Mid-February, Haicheng. Eight? One? Chinese (1) ??. (8) 8?1 (8) Z (8) ?. ＣＯＭ

"Alas!"

Li Hongyu sighed and threw a piece of paper in his hand into the brazier on the side, which was the latest battle report of the Ming army outside the pass.

According to this battle report, Yuan Chonghuan defeated the 150,000-strong Houjin army in Ningyuan City, killed 20,000 or 30,000 enemies, and achieved an out-and-out victory.

Not only that, under Yuan Chonghuan's arrangement, Zu Dashou personally controlled the Hongyi cannon to wound Nurhachi, forcing Houjin to withdraw overnight.

Perhaps because Ningyuan City suffered a big loss, when the Houjin army retreated, they took advantage of the thick ice on the sea to step on the ice and attack Juehua Island, not only killing all the soldiers and civilians on the island, but also burning Juehua Island with a fire, and countless ships and baggage were burned.

Since then, Juehua Island has become a deserted uninhabited island, and the most important logistics supply base of the Ming Dynasty outside the customs was destroyed in the hands of Houjin.

Li Hongyu naturally knew that there was moisture in Yuan Chonghuan's battle report, where did Houjin have the ability to raise an army of 150,000 people now, and there were not so many troops, and about half of the troops were about the same.

In addition, with Nurhachi's shrewdness, how could he let twenty or thirty thousand Houjin troops go to death for the sake of Ningyuan City, even if they captured Ningyuan City, they would not be able to garrison it.

The reason is very simple, not only is Ningyuan too close to Shanhaiguan to be attacked by the Ming army, but the Houjin army is not strong enough to garrison the city in western Liaoning, otherwise Nurhachi would not have given up such a fortified city as Guangning two years ago.

Therefore, after Houjin captured Ningyuan City, it could only be a burden, and Nurhachi knew this very well, and he would definitely not let so many Houjin soldiers go to death.

Compared with Ningyuan City, Li Hongyu attaches more importance to Juehua Island, Juehua Island is the baggage base of the Ming army outside the Guan, and the destruction of Juehua Island this time The supply of the Ming army's baggage outside the Guanguan will be seriously affected, and it has to be transported from Shanhaiguan, which is time-consuming, laborious and unsafe.

Although Li Hongyu told the defenders of Juehua Island to defend strictly when he was outside the pass, it is a pity that the heavens are not beautiful and the sea is frozen, so that the Houjin army without a sailor is like walking on the sea, and finally destroyed in the hands of the Houjin army, perhaps this is the goal of Nurhachi's troops this time.

Li Hongyu's sigh was for the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Yuan Chonghuan fought such a great victory in Ningyuan, the Ming army had no reason to give up the land outside the pass to collect troops at Shanhaiguan, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty would definitely write to continue to operate the Guanjin defense line, and then wait for the opportunity to counterattack.

The Emperor of the Apocalypse, as the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty, naturally could not abandon the territory passed down by his ancestors, so he could only temporarily give up the idea of letting the Ming army withdraw to Shanhaiguan and find time to do it in the future.

In Li Hongyu's view, the Emperor of the Apocalypse knew that it would cost a lot of money to run Guan Jinfang every year, so even if the withdrawal failed this time, he would definitely find the next opportunity.

This is not to say that the Emperor of the Apocalypse does not want the territory outside the Guan, but it is really that the Guanjin defense line is too expensive and it is very unfavorable to the Ming Dynasty, he just wants to temporarily withdraw to the Guannei, and after accumulating enough strength, he will launch an offensive against Houjin and regain the occupied territory in one fell swoop.

In any case, Yuan Chonghuan became famous in a battle this time, and since the Battle of Salhu, he is the second Ming official besides Li Hongyu who can defeat Houjin, so he will definitely be added to the ranks.

The so-called success and defeat of the king, Yuan Chonghuan's success means that the situation of Gao Di, the governor of Jiliao, is worrying, and when the Houjin army besieged Ningyuan City, Gao Di did not have soldiers to come to the rescue, which will become a major crime for him.

At this time, no one would remember that Yuan Chonghuan and others had disobeyed Gaodi's military orders and stuck to Ningyuan City, and Ningyuan's victory was enough to cover up all the unfavorable factors for Yuan Chonghuan and others.

Gao Di is dumb and can't say that he has suffered from Coptis chinensis, to be honest, Li Hongyu doesn't think he has done anything wrong, if he wants to be punished, Yuan Chonghuan and others who disobey military orders should be punished.

However, Yuan Chonghuan fought a great victory in Ningyuan, which made it impossible for anyone to hold them accountable for disobeying military orders, but Gao Di was condemned by the outside world for not saving him.

Sure enough, after Ning Yuan's victory, all the ministers in the court wrote to impeach Gao Di and Yang Lin, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, saying that the two avoided the war and feared the war, and they would not save them when they saw death.

The Emperor of the Apocalypse then dismissed Gao Di and Yang Lin from their posts in March, but poor Gao Di had only been the governor of Jiliao for a few months, and he left without even sitting down.

At the same time as the dismissal of Gao Di and Yang Lin, the imperial court appointed Wang Zhichen as the governor of Liaodong, Yuan Chonghuan as the governor of Liaodong, and Zhao Shujiao as the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan.

After the victory of Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan was promoted to the right of the imperial history, and after being appointed as the governor of Liaodong, Yuan Chonghuan was added to the right squire of the military department, and his descendants were given the post of Shiyin Jinyi Wei Qianhu, which can be described as infinite glory for a while.

However, there is a good saying, one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, and disputes and conflicts soon arose between Yuan Chonghuan and Wang Zhichen over the personnel appointment of Liaodong soldiers and other matters.

In order to stabilize the situation in Liaodong and avoid incidents like Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen, the imperial court distinguished the responsibilities of Yuan Chonghuan and Wang Zhichen, and ordered Wang Zhichen to supervise the affairs within Shanhaiguan, while Yuan Chonghuan guarded the territory outside Shanhaiguan, which finally settled the dispute between the two.

Li Hongyu could only shake his head and smile bitterly after getting the news, in his opinion, the imperial court should not set up two positions in Liaodong, which are both of the nature of the governor and the governor, and their functions overlap, which will make it inevitable that there will be a power struggle between the two sides.

But the imperial court also has its reasons for doing this, hoping that the strategy and the governor can complement each other and restrain each other.

In April, Li Hongyu got another piece of news about Yuan Chonghuan, and Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Liaodong, sent a letter to the Emperor of the Apocalypse, asking Wei Zhongxian to set up a shrine outside the customs on the grounds that Wei Zhongxian's "merit is in the community, and the common knowledge at home and abroad" was approved.

To be honest, Li Hongyu was very unhappy when he learned the news, in his impression Yuan Chonghuan should be a figure who is not afraid of power, but he would even pat Wei Zhongxian's sycophants and set up a shrine for Wei Zhongxian.

Of course, the establishment of a shrine for Wei Zhongxian has become a kind of wind in the Ming officialdom, and the governors and governors of various places have written to the Emperor of the Apocalypse to report this matter, and it is not surprising that Yuan Chonghuan is like this.

It is worth mentioning that among those officials who wrote to Wei Zhongxian to ask for the Lisheng Ancestral Hall, Chonghuan was a relatively early one, and judging from the approval of his letter, the relationship with Wei Zhongxian should be quite harmonious.

The Emperor of the Apocalypse definitely didn't bother to pay attention to the concerts that gave Wei Zhongxian to ask for the ancestral hall, so he handed it over to Wei Zhongxian to deal with, Wei Zhongxian did not approve all the recitals of the ancestral hall, and the Ming Dynasty did not give him the supervision of the Jiansheng Ancestral Hall, and some people asked the Jiansheng Ancestral Hall and were not approved.

From this point of view, the relationship between Yuan Chonghuan and Wei Zhongxian should be very good, otherwise he would not approve his request, you must know that there are only forty Wei Zhongxian ancestral halls approved by the Ming court in history, and Yuan Chonghuan is fortunate to be one of them, which can already explain a lot of problems.

This is not to say that Yuan Chonghuan took refuge in Wei Zhongxian, it can only be said that he is better at handling interpersonal relationships, after all, Wei Zhongxian represents the imperial power, and if he has a good relationship with him, it will be beneficial to his future career, especially Yuan Chonghuan, an official with lofty ambitions, who can avoid a lot of constraints in the future.

It is not difficult to see from Yuan Chonghuan's resume that compared with those officials in the imperial court who only know about party disputes and verbal wars, he belongs to the pragmatic faction.

At the end of April, Zhao Xin returned to Haicheng from Xiaoliuqiu, after nearly two years of recovery, she has reverted back to her previous slender figure, and she has never seen a child born at all, and she is very relieved to have Youlan to take care of Li Yunxuan.

Zhao Xin naturally also learned of Yuan Chonghuan's victory in Ningyuan City, and she also felt quite helpless about this, she and Li Hongyu both saw that shrinking their forces in Shanhaiguan and relying on the Great Wall to defend Houjin was the most correct choice, which could save huge amounts of money.

However, now that the wood is in the boat, it is too late to say anything, the imperial court will not be able to give up the Guanjin defense line in a short period of time, and the military expenditure that the Ming Dynasty spends on it every year will be a headache for the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

Zhao Xin was definitely unwilling to part with Li Yunxuan, but she had to come back from Xiaoliuqiu this time, because according to the custom, she and Li Hongyu were going to Beijing to report to Emperor Tianqi in May, and this time could not be delayed.

In early May, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin left Haicheng, first went to Yangzhou to bid farewell to Ran Xing, and then sailed north to return to Beijing.

Because they didn't want to alarm the government along the way, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin did not fly the flag to identify themselves on the boat this time, but they brought a lot of entourage of guards, and it looked like the son of a big family came out to play.

When they arrived in Huai'an, Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin, who were dressed in civilian clothes, went to visit Yang Li'er's mother and son, and Yang Li'er also gave birth to a son, who was named Li Yunhai by Li Hongyu.

In addition, Chen Ting's son Li Yuntao stayed by Yang Li'er's side and was taken care of by Yang Li'er, Chen Ting left Daming with the Ming overseas trade fleet last year and returned to Xingang Xuanwei Division, she could not stay in Daming for a long time.

Although Chen Ting wanted to bring Li Yuntao back to Xingang Xuanwei Division and let him stay by her side, she knew that it was best for Li Yuntao to stay by Li Hongyu's side, after all, Daming's stage was much bigger than Xingang.

Moreover, the Xingang Propaganda Division is not safe, not only has to face the challenge of the local indigenous people, but also those Westerners also have a lot of threats to the Xingang Propaganda Division, in the final analysis, the Xingang Propaganda Division is too far away from the Ming Dynasty.

"Go quickly, he is your father, and she is your mother." When Li Hongyu saw Yang Li'er, Yang Li'er held Li Yunhai with one hand and Li Yuntao with the other, and then pointed to Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin and said.

"Daddy, aunt!" Li Yunhai and Li Hongtao were already able to walk and talk at this time, and after looking at Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin, they shouted milkily, and then staggered towards the two.

Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin couldn't help laughing when they saw this, and then Li Hongyu quickly stepped forward and picked up one in one hand, kissed the two of them on their red and pink little faces, and then hugged the two of them in a circle, which made Li Yunhai and Li Yuntao giggle and laugh, and their father's love was fully revealed.

Zhao Xin and Yang Li'er looked at each other and smiled, the two knew that what Li Hongyu longed for most was the leisurely life of his wife and children, but as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he couldn't do this, and now this warm scene in front of him can be regarded as temporarily satisfying Li Hongyu's wishes.

(End of chapter)