Chapter 861: The Trouble of the Holy Father (I)

（0861）

[Today's first update is delivered! ] I apologize to everyone first, the math of chapter 859 is wrong, 40 tons should be 800,000 taels, 800,000 taels of gold, converted into silver, it is about 10 million taels. 】

Liaodong, Ning Yuanwei.

Zhang Zhun stood on the head of Ning Yuanwei's city, holding a clairvoyant mirror and looking around carefully, and was silent for a long time. The sea breeze is constantly blowing from the seaside, bringing a fresh breath. However, the sense of vicissitudes of history that shrouded the head of Ningyuan Acropolis could never be blown away.

In the history of the late Ming Dynasty, the name Ning Yuan is really too familiar. This name is closely associated with a person named Yuan Chonghuan. It was here that Yuan Chonghuan gave Nurhachi a blow to the head and directly crippled Nurhachi. Unfortunately, Nurhachi died in the end, but an even more powerful Huang Taiji appeared.

If it is said that between Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan, it is like a slender flat pole, then Ningyuan City is the middle of this flat pole. With a slight knock here, the pole may break. Therefore, the later Ming army superintendents, no matter who took over, would desperately strengthen the defense of Jinzhou, Ningyuan, and Sanhaiguan to prevent accidents.

Looking around, the surroundings of Ningyuan City are really ugly. There were bunkers everywhere, obstacles everywhere, empty batteries everywhere. When it comes to scenery, there is absolutely no such thing here, and even the ground beneath your feet seems to be bubbling with the breath of death. Grab a handful of land anywhere, and the dirt you grab out seems to smell of blood.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Bursts of explosions kept coming.

With a loud bang, columns of black smoke continued to rise into the sky, making the ugly Ningyuan City even more ugly. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and a large amount of dust, which would have been suffocating without the sea breeze.

The loud noises and the black smoke columns were all caused by the detonation of the Tiger Benjun Demolition Group. The Tiger Army really didn't have so many people and garrisoned so many pillboxes, so in order to prevent these pillboxes from being used by the enemy, they had to blow them all up.

"Ruocheng, when will you be able to complete the task?"

Zhang Zhun put down the clairvoyant mirror and asked with concern.

"It will take at least five days to return to the Governor."

Behind Zhang Zhun, there stood a young man with a fierce expression and a deep scar on his face. Hearing Zhang Zhun's question, he immediately straightened up and answered solemnly.

His name is Ling Ruocheng, he used to be the co-leader of the Blue Dragon Legion, and now he is the commander of the Xinzi Battalion of the Tiger Army. The scars on his face were left by the fierce battle with the Tartars when he was in Beizhili. One of the arrows of the Tartar brushed his face and cut off at least three taels of flesh.

The letter battalion is one of the newest four battalions of the Army, with a total of 1,250 soldiers, excluding officers. They were specially transferred from Shandong by Zhang Zhun and were specially responsible for garrisoning Ningyuan City. Because the area controlled by the Tiger Ben Army continued to expand, more and more troops were needed, and their combat training was actually not completely over, and they were pulled to the battlefield.

After the construction of four new infantry battalions, the Huben Army now has a total of 18 infantry battalions, five cavalry battalions, four artillery battalions, and three recruit training battalions, with a total strength of more than 50,000 troops. With the addition of the Navy and Marine Corps, the total strength of the Tiger Army is close to 80,000. The next step in the expansion plan is to exceed 100,000 troops.

In fact, from the perspective of military geography, Ningyuan City basically does not need to be garrisoned. Because, both the Tartars and the Mongols are now impossible to attack Ningyuan, and now they are too busy to take care of themselves, where is there time to counterattack the Tiger Ben army? What the Xinzi battalion needs to guard against is the remnants of the Ming army stationed at Shanhaiguan.

According to Emperor Chongzhen's edict, the Huben army was going to take over Shanhaiguan. However, due to the relationship of time, the Ming army in Shanhaiguan has not yet fully retreated. In order to prevent accidents, the Xinzi battalion was transferred, and while training, it was possible to monitor the Ming army in Shanhaiguan, which could be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

"Hurry up!"

Zhang Zhun admonished.

"Understood!"

Ling Ruocheng immediately agreed.

The pace of retreat of the Liaodong Army has always been relatively slow, and after three months, it has only retreated the troops east of Ningyuan City. During this period, many laughable things also happened, which caused a large number of Liaodong troops to be reluctant to withdraw to the interior. Many Liaodong troops fled on the spot and joined the Tiger Ben Army.

Emperor Chongzhen was angry and arrested Gao Qiqian and Wu Aheng and imprisoned, in fact, it was not just because Zhang Zhun occupied Yizhou Wei and made him angry, but a series of backlogs of anger. The determination to withdraw the Liaodong Army to the interior and completely abandon Liaodong is actually very difficult for Chongzhen to make, and it can be said to be very painful.

However, just after he made a painful decision, Gao Qiqian and Wu Aheng were not able to carry out his orders in a solid manner, and did not completely withdraw the Liaodong Army to the interior. The retreat of the Liaodong Army can be described as a mess, the soup is not soup, the water is not water, and the original intention of Emperor Chongzhen is too far away.

Chongzhen hoped that all the 150,000 people of the Liaodong Army would retreat to the interior and not leave a single soldier in Liaodong. Who knows, the final result is that less than half of the people successfully retreated. The other half either took refuge in the Tartars or the Tiger Army, how could this make Chongzhen not angry?

Why withdraw troops from Liaodong? Isn't it to gather all the forces and take action against the Tiger Ben Army after completely eliminating the rogue in Shaanxi? However, Gao Qiqian and Wu Aheng completely messed up Chongzhen's plan.

The Liaodong Army, which was 30,000 or 40,000, took refuge in the Tiger Army, which was tantamount to strengthening the strength of the Tiger Army in vain. With the participation of these 30,000 or 40,000 Liaodong Army, the strength of the Tiger Army must be like a tiger! When the time comes, it's hard to say who will fight whom? How can you not be angry when your name is Chongzhen? Didn't he shoot himself in the foot and find himself guilty?

Chongzhen, who was anxious and angry, ordered to slow down the withdrawal of troops after severely punishing Gao Qiqian and Wu Aheng. In particular, the Liaodong Army at Shanhaiguan could not retreat easily. Obviously, at the last moment, the court seemed to have some signs of repentance. They wanted to guard the Shanhaiguan Pass to prevent Zhang Zhun from entering the customs in the future.

It's a pity that the Tiger Ben Army has already been stationed in Tianjin, and there are also many Tiger Ben troops in Beizhili, even if they hold the Shanhai Pass, it will not be of great use. In this way, the soup is not soup, the water is not water, and the two ends do not reach the shore, and that is not the way. In the end, Chongzhen still let the Ming army in Shanhaiguan retreat. But such a delay wasted a lot of time.

"My lord, Gao Hongtu, Zhang Shenyan, and Qiao Yunsheng are here."

Lu Yidian suddenly hurried to report.

"The three of them?"

Zhang Zhun was obviously a little surprised.

Gao Hongtu, Zhang Shenyan, and Qiao Yunsheng came to find themselves together? This is unprecedented! Could it be that something terrible happened in the rear?

"They came together?"

Zhang Zhun took a deep breath and asked deeply.

"They did come together."

Lu Yidian bowed his head and replied cautiously.

Obviously, even he sensed that something was wrong. These three people are all giants of the Governor's Office of the Tiger Army, and they are usually busy with work, so they rarely have the opportunity to gather together, let alone appear in Ningyuan City, which is so far away from Shandong. However, they just appeared, and there must be something wrong with this!

"Did you hear anything about it before that?"

Zhang Zhun asked with a somewhat cold expression.

The three giants under his command came to him together, but he didn't receive any news at all, and he didn't know what was going on. If these three people join forces to rebel, wouldn't they be in danger? Fortunately, all three of them were literati and had no military power in their hands. Otherwise, at this time, the first thing he thought of was to order Ling Ruocheng to prepare for battle.

It seems that it is better to call Ma Yi back as soon as possible and change the responsibilities of the Maoyan Division. Later, Yang Dahao's Intelligence Department was in charge of intelligence, and Maoyan Division was responsible for internal investigation. Of course, it was a secret internal detective, and the result was known only to himself. Otherwise, there will still be some omissions in the information you have!

"Where are they?"

"I'll pick them up."

Zhang Zhun quickly calmed down and said in a deep voice.

The arrival of the three giants together must be something important, and it is also a very close thing to themselves. Could it be that their days in Jinzhou were too ridiculous, and the three of them knew about it and decided to come to persuade themselves? The revolution has not yet succeeded, and comrades still need to work hard?

"Just came from the docks."

Lu Yidian replied in a low voice.

Ningyuan City is close to the sea and has its own wharf. Under normal circumstances, before the Tianjin Navy Division was wiped out by the Tiger Ben Army, the materials of the defenders were transported by the Tianjin Navy Division from the sea. On the opposite side of the wharf is Juehua Island (today's Chrysanthemum Island), which has the base of the Tianjin Navy Division, and the warships of the Tianjin Navy Division have been stationed for a long time.

If the sea freezes when it is cold in Sanjiu, you can go to Juehua Island directly from the pier. When the Tartars attacked Juehua Island, they were killed from the frozen sea. The Ming army, which was caught off guard, was killed in a river of blood, and the Tianjin Navy Division suffered a devastating blow. Huang Shijun and they escaped by luck, which can be regarded as a blessing in misfortune.

"Good!"

Zhang Zhun turned around and came down to the city.

Sure enough, as soon as he approached the wharf, Zhang Zhun saw from a distance the three giants of the Ministry of Government Affairs coming from the direction of the wharf. Judging by the way they looked, it was true that they had come to find themselves. Zhang Zhun couldn't help but chuckle slightly, don't have anything big in the rear.

"Teacher, Gong Shan, Master Qiao, why are you so free to come together?"

Zhang Zhun saluted from afar.

"Yulin, can we talk in private?"

Gao Hongtu came to Zhang Zhun and said in a low voice.

Zhang Zhun said with a smile: "Yes! ”

Immediately took the three of them back to the hall and sat down separately.

Gao Hongtu looked at Zhang Zhun's face and said euphemistically: "Yulin, your face is not good, the three of us came together, did it scare you?" ”

Zhang Zhun said honestly: "There is indeed a point. Is there something big going on in the rear? ”

Zhang Shenyan said briefly: "It's Yan Shenggong's business." ”

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