Daming Yinghua

Chapter 458

After saying this, Zheng Haizhu did not continue to act like a strong female Zhuge Liang in front of her two male colleagues.

She never thought that her intelligence was inferior to that of men, but that didn't mean she didn't bother to grasp the subtleties of working with men.

Since Xiong Tingbi and Yang Lian are both ministers of higher official rank than herself, and they have already established the awareness of working as a three-person team and discussing things together, Zheng Haizhu will also respect them and listen to their experiences.

Therefore, even though Xu San's intelligence line had been reporting continuously for several years, Zheng Haizhu still asked Yang Lian about the relationship between several major generals in Liaodong and the characteristics of the soldiers in the camp in a consulting tone.

Yang Lian did have the qualities of a capable official. When he was young, he was a county magistrate in the south and was not a figurehead. Now that he was the governor of Liaodong, he quickly found out the background of the warlords and told them all to Xiong and Zheng.

"In addition to the Li family, there are the Ma family, the Ma family and the Zu family in Liaodong. Li Chengliang's son Li Rubai is in Liaoyang with his elite servants, and thousands of Li clan members are all in Kaiyuan Tieling. Ma Lin, the son of Ma Fang, is now the general of Kaiyuan. As for the Ma family, the most famous and capable Ma Gui is no longer with us. His nephew Ma Chengxun is the deputy general of Liaodong. He has a good relationship with Zhang Chengyin, but both the Ma and Ma families served in Xuanda Town in their early years, and many of their children married into each other. The last one, the Zu family, Zu Chengxun is old and recuperating at home. His son Zu Dashou is a lieutenant general under Guangning Wang Huazhen."

The four great generals of Liaodong, Li, Ma, Ma and Zu, are all famous figures in history. Zheng Haizhu had only met Li Rubai when he participated in the Battle of Fushun many years ago.

As for several other famous generals who should have appeared in Liaodong during this period in history, since the Battle of Sarhu did not take place five years ago, Liu Chen and Tong Zhongkui were still in the southwest, and Zhao Lushi had not yet responded to the call.

Zheng Haizhu felt that this was actually a good thing.

In the Battle of Sarhu in another time and space, the Ming army had a hundred thousand troops, but in fact they were hastily assembled from all over the country. Their generals and fighting styles were very different. There was also a taboo on the battlefield that the commander of the guest army led the local Liao soldiers. Yang Hao, a civil official who was the commander of the war at the time, adopted the tactic of "divide and conquer" when the armies had no tacit understanding and the transmission of military information was delayed. He was urged by a group of civil officials in the capital who did not know military affairs to attack in the snow with red flags, and only a disastrous result was ushered in. The most tragic example was that when the guest army general Du Song, the general of Shanhaiguan, attacked the Jin army from above, his Liao army actually fled first.

At this time and space, the Battle of Sarhu had been postponed for five years, so the Ming Dynasty had more favorable conditions.

Zhang Chengyin, Potingxiang, Zou Chuxian and other brave generals were still alive, and they did not have the decadence and arrogance of the old Liaodong warlords. With the support of Zhang Chengyin, Mao Wenlong took control of Dongjiang in advance and grew rapidly. These new Liaodong generals saw the power of firearms in the Battle of Fushun and bought a lot of guns from Zheng Haizhu in the past few years. Therefore, they were no longer criticized by the imperial censors in the capital that the Liao soldiers only had some ability to charge in the wild and could not use firearms.

Ma Xianglin's Sichuan troops were not temporarily transferred to the north, but had been stationed outside the border for three or four years. They had fought against the powerful Tartar forces twice and won great victories both times. Not only were they familiar with the Tartar's tactics, but the key was that their morale was high.

Qi Jin's Zhejiang soldiers did not have any conflicts with the Sichuan army in this life, and the two armies would not have any conflicts like before the bloody battle of Hunhe. The Zhejiang soldiers were good at chariot formations and their firearms were their strengths. They could join forces with the Liao army, which was also proficient in using firearms. The mandarin duck formation, which was a cold weapon killer team, could make up for the Liao army's shortcomings in field battles.

Zheng Haizhu went over these advantages in his mind, combined with what Yang Lian said, and discussed with Xiong and Yang: "My idea is to talk about Ma Chengxun first. Let him lead his troops to leave Liaoyang and station in the northwest. Since his family is married to Ma Lin, the general of Kaiyuan, they have a close relationship. They should not spare their strength when they need to attack Kaiyuan and sit back and watch the Sichuan army die. Zu Dashou's troops should not move and stay with Wang Huazhen. First, they will not arouse the suspicion of Jiannu scouts on the grassland. Second, if the Mongols of Khorchin rush to help Nurhaci, Zu Dashou will go north to intercept them faster. Li Rubai's troops should also stay near Liaoyang. In this way, Nurhaci will dare to go to Tieling."

Xiong Tingbi knew more about military affairs than Yang Lian. Hearing this, he interrupted Zheng Haizhu and said, "In this case, if the old chief sees that Shenyang is empty, what should he do if he attacks Shenyang?"

Zheng Haizhu said: "So, when the red cannons that landed at Lushun Port in the past two days were transported through the four guards of southern Liaoning, they should spread the word that they were placed on the city wall of Shenyang. Nurhaci suffered from the cannons on the city wall of Fushun, so he should not be so forgetful. Moreover, the Yehe tribe he had already conquered was close to Kaiyuan, and opening up the original Tieling should have been ahead of the plan to attack Shenyang."

Yang Lian also agreed, "That makes sense. When the cannons arrive, we can say that the military pay that was originally intended for the iron ore business was used to buy firearms. We can trick the slave chief into thinking that the Liao army will become more aggressive in their demand for pay."

Xiong Tingbi pondered for a moment and decided, "Okay, the soldiers of the four major generals of Liaodong will be arranged like this, half will be used and the other half will be idle."

Zheng Haizhu understood that both Xiong and Yang were former imperial censors, and their rejection of the old-school warlords with deep roots in the border towns was the starting point of their thinking, so he added: "Ma Lin and Ma Xianglin, one Liao army and one guest army, the court can just see whether the Liao people will be as ruthless to the Jiannu as General Ma's Sichuan troops. As for Li Rubai, after the main forces of Zhang Chengyin and Du Song engage the enemy, the Li family army can directly rush eastward along the Taizi River to serve as a reserve force for the main forces of Mao Wenlong and Qi Jin to capture Hetuala. "Xiong Tingbi's eyes wandered over the various military key points on the map, and he murmured: "When Yang Hao led his troops to Korea to fight against the Japanese, he liked your approach of dividing and advancing to attack together."

Zheng Haizhu responded, "Whether it's a joint attack or 'you can come from many directions, I will go only one direction', there is no right or wrong, the key is how to dispatch. Also, the battlefield changes rapidly, and dispatch should be based on us who are on the front line, not on the reports of idle people who are far away in the capital and know nothing. So this time, most of the officials in the court did not know that the Ming Dynasty was going to fight a fierce battle against the Jiannu. It was a blessing for the three of us."

Xiong Tingbi finally smiled knowingly.

"Haha, good, let's set the battle strategy like this for now. Tomorrow, I will go south to Mao Wenlong and use the last trick of deception in war."

……

More than half a month later, Hetuala.

Mu Zaohua passed by the Khan's Well, which was so familiar to her, and entered Nurhaci's Khan's Palace.

It is called a "palace", but in fact it is just a relatively spacious blue brick and tile house.

The young Concubine Abahai sat on the kang and blew ginseng soup for Nurhaci.

The sunlight shone into the house through the window lattice, enveloping the old husband and his young wife.

Twenty years ago, Abahai, who was only twelve years old, was taken as a sacrifice for a political marriage by the Ula tribe and came to Jianzhou Jurchen to marry Nurhaci, who was thirty years older than her.

Time flies. Abahai had gotten used to facing the leader of Jianzhou, who could be her grandfather. But since last year, she began to feel a little afraid of Nurhaci.

The odor emitted by an aging male body is only disgusting, not scary. What is truly terrifying is Nurhaci's gaze.

Abahai remembered that the murderous aura of the Khan in his middle age was also very strong, but it looked like the cold light on iron armor and steel swords, and the atmosphere of golden weapons and iron horses, and had nothing to do with gloomy.

And now, under the drooping eyelids of this elderly Jurchen leader, a clear murderous intent occasionally flashed, as if it would turn into a cruel order in the next moment: Go and kill a hundred Nikan Baoyi for Ben Khan to vent his anger.

Abahai had experienced such a moment, and she even had to ask a Han maidservant, whom she particularly liked, to stay as far away from her as possible.

That is why, today, when Abahai saw Mu Zaohua, who was calm and composed from the moment she walked into the house, to her kneeling and kowtowing, to her answering the Khan's stern questions, she couldn't help but feel a subtle jealousy.

This Nikan woman really seems not to be afraid of the Khan.