Liaodong Town, one of the nine important towns of the Ming Dynasty, is located in Liaoyang. It is the political, economic and cultural center of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, as well as the military command center. It can be said that Liaoyang is the most important town in Liaodong, at least before Jianlu set up the puppet capital in Shenyang.
Since Liaoyang was captured by Jianlu, Ming Dynasty never returned to Liaoyang. Even though the Dongjiang Army in Mao Wenlong's era dared to carry out sneak attacks and contain Jianlu in various places, they never dared to go to Liaoyang.
Therefore, if the Ming army reappears in Liaoyang, it will definitely be of great significance!
However, at the moment, the Ming army even had to scrape together the food and grass needed to attack Anshan Posthouse. This could only supply 5,000 men and horses for a few days. It has to be said that Jianlu was driven to death by food, but the Ming army was also unable to launch large-scale operations due to food problems. All in all, it can be regarded as a comparison of laughing at ten steps and laughing at one hundred steps.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng heard Li Guo's words, thought about it, nodded and said, "It would be a good idea to take five hundred cavalry to Liaoyang to make a show. I will send a victory report back to the capital immediately. If I can gather food and grass, I will take advantage of this opportunity." Take the opportunity to attack Liaoyang and take back the important town in Liaodong!"
Lu Xiangsheng, a civil servant, took the significance of recapturing Liaoyang more seriously. Therefore, although he knew that if there was food in the pass, the emperor would definitely transport it to Liaodong, but based on the importance of Liaoyang, he decided to mention it to the emperor.
Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng's troops stopped advancing and began to pack up Anshan Post, so that they could use Anshan Post as a starting point to attack Liaoyang in the future. This would save nearly 60 miles compared to starting from Haizhou. At the same time that Li Guo led his troops to Liaoyang, the messenger also rushed to the capital to report the victory.
As before, there was no need for a messenger to rush to the capital to report the victory. Emperor Chongzhen knew the battle situation in Anshan Posthouse through the eavesdropping system. He also knew what Lu Xiangsheng was thinking immediately.
Of course Emperor Chongzhen knew that now was indeed a rare opportunity to attack Jianlu, so he couldn't help but think about this matter seriously.
As for Japan's preparations to invade North Korea, there was no need for Jianlu to send Dorgon's daughter there. Judging from the feedback from Zheng Zhibao's Class A eavesdropping seeds, they were already on the verge of doing so, and they would definitely do it for the future of Japan. This means that in addition to attacking Jianlu this year, Ming Dynasty will also have a battle with Japan. As a result, the demand for grain and grass supplies will greatly increase.
Over in Nanyang, relatively little grain is purchased in winter, and at least it will have to wait until the first batch of grain is harvested in Nanyang before it can be sent to the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Ming Dynasty's own grain fields in the south and supplementary high-yielding crops could also be harvested. But it was a bit late. If we really had to wait until the food was available before taking action, Jianlu and Japanese pirates would really have the potential to join forces.
The best chance is to destroy the Jianlu before the Japanese army sends troops. Now Jianlu has gone to urge Japan to send troops. Judging from Japan's preparations, even if Japan will not send out large-scale troops immediately, it will definitely send forward troops to land. After all, Japan itself was eager to occupy North Korea and use the two years promised by Jianlu to gain a foothold in North Korea.
Now that the best fighter planes are in front of us, where will the food come from?
There is really not much food stored in the capital, including Tongzhou. Even if it is squeezed, it is estimated that it can only support more than 10,000 troops marching and fighting for about a month. If you want to eliminate the Jianlu, you have to go deep into the hinterland of Liaodong. The front will be lengthened, and more food will be consumed. It is not realistic to only have such a small amount of food.
Although it was decided last year to immigrate the people in the customs to Hetao and Ningjin, the food pressure in the customs will be reduced in the future. However, this is the first year of mass immigration. The upfront consumption is not large, which means that in fact no food will be saved.
So, where else can we squeeze out food?
Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but fell into deep thinking when he thought about this problem.
I don't know how long it took, but he still couldn't think of a clue, so he thought back to future generations to see if there was any experience he could learn from?
Not to mention, just by recalling it, Emperor Chongzhen immediately remembered what happened during the War of Liberation in later generations. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. Maybe at this time, he could do it with his own prestige!
With this in mind, he immediately summoned Dongchang Admiral Wang Chengen and Jinyiwei Commander Li Ruolian, and ordered them to verify his thoughts.
In just one day's work, both factory guards and guards reported the news. The situation was similar to what Emperor Chongzhen had imagined.
"Haha, that's good!" Emperor Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief and ordered the two of them to verify the more specific situation within three days.
The reason why I gave him three days was to wait for Lu Xiangsheng's messenger to arrive and take this as an opportunity to do that.
Three days was actually very fast. Lu Xiangsheng's messenger of good news quickly rode into the capital. The officers and soldiers reporting the good news had already captured Anshan Posthouse, and the Ming soldiers reappeared near Liaoyang.
For the people here in the capital, of course they know the situation in Liaodong and the significance of conquering Anshan Station. Although they had known for a long time that it was only a matter of time before they conquered Anshan Castle, they were still very happy that they had conquered it now.
Suddenly, in the restaurants, teahouses and streets of the capital, the topic rarely changed. Most people were no longer discussing what experiments to do, but were talking about when the imperial army would conquer Liaoyang and Shenyang, eliminate the Jianlu, and regain Liaodong!
After receiving the good news from Lu Xiangsheng, Emperor Chongzhen immediately held a meeting with the participation of the six ministries and nine ministers, the cabinet and the chief ceremonial supervisor, and the nobles of the capital. The location was in the Wuying Hall.
Seeing the crowds of people below, Emperor Chongzhen glanced at them and said with a smile: "Everyone, have you finished reading Lu Qing's victory report?"
Upon hearing this, Xue Guoguan, the first assistant, led all civil and military officials to salute Emperor Chongzhen and congratulate him on the victory.
However, this was not what Emperor Chongzhen wanted, so after they finished saluting, he stopped smiling and said in a deep voice: "Lu Qing stated in his victory report that now Jianlu is threatened by famine. This winter has just passed, and his strength is The great reduction was a good opportunity to attack the Jianlu. If it was delayed any longer and allowed the Jianlu to find food and recover, the war would be much more difficult. He suggested that the court should take advantage of this rare opportunity to use troops against the Jianlu. I deeply think so, what do you think?"
He said it himself first. I think what Lu Xiangsheng said is right. I agree with it. Who among you dares to object?
In this case, it is indeed reasonable, and naturally no one dares to object, but the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue still went out to report: "Your Majesty, the opportunity is indeed a rare opportunity, but it is difficult to prepare all the food and grass materials needed by the army for the time being. …”
I don't know if he was afraid that the emperor would be dissatisfied, but he then detailed all the grain and grass reserves in the capital to show that this was the truth and not that he wanted to object.
In this regard, Emperor Chongzhen did not interrupt him and let all the officials in the palace hear clearly before speaking.
After the Minister of Household Affairs finished speaking, Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said: "The situation of food and grass is indeed like this, but judging from the information I got from the factory guard, the capital should still be able to get food."
Having said this, he picked up the two memorials from the imperial case, raised them, and said to the ministers below: "These are the memorials that Dongchang and Jinyiwei verified separately. Basically, the contents are almost the same..."
Hearing this, the officials below were a little curious. They didn't know what the factory guard said to the emperor. Where else could the food come from?
As they were thinking, they heard Emperor Chongzhen continue: "After the food crisis in the capital caused by military disasters in the past few years, everyone in the capital who had some money paid attention to storing food to prepare for emergencies. Therefore, I have an idea. Don't you? Who can temporarily lend these extra grains to the imperial court for the construction of captives? After the grains from the south and Nanyang arrive, I will return the grains. What do you think, sir?"
"..." Upon hearing this, all the courtiers below were stunned for a moment. Their first reaction was to stare at the booklet in the emperor's hand, wondering if their situation had been discovered by the factory guards?
Cao Huachun, the eunuch in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, was the first to react and immediately told Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, this method is very wonderful. I do have some food in the village outside the palace, and I am willing to give it all to supplement the needs of the court! "
He is a good person, and he knows that if the emperor proposes it at this time, he will definitely do it. And whoever responds first will be the most favored by the emperor. Therefore, he was the first to jump out and support it. This ability to judge the situation is one of the reasons why he can always be the eunuch in charge of the ceremony.
As soon as he started, the eunuchs who were in charge of etiquette and eunuch Bingbi immediately stood up to support him, and they all talked about it. There was a very lively and enthusiastic feeling.
In fact, eunuchs like them don't have many family servants outside the palace. They usually eat and drink inside the palace. Therefore, there is not much food outside the palace. Even if I take them all out, I won’t actually feel bad. At this time, they can also show their attitude to gain the emperor's favor. For them, why not do it!
But for civil servants, military generals and nobles, it's different! At this time, they all suddenly realized why the emperor summoned so many ministers to discuss matters. It turned out that they were here for this food. But their family has a big business. Although they have a lot of food, they can also feed a lot of mouths at the same time!
However, at this moment, even the stingiest people would not dare not express their opinions when looking at the two memorials in the hands of Emperor Chongzhen! Otherwise, if he has stored a lot of grain in his house but refuses to take it out, the emperor will definitely give himself a bad review when he looks back at the figures published by the Factory Guardian. Then do he still have a future?
Besides, didn't the emperor say that when the food comes from there, it will be returned.
Based on this idea, civil servants, military generals and nobles all expressed their willingness to squeeze out their own food reserves to meet the needs of the court.
In this regard, Emperor Chongzhen praised them very much, and then issued a notice to explain the situation and announce which family provided how much food. He said that he wanted to commend them and let their loyalty to the emperor and patriotism shine. Known to the people of Ming Dynasty.
In fact, this is just an intention. If we just collect food and grass among these ministers, it will obviously not be enough. There are many officials and wealthy businessmen in the capital, and they are the real bosses.
These people in Wuying Hall are actually just introductions. They took the lead. If those officials and wealthy businessmen knew each other well, they would not have to be evil in the court and would take out the food themselves, and everyone would be happy. Otherwise, it will look a little ugly when you look back.
But who knows, the fact is beyond Emperor Chongzhen's expectation.
