"Since His Highness asked, then the last general will have the courage to say a few words!" Yue Tuo pondered a little and said: "Since ancient times, those who have built the capital have all been in the vicinity of the four places, and they have been established as auxiliary counties, thinking that they are the capital master Pinghan. The Ming Kingdom is no exception www.biquge.info he built the capital of Yanjing, with Xuanfu as the north auxiliary, because he saw the army of the feudal guard, and guarded the north gate of the country. Today, Yongping has built a mansion, and its east is also supplemented by Yongping. To guard the pass around the Songting Pavilion. and the key point of the left of Liao. Its west also. Supplemented by Yizhou, in order to guard the Bauhinia passes. Its south is supplemented by Linqing. Sit on the Zhahe River. Heavy troops are stationed everywhere, and if there is something, the king will be diligent, and if there is nothing to do, it will be defended. Those who have been a country since ancient times must consolidate the outside and cover the inside. For example, people's homes must have fences and walls, and then the halls will be solid, and the inside will respond to the outside. Although His Royal Highness's army has broken the border, and the soldiers are approaching the city of Beijing, but its fence walls have not been exhausted, if I attack its capital, he will cut my back, it is better to remove its fence branches first, and then the Beijing division will not attack itself! ”

"Well, sure enough, it's the same thing that the hero sees!" Liu Cheng nodded, and said to Gesang on the side: "Gesang, you have now supervised 10,000 people, and you have your own troops to do it, and you have to learn from Lord Yuetuo in the way of the art of war, understand?" His last words were addressed to the generals.

"Yes!" The generals responded in unison, and Liu Cheng turned around and smiled at Yue Tuo: "Then which one do you think you should take first?" ”

"Naturally, it's Guan Ningjun!" Yue Tuo said with a smile: "This place to Yongping fast horse is only a day, the army along the Luan River, first take Yongping, and then divide the troops to take Kaiping Zhongtunwei, Funing Wei, you can cut off the connection between Shanhaiguan and the mainland, my father led the troops in the north, and the army led the army in the south, so it became a flanking situation. Although Shanhaiguan is known as precipitous, it is external rather than internal, and it can be surrendered without a fight! ”

"Get the map!" Liu Cheng shouted, a personal soldier had already taken the map, and Liu Cheng unfolded the map and drew it according to what Yue Tuo had just said. To put it simply, Yue Tuo's battle plan was to change the direction of the march from the capital to the southeast to Yongping Fu (Lulong County, Hebei) to the southwest, and then divide the troops to seize the cantonment and strongholds in the area from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan, which had two advantages: 1. It cut off the land connection between the Guanning army and the interior, and formed a flanking attack on the Guanning army with the Daishan headquarters in Liaodong; 2. Liu Cheng's army was also connected with the partial division that controlled Tongzhou, and the logistics supply was guaranteed. Liu Cheng looked at the map for a while, then raised his head and asked Yue Tuo: "But if this is the case, it will give the Ming Kingdom time to dispatch the Xuanda army to King Qin!" ”

"Yes, but as long as you break through the Guanning army first and open up the connection between inside and outside the pass, even if the battle with the Xuanda army is unfavorable, Your Highness can return to Liaodong from Shanhaiguan without worry. Besides, the land around Beijing is flat, and it is the place where iron horses are crisscrossed. If there is a strong horse in the world, who is better than you, Your Highness? ”

"Good, good!" Liu Cheng clapped his hands and smiled: "It's really better to listen to your words, than to read a book for ten years!" ”

"Don't dare!" Yue Tuo smiled: "Actually, His Highness should have already made up his mind, but he just said it through his mouth!" ”

"Oh, why do you say that?"

"His Royal Highness went south this time, brought the ancestor Dashou with him, and asked my father to gather troops in Quang Ninh, thinking that he was in solidarity, if he didn't plan to take the Guanning army first, why would he arrange it like this?"

Liu Cheng was secretly surprised when he heard this, Nurhachi's son and nephew really don't have a fuel-efficient lamp, they can not only lead troops to fight, but also fight openly and secretly in the court, no wonder there have always been talents in control of the political situation in several generations in history. This Yue Tuo's reputation in history is far inferior to that of Dolgon, Huang Taiji and others, but his talent is also extraordinary.

At this moment, a knight dressed in a colorful brocade robe and a bright red helmet on his head galloped in, and the surrounding people and horses hurriedly made way for him. Everyone knows that this kind of dress is Liu Cheng's herald, and it should be an emergency military situation. Soon the knight had already rushed to the city wall, flew off his horse and walked quickly to the head of the city, and said in a loud voice: "Good news, General Acton has taken Tongzhou the day before yesterday!" ”

"Great!" Liu Cheng high-fived and smiled: "Acton has done a good job, so there will be no worries." Someone came, the order went down, and the army went to Tongzhou. Speaking of this, he turned to Yue Tuo and asked, "Lord Yue Tuo, the affairs of the Guan Ning Army will be handed over to you, how many soldiers and horses do you need?" Is 20,000 men enough? ”

Yue Tuo said with a smile: "With the prestige of His Highness, Guan Ningjun is just a bird with a frightened bow. If His Royal Highness is willing to temporarily borrow the ancestral birthday and the flag of honor, with the prestige of His Highness, 5,000 people are enough! ”

"Five thousand?" Liu Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then smiled and said: "Okay, if you can really pacify the Guanning army with 5,000 people, what does the honor guard flag have to do with you?" ”

Ning Yuan.

Since the Ming army was defeated by Houjin in the Battle of Guangning in the second year of the Apocalypse, after the fall of Guangning, it has become the most important military town of the Ming State outside the Guan. Yuan Chonghuan repelled the armies of Nurhachi and Huang Taiji twice in this place, and then built the two cities of Jinzhou and Xingshan, and this became the largest and most important military town of the Ming State in western Liaoning, the most powerful military group of the Ming State, and the heartland of the Guanning Army, the most expensive military group in the Ming State.

Wu Sangui sat on the back of the horse, his body swayed gently with the horse, and he had just turned twenty-eight years old and had already achieved the position of deputy commander-in-chief. To be able to rise to such a high position at such a young age, in addition to his family lineage and in-laws, his personal martial arts and cavalry also played a great role. Wu Sangui's garrison is Songshan, the first line of the Ming army in western Liaoning, and the Houjin army in Guangning is very close, the two sides ambush each other, battles are very frequent, in these battles Wu Sangui has accumulated a lot of experience, in the Guanning army has always been known for bravery, know the art of war, everyone regards it as a promising thousand miles of horses.

At this time, Wu Sangui didn't seem to have any energy, he gently rubbed the corners of his forehead to relieve the pain. He hadn't slept well for three whole days - the Jurchen army stationed in Quang Ninh had become extremely active in recent times, and small groups of sentries were constantly appearing, which was generally a precursor to a major attack. As the supreme commander of Songshan Fort, Wu Sangui had to deal with it with all his strength.

But two days earlier, a messenger had interrupted his preparations and ordered him in an unequivocal tone on his letterhead to hurry back to Quang Ninh for an important military meeting. Wu Sangui had to hand over everything to his lieutenant general, and then returned to Ningyuan under the escort of fifty personal soldiers, and after two days and one night of travel, he finally arrived in the early morning.

"Master General, we've finally arrived!" The soldier happily pointed to the gray city wall in the distance, and he pointed to the cold gray clouds in the sky: "Look at this sky, there will definitely be rain later, you have to leave quickly, otherwise you will have to get a rain!" ”

Wu Sangui looked at the sky, kicked the flank of the red mare under his crotch hard, his mount neighed lightly, and then ran quickly, and the accompanying soldiers also urged the horse to follow Wu Sangui. On the back of the bumpy horse, Wu Sangui's mind always had a question in mind: "Does this military meeting have anything to do with the upcoming invasion of Houjin?" ”

Wu Sangui's luck was good, when the rain fell, he had already arrived at the gate of Ningyuan City, and the rain only had time to wet the bearskin cloak on his body. When he entered the courtyard, he saw many people standing in the courtyard talking softly, these people were all high-ranking generals of the Guanning Army.

"Uncle, you've finally arrived, and the journey went well, right?" A man with a scar on his face greeted him, who had been quite good-looking, but the scar crossed the entire face from the right temple to the left cheek, splitting his face in two, making the otherwise upright face quite frightening. He patted Wu Sangui's shoulder affectionately, and said in a low voice: "Liu Cheng broke the edge, he came in from Songting Pass a few days ago. ”

"Brother Kuan, are you serious?" Wu Sangui's eyes widened in surprise. The scar-faced man's surname is Zu Mingkuan, he was originally Zu Dashou's domestic servant, because of his courage and accumulated merit as a general, originally he and Wu Sangui had no blood relationship, but because Wu Sangui's father Wu Xiang married Zu Dashou's sister as his wife, he was familiar with this ancestor since he was a child, and he was called a brother after his career.

"Of course it's true! The news from the beacon fire that Liu Cheng is said to have 100,000 troops under his command this time, and he also took Zunhua, and he is about to rush to the Beijing Division, which is terrible! Speaking of this, Zu Kuan couldn't help but babble.

Wu Sangui stood there, stunned by the sudden news, wasn't Liu Cheng a courtier of the Ming Dynasty? He had just pacified Dongyu, how could he turn around and fight Da Ming again? But there was another voice in his head telling him that all this was true, and the change in Quang Ninh was the best evidence.

"Why did Liu Cheng do this? Isn't he a courtier of the Ming Dynasty? As if refusing to admit the reality, Wu Sangui asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, I'm not the roundworm in that guy's stomach!" Zu Kuan shook his head indifferently: "Maybe I think I have enough strength, and I want to go to Beijing City to be the son of heaven!" But this guy is really powerful, 100,000 troops, I really don't know where he got so many soldiers and horses! ”

"Generals, it's about to be a military meeting!" The voice of the lieutenant officer woke Wu Sangui from his bitter thoughts, he hurriedly tidied up his appearance, and then followed everyone into the room, standing according to their respective official positions, and then Xiong Wencan, the governor of Liaodong, entered the door with a sad face. The generals hurriedly bowed to him and said in unison: "The last general will see the Governor!" ”

Xiong Wencan nodded, stretched out his hand and said, "The generals are exempt!" It is not difficult to see from his two big eye bags that he has not slept well in the past two days, this minister of supervision and appeasement, after getting Li Zicheng, originally hoped to enter Beijing and enter the cabinet, but he didn't want Yang Sichang to choose Lu Boqi to enter Beijing, so he put him in the Guanning Military Region, one of the two most important military regions in the world. Although Xiong Wencan felt a little unhappy when he first arrived in this position, he didn't feel too much pressure anyway, after all, Houjin had been pacified by Liu Cheng, but he refused to hand over the governance of Liaodong under the pretext that the place had not yet been settled, and he just fought a pen and ink lawsuit. But he didn't want to blink an eye, Liu Cheng turned his face and led the army south in the name of Jing Nan, and the position of the governor of Liaodong suddenly became a hot potato, and the feeling in Xiong Wencan's heart was really indescribable.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you should all know the news of Liu Cheng's entry into the Kou. A few days ago, an edict came from the Beijing Division, ordering the Guan Ning army to return to the division of King Qin, and attack Liu Cheng with the Xuan army. Xiong Wencan said this, and paused slightly: "But the governor has just received the military information, and the guards of Yongping, Kaiping, and Funing have all fallen, how should they deal with it, please speak up!" ”

There was an uproar in the house, everyone was an old soldier, Xiong Wencan just said that several tunbao were located on the main road from Beijing to Liaoxi, obviously the enemy did this to cut off the connection between the two. A veteran has already said in a loud voice: "Controlling the stage, the last general thinks that he can't act rashly, and the holy decree is to let me and the others fight Liu Thief with Xuanda Town, but now Liu Thief has cut off the connection between us and the Jingshi, if we act rashly, I am afraid that they will be broken by each of them!" ”

This general's speech won a lot of approval, most of the generals were against rash action, they advocated sending a part of the elite to recapture Yongping, Kaiping, Funing and other places, especially Yongping Mansion, after controlling this place, you can echo the support of the Beijing Division, and wait until the Xuan army arrives and then flank Liu Cheng!

"Uncle, why don't you keep quiet?" Zu Kuan turned his head and asked Wu Sangui: "This Lord Xiong is the best at recruiting An, and he can't fight a war, but can't he ask us to rush back to Shiqin Wang!" ”

"Brother Kuan, I'm afraid the situation is not as simple as you say!" Wu Sangui said in a low voice: "Think about it, where does our money and food come from?" The land route is this line, and the sea route is from Tianjin. But Liu Chengdu has taken Yongping Mansion, how far do you think Tianjin is from Yongping? There is no money and no food, so many of us eat and drink? ”

"That's right!" Zu Kuan nodded: "Then uncle, do you mean to send troops to King Qin as soon as possible?" ”

"No, I just don't think it's that simple. Do you know? During this time, the activities of Dong Yu in Quang Ninh were very frequent. If those eastern captives take our army to the south, they will quickly send troops to copy our back road, and the ancestors of the soldiers, Tian Zhai, and Xiao Ke, are all in Liaoxi! ”

"Uncle, you still think about it thoughtfully! So what should we do? Zu Kuan's face changed greatly, because Yuan Chonghuan adopted the strategy of "raising Liao people with Liao soil and guarding Liao land with Liao people", most of the generals in the Guanning army were locals, and their property was basically on the land at the opening of the Liaoning West Corridor. If the Guanning army follows Chongzhen's will and leads the army south to King Qin, then the Houjin of Guangning will easily occupy their land and take away their small property, and in this case, the Guanning army will not have any combat effectiveness.

"The only way is to take the soldiers and the children away together, and leave the elite soldiers behind!"