"Hong Shangshu, please be seated."

"Master Xie."

Hong Chengchou sat down with a smile on his face, he knew that since Yue Su invited him to come, he must have discussed the matter of sending troops to Liaodong.

Early this morning, Hong Chengchou arrived at the military department, and before he could do the office, the cabinet came to find him, saying that Lord Yue was invited. Lord Hong hurried to the cabinet and met Yue Su's duty room.

The two of them are old acquaintances, and they met when Yue Su entered Beijing to serve as the second assistant. For Hong Chengchou's ability, Yue Su still appreciates it.

When Lord Yue was in the office, he rarely talked nonsense, and as soon as Hong Chengchou sat down, Yue Su said straight to the point: "Lord Hong, I invite you to come over today, I guess you can guess what I mean." ”

"Xia Guan can guess one or two, I think the adult is planning to send troops to Liaodong." Hong Chengchou said humbly.

"That's right, that's exactly what this official meant, sending troops to Liaodong. Over the past two years, in addition to recuperating in the Ming Dynasty, our Ming Dynasty has also been fighting hard to recover Liaodong and remove the troubles of my Ming Dynasty's henchmen. Now that the soldiers are well fed, Lord Hong thinks that it is appropriate to send troops now? Yue Su said gently.

"My lord once promised that after taking office as the first assistant, Liaodong would be pacified within five years. This is exactly the same as the promise made by Inspector Yuan when he took office. Inspector Yuan's promise was difficult to fulfill, and the imperial court issued an edict ordering Inspector Yuan to hold on to the existing territory and not let the Tartars enter the customs, and this promise could be regarded as a stop. The lord has now promised to recover Liaodong within five years, and according to the lower officials, it is difficult to achieve. "Hong Chengchou is a person who is well versed in the way of officials. Know who to see and what to say. Facing Yue Su, he knew that as long as he told the truth, Yue Su would not only not blame. And will love it.

"Lord Hong suppressed bandits back then, and after a long battle, he once made the rogues dare not face it. It can be seen that the commander of the army can only be seen. Lord Hong spoke bluntly, and the official was very happy, what the court needed was an official like Lord Hong. In this way, you can tell me if this officer sends troops out of the customs now. What are the pros and cons? Yue Su said with a smile.

"Thank you for the compliment. Cheng Chou is not talented, and he didn't dare to get an axe in front of the adult, but the adult asked Cheng Chou to explain the pros and cons, and Cheng Chou dared to disobey. For now. Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor at the end of last year, and formed a brotherly alliance, just to provoke my Ming Dynasty and let the imperial court send troops out of the customs and fight with it. He may profit from it. Out of the plain battle, the Jurchen cavalry is strong, although the adults trained hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, but the battle was open. It doesn't have much of a chance of winning. If you go rashly, the lower officials dare to assert. Defeat less wins. Xia Guan has been paying attention to the situation in Liaodong since he succeeded him as the secretary of the military department. For several years. There is a great drought in the north, and the rogue is rampant, although it has been cut off, the displaced people have returned to their hearts, and the court has issued land, but the harvest has not been good, and the whole war is free of grain, which can be maintained. This is still the case in my Central Plains, not to mention Liaodong. The Tatar nomads are not good at farming, plundering the people and enslaving them, the Central Plains are not harvested, and Liaodong is even more unbearable, and I am afraid that it is difficult to even maintain. The previous attempt to break through in Zhangjiakou, but to no avail, now the nine sides are heavily guarded, I have no internal worries, and then through the thunder pool, it is simply difficult. It can be seen that Huang Taiji is anxious to become the emperor, it is Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knows that it is nothing more than to provoke a war, resolve internal contradictions, and once he wins, he will take advantage of the situation to enter the customs and loot to solve the food problem. Xia Guan was thinking, the adults do not need to rush to send troops, wait and see what happens, but it is more advantageous, and when the internal contradictions of the Jurchen intensify, we will not fight him, he will naturally come to forcibly knock on the level, and then wait for work, or can achieve a big victory. Hong Chengchou talked eloquently and said his thoughts one by one.

Yue Su listened, nodded, and said deliberately: "Lord Hong's opinion is really clever. As Lord Hong said, the imperial court only needs to wait, and the contradictions within the Jurchens will naturally intensify, forcing them to take the initiative to knock again. However, this official not only promised to pacify Liaodong within five years, but who else can guarantee that in the next two or three years, the north will still be like this. Once the wind and rain are good, the opportunity in front of you will also be lost. After all, now, the morale of our army is high, the morale of the Jurchens is turbulent, and fighters are rare. ”

"My lord's words make sense. It's just that the Tartars must be ready for battle, if the adults are bent on sending troops, the subordinate knows that they can't stop it, but they just hope that the adults can take every step and don't rush forward. Hong Chengchou said.

"Hong Daguo is a great talent in the world, you are right, it should be so. You don't have a party affiliation in the capital, but you have a high reputation, so if you take advantage of it, you will have a bright future in the future. Yue Su said.

"Thank you for the compliment." Hong Chengchou hurriedly said.

said so, but Hong Chengchou was playing drums in his heart, he was talking about Liaodong, why did he suddenly change the topic. In fact, Hong Chengchou also has the intention of joining the party, but his position is very sensitive, no matter what party he joins, he will become a talking handle, so he has been waiting and seeing. Now that Yue Su suddenly mentioned it, how could he not make him reverie.

"Don't be foolish, the position of the secretary of the military department, this official is ready to propose to His Majesty that only non-party officials should be allowed to hold it in the future, and it will be written into the new law. After all, this is the only way to be selfless. Okay, there's nothing to do, you can go back and get about your business. Yue Su said calmly.

"Yes, the next official will retire." After listening to Yue Su's words, Hong Chengchou breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and was about to leave.

"That's right......" Yue Su said suddenly.

"What else do you have to say?"

"Go down to the road, order the general Mao Wenlong, the general of the aid dynasty, and the general Mao Youjian, Kong Youde, and Zheng Zhilong to enter Beijing to discuss matters." Yue Su said.

"The subordinate obeys."

The transfer of foreign officials to Beijing was originally ordered by the emperor, but Minister Tuogu had already represented the emperor, Yue Su spoke, and Hong Chengchou naturally complied. Moreover, the emperor's will, Yue Su didn't say that he could come.

A few days later, Mao Wenlong, Mao Youjian, Kong Youde, and Zheng Zhilong came to Beijing, and Yue Su only met with the four generals in his own mansion. Mao Wenlong saw Yue Su for the first time, but he had long admired the reputation of Lord Yue, especially when Yue Su gave him the title of General of the Aid Dynasty, and also made him get rid of Yuan Chonghuan's moderation, so he didn't have to disagree with him. He was very grateful for the troubles. At this meeting, it is indispensable to thank you in person.

Yue Su only told him that there was no need to say thank you. Everyone is doing things for the court, as long as you serve the country wholeheartedly, the court will definitely not treat you badly, let alone chill the loyal ministers.

After gossiping in the flower hall for a while, Yue Su took the four generals and Jiang Jie to his study to discuss matters. In the study, there is a large table in the middle, and a map is spread on the table.

on this map. The painting is mainly in Liaodong, but there are also some places within Shanhaiguan, but that is until Dengzhou. The map is very detailed, and the mountains and rivers are very clear. Obviously, Master Yue has made sufficient preparations.

Yue Su sat down on the main seat, and the other five people sat around him. Then, Lord Yue smiled slightly and said, "When you see this map, you can guess what this official means." ”

"Your Excellency is going to send troops to Liaodong." Mao Wenlong said.

"Not bad." Yue Su nodded.

"Your Excellency wants to recover Liaodong. Naturally, this is a good thing, but the last general thinks that it seems too early to send troops now. At the moment, the Tartars are strong and strong. Especially after the construction of the Manchu Eight Banners and the Han Eight Banners, the army was more prosperous. If you attack rashly, you don't have much chance of winning. Mao Wenlong said frankly.

It seems that there are some capable people. We all know that the probability of winning is very low when we go out directly to attack the Jurchens and fight with the Tatars on the plains.

"General Mao is right, but I don't know when General Mao thinks it will be better?" Yue Su asked deliberately.

"In the past few years in Liaodong, the grain harvest has been poor, and the internal contradictions are very serious. If this is the case, if it continues for another two years, the end will dare to guarantee that the contradictions within the Tartars will be more intense, more and more people will not be able to eat, and morale will also fall into a trough. At that time, it will not be difficult for the adults to send troops again, and it will not be difficult to recover Liaodong in one fell swoop. Mao Wenlong said with certainty.

"General Mao's meaning is the same as that of the Hong Army, he also suggested that the officer wait for another two years before sending troops. In fact, it is not bad to wait, after all, the army is out of the customs and conducts field battles, no matter who will lead the troops, there is not much certainty. Yue Su nodded and said.

"Your Excellency is wise." Mao Wenlong hurriedly said.

"When the army comes out, you really can't rush and wait for two years. However, in the past two years, the official didn't want to make the Jurchens too comfortable, and whether the weather would be smooth when the sky knew it. Yue Su said this, paused, and said: "So, what the official means is that no matter whether the wind and rain are smooth or not in Liaodong, the official will let him owe the harvest!" ”

"My lord, the last general understands what you mean, and you want the last general to go to the Tartar territory to harass them as before." Mao Wenlong said suddenly.

"General Mao's methods, this official understands, but that kind of petty coming and going is really not interesting. I thought that not only should I harass him like before, but I also want to make it worse. In the past, you had few soldiers and few ships, but now, Tianjin and Dengzhou have a large number of ships, large and small warships, not 1,000, but 700, as for the soldiers and horses, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, casually transferred. Yue Su said with a light smile.

"If you can really put all the warships into it, then you dare to do it. In the past, there were small fights, and it was true that there were few soldiers and few ships, and if there were many ships, the general would definitely be able to stir up Liaodong and make people and animals uneasy. "Mao Wenlong has been mixing in Liaodong for a long time, and fighting is commonplace, and as soon as Yue Su mentioned it, he understood the spirit.

"Excellent! That's what I want! ”

With that, Yue Su stood up. As soon as he stood up, the four generals, including Jiang Jie, all stood up. At this time, Yue Su slapped his hand on the area around the Yalu River and the Liao River on the map, and said: "The Liaodong River is staggered, and the army is deep, it is very easy. You don't have to be afraid, boldly kill me, pick the weak place of the Tartar defense to fight me, and don't need to attack the city, just burn the crops and kill people. When you see the Jurchens, no one will be left, and as for the Han people who were plundered at the beginning, you can act cheaply, and only ask our army not to suffer losses. ”

"The last will understand." Mao Wenlong and the other four generals bowed down and said.

"In the past, the Tartars came to us to hunt the grass valley, but this time, we will also go to them to beat the grass valley and let them taste the taste. You know better than me how to do such things, and I don't need to give more orders, but you must remember one thing for me, kill and kill cleanly, burn clean, and not leave a living Tartar in the place you pass, let alone a grain of grain for the Tartar. Even crops that do not grow are not left for the tartars. Yue Su said in a deep voice.

"The last general will obey your lordship's orders!"

"The river topography of the Liaodong area. Mao Wenlong, Mao Youjian, Kong Youde, the three of you know best that this operation will be dominated by you. When the two roads attacked Liaodong. It's done well, just like that time. Yue Su said, hesitated for a moment, pointed to the map, and said, "This operation, I will make a simple arrangement, Zheng Zhilong!" ”

"The last general!" Zheng Zhilong replied immediately.

"You have been in the south for a long time, and the water and land conditions in Liaodong. You're not too familiar, so, you don't have to go deep this time. It is mainly responsible for the port of Rizhao and the sea area between Dengju and North Korea. No vessel is allowed to cross this area. Yue Su said.

"The last will obey."

"Mao Wenlong, Mao Youjian, Kong Youde!"

"The last general!"

"The three of you, headed by Mao Wenlong, are under his command for leading the army to go deep. In this battle, all the warships in Tianjin, Phidao and other places were all invested. Only success, not failure. At that time, if there is a shortage of soldiers and salaries, although the book is up. I will do my best to allocate it for you. Yue Su said.

"The last general will obey the order, and he will never live up to the trust of the adults!" ……

"Good. Today's meeting. That's it, stay here for dinner in the evening. Tomorrow I will have a day off, walk around the capital, and go back the day after tomorrow. The first step to recovering Liaodong depends on you. ”

After Yue Su finished speaking, he bowed deeply to everyone.

"Please rest assured, if it doesn't work, I'll wait to see you!" The generals bowed down and said.

Mao Wenlong, Zheng Zhilong and others, when they returned to their own jurisdictions the day after tomorrow, all acted in accordance with Yue Su's orders. Zheng Zhilong was in charge of the sea area between Rizhao Port and Dengzhou and North Korea, and Mao Youjian mobilized all the warships of Tianjin Wei and sailed to Phi Island to join Mao Wenlong and Kong Youde. Kong Youde has long been stationed on Phi Island, and he brought countless warships, plus Mao Wenlong's original warships and Mao Youjian's warships, the total number is nearly seven hundred.

The newly built warships of the Ming Dynasty are mostly sea ships, and it is not an exaggeration to describe them as strong ships and sharp guns. When has Mao Wenlong seen such a lineup, let alone personally commanded this time, leading the sailors deep behind enemy lines, and it is not to destroy the city, just make trouble. If you can't toss the tartar and make a chicken and dog restless, then you can really hit your head to death.

After the reorganization of the army, Mao Wenlong issued the first order, Geng Zhongming led 80 warships, from the Yalu River into the Hunjiang River, along the river to the north, all the way to the source of the river, to see where there were crops, where the defense was weak, to harass them. The purpose is the same as Yue Su's confession, the Jurchens do not leave any of them, and the Han people act cheaply.

Geng Zhongming couldn't bear it anymore, seeing that Kong Youde and Mao Youjian had become chief soldiers, of course they also wanted to make meritorious contributions. When he got the general, he was overjoyed, and he led the warship to set off according to the route.

The second order was for Shang Kexi to lead 80 warships, also along the Yalu River to the Hunhe River, but to take another tributary to Changbai Mountain. This is the territory of the Jurchens, and it is also a place with weak defenses, a lot of land, and a small population density.

The third order was to let Kong Youde lead an army, with 120 warships, to Gaizhou and enter the Daliao River, and then go from Yingkou. This river, which passes through Anshan, Liaoyang, Benxi and other places, can be regarded as the confidant of the Tartars.

The fourth order was to let Mao Youjian lead an army with 120 warships to Panshan County into the Liao River, which is now Panjin. This river, passing through Shengjing, Fushun and other important towns, is the key place of the Tartars.

The task of these two is the same as the first two, but the random line is bigger, and if you can, you can fight, and if you can't fight, you can run quickly, anyway, the task is to fight the grass valley and try to avoid fighting with the main force of the Tartars.

Relatively speaking, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi's tasks are a little less dangerous, but Mao Youjian and Kong Youde will never complain because of the high risk. Even, Geng Jingzhong and Shang Kexi still felt that his godfather was partial, why did he not arrange his own important work. These people fight wars, and they are all masters who do not want to die, and they have always been brave and never afraid.

Don't talk about others, just talk about Kong Youde, he led one hundred and twenty warships, a total of 40,000 soldiers and horses, into the Hun River from Gaizhou, and went straight to Anshan. His warship traveled day and night, and suddenly struck, and the Tartars were caught off guard, and as soon as the ship docked, the army roared out, only killing the surrounding villages were covered with corpses.

The army rushed to kill, where can you care if you are a Jurchen or a Han, almost kill people when you see them, and leave no one behind. In fact, it is no wonder that Kong Youde's troops, because the enslaved Han people actually shaved their hair and tied pigs' tails, and they were dressed not much different from the Jurchens. In the chaos of war, where to distinguish, never before cutting people, ask first.

Taken by surprise and unprepared, along the Liao River, the Ming army slaughtered three villages and towns in one go, and all the houses and crops were burned. Back then, how the Tartars were in the Central Plains, the Ming army served them. The only difference is that the Tartars are looting, and those who can be captured as slaves should be caught as much as possible, and the Ming army is, it is not rare for you to be slaves at all, and you will be killed directly.

At that time, Anshan was called Haizhou, and the local garrison rushed to hear the news. Kong Youde had been on the battlefield for a long time, and he had to send out a sentry post, and learned that there were not many enemies coming, only more than a thousand people, so he deliberately waited for a while. The Tartar detective knew that there were many Ming soldiers, and he didn't dare to fight hard, so he could only send someone to inform Liaoyang.

The Ming army calmly boarded the ship and marched towards the Liaoyang area. The person in charge of garrisoning Liaoyang was the Blue Banner Melle Zhangjing Liertai, and the soldiers and horses under his command were only about 5,000 people from Manmeng and Han. I had to send people to Shengjing to ask for help, and at the same time deploy defenses along the river. Follow the fleet to prevent the Ming army from going ashore to harass the villages and towns.

Because he didn't know the strength of the Ming army's warships, they were too close to the shore, and they were slapped by the Ming army's artillery fire.

Kong Youde is not uncommon to entangle with you, aren't you on the south bank, then I will harass the north bank, anyway, the river is under my control, and your horse has no wings. Moreover, I have many soldiers and many ships, so I don't need to gather together, on this Liao River, I divide my troops into three routes, and some warships continue to move forward, anyway, if I don't pay attention to you, I will give you a moment. Mao Wenlong and they often do this kind of thing, they are all familiar with the road, they used to be weak, and they dared to toss and toss every once in a while, not to mention that they are strong now.

The Tartar people along the river were unlucky, and they were beaten by the Ming army with a hammer in the east and a stick in the west, and they fled in despair, and some did not dare to live on the shore, so they abandoned their homes and ran to the city.

Only Kong Youde has one way, and he has tossed enough Tartar, not to mention that there are three other ways. The cavalry of the Tartars was powerful, coming and going like the wind, but how could the horses outrun the boats. The boat can go back and forth twelve hours a day, and you can't follow it twelve hours a day.

Moreover, Kong Youde began to send troops to land directly, and later, the Tartars were prepared, and he was not in a hurry to attack. There are horses on the warship, first send a small boat, put a few people to take the horse ashore, reconnoiter around, run when you encounter the enemy, if there is no enemy, come back to report the news, Kong Youde then sent a thousand eight cavalry ashore to kill people and set fire. Anyway, I didn't plan to rob anything, just sabotage.

Of course, there are occasional misses, when they are ambushed and hundreds of people are broken. However, there are many people and warships, and a small loss is nothing. Anyway, you don't dare to come close to the shore to grab the boat, as long as you dare to come, the cannon will fire in unison, and it will smash you into a pulp.

The territory of the Jurchens, disturbed by these four-way fleets, has become a pot of porridge, and the cavalry is running around, strictly guarding and defending, and it is not good to toss for a day. I didn't train anymore, and one day I was riding a horse and running and playing.

At that time, the entire Guanwai could be counted as Liaodong, but according to the current division of provinces and cities, it was the three provinces of Liaoning, Jiji and Hei, and the territory was quite large. At that time, the most Jurchens lived in Liaoning, followed by Jilin, and Heilongjiang was relatively fewer. The main force of the Tartars is concentrated on the Shengjing side, and there are really not many soldiers and horses on the Jilin side. Let Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi mix this together, Huang Taiji can only divide his troops again. In any case, the people there are their own people, the land there, and the Han slaves are growing crops, if the crops can't be saved, then there is no need to live.

Now it still belongs to the Xiaoice River period, the Central Plains south grain to the north, coupled with the voyage, introduced a lot of high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, so the people of the Central Plains can definitely ensure food and clothing. Relatively speaking, the Jurchen side is unlucky, the grain production itself is not high, close to the river, the crops by the river, can also guarantee the harvest, but unfortunately the Ming army warships came to toss, the crops by the river, basically can't be seen. (To be continued......)