Everyone immediately quieted down, only to see Wang Yan walking in quickly surrounded by more than a dozen armor soldiers, and everyone got up to greet him.

The meeting was held in a large hall, which was different from the traditional hall, with chairs around him, and a large piece in the middle was vacant, but a huge sand table of mountains, rivers, and counties in the world was placed.

Although there are places around the main hall, there are still some particularities when sitting, Wang Yan sits on the north and faces south above the main hall.

After he sat down, he immediately waved his hand and asked others to sit down on both sides, and then lightly knocked on the cloud board, and when everyone quieted down, he said: "Today's discussion is to discuss the Northern Expedition plan, and you are already familiar with the process, so let's introduce the situation by the Ministry of War first!" ”

The military department came to participate in the deliberations of the left waiter Zhang Huangyan, he stood up when he heard the words, bowed his hand to Wang Yan and the others, and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, colleagues, according to the news obtained by the military department, the Jin State has sent 40,000 troops to attack Shanxi, and the righteous army can only be trapped in Taiyuan now, Datongdi, the situation is very critical, and an envoy has been sent to the imperial court for help. ”

Saying that, he paused, and saw that everyone was looking at him, so he continued: "This time the Jin army meddled in the matter of Shanxi, which shows that the Jin and Qing have formed an alliance, that is to say, I am going north to attack the Manchu Qing, and the Jin State will inevitably send troops to help the Qing army fight." The enemies I faced on my Northern Expedition were not only the Manchus, but also the Jin Kingdom! ”

At this time, Zhang Huangyan took out a scroll and continued: "Now let me explain the current strength of the Jin State and the Manchu Qing Dynasty. According to the information obtained by our dynasty in the Jin and Qing dynasties, the military department estimated the strength of the Jin State, Wu Sangui had about 60,000 men and horses in Hanzhong, Meng Qiaofang, Han Chaoxuan and other Han officials and gentry had about 60,000 soldiers and horses, Sun Kewang in the Hexi Corridor had 20,000 Han soldiers and 5,000 Mongolian vassal soldiers, and Hao Ge personally controlled more than 15,000 Manchu and Mongolian men and horses. According to statistics, the strength of the Jin State is about 160,000, and because the Jin State is close to Mongolia and controls the northern part of Qinghai and the Hexi Corridor, there are at least 40,000 Ma troops among the 160,000 horses. ”

Among the three parties, Jin Guo is the weakest side in terms of military strength, which everyone knows, but everyone has never heard such detailed data.

can find out the strength of the Jin State and the people of various forces, and the Ming Dynasty has worked hard in the Jin State.

Zhang Huangyan took out another file, waited for everyone to be quieter, and continued to read: "According to the intelligence of the spies, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has about 300,000 troops left, of which the Manchu Eight Banners are nearly forty percent, only 37,380 people remain, and the Mongolian Eight Banners are supplemented by the Jungar troops, and there are 59,000 and 3 people, and there are about 20,000 vassal soldiers, and the remaining Han Army Banner is not much, there are 58,400 people, and the Green Battalion is only 123,601 left!" Among these horses, in addition to the Manmeng who are good at cavalry warfare, the Han army banner and the green battalion are mainly infantry troops! ”

Except for the more than 20,000 feudal soldiers recently requisitioned by the Manchu Qing from Mongolia, the number of other armies is clearer than that of the Jin State, which can only show that there were people from the Ming Dynasty in the Manchu court.

Think at the beginning, the Qing army entered the customs, before Wu Sangui, Gao Di, Jiang Xiang, Tang Tong, and more than 100,000 Shun troops surrendered, and later Jiangbei four towns, Wuchang Zuo Town more than 500,000 people also surrendered, and finally Zhedong Lu Jian failed, Fang Guoan and Zheng Zhilong surrendered, and nearly 100,000 horses surrendered, the Manchu Qing controlled the troops, I am afraid that there are almost one million, but in the past ten years of competition, because of the loss and no replenishment, the Qing army only 300,000 people remained, and was almost slowly beaten back to its original shape.

Zhang Huangyan finished finishing the situation, and then closed the scrolls, "Your Highness, everyone, regarding the situation of the Jin State and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Ministry of War has finished explaining!" ”

Wang Yan nodded, raised his hand to Zhang Huangyan, and said with a smile: "Zhang Shilang, please take a seat!" After speaking, he looked at Dai Zhifan, Gao Yigong, Li Guo, Liu Shun and others, and said: "The enemy's situation, the military department has clearly explained, Jin and Qing are united, there are still 460,000 troops, and our Korean soldiers are only 540,000, there is not much advantage in numbers, what kind of battle plan is the Governor's Office of the Five Armies going to make?" ”

It has been a few days since the four of them were recruited back to Nanjing, and they have already made many deductions about the Northern Expedition.

Hearing Wang Yan's question, the four of them looked at each other, and Dai Zhifan walked out, his military achievements were the highest, and he had commanded a Northern Expedition with a scale of 100,000 people, and it was best to have him explain it.

"Your Royal Highness, strategically speaking, our dynasty should have been weak first and then strong, and after destroying the Jin State, we would attack the Manchu Qing again, but the Jin State had the advantage of geographical advantages, and it was difficult to attack, plus Jiang Xiang was against the Qing Dynasty, so this time we could only be strong and then weak in this Northern Expedition, and destroy the Manchus first!"

Dai Zhifan walked out, came to the sand table, and gestured with a wooden stick: "After discussing with several colleagues, it was decided to take a defensive posture against the Jin State, and transfer the Zhongyi Town of Sichuan, and the three southwestern provinces only pay attention to the three towns, with a total of 90,000 people to defend the Jin State, and clear the Yunnan border Ai Nengqi, and transfer the elite soldiers from the southwest to Nanyang." In addition, there is no need to leave heavy troops in Liangguang, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang, and only one town and one town of Zhenwu should be paid attention to, and 10,000 troops stationed in each province are enough to stabilize the place. ”

After the Tang and Lu factions were defeated, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places really did not need to garrison heavy troops, and it was enough to put 10,000 people in each province.

Wang Yan nodded when he listened, this is basically the strategy that the imperial court is implementing now, he couldn't help but stand up and walked to the sand table, and the others immediately surrounded him. If you look at it with your eyes, you will immediately understand it.

Dai Zhifan pointed to Nanjing with a wooden stick, and then said: "In addition to the loyal town that guards Nanjing, the troops that our dynasty can use for the Northern Expedition are Shence Town, Wuzhong Town, Wuzhong Town, Wuwei Town, Zhenwu Town, Hengchong Town, Donghai Town, a total of ten towns. Of course, in addition, there may be the Korean army and some auxiliaries who will participate in the war, and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies thinks that there will be more than 300,000 men and horses that can be used. ”

Recently, because the imperial court was preparing for war, a large number of government soldiers were supplemented into the towns, and the establishment of the Ming army was basically full.

Wang Yan bowed slightly, "Concentrate 300,000 troops, plus Jiang Xiang to contain them, you can fight with the Qing army, and the battle will be decided." Wang Yan paused, and said with some excitement: "How to fight, tell me your plan!" ”

"The main force of the Qing army is concentrated in Heluo, our plan is to 150,000 people to contain it head-on, and then concentrate 120,000 troops to attack Xuzhou, and the East China Sea Division will make a detour behind the enemy, first take Shandong, and then outflank the Qing army in Heluo, and annihilate them in Luoyang, then the Qing army will be defeated!"

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(End of chapter)