After listening to the questions raised by Wu Guoyong, the Ming army generals present also felt as if they were in another world... Wasn't the Ming and Qing Dynasties changing positions too quickly?
Is Ming really that powerful?
In front of Donglu, had the Ming Dynasty really stood up?
Liu Chongru, the admiral of the Beiyang Navy, took the lead and said: "The Navy is fully prepared... There are ten centipede boats available at any time, and there are more sand ships for transporting troops. Hundreds of them can also be made up. It's just that Shanhaiguan is not easy to fight. Oboi, who is guarding the pass, is known as the best warrior in Manchuria, and he shouldn’t be easy to deal with either.”
Wu Guoyong couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "I think I met this Obai during the Battle of Songjin! At that time, he led a group of red and white armored soldiers with yellow flags as the vanguard, and I also led a group of cavalry in front. I opened the way and ran into him... but was defeated by him and ran all the way back to our formation. This guy dismounted again and fought on foot, breaking the foot formation of five of our teams in a row. He is really unstoppable!"
Shen Tingyang frowned and said: "The Beiyang Navy has touched Liaodong and the west coast of Liaoning many times in the past two years. If we really encounter their powerful Eight Banners force, they will not be able to take advantage."
Gao Jie said with a smile: "That's the past... At that time, the soldiers had no pay in their pockets, no food in their bellies, their hands were rotten, and they didn't have good armor to protect themselves. That's why the Tatars succeeded. It’s different now. Our people have enough to eat and drink, and our weapons and armors are all excellent, as well as extremely sharp firearms. We are not afraid of meeting Obei again!"
Wu Guoyong looked at Shanhaiguan on the map. There were many "abandoned cities" marked on the Liaoxi Corridor outside the pass, and many "qizhuangs" were marked on Yongping Mansion inside the pass.
He thought deeply and said: "Shanhaiguan is extremely strong, and it is really not easy to defeat it... The land division's three-pounder cannon cannot attack Shanhaiguan, and the navy's twelve-pounder cannon may be able to knock down the city wall of Laolongtou, but It doesn’t make much sense. So we can only bluff and see if we can lure Dorgon’s main force near Shanhaiguan.”
It is the strategy of the Generalissimo's Office to attract the Qing army's main rescue force through feigning attacks or storming Shanhaiguan, and it will naturally be implemented!
The conditions for storming Shanhaiguan are not mature now, so naturally we can only make a feint attack. Wu Guoyong thought for a while and said: "There are many abandoned castles in the Liaoxi Corridor outside Shanhaiguan. Let's not take the big ones first, but only the small ones, close to the sea... The big castles here in Liaoxi are all backed by mountains. , there are small forts and villages near the sea, like inns, port services, etc." He glanced at Liu Chongru and said, "Admiral Liu, you are the admiral of the navy, you can choose a location."
The Western Liaoning Corridor has been the frontline of border defense since the mid-Ming Dynasty. The Great Wall was built on the mountainous side of Western Liaoning, as well as many fortresses, beacon towers and so on. On the sea side, the defenses are relatively lax, and there are basically no big castles or strongholds.
Liu Chongru thought for a while, "Then let's choose the Sheshan Service under Ning Yuan Zhongzuo."
Sheshanwu is a port service located at the mouth of Liuzhou River.
"Okay," Wu Guoyong nodded, "That's a good place... Before the Liuzhou River froze, it was still dangerous to defend. The only drawback is that it is a bit close to Shanhaiguan, so it may not be easy to defend."
"This is easy to handle!" Liu Chongru had an idea, "We can send an elite team to land in Yongping Prefecture to harass and attract the attention of the Tatars. There are several Donglu Tatar farms along the coast of Yongping Prefecture. They are very fat. Aobai It’s impossible to ignore him! While he’s looking west, we’ll build a bastion at Sheshanwu.”
Liu Xinyu interjected at this time, "You can also scrap a centipede boat and rush directly to the beach at the mouth of Liuzhou River to run aground."
Wu Guoyong looked at Shen Tingyang, who nodded and said: "If you really can't destroy a centipede boat... you can put some general cannons and 24-pound mortars on the side deck of the centipede boat. It became a fort.”
"Okay!" Wu Guoyong agreed, "Let's do it! When the northeast wind blows, we will sail eastward, and the target... Shanhaiguan!"
...
"Third brother, third brother, Snake Mountain is in an emergency!"
Mele Zhangjing Mulima, who was guarding Shanhaiguan Pass, knocked anxiously on the door of the third brother Obai's room. When he heard no movement, he knocked eagerly a few more times.
In the bedroom, Obai's tired voice came: "Xiao Liuzi? Come in."
Mulima is the sixth son of Wei Qi, the younger brother of Fei Yingdong, one of the five founding ministers of the Later Jin Dynasty. He is also the youngest son of the family. Xiao Liuzi is his nickname. He has the closest relationship with Obai, so he has been following him around the world.
And Ao Bai is really capable. Not only is he a good fighter, he is also very successful in the officialdom. First, he curried favor with Hauge, the eldest son of the late emperor. Under Hauge's promotion, he became Baya Lazhangjing with a yellow flag. After Hauge died in battle, he was appreciated by Dorgon, Obai's mortal enemy, and became Angbang Zhangjing. He was once assigned to guard Tianjin Wei, a very wealthy place!
Of course, Mulima also followed suit and became his brother's deputy, that is, Mele Zhangjing, who guarded Tianjin Guard, and made a lot of money.
But it didn't take long for him and Obai to have a good life, and they were packaged and shipped to Dorgon in Shanhaiguan, where there was no shit.
The defense in the Shanhaiguan area is so lax that it makes people anxious. The former commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan was Bai Guangen, who surrendered from Li Zicheng during the Battle of Shanxi. Apart from being sick, he was just dawdling around. There was no proper defense inside or outside the customs.
Therefore, after Ao Bai took office, he worked day and night, reorganizing the army, building beacon towers inside the pass, building more Shanhaiguan City, and repairing Tiechang Fort, Weiyuan Fort, and Shilipu outside Shanhaiguan. Fort, Guangning Zhongqiansuo City and Yongan Fort. The Zhenglv Banner soldiers who guarded the pass were also required to allocate land outside the pass for farming - these Zhenglu Banner soldiers all allocated land in Henan. However, there are many abandoned farms outside Shanhaiguan, and temporarily dividing them can also boost morale.
Just when the defense arrangements inside and outside Shanhaiguan showed a slight improvement, and when Obai could take a breath and rest, half of the soldiers stationed at Sheshanwu with green flags and Niulu rushed back with their heads in their hands.
When Mulima walked into Obai's bedroom with Dadan Zhangjing, the first warrior in Manchuria, he was already sitting on the edge of the bed and yawning. He just came back from Yongping Mansion last night - he is also in charge of the defense of Yongping Mansion, which is also a bad thing!
Yongping Prefecture is full of Eight Banners farms, but there are not many Eight Banners, not even Zhenglu Banners. They are all slaves and tenants.
There were no good slaves, either cunning and greedy traitorous slaves, or evil slaves who held a grudge against the Qing Dynasty. Most of these slaves were Han people from the Beizhili region who were forced to surrender, and only a few of the servants in charge were from outside the Guan. The old Bao Yi is not a good person, but there is no one available.
Not to mention the tenants...
"Report to Angbang Zhangjing, Snake Mountain can no longer be defended! A centipede gunboat from Nanming rushed directly into the Liuzhou River and ran aground on the tidal flat next to Snake Mountain Port. The ship was equipped with many cannons and could also fire shells. , blasted Sheshanwu into a sea of fire!"
After listening to Na Dadan Zhangjing's report, Obai remained expressionless and just waved him away, leaving only his brother Mulima.
"Third brother, two Niulu's cavalry are already preparing and can kill them at any time!"
There are two Niu Lu's cavalry at Shanhaiguan. One of them is Niu Lu with a yellow flag, and he has very strong combat effectiveness. The other is Niu Lu of Zhenglv Banner, who is led by Bai Guangen's adopted son Bai Liangzhu, who is Bai Guangen's servant.
The two Niulus have a total of 745 cavalry, which is the most valuable mobile force that Obai has at hand, but Obai is not ready to use them now.
"Kill you, didn't you hear what he said about a gunboat in Nanming that washed up on the beach? We only have so few cavalry on hand, how dare we fight against the gunboat? We can't kill it either!"
"Then let's just watch them take away the Snake Mountain Service?" Mulima was a little unwilling.
"It's okay!" Obai waved his hand, "It's getting cold soon... When the sea surface freezes, Sheshanwu will be an isolated city."
Mulima nodded, "Third brother, when the time comes, we will go and deal with the southern soldiers of Sheshanwu..."
Before he finished speaking, another announcement sounded outside the door: "Reporting to Angbang Zhangjing, there is a huge smoke rising from the beacon tower in the direction of Yongping!"
Obai glanced at Mulima and smiled bitterly: "The Ming invaders have entered the border, it seems they still have to go..."
