prosperous age

There were only four people in the room now, so Wei Guangde roughly explained his battle plan for the Tumed invasion of Liaodong.

Tan Lun was not allowed to speak. The old man is in poor health now and talking too much would be stressful.

After listening to the strategies proposed by Wei Guangde and the Ministry of War, Liu Shouyou just pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"Master Wei, Master Tan, and Master Zeng, please rest assured. I will send a message to them as soon as I get down there. If Huang Taiji's troops are defeated by General Qi and want to retreat, please find a way to spread this opinion."

Liu Shouyou was very smart. He had already realized the key, which was that Huang Taiji would only accept the suggestion if he made it after suffering a defeat and having no other options.

After all, there is a high probability that he will inherit the identity of his father Altan Khan in the future and become the new Khan of the grassland.

His self-esteem seemed to not allow him to take the initiative to contact the Tuman and other tribes.

"That's good. No matter what the final result is, we have done what we should do. If Huang Taiji doesn't fall into the trap in the end, it's not his fate."

Wei Guangde said lightly.

Wei Guangde is no longer considered a materialist fighter, but he still believes in these things to some extent.

What he is doing now is somewhat like defying fate, whether it is allowing the Ming Dynasty to expand overseas or to the north, he actually doesn't fully know what the final result of doing so much will be.

The only way he felt could possibly help the Ming Dynasty survive the crisis was to move more southward, toward Southeast Asia. Perhaps at the peak of the Little Ice Age, some grain could be transported from Southeast Asia to the Ming Dynasty to supplement the domestic shortage.

In fact, after controlling Luzon, Old Port and Myanmar, the Ming Dynasty had basically enveloped the entire Southeast Asia, truly making that area an inland sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty could completely protect the vassal states in Southeast Asia under its wings from invasion by Western powers.

As for the two nails driven by Spain and Portugal in Southeast Asia, it actually doesn’t matter to Wei Guangde, as they can’t cause any big waves.

Unless the Ming Dynasty's national strength declines rapidly again, it will be impossible to give them a chance.

"If this battle goes as planned, and Altan Khan and Huang Taiji can truly see my strength, I think they won't dare to have any more ideas in the future."

Tan Lun spoke at this time.

After these words were spoken, Zeng Xingwu and Liu Shouyou both nodded slightly.

"Siyun, did the Jinyiwei receive any news from the grasslands before? Huang Taiji is plotting to attack Liaodong and wants to take over the Jinzhou area to cut off the connection between Ming Dynasty and Liaodong?"

Wei Guangde suddenly looked at Liu Shouyou and asked.

Liu Shouyou's expression became serious when he heard this, and he bowed and replied, "Lord Wei, the Jinyiwei has not received any news from the grasslands that the enemy cavalry is going to invade Jinzhou.

but"

"But what?"

Wei Guangde frowned when he heard this and immediately asked.

"About two months ago, news came from the grassland that Huang Taiji had secretly traveled along the Liaoxi Corridor with a small entourage.

The news that came later was somewhat different from what the elder said just now. At that time, the news said that Huang Taiji seemed to be a little worried about the alert state of the front-line troops in Jinzhou, and thought it would be difficult to break through the border village, so he went back directly. "

Liu Shouyou said hurriedly.

"In other words, two months ago, the Imperial Guards had already received news that Huang Taiji was planning to attack Liao?"

Wei Guangde looked at Liu Shouyou with some dissatisfaction.

He actually didn't know such important news, and the Jinyiwei didn't pay attention to it. It was definitely a dereliction of duty on the part of the Jinyiwei.

"I know I was wrong. It was my fault for not handling the matter properly."

Seeing this, Liu Shouyou decisively bowed his head and admitted his mistake.

"Any other news now?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

“No, there was no news for a while.

After all, the people who are sent there now are of relatively low status and it is difficult for them to access higher-level secrets.”

While answering, Liu Shouyou also explained why the Jinyiwei did not know the news in advance this time.

The spy's status was not high, so naturally he had no access to Huang Taiji's secrets.

Moreover, the Mongolian army was still gathering, and the fact that the Ming army was able to detect the movements of the Mongolian army hundreds of miles away was actually a bit of luck.

“Try everything you can to send your people up there as soon as possible. Don’t worry about the money you spend and the trade of some goods.

Apart from firearms, everything else can be appropriately tilted, as long as people can be sent to those taijis. "

Wei Guangde said in a low voice.

"Yes, I understand."

Liu Shouyou also made up his mind at this moment to provide more convenience to those people so that they could climb up as soon as possible.

The reason these people were accepted by the Mongols was actually more because they were Han Chinese and had channels through the chamber of commerce, which allowed them to provide many scarce materials on the grasslands, including ironware, salt, tea, etc., which were all commodities controlled by the imperial court.

Of course, most of these transactions were actually conducted with the tacit approval of the Jinyiwei. The Chamber of Commerce made money, and the Jinyiwei provided protection.

As for the purpose, even if there are smart people in those chambers of commerce, they would never dare to think too much about it.

The current Jinyiwei is not the original Jinyiwei in history. They have retracted their claws and scales, but have completely let go with the support of Wei Guangde.

Of course, even so, the current Jinyiwei commander Liu Shouyou is a man who knows his limits, and Wei Guangde is not worried about what he will do.

In history, if Liu Shouyou had not been dependent on Zhang Juzheng after his downfall, his reputation would not have been so bad in the end.

In fact, most of the Jinyiwei commanders in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were very cautious and would not do anything extraordinary without the emperor's order. The tricks of framing ministers in the early Ming Dynasty had not been used for a long time.

Unless instructed by a noble person.

"That's it, then. The Imperial Guards will continue to pay close attention to news from the grasslands and report any news immediately. The Ministry of War will quickly figure out how to send the news to Liaodong and Jizhen."

Wei Guangde then turned his head and said to Tan Lun.

"Yes, I will go back first."

Liu Shouyou said with a fist clasped.

"Ah."

Wei Guangde nodded slightly to him, and Liu Shouyou slowly left the hall and returned to the Northern Pacification Office.

"correct."

When Tan Lun nodded, he suddenly seemed to remember something and said to Wei Guangde, "Shan Dai, there is one more thing I think I should tell you first."

"You said."

Wei Guangde was in a good mood now. He retracted his gaze and answered with a smile on his face.

"It's about Yuan Jing, your plan to send troops to resume permanent residence in Nurgan City."

Tan Lun said in a low voice.

Wei Guangde nodded slightly without interrupting, waiting for Tan Lun to continue.

"The outbreak of war in western Liaoning this time may affect the plan to go north."

Tan Lun still spoke in a low voice.

Wei Guangde was stunned when he heard this and asked, "Why? Is it because there are not enough ships or is there some other reason?"

"Right now, the elite troops of Liaodong have all left the Liaoxi Corridor. The troops near Anlezhou are limited. It's snowing heavily over there. How can we mobilize enough people to pull the boats into the Tuhe River?"

Tan Lun glanced at Wei Guangde and spoke bluntly.

When Wei Guangde heard the word "pull the boat", he was stunned and said hurriedly: "Brother Zili, please explain it clearly." After hearing this, Tan Lun had to say: "Shandai must have seen that the country was using troops in Liaodong at the beginning of the dynasty, and if the ships entered Liaodong and entered the Heilongjiang River, he thought that he could directly transfer the ships to there, right?"

"Ah."

Wei Guangde nodded immediately.

"In fact, the Liaodong River system and the Heilongjiang River are not connected."

Tan Lun continued.

"what?"

Wei Guangde was shocked when he heard this. He had never expected this, so he asked hurriedly, "How did Guochu send ships to Liaodong and Nurgan?"

"We sailed upstream from the Liaohe River or the Yalu River, and used the ice on the ground in winter to pull the boat across dozens of miles to the Songhua River or the Tumen River, and then into the Heilongjiang River.

Because of the high cost, Yongle considered building a shipyard in Andong and built large ships, but they had been abandoned for many years.

Now it has been restarted. According to reports from Liaodong, all ships enter the Liaohe River and exit the border wall to dock near Huaide. In winter, people and horses are mobilized to pull the boats to the Donghe River, launch them from Gao, go through the Tuhe River to enter the Songhua River, and finally enter the Heilongjiang River.

However, to do so, Liaodong would need to mobilize a large number of civilians and garrison soldiers to contribute.

But right now, Tumote Kobian is afraid that we won’t be able to pull those boats to the Donghe River this year.”

Tan Lun said slowly.

After Zeng Xingwu took away the military newspaper, Tan Lun had been thinking about this matter.

He knew the difficulties that Qi Jiguang had faced before. Although it would cost more, as long as the Ming Dynasty gained a foothold in Nurgan City, the Andong Shipyard could be rebuilt, and there would be no need for such troublesome "transport ships" in the future.

However, we did not expect that the work would be delayed by the current military situation before it was done, and it is very likely that the ship will not be able to be shipped over this year.

Wei Guangde was also silent. He didn't expect things to be so troublesome.

He always thought that the Northeast had well-developed waterways and that the rivers should be connected.

Apart from the freezing weather in winter that affects shipping, everything else should be very convenient.

Who knew it would be like this, and we would have to rely on land transportation by ship.

The key point is, it was such a coincidence that Huang Taiji went to the Liaoxi Corridor to cause trouble. If it had happened, nothing would have happened in the past two years.

"Well, the military situation is urgent, and everything is based on the military situation."

At this point, what else can Wei Guangde do? Just delay it. If not, just postpone the plan to march into Nurgan next year.

He can't give up the Liaoxi Corridor. He must continue to develop northwards. Even the spit in the court can drown him.

"The Ministry of War found the map and I'll take a look at the situation in Liaodong."

This incident served as a reminder to Wei Guangde that he should know himself and his enemy, and not make decisions rashly.

The status is different nowadays, and the people below may not dare to tell the truth.

Here, Liu Shouyou left the Ministry of War and rode back to the Northern Pacification Office. Soon he arrived outside the gate.

Liu Shouyou dismounted, threw the reins to the guards at the door, and strode into the yamen.

When they got outside the lobby, Liu Shouyou shouted, "Come here, bring us all the secret reports from the grassland in the past two months."

After he sat down in the hall, he picked up the tea beside him. Although it was cold, he didn't care and took a big sip, then he felt better.

Soon someone brought in piles of documents, all of which were various news about the grassland in the past two months as per his request.

"Sir, this secret report was just delivered today."

Just as Liu Shouyou reached out to pick up a document, a man walked in from outside the gate with a bamboo tube in his hand and walked quickly up to him and said.

These secret reports were in the form of small pieces of paper, which were then copied by clerks in the yamen onto documents for record keeping.

Liu Shouyou put down the document in his hand, took it and checked the seal. Seeing that it was intact, he immediately opened the bamboo tube, took out the information inside and quickly browsed through it. Then his face changed slightly.

"The target is actually Jinxi."

Liu Shouyou had just returned from the Ministry of War. He knew very well that Liaodong and the Ministry of War judged that Huang Taiji's target was Jinzhou. After all, it was the junction of the Liaoxi Corridor and the most prosperous city.

In fact, the entire Liaoxi Corridor is full of connections, and if one of them is cut off, the transportation function of the entire Liaoxi Corridor will be cut off.

The Mongols' invasion of Jinzhou could be understood as an attempt to take advantage of the situation, but if their target was Jinxi, the situation would be different.

Although Jinxi is also a city, it is not as prosperous as Jinzhou after all, and there are not many things to steal.

"Alas, I am still a day late after all. If I had delivered it a day earlier, I wouldn't be in such a passive position."

Liu Shouyou sighed, immediately stood up and strode out of the hall with the information, shouting as he walked: "Prepare the horses."

Liu Shouyou was not dissatisfied with his subordinates because the intelligence was delivered one day late. He could understand the situation of those spies outside the Great Wall.

In fact, it’s not that those people are lazy and delaying, but that they have limited access to confidential information, the time to transmit back intelligence is also tight, and they have to worry about their own safety at all times.

He only learned about this news after he set out with Huang Taiji's team, and it was naturally extremely troublesome to transmit the news.

However, the acquisition of this information also confirmed that Huang Taiji was the leader of the Mongolian invasion of Liaodong.

Liu Shouyou rode his horse all the way and went directly to the Ministry of War.

Although he didn't know whether Wei Guangde had left, he still planned to let the Ministry of War review the intelligence first to find out Huang Taiji's real goal and make sure he didn't miscalculate the location of the battlefield.

The leader of the Jinyiwei naturally had a smooth journey when traveling, and pedestrians on the street would quickly avoid him when they saw him.

When they arrived at the gate of the Ministry of War, Liu Shouyou dismounted, dropped the reins and walked inside.

The soldiers guarding in front of the gate did not dare to stop the second-rank military officer. They went over to lead the horse and took the other guards in brocade clothes to the side to rest.

"Master Tan, Master Tan."

Outside the lobby, Liu Shouyou shouted twice, walked into the lobby quickly with fast steps.

"Uh, Elder Wei is here too."

In the lobby, Wei Guangde and Tan Lun were looking at the map of Liaodong, and they both looked up at him.

"Lord Wei, Lord Tan, this is the intelligence we just received. The leader of this invasion is none other than Huang Taiji. He has sent 40,000 troops to attack in three directions. The target is Jinxi, not Jinzhou."

Liu Shouyou quickly told the news and handed the paper roll in his hand to Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde frowned again, quickly took it, opened it and took a look, then handed it to Tan Lun and said, "The Ministry of War should send the message over immediately, eight hundred miles away, and the march plan should also be revised."

"Well, someone come."

Tan Lun hurriedly shouted outside the hall.

Soon, Zeng Shengwu came in and saw the grassland intelligence from Tan Lun. He said, "I will immediately arrange for the previous document to be revised and resent, and send it to Jinzhou as quickly as possible."

"Go quickly."

Tan Lun only gave one instruction and Zeng Shengwu quickly walked out of the lobby.

Tan Lun returned the note to Liu Shouyou, and then said to Wei Guangde: "It would be better if the battlefield is moved to Jinxi. The Jizhen army can travel a hundred miles less."

“They should be trying to get in between Shahekou and Changlingshan, using the small river to block the army heading north and fully resist the Liaodong government troops heading south.

It seems that they want to stay here for a long time. Haha, what a good idea. "

Wei Guangde glanced at the map and sneered. (End of this chapter)