Long live the Lord, you must not underestimate the enemy too much... The slave thieves have been preparing for war in the past few years. They have recovered from the defeat of Lok Ma River, and there is also a Japanese who has become a slave thieves. accomplice. Judging from the war in Korea, the Japanese spearmen and gunmen are very difficult to deal with, and their strength is not inferior to our phalanx soldiers! "
Veteran general Mao Wenlong fought with the Qing army here on the Liaodong Peninsula for many years. During this period, he was also responsible for supporting the Korean battlefield. Although he himself did not go to Korea to fight against Japanese soldiers, many of his generals had crossed the sea to aid Korea.
Therefore, Mao Wenlong not only knew the true and false nature of the slave thieves, but also knew the abilities of the Japanese pirates. In his opinion, after the slave thieves and Japanese pirates joined forces, their combat effectiveness was no less than that of the armies in front of the tent created by Zhu Youjian.
Shi Kefa, who had been the Minister of War for a period of time, also agreed with Mao Wenlong's view. He said to Zhu Youjian: "Your Majesty, our army's strength in Jin and Fuzhou is too thin after all... If the slave thieves send 34,000 troops, Ten thousand, with the Ping Liao Army and His Majesty's personal soldiers, they can still win in the field. But if the slave traitors send out 50,000 or 60,000 troops, the Ping Liao Army and Your Majesty's personal soldiers will only have a total of 30,000, which is only half of the enemy. I’m afraid it’s not enough to win!”
"Hahaha," Zhu Youjian laughed, "Shi Kefa, you underestimate me... If Taisong only brings 56,000 troops, then I can definitely capture her alive!
And where does Taisong have such courage? Without an army of 100,000, she would not dare to come and fight me to the death! "
"One hundred thousand?"
"Are there really that many?"
Shi Kefa and Mao Wenlong both took a breath. They had originally estimated that Taisong would lead up to 50,000 to 60,000 troops to fight, but they never thought there would be as many as 100,000.
Zhu Youjian nodded and said: "Tai Song's brother Hutu Dunhan and her husband Huang Taiji were both defeated by me. Her sister Wu Liangha was not only captured alive by me, but also trained by me to become a general. Now she can take charge of her own role. .....So Tai Song must be very afraid of me, but he also mistakenly thought that I would launch a massive attack, so he had to strike preemptively.
Therefore, she will definitely mobilize as many troops as possible to embolden herself... Without a hundred thousand people, she would not dare to fight anyway. "
Mao Wenlong said: "Yes, but we only have 30,000 people, how can we defeat an enemy of 100,000 people?"
Shi Kefa suggested: "Perhaps we can transport some troops and horses from Ningjin Sea... Now that the entire Beiyang Navy is here and there are 66 large sailing ships, transporting 10,000 troops at a time is not a problem."
"Forty thousand to one hundred thousand!" Zhu Youjian laughed, "This is even safer... Is the envoy sent by Taisong still there?"
"He's still there," Shi Kefa said. "He's a little guy. His name is Zhang Xiaoqi. He's not worth mentioning."
He was afraid that Zhu Youjian, like Nizi, would play the trick of beheading the envoy.
Zhu Youjian smiled: "Then I'll write a reply to Taisong! Ask that Zhang Xiaoqi to take it back... In addition, I have some gifts for Taisong."
"Giving a gift?" Shi Kefa was stunned, "Your Majesty...isn't this inappropriate?"
"What's wrong?" Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "Although Taisong and I are enemies, we are also relatives. If we didn't have different positions, we might have a better relationship. What's wrong with giving some gifts?"
...
Shenyang Imperial City, Phoenix Tower.
Empress Dowager Taisong, who had issued a letter of challenge to Zhu Youjian, was still in the Phoenix Tower at this moment.
This is not because Tai Song chickened out and did not dare to fight Zhu Youjian - this is not a question of dare or not, but a question of survival in death.
Although the Qing Dynasty was large enough, its population was not large enough. Even if you include the farm workers of the Five Koreas and the savage Jurchens scattered in the deep mountains and forests, there were only four to five million people. Among them, the nationalities belonging to the Eight Banners of Manchuria, the Eight Banners of Mongolia, the Eight Banners of the Han Army, and the Eight Banners of Korea have a population of more than one million.
It is simply a fantasy to rely on this small population to have a lasting confrontation with the Ming Dynasty, which has a population of 200 million and has been effectively managed by Zhu Youjian.
Moreover, during the sixteen years since Zhu Youjian was appointed as the Imperial Guard, he had basically been fighting non-stop, and he was invincible. His military capabilities were obvious to all.
If Zhu Youjian is allowed to complete his deployment and launch a three-way attack, the Queen Mother Taisong and the young Emperor Funing may really end up beheading them in public.
The Queen Mother Taisong shuddered at the thought of being beheaded in public... But what good outcome would a Queen Mother have if her country was subjugated? Was he imprisoned by Zhu You as a slave? This is worse than beheading!
Therefore, the Empress Dowager Taisong and the royal armies of Funing have all made up their minds to fight tooth and nail to the end!
Just as Empress Dowager Taisong's letter of war was sent to Port Arthur, the mobilization of Eight Banners Manchuria, Eight Banners Mongolia, Eight Banners Han Army and Eight Banners North Korea had begun.
At the same time, Sony also took Empress Dowager Taisong's letter of request for help across the sea to Japan to ask for help from the Tokugawa Shogunate.
It's just that the scale of mobilization for this war is a bit large. The final number of troops gathered is likely to be more than 100,000, so it will take a while to gather troops and transport food.
The journey from Shenyang to the front line of the Liaodong Peninsula is only 500 miles, and the Eight Banners cavalry can complete it in five or six days by walking.
So Queen Mother Taisong didn’t have to set off so early.
"Mother, Queen Mother, this is Zhu Youjian's letter to you... Inside this box is his... gift to you!"
The one who was talking was Zhang Xiaoqi, who had returned to Shenyang. He had now taken a step further and had been transferred to serve as a small leader in the Zhenghuang Banner Mongolian Flag and Drum Coating, which was directly under the Queen Mother Taisong. Because there was a bad precedent of killing envoys in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xiaoqi was "taken advantage of" if no one with enough weight was willing to declare a challenge this time.
Zhang Xiaoqi, who came back alive, didn't know if he was frightened, and his voice was still trembling a little when he spoke.
"Bring the letter!" Taisong Taisong ordered. Hai Fugui immediately stepped forward, took an envelope from Zhang Xiaoqi's hand, then took out the letter paper inside and handed it to Taisong Taisong with both hands.
Zhu Youjian's letter was also written in vernacular - the Empress Dowager Taisong was a Mongolian woman and had never studied Chinese well. It would be good if she could understand vernacular. If she really used classical Chinese, Taisong would not understand it at all.
Taisong unfolded the letter and read it in front of Funing and several amamas. The words he read were still in Manchurian: "Sister Taisong, I am sure about your appointment. In fact, I didn't want to kill you so early." and Funing, but since you can’t wait to be beaten, how can I refuse? But after all, you are Wu Liangha’s sister and my sister-in-law, and I don’t want you to die in the chaos of others. hand, so I give you a roll of rope and a lowered flag... When you are defeated and have no way out, tie yourself up, and then have someone raise the lowered flag. Come to me... I, I want to kill with my own hands..."
"Asshole! Bastard!" Daishan jumped up before Wu Liangha could finish his belief. "The battle has not even started yet, but I thought I would win... Since ancient times, there is no more arrogant soldier than this!" He said He turned to look at Tai Song and said, "Queen Mother, don't be afraid. As long as I am here, I will never let the person named Zhu arrest you!"
Tai Song gritted his silver teeth and his face was livid, "Zhu Youjian is really arrogant...it seems he has won too many victories!" She glanced around the room with burning eyes and said coldly, "He He’s already dizzy, this is our chance to defeat him! Let’s... send troops right away!”
Dorgon, who had just arrived, seemed to be calmer than Taisong, "Queen Mother, let's wait for Sony to come back from Japan... Although Zhu Youjian is arrogant, his fighting ability is real! We can't take it lightly, We must join forces with the Japanese soldiers to have a better chance of winning."
Tai Song was shaking a little with anger, "When will the Japanese soldiers arrive?"
Dorgon said: "Very soon... Japan has 20,000 elite soldiers in North Korea, and their generals are now stationed in Kyushu. They will soon mobilize their troops to join us. We will provide 100,000 troops ourselves." Soldiers, plus 20,000 Japanese soldiers, a total of 120,000 troops may not be enough to attack the city. There is no need to fear Zhu Youjian in field battles."
Empress Dowager Taisong gritted her teeth and said: "Okay... we will send out troops in ten days. We will first go to Gaizhou City to garrison and wait for the Japanese soldiers to arrive before the decisive battle!"
(End of chapter)
