Ming Empire

Chapter 251
Cao Yue can guess Cao Bianjiao's thoughts, and can also understand Cao Bianjiao's current mentality.

After all, before the national disaster, he was only Cao Bianjiao's deputy general, and this cousin was above him.Now, he has become the Great Governor of the Great Governor's Mansion, all the troops of the Ming Dynasty are under his control, and all the generals are placed under his command.Cao Bianjiao should finally accept this reality, but he definitely has ideas in his heart.In order to eliminate the grudge in Cao Bianjiao's heart, he had to do something and say something.

So he said bluntly: "Cousin, most of the generals in the court who are good at fighting have not been able to take up important positions in the army for some reason. The younger brother, the governor of the governor's mansion, is also the emperor and all the ministers in the court. I just accepted it. My cousin is far superior to my younger brother in terms of seniority, strategy, and military exploits. My younger brother is going to make a suggestion to the imperial court. Let my cousin take up the post of supervisor of the capital. It is enough for my younger brother to assist my cousin in taking charge of the military affairs of the world. What I just said is true. It's my younger brother's arrangement. I also want to hear what my cousin thinks about how the next battle will proceed. I also hope that my cousin can lead the overall situation in the next battle and command all the Ming army to fight back against Jiannu."

Cao Yue's words startled Cao Bianjiao, he didn't expect Cao Yue to say that, and he didn't know how to respond.Immediately, he also understood immediately, and quickly waved his hand to refuse: "Fifth brother, you are humble. Nowadays, no one in the world knows your heroic deeds, and the strategies you adopted to defeat Jiannu several times are far superior to others. You are extremely admirable, and have always felt that it is a great fortune for Ming Dynasty to have someone like you appear. You are worried that the post of governor is well deserved. There is no other person in the world who is more qualified to hold this post than you. You But please don’t harm me, brother, if I overestimate myself and listen to your words to take over this post, not only the court officials will object, but the people all over the world will also attack me, and I might end up dead at that time Fifth brother, don't make things difficult for me!"

"Cousin, I really think that you are far superior to me in terms of strategy and qualifications, and you are the most suitable candidate to be in charge of the world's military affairs!" Cao Yue insisted.

Cao Bianjiao picked up the wine glass, raised it to Cao Yue and said, "Fifth brother, don't talk about it, it's impossible. You led the army to rescue when the rogues attacked Beijing, and finally prevented the late emperor from being raped by the rogues." **, also rescued the queen mother, the current emperor and some other members of the royal family from Beijing, and supported the new emperor together with Mr. Sun Ge. I am far inferior to you in terms of merit and qualifications. Therefore, you will be the governor The job is worthy of the name, and the brother is also sincerely convinced. What I want to ask you today is, what is the follow-up arrangement of this war? How to plan? What do you need to do for the brother?"

"Then let's not talk about it for now," Cao Yue felt relieved when he saw Cao Bianjiao's face was sincere, without any hypocrisy. "Cousin, for the next arrangement, I plan to continue to lead the troops of the headquarters to fight steadily and slowly advance towards Cangzhou, trying to capture all the cities on the canal as soon as possible to ensure the smooth flow of the canal. The navy officers and soldiers are going to make them attack Tianjin Wei by surprise, As long as Tianjin is captured, the canals and sea routes will remain unimpeded, and supplies from the south can be continuously replenished to the north. Let us not worry too much, this battle can be fought slowly!"

As Cao Yue said, he also told Cao Bianjiao about his more detailed plans, and finally said: "Cousin, Cao Yue, you lead the army to join us. I want to be bolder. We will divide the troops in Dezhou, and the younger brother will continue to lead the army." Go north along the canal, and fight Jiannu in Cangzhou, and you will lead a force to threaten the Shunde Mansion, so that Jiannu will not dare to defend Cangzhou with all its strength."

After Cao Bianjiao thought about it seriously, he nodded and accepted Cao Yue's plan: "Brother, I think this arrangement is very good. It can ensure that Shandong is not lost, and Jiannu dare not devote all his strength to defend Cangzhou, so that Tianjin Wei can also easily attack. However, Brother Wei believes that we should not rush to a decisive battle with Jiannu, we can advance slowly, and it is best to fight Jiannu to the death when winter comes."

"My Ming army, now the main weapon is firearms, especially in the newly formed Guards. The importance of cavalry and horses has been greatly reduced. All of them are cavalry, and the severe winter affects them even more. In summer, the fodder for the horses can be replenished everywhere, and the food is the same. But in winter, the horses will lose weight, and it is more difficult to replenish the forage. Winter affects both sides. The impact on us is that the canal will be frozen and sea transportation will be more difficult, but it will have a greater impact on the slaves. As long as we stock up enough food and ammunition, the canal will be frozen and the sea road will be difficult to walk. It will not affect the overall situation. Now the North There is desolation everywhere, and the output is very little. There are so many Jiannu horses, and there is no way to get what they need. Brother thinks, as long as we put pressure on Jiannu so that they don't dare to act rashly, we can arrange it calmly, and after hoarding enough supplies, we can fight Jiannu in the autumn and winter. Maybe this can drag them down. I believe you are also aware that the current poverty in the five northern provinces is completely unable to afford the needs of hundreds of thousands of slaves."

Then Cao Bianjiao explained in great detail all the strategies he thought of. In addition to the above, what he said was very important, that is, the power of the bandits should not be ignored.Today's rogues, who have a sworn feud with Jiannu, can let the rogues contain or even consume part of Jiannu's troops, so that the pressure on the Ming government and army will be much less.As long as there is another war between the Jiannu and the rogue bandits, the strength of the two parties will be lost. This is of course good news for the Ming Dynasty officials and soldiers.

Seeing that Cao Yue just listened and didn't interrupt, Cao Bianjiao continued: "The rogues will definitely not be reconciled to the previous failure. Li Zicheng is a narrow-minded person and has no long-term vision. This can be seen from what they did after they broke through Beijing." Come out, so Brother Wei thinks that Jiannu, who has a chance to breathe, will not let it go, and will take advantage of the time when our Daming army is fighting with Jiannu, and take the opportunity to attack Jiannu, and want to regain the territory occupied by Jiannu. If If we don't adopt the strategy of attacking Jiannu immediately, then Jiannu will definitely mobilize troops from the direction of Cangzhou to deal with the bandits. Datong has not yet been breached, and Jiannu may also mobilize troops to attack Datong. If Dorgon really arranges this way , then we will launch a full-scale attack at that time, maybe we can wipe out all the main forces of Jiannu in one battle!"

At the end, Cao Yue asked softly again: "Fifth brother, brother, I want to ask you, do you want to sit back and watch the rogues be completely wiped out by Jiannu?"

(End of this chapter)