Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Just as the capital and the south were hotly discussing the New Jiangnan, Kong Zhenyun had already set out for Heilongjiang to take up his post, and first went to Liaodong to recruit soldiers.

Accompanying him was Zhu Guobi, Marquis of Funing, who went to Liaodong to preside over the opening ceremony of the City God Temple.

As a meritorious official who was posthumously awarded the title of Prince Xuanping and listed in the Purple Pavilion, Zhu Yong was first named the City God of Yongping Prefecture. Then, because Yongping Prefecture was merged into Shuntian Prefecture, he was transferred to the City God of the newly established Liaoxi Military and Civilian Prefecture.

Zhu Guobi went to Liaodong to preside over the opening ceremony of the City God Temple. At the same time, he wanted to commemorate those who had died in Liaodong since the founding of the Ming Dynasty and to appease the morale of the Liaodong army.

At this time, there were undercurrents in Liaodong due to the issue of disarmament.

Not only were the soldiers worried, but many generals were also uneasy.

It was just that Sun Chengzong had great prestige in Liaodong and was able to keep the situation under control, so the uneasiness did not completely erupt and turn into an open dispute.

But Sun Chengzong was also disappointed in his heart. Because he had realized:
The emperor did not have high expectations for the Guanning Army, he just used him to stabilize the army.

This was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. At the same time, he also understood why the court had rejected his initiative to attack:
"The Emperor intends to let the Guanning Army concentrate on guarding the pass!"

"From now on, the Guanning Army will probably only consist of Shanhaiguan Town, and Ningyuan will only be its front part that protrudes out of the pass."

"The more than 70,000 people retained this time will be further reduced in the future."

Clearly aware of this possibility, Sun Chengzong knew that his chance to achieve success would be in these few years.

Otherwise, the imperial court would further disband the Guanning Army and free up more military funds to build a new army.

He had no idea about the new army and didn't think he could make good use of them. Moreover, the emperor valued the new army so much that he would never give it to him to command.

He wanted to establish his career and become a Purple Pavilion hero, and the best opportunity was in the past few years. While the Guanning Army had a large number of troops, he served as the commander of this army and took charge of the Liaodong war.

When the Guanning Army has fewer soldiers and horses in the future, the soldiers and horses in Korea, Heilongjiang and other places will no longer obey their orders.

Now these places obey the orders of the imperial court more rather than the command of him, the governor of Liaodong.

So what Sun Chengzong was thinking was to take advantage of this opportunity to reorganize the army and select a group of elite soldiers, and then march to Niuzhuang. If the Jianlu did not send troops, then forget it. If they did, then they would fight a decisive battle with the other side.

Summoning Bi Zisu, You Shilu, and Zhao Lujiao, Sun Chengzong explained his strategy to them and asked:
"Advance by land and sea, and work together to recover Haizhou and Niuzhuang, and force the Jianlu to fight a decisive battle."

"What do you think of this strategy?"

Zhao Lujiao was ranked last, but he was the first to speak:

"This should have been done a long time ago. We should have taken the initiative to send troops to fight a decisive battle with the Jianlu."

"Those people in Dongning who have only trained for a year or two can stop the Jianlu. There's no reason why we can't stop them."

"I volunteer to serve as the vanguard and go to Niuzhuang to build a fortress."

Greatly stimulated by Man Gui's title of Marquis, he had long been eager to make a contribution.

After all, he thought his contribution was no less than Man Gui's, but he was not as famous as Man Gui.

If he made the first contribution in the recovery of Liaodong as a vanguard, I think the current emperor would not be stingy with the title given his generosity.

After the feudal system had been implemented for more than three years and the provisions of the feudal etiquette had been formulated, more and more people believed in the emperor's sincerity in granting fiefs.

The reason why the Suzhou issue was resolved peacefully was inseparable from the emperor's generosity in conferring titles on the Suzhou gentry.

Many people want to become the king of a country and have their family recorded in history books as a famous family.

This was especially true for Zhao Lujiao as a soldier, and he had the confidence to speak at this time. After the court decided to retain 40,000 troops in Shanhaiguan and cut the more than 70,000 troops outside the pass by half, he held the most important force of the Guanning Army in his hands, and his status was even higher than that of Liaodong Admiral You Shilu.

But it is precisely because Shanhaiguan is so important, and we know that the emperor's main purpose of retaining the Guanning Army is to guard Shanhaiguan. Sun Chengzong was a little hesitant about Zhao Lujiao's request, and frowned and said:
"I know General Zhao's ability, and that is why I am letting you take on the important task of Shanhaiguan."

"But if you lead the vanguard, who will guard Shanhaiguan?"

"Where will the troops that are dispatched come from?"

Zhao Lushi was a little puzzled when he heard this. Liaodong today is not the same as it was during the Tianqi period, when the three commanders-in-chief and four generals were all capable of taking on the responsibility of Shanhaiguan.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, he clarified the powers and responsibilities. In Liaodong, there are only the commander-in-chief Sun Chengzong, the admiral You Shilu, and the military protector Bi Zisu.

Among the generals, Man Gui and Zhu Mei were transferred away. Du Wenhuan resigned due to illness and was reinstated in Jizhen. He used to be the general of Shanhaiguan and should be capable of guarding Shanhaiguan.

But this man was close to Wang Zhichen, and Sun Chengzong was probably not satisfied. Even Zhao Lujiao himself had many disagreements with Wang Zhichen.

So he said:

"There is not much danger in Tashan now. We can transfer Hou Shilu, the general of Tashan, to take charge of Shanhaiguan."

"General Hou is brave and capable, he should be able to do the job."

Sun Chengzong frowned slightly, not satisfied with this candidate.

Although Hou Shilu has the same name as You Shilu, his military exploits were far inferior to You Shilu's. He only managed to escape from the siege when Liaoyang City was captured, and he never fought a major battle afterwards.

This time the imperial court wanted to disband the troops outside the Great Wall, and the first general to be disbanded was the General of Tashan.

I'm afraid the imperial court will not agree to let this person guard Shanhaiguan.

At this time, Sun Chengzong couldn't help but think of Man Gui, Zhu Mei and Zu Dashou. If one of these three people stayed, he wouldn't have to worry about the affairs of Shanhaiguan.

However, Man Gui and Zhu Mei were now in charge, and Zu Dashou was unlikely to return to Liaodong in the near future. He could only select from the existing personnel in Liaodong and find a few more powerful generals:

"Ma Shilong has done a good job in Gaizhou. Can we ask the court to transfer him to Shanhaiguan?"

He did not forget his old general Ma Shilong, or rather, it was him that Sun Chengzong valued from the beginning.

At that time, Sun Chengzong requested the court to let Ma Shilong be given the seal of the General of Ping Liao to command all the generals, which is equivalent to the current position of You Shilu.

If it weren't for the defeat at Liuhe, Ma Shilong's position would be more prominent now, instead of being relegated to southern Liaoning like he is now.

However, several people were not optimistic about his idea. Bi Zisu said:

"General Ma is capable, but he has lost battles before, and I'm afraid the court is worried."

"It's fine to let him serve as the commander of the guards, but if he serves as the general, I'm afraid the capital will be unstable."

It was rumored that the defeat at Liuhe resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of soldiers. If the officials in the capital knew that it was Ma Shilong who was guarding Shanhaiguan, they would probably rise up in opposition, as they did not want to make the people in the capital uneasy.

So Sun Chengzong said:
"Then let Ma Shilong come to Shanhaiguan to serve as the Guard Commander, and assign a deputy general to be in charge of the guard."

"General Zhao will lead the army as the commander-in-chief and select 10,000 elite soldiers from Shanhaiguan."

"The 30,000 soldiers and horses left behind should be enough to defend Shanhaiguan." (End of this chapter)