Liu Jun sat alone at the table, tasting the mellow ginseng oolong tea. A group of young and beautiful Korean maids, many of whom were daughters of Korean princes and nobles, were cleaning the room. After the Qing army surrendered to the Qing king during the second invasion of Korea, although the Qing army agreed to their families to redeem them, because the price was too high, most of the women were finally rewarded by Huang Taiji to the Manchu Eight Banners nobles, and many more were pulled to the Shenyang market to be openly sold.

The Chu army went north, breaking through many Qing army towns along the way, and many Korean women also fell into the hands of the Chu army. For those with more valuable status, Liu Jun promised to send them back to North Korea in the future, but for the time being, they can only stay in the Chu military camp now.

They were very grateful, and many of them were eager to make a promise.

After tidying up the house, they retreated.

At this time, Zhang Peng walked in, the Liaodong Army pacification envoy, walking in the dark for Liu Jun. "My lord, the matter is done."

"Oh." Liu Jun stretched out his hand and rubbed his temples and answered. "Clean the tails of your hands."

"Rest assured, it's pretty clean." Zhang Peng said in a low voice.

Liu Jun nodded, "That's good, I don't want to know the process, I only care about the result." ”

Zhang Peng stepped back and left a letter on the table. Liu Jun picked up the letter, opened it and looked at it a few times, and sneered a few times, "Count the romantic characters, and it seems that you will have to drink less in the future." With that, he threw the letter directly into the brazier and watched him turn to ashes little by little.

On the same day, a major event occurred in Shaling Fort, Fan Zhiwan, the governor of Zhenjiang in the fort, wanted to force a Jurchen female prisoner, but when the overlord was forced to bow down, he was bitten off the thing and unfortunately died tragically. He became the highest-ranking official killed in battle since the Liaodong Army conquered Liao.

When the news came out, Governor Liu Jun, Governor Fu Zonglong, and Governor Li Chunjiang expressed regret. However, for the sake of Governor Fan's reputation, the final statement to the court and to the soldiers was that Governor Fan was killed by assassins sent by the Tartars. However, Governor Fan's strong daughter was bitten off and died if she couldn't do it, and she still didn't go away, and finally the whole army knew.

"Fan Zhiwan really embarrassed our Da Ming." Li Chunjiang looked at the coffin containing Fan Zhiwan's body. Said with a look of disgust.

"There are a lot of people like this, and I'm not surprised by it." Liu Jun replied. He looked at his old friend, this year's new champion, the middle champion has only been a year, and he is already the governor of the admiral. From himself and this brother, he can already see that Chongzhen's employment is already a little eclectic. But think about the last chief assistant of the Chongzhen Dynasty in history. It seems that it is also the third year of the champion, and he became the first assistant, which is not too strange.

After all, compared to Shoufu, the governor is obviously far behind.

But no matter how eclectic Chongzhen is in employing people, he can't save Daming. Originally, Liu Jun also felt that the death of the Ming Dynasty had nothing to do with Chongzhen, and the Ming Dynasty died from the courtiers rather than the emperor, but now. But he felt that the Ming Dynasty was ruined. Chongzhen has a great responsibility.

Don't talk about the unknown person, the key is that he won't use the right person if he has excellent and suitable people. Don't say anything about Yuan Chonghuan, Lu Xiangsheng, etc., such as the defeat in Liaoxi this time.

When he shouldn't use troops impulsively, Chongzhen couldn't help but mobilize the elite to launch a counteroffensive in western Liaoning, and as a result, he was defeated. not only defeated the elite of the imperial court. It also made the Central Plains empty, and the bandits were able to resurrect and make a comeback again. For example, now, the Liaodong Army can still kill Huang Taiji and break Liaoyang to encircle Shenyang, which fully shows the elite of this army of soldiers and horses, but at this time, Chongzhen did not dare to fight. He wants to make peace.

The people who negotiate don't need it, and the people who shouldn't trust it trust unconditionally. Refuse to retreat when it is time to endure and retreat, and retreat again when it is time to go up.

If it weren't for the purpose of borrowing the shell of Daming, Liu Jun would have rebelled a long time ago.

"What are you going to do now?" Li Chunjiang asked. He couldn't understand Liu Jun's thoughts, and after breaking Liaoyang, Liu Jun insisted on going north to attack Shenyang. But now outside Shenyang, Liu Jun did not attack, and Dolgon and others had already returned to help, and he did not retreat.

Liu Jun kneaded his temples and took a sip of tea, "Your Majesty wants to negotiate peace, so we will negotiate peace with the Tartars." ”

"Then why didn't you withdraw and insist on garrisoning Shenyang City? Didn't there already be a report from Liaoyang that Dolgon had arrived at the city of Liaoyang and was about to attack the city? Aren't you afraid that if Liaoyang can't be defended, then Hailiao will be lost, the retreat will be lost, and we will be surrounded in Shenyang? ”

Liu Jun poured himself a cup of tea, "Oh, Gongji, you have been away from the nine-headed bird for too long, and you don't know the nine-headed bird today." We are no longer the nine-headed bird we were back then, and at that time, we still relied on our own Qi Shaobao's military book to train our troops. Today, our ships are strong and fierce, and the tactics of the Hydra have completely changed. ”

"The 10,000 Chu army dare not say that it can defeat the 50,000 Qing army head-on, but if you can defend the city, you can definitely block the 50,000 Qing army from attacking the city."

Li Chunjiang frowned, still not quite understanding Liu Jun's thoughts.

"Sometimes, you don't have to storm a city to win." Liu Jun smiled at Li Chunjiang and said, "Today's nine-headed bird is good at attacking and defending cities, and no one can fight such a positional battle." But we still have weaknesses, for example, our field combat ability is not strong, especially we can't fight encounters with elite cavalry like the Qing army in the field. ”

"So what?"

"I'll tell you the truth, I originally planned to take advantage of our artillery to attack Shenyang before Dolgon came back to help. However, the actual situation is that there are many castles on the outskirts of Shenyang, the weather is cold and the roads are difficult to navigate, and the number of soldiers and horses assembled in Shenyang is very large, so it is not suitable for us to storm Shenyang again. ”

"In that case, why not withdraw?"

"For we will put pressure on the Tartars to sue for peace, on our terms." Liu Jun replied that if he really wanted to attack Shenyang, Liu Jun believed that he could still take it. But there will certainly be great casualties. Liu Jun didn't want to fight hard, but as long as Liu Jun didn't leave and guarded the fortress outside the city, there was nothing he could do with him like a tartar.

As a result, the two sides confronted each other in Shenyang, and the Tartars could only retreat to defend Shenyang, and could no longer divide their troops in Liaoxi. Of course, Liu Jun dared to do this, firstly, because the Chu army had a strong ability to defend the city and was not afraid of the Qing army besieging the city. You must know that in history, when Zheng Chenggong attacked Taiwan, tens of thousands of people fought thousands of Dutch, but they also relied on siege warfare for more than a year before forcing the isolated Dutch to surrender.

In contemporaneous Europe, the massive use of artillery and firearms changed the way warfare was conducted. The traditional castle was difficult to resist the attack of the new guns, and the castle was quickly changed to a new type of castle fortress in the style of a fortress, with the defense of guns, which made the siege difficult again, and in the European theater at this time, to capture a new castle, often still had to rely on a long-term siege.

With new artillery, it is difficult to capture a fortress defended by new guns, not to mention that the Qing army is just a traditional army that relies on cavalry and archery?

"Anyway, it's winter, the rivers and seas are frozen, and without the help of the sailors, it will be very dangerous for us to retreat from the land. Therefore, we will simply stay in Liaoshen now, let the Tartars want to fight but can't fight, want to catch up but can't drive away, let's make them restless, and then negotiate peace with the Tartars, they will be much more sincere. When the glacier thaws next year, when the sailors go up the river, we will be able to evacuate safely. ”

In the final analysis, this is the real reason why Liu Jun continues to stay in Liaodong.

The winter retreat is too dangerous, without the assistance of the sailors, once it is pursued by the Qing army in the field, it is an extremely dangerous thing. Even if they can be repulsed, they will have to suffer heavy casualties. In case the Tartars desperately gathered an army and were determined to devour them, then Liu Jun would have no place to cry at that time. Because of this, Liu Junna resolutely guarded these castles and did not leave, anyway, there was food and ammunition in the castles.

And with the Chu army's ability to defend the city with guns, there is no need to gather soldiers and horses, the Tartars want to attack, and they will only be the ones who will be deceived.

After a long time, Li Chunjiang finally understood Liu Jun's true thoughts.

He understood that Liu Jun no longer planned to storm Shenyang, where the army had returned, but the current situation was not suitable for the Chu army to retreat, so Liu Jun relied on the Chu army's ability to defend the city in Liaoshen, but he was actually waiting for the winter to pass and waiting for the sailors to respond to the retreat. During this period, he fought wits and courage with the Tartars by the way, consumed a while, and forced the Tartars to sue for peace.

"If you want to negotiate peace, why haven't you sent someone to contact the Tartars until now?"

"What's the hurry, discuss this matter, whoever speaks first will fall first, we have to let the Tartar speak first, and then we can occupy an advantageous position."

Knowing Liu Jun's true intentions, Li Chunjiang was also much more relieved.

"Can we really hold off the Tartars' counterattack and siege? Don't need to gather your troops and horses? ”

"Not necessarily."

"Then do we have enough food, grass and ammunition?"

"Sufficient, very sufficient."

"Then I'll be relieved."

"Report!" The intelligence staff officer reported loudly outside.

"Come in." Liu Jun shouted, the staff officer came in, and Liu Jun asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Commander, the information that the scout cavalry has just sent back, after Azig divided his troops to attack the northern Black Flag Army stationed in Zhucheng failed, he has adjusted his strategy, he is gathering the seven soldiers and horses outside the city, and has already aimed at Puhe City, preparing to gather 20,000 soldiers and horses to take Puhe City first. The General Staff asked for instructions on whether it was necessary to send troops to reinforce Puhe City. ”

Liu Jun was not surprised when he heard this. It is normal for the Tartars to concentrate their forces to attack the fortress of the Chu army. Previously, the Azig soldiers were divided into seven ways, which was overconfidence. After losing more than 2,000 people, I finally understood that even if it was a Black Flag Army, it was not the Black Flag Army of the past. These Black Flag Army, which surrendered to the Chu army, have now become a hard bone, much harder than before.

Azig's idea is not bad, but the Ming army in Puhe City is an ordinary Ming army, and that is the Chu army. Even if there are only five hundred people, it is not so easy to fight.

Fighting this siege with the traditional outdated concept of combat, Azig will definitely have to suffer losses and spend money to buy experience.

"Don't worry, Pingluo Fort is twenty miles west of Puhe City, and there are five thousand and nine-headed birds there, ready to support at any time. It's good to let Pingluobao keep an eye on Puhe City, but there is no need to rush to send troops. After a deep sigh, Liu Jun continued, "Order the Black Flag Army of Fushun, Huiyuan, Dongzhou, and Fuxi Forts to continue to sweep east and north. ”

Since Azig gathered all his soldiers and horses to fight the Pu River, Liu Jun let the Black Flag Army continue to sweep the northeast and northeast.

Anyway, the winter in the Northeast is still very long, and Liu Jun doesn't mind playing more with the Qing army. (To be continued.) )