Ming Empire

Chapter 215 Reasons for the Northern Expedition

Cao Yue chooses now, the situation in Remnant Ming is not stable, he and Sun Chuanting have not completely controlled the situation in the world, the army recruitment is still going on, and the Northern Expedition when the Nanjing New Army needs further training is after careful consideration.

Because there are so many channels to transmit news, although Cao Yue stayed in Nanjing, he still has a clear understanding of the situation in the north. He felt that it was very necessary to attack Jiannu during the Northern Expedition at this time.

After the disastrous defeat in the Battle of One Stone, Li Zicheng hurriedly proclaimed himself emperor in Beijing, and then chose to escape, and fled back to Taiyuan first.

Li Zicheng didn't intend to flee all the way west. He wanted to take advantage of the superiority in the number of troops he led to use Xiongguan to fight against Wu Sangui and Jiannu.The number of troops under the Dashun Dynasty was far greater than that of Wu Sangui and Jiannu, and Li Zicheng was confident that he could stabilize the situation.As long as the situation stabilized, Li Zicheng believed that by virtue of Dashun's superiority in numbers, he could turn defeat into victory and drive Jiannu out of the pass.

Although Jiannu occupied Shanhaiguan and Beijing, they did not capture the nearby cities. As long as these cities were still in the hands of the Dashun army, Jiannu would not be able to stay in Beijing for long, and they would not be able to solve at least one problem of food and grass.The areas controlled by the Dashun Army still formed an encirclement of Beijing. Abandoning Beijing is only temporary, and the Dashun Army will fight back soon.

But soon, Li Zicheng suffered a further blow. The former Ming generals Tang Tong, Zhu Zhifeng, Wang Chengyin, Jiang Xiang, Jiang Rang and other powerful soldiers who surrendered to the Dashun Dynasty betrayed Dashun one after another and surrendered to Jiannu. And like Wu Sangui, they played the banner of begging the thief to restore their enlightenment.Because of the rebellion of these powerful generals, the strength of the Dashun Army was severely weakened, and Li Zicheng's plan to counterattack Beijing became a castle in the air.Under the encirclement and attack of Wu Sangui, Jiannu coalition forces, and other rebellious former Ming officials, Li Zicheng had no choice but to abandon the city again and return to Shaanxi.

Originally, the rogues had captured Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and most of Beizhili, but in less than half a month, most of Beizhili and Shanxi were lost. The red lady was killed because of Li Yan. , Openly broke with the bandits, so Li Zisuo's sphere of influence has shrunk significantly, almost only in Shaanxi.

Because the bandits were defeated too quickly and did not cause great losses to Jiannuhe, except for Wu Sangui's Guanning Army who suffered relatively large losses, other former Ming generals who repeatedly acted as fools, such as Brother Jiang Xiang, Tang Tong, etc., Strength has not suffered a major loss.What Cao Yue worried about was that Li Zicheng's rogues would soon be wiped out by Jiannu and those Ming rebels, just like in the original history.

If this happens, Jiannu will definitely attack the south with all his strength after entering the pass to eliminate the rogues, which will put enormous pressure on the small imperial court of Remnant Ming.What Cao Yue has to do now is to find a way to restrain Jiannu and those rebels who surrendered to Jiannu to eliminate Li Zicheng's bandits.Cao Yue believed that as long as Li Zicheng was given a chance to breathe, the bandit would soon recover.

If the rogue bandits regained their vitality, the struggle with Jiannu would continue, and it would be impossible for Jiannu to devote all its strength to attacking south.Although Cao Yue is not very afraid of Jiannu's southward attack now, he believes that it should not be a problem to defend the south with the 20 new guards of the Ming Dynasty.But the rear is unstable, he has not fully controlled the political power and all the troops, if something goes wrong, the situation may be out of control.

He didn't want the situation in the world to become uncontrollable, and he didn't want Jiannu to attack the south without any scruples.Therefore, he wanted to lead the army to the Northern Expedition. This time, he did not intend to recreate the slaves, but just wanted to restrain the slaves from attacking the rogues, so that Li Zicheng had a chance to survive.Cao Yue knew that, at least for now, Li Zicheng would regard Jianu as his sworn enemy, and if he regained his strength, he would seek revenge on Jianu.

An enemy's enemy is a friend. Cao Yue knew that the most sensible thing to do now is to unite with Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's troops to resist Jiannu and drive Jiannu out of the pass.But Li Zicheng was the chief culprit who forced Emperor Chongzhen to death. No matter which gangsters are the life and death enemies of Ming Dynasty, if he wants to join forces with them, he will definitely be opposed by the ruling and opposition parties. Even if he controls the army, he will end up in tragedy. People betrayed relatives.

Since it is impossible to openly join forces with the rogues to fight against Jiannu, it is always possible to go north to attack Jiannu in the name of the Northern Expedition when they encircle Wei and rescue Zhao, and rescue the rogues in the name of recovering the capital, right?The Northern Expedition avenged Emperor Chongzhen and restored the capital. No one in the world would object to such a slogan, and no one dared to object.

In addition, today's Datong is still under the control of the Ming Dynasty's army. Cao Bianjiao led tens of thousands of Daming troops, relying on Datong's fortified city to defend Datong.But Cao Yue knew that although Datong was not considered an isolated city, the connection between Datong and the mainland was basically cut off. If no help was given, the situation of Datong's defenders would become more and more difficult. He had to find a way to rescue Datong.

The tens of thousands of soldiers guarding Datong City are all elite troops, and their combat effectiveness is no lower than that of the newly formed Ming Guards. Cao Bianjiao is the person Cao Yue can rely on most in the military.

No matter what, he had to find a way to break the siege of Datong, at least to prevent Datong from becoming an isolated city.

However, during the hasty Northern Expedition, the reorganization of Jiangbei Gaojie, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, and Liu Zeqing was not completed, and Zuo Liangyu in Hubei still did not accept the court's consolation, and the risk was also great.The Northern Expedition contained Jiannu's attack on the rogues. Cao Yue had to do this, that is, the Northern Expedition had to be carried out.However, Cao Yue has not yet decided on the method and scale of the Northern Expedition.

When Cao Yue was thinking about this matter, Liu Rushi, who lived in the military camp and served as his staff and one of his daily life, came to Cao Yue to talk about the general situation of the world.

"Brother Yue, are you going to launch the Northern Expedition and crusade against Jiannu?" Liu Rushi, who was dressed as a man, dismissed the others around Cao Yue on his own initiative, and asked straight to the point: "The slave family sees what's on your mind these days. It's so heavy, I don't have time to pay attention to us sisters, it should be why you are worrying about big things?"

"You really know how to read your face," Cao Yue didn't deny it. In addition, he wanted to observe Liu Rushi's talent in strategy, so he asked Liu Rushi a few questions: " If you are my sister, let me ask you, now that the rogues were defeated by Jiannu, and the general soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who originally surrendered to the rogues surrendered to Jiannu, and Li Zicheng fled back to Xi'an, what should I do under these circumstances."

Listening to Cao Yue discussing such issues with her, Liu Rushi suddenly became very happy, showing a charming smile, and said softly: "Brother Yue, thank you for trusting me. If you want, listen to me today Opinions, whether right or wrong, I hope you can listen to it and don't blame me, okay?"

"Just say it, I'm all ears!"

(End of this chapter)