For the multi-point landing of the Ming army, Xu Ping also had the idea of driving them into the sea at first, but he gave up this plan after going to Dengzhou in person and observing the Ming army's positions on the periphery. With the ability of sea transportation, the Ming army easily transported thousands of soldiers and built a strong port fortress, Xu Ping felt that attacking these fortresses was estimated to have great losses, in fact, it was true, the Ming army's fortress was built according to the scale of the attack that could defend against a field battalion of the Shun army, and it was also necessary to ensure that the Shun army could safely return to the sea when the pressure was too high.

Xu Ping also expected at the latter point, he saw the sails of the Southern Ming Navy outside the port of Dengzhou, when the Shun army had no control over the sea at all, the fortress attacking the Ming army would first be hit by the artillery fire of these enemy troops, and then it would be difficult to wipe out the defenders.

"If you mobilize troops and horses to attack them, you also need to transport heavy grain and grass," Xu Ping turned around and shook his head at Zhou Dongtian, who accompanied him, "It's better not to fight." ”

"Just leave them here?" Zhou Dongtian admitted that he didn't have any good options, but it was still an intolerable thing to watch the enemy army show off their might in his own territory.

"It's better to leave them here, if I'm sure I'll kill them, they'll be back after we're gone." With this long coastline, Xu Ping could not keep troops everywhere, and if he did not leave enough troops to threaten the enemy's landing, it would obviously be meaningless to spend huge manpower and material resources to pull out these ports.

However, what Xu Ping thought was meaningless, Shun Ting thought it was very meaningful, and the Prime Minister's Office thought that these strongholds must be uprooted in order to expel the Ming army from Shandong—this was a very politically significant matter, and Zhou Dongtian reminded Xu Ping of this: "The Prime Minister's Office is worried that the hundred officials and the vassal states will think that we have no strength to defend Shandong." ”

"In fact, we just don't have the strength to defend the whole territory of Shandong, this is not what we think but the truth, unless there is a strong sailor, they can come if they want, they can leave if they want, I just leave a large army here in Dengzhou, they dare not land here here and go to other places." At present, the Ming army has established coastal fortresses in many places on the Jiaodong Peninsula, and the Nanming sea and land armies hope that they can consume the strength of the Shun army, although Xu Ping does not know the other party's thoughts but he is unwilling to sacrifice precious troops and materials for the impossible goal: "So many fortresses are pulled over one by one, even if the Nanming no longer lands, our army will be greatly weakened, and it will be difficult to block the Ming army's attack on Jianghuai." ”

"Then leave them alone?" Zhou Dongtian was also very angry when he saw the Ming army setting up strongholds along the coast so unscrupulously, so he thought that at least one should be laid down to deter the Ming army, and he thought that this had another advantage: "If the adults think that Dengzhou is not easy to fight, we will fight a small one, and then they will not dare to be so rampant, and each must garrison more officers and soldiers to ensure safety." ”

"We really can't control it before we don't have a water division, and why threaten them, in my opinion, the more strongholds they have, the better, they need to build fortresses everywhere, they need garrisons, and if it's too much, we can also use it to train troops." Xu Ping thought about it very much, and he basically did not consider the political factors of the Prime Minister's Mansion, but simply thought about the problem from the military aspect: "Their supplies have to be transported from thousands of miles away, and building more strongholds will require more supply lines and construction work, which will consume the national strength of the Duke of Qi, which means that their troops in the Jianghuai battlefield are even worse." ”

At Xu Ping's insistence, the Shun army suspended all counterattacks against the Ming landing sites, and the Shandong Shun army judged that there was no need to hold on unless the value of the port held was greater than the value of the garrison garrison, and abandoned most of the coastal areas of the Shandong Peninsula. A number of alert troops were stationed in Xuping inland, and if the Ming army tried to attack inland from the coastal areas, these troops would consider facing it, so that Xu Ping could concentrate the most resources on the army.

As if to break Xu Ping's judgment, the Ming army that landed did further expand the coastal strongholds after waiting for the Shun army's counterattack, but as the coastal areas became more extensive, the opinion of the Southern Ming War Department became, and they also thought that it was a waste for the navy to spend a lot of money to maintain these coastal strongholds, and when the Shun army did not counterattack the coastal strongholds as they expected, the War Department began to wonder if it was a waste to send so many troops along the Shandong coast instead of throwing them into the Jianghuai battlefield.

But the Admiralty didn't see it that way, they thought it was good for gathering intelligence and diverting Xu Ping's attention - it was indeed slightly better for Xu Ping to be on the defensive now, but if he wanted to counterattack, then it would be difficult to ignore the many Ming strongholds behind him, which could become the starting point for the Ming army's attack. However, the War Department also objected to this, believing that with the strength of the Ming army, the Shun army could not launch a counterattack at all, and it was the best way to concentrate all its resources to launch a front-line horizontal push from the Yangtze River.

The Constituent Assembly, however, supported the Admiralty, which they felt was politically advantageous, could exert great pressure on the officials and people in the north, and that in the long run if the Chinese navy intended to leave the country for a larger scale of foreign operations, these would be invaluable experiences.

In order to further strengthen the military and political pressure on Li Shun, the Constituent Assembly suggested that the Admiralty should look for an opportunity to attack the port from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan, and they judged that Shunting might tolerate the capture of some ports in Shandong by the Ming army, but it would absolutely not tolerate the Ming army invading the Gyeonggi region and lingering, so if a port was established in the capacity, then it would be possible to mobilize the Shun army in Shandong and Anhui and build a meat grinder to polish the elite of the Shun army.

At the same time, the navy was reminded to avoid attacking Liao vassal ships as much as possible unless they attempted to enter the ports directly under the jurisdiction of Dashun, and any attempt to seize the ports of Liaodong was prohibited—as the military situation of the Ming army continued to improve, the Southern Ming were actively launching a political offensive against the Dashun vassal states.

However, the navy's attempt to seize Tientsin soon failed, not because of the strength of the Shun army's resistance, but because the ironclad ship, which had made many achievements in Dengzhou and other places, suddenly lost power, and after a day of shelling outside the port fortress, the sailors suddenly found that it could not be activated anyway. At this time, the other sail warships could not sail into the port fortress that had not yet lost their combat effectiveness, and the Shun army began to try to send small boats to attack the iron turtle after discovering the embarrassment of the Ming warships.

After repelling several attacks by the Shun army, the sailors on the ship were unable to restore the power of the ironclad ship until midnight, and finally had to chisel the bottom of the ship and abandon the ship, swimming back to the Ming fleet moored outside the harbor.

After abandoning the ship, the Ming army also had to abandon their plans to capture Tianjin, and at this time they also found that a large number of Gyeonggi Shun troops were rushing here, and eventually had to return to Shandong. Until many years later, Shi Tianyu still insisted that if Tanggu had been successfully captured that time, the end of the war would have been greatly earlier.

……

"Tianjin has been attacked," Zhong Guinian personally brought this report to the front line to find Xu Ping, although the attack was unsuccessful, Shunting was greatly shocked: "General Xu still thinks that Dengzhou and other places should not be recovered?" ”

Xu Ping read the report, raised his head and replied: "Yes, I don't think that the loss of the Ming army in Dengzhou will not be able to threaten Tianjin, their sailors can completely open from the mouth of the Yangtze River all the way to the mouth of Dagu, so if I expel the Ming army from Shandong, their threat to Tianjin will only be greater." Finally, Xu Ping added: "If I can really expel them." ”

Xu Ping's stubbornness made Zhong Guinian feel very angry, since his comeback, Dashun put the largest half of the military power in his hands, and in exchange for a period of retreat, first Nanjing was abandoned without a fight, then disobeyed and refused to recapture, and then completely abandoned Jiangnan, so that the war burned from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Anhui and Shandong, and gave up the coastal area without blinking, and now he is still indifferent to see that Gyeonggi is threatened.

"General Xu, the great victory must be achieved by attacking." Zhong Guinian would never call Xu Ping a general or His Royal Highness King Wu, and he said sharply: "Does General Xu think that he can win the world by retreating step by step?" ”

"I never think so, but in this situation, I have to think first of all about not being won by the enemy," Xu Ping knew that Zhong Guinian had another reason for complaining, that is, after the Ming army occupied the coastal ports, it was difficult to transport the materials from Liaodong to the front line, and the loss on the road became greater, Xu Ping explained: "Now that we have retreated from Jiangnan, the extra road has been saved......" In addition to transportation problems, Zhong Guinian always complained that smuggling has become less, and Xu Ping also has a statement about this, The cost of the Ming army to occupy these ports was much higher than the reduction in the amount of smuggling by the Shun army, and Xu Ping did not believe that the Ming army would be able to organize a blockade in the Bohai Sea with a few fewer ports—it was far from possible for the Shun army to clear every Ming stronghold and guarantee that they would never return.

"That's not a reason to let thieves encroach on our territory!"

"It's really not, but the lack of troops is a reason, if I have twenty field infantry battalions, then whether it is a counterattack on Nanjing or the coast of Qingjing Shandong, I will gladly obey; If there are forty of them, then the defense makes it impossible for me to do so. Xu Ping was unmoved, insisting on a sit-in against the actions of the Ming army in the coastal area: "Qi Guogong is squandering his strength, and now our best way is to wait, wait for Qi Guogong to make a mistake." ”

"What if General Xu can't wait?" Zhong Guinian also shouldered the orders of the Prime Minister's Mansion here, and the imperial court said that allowing the Ming army to move freely in this way would not only be detrimental to the morale of Dashun's army, but even the vassal states would lose confidence in the strength of the imperial court: "How long will General Xu wait?" ”

"I don't know what to wait for, and I don't dare say we can. But now I can't see any hope of victory, and I will only play in the arms of the Duke of Qi, so we have to wait, wait for him to go further and further on this wrong path, waste more national strength, and expose flaws to us. ”

"But the vassal kingdom questioned the prestige of the imperial court." Zhong Guinian finally turned over his hole cards, and since Da Shun withdrew from Jiangnan, its direct territory was not much more than that of the vassal state: "They will think that we are unable to recover Shandong." ”

"We really can't recover Shandong, it's precisely because we don't have this strength that we can't act rashly, is it possible that we are led by the nose by the enemy, and we can't even keep Jianghuai when we exhaust our strength, will the vassal state have more confidence in the imperial court?" Xu Ping was determined to stop this futile conversation: "My lord, I have heard that there is a new type of machine in the south that can produce arms and weapons in large quantities, and we should buy a few at a high price, and it is better to try to buy some craftsmen." ”

"Of course I know this, but General Xu has lost all my ports, who should I go to buy it?" Zhong Guinian replied angrily.

"While Tianjin is still in our hands, let's think of more ways."

……

Tianjin

As one of the largest coastal cities in the hands of the North, it is under the responsibility of a special governor, one of whose duties is to increase the volume of smuggling.

Although the Southern Army established blockades outside the Bohai Sea and the port of Tianjin, the profits from smuggling became more and more prohibitive as normal trade routes were disrupted, so many merchants in the south took the risk of hiring outlaw sailors to sneak across the blockade in fast boats, play hide-and-seek and race against Ming patrol ships at sea, and then sneak into the port at night.

Hu Chen, who has been serving on the front line for a long time, has just been approved by Xu Ping to return to Zhili to marry, this marriage has been hired long before he followed Xu Ping to hold the Shandong defense envoy, and then it was delayed because he fled, fortunately, his Yue's family is a pious and trustworthy person, and after Hu Chen was pardoned, he continued to make an appointment, this time Xu Ping specially approved Hu Chen to return to Beijing on a long vacation to marry on the one hand because he was ashamed of him in his heart, and on the other hand, he also wanted Hu Chen to go to Tianjin for him to take a look at the defense system, after all, this is the largest smuggling entrance in the north.

After receiving the order, Hu Chen did not want to go back to Beijing to marry first, but first rushed to Tianjin, and the current port guard was his old friend Zhang Shubo, who served in the guards battalion at the beginning, and was later transferred to the port as an errand boy.

Seeing his old comrades-in-arms coming, Zhang Shubo was also overjoyed, and couldn't help but say that Hu Chen must come to live in his house, claiming that his home is spacious and large, far more comfortable than the military camp - Hu Chen has an official document given by Xu Ping to live in the army's post house.

When I arrived at Zhang Shubo's temporary residence in Tianjin, I saw that it was really very decent, the two of them were wives and daughters who did not avoid their fateful friendship, and as soon as they entered the door, the owner called out two women and asked them to cook for Hu Chen and wash the dust. Seeing the somewhat confused expression on Hu Chen's face, Zhang Shubo explained with a smile: His wife is still staying in Beijing to take care of the children, and the concubines were bought in Tianjin.

Taking off his coat, Hu Chen revealed a military uniform full of patches, and Zhang Shubo only smacked his tongue when he saw it: "My brother is already a lieutenant colonel, and his military rank is higher than mine, how can he dress like this?" ”

"There is a lack of cloth in the army, and the clothes in His Highness are also mended and repaired." Hu Chen replied honestly: "Don't hide it, this time I came back to get married, and I have been saving up to pull two more feet of cloth for the Hun family." ”

After Jiangnan changed hands, the price of cloth in the north skyrocketed, and as for silk, it increased tenfold, and Hu Chen absolutely couldn't afford it.

His Royal Highness in Hu Chen's mouth could only refer to Xu Ping alone, and when he heard this, Zhang Shubo immediately couldn't do it, he was offended and hurriedly ran into the rear, and after half a sound, he came out with a concubine each holding a big bag.

Turning over the furoshiki, there were a few fine black lake cloths on it, Zhang Shubo asked Hu Chen to keep a little seat cover for himself, and brought the rest to Xu Ping: "This cloth is strong, and the dye does not fade, it can be regarded as a little filial piety to Your Highness." ”

The bag that Zhang Shubo's concubine was holding opened, and the first thing that caught her eye was a bright red silk, which was the first-class goods that Zhang Shubo deliberately took care of the woman just now, and this year's Zhejiang New Silk was woven: "I am entangled in military affairs, I can't go to Beijing to ask my brother for a glass of wine, bring this to my sister-in-law." ”

Hu Chen first stroked the silk horse in surprise, this kind of thing he couldn't buy even if he had money, and the other party gave it a horse...... Thinking of this, Hu Chen hurriedly stood up and excused himself: "It's too heavy." ”

"It's not heavy, it's not heavy, I really don't know that my brother is coming, and my little brother is already ashamed." Zhang Shu did not allow Hu Chen to refuse, and while pushing in front of him, he explained that these were all transported by smuggling ships.

"Shipped by private boat?" Hu Chen asked strangely, he remembered that Xu Ping once said that although the owners of the smuggling ships were for personal gain, they were great heroes to Dashun, and they took risks all the way to transport the saltpeter, weapons and machines that Dashun urgently needed to Zhili, and the things they sent from the south were of great significance to winning the war, so that the front-line soldiers could shed a lot less blood.

"yes." Zhang Shubo looked like he should be.

After listening to Hu Chen's question, Zhang Shubo smiled slightly: "Old Huang has ...... calendar"

Zhang Shubo told Hu Chen that although some merchants did initially buy machinery and arms from the south and sell them to Beishun, as the blockade of the southern army became stricter, they stopped smuggling these military supplies because their profits were far less than the various luxury goods.

As early as Dengzhou, smuggling ships became more and more reluctant to engage in high-risk and low-reward trading - if they sold weapons, munitions or machinery to the Shun army, they would definitely die if they were discovered by Nanming, and the price of military supplies purchased by the Shun court was limited, and the officials at all levels in the middle had to deal with it, otherwise they would be subjected to all kinds of difficulties; On the contrary, the punishment for smuggling luxury goods in the Southern Ming Dynasty was much lighter, and this kind of goods was also easy to buy, and it would not attract much attention when transported on ships, and after arriving in the north, everyone rushed to ask for luxury goods, and there was no need to bribe the government at all.

Turning over the red silk, Zhang Shubo picked up a piece of embroidery below, this kind of Suzhou embroidery is already priceless in Beijing, only the officials of Dashun can use the relationship to buy some cheaper, if ordinary people marry their daughters and marry relatives, they have to buy it at a very high price, even Tianjin City is also very expensive and the supply is long, not to mention other places.

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