Fang Yuan's fleet arrived safely on Phi Island two days later.

Getting rid of the continuous pursuit of the Manchu Iron Cavalry, Fang Yuan could finally take a breath, and his hanging heart also fell to the ground.

He ordered the sergeants who participated in the surprise attack on Liaodong to be rewarded with 20 taels of silver, 3 catties of meat, and a jar of fine wine, and the whole army was drunk for three days and three nights.

Fang Zheng, Chigutai and Shi Lang drank bitterly, and described the battle situation of the battle of Liaodong to Shi Lang in a voice, and it was not until the third watch that he fell asleep.

Because of the continuous battle, no matter whether his physical strength and energy were already overdrawn, plus he was drunk, Fang Yuan slept for two or three days before he woke up.

Fang Yuan, Chigutai, and the Xuanjia army that fought in Liaodong rested on the island for five days, and then returned to Tianjin Wei and then returned to the capital.

He asked Shi Lang about the return tide letter, whether the wind direction had arrived, but Shi Lang said with a solemn expression, "Fang Junmen, you are too late to return to the division, the reconnaissance boat I sent reported that the return route has been frozen in many places, and we are afraid that we will not be able to return to Tianjin Wei." ”

Fang Yuan was taken aback, and then remembered that the Bohai Sea was in the extremely cold Liaodong Peninsula, not as good as the East China Sea and the South China Sea in the south, and in winter, the surface of the Bohai Sea was partially frozen.

He hurriedly asked, "In other words, we can't go back until the ice melts?" ”

Shi Lang nodded and said, "Yes, until March next year, we can only stay on the island. ”

Fang Yuan's scalp was numb for a while, if he couldn't return for several months, would Chongzhen, who was looking forward to Fang Yuan's good news in the capital, think that this raid on Liaodong military operation ended in failure, and Fang Yuan was also buried in Liaodong?

Moreover, Princess Kunxing is still waiting for her to go back to complete her marriage, if she can't go back after waiting for a few months, she mistakenly thinks that she died in Liaodong, and this princess doesn't know what she will be sad about. As soon as he thought of Princess Kunxing's pear blossoms with rain and crying sadly, he couldn't help but feel distressed and pity.

There are also Jing Jie and Qin Zhan who stayed in the four mansions in the south of the Yangtze River, and the other generals of the Xuanjia Army, if they mistakenly think that they died in Liaodong, they will not break up, and they will not even care about the four mansions that have been subdued! If the wealthy merchants and gentry of the four prefectures heard the news that Fang Yuan might be buried in Liaodong, they would probably rise up again to make trouble. Even Zheng Zhilong, who has calmed down the incident, will make waves again.

The more Fang Yuan thought about it, the more frightened he became, although these were hypothetical, there was a high probability that they would happen, and the news that he was still alive must be transmitted to the Ming Dynasty, otherwise the consequences would be really unimaginable.

At present, the sea and land are frozen and the land routes are blocked by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the only one who can deliver news to the Ming Dynasty is the friendly Korean state.

Fang Yuan said to Shi Lang, "Commander Shi, immediately send a few sailors to cross the sea to Uiju and Pyongyang to meet the king of Joseon, and ask the Joseon State to spread the news that I am still alive and will only return to the capital in the spring of March next year." ”

Shi Lang also knew the joints, and immediately arranged a few sailors, with a letter stamped with the seal of the governor of Fangyuan, to drive a small boat to Yiju and Pyongyang, and directly meet the king of Joseon, so that the Joseon state could deliver the news to the Ming Dynasty.

After the sailors who had gone to deliver the letter set off, Fang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and settled on the island.

There are still hundreds of people from the Ming Dynasty and Korea living on Phi Island, and when these people saw a large number of Ming troops landing on the island, they did not know the truth and did not know the truth, so they were all frightened and hid in their houses. Only the young men would go to the beach to catch fish at night, and the women did not dare to go out at all.

Fang Yuan also knew that the arrival of the Xuanjia Army and his entourage had seriously disturbed the peaceful life of the people on the island, so he hurriedly ordered the Xuanjia sergeant to strictly abide by military discipline, and he stayed in the military fort on the island on weekdays, and he must have no offense with the Han people and the people of Korea on the island.

After that, he arranged for the sergeants to come to the door one by one to calm the people, explaining the ins and outs of the Ming army's landing on Phi Island, so that the people on these islands should not panic, what to do, and return to normal life.

In the first half of the month, the women on the island still didn't dare to go out, but over time, none of the sergeants of Xuanjia had the behavior of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and they became bolder, and gradually returned to their normal routine.

Fortunately, the Korean state supported 5,000 stone of grain, and when it captured Dandongkou, another 3,000 stone of grain was seized, and a total of 8,000 stone of grain was stored, which was enough to support more than 5,000 Xuanjia soldiers until next spring.

The biggest headache for Fang Yuan was that it was not the sergeant's military rations, but the fodder for the war horses.

The feeding of war horses is very expensive, and eating grass alone can only maintain basic survival needs, and the war horses fed in this way cannot raise horse fat, nor can they go to the battlefield. In order to maintain the horsepower of the war horse, it is necessary to feed the grass at the same time, but also to feed the concentrate, that is, the grain.

Now there are 10,000 or 20,000 war horses on the island, and the rations of the war horses are much higher than the consumption of the sergeants. The current food deficit is at least about 7,000 stones.

Fang Yuan ordered the sergeant to go to the residents of the island to buy military rations, and buy them at a clear price. Because Phi Island is a staple food for fishing, food is scarce, and the fishermen on the island can't sell food, so they can only take the Xuanjia sergeant to the ice by the sea and dig the ice to fish.

Fang Yuan had no choice but to arrange for the sergeants to eat fish, pork, compressed biscuits, and canned food, and the grain was used to feed the war horses as much as possible. If there is still a shortage of food, you can only go to Uiju to buy it.

After this trip to Liaodong, Fang Yuan profoundly felt that not only did the Ming Dynasty have internal and external troubles, but the Manchu Qing Dynasty also had internal and external troubles, but the entire military and political strategy of the Ming Dynasty was completely fooled and lame by the Guanning Group, and it was impossible to effectively take advantage of the internal and external troubles of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and missed the opportunity.

Just like fighting, between two masters, as long as a little flaw is revealed, it can be fatal. However, the Ming Dynasty was tied hand and foot by the Donglin Party and the Guanning warlord group, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was obviously not an opponent of the same magnitude, no matter how big the Manchu Qing Dynasty was, it could not be caught. However, the flaws of the Ming Dynasty were caught by the Manchu Qing Dynasty and beaten violently, so it would lead to the final demise of the country.

If the peace talks were successful this time, the first thing Fang Yuan would do was to cut off the Guanning warlord group, a cancer that was constantly eating away at the blood of the Great Ming Dynasty.

A month later, Sergeant Xuanjia had mastered the skills of fishing under the ice, and set aside an area outside the military port on the east of the island to catch fish, instead of competing with the people on the other three sides.

Fang Yuan and Shi Lang came to the military port in the east of the island, and looked at the Xuanjia sergeant fishing on the ice from afar, but they had a faint feeling in their hearts.

Uiju in Korea, which is separated from Phi Island by a water, is only 20 to 30 miles away, and part of the sea in the middle has also been frozen over.

Fang Yuan suddenly remembered the previous battle of Juehua Island, where the Manchu Tartars captured Juehua Island along the frozen sea and slaughtered the Ming army on the island.

This omission in defense cannot be ignored!

Fang Yuan hurriedly asked, "If the Manchu Tartars attack from the frozen sea, how should they be prepared?" ”

Shi Lang frowned, in the naval battle in the south, there would be no freezing of the sea at all. The special weather and geographical environment in Liaodong also stumped him, an expert in naval warfare, and said in a deep voice, "Fang Junmen, we can only strengthen the defense of the coast and be vigilant against attacks from the sea at any time. ”

Fang Yuan secretly thought that if the Tartar soldiers attacked at night, they would be able to attack Phi Dao in a hurry, and there would be no time to warn at all. If this omission is not made up, I am afraid that I will not want to sleep in peace.

Fang Yuan pondered for a while, and had already thought of a way to deal with it, which was to buy a large amount of cheap industrial salt from Taobao to salt the ice, and chisel the solid ice around the roundabout that could be used to march, so as to ensure that nothing went wrong.

This method was also often used by the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi dynasties in that year, and when the Yellow River was frozen in winter, it would also chisel the ice to prevent the other party from attacking from the ice.

Fang Yuan immediately bought a ton of industrial salt on Taobao, and asked Shi Lang to arrange for sergeants and island fishermen who were familiar with the environment around Phi Island to chisel all the solid ice around the island. If it is too strong and chiseled to break, the snow is first salted with industrial salt, and then chiseled when the ice layer is thin.

The ice is chiseled, which is not only good for fishing, but also good for defense, which is really a double win.

Shi Lang didn't understand where these industrial salts came from, and after asking a few times, Fang Yuan also looked at him, so he didn't ask anymore, and immediately followed Fang Yuan's explanation to carry it out.

Half a month later, the sailors sent by Shi Lang to Pyongyang to deliver the message also returned, not only bringing the news to the Joseon king, but also bringing back the winter supplies sent by the Joseon king again, 5,000 stone of grain, and 500 pigs and sheep.

The Korean country is not rich in the first place, and it has sent 10,000 stone of grain at one time, which can be said to be a move to the strength of the country, and the Ming army of the other party has been regarded as benevolent and righteous.

Fang Yuan was overjoyed, and immediately took out 10,000 taels of silver from Yue Bao, and asked the Korean officers who were in charge of transporting the grain to bring it back and hand it over to the king of Korea, which was regarded as Fang Yuan's return gift.

With the strong support of the Korean state, not only the news was transmitted back to the capital, but also the problem of rations and horse fodder for the Xuanjia army was completely solved. Coupled with the fact that Fang Yuan had chiseled the ice layer in advance and plugged the defense loopholes, it could be said that it was foolproof.

Next, just wait for next year's spring flowers to bloom and return safely!