On the second day of the first month of May, more than 250,000 soldiers of the Ming army had just left Shanhaiguan and were stationed at the Gaoling Post under the jurisdiction of Guangning Zhongqian, and after preparing to rest for a day, they continued to Ningyuan City.

Liu Yan's department was stationed twelve miles north of Gaolingyi, near a river called Beiling River, which was not a big river, and in the hot climate at this time, there was not much water left in the river, and even the soldiers of the army could wade through the water on foot to the north bank.

However, the officers and men of the battalions of the new army can be regarded as adjacent to a water source, so there is no need to worry about water.

That night, all the battalions of the New Army were quiet, only a group of soldiers on duty at night passed by from time to time, and there were also open and secret sentries at Yuanmen and other key places on guard.

Suddenly, a team of men in short fights rode into the camp of the New Army's personal guard battalion, these people are all one person and two horses, with strong bows and war knives, all of them are fierce men, the first person is Wu Guojin, who has been deep in Liaodong for many days, and the rest of the people are the elite of the Intelligence Department to investigate Cao, and even Wang Yang, the director of Cao, is also among them.

It didn't take long for Wu Guojin to hold a water bladder and drink it, the large water bladder quickly deflated, Liu Yan saw this and handed over another one, Wu Guojin hiccuped and smiled, then raised his head and drank it, and drank half of it until he wiped his mouth with satisfaction and let out a sigh.

"In this ghost weather, my subordinates and a group of brothers have not drunk or eaten for a day and a night in order to hurry, and they almost died of heat and thirst!"

"Exhausted all this time, aren't you? I've already asked people to prepare the meal, and after a while you and the brothers have finished eating, hurry up and go back to rest. ”

Wu Guojin hugged his fists and thanked him, and then said: "My lord doesn't know, my subordinates are really tired of waiting for this time." After his subordinates and a group of brothers left Shanhaiguan, they went all the way north to Jinzhou to investigate the movements of the slaves and thieves. But when I arrived around Jinzhou, I found that there were already slaves and thieves around Jinzhou, and my subordinates and others couldn't get too close. ”

Liu Yan frowned slightly and asked, "What is the situation in Jinzhou now, can you find out the specific news?" ”

"Some news: the subordinates led people to arrest two slave thieves scouts, interrogated and learned: the slaves dug a trench outside Jinzhou City, trying to cut off Jinzhou from the outside world, but fortunately, the defenders in the city are still effective, and several shocks have achieved some results, and now the thieves' tricks have not succeeded."

"Now the situation in Jinzhou is generally more critical, and the subordinates and others can no longer see the night activities of the defenders on the outskirts of Jinzhou, and there are scouts and small groups of soldiers and horses of slaves everywhere, which shows that the defenders are already a little overwhelmed."

Liu Yan nodded, it seems that the Qing army has basically completed the siege of Jinzhou City, and now wait for the reinforcements of the Ming army to arrive, and then you can encircle the point to send reinforcements. And Liu Yan calculated the time, at this time, the Qing army besieged Jinzhou a little earlier than in history, so I don't know how many troops the Qing army mobilized this time?

"What else is there?"

Wu Guojin said: "My lord, when my subordinates saw that they had done nothing in the Jinzhou area, they took their brothers to go deep into various places in Liaodong, especially around Shenyang and Liaoyang, to find out about the situation in the rear of the slaves and thieves. It's been a huge gain! ”

Liu Yan said in surprise: "Now that the people everywhere in Liaodong are being forced to shave their hair by slaves, how did you get in?" ”

Wu Guojin said with a wry smile: "We go out almost day and night, and we go to the inaccessible wilderness every day, as long as we see people, we will avoid it directly, for such a long time, we have not eaten a hot meal, it is considered an old sin!" ”

"I'm really sorry for you."

Liu Yan can imagine the difficulty of finding out the news in the enemy territory, Wu Guojin can lead people to find out the news, and then retreat, which is already extraordinary, it can be seen that Wu Guojin is indeed a talent, and the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty is indeed worthy of his reputation and talent.

It's just that in this world, talented people can't get ahead after all, otherwise Daming wouldn't have fallen to this point!

Liu Yan sighed in his heart, and then asked, "Let's talk about it, what have you gained from this trip?" ”

"My lord, the slave thief can be said to have come prepared now!"

Wu Guojin said with a solemn face: "In the vicinity of Shenyang and Liaoyang, the thieves built a large number of workshops, and most of the craftsmen who were captured from the Guannei and the local craftsmen in Liaodong were concentrated outside Liaoyang and Shenyang. At present, a large number of workshops built outside Shenyang and Liaoyang are all for making weapons, and a large part of them are workshops specializing in making firearms and casting artillery! ”

Liu Yan was taken aback and asked, "Is the news accurate?" ”

"Accurate!"

Wu Guojin said: "The subordinates and others met a few craftsmen who escaped, and the slaves and thieves had never seen the weight of those craftsmen, and they had to work for at least eight hours a day, not only did they not get paid, but they also beat and scolded them commonly. If someone made a firearm that was not up to standard, the whole family was to be executed in public by the thieves. ”

"Those craftsmen just couldn't stand the oppression, so they desperately escaped with their lives. But then they were caught up by the thief cavalry, and all the children were killed, only two craftsmen were killed, and they were cut and thrown on the side of the road, and when their subordinates met them, they still breathed a sigh of relief. ”

Liu Yan frowned and said, "It seems that the slaves and thieves were scared by our firearms, so they also began to develop firearms. ”

Historically, the Qing army did not fight the world with cavalry and archery, but used firearms to increase the armor of the infantry, supplemented by cavalry to conquer various places.

Now because of the appearance of Liu Yan, the process of the Qing army's attention to firearms has been accelerated, which can be regarded as bad news.

In Liu Yan's view, even if the firearms of the Qing army are not as powerful and range as the new army in Qinglai Town due to quality, technical reasons, or gunpowder, the ants bite and kill elephants!

The Manchu Qing Dynasty is also a regime, no matter how strong Liu Yan is, it is only a military town in the Ming Dynasty, and he can't win against the national strength of a country with the strength of an army.

"Therefore, it must be directly destroyed when the Qing Army's firearms army is just starting!"

Liu Yan thought in his heart, and then said: "You immediately sort out the information of Shenyang and Liaoyang, this matter is very important, I will go to see Governor Hong overnight, and I can't delay." ”

"Yes!"

In the middle of the night, Liu Yan hurried to the camp of the Inspector Battalion with a team of guards, saw Hong Chengchou in the big tent of the Chinese army, and immediately took out the information that had been sorted out.

Hong Chengchou saw that Liu Yan was visiting late at night, and the matter was very important in his heart, so he hurriedly unfolded the information and looked at it, and after reading it, his expression was extremely solemn, and he asked: "General Liu, in the original battle of Jinan, this governor had a detailed understanding of the battle process, and this governor remembered that there were formed firearms soldiers in the slave army at that time. In General Liu's opinion, what is the combat power of the slave thief's firearms soldiers? ”

Liu Yan said frankly: "At the beginning, the firearms of the slaves and thieves were already well-trained, commanded by the traitor Shang Kexi, and the firearms equipped were also excellent. If Yi Shang Kexi's troops encounter ordinary soldiers and horses of our army, they should win steadily! ”m.

"Besides, this time the slave thief is building a firearm soldier with the power of a country, which shows that the slave chieftain is so determined that the governor must be on guard, and he must take measures to deal with it as soon as possible!"

The melancholy between Hong Chengchou's eyebrows became even stronger, and he said: "This information is not trivial, the slaves and thieves have suffered big losses in the hands of General Liu several times, and they must be expanding the firearms army, and it seems that the variables of the Battle of Jinzhou have increased again." ”

"The slave thief already has the advantage of iron cavalry and armor, and he also wins more and loses less in the field battle, and now with the blessing of firearms, the combat power of the slave thief will definitely be stronger, and the governor is worried about this battle!"

Then Hong Chengchou asked: "General Liu is a famous general who uses firearms, in the opinion of General Liu, what is the strategy to break the enemy in this battle?" ”

Liu Yan pondered for a long time and said: "There is no other way but to use firearms against firearms, to see which side has a stronger battle formation and which side has more tenacious soldiers and horses!" Other than that, there is no other way to do it. ”

Hong Chengchou gasped, obviously understanding the meaning of this sentence, firearms shooting is different from bow and arrow shooting, in the huge roar, in the thick smoke of gunpowder, all firearms soldiers have to endure the damage caused by artillery fire and firecrackers, this forbearance and courage is not possessed by ordinary people.

At this time, Hong Chengchou could even imagine that on the battlefield filled with gunpowder, the two armies fought in formation, countless guns and artillery fired at each other, dense lead bullets and shells penetrated the battle formations of both sides, and countless soldiers turned into mutilated corpses, which were breathless in the interweaving of roars and screams.

Just thinking about such a scene is enough to make people shudder, even Hong Chengchou, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, can't help but shudder at this time.

"In this way, the victory of our army in this battle will be even less obvious!"

At this time, Hong Chengchou had long lost the confidence he had when he sent out the troops, and he felt a little weak in his heart, so he sat down and began to think about countermeasures, and unconsciously fell into contemplation.

Liu Yan looked at Hong Chengchou, who was frowning, and his heart was also heavy, at this time, the time when the Battle of Songjin broke out was already much earlier than in history, coupled with the Qing army's large-scale construction of firearms, the troops would definitely be stronger at that time, and the outcome of this battle was really unpredictable.

So Liu Yan didn't plan to hide his secrets, and said directly: "Governor, the last general thinks that he can let the generals of all departments prepare more sacks, and when they arrive on the battlefield, they can use sacks to fill soil and place them in front of the army array, which can effectively prevent the artillery bombardment of slaves and thieves, and can also play a certain role in the shooting of firearms." ”

"In addition, it is necessary to ask the officers and men of each department to prepare more shields and shield carts, and if they can, they should also prepare more sophisticated firearms, and the governor can ask the military department to urgently transport a large number of firearms to temporarily equip some for the officers and men of each department."

Hong Chengchou nodded yes and said: "This governor has been playing a little bit overnight, and sent fast horses to the Beijing Division, asking the military department to immediately raise firearms, shields and other equipment, and transport them to Jinzhou City as soon as possible." ”

"As for the suggestions made by General Liu Bing, the Japanese governor will convene all the generals and the Chinese army to discuss the matter and report it to the chief military officers of all departments."

Some people died, but not completely......