Sure enough, in the early morning of the next day, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, couldn't wait to send flag officers one by one to rush out of the governor's office and summon all officials and generals to discuss matters.
On June 12, the 14th year of Chongzhen, at exactly the hour, all the officials gathered in the lobby of the Jiliao Governor's Office in Ningyuan City.
The officials and generals were seated on both sides respectively. As the governor of Ji Liao, Hong Chengchou was under his control. The armies that came to aid in name and the soldiers and horses of various towns in Liaodong were all under his control. He was the most respected person in Liaodong. He was now sitting on the big chair at the top. In the middle, on the left and right are a group of staff standing at attention.
Down the left side, the first person sitting is Zhang Ruoqi, the supervisor of the Ministry of War.
Then, in order, sat Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, Zhang Dou of the military preparation department, Yao Gong, the deputy envoy of the inspection, Wang Zhizhen, the supervisor, Yuan Guodong, the general judge, Zhu Tingxie, the grain director, Zhang Weimin and Yan Jixian, the commanders, and Zheng Ganmin, the supervisor , Yuan Guodong and other officials.
On the lower right side, Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen, who holds the seal of General Zhenshuo, sits first, and Chen Jiugao, the commander-in-chief of the front camp of Shenji Camp, sits second.
Later, in order, Datong Commander-in-Chief Wang Pu, Jizhen Commander-in-Chief Bai Guangen, Shanhaiguan Commander-in-Chief Ma Ke, ASEAN Commander-in-Chief Cao Bianjiao, former Tunwei Commander-in-Chief Wang Tingchen, Miyun Commander-in-Chief Tang Tong came to assist each commander, and Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Ningyuan, Meng Dao, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Assistance Guard, and other commanders-in-chief of Liao Town.
Zhang Cheng, on the other hand, was given the title of Chief of Reinforcement and Suppression Forces when he went to Henan Province last year to suppress bandits. His actual military position was still Deputy Chief of Reinforcements in Xuanzang. However, because he led the largest number of reinforcements among all the generals, he was ranked first. After Meng Dao, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Association Guards.
Sitting behind him were Zuo Guangxian, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Association's branch training, and Li Fuming, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province. Both of them were removed from their posts due to circumstances and were retained in order to save themselves, so they were ranked behind Zhang Cheng.
Today, the military generals who can attend the governor's office are at least at the rank of general. Only the deputy general Zu Dale has a special status. He is a veteran general in Liaodong and is familiar with the situation in Liaodong. He is also Zu Dashou's cousin, so he sat at the end of the queue.
He looked at Zhang Cheng, the deputy commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen, who was two seats away, and thought to himself: Wu Sangui, whom his family had worked hard to cultivate, might be his main competitor in the future.
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Hong Chengchou watched the officials and generals take their seats one by one, especially the military attachés and generals who were gathered together. His behavior was a little too rough. He coughed twice and waited until all the officials and generals turned to him. Looking forward.
Then he smiled and stroked his beard and said: "The battle situation in Liaodong has affected the minds of the Holy Emperor and all the princes of the court and the public. Now the king's army has gathered here. We, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, have more than 160,000 people under Ningyuan City. In terms of the number of soldiers and horses, we are far superior. The slaves and thieves in the surrounding brocade.
In particular, the chariot camp of Zhang Cheng, the deputy commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen, not only has strong chariots, but also carries many large and small guns and cannons. The Shenwei General Cannon from the Shenji Battalion also comes to help. There are also many large rockets, divine fire flying crows and other sharp weapons. .
This battle will definitely dampen the momentum of the people, so that they will no longer dare to underestimate the power of my Ming Dynasty! "
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a "boom" in the lobby. Everyone started talking, especially the generals of the towns in Liaodong. How could they not use such powerful weapons like Shenji Camp's powerful general cannons? happiness?
Although the Shenwei General Artillery of the Shenji Battalion had artillery carts, they were also very heavy and slow to tow. Fortunately, Chen Jiugao ordered the artillery battalion to leave early, and they arrived at Ningyuan at the same time as the army.
Although these cannons are slow in movement and difficult to arrange, everyone in Ningyuan regards them as treasures. During the discussion, everyone glanced at Chen Jiugao from time to time, only to see him holding his head high and discussing softly with Yang Guozhu, looking quite contented. .
Moreover, although Zhang Cheng's chariot camp was not equipped with big weapons such as Hongyi cannons, the one hundred and twenty chariots shocked the generals, not to mention the three hundred chariots, which were equally solid and thick, and all of them were still in use. Equipped with a small Fran cannon.
Zhang Cheng's chariot camp alone has six to seven hundred large and small artillery pieces, not to mention that his three infantry camps each have ten side-carriage chariots, as well as other squatting tiger cannons and other squatting cannons that are not equipped on chariots and baggage vehicles. Mortars, flying cannons, etc. add up to nearly a thousand artillery pieces.
This does not include the equipment of Yunzhou Gun and Three-Eyed Gun in his camp. It is no exaggeration to say that Zhang Cheng's firearms and equipment are the best among all Ming armies in terms of quantity and quality.
Although he does not sit as far forward as Chen Jiugao, he is still a figure who attracts everyone's attention. Zhang Cheng, like Hong Chengchou, sat upright in his chair and did not participate in the discussion.
After all, Meng Dao, Zuo Guangxian and others around him were not familiar with each other, and although he and Wu Sangui had agreed to talk today, they could not communicate in public at this time.
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"Our division now has many brave soldiers, and the Shenji Battalion's sharp artillery assists..."
Seeing that everyone was very happy, Hong Chengchou continued to praise him to boost the morale of the soldiers, but suddenly the conversation changed and he said: "But..."
He sighed, and then continued: "Since Ninu stationed in Yizhou and the army surrounded the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou, I led many people to the rescue and fought fierce battles with Ninu. Coupled with the efforts of the officers and soldiers to defend, many rebel slaves were killed.
However, Ninu's siege army was still strong, and the siege of Jinzhou could not be lifted for a long time.
Now, urgent reports are coming back frequently from the Songshan and Xingshan forts. The Ninu army is rushing to attack with a large number of people. They are pushing Hongyi artillery carts and bombarding them fiercely. The Songshan and Xingshan forts are now in danger! "
Only then did Zhang Cheng suddenly realize that the reason for Governor Hong Chengchou's worries yesterday probably stemmed from this.
Bing Bei Dao Zhang Dou also said with concern: "Dongnu suddenly attacked our Fangsong and Xingzhu forts at this time. It is obvious that he wants to force our division to send troops to rescue as soon as possible. His intentions are ulterior, and the governor must not ignore them." Be on guard!"
Yao Gong, deputy envoy of the Imperial Guard, also said: "The bandits are suddenly attacking aggressively. The situation in Jinzhou is critical and there is no room for further delay. Troops need to be sent to rescue as soon as possible to relieve the crisis in Jinzhou."
The Taoist Supervisor Wang Zhizhen disagreed with him and said: "The slaves and thieves are getting more and more anxious to attack Song and Xingzhu forts. We need to plan carefully to prevent the thieves and slaves from having other plans and rashly sending troops to rescue Song and Xingzhu." Fort, but fell into the slave's plot."
Yan Jixian, a fellow commander, also said: "According to the recent news from Jintang News, more and more slave troops are gathering in various places in Songjin. Could it be that the slave thieves have increased their troops?"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. If this is the case, then the future battles will be even more difficult to fight.
Zhang Cheng's eyes froze. In fact, for this battle, he only remembered that the Ming Dynasty dispatched eight general soldiers with about 130,000 troops, plus Ningyuan, Songshan, Xingshan, and Jinzhou. The castle's defenders only numbered 170,000 to 80,000 officers and soldiers.
Today, there are more than 25,000 soldiers in the front camp of him and Chen Jiugao than in the original history. The number of officers and soldiers assembled in Ningyuan alone is 165,000. If the total input of the Ming army is counted, The Songjin front line reached almost 200,000 troops.
