The cell was quiet again, as if what had just happened was a dream. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Babutai bent down and picked up the severed hand on the ground, his body was like a fallen leaf in the autumn wind, trembling incessantly, and muttering to himself: "Autumn, autumn! ”

Jingshi, Military Aircraft Department.

Yang Sichang sat in front of the bookcase, his eyes were slightly red and swollen, but his spirit was very vigorous, since Lu Xiangsheng defeated Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao who crossed the Huai to the north one after another not long ago, the court and the central government had been constantly attacking their own performances, and when Xiong Wencan presented the heads of Zhang and Luo and the request for the appeasement of Li Zicheng, whether it was the enemy party who coveted the position of the first assistant or the Qingliu who was purely trying to gain fame, they all stopped attacking him -- the plan to increase taxes and salaries and train troops had only begun for more than half a year, and the results were immediate. The leaders of two of the three most powerful bands of the thieves have been given their heads, and the remaining ones are also begging for surrender to the court. At present, the topic of debate in the court has changed from how long Yang Sichang can stay in the position of first assistant to whether to accept Li Zicheng's request for comfort, even his sworn enemy, he has to admit that this gambler has won this game, and this victory alone can ensure his position as first assistant for two to three years.

But Yang Sichang had no time to enjoy his great victory, and he wisely did not take a stand on the ongoing controversy in the court. The reason is very simple, both Lu Xiangsheng and Xiong Wencan are meritorious heroes, and their own strategies must rely on them to carry out, no matter which side they stand on, they will inevitably offend another person, which is extremely unfavorable to themselves. What's more important is that Li Zicheng has a conviction to break through the central capital and burn down the imperial tomb, if he agrees with Zhao'an, it is tantamount to giving people and handles; But if he opposes Zhao'an and swallows Li Zicheng, who is a member of Zhang Luo's subordinates, is strong, if the war drags on, then he will also be attacked by political enemies. I still focus on political affairs and leave the decision to the Son of Heaven is the right way.

"My lord, Lu Zhitai has an urgent letter!" Chen Xinjia, the squire of the military department, sent a piece of music to him, Yang Sichang hurriedly put down the half-read Tang newspaper in his hand, took the document handed over by Chen Xinjia, he unfolded it and just read a few lines, he gasped, Chen Xinjia on the side felt that it was wrong, and asked in a low voice: "My lord, is there something wrong with Datong?" ”

"Liu Cheng wants to build a city in Daningwei, and Lu Zhitai asks the imperial court to exempt the area where Xuanda Town is located from this year's money and grain, thinking that it is military funds!"

"What?" Chen Xinjia was taken aback, he had spent a lot of effort on the military affairs of this dynasty, and naturally knew what it meant to build a city in Daningwei. Daningwei was the seat of the command of the Daning Commander, located west of present-day Ningcheng in Inner Mongolia, and its jurisdiction probably included the part north of the Great Wall of Hebei Province and the area south of the Xilamulun River in Inner Mongolia. After Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, expelled the Yuan Dynasty from the Central Plains, he established a series of guards in the north to protect the frontier, and Daningwei was one of them, but Zhu Di, the king of Yan of the Ming Dynasty, moved the command of Daning to Baoding Mansion in Hebei Province in 1403 AD, and this place was occupied by Mongolia and never recovered. If Liu Cheng succeeds in building a city here, it will block the passage for the Houjin army to bypass the Shanhaiguan Pass into the Central Plains, and it can also threaten the Guangningwei under the control of the Houjin from behind, and form a front and rear attack with the Ming army in western Liaoning, thus completely reversing the offensive and defensive posture of the Mingjin War.

"For such a big thing, Lord Lu only needs to exempt the money and food in the area where Xuanda Town is located? Don't need to transfer troops from the mainland? Chen Xinjia asked cautiously, in his opinion, such a huge military operation must at least mobilize troops from Shaanxi, Liaodong, and Beijing, and at the same time levy a large amount of money and grain from various provinces to launch, like Lu Boqi made such a small request, it is too child's play!

He said that a lot of military funds were levied from there, and in addition, Beizhili had to collect 5,000 people and 10,000 mules and horses for the purpose of building cities! There is also a need for the Liaoxi Military Town to mobilize soldiers and horses, thinking that it is for containment! ”

"It's easy!" Chen Xinjia said with a smile: "An official like Lord Lu who has no twilight, there are not many people in the Ming Dynasty today!" ”

Yang Sichang smiled, he naturally knew that although this song was named Lu Boqi, the real author was Liu Cheng, but this person was not only not twilight, but ambitious, which was daunting!

"But if you build a city in Daning, Dongyu will definitely send troops to stop it!" Chen Xinjia glanced at Yang Sichang: "According to the lower officials, Lord Lu is still a little careful, after all, the Dongyu army is still strong, and the worship of the Da Ling River a few years ago was like this!" ”

"It's okay, there are many Mongolian cavalry on Lord Lu's side, even if they don't win, they won't be defeated, at least they can contain the effect!" Yang Sichang smiled: "Let's hurry up and sort out the matter of the thief's request for Zhao'an, and ask the Son of Heaven to judge." ”

"Yes, yes!" Now that Yang Sichang has already expressed his position, Chen Xinjia will naturally not be entangled: "If you need to settle inside first, Lord Shoufu is right!" ”

"You send these recitals to the Holy One!" Yang Sichang wrote a stack of votes (the Ming Dynasty cabinet ministers' opinions on the handling of various places) and said to Chen Xinjia: "Strive to settle down as soon as possible, and reap the work as soon as possible!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Chen Xinjia owed his body, took the stack and walked out. Looking at the back of his subordinates leaving, Yang Sichang suddenly put down the brush in his hand and said to himself: "I hope this time Liu Cheng you can keep your luck!" ”

Shengjing, Yongfu Palace.

"Are you sure the man you saw was Hauge?"

A gray-black severed hand was placed on the oak table, making Huang Taiji's voice look particularly cold, Babutai subconsciously lowered his head, avoiding his brother's direct gaze, and said in a low voice: "Yes, I have identified it carefully, although he has lost a lot of weight, but it is indeed him!" ”

"Since Lao Jiu said so, there must be no mistake!" Huang Taiji sighed, the room suddenly quieted down, Babutai raised his head carefully, secretly glanced at the other party, and found that Huang Taiji was half lying and half sitting on the table and chair, his eyes were slightly closed, he found for the first time that this shrewd and capable, intimidating starling Huang Taiji actually had so many wrinkles and white hair, and the power created him and sucked his health and life at the same time, but he didn't realize it all this time.

"Lao Jiu!" Huang Taiji suddenly opened his eyes, Babutai hurriedly lowered his head, heard the majestic voice and asked himself: "You repeat what Liu Cheng said at that time, and repeat it not a word!" ”

"Yes!" Babutai took a deep breath, before that, he had expected Huang Taiji to ask this, so he wrote down Liu Cheng's words at that time, went back and copied one side with a pen and paper, hid it on his body, and read it a few times before he came in, so he recited it without thinking: "This is my reply to Huang Taiji!" When you go back, tell him that I will go on a crusade this fall, and if he dares to fight, I will cut off his hands and match his sons!" ”

"Chop off my hands and make them a pair with my son's!" Huang Taiji muttered and repeated what Babutai said, and after half a sound, he suddenly asked, "Lao Jiu, what do you think of this Liu Cheng?" What kind of person do you think he is? ”

"Arrogant, very arrogant!" Without hesitation, Babutai replied: "I have never seen such an arrogant man, in his eyes, we are nothing!" ”

"You mean you want to be like those civil officials in the Ming Dynasty?"

"No, it's not! It's even more excessive than those Ming civil officials! Babutai shook his head: "Those civil officials are arrogant and treat us as barbarians; This Liu Cheng is different, he looks at me with a little pity, as if he knows some big secret! ”

"Really? Looking at his style, he really wants to fight with my big gold! ”

"Great Khan!" Babutai gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "As far as I can see, it's better not to fight with him!" Although I can't see Liu Cheng's details, he clearly wants to provoke you to fight with him, if it were me, I wouldn't let him get his wish! ”

"Lao Jiu, things are not so simple!" Huang Taiji's face flashed a wry smile, he picked up a few pages from a few cases and handed them over: "You can take a look at these first!" ”

Babutai took it and looked at it in confusion, and soon there was a subtle change in his face: "Shuolei Khan invaded the Korqin people, and the beggar charm already has his own Khan and established his own capital, all of which are related to that Liu Cheng?" ”

"It's not just about!" Huang Taiji accentuated his tone: "If I'm not mistaken, he planned all this behind his back." ”

"How is this possible?" Babutai shook his head blankly: "Shuolei Khan is enough, those beggars are so far away from him, and they belong to so many tribes, even we don't have much way to take them, how can he do it?" ”

"Nothing is impossible!" Huang Taiji smiled bitterly: "The facts can speak for themselves, the few captured firearms, armor, and weapons that Lao Qi sent a few days ago are exactly the same as the ones we got from Liu Cheng before, you don't think that these are those beggars who sent caravans to buy them from Liu Cheng, right?" ”

Babutai shook his head, those beggars may not even have the money to eat salt, where did they get the money to buy weapons from Liu Cheng? Not to mention that even if they buy it, how will they ship it? The only possibility is that all of this is manipulated by Liu Cheng behind his back, and these weapons are given by Liu Cheng to the beggar charm to contain himself.

"Be sure to cut off the passage for the delivery of weapons!" Babutai said categorically: "Otherwise, there will never be peace in our northern frontier!" ”

"Here's the problem!" Huang Taiji showed a tired smile: "Do you know, five days ago, Lao Qi's envoy just sent good news, he captured the thief village on the shore of Xingkai Lake, and these few things were sent back by him." But there were few prisoners, and when the situation was unfavorable, the thief who called himself Qilie Mi Khan had already fled along the Songatsa River by boat, and Lao Qi had no boat, but could only stop to build a boat and pursue. ”

"Along the Songatsa River?" Babutai was stunned, Huang Taiji turned out a scroll of maps and spread it out, he found Xingkai Lake, his fingers along the Songatsa River all the way north, then the Ussuri River, the Haramu River (Heilongjiang), and finally his finger stopped in a large blank space - that represented the sea. Babutai raised his head in surprise: "How is this possible?" ”

"It seems that you, me, and Lao Qi all want to go together!" Huang Taiji smiled: "When the beast is injured, its most likely target to escape is the nest. According to what Lao Qi said in the letter, when the beggar fan Khan escaped from Xingkai Lake, there were more than 1,000 soldiers around him, plus women and children were only afraid that there were almost 2,000 people, and it was already September, and it would not be long before it snowed. At that time, the rivers will freeze and the beasts will hide, and unless he has a stronghold where a large amount of food is stored, his people will only freeze to death and starve to death, and judging by the route of his escape, that stronghold should be near these rivers. ”

Babutai nodded silently, at that time, in addition to the vicinity of the Liao River Basin, the northeast was basically undeveloped, basically a large area of forests and swamps, during which the army could not pass at all, the only channel that could provide a large amount of material movement was the river, if there was a large amount of material input from the outside world, then the greatest possibility was also through the river. And judging from the enemy's escape route, the most likely direction of input matter is from the sea. Later, Jin's weak sea power could only sit back and watch the enemy behind the scenes bring boatloads of weapons and food to support the charming rebellion of Qilie.

"You now understand why I'm going to fight Liu Chengcheng, right?" Huang Taiji said in a low voice: "The reason is very simple, he has found a way to defeat us. If he was really transporting materials from the sea, then this stronghold should be near the mouth of the Halamu River, most likely on an island or peninsula. It is more than 1,000 miles away from Shengjing, and there are uninhabited forests and swamps along the way, and the climate, distance, and terrain are worth an army of 10,000. But as long as he couldn't take that stronghold, it didn't matter how many times the old seven won the battle, because no matter how many people he killed, that beggar would always be able to gather more people from those boundless wild forests to replenish his army. ”

"Maybe you can ignore this beggar Khan!" Babutai thought for a moment and replied: "It is good to build a few strong fortresses and clear the wilderness, after all, he lacks food, and the size of the army cannot be too large, and it is impossible to carry out a long-term siege." ”

"But then we won't be able to replenish our troops from the beggar charms, let alone mink and ginseng, you should know how important these are to us!" Huang Taiji sighed: "After all, you still don't understand how terrible this Liu Cheng is!" He also knew that these beggars could not do us much harm, but they could hold us back, harass us, and force us to mobilize our troops against them. However, the mobilization of the army will consume food and delay agricultural work. Walking through the woods and swamps, eating coarse dry food, drinking the stinky water of the swamps, you can be shot by cold arrows at any moment, and there is no trophy except animal skins and a few stinky Sauron barbarians, and soon the soldiers will be demoralized, and even worse, you don't know when it will be over! These beggars are as charming as a wound on our body, yes, this wound is not fatal, but it bleeds pus every day, making us weaker and weaker. Lao Jiu, do you think I should let that Liu Cheng repair the Acropolis of Daning, and then wait until we are weak to give us a fatal blow, or should I go over and fight him to the death now? (To be continued.) )