Chongzhen nineteen years, Chinese New Year's Eve.

In Nanjing this year, the fireworks on Chinese New Year's Eve are even brighter than last year.

Because last year, only the Forbidden City and a few wealthy families set off fireworks, but this year's Chinese New Year's Eve, almost every household is enjoying fireworks.

Zheng Sen even brought fireworks to the sky.

This kid is not afraid of fireworks and igniting his speeding car.

Looking at the brilliant fireworks patterns blooming in the night sky, Chongzhen muttered, "It's another year." ”

"yes, another year." Zhu Cihong said with an excited face, "The Ming Dynasty is also more prosperous, if nothing else, you can go on the Northern Expedition in the new year." ”

"Northern Expedition?" Zhu Cijiong looked forward to it.

Zhu Cizhi didn't care about these topics, and only cared about releasing mice.

After lighting a ground mouse, he jumped to his feet and cheered at the ground hairy rats scurrying all over the ground, the happiness of the bear child is as simple as that, what does state affairs have to do with me?

Kang Xi hugged Zhu Heyi, who was tightly wrapped, and stood far away under the eaves.

Ran Sanniang accompanied Kang Xi and whispered, glancing at the infant eldest grandson with envious eyes from time to time.

All in all, the Holy Lord has cultivated her land no less than fifty times, and her land is not fertile, but there is no seed sprouting, and I don't know what is going on?

Outside the palace gate, Gao Qi dived and trotted over.

"Long live the lord, long live the lord......" began to shout from a long distance.

"Shouting what, shouting what?" Chongzhen didn't have a good breath, "It's not time yet, so you're in a hurry to ask for a red envelope?" ”

"Long live the lord, Lord Xu and Lord Yan have arrived in Nanjing!" Gao Qiqian said excitedly, "The two adults have already landed from the Yanziji Wharf with fifteen thousand new troops. ”

"Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan have returned to Nanjing?"

Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard this: "Go, go back to China!" ”

Chongzhen left after speaking, and he didn't care about keeping the New Year in the Forbidden City.

Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong also followed without hesitation.

Only Zhu Cizhi was stunned and asked, "Father, why are you leaving?" ”

"Zhi'er, you will be twelve years old after the turn of the year, and you have grown up, so you will take the place of your father tonight." Chongzhen walked out without looking back, "Don't forget to put more firecrackers to drive away the New Year Beast." ”

"Father, you can leave with confidence, and this matter will be handed over to your son."

Zhu Cizhi decisively took on the great mission of driving away the New Year beast for the old Zhu family.

When Chongzhen's father and son walked outside the Xianji Gate, they saw that the entire Guozijian was quiet, and there was no longer the hustle and bustle of the past, because more than 6,000 scholars had gone home on vacation.

However, there are still shifts of Yiding on duty in Guozijian.

There was also a battalion of cavalry stationed in the small school field to the right of the Guozijian.

Not long after the father and son returned to Yilun Hall and sat down, Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan hurried over, both of them were dusty, and there was even a thin layer of snow on the cotton armor.

"Why, it's snowing outside again." Chongzhen said in surprise.

Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan waved towards Chongzhen and said, "The ministers are asking for the Holy Jin'an." ”

"No courtesy." Chongzhen shook his hand slightly, and then asked, "What is the situation in Yunnan?" ”

Xu Yingwei said: "Back to the saint, the rebellious Longchuan Xuanfu Division, Cheli Xuanfu Division and Mengmyanmar Xuanfu Division have all been pacified, and Yunnan's land reform and flow reform have been basically completed. ”

Chongzhen said again: "What about Guangxi? How's Guangxi doing? ”

Yan Yingyuan said: "Guangxi has not yet been pacified, and China is still fighting hard. ”

Zhu Cijiong said: "In this way, this Guangxi wolf soldier is indeed more capable of fighting than the Yunnan native soldier." ”

Chongzhen asked again: "What about the families of the 100,000 Guangxi wolf soldiers?" Did it go to Kunming Mansion? ”

Xu Yingwei said: "The families of the Guangxi wolf soldiers have been sent to Kunming, and they don't make trouble anymore, and they are all thanking the saint for your kindness, saying that life is much better now than when they were in Guangxi." ”

"That's good." Chongzhen nodded happily and said, "Xu Yingwei, Yan Yingyuan, you come." ”

After finishing speaking, Chongzhen took Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan to the map on the north wall, and the two brothers Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong also followed and stood in front of the map.

"At the moment, 20,000 new troops are equipped with flintlock pistols."

"With this amount of troops alone, it is far from enough to fight a decisive battle with Jiannu."

"But if I don't do anything, I think it's too conservative."

"After all, when we were accumulating military strength, Jiannu was not idle."

After saying this, he continued: "So I want to find a suitable point to consume Jiannu. ”

Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan suddenly perked up when they heard this, and couldn't wait to ask: "Is this going to the Northern Expedition?" ”

"It can't be regarded as a real Northern Expedition, at most it can only be regarded as the preliminary preparation for the Northern Expedition." Chongzhen paused at this point, and then said, "You two might as well guess which direction I will choose to use my troops?" ”

After speaking, he said to Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong: "You can also guess Hong'er and Jiong'er." ”

Speaking of the Northern Expedition, everyone knew that there would definitely be a Northern Expedition, but Chongzhen really never mentioned this matter in front of anyone, let alone the overall plan of the Northern Expedition to anyone.

At that moment, the four of them fell into deep thought at the map.

After a while, Zhu Cijiong took the lead and said: "Erchen thinks that my father will use troops in Shandong. ”

"Why?" Chongzhen smiled and asked, "What good can it do to Shandong with troops?" ”

Zhu Cijiong said: "Because of the use of troops in Gunzhou and Dongchang Prefecture in Shandong, the baggage can be transported through the canal, which can greatly reduce the loss of grain. ”

"There's progress, and we're starting to think about logistics."

Chongzhen said with a smile: "But it's still not comprehensive enough, this time the use of troops is not a decisive battle, and the number of troops used is only one or two thousand people at most, even if you don't transport food from the waterway, the consumption will not be very large." ”

At this time, Zhu Cihong suddenly said: "Father, the son thinks that he should use troops against Shanxi at this time. ”

"Troops against Shanxi?" This was something Chongzhen didn't expect, and he asked in surprise, "What is the reason?" What are the benefits of using troops in Shanxi? ”

"Erchen thinks there are at least three major benefits."

Zhu Cihong said: "First, you can directly enter Huaiqing Mansion through Kaifeng Mansion, and then enter Shanxi from Huaiqing Mansion, the distance is not too far, and it is not very difficult to transport grain." ”

"Second, according to the information provided by the detailed work, it can be seen that there are very few Jiannu who stay in Shanxi, most of them are newly formed green battalion soldiers, most of these green battalion soldiers are my Ming border army, and my father can send people to rebel, even if it is unsuccessful, it can also drive a wedge between the green battalion soldiers and the Jiannu soldiers, which will inevitably weaken the green battalion soldiers' will to resist."

"Third, it is possible to use this way to deviate from the division, provoke the decisive battle between the pseudo-shun and the Jiannu, and achieve the effect of four or two thousand catties, because once our army enters Shanxi, it does not even need to enter Shanxi, as long as it enters Huaiqing Mansion, the pseudo-shun will inevitably follow the army to Shanxi, because the pseudo-shun cannot afford the consequences of Shanxi's return to the Ming Dynasty."

"Not bad." Chongzhen nodded happily and began to learn to think about things from a strategic level.

After a pause, he said: "However, Hong'er, you are still a little too wishful thinking, not to mention the first point, the second and third points will seriously misestimate your opponent, let's talk about the second point first, the discord between the green camp may lead to the rebellion between Jiannu and the green camp, but it may also dig a big pit and bury ourselves." ”

Zhu Cihong sighed lightly, and said: "Is my father worried that the green battalion soldiers in Shanxi will make a plan, secretly report to Jiannu, and then calculate us in turn?" ”

"People's hearts are like water, and anything can happen." Chongzhen said solemnly, "What's more, Jiang Hao, Wu Sangui and the like are not trustworthy in the first place, and if they pin their hopes on this kind of villain, they will inevitably suffer a big loss." ”

After a pause, he said: "On the third point, your judgment of false shun is only half right. ”

"Pseudo-Shun can't afford the consequences of Shanxi's return to the Ming Dynasty, and you're not wrong about that."

"So if our army enters Shanxi through Huaiqing Mansion, Pseudo Shun will definitely follow and send troops, but Pseudo Shun will not follow us to join forces to fight Jiannu, but will only join forces with Jiannu to fight us."

"Father, won't you?" Zhu Cihong was stunned and said, "Didn't Li Zicheng have a gentleman's agreement with you?" ”

"That's just a verbal agreement." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "Don't have too high expectations for Li Zicheng, this person is just a pawn, and don't expect him to really agree with Huayi." ”

Zhu Cihong was dumbfounded suddenly, he was just about to refute this.

At this time, Yan Yingyuan said: "Shengshang, the minister thinks that the use of troops in Shandong is too conservative, and the use of troops in Shanxi is very likely to fall into the predicament of being attacked by the enemy, and it may also lead to the rupture of the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the pseudo-Shun, so the best choice should be to raid Dagukou directly from the sea!" ”

"What, raid Dagukou?!"

Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong screamed in a low voice.

Obviously, both of the little brothers were shocked by Yan Yingyuan.

"Yes, raid Dagukou." Yan Yingyuan patted the location of Dagukou on the map, and continued, "First of all, Jiannu would never have imagined that we would raid Dagukou from the sea, and with the support of our army's naval artillery, we will definitely be able to take Dagukou very easily. ”

"Secondly, Dagukou is a hundred miles away from Tianjin Wei, and it is more than three hundred miles away from Jingshi. With these ten days, it is enough for our army to build fortifications, and in addition, we can get the support of the naval division, so there is no problem in holding on. ”

"Third, Dagukou is backed by the Beihai Sea (Bohai Sea), and the warships of the sailors and the grain ships of the caravan can go directly to Dagukou, so there is no need to worry about being cut off by Jiannu, so they can be guarded for a long time."

Speaking of this, he said: "Holy Lord, the minister only needs 5,000 new troops to hold the Dagu Pass." ”

"Good." Chongzhen didn't say yes, nor did he say no, but asked Xu Yingwei again, "Xu Yingwei, what about you?" Why don't you speak? Could it be that you don't approve of sending troops? ”

"Definitely." Xu Yingwei shook his head and said, "Chen is just thinking about a problem. ”

"Really?" Chongzhen smiled and asked, "But I don't know what kind of problem you're considering?" ”

"The minister is thinking about how to destroy Jiannu in a battle." Xu Yingwei said solemnly, "Don't let it become the second Northern Yuan." ”

(End of chapter)