Whether he wanted it or not, the war continued, and Liu Jun had to mobilize more soldiers and horses into Liao. A group of soldiers and horses crossed the Yangtze River, crossed the Liaohai Sea, boarded Lushun, and stationed in Zhenhai.

Jinzhou has become the bridgehead of the imperial court's counterattack on Liaodong, the Chu army from Huguang, the merchants from Shandong, and the people from Liaodong, here is busy and lively.

A large number of soldiers landed every day, countless people went to Taiwan by boat every day, and many merchant ships came and went. With the Golden State Fortress and the Golden State Canal, the 130 miles to the south have become a large island. A safe big island, safety coupled with a large flow of people, makes it full of business opportunities, and businessmen come to hear the news.

On a new day, Liu Jun's rooster crowed. After returning to Jinzhou, Liu Jun's life returned to its previous routine. Every day, the rooster crows, a sword practice, a rake, and then a horse out for a run along the canal bank, and finally jumps into the sea for a swim. After these were done, the sky was already bright, Liu Jun returned to the Admiral's Mansion in Jinzhou City to take a shower, changed into clean clothes, and his generals, staff officers, and advisers all arrived.

The Qing army was still besieging Jinzhou.

However, because Liu Jun had completely stabilized this bridgehead in southern Liaoning, Huang Taiji sent Kong Youde and other four generals to lead the Han army with a black flag to the south, and on the other hand, he had to garrison Liaoyang, and also arranged many soldiers and horses in Liaoyang and the surrounding areas, and did not dare to gather the whole army to besiege Jinzhou as in history.

Because of this, Hong Chengchou, who was the first to shout to destroy Yizhou, had gathered 180,000 soldiers and horses in Ningyuan, but he still did not immediately reinforce Jinzhou.

Jinzhou presents a strange battlefield situation.

Zu Dashou led his troops to hold Jinzhou and was surrounded by Qing troops on all sides. And Huangtaiji has Hong Suichou's 180,000 troops in Ningyuan, a hundred miles away from Jinzhou, and Liu Jun's tens of thousands of troops in Jinzhou, at the southern tip of the southern peninsula of Liaoyang. At the same time, at this time, the Bohai Sea was completely controlled by the Ming army's naval division, so although Jinzhou was besieged, it was hesitant and did not dare to lead a large army to attack Jinzhou.

On the side of the Ming army, although Hong Chengchou had a large army, he did not want to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army in Jinzhou immediately. As for Liu Jun. I don't want to be in Jinzhou or even in Liaodong and the Qing army.

It was like three fierce tigers meeting in the jungle, roaring at each other and putting on an attack posture, but no one dared to make rash moves.

The situation outside the customs is so strange, extremely unusually quiet.

Chongzhen sent internal envoys to Jinzhou several times and asked Liu Jun if he could send troops to attack Liaoyang or reinforce Jinzhou from the sea. The elite of the Ming army was gathered outside the pass, and Chongzhen believed that the Ming army had more than 200,000 troops. It was also equipped with a large number of artillery pieces, which should be able to defeat the Qing army.

But he needs the support of Hong Chengchou and Liu Jun, the two front-line marshals, and in the face of the emperor's eagerness, Liu Jun unchangeably reported every time that the decisive battle had not yet arrived.

Liu Jun opposed the decisive battle and still insisted on adopting an active defensive strategy against the Qing army, holding Jinzhou on one side and stationing in Jinzhou on the other hand, and containing the Qing army on both sides. Then step by step, they adopted a strategy of attack and harassment to hit the economy of the Qing army. Let it bleed to death.

In order to appease the emperor's heart, Liu Jun also played to the emperor again, he was about to send troops into North Korea, forcing North Korea to return to the Ming Dynasty, and also cut off the Qing army's arm, and prevented him from getting grain and grass from North Korea to help. Further weaken their strength.

Out of prudent considerations, Liu Jun was resolutely opposed to a strategic decisive battle with the Qing army now.

Fu Shan once asked a question that many high-ranking officers of the Nine Headed Bird wanted to ask, with the 200,000 troops of Ningjin and the 100,000 soldiers and horses of the Chu army, the strength of the Ming Dynasty was far superior to that of the Qing army. At this time, the decisive battle with the Qing army should be a great opportunity. Why did Liu Jun oppose the decisive battle and was unwilling at all?

Liu Jun reminded him of the Battle of Sarhu 22 years ago, when more than 100,000 Ming troops attacked, and the whole army was defeated, killing more than 50,000 men and horses. In the Battle of Guangning 18 years ago, Guangning Guang had 1450,000 troops, but the result was that the Tartars captured Guangning and captured more than 40 cities in western Liaoning.

After the defeat of Guangning, the imperial court not only completely lost Liaodong, but also lost hundreds of thousands of grains and a large amount of ordnance and armor in Guangning and other cities, and it was these money and grain that allowed the Tartars to pass through the most serious crisis moment.

Fighting a war has never been won by relying on a large number of soldiers and a small number of soldiers. In a hundred battles between the imperial court and the Jianyu, which one was won by relying on a large number of soldiers? On the contrary, the more troops there are, the more they take the initiative to attack, the worse they will be defeated.

This is because the number of troops there is, the more difficult it is to supply logistics and food, and the more troops there are, the more difficult it is to unify command and mobilization.

Although Liu Jun did not know the process of the war outside the Guanxi at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he knew that it was precisely because the Ming Dynasty buried the last elite of the imperial court outside the Guan, which led to the Central Plains bandits and the chaos in the Central Plains, which made the imperial court completely lose the ability to regroup and defend outside the Guanwai, and finally Beijing was broken by Li Zicheng first, and then the Qing army entered the customs to steal the world.

Liu Jun is no longer the first to come to the Ming Dynasty, he knows very well the true situation of the Ming army, the Wenchen commander, the eunuch supervising the army, and the soldiers under him are also uneven, and even the commanders and generals are still difficult to have consistent cooperation, and the imperial court departments always have to pull their hind legs, and the emperor has to command blindly, such an army is not to say 200,000, even more than 200,000, it may not be able to beat the Qing army with strong efficiency at this time.

Compared with the Qing army, what the Ming army lacked was efficiency, what was lacking was coordination, the Ming army was scattered, but the Qing army could be united. If the Ming army defended the city, it was fine, but if it took the initiative to attack, it would be self-defeating. If it is just defense, then Liu Jun is undoubtedly more suitable to garrison Jinzhou, it will not increase the burden on Ning Jin, and it can also contain the enemy separately.

If it was to attack, then Liu Jun thought that it was not the right time at all, no matter what, Liu Jun did not think that the Ming army had much advantage over the Qing army at this time.

Liu Jun decided to send troops to North Korea.

Many generals said that Liu Jun bullied the soft and was afraid of the hard, and Liu Jun told them that this is called persimmon picking soft pinching, avoiding the real and attacking the false, which is also the best strategy of the art of war. If you have to go hard, it's just stupidity and not courage.

Chongzhen finally gave up and forced Liu Jun to go to Jinzhou, or attack Liaoyang. Because Liu Jun was resolutely opposed, and because Hong Chengchou was also opposed to the immediate decisive battle with the Qing army at this time.

Although Hong Chengchou advocated gathering troops and horses to destroy Yizhou at the beginning, now Hong Chengchou has a completely different attitude. Hong Chengchou said that the situation is changing now, and after the Chu army occupied Jinzhou and swept southern Liaoning, it dealt a heavy blow to the Qing army, and now it is the Qing army that is difficult to ride a tiger. Therefore, he insisted on not changing and responding to all changes. As long as the Qing army dares to make any abnormal moves and send troops to attack any way in Jinzhou or Jinzhou, then the imperial army can strike a preemptive attack to counter-encircle, or take the opportunity to counterattack.

Actually, of course. Hong Chengchou considered more that Liu Jun was fully opposed to the decisive battle at this time, and without Liu Jun's support, although Hong Chengchou held an army of 200,000, he did not have much confidence in a decisive battle with Huang Taiji. In the current situation, the two armies are facing each other, Hong Chengchou is invincible, and whether it is the military generals of Liaoxi or the imperial court, they all respond to his needs. And once the war starts, there is no support from Liu Jun. If he is defeated, even if he loses, he will definitely be impeached or even demoted and removed from office. In that case, then why fight?

Anyway, now the army of Huangtaiji is still stationed in Liaoyang, relying on these Qing troops outside Jinzhou, they will not be able to break Jinzhou City for a while.

However, at the beginning, Hong Chengchou strongly advocated sending troops, and now the imperial court has transferred troops. and did not fight, which inevitably made the emperor angry. For this. Hong Chengchou discussed with Gao Qiqian, the director of Guanning, Qiu Minyang, the new governor of Liaodong, Sun Chuanting, the governor of Liao, and Qin Liangyu, Wu Sangui, and other commanders of the thirteen towns.

"Today, if you don't keep your word, you will defend and fight, and then you can defend it. And the war is not a wave war, it will be a surprise, and then it can be defended. ”

Hong Chengchou's words. It shows that he is not afraid to fight, but thinks that it is more suitable for the defensive position at the moment. But he didn't just intend to defend blindly, but to defend and fight. However, after showing his attitude of daring to fight, he is also strong, although he must fight, he can't always blindly go head-to-head. Like the Duke of Chu, it is necessary to adopt a variety of flexible combat methods, such as surprise attacks, ambushes, etc., in order to avoid head-to-head confrontation, decisive battles with the enemy, and fall into the hope of the Qing army, and to strike and consume the enemy.

As soon as Hong Chengchou's words fell, Wu Sangui, the chief military officer of Ningyuan, immediately answered and asked him to fight. Wu Sangui is the nephew of Zu Dashou, the chief soldier of Jinzhou, who is also a student of Hong Chengchou, and the righteous son of the director Gao Qiqian. Now Guanning has Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan, Jinzhou three towns, Wu Sangui, the Ningyuan general soldier is extremely trusted by Honggao, and the ancestors and Wu are the generals of Liaoxi, and their status in the Guanning army is transcendent, and many generals are their children and protégés.

What's more, Wu Sangui is also famous for his loyalty and filial piety, and he is also deeply valued by the emperor, and is known as a young famous general on a par with the Duke of Chu today.

Wu Sangui took the initiative to ask for war and was willing to lead his troops to attack the Qing army on the outskirts of Jinzhou. Since returning from Hubei, Wu Sangui's confidence has increased greatly, and he has brought back from Hubei 10,000 flying dragon guns, 100 Hongyi cannons, and hundreds of various small cannons. Wu Sangui gave most of the batch of arms to his Ningyuan army, and now the soldiers and horses of Ningyuan Town under his command are the most powerful one of the firearms and horses assembled in western Liaoning, followed by Qin Liangyu, the general soldier of Sichuan.

With these firearms, Wu Sangui was very confident, and his uncle was surrounded by Jinzhou City, so he couldn't wait to send troops to attack, and he tried it well.

Hong Chengchou was very satisfied with Wu Sangui's initiative to ask for battle.

"General Wu's courage is commendable, this official granted your request, and ordered you to lead your troops and horses into Songshan in the south of Jinzhou."

Qin Liangyu also took the initiative to ask for battle at this time, "Please allow the old man to lead the Sichuan soldiers to fight and recover the blood debt from Jianyu." ”

"Madame doesn't let me have eyebrows, this official admires, and this official also allows you to request, and orders you to lead your troops and horses to enter the south of Songshan."

"Governor Xie is complete!" Qin Liangyu got up and took the order.

Subsequently, Hong Chengchou asked Sun Chuanting to lead the Shaanxi army to defend Tashan, and ordered Liu Zhaoji, the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, to guard the Bijia Pavilion, and set the Bijia Pavilion as a place for the storage of grain and grass from Shandong by sea, so as to transport and supply the armies of Songshan, Xingshan, and Tashan. And Hong Chengchou led an army of 100,000 and continued to garrison Ningyuan.

Hong Chengchou's layout is still the defense of two cities and three mountains, the two cities are Jinzhou Ningyuan, and the three mountains are the three coastal mountains between the two cities, on which there are city fortresses. These two cities and three mountains tightly hold the narrow corridor of western Liaoning. Moreover, since the Bohai Sea was controlled by the imperial navy, the two cities and three mountains could also receive support from the sea.

Wu Sangui grinded his fists, ready to beat the Qing army with his newly obtained fire cannon to rescue his uncle and grandfather, and at the same time play his prestige and win fame.

Qin Liangyu is also preparing, she wants to recover the blood debt from the Qing army, the battle of Shenyang that year, thousands of white-pole soldiers fought in the Hunhe River, and the whole army was annihilated.

In Jinzhou, when the morning sun rose, Liu Jun also held a military meeting in the newly built Jinzhou Fortress.

The dispatch of troops to Korea has been approved by the emperor, and now the question of how to fight is to be discussed.

"My plan is to divide the troops into two routes, all the way to the Yalu River, reoccupy the Zhenjiang that we destroyed last time, and send craftsmen to build a fortress, and at the same time send troops to seize the Korean city of Uiju on the south bank of the Yalu River, not far from Zhenjiang, and build a fortress in Uiju. In addition, a fort was established to stabilize the iron mountain on the southern coast of the mouth of the Yalu River. ”

Liu Jun's intention was obvious: between the Qing army and Korea, on both sides of the Yalu River and on the southern coast and islands, to establish three fortresses, and completely cut off the connection between Korea and the Qing army.

"From today, the Beiyang Third Fleet stationed on Miao Island has moved to Phi Island. Based on Phi Island and Shenmi Island, it cooperated with the 4563rd of the 3rd Division to build the three cities of Zhenjiang, Yiju and Tiesan, and defended the three cities. ”

"The fifth, sixth, and two divisions are six Xiejinzhou, and the second fleet is stationed in Qingni Port." Liu Jun pointed his finger on the sand table in the war room, "I will personally lead the second and fourth divisions and the first fleet to directly send troops to Seoul, North Korea, from the sea. ”

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, the Qing army attacked Korea, surrounded the king Li Liang, forced the North Korean to execute the main war faction, changed to the Qing Dynasty to pay tribute, and opened the mutual market. Subsequently, the Qing army withdrew to Liaodong.

At this time, there was no Qing garrison in Korea.

However, the small country of North Korea, which survived in the gap between the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, was originally grateful to the Ming Dynasty for sending troops to North Korea to help them drive away the Japanese and restore the country, but after being directly hit by North Korea twice, they could only fall to the Qing Dynasty. It was open to the Qing Dynasty, provided grain and grass, and even sent Korean soldiers to attack the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Jun attaches great importance to North Korea, and although North Korea is very weak, it has a large population. If the Qing army was allowed to control Korea, then the Qing Dynasty would be able to get a large amount of support from Korea in terms of population, grain and grass.

But Liu Jun is also very optimistic about this dispatch of troops to North Korea. Korea did not have any strength, and there were no Qing troops stationed in the territory. Liu Jun didn't even need to travel thousands of miles from the land, he arrived directly at sea to land near Seoul, and then his troops came to the city, and then as long as the Korean monarchs and ministers saw the strength of the nine-headed bird, they naturally knew how to choose.

In fact, if it weren't for the strong strength of the Qing army, North Korea would have always been devoted to the Ming Dynasty, but they called themselves Little China and regarded the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain. (To be continued......)