1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Sun Bing originally expected that there would be a fierce battle when Jinan Prefecture crossed the Yellow River. Daming might mobilize the garrison in Shandong to gather by the Yellow River to block the route of the Haihan army going north.But the actual situation was very different. The hundreds of Ming cavalry guarding the other side of the Yellow River could not even withstand the firepower of the ferry, and soon dispersed.

Sun Bing suspected that the Ming army had set up a suspicious formation and lured him into the bait, so he first loaded two boats of cavalry and ordered them to spread out on the opposite bank to scout out the enemy's situation.

It wasn't until he received the report from the cavalry that there was no trace of the Ming army within a few miles on the other side, and then Sun Bing dared to be sure that the opponent was really about to collapse at a touch, and he was not ready for a decisive battle with the Haihan army on the Yellow River.

"It caused me to be nervous for half a month in vain. I didn't expect to pass the test so easily!"

Sun Bing heaved a sigh of relief. He began to prepare a battle plan for this tough battle long in advance, and even considered the possibility of a tug-of-war with the Ming army on both sides of the Yellow River.I have thought about any difficult situation in advance, but I didn't expect that the other party would flee without a fight.

However, Sun Bing believed that the Ming court would not be so confused and directly gave up on the natural danger of the Yellow River. Most likely there were some other situations that he did not know, which caused the Ming army to avoid fighting instead of fighting.

Two hours later, Lu Wushi was halfway across the river, but visitors came to the place that the Ming army avoided.

The person who came claimed to be from Prince De's Mansion and asked to see the general leading the troops of the Haihan Army.Sun Bing knew about the secret relationship between Prince De's Mansion and Haihan's high-level officials, so he didn't dare to be negligent, and hurriedly asked someone to bring the visitor to meet him.

After seeing Sun Bing, the visitor didn't say much, he took out a letter and asked Sun Bing to read it.

Sun Bing opened the letter and read it again, only then did he understand why the Ming army's behavior was so weird.

Although King De's Mansion was not well received by the Ming court because of his closeness to Haihan, many people in Jinan Mansion regarded King De as one of the future retreats because of this.

Since King De, as a member of the Ming clan, can also join Haihan, and it is said that some of his sons have gone to Haihan to become officials, so of course the others have no psychological scruples.Worried about people who have nowhere to turn, they naturally regard De Wang as a guide.

This time the factory guards of the Ming Dynasty caused a catastrophe in Hangzhou, Haihan wanted to start a war with Daming, Ming Ting knew that this matter could not be resolved, so he could only notify all the localities to prepare for the battle.

Of course, the Jinan Mansion also received orders from the Ming court, but some people believed that the Haihan Army’s offensive was unstoppable, and wanted to take this opportunity to show their favor to Haihan, but they had no way out, so they entrusted the Prince De’s Mansion to come forward and give it to Haihan’s side. send message.

The letter clearly stated that the Ministry of War judged that the Haihan army must cross the Yellow River through Lijin when going north, so it mobilized more than [-] troops from Jinan Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture in the north, and assembled near Lijin County, with the purpose of preventing the Haihan army from crossing the river.

The Ming army assembled a lot of troops, but there were no small problems in dispatching troops.The Ministry of War sent a servant to Lijin to sit in the town, but now the soldiers in the local area are all looking after themselves. The imperial court just ordered to go to war, but there is no real benefit. How can these troops be willing to work hard? It was found that these generals could not be commanded at all.

The generals, generals, and commanders in Shandong are all like a mirror in their hearts. It is indeed a great achievement to stop the Haihan army now, but it may also be a dead end.It's easy to come out with this head, but it's hard to survive the battlefield.

But the imperial court has been too poor for a long time, and now it’s time to fight, but they can’t even get decent rewards. Any promotions, etc., are all empty promises. Even if I can believe these rewards, what do I get? To motivate the soldiers under his command and let them fight desperately with the Haihan army armed to the teeth?
There are a bunch of generals in Lijin County who push you and push you, but none of them are willing to take the initiative to fight.Although the servant of the Ministry of War ordered generals, those who were ordered were also prevaricated in every possible way, and they did not want to fight at all.Regardless of whether the Minister's servant is forcing him with the order of the court or loyalty to the emperor, no one will accept his move.

In the end, the Minister of the Ministry of War had no choice but to go back and report back. He had no choice but to order a general who followed him from the capital and ask him to take his own troops to attack and set an example for others.

These men and horses had originally come to Shandong to supervise the battle, and they were not prepared to go to the battlefield in person at all. In addition, they were not familiar with the place and did not understand the combat environment, so how could they perform well.

The Ming army that was about to collapse on the other side of the river earlier was the unlucky one who was named and attacked by the Minister of the Ministry of War.

Although the other Ming armies refused to send troops, they also sent people to follow behind to watch the excitement. Seeing that the troops from the capital were blown away by the Haihan army as soon as they fought, they hurried back to report the battle situation.

When the generals learned that the people from the capital had behaved like this, who would want to follow in this footsteps.Although the Minister of the Ministry of War was so angry that his head was smoking, he had nothing to do with these local military leaders.

In Lijin County, there were also people from King De's Mansion. After receiving the battle report, they immediately wrote a letter and ordered people to go out of the city and send it to the place where the Haihan army crossed the river.

At the end of the letter, it is also mentioned that among the Ming army assembled in Lijin County, several generals are willing to join Haihan, and they will find an opportunity to introduce for both sides in the future.Please do not take the initiative to attack the county seat, so as not to hurt the harmony of both sides.

"There is still such a thing..."

After reading the letter, Sun Bing was speechless. He never expected that such an atmosphere would exist within the Ming army.

But when he thought about it again, it wasn't incomprehensible.The sources of soldiers and financial resources of these local guards are local, and the support that the Ming court can give is extremely limited. Naturally, the priority of the military leaders is to keep the armed forces in their hands.

Especially for those military officers whose minds have been activated and who are willing to change families, this show of friendship can also be a good start for future contacts, and the armed forces under their hands are expected to become capital in bargaining with Haihan.

Since the Ming army had no intention of going to war, Sun Bing naturally would not waste time attacking a small county town.He told the visitor that as long as no one took the initiative to obstruct it, the Haihan army would leave Jinan Mansion and continue northward soon, and the battle that the other party was worried about would not happen.

As for those military officers of the Ming army who are interested in contacting Haihan, they can try to contact Dengzhou after the matter is over, and then find an opportunity to arrange for them to meet with Chen Yixin to discuss cooperation matters in detail.

Compared with the Sixth Division of Lu, who was in a bitter battle in Shanhaiguan, the march of Sun Bing's men and horses was simply smooth.And the difference in combat power between the Daming Frontier Army and the local guard troops can also be seen from this.

The Minister of the Ministry of War who went to Jinan Mansion to supervise the battle failed to achieve any results, so he must have to push all the responsibility to the local garrison.However, given the current situation of the Ming court, it may be difficult to deal with the relevant people. If an order is issued to punish them, it may force these local military leaders to directly turn against them.