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Zhang Yuan learned the news that Yang Hao of Liaodong Jinglu had decided to set off on the beginning of March, and on the afternoon of March 15, he learned that the Fourth Route Army had been ordered to attack Hetuara at the same time, and that Liaodong was thousands of miles away from the capital, and the military information was delayed, Zhang Yuan said in his heart: "Maybe the news of Juniper's defeat at Salhu is rushing to the capital on the galloping horses at this time——"

The situation is like this, so that Zhang Yuan is difficult to be optimistic, although he for this decisive battle to determine the fortune of the Ming Dynasty painstakingly and in many ways, he got acquainted with Juniper, Yang Hao, traveled thousands of miles to make North Korea thwart the conspiracy of the slave chieftains, and published an envoy to let the world understand the situation in Liaodong, do not be blind and arrogant, and he is also ready to invite Westerners from Macao to help cast firearms...... But no matter how hard Zhang Yuan tries, after all, he is still just a six-grade idle official, and has no ability to influence the decision-making of the imperial court, for example, he advocates a steady counterattack, but Fang Congzhe regards it as a party struggle and annihilation, and public opinion in Beijing is also quite criticized about his timidity and fear of war, the vast majority of the Beijing Shishu think that as soon as the soldiers of the Great Heavenly Dynasty come out, the slave chieftain will be awarded the head or flee, Yang Hao was impeached by officials and ridiculed by the foolish people in the market last month when he postponed the dispatch of troops-Zhang Yuan knows very well that he is still young, and it is difficult for him to do anything in the Wanli Dynasty where the three parties are in power, It's just that if you can't save the defeat of Salhu, the situation will be extremely difficult in the future, even if he can successfully occupy a high position after the new monarch takes the throne, but under such internal and external troubles, wouldn't he be anxious and do his best!

In the evening of late spring, Zhang Yuan returned to the apartment in the old alley of Li Ge, and saw Mu Zhenzhen walking over with Xiao Mingqian, who had just been able to walk, and Mu Zhenzhen asked, "Young master, is there any news from Liaodong?" ”

These sons Zhang Yuan returned from the Zhan Mansion, Mu Zhenzhen's first sentence was to ask this, she was concerned about the safety of her father Mu Jingyan, and these sons Zhang Yuan was obviously in a heavy mood, which made Mu Zhenzhen even more worried - Zhang Yuan picked up the child and threw it twice, and replied: "There has been no war report yet, and there should be news back in these two days." Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Zhang Hong, who was almost two years old, walked over, tiptoed and stretched out his hand and said, "Daddy, the child should be hugged too." ”

Zhang Yuan put down Ming Qian with a smile, picked up Hong gradually and threw it a few times, Xiao Hong gradually smiled happily, and Xiao Ming Qian also smiled.

The child's carefree laughter echoed in the courtyard, Zhang Yuan was in a cheerful mood, and thought: "I'm not here to watch the play in the late Ming Dynasty, how can I be silent and unaffected, the butterflies on the Amazon River are about to have a tornado in North America, and the situation of the Salhu war will definitely change." ”

…… On March 15, good news came from Liaodong: Liu Wei and the Korean coalition army on the East Road were like a bamboo, approaching Henggang, the nest of Jiannu, and won the head of 300 Jiannu - the news came out, and the Beijing Sergeant was full of joy, and some people set off firecrackers to celebrate, thinking that it was okay to smash Hetuala, and in the past, Yue Wumu failed to directly smash the Yellow Dragon and hate it through the ages, and today Zi Shengming, the soldiers used their lives, and Jiannu perished overnight, and the world was peaceful from then on.

However, on the seventeenth, Zhou Yongchun, the governor of Liaodong, reported: Fushun Lu Juniper met 50,000 cavalry in Salhu, fought fiercely all night, and Zhao Menglin, the general soldier of Liao, was killed in battle - this war report shocked the officials of the Ministry of War, and Huang Jiashan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, urgently reported to the cabinet, Fang Congzhe was stunned, and he didn't know how to report to Emperor Wanli for a while!

But at the same time, a subsequent battle report made Fang Congzhe and Huang Jiashan suspicious, this battle report was reported by the Liaodong Patrol according to the imperial history Chen Wangting, Chen Wangting reported that the army of Juniper and Marin defeated the slave in Salhu 50,000 horses, beheaded more than 6,000 ranks, and the slave chieftain led the crowd to Hetuala's defeat and fled - Fang Congzhe and Huang Jiashan looked at each other, not knowing who to believe, Huang Jiashan knew that the battle report at this time was known from the front reconnaissance cavalry, and the real detailed battle report should be submitted to the military department by the supervising army, but now the supervising army of the juniper department Zhang Quan, Pan Zongyan, the supervisor of the Ma Lin Department, did not submit a battle report, and the beheading of the 6,000-level Jiannu and the death of Zhao Menglin, the general soldier of the Liao Army, were completely two extremes, how could this be reported to the emperor?

In the evening, Zhang Yuan learned the news of these two big victories and defeats from the township party Qi Chengjiao, Qi Chengjiao asked Zhang Yuan to judge which battle report was closer to the truth, Zhang Yuan was mixed and said: "If my expectations are good, this should be the truth, the slave chief mobilized the main force of the Eight Banners Army to focus on the Fushun Du general army, in a vain attempt to defeat the Fushun Road Army in one fell swoop, and then used the swiftness of its elite cavalry with one person and two horses, after defeating the Fushun Road Army, he turned north to intercept the soldiers and horses of the Kaiyuan Road, and attacked the east road with rangers, In case General Liu and the Korean coalition army quickly approached Hetuala, the old slave's wishful thinking was to concentrate his forces to break through each - Governor Zhou's report was the fact that the Fushun Road Army suffered heavy losses under the ambush of most of the Jiannu, but Du Zongbing led the people to fight hard, and survived to the aid of the Kaiyuan Road Horse General Army, which turned the tide of the battle, so there was a battle report from Chen Xun, as for the defeat of Jiannu 50,000 foot cavalry and beheading 6,000 levels, I am afraid that it is an exaggeration. ”

It is common for the Ming army generals to exaggerate military exploits, and some even kill good and take risks, Zhang Yuan did not think that he could turn defeat into victory by virtue of the reinforcement of the Kaiyuan Road Army, he did not take into account that Nurhachi would abandon the Jurchen auxiliaries and pawns on the mountains of the Jiefan - Qi Chengjiao had a close relationship with Zhang Yuan, and discussed the situation in Liaodong with Zhang Yuan many times, Zhang Yuan on the fulfillment of Liaodong affairs like a god, Qi Chengjiao was very impressed, and then listened to Zhang Yuan's analysis, and felt very reasonable, and went to the military department early in the morning to sit in the office, and Zhang Heming in the military department talked about Zhang Yuan's views on the battle situation in Liaodong, Zhang Heming was the master of the house at the time of Zhang Yuan's examination - when Qi Chengjiao and Zhang Heming were discussing, Huang Jiashan, the left attendant in charge of the military department, ordered the officials to summon the officials above the chief to the lobby to discuss the matter, saying that there was the latest war report from Liaodong.

This battle report is the fire paint imprint of Liaodong Jinglu, this is the most authoritative war report, Yang Hao reported in detail to the Ministry of War the course of the battle of Sarhu, and attached Zhang Quan and Pan Zongyan, the two supervisors of the battle report and casualty statistics, Fushun Road Juniper Army: 6,819 killed, 3,741 wounded; Kaiyuan Road Marin Army: 809 killed and 320 wounded; Beiguan Yehebu: 480 killed, 212 wounded; Captured 6,179 heads of the Eastern Captives and wounded countless Eastern Captives -- Yang Hao's battle report and the reports of the Western and Northern Route Supervisors are all about the course of the battle of Sarhu from March 11 to 12, and when mentioning the Han Yuan Shanbu on the South Road and Liu Wei on the East Road and the Korean Coalition Army, Yang Hao only said that he had ordered the East and South Second Route Armies to attack Hetuala quickly, and the specific battle situation was not clear - the report of Zhang Quan, the supervisor of the Fushun Road Army, also mentioned Mu Jingyan of the hundred households and Zhou Qinghu of the General Banner who risked their lives to break through the siege and ask for help from the Kaiyuan Road Army, and asked the Ministry of War to commend them.

In the afternoon, Zhang Yuan knew the latest battle report in Liaodong, and made up his mind that as long as Nurhachi failed to completely annihilate Juniper all the way, he would not be able to calmly ambush several other Ming troops, and the situation of the disastrous defeat of the Salhu Ming army in history has changed.

Mu Zhenzhen learned the good news of his father Mu Jingyan's meritorious service, and was so happy that he burst into tears, Xiao Mingqian, who was not yet one year old, saw his mother crying, and didn't understand what terrible things had happened, and he also cried, Mu Zhenzhen quickly picked him up and comforted him: "Mom is happy, your grandfather has made military merits, you see, Mom smiled." ”

Xiao Mingqian looked at his mother seriously, and then turned his head to look at Zhang Yuan, this tiger-headed child burst into laughter.

…… For Yang Hao's Salhu war report, the DPRK and China have different opinions, many officials think that Juniper should be punished for losing soldiers, Fushun all the way to the casualties of nearly half, deputy town, staff, tour, capital, general judgment, garrison, Chinese army, 1,000 or more officers killed 17 people, this is not a fiasco, in the eyes of these high-seated temple, boastful officials, the Eight Banners Army will see the arrival of the Celestial Empire soldiers, will hug their heads and run away, but Juniper has suffered such heavy losses, is it not incompetent, Zhao Xingbang impeached Juniper in the middle of the military department: "Rigid and self-serving, generals are not accustomed to soldiers, wisdom can not anticipate the enemy, The strategy could not control the people, so that the soldiers were lost. ”

Other officials, such as Sun Chengzong, Zhang Yuan, Li Qizhen, and Yang He, the Imperial History of Zhejiang Province, wrote to support Juniper, believing that Juniper had resisted the 50,000 elite cavalry of Jiannu with a single army, and the conspiracy of the slave chieftains to break through them did not succeed, and they made great contributions - in the afternoon of the 19th, the military department received the latest battle report, and the 5,000 soldiers led by He Shixian, the advance of Qinghe Road, were ambushed in the valley south of Hetuala, with more than 3,000 casualties, and the deputy commander-in-chief He Shixian was seriously injured; East Road Liu Wei in the north of Abu Darigang and Jianlu fierce battle trapped, Han Yuanshan led the troops to help, the enemy is retreating to the two cities of Hetuala and Feiala, the battle of the East Road casualties more than 6,000 people, the enemy was killed and won the head of more than 5,000, the original Fushun guerrilla Li Yongfang was killed.

During the incident, Zhao Xingbang fiercely attacked Yang Hao, accusing Yang Hao of delaying the march of the army, so that Jiannu could calmly mobilize troops to attack Fushun Road, and accused Yang Hao of being confused in military orders.

Zhao Xingbang is the backbone of the Qi party, after Donglin was deposed, the three parties were in power, especially the Qi party, but there was no common opponent of Donglin, and there was a gap between the three parties, that is, there was also discord among the parties, Zhao Xingbang was dissatisfied with the other party because of Zhou Yongchun's promotion to the right of the imperial history, so he criticized the war in Liaodong very sharply, and at the same time he also represented the public opinion that the capital Shishu was eager to win, and Zhao Xingbang was also figuring out the mind of the Wanli Emperor, and the Wanli Emperor was extremely concerned about the four-way military dispatch and looked forward to a great victory. Of course, he was very dissatisfied with the current situation - sure enough, on March 20, Emperor Wanli issued an edict to rebuke Yang Hao, ordering the four armies to join forces and capture Hetuala, and the military headquarters issued a small red flag to urge the battle.

Zhang Yuan wrote a letter against rushing to urge the war, the main force of Jiannu was there, and there was the help of the Horqin Mongols and the Jurchen tribes of the East China Sea, and it was impossible to succeed in a war if they wanted to exterminate the Jianzhou Jurchens. The Liu Wei department re-expanded the six forts of Dian, forced Jiannu to retreat, built the castle, prepared grain, repaired equipment, and defended Liao with Liao people; Kaiyuan all the way is the foundation of Hedong, should be heavily guarded, united with Beiguan Yehe to cut off the exchanges between Jianzhou and the Mongolian departments, and I Ming to Mongolia is to be appeased, so ten years, Jianzhou will be destroyed, Liaodong is in trouble - Wanli Emperor ignored Zhang Yuan's recital, and most of the officials in the DPRK and China did not think of Zhang Yuan's ten-year policy of pacifying Liao, ten years is too long, only seize the day, even the people of the capital have a lot of criticism of this Zhang Zhuangyuan, saying that the soldiers of the four roads were finally mobilized to Liaodong, and they did not destroy the old slaves of Jianzhou in one go, but they had to carry out long-term war preparations, isn't this a waste of money for the people, you Zhang Zhuangyuan is a brocade cloth and jade food, regardless of the life and death of the people!

The pressure Zhang Yuan was under can be imagined.

…… On the first day of the first month of April, the Liaodong war report came, Liu Wei and the Korean coalition army attacked Hetuala, and Daishan, Huang Taiji's banner army fought fiercely, but was attacked by the Mongolian cavalry on the back road, the firearms of the Ming army and the Korean army encountered a strong headwind, did not work, the Ming army camp was broken by the Jiannu iron cavalry, fortunately, the Korean infantry struggled to seize the battlefield heights, covered the Ming army, and was ordered to attack Fei ala's Han Yuanshan withdrew and led the troops to help, the East Road Coalition Army was able to be preserved, the East Road Coalition suffered heavy losses in this battle, and Liu Wei suffered more than 7,000 casualties, Liu Weiyi's son guerrilla Liu Zhaosun died in a battle to save his father-in-law, North Korean deputy marshal An Rune was killed by a cold arrow through his head, the Korean army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, beheaded 1,300 Jiannu, killed the thief general An Feiyangu, and seriously injured the son of the slave chieftain Hong Taiji - due to the unfavorable attack and excessive casualties, Liu Wei had led the army to retreat to Gulaku Cliff, Han Yuanshan led the troops to withdraw from Yahu Pass, Juniper and Marin's army fought with Jiannudu at Zakha Pass, and there were casualties among each other, Yang Hao was worried that the slave chieftain and Mongolia would counterattack when Kaiyuan and Beiguan were empty, Ordered Ma Lin to return to the division to garrison Kaiyuan, Yehe Dabeile Jintaiji was not lightly wounded by the arrow, and Buyangu led the people back to Beiguan, Juniper also retreated to Shenyang, the four army has all entered the border so far, there are 8,000 Han people who were captured last year with the army back to Liaoyang - the Wanli Emperor is obviously very dissatisfied with such a result, this time from the whole country to draw elite soldiers and good generals, he also allocated 100,000 taels of silver to help the salary, but it is the loss of the army will return in vain, needless to say that it will cost a lot of Liao salary in the future, there is already an imperial history against the whole country to increase the payment of Liao, and asked for the allocation of internal money, which made the sick old emperor very angry - on the third day of the first month of April, the Liaodong Patrol impeached Liu Wei for killing Liang and risking merit according to Chen Wangting, Liu Wei reported that he had captured more than 5,000 heads of Jiannu and killed the rebel Li Yongfang, in fact, many of these more than 5,000 heads were Han people who escaped from Hetuala, and Liu Wei's subordinates were killed indiscriminately in order to fight for military merit, and Li Yongfang was not killed by Liu Wei, but died in the civil strife of Jiannu.

Emperor Wanli was furious, ordered the Ministry of War and the Imperial Procuratorate to examine Yang Hao and Liu Wei, the Ministry of War planned to recall Yang Hao and Liu Wei back to the capital to ask for the guilt, and replaced Yang Hao with Xiong Tingbi, Xiong Tingbi had patrolled Liaodong ten years ago, in Liao for several years, the nuclear army was real, Du Feed's legacy, and Xiong Tingbi was a native of Jiangxia, Hubei, belonging to the Chu Party, and the Ministry of Wenxuan Shilang Zhong Wang Dazhi recommended Xiong Tingbi to replace Yang Hao, but the first assistant of the cabinet tried his best to turn around for Yang Hao, saying that the situation in Liaodong was not stable, and the Liao soldiers who aided Liao were undecided, and the Liao people who left the chaos should be settled, Yang Hao must also preside over the overall situation - the second assistant Wu Daonan also pleaded not to replace Yang Hao, and Emperor Wanli issued an order to let Yang Hao continue to pass through Liaodong, and at the same time remove Yang Hao from the part-time job of the imperial history of the left house, and Liu Wei was imprisoned for questioning.

Because of Yang Hao's departure, Fang Congzhe had a rift with the Chu Party, and because of the contradiction between Zhao Xingbang and Zhou Yongchun in the military department, the Qi Party was not as united as before.

…… On April 21, Liu Wei, who had led the army back to Kuandian, received the news that Jinyiwei had gone to Liaodong to take him into Beijing to interrogate him.

After the death of Liu Wei, the Sichuan army returned to Sichuan led by Jiang Wanhua, the rest of the soldiers and horses in Shandong and Nanjing also returned to their original stations one after another, as for the Korean army, the Wanli Emperor sent a special envoy to Kuandian to compensate the Korean soldiers who died in the battle, and the Korean army returned to China across the Yalu River in early May, and Xu Guangqi went to Yizhou to greet the condolences; The 6,000 cavalry brought by Juniper from Yansui suffered nearly 3,000 casualties, and the rest stayed in Shenyang to rebuild Fushun Pass, Juniper replaced Li Rubai as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, and Li Rubai's brother Li Ruzhen served as the deputy commander-in-chief, which was an appointment made by the imperial court to appease the Li family, although Li Chengliang had died, his son and nephew Ding still had great influence in Liaodong; Qinghe Road Han Yuan Shansuo Department is mostly from Liaoyang, Sanyang, Guangning mobilized troops, now under the command of Juniper, each of them to their own town garrison, strengthen combat readiness, in case Jiannu come to plunder again - Wanli forty-six years of the Liaodong War Ming Dynasty army killed more than 19,000 people, seriously wounded 14,000 people, and the capture of the Houjin army of more than 7,800 heads, seriously injured should also be more than 5,000, in fact, the number of the four Ming army killed should be more than the number of the first rank, because some of the corpses were snatched back by the Houjin army, Therefore, although the casualties of the Houjin Eight Banners Army were less than those of the Ming Army, for the Houjin Dynasty, which was not as good as the Ming Dynasty, such losses were extremely heavy, and the Eight Banners system almost collapsed - An Feiyanggu, who was known as one of the five founding ministers of the Later Jin Dynasty, was killed and Erdu was disabled, plus Huerhan, who was killed by Zhang Yuan's delegation in Phoenix Mountain, the five ministers have gone to the third, Nurhachi's vitality was greatly injured, and Nalan Bakeshi, who was originally imprisoned in Yanjing Jinyi Guard's prison, was also beheaded because he kept rations for nothing.

…… On May 27, Mu Jingyan, who was promoted to the commander of the Liaodong Army after recovering from his injuries, sent two sergeants under his command to the capital to deliver a letter, asking for directions to find Zhang Zhuangyuan's apartment in Li Ge's old alley, it was already afternoon, but he saw more than ten servants in the apartment busy carrying utensils, and when he asked, he knew that Zhang Zhuangyuan was about to leave for Guangdong-Wuling came over and asked where the two sergeants came from, and learned that it was a messenger sent by Uncle Mu. ”

Zhang Yuan was not in the apartment, Mu Zhenzhen took Xiao Mingqian out to see the two sergeants, and asked his father Mu Jingyan to be promoted to the general manager of Qian, he was happy, because he was about to leave Beijing and go south, Mu Zhenzhen hurried to write a reply, she didn't know that Mu Jingyan was seriously injured on the battlefield, and Mu Jingyan told the sergeant who sent the letter not to say.

(To be continued)