"Is it really possible to go west to the plateau? In ancient times, the Tang Dynasty suffered a lot on the plateau!" Li Dingguo has been reading the history books in recent years, and he has no idea what the Tang Dynasty did on the snow-covered plateau. The loss is still very clear. "Well, I heard people who have been to the plateau say that unless you are born and raised there, it is difficult to breathe on the plateau!"
Ai Nengqi nodded and said: "Fourth brother is right, but we are not without foundation on the plateau. Fourth brother, do you still remember the Battle of Western Sichuan in the early years of the joint rule? We chased the remnants of the Ming Army in Western Sichuan. Tibetan border highlands, pursue them all the way to the west until they reach Duogan and Litang before withdrawing their troops."
"I remember," Li Dingguo said with a smile, "Ai Sange was the one who led the troops in that battle, and he also secured two Ming Dynasty Xuanwei Division lands for Dashun!"
These two Xuanwei Divisions were named Dong Buhan Hu Xuanwei Division and Changhexi, Yutong, and Ningyuan Xuanwei Divisions. They had already been controlled by the Heshuote Khanate when Dashun entered Sichuan. Officials and a small number of troops were stationed in Yacheng.
However, the number of troops placed by Gu Shihan in Muya was too small and could not withstand the Ming army that retreated from western Sichuan. Muya was quickly occupied by the Ming army. Then Ainengqi led the Dashun army to the Tibetan border highlands, first defeated the Ming army, and then repelled the Mongolian army sent by Gu Shihan, firmly controlling this land.
Ai Nengqi said with a somewhat proud smile: "At that time, we also established a Xifan Jiedu Envoy Division there, with six prefectures including Zagu, Jinchuan, Muping, Mingzheng, Gebu, and Badi. We also moved to Sichuan. 3,000 military households were stationed in various states, and Xifan City was built in Dajianlu in Zhengzhou in the Ming Dynasty... Xifan City was completed in the fifth year of the joint rule. It has been 12 years now. It was originally placed in Xifan The 3,000 military households in the six prefectures have also had their second generation, and the number of households has increased to 5,000. In addition to the Qiang local officials who are attached to us in the six prefectures, 8,000-10,000 people can be drawn out!"
Historically, it took Emperor Qianlong 70 million taels of military expenditure to conquer Jinchuan and Jinchuan. When faced with the first generation of Dashun soldiers, they were successfully put down without any trouble!
An army that has fought countless battles in troubled times is so cruel!
Ainengqi added: "In addition to the six prefectures of Xifanjiesi on the highlands, the thirteen prefectures and counties of Kawabianjiesi are also on the highlands. They also stationed 5,000 households of soldiers there, and the population has multiplied to this day. , there are 10,000 households!”
In addition to the bad luck for the chieftains in Jinchuan and Jinchuan, the chieftain forces under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Xingdu Division also suffered great misfortune in the Battle of Western Sichuan more than ten years ago.
The area under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Xingdu was probably Liangshan Prefecture and Panzhihua City in later generations, and the chieftain forces within the territory were also very powerful. When Dashun and Daxi joined forces to capture Sichuan, the troops of Ma Shiying, Yang Zhan, and Zeng Ying, who were defeated in the Chengdu Plain, once retreated to the Xingdusi, Tianquansi, and Lizhousi areas of Sichuan (Tianquan and Lizhou were close to Dong Buhan Hu Xuanwei Division and Changhexi, Yutong and Ningyuan Xuanwei Division). In order to wipe out the remnants of the Ming army and open a road to Yunnan, the Dashun court launched the Battle of Western Sichuan.
In this battle, the chieftain forces in Sichuan Xingdusi were also completely eradicated by the Dashun Army - not conquered, but eradicated! Because the territory of Sichuan Xingdusi happened to be adjacent to Yunnan and was the throat between Sichuan and Yunnan. How could the Dashun Dynasty allow reactionary chieftains who were pro-Ming to occupy there? Therefore, in the early years of the joint rule, a lot of effort was spent, and it took six years of continuous purges, and the local chieftain forces were basically eliminated.
After that, the Dashun court established the Sichuan Border Envoys Division (Dashun imitated the Tang system and used military force to control the text, and the festival envoys were the highest local officials). Thirteen prefectures and counties were also established under the Festival Division... ..This is tantamount to the implementation of reform and return!
Ai Nengqi said: "Just by deploying troops from Xifan and Sichuanbian Jiesi, we can gather ten thousand people... They are all people who have lived in the highlands for a long time. Although there are no soldiers in Xifan and Sichuanbian... Uzang is so high, but it is still much higher than the plains of Sichuan.
In addition, there are two festivals in western Yunnan, Lijiang and Yongchang, which are also on high ground. There are more than 5,000 military households in these two festivals, so it is not a problem to mobilize 10,000 troops from there. "
Liu Wenxiu smiled and said: "Fourth, what do you think? With 20,000 highland soldiers, can they break into Uzang?"
Li Dingguo's brows became tighter and tighter, and he did not answer Liu Wenxiu's question. He seemed to be lost in thought.
Seeing Li Dingguo's appearance, Sun Ke knew that he was planning another big battle, so he asked, "Fourth brother, are you planning another big battle?"
Li Dingguo nodded, frowned and said: "It is no problem to march westward with 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers to attack the Heshuote tribe... The Heshuote tribe will eat fast and chant Buddha's name if they have been at ease on the plateau for too long. There's a war! Seven or eight years ago, the two Tatar lackeys, Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun, were beaten to death. But second brother and third brother, don't forget that to the north of Uzang is Xining Prefecture and Qinghai Prefecture in Hexi Town. Um. We can go to the plateau from the east, but Wu Sangui can't march from Xining and Qinghai? Xining and Qinghai are not low!"
"Fourth, what do you mean..." Sun Kewang looked at Li Dingguo.
Li Dingguo gritted his teeth: "So we must kill the man named Wu! If Wu Sangui is not eliminated, no matter whether we go south or west, we will not be able to rest at ease!"
"How to kill him?"
"You can do it like this..."
...
"Ah... sneeze!"
Wuhan, in the East Lake Palace, Liang Guogong Wu Sangui, who was participating in the collegial meeting of the Generalissimo's Mansion in the Qinzheng Hall, sneezed again and seemed to have caught a cold.
Zhu Cixiang asked with concern: "Uncle Chang, are you okay?"
Wu Sangui replied: "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I just feel the cold occasionally, it's nothing serious."
Are you feeling cold? Emperor Zhu thought to himself: You probably have a cold, and I don’t know if it’s influenza... but don’t pass it on to me!
No matter what he was thinking, Emperor Zhu couldn't let Wu Sangui be isolated. After all, he was the Duke of Kenan Liang, and now he was working so hard to plan the attack on Shu...
After sneezing two or three times, Wu Sangui began to explain his strategy to quell Shu to Zhu Cihong, Li Yan, Yan Yingyuan, Qi Yuanbi, Feng Sizhong, Qin Mingtao, Zhu Chunjie, Wu Sanfu and others.
"I believe that the battle to enter Shu cannot be won by skill, only by force! If you want to enter Sichuan, you must first pacify southern Shaanxi; if you want to pacify southern Shaanxi, you must first defeat Dashan Pass, Monk Plains, and Wuzhang Plains, and then use the San Pass Road to attack all the way. Directly to Yangping Pass!"
Emperor Zhu couldn't help but frown after hearing Wu Sangui's method: "Uncle Chang, how many people will die with this method? How much time will it take?"
"It is inevitable that tens of thousands of soldiers will die," Wu Sangui said. "As for the time consuming... it depends on how many troops your Majesty plans to send to southern Shaanxi. If you send 20 divisions and divide the troops into several routes, you should be able to do it within a year. Advance to Yangping Pass."
20 divisions is almost 300,000 soldiers... Now the Ming army is called one million, but the real strength of the front-line field troops is forty or fifty divisions.
Zhu Cixiang turned around and looked at Li Yan, Yan Yingyuan, Qi Yuanbi and others.
Li Yan said: "Since ancient times, people from southern Shaanxi have invaded Sichuan. Although some people have used clever tactics, Li Laiheng and Li Dingguo are not easy to take lightly, so using tactics is worse than using force."
Yan Yingyuan also said: "Lang Guogong is talking about the main attack route south. If we can really send 300,000 troops, we should be able to advance in three ways. In addition to Sanguan Road, we can also add Baoxie Road and Longnan Road, so that the rogue bandits can divide their troops. To defend, if the troops are divided, they will be weak.”
Qi Yuanbi said: "If you want to make the thieves divide their forces, they can also send a partial army from Gannan to Songpan to attack Chengdu Prefecture."
"Take Songpan Road?" Zhu Cixiang looked at the map. This means crossing the grassland and climbing the snow-capped mountains...
Qin Mingtao said: "Your Majesty, you can let the Guards go! Although the Songpan Road is difficult, it will not be difficult for them. Even if they cannot successfully attack Chengdu and take the Songpan Guard land, they can still threaten the flanks of the southern Shaanxi bandits." He paused and said, "In addition, the imperial court can also mobilize troops from Uzang to lead the way and assist in the battle. There are many Qiang tribes in Songpan area who believe in Lamaism. If the great lama can help, they should help the imperial army."
Emperor Zhu finally nodded: "That's fine! Just send more than ten thousand elites to give it a try!"
