A certain prince really didn't have much confidence in the current tribes in western Liaoning and the Ming army in the Jifu area. Expecting them to be able to repel the braids or even win a few battles was no different than a daydream.
Due to repeated defeats in battles, generals at all levels seemed to have suffered from "phobia". They would flee without waiting for a confrontation in the field, and they were frightened when defending the city. They were even more timid in defending against the enemy than the Song Army, known as the "Persimmon Army."
Moreover, if the battle is defeated again, the loss of troops will be inevitable, and Zha Ming has no capital to lose anymore. When all the main forces in the field are exhausted, it will be even more difficult to expect the motley crew and new troops to make a comeback.
The total strength of the Ming army seems to be quite large, and the total strength of all the troops can exceed 300,000. However, the number of troops that can really go head-to-head with the pigtails, including the Yongwei Camp, Baigan Army, Qin Army, etc., is less than 100,000.
Once these elites are exhausted by braids, the end of the Ming Dynasty will come.
Last time, the elite outside the Pass were severely damaged and Liaodong was lost directly. The Ming army could only survive in the Liaoxi Corridor.
If we lose again this time, not to mention the vast area north of the Yangtze River, even the south may not be safe.
A certain prince couldn't afford to lose, and the court couldn't afford to lose either, but how could he defeat the aggressive Qing army? Everyone could guarantee it.
In this case, if you still want to continue with the braid, you need to act carefully.
The imperial court could not bear the disastrous defeat of 50,000 people, even if it was just the loss of 50,000 cannon fodder.
Arming cannon fodder of this size, plus the money and food required, would cost at least four million taels.
Within a few months, it was swallowed up by Huang Taiji, which would inevitably lead to another defeat in Guangning.
Even if it can last for four months, based on this cost calculation, it will cost 12 million taels of silver for the whole year.
At present, Taicang is plump and can support military expansion and war preparations, but it cannot withstand huge losses of this level.
Wang Jiayan, Minister of War, still did not want the Japanese army to take the vanguard for the Ming Dynasty. This would inevitably show that the court was too afraid of the Donglu: "Your Highness, if this tactic is implemented, our army can win the battle quickly and retreat safely before the Donglu reinforcements arrive. "
There are many islands in the peninsula, the coastline is winding, and it is mostly mountainous. It is not suitable for the Donglu cavalry to gallop here. The Ming army may have a chance of winning after landing, so Wang Jiayan believes that there is no need to spend money to let the Japanese army fight.
Fighting a war is not just about thinking about it on paper. This is really about disemboweling and bleeding the opponent. Yaoji responded: "I have also considered this in advance, but if it is just harassing along the coast, it will definitely not be able to touch the Donglu. We must go deep." Twenty miles inland is enough. If this happens, there will inevitably be a bloody battle with the Donglu defenders and reinforcements, and there will be no way to achieve a quick victory in each battle. If we are defeated, our army will make the same mistake again. Therefore, I invite the Japanese army to assist in the battle. , If the Donglu can be defeated, the Japanese army will gain advantage and the imperial court will gain power. If defeated, the Ming Dynasty will be unscathed and the morale of the officers and soldiers will not be reduced."
The prince's words aroused the approval of many courtiers. It would be nice to just take advantage and not suffer any losses. Everyone is willing to do this kind of business.
Everyone in the court hoped to achieve a great victory while the prince was in charge of the country, but the paradox was that everyone did not want or dare to bear the responsibility for the defeat.
In fact, no one can afford a defeat of 50,000 people. Then a group of high-ranking officials will inevitably be imprisoned and their homes confiscated, just like the defeats of Liaoyang and Guangning.
There is no need to worry about hiring Japanese troops. The defeat of Japanese troops is also their business and has nothing to do with the court. If the Japanese army is defeated, it means that the court is well-organized and the prince is commanding well.
In order to win the approval of more courtiers, Yaoji continued to add: "From an economic point of view, if the king's army sent out 50,000 troops, it would consume three million taels of silver for one year of fighting, not counting food and grass. If it were a Japanese army, They only need to provide food and grass, and if there is any harvest, it will only be two million taels of silver at most. In terms of dignity and morale, I have already explained it before. Therefore, hiring Japanese troops to land on the Liaodong Peninsula will put the Donglu out of reach, and they will lose sight of one thing. , if the Japanese army can fight effectively and reach its best condition, the Donglu will have no time to enter the pass and plunder this winter."
Let these two families fight against each other. It is best to fight until both sides are injured. In this way, Zha Ming will lose two powerful enemies at once.
Li Shiwen, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, is very careful about his money bag. He is more careful about planning and expenditure than playing mahjong: "Your Highness, if the Japanese army is timid and refuses to advance, won't it be a waste of food and grass?"
This problem is also very practical. If you are not afraid of ruthless characters who risk their lives, you are afraid of pig teammates who only eat but do not work.
Yaoji nodded and said with a smile: "What Li Aiqing said makes sense, but if Aiqing was a Japanese general, he traveled a long way to Liaodong, stayed here doing nothing for several months, and finally went back to see their general empty-handed? Even if the general was willing? , tens of thousands of subordinates would not be willing. Japanese pirates have always been greedy, otherwise they would not have harassed our southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years. Now they have changed the area they plundered to the Liaodong Peninsula. Faced with the women and money everywhere in the East, they can If you stand still, I won’t believe it.”
The Tokugawa general will definitely send his confidant Ai future to lead this robbery force, and many generals will not return home empty-handed. Even if he does not make money, he will give the general the general a worthy meeting gift. Just fine.
Regardless of whether you are an official or a general, you must abide by this rule in any country.
I originally went out empty-handed, but finally returned home empty-handed.
Forget it if it were an ordinary soldier, but if it were a general, this person must be out of his mind...
Li Shiwen thought about it and found that this was indeed the case. He didn't know much about the Japanese army, but he still knew something about what they did on the southeast coast.
If there were not many Donglu soldiers stationed on the Liaodong Peninsula, the Japanese army could actually defeat them, and there would not be much possibility of cowardice. In this case, it would be inevitable to take advantage of them.
Wang Jiayan, the Minister of War, thought of another possibility, which was exactly the opposite: "Your Highness, according to the rule that the corpse of a Donglu soldier can be exchanged for one hundred taels of silver, if the Japanese army gains too much, shouldn't the court cash in all the silver taels?"
Ten thousand braids is one million taels of silver, which is a huge sum of money.
Yaoji was very interested in answering this question, wishing that they would kill a bunch of enemies: "Wang Aiqing, if the Japanese army can kill a thousand Donglu soldiers, the imperial court will naturally give them one hundred thousand taels of silver. If they can kill the flag owner, , you can receive 50,000 taels of silver. According to Wang Aiqing, if 50,000 Donglu were killed by Japanese pirates, then the number of people entering the customs would be reduced by 50,000. The Ming Dynasty only spent 5 million taels of silver, and the soldiers Isn't it great to be able to achieve such a glorious victory without moving the horse? Donglu has entered the pass and plundered many times, and the gold and silver he plundered every time will not be less than this amount. It is better to learn from the painful experience and use silver to stimulate the Japanese army's fighting spirit. The Japanese army has the motivation to kill the enemy, and the imperial court has also avoided losing troops and generals. Isn't it a good thing to get the best of both worlds? Wang Aiqing, in your opinion, how much of the king's army can be mobilized to kill and injure 10,000 Dongpi?"
I'm telling you the cheapest way to win, but it's better for you to play the game of refusing to welcome. You want a lot in your heart, but you are still stubborn on your lips.
Wang Jiayan thought for a while and then said cautiously: "Your Highness, if the king's army is dispatched, it will take no less than 50,000 people to injure and kill 10,000 Donglu."
In fact, he also understood very well that this was only the minimum strength of the army. If he really wanted to mobilize the Ming army, he would have to double the strength to achieve the expected goal.
Yao Ji didn't want to go into the details anymore, so he analyzed it according to the amount he said: "Well, I also said before that it would cost at least one month less to hire Japanese troops than Wang Division to dispatch the same size of troops. One million taels of silver, including gains and losses, the Japanese army will save two million taels of silver compared to the Wang division. With these two million taels of silver, the imperial court can also reorganize at least 40,000 soldiers and horses. Let the Japanese army contain the Donglu in Liaodong , buy time for the court, and save support from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Isn’t this perfect? Isn’t it perfect? Who else disagrees with this strategy? "
When mobilizing troops of the same size, they will not only have higher combat effectiveness than you, but they will also save money.
If some stubborn courtiers could not be convinced, a certain prince would have no choice but to resort to voting.
Now the cabinet is subordinate to Yaoji, the seven nobles have also chosen to embrace him, and there are many officials in various ministries who have been promoted by the prince.
If you play around with voting, the prince will definitely get more than half of the votes in support, and the opponents will be so angry that they will blow their beards and stare, and it will be useless to act arrogantly.
Since everyone is a civilized person with status, Yaoji will use civilized people's methods to defeat civilized people, and then get the results they want.
If you succeed again and make a certain prince unhappy, then you have to start slaying ministers. A certain prince doesn't know anything else. After so many days, he has mastered a unique secret - how to slay ministers well!
Anyway, without such a few green onions, the court will not be able to relax. Except for a certain prince, no matter who is left, the court can still operate, and it may be more efficient than before.
Since the prince said that it could save a lot of money, Li Shiwen, the Minister of Household Affairs, stopped asking further. This seemed to be the most economical strategy against the captives at the moment, and other methods were much more expensive than this.
You respect me a foot, and I respect you a foot. The prince said that all the wealth of Shanxi merchants was transferred to Taicang, and the accounts of the household department could have at least four to five million taels of silver. Li Shiwen could only hire Japanese soldiers. expressed acquiescence.
According to the prince's many previous project plans, after gold mines, salt fields, oil fields, coal mines and other projects are launched, starting next year, the annual income of the Ministry of Household Affairs will not be less than 25 million taels of silver.
It is not easy to achieve such a level of income after being exempted from the three-month salary. It is easier for him to be the Minister of Household Affairs. He will not deliberately embarrass the prince on the issue of external military use.
As long as the court can spend the little money on the blade, it doesn't matter whose knife it is, as long as the knife can be used to kill Donglu.
Previously, he had removed his status as Minister of War and ordered the seizure of eight borers. If he wanted to confront the prince at the court meeting, he had to think of enough reasons.
When the prince finished explaining, the courtiers had nothing to say, because this method could not only save money, but also contain the Eastern captives, and the whole court would not be responsible for the defeat. It was the only good strategy at the moment.
In fact, the possibility of defeat is very slim, because the Donglu troops stationed in the Liaodong Peninsula are only five thousand at most. Facing a Japanese army that is ten times their own, it would be lucky not to be completely annihilated by the opponent.
Moreover, the Japanese army did not have a "phobia of pigtails". Whether it was an armored soldier or a baga, after three attacks, they would all be chopped without fail. The more pigtails that came, the more money they made!
Based on the calculation of the combat effectiveness of both sides, Yaoji believed that even the main force of 5,000 Zhenghuang Banners could not defeat more than 50,000 Japanese troops. With such a disparity in strength, quality could not offset the numerical advantage.
Another characteristic of the Japanese army is that they are particularly good at fighting against the wind. When there are far more people than the opponent, each one will enter a state of madness and burst with confidence. This can also be regarded as a psychological advantage when fighting against braids.
Yaoji felt that the Japanese army was almost invincible in the war zone from Jinzhou Zhongzuo to Jinzhou Guard, and in some places they could even have a strength advantage of more than twenty times over the pigtails.
Ten thousand Japanese soldiers had five hundred pigtails. Unless the pigtails could fly, escape, and jump into the sea, it would be considered lucky to escape from the Japanese samurai swords.
"In this case, I will now talk about the relevant process. First, Commander Zheng's navy can be used to transport Japanese troops from Japan to Penglai, while Shandong Navy is responsible for landing the Japanese troops on the coast near Jinzhou Zhongzuo. , striving to conquer the place in one fell swoop. Secondly, the Shandong Navy looks for fighter planes and strives to annihilate the Donglu Navy so that it cannot pose a threat to the transport fleet. The Shandong Navy will completely seize control of the sea. Finally, establish an advance on the Changshan Islands Base, carry out large-scale raids on the coast of Liaodong hinterland, so that the Eastern captives will never have peace."
This is a brief summary of the battle plan drawn up by Yaoji. The specific content will be sent to the Ministry of War. The cabinet has already seen it, and neither the first assistant nor the second assistant has any objection to it.
Wang Jiayan does not object to this battle plan. The current power of the imperial court is considered to be the limit. However, there is still one biggest question: "Your Highness, even if General Zheng agrees to mobilize his warships to transport the Japanese army, I don't know how to convince the Japanese army." Do you agree to send troops to help in the war?"
Fifty thousand horses is not a small number. For the Japanese country, it is equivalent to transferring a quarter of its own troops to Liaodong. Without full sincerity, it will not be able to impress its leader.
There seemed to be no such skilled sophists in the court. The courtiers were at a loss as to how to move troops to Japan, and they were afraid that this difficult task would fall on them.
Yao Ji saw the clues and reassured everyone: "Wang Aiqing, don't worry, I will not send courtiers to the Japanese country to negotiate. In the afternoon, I will receive the Japanese envoys and have some arrangements of my own."
If I expect you, these useless ministers, to make a difference, then my IQ is not as good as the blame-shifting father...
A certain prince had long seen that apart from leading troops to fight and confiscating homes and imprisoning him, he had to handle all major national affairs by himself.
Recently, a certain prince couldn't even count on Zha Ming's royal master to do things like braiding his hair, and had to hire Japanese soldiers to serve as foreign aid to the court.
It was said that the HRE Empire was a mud empire. A certain emperor asked his powerful minister Wallenstein to command mercenaries to fight the enemy.
Zha Ming is almost in the same situation as the Mud Empire. His own army is unreliable and he has to spend money to find mercenaries to fight.
In case the Tokugawa general is unwilling to invest so many troops, a certain prince will have to find a stronger partner.
