July of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.

After recovering Jinzhou, the Chu army, after consolidating the defense of Jinzhou, relied on its superiority at sea to launch a sweep on the coastal islands of Liaodong, and in less than a month, the Qing army on Phi Island, Guanglu Island, Shicheng Island and other islands were all wiped out. Hundreds of people were killed, more than 1,000 prisoners were captured, and nearly 10,000 people were rescued from slaves.

Hundreds of large and small ships, more than 1,000 cattle and horses, and thousands of stones of grain were captured.

After sweeping the islands on the sea, the Chu army in Jinzhou took advantage of the situation to launch a wave of sweeping from Jinzhou to Zhenjiang, the mouth of the Yalu River, and a length of 600 miles along the coast. After more than a month of multi-way raids and disturbances, only a few dozen soldiers were killed. However, seven castles were destroyed, and Zhenjiang Fort, an important fortress at the mouth of the Yalu River, was also breached.

Seven cities were broken, hundreds of enemies were killed before and after, thousands of prisoners were captured, more than 10,000 cattle, horses and livestock were captured, tens of thousands of stones of grain, and more than 50,000 people were moved back. After moving back to tens of thousands of people along the coast, the Chu army burned more than 600 miles long, and the vast area of dozens of miles along the coast was all scorched earth.

The castle was in ruins, the village was in ruins, and all the grain that had just been harvested was shipped back to the Golden State.

Just after July, the Chu army in Jinzhou began to rotate, and a large number of new troops who had completed the reorganization left Huguang and sailed to Jinzhou by boat. The Nine-headed Bird soldiers, who had only stayed in Jinzhou for three months, but had already shocked the entire Liaodong, began to hand over the camp in batches, and returned to Hubei by boat one after another to rest.

Huangzhou River Estuary.

The red flags of the nine-headed birds fluttering on the boats of the big river slowly approached the pier.

Groups of soldiers carrying bulging backpacks and wearing blue uniforms of nine-headed birds were disembarking and disembarking, surrounded by countless soldiers' families and ordinary people who came to see the excitement. Even some shrewd traders brought in a lot of commercial goods early in the morning, waiting to do the business of these soldiers who made meritorious contributions in Liaodong.

Yuan Jixian, the governor of Huguang, personally brought Huguang officials here to greet the triumphant soldiers, although Liu Jun had already led his troops back to southern Liaoning, and there was only one association for this group of soldiers to return. But Yuan Jixian still insisted on coming, and brought a large number of officials. Yuan Jixian meant that the children of Jing Chu were fighting for the country abroad, and when they returned, the local officials of their hometown would naturally come to greet them.

General Zhao Guoliang took a group of officers such as guerrilla Qi Yuan to get off the ship first, Zhao Guoliang personally held a flag, followed by a group of junior non-commissioned officers with solemn expressions. They were carried out of the boat by eight and carrying coffins one by one. The first batch of Chu troops to enter Liao fought for three months, killing a total of 137 people, and more than 30 people were discharged due to disability.

The family members who had already received the notice of sacrifice wept in mourning, and three months ago, they sent away the young and sturdy living people, but three months later, they welcomed back a coffin.

Each coffin is covered with a flag of a nine-headed bird. The flag wrapped in the coffin, and the heroic soul returned to the homeland, which is the most solemn tribute and mourning for the deceased victims.

Yuan Jixian led a group of officials forward and bowed in mourning.

"Raise your gun! Preparation! ”

Zhao Guoliang shouted, and the two rows of soldiers took off the flintlock pistols on their shoulders and raised them to the sky.

"Put!"

"Ready!"

"Put!"

Three hundred and eight salvos were fired into the sky, and the soldiers of the nine-headed bird summoned the heroic spirits for their comrades and showed them the way home.

After a simple etiquette. A horse-drawn carriage had been prepared, and a coffin was loaded onto the carriage. A soldier who died was escorted back to his hometown by his superiors with his teammates to hold a solemn funeral for him with his family. Later, in the Martyrs' Pagoda in the Martyrs' Temple, their names will be inscribed on the monument, and the tablet will be placed in the tower. Worship by the world and enjoy incense.

"What a glory it is to be a soldier!" In a teahouse by the dock, a group of young scholars stood by the window upstairs. Although the scholars were noble, they were affected by the atmosphere at this time, and they all paid silent tribute to those who died in battle.

"They are fighting and dying for the Ming Dynasty. The glory belongs to them. "A scholar is humane, and he often says that the imperial court is too indulgent to the national surname and the Chu army, and the power of the generals is not controlled. But at this time, he still showed his respect very fairly.

Another person also said, "Although I oppose the emperor favoring the surname too much, I have to say that the surname is indeed very powerful." After achieving such a great victory in southern Liaoning, only more than 100 people were killed. And you look at the glory of these soldiers after their deaths, no wonder they all say that the Chu army is mighty, although this army is new, it has a momentum, I haven't figured out what it is before, but today I suddenly understand that it is glory. The Chu army has glory! ”

Fighting for glory, they are not a group of despised warriors, but a group of glorious warriors.

At this time, one of them sighed and said worriedly, "Liu Jiye gave glory to the soldiers under his command, and they repaid him for his loyalty, but this bravery and loyalty is it to Liu Jun or the emperor?" I'm afraid that for a long time, the Chu army only knows that there is a Duke of Chu, but does not know that there is a court and an emperor. ”

A group of scholars were thoughtful when they heard this.

"Let's not worry about this, I believe that the imperial court must have a way. Our Ming Dynasty, when will the warriors still be able to divide the feudal towns like the late Tang Dynasty? You think too much, Liu Jiye can have today's glory, serve as a commander with a military position, and control the four towns, it is only because he is the emperor's righteous son. The vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty can't do anything, what can a righteous son do? ”

"I hope so!" That's humane.

Liaonan.

Kong Youde asked people to write a concerto.

"Our department has recaptured Zhubao, and now the Ming army has retreated and entrenched in Jinzhou, and they dare not come back. The ministers will march to Jinzhou in the near future and recover Jinzhou. ”

Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, and Shen Zhixiang were just silent when they heard this.

The fold was written, Kong Youde took a look at it, and asked people to send it back to Liaoyang.

"The situation here can't be hidden from the emperor." Geng Zhongming said. Since June, they have gathered tens of thousands of horses and horses to recover Gaizhou and Fuzhou all the way, but in fact. They have not officially fought with the Ming army until now, and the so-called recovery of the cities is just to get an empty city, or a destroyed city, and the city walls have always been picked up a lot.

These cities were simply destroyed and abandoned by the Ming army after all the people, livestock, money, food, and property were gone.

However, they recovered Gaifu here, but the Ming army swept away all the coastal islands such as Phi Dao, and they were not happy after sweeping, and took advantage of the fact that their soldiers and horses were concentrated in the western coast of southern Liaoning, but they made another major relocation of hundreds of miles along the eastern coast of Liaodong Peninsula.

The southeastern coast of the peninsula is far less affluent than that of Nansiwei, where there are many mountains and few fields, and the population is not large. Especially because it is close to Phi Island, Shicheng Island and other islands, from the apocalypse to Chongzhen, the Ming army that lost Liaodong opened Dongjiang Town on Phi Island, and went to the island at every turn to carry out raids, robberies, burning, and killing, and the population on that side was even smaller.

Although the Dongjiang River was destroyed in the first two years, the east coast is still far inferior to the west coast.

But what about it. There are also several cities, many fortresses, and many villages and towns with a population of tens of thousands. Now, it was swept away by the Ming army, and the people sent to investigate reported that from Jinzhou to Zhenjiang, the coast of six hundred miles, and the range of forty or fifty miles along the coast, all became ghost domains. There is not a single ghost in sight.

Kong Youde and others are under great pressure.

The loss of gold cover can be said to be unprepared, but the East Coast was swept away, that is, they did not do it well.

"We've got to attack Golden State right away." Shang Kexi said, "If we don't make any moves like this, I'm afraid that the emperor will doubt our loyalty." ”

"Golden State is not easy to fight." Kong Youde Dao. The more information he gathered, the more difficult it was for him to make up his mind to fight Golden State.

"Are we going to continue to watch like this?" Shang Kexi asked.

Geng Zhongming asked in a cold voice, "Do we know that we are invincible, but we still have to go to the Ming army to the death?" That's all we have. If you don't touch it, how will you mix it up in the future? ”

"Great. You have an idea, if it goes on like this, it won't work. Shang Kexi didn't want to fight with Geng Zhongming, so he turned his head and asked Kong Youde. Although the four of them are unified soldiers, whether they are called Tianyu soldiers or Tianzhu soldiers, they all fight with white and black flags. He didn't want the white flag to turn into a blue flag or a blue flag with black flags one day.

Kong Youde twisted his beard. Suddenly, he said, "There has been a rumor recently, I don't know if you have heard of it, there is a rumor that Liu Jiye is going to send troops to North Korea." ”

"It's no secret anymore, it's spread everywhere. However, I think this is a rumor released by the Ming army, deliberately confusing our attention. We have transferred so many soldiers and horses to Jinzhou with the Ming army, and at this time Liu Jiye is in southern Liaoning, he should be ready to launch a greater attack to the north in order to prepare for the battle of Jinzhou. How could it be possible to run to fight North Korea at this time. ”

Kong Youde said, "I think the Ming army in southern Liaoning is likely to attack North Korea, no, it will definitely attack North Korea." ”

Shang Kexi was a little skeptical.

Kong Youde continued to say to himself, "Liu Jiye relies on strong ships and strong maneuverability at sea. But on land, although his siege ability is strong, it is very troublesome to transport artillery. Now that the coast of Liaodong has been robbed by Liu Jun, if he wants to send troops to rob Liaodong again, he has to go further north, away from the coast. In that case, if he carries heavy cannons, he will be easily ambushed by our cavalry, and if he does not carry cannons, then they will have a hard time taking our city fortresses. ”

"And judging from Liu Jun's use of troops, he has been avoiding fighting us head-on, what does this mean? It shows that although Liu Jun has a strong artillery fire, he must have other weaknesses. I heard that Liu Jun's Chu army was not established for a long time, and it fought with firearms. Such soldiers, what they are most afraid of is a hard battle in the field, they may be strong in their outbreaks, but their endurance is definitely not as good as ours. ”

Shang Kexi interjected, "Maybe Liu Jun is just preserving his strength and doesn't want to lose soldiers and horses in a head-to-head confrontation with us?" ”

"Of course it's possible." Kong Youde nodded, "But no matter what, it's true that Liu Jun doesn't want to fight with us, or he doesn't want to fight us in the wild." Therefore, he will either stay in Jinzhou and wait for us to touch his castle fort now, or he will have to send troops to Korea, or he will have to leave his castle fort and fight in the hundreds of miles of uninhabited land that has been destroyed by his fortified walls. ”

Shang Kexi felt that there was some truth in this analysis, but he didn't understand what Kong Youde meant.

"What should we do? Send troops to North Korea, or ambush halfway? ”

"We won't do anything, just wait here for the Ming army to send troops to Korea." Kong Youde replied.

Shen Zhixiang said with a smile, "I know, the marshal wants to wait for the Ming army to attack North Korea, and then we will send troops to attack Jinzhou and copy his lair." ”

"Report!"

"Come in."

"Report to the marshal, scout urgently, Liu Jun returned to Jinzhou, and brought back many soldiers and horses, as many as tens of thousands, and there are ships that are transporting soldiers from Dengzhou to Lushun day and night."

"What?" Kong Youde's hand shook, and the mouse whisker he was twisting in his hand was pulled off at once, he didn't care about the pain, and asked, "How many new soldiers and horses are there?" ”

"The troop carrier has been moving, and it hasn't stopped, so I can't figure out how many new soldiers and horses there are."

Kong Youde sat back in the chair, his eyes blank.

also counted on Liu Jun to lead his troops to North Korea, and the reduction of soldiers and horses in Jinzhou gave him an opportunity. But now, the garrison of Golden State has not decreased, but has increased.

"Report!" Another shout interrupted Kong Youde.

"What's the matter?" Kong Youde asked angrily.

The pro-soldier carefully returned, "The emperor sent someone to deliver the decree!" ”

Kong Youde hurriedly stood up, "Please!" ”

The decree was read out, and Huang Taiji was very dissatisfied with the performance of Kong Youde and others in the past two months, and reprimanded him for passively avoiding the war and fearing it, so that Phidao, Zhenjiang and other places were lost, and the people, livestock, and property were taken away, and even the newly harvested summer grain was also taken away.

Huang Taiji ordered Kong Youde and the four of them to immediately march to Jinzhou and recapture Jinzhou.

Kong Youde sighed and looked sad.

"Pass the order down and march to Golden State."

Golden State.

After leaving for more than a month, the place has changed a lot when I come back.

The Isthmus of Jinzhou has been dug through, and now Jinzhou Bay and Qingniwan are dug and connected, and a canal has become in the middle, and more than 100 miles south of Jinzhou has become a big island.

After three months of excavation, the trench is now three zhang deep, seven zhang wide, and ten miles long, becoming a canal, and Liu Jun's flagship Shenlong can also be unblocked.

The craftsmen also used the excavated soil to build a four-zhang earthen platform on the south bank of the canal, like a huge city wall blocking the south bank of the canal.

They also completed the construction of castles such as Black Mountain, Dongshan, and Nanshan, and built an estuary fort at each end of the canal. In the middle of the canal, an iron chain bridge was built, and a bridgehead castle was built on each side of the canal to protect the bridgehead in the castle. In peacetime, there are soldiers and horses who strictly watch the bridgehead.

"With this river and these four castles, no one should think of crossing the bridge." The Dutch adviser in charge of building the city said excitedly, with more than 100,000 sufficient manpower to give him command, in just a few months to dig a ten-mile canal, and build four castles and a bridge, this kind of achievement, quite refreshing him. In the Netherlands, it would have been impossible to complete such a project in a few years. Because there, there simply aren't so many people.

"It's that after the winter freezes, there will be a period of time when the defense capability will be reduced." The advisor said with some regret. "However, I investigated in detail, Qingni Port is a very good seaport, and the annual freezing period here is very short, and the port of Tianjin freezes in November and only melts in March and April. However, Qingni Port and Port Arthur only freeze in December and January of the year. When the time comes, we'll send someone to smash the ice and work harder. ”

Liu Jun looked at the majestic bridgehead, looked at the sparkling waves in the canal below, and said with a smile, "Actually, you don't have to be so troublesome, build a few icebreakers, and you won't be able to freeze when you patrol around the coast in winter." (To be continued......)

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