Chapter 158
Emperor Chongzhen was actually very worried about Cheng Shijie and his Ning Haijun. Since Nurhachi rebelled, the Ming Dynasty had won less and lost more. Especially after the defeat of Dalinghe, Emperor Chongzhen had discovered that he had no cards left to play.
Guan Ning's army is not good enough. This is the cruel reality that Emperor Chongzhen recognized. Now Ning Haijun has finally achieved a great victory in Haizhou and severely damaged Jiannu. Now Jiannu has sent all the troops from the country southward. Once Ning Haijun is defeated, he will have nothing. !
The current Emperor Chongzhen was in chaos, and he didn't know whether he should agree to Cheng Shijie's war or let him preserve his strength. It was good to preserve his strength, but Jianu would be even more arrogant.
In a dilemma, he thought of the old man Sun Chengzong again, and quickly asked someone to ask Sun Chengzong to come over and ask for advice.
After half an hour, Sun Chengzong entered the palace.
"Old minister, I pay my respects to Your Majesty. Long live our Emperor!"
"Please get up, Mr. Ge!"
Emperor Chongzhen helped Sun Chengzong up, and then explained the military intelligence he had obtained to Sun Chengzong.
Sun Chengzong looked at someone who was about to move, not knowing why he was afraid. Cheng Shijie was sitting on a soft couch with his eyes closed, as if he was asleep.
Emperor Chongzhen said: "What do you think we should do now?"
"Reporting to your majesty, I believe that it is better to let the tiger return to the mountain than to harm the tiger's power!" Sun Chengzong looked at Cheng Shijie who was pretending to sleep with the corner of his eyes, and then solemnly said: "Since the tragic defeat of Saarhu, how many people in the Ming Dynasty dare to take the initiative? Who fought with Jian Nu in the wild? Not one? All along, wherever Jian Nu attacked, our army defended it. Extremely passive, our army lost more and more cities, and Jian Nu became more and more arrogant! Now General Cheng is not afraid of powerful enemies and dares to take the initiative to go out of the city to fight Jiannu. Let’s not talk about anything else. This courage alone is worth commending!"
Emperor Chongzhen sighed and said: "Cheng Qing is certainly loyal and brave, but Jiannu is extremely fierce. The 20,000 elite navy soldiers under his command are our elite soldiers for ruling the country in the Ming Dynasty. If he is defeated, the consequences will be disastrous, so let him rely on the strong city It’s better to stick to it!”
Emperor Chongzhen had selfish motives when he said this. Although he was dissatisfied with Concubine Li Kang, the problem was that she was good to Li Weiti, the eighth sister of the emperor. At least when he was a child, this sister often stole food for him. He remembered this kindness and had just found a husband for his sister. Son-in-law, and what is even more rare is that Zhu Weiti does not dislike Cheng Shijie.
Now there is only one procedural issue between Zhu Weiti and Cheng Shijie. When Sun Chengzong came to Beijing this time, he also had another responsibility, which was to act as Cheng Shijie's matchmaker, while Xu Guangqi was appointed as the matchmaker for the woman. The Minister of Rites and Cabinet Minister has enough prestige. and qualifications to serve as this matchmaker.
Sun Chengzong's qualifications are also sufficient.
Emperor Chongzhen was actually a little scared when he heard the news that an army of 100,000 slaves was going south. He didn't want to think that his sister had just been married here and she would become an outcast.
Sun Chengzong sneered: "Hold on? How long will we hold on? Time will not always be on the side of our army. There will be storms, hail, and even ice in the Bohai Sea. Once such an accident occurs, Liaonan will The sea supply line is cut off! Without the courage to confront the enemy head-on, no matter how strong the city is, it cannot be defended! I beg your majesty not to interfere with General Cheng’s command and let him go and fight Jiannu!”
Chongzhen asked with some fear: "What if we lose?"
"If you lose, continue to train a new army and continue fighting!"
Cheng Shijie stood up and said: "Until Jiannu is beaten to the ground! I believe that even if Ning Haijun is defeated and annihilated, I can reorganize and train a new and stronger army within a year, with hundreds of millions of soldiers." With the people as our backing, there is nothing to fear!"
"There is no shortage of soldiers. This military training always requires money and food, right? Where is the money? Where is the food? How to solve it?"
"Your Majesty will give me ten more salt guides. This money will be enough for me to organize and train a new army!"
Cheng Shijie continued: "Your Majesty, Huang Taiji said that a hundred thousand troops were going south. He would never dare to go out in full force. The number of one hundred thousand must be an imaginary number. The slaves were divided into three hundred households, and each household drew one ding. , then three hundred Ding is one Niulu, and the whole army has 318 Niulu, with a total of 95,400 men and horses. Drawing one Ding from two households can only draw 47,700 people, and three If you draw one small household, you can only draw out 31,800 people. I believe that Huang Taiji can draw up to 50,000 to 60,000 horses, and I would never dare to go out in full force!"
"What you said makes sense, but this is just a guess!"
"My lord, we are not afraid of Jiannu coming out in force. If Jiannu really comes out in force, we won't have to fight this battle. We will definitely win!"
Sun Chengzong's eyes suddenly lit up: "Dongjiang Army?"
"That's right!"
Cheng Shijie said: "I have the power to control the Dongjiang Army. Once the Jiannu are out in force, the rear will definitely be empty. I will order the Huanglong Division of the Dongjiang Army to draw 20,000 to 30,000 elite troops to go north along the Yalu River to attack the left and right guards of the Jiannu."
Of course, Cheng Shijie has another arrangement, that is, Chen Dayong's headquarters is located in Shuangcheng Guards. After four months of military expansion, there are nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians deployed there with Meituo Lake. The five cities of Meituo Lake are all located along the lake. Jian, if Jiannu thinks that the frozen Meituo Lake can allow Jiannu to come and go freely, they will definitely enjoy the taste of winter travel.
Meituo Lake has now become a huge trap. Meituo Lake loaded with explosives will blast Jiannu while he is walking on the lake, allowing Jiannu to try what it feels like to flood the Seventh Army.
Even if Jiannu does not move out, Chen Dayong's department can still do it by dispatching several small-scale troops to attack the Jurchen hinterland in Haidong. The question now is whether Jiannu is willing to take a gamble.
Chongzhen said in silence for a long time: "I have to think about it again... Cheng Qing, Mr. Sun Ge, you go back first!"
After saying that, he walked out without waiting for the two to bow. He really had to think about it.
After Cheng Shijie and Sun Chengzong left, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Xu Guangqi, who had just recovered from his serious illness.
Along with summoning Xu Guangqi, there were also three cabinet ministers, Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru.
The question is still the same: "Who do you think will win in this battle?"
At this time, the chief ministers of the cabinet, Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren, the bachelor of Jianjidian, were not dealing with each other. The two were arguing with each other, and Xu Guangqi became the de facto minister in charge of the cabinet.
There is no way. Wen Tiren will definitely oppose the policies proposed by Zhou Yanru, and Zhou Yanru will definitely oppose the policies proposed by Wen Tiren, and vice versa. Regardless of whether it was right or wrong, Zhou Yanru would definitely support Wen Tiren's objections.
Instead, it was Xu Guangqi's suggestion. In order to win over Xu Guangqi and his Western French Party, the two kept showing their goodwill. However, on the issue of Ning Haijun sending troops, Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru unexpectedly formed a bizarre alliance.
In fact, what the two of them most wanted to see was for Cheng Shijie and Hou Jin to die together.
If Hou Jin loses tens of thousands of soldiers, he will definitely be honest. If Cheng Shijie dies, the momentum of military men threatening the status of civil servants will come to an abrupt end. They can openly divide Cheng Shijie's properties in southern Liaoning one by one and make a fortune. Is there a better ending than this?
As for Xu Guangqi, Zhou Yanru and Wen Renti didn't take it seriously. For an old scholar like Xu Guangqi, it was just a piece of cake for Zhang Fei to eat bean sprouts.
I just don’t know if I can do it...
The three cabinet ministers, plus Xu Guangqi, all agreed with Cheng Shijie's war, and the issue was settled like this.
The Ming Dynasty cabinet was rarely efficient. Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict to marry Princess Zhu Weiti of Le'an to Cheng Shijie. After Cheng Shijie received the edict to express his gratitude, he took the imperial edict and traveled to southern Liaoning in a light and simple manner.
At the same time, the Jiannu forward was blocked by the Ning Navy in the Qianshan area in the middle of Yeliao. Ning Haijun's blocking position was not complicated. He just dug thick and long wooden stakes on the ground, and then pulled up wires, at least 1.6 meters high, to surround the entire camp like a fence.
Speaking of iron wire, this kind of iron wire is different from the iron wire of later generations. There is no tin plating process, and the iron wire produced is very easy to rust. As long as a layer of skin is scratched, the wound will definitely become infected.
This is exactly what Cheng Shijie needs. When he first arrived in southern Liaoning, Ning Haijun still adopted parapet and trench tactics. At that time, there was no iron wire, because this thing seemed simple, but it was not easy to make.
Later, under Cheng Shijie's prompting, Ning Haijun's craftsmen built a hydraulic wire drawing machine, and the speed could be adjusted through a gear set.
The reason for producing iron wire is for the needs of construction projects. To build a reinforced concrete building, you need to make a steel frame. Without the support of cement and steel bars, cement is too brittle and easy to crack. But with the reinforcement of steel bars, the effect is stronger. More than doubled.
But the problem is that after the shaft technology has solved the production technology of seamless steel pipes, rebars, and engineering steel, there is no electric welding. To make a steel frame, the only way is to burn a piece of steel red and rivet the steel bars. Connecting them together is slow and expensive.
Later, after encountering iron wire, the progress of this project increased several times, and the need for iron wire increased. The production of iron wire and steel wire is the flagship product of Hansteel Group, especially the special steel wire used in certain special environments. The quality of Hansteel Group's products can compete at the world level.
As a technician, Cheng Shijie was very familiar with this production technology, so he took the lead in transforming a semi-manual wire drawing machine from the late Ming Dynasty.
With the production of this kind of iron wire, it has been used by more and more people in the field. In addition to engineering infrastructure, many people have bought iron wire and surrounded it with wooden stakes and iron wire to use as sheep pens. In this way, the cost has become even higher. lower and more efficient.
Of course, iron wire is also very convenient in the field of military applications. It can be hung with a bell as a sentry, it can also be used as a horse-stopping rope, and it can also be used as a murder weapon, cutting off human heads at the top and stumbling the legs of horses at the bottom.
At this time, in the Qianshan area, barbed wire fences were erected wherever one could pass. In addition to barbed wire fences, there were also trenches. Ning Haijun used Qianshan Town Fort as a fulcrum to dig barbed wire fences and trenches until they were ten kilometers from Qianshan Town. The same goes for Dujiabao, Dujiabao and Zhangjiabao, which are adjacent for several miles.
With barbed wire, trenches, and fortresses, the current Ninghai Navy defense fortifications were formed.
Just when Cheng Shijie boarded the Ning Haijun Navy's warship in Tianjin and headed to Haizhou as quickly as possible, General Jiannu also arrived at the front line. They looked at Ning Haijun's defenses and were at a loss.
Mang Gurtai saw this scene and frowned: "Strange, strange, what is Minggou doing? Twelve brothers, you have fought against Minggou, do you know what they are doing?"
Azig shook his head: "They did dig a ditch last time, but they didn't have this fence!"
Abatai's attention was attracted by the barbed wire fence, and he sneered: "Ming Gou actually wants to use such a thin wooden fence to block my Eight Banners elites? Are you looking down on us too much?"
Du Du stroked his beard and said, "That iron wire is a good thing for reinforcing the sheepfold. If the sheep are surrounded by such a circle, they won't be able to get out."
Mang Gurtai waved his hand and said: "No matter what they want to do, even if they want to dig graves, we can't let them do it!"
"Yes, you can try it out!"
Huang Taiji came to Ning Haijun's formation and took a look, but he didn't see anything. He looked at Yue Tuo and said: "Yue Tuo!"
"The slave is here!"
"Take your people and look around. King Khan still doesn't believe it. They will circle all the land with this thing!"
"Yes, Master!"
Yue Tuo returned to the main formation and faced more than 6,000 elite troops with red flags. He said, "Go and look around. Is the fence at Ming Dog tight?"
Following Yue Tuo's order, the six thousand elite cavalry with red flags dispersed. After most of a day, they returned one after another and reported to Yue Tuo.
The situation is really not optimistic. Ning Haijun is very courageous. From Taizi River to Hun River to Qianshan, all the places that are more than 500 miles long have been arranged.
After receiving the report from Yue Tuo, Huang Taiji's eyes burst with murderous intent: "Sure enough, the traitor Cheng Shijie has been prepared for it. He never thought of becoming friends with our Daikin!"
"If you dare to disturb Tai Sui, I think the man named Cheng is tired of living!"
Hauge was still trying to show off when Huang Taiji glanced at him coldly. He was so frightened that he shrank his head and didn't speak for a long time.
"Yue Tuo!"
Before Huang Taiji could finish speaking, Hauge plucked up the courage and said, "King Khan, I want to be the vanguard and take the lead!"
Hauge got up early and saw Ning Haijun's defense line. This defense line was very simple, with just a few wooden stakes and a barbed wire fence. Even a fool could break through it. As long as the first battle was good, no one would dare to say that Hauge was a waste.
Huang Taiji thought for a while and reluctantly agreed to Hauge's request.
One day later, more than a dozen cannons finally arrived at the front line. Hauge took the lead in ordering Sun Degong to lead the Han army. After Sun Degong was beaten to death by Duduo, Huang Taiji did not say a word more about Sun Degong's violent death as Duduo said. Sun Youguang Maile Zhangjing, who was left behind by Sun Yougong, was not the deputy capital commander or deputy flag master later.
Most of the troops under Sun Youguang were old subordinates of Sun Yougong in the Ming army. They were all good at using firearms on foot and cavalry. Of course, who can compare with their good use of firearms? Compared with the soldiers of the Ming army who could not fire many guns a year, they were indeed They are good at using it. Compared with Ning Haijun, who practices almost every day, they are nothing.
"Boom boom..."
More than a dozen gates made a deafening roar, and the hot lead ball drew a beautiful parabola and slammed towards Ning Haijun's position. There was an exclamation from Ning Haijun's position, and the soldiers who were busy reinforcing the fortifications hurriedly hid in the trenches.
In fact, apart from the trenches, they were nowhere to be found. Such a cowardly move attracted the merciless ridicule of the slave warriors: "Oh, the bright dogs have turned into cowards!"
It doesn't matter whether it's a turtle with its head extended or a turtle with its head stretched out. Anyway, the first shell has not landed yet, and there is not even a Ning Navy soldier to be found on the surface of the position.
The shells hit the mound hard, and the soil splashed everywhere. This soft mound was vulnerable! However, what is surprising is that the cannonball hit the loose soil and suddenly sank in, unable to move!
Artillery shells flew over one after another, either hitting the mound in front of the trench or crossing the trench and hitting the open space behind. As for the shells that happened to hit the trench, not one out of ten could be seen!
Most of Ning's navy soldiers have insufficient actual combat experience. After all, the army is expanding too fast, and many soldiers have no actual combat experience. Ning Haijun's soldiers were nervous at first, but they were all happy when they saw that the Jiannu artillerymen had been firing for a long time, but none of the shells hit anyone.
During the roar of artillery fire, Hou Jin loudly laughed at him: "Jian Nu, didn't you eat milk today? You can't even fire a cannon!"
"Jiannu, what are you doing here!!"
"Jian Nu, did you learn your sex skills from your wife?"
"Jiannu, you are sending cannonballs to grandpa, right?"
Some brave Ning navy soldiers took out the artillery shells that were stuck in the loose soil and threw them for fun. This is a good thing. It can be used directly by the artillery to retaliate against the slaves. If the artillery really can't use it, it can also be used by the artillery. It melts the bullets used to make firecrackers, and there are a lot of benefits anyway.
Others followed suit and picked up the steaming shells between shellings. After a while, they picked up a pile, and they laughed happily.
The shelling effect was very poor. Hauge's face turned dark instantly. Looking at Sun Youguang again, his eyes were just eyes and his nose was no longer a nose.
"Pa bang bang..."
Hauge raised his whip and struck it at Sun Youguang. With more than ten whips, Sun Youguang was rolling on the ground.
Even Ning Haijun, an enemy soldier, refused to go down: "You see, you see, you're a traitor! This is the fate of surrendering to Jiannu!"
Faced with Ning Haijun's ridicule, Hauge was so angry that he asked the elite troops with white flags to retreat and let a Mongolian left battalion and the entire army press forward.
Jiannu always likes to use the cheapest cannon fodder in wars. Whether it is artillery and muskets, including crossbows, they all have a service life. If the artillery is fired for a long time, the barrel will turn red, and if the musket is fired for a long time, the barrel will also become red. Red, if not, it will explode. When the cannon fodder has almost consumed the Ming army's artillery and muskets, the elites of the Eight Banners of Jiannu will swarm forward and pick the fruits of victory. This is a basic operation that the Jurchens are absolutely invincible.
The Mongolian Zuoying is the most elite servant army of Jiannu. Its status is transcendent. It is above the Mongolian right camp and the Han banner, and even has a higher status than many Jiannu coated slaves and even soldiers. This is Horqin Mongolia's Basically, they are loyal and reliable, have good combat effectiveness and are well-equipped.
The sound of hoofbeats was loud and earth-shattering, and a Mongolian cavalry was as fast as a hurricane, sweeping towards the Ning Haijun position in front of Qianshan Fort, which was about to be pockmarked by artillery fire. It seems that Hou Jin also realized that there was something strange about this seemingly crude fortification and that it could not be destroyed by artillery fire alone. Therefore, they sent out thousands of Mongolian cavalry to explore the reality first.
As soon as they saw the Mongolian cavalry rushing up, the Ning Navy soldiers in charge of the defense laughed: "Brothers, we found out, don't shoot, let the Mongols come closer!"
"Understand, if you shoot from a distance, it's not that you can't hit accurately, it's that you can't kill people!"
"Yes, that's the truth. We brothers work so hard that we can't do good deeds. Remember the slogan of our Bing Division, behead people to make money!"
"What a pity, it's just Mongols!"
"The master will come in only after all the dogs are dead!"
"Definitely!"
The sound of horse hooves got closer and closer, until the Mongolian soldiers charged in front of the barbed wire fence, and then nothing happened.
"Bang bang bang..."
The sound of firecrackers sounded like exploding beans. The Mongolian cavalry who wanted to cut the barbed wire with their sabers sadly discovered that no matter how hard they tried, the barbed wire remained strong.
There is no way, the wire mesh is extremely elastic, and there is no place for the wire to bear force. Therefore, no matter how much force is used, these iron core meshes will not move. No, it should be said that the wires are flying up and down, but they are chaotic and continuous.
Looking at the busy Mongolian soldiers, Thunderbolt, a primitive machine gun of the Ming Dynasty, began to fire. Thunderbolt bullets drilled out bloody flowers on the bodies of the Mongolian cavalry.
The thunder cannons hidden in front of the trench formation also began to speak one after another, and each artillery fire was fired at the same time. At this time, the Mongolian cavalry squadron in front of Qianshan Fort suddenly splashed with blood rain, heavy and powerful kinetic energy. The shot put rushed forward, and everything in front of it, whether it was a man or a horse, was covered in blood and blood. Torn tendons and broken bones flew up, which was disgusting.
Thunder cannon shells are explosive packets that fall on the Mongolian cavalry formation, rising up into orange-red fireballs. With the fireballs as dots, all people or horses within a radius of fifty meters are turned into pieces of flesh and blood. There was a rain of flesh and blood on the spot.
Just like fifty meters away, those Mongolian soldiers did not end well. Many of them had no wounds, but they remained silent. It would be as if they were immobilized by a body-fixing technique. If you look carefully, these people would bleed from their orifices. They did not. Trauma, but the shock wave shattered their internal organs.
More than a thousand Mongolian cavalry came forward to test, but none of them returned. They all died in front of the battle. Some were beaten into sieves by fire or thunder cannons, or shot into hedgehogs by crossbow arrows, and some were blown up by flying thunder cannons. It got splinters, and some were cut into pieces by artillery shells.
The sound of artillery, thunder, and crossbows finally stopped, and the battlefield fell into terrible silence.
All the Jiannu generals, including Huang Taiji, gasped.
This is so scary.
More than a thousand people were easily eliminated by Ning Haijun in just one stick of incense. However, only a few soldiers of Ning Haijun were shot by Mongolian bows and arrows. Due to their strong armor, they were shot into hedgehogs, but It's nothing, just a little bloodshed, that's all.
Navy officer Ning was also frightened and was speechless for a long time.
Hauge only felt a little difficult to breathe: "This...this..."
PS: Today is the birthday of book friend Feng Yu Wufei. I wish her a happy birthday, good health, a happy family, and may she be eighteen forever.
(End of chapter)
