Chapter 183
Sun Chengzong's return to Liaoyang does not count as a return to Liaoyang City, because Liaoyang City was captured by Nurhachi in the 44th year of Wanli, that is, in 1616 AD. Even when Sun Chengzong served as Liaodong's economic and pacification envoy, he had never been there. Liaoyang City.
But in fact, the first expansion of Liaoyang City was from the fifth year to the sixteenth year of Hongwu, which lasted more than ten years. Based on the old city site, it was built and expanded several times to become a masonry structure with a circumference of 24 miles. Many square cities.
At that time, there were more than 57,000 hectares of farmland in Liuwei, Liaoyang. The policy of collecting rent after ten years was implemented for immigrants to farm. Agricultural production developed rapidly, and handicrafts and commerce were revitalized accordingly. It was the political, economic and cultural center of the Ming Dynasty in the Northeast region, as well as the military command center.
It is a pity that in just a dozen years after the fall of Liaoyang City, Liaoyang, the economic and cultural center of Liaodong, has become dilapidated. Many courtyards are overgrown with weeds, and some houses have only their frames left. Tired bones.
Sun Chengzong looked at the dilapidated Liaoyang City and cried and laughed: "Liaoyang City is considered destroyed. It will not recover for more than ten or twenty years!"
Cheng Shijie smiled disapprovingly and said: "As long as there are enough manpower, it will soon return to its former prosperity and even become more prosperous!"
Sun Chengzong said solemnly: "It's difficult! Although we achieved a brilliant victory this time, it is undeniable that Huang Taiji's underestimation of the enemy accounted for a huge factor. When Jiannu calmed down, he did not take the initiative to attack and only sent light troops to harass. Without too much killing, the people will panic and they will not dare to move here at all. Where can we find enough manpower?"
"This matter can be said to be complex, but it can be said to be simple!"
Cheng Shijie pointed to the bank of the Taizi River and said: "Jiannu is not good at water warfare. I selected dozens of 400-gun gunboats from the Ning Navy Navy. Each gunboat is equipped with eight three-inch guns. Within two thousand steps along the river, They are all within the strike range of my navy's naval guns. As long as Jian Nu comes close, I will let them know what justice comes from heaven!"
"What about winter?"
Cheng Shijie smiled faintly and said: "There are no crops in the fields in winter, and the grain has been harvested long ago. I am planning to build five cities, Baliwan, Shenjiaying, Tieling, Anshan, and Liaozhongwei, along the Taizi River. They are at the corners of Liaoyang City. , Hundreds of households usually work in each town to farm, but once the autumn harvest is over, let them quickly return to live in the six cities. Are these six cities allowed to be gnawed by slaves? "
"But where are the manpower?"
Sun Chengzong smiled bitterly and said: "As soon as this war started, the immigrants from southern Liaoning disappeared? Without people, everything is empty talk!"
Cheng Shijie said: "Back then, Nurhaci, the butcher, slaughtered more than four million people in Liaodong. Half of them became Houjin's slaves, and half fled to North Korea, Pidao and other places to fight guerrilla warfare against the Jiannu slaves. , the Liao people in North Korea, I am ready to have people take them back!"
Originally, the Dongjiang Army's guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines was pretty good and they recovered a lot of lost territory, but it was like a festering hemorrhoid, causing Jian Nu to suffer terribly. However, due to the Ming court's continuous misguided strategy, Yuan Chonghuan was even more adept at making decisions and killed Mao Wenlong, the commander-in-chief of Pi Island. The originally good development momentum of guerrilla warfare came to an abrupt end. Without Mao Wenlong, the soul of the Dongjiang Army, the morale of the Dongjiang Army was unstable. , mutinies and internal strife occurred one after another, and the fighting strength was greatly reduced.
Jiannu was also extremely angry that North Korea was shielding the Dongjiang army and civilians against him, and repeatedly sent troops to launch military attacks against North Korea. The situation of these Liao people became increasingly difficult, especially in Pidao, where people were eating each other, so they used some supplies to go Recruiting some homeless Liao people is not difficult, right?
Sun Chengzong raised another question: "Almost all the Liao civilians in the Dongjiang Army have gone to southern Liaoning. Even if they still have tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, they will undoubtedly be a drop in the bucket for Liaodong."
Cheng Shijie realized that Sun Chengzong had his own ideas.
"Why do you teach me, teacher?"
"This matter is simple. Since Liaoyang has been recovered, why don't you ask for an order to reopen the 25th Guards of Liaodong?"
Sun Chengzong smiled lightly and said: "Nowadays, the inland guard posts have been in dire straits. There is no military field to support the army, and there is no way to prepare for war against bandits and bandits. Instead, when the bandits attack, they surrender to the bandits. It is better to ask for an order to move these inland guard posts. To suppress Liaodong, although you look down on the combat effectiveness of these guardsmen, there is no problem with their farming, right?"
When Cheng Shijie heard this, he suddenly became enlightened.
For Emperor Chongzhen, instead of being self-sufficient, the current guard posts in the mainland need food and money from the local government to support the guard posts. However, although the guard posts have a large number of soldiers, they cannot defeat them or defend them. Living here is simply useless.
If Cheng Shijie spoke at this time, the court would definitely agree and leave the guards to Cheng Shijie. These guards had become a heavy burden for the Ming court.
The Liaonan and Liaozhong areas where Cheng Shijie was located occupied 11 of the original 25 wards in Liaodong, including the four wards in southern Liaoning, the Guangning siege, and the six wards in central Liaoning.
Although each fully-staffed health center only has more than 5,600 people on paper, the problem is that, like the Dengzhou Guard, almost all health centers in the world have a population that has expanded more than ten times. It is like there are only a thousand people. The Dengzhou Weizuo Qianhu Office with 120 people actually had more than 14,000 people.
Even if the imperial court does not need to move more towns, it only needs to move ten guards, which can at least increase the population of Liaodong by one million.
Cheng Shijie immediately asked Sun Zhiman to draft a memorial, requesting that the inland guard troops be moved to Liaodong.
On November 11th, the fifth year of Chongzhen, which was the seventh day after the Battle of Liaoyang, Gao Qiqian rushed all the way to the capital. You must know that this is more than 1,300 miles, seven days, equivalent to 200 miles a day. In the Ming Dynasty, this was already the highest speed.
"Win, win again!"
In the Forbidden City, the moment Emperor Chongzhen received the news of Gao Qiqian's success, he cheered almost madly with excitement. He took the news, danced with joy, his whole face was smiling, and he shouted wildly.
He doesn't look like an emperor at all.
At this time, there were no blind censors or officials who asked Emperor Chongzhen to pay attention to his demeanor and appearance. If anyone dared to do this, Emperor Chongzhen would definitely beat him to death with sticks.
The emperor's power and prestige actually came from the army, the army of the imperial court. In his later years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty suffered from the disaster of witchcraft and killed hundreds of thousands of people. Whether they were military lords or nobles, they all kept their tails between their legs. Even the princes and kings did not dare to blow their hair.
That's because he held in his hands two Han armies that conquered Mobei and forced the Huns to flee. Li Shimin's prestige has also reached the ceiling level, and that is because he has an army in his hands, and he has an army that can destroy the country and capture the king at every turn.
Now that Cheng Shijie has defeated Jiannu, the civil servant group is worried, but there is nothing they can do. The military attaché is about to get on top of them.
Emperor Chongzhen was so happy. In the Battle of Bali Bay, Ning Haijun beheaded more than 8,000 people and captured more than 14,000 people. Emperor Chongzhen could laugh even in his dreams.
How long has it passed? Another piece of good news has arrived! This time the Ming army achieved a greater victory, defeating Guangning, Liao Zhongwei and Liaoyang, especially Liaoyang. Although the slaves had moved their capital to Shenyang, the political status of Liaoyang was like that of Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty lost Nanjing The city, the sky fell.
Although he was not on the front line, Chongzhen was still able to regain a large area of territory. It is imagined that the Ming army almost beat up the lost dogs along the way. They chased all the way from Bali Bay to Liaoyang, and finally annihilated them between Liaozhong and Liaoyang. Twenty to thirty thousand slaves.
Jiannu had more than 120,000 troops, but only four remnants were left and defeated. It can be said that he was extremely embarrassed!
This kind of achievements made Chongzhen ecstatic. Not to mention Tianqi, even his grandfather, Emperor Wanli, had never achieved such amazing achievements!
Emperor Chongzhen was dancing on the throne, just like Fan Jin had passed the imperial examination, and his speech was incoherent, as if he was in a daze.
Fortunately, Empress Zhou used the excuse to persuade Emperor Chongzhen to return to his palace, which put an end to Emperor Chongzhen's absurd behavior.
Facing the empty throne, all the civil servants exchanged a somewhat helpless look.
"Shoufu Wen, what should we do now?"
Wen Tiren really didn't want Cheng Shijie to win again. In fact, he was not afraid of Cheng Shijie, but worried about Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong who were behind Cheng Shijie. The victory in Bay, such a result, has made Xu Guangqi feel like walking with wind.
In that case, Cheng Shijie's military exploits were not too conspicuous, and Jiannu was also severely weakened. He would be honest for a while. What a perfect result?
But they never expected that Cheng Shijie was so unreasonable that after the Battle of Bali Bay, regardless of casualties and exhaustion, he led the Ming army in a mad pursuit of three hundred miles, and finally destroyed the slave army under Liaoyang City, beheaded the prisoners and led them to surrender. , killed more than 80,000 Jian slaves.
Although many of them were Han troops, Mongolians, and servant armies such as the Sauron tribe and the Xibo tribe, this also meant that two-thirds of Hou Jin's troops were eaten by him.
Jian Nu is no longer weakened, but is truly damaged, and his vitality is severely damaged! This military exploit is enough to make him a prince or even a prince!
It took the Wenchen Group nearly a hundred years to finally meet a strange emperor, and he ruined the founder of the Ming Dynasty. Only then did the Wenchen Group surpass the Military Attache Group. Is it easy for them to do this?
Let Cheng Shijie represent the Wuxun Group to rise again and dominate them?
Not to mention sitting on their heads, even if they are on par with them, this is a shame for the Wenchen Group...
Aren't slaves by nature cruel?
How did Cheng Shijie do it?
How can we suppress him in the future?
Wen Tiren suddenly thought of someone.
Lu Xiangsheng.
Although Wen Tiren didn't like Lu Xiangsheng either, he was an anomaly among civil servants. Civil servants were all people with pens, weak and incompetent.
But Lu Xiangsheng is good, this guy is both civil and military, with twenty-five in the top two, a real academic master. However, he practiced martial arts, and the sword he used to practice martial arts weighed 150 kilograms. In the second year of Chongzhen, he arrived in Daxing with more than 10,000 militiamen recruited from Daming Prefecture, and met two Niulu Jiannu. Besieged Daxing County.
Without saying a word, Lu Xiangsheng rode alone into the formation and killed dozens of elite Jiannu soldiers. He fought against the white-armored soldiers. One against three, he became famous in one battle.
From then on, Lu Xiangsheng no longer participated in literary clubs, poetry exchange meetings organized by literati, or even banquets hosted by the gentry. Instead, he spent all day in the company of Mujizi and Qiu Ba, which was simply a shame for literati.
But the problem is, even if you don't like Lu Xiangsheng, the pattern of using civil servants to control military officers cannot be broken.
Lu Xiangsheng went into battle despite being wounded. He attacked Xunyang with 300 elite troops, beheaded more than 2,000 people, and successfully repelled more than 20,000 rogue bandits under Gao Yingxiang's command. This was a great victory in itself, but could the rogue bandits be compared with Jiannu?
Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng did not look outstanding in this battle...
Now, the Gallic Elephant Sheng must be uprooted.
Under Wen Tiren's control, Lu Xiangsheng's great victory was revived. The civil servants coaxed and deceived 50,000 to 60,000 refugees and handed them over to Lu Xiangsheng for resettlement. Therefore, this great victory became Lu Xiangsheng's attack on Xunyang with 300 cavalry. Successfully defeated tens of thousands of troops under Feng Gao Yingxiang's command, captured 54,000, and beheaded more than 20,000.
This great victory almost sent Emperor Chongzhen away.
Gao Yingxiang's army of more than 200,000 occupied Zhending Prefecture and threatened Baoding Prefecture. This was also one of Emperor Chongzhen's worries. When Emperor Chongzhen agreed to Wen Tiren's proposal and asked Cheng Shijie to withdraw his troops, it was because Gao Yingxiang's army of more than 200,000 people would be threatened. Approaching the Gyeonggi area will cause panic among the people in Gyeonggi.
But I never thought that Cheng Shijie refused to obey the order and insisted on fighting this battle. Although he was happy to win, the crisis in the capital was not resolved. Now that it was better, Lu Xiangsheng once again entered the sight of Emperor Chongzhen.
If Cheng Shijie is the white horse and silver spear Zhao Zilong in Emperor Chongzhen's heart, then Lu Xiangsheng is Chang Shiwan and Chang Yuchun in Emperor Chongzhen's heart.
Like Chang Yuchun, Lu Xiangsheng's characteristic is that he must be the leader of the entire army in battle. He rushes into battle with one horse and can defeat a hundred or a thousand on one horse. A real warrior.
Under the emergency rescue of the imperial doctor, Emperor Chongzhen finally relieved himself.
"Great, I won again!"
Emperor Chongzhen's excitement did not calm down all night. He was in particularly good spirits now, even if he didn't sleep a wink all night. At the morning meeting the next day, after all the officials had paid tribute, Emperor Chongzhen looked at the ministers and said: "Xu Qing!"
"Old minister is here!"
"Please make arrangements. I will welcome Cheng Aiqing and Lu Aiqing at Daming Gate to review the victorious army!"
Xu Guangqi bowed and said: "Your Majesty Xu Guangqi obeys the order!"
Wen Tiren left the class and said: "Your Majesty, you must not do it! The Daming Gate is the gate of the country and is related to the national system. General Cheng and Mr. Lu have just come down from the battlefield and are covered in blood. When entering and exiting the Daming Gate, I am afraid that the evil spirit will disturb..."
Emperor Chongzhen said sternly: "If someone can annihilate 80,000 Jiu slaves in one battle, even if he is covered in abscesses, I will open the Ming Dynasty Gate and personally lead his horse and disarm him!"
Emperor Chongzhen stood up and walked back and forth. Anger and happiness alternated rapidly on his face, and he became more and more excited. "Jian Nu... you bullied me too much! Not long after I ascended the throne, they broke in before the dragon chair was warm." , plundered the capital, and killed rivers of blood. I will never forget this shame in my life! Fortunately, my ancestors showed up and sent down such unparalleled famous generals as Cheng Aiqing. They fought bloody battles, and the three armies sacrificed their lives. Finally, before the snow was cleared in the battle of Haizhou Shame on you, you are so angry for me, I... I am happy in my heart! Even if I spend all my money and sell iron, I will reward those meritorious soldiers!"
Hou Xun, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, got a hint from Wen Tiren and hurriedly came out and said: "Your Majesty, General Cheng decided the world in one battle. He has achieved extraordinary achievements. His achievements are so great that he can catch up with King Kaiping and Duke Liang. No amount of rewards can be excessive. But now that the treasury is empty, let alone the military parade ceremony, even the rewards for meritorious soldiers cannot be obtained. Can this ceremony be postponed for a few months? "
Hou Xun is very smart. Emperor Chongzhen's attitude is resolute. Hard support is not the solution. Now the ministers have figured out Emperor Chongzhen's temper. He is a very impatient person and a stubborn person. Once hard support, Hou Xun will The newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Finance does not need to do this anymore.
Emperor Chongzhen's principle of employing people is that if you don't work for me, I will find someone else to do it. He was very familiar with this trick, so in seventeen years, he changed more than forty cabinet ministers.
Only Wen Tiren, who never contradicted Emperor Chongzhen, worked for eight years.
Emperor Chongzhen also knew that the treasury was short of money. Hou Xun didn't need to say this. Beheading a first-level slave was rewarded with fifty taels of silver. The beheading of prisoners was also counted as military merit. Cheng Shijie's troops beheaded less than 20,000 people in total, but they could capture prisoners. There are still 20,000 people, which adds up to 40,000 people, which is two million taels of silver. This is not a small sum of money.
What's more, Cheng Shijie also has the Baylor Abatai, the heads of two Baylors Manggurtai and Degelei, fifteen Jia La Er Zhen, and more than a hundred Niu Lu E Zhen. , these large-scale rewards require at least three million taels of silver.
However, Hou Xun reminded Emperor Chongzhen that if he had no money, he could use his title.
Emperor Chongzhen had to show off his power and victory before consoling the Imperial Ancestral Temple. He wanted the people in the capital to know that he still had a strong and capable army in his hands.
Not just one. In addition to Ning Haijun, who can forcefully establish slaves in the field, he also has a Tianxiong army that can defeat hundreds of enemies with one, and defeat rogue bandits.
"I told you, even if it's a waste of money this time, we must reward the meritorious soldiers!"
Hou Xun knelt down on the ground with a thud and said sadly: "Your Majesty's painstaking efforts, I naturally understand, but the treasury really has no money!"
The ministers knelt down one after another and shouted: "Your Majesty, think twice, the treasury is empty now..."
Chongzhen was furious: "The treasury is empty. The treasury is empty. If the Ministry of Household Affairs does not come out with this money, I will squeeze it from the internal funds!"
Emperor Chongzhen was so determined that no one could do anything about it. Emperor Chongzhen was easy to bully when he wasn't angry, but once he got angry, it was no longer fun. Everyone could only let him go. Anyway, he paid for it himself, so why did everyone feel bad?
It has become inevitable for those martial artists to be in the limelight. Wen Tiren can only use his brain to see who is more beneficial to him.
The first person on the list is naturally Guan Ningjun. Which civil servant in the capital does not rely on the Liao salary to make a living? Guan Ning's army has been in the limelight and received more Liao pay, and the share they can annihilate will naturally be greater. Even an idiot can figure this out.
Ranked second was the Dongjiang Army. The Dongjiang Army killed the most ferociously, with more than 20,000 casualties and the loss of a general soldier. Even if Cheng Shijie was dissatisfied and fought with the dead, he would still be criticized.
Death is the most important thing.
There is no need to queue up. There are only three troops in total. Guan Ning Army and Dongjiang Army are queued to the front. It is impossible for Ning Haijun to act as a foil.
Immediately, he began to draft an edict on the spot. The first was Lu Xiangsheng, who was now a third-grade civil servant. He was responsible for the Tianxiong Army in Kaizhen and the governor-general of Zhending, Baoding, Daming, Shunde, Guangning, and Yongping Prefectures. He had jurisdiction over the military and political affairs of the six prefectures. There were 150,000 military households, and all the output provided for military expenses. The Jin Dynasty added the title of Prince Shaofu. "
Now Lu Xiangsheng has become the second-grade governor two years earlier than in history, and is the de facto governor of Northern Zhili.
What followed was not the canonization of Cheng Shijie that people were expecting, but the promotion of Zu Dabi, Zu Dale, and Zu Kefa of the Guan Ning Army. Zu Dabi and Zu Dale were originally deputy commanders, and now He was promoted to one level, to the governor's position, and to the commander-in-chief. Now Zu Dabi, Zu Dashou, and Zu Dalue, three brothers, are the commander-in-chief. Zu Dabi was the commander-in-chief of the left camp of the Liaodong cavalry, and Zu Dalue was the commander-in-chief of the right camp of the right wing. Each of them had a son who served as a royal guard for hundreds of households, and was given a brocade robe.
Wu Sangui was promoted to deputy general and became the forward deputy general of the Liaodong Cavalry...
…
On November 29, the fifth year of Chongzhen, Liaoyang City.
Outside Liaoyang City, the imperial ministers finally arrived in Liaoyang and began to announce the decree in front of Guan Ning Army and Dongjiang Army.
The words are gorgeous, the words are beautiful, and the voice is nice. It's a pleasure to listen to it. In the eyes of these gangsters, the imperial envoy's voice was ethereal. It was clear that they heard every word of what he read, but it seemed as if they heard nothing at all...
Of course, it is easy to understand when translated into vernacular.
The battle was won, and the big boss Chongzhen was very happy, and promoted and made fortunes to the participating soldiers.
However, in Cheng Shijie's view, Big Boss Chongzhen is really stingy. After winning such a big battle, he only received such a small reward!
Zu Dabi and Zu Dalue were each rewarded with three thousand taels of silver. Shen Mingyu, Chang Yu, Liu Qingsong, Zhou Ning, Chen Dayong and other Ning navy generals were also rewarded with three thousand taels of silver.
Ning Haijun suddenly had five more general soldiers.
Wu Sangui was rewarded with a thousand taels of silver...
However, the generals were quite satisfied. They won this battle without putting in much effort. It was enough to get so many benefits!
Next is Cheng Shijie's, this is the highlight.
A Huangmen eunuch held an edict in his hand and was reading out: "I govern the world with letters and fight chaos with force. Military commanders and generals are the mainstay of the imperial court and the foundation of the country. They are able to do both civil and military affairs and serve with all their strength. His achievements can be ignored rather than favored by his fate. He was the general of the conquest of prisoners, the economic envoy to Liaodong, the governor of the left, and the commander-in-chief of the Ning navy. Cheng Shijie has repeatedly made military exploits, has outstanding literary talent, and has a wise voice in all areas. He has virtue in calming chaos. When his martial arts achievements reached the temple, he paid homage to the Minister of War and was conferred the title of Duke of the State of Hai. He was also granted the title of Prince Shaobao and Governor of Liaodong's military and political affairs. But..."
Cheng Shijie bowed: "My lord, Cheng Shijie has accepted the decree and thanks God for his grace!"
"Congratulations to General Cheng, congratulations to Duke Hai!!"
(End of chapter)
