Houjin is short of money, in fact, not only money, but all the materials they lack.

Originally, Liaodong, especially the territory north of Liaodong, was vast and sparsely populated, and it was a wilderness area where no one could be seen for hundreds of miles. Houjin chose to establish a country here, one is that this is the Jurchen tribe, that is, the settlement of the Manchus, and Nurhachi has a mass base here. Second, the south of Liaodong is the territory of the Han people, and Nurhachi, a Manchurian, is not recognized by anyone at all, especially when he made his fortune, he only relied on more than a dozen pieces of armor, which is equivalent to using a lollipop to catch a green tea. in general, it is better to use RMB directly, 500 once, 1000 overnight...... Ahem, off topic.

In today's Houjin, almost all the materials are looted from Daming, and the proportion is as high as 60%-75%. The remaining 10% came from normal border trade with the Han Chinese, and 15%-30% from the smuggling trade of Jin merchants.

Here in Daming, Houjin robbed not only materials, but also population. Only by plundering a large number of Han people can they make their territory more prosperous, and the most important thing is that there are more Han slaves, so that those raw and mature Jurchen tribes who are struggling on the food and clothing line can put down the whip in their hands and pick up the scimitar and strong bow that kills.

Once you have enjoyed the unparalleled privileges, from a bitter haha who worries about tomorrow's meal, to a Manchu master, that taste will never be forgotten, and it will never be allowed to be lost again. In order to maintain this privilege, the Manchurians are surprisingly united, after all, everyone's interests are the same.

Unlike the discord between the Ming monarchs and ministers, and even the factions of the courtiers, the united Houjin combat power is naturally stronger, and the most important thing is that no one will deliberately drag their feet. If Daming's side can do this, Houjin will be a fourth-rate small state at most in his life, and he won't be able to turn up any wind at all.

In any case, today's Houjin has become a major heart disease of the border army. Their duty is to defend the border from being invaded, but the strong combat effectiveness of the Houjin makes them feel uneasy, and they wish they would never go south. But it is naturally impossible for the other party not to go south, so once such a situation occurs, he can only find a way to defend the city and deal with it carefully, at least to ensure that a few of his key strongholds do not fall into the hands of Houjin.

This year is the fourth year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1631, and the Spring Festival has just passed, and the envoy from Houjin came to the border position. Of course, he didn't come here on purpose, but he had to pass through here to go south.

"Oh, Houjin sent an envoy and wanted to live in peace with my Ming for a while? If that's the case, that's a great thing! "Zu Dashou, the general of the border army, was a little excited.

If Da Ming and Hou Jin live in peace, then at least for a long time, there is no need to worry about war. You don't have to live a life of worrying and being afraid. Since Mao Wenlong was killed by Yuan Chonghuan, and then Yuan Chonghuan was killed by Chongzhen, the border army has not had a good time.

"Dashuai, if Daming and Houjin reconcile, I'm afraid it's a good thing for Daming, but it's not necessarily a good thing for us!" Zu Dashou's staff said.

"What do you mean?" Zu Dashou was a little unhappy.

"Since he can't fight, with the emperor's miserliness, do you think he will still spend a lot of money on us?" The staff said excitedly.

Only then did Zu Dashou react, the reason why these people are so keen to stay in this desolate and dangerous place is actually for this salary! Millions of salaries are paid every year, and everyone can get a large amount of silver. But if Daming and Houjin can't fight, then Liao's salary will inevitably be reduced or even abolished. In other words, the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver that could be obtained every year were gone in a blink of an eye.

According to this line of thinking, Da Ming and Hou Jin really can't get along peacefully, otherwise this is irresponsible to their border troops.

"So, kill him?" Zu Dashou made a gesture.

"Good!" The staff thought for a moment, "But what if Houjin is angered by this, and they go south to attack us?" ”

"And let him go?" Zu Dashou thought about it and asked again.

"According to the current situation, it can only be like this...... "The staff member said depressedly, not because he didn't want to fight for the best interests, but because he had no choice.

If the army of the Ming Dynasty was stronger and better at fighting...... Forget it, there are not so many ifs, the fact is that Da Ming did not dare to fight with Houjin Ye at all. If Houjin is a gang of robbers, then they are a gang of bandits, fierce Cheng dù even the elite of Liaodong have to be afraid of three points...... Well, it's actually six points.

The envoy rested in the Liao army camp for a night, and then went south the next day.

Looking at his distant figure, the generals of the Liao army were unwilling, but they had to face this helpless fact. At most, I comforted myself in my heart that I didn't need to worry about it in the past few years. Anyway, I've made a lot of money in the past few years, and I've finally been able to enjoy it a little bit after a few years of peace.

With such a mood, the vigilance of the Liao army was naturally much looser.

The only one who did not relax was Sun Chengzong, a sixty-eight-year-old man who was only one year younger than Xu Guangqi, who was in the area of the Daling River at the moment, and in accordance with the original policy, rushed to build the Daling River City for the third time. This is the most critical stronghold city, once established, then it can be used as horns with other cities to jointly resist Houjin, and the difficulty of Houjin's southward movement will also be increased to the extreme.

This city was built twice before and after, but it was destroyed by the Houjin faction. Houjin is not a fool either, who would obediently let Daming build a stronghold that would make it difficult for him? Besides, this city was not built for a day, and the Ming army was in a state of defenselessness, and Houjin was not afraid of any field battles.

"Houjin wants to negotiate peace with us? Isn't it too idle lately, who took a walk with rumors? "Sun Chengzong doesn't believe in the news of the post-Jin peace.

"Back to the elder, this envoy has already gone south to the north and Zhili, is this still fake?" The cronie said with a wry smile.

"Then let me ask you, if you were a general of Houjin, would you allow me to build a city here?" Sun Chengzong pointed to the Dalinghe City that was being built.

"Probably not!" cronies are also uncertain.

"That's right, there must be a deception, I have to go back and have a good talk with those brainless reckless people!" Sun Chengzong really couldn't rest assured.

Not long after, Sun Chengzong returned to the garrison of the Liao army, and summoned Zu Dashou and others to inquire in detail about the beginning and end of the peace negotiation. Where did Zu Dashou dare to show his face with this former pavilion elder who abandoned literature and martial arts, naturally he knew everything and said everything.

"No, very badly! I'm afraid that Houjin's move is only intended to confuse us, and their people may have already begun to go south! "Sun Chengzong is not a nerd who reads books and reads stupidly, and his military literacy is also very powerful.

"Hey, I said Elder Ge, this envoy has been going south for so many days, if there is any movement, I am afraid that we will find out long ago if we don't close the night. Otherwise, I'll take someone to Dalinghe City to garrison for a period of time, and check for you, Elder Ge? Zu Dashou saw that Sun Chengzong didn't believe it, so he decisively showed goodwill.

As he thought, Hou Jin really had a movement, and he had already reported it if he sent out at night, but now that the wind was calm, I was afraid that there was no danger. It's rare to be loyal and sell a good, why not?

"It's okay, but be careful, bring enough weapons and equipment, maybe when, you'll have to fight Houjin head-on!" Sun Chengzong admonished.

"Okay!" Zu Dashou didn't think so, but he still prepared according to Sun Chengzong's instructions before setting off.

As a result, he was depressed......

It has only been less than two days since I came to Dalinghe City, and I haven't slept well yet, and the news came at night, and Houjin launched a surprise attack, and the soldiers were killing towards Dalinghe City in two ways, and they would arrive here in the evening at most.

Zu Dashou has all the thoughts of crying, he is just planning to sell his personal favor, why did he make it true and turn it into a contact war with Houjin?

Of course, as a border army general, especially an excellent border army general, Zu Dashou was not frustrated and did not complain, but organized manpower to defend as soon as possible, and prepared fortifications to the greatest extent.

As a smart person, or as a smart person who can still live until now as a border soldier, he only knows one rule: run away, Da Ming and Hou Jin can kill themselves; Fight with Houjin head-on, grab a few heads and then escape, then it will be calm. The most important thing is that the enemy is about to kill here, and the other party has a large number of horses, but there are not many war horses on his side, and if he really wants to escape, the possibility of being pursued and routed is very high.

Rather than this, it is better to stay here, and perhaps there is a turnaround.

In the evening, the Houjin and Jin armies came to Dalinghe City and surrounded the city.