In order to deal with the Ming army's possible winter offensive, Dorgon was racking his brains to think of how to deal with it. Zhongzu Dashou in Ningyuan City, hundreds of miles away, was also busy, but he was more relaxed than Dorgon. More, because this time he is the attacker. He has enough troops, sufficient food reserves and logistical supplies. More importantly, he is far away from the court and does not participate in internal strife. He does not even have any constraints, which allows him to use his whole body He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the plan to regain Jinzhou.
Therefore, he did not rush forward, but planned it step by step, doing everything calmly and leisurely.
Even the daily life trajectory is roughly the same. I get up early and walk around the archway of his home, then go out of the city and climb the first mountain in the north to see the distance, and then go to the school field at the foot of the west mountain to train soldiers. This is repeated every day, and it is unbeatable.
The ruined Tutu Temple at the foot of the Western Mountain is still there. Zu Dashou would go to burn incense every day, and then look at the Western Mountain from the Tutu Temple and listen to Wu Sangui's men talking about the vigorous Ningyuan Battle.
I can't get enough of it, and my heart is filled with excitement every time I listen to it.
Ningyuan is a war-torn place. We have fought against the Tatars in this place too many times, but very few have won. But twenty years ago, there was a famous Ningyuan victory. That time, Zu Dashou participated. Of course The coach at the time was Yuan Chonghuan, and playing alongside him was Man Gui.
Now twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye. The coach at that time, Yuan Chonghuan, died, and Man Gui also died, leaving only myself. However, in the past twenty years, things have changed, things have changed, people have changed, and I have run out of ammunition and food in Jinzhou. He had to surrender at the last moment, but two years later he was stunned when he heard that Ning Yuan had another great victory.
Twenty years ago, 60,000 Houjin troops attacked Ningyuan, but the defenders were only 10,000. The Ming army bravely killed the enemy and repulsed the Houjin army, which was a great victory. Twenty years later, a 100,000 Manchu army besieged Ningyuan City. , Wu Sangui defended the city with 30,000 soldiers and horses, not only repelled the Qing army, but also caused them to lose troops and generals, seriously injuring the bones of the Qing Dynasty!
At that time, Zu Dashou, who was deep in the enemy camp, was extremely surprised and puzzled when he heard the news. Is his nephew Wu Sangui so powerful now?
At that time, he teamed up with Yuan Chonghuan, Man Gui and other famous generals to repel Nurhachi. Now Wu Sangui can repel and seriously injure Dorgon's 100,000 troops by himself. It is really like the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, and each wave is more powerful than the last. Are the waves strong?
After the Songjin War, the generals of the Ming Army surrendered, those who died in battle, and those who went back to investigate and be executed were very few. The living ones were like walking corpses with no fighting spirit, and it was impossible to pick one out of ten thousand who could be of great use. Well, Wu Sangui is the only one left outside the customs to carry the lead!
This nephew became famous at a young age. Although he was powerful, he would not have reached this level in just two years. He should have been struggling in the past two years. How could he have become more powerful in life? If he was so powerful, Song Jin would not have been able to fight against the Ming army. What a failure!
Therefore, Zu Dashou has always doubted the authenticity of Ningyuan's victory.
It wasn't until he was replaced that he suddenly realized that Ming Ting had a genius eunuch!
Of course, at the beginning, he also doubted whether this eunuch was also a high-spirited person, and it was all based on bragging!
But after he met Chang Yu, he knew that the two were completely different from each other. Later, during his stay in Ningyuan, he listened in detail to all the details of the war at that time, and couldn't help but exclaimed, Mingting was so lucky that There is such a brave and resourceful eunuch.
He could trick Dorgon's army into changing its original entry route to Ningyuan, dig a hole and wait. He could think of ambushing an army of soldiers and horses in the Western Mountains, and even sneak attack Dorgon's vanguard from behind. This was his He is wise, and he can lead thousands of death squads to fight head-on with the so-called invincible Manchu cavalry without losing. This is his courage!
In addition, for more than a year, he heard about Chang Yu's various efforts to suppress rebellions and tried his best to quell internal troubles. At this time, he sincerely admired this eunuch. The so-called heroes cherish heroes. Zhongba, although he had not met a few times, he had great admiration and gratitude for this eunuch.
Why be grateful?
Because Chang Yu blocked all the constraints for him and allowed him to free his hands and feet to do business!
This is very valuable in this era!
Want to know why the Songjin War failed miserably?
There are various reasons, but no one knows it better than Zu Dashou. That is that the commander-in-chief has too many constraints. Especially the eunuchs who supervise the army are dictating things, which makes the commander-in-chief worry about everything. He cannot stretch his waist and free his hands and feet, and the generals under his command have many factions. Miscellaneous, generals do not trust each other, they fight on their own, act independently, and have their own agendas. Once the war starts, they either go deep alone, refuse to save the important ones, or run away. To put it simply, they are organized but not disciplined!
But now, since he was exchanged and returned to his post, no matter how dissatisfied the ministers in the court were, in the end it was just nonsense and no one dared to really stop him. No matter how reluctant he was to ask for food or money, he still gave it to him. He was fooling around, eating and not working, but he didn't send any more eunuchs from the supervisory army there. Naturally, Chang Yu was behind this to help him and block him.
Let’s talk about military power. At this time, in the entire Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty, only Ningyuan, an isolated city outside the pass, was left. Coincidentally, the soldiers and horses were all from the Ningyuan department!
The imperial court delegates power and responds to requests. It holds the Ningyuan Clan troops and horses inherited from our ancestors. If you don't do anything good, you won't have the shame to make excuses later!
Report, Commander-in-Chief, Commander Ma is back. When Zu Dashou was looking at the Western Mountain in a daze next to the Tutu Temple, some soldiers rushed to report.
Ma Zongbing naturally refers to Ma Ke.
Months ago, Zu Dashou suddenly received news that Ma Ke had left customs and came to Ningyuan.
At that time, he was confused and worried, what was Marco doing here? Hand over military power? Or is it to monitor himself or something else? After all, Ma Ke was also a once awesome figure. He once ambushed the Eight Banners Army and killed 1,300 heads in one battle, setting a record for the highest performance against the Qing army in a single battlefield in a single day in the late Ming Dynasty. The Tatars were frightened by the news. Korean sources also have records of this battle. Although the Tatar prince explained that only thousands of Mongolian soldiers were killed, it was not credible. Moreover, even so, the Mongolian soldiers were not inferior to the Manchus in their bravery. Soldiers are even only strong but not weak.
Ma Ke also worked with Zu Dashou and participated in the Songjin War. Because of this, he became extremely depressed after the defeat. After being taken out by Chang Yu for a walk, he regained his confidence and his fighting spirit was stimulated again. , and then ordered to leave the customs.
Zu Dashou was doubtful about Ma Ke's arrival, but he was very enthusiastic. No matter whether Ma Ke came to help, to seize power, or something else, he made no bones about it. Since he came back, he vowed to do whatever he wanted. But he also knew that the chief eunuch would not send him casually, let alone transfer him, because the chief eunuch also gave him a promise and a task. If Jinzhou City is lost from your hands, you must take it. return!
So he didn't think Marco was here to seize power.
Ma Ke could also guess Zu Dashou's thoughts. He only said that he came here under orders. He didn't know what he was doing, but in his opinion, there must be some action here, otherwise he would not be allowed to lead his troops.
Marco didn't lead many people, just three thousand cavalry, but they were his elite.
Zu Dashou immediately understood what Chang Yu was thinking. As Ma Ke expected, he was indeed going to make a big move!
Is there going to be a war? Ma Ke's heart skipped a beat, but Zu Dashou laughed, starting a war every day.
Ma Ke understood the meaning of Zu Dashou's words. Although the battle to regain Jinzhou City had not officially started, frictions with the Tatar soldiers did occur every day. After all, they would not allow the Ming army to continue slowly advancing towards Jinzhou.
But if it was just this kind of daily friction, Zu Dashou could completely handle it, so there was no need to ask Ma Ke to help.
Therefore, even if the war of recovery will not officially start this winter, it will definitely not only maintain daily conflicts, but at this time both Ma Ke and Zu Dashou have realized Chang Yu's intention of letting Ma Ke come.
Although I meant to help, I wanted to give Ma Ke more opportunities to polish himself again and get up wherever he fell.
This made Zu Dashou admire the young eunuch even more. He not only taught people, but also cultivated and tempered them. The premise was that this person made him feel worthy.
Since knowing Chang Yu's intention, Zu Dashou's heart has dropped. He returns to normal and does whatever he needs to do. Ma Ke is also not idle. He knows that Chang Yu didn't ask him to come here to enjoy the mountains and rivers. Every time Ri either studied and judged the military situation with Zu Dashou, or led his troops to the surrounding mountains and forests to familiarize themselves with the terrain, and even once went to Tashan Fort to the front line.
His visit really made Zu Dashou worry a lot. There were constant frictions and conflicts there, sometimes big and sometimes small, and the situation was constantly changing. Many times he had to sit down and personally assess the situation, but since Marco came, hey, let go. No matter what, I will conduct training and logistics reserves in Ningyuan.
No matter how tense the front line is, if the sky falls, Ma Ke will hold it up. Ma Ke has the ability and strength, and isn't this the purpose of the big eunuch asking him to come.
