"Hong wanted to ask if the tiger-character flag can stop the army of slave thieves from entering the Ming Dynasty, even for the sake of innocent people." Hong Chengchou said in a low tone.
Although I knew in my heart that the slave thieves entering the Ming Dynasty would be beneficial to the Tiger Character Banner, I couldn't bear the thought that the crimes committed by the slave thieves in Liaodong would be performed in other parts of the Ming Dynasty.
"I don't know." Liu Heng answered him.
"Hong believes that as long as my lord is willing, the tiger-character flag will be able to stop the army of slave thieves from entering the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Even if it cannot be stopped, it can reduce the harm caused by the slave thieves to the people of the Ming Dynasty as much as possible." Hong Chengchou looked at Liu Heng expectantly.
The Tiger Character Banner's army was obviously stronger than the Ming army. He believed that as long as the Tiger Character Banner was willing to send out its army, it might really be able to compete with the slave and bandit army.
"Mr. Hong, have you ever thought that once the Tiger-Character Banner really sends troops, let alone whether the court will misunderstand it, even if it really stops the army of slaves and thieves, it will be done at such a loss of troops and generals, and it will not be good for the Tiger-Character Banner. What's the benefit?" Liu Heng asked him.
At the same time, he also wondered why Hong Chengchou, who was supposed to be a traitor and an executioner, became so compassionate after joining the Tiger Character Banner.
If he hadn't known about Hong Chengchou in history, he would have almost thought that the Hong Chengchou in front of him was fake.
"Yes! This will not do the Tiger Flag any good at all." Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly, and then he realized that he was no longer a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, but a rebel in the eyes of the court.
Liu Heng looked at Hong Chengchou's devastated look and couldn't help but console him: "If the slave thieves want to bypass Shanhaiguan now, they need to deal with the Chahar tribe. It will take time. Maybe it will be like this again in the future."
"If the garrison guarding the border areas were all soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag, I think the slave thieves would not have a chance to break through and enter the Ming Dynasty." Hong Chengchou said firmly.
The Tiger-Character Banner army has proven its strength by winning consecutive battles in front of the Ming army. Even if it is not as good as the slave traitor army, it will not be much worse. With the advantage of defending the city, he believes that it will be difficult for the slave traitors to break through the Tiger-Character Banner garrison. pass.
If the Tiger-Character Banner army is inferior to the Ming army, he will not surrender to the Tiger-Character Banner.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "Mr. Hong wants me to capture the important towns in various places on the nine sides. Even if I have this intention, it will be difficult for me to swallow the tiger-character flag in one gulp."
The Tiger-Character Banner has not even captured the entire territory of Shaanxi, and has no strength to develop further in the direction of Jiliao.
"My lord has misunderstood. Hong did not mean this, and if my lord really wants to do this, Hong, as an advisor, will also stop him from doing this." Hong Chengchou said, "Once the Tiger Character Banner captures the towns on all nine sides, it will be equal to Standing in the middle of the three forces, we need to face the counterfeit gold, Ming Dynasty, and Mongolia. These three forces are totally worth the loss."
After calming down, Hong Chengchou regained his shrewdness.
Liu Heng nodded and said: "Mr. Hong is right. The strongest one at the moment is still the Ming Dynasty. The Tiger Flag will not do such a thankless thing."
"So my lord should not send a fleet to occupy Pi Island. Doing so will only provoke the Ming Dynasty and the counterfeit gold at the same time." Hong Chengchou's topic turned to Pi Island.
Liu Heng said: "The Tiger-Character Banner must occupy Pidao. Next, the Tiger-Character Banner will expand its power in Pidao and slowly regain the lost place in Dongjiang Town."
"My lord, can you tell Hong that why we must capture the small island of Pidao?" Hong Chengchou asked puzzledly.
The Ming Dynasty relied on Pi Dao to establish Dongjiang Town to threaten the pseudo-gold rear. However, the Tiger Zi Banner's sphere of influence was not in Liaodong. In his view, it was completely unnecessary for the Tiger Zi Banner to spend manpower and material resources to capture Pi Dao.
"Wood." Liu Heng said two words lightly.
Hearing these two words, Hong Chengchou was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted and said: "My lord, do you mean that we need big wood to build ships?"
Liu Heng nodded.
Shipbuilding requires big wood, and the most important thing in Liaodong is the old forest, which is full of good materials for shipbuilding.
"Can't the wood for shipbuilding be bought through Dongjiang Town? Although it will cost some money, the advantage is that it is safe and there is no need to face counterfeit gold directly." Hong Chengchou said.
He had long heard that Tiger Flag, which was founded as a business, had a lot of gold and silver. When he thought about it, spending some money on buying big trees was completely cost-effective.
There is no need to risk going against fake gold.
"Dongjiang Town stopped selling big wood to Tiger Flag half a year ago." Liu Heng said calmly.
Hong Chengchou frowned when he heard this and said: "Although the relationship between the Tiger Character Banner and the Ming Dynasty has long been bad, Mao Wenlong should not let the money go without making money. There is no shortage of big trees in Liaodong. He only needs to send people to cut them down." ”
"The Tiger Flag also has opponents at sea. In order to ensure its strength at sea, it has continued to build ships and has a constant demand for big wood, so the Tiger Flag must have its own source of big wood." Liu Heng said.
Hong Chengchou said hesitantly: "What if we cooperate with counterfeit gold?"
Without Dongjiang Town, there is still fake gold to get Damu.
In his opinion, fake gold and the tiger-character flag are both rebels of the Ming Dynasty, and naturally have conditions for cooperation.
"Cooperating with the counterfeit gold means that the lifeblood of the sea is in the hands of the other party, and sooner or later the Tiger Flag will face the counterfeit gold. Cooperating with the other party is no different from funding the enemy." Liu Heng explained, and then added, "And the fake gold flag Jin Baile died in the hands of Tiger Flag, and the possibility of cooperation between the two parties has been cut off."
Hong Chengchou looked at Liu Heng.
Once again, I felt Liu Heng's ambition.
At present, the Tiger Character Flag is not bordering on fake gold, but it is starting to guard against fake gold. It is enough to show that Liu Heng's ambition is not limited to becoming the vassal king of one place.
"With the death of a Baile, there is no room for change between the tiger-shaped flag and the fake gold. What if the fake gold wants to take revenge and sends a large army to attack Pi Island? Pi Island is just a small island. It is difficult to send too many There are many soldiers and horses stationed on the island." Hong Chengchou was worried about the tiger-character flag soldiers and horses stationed on Pi Island.
Although he did not lead an army to fight against the slave bandit army, he did know how powerful the slave bandits were from other channels. Otherwise, the Ming army would not have been beaten back steadily and lost most of Liaodong. In the end, they could only rely on Shanhaiguan. The danger is barely enough to protect oneself.
Liu Heng chuckled and said: "Mr. Hong, don't worry. The warships of the Tiger Flag are different from the warships of the Ming Navy. Not only are they huge in size, but they also have more cannons on the ship. The naval strength of the fake gold is far from enough." To break through the sea blockade imposed by our warships."
As long as Zheng Tie and others did not follow the example of the Ming Navy's commander on Juehua Island, he believed that it would be impossible for the fake gold to capture Pi Island.
With the advantage of warships, Zheng Tie and the others are not inferior to Mao Wenlong.
"My lord is so confident that the generals who came to Pi Island will be able to defend Pi Island." Hong Chengchou complimented, then changed his words and said, "Pi Island is far away overseas. If you want to defend Pi Island, you must first solve it. It’s just a matter of food and grass on the island.”
As he spoke, he looked at Liu Heng.
