"Did Zhu Dadian and Xie Sanbin ask for food?"
"Report, no. [Read the latest chapter]" Huang Ande replied, "Xie Sanbin didn't say anything. Zhu Dadian gave me one hundred and fifty taels of silver, fifty taels for me, and one hundred taels for the soldiers of the cavalry company. I have all Turned in."
"That's right." Lu Yuan nodded, "We are fighting for the Senate and the people of the world, not just for a few dollars." He already knew this. It seemed that the discipline education in the past few years was not in vain.
"Serve the Senate and the people!" Huang Ande stood at attention.
"You have worked hard this time, go back and have a good rest." Lu Yuan said, "The Senate has sent us frozen mutton, radishes and Chinese cabbage. I have taken care of the kitchen and will cook you a mutton hot pot tonight."
"Thank you, chief." Huang Ande saluted and retreated.
"It seems that my family is quite sensible." Zhu Mingxia, who had been silent all this time, said with a smile.
"Now Lao Zhu's biggest problem is how to explain to the emperor." Lu Yuan said, "Now his arrogance is not so arrogant. Now the troops in the Shandong camp have to be reorganized, and he has to rely more on Sun Yuanhua." He was a little happy, "This is his credit. I didn't expect to share it with Lao Sun. Our existence in Shandong is also guaranteed."
Zhu Mingxia said: "The following is how to deal with Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde."
The strategic situation of the rebels has not been broken. This is what Zhu Mingxia has long estimated. Under such climate conditions, the rebels who lack winter clothes can pursue dozens of miles in the snow because they have the advantage of cavalry. . Even so, the rebels' losses during the pursuit were staggering: the scout cavalry following the reconnaissance reported that there were corpses of frozen soldiers and horses of the rebels everywhere along the way.
The rebels could neither attack Laizhou nor dare to fight in Pingdu, Qixia and other places while the main force of officers and soldiers was still alive - this meant giving up Dengzhou, the only port where they could receive reinforcements and escape.
"I think they will definitely go out to sea by boat and flee to the Dongjiang River after the spring begins, just like in history." Lu Yuan said. "Dengzhou is already at a dead end. Unless we take action, they can't break it."
Of course, there is no need for them to take action. The "vitality" of the rebels has gradually declined, and there is no need to collect more people through the rebels. And through a series of operations, they also created a "fait accompli" in Dengzhou. The next step is how to extract the maximum benefit from the destruction of the rebels.
There are more than 100,000 rebels and soldiers and civilians in Dengzhou City, and a considerable part of these people are local people. According to historical data, Dengzhou City has begun to "starve" now. By the end of the year, it even got to the point where they wanted to "kill people for food and feed people for candles." According to recent reports from intelligence personnel, although a large amount of food and supplies for the army have been seized, the rebels have also begun to slaughter cattle, horses and livestock for food.
Moreover, in history, when Kong Youde escaped, he carried out a comprehensive massacre and looting of the entire city, "killing, robbing, and committing adultery. He was extremely cruel." Therefore, the three people discussed and put the recovery of Dengzhou on the agenda in order to avoid excessive losses of people and livestock in the city.
It is not difficult to regain Dengzhou and eliminate the rebels militarily. The main considerations are political factors and the impact on the future development of the situation.
The most critical issue is whether to let Kong Youde go and join the Manchus. Historically, after Kong Youde and others escaped from Dengzhou, they lived in exile on various islands in the Bohai Bay for several months. Obviously, he had great hesitation on whether to vote for the Manchus. During this period, he also made several requests for recruitment, hoping to continue to maintain a small situation between the Ming and Qing Dynasties and North Korea. The final surrender of the Manchus to the Qing Dynasty had an element of "force".
However, Kong Youde's vote was full. This caused great changes in the strategic balance of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Ming troops who accompanied Kong Youde to the Qing Dynasty were all well-trained firearms hands and craftsmen who forged cannons. From then on, the Manchu Qing's firearm manufacturing and application capabilities improved greatly. steps. As a result, in the course of the subsequent war, the advantage of using artillery gradually shifted to the Qing Dynasty.
The Standing Committee of the Senate held several discussions on this issue. During this period, senior members of the Great Library and the Foreign Intelligence Service were also convened for hearings. It was finally decided not to allow Kong Youde's troops to surrender to the Manchus. Destroy it directly.
Although the imperial and Han factions cheered for this, the enthusiasm was second only to the large-scale use of slaves in Southeast Asia to mine. But as far as the executive committee is concerned, this decision is entirely based on comprehensive interests.
If Kong Youde was allowed to flee, he would have drifted on the islands of the Bohai Bay for several months in search of a way out, just like in history. There are almost Dongjiang troops on these islands. They either fight against the rebels, or join the rebels to fight against the official army and the Korean army. Massive deaths. When Kong Youde fled from Dengzhou, he took away 12,000 soldiers and civilians, but when he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, less than 10,000 people were left. Not only his troops, but also Dongjiang Town's power in the Liaodong islands was greatly reduced, which eventually led to the fall of Lushun and Huanglong's death in battle, which meant that all the hundreds of thousands of people in Dongjiang were benefited by the Manchus. This is very uneconomical for the Senate.
A secondary reason: After Kong Youde voted for the Manchus, the Senate's monopoly as an arms dealer would be threatened, and the Senate's influence on the Manchus would also decline.
"We need to move faster and let the Ming army capture Dengzhou before the 30th of the lunar year." Lu Yuan said confidently, "At the beginning of the new year, letting Chongzhen get some good news will make him feel a lot better."
"It's a bit difficult to help the Ming army capture Dengzhou." Zhu Mingxia said with a smile, "It's enough for me to command the northward detachment alone."
The Ming army is now freshly defeated and is taking a breather. I'm afraid there won't be much interest in besieging Dengzhou again. Furthermore, if they are really coming, the northbound detachment with different training, tactics and equipment will not be able to cooperate with them in fighting. When the time comes, which team will compete for credit, it will disrupt the rhythm of the offensive. Finally, the Ming army's military discipline is extremely bad. Historically, after the Sichuan army invaded Shuicheng, they robbed women of their belongings while fighting. As a result, the rebels counterattacked and drove them out. After the city of Dengzhou was broken, various officers and soldiers carried out a comprehensive looting of Dengzhou. The population in the city was massacred and plundered, leaving Dengzhou in ruins. It was not until the ninth year of Chongzhen that the city was gradually restored.
"We will do it alone, and after we are done, we will hand it over to Sun Yuanhua and Zhu Dadian - it's a pity that Sun Yuanhua can't take all the credit." Lu Yuan now has a lot of feelings for the governor, "All the people and property in the city are naturally traitors. The army killed and looted..."
While discussing how to attack Dengzhou, someone suddenly came to report that Kong Youde had sent an envoy to ask for an interview with the owner of the village.
"Just in time, it's delivered to your door." The owner of Luzhuang smiled, "Okay, let's hear what they want to do first - Lao Chen, it's better you come forward."
Chen Sigen and Kong Youde had their second secret conversation on Dazhushan Island. Kong Youde proposed that he was willing to exchange people in the city for food.
There are still more than 100,000 people in the city, and a large number of them were captured by kidnappers and plunderers. Kong Youde and others discussed that keeping these people in the city would consume food, and there would be many unstable factors in the city. It was better to give them all to the owner of Luzhuang - what he liked most was the population anyway.
With enough grain stored, it will not be difficult to hold on until next spring. Otherwise, they would not be able to survive the winter and would be reduced to cannibalism. Although the Qiuba people in troubled times have long become hard-hearted and cannibalism is not an issue, everyone would still rather eat food if there is food.
After discussion, the three of them thought that they could agree to Kong Youde - since they had set the goal of capturing the population of Dengzhou, it was their obligation to feed these people, and it was better to start supplying now than to supply it after many people were starved to death and eaten. Can save more manpower.
The currently agreed plan of exchanging people for food will still be implemented at the previous exchange price for refugees. However, the food used in exchange for the refugees this time was all potatoes from Jeju Island. Because fresh potatoes cannot be stored well, in addition to being used to supply Jeju, they are also shipped in large quantities to Chimu Island to feed refugees.
The population agreed to be exchanged by both parties will be transported to Changshan Island by rebel navy ships, which is currently guarded by the rebels as an important stronghold to ensure sea routes. Then Qimu Island will send ships to transport the population away. Potatoes used in exchange for people are also delivered here.
Based on this agreement, Zhu Mingxia proposed a combat plan.
"Let's exchange the population first and reduce the population in the city to a lower number," Zhu Mingxia said. "They must leave the core troops behind. I estimate that there should be 30,000 to 40,000 people together with their dependents and craftsmen. These people are They will not give it to us. Once they stop exchanging people for food, we will jointly launch an amphibious assault with the navy to directly occupy Changshan Island and control the Miaodao Islands."
The Miaodao Islands are very close to Dengzhou and are the maritime gateway to Dengzhou. The rebels have already deployed garrison troops here. Historically, Zhu Dadian specifically sent troops to attack Changshan Island when he besieged Dengzhou, but was defeated by Kong Youde and ultimately failed to block the rebels in Dengzhou.
"As soon as we take the Miaodao Islands, the door for the rebels to escape at sea will be closed. Kong Youde and the others know that they are no match for us at sea, and they will definitely come to us to negotiate terms. At that time, we will ask him to hand over the landing board. In exchange for the state's capital and treasures, he was allowed to board a ship and leave Dengzhou with his direct troops and all firearms."
"Then why don't we simply occupy Changshan Island? This will save us the trouble of having to change the population." Chen Sigen was puzzled, "Besides, didn't you say you can't let the rebels go?"
Lu Yuan understood Zhu Mingxia's plan: "When they get out of the sea, they will have no choice."
"Exactly. In this way we can minimize the loss of population." Zhu Mingxia said, "We have to consider that they may refuse this condition and stick to Dengzhou. By then, won't all the population be lost in it?"
