"Ziru, just come! The emperor was deceived by Wang Mingchu and Yang Jingfu. He has decided to abandon Jinzhou, Dalinghe Fort, Xiaolinghe Fort, and shrink the defense in western Liaoning to the line from Ningyuan City to Shanhaiguan. Now you are the only one, Only then can we convince the emperor!"
In the study room of Sun Chengzong's residence, Sun Chengzong, the censor of Zuodu, who had just returned from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, exchanged a few words with Yuan Chonghuan, who had arrived after a long journey, and then got down to business and talked about military affairs in western Liaoning.
Yuan Chonghuan was stunned when he heard this, "Does the emperor not want to regain Liaodong? The ministers in the court didn't say anything either?"
Sun Chengzong sighed: "Although the emperor is young, he does not have the vigor of a young man. He is more mature than aggressive in his actions. Regarding the military affairs of Liaodong, I am afraid that he is planning on the long-term interests of Song and Xia. As for the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty... .Hmph, ninety-eight times out of ten, they are all traitors who are attached to Wei Ni. If the emperor does not arrest them and send them to prison, it is already a great favor from the emperor. How dare you say more?"
Yuan Chonghuan took a breath: "I didn't expect that after Wei Ni was crowned the leader, the situation in the court did not improve at all... By the way, when I was in Guangdong, I received a letter from Sun Chuyang. The letter said that the emperor was in charge of the army before settling the accounts, and he also I’m going to Macau to recruit foreign generals and soldiers, is there anything wrong with that?”
"It is indeed true," Sun Chengzong frowned slightly, "I am personally training troops and selecting generals today. It seems that I want to imitate the imperial commander of the Martial Temple and personally conquer!"
Since Ming Yingzong was captured in the Battle of Tumubao, it became politically incorrect in the Ming Dynasty to conduct military expeditions in person. That is to say, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, who was known for his debauchery and nonsense, did this. Although Zhu Youjian did not explicitly say that he wanted to fight in person, the fact that he went to the tent to support the army and spent money on it made the officials below aware of his intention. It means to conquer personally.
Yuan Chonghuan also became worried, frowned and asked, "Did the courtiers try to dissuade me?"
Sun Chengzong shook his head: "The pro-army in front of the tent was actually adapted and expanded from the third battalion of Yumajian, so the emperor's pro-army in front of the tent actually reduced the power of Yumajian... And most of today's court officials are If you have attached yourself to Wei Ni, even if you are not against the party, you are still worthy of being an eunuch! Who dares to talk too much about reducing the power of the internal servants and soldiers? "
Yuan Chonghuan nodded: "That's right!"
Sun Chengzong looked up at Yuan Chonghuan: "Ziru, now I can only rely on you to convince the emperor! It is difficult for the self-reliant slaves to come, and Liaodong suffered successive defeats. It can be called a great victory. Only last year's battle of Ningjin was commanded by Ziru. With this With this achievement, you will have weight in front of the emperor."
Yuan Chonghuan thought for a while, "General Xian, what do you want me to say to the emperor?"
Sun Chengzong said: "Of course we are talking about recovering Liaodong! Now that the Han tribe has moved westward, the Liaohe Hetao grassland has been controlled by the Donglu, and Jizhou, Xuanfu, and Datong are all likely to be conquered by the Donglu. The three-border defense line is over a thousand and hundreds of miles long, how can it be tightly fortified everywhere? The only solution for now is to use offense instead of defense, build forts to advance eastward, and use fortresses one by one to crucify the Donglu army in Liaodong!"
Yuan Chonghuan frowned more and more tightly. Sun Chengzong also saw that he had something on his mind, so he asked: "Ziru, do you also think that the plan of building fortifications and advancing eastward is inappropriate?"
Yuan Chonghuan nodded: "General Xian, we have only built the forts in Jinzhou and Dalinghe Fort. We are already a little tired but not strong enough... If we want to continue eastward, we will need more strength than building Jinzhou." It is even bigger than Dalinghe Fort. Not to mention anything else, just how to supply the troops and civilians needed to build the fort is a huge problem. "
When building a city in front of an army, you can't take your time and build it for a year or two... Do you really think that Donglu is dead? To complete the project within one or two months, a large number of civilians would be required. One hundred and eighty thousand is necessary, plus the covering army, it will be at least hundreds of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands of people went deep into Liaodong... What about the logistics? How many people need to be transported behind? Not to mention the huge cost, what if someone takes a backseat?
During the last great victory in Ningjin, didn't Huang Taiji cut off the road between Jinzhou and Ningyuan? Didn't Yuan Chonghuan dare to go out of the city to save Jinzhou?
Jinzhou is less than 200 miles away from Ningyuan, and Yuan Chonghuan does not dare to go there. If he goes further east, wouldn't it be a suicide?
"Is Liaodong just giving up?" Sun Chengzong was a little unhappy.
Yuan Chonghuan shook his head: "Of course not... Just to restore Liaodong, we still need to train our troops! Only by training our troops can we hope to restore Liaodong!"
"How to train troops? How many troops should be trained? How many years will it take to train?"
Yuan Chonghuan had already known this for a long time, and immediately said: "Train Liao soldiers to restore Liao soil, train 100,000 elite soldiers, you will be able to achieve great success in three years, and you can restore Liao in five years!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Chengzong's son Sun Cheng walked in quickly, came to his father's side, bowed, and said hurriedly: "My lord, someone from the palace has come to announce that you and Yuan Futai are here."
...
In the Forbidden City, outside the Huangji Gate, the platform calls for help.
Zhu Youjian gave Yuan Chonghuan, who came from the north, very high standards for the interview. The meeting place was grandly placed on the platform outside Huangji Gate.
Accompanied by Sun Chengzong, Yuan Chonghuan went up to the platform and saluted Zhu Youjian on the dragon chair. Zhu Youjian gave the two of them seats before starting to talk about Liaodong military affairs.
"Yuan Qing," Zhu Youjian looked at Yuan Chonghuan with a smile, "You have been supervising the army in Liaodong for a long time and you must be familiar with Liaodong affairs. Do you think Liaodong can be restored?"
"Yes!" Yuan Chonghuan gave a very positive answer.
Zhu Youjian asked again: "If you use Qing to supervise the division, how many years will it take to restore Liao Dynasty?"
"Five years!" Yuan Chonghuan said, "If you give me soldiers, horses, money and food, and ask the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of War to fully cooperate, I will be sure to train 100,000 elite soldiers within three years and regain Liaoyang and Shenyang within five years." !”
Yuan Chonghuan said with full confidence, but in exchange for Zhu Youjian's sigh.
Zhu Youjian looked at Yuan Chonghuan, who claimed to have five years of peace, and said in his heart: I have learned my lesson, why are you still the same? I don’t want to chop you into pieces again...
Hearing Zhu Youjian sigh, Yuan Chonghuan thought that what he said was not specific. Emperor Zhu did not believe it, so he said: "I know that it is not easy to restore Liao Dynasty, but with the strength of our Ming Dynasty, it is dozens of times more than that of Donglu. If we can do our best If we go there, why worry about losing Liaodong? In fact, the methods used by Xiong Tingbi and Sun Zongxian in the early years are still very promising as long as they are implemented to the end. And Chen's method is to improve on the previous basis. Use the people of Liao to defend the land of Liao, and use the land of Liao to support the people of Liao. First focus on defense, then carefully train troops and select generals, and at the same time supplement it with the method of peace negotiation and differentiation. We do not seek rapid progress, but seek steady and steady progress. As long as your majesty is willing to trust me, I will give you three It takes three years to gather strength and train elite soldiers, and restoring the Liao Dynasty in five years is by no means empty talk."
Zhu Youjian said: "Five years in Pingliao is certainly good, but Pingliao needs to train troops, build cities, and stock up on food, grass, and equipment... These all cost money! Where does the money come from?"
Sun Chengzong said: "Your Majesty, as long as the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry cooperate fully, we can always squeeze out money, food and troops for use in western Liaoning."
"If all the money, food and troops are gathered in western Liaoning, won't there be emptiness elsewhere?" Zhu Youjian said, "Yuan Chonghuan will spend three years training his troops... Before the training is completed, the Eastern captives will not go through western Liaoning, but will detour through Mongolia and Vietnam. Coming from Yanshan, what should I do?"
"Your Majesty," Yuan Chonghuan said loudly, "If I have the full power, I will never let the Donglu take a step beyond Jimen!"
"I don't believe it!" Zhu Youjian suddenly lowered his tone, "The Donglu have tens of thousands of cavalry, and with the help of Horqin and Neikalkha Mongolia, they can cross the grassland and advance westward. Not only can they directly attack Jizhou, they can even attack Jizhou. Xuanfu and Datong. They are marching outside the Great Wall. How can you stop them in Ningyuan City? I'm afraid you don't even know where they are?
Now that the defenses along the Great Wall in Jizhou, Xuanfu, and Datong are empty, it will not be difficult for Donglu to break through. And the army was gathered in western Liaoning. Even if they learned about the crisis in Jizhou, Xuanfu, and Datong, they would not be able to rush to help in a hurry. Even if they can rush to help, can the tens of millions of Liao army's elite cavalry be used as tens of thousands of Donglu cavalry? "
Yuan Chonghuan was speechless by Zhu Youjian's questions. After being stunned for a long time, he came up with an idea: "The imperial court can give money and grain market rewards to the various ministries in Inner Khalkha to win them over to serve the imperial court and guard the grasslands."
Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "Where can I give you money and food? Even if I do... I give money, and Huang Taiji asks for his life. Do you think they want money or life?"
Okay, this is considered dirty!
When Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Chengzong were getting discouraged, Zhu Youjian suddenly said: "Yuan Chonghuan, your five-year plan to pacify Liao is actually not completely unfeasible. As long as you can find a way to get money and food, you can implement it!"
