The continuous gray and gloomy weather finally passed, and the wind swept away the dead leaves on the trees, heralding the arrival of winter.

Fort Arthur has been repaired, and trenches have been built in the surrounding important areas, forming a complete defense system.

In the harbor, nearly 100 large and small ships are moored in a row, and from the high vantage point overlooking the whole harbor, it is as calm as a painting boat in the lake.

"6,000 soldiers of the Left Association, plus 5,000 men and horses led by General Zhang; Ammunition supplies are abundant, and each is in danger. Even if tens of thousands of Jiannu come to attack, it is enough to resist. ”

Zhang Pan was full of confidence, raising his finger and pointing, with a high-spirited momentum.

The new Dengzhen chief soldier Zhang Keda was born as a martial artist in the Wanli period, who can not only fight, but also talent, which can be called both civil and military, and has the style of a Confucian general.

When guarding Guazhou in Zhejiang, Zhang Keda had a meritorious role in capturing the thieves who robbed the tribute ships, and was successively promoted to guerrilla and general. Later, he followed the general soldier Wang Minghe to pacify the southwest and made meritorious contributions.

Later, he was transferred to Ningbo, stationed in Zhoushan, defeated the invaders many times, and was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief.

Moreover, Zhang Keda devoted himself to coastal defense, and personally inspected the coastal terrain and the strength of the troops into the "Coastal Defense Atlas" and handed it over to the imperial court, and thus won the favor of Zhu Youxiao and was promoted to the chief military officer of Denglai, Shandong.

Now, after checking Lushun's arming, he is full of confidence in Zhang Pan, and Zhang Keda also understands and agrees.

Despite his many feats in the south, Zhang Keda thought that he knew little about Jiannu, so he took this opportunity to bring out the people of Dengzhen to train his troops in actual combat.

You must know that after the expansion of Dengzhen, only Zhang Bang's department has experienced actual combat.

Therefore, Zhang Keda, in line with the idea of training troops, sent 5,000 reinforcements and transported a considerable amount of grain and grass materials drawn by Lord Dengfu Yuan.

If it's just these things, Zhang Keda wouldn't be worth a special trip. He is proficient in the combat of the sailor, but he actually has a more ferocious combat strategy, and he needs to communicate and discuss with Zhang Pan.

"General Zhang is holding Fort Arthur, if the eastern captives come to attack, Dengzhen Zhang Bangsuo led an association, and General Kong's right association, can fight together, trap it under Fort Arthur, and annihilate them all."

Zhang Keda was very satisfied with the defense of Fort Arthur, so he said his plan, "This idea has been approved by Lord Yuan, and you and I will discuss and decide together with General Kong." ”

Zhang Pan agreed without thinking too much, this is not a strange scheme, he has had such a battle plan for a long time.

If Amin had attacked Fort Arthur for the first time, the Ming army would have had more troops, not to flank the front and rear, but to completely cut off its retreat and wipe it out.

Of course, in the first battle of the new army, it is normal to be cautious.

"The plan of cutting off the narrowest part of South Guam and diverting the sea water to self-consolidation was not approved by the imperial court. But digging trenches and forts to establish a defensive line has a similar effect. Zhang Pan said: "That is faster and costs less." ”

As he spoke, Zhang Pan arched his hand to Zhang Ke and thanked: "With a group of men and horses sent by Lord Zhang, it is enough to hold this line of defense and build an indestructible foundation in southern Liaoning." ”

The opening of the river to cut off the southern Guam Island, and the establishment of a solid base in an area isolated from 130 miles, was immediately vetoed by Zhu Youxiao after it reached the imperial court.

Precisely, the veto of the opening of the river, and not the creation of land bases.

Digging an artificial canal for more than ten miles costs 200,000 yuan, which is not high in terms of wages.

But for Zhu Youxiao, this is a very low price comparison, and it is too time-consuming, and it is difficult to say how effective it is.

Can it block the attack of Jiannu, how deep and wide does this canal have to be dug, how deep and wide is there an excavator, how much manpower is used, how long does it take, and how long will Jiannu watch you dig?

Of course, the difficulties can be overcome, but will the dug canal freeze in winter? It costs money and manpower, don't be caught up in the end by Jiannu, and the work is all in vain.

The Bohai Sea is a semi-enclosed inland sea, which is often severely frozen by the strong cold wave of Siberia in winter. For example, Juehua Island was slaughtered because the sea surface for more than ten miles was frozen and solid.

In the Yellow Sea, the ice conditions in winter are less and lighter than those in the Bohai Sea, but they should not be taken lightly.

Based on these considerations, Zhu Youxiao believed that it was much more appropriate to build a trench chest wall fortification for more than ten miles than to dig an artificial canal.

In order to be more secure, he outsourced a large amount of barbed wire processing to private workshops, hoping to make it in a short time and transport it to Lushun, adding barbed wire to the fortifications of the trench breastwork.

Don't underestimate the simple and quick barbed wire, which killed at least tens of thousands of soldiers in World War I.

In particular, the multiple arrangements were sufficient to hold back the cavalry and infantry of the Jiannu, making it difficult for them to move due to the dense fire of muskets.

Of course, Zhang Pan and Zhang Keda were not yet aware of this new fortification tactic, and Wuxue was also conducting research and experiments on the new ideas proposed by the emperor.

But Zhang Pan thought of mines and picket fences and decided to use them for defense.

In his opinion, as long as there are enough troops, the defense line of about ten miles can be held without digging a river.

With Dengzhen's association, coupled with Kong Youde's right association, it has met his expectation of sufficient troops. In other words, it is now possible to levy a large number of migrant workers and take action while the land is still freezing.

As long as the winter is safely passed, we can cultivate this land of 100 miles in the spring of next year, so that the occupation will be more and more secure.

With a strong bridgehead, we can then get a glimpse of the three states and join the overseas trend, so that the Pingliao War will enter a more favorable and active stage.

In fact, the emperor was more anxious than Zhang Pan to occupy the land base on the Liaodong Peninsula, not to mention that Lushun was still the throat of the Liaohai Sea, which played a pivotal role in the "Quartet Layout".

Zhang Keda originally wanted to take advantage of the sailor to lure Jiannu to Fort Arthur, and then land to cut off his retreat.

But Jiannu didn't react, and if he waited any longer, it would be winter. And advancing to Nanguan with the troops of the three associations and 20,000 people is not a bad strategy.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ke nodded with a smile and said, "Since this is the case, I will step up preparations and start acting in the near future." ”

After receiving Zhang Keda's approval and approval, Zhang Pan was overjoyed and thanked him.

Although the Dengzhen official army led by Zhang Keda was considered a guest soldier, they were higher than Zhang Pan in terms of age and rank. If he doesn't cooperate, Zhang Pan can't be in command.

In fact, Zhang Pan didn't expect that the general soldiers of Dengzhen would come to Fort Arthur in person, and Zhang Keda didn't expect that it would make it difficult for Zhang Pan.

Fortunately, the two of them are quite angry, Zhang Pan is born in Zhusheng, and Zhang Keda can't let go of the volume, they are all cultural people! There is still a common language.

The two of them took the map and discussed it. After the specific action is determined, Zhang Keda will be in charge of Fort Arthur, and the front-line command will be Zhang Pan and Kong Youde.

Such an arrangement not only takes care of Zhang Keda's identity, but also facilitates the specific operational command, which can be regarded as the best of both worlds.

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