"Second uncle, what do you think?" Zheng Sen asked, and at the same time, he began to worry about whether he wanted to rely on the Zheng family's own strength alone to complete the matter of encircling Wei and saving Zhao this time. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn fact, with the current power in the hands of the Zheng family, if you don't hesitate to invest, it is really not impossible to complete this task. There are now several hundred cavalry on Jeju Island, and although the number is not enough to support large-scale operations, it is enough to serve as a guard and not collect them that night. Most of these cavalry are not as good as the Manchu cavalry in terms of skills, but when they really fight, even if it is a one-on-one fight, these cavalry of the Zheng family will not be too afraid of the cavalry of the Manchu Dynasty, because Zheng Sen's habit has always been that the problem that can be solved with silver is not a problem, and he threw a lot of money on these cavalry.

First of all, the horses of the cavalry of the Model Army were better than those of the vast majority of Manchurians or Mongols. This is not to say that the more than 50 Andalusian horses and more than 60 Arabian horses of the Zheng family on Jeju Island, these horses were used as stallions, and there is no reason to put them on the battlefield as war horses today. Of course, it won't be the thirty or so heavy cold-blooded horses, although these horses are very large, and they can probably scare those unseen Manchurian buns when pulled out, but they are also used as stallions, and they are too slow to be used by cavalry.

The cavalry of the Model Army, at least for now, used the same horses as those of the Eight Banners, most of which were Mongol horses. However, because of the money, the care of these horses is much better than that of the Eight Banners, and the general state of these horses is better.

In addition to horses, the greater advantage was in armor and weapons. The cavalry on the Manchu side, if not the kind of cavalry that rode and maneuvered and dismounted to fight, then they were generally only equipped with light leather armor. Some elites may have better iron armor, but these iron armors are generally too heavy, and in terms of defensive power, they are not as good as the overall forged cuirass, which the model army cavalry is equipped with. In addition, the saber used by the Model Army is also sharper, and if the opponent is a guy who only wears leather armor, they can rely on much better defense and sharper sabers to compete with their opponents. As for encountering the elite wearing iron armor, relying on the advantage of the lighter weight of the war horse, if you can't beat it, you can still run.

With the cavalry as the sentry and pursuit mission, plus the infantry of the model army, Zheng Sen even felt that if Huang Taiji insisted on not retreating from Jinzhou, it would not be impossible to take Jinzhou, or even watch the troops under the city of Shenyang. For the infantry, Zheng Sen's confidence was much more sufficient. Today, Zheng Sen can pull out at least 5,000 trained infantry from Taiwan and Jeju Island, although most of them have not really been on the battlefield, but most of their squad leaders and platoon commanders have some combat experience. Coupled with adequate nutrition, strict and extensive training, strict organization, and theoretical brainwashing, this army, even in the world, can already be regarded as a capable army. Coupled with the weapons and equipment ahead of the times, Zheng Sen felt that under the normal situation of logistical support, in a field battle, they should be able to defeat at least two to three times the number of elites of the Eight Banners head-on. And the Zheng family's fleet, as well as the base on Jeju Island, can at least guarantee their attack on Jinju. If Jinzhou is taken, it will be consolidated a little, and it will not be impossible to wait until July, after the Liaohe River has entered the season of abundant water, and then use the inland river fleet to support logistics, and go north along the Liaohe River to watch the troops in Shenyang. If you really want to put such a team into Liaodong, I am afraid that Huang Taiji can really only withdraw his troops from Jinzhou.

It's just that Zheng Sen is not willing to do this at this time. Because in this way, you will expose your power prematurely, and it may bring a lot of unnecessary trouble, and secondly, there seems to be little money to be made by using troops in this direction, at least for now.

Yes, the use of troops in this direction nowadays has increased investment in a short period of time, but the benefits are limited, and the Zheng Group today is actually more and more similar in nature to the Dutch East India Company, and most of its actions are driven by profits. Zheng Sen does not intend to change this, because in his opinion, fighting for profit is the royal way of war. The ancients said, "Though a kingdom is great, a warlike nation will perish." But Zheng Sen also agrees with this, and he also believes that reckless use of force is the way to self-destruction. It's just that Zheng Sen's views on what is reckless military force are generally different from those of scholars in this era. In Zheng Sen's view, reckless use of military force does not mean constantly fighting, but refers to fighting indiscriminately without considering the investment and income of the war, and always fighting the kind of war that does not make money, or even loses money. For example, during the Wanli period, the war of resistance against Japan and aid to Korea was very problematic in Zheng Sen's view. This battle is not that it can't be fought, it shouldn't be fought, but it shouldn't be because of the king's teacher, benevolence, righteousness and morality or something to help others with their own dry food, and finally lose their own capital.

What's more, now that the situation on the Luzon side has changed again, maybe one day, there will be another fight. Calculating to take Luzon, at least in the short term, is much more profitable than going to Liaodong and Jianzhi to the death. After taking Luzon, the next step can be to continue south, from the later Indonesia to take a few footholds, and then there are iron ore everywhere, and Australia is full of coal, as long as there are enough people, that place, in a literal language, is almost "the industry of future generations". Therefore, Zheng Sen felt that it seemed that he should not invest too much strength in Liaodong in a short period of time.

"Second uncle, didn't you say that we should do it alone?" Zheng Sen said with a frown.

"yes, we did it ourselves. But......" Zheng Zhihu's face suddenly turned slightly red, as if he was a little embarrassed, "But we can't do loss-making business, Asen, don't you say?" ”

This answer was beyond Zheng Sen's expectations, he looked at Zheng Zhihu in surprise and said, "Second uncle, you mean?" ”

"Ah Sen, this harassment or something, we are a navy, so naturally we can only do it along the coast, and there is no big oil and water, what it means, even if we go to do it, just give an explanation to the above, don't you say?" Zheng Zhihu said.

This word came out of the mouth of Zheng Zhihu, who has always been aggressive and brave, which was really unexpected by Zheng Sen.

Since Zheng Zhihu said this, he let it go and continued: "I guess Inspector Hong doesn't really think that we can make many moves, after all, Jianxuan hasn't suffered any losses for many years, what can we do with such a partial division?" As long as you're doing something, it's good. ”

Zheng Sen nodded and said, "Since the second uncle thinks so, I will naturally listen to the second uncle's dispatch. ”

Zheng Zhihu nodded and said, "I've been to the Jinzhou area many times, and there aren't many people along the coast over there. We just found a place to go ashore over there, and when we got ashore, we probably didn't even know about it. Then go around there, find a village and set a fire, and that's it. Oh, and besides, we're going to send some boats to follow Inspector Hong's team and bring him food. ”

……

"Inspector, there is another letter from the imperial court urging you to send troops." A staff member said this to Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou nodded, but didn't speak, and said after a while: "Is there any news from Zu Dashou?" ”

"Still haven't heard much." The staff member replied. Obviously, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's siege of Jinzhou became more and more tight, and it was becoming more and more difficult for Zu Dashou's people to send letters.

"The city of Jinzhou is strong, and there are cannons bought from the Dutch by the imperial court at a great price, and in the spare time, the building can't be hit, as long as there is food in the city, it should still be able to hold it." Hong Chengchou said, "According to Jinzhou's grain stockpile, Zu Dashou should be able to support it for more than a year." At this time, if you don't wait to be prepared, you hurriedly send troops to rescue, wouldn't you repeat the mistakes of the Daling River? ”

The staff member said: "What the superintendent said is that it's just that the imperial court is afraid that there is no money and Jianxuan will be consumed like this, so they are in a hurry to ask the superintendent to send troops to you." ”

"The rest of my Ming Dynasty's fighting army is here, and I am in a hurry to send troops, in case of defeat, my Ming will be really dangerous. Where is the time to save those two dollars? The more you save, the more ...... you are afraid Well, by the way, is there any news from Zheng Zhihu, the chief soldier of the Dengzhou Water Battalion? ”

"Inspector, Zheng Zongbing has a letter." Another staff member hurriedly said.

"What did he say?" Hong Chengchou asked.

Zheng Zongbing said that he was going to lead his troops to the Jinzhou area to contain the enemy. In addition, Zheng Zongbing said that if there were fewer people going, he was afraid that it would be useless, so he planned to bring all the movable boats in the entire water camp. It's just that in this way, for the time being, we won't be able to free up ships for our side. However, Zheng Zongbing said that if Inspector Hong was willing to pay, he could also help Inspector Hong find the Dutch to rent a few boats. ”

"Pay? What kind of price did he offer...... Forget it, show me his letter. Hong Chengchou said.

The staff handed the letter to Hong Chengchou. Hong Chengchou took it and looked at it.

In general, Hong Chengchou's impression of Zheng Zhihu is not bad. Looking at the letter, Zheng Zhihu readily agreed to send troops, and planned to leave in a few days, but he hoped that Hong Chengchou could give him a sum of money before leaving. This is also a common thing in my Ming Dynasty, but it is also normal. Then Zheng Zhihu began to pour bitter water, saying that some time ago, his fleet went out to find Jianzhi and found too much trouble, and many ships were waiting to be repaired and could not go to sea. If Inspector Hong is in a hurry to get a boat, he can contact the Dutch, who should have a ship there. Moreover, his brother had also chartered Dutch ships before, and knew the approximate price, and the price he gave was not too expensive. Finally, Zheng Zhihu also proposed that if he only used his own sailors and did not need the Dutch sailors, it was estimated that it would be much cheaper.