I don't know where it started, but the rumors of Yuan Chonghuan's slaves had spread throughout Liaodong where the Ming army was stationed.
Although many generals tried their best to prevent the spread of rumors, they still spread everywhere in the army. People who did not believe in such rumors at first gradually began to believe them to be true.
It’s not that people want to believe it, but the rumor that it has a nose and eyes is just like the truth. It’s hard not to doubt whether it is true or not.
Wow!
Yuan Chonghuan overturned the table in front of Zu Dashou.
"Calm down your anger. These are all rumors and cannot be relied upon." Zu Dashou looked at Yuan Chonghuan's livid face and carefully comforted him.
Yuan Chonghuan glared at him coldly and said: "Only you and me know about this matter. Every time I receive a letter, I burn it immediately after reading it. How do outsiders know about it?"
Zu Dashou's body trembled.
He understood that the other party suspected that the news was leaked from him.
Then he cried out: "The general is wronged! What good will it do to the general if this kind of thing is leaked? The general is also a participant. Once the court knows about it, it will be difficult for the general to escape."
In fact, he himself was very puzzled. The affairs between them and the thief chief were obviously very secretive, so how could it be spread everywhere.
After hearing his explanation, Yuan Chonghuan's face brightened slightly.
Indeed, as Zu Dashou said, the two of them are grasshoppers tied to the same rope, and neither one can escape. Zu Dashou revealing this matter will not do him any good at all.
"Futai, do you think it was Huang Taiji who deliberately leaked the information?" Zu Dashou expressed his suspicion.
Since there was no leakage of information from their side, only Huang Taiji could have leaked the information.
Yuan Chonghuan frowned and said: "If the thief chief leaked this matter, what good would it do to him? Even if I leave Ningyuan City, is it possible that he can still capture Shanhaiguan!"
As long as the Ming army's generals were acting indiscriminately, he believed that the slave thieves would have no chance of capturing Shanhaiguan.
Moreover, the Ningjin line has become Jiangmen's last foothold in Liaodong. Once it is taken away by slave thieves, Jiangmen will lose the reason to ask for payment from the imperial court.
It is impossible for Jiangmen to give up Shanhaiguan unless forced to do so.
"Could it be someone close to the thief chief who leaked the news?" Zu Dashou said suspiciously.
After hearing this, Yuan Chonghuan frowned deeply and said: "If there is really a problem with the thief chief, once someone gets the letter sent by me, I am afraid that both you and me will end up like a gang leader."
"Otherwise, we will find a way to contact them to see if there is a problem there. If there is indeed a problem on their side, we can remedy it in time." Zu Dashou asked Yuan Chonghuan.
After finally reaching the rank of general soldier, he couldn't bear to just throw it away.
Although joining the slave thieves was an escape route for him, it was nothing compared to the treatment he would enjoy if he stayed with Ming Dynasty.
Yuan Chonghuan thought for a while, nodded in agreement and said, "Okay, you can contact them secretly to see if the information was leaked by them. Don't delay, go now."
"Yes, I will leave at the end." Zu Dashou cupped his fists and turned around to leave.
Yuan Chonghuan reminded him from behind: "Be careful and don't let others discover it. Everything you and I do now is under the surveillance of others."
"Don't worry, Futai, I will ensure that no one will find out." Zu Dashou assured.
After Zu Dashou left, Yuan Chonghuan sat in his seat and pondered for a long time, and finally decided to write a resignation letter and send it to the capital to test the attitude of the Central Government.
Now he would not even think about asking the imperial court to use navy and slave bandits to attack Pi Island.
If such a request is really made to the court, the rumors outside will really become true.
Just when rumors spread throughout Ningjin that Yuan Chonghuan was secretly having an affair with a slave thief, the slave thief's spies in Ningyuan City immediately spread the news back to Huang Taiji's head.
Huang Taiji himself was stunned when he received the news.
He was not worried about what would happen to Yuan Chonghuan, but because of the incident, his plan to use Yuan Chonghuan to get the Ming Navy to deal with Pidao completely failed.
"Mr. Fan, how did your country know about the private dealings between Yuan Chonghuan and Ben Khan?" Huang Taiji asked Fan Wencheng.
He never hid the secret peace talks with Yuan Chonghuan from Fan Wencheng.
At the same time, this was also a countermeasure that he and Fan Wencheng discussed together.
Fan Wencheng said thoughtfully: "The news should have been leaked somewhere. I don't know if it was the Great Khan or Yuan Chonghuan."
"There is a boat, there is a boat." A sharp-eyed person on the shore pointed at the sea and shouted loudly.
Jierhalang, who was on the shore, looked over.
I saw several large ships coming from the direction of Pidao, all of which were from the Ming Navy. Any one of them was much larger than the ships they prepared themselves.
boom! boom! boom!
The ships on the Tiger Flag side began to fire, and the target was the Han troops at sea.
The huge iron ball smashed into the sea water, splashing towering water columns.
"Baylor, the enemy's bombardment is too strong, can you let the people on the ship retreat first?" The Han army general came to Jierhalang and asked him to allow the Han army at sea to retreat.
After hearing this, Jierhalang said expressionlessly: "Don't worry, the enemy only has a few ships, but your people have dozens of ships and rafts, so don't be afraid of them."
"This is different!" The Han army general looked bitter.
There are many ships on our side, but they can only transport troops to the opposite island and cannot engage in naval battles at all. The other side's ships look like warships commonly used by the navy.
When they come across each other, they have no power to fight back.
Jierhalang's face sank and he said coldly: "No one can retreat without my order. If anyone wants to order the retreat privately, don't blame me for practicing military law."
He looked at the Han army general in front of him.
As long as he could land on the opposite Pi Island, he didn't care how many Han troops died.
After a round of bombardment tests, the warships on the Tiger Flag side began to use ship cannons to continuously bombard the small Han boats on the sea.
If a cannon falls on a ship, a whole boatload of people will fall into the sea.
The warships sent out from Phi Island were all captured Denglai Navy warships. There were only a few cannons on board, and they fired several cannons, and at most one shot hit the target.
This is because the sea surface between Tieshan and Pi Island is relatively calm, otherwise there will be fewer cannons that can hit the target.
The cannons were fired many times, but most of the Han troops and the ships and rafts on which the Han troops rode were still intact.
When the Han army general on the shore saw this scene, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as most of the Han troops can successfully land on the island, he can tolerate the death of some Han troops.
