Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume VI The Battle of the Northern Frontier

Chapter 4 Recruiting Troops and Gathering Strength

Section 10 The Fall of Quang Ninh (1)

The first year of the Apocalypse (the sixth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), August.

After several months of conquest, the Jiannu army has completely occupied the vast area east of the Liaohe River, most of the Ming troops stationed in Liaodong were scattered, and only a small number of soldiers withdrew to Guangning in a hurry. However, Nurhachi was not happy for long, and received the news that the Han people often rebelled against Jiannu and assassinated lone Jiannu soldiers in various parts of Liaodong.

Dai Shan and Huang Taiji were already aware of these conditions, and both believed that the constant Han people's rebellions in various places were due to Dajin's lax control over these newly occupied places, so they suggested that Nurhachi move Dajin's capital from Hetuara to Liaoyang in order to better control all parts of Liaodong.

Nurhachi was overjoyed when he heard this, so he ordered the capital to be moved. Two months later, Jiannu moved the capital to Liaoyang City.

However, to Nurhachi's surprise, the people in Liaoyang City were even more hostile to Jiannu. Not long after the move, there were continuous sneak attacks and assassinations of Jiannu soldiers by civilians and bandits inside and outside Liaoyang City, and even poisoning wells near Jiannu settlements. For this reason, Nurhachi strictly ordered the whole city to hunt down the rebels, but to no avail, many Jiannu soldiers, and even Jiannu women and children were killed every day. In desperation, Nurhachi had no choice but to order the capital to be moved from Liaoyang to Shenyang.

In the next year, Xiong Tingbi, Wang Huazhen, and Liu Yunwei were all working hard to develop their strength, while the Ming court focused on pacifying the rebellion of luxury and peace in the southwest, and Nurhachi focused on stabilizing the various parts of Liaodong that had just been incorporated into the territory, and for a time the land of Liaodong maintained peace for a long time.

However, in the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse (the sixth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), the situation in Liaodong changed dramatically.

Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong, who had completely controlled the remaining forces of Liaodong, thought that his power was strong, so he began to prepare to carry out the offensive strategy he proposed, and sent a letter to the imperial court detailing his strategy, demanding that the offensive against Jiannu be launched as soon as possible.

In this compromise, Wang Huazhen advocated concentrating all the existing forces in Liaodong to set up camps and garrisons along the east bank of the Liaohe River, so as to block Jiannu's next attack and block the Jiannu army east of the Liaohe River. At the same time, Wang Huazhen also suggested that the imperial court contact the Mongol Lin Dan Khan again, spend a lot of money to hire 400,000 Mongol troops, and at the same time recruit 100,000 Korean reinforcements to attack Jiannu from the east and west respectively, so that Jiannu will be exposed to the enemy, so as to recover the lost territory in Liaodong in one fell swoop.

However, Xiong Tingbi, the Liaodong Economic Strategy, felt very angry after learning about Wang Huazhen's specific strategy, and immediately found Wang Huazhen to express his strong opposition. Xiong Tingbi thought that Wang Huazhen's strategy was too risky, very unrealistic, and too whimsical. Xiong Tingbi said bluntly: "The Liaodong soldiers are still afraid of the Jiannu army, and the tens of thousands of troops can only retreat in Guangning to stick to the lonely city, and Anneng can count on Mongolia and North Korea to attack each other with death!" ”

However, Wang Huazhen's active offensive strategy was approved by the imperial court, and Ye Xianggao, the first assistant of the cabinet, urged Huang Jiashan, the secretary of the military department, to hurry up the allocation of money, food, soldiers and horses, and must cooperate with Wang Huazhen's implementation of the strategy of counterattacking Liaodong.

Just when Wang Huazhen was intoxicated with his carefully arranged counteroffensive strategy, he was suddenly shocked to learn that Nurhachi had remobilized the Eight Banners army in Shenyang, gathered more than 100,000 troops and horses, and slaughtered all the way towards Guangning.

Within a few days, Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi received an urgent report that they would not receive it at night, and the army of 100,000 Jiannu had crossed the Liao River and was sweeping towards Guangning, and the dozens of forts and fortresses along the way were all breached, and the people everywhere fled one after another, and the vast area east of Guangning and west of the Liao River suddenly fell into extreme chaos. At this point, Wang Huazhen's painstakingly managed counteroffensive strategy was stillborn before it could be implemented, and the remaining Ming troops in Liaodong immediately began to prepare to defend Guangning.

At this moment of crisis, Xiong Tingbi argued with Wang Huazhen on the one hand, and demanded that all forces be concentrated in Guangning, relying on Guangning Jiancheng and Jiannu to start a battle. However, Wang Huazhen wanted to divide his troops to guard in several large castles near Guangning, and he said: "The lonely city cannot be defended, and several troops should be divided into several places to help each other." ”

Xiong Tingbi was so angry that he scolded: "The erector is not enough and the plan!" Now the strength and morale of the army of the dynasty can no longer compete with Jiannu, and instead of concentrating on sticking to the fortified city, they will divide their troops to guard more than ten castles, and you are going to completely bury the entire territory of Liaodong! ”

Immediately, Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen went to the court again and launched a fierce scolding battle.

At the same time, Wei Zhongxian locked himself in the study in a very bad mood, his eyes looked at the twists and turns of Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen on the desk, his eyebrows were already wrinkled into a pimple, and he said secretly: "The army of Jiannu is already on the way, and it will be under the city of Guangning in a few days, but the two supreme commanders of Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen, are still arguing, and this battle seems to be lost!" It seems that Quang Ninh City is also difficult to protect! Wang Huazhen should not have been appointed as the governor of Liaodong in the first place! ”

Then, Wei Zhongxian's mind thought of Ye Xiang's high-ranking ministers wantonly suppressing Xiong Tingbi and praising Wang Huazhen, and he felt very angry in his heart: "A nerd who has been in Liaodong for more than a year, in addition to fighting for power and profit, and implementing a strategy that is not half feasible, he has not made any achievements, but has opposed Xiong Tingbi everywhere, is a scholar more powerful than Xiong Tingbi who has been commanding the army for many years?" Lack of success and more than enough failure! ”

"Alas!" Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but sigh and muttered: "After this battle, Your Majesty will definitely replace the chief general of Liaodong again, and most of them will be ready to use Emperor Sun Chengzong, if this is really the case, the miscellaneous family should be careful, that is a ruthless character who does not enter the oil and salt!" ”

Tongzhou Town, General Military Mansion.

After hearing that Guangning was in danger, Liu Yunwei, Yuan Mingxuan, Sun Yuanhua, Lu Ying, and Zhou Tianyi got together and urgently discussed the matter of the battle of Guangning.

Yuan Mingxuan frowned and said: "Little general, everyone, now Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong, has distributed the only remaining troops in Liaodong in more than a dozen castles around Guangning, but the city of Guangning is empty. Now the Jiannu army has crossed the Liao River and is sweeping through the castles around Quang Ninh one by one, and the officials and troops everywhere have suffered heavy losses. From this point of view, this time Guangning City is more than lucky. ”

Hearing this, Lu Ying hurriedly said, "Big brother, are we asking the court for war?" Quang Ninh City can't be lost! ”

Zhou Tianyi was also very much in favor of sending troops, and said: "Commander, I think Lu Shoubei is right, our Tongzhou Town should take the initiative to ask for battle, and Guangning City cannot be lost." Moreover, I heard that for more than a year, Wei Zhongxian has gathered a large amount of money and grain for the imperial court through measures such as widely dispatching tax supervisors, opening up mineral deposits, confiscating the property of Donglin Party officials, and collecting commercial taxes. ”

Sun Yuanhua nodded and said, "Yes, now without further ado, the little general should immediately write an excerpt to the imperial court." ”

Liu Yunwei thought for a long time, took the map of Liaodong and looked at it carefully for a while, and finally shook his head regretfully and said: "There is no chance, this battle will be lost in Guangning!" ”

"Why?" Everyone exclaimed.

Liu Yunwei sighed and said: "According to the current speed of the Jiannu army's march and the resistance of the Liaodong official army, I estimate that in another ten days, the Jiannu army will reach the city of Guangning; At the same time, there are not many defenders in Quang Ninh City, and the morale of the officers and soldiers is low, so they should not be able to resist for long. And from the time we wrote to the imperial court to ask for war reinforcements in Liaodong, to the imperial court issued an order to agree to the requisition, and then to the completion of the assembly of the army and went out to participate in the war, it is not enough time for about half a month during this period, I estimate that the time used by those ministers in the court to argue will take nearly half a month! Therefore, even if we send troops, it is estimated that we will receive the news of the loss of Guangning City as soon as we leave Shanhaiguan. ”

Hearing this, Lu Ying punched the case and said, "Big brother, can we only watch the loss of Guangning City?" ”

Liu Yunwei stared at the map of Liaodong for a while, and then said: "In fact, the current war in Liaodong seems to be in a critical situation, but it is not what I am most worried about, you see, there are still defense lines around the Daling River, Jinzhou, Songshan and Shanhaiguan in the south of Guangning, according to Jiannu's current military strength and financial resources, it should be unable to continue to go south, that is to say, after the loss of Guangning, the situation in Liaodong will be temporarily stabilized." Now what I am most worried about is the southwest, if the rebellion of luxury and peace is not handled well, this rebellion will stir the rear of the dynasty into a pot of porridge, which will greatly weaken the national strength of the dynasty and shake the national foundation of our Ming Dynasty; Moreover, although the two provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou are surrounded by mountains, they do not have such a strong defense line as Shanhaiguan and Songshan, and once the rebels gain a firm foothold in the southwest siege and uprooting the villages, it is very likely that they will continue to expand their power to the north and east, in which case something really will happen! ”

Everyone looked at the map according to Liu Yunwei's explanation, and they were all shocked into a cold sweat.

Yuan Mingxuan frowned and said: "The little general's analysis is very correct, and the top priority of the current dynasty is indeed to pacify the rebels in the southwest. A few days ago, I received news from the southwest that the counterinsurgency army of the imperial court had suffered successive defeats, and the reinforcements in Shuixi and other places had suffered serious losses, and they were no longer able to fight. The rebels, on the other hand, are attacking cities in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, and the situation in the southwest has deteriorated more and more. ”

Liu Yunwei sighed heavily and said, "So, what we can do now is to wait and see the development of the war in Liaodong, and prevent Jiannu from going to the Shanhai Pass by going to the shit; At the same time, prepare for an expedition to the southwest, I want to ask the imperial court to fight and send troops to the southwest! ”