Chapter 177
The addition of more than 20,000 troops did not help much to increase Jiannu's strength. Back then, Huang Taiji led an army of 100,000, which was more than twice as strong as it is now.
But he is no match for Cheng Shijie. What's more, Cheng Shijie is now stronger. Not only has he received reinforcements from more than 7,000 cavalry from Guan Ning's army, but also more than 8,000 Mongolian cavalry who have taken refuge with him. At least Cheng Shijie can now win There were as many as 30,000 to 40,000 cavalrymen coming out.
Huang Taiji was not worried about Ning Haijun's cavalry. He was more worried about Cheng Shijie's infantry. Those muskets like exploding beans and the artillery that could kill dozens of people with one shot were what Huang Taiji was most worried about. .
Huang Taiji dared to fight because he was a trapped beast now and was just fighting back instinctively. If he didn't fight, would he surrender? Even if they surrendered, the others might still have a chance to survive. At least he and his son Hauge would only die, or else they would be Ling Chi.
In this situation with no choice, he could only fight with his last resort.
More importantly, it is not that Huang Taiji has no chance of winning, but because although Cheng Shijie has more troops, not any one person is capable of commanding 60,000 or 70,000 troops. What's more, the Guan Ning army commanded by Cheng Shijie has a larger number. , the Mongols are just helpless people, they are the key to Huang Taiji's victory.
More importantly, Huang Taiji can now obtain supplies from Baiyin Tu. With the food and grass, the soldiers have physical strength. Even if they cannot defeat the Ning Navy, they still have the ability to deal with the Guan Ning Army and the Mongols.
Cheng Shijie's eyelids suddenly jumped up, and he asked in confusion: "Yongyan, do you mean wealth jumps from the left eye, or from the right eye?"
Sun Zhiman smiled and said: "I didn't expect Cheng Shuai to believe this!"
"The end of science is metaphysics, you have to believe it!"
Sun Zhiwan was already used to Cheng Shijie's way of speaking. He knew every word Cheng Shijie said, but when these words were put together, he didn't know what they meant.
He often heard Cheng Shijie say: "It's unscientific!"
What does this science mean? He becomes more and more confused.
Sun Tzu smiled bitterly and said: "Cheng Shuai, as the saying goes, a twitching left eye indicates bad luck to friends, and a twitching right eye indicates good luck to friends. Is Cheng Shuai's left eyelid twitching, or his right eyelid?"
"My handsome eyelids are twitching at the same time!"
Cheng Shijie looked in the direction behind him, somewhat puzzled: "Normally, Jiannu is just a sick cat now, and I will treat them like a toy. The only possibility is..."
"Just what?"
"There's a fire in the backyard!"
Cheng Shijie knew that in the Battle of Daling River, 40,000 Ming troops under Zhang Chun were annihilated. In fact, in that situation, Ming Dynasty did not admit defeat directly, but thought of deploying Sun Yuanhua's Denglai New Army and Dongjiang Army to support Daling River City. , It's just a pity that the people of Shandong went on strike and reduced Shandong to ashes. Sun Yuanhua had troops but was unable to go out.
In the end, Kong Youde rebelled, and the Battle of Daling River came to an end as Jiannu expected.
If nothing else, there must have been an accident.
At midnight that night, Cheng Shijie was woken up by Meng En.
"Commander Qi, the slave reinforcements have arrived!"
"How many troops are coming? Are there thirty or forty thousand people?"
"No, there are more than 20,000 people. They should all be good soldiers. They broke through the guard circle of the Chasseurs quietly. Five sentries, six to seven hundred people, died silently~!"
"There are only more than 20,000 people, it's okay!"
Cheng Shijie seemed not to be awake in his sleep, and said with a disapproving smile: "Come on, come on, it's just more corpses to fertilize the land!"
In Cheng Shijie's view, as long as Jiannu did not find a way to crack Ning Haijun's artillery, the impact of Jiannu's troops would not be too great if there were more or less men.
Since Jiannu dared to come to die, Cheng Shijie dared to bury them.
Burying the slaves was naturally a good thing for the Ming Dynasty. At least without the excuse of establishing slaves, there would be no need to collect Liao wages, and the common people would have a way to survive.
Thinking of this, Cheng Shijie's mind suddenly lit up.
Destroying people's wealth is like killing their parents. Liao's salary not only enriched Guan Ning's army, but in fact, Liao's salary enriched not only Guan Ning's army, but almost all officials in the entire Ming Dynasty, especially civil servants.
Although it is said that the Ming Dynasty began to collect Liao rates from the Wanli period, in fact, the largest collection of Liao rates was actually during the Chongzhen period. In order to cope with the war in Liaodong, Emperor Chongzhen raised the original Liao rate of nine cents per mu during the Tianqi period to one cent and two cents. This operation was also excellent, collecting 6.67 million taels of silver in an instant. Coupled with the messy cover terms, after one round of operation, I got 27.4 million in silver.
This does not mean that Ming officials collected 7.4 million taels of silver in taxes from the people, but it refers to the total tax revenue paid to the court.
At this point, what those Ming worms want is not to put down the war and let everyone continue to enjoy peace, but that everyone is vying to enrich their own pockets.
The total of Liao's, Suppression's and Lian's wages was more than double the official salary expressly stipulated by the Ming Dynasty. The people of the entire Ming Dynasty lived in the worry of "paying the emperor food", and the farmers of the Ming Dynasty reached the point where they could not complete their tasks even if they lost all their money.
Many farmers had to sell their land to cope with the temporary "three rings", and slowly became tenants, slaves, refugees, hungry people, and finally became mobs until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Although Liaonan has received a lot of refugees, nearly 400,000 of them are refugees. Cheng Shijie often comes into contact with these refugees and knows very well that these refugees have been driven bankrupt by heavy taxes and have to become refugees.
But this Liao salary was the entire Ming Dynasty's civil servant group, covering all aspects from the court to the local governments.
Therefore, Jiannu put everything on the line this time and prepared to stud.
And Cheng Shijie already has the strength to defeat Jiannu, so in this case, there will definitely be people holding him back, and maybe they have already arrived.
Cheng Shijie's face turned ugly: "Our crisis is coming!"
Meng En said: "What the commander-in-chief means is that Jiannu is preparing for a sneak attack?"
"Their sneak attack is nothing. Although there are still 40,000 slaves now, they have lost a lot of weight. If we don't attack them, they will already be burning incense. Even if the Mongols provoke them so unscrupulously, they will tolerate it." How can we launch a night attack if we are down?"
Cheng Shijie looked in the direction of the capital and said: "Our crisis comes from the capital!"
"Capital?"
"Yes, for the sake of their money bags, they will not allow the Ming Dynasty to eliminate the Jiannu slaves!"
Sun Chengzong's fortress strategy, organizing and training the army, using fortresses to slowly encroach on the strategic space of Jiannu, coupled with the material blockade, at that time Jiannu was forced to buy eight taels of silver per dou of grain from Shanxi merchants.
In this case, countless people starved to death. However, just as Sun Chengzong's strategy in Liaodong began to show results, he was held accountable for the Liuhe defeat and impeached.
The defeat of Liuhe was actually a small-scale battle. Lu Zhijia under Ma Shilong was only a guerrilla general, and Li Chengxian was also a guerrilla general. According to the unspoken rules of the Ming Dynasty, a general can only command three to four thousand troops, and some only have more than a thousand. People are guerrilla generals, and the best can command a thousand people.
In fact, Lu Zhijia and Li Chengxian led 800 people to forcefully cross the Sancha River in seven fishing boats, which leaked their traces and caused the defeat of the Liuhe Battle. More than 400 people were killed and injured. Lu Zhijia and Li Chengxian both died in the battle. Chinese Army Qian Yingke fell into the water and died. The Eight Banners Army captured 600 war horses.
At that time, the public opinion in the court was exaggerating, and it was said that the Liao army of 100,000 people had been completely wiped out. Afterwards, the officials handed over the impeachment report, Ma Shilong was impeached and resigned, and Sun Chengzong and Yu Anxing were dismissed at the same time. Gao Di took charge of the administration, and Yuan Chonghuan took over.
Not to mention a small-scale defeat of just a few hundred people, even if this number were expanded ten times, seven or eight thousand people were lost. Just like the Ningyuan victory, seven or eight thousand people on Juehua Island were killed by Jiannuo. Not only was Yuan Chonghuan not at fault, Instead, he achieved great success.
Sun Chengzong's fault was that his existence had seriously threatened Jiannu.
Now Cheng Shijie only needs one knife to beat Jiannu half to death or paralyze him. But the court will never allow Cheng Shijie to continue fighting. They will do everything they can to stop this war and give Jiannu a breath of relief.
This incident reminded Cheng Shijie of Great Britain's World War I. Germany in World War I was a defeated country like World War II. According to France, they wanted to dismember Germany, but Great Britain disagreed and wanted to use Germany to contain France. So, Germany was resurrected in just a dozen years.
It can be said that the UK has contributed a lot to this.
Thinking of this, Cheng Shijie no longer felt sleepy.
As daybreak approached, the sound of horse hooves broke the silence of the morning.
Sun Chengzong also didn't sleep well. He came to Cheng Shijie's RV early. Seeing that Cheng Shijie didn't look like he had just woken up, but rather like he hadn't slept, he said with some surprise: "Beiping, you haven't slept all night?"
Cheng Shijie nodded: "The sound of horse hooves is coming from the south, it must not be Jiannu!"
"Someone is coming from the capital!"
Sun Chengzong revealed the secret letter in his hand.
Cheng Shijie asked curiously: "Who is coming?"
"Fu Zonglong!"
"If he doesn't stay in Tianjin, what is he doing here?"
"Didn't you guess it?"
Sun Chengzong smiled bitterly and said: "There has been a huge quarrel in the court over this battle, and you have been implicated by me!"
"Teacher, this is none of your business!"
While they were talking, Fu Zonglong and Gao Qiqian came with more than a hundred officials and three to four hundred cavalry in the cold wind. Especially Fu Zonglong, his nose was dripping with snot, and his eyebrows, beard, and hair were all white. .
Their lips and faces were covered with bloody cuts. It was obvious that they had arrived here at high speed and without stopping.
Gao Qiqian was even more embarrassed than Fu Zonglong. After seeing Cheng Shijie, he cupped his hands towards Cheng Shijie, sat down on the edge of the stove, and stretched out his hands to light the fire.
Fu Zonglong collapsed directly to the floor. If it weren't for the hot water spurting out of his mouth, Cheng Shijie would have thought Fu Zonglong was dead.
"Master Fu, why are you doing this?"
Cheng Shijie shrugged and said, "Can't we let Cheng finish this battle with peace of mind?"
Fu Zonglong looked at Cheng Shijie, whose eyes were also bloodshot, while Sun Chengzong stared sharply at Fu Zonglong.
Fu Zonglong did not dare to look directly into Sun Chengzong's eyes.
In fact, Fu Zonglong was recommended by Sun Chengzong. It is said that Fu Zonglong is Sun Chengzong's man, but now his role is to hold back.
Cheng Shijie said: "Master Fu, does the court really want Cheng to withdraw his troops?"
Fu Zonglong nodded, but did not speak.
"This is Chief Minister Wen's proposal, and His Majesty agrees!"
Gao Qiqian grabbed the cup in front of Cheng Shijie and drank a cup of hot tea. Then he gasped and said: "The news of the victory at Baliwan has spread throughout the capital. His Majesty Longyan was very happy. He expressed great admiration for General Cheng. He was overjoyed. It's beyond words. However, Gao Yingxiang's 200,000 rebels have captured Zhending. They are overwhelmingly powerful, sweeping through Shunde, Damingfu, and approaching Baoding, threatening the capital!"
Cheng Shijie knew that in history, Gao Yingxiang did break through Zhending and greatly threatened the capital, but he was blocked by Lu Xiangsheng, and the Tianxiong Army became famous in one battle.
However, in this time and space, there was a huge deviation.
Gao Qiqian then continued: "Your Majesty is worried about the rebels... and Jiannu's siege on Haizhou has been repulsed. It is useless to fight anymore, so he intends to withdraw his troops and deal with Gao Yingxiang's rebels first..."
Cheng Shijie asked: "Where is Lu Xiangsheng?"
Gao Qiqian was slightly startled: "Master Lu?"
"Yes, what is he doing?"
Fu Zonglong said: "The imperial court did intend to order the Tianxiong Army to encircle the rebels. However, Mr. Lu was inspecting the Tianxiong Army's barracks and practicing the fire blunderbuss. Unfortunately, the fire blunderbuss exploded and shrapnel hit Lu Jiandou's forehead. Now his life hangs by a thread. , life or death is uncertain..."
Before Fu Zonglong could finish his words, Cheng Shijie jumped up and said angrily: "It's so brilliant, so brilliant!"
Sun Chengzong asked curiously: "Beiping, are you saying that Lu Jiandou's accident was not an accident?"
"It was a man-made accident!"
Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "In order to force me to retreat, they did everything they could!"
Of Gao Yingxiang's more than 200,000 rebels, almost one-fifth were capable of fighting, that is, 40,000 to 50,000, and the rest were made up. Historically, Lu Xiangsheng used the Tianxiong Army's more than 17,000 On foot and cavalry, he defeated the refugee army and killed eleven leaders of the refugee army.
The real combat effectiveness of Gao Yingxiang's troops is actually not strong, but it is more than enough to deal with the Ming army in Gyeonggi.
Cheng Shijie said: "Master Fu, give Cheng half a month!"
Fu Zonglong has a big head now. He has never encountered such a situation. In the past, when the Ming army fought against Jiannu, if the imperial court ordered the troops to withdraw, it is estimated that the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty would be as happy as the Chinese New Year, except this time.
The great victory at Haizhou Baliwan was a hundred times more glorious than the emperor and the civil and military officials imagined. More than 8,000 soldiers were beheaded, nearly 10,000 Mongolian soldiers were recruited and surrendered, and 50,000 to 60,000 of the 100,000-man army were lost. Such achievements have already been achieved Every officer of the Ming army, big or small, who was enough to participate in the war was promoted to several ranks.
"If we continue to fight, what if the Jin army comes to help and the victory turns into defeat?" Fu Zonglong sighed and said: "His Majesty is also worried that the Jiannu will come to help and the war situation will reverse! In the past few decades, our army has There are many examples of those who are greedy for merit and rush forward, turning victory into defeat..."
"Jiannu is like this, and you still want to turn defeat into victory? Go ahead and have your fucking dreams!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Master Fu, our army's cannons and shells have arrived. As soon as day breaks, the end of slavery will come! After trying, more than 50,000 to 60,000 people were surrounded. Our army fired ten thousand artillery pieces. First, we will They exploded into bloody pieces, and then the cavalry charged, how many of them could have died! We will definitely win this battle!"
It was also difficult for Fu Zonglong to deal with it. On the one hand, Emperor Chongzhen ordered the withdrawal. On the other hand, he was also afraid that these elite soldiers who had struggled in the sea of blood would suffer unnecessary losses. He hoped from the bottom of his heart that they would just accept it, but he simply If he doesn't appreciate it, what can he do?
Fu Zonglong could still understand the desire of these generals to kill the enemy and serve the country, but the civil servants who were traveling with him were not so easy to talk to. Seeing that those generals were not interested in anything, they couldn't help but sneered: "Whatever the court tells you to do, just do it." Yes! There is no room for you warriors to comment on His Majesty’s arrangements!"
"I just know how to fight, and I don't even think about what I will do if I lose! A bunch of guys who get carried away after winning a few battles. With mediocre generals like you, it's no wonder that our army has been retreating steadily in the past thirty years!"
As soon as they spoke, Cheng Shijie frowned, and even Sun Chengzong looked unhappy.
Cheng Shijie looked at Fu Zonglong: "Master Fu, are these your people? They don't seem to understand the rules!"
Fu Zonglong said hurriedly: "They are all Wen's right-hand assistants."
Cheng Shijie slapped his palm on the table, jumped up and pointed at a white-faced and long-bearded civil servant and roared: "A big-ass official, you dare to point fingers at me in my Chinese army tent, sarcastically, and call me a martial artist." , what the hell! Throw it out!"
Cheng Shijie's bodyguards pounced on the civil servants before they could shout, grabbed them as if they were catching chickens, and threw them out.
Fu Zonglong was stunned.
During the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the status of civil servants was indeed not high, but after the Tumubao Incident, civil servants were superior to military attachés. To put it bluntly, the generals did not dare to say a word when civil servants rode on top of the armed forces and shit.
It is not uncommon for a sixth-grade junior civil servant to point his finger at a second-grade military general and scold him until the opponent can't even lift his head. However, it is not uncommon for a sixth-grade civil servant to point his finger at a second-grade general and scold him so hard that he can't even raise his head. However, it is not unusual for him to give blind orders even though he clearly doesn't understand anything, messing up the combat deployment and ultimately leading to the annihilation of the entire army. This kind of thing is no longer new. Military generals can only accept it and cannot resist it.
To put it bluntly, the army's food and salary, weapons supply, appointment and removal of rewards and punishments, combat command and other powers are all in the hands of civil servants. They, the generals, can only obey the blind orders of civil servants and fight bravely. Of course they will win. The civil servants strategized and used the troops like gods. The civil servants made the first contribution, and they, the generals who fought bloody battles for the rest of their lives, also benefited from the glory and made small contributions.
If you lose the battle, don't expect the civil servants to bear any responsibility. It's because the generals are afraid of the enemy and passively fight, so they lose. Anyway, the responsibility is unlikely to fall on the civil servants.
This group of nonsense civil servants make trouble all day long. They cannot hit, scold, speak, or beat. They have to obey their orders obediently and execute what they think is a perfect battle plan, but in fact it is full of loopholes. These are the generals of the Ming Dynasty. fate!
Cheng Shijie, on the other hand, didn't save any face for Wen Tiren and just threw his people out!
Wen Tiren appears to be gentle and graceful, but in fact he is narrow-minded and will retaliate for his anger. If Cheng Shijie offends him, can he still get something good to eat?
Who is Cheng Shijie?
Will he do this?
As early as when he was a fourth-rank guard, the second-rank governor did whatever he wanted without giving him any face. As for Wen Tiren, when Cheng Shijie was happy, he would call him Lord Wen, and if he was unhappy, he would be buried.
When it comes to officialdom struggles, Cheng Shijie is indeed unable to defeat Wen Tiren, but the problem is that Cheng Shijie holds a knife, and he is not afraid of anyone when using a knife.
Cheng Shijie frowned slightly at these civil servants who were still shouting outside the tent.
Wu Sheng said: "Commander, the people under my command don't know how to handle things, so I'll go right away!"
"Ahhhh..."
After several screams, the whole world became quiet.
Cheng Shijie said: "Master Fu, it is rare to have a fighting chance. If we can wipe out the Jian slaves, why do we care about the mere bandits?"
"All right!"
Fu Zonglong saw that Cheng Shijie was determined to fight this battle, and he couldn't help but say that Cheng Shijie himself had the right to make decisions on the spot, and the words "acting cheaply" represented Cheng Shijie's power.
Fu Zonglong said: "I will immediately report to the court and state the enemy's situation. I am sure your majesty will not blame you!"
"Thank you, Master Fu!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Come, Master Fu, please go down and have a rest!"
After Fu Zonglong left, Gao Qiqian looked at Sun Chengzong and Sun Zhiwan.
Sun Chengzong knew that Gao Qiqian had a secret purpose, so he left directly.
After Sun Chengzong and Sun Zhiman left, he sighed and said, "General Cheng, why are you doing this?"
"What?"
Gao Qiqian said: "There is a saying in our family that I don't know whether to say or not!"
"Eunuch Gao, you're welcome, what is our relationship?"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Is there anything you can't say? Just say it!"
Gao Qiqian curled his lips and said: "I think you should obey the holy order, withdraw your troops quickly, and immediately lead your troops back to the capital to support you. With thousands of contributions, you are not as good as King Qin to save you!"
Cheng Shijie said: "I have enough credit. Besides, if I can annihilate Jiannu, why should I withdraw my troops?"
"General Cheng used a weak force to rebuild the slaves, beheaded more than 8,000 people, and captured 50,000 people. This was actually Chengzu's greatest achievement after his expedition to the desert! At this moment, General Cheng's reputation has spread all over the world. Who doesn't know it? Who doesn't know it? Even if you withdraw your troops at this time, it will not damage the reputation of General Cheng. Why do you have to make an unnecessary mistake and fight to the death with Jiannu, wasting your own strength in vain?"
Cheng Shijie said: "Eunuch Gao, you have to understand one thing: It's not that I like to fight to the death with Jiannu, but it's these bastards who deserve to be beaten! If I don't beat them up, it won't take long for them to jump again. When you come out to make trouble, there will be no time to calm down, and by then, more people will die!"
Gao Qiqian sighed: "General Cheng, everything is too much and too little is too much. You must know that if a tree is as beautiful as a tree in the forest, the wind will destroy it! General Cheng is determined to annihilate all Jiannu, so isn't he afraid that his achievements will shock his master!"
Gao Qiqian understood Chongzhen. Emperor Chongzhen was not a generous master. He was good at everything when he needed you. When he was not needed, he was just a chamber pot.
"His great achievements will shock the Lord?"
A faint smile appeared on Cheng Shijie's face: "I'm really not afraid of the master with his great achievements!"
(End of chapter)
