Chapter 160
On October 11th of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Cheng Shijie landed in southern Liaoning at Haizhou Port. Sun Zhiwan was stunned when he officially set foot on the land of southern Liaoning.
He was really shocked. The entire Haizhou was not nervously preparing for war, but a construction scene in full swing. He was a little unbelievable. Is this still the sparsely populated Liaodong?
When Sun Chengzong was in charge of Liaodong's strategy, Sun Zhiwan, who had just been crowned, followed Sun Chengzong to Liaodong and inspected many places in Liaodong. Liaonan had already fallen. He had scouted Haizhou with Mao Yuanyi's armed forces, although he did not Arrive at the seaside, but in the northwest direction of Haizhou.
However, the current Haizhou is a world away from the former Haizhou. The official road from Haizhou Port to Haizhou City was originally built to be almost seven or eight feet wide, but now it is widening. The official road is almost half of it, three to four feet wide.
The large vehicles traveling back and forth were driving on the original official road. On the official road to the north, countless civilian workers were working intensively. The wooden hammers and round stone rollers worked alternately to smooth the loess paved road. Pressed as smooth as a mirror.
Sun Zhiwan is a man who has seen the world. He secretly sighed in his heart. Whether it is Shuntian Mansion, Baoding Mansion, or Hejian Mansion around Beijing, even the imperial roads in Beijing may not be of this level. .
Along this road under construction, Cheng Shijie's motorcade moved forward slowly. After walking for about thirty miles, they reached a horse-changing station. Different from ordinary inns, this inn is divided into four, with the wide official road in the middle, and the inn's castle on the left and right. However, the inn is divided into civilian and military areas, and these two functional areas are clearly distinct.
Cheng Shijie naturally took the military passage and could also enter the post station first. This post station is different from the general inn station that covers an area of several acres or more than ten acres. This inn station covers an area of more than a thousand acres, like a small city.
In fact, the inns in Liaonan are divided into three specifications: A, B, and C. The inns in level C are determined based on the passenger flow or the flow of people. They cover an area of about 20 to 30 acres. The inns in level B are the next. Other important stations cover an area of between 500 and 800 acres.
Class A is the highest grade, with ownership ranging from 1,300 to 2,000 acres. The inns close to ports and military towns are all first-class inns. Sun Zhiyi didn't know this, but he discovered that the neat houses in the post station had very strange textures. They were different from the thatched houses and adobe houses in the mainland. The walls were blue-gray and felt hard to the touch. Cool.
This is indeed different from the mainland. It is made of reinforced concrete. The inn in a military town can be used as a temporary shelter at any time to protect nearby people and business travelers.
Cheng Shijie's motorcade did not stop at the inn, but passed directly through the inn. It did not even pass through Haizhou City. Cheng Shijie went directly to the front line.
The next day, Sun Zhiman was woken up by a pungent gas. It wasn't until he had eaten and left the inn that he discovered that there was also a huge construction site on the roadside not far from the inn. There were countless construction projects worn by hundreds of households. All kinds of clothes. There is a patch made of white linen on the chest and back of the kimono, with the words "Tianji Kitchen Knife" embroidered on the patch.
When it comes to Tianji kitchen knives, I have to mention that this is the time-honored Chinese brand Wang Mazi. There is a blacksmith named Tian Laowan in Qingzhou, Shandong. His ancestors have been blacksmithing for nine generations. Tian Laowan has superb craftsmanship and the quality of the knives, scissors, fire sickles and other ironware he forges. Outstanding, especially easy to use. People often praise that as long as Tian Laowan handles it, even shovels and mud will not stick at all. Therefore, Tian Laowan blacksmith is well-known in the local area and has a good reputation.
Tian Laowan had no children, only one daughter named Tian Qing. After Tian Laowan died, Tian Qing married a Shanxi businessman named Shang Wang. Although her husband, Shopkeeper Wang, is unattractive and has a pockmarked face, he is honest, kind, smart, capable, and good at management. Tian Qing passed on the iron forging skills passed down by his father and generations of people orally to his husband, shopkeeper Wang, and the brand Wang Mazi was established.
Now Tian Ji's shopkeeper is still Tian Lao Wan. Lao Wan is not Tian You's real name. He is called Lao Wan because his family is really wealthy. Tian Ji paid for 6,000 sets of clothes and gave them to road construction workers from hundreds of households for free. Even Cheng Shijie was impressed by this way of advertising.
Tianji pioneered this advertising model and received good publicity. In the field of kitchen knives and scissors, Tianji has almost become the leading blacksmith company in southern Liaoning. In addition to Tianji kitchen knives, there are also brands such as "Dai Ji Reverse Journey" ", "Liu Ji Baozi", "Cao Ji Sesame Oil", and even "Liaodong Bank".
Cheng Shijie is very supportive of this business model of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation between advertising and benefiting the people. It has become a must-have for immigrants and has even given rise to many advertising methods, such as the first bill issued at the resettlement site. Shoulder bags, tableware, bed sheets, shoes, and the exterior walls of the inns have all become places for advertisements.
The conscience of heaven and earth, this is not Cheng Shijie's idea, but the businessman himself in the late Ming Dynasty. Various advertising items also save management funds of the management committee.
Of course, this is not the most important thing. What is important is that there is a tall iron roller device built on the roadside, and the pungent smell is emitted from here. The huge drum is connected to a turntable through a strange mechanism. Two mules pull the turntable to keep rotating, and the drum also rotates.
There was a sound of scraping metal rubbing against the inner wall of the drum. The rotating shaft of the iron drum was a key part wrapped with an iron sheet and an iron rod. When the drum rotated, the shaft did not rotate with it.
Firewood was piled under the iron barrel and a fire was lit, but you could see the steam rising up with the naked eye.
Sun Zhiwan watched for a while and saw that one side of the drum was suddenly opened. The young peasants immediately rushed forward and used wooden shovels to shovel something out of the drum. The substance was gray-black and sticky. When you look closely, there seem to be smiling particles mixed in. In an instant, the contents of the barrel have been shoveled clean by the civilian workers.
The chassis was resealed, and two peasants from a distance came over with buckets full of sand. Then a young man wearing green miscellaneous clothes immediately took it and poured the sand into a wooden cylindrical container. There was a faint trace on the inner wall of the container. There are many vertical and horizontal ink lines drawn about them, and there are also some symbols that no one can understand...
Next, Sun Zhiwan had no intention of watching anymore. Cheng Shijie's motorcade set off again. In his impression, the roads in the world seemed to have not been repaired since he was born.
Since the forty-sixth year of Wanli, the finances of the imperial court and local governments have been extremely scarce, either due to drought, floods, or locusts. They have to provide disaster relief every year, raise troops every year, levy Liao pay, levy pay, and taxes are increasing. Heavy, there are more and more places where money is spent, and there is still money left to repair roads. This is even the case in Shuntian Mansion, let alone the places.
Therefore, when he entered southern Liaoning and saw such a busy road construction scene, Sun Zhilan couldn't help but feel quite novel. In addition, the impression left on him by the villages and towns in Liaonan County can be summed up in two words: "vitality".
Sitting on the carriage, Sun Zhilan had more things to think about. There was actually no tension in Haizhou about the approaching war. To say there was no tension would be false. What they were nervous about was working overtime to build roads, or... Ditches were dredged and houses built.
Winter came very early in Liaodong. It started to snow at this time last year. Although it is not snowing now, it is still obviously cold.
But the problem is that Cheng Shijie actually spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources on building roads, which illustrates the problem.
First of all, in Sun Zhiman's view, Cheng Shijie was absolutely sure to build roads, build houses, and dredge ditches. If he was not absolutely sure of victory, everything Cheng Shijie did was to make a wedding dress for Huang Taiji.
Secondly, the second point is that the people here did not flee in panic, which shows that the people in southern Liaoning have strong enough confidence in Cheng Shijie and Ning Haijun.
Just like in later generations, with the war between Da Mao and Er Mao, more than one-third and nearly half of the Er Mao population fled abroad, most of which were young and strong backbones.
You will never see people dying of hunger on the roadside in southern Liaoning. On the main road northeast of Haizhou, there are checkpoints set up to collect registered refugees. Some government officials in black clothes with "traffic control" armbands on their arms maintain the road. Traffic and order, there is a temporary refugee camp built of adobe and thatch on the roadside, and there is a constant flow of horse-drawn carriages with the flags of various merchants on the road.
When approaching the Haizhou front line, Sun Zhiwan was even more surprised by the remaining sixty miles of road. Almost all of this road was paved with stones, which was actually cement. Starting from the southern end of these two roads, there are no more two-wheeled carriages that are common all over the world. Instead, there are large four-wheeled carriages flying past. The carriages are wide, the body is long, and the horses are strong, some of which are used to pull the carriages. Sun Zhiman's mouth watered when he saw it.
The horses that Hu Erqi grabbed were not directly assigned to the cavalry department, but were dispersed to the baggage troops. The baggage troops were usually managed by Zhou Yandong. In wartime, these people were assigned to each capital department on a general basis. It can be said that the current left and right divisions, including the baggage troops, have more than 10,000 people under their jurisdiction.
"Meet the Marshal!"
Near the front line, Ning Haijun had more soldiers. The infantry patrolling on the checkpoints and on the road occasionally ran past the guard. The cavalry on the ground were all strong and strong, with sharp eyes, whether it was the spear in their hand or the saber on their body. They were all made of fine materials. Most of these soldiers didn't speak, and even when they passed by, they didn't even glance at Sun Zhiliang. They came and went in a hurry, full of energy.
"The commander is back, great!"
Although Cheng Shijie didn't give a single order, and he didn't even appear in front of the entire army. He just arrived at the front line in his carriage, and the number of soldiers in the army suddenly increased.
Sun Zhiyi had seen the best army of this era, but even so, he had to admit that the quality and mental state of the soldiers in front of him were outstanding. They are fulfilling their responsibilities all the time, rather than doing a perfunctory job.
Sun Zhiyi secretly calculated in his heart that if the quality of Ning Haijun's entire army was like this, then even if Cheng Shijie only had 10,000 troops, it would still be comparable to some Guan Ning troops who claimed to have 100,000 armor. .
Cheng Shijie's frontline headquarters stood high in Baliwan Town on the left bank of the Taizi River, but it was two completely different places from Bali Town in later generations.
The original temporary military camp has been built into a city, especially with docks, warehouses, schools, factories, and living areas.
Arriving at Cheng Shijie's festival hall, Zhou Ning hurriedly introduced the recent results to Cheng Shijie: "Jiannu has conducted thirteen tentative attacks on our defense line these days, but it's just a bit regretful!"
"What regret?"
Zhou Ning smiled bitterly and said: "The casualties of these Jiannu, Mongolian and Han troops have exceeded two to three thousand, but they were either killed by flying thunder cannons or by landmines. Most of them have been changed beyond recognition. It is difficult to identify, such heads do not count, so after one round of screening, we only got about 150 heads of Jiannu, more than 300 heads of Mongolia, and more than 500 heads of Han army. class!"
The heads of the Han army were worthless to the Ming army. If all the Jian slaves killed were beheaded, a few could create some small landowners for the Ning navy officers and soldiers.
“It’s already pretty good!”
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Pick the head in lime and send it to Tianjin by speedboat to report the victory."
"yes!"
Cheng Shijie listened to Zhou Ning's report. During this period, Jiannu had used many methods to destroy the trench barbed wire tactics. In fact, this tactic had no solution and could only be filled with human lives.
Unless Jiannu had an engineering force skilled in demining technology, he could use the darkness of night to cut the barbed wire with pliers and remove the mines without Ning Haijun noticing.
"While I was away in Liaonan, everyone seemed to be doing pretty well!"
Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "Pass this command to all the soldiers in the army and give them half a catty of meat!"
"Thank you, Marshal!"
At this time, Cheng Shijie was no longer the poor man he once was. At least it was no longer difficult for him to treat all the soldiers in the army to a meal of meat. Many pastures in southern Liaoning were raised in captivity, and cattle and sheep were raised in captivity. Enclosed by barbed wire, cattle and sheep gain weight quickly with less exercise. Especially thanks to Hu Erqi's contribution, Cheng Shijie owns hundreds of thousands of sheep. Not to mention eating a meal of meat, even the entire army's officers and soldiers can earn a few cents per person. Even the sheep are still rich.
Sun Zhilan was once again shocked by Cheng Shijie's generosity. In the Taizihe camp, Ning Haijun had a small total force of more than 10,000 soldiers, more than half of whom were auxiliary soldiers and non-combatants.
As Cheng Shijie's order was conveyed, the logistics department immediately delivered baskets of juicy onions, garlic, cabbage, and several baskets of bright red tomatoes. Finally, a team of breeders drove thousands of sheep to the camp. .
"Don't waste it, let the new recruits see blood!"
Under Cheng Shijie's order, the new soldiers of the Guards Division formed a unit of sitting divisions, lined up with long spears and held dog-leg knives, and rushed towards the sheep. With the flash of the knife, one by one the sheep were stabbed to death.
The training effect is quite good, but the problem is that the logistics and military quarters officer yelled: "They are all prodigals. Wherever this knife was stabbed, the sheepskin was cut into a sieve!"
"No problem, if you can't make a sheepskin coat, you can make sheepskin boots. Anyway, it won't be wasted!"
Skilled cooking soldiers stepped forward to peel the skin, remove the internal organs, remove bones and cut the meat, wash and cut the vegetables with quick hands and feet, and some peeled a large number of potatoes and put them into the pot with the mutton to stew...
Seeing them cooking this and that, the grandson's Adam's apple kept moving, and he kept swallowing...
Even from a family like Sun Chengzong, it is impossible for him to eat meat often because he is greedy.
When the meal bugle sounded, Sun Zhidan also went to eat with the Ning Navy soldiers. Of course, his identity was there, and he was definitely not dining with the big-headed soldiers. He was an officer who went with Wu Sheng, the general of the soldiers. canteen.
In fact, the officers' mess and the soldiers' mess are both cooked in the same pot, but the soldiers have long tables, one for each team, while the officers have tables for four.
Finger-wide lasagna, mutton and cabbage soup, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, mutton stewed with potatoes...
While eating the delicious food, Sun Zhidao was a little strange, where did Cheng Shijie's money come from?
Ning Haijun soldiers ate mutton and devoured it...
The morale of Ning Haijun's officers and soldiers was so high that they could not be higher. They all cried out: "If I could have food like this every day, I would be happy to fight in this war for the rest of my life!"
Ning's navy officers were happy, but the slave-building army was not, very unhappy.
Huang Taiji went out in full force this time, mobilizing the Eight Jurchen Banners, the left and right Mongolian battalions, and the Han Army Banners, which amounted to a hundred thousand troops. He originally wanted to use the power of Mount Tai to press towards Haizhou, with the goal of a quick victory.
But the problem is that Ning Haijun's tenacity made their intention of a quick victory completely in vain. The damn barbed wire fences, minefields and trenches made them helpless. Let alone attacking Liaonan, they even wanted to see Haizhou City. The walls are very difficult.
Five or six attacks on the barbed wire failed to achieve any results. Instead, they sent hundreds of heads to Ning Haijun. Looking at the endless barbed wire and the spider web-like trenches, the Jiannu soldiers felt sad in their hearts. A sense of powerlessness.
Since Nurhaci unified the Jurchen tribes and then launched an army to rebel, they have been fighting. The bloody and protracted war has created their bloodthirsty instincts and inhuman physiques. They are not afraid of any powerful opponents or any fortresses.
But this time, facing this line of defense that could only be described as shabby, they felt like a dog biting a tortoise. No matter how powerful the opponent is, they can find loopholes in the battle, involve them, isolate them, separate them, surround them, and finally annihilate them; no matter how dangerous the Xiongguan Fortress is, they can also use bribes of spies, digging tunnels, long-term sieges, and heavy artillery to defeat them. Attack them with a series of means such as bombardment. If they really can't attack them, they can retreat calmly. What are they afraid of?
But this damn barbed wire fence can't be cut with knives and can't be bombarded. It's not afraid of fire or flooding. It seems to be very weak, but there are almost no effective ways to destroy it!
There are also those bloody trenches. The Ming army collectively learned from the rats and hid in the trenches. No matter how you bombarded them with artillery, it would only make them hear the sound. The Jiannu soldiers were filled with hatred. , but there is nothing we can do!
Mang Gurtai stared at the abominable barbed wire, gritted his teeth and said: "Which bastard came up with such a damaging trick? If I catch him, he must eat all these barbed wires!"
Huang Taiji was in a very unhappy mood. He was forced to send troops this time because he could not buy food and the pasture had been burned for hundreds of miles. This winter was very difficult.
He waved his hand and said: "Stop talking about these useless things, let's quickly find a way to destroy this wooden fence and the Ming army's trenches!"
They have already figured out the characteristics of the barbed wire. It is not very thick, but it is very tough. It is full of barbs and cutting edges. If you hang it lightly, the skin will be ripped open. The most disgusting thing is that this thing will sway slightly even when there is no wind. The knife has nowhere to use when cutting it, and it just keeps cutting. The only way to destroy it is to cut off the wooden stakes.
But the problem is that those wooden piles are not that easy to cut. They are thick and hard. It takes a lot of effort to use a machete. The time it takes to cut a single wooden pile is enough to kill them ten times by Mingjun crossbowmen or musketeers. Eight times!
With this thing in front of them, they can't get through at all, but the Ming army's crossbowmen can easily shoot them to death. This situation is simply crazy! Even if they cut off one or two wooden stakes, the barbed wire fence will not fall down. If they want to knock down the barbed wire fence, they have to cut off many wooden stakes at the same time. Under the turn of the Ming army's crossbows and Franco machine guns, this is almost Mission impossible!
Yue Tuo said loudly: "King Khan, if it really doesn't work, we can only go around!"
"Detour?"
"The Ming Army's barbed wire fence was deployed along the Taizi River to the Qianshan Mountains. The mountainous areas are inaccessible. Now we can only go west and go south along the Liao River. They have no defense line deployed on the Liao River!"
Huang Taiji shook his head and said: "It's only a matter of time before they deploy this kind of barbed wire fence on the banks of the Liao River. I'm afraid that if we move like this, they will move too!"
"That's the only way to spread suspicion!"
"That's it!"
Huang Taiji selected elite soldiers from various banners and gathered two thousand men and horses. Taking advantage of the night, he ran north for dozens of miles and then headed to the west.
This time the general leading the troops was Abate.
Just as Huang Taiji's partial division was moving, outside the Baliwan camp of Prince Ning Haijun, Qin Buhui once again asked to see Cheng Shijie.
"What did you say? Another surprise force from Jiannu is preparing to attack our army?"
"My humble position is just to deliver a message. This letter should be a message from the nobles who founded the slaves. Depending on the situation, it should be Huang Taiji's enemy. I hope he will suffer a big loss!"
Qin Buhui did not hide anything, and his secret stronghold in Shenyang was taken away. Even his wife, children, and children became hostages of the other party. The other party did not allow him to rebel or surrender, but only allowed him to go to Liaonan and serve as the commander-in-chief. An intelligence officer, in fact, Qin Buhui also doubted whether this was a trap.
"Yongyan, what do you think?"
"Uncle Master, from Yongyan's point of view, this information may be true!"
Sun Zhiwan followed Sun Chengzong in the Battle of Daling River. He was very disappointed with what the Ming army did. At that time, some people in the Ming army reported to Huang Taiji. Only under such circumstances could Huang Taiji accurately obtain the information. To know where Zhang Chun's gunpowder was stored, we must know that the 40,000-strong army's baggage troops stretched for more than ten miles and contained two to three thousand carts, and the carts containing gunpowder accounted for less than one-tenth of them.
However, Jiannu destroyed more than half of Zhang Chun's gunpowder in the first wave of attacks.
It is not surprising that someone among the Jiannu now informed Cheng Shijie.
Cheng Shijie waved his hand and said: "You go down and rest first, I know it!"
Cheng Shijie asked people to send Qin Buhui away, but he didn't say anything.
Seeing Cheng Shijie motionless, Sun Zhiman became a little anxious: "Commander, hurry up and send troops over!"
"unnecessary!"
"Why don't you need it?"
Sun Zhimo was even more strange.
At this moment, Song Xiance, who had been sitting upright, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "They dare to go, they are falling into the commander's plan!"
The really difficult place to attack this line of defense is not in the undefended Liaohe River and coastal areas, not even in Haizhou City, nor in Fuzhou City. Whether it is Haizhou City or Fuzhou City, they are all formulated by the General Staff Headquarters. of trap.
Just waiting for Jiannu to rush in. As for the mere two thousand cavalry who want to attack Liaonan in a roundabout way, they can just give warmth to the navy troops.
On the east bank of the Liaohe River, the Liaohe River was frozen at this time, but the ice surface was not strong enough for war horses to cross directly. In order to cross the river, Abatai had people prepare straw mats in advance and spread them on the ice. Since then, the war horses can cross the river smoothly.
More than two thousand riders slowly crossed the river in the dark, and Abatai was worried about an ambush by the Ming army.
Fortunately, there was no danger, and more than two thousand of them successfully bypassed Ning Haijun's barbed wire fence from the Liaohe River.
There are two roads in front of Abatai. One is to go all the way east, fight out from the back of the Ming army, and support Huang Taiji to break through the Ming army's barbed wire defense line. The other road is to directly attack Haizhou City.
Abatai was also ambitious. He decided to raid Haizhou directly. If he successfully captured Haizhou, he would be the first to succeed.
"Let's go to Haizhou!"
More than two thousand cavalry began to march towards Haizhou.
The cavalry ran for less than an hour before daybreak.
"Master, we found a grain transport team from the Ming Army ahead. They haven't noticed us yet and are cooking."
"No need to be polite to them, just kill them!"
"yes!"
More than two thousand people on horseback sped up, and the sound of horse hooves was like thunder, shaking the earth and the earth.
There were still three or four miles away from the grain transport team. When the military households transporting grain saw the Jiannu cavalry appearing in front, they shouted crazily: "Jiannu is coming, run!"
"Run!"
As these military households placed truckloads of grain on the roadside, the military households soon disappeared. Abatai successfully robbed more than 300 cartloads of grain without firing an arrow.
Abate took a look at the grain on the cart and found that the grain was actually potatoes. However, he did not recognize them as potatoes and asked in confusion: "What is this?"
"I don't know, it should be food!"
A Jian slave pointed to the large pot hung by the military households on the roadside. Potatoes were boiling in the large pot. These potatoes were peeled, added with some salt, and cooked in large chunks.
One bold Buddhist slave reached out, grabbed a piece of potato, and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Can I eat it?"
"delicious!"
Soon the breakfast of more than 300 military households went into the stomachs of these Jiannu slaves. But the problem was that the breakfast of more than 300 military households could only feed the teeth of more than 2,000 Jiannu slaves. So they opened the sacks on the cart, took out the potatoes, washed off the mud on the spot, and cooked them in a pot.
It's just that these slaves didn't realize that these potatoes, without exception, were all covered with green shoots.
However, these slaves did not know that sprouted potatoes could not be eaten, so tragedy inevitably happened.
What are the consequences of eating sprouted potatoes?
It is easy to cause food poisoning, causing weakness in the limbs, numbness at the corners of the mouth, nausea and vomiting. Just when these slaves were vomiting and urinating, densely packed Ning navy soldiers appeared in front of them.
An officer from the Ning Navy laughed with a smile on his face: "Get rich, get rich, tie them all up for me!"
(End of chapter)
