It is the ninth day of the ninth lunar month in the first year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty.
Beijing.
In the Libu Yamen outside the Meridian Gate, a dozen ministers in python robes and black gauze were holding memorials sent from Zunhua, Yutian, Jizhou, Pinggu and other places, all with happy faces.
The situation is great!
Some of these memorials reported victory, and some reported peace. In short, the Hou Jin army that broke in has been wandering around the countryside in Gyeonggi Province these days, and has not even broken through a county town. Moreover, they also suffered heavy losses in Zunhua and Yutian. If the number of beheadings reported by Shi Kefa and Lu Daqi was not accurate, then Zunhua and Yutian would have achieved great victories.
However, looking at how the Jin soldiers did not dare to attack the city after the Yutian battle, and did not dare to fight the Ming army outside the city, we can probably know that they really suffered heavy losses in Zunhua and Yutian.
Huang Liji, the first assistant academician, laughed so hard that he could not close his mouth. He held Shi Kefa's memorial and read it again and again, and he could memorize the contents above.
The voices of the dozen or so ministers below gradually became louder.
"...Jiannu is really throwing himself into a trap this time. Since the entrance, he has not even broken through the county seat, and he dares to keep going to Beijing City... Now there are We are besieged on all sides!"
"Isn't that right! There are now 100,000 elite soldiers from the capital camp here in the capital, and 100,000 elite soldiers from the British army guarding the mausoleum over there in Changping. Yuan Yuan leads 50,000 elite soldiers from Jiliao to follow Jiannu westward. Now they have reached Pinggu. The elite troops of Xuanda and Zhangqian led by Wan Sui left the border wall from Longmen, and some of them even entered Miyun... The slave bandits are surrounded by our troops, which total 300,000 in total!"
"It seems like the slave thieves can't escape! Three hundred thousand soldiers are besieging them on all sides. How many slave thieves are there? Only fifty or sixty thousand!"
"Yes, yes... There are few thieves and slaves. If 40,000 to 50,000 people die in a battle, their vitality will be greatly damaged!"
"It seems that the pacification of Liaodong is just around the corner!"
Hearing the discussion, Huang Liji was not completely dizzy. Instead, he raised his head and glanced at the Minister of War, Wang Zaijin, who had been silent. "My soldier, what do you think? Do you win?"
"Of course you can win..." Wang Zaijin frowned, "The slave thieves have been here for more than a month, and they haven't taken any advantage. They also suffered three defeats in Yiyuankou, Zunhua, and Yutian, and besides Santun They have never broken a single city in the camp. After the Yutian War, they didn’t even have the courage to fight with us in the city. How could we not win the battle at this level?
But to what extent we will win, we still have to think carefully. Do we really have the strength to kill 45,000 slave thieves in one battle? I think it’s a bit confusing! "
"Why is it hanging? We have an army of 300,000!" The speaker was Wen Tiren, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites - he has no chance to be a senior minister in his life, and the right minister of the Ministry of Rites is probably at his limit, but he didn't know this. Still trying to express myself!
"How can there be 300,000?" Zhang Fengyi, the right minister of the Ministry of War, interjected, "Including the troops led by Duke Cheng Guo who just returned from Datong, it would be amazing if the Beijing camp could recruit 50,000 people! At least 30,000 of them are temporary employees. They don’t know how to fight at all. It would be great if Changzhen could originally have 10,000 people. Although the Xuanfu has 80,000 or 90,000 on its books, the real number is only 30,000 at most. It would be great to be able to send 20,000 to the British government. Beijing and Chang The total is 80,000, and some people should be left to look after the house. If you can send 50,000 troops, it will be considered too much. There should be 50,000 people in Jiliao, but Long live the Lord may not be able to scrape together 50,000 to attract Miyun. The maximum number of soldiers is 10,000 or 20,000. The four-way combined force can reach 120,000 at most. The slaves and thieves have at least 50,000 or 60,000, which is only twice as many soldiers."
"Zhang Boqi, do you mean that there are hundreds of thousands of vacancies in Jingying, Changzhen and Xuanfu?" Although Wen Tiren does not know how to handle affairs, his political sense is still very sensitive. Of course, he knows that Zhu Youjian is quite dissatisfied with the nobles in Beijing. And he was extremely distrustful, so he immediately seized on the vacancy issue to stir up trouble.
Zhang Fengyi was speechless by Wen Tiren and was immediately speechless.
The fact that there are many vacancies in Jingying, Changzhen and Xuanfu is not a secret and everyone knows it, but it is still very inappropriate to discuss it publicly in the court.
This matter is just like how the governor Gaudi took advantage of the vacancy in Liao Town after the victory of Ningjin. As soon as the memorial was published, he immediately became the target of public criticism. Sun Chengzong made a memorial to draw the fire on the military pay, and he immediately got out - Gao Di was in Before leaving the customs to supervise the army, he also received the salary according to the standard of 110,000 and several thousand people, and it was also paid. If the Liao army only has more than 60,000 people, how can he pay for 110,000 people?
Of course, Wen Tiren would not get burned if he talked about his empty salary, because he was the minister of the Ministry of Etiquette, and he did not care about the payment of wages, nor was he responsible for counting. But it will interfere with military operations...
"Wen Changqing," Wang Zaijin said with a frown, "Now that we are facing a formidable enemy, let's not talk about the empty quota... We should concentrate on forcing the slaves and thieves away. The most important thing is."
Wang Zaijin's goal was to force the Hou Jin army away, not to destroy them, or even to inflict heavy damage.
Wen Tiren snorted: "If we want to force the slaves and thieves away, we must first force Duke Cheng Guo, Marquis Funing, and Uncle Xincheng out of the city! If we don't use the vacancy as an argument, will they leave Beijing? If they don't leave the city, How can the slaves and thieves leave? If the slaves and thieves don't leave...it will only be a matter of time before one or two cities are destroyed! Our soldiers will not do it because all the cities in Beizhili are the same as Zunhua, Yutian, Jizhou, Pinggu, Is it the same as Shunyi?"
After being reminded by Wen Tiren, Wang Zaijin also felt that something was wrong. The five cities Huang Taiji encountered on his way to the army this time were all specially strengthened by the young emperor at the beginning of the year! Not only did they send particularly capable officials, but they also granted them great powers, allocated large sums of internal funds, and dispatched officers from Yumajian and other towns such as Ji, Liao, and Xuan to assist in group training... It can be said that , the emperor really spent a lot of money on the defense of these states and counties!
Just the internal funds alone will be distributed to hundreds of thousands of taels!
What's even more rare is that the young emperor has a keen eye for talents and has found a few officials who are willing to spend all the money in real ways and seriously organize regiment training and build castles.
Only then did the slave thief at the entrance gnaw all the hard bones.
However, there are only six such specially strengthened prefectures and counties outside Beijing... In addition to Zunhua, Yutian, Jizhou, Pinggu, and Shunyi, there is only one Tongzhou left.
If the slave thieves don't attack Tongzhou next, but bypass Tongzhou and go south, they will be in big trouble!
Huang Liji also discovered the problem and looked at Wang Zaijin, "I am from the prefectures and counties south of Beijing..."
Wang Zaijin shook his head: "We can't defend even the county seat, but the state capital is better."
"We can't let them fight!" Feng Quan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, shook his head, "The Ministry of Finance will be somewhat wealthy this year. If the land of Kinki is ravaged by slaves and thieves, the deficit will be endless!"
Wen Tiren clapped his hands and said, "Isn't that right? They earn millions of dollars a year. Shouldn't they go out and show off when things happen?"
Wang Zaijin was also moved by Wen Tiren. He nodded and said: "We have to let the Beijing camp leave the city... Now there is no emperor in Beijing to protect them, and the weather is still warm and the moat has not frozen. They have no chance." The city cannot be captured.”
Beijing's moat is so wide that it is difficult to attack unless it is frozen or filled up, unless someone betrays the country.
But this is the first year of Chongzhen, not the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, and Chongzhen is still the Nandi who is the best in the world of martial arts. He is not in Beijing at all, so he can’t sell it even if he wants to!
Wen Tiren wiped his palms and said, "That's alright...I'll make a memorial later and say that there are too many vacancies in the capital camp and only 20% of the actual troops can go out to kill slaves."
Huang Liji glanced at Wang Zaijin again, and Wang Zaijin nodded and said: "You can let the Beijing camp camp in Beiyuan, bluff, set up more flags, pretend to be one hundred thousand, and put on a posture of fighting a decisive battle with the slaves and thieves. At the same time, let Yuan Yuan Yu led his troops out of Pinggu and marched westward, camped step by step, and approached Shunyi. Then let the British Duke make a big show in Changping... We can let out the news, saying that the emperor personally led more than 100,000 elite soldiers of Xuanda to Changzhen, and they will soon arrive at Changzhen. We will join forces with the Jingying Army and Jiliao Army to suppress the slave thieves!"
This is amazing. The Beijing camp troops falsely claim to be one hundred thousand, the Changzhen troops have 70,000 on their books, the Xuanda reinforcements are also one hundred thousand, the Jiliao troops have 50,000...a total of 320,000 troops!
The Kingdom of Hou Jin is about to end!
