Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Baoding, submitted a memorial to Emperor Chongzhen based on the information he had.
He felt that for the reconstruction of Dongjiang Town in the Ming Dynasty, it would not be the best choice to just go to Pidao and rebuild according to the original Dongjiang Town model.
The Ming Dynasty today is very different from the Ming Dynasty during the Tianqi years. The most important thing is that Lu Xiangsheng is more confident in the combat effectiveness of the troops in his hands. He feels that at least the army he is sending to Liaodong is much stronger than during Mao Wenlong's period.
For example, in Mao Wenlong's era, there were no cavalry troops at all during the Dongjiang Suppression, but now, in the hands of Lu Xiangsheng, there are two thousand cavalry troops established with the support of Emperor Chongzhen;
Also, during Mao Wenlong's era, the Dongjiang Army did not have enough to eat, did not wear warm clothes, and had no weapons and equipment. To put it harshly, it was not much different from the beggar army. However, now in the hands of Lu Xiangsheng, due to the strong support of Emperor Chongzhen, although there is not much iron armor, the weapons have been greatly improved. Improvements have been made to Jianlu's weapons and equipment. As for the spears and spears, they are longer than those in Jianlu's hands.
In addition, although Emperor Chongzhen only allocated 200 flintlock muskets to Lu Xiangsheng, compared with matchlocks, these flintlock muskets can stand closer together and fire faster. With this new type of firearm, Lu Xiangsheng has absolute advantages. Be sure to let Jianlu suffer a big loss the first time you use it.
In addition, the tens of thousands of enemies allocated by Emperor Chongzhen to Zheng Zhilong's navy were also favored by Lu Xiangsheng, and some were made in Denglai. This could also be put to great use.
More importantly, the soldiers Lu Xiangsheng sent to Liaodong were made up of old thieves and soldiers he selected from various guards. After his training, they became the elite army of the Ming Dynasty.
All these factors made Lu Xiangsheng decide to change the battle plan.
The memorial plan he wrote in the memorial was to defeat Jinzhou Zhongzuo, consolidate it, and become a nail in the Ming Dynasty on the Liaodong Peninsula.
There are several advantages in choosing Jinzhou Zhongzuo Institute.
First, there is Lushunkou here. At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, they landed from here and finally conquered the entire Liaodong. Now the Ming army has landed here again, which is of great significance.
Second, Lushunkou is an excellent port. He received a positive answer from Zheng Zhilong and repeated confirmation from several other aspects that it could station enough naval forces. Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng's idea is to strengthen the Zhongzuo Station. The advance can use this as a starting point to attack the Jianlu in other places in Liaodong from the land; the retreat can use the Port of Lushun as a retreat. As long as the Ming Navy is strong enough, this retreat is safe enough. .
Third, if Dongjiang Town is resettled in Pidao, it will be difficult to supply supplies from Daming, Denglai and other places; and if the new Dongjiang Town is located in Zhongzuo Suo, the sea route from Denglai will be shortened by at least half.
Fourth, from now on, the Denglai Navy will be stationed at Lushunkou, and based on this, it will first occupy islands along the Liaodong coast. It can be connected to the Ningjin Line in Shanhaiguan in the north, and it can also expand to Pi Island in the south, or even further. As long as the navy has the advantage, the Ming army can choose any landing point to attack the Jianlu on the shore.
Fifth, Lu Xiangsheng also considered the strategic goals of Emperor Chongzhen, saying that once the Ming Dynasty established a city on the center and left as a springboard for landing in Liaodong, Jianlu would definitely do everything possible to remove this point, not only attacking from the land, but also from the By sea, they used their only navy to cut off the retreat of the Ming army. As long as the Ming Dynasty navy does not show that it is strong enough at the beginning, I believe that the Jianlu will be fooled and expand their navy, cutting off the Ming Dynasty's retreat and cutting off the Ming Dynasty's attempt to attack Liaodong from the sea.
…
Some of the contents of this memorial were already known to Emperor Chongzhen in advance from the eavesdropping seeds in Lu Xiangsheng; however, some of the contents were not mentioned by Lu Xiangsheng, but were only written with a pen, which was the first time he knew it.
After reading this memorial, Emperor Chongzhen did not get angry because his original plan was denied by Lu Xiangsheng, but nodded in agreement that the battle plan in this memorial was more in line with the current situation.
Emperor Chongzhen began to understand the war during the previous war when King Qin's army was driven into the Manchu and Qing Dynasties in Guan. Later, he went on a military expedition to destroy the Hetao Tartars and the Nanyang bandits. He also learned more about ancient wars. Coupled with his armchair understanding from later generations, he understood a very important issue: fighting a war means fighting logistics. This has not changed since ancient times.
Dongjiang Town, which is now being rebuilt, will definitely receive its own support. Since Pi Island is so far away and Lushun is so close, the logistics supply is obviously difficult. For this reason, it is very necessary to modify the plan proposed by Lu Xiangsheng.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen did not hesitate and immediately approved the new plan proposed by Lu Xiangsheng with a wave of his pen. The plan was even given a codename: Operation Nail.
Generally speaking, combat code names are for the convenience of internal naming of operations. However, for the sake of confidentiality, general combat code names are very obscure, or even completely unrelated to specific operations, such as code names such as Typhoon, Fortress, and Overlord.
However, Emperor Chongzhen gave this codename "Nail" because he was not afraid to tell the Jianlu in Liaodong that the Ming Dynasty was going to drive a nail into the sharp corner of Liaodong. If you have the skills to pull it out!
After the memorial was approved, he immediately rushed eight hundred miles back to Lu Xiangsheng. At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen also sent a decree to the newly appointed Governor of Jiliao, Hong Chengchou, asking him to make some noise to attract the attention of the Manchu army.
Sun Chuanting's style was relatively straightforward, and he made Guan Ning's ancestral army surrender under pressure; then he was replaced by Hong Chengchou, who had a softer style, and treated Guan Ning's army with both hardness and softness. Of course, what is more important is that Sun Chuanting's style is more able to shock the officialdom in the south after the recent turmoil. With him here, even if something happens, it can be calmed down quickly with his style. Emperor Chongzhen is confident about this.
After doing these things, Emperor Chongzhen took a special look at the information about the original Jin Yiwei Baihu and the current Manchu Prince Consort Wu Zhong, and found that he was still at sea, but listening to his conversations with others, it seemed that he was also here. Within a few days, we should be able to see the mainland.
From this point of view, it is speculated that they really bypassed the Shandong Peninsula before approaching the mainland. I don’t know their final destination, where will they land?
Wu Zhong brought a shipload of gold, silver, jewelry, and Korean specialties. More importantly, this person was useful!
But there is no point in rushing now. We can only wait until he reaches the shore and know where he is before we can react.
Just as Emperor Chongzhen was waiting, King Zhishun of the Manchu Qing Dynasty had just arrived in Jinzhou, Liaodong.
This King Zhishun was Shang Kexi, one of the notorious Three Shun Kings in later generations. After Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor, he was named King Zhishun, and Haizhou, where his hometown was located, was given to him as a fief, including his family and generals. It has to be said that Huang Taiji has a way of winning over people's hearts.
This is gratifying, but in fact there is a sworn feud with the Manchus. His family was killed by the Jianlu, and it can be said that the family was destroyed. His mother died at that time, leaving only his father and a few brothers who fled to Tashan, and then followed Mao Wenlong to fight against the Jianlu. In the following years, his father Shang Xueli and his brother Shang Kejin both died in battles with Jianlu.
After Mao Wenlong's death, Dongjiang was in civil strife, and he took sides with Huang Long. However, in the battle of Lushun, Huanglong was defeated and died for his country. Hundreds of Shang Kexi's wives, concubines, family members and maidservants also all drowned to death. However, when he heard that Huanglong's enemy Shen Shikui had taken over as the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang River, he took the initiative to contact the Manchus and arrested the deputy generals Yu Liangtai and Qiu Zhentai. Then he plundered more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians from Guanglu, Xiaochangshan, Shicheng, and Haiyang Islands, and took his subordinates with him. The generals and military equipment of the five islands under their jurisdiction finally surrendered to the Manchus.
In the original history, from then on, he served the Manchus wholeheartedly. It can even be said that if he had not served the Manchus so wholeheartedly, Li Dingguo would not have died before his ambitions were fulfilled, Nanming would not have perished so quickly, and Wu Sangui might have succeeded in his rebellion. It is gratifying that he served the Manchus until death without regret!
When he was in the Ming Dynasty, he had been a naval commander and was familiar with naval warfare. Therefore, due to changes in the butterfly effect, when Huang Taiji had to turn his attention to the sea due to the destruction of Shanxi merchants, it was logical that Shang Kexi was transferred to Jinzhou to command the Manqing navy.
In the lobby of Jinzhou, the office had just been dismissed, and only a few of Shang Kexi's confidants were still here.
I saw one of his confidants, Xu Erxian, who had gone to Shenyang to contact the Manchus for him, saying to Shang Kexi with a smile and clasped his fists: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, for being able to command the navy again!"
"Yes, congratulations, Your Majesty. It depends on the Emperor's wishes. Maybe there will be big changes in the navy!" Another confidant, Ban Zhifu, who also went to Shenyang to contact the Manchus on his behalf that year, also said to Shang Kexi happily. .
Shang Ke was happy to hear this, and a smile appeared on his face.
To be honest, in the past, he had not suggested building a navy to invade the Ming Dynasty by sea, as Huang Taiji suggested. However, these suggestions were shelved, and he, who was good at naval warfare, could only lead troops to fight on land. I feel like I have a lot of talent, but I can't use it.
At this time, he was only thirty-six years old. He was in the prime of life, so how could he be willing to die inactively? Therefore, when he received Huang Taiji's order, he immediately came with his Tianzhu soldiers.
At that time, the navy was basically abandoned after it wiped out the Ming army's forces on the Liaodong coast and liberated Dongjiang Town. Huang Taiji gave Shang Kexi an army to help the gods and followed him out of the sea. Now that I can return to the navy, everyone is very excited.
Shang Kexi said to his confidants: "There are less than fifty large and small warships in Jinzhou now, and over the years, they have been rarely maintained and many are dilapidated. From tomorrow on, you must work hard to train the soldiers. , repairing the warship. Do you understand?"
"Understood!" Xu Erxian replied loudly and excitedly, and then asked Shang Kexi, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has revitalized the navy. Do we really want to cross the sea to attack Ming Dynasty Shandong in the future?"
From Jinzhou, go all the way south along the island to reach Denglai, Shandong. For these old Ming generals, this is very familiar.
Shang Ke was happy to hear this, but he immediately shook his head and said: "No, the emperor meant to do business with the Ming Dynasty. In this case, a navy is needed to ensure the smooth flow of the waterway. It is also the case that the emperor transferred me come over."
After hearing this, Ban Zhifu couldn't help but feel a little worried after hearing the true purpose, and quickly reminded: "If the Ming Dynasty finds out about this, let alone pirates, just the Denglai Navy, our small ship Isn’t that enough to cope with it?”
Shang Kexi did not answer after hearing this, but Xu Erxian answered him first: "The emperor of the Ming Dynasty was fatuous, and his treacherous ministers were in power, and his generals were extremely incompetent. Don't you know these things? These few years have passed, but Have you seen the navy of the Ming Dynasty? Haha, you thought it was Yuan Zhongcheng back then?"
The Yuan Zhongcheng he was referring to was Yuan Li, the governor of Denglai during the Tianqi period. During the Yuan Li period, Dongjiang Town was established, and the Ming army continued to harass the Jianlu, and also caused the Han people who had already defected to the Jianlu to flee. At that time, it was the best time in Dongjiang Town.
After hearing these questions from him, Ban Zhifu not only did not get angry, but said cheerfully: "Isn't that just what I'm worried about! The kings and ministers of the Ming Dynasty are still like birds, that's for the best!"
Part of the Manchu Navy was the warships of the Denglai Navy that were captured by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming during their rebellion; the other part was part of the Denglai Navy that Shang Kexi controlled. Naturally, they, the old generals of the Ming Dynasty, knew this.
After hearing their conversation, I heard Shang Kexi say: "Although the Denglai Navy should be useless, if our navy is to escort across the sea, it cannot only be these ships. Moreover, if it is just a cross-sea escort , this is not what I want..."
At this point, he suddenly raised his voice a little and said solemnly: "What I want is to land in Denglai, gain a piece of territory for the emperor, and become the thorn of the Qing Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty. In this way, we can advance and attack. If you go north, you can attack the capital; if you go south, you can plunder the south of the Yangtze River; if you retreat, you can return to Liaodong. I believe that in this way, the emperor will no longer have to be tied up by Shanhaiguan, and great achievements can be achieved!"
Just when Xu Erxian and Ban Zhifu were excited, they heard Shang Kexi say in a firm tone: "But the Jurchens are afraid of the sea. We still have to achieve results to convince the emperor and the princes and princes. What can the sea bring to them! What can it change in the Qing Dynasty!"
"Yes, let the emperor and the others see the true role of our navy!" Xu Erxian responded loudly, then lowered his voice and said, "But we only have these few ships, what achievements can we make?"
Shang Ke was happy to hear this, but he smiled slightly and said: "Who said that our Qing Dynasty really only has such a few ships?"
