Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 340 There is only one problem

The arrival of severe winter means that the war situation begins to become more intense.

For either side, they can only remain deadlocked on the existing front. Even if they have a certain advantage, they cannot advance further.

The decline in combat effectiveness caused by logistical supply difficulties and severe cold is no joke.

South of Jinzhou, Wang Yingjiao, Fang Congzhe and Zhu Guozuo, who had just arrived at Songshan Fort, looked at the Khan's master who was bowing his back and nodding repeatedly in front of the emperor. They looked at each other and felt a little absurd.

Because the two people were playing Renju while talking.

Zhu Changluo was indeed playing Gobang with Lindan Batur. This way of playing has been around for a long time and is now called Lianzhu. It is considered to be a relatively early and widely spread way of playing, and the rules are also simple.

Even though Lindan Batur didn't know how to do it before and didn't like it, he had to do it in the face of Zhu Changluo's "goodwill".

"Are you all here?"

After Wang Yingjiao and the other three came to see him, Zhu Changluo waved his hand and said, "Come and meet Prince Yuan Shun. You can handle the ceremony of enthronement and signing of the peace treaty between the two countries later."

"...Prince Yuanshun?"

"Prince Yuanshun." Zhu Changluo nodded and placed a piece, "It's your turn."

Lindan Batur looked at the chessboard, put down the chess piece in his hand, raised his head and smiled flatteringly: "Your Majesty has made the overall plan. I have already lost."

After saying this, he bowed again before standing up and said to Wang Yingjiao and the other two, "Amugulang Khan has been so kind and generous that he has granted me the title of Yuan Shun King. I am very grateful. In the future, when our two countries are on good terms, I will definitely restrain my people and never violate the borders of the Ming Dynasty again."

Fang Congzhe stared at Zhu Changluo blankly again.

"It is said that Amugulang means Taichang, which means peace and prosperity." Zhu Changluo laughed, "After this battle is over, I will hold a grand ceremony on my birthday next year. By then, the left wing Yuanshun King, the right wing Shunyi King, and the Duke Zhongshun will jointly petition to give me the title of Khan to show their submission and loyalty."

What else do the three of them have to say?

"I, your Highness, congratulate you and the Ming Dynasty! No one is more wise and powerful than your Highness. All races are in awe of you. The spirit of the Han and Tang dynasties is no different from yours!"

"It's a small matter to appease me, but it's a big matter to lay a foundation for peace." Zhu Changluo pointed at Lindan Batur, "He has to bow his head under the gun, but I won't pretend. This time I took the initiative. I want to take Kaiping, Daning and the Northeast. In the future, the two countries will have the mountains and rivers as a buffer, and it will be difficult for each other to continue to attack. This way, both sides can live in peace. With the support of trade and cultural and educational exchanges, he will understand my painstaking efforts in the future."

Lindan Batur had mixed feelings, but his face showed uneasiness and embarrassment: "I have indeed figured it out. Your Majesty can show mercy and allow us to keep Hulunbuir. I have full faith in Your Majesty."

Zhu Changluo patted him on the shoulder and said, "You are ten years younger than me. You can put aside your self-esteem and pride and bow down to me. I know that you have learned to distinguish the priorities. Don't worry. If you have difficulties in the future, just report it to me and I will still be reasonable. Mobei is bitter and cold. As long as you can regard yourself as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, I can also regard your people as my people. Find a way to keep them well fed and clothed, so that your throne will be stable and the borders of the Ming Dynasty will also be stable."

Finally, he looked at the three of them and said, "We have basically reached an agreement. Let's sign the peace treaty quickly and have them return before the snow blocks the mountain."

After entering the twelfth lunar month, there will be continuous heavy snow.

There was no need for Zhu Changluo to stay here all the time; he also had to return to Beijing before the end of December.

Lindan Batur and his subordinates simply surrendered, which had both good and bad consequences for the Ming Dynasty.

The advantage was that at least this treaty established the legal standards and basis for the borders and future interactions between the country and the Khanate.

The disadvantage, of course, is that there is no guarantee whether the Khan's court will keep its promise.

But the Ming Dynasty was not actually prepared to make any guarantees for those long-term strategic target areas: whether it was Hulunbuir or the area north of the Liaohe River, could the Ming Dynasty, in its current state, guarantee such distant places?

To the north of the Liaohe River, there is a wider Songnen Plain with more swamps. To firmly control the entire Northeast Plain, it is necessary to guard the entire Greater Khingan Range in the west, the entire Lesser Khingan Range in the north, and Changbai Mountain in the east.

The weather was getting colder every year, and the core strategic goals in the minds of the Ming Dynasty's rulers and ministers were always Kaiping, Daning, and the Liaohe Plain.

So since Lindan Batur and Daiqing have already taken action to persuade the remnants of Inner Khalkha to move westward, Zhu Changluo can give them Hulunbuir, which he cannot actually control.

At the source of the Nen River, now known as the Ewen River, it was the area of ​​Mohe later. From there, you have to go northwest along the Heilongjiang River and then turn southwest to reach Hulunbuir.

There is not much need.

Step by step, the area south of the Xiliao River was used as the actual control area, with a Qingzhou bridgehead in the northwest corner, and a buffer mountain area along the east side of the Northeast Plain in the northeast corner. All the way to the Harbin area, forts were built to guard another pass area. That was the basis for the next step of continuing to control the entire Northeast Plain.

It will take more than just one or two generations?

Korchin is not easy to deal with.

Since the Ming Dynasty could not actually control the area north of the Liao River, they would definitely be able to continue to survive there.

According to Yu Zigao's previous report, Khorchin should have formed an alliance with Nurhaci through marriage. Back in the warm room, Fang Congzhe and his men took over the final formalities of the peace talks, while Tian Le, Xing Jie and Li Chengliang were all waiting there.

Zhu Changluo looked at the map and said, "If the Jianzhou Jurchens are defeated, they will definitely move away. The question now is whether they will move east to Changbai Mountain and base themselves around Hamgyong Province and Khanka Lake in Korea, or move northeast and attack the Beishan Jurchens and the Wild Jurchens there, and coexist with Khorchin."

In their minds, the problem brought by the Jianzhou Jurchens was no longer a question of victory or defeat in the near future, but a long-term problem of existence in the future.

It is still because the mountains are high and the roads are long, making transportation inconvenient.

People can escape.

It is also possible that Nurhaci and the Jianzhou Jurchen upper class could escape, after all, they were not as young and vigorous as Lindan Batur.

During the time that Li Chengliang stayed in the camp where the Khan's army was guarded, he had already learned about their previous decision-making process.

From the very beginning, Dai Qing had no intention of going south to directly confront the Ming Dynasty. Instead, he thought that he should support the Liaohe Basin, which was very close to the Laoha River, and support Inner Khalkha.

But since the young Khan wanted to establish his prestige, Dai Qing agreed for the sake of the long-term interests.

However, his strategic focus was always on Jinzhou and Yizhou, and he left a lot of people there to guard against the Ming army's interception.

Later, he found that the Ming Dynasty did not retreat because of the large army gathering outside the border wall of Jizhou. He spent a lot of effort to connect the remnants of Inner Khalkha, Khorchin, and Jianzhou Jurchen, and persuaded Lindan Batur to abandon the remnants of Kharchin who had already been gathered, and use them as bait to secretly and quickly transfer to the west of Jinzhou and Yizhou, and completely destroy the situation in Liaodong by breaking the border wall and then killing his way through Yizhou.

But Lindan Batur hesitated for some time, and was delayed for some time on the way because he wanted to wipe out the Yongwei Camp. Ma Gui was heading towards the Laoha River, so he had to make a move to break through Jinzhou to Shanhaiguan, while also retaining a retreat route from the Jinzhou border wall back to Yanshan and then transfer to the Laoha River.

As a result, Laoha River was attacked from both sides by Liu Jing and Ma Gui, and was driven back by Li Chengliang.

However, Lindan Batur once again refused to return to Yanshan Mountain and survive the winter due to the heavy snow before going to conquer Laoha River. Instead, he prepared to make more bets and head east to disrupt the hinterland of Liaodong.

This resulted in Yuan Keli defending the Dalingh River to his death, and people from all directions rushing to encircle him.

This is a combination of the young master and the old minister. Dai Qing had underestimated the determination of the Ming Dynasty, and Lindan Batur lacked experience and calmness.

These problems did not exist among the Jianzhou Jurchens.

The Changbai Mountains are not like the Jinzhou and Yizhou areas. It is the core area of ​​the Ming Dynasty's border defense. Ma Gui and Liu Jing had already left the border wall, and to the north of them, there was a vague situation that they could be encircled.

At present, in the east of Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty has no military forces except for a few isolated cities of the Liaoyuan Military and Civilian Government.

The Jianzhou Jurchens could indeed attack or defend. If they were really defeated, the Changbai Mountains had many openings to the east and north, so they could take the opportunity to escape.

Nurhaci wrote a manifesto, cursing Zhu Yijun, Zhu Changluo and the Ming Dynasty in a very harsh way. Is there any chance for him to turn back?

Even when Daming said it was okay, he didn't dare to believe it.

At this time, Li Chengliang answered first: "No matter where they flee to, once Nurhaci is dead, they will not be a threat. Once Nurhaci is dead, Khorchin can also be pacified."

Zhu Changluo looked at him and said, "Nurhaci has so many sons. I heard that the ones who have grown up are all pretty good. Is there no one who can inherit the throne?"

Li Chengliang shook his head: "Nurhaci built the foundation of Jianzhou with his own hands, and the tribes he conquered were all afraid of him. As long as he dies, none of his sons who don't have enough prestige will be able to subdue everyone."

Zhu Changluo was thinking silently.

Jianzhou's rebellion against the Ming Dynasty did seem to be a destiny. The main reason for its success was that the internal problems of the Ming Dynasty were too great, and during this process, Jianzhou Jurchens were not without great crises.

We have not heard of any such person as Dorgon yet. As for the eighth son who took over Nurhaci's position, he has been ordered to be executed by Empress Dowager Li.

He looked at Tian Le and Xing Jie and asked, "Is it possible to kill Nurhaci in this battle?"

"It's not easy." Tian Le said solemnly, "Now the main force of Jianzhou still wants to break through Guangshun Pass, so they must first win a substantial victory to boost morale. In the severe winter, it is not easy to attack their lair. Wula City and Huifa City can only protect themselves and cannot encircle them to the west. I'm afraid he will send people to recruit the people of the three divisions of Liaoyuan Military and Civilian Government this winter. If Xiong Futai and Zhang Yonghou rush from Sarhu to Xiaoqing River Valley, the food supply will not be guaranteed. From Hunhe River to Huifa River, there are too many places to defend."

Xing Jie also agreed: "Even if he can't break through Guangshun Pass, he can still try to capture Yehe this winter. Zhenyi Hou has reported that the Jianzhou Jurchens have another elite force going to the north, probably to help Khorchin. If they are actually attacking Yehe, the Yehe tribe may not be able to defeat them now. They still have to send a large number of troops to the north to resist Khorchin. Once the Yehe tribe and the old land of Hada form a new line of defense, the Jianzhou Jurchens will guard the mouth of the Huifa River and the mouth of the river to Hetuala, and Huifa City and Ula will be taken back by him sooner or later."

"In your opinion, how should we fight?"

"We have discussed this for a long time." Tian Le said, "Nurhaci is difficult to lure, and the battle against Jianzhou Jurchen is a tough one. We think that he fights his battles and we fight ours. We should defend Guangshun Pass and reinforce Yehe City. We should capture Jiefan Village in front of Sarhu and set up the defense line of Hunhe Valley. The army must not be afraid of the severe cold and go straight to Hetuala. There are only three or four large forts along the Suzi River, such as Gule and Maerdun. If he doesn't come back to help, the Jianzhou Jurchens will lose their home base first, and the army will be in panic!"

Xing Jie added: "In this case, the grain route can only be preserved from Fushun Pass to Sarhu and Jiefanzhai to Suzi River Valley. Although the terrain outside Yagu Pass is dangerous, the small road leading to Hetuala is only more than 60 miles away. With the advantage of Ming artillery, a small city like Hetuala cannot be defended by attacking from both sides."

Zhu Changluo frowned and said, "How can we kill Nurhaci in battle if we turn him into a stray dog?"

(End of this chapter)