In the first year of Longwu, at the beginning of March, an astonishing news came to Beijing from outside the Guan, and Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou rebelled. What made him even more shocking was that Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou raised troops under the banner of the Qing monarch to kill Liu Jun on the side of the Qing monarch, and they held high the banner on the side of the Qing monarch, led the soldiers and horses of the two towns of Jinzhou and Guangning to rebel, gathered 100,000 anti-troops, and borrowed 50,000 troops from the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

"The Daling River has been lost, and the rebels have been killed!"

Among the Jingshi, people are panicking.

As soon as Zuo Liangyu's urgent report entered Beijing, the news was sent to the Privy Council first. The privy envoy Fan Jingwen hurriedly notified Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and then reported to the cabinet together.

When Wu Fu and Liu Zongzhou heard the news, their faces were heavy.

"Immediately convene a meeting of the Military Aircraft Department and invite Your Majesty and the King of the County!" Wu Fu shouted to his subordinates.

"Yes." An old official sweated on his forehead and hurried away.

Military Aircraft Division.

When Liu Jun arrived from the governor's yamen, the other members of the military aircraft department had arrived, and even the emperor sat there with a solemn face.

Seeing Liu Jun coming in, Zhu Cihong hurriedly stood up, "Brother Huang, Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou have reversed, and the Qing Dynasty has also taken advantage of the fire to rob, and Dalinghe City has been lost." ”

The young emperor didn't know much about military affairs, but he still felt that Wu Sanguizu's Guanning army was very powerful, after all, when the emperor was the emperor, the imperial court mainly relied on the Guanning army to guard Liaoxi and resist the Qing army. Moreover, Wu Sangui also has a lot of soldiers and horses, 150,000 soldiers and horses, 100,000 Guan army iron cavalry and 50,000 Eight Banner Force, which really makes the little emperor worried.

"Your Majesty, it's just a clown jumping off the beam, don't be afraid." Liu Jun saluted first, and then said. He glanced at everyone and found that Wu Xiang, the director of the General Logistics Department of the Ministry of War, was not on the list, but Qin Liangyu, the former governor of the Guanwai Command, was present.

Zhu Cihong noticed Liu Jun's gaze and hurriedly said, "I have already imprisoned Wu Xiang in prison." ”

Liu Jun knew that Wu Xiang had no objection. But if his son and brother-in-law are reversed, how can the emperor keep him. However, he didn't intend to speak for Wu Xiang, "Since this is the case, the minister proposes that Mrs. Qin take over the post of director of the general logistics department first." ”

"Exactly." Zhu Cihong was reluctant to pay attention to these trivial matters at this time, he was worried about the coalition troops outside the 150,000 pass. "Brother Huang, do you have a strategy to retreat from the enemy?"

Wu Fu and Liu Zongzhou also looked at Liu Jun together.

The imperial court had just completed several rounds of layoffs, but there was an accident after the layoffs, and the rebellion of Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou was, in some respects, also related to the layoffs of the two towns.

"The water is flooding. Soldiers are coming. The minister thought that there was no need to worry too much, Wu Rebellion was in rebellion at this time, and he couldn't jump high at all. ”

Wu Fu saw that Liu Jun looked unsurprised, and was a little dissatisfied.

"The rebels have already broken through Dalinghe City, and now they are all about to fight under Jinzhou City, Zuo Liangyu asked the imperial court to immediately send troops to rescue. We must immediately send troops to reinforce Jinzhou before the rebels take Jinzhou. ’”

"Reinforcements to Jinzhou?" Liu Jun shook his head.

In Liu Jun's view, reinforcements to Jinzhou were unnecessary. Fight. It doesn't have to be a fight for an inch of land.

"Could it be that the king of the county plans to give up Jinzhou?" Wu Fu asked rhetorically.

"That's exactly what I mean." Liu Jun replied, as soon as his words came out, all the ministers of the entire Military Aircraft Department exclaimed in unison. In their concept, the land of Liaoxi. Every inch is the land of ancestors, and of course it should not be discarded. Before you fight, you abandon it, isn't this cowardly cowardice?

"Your Majesty. Everyone, listen to me. Liu Jun ignored their surprise, and walked straight to the big sand table in the hall.

He picked up a long pole. Circle a few times on the sand table outside this pair.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please see, after the last peace, the imperial court took back most of the lost territory in western Liao, except for some places along the west bank of the Liao River, the rest of Songjinyizhou, Guangning, Daling River, etc., were all recovered. However, Liaoxi has fought for so many years, and from the apocalypse to the present, it has been repeatedly contested, and the land of Liaoxi, especially the Guangning area of Jinzhou, has fallen into the hands of the East several times. Those cities, towns, towns, forts, and common people and military households either withdrew into Ningyuan, or they were taken captive as slaves by the Tartars. ”

"There are still millions of people in the entire western Liaoning, that is, in the area of Ningyuan, and to the east of Ningyuan, except for a few military forts, and some garrisons, plus a small number of merchants, there are actually not many people. There was also no output there, and although there were tuntians, the output was not enough to supply the military supplies. ”

Wu Fu didn't listen to it at all.

"Even if there is no one in Liaoxi, it is also the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the land of the ancestors, and you can't abandon an inch."

"Elder Wu Ge, please listen to me first, I didn't say I wanted to give up. However, in military affairs, fighting a war with troops is not a defense that does not give up an inch of territory. We can operate flexibly according to the strategic situation. can advance and retreat, attack and defend, this is the only way to choose. Liu Jun pointed to the area in the northwest of Liaoning.

"This is the middle and upper reaches of the Daling River, sandwiched between the mountains, which were previously Han Chinese-controlled. Before the development of the coastal corridor in western Liaoning, this was the passage from Hebei to eastern Liaoning. However, after the dynasty, we only operated the coastal corridor of western Liaoning, and these river valleys and mountainous areas in the north were all occupied by the Mongols. In the early years, the imperial court also built a long Great Wall along the foot of the mountain north of the coastal corridor, leading to the Yalu River. ”

At the beginning, this Great Wall had made a lot of contributions to defend against the Mongols, but after negotiating peace with the Mongols and starting trade, the Mongols in the north of Yanshan became allies of the Ming Dynasty to deal with the Later Jin.

It is precisely because of this that the imperial court vigorously operated the first line of western Liaoning.

But later the Manchu Qing conquered the Mongols in the south of the Yangtze River, and the strategic layout of the Ming Dynasty immediately had a big problem, a fatal problem. That is, these areas in the north of Yanshan and the north of the Liaoxi Corridor have changed from the defense zone of the Ming army to the control area of the Qing army.

The Qing army easily bypassed the Guanningjin defense line in western Liaoning, which was painstakingly operated by the Ming army, bypassed the Liaoxi corridor, which was heavily armed and densely packed with fortresses, passed through the Yanbei region controlled by the Mongols, and directly arrived at the defense line of the Great Wall of Jibei, where the Ming Dynasty's defense was weak.

Compared with the defense line of Guanningjin in western Liaoning, the defense line of the Great Wall of Jibei is like a sieve, full of holes.

The Qing army's several breaches and entry into the customs were all in the Great Wall pass in the Jibei area, and none of them entered through the Shanhaiguan through the Liaoxi Corridor.

Even several times simply detoured to the Xuanfu side of Zhangjiakou, entered the Datong Basin in Shanxi, and then followed the Sanggan River from Changping to Beijing.

In fact, this situation occurred because of the rigidity of the Ming Dynasty, which did not strengthen the rampant defense of the first line of Yinshan and Yanshan, but when the Mongols in Yanbei were conquered by the Qing army. Continue to engage in Guan Ningjin's prominent longitudinal defense, isn't this a head caught in the door?

It's a pity that the Manchu Dynasty has always adhered to this stupid strategy, constantly strengthening Guan Ningjin, so that the Qing army can easily bypass it again and again, and enter the pass from the first line of the Yanbei Great Wall.

This is actually related to the strength of the Guanning Army in Liaoxi, at that time, there was only such a capable soldier left in the imperial court, and these people had a very heavy right to speak. If they refuse to give up Liaoxi, it will be difficult for the imperial court to change its strategic deployment even if it wants to.

But Liu Jun is not them.

As soon as he entered Beijing, he immediately began to adjust the defenses of Gyeonggi. Up to now, in less than a year, Liu Jun has actually done everything he has to do.

From Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan, then to Miyun to Changping, and even to Xuanfu and Datong, the defense line of the Great Wall in the north has already been strengthened layer by layer.

Now guarding this line. Basically, they are all Chu troops. They were well trained, well-equipped, equipped with advanced firearms, and well fed. Rich experience makes Liu Jun have enough self-confidence and capital, and he is not afraid of Wu Sangui's rebellion.

This is also the reason why Liu Junming knew that he was tough with Wu Sangui, and he was very likely to force Wu Sangui to oppose him. will even make Wu Sangui fall to the side of the Qing army, and he is not afraid of the slightest confidence.

"Your Majesty, from Datong to Xuanfu to Changping, Miyun, Jizhen, Shanhaiguan, and Ningyuan. Even to Tianjin, Lushun, Denglai, and Zhenjiang, thousands of miles away, we have a steel defense line with more than 30 elite soldiers and horses. These are all new armies that have completed reorganization, completed redress, and have sufficient food and salary. ”

"On this line of defense, we have built a large number of batteries, fortresses, armed with hundreds of artillery pieces. If the rebels dare to come, they are killing themselves. ”

Wu Fu couldn't see Liu Jun's attitude, "Since we have such a strong army, we should not give up Liaoxi, and at this time, we should immediately gather troops and horses to quell the rebellion outside the pass." ”

Liu Jun snorted coldly, he didn't want to talk to people like Wu Fu anymore.

"Brother Huang, can't we send troops to Liaoxi to quell the chaos?" Zhu Cihong asked.

"Of course, you can, but that's not the best way to go. First, we need time to mobilize, second, it will increase the logistical burden, and third, it is a long time to abandon this strong defensive line and those artillery batteries. On the contrary, if we temporarily abandon Jinzhou and other places, we will retreat our troops and horses to Ningyuan, which is close to Shanhaiguan. ”

"Then firstly, our towns and horses will be closer together and can support each other, and secondly, our supply lines will be shorter. As for the thieves, even if they take the land of Liaoxi outside Ningyuan, it will be useless, there is no food and no population, they occupy it and will not get anything. Instead, they can only continue to attack our solid defence. Their supply lines will be stretched long, long. The most important thing is that this distance of nearly 1,000 miles will make them disconnected from the rear of Liaodong. ”

Liu Jun clicked a few times in Liaoxi.

"It's a long distance, and when they get all the way from the Liao River to our Ningyuan City, or our Yanbei Great Wall, they will face serious logistical supply problems. At the same time, they will pull a long distance from the rear, seriously disjointed. ”

"At that time, we can completely hold our line of defense and not go out, and we can wear down the Qing army. In a few months' time, the ice on the sea will melt, and at that time, we can launch a counteroffensive in Liaodong. Just like the year before, when the Qing army entered western Liaoning, we went up from northeast Liaodong to smash their lair. If the Qing army returns to defense, we can intercept it halfway, or we can withdraw our troops again, and then the Qing army can only run for its life. ”

Liu Zongzhou raised his concerns, "There are 150,000 anti-thieves, can our defense line really stop them?" ”

"Absolutely." Liu Jun said firmly. "And if we can't stop them, then we should shrink our defenses, rather than rescue Jinzhou for thousands of miles and fight with the thief army in western Liaoning. Of course, I can solemnly promise you here, not to mention the 150,000 anti-army, even if there are another 150,000, our defense line can be stopped. ”

Having said so much, Liu Jun just meant it anyway, and he was not interested in sending troops to Liaoxi.

In fact, Liu Jun just said what he said just now, such as sending troops from Liaodong to the north to smash the enemy's nest, etc., but it was just to comfort the emperor and ministers. In fact, in Liu Jun's plan, he had no intention of starting a full-scale war with the Qing army within three years.

Wars, especially wars of annihilation, are not fought so easily.

Liu Jun is not interested in going all out to fight a battle to destroy the Qing Dynasty now, which will consume too much of his energy. The strength of the Qing army is still very strong, and Liu Jun plans to use other means to weaken the Qing army first.

Just like now, letting the Qing army take the initiative to attack is far more cost-effective than going to Liaodong to fight with all their might.

War is in the service of politics, and wars must be fought with a purpose. It's like doing business, you have to calculate it before you can do it. According to Liu Jun's plan, after the Qing army suffered that defeat, the subsequent terrible influence has not really been shown. There is no need to rush to Liaodong to attack immediately, as long as the Hou Qing are given enough pressure to continue to blockade their economy, and then divide the Mongol and Jurchen tribes conquered by the original Qing army, and then occasionally attack and disturb, and send spies to do some sabotage or something.

If we persist in this way for three or five years, the Manchu Qing Dynasty itself will completely collapse, and then various problems such as insufficient population and insufficient food will erupt.

The Manchus originally relied on all kinds of robberies, robbing people, money, and food to maintain their expansion and maintain the combat effectiveness of their army. And when they can't grab anything anymore, they have lost countless people and territory, and they have lost the tribute, taxes, and military labor of those affiliated tribes, how long can they hold on?

Think about the Sui and Tang dynasties in history, Goguryeo is not as good as the Manchu Qing Dynasty. And how powerful the Sui Dynasty was in its heyday, it could be attacked and fought hard, and the result was that both sides were defeated, and the Sui Dynasty died before Goguryeo. The Tang Dynasty continued to fight strongly, but as a result, such a powerful figure as Li Shimin still returned with a feather.

In the end, Tang Gaozong changed his strategy, reduced the scale of the troops, and at the same time engaged in multi-front operations, and united with Silla to use troops together. After a long war, Goguryeo finally couldn't hold on and collapsed first, and was finally wiped out in one fell swoop.

This is similar to the DPRK in later generations, which was already a small country, and as a result, it used all its national strength to engage in national defense and war preparedness, and pursued the Songun policy, with the result that although the small country had millions of troops, after a long time, the other domestic systems collapsed.

All your strong men go to serve as soldiers, and the materials are used to produce armaments, and it is okay for a short time, but it is only a problem if it does not collapse for a long time.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty was rotten and the army was unbearable, unable to resist the attack of the Qing army, and unable to resist their entry and plunder, so this strategy of sitting back and watching success or failure naturally did not work.

But now, with the combat effectiveness of the Chu army, it does not take the initiative to attack, but defends, and the Qing army will not be able to take advantage no matter how much it fights. If you fight, you will only lose more and more.

Liu Jun doesn't need to endure it for long, there are three years, and when the time comes, he can kill with one blow.

However, in the end, Wu Fu still did not agree to Zuo Liangyu leading his troops to withdraw from Jinzhou, but he reluctantly agreed not to mobilize troops and horses to reinforce Jinzhou for the time being.

"Let Zuo Liangyu stick to Jinzhou first."

Liu Zongzhou expressed his support for Wu Fu. Liu Jun just smiled at this result. Either fight or defend, what is this kind of agreement not to reinforce Jinzhou, but also not to withdraw Zuo Liangyu? Isn't this pit Zuo Liangyu?

"Brother Huang, please come to the governor's towns to defend the soldiers and horses!" Zhu Cihong finally felt that only Liu Jun was more worthy of trust.

Liu Jun glanced at Wu Fu and Liu Zongzhou, and the two nodded.

"Qin sent Zhu Ciye to supervise the soldiers and horses of the towns of Zhili and the two military regions outside the Guan, and was fully responsible for the rebellion and counterinsurgency war, and the civil and military officials of Zhili, Shanxi, Liaodong, and Western Liaoxi Provinces and the general army of the towns listened to the moderation!" (To be continued.) )