Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 131

"The Ming army is not quite right this time, and if we continue to delay like this, we can't afford it."

On the second day of April in the first year of Tianqi, ten miles away from the east side of Shenyang City, Nurhachi rode his horse to a low slope, looking at Shenyang City, with a lot of thoughts in his heart.

Due to Zhu Youjian's order and the persistent battle between Liao and Shen, Nurhachi hardly achieved any advantage he wanted to achieve.

Although the captured Zhangyi Station and other four stone fortresses obtained [-] shi of grain, this was nothing compared to the consumption of Houjin.

"drive!"

At this time, the hooves of horses and the sound of riding horses sounded, and it was Daishan who came with dozens of cavalry with red flags.

After he came, he said to Nurhachi:

"Khan Ama and the Ming army still don't leave the city, not only in Shenyang, but also in other places."

"It has been almost half a month. We have consumed [-] shi of grain, [-] shi of beans, and more than [-] sheep."

"Or order to attack the city!"

Although Dai Shan and Huang Taiji are generals, they are also the two big stewards of Hou Jin.

Right now Huang Taiji is leading ten Niulu from Zhengbai Banner to patrol Taizi River in case the reinforcements from Liaoyang City go north, so Daishan is the only person in the tent to handle these logistical matters.

No one is more aware of the fragility of Houjin than Daishan. The mountain and wild land in Jianzhou, Haixi and other places is only more than [-] million mu. Barely reach [-] million mu of arable land.

At present, the population of Jianlu in Houjin is only [-], and there are more than [-] Han people in Kaiyuan, Tieling and other places.

Out of a population of more than [-], [-] are soldiers, which means that only more than [-] people cultivate more than [-] million mu of arable land.

Liaodong and Jianzhou are no better than Beizhili and Guannei. After a year of cultivation, they can produce about one stone of grain at most.

That is to say, Houjin's grain production is only more than three million shi, half of which needs to be handed over in order to barely support [-] soldiers.

But these are just soldiers, and there are a large number of cattle, sheep, and military horses to feed.

Therefore, the current post-gold is actually eating the capital left by Nurhachi when he was dormant.

From the forty-sixth year of Wanli to the present, three and a half years have passed, and the food reserves accumulated every year have long been exhausted.

In addition to the [-] shi of grain left in Hetuala, the last [-] shi of grain was also brought out by Nurhachi.

Therefore, this battle is actually a big gamble, a battle of betting on the fate of the country.

If you win the bet and enter Shenyang City, you can get the grain and official grain in the Changping warehouse of Shenyang City, as well as millions of mu of fertile land south of Pu River and north of Shenshui.

With these fertile fields and Houjin, Guozuo can last for at least two years.

This is the status quo of Houjin. Every battle is a gamble, and if you lose a bet, it will shake the foundation of the country.

Therefore, although Daishan knew what he was thinking about Khan Ama, he really couldn't bear to watch Hou Jin continue to gamble like this.

Not only him, but Huang Taiji also think so.

It is really difficult to raise [-] half-time soldiers with a population of more than [-]. It would be better if the average temperature in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period was higher than that of later generations. farming war.

"Daishan, don't hesitate too much!"

Suddenly, Nurhachi looked at Shenyang City and said, "Look at your feet."

"The grain cultivated by the Han people, as long as it comes to the autumn harvest, we can take away the grain."

Nurhachi's words made Daishan's eyes shine.

The millions of acres of arable land around Shenyang and Shibao in various places have been cultivated for grain early. It only takes another three months for the grain to be harvested, and it will be easy to make up for the shortfall in Houjin.

But a new problem also came, harvesting these grains, it is difficult to do it with them alone.

"Daishan, pass on my Khan Order, and all the Eight Banners of Diao Tieling, Kaiyuan, and Fushun come to Shenyang to gather!"

"Conscript another [-] auxiliary soldiers from the Han Dynasty and let them go south with the army."

"Yes! Big Khan!" Hearing Nurhachi's words, Daishan turned his head quickly and signaled his Gu Shan Ezhen to deliver the order.

Gu Shan Ezhen also nodded slightly, and then left the low slope with a dozen riders.

After everyone left, Daishan continued to speak:

"Khan Ama, do you want to use the armor and iron pots of the Ming army killed in Zhangyi Station to exchange cattle and sheep with the savage Engedel?"

"The pastures on the grassland are growing well this year. If we are willing to change them, we should be able to get tens of thousands of cattle and sheep."

"Yes, you can ask Shuo Tuo from Tieling to bring a group of Jiala people to Engedel's side to exchange some cattle and sheep." Nurhachi nodded, but Daishan hesitated:
"Could it be that there are too few Yijiala? I heard that the young emperor of Ming Kingdom has abolished and replaced the soldiers and horses of Beizhili and Jizhen, and used the soldiers and horses of the Imperial Horse Supervisor to guard them."

"If they want to send troops, Shuo Tuo will..."

"Daishan, don't think too highly of the Ming army. We have already killed most of the elites in Ji Town. In such a short period of time, the generals from the Nine Frontiers will not be able to train well, and the rest will not dare to leave the customs." Nurhachi said to Daishan expresses his dislike of cautious ideas everywhere.

In his view, the impact of the defeat in the Battle of Sarhu was still fermenting within the Ming Dynasty. Ganshan, Xuanda, and Jizhen Liaodong were all severely damaged, otherwise the Sichuan and Zhejiang soldiers would not have been transferred northward.

Jizhen could not produce any decent soldiers, let alone dare to attack Shuotuo.

What's more, Engdel has [-] troops, seven to eight thousand men. Once Shuotuo is attacked, Engdel cannot ignore it.

"Take orders!" Seeing that his Khan Ama was so tough, Daishan could only tell his third son Shuotuo to take a Jiala army to the Engedel tribe in exchange for enough cattle and sheep for the army.

Compared with Hou Jin's logistical difficulties, Shenyang City can be said to have abundant food and grass.

Even though more than [-] hungry people flooded in, Shenyang's logistical pressure was not too great with the mountain of more than [-] shi of grain piled up in Changping warehouses and official warehouses.

Qin Bangping and the others patrol the city every day, and then check whether there are any spies from Houjin in the city, and then strengthen the city defenses to prevent spies from attacking the granary and wells.

All of this is the natural suppression of the city defenders on the city attackers, and it is most appropriate to describe it as leisure and waiting for work.

The Liaoshen battle has not attracted the attention of the world so far, because the strength of the two sides is far less than that of the Sarhu battle.

But in peace, the only bad thing is that the Donglin Party and officials are clamoring to gather heavy troops to teach Nurhachi a lesson.

However, their ideas became Zhu Youjian's help in disguise.

The Seventh Guards and [-] auxiliary soldiers arrived in Tianjin one after another, and trained together with the Dagu Battalion in Tianjin.

The armors from the Ministry of Industry and the Armor Factory were sent to Tianjin one after another, and for a while this place became the focus of many speech officials.

However, as the commander-in-chief who is about to aid Liao, although Sun Yingyuan was very serious during his daily military training, in fact, when he returned to the big tent of the military camp every day, he repeatedly observed and carefully studied the map of Liaodong.

He has a clear understanding of his abilities, he has never led troops to fight, and he is far inferior to Man Gui's control of the battlefield.

It can even be said that he is not as good as Zhu Youjian, even though Zhu Youjian has only learned the art of war for more than half a year, but Zhu Youjian has a general understanding of the terrain of Liaodong.

But what about Sun Yingyuan?The Yumajian hadn't fought a war for many years. Although he was very strict in running the army, he had no experience in leading soldiers and horses out of the field, let alone commanding tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

Therefore, he is very guilty right now, and it is even more difficult to sleep at night.

"Ugh……"

Inside the military tent, Sun Yingyuan sighed, but at this moment the curtain of his military tent was lifted.

"I'm not saying don't..."

"What? Even I can't come in?"

A familiar voice sounded, and Sun Yingyuan looked up, and sure enough, he saw Zhu Youjian who was looking at him with a smile on his face.

"Your Highness! The death penalty for the last general, unexpectedly..." Sun Yingyuan half-kneeled on the ground subconsciously, clasped his fists, and Zhu Youjian stepped forward to help him up.

"Hey, don't stick to etiquette." Zhu Youjian helped him up, then looked at the map on the table, then turned to look at him with a smile and said:

"Yes, it seems that you have been studying the situation in Liaodong during this period of time. Now that you have studied it, you should know the reason why I sent you to Zhenjiang, right?"

When Zhu Youjian asked the question, Sun Yingyuan also showed a trace of helplessness on his face and said:

"The last general looked at the map of Liaodong for several days before he came up with His Highness' intention to send the last general to Zhenjiang."

"The intention is for the last general to lead his troops to Kuandian Fort, and then follow the Kuandian Fort trail to attack Hetuala in the north and cut off Nurhachi's back road."

"Then what do you think?" Zhu Youjian unceremoniously sat on the only chair in the military tent, while Sun Yingyuan lowered his head and replied:

"The last general looked at the map of Liaodong, and also asked the merchants in Zhenjiang to inquire, but they replied that the wide part of the Kuandian trail is less than ten feet wide, and the narrow part is less than three feet long, and there are high mountains and dense forests on both sides. Ambushed."

What Sun Yingyuan said was short of telling Zhu Youjian that "the plan of leading tens of thousands of troops to attack Hetuala from Kuandian is useless."

However, after hearing his words, Zhu Youjian laughed and said:
"You all know that it is difficult to attack Hetuala with tens of thousands of troops, so do you know that you don't know? Does this old slave know?"

"This is exactly what the general is confused about. From the general's point of view, it is impossible for His Highness not to know these things, but why..." Sun Yingyuan hesitated.

"Why did you issue such a military order, no doubt let tens of thousands of troops go to die, right?"

"The last general dare not!" Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Sun Yingyuan knelt down on the ground, knocked his head on the ground, and did not dare to look up at Zhu Youjian.

But Zhu Youjian laughed and said, "I didn't say that you must attack Hetuala."

"Think again, think about the overall situation, what else can you do if you lead the army there."

"What can the general do?" Sun Yingyuan raised his head in confusion, looked up at Zhu Youjian, and couldn't figure it out for a while.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian didn't urge him, but looked at him with a smile and said, "Stand up and think."

When Sun Yingyuan heard the words, he could only stand up dawdly, and then stood where he was. After thinking about it, he looked at the map again, but he still couldn't figure it out.

"Still can't figure it out?" Zhu Youjian smiled, without urging, but got up and said:
"When I come to Tianjin this time, I may arrange the water Wu and the barracks of the three guards of the future navy before leaving. Come to me after you figure it out."

After finishing speaking, Zhu Youjian walked out of the military tent, and Sun Yingyuan also bowed and said, "Respectfully, Your Highness..."

"No need to send it away." Zhu Youjian walked out of the military tent, leaving Sun Yingyuan alone to look at the map of Liaodong, but couldn't figure it out.

But at this time, Zhu Youjian got on his horse and was going to see the Seven Guards first.

Lu Wenzhao was accompanying him this time, so he also got on his horse, and then asked:
"The military order issued by His Highness this time, let alone Sun Zongbing, I am afraid that people in the world will not be able to figure it out."

"It's not so exaggerated. I guess many people have already thought of my thoughts." Zhu Youjian was riding a horse, with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

As he said that, Zhu Youjian also led people to ride slowly to the school grounds of the military camp.

Since the name of Tianjin comes from the meaning of the ferry crossed by the emperor, as an important military location, the Ming Dynasty began to build a city and set up guards in the Xiaozhigu area southwest of the mouth of the Sancha River.

Although the civil servants tried their best to prevent the sea transportation, Tianjin was still very lively. The acropolis of the original guard had been crowded with tens of thousands of people, so Sun Yingyuan responded to Zhu Youjian's words and directly led troops to Dagukou to expand the former Tianjin navy barracks. .

After Sun Yingyuan's expansion, the Dagukou military camp can accommodate [-] people, comparable to the Yanshan camp.

There are seven school grounds in the battalion, and the soldiers and horses of the Seventh Guards are currently training in these school grounds.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian rode by the gate of the school field on horseback, just glanced at it for a while, and after confirming that the method of training troops had not changed, he nodded and left.

Such behavior made Lu Wenzhao very puzzled, "Won't Your Highness go in and have a look?"

"It's not necessary. I came here this time mainly to confirm the Shui Wu of the navy." Zhu Youjian said, then led people out of the barracks and walked towards the sea.

In the past four hundred years, the terrain has changed a lot. Today's Dagu has no floating islands that spread out from later generations. When you walk to the seaside, you can only see shallow shoals in the sea.

In the north, during the Jiajing period, in order to resist the Japanese pirates, the fortress began to be built. However, the soldiers and horses have been abolished by Sun Yingyuan and merged into the Seven Guards. Now the defense and artillery there are taken over by the Dagu Battalion.

Zhu Youjian rode his horse along the coastline towards Dagukou in the north, followed by Lu Wenzhao and more than [-] Tiqi of Jinyiwei.

When they arrived at Dagukou, someone stopped them immediately.

"Stop, this is..." A new soldier was about to say something when he was slapped on the back of the head by an old soldier, and then the old soldier stepped forward and said with a smile:
"My lords, I don't know if this is..."

He looked at Zhu Youjian, and Lu Wenzhao also said:
"This is His Highness the Fifth Highness, who came to inspect Dagu Port."

"His Royal Highness, thousand years old! I will inform the general to come here." Hearing this, the old soldier immediately bowed in return, and then let go of his feet and ran into the camp.

Zhu Youjian kept looking left and right, observing the surroundings of the Dagukou Fort, and whether there was any possibility of expansion.

After confirming that it can be expanded, he nodded in satisfaction, and at this time a group of Ming army soldiers in cloth face armor and hoods also trotted out of the Dagukou camp.

"Chen Yong, general of the Dagu camp, sees His Highness, Your Highness is a thousand years old!"

"Your Highness is a thousand years old!"

"Get up, I'll go in and take a look at the Dagu camp. Maybe the three guards of the Navy will build a water camp near the Dagu camp in the future." Zhu Youjian motioned them to get up, and rode into the Dagu camp.

After entering, there is a school field and the soldiers of the Dagu Battalion who are training on the school field.

Zhu Youjian saw that they were still wearing armor during training, so he said to Chen Yong, the general next to him, "You are also from the old camp. If they are training in armor in this weather, do you think you will suffer from heat stroke?"

"This..." Chen Yong wondered: "Your Highness, you don't know that the meals of the Shangzhiying Army and the Guard Army are the same. They were asked to wear mandarin ducks and battle jackets for training before, but they became fat after a month. of."

"The last general has no choice but to make such a bad move."

"Then take them for a run on Long Beach, don't overheat them." Zhu Youjian frowned and ordered, but Chen Yong could only nod in response.

Seeing Chen Yong's response, Zhu Youjian boarded the Dagukou Fort.

Because the Ming army reinforced the fort into four places, there are six general cannons of three thousand catties in each place.

Zhu Youjian looked at the somewhat rusty cannon on the fort, and it was not difficult to see that it had been polished some time ago, so he couldn't help being angry.

"If there are pirates invading from here, I'm afraid these cannons will blow up at most three times."

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to Lu Wenzhao:
"Ask the cannon-casting craftsmen of the Artillery Factory to make thirty-two three-kilogram cannons using the clay molds of the previous Great General's cannons, and send them to the Dagu Camp."

After finishing speaking, Zhu Youjian looked at Chen Yong again and said:

"I will ask the people from the Artillery Factory to send [-] catties of gunpowder and [-] stone bullets. You can also polish the stone bullets in your free time."

"Next time I come, if you haven't finished shooting the gunpowder and stone bullets, you can go back to the Yanshan camp and start from the top soldier again!"

"The last general takes orders!" Chen Yong subconsciously stood up straight with his legs together, and when Zhu Youjian saw him like this, he asked:
"Look at you, are you still practicing Goose Step?"

"Returning to Your Highness, not only the last general, but all the guards and battalions spend a quarter of an hour every day practicing going forward, especially turning left and right." Chen Yong's words surprised Zhu Youjian.

He thought that the generals of this era would be very resistant to this kind of prestige, but he didn't expect that they all liked it.

"Since you like it, let's practice. Yanshan Daying is also..." Zhu Youjian looked at Lu Wenzhao, and Lu Wenzhao also asked someone to write down this matter.

While they were writing down the matter, Zhu Youjian walked to the south side of the fort, looked at the shallows further south, and then said to Lu Wenzhao:

"That place is not bad, let someone measure it, whether it is enough to be used as a dock and a barracks for the three guards of the navy."

"Yes" Lu Wenzhao replied, and then asked someone to measure it.

About two quarters of an hour later, the measurer came back and bowed to Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, from the place you pointed to to the south, the horse race is about [-] paces, all of which are very flat, and Mintian is three miles away from the beach."

"It's big enough, so let's set it there." Hearing Jin Yiwei's words, Zhu Youjian confirmed the location of the three guards of the navy.

After Lu Wenzhao heard about it, he also asked someone to write down the place, and then planned to build it according to Zhu Youjian's blueprint of the navy and three guards.

"Allow [-] taels of silver to build the dock first, so the sailors don't need to worry for now."

"Is [-] taels too much, Your Highness?" Hearing that Zhu Youjian said that a Shuiwu and the barracks needed [-] taels of silver, Lu Wenzhao hesitated to speak.

With the current material prices, it would not cost more than ten thousand taels to build a stone water and barracks...

"This place is bigger than the one on the drawing, about the same." After Zhu Youjian said that, he turned around and was about to get off the fort. At this time, more than ten riders rode their horses into Dagukou.

Zhu Youjian looked, and it turned out that it was Sun Yingyuan who came.

"It seems that he has figured it out." Zhu Youjian turned to look at Lu Wenzhao, and then said:

"Just follow me, and the others will disperse."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao didn't quite understand the meaning of Zhu Youjian's words, but he still told people to disperse. Even Chen Yong and the others left, leaving only Lu Wenzhao and Zhu Youjian standing on the fort.

"Your Highness! The last general came to bother you!"

Sun Yingyuan made a bow while trotting towards the fort.

After he got on the fort, Zhu Youjian smiled and said, "Have you figured it out?"

"I understand a little bit, but not completely." Sun Yingyuan smiled shyly.

"Tell me about your understanding." Zhu Youjian was very curious about how much Sun Yingyuan understood.

"Yes!" Sun Yingyuan bowed in return, and then said solemnly:

"Your Highness probably wants to take advantage of this opportunity to consolidate my Daming's position in Zhenjiang, Phoenix City, and Kuandian Fort, and deter North Korea by the way."

"As for the attack on Hetuala, it is actually a military training. When we are consolidating Kuandian, Fenghuang City, and Zhenjiang, we can just train our troops in the field and make a posture that a large army is going north."

Sun Yingyuan drew inferences from one instance and expressed some of Zhu Youjian's thoughts.

Zhenjiang Fort, this is a slightly flat place in the east of the Liaodong Peninsula in the Ming Dynasty. From the Yalu River to Jinzhou, there are hills and plains.

If you work hard in Zhenjiang, you can leave a good environment and make full preparations for Qi Jin's division of troops to garrison in the future.

To accept this treasure land, Kuandian and Fenghuang City must be guarded, and there are many real girls living in Fenghuang City and Kuandian City, so they need to be consolidated.

As for the second point of deterring North Korea, it is to let North Korea see that Daming still has the ability to deploy tens of thousands of troops and deploy them on the Yalu River.

Since the Battle of Saerhu, King Li Hun of North Korea has pursued the diplomacy of "not betraying the Ming and not angering the gold", which is a challenge to the authority of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian wants to enhance the prestige of the emperor's brother. The army that bears the brunt has already been prepared, and then he will start to publicize the national prestige of Ming Dynasty.

Li Hun's foreign policy was a humiliation to the many sons and civil servants of North Korea who had been favored by the Ming Dynasty for helping to restore the country.

Moreover, Li Hun may be secretly doing business with Hou Jin, so it is Zhu Youjian's job to drive Li Hun off the throne.

Historically, Li Hun was kicked out of the throne by his nephew Lingyang Jun Li Yu in the third year of Tianqi.

Therefore, what Zhu Youjian has to do is to make North Korea obedient, and even send troops to North Korea to let North Korea cut off the trade with Houjin.

Therefore, these two are actually what Zhu Youjian wants to do, and threatening Nurhachi is just an incidental thing.

The specific strength of Hetuala has not yet been clarified, but it will not exceed [-].

In this way, as long as the Seventh Guards and the [-] auxiliary soldiers assume the posture of going north from Kuandian and Phoenix City, even if Nurhachi knows that the branch of Changbai Mountain does not have the road for tens of thousands of troops to march together, he still has to transfer troops back to defend Hetu Allah.

Zhu Youjian decided that he would not dare to gamble, because he would not lose much if he lost the bet, but Nurhachi lost the bet, and the base camp he had been running for decades would be taken away!
Even if the Seven Guards did not attack the city after they arrived at Hetuala, as long as they destroyed the blacksmith shop outside the city, Nurhachi could not bear the pain.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to Sun Yingyuan:
"You guessed most of it, but I have to do more than that."

Having said that, Zhu Youjian continued to Sun Yingyuan:
"There is one more thing I want you to do, which is to set up forts on various mountain roads, then train the [-] auxiliary soldiers in Zhenjiang, and finally hand over the [-] auxiliary soldiers to Qi Yuanfu and Qin Minping, Qi Yuangong!"

Zhu Youjian explained everything, and only then did Sun Yingyuan understand that His Royal Highness is going to gradually replace Liaodong Town, which is mainly composed of Liaodong people and Yulin people.

[-] auxiliary soldiers are well-trained soldiers, and the only thing lacking is armor.

At that time, Mangui will hand over [-] new recruits to Yongping Mansion to Qin Bangping, and the number of soldiers in Liaodong will reach [-].

Among them, the guest army accounted for [-]. Although the Liaodong Army claimed to have [-], only [-] to [-] were able to fight.

At that time, the Liaodong army that can fight will be in the west of Liaoning, and those that cannot fight will be in the Liaodong Peninsula.

Then it would be easy for His Royal Highness to move Liaodong. Across Shenyang and Liaoyang, even if the soldiers and horses in Liaoxi were aware of it, it would be too late to join Nurhachi.

Of course, they can also go directly north, break out of the Great Wall, go to Liaoze, go straight to Tieling via Neikha, and seek refuge in Nurhachi.

But Sun Yingyuan knew that the next step for His Royal Highness was to destroy the Bayo tribe of Engedel in Neikalkha.

Once Engedel's Bayo tribe is destroyed, the soldiers and horses in Liao Town in western Liaoning will really have nowhere to go.

Besides, even if you don't mention the Bayo tribe, it is still a question of whether the generals in Liaodong have the courage to run hundreds of miles to join Jianlu.

Thinking of all this, Sun Yingyuan immediately said to Zhu Youjian: "Your Highness' words will eventually be remembered in my heart!"

"Long live this time, I will go through fire and water for your highness, and I will die!"

"Okay, you just know..." Seeing Sun Yingyuan's appearance, Zhu Youjian raised his hand to help him up, and then said to Lu Wenzhao:

"The things about Shui Wu and the barracks are also settled, let's prepare to return..."

"Yes!" Hearing this, Lu Wenzhao went down to prepare to set off, and after Zhu Youjian encouraged Sun Yingyuan, he asked Sun Yingyuan to train well and wait for the departure.

Sun Yingyuan bowed and retreated, and finally only Zhu Youjian was left on the fort.

Looking at the sea, he seemed to see Liaodong through the sea.

Solving Liaodong's problem and Daming's problem solves a quarter of it...

(End of this chapter)