Chongzhen ordered the requisition of Denglai in high spirits, which stumped the cabinet.

In the previous Chuzhou War, the court spent a lot of money and food by rewarding meritorious soldiers and compensating the fallen soldiers.

I thought that the rogues were basically wiped out, and there should be no major battles this year, so I could always slow down.

Unexpectedly, a Yuan Chonghuan ran out, and he actually provoked a big war again.

If it is just to send troops to Denglai, it can barely support it by transporting another batch of grain from Jiangnan.

However, His Majesty was affected by Yuan Chonghuan's "Five-Year Pingliao" plan, and actually recruited and trained another 30,000 Yulin battalions at the same time.

Moreover, it is not only necessary to organize and train the Yulin battalion in the Beijing division, but also requires the provinces to also refine the new army and actively prepare for war.

In one year, each province must train at least 200,000 new troops, who can go to the battlefield at any time.

This time the coke ruined the governors of the provinces, and they withheld the taxes handed over to the imperial court on the pretext of training a new army.

And he also took the opportunity to apportionment to the people under his rule.

In order to raise salaries and train troops.

Emperor Chongzhen announced that the cost of the harem would be cut in half, and everyone, including himself, would be halved except for the Empress Dowager Zhang Yan.

He also called on the ministers to donate silver for military training.

However, the reaction of the ministers was not positive, only the first assistant Zhou Yanru donated 5,000 taels, and then Feng Quan, the secretary of the military department, donated 3,000 taels, and the next officials decreased according to the size of their official positions.

The nobles who had been severely suppressed by the Emperor of the Apocalypse before were also quite stingy.

Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, said angrily: "The vassal kings of his old Zhu family are all rich and flowing, why does Chongzhen pick up our wool?" ”

Zhang Weixian, the British public on the side, reminded: "Chengguo Gong, please be cautious!" ”

The establishment of the Beijing camp was cut again and again by Zhu Youxiao, and now they can only eat a total of 30,000 empty salaries, and Zhu Chunchen has long been angry.

He said: "What are you afraid of, anyway, now the eagle dogs of Jinyiwei and Dongchang have become Chongzhen's royal bodyguards, we can rest assured." ”

"Since the Duke of Liao Guo stopped coming to Beijing, our income has also shrunk, and now I can barely support the few people in the house. If you want to donate silver, that's good. I became a national public assistant silver 100 taels, they don't accept it if it's too little! ”

Looking at the stingy Zhu Chunchen, Zhang Weixian could only shake his head helplessly.

Zhu Chunchen was the first to follow Li Xianzhong everywhere to make money, even if his family property is not the richest man in the capital, it is still the top three, but he is much richer than himself.

Now that the imperial court and Liaodong are on the same footing, he is still on this side.

Even if there is no eagle dog from Dongchang, I don't know if these people in front of him will expose his rebellious words to His Majesty.

If His Majesty really copied his Chengguo Mansion one day, it is estimated that he will not worry about military expenses!

In the end, the British public Zhang Weixian donated 3,000 taels, and the nobles only donated a few hundred taels at the instigation of Zhu Chunchen.

There is a huge Beijing division, hundreds of officials and nobles, and a total of more than 137,000 taels have been donated.

It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and after deliberation, the cabinet can only decide to suffer the people first. In addition to the original additional 3.5 millimeters per mu of "liao salary", an additional 2.5 millimeters of "training salary" was levied.

This proposal was quickly supported by almost all the officials, and if they did not receive this "training salary", maybe they would have to help them pay again!

In the end, Emperor Chongzhen could only issue an order, and Chongzhen's three-year autumn levy was levied on "training salary".

When Hong Chengchou learned of this result, he couldn't laugh or cry.

He tried his best to suppress the rogue, and as soon as the imperial court's "training salary" is collected, I am afraid it will not be long before the rogues will resurge.

This Yuan Chonghuan is really harmful.

But he has no way at the moment, and he has to fight the battle of Denglai.

He recruited He Renlong's 30,000 Yulin battalions, and ordered Liu Zhaoji, the general soldier of Shandong, to send 20,000 troops, Nanzhili to send 20,000 troops, Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, to send 20,000 troops, and Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Kaifeng, to send 10,000 troops, plus Zuo Liangyu's 20,000 troops originally stationed in Qingzhou.

A total of 120,000 troops, of which 50,000 are the elite of the Yulin battalion, and most of the other 70,000 people also participated in the Ming army in the Battle of Chuzhou, and have certain combat experience.

In addition, considering the sharpness of Shui Kou's artillery, he mobilized 40 18-pounder Hongyi cannons from the Beijing Division, as well as hundreds of Franc machine guns.

This is almost all the elites of the Ming mainland that he can mobilize at present.

The soldiers of the nine sides, Hong Chengchou did not move, not that he looked down on the combat power of the border army.

He was afraid that in case the nine sides were empty, Li Xianzhong would send troops directly from Liaodong.

Moreover, he also suggested that 5,000 troops be transferred from Taiyuan Town to increase the defense force of Jizhou.

In order to prepare for this big war, the household department allocated 1 million stone of grain from Huguang, Jiangxi, Nanzhili and other places, and was ready to fight a protracted war!

The shells, gunpowder and guns stored in the Beijing division were almost completely used.

This expedition to Denglai can be said to be the largest mobilization of the Ming Dynasty since the Battle of Sarhu.

Even the quantity, scale and quality of a single dispatch of troops surpassed the previous "Wanli Four Great Marches"!

Emperor Chongzhen even took his ministers to the military camp to inspect the Yulin camp that was about to go out.

After all, it is an elite division created by the two dynasties of Tianqi Chongzhen with a lot of effort by the imperial court, and after several years of fighting against bandits, the soldiers of the Yulin Battalion are quite good in terms of equipment and condition.

When the soldiers of the Yulin Battalion, who were brightly dressed and armored, and whose faces were full of murderous aura, appeared in front of everyone, all the ministers were full of confidence.

Under the command of He Renlong, the soldiers of the Yulin Battalion carried out a neat drill and shouted: "Wipe out the Haikou and recover Denglai!" ”

Zhou Yanru said: "The Yulin Battalion is so elite, it will definitely be able to take down Denglai and relieve the imperial court's troubles!" ”

Feng Quan was not far behind, and hurriedly said: "The Yulin Battalion is the pro-army of the Son of Heaven, and the soldiers today are fortunate to see the face of heaven, so they are naturally full of energy, and their combat power is even more extraordinary!" ”

Wen Tiren, who had just entered the cabinet this year, was very disdainful of their behavior, but the two of them were now in high positions and had won the trust of His Majesty.

As a fledgling, he can only endure it for the time being.

Chongzhen was also a little fluttering in the praise of the ministers.

He was even planning a war against Liaodong in the future.

After all, it has been several years since Li Xianzhong pacified the establishment of the state, and in recent years, Liaodong has become self-reliant, and the imperial court has deliberately avoided the affairs of Liaodong, and his name has gradually been forgotten by these new generation of courtiers.

Feng Quan, as a cabinet minister and secretary of the military department, naturally knows everything in the army.

However, he joined the Intelligence Department as a halfway monk, and he himself had never even been to Liaodong, so he naturally did not know the true strength of Liaodong.

He felt that Liao Guogong must be in big trouble this time, so all kinds of information about the Ming army and Hong Chengchou's military deployment were sent to Liaodong urgently.

And Liaodong has long been gearing up here, after all, they haven't fought a big battle for several years.

Not to mention Li Sanshun, Mao Wenlong and them, even Li Xianzhong himself wants to find someone to practice.

However, long before Feng Quan's intelligence was sent, the Liaodong Army had already completed the mobilization.

In history, Lu Xiangsheng annihilated the main force of thieves in Chuzhou and captured Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang.

What Li Xianzhong didn't expect was that now that Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting had been included under his command in advance, Hong Chengchou still completed this feat.

The fact that the 300,000 peasant army was crushed by the official army in more than a month is really a bit unbelievable.

This Hong Chengchou really dared to do it, and he did not hesitate to use the lives of 20,000 officers and soldiers as bait, this ruthlessness is really admirable.

Anyway, it is absolutely impossible to replace Li Xianzhong himself, even if these are not his own descendants.

After Li Zicheng sneaked up on Fengyang, it was also a wonderful move, but Hong Chengchou was still unmoved.

It seems that this "Hong madman" is indeed difficult to deal with.

It is no wonder that the peasant army he carefully supported was crushed by him so quickly.

However, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and others have not yet completed the task of reshuffling the Ming gentry for themselves, and Li Xianzhong can only end up in person at this time.

In the end, Yuan Chonghuan, who was far away in Nurgandus, became the target of his message.

As a person of later generations, Li Xianzhong does not like Yuan Chonghuan, although he certainly cannot be the internal response of the Tartars and do anything traitorous.

However, Yuan Chonghuan will do whatever it takes to achieve his own goals. actually killed Mao Wenlong by such a means and destroyed the important restraining force of Phi Dao, which has no overall view.

Li Xianzhong, such a person, would definitely not be able to use it with confidence, so he threw him to Nuergandusi to open up wasteland.

The Intelligence Department had long reported that Yuan Chonghuan had been complaining about himself and had been asking the crew about the situation outside.

Li Xianzhong simply calculated it, which can be regarded as a test for Yuan Chonghuan, if he passes the test, then Li Xianzhong will start to use him next.

In the end, Yuan Chonghuan really told the imperial court about the East Ryukyu Company as Li Xianzhong expected.

It's just that he didn't expect that Yuan Chonghuan's big fool actually moved out of the theory of "five years of Pingliao".

Next, Chongzhen actually ordered the recruitment of troops across the country, and began to collect "training salaries", which helped him a lot.

The matter of Denglai is now well known to both parties, since he Chongzhen wants to fight, then have a good fight.

Li Xianzhong believed that as long as the imperial court was dragged there for half a year, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others would be able to recover.

Li Sanshun said: "Qi Liao Guogong, there are a total of 30,000 people who go south to Denglai this time, consisting of 5,000 cavalry and 25,000 infantry. Mao Wenlong, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, served as the chief general, and Zhao Shujiao, the chief soldier of Fushun, served as the deputy general. ”

"According to your requirements, the Liaodong Iron Cavalry has not been dispatched, but there are five thousand elite cavalry of the assault battalion."

Li Xianzhong said: "The terrain of Denglai is not suitable for a large number of cavalry to fight, originally Lu Xiangsheng's 20,000 people already have 5,000 cavalry, plus 5,000 assault battalions are enough." ”

Li Sanshun said: "There was no problem for Lu Xiangsheng to lead the Denglai army to fight before, but at this time, Mao Wenlong was suddenly transferred to take over his command, I am worried that they will have contradictions." ”

It stands to reason that the reinforcements are guest troops, and Mao Wenlong, a guest general, is indeed a bit inappropriate to replace Lu Xiangsheng in command of the 50,000 army, after all, Mao Wenlong is not as good as Lu Xiangsheng who understands the terrain and the situation.

However, the army still likes to talk about seniority, and now there are more than 100,000 people in Liaodong, and Lu Xiangsheng is a fledgling newcomer, and commanding 20,000 people is already the result of his own strength.

If these 30,000 reinforcements are added, it is even more inappropriate to directly let him command 50,000 horses, and let an old man like Mao Wenlong, who has repeatedly made military exploits, accept the command of Lu Xiangsheng.

There are many strong generals in Liaodong, to be honest, they only recognize Li Xianzhong as the coach, and if Li Xianzhong is not there, Li Sanshun, the deputy marshal, can also be accepted by everyone.

Many of the remaining people are general-level generals, and whoever you want to command the other party will probably have problems.

Or is it his own negligence, he should increase the position of the governor in the army, so that the governor can justifiably command the general army below.

For example, Xiong Tingbi is the governor of Monan, and there is no problem in commanding the general army Man Gui, of course, Xiong Tingbi's qualifications are old enough, and Man Gui does not dare to object.

Li Xianzhong smiled and said to Li Sanshun: "Sanshun, you are right to remind you, Lu Xiangsheng and Mao Wenlong are probably not suitable for anyone to command each other." My father can only work hard and continue to be in charge! ”

Li Sanshun suspected that Li Xianzhong was intentional at all, and now he is already a prince, and he still likes to command in person as before.

But he is also used to it, every time Li Xianzhong goes on an expedition, he keeps himself to take care of his family.

Anyway, he also commanded the Liaodong Iron Cavalry at the beginning, and now he hasn't been on the battlefield for many years.

It seems that this time I have to watch the house with Fan Wencheng again.

After all, among the remaining commanders of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Chengchou is a figure, and Li Xianzhong naturally can't miss this opportunity.

As for Yuan Chonghuan, he really didn't take him seriously.

Soon Li Xianzhong personally commanded the campaign.

Zheng Zhilong, the nominal Denglaidang family, has long since returned to the Ryukyu business to make money.

The fleet near Denglai this time was a joint fleet of the Liaodong Naval Division and the Eastern Ryukyu Company, with Deng Gang, the commander of the Liaodong Naval Division, as the chief general. There are more than 100 large and small warships and more than 10,000 sailors!

Due to the large number of troops of the Ming army this time, Li Xianzhong decided to choose Laizhou Mansion for the battlefield.

The 20,000 Denglai Army led by Lu Xiangsheng was stationed in the area of Laizhou Prefecture in the north, and the 30,000 Liaodong Army led by Mao Wenlong defended the Jiaozhou area in the south of Laizhou.

As for Dengzhou, there are 5,000 White Lotus Sect militia under Wang Xifan, which is enough to maintain law and order.

Without a naval division, it would be impossible for the Ming army to attack Dengzhou.

Although this war was launched by the Ming Dynasty, the Liaodong Army was mobilized earlier than them.

It is less than half a day's journey from Lushun to Dengzhou by water.

So when Hong Chengchou's army prepared food and grass supplies and arrived at the Qingzhou front, the Liaodong Army had already arrived here for two and a half months.

On 18 July, the 120,000-strong army under the command of Hong Cheng, the governor of the five provinces, finally arrived in Qingzhou Prefecture.

Soon Hong Chengchou convened all the generals to discuss the matter!

At this moment, except for He Renlong, who learned about Haikou's inside story because of his proximity to the water, the other generals were actually in the dark.

They were also surprised that the imperial court had gathered 120,000 elite troops.

It is said that these 120,000 people are only a group, Henan, Shanxi, Shanxi, Huguang, and North and South Zhili have all begun to mobilize, and the second group of people can also go to Shandong at any time!

Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, held the highest official position, and he said: "Governor Hong, what is the enemy situation in Denglai, and the imperial court has actually used so many people?" ”

Zuo Liangyu is the only person who has dealt with these "pirates", and he is the only one who understands the situation of the pirates.

So Zuo Liangyu told the tragic story of how he first marched forward, then was subject to the firearms of the thieves, and finally the main cavalry was tortured by the thieves' ships.

Although he attributed his defeat to the enemy's guns and firearms, it was clear that he had fallen for the thieves' trick to lure the enemy in.

At this time, Yuan Chonghuan spoke, and he said: "Actually, Mr. Zuo's defeat is not unjust, because what you are facing is not a Haikou at all, this Eastern Ryukyu Company is a partnership between Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, and Zheng Zhilong. I dare to assert that you are facing the elite of Liaodong. ”

This amount of information is really a lot of information, so he briefly explained it.

At this time, the atmosphere in the camp instantly became solemn.

Originally, they thought that this was an easy trip to abuse vegetables, but now that they have to face the Liaodong Army, they will instantly lose their confidence.

Then Hong Chengchou said to Liu Zhaoji, the chief soldier of Shandong: "General soldier Liu, a few years ago, you once fought against the White Lotus Sect in Shandong with the Duke of Liao, how is the public army of Liao, and how is the combat power of the iron cavalry in Liaodong?" ”

Liu Zhaoji said: "The Liaodong Iron Cavalry under the command of the Duke of Liaoguo is a rare strong army in the world, the Liaodong Army, whether it is cavalry or infantry, is on horseback and at least two horses, they use 6-pounder Franc machine guns in the field, equipped with special artillery vehicles that can be directly pulled by horses, so the marching speed of the Liaodong Army is unparalleled, often fast beyond your expectations." ”

"The public soldiers of Liao have always been the first to anticipate the enemy's opportunities, every step of the thief is within his expectations, and the military order he gave to the last general was even issued half a month in advance, but he can accurately predict the movement of the thief, and it is exactly the same in time!"

Hong Chengchou waved his hand and motioned for Liu Zhaoji to stop.

He said: "The so-called knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent will not be defeated in a hundred battles!" ”

"The Eastern Ryukyu Company should only be a group of armed pirates funded by the Liao Guogong, of course, it is not excluded that there are some soldiers of the Liaodong Army, and their equipment should be the configuration of the Liaodong Army, so the firearms are stronger."

"However, the mountains, rivers, and lakes of Denglaiduo are not suitable for large-scale cavalry operations of the Liaodong Army, so you don't have to worry too much."

"The firearms of the Yulin battalion are not weaker than those of Haikou, otherwise it would be impossible for General Zuo to hold out in Qingzhou until now."

"The total number of Liaodong troops is only 100,000, and the Denglai area will not be at most 20,000 or 30,000, as long as we avoid the enemy's naval artillery, this battle will be much easier!"

"Where do the generals think we should fight the first battle?"

He Renlong said: "The fastest way to take Denglai is naturally to conquer Weixian and Changyi from the northern front, and then take Pingdu Prefecture to ensure the flank, and then directly take the capital of Laizhou, Ye County; After attacking the state capital, go straight to Dengzhou! ”

Hong Chengchou said: "This road is relatively flat, and it is the nearest route, which goes straight to the core of Denglai, which is naturally the best choice for entering the army. ”

Zuo Liangyu replied: "It is true that it has advanced all the way to Laizhou Mansion in Xiaxia, because Weixian is in a salient part of Laizhou deep into Qingzhou, so the first battle must take Weixian, otherwise the North Road will not be able to enter the army at all; The Jiaozhou area on the southern road is mostly lakes and rivers, and it is difficult for the enemy to set up an ambush easily. ”

Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "Mr. Liu said that the public soldiers of the Liao State have always been the first to anticipate the enemy, so we attacked Weixian and took Laizhou directly, I am afraid that it has long been expected by him!" ”

He Renlong said: "Then according to Governor Hong's intentions, we won't fight Weixian?" ”

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said, "If we don't attack Weixian, we won't be able to open the passage to Denglai." ”

He said: "General Zuo listened to the order and ordered you to lead 20,000 soldiers and horses from your headquarters to attack Weixian with 10,000 troops under the command of Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Kaifeng. But if the enemy retreats easily, do not pursue, and if the enemy holds there, you will attack! ”

Zuo Liangyu and Chen Yongfu said: "The last general will be ordered!" ”

Soon Zuo Liangyu's Yulin battalion began to advance towards Weixian.

Today's Yulin Camp has a high degree of firearms, and soon the official army will set up 12 Hongyi cannons.

With Zuo Liangyu's order, a cannonball shot at the city wall of Weixian.

However, the Ming army still uses solid bullets, so the casualties of the defenders are not large.

Although under the attack of the Hongyi cannons, a large number of craters appeared on the city wall, and many of the city bricks fell off, revealing the rammed earth inside.

But in just one day, it is unrealistic to want to collapse the city wall.

And the defenders had been prepared, and they quickly padded sacks filled with dirt in the gaps in the walls.

However, Zuo Liangyu was not in a hurry to attack the city, he just surrounded Weixian, and then ordered the artillery to continue to bombard the city wall, anyway, the city wall would be collapsed in a few days, and it would not be too late for him to attack again!

The battle on the northern front started as scheduled, as expected by Li Xianzhong.

He had already prepared several lines of defense for the Ming army to gnaw.

Looking at Hong Chengchou's appearance, he should have made a feint to attack Weixian and put the main force on the southern front.

But it doesn't hurt, because there are 30,000 troops of Mao Wenlong stationed on the southern front, and there are more troops.

50,000 horses to guard one Laizhou is more than enough, and Li Xianzhong will not leave a gap for Hong Chengchou.

Sure enough, not long after, the Gaomi and Jiaozhou lines south of Laizhou were raided by the Ming army.

However, Mao Wenlong's Liaodong Army was heavily defended, and the Ming army had no chance at all.

He Renlong said with some frustration: "Governor Qiqihong, there are a large number of thieves stationed in the two cities of Gaomi Jiaozhou, and the brothers have attacked several times and suffered a lot of casualties!" ”

Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "If this kind of trick of attacking the north and attacking the south can deceive the thieves, then you are too underestimate the Duke of Liao!" ”

He said: "Governor Yang, your troops continue to attack the two cities of Gaomi and Jiaozhou, remember to make a bigger noise, and don't let the thieves see that you are feintting!" ”

"In addition, to the northeast of Gaomi City is Gaomi Lake, you can have people build ships to make thieves mistakenly think that we are going to break through their defenses from Gaomi Lake!"

He Renlong was puzzled and said, "Governor Hong, the north and south lines are all feints, where are we going?" ”

Soon they came to Lingshanwei, southeast of Jiaozhou.

Because this is already the seaside, the Ming army has no sailors, and there is no defensive value here, so Mao Wenlong directly gave up here.

Hong Chengchou pointed to the Fushan guard on the other side and said: "Since the thieves have abandoned the Lingshan guard, then the Fushan guard on the other side should not have any troops left to defend, and ordered the soldiers to build a small boat, and we will float directly from here to the sea!" ”

Although the two guards face each other across the sea, they are less than 3 miles apart, and they can even swim directly to the opposite shore with good water quality.

As long as you cross here, you can bypass the Ming army's defense line and go straight to their rear.

Moreover, he had already sent people to investigate, and there were almost no thieves there, and the sailors of the thieves were basically on standby in the Denglai area in the north.

Thank you for your monthly passes, recommended tickets, and follow-up support!

(End of chapter)