The mood of the eunuch Zhang Cheng, the eunuch Zhang Cheng, was just like the weather today. It was snowing heavily and it was clearing up. His whole body was warm and he smiled a little at everyone he saw.
No wonder he was happy. After all, he had settled the matter that Shen Shixing had explained to Wang Xijue last time. Shen Yuanfu and Wangge Lao, who had just come out of the Wenhua Hall, praised him and expressed that the Xin School would seriously consider it. The possibility of the third prince inheriting the throne. Of course, it will definitely take time for a large faction to change its position as a whole on such a major matter, so it cannot be announced yet.
What made Shen Yuanfu and Wang Gelao suddenly praise Zhang Cheng?
Here's what happened: After the Ministry of Revenue confirmed that they could come up with the money, the emperor let the cabinet know that he would give Nurhaci a beating. Although it was not necessary to plow the court and clear the hole, he must let Nurhaci know that the great power of tomorrow cannot be violated. , Any action must be approved by Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, the cabinet and the Ministry of War should discuss it now to decide on the scale of the troop dispatch, the candidates to lead the troops, etc., and then report to him for a break.
Perhaps because of the sudden incident, neither the cabinet elders of the Shi School nor Liang Menglong, the Minister of War, seemed to know that Gao Jingshi had proposed to the emperor that Li Chengliang should lead the army. Therefore, during the cabinet discussion, the views of the two sides conflicted.
The Practical School insists that since the affairs east of the Liaohe River are in charge of the deputy commander-in-chief Cao Yu, and Cao Yu has made special achievements in the previous battle of Northern Liaoning and proved his ability, then it is no problem to deal with a mere Jianzhou left guard. Down. Except for Cao Yu, the candidates to lead the army this time are not second-guessing.
The Xinxue School disagrees with this view and believes that although the area east of the Liaohe River is under the charge of the deputy commander-in-chief, it does not mean that the commander-in-chief cannot take charge of military affairs east of Liaodong. In the past, when Li Chengliang broke into Gule Village, he was the commander-in-chief. Why didn't you say that this matter had nothing to do with Li Chengliang?
So the Real School said that the reason why the situation at that time was different from the current situation was because at that time, the Ming Dynasty had not yet put the decisive battle with Chahar on the agenda, and Li Chengliang naturally had great autonomy in his actions. But now, Ming Dynasty's national policy has been very clear, and everything serves the decisive battle of Chahar.
Considering that Chahar caused trouble for Liaodong not long ago, Li Chengliang should secure western Liaoning at this moment and accumulate strength in preparation for launching a thunderous blow against Chahar after the court orders it. Therefore, Li Chengliang should not move lightly now, but should sit firmly in western Liaoning and keep it quiet.
The Xinxue School disagrees even more, believing that it is precisely because Chahar suffered serious losses after the Battle of Northern Liaoning that at least it is impossible to jump out and cause trouble again in the short term. Moreover, Li Chengliang's troops are so powerful that even if they allocate part of them to "beat" Nurhachi, the impact on the defense of western Liaoning will be minimal, and there is no possibility of instability in western Liaoning.
The two sides couldn't argue, so the ball was kicked back to the emperor. Coincidentally, the person who conveyed the cabinet dispute to the emperor was Zhang Cheng. After hearing the report, the emperor did not make an immediate decision, only saying that he would think about it.
That night, the emperor went to Concubine Zheng as usual. Concubine Zheng received the message from Zhang Cheng and seemed to find an opportunity to say something to the emperor - but no one knew this.
Anyway, early the next morning, the emperor directly sent Zhang Cheng to inform the cabinet, saying that Li Chengliang had outstanding military exploits and had been running the defense of western Liaoning for many years. The candidate to lead the troops for the first time was decided to be Li Chengliang.
At the same time, the emperor asked the cabinet and the Ministry of War to discuss the scale of the troop dispatch - there was only a quarrel yesterday, and the leader of the troops was not decided, of course there is no conclusion on this - and then come to the Wenhua Palace to report.
The discussion was faster this time, and the final plan reported by the cabinet to the emperor was as follows: Ning Yuanbo and Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, sent 8,000 troops from Guangning; Cao Yu, the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, sent 5,000 troops from Liaoyang; Ma Cheng, the commander-in-chief of Kaiyuan Xun sent 3,000 troops from Kaiyuan; Kuandian general Yang Yuan sent 3,000 troops from Kuandian.
In addition, Shenyang guerrilla Qi Jin sent two thousand troops to guard Fushun Pass in advance; Tarum Guards (Ye He) sent one thousand troops to help. This troop went with Ma Chengxun and was dispatched by Cao Yun.
Adding up all the armies, there were 21,000 Ming troops and 1,000 Ye He soldiers, a total of 22,000 troops, known as 50,000, to attack the left guard of Jianzhou.
The praise from Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue was precisely because Zhang Cheng played a role in it. Relying on the influence of Concubine Zheng, Li Chengliang was successfully appointed as the coach of this expedition.
Why did Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue insist on letting Li Chengliang be the coach? The reason is very simple. Before that, whether it was to quell the rebellion in the northwest or to fight back against the Tumen invasion from the east, it was the Real School that fought, and Li Chengliang did nothing.
So when the Battle of Northern Liaoning ended and it was discovered that Li Chengliang actually provided gunpowder to the Tumen, not only Li Chengliang himself, but also the entire Xin School fell into a great passivity, and even suffered a big loss in the Southern Chaos due to this.
Beijing inspections are held every few years. If you suffer a loss this time, you can only wait until the next time to save face. But Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, is different. As long as there is a war, he can make the emperor realize his role again.
Speaking of which, isn't the reason why Li Chengliang has been promoted step by step over the years because of his great successes one after another? Therefore, both Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue believed that Li Chengliang could not be left idle all the time. He must always be positioned in a position where he dares to fight and can fight, and constantly use his military exploits to offset all disadvantages.
Isn't this also the reason for wooing Li Chengliang?
After the matter is settled, all that is left is preparation. To be more specific, it is waiting for the above-mentioned armies to be in place.
There was a sudden movement in the Liaodong army, and Nurhaci, who had been waiting at the old village of Hetuala, immediately received the news. As in the original history, Nurhachi attached great importance to intelligence collection on the Liaodong Ming Army.
For example, before the Battle of Ningyuan in original history, the fall of Daming towns was attributed to Houjin intelligence personnel. The most typical example was opening the city gates of Liaoyang and causing Liaoyang to fall.
Now Nurhachi also attaches great importance to intelligence, and news about several troop deployments has been gathered here. When his men learned about Li Chengliang's troop dispatch plan and sent it to Nurhachi, the Sukesu River Guard Baylor relaxed.
He smiled at his subordinates and said: "The Ming army claims to be fifty thousand, but in fact it is only twenty thousand. Although it is twice as many as mine, it is nothing."
Shuerhaqi didn't seem to agree very much with this statement, but his relationship with his brother Nurhaci was still very close at the moment, so he followed Nurhachi's words and expressed his agreement, and then added: "But the person who came is Uncle Li after all. You still have to be careful.”
Er Yidu seemed to be the number one general of Jianzhou's left guard at this moment. He thought for a moment and said: "Big Beile, Er Beile's worries are reasonable. Even if the Ming army is 20,000 real numbers, it is twice as many as ours in Jianzhou." Uncle Li has been in Liaodong for more than 20 years and has never been defeated in Manchuria. It is very difficult for our army to win this battle. It is better to rely on the geographical advantage and maintain a stalemate. The Ming army has been fighting for a long time without success, so it is natural to recruit them. Policy, then..."
"Otherwise." Nurhachi waved his hand and said, "Uncle Li is certainly great, but he has no murderous intention here."
This was so miraculous that everyone was dumbfounded when they heard it. When they looked at each other, it was Shuerhaqi, the second Beile who was so proud of himself, who asked, "Where did Ahun start talking about this?"
Nurhaci walked to a very simple map and said, "Uncle Li is here, and his military use is quite different from the past. What can you tell?"
Everyone has just listened to the intelligence. Li Chengliang's combat intention is to attack separately.
According to Li Chengliang's deployment, his plan was for the Ming army to divide into four groups to outflank Hetuala.
Among them, the North Road is Kaiyuan General Ma Chengxun. The order received by the department was to leave Guangshun Pass from Kaiyuan to the east - that is, the South Pass owned by Hada - and then go south from Hada territory and penetrate directly into Hetuala. In addition, Li Chengliang changed the court's deployment and ordered the thousand soldiers sent by Ye He, led by Fei Yingdong, to be dispatched by Ma Chengxun on the north road instead of continuing south to Cao Yu's tent.
Cao Yan did not object to the latter order, because in Cao Yan's view, Ma Chengxun was also one of his own. As long as Ye He and his thousand soldiers were not transferred away by Li Chengliang himself, it didn't matter whether they followed him or Ma Chengxun.
The middle road is Cao Yu's main force, which also includes Qi Jin's 2,000 men. This road alone seemed to have the heaviest task, because Li Chengliang's order to Cao Yun was to leave Fushun Pass in the east and go straight to the old village of Hetuala along the Sukesu River.
It is worth noting that since this road goes eastward along the Sukeshu River, there is a must-pass place in the middle, which is called Sarhu.
Li Chengliang himself is on the southern route. His army will stay in Liaoyang for a day. After repairs, it will go straight to Qinghe Fort. Then it will leave Crow Falcon Pass and approach Hetuala from the southern route.
As for Kuandian General Yang Yuan's three thousand men, they were originally located at the southernmost point, but they were not called South Road. Because his mission was to start from Kuandian, pass through the territory of Dong'e tribe and go around Hetuala, and finally form an encirclement with the first three armies from east to west, north to south, and catch Nurhaci in a jar. Therefore, this road is called the East Road.
Yang Yuan also had another task along the way, which was to appease the Dong E tribe who had been invaded by Nurhaci before, and by the way, see if he could persuade the Dong E tribe to send troops to assist.
To understand the intention of Li Chengliang's deployment, we must first explain the geographical situation around Hetuala.
The activity area of Jianzhou Jurchen is located in the mountainous area of Changbai Mountain. Changbai Mountain has very lush vegetation and abundant rainfall, forming large and small mountain rivers and valleys.
These naturally formed river valleys are not only the main living areas of various Jurchen tribes, but also the main transportation routes into and out of the mountains.
The Jurchen leader's cities such as Foala City, Hetuala City, and Wuma City were all built on relatively flat platforms by the river, and the Jurchens lived together in this way. They used the river valley as a road to go to the Ming border fortress and horse market, where they made deals with the Ming people or launched raids.
The river valley is the way into and out of the mountain.
The Jurchens are actually not a nomadic people, but a fishing and hunting people who built cities and villages to live in groups. They engaged in hunting, gathering and production in the forests of Changbai Mountain, and also opened up cultivated land around the cities and villages (but the farming technology was very weak). In order to make it easier to obtain water and avoid flash floods in the rainy season after summer, the Jurchens were accustomed to choosing a highland next to the river, leveling it and building the city. (I mentioned it before when I wrote about the Battle of Northern Liaoning, and the same was true for Ye He’s east and west cities.)
Hetuala City in Nurhachi is located on the bank of the upper reaches of the Suksuhu River, deep in the valley. The Sukeshu River flows from east to west and merges into the Hun River at Sarhu. The Hun River continues to flow west, with Fushun and Shenyang downstream.
In other words, the entire Suksuhu River is in the mountainous area of Changbai Mountain. Its river course passes through the area, which is the Suksuhu Valley, and has also become the passage between Hetuala City and the outside world.
It starts at Salhu, where the Sukeshu River merges into the Hun River. From here to the west, there is the Hun River Avenue, and the terrain gradually becomes flat and open. To put it simply, it starts to leave the mountains, gradually enters the Liaohe Plain, and enters the Ming Dynasty-controlled area within the Ming Dynasty's border wall.
Fushun Suo and Fushun Horse Market are actually the Ming Army Fort City and the horse market next to it after entering a pass on the side wall (Fushun Pass). Because the area where the Su Ke Su Hu River merges into the Hun River emerges from the Changbai Mountains and enters the downstream plains, and the terrain gradually becomes lower, so after the liberation in 1949, the Dahuofang Reservoir was built here.
Nurhaci and other chiefs and nobles of Jianzhou Jurchen, large and small, usually set out from Hetuala when they went to Fushun Horse Market to do business. They first walked through the Suksuhu River Valley, and then headed west via the Hunhe Avenue to arrive. Fushun Horse Market.
As mentioned before, the Ming Dynasty will open a horse market around Jurchen in Jianzhou. There are two passes in the north and south in Kaiyuan, and there is Fushun Pass in Fushun. In fact, there are Qinghe, Kuandian and Kuoyang in addition, but the latter three are not as famous as the first three and are smaller in scale.
Qinghema City is to the south of Ma City, Fushun. To some extent, it can be regarded as the "sub-city" of Guanma City, Fushun. Its geographical location determines that it can trade with both the Su Ke Su Hu River Department and the Dong E Department. A complementary horse market.
Kuandian and Kuoyang were located to the south of Sanwei in Jianzhou, and they were originally targeted at the horse markets of Dong'e tribe alone. In March of the eighth year of Wanli, Li Chengliang attacked Wang Wutang and defeated Dong'e's Ya'ergui Lao Village. Dong'e's vitality was greatly damaged, and the two horse markets are currently relatively depressed. However, this in turn made Fushun Horse Market the strongest horse market outside the South and North Passes, and also allowed Nurhaci to overpower Dong E's tribe.
Why mention these five horse markets? It's because they have a common feature: because Jianzhou Jurchen is located in the Changbai Mountains, they are all connected to Hetuala through the valleys and valleys of a certain river.
To go from Hetuala to Fushun and Kaiyuan, you need to take the Sukeshu River Valley and the Hunhe River Valley; from Hetuala to Qinghe, you need to take the Taizi River Valley; from Hetuala to Kuoyang and Kuandian, you need to take Fucha Wilderness and Abdaligaon Valley.
The Jurchens of Jianzhou had to walk this way when they came out of the mountains; conversely, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had to walk this way if they wanted to enter the mountains.
Now, except for Kuoyang, there is no Ming army (but there is in nearby Kuandian), and all four lines have been used by Li Chengliang to encircle and suppress Nurhaci. So to a certain extent, there was no need for anyone to inform Nurhaci in advance how the Ming army would move. He already knew that the Ming army could only enter the mountains through four river valleys.
Because there is no other way to go.
However, the problem is, since there are only these four roads to go, and Li Chengliang uses these four roads as the route for the four armies to send troops, setting a trap for Jianzhou Left Guard to catch a turtle in a jar, why does Nurhaci dare to judge that Li Chengliang has no murderous intention towards him? ?
Shuerhaqi, Er Yidu and the other generals didn't speak, they all stared at the map in silence.
Nurhachi did not play riddles at this moment, and reminded: "Ma Chengxun on the north road has three thousand cavalry, and Ye He's one thousand are also cavalry; Cao Yu and Qi Jin on the middle road have six thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry; Uncle Li's headquarters on the south road has 8,000 cavalrymen; on the east road Yang Yuan has 3,000 infantrymen."
He paused, smiled, and asked, "What did you see?"
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