Ming politicians

When the autumn harvest was coming to an end, Zhejiang had assembled 14 troops from the Jiangning Battalion.

Under the suggestions of Zhu Shenxuan, Hong Chengchou, and Lu Xiangsheng, the Huizhou Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, Guangde Prefecture, Changzhou Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture and other places bordering Zhejiang have all aspects of personnel traffic and business transactions. The control has begun to be strengthened. This is also the prelude to conquests. People are always killed in wars. In many cases, it is the common people who suffer the most. Following the deal, meeting a large army, who can predict what kind of ending it will be, even the soldiers of the Jiangning battalion will take some extraordinary measures for reasons of confidentiality, so it is inevitable to restrict personnel exchanges.

Taking such measures shows the great confidence and strength of Su Tiancheng and others. This is tantamount to telling the court and Zhu Yousong, Qin Sande and others that the Jiangning battalion is about to start attacking, and you are all prepared.

Zhu Yousong, Qin Sande and others will not fail to notice this. Fortunately, they also have enough confidence. They are completely in control of the 20 army that Zuo Liangyu belongs to. After nearly two months of running-in, they came from the capital Those excellent officers in the army quickly showed their advantages and combined a large army of 20. The officers did not deduct food, grass and military pay, which stabilized the sergeants. The sergeants stationed in Huizhou Prefecture and other places can basically achieve self-discipline. Not to harass the people, but also get the support of the local gentry and wealthy households, so the 20 army has become the basis for Qin Sande and others to rely on.

Huang Degong's army has good combat effectiveness, and Huang Degong is loyal to the court, so he has strict constraints on the sergeants. He is stationed in rich places like Suzhou Mansion and Songjiang Mansion, without any behavior that disturbs the people.This is what reassures Qin Sande and others the most.

With the 25 troops and the management stationed in Nanjing, Ma Shiying's army in Fengyang, Zhu Yousong and Qin Sande's confidence is very strong. They don't want to take the initiative to attack Su Tiancheng, but they can also fight for a long time.To ensure the safety of Southern Zhili, in private, Qin Sande also hoped that Liaodong and Datong would be stabilized quickly, and the imperial court urged the Houjin Tatars to fulfill the surrender agreement signed, so that the troops would be transferred from Liaodong and Datong, and when they were strong enough, It will be able to launch a full-scale attack on Su Tiancheng.

Chongzhen 16th July [-]th.

The autumn harvest is still going on, and the Jiangning camp army concentrated in Yuhang has made all preparations.After several months of training, the spirit of the soldiers is very good, although the weather is still very hot.

Su Tiancheng seldom made any speeches before the battle. The Jiangning Battalion did not need this set of ceremonies. In addition, the number of soldiers was increasing, and the scale of the battle was getting bigger and bigger. What you see is more important than your own life, and you don't need too much encouragement.

But this time.Su Tiancheng still decided to emphasize some things.

All the officers above the commander of the Jiangning battalion and guards gathered together.They hadn't heard Su Tiancheng speak for a long time, and they really hoped to hear Su Tiancheng's instructions.

Looking at the energetic crowd, Su Tiancheng looked very serious.

"Brothers, the Jiangning Battalion has gone through countless battles, and I have made many demands with my brothers. This time I don't want to make any demands. All brothers understand the importance of this battle. Zhili, after defeating the army commanded by Zhu Yousong and Qin Sande, we can basically decide the next battle for the Central Plains. There are 33 armies concentrated in South Zhili, and some guard troops. The total number may exceed 40 We have only 14 troops, and the ratio of numbers is three to one."

"But this is nothing to our Jiangning battalion. We are used to winning more with less. Whether it is in terms of bravery or discipline, the army led by Zhu Yousong and Qin Sande is weaker than us. Some time ago , Some education has been carried out in the army. We have warned the soldiers not to have the idea of ​​underestimating the enemy. In fact, the focus of this warning is aimed at you brothers. Not strong, think about it before, when they faced the rogues and the Houjin Tartars, their performance was not satisfactory, especially in Zhejiang, we defeated Liu Zeqing easily, which made you think about the imperial army. It's a bad understanding, I don't want to blame everyone, but there is a reason you need to understand."

"Our conquest of Nanzhili is like changing the master. Wouldn't the court have to go all out and not involve the fundamental interests of the court? They may tolerate it, but once their life and death are involved, they will not I will be more polite, so our conquest of Nanzhili will be an extraordinary battle."

"Nanzhili is one of the most affluent places in the imperial court. Once it is occupied by us, the imperial court will basically lose its foundation of support. It is impossible to maintain the imperial court only by relying on taxes from the north. According to my prediction, this battle will be in the early stage It will be very smooth, but after the progress, I am afraid that there will be many unexpected situations, and the court may even try its best to deal with us, so I hope that you brothers will make all preparations."

"Seeing the arrogance of the brothers, I am very moved. After so many years, the brothers have followed me to fight in the north and south. In the past, we fought for the court, wiped out the bandits, and severely hit the arrogance of the Houjin Tartars. But the nature of today's battles has undergone fundamental changes. The battles that started with the conquest of Zhejiang and Fujian are already fighting for ourselves. As the scale of conquests increases, we will face more and more specific problems. , These problems need to be solved by ourselves.”

"We have walked so many roads together and experienced countless turmoil. Up to now, there is no problem that can hinder us. No matter what setbacks we encounter, we can overcome them. No matter what difficulties we encounter, we can overcome them. I Still the same sentence, brothers muster up our momentum, we will win one brilliant victory after another, we will use our own efforts to establish a brand new dynasty, this dynasty is incomparable and the most powerful, it will Beyond the heyday of the Han and Tang Dynasties, history will remember the brothers and the outstanding contributions you made during the development and growth of the dynasty..."

Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng, Qu Qingze, Sun Chuanting, Bi Maokang and others looked at Su Tiancheng with admiration beyond words. Today's Su Tiancheng has already become the emperor in their hearts. As for the emperor in the capital, the rest of the time is not long too much.

Su Tiancheng pointed to the map on the table, and spoke unhurriedly.

"The 14 army is divided into two parts. Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting led 6 of them, focusing on attacking Suzhou and Songjiang, and striving to completely wipe out the sergeants under Huang Degong's jurisdiction within the year. I have already emphasized that Huang Degong, this person, Although you don’t have much culture, you have a good way of fighting. The jurisdiction over the sergeants is also very strict, and the combat effectiveness of the army is also good. When you fight Huang Degong, you have to adopt two methods. While fighting, you must try to get Huang Degong to join you. If Huang Degong is determined to be loyal to the imperial court and is unwilling to take refuge here, then you must take thunderous measures to completely wipe out the army led by Huang Degong, and you must not be merciful, and you must not give Huang Degong any chance to breathe."

"My suggestion is to take down Suzhou Mansion first, cut off any connection between Songjiang Mansion and the outside world, and make Songjiang Mansion an isolated island. This will lay a good foundation for the complete extermination of Huang Degong. During the expedition, do not divide troops into battle. Although we can ask for the combat effectiveness of the imperial army, we need to take every battle seriously."

"Suzhou Prefecture is one of the most affluent places in the Ming Dynasty. During the conquest, try to reduce losses as much as possible, especially in the battle to siege the city. If you can avoid destroying the city, don't take extreme measures. Rather, postpone the battle. As the saying goes, good things take time, even if it takes a little while, the best results must be achieved."

"Lu Xiangsheng, Qu Qingze and I led an army of 20 to attack Huizhou, Ningguo, Guangde, and Changzhou. To deal with Zuo Liangyu's 20 troops, our battle pattern is the same. We plan to occupy Guangde first. De Mansion, destroying the Ming army stationed in Guangde Mansion, on the one hand directly threatening Yingtian Mansion and Nanjing City, on the other hand dividing Zuo Liangyu's [-] army. During this battle, we will take many measures. Zhu Yousong and Qin Sande will definitely send troops to reinforce the tactics of besieging the city, so our combat mode must be flexible. Sometimes our key task is to wipe out the vital forces of the Ming army. As for whether to occupy the city immediately, we can It will be decided on a case-by-case basis.”

"For this battle, the overall campaign deployment has been completed long ago. All that remains is for you to use your wisdom to direct the specific battle. Our plan is to win the entire Nanzhili before the end of the year. , Use two to three months to conquer the entire south, and after next year's autumn harvest, start the conquest of the northern Central Plains, and use the same time to conquer the entire north."

"That is to say, from now on, it will take us less than two years to establish our own dynasty. This time cannot be prolonged, otherwise we will have to solve the troubles later on by ourselves."

"Okay, what I said is just to emphasize once again. You all know how to do it. Finally, I want to emphasize that military discipline is our lifeline and must never be broken through. No matter what kind of situation we encounter, we You must pay attention to the fact that killing people, looting, and insulting women is not allowed. If someone violates military discipline and regulations, no matter how much credit he has, he will be severely punished. .” (To be continued..)