Just after the New Year, Li Hongyu received a piece of news that was bad for him, Gao Di, who succeeded Sun Chengzong as the governor of Jiliao in October of the sixth year of the Apocalypse, changed Sun Chengzong's strategy outside the Guan, and was ready to abandon the Guanjin defense line and withdraw troops at Shanhaiguan.

For this reason, some Ming generals outside the Guanxi adopted an attitude of resistance to Gao Di's move, believing that Gao Di was greedy for life and afraid of death, among which Yuan Chonghuan, who participated in the politics of Liaodong right, was the most fiercely opposed.

Sun Chengzong was very important to Yuan Chonghuan when he was in charge of Guanwai, and promoted Yuan Chonghuan to Liaodong Right to participate in politics, which was the official rank of Zhengsanpin, which made Yuan Chonghuan a person who was second only to Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin in the rank of Jinshi in the forty-seventh year of Wanli.

Like Sun Chengzong, Yuan Chonghuan was a staunch supporter of the Guanjin defensive line, and although he received an order from Gaodi to retreat, he said that he wanted to live and die with Ningyuan City, and refused to withdraw his troops.

Although Gao Di was the governor of Jiliao, he had never led troops to the battlefield before, and his identity, status and foundation in the court were far inferior to Sun Chengzong.

Sun Chengzonggui is a cabinet scholar with the title of prince and prince, and Gao Di was just a left squire of the military department before he left the customs, and after serving as the governor of Jiliao, he was only promoted to the secretary of the military department, and he belonged to the centrist officials, so he naturally could not suppress Yuan Chonghuan and those generals and officials outside the customs.

Therefore, Gao Di had no choice but to order the soldiers and civilians in Jinzhou and Youtun to withdraw to Shanhaiguan.

"Alas!"

Li Hongyu sighed helplessly after learning the news, he had long known that Gao Di wanted to give up the Guanjin defense line and collect troops at Shanhaiguan, but he didn't expect Yuan Chonghuan and others to dare to disobey orders, and it was a taboo for the generals to lose peace.

"Xianggong, Governor Gao is going to give up the Guanjin defense line, is this thing true?"

Just when Li Hongyu felt a little sad about Guan Waisheng's affairs, Yamashita Sakurako walked into the study quickly and looked at Li Hongyu with a surprised expression.

In Yamashita Sakurako's opinion, Liaoxi was taken back from Houjin by Li Hongyu who sacrificed his life in Shimen Mountain, so how could he give it up so easily.

Since Zhao Xin, Youlan, Yang Li'er and others are all taking children outside, Li Hongyu is now left alone by Yamashita Sakura, which makes the relationship between the two invisibly closer.

"It's not that Governor Gao wants to give up, but the meaning of the imperial court, and Governor Gao is just conveying the orders of the imperial court." Hearing this, Li Hongyu put down the official document in his hand and said to Sakurako Yamashita quite helplessly.

"What does the court mean?"

Yamashita Sakurako was stunned, then understood, and looked at Li Hongyu with some astonishment, "Xianggong, this is the emperor's decision?" ”

"Gaodi's Jiliao Governor is really aggrieved, not only can he not make contributions, but he also takes on the responsibility of withdrawing troops from Shanhaiguan."

Li Hongyu bowed slightly, and then opened his mouth to explain to Yamashita Sakurako, "Although Gao Di is the governor of Jiliao, the major events outside the pass must be decided by the imperial court, so the soldiers who withdraw the troops are not what he can do at all, it must be the emperor's will, otherwise Gao Di would have withdrawn his troops as soon as he came, making it clear that he was given the opportunity by the emperor before leaving Beijing." ”

"But in this case, how to counterattack Jiannu and recover Liaodong?"

Yamashita Sakurako understood now, and looked at Li Hongyu with confusion and asked, you must know that the construction of the Guanjin defense line is not only for defense, but more importantly, to attack Houjin and recover the lost territory in Liaodong.

"The Guanjin defense line costs a lot of money, and the Ming Dynasty can now be said to have a lot of internal and external difficulties that need to spend a lot of money, the emperor wants to first go inside and out, first solve the troubles in the Guannai and then deal with Jiannu."

Li Hongyu's brows furrowed, and then he smiled bitterly and said to Sakurako Yamashita, "Besides, last year's defeat at Liuhe made the emperor lose his trust in the garrison outside the Guan, so he withdrew his troops from the Guannai to save military resources. ”

Given the strength of the Later Jin army, Li Hongyu believed that the Ming army had at least 70,000 to defeat it completely, while Sun Chengzong's training target was 150,000, and the annual cost would be a huge amount.

Originally, the Emperor of the Apocalypse still wanted to solve the threat of Houjin in a few years, but the defeat of Liuhe made him realize that the confrontation with Houjin would be a long-term process.

Therefore, instead of guarding the Guanjin defense line, it is better to shrink the forces to guard the Shanhaiguan, as long as the Houjin is defended, anyway, the Guanjin defense line has no economic value.

The defeat of Liuhe here refers to the fact that in August of the sixth year of the Apocalypse, Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan who was the governor of the right capital, escaped from Houjin and was captured by Liu Boqi, a student of Liaodong, and learned that Yaozhou, which was controlled by Houjin, had only one Niu Lu's unarmored banner and women and children, and there were only more than 100 banner soldiers.

So, Ma Shilong sent Lu Zhijia, deputy general of the Ningyuan Central Association, as the main general, and Li Chengxian, a staff general, to lead an army of 7,000 to attack Yaozhou as the forward, wanting to capture it in one fell swoop.

As a result, he was defeated by the generals of the Later Jin Dynasty who defended the city in Yaozhou by using the women and children in the city to set up an ambush, including Lu Zhijia and Li Chengxian were killed, and the losses were numerous, which is known as the "Defeat of Liuhe" in history.

After the end of this war, Ma Shilong was impeached by the courtiers, and Ma Shilong had no shame to serve, so he left office due to illness.

After this battle, the Emperor of the Apocalypse asked Gao Di to go to the Guanwai to replace Sun Chengzong as the governor of Jiliao, in Li Hongyu's view, the Emperor of the Apocalypse was disappointed with the Ming army that Sun Chengzong had trained outside the Guanwai through the defeat of Liuhe, so he made the decision to withdraw the troops.

Obviously, the Guanjin defense line is a bottomless pit, which will consume a huge amount of money from the imperial court every year, rather than defending Liaoxi empty, it is better to shrink the force in Shanhaiguan, as long as the Houjin is prevented from going south, there is no need to guard the Guanjin defense line.

To be honest, Li Hongyu didn't expect that the Ming army outside the Guanwai would be defeated so badly in Yaozhou, after all, Sun Chengzong has been training for two or three years, and it stands to reason that there should not be such a miserable defeat.

Although the report was a loss of 400 soldiers, Li Hongyu felt that there were at least two or three thousand Ming troops killed or captured in battle, and it was very common for the Ming army to conceal and lie about their military exploits and military information.

Therefore, with the strength of the Ming army outside the Guan, it would be far away to counterattack Liaodong, and Li Hongyu was quite disappointed by this.

Although he was unwilling, Li Hongyu still agreed with the strategy of the Emperor of the Apocalypse very much in his heart, there was no need to fight a war of attrition with Houjin, as long as he held the Great Wall and blockaded Houjin, then Houjin would not be able to pose much threat to the Ming Dynasty, and the Great Wall was the most powerful fortification of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the reason why Houjin continues to grow is precisely because he continues to enrich himself in the war with Daming, as long as Daming does not make such mistakes again, Houjin's power will not be able to expand as before.

Of course, Li Hongyu can completely understand the mood of Yuan Chonghuan and others, they all want to eliminate the Houjin army, recover the lost territory in Liaodong, and establish immortal achievements.

Besides, they have been building the Guanjin Defense Line for two or three years, and they have a lot of feelings for the Guanjin Defense Line.

This is also the reason why Gao Di was chosen by the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Gao Di, who belongs to the centrist officials, went out to serve this black pot this time, and it is precisely because of this that Gao Di's prestige and qualifications cannot subdue Yuan Chonghuan and others.

"Xianggong, since this is what the emperor meant, and you also agree with the withdrawal of troops to Guannei, what else do you have to worry about?"

After finding out that Li Hongyu supported the shrinking of forces at Shanhaiguan, Yamashita Sakurako couldn't help but look at Li Hongyu with some confusion and asked, she noticed that Li Hongyu looked worried and looked worried.

"Xianggong is worried that the fortifications of Ningyuan City are too well built, and as soon as the garrison outside the pass retreats, Jiannu will definitely take advantage of the situation to pursue, and Yuan Chonghuan and others will definitely defend Ningyuan."

Li Hongyu immediately let out a wry smile when he heard this, and said to Sakurako Yamashita with a depressed expression, "If they force back Jiannu, then the emperor will no longer be able to shrink his forces at Shanhaiguan, and will have to continue to operate the Guanjin defense line, which will cost a lot of money from the Ming Dynasty." ”

"If I had known that this was the case, Xianggong would not have given Master Sun those twenty Hongyi cannons."

Saying that, Li Hongyu sighed, where did he think that things would evolve into the current situation, he thought that he had helped Sun Chengzong, but who thought that it would indirectly lead to Ning Yuan's great victory.

Due to Li Hongyu's limited understanding of the history of the Ming Dynasty, and the fact that later generations added a lot of jokes, he did not know the process and cause and effect of Ning Yuan's victory, but only knew that Yuan Chonghuan beat Ning Yuan's victory.

Now it seems that Yuan Chonghuan's Ningyuan victory destroyed the strategic deployment of the Emperor of the Apocalypse to collect troops at Shanhaiguan, and made the Ming army fall into a war of attrition with the Houjin outside the Guan, which was really not a wise move.

For some reason, Li Hongyu had some hopes that Yuan Chonghuan would be defeated, and in the long run, it would be the wisest choice to abandon the land outside the customs and stick to the Shanhaiguan and the Great Wall.

This is not to say that Li Hongyu does not want to fight Houjin in a decisive battle outside the Guan, it is really that the Ming army outside the Guanxi has disappointed him too much, and a battle of Liuhe is enough to explain a lot of problems.

"Xianggong, Jiannu was defeated more than two years ago, will it really come to attack this time?"

Seeing that Li Hongyu was worried that the Emperor of the Apocalypse's plan would be sabotaged, Yamashita Sakurako flashed her bright eyes and asked curiously, could it be that Houjin hadn't been hurt by the last war.

"The materials for building slaves are poor, and the only way to support the war is to use war to open up the channel of border trade with the Ming Dynasty."

Li Hongyu nodded when he heard this, and then said solemnly, "The battle of Shimen Mountain made Jiannu suffer a lot of losses, and Inurhachi's character will definitely come to avenge this, and it is also to boost Jiannu's morale, so he must take advantage of the retreat of the official army and take the opportunity to make profits, and he needs victory to stabilize people's hearts." ”

"Xianggong, so the emperor's holy will to use Shanhaiguan as a barrier to resist Jiannu cannot be implemented?"

Yamashita Sakurako knew from Li Hongyu's cold look that Li Hongyu also wanted to shrink the line of defense in Shanhaiguan, but Yuan Chonghuan and others in Ningyuan City had to hold on to it, and from Li Hongyu's words and deeds, it was likely to repel Houjin, so he asked suspiciously.

"Xianggong is worried that Nurhachi will be deliberately defeated, and he should also know that once the official army shrinks the defensive line, he will be isolated from the pass."

Li Hongyu frowned slightly when he heard this, and his expression was serious to Yamashita Sakurako to express his worries, with Nurhachi's ability, he could naturally see that once the Ming army entered the customs, Jin would fall into passivity, unable to get population and supplies from the Ming Dynasty, and would also be cut off from the trade routes on the border by the Ming Dynasty, and would definitely take action.

"Deliberately defeated?"

Hearing this, Sakurako's eyes showed a look of surprise, and then nodded thoughtfully, understanding what Li Hongyu meant, Li Hongyu was worried that Nurhachi would deliberately lose the battle, so that he could drag the Ming army and make it impossible to give up the Guanjin defense line!

(End of chapter)

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