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The person who replaced Li Yan as the military advisor and military commander of the Grand Marshal's Office was Wu Sanfu, his uncle. His father Wu Xiang was transferred to the governor of Jiangbei before Wu Sanfu went to Beijing to take up the post of military advisor. The person who replaced Wu Xiang in charge of the military department was Zhu Chunchen, the former governor of Jiangbei. . Now Wu Sanfu and Zhu Chunchen were waiting to be summoned in the waiting room of Huangji Hall. Both of them were carrying a shoulder bag-like document bag. They were both heavy and obviously contained some confidential documents.
The two of them have been here for a while, and they chatted warmly at first. Now they have nothing to say, so they just sip tea slowly.
At this time, the door of the meeting room was pushed open, and a small yellow door appeared at the door, greeting the two of them: "Commander Wu, Li Bingbu, and Emperor Xuan come to the palace."
Wu Sanfu and Li Ruolian quickly put down the tea cups in their hands, then both stood up, straightened their clothes, and then followed the small yellow door towards the main hall, one behind the other.
The official positions of both of them are on one side, and they are all on the left governor, but the titles are slightly higher and lower, so they are also divided into front and back when entering the hall. Wu Sanfu, who was walking in front, was now the "No. 1 Duke" and had just been transferred to the title of Duke of Wei.
Wei Guogong was originally the title of Xu Da, but it was passed down to Xu Hongji's generation that he lost his title due to the "Nanjing Eunuch Rebellion". Now the No. 1 Duke of the Ming Dynasty was discovered by Emperor Zhu and given to Wu Sanfu, which put him in the position of the number one hero, overpowering Shi Kefa and Li Yan. Now Shi Kefa was granted the title of Duke of the State of Yu, and Li Yan was granted the title of Duke of the State of Zheng.
And Li Ruolian, who followed Wu Sanfu into the hall, was granted the title of Duke of Kenanji, and he was also a first-class meritorious official!
When the two princes entered the main hall, Zhu Cixiang did not sit stupidly on the throne. Instead, he stood in front of a picture of the southwest battlefield situation hanging on the wall, with his hands behind his back, thoughtfully.
Wu Sanfu and Li Ruolian walked behind Emperor Zhu and then both knelt down to salute.
"Your Majesty Wu Sanfu respectfully sends your greetings."
"My minister Li Ruolian respectfully wishes His Majesty the Emperor to greet you."
"Ping Sheng." Zhu Cixiang turned around and smiled at the two of them, then waved to them to come forward and look at the map with him.
"Zhu Chunjie reported that he had received reliable information that the rogue bandits had trained 50,000 Northern Expedition troops in Kunming, Yunnan. With Li Dingguo as their commander, they were preparing to send troops for the Northern Expedition while we were going north to besiege Beijing. What do you think?"
"If we start from Kunming, we should go to Hunan via Guizhou," Wu Sanfu said. "It is also possible to go to Long'an Prefecture and invade Guangxi... But that would not be the Northern Expedition, but the Eastern Expedition."
"I also feel that it is more likely that rogue bandits will invade Guangxi." Li Ruolian said, "There are 100,000 Sichuan and Guizhou troops heading towards Guizhou, and the dangerous points along the way have been fortified. No matter how hard Li Dingguo can fight, it will be hard to do anything with just 50,000 troops. As for. There is no chance of going out of the Yangtze River. We have deployed a division in Badong and Guizhou for a long time. The Shizhouwei area is also heavily fortified, making it difficult for rogue bandits to break through.
It's impossible to go east from Yunyang. Xiangyang is a strong city and has always been an important town on the western front. It is heavily garrisoned and there is no way it can be broken by tens of thousands of rogue bandits.
As for leaving Qishan or leaving Chencang Road and entering Guanzhong, it is even more impossible... The cavalry of the rogue pirates has declined very badly over the years, and is no match for the Shuofang cavalry and the Pingxi cavalry. Moreover, the current military structure of the rogues is not used to carry cavalry. They are all hundreds of troops. They are not equipped with many spears. They are mainly sword soldiers, which are most suitable for fighting in mountainous and forested areas. "
"So, the real target of the rogue bandits is Guangdong and Guangxi?" Zhu Cixiang frowned, "We are a bit vain in the direction of Guangdong and Guangxi, right?"
Wu Sanfu said: "Governor Cao of Guangdong and Guangxi (Cao Youyi) has an infantry division and two regiments under his command, as well as eight regiments under the command of Guangxi Admiral Jin Shenghuan... There are a total of fourteen infantry regiments and three field artillery battalions. , three fort battalions, one cavalry battalion, and many regiments for training. I suggest that six more regiments and two artillery battalions be transferred from the Dongning Army to Guangdong, and everything will be safe."
Zhu Cixiang nodded: "That's twenty regiments, five field artillery battalions, and one cavalry battalion... that should be enough! Let Shi Ruien lead a staff group into Guangdong to assist Cao Youyi."
Wu Sanfu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I feel that if Li Dingguo really takes the risk to send troops to Guangxi, it will be an opportunity for us to annihilate the elite rogue bandits in one fell swoop!"
"Really?" Zhu Cixiang asked, "What do you think?"
"I think we should lure the enemy deep into Guangdong, and it is best to let the rogues advance to the vicinity of Guangzhou." Wu Sanfu said, "Let's secretly mobilize another group of mule soldiers to enter Guangdong... Guangdong originally had one battalion of cavalry, and then mobilized four battalions of mules. Once the troops are gone, there will be 2,500 fine cavalry."
Two thousand five hundred cavalry is nothing on the northern battlefield, but it would be powerful if they were brought to Guangdong to deal with the mountain troops fighting out of Yunnan.
Zhu Cixiang nodded, "That's it! As long as Li Dingguo dares to come, Guangdong will be the place where he will be defeated and die!"
Historically, Li Dingguo was defeated once when he attacked Guangdong, and was delayed for six months under Xinhui City. Although later generations passed the blame for the Battle of Xinhui on Zheng Sen, the fact that it was so strenuous to defeat Xinhui also showed Li Dingguo's weakness in attacking difficult situations.
There are many fortified cities in Guangdong and Guangxi, and the troops of Cao and Jin are not weak. Coupled with Zheng Sen's Dongning Army and the cavalry regiment transferred from the Central Plains, I am afraid that Li Dingguo's 50,000 Northern Expeditionary Army will be lost in Guangdong.
"As long as the rogue bandits are defeated in Guangdong, it will be easy for us to regain Sichuan..." Zhu Cixiang looked at the map and said to himself.
"Your Majesty, is the imperial court going to attack Sichuan?" Li Ruolian asked, "When will the troops be sent out?"
Wu Sanfu said: "We have to finish defeating the Donglu, right? There is still war with the Yeerqiang Khanate in the northwest, and there is still the Battle of Pingliao in the northeast... If we attack Sichuan again, we may not have enough troops."
The Generalissimo's Office of the Ming Dynasty did not think that the rogue bandits in Sichuan were easy to deal with... In the view of former military advisor Li Yan, Dashun was a more difficult enemy to deal with than the Qing Dynasty.
The old Manchus of the Qing Dynasty only had tens of thousands of people, so they were too afraid of casualties in war. When encountering a weak enemy, he will naturally be extremely arrogant, but once he encounters a highly lethal enemy, he will shrink back and not dare to fight vigorously.
There were many rogue bandits, and they could recruit soldiers from Sichuan people, so they were less afraid of casualties. Although their total strength is only 40% of the Ming army at most, they can still persevere relying on the dangerous mountainous terrain.
In addition, the soldiers of the rogue bandits can be released from work, so they can also cope with long-term wars. Therefore, when attacking Sichuan, we must be prepared for a long and hard battle, unless the elite bandits can fight out from Sichuan and Yunnan on their own...
As for the number of lines of fighting, it is not a problem for the current Ming army.
After all, Fulin is already a turtle in the urn, and it no longer requires a huge force to destroy him. Duduo will send troops to North Korea, which is not a threat for the time being.
The only ones who are a little troublesome are actually the Mongols. If they frequently cross Yanshan Mountain and go south to burn and kill, it will cause a little trouble for the Ming army surrounding Beijing.
"On the Mongolian side...how are the Generalissimo's Mansion prepared to deal with it?"
Hearing that Zhu Cixi turned the topic back to the northern battlefield, Wu Sanfu immediately replied: "The Generalissimo's Mansion wants the king to come out of Tumochuan and convene the leaders of Mongolia in Monnan and Mobei to form an alliance in Tumochuan."
"Acting for the king?" Zhu Cihong asked, "Can he do it?"
Li Ruolian said: "The elite cavalry under the command of King Dai are no less than ten thousand, and there are also Ordos Mongolia to help... Moreover, in the previous battle of Hetao, the musketeers of Dai's army performed well and caused the Mongols to suffer a lot. .”
Wu Sanfu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, actually we can also support a Mongolian Khan to compete with Fulin."
"Who should be supported?" Zhu Cihong asked.
"How about Zhasak Erlinchen of Ordos?" Wu Sanfu asked, "He is a descendant of Dayan Khan, a direct descendant of the legitimate Golden Family, and he is fully qualified to be the Great Khan."
"This..." Zhu Cixi hesitated a little, "Can this person unite Mongolia in Monan and Mobei?"
"Of course not." Wu Sanfu said, "If he had such strength, we wouldn't be able to support him. This E Linchen's strength is just right."
