Liaoyang.

Huang Taiji threw down the conditions of the Ming peace agreement that he had just sent back, and sighed weakly: "I didn't put Zhu Ciye in my eyes for a while, but now he has taken root in Liaodong and has become a confidant. Now my elite of the Qing Dynasty are all in the Linghe Liaohe, southern Liaoning and Zhenjiang are empty, and no one can control the Chu soldiers at all. ”

Fan Wencheng, a scholar of the Inner Secretary Academy, said hatefully, "This Zhu Ciye really underestimated him at the beginning, I thought he was just a stinky kid, and he was fortunate to be promoted by virtue of Mei Zhihuan and Li Changgeng, but he really had some ability." ”

"We must contain Zhu Ciye now, the six forts of Kuandian have been completely destroyed, and there is news that it is preparing to attack Phoenix City. If Phoenix City is broken again, the Dongjiang Chu soldiers can directly threaten Liaoyang and Shenyang. Huang Taiji said.

"King Sanshun is incompetent, and he has ruined the emperor's major affairs." Fan Wencheng said, "Before Zhu Ciye landed in Lushun, His Majesty had specially dispatched King Sanshun to defend, but they moved slowly all the way, so that Zhu Ciye could land in Lushun smoothly. After hearing the news and hesitated, resulting in the fall of the southern Liaoning states, until now, they have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in vain, but they have never taken over a battle with the Chu army, let the Chu army run rampant in Liaodong, break more than 100 of my cities, take hundreds of thousands of my population, kill more than 10,000 of my Qing warriors, and are really sinners through the ages. ”

"What should I do to reverse the current contrarian trend?" Huang Taiji asked with a sigh.

"Maybe we should make a slight concession first, show weakness, and then make a counterattack after the arrival of winter." Fan Wencheng said, "It's better to negotiate peace with Ming, the conditions might as well be higher, drag them down, and when winter comes, the Liaohai Sea will freeze." At that time, the strongest fleet of the Chu army was useless, and Zhenjiang and Lushun should not be able to support each other at that time. At that time, we broke the Chu soldiers first. ”

But the peace conditions proposed by the emperor of the Southern Dynasty were completely insincere. Now that the morale of the people in the south is high, I fear that they will launch a counteroffensive. Huang Taiji said worriedly. In case the Ming army of Ningjin and the Ming army of Lushun and Zhenjiang attack at the same time, I am afraid that we will be unable to deal with it. ”

"Your Majesty, blindly retreating will only make the southerners think that we are weak and can be bullied, the more this time, the more we need to fight back, so as to deter the southerners." Prince Daishan hurriedly persuaded him that he was against making peace at this time. "Your Majesty, the minister thought that he didn't have to care about the Chu soldiers first, although Zhu Ciye repeatedly attacked the city and broke the ground. However, he only defended Lushun and Zhenjiang, and the rest of the captured cities were quickly abandoned, which shows that he did not want to go deep into the Liao realm immediately. ”

"What do you mean?"

"In my opinion, we still have to fight Jinzhou, and now the Ming army has won a new victory, and it is the arrogant soldiers of the light enemy, we can break the Ning Jinming army first. As long as Ning Jinming's army is broken, the Chu soldiers in Zhenjiang, southern Liaoning, will naturally not have to worry. ”

"Now the situation. If you want to break the soldiers of Ning Jin, it is difficult. Hard. Huang Taiji shook his head and said.

"Your Majesty, no matter how many ways the Ming army comes, we only go all the way, and it is with this that we won a great victory in Salhu back then. Now that the Ming army is attacking in three ways, it is impossible for us to prevent it in three ways, so it is better to concentrate our forces. Break it all the way. Dai Shan still insisted on his own ideas.

"What do you see, scholar?" Huang Taiji asked Fan Wencheng.

Fan Wencheng thought for a while and said, "What Prince Li said also makes sense, but how to fight still has to be planned, and the Liaohai Sea will freeze in a few months." It is better to continue to negotiate peace with Ming first, show the enemy weakness, and delay the army. When the weather is cold and frozen, at that time the Ming army's naval division will not be able to work, and all kinds of Ming troops will not be able to support each other. ”

"Okay, put up with him first. Sent an edict to Kong Youde and others, asking them to retreat to Gaizhou and postpone the attack on Jinzhou. Then he sent an order to the soldiers and horses of Jinzhou, let them retreat to the Daling River, and hold Yizhou and Dalinghe Fort. Fan Qing, I have you to personally take the delegation to Ningyuan to negotiate peace with Ming. As long as the Southern Dynasty can be stabilized, you might as well agree to some conditions for them first. ”

"Obey."

Beijing.

Liu Zongzhou, the imperial historian of the left capital, who was in charge of the Imperial Palace, had just come out of the palace and ended his recital with the Son of Heaven. The next day, the emperor decreed that the eighth town should be moved to Lushun, the ninth town to Zhenjiang, and the tenth town to Wuchang. Zhu Ciye was changed from the governor of Huguang to the governor of Liaodong, and the commander of the Qincha Governor of Liaodong Lushun and Zhenjiang towns concurrently led the Beiyang Naval Division, and also managed the food and salary, and the secretary of the military department and the left deputy capital of the imperial history title, concurrently served as the ambassador of Korea and Japan, and gave Shangfang the sword, twelve pairs of royal flags, golden arrows, and the generals and generals below were all under his control.

After the proclamation official went to Liaodong to announce the decree, the hundred officials in Beijing also speculated about the meaning behind the decree.

The commander of Jinyiwei made Liu Qiao find that the civil and military officials who had flattered him in the past suddenly began to distance themselves from him. Liu Yunzhen hated at home, saying that these people were all guys who saw the wind and steered the rudder. But Liu Qiao looked at it more openly, and after hearing his son's complaints, he said very plainly, "Jiye is now in a high position, holding the soldiers and horses of the four towns and commanding an army of 100,000 people. Especially since this army does not rely on the imperial court's food and salary, and it is so able to fight, no one will be too relieved. The situation was difficult before, and when the court hired people, everyone could still put it aside. ”

He smiled, "But now that Songshan has won a great victory, the Tartars are seeking peace, the situation is very different, the Central Plains bandits have been pacified for more than a year, and the situation outside the customs has improved again." At this time, naturally many people in the court began to can't help but jump out. ”

"Is the bird hiding the bow, this bird hasn't been shot down yet, so I'm thinking about hiding the bow, short-sighted guy."

"It's not a hidden bow, isn't Jiye still the commander of Liaodong military affairs, it's just to cut off a town of soldiers and horses. The emperor still trusts him, otherwise, he will not let him continue to control the soldiers and horses of the three towns. ”

"Can this be regarded as trust, doesn't this make the third brother feel cold? The front is fighting for the country, but the back is a hidden arrow that is difficult to defend. Originally the governor of Huguang, now he has become the governor of Liaodong, this can be the same, not to mention the reduction of a town of soldiers and horses, it was originally two provinces of the commander, but now it is the two governors. Liu Yunzhen was upset for Liu Jun, and now the Liu family and Liu Jun are closely related and their fates are linked. If Liu Junzhen is involved, their family will not be implicated.

"The generals of the ancient heroes can't escape such an ending, Jiye is the emperor's righteous son, and it shouldn't end too badly." Liu Qiao sighed.

When the proclamator of the imperial court arrived in Zhenjiang, Liu Jun had just taken Phoenix.

Although Phoenix City is a fortress of a heavy city, the main force of the Qing army is now in the west, and after the fortresses around Phoenix were swept away by Liu Jun several times, Phoenix City has already become a lonely city. When Liu Jun arrived at Phoenix City with the power of Kuandian's new victory, the defenders of Phoenix City still wanted to defend to the death.

As a result, in the face of the Ming cannons, their persistence was meaningless.

Liu Jun didn't want to occupy Phoenix City, so this time he surrounded the four cities and bombarded them for most of the day, bombarding the four walls of Phoenix City. Then the Chu army fought in all directions, cleaning up step by step, Phoenix City 500 armor, plus 2,000 ahha, and more than 3,000 people who were temporarily organized, fighting desperately, but they couldn't stop the power of cannons and firearms. The armoured men and their Ahabs, though fierce, were trapped in the city, and the cavalry could not use them, and the swords and arrows were no match for the cannons.

In order to retaliate against the Qing army's massacre in Changdian Fort, Liu Jun did not allow the Qing army to surrender this time.

Even those Han troops in Phoenix City did not get Liu Jun's understanding, except for the people in the city, the rest of the thousands of Manchu and Mongolian Han troops who resisted the attack with swords and arrows, as well as those Baoyi Ahha, a total of nearly 5,000 people, were killed.

Their heads were cut off, and a tall Jingguan was erected on the edge of the ruins of Phoenix City to warn the Qing army.

After the city was broken, Phoenix City was destroyed, all the materials in the city were removed, and the remaining population was taken away, and the autumn offensive of the Chu army was officially over.

As soon as he returned to Zhenjiang, Liu Jun met the imperial court officials who rushed over.

Burning incense to welcome the decree, after listening to the reading of the holy decree, Liu Jun took the decree expressionlessly.

Just won a big victory, but what was ushered in was not a reward from the imperial court but such a will, Liu Jun's heart was not happy. From the governor of Huguang to Liaodong, the soldiers and horses of the four towns were also cut off by one town.

This was a very bad start, and the court finally began to cut his military power. Although he had expected this day, the court was a little too fast.

Wu Sangui only killed more than 1,000 Qing troops, and as a result, he was promoted to commander and commander of the soldiers and horses of Guan Ning Jinsanzhen. Since he entered Liao, he has fought dozens of battles, and the Qing army killed has already exceeded 10,000, but the imperial court has reduced his military power.

However, what relieved Liu Jun was that although the imperial court changed him to the governor of Liaodong, the soldiers and horses of the four towns under his command were also cut off from one town. But at least the generals of the soldiers and horses of the four towns have not changed, and the tenth town that stayed in Lianghu to garrison Wuchang is still under the command of Ma Xianglin, and the deputy generals and guerrillas below are still the same people.

The eighth and ninth towns were transferred to Liaodong, and the generals did not change, and Beiyang was still under his command.

After Liu Jun received the decree, he wrote a thank you form to the emperor on the same day. He has no complaints about this transfer. Liu Jun thinks that although the imperial court has reduced his military power, there will be no next move. After all, the imperial court still wants to use him to conquer Liaodong.

As long as Liaodong has not recovered for a day, his position is still stable.

After the autumn harvest in Zhenjiang Prefecture, Liu Jun returned to Lushun by warship. Before he left, according to the order of the imperial court, the two divisions of the ninth town were transferred to Zhenjiang, the eighth town was moved to Lushun, and the soldiers and horses of the tenth town were transferred back to Lianghu.

Taking the Korean princess all the way back to Jinzhou, Fu Shan immediately reported an important military situation to Liu Jun.

Kong Youde sent someone to contact Fu Shan secretly.

"What does he want to do?" Liu Jun asked.

Fu Shan said in a low voice, "Kong Youde has the intention of being right, and he wants to abandon the darkness and turn to the light." ”

"Do you believe his words?" Liu Jun asked rhetorically.

"I think we can talk about it, and we won't have anything to lose anyway. Wouldn't it be better if it could really help him return to enlightenment anyway. ”

Liu Jun snorted, "This matter should be reported to the imperial court first, and the imperial court should make a decision." (To be continued.) )