Hukou.
After Shi Kefa heard that Jie Xuelong and Huang Xingwen had turned to thieves, he was not furious, but just depressed.
"Has the situation really reached such a level that a provincial governor would surrender to the traitors?"
"Is it true that the Chu thieves' offensive is unstoppable? Does Jiangnan really want to be named Luo?"
"Is the world really going to change?"
Shi Kefa couldn't help but have this pessimistic thought in his heart.
This kind of thought was something he had never had before.
Even though the Chu thieves had previously occupied Huguang and were attacking Chen Bing fiercely outside Jiujiang City.
But Shi Kefa still firmly believes that the Chu thieves' strength is only temporary, and it is absolutely impossible for those high-level pseudo-Chu people who came from rogue thieves to truly overthrow the powerful Ming Dynasty!
Strong as Dongji has been rising in Liaodong for so many years, claiming to be invincible, but it has not been able to firmly block the imperial army from Jinzhou, let alone Shanhaiguan, and cannot even enter the Liaoxi Corridor.
That is to say, after conquering eastern Mongolia, the Eastern Capture could bypass the Mongolian grassland and break through the Great Wall defense line from Xuanda and Jizhou areas to enter North Zhili and plunder.
But it was only a temporary raid.
In the past, the East captives detoured through Mongolia and entered the customs so many times. Every time they were in a hurry. The first and most important thing they did after entering the customs was to plunder. After the robbery, they would withdraw their troops and return without hesitation. .
Why?
Because Qiang Rudong also knew that once they detoured through Mongolia and entered the pass for too long, when reinforcements from various parts of the Ming court arrived, the Dongfang army that entered the pass would most likely turn into turtles in a urn and be directly surrounded and annihilated. Very likely.
In other words, even as strong as the Eastern Capture, it still cannot shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.
And the rise of Shaanxi has brought disaster to Henan, Shaanxi, and Chubei. The thieves from all walks of life seem to be very noisy, and they have made the local people's livelihood miserable. They even dug up the Fengyang Imperial Tomb last year.
However, these bandits are still nothing to worry about, at least for now.
In the military, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty still maintained a strong suppression of the bandits of all walks of life, chasing the bandits of all walks of life, leaving Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others no time to breathe.
Because it is impossible for them to truly establish a foothold in a certain place under the encirclement and suppression of officers and soldiers. Without a foothold, there will be no stable territory, no stable governance system, and no stable taxes and soldiers.
They have always been rootless duckweeds!
Under such circumstances, the bandit leaders were killed or captured one by one by the officers and soldiers.
In July of this year, even Gao Yingxiang, the most famous commander among the bandits, was captured by Sun Chuanting.
As for the other slightly inferior bandit leaders, they all ended badly.
Not to mention, the Qin army under Sun Chuanting is quite powerful now. This Qin army is different from the Qin army in Hong Chengchou's era.
The Qin army in Hong Chengchou's era was just an ordinary battalion sentinel.
But after Sun Chuanting became the governor of Shaanxi and urgently took over as the governor of the three sides, the so-called leader of the Qin army had been replaced by the new standard army under Sun Chuanting.
The New Biao Army under Sun Chuanting has performed very strongly in recent months, defeating the main force of the bandits many times and capturing Gao Yingxiang, forcing Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other remaining bandits to hide in the mountains again.
Because the new standard army performed very well, and Sun Chuanting had been appointed as the governor of the three sides by the Ming court, he gained greater power and resources.
Therefore, the size of the New Standard Army under his command is also continuing to expand. In June, it was only 3,000 people, but by August, it had expanded to more than 6,000 people. It won't take long before it is estimated to be expanded to more than 10,000 people. .
And a very important point is that the new standard army under Sun Chuanting has a lot of mules and horses. Not only are the infantry and artillery very mobile, but more importantly, they have large-scale cavalry.
Under such circumstances, the bandits in Shaanxi basically have no room to move, and now they can only hide in the mountains and linger.
Even Sun Chuanting was already thinking about starting a counterattack on Hanzhong Prefecture and trying to expel the Chu army entrenched in the eastern area of Hanzhong Prefecture.
Regardless of whether they were kidnapped or bandits, even though they brought a relatively large threat to the Ming Dynasty and even made the Ming court very embarrassed, so far, the Ming Dynasty has still been able to resist these two major threats.
but……
The Chu thief is different!
Since the Chu thieves came out of Funiu Mountain last year and took up residence in Nanyang Mansion, they quickly attacked the city and captured territory at a speed that outsiders, especially the high-ranking civil and military officials of the Ming court, could not understand, causing great shock and even panic to the Ming court.
This is because Chu thieves are not only good at fighting, but they are not like the Dongluo bandits who can just take one vote, nor can they plunder and run away like the Liu bandits.
It's the kind of model that once you occupy a place, you don't leave, but continue to expand externally.
At a small scale, this is called banditry, but at a more serious level, it is separatist control of local areas or even fighting for hegemony over the world.
Such Chu thieves are the real biggest enemies of the Ming Dynasty and their innermost enemies.
In addition, the northern part of Chu occupied by the Chu thieves was located in the hinterland of China, so the threat to the Ming court was even greater.
Therefore, as the Chu army successively attacked cities and territories in northern Chu, its threat to the Ming court has risen rapidly, directly surpassing the various bandits, and subsequently surpassing the Eastern Capture, becoming the real serious concern of the Ming court.
In order to wipe out the Chu thieves, last year, Yang Sichang, who had just assumed the post of Prime Minister for Military Affairs of the Five Provinces, wrote several letters proposing: Xiangyang must first pacify its interior.
We must first concentrate all our efforts to exterminate the Chu thieves. As for the Dongluo, we can slowly deal with them later. We can even hold peace talks with the Dongluo in order to free up our hands to deal with the Chu thieves.
It's just that many people in the court disagree. Many central ministers all have a very tough tone. If the Chu thieves want to be beaten, so will the Dongluo.
Don’t even think about peace talks.
Then he often said that the emperor will guard the country's gates, and if thieves attack, there will be no other choice but to fight to the death.
At first glance, everyone behaves like a loyal and loyal person.
But if you ask them what specific measures they have, how to fight the war, how to collect money and food, everyone is blind.
When it comes to war, it means that soldiers must sacrifice their lives, fight to the death for Your Majesty, and for the Ming Dynasty.
When you talk about money and food, you talk about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Whether you talk about increasing taxes or increasing business taxes, this is not okay, absolutely not, and you absolutely cannot compete with the people for profit. Otherwise, Your Majesty, you will not be a benevolent king.
In short, a group of people who did nothing but talked a lot and had a very tough tone directly rejected Yang Sichang's strategy of "reconciling the outside of Xiangxiang first". They were very determined to continue fighting on multiple fronts, and the thieves also did it. Chu Even if you are a thief, you have to do plunder.
Anyway, that's it...
As for how to do it?
Haha, I have studied poems and books for dozens of times, and I have my mind set on the road to governing the country. I don't even bother to do trivial matters such as military affairs.
Then, no one listened to Yang Sichang's words.
Ming Ting came to the third front battle very proudly!
After that, the thieves in Shaanxi were almost wiped out. However, the Dongdu people invaded the pass again and plundered again, causing Chongzhen to lose a lot of face. It was a fair fight for the captives. Although they lost troops and generals, they still managed to block Dong captive's field attack, which saved some face for the Ming court and allowed the ministers of the Ming court to see the powerful power of the bandit-killing cannon.
It is estimated that Chongzhen will change his cabinet ministers again.
However, although the cabinet has not been changed, the Minister of War has finally been changed.
Although the news has not yet spread to the southern provinces, at the end of August, Chongzhen finally couldn't help but take action against Zhang Fengyi, Minister of War.
Chongzhen has long been dissatisfied with this person, so I won't talk about those things before, let's talk about the past two years.
As Minister of War, Zhang Fengyi almost completely failed in coordinating the war between all parties.
At the beginning of last year, the bandits left Tongguan, then entered the hinterland of the Central Plains, and finally captured Fengyang and dug up all the ancestral graves of Chongzhen.
In this regard, Chongzhen endured it!
Starting from the first half of last year, the Chu bandits rose rapidly and occupied the northern part of Chu. However, the officers and soldiers were also relatively effective in encircling and suppressing the bandits, and severely damaged all the bandits.
Chongzhen tolerated this.
In the first half of this year, the Chu bandits powerfully captured Chunan, and Yang Sichang fled to Guangdong. At the same time, the officers and soldiers of Shaanxi completely suppressed the thieves' momentum. In addition, Chongzhen had many ministers to take action at that time, and it also involved changes in the cabinet level. They successively killed the two governors Yang Sichang and Chen Biqian.
For the sake of the stability of the court, Chongzhen endured it again!
But now, the Dongli army once again entered Beizhili, and the frontier troops did almost nothing. The only battle that was fought was a passable battle, and that was under Hong Chengchou, who came from afar to rescue.
In addition, the news that the Chu thieves broke through the Jiujiang defense line and captured Jiujiang City was quickly spread to the capital after five hundred miles.
Even if Chongzhen is a fool, he knows that after Jiujiang, which is heavily garrisoned, is captured, northern Jiangxi will be in danger, Jiangnan will be in danger, and the entire south will be in danger.
At this time, Chongzhen finally couldn't bear it anymore!
He was going to directly remove Zhang Fengyi from office, and not only remove him from office, but also plan to go to jail... But after Zhang Fengyi noticed in advance that the wind was going wrong, he committed suicide directly in order to save himself some dignity...
After Zhang Fengyi committed suicide, the affairs of the Ministry of War were temporarily handled by Wang Yehao, the left minister of the Ministry of War. As for the new Minister of War, it is estimated that there will be no result in the dispute for a while.
Anyway, the few people who are qualified are either too incompetent or have just experienced defeat...
In fact, in the past two years, the most suitable person to succeed Zhang Fengyi as Minister of War is Yang Sichang.
However, this man was defeated when he was stationed in Chunan. He lost his troops and generals and lost the entire Chunan. As a result, the war situation in the south quickly deteriorated. The furious Chongzhen immediately arrested and imprisoned this man.
Several other people, such as Wang Jiazhen, Xiong Wencan, Hong Chengchou and others, are also relatively suitable, but each has his or her own unsuitability.
Wang Jiazhen, this guy didn't do much after arriving in Jiangnan. What's more, after he became the governor of Nanjing, the Jiujiang defense line was breached.
Although it was Shi Kefa, the governor of Anlu, who was in charge of the Jiujiang defense line, Wang Jiazhen was the governor-general of war in the provinces on the eastern front, and Shi Kefa was also his subordinate.
Therefore, Wang Jiazhen was also responsible for the defeat of Jiujiang, and it was not a small one.
In this case, it's great that Chongzhen could hold back and not depose him and hold him accountable. He would be promoted to Minister of War.
Xiong Wencan, this person has now succeeded Yang Sichang as the governor of the southwest. He has been the prime minister in the war in many provinces. However, he has only been in office for a few months and has not made any achievements. It is not suitable to be directly promoted to Minister of the Ministry of War.
Hong Chengchou, this person is actually more suitable, but Chongzhen intended to put him in charge of Jiliao, and the imperial edict to make Hong Chengchou the governor of Jiliao had just been issued a few days ago.
Under such circumstances, Chongzhen really couldn't find anyone suitable to serve as Minister of War.
Therefore, for the time being, we can only let Wang Yehao, the left minister of the Ministry of War, take charge of the affairs of the Ministry of War.
As for Wang Yehao, the left minister of the Ministry of War himself... Although this man had served as governor of Guangdong and governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he really had no military talent. Chongzhen himself knew that this man was unreliable.
Besides, many big shots in the court now have different opinions on the candidate for the new Minister of War.
Although Chongzhen was strong, such important ministers still needed to respect tradition in their nominations, so this involved a group of big bosses' intrigues, so that the candidate for the Minister of War could not be announced for a long time.
After the news of these high-level changes in the Ming court spread to the south, frontline generals like Shi Kefa became even more pessimistic.
Shi Kefa's pessimism was not even because Chongzhen severely reprimanded him, demoted him, and asked him to perform meritorious service.
It's because the southern and eastern fronts are now in such a state of disarray that the top officials of the imperial court are still in turmoil.
It’s okay if there were changes in the cabinet bosses some time ago, it’s okay to dismiss the Minister of War, it’s okay to kill Yang Sichang...
However, after this Minister of War is killed, you should at least choose a new Minister of War.
In this tense situation nowadays, someone has to do something, otherwise, we really can only watch the Chu thieves fight all the way to Songjiang Mansion and watch the sunrise on the sea.
The turmoil at the top of the court made Shi Kefa, a frontline general, very helpless.
And Jie Xuelong, the Jiangxi governor's traitor, made Shi Kefa even more pessimistic.
So much so that he had little confidence in the defense of Hukou, which he originally had some confidence in.
Jiujiang City, which was so well prepared before, has now been conquered. Although Hukou has Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River as a natural moat, the Chu thieves also have a powerful navy and powerful ground forces.
If the Chu thieves really launch a strong attack on Hukou, can they really hold it?
Shi Kefa was confident before, but now, his confidence has been shaken.
Then, Shi Kefa thought of a more serious problem.
If Hukou cannot be defended, what will happen in the future?
After Hukou all the way to Jinling City, although the large area on the south bank of the Yangtze River cannot be said to be flat and undefeable, there is absolutely no second city with more superior geographical conditions than Hukou for garrisoning.
When the time comes, how will they resist the Chu bandits' eastward advance?
Probably, it must be unstoppable!
When Shi Kefa was so pessimistic, Wang Jiazhen in Jinling City was equally pessimistic, but unlike Shi Kefa who was pessimistic, he could only continue to defend Hukou and could not change the overall situation.
As the governor of Nanjing who presided over the war in the eastern provinces, Wang Jiazhen had the power and resources to change the overall situation.
