Hearing this, Dolgon's face fell.

Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan also looked at each other.

Hou Fangyu also said with a dark face: "If this is the case, it will be a big trouble, Liaodong is thousands of miles away from Beijing, and the Qing Dynasty sent troops to Liaodong to attack far away." ”

"That's right, going to Liaodong to fight the Ming army will cost our Qing Dynasty far more than fighting at Dagukou." Hong Chengchou said worriedly, "So Chongzhen will definitely not come to Dagukou." ”

"In other words, Chongzhen has led an army of 20,000 to Liaodong!"

Dolgon said word by word: "His goal is the Ten Banners of the Horqin Mongols!" ”

"No, Chongzhen's goal is to consume my Qing national strength." Hong Chengchou shook his head, and then said, "Of course, if the master is unmoved, he will take advantage of the situation to solve the Horqin Mongolian Ten Banners." ”

Dolgon said in a deep voice: "Can Chongzhen solve the Horqin Mongolian Ten Banners?" ”

Hong Chengchou sighed and said, "Master, you forgot about the defeat of Guting Town so quickly? ”

Dolgon fell silent for a moment, and in the battle of Guting Town, Duoduo gathered 40,000 banners of Manchuria and 20,000 banners of Mongolia, and 60,000 cavalry besieged 8,000 Ming cavalry, but in the end he reaped a big defeat.

So even if the Ming army is cavalry, it can still defeat the Horqin Mongols.

The Qing could not afford to lose the Horqin Mongols.

Chongzhen: This is what the enemy must be saved.

……

Almost at the same time, a large Ming army naval division had arrived near Lianyun Island off the coast of Gaizhouwei.

At this time, the temperature in eastern Liaodong has dropped below freezing, and the ice surface of the North Sea has begun to freeze, and in the deep sea, the ice is still only a thin layer, but as the coastline gets closer and closer, the ice is getting thicker and thicker.

As the ship moved forward with the wind, the bow of the ship cracked the ice, making a constant clattering sound.

Chongzhen stood on the bow of a 4,000-year-old ship with his hands behind his back, and Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen and his son stood beside him.

Zheng Zhilong pointed to Lianyun Island and said: "Shengshang, there is Lianyun Island in front, you can see Gaizhou by bypassing Lianyun Island, and you can have lunch in Gaizhou Wei at noon today." ”

Chongzhen smiled and said, "Xu Yingwei definitely didn't expect me to come to Liaodong. ”

"That's nature." Zheng Zhilong said with a smile, "After passing the Dengzhou Mansion, the saint and the ministers said that they would change the route to build the state guard, and the ministers were taken aback, so Xu Yingwei definitely couldn't think of it." ”

"So Dolgon couldn't have imagined that I would come to Liaodong."

"Dolgon definitely didn't think that most of this dog thing still fantasized about fighting the Holy Lord at the mouth of Dagu."

"Actually, I originally wanted to fight a war of attrition with Jiannu at Dagukou, but then I thought about it, taking Liaodong can also mobilize Jiannu, so why can't I fight Jiannu in Liaodong? After all, Liaodong is thousands of miles away from Beijing, but Dagukou is only 300 miles away from Beijing, and fighting a war of attrition in Liaodong will cost Jiannu even more. ”

In fact, there is another reason that Chongzhen did not say, that is, the cement could not be made.

After being busy for more than half a year, Chongzhen could only accept the cruel reality of the failure of calcined cement.

In fact, it can't be said that it was a complete failure, after raising the kiln temperature to 1300 degrees or even 1400 degrees, it still fired qualified Portland cement, and the problem is that the production capacity cannot be increased.

This is because the crushing of raw materials and the grinding of clinker are labor-intensive and time-consuming.

Before the realization of mechanical power, the mass production of cement was simply wishful thinking.

After realizing this fact, Chongzhen decisively gave up the plan to mass-produce cement, and waited until the steam engine began to be industrialized before considering mass-producing cement.

The inability of cement to be mass-produced disrupted Chongzhen's plan.

The terrain of Dagukou is easy to attack and difficult to defend, as long as it waits until winter, Jiannu can dig tunnels to carry out blasting, and the Ming army can neither lead seawater to pour back, nor can they block the tunnels with cement grouting.

Therefore, it is not very cost-effective to fight a war of attrition with Jiannu at Dagukou.

It was precisely because of this that Chongzhen considered fighting a war of attrition with Jiannu in Liaodong.

Because of this, Chongzhen's order to Yan Yingyuan has also been modified, before it was to defend Dagukou at all costs, but now the order is to use the fortifications of Dagukou to kill and injure Jiannu as much as possible, consume Jiannu's war materials, once the situation completely collapses, allow retreat, and let Zheng Hongkui's sailors prepare to respond.

Zheng Sen asked, "But the Holy One, will Jiannu really come to Gaizhou?" ”

On this expedition, Chongzhen originally didn't want to bring the "air force", because Zheng Sen's air force and Zhang Jimeng's divine artillery were the secret weapons of the Ming Dynasty, and they were not ready to take it out until the final battle.

But then Chongzhen thought about it again, it was easy to copy the god cannon of Brownian motion, but it was not easy to make an airship.

And even if Jiannu really copied the airship, it would be too late to catch up with the decisive battle in time, and it would consume a lot of Jiannu's manpower, material and financial resources.

And with the participation of the Air Force, the chances of winning the field battle with Jiannu can also be higher.

That's right, Chongzhen wanted to fight a field battle with Jiannu in Liaodong before the decisive battle.

This is the nature of testing the waters, and if he doesn't fight a medium-sized field battle with Jiannu, Chongzhen has no bottom in his heart.

In view of this, Chongzhen decided to let the air force appear in advance, and then let Zheng Sen's air force follow him to Liaodong.

"You're wrong, it's not Gaizhou, it's Liaodong." Chongzhen said with a smile, "If it's just Gaizhou, I'm afraid it will be difficult to mobilize Jiannu, but Liaodong is what Jiannu must save." ”

】

Zheng Zhilong echoed: "That's true, Jiannu can't afford to lose Liaodong. ”

Well, Zheng Zhilong actually didn't understand it at all, he just simply echoed Chongzhen.

Zheng Zhilong is very satisfied with his current life, he is also the Duke of Min Guo, and the general manager of the Daming Water Master School, and he has not made less money, he really has both face and lining.

Zheng Sen didn't give him Lao Tzu face at all, and retorted on the spot: "What can be the consequences of losing Liaodong?" ”

"You know what." Zheng Zhilong's face instantly fell, "Liaodong is the land of Jiannu's Longxing, especially the old slave and Huang Jitai are buried outside Shengjing City, Jiannu is not afraid that we will dig up his ancestral grave?" ”

"This is not enough, Da Ming will never do such a thing." Chongzhen hurriedly interrupted Zheng Zhilong.

How to dig the ancestral grave has been said, you can dig people's ancestral graves, can't others dig your ancestral graves? The mausoleums of the 12th emperors of the Ming Dynasty are all in Changping, and if you really want to dig the ancestral tombs, you must lose the Ming Dynasty.

As he spoke, the fleet had already bypassed Lianyun Island and saw Gaizhou City.

The Ming army in the city of Gaizhou discovered the fleet on the sea almost at the same time.

Immediately, the assembly call came from afar, and the Ming army in the city began to assemble.

……

Three days passed quickly.

The Eight Banners of Manchuria, the Eight Banners of Mongolia, the Eight Banners of the Han Army, and the Green Battalion in Beijing have completed their assembly, but it is still undecided who will be sent to Dagukou and who will be sent to Liaodong.

Dolgon was still waiting for news from Dagukou.

This time, it is certain that troops will be used against Dagukou and Liaodong at the same time.

Times have changed, in the era of old slaves, you can come all the way, I only go all the way, now I can't.

Now the nail of Dagukou must be pulled out, Liaodong must also be saved, and troops must be used in both directions.

However, whether the main force goes to Dagukou or Liaodong depends on Chongzhen's whereabouts, if Chongzhen's 20,000 Ming troops go to Liaodong, the main force of the Qing soldiers will also follow to Liaodong.

If Chongzhen's 20,000 Ming troops went to Dagukou, the main force of the Qing army would go to Dagukou.

And now there is a new problem in front of Dorgon, and that is the question of the choice of the coach who is partial to the division.

In the past, it was the clan that led the troops, either the prince and the county king, or Baylor or Beizi, but after the reform of the Eight Banners, the power of the clan was deprived by Dolgon, and he no longer had the right to lead the troops.

So now only one can be picked from among the Manchu ministers.

In addition to the Manchu ministers who led the troops, a Han Chen had to be selected as a lieutenant general.

Dolgon suddenly asked Hou Fangyu: "Little Marquis, how about letting Ye Chen be the chief general and Wang Fuchen be the deputy general of the partial division?" ”

"Huh?" Hou Fangyu, who was standing on the side, looked at Dolgon in disbelief, he couldn't believe that Dolgon would ask for his opinion on the appointment and dismissal of the general.

"Master, how dare the slave put his beak on this matter."

After Hou Fangyu reacted, he hurriedly shirked it.

"The minions don't know much about the Manchu and Han ministers in the DPRK."

"If I tell you to say it, you can say it boldly." Dolgon said angrily, "Even if I say something wrong, I will never blame you." ”

Hou Fangyu said in his heart, I am not afraid of offending you, but I am afraid of offending the Manchu and Han ministers.

For whoever he recommended to Dorgon would offend the other ministers.

Thinking of this, Hou Fangyu could only bow his head and say, "This matter can only be dictated by the master Qiangang. ”

"You dog minion, you're really cautious." Dorgon was so angry that he kicked Hou Fangyu.

At this time, Cao Eryu hurriedly walked into the Dongnuan Pavilion and knelt on the ground to report: "Master, Tianjin is urgent, so far no reinforcements from the Southern Ming Dynasty have come to Dagukou. ”

"Didn't come?" Dolgon said in a deep voice, "So Chongzhen really went to Liaodong. ”

Hou Fangyu nodded and said, "No surprise, Chongzhen must have led the army to Liaodong." ”

Dolgon pondered for a moment and then instructed Cao Eryu: "Summoning Ye Chen and Sonny to come to the palace to discuss matters." ”

Since Chongzhen decided to lead the army to Liaodong, Dolgon naturally had to personally lead the army to Liaodong, but the commander of the division along the way in Dagukou has not been able to make up his mind.

There are two candidates that Dolgon wants, Ye Chen, and Sony.

These two people have their own advantages and disadvantages, Ye Chen is highly respected and experienced, but he is a little old, and Sonny is young and strong, but he lacks prestige and lacks the experience of leading troops to fight alone.

Is Ye Chen better, or is it simply more appropriate?

Dorgon decided to summon the two to the palace for a test.

Cao Eryu turned to leave, but was stopped by Dolgon.

Dolgon said, "Summoning Wang Fuchen and Wu Guogui as well." ”

In addition to the Manchu general, there must be another Han deputy general, Dolgon is not worried about Wu Sangui and Jiang Jiu, and decided to reuse Wang Fuchen and Wu Guogui.