Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 249 Putting Facts Aside (Two Chapters in One)

Could it be that the Nu chieftain contacted the Mongolian tribes on the grassland to trip them up, delaying the speed of the two armies attacking the Qing Dynasty from joining together so that they could defeat them one by one?
Or are they the Tartars who were defeated at the gates of Shenyang, planning to try their luck here?
In front of tens of thousands of cavalry, the troops mainly composed of infantry could not easily say "retreat". That would lead to a scramble for the road, disrupting their own formation and eventually being slaughtered by the cavalry.

The previous defeat in the Songjin Battle caused by someone's early start was still imprinted in Hong Chengchou's mind.

Wang Pu, who was the first to rush forward, has been executed by the court. He must not repeat the same mistake this time.

Hong Chengchou had no time to ask the emperor's wishes, and immediately ordered the entire army to enter combat status. He then sent 300 skilled cavalrymen to Liaoxi, Liaonan and Shenyang to ask for help.

Regardless of the outcome of this battle, asking for help is a must.

Hong Chengchou ordered all baggage carts to be placed on the periphery to form a large battle formation. Auxiliary troops were mobilized to dig protective trenches and set up a defense system.

No matter whether the enemy is a Mongolian tribe or the remnants of the Tartar army, they will not have strong combat effectiveness, but are just a group of organized "horse bandits".

As long as the Western Route Army holds on for a few days and breaks the enemy's morale, they will surely be able to escape danger.

Zhu Youjian woke up as usual and was puzzled as to why the march started so late today?
Even though he didn't know much about military affairs, he knew that the marching distance had been getting shorter in recent days. When would he be able to meet Li Qing and Zhang Qing, two capable generals?

As he stepped out of the house carrying his armor weighing dozens of kilograms, he saw a general rushing towards him.

The man had a solemn expression and walked with anxious steps. He rode his warhorse and galloped all the way. When he saw the emperor's gorgeous armor, he quickly stopped the horse, dismounted a hundred steps away, and trotted to Zhu Youjian and knelt down.

Zhu Youjian looked the young general up and down and recognized him as Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of the Ningyuan militia and the nephew of Zu Dashou.

This man had also led his troops to flee in the Battle of Songjin before, but there were too many people who spoke well of him, and he had Zu Dashou as his backer, so he was only charged with the crime of "making meritorious service while guilty".

Wu Sangui brought bad news: they encountered the Northern Tartar cavalry and now had to fight hastily in Dujiatun. I also ask Your Majesty to move to the Military Affairs Council and take charge to calm the hearts of the civil and military officials.

"Enemy troops are attacking?"

Zhu Youjian successfully eliminated the boredom of the march.

However, the excitement of encountering the enemy soldiers only lasted for a moment, and he once again missed the boring but safe marching life. Before the battle even started, he realized the danger of fighting.

Before he could prepare himself mentally, even more severe bad news came.

It turned out that the enemy soldiers were not from the Northern Tartar tribe, but the main force brought by the slave chief Huang Taiji in person!

The chieftain has come in person!

"what?"

This news was like a bolt from the blue, leaving Zhu Youjian stunned on the spot, and the other civil officials and eunuchs were also in a mess.

None of the high-ranking civil and military officials in the room dared to say a word of retreat. It was not because they were of high moral character, but because the slave chieftain was coming with such force that they had already sent highly mobile cavalry to surround him on all sides.

Just as they gathered for a military meeting, the Tatars had already begun setting up positions and trenches around them and would launch an attack at the latest tomorrow.

Everyone was anxious and impatient, with sweat oozing out of their bodies.

The showdown between the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was a gamble of national destiny. Whoever lost would never recover. However, the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty camp all knew their own strengths and weaknesses.

Not to mention that they only have 60,000 troops, even if they had 100,000 soldiers, they would not dare to confront the Nu chief head-on.

The same picture flashed through the minds of Zhu Youjian and his ministers - the Ming Dynasty suffered a disastrous defeat at Tumu Fortress, and the king of a country was captured by the enemy.

Zhu Youjian began to have wild thoughts, his mind full of how he was captured by the Tartars, humiliated, and enslaved, like a dog, unable to live or die.

If the emperor was captured and the prince was young, who would dare to stand up and protect the country?

This is not the Ming Dynasty during the Zhengtong period when one could casually dispatch 100,000 or 200,000 troops to support the emperor.

Zhu Youjian personally led the army to fight this time, and "brought along" a lot of elite troops from the nine frontiers who had received additional training and salary, and even the defeated soldiers who had originally participated in the Songjin expedition were dragged along.

If this battle is lost, the few elite troops in the nine frontiers who obey the emperor's orders will be wiped out. Not only will the emperor's authority be completely lost, but the slave chief will also be able to invade by holding the "dragon" in his arms.

The entire Yanyun area, and even the entire north, will fall into the hands of the enemy like Zhao Song.

He believed that Li Qing and Zhang Qing, one in the south and one in the north, were enough to turn the tide and stop the Tartar army from advancing southward, thus preserving half of the Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Youjian will definitely become a sinner in history and bring shame to the Zhu family!
One civil official couldn't help but question, "Didn't the Beiwei Army report that they had recaptured Gaizhou, Haizhou, Liaoyang, and Shenyang? How could they allow the Tartars to detour through western Liaoning?"

"The Beiwei Army has reported several great victories, with a cumulative total of no less than 60,000 heads cut off. How could the Nu Chieftain still have the strength to attack in full force? Does the Nu Chieftain not even want Liaodong anymore?"

At this moment, another official suddenly realized the truth and raised his arm to tap the air several times. "The Beiwei Army must have lied about the military intelligence! They haven't defeated Nuqi many times. They have been wandering around Gaizhou and Haizhou, and they haven't even captured Shenyang. Otherwise, how could Nuqi dare to attack Liaoxi without caring about the retreat?"

"Yes, yes. The Beiwei Army must be secretly colluding with that Nu chieftain. As long as the Nu chieftain captures the emperor and stirs up chaos throughout the country, they can seize Liaodong and establish their own kingdom."

"Shut up!" Chen Shiyou shouted.

When he received Li Mu's letter of transfer, he was already in the Emperor's Corps and had no chance to join Li Mu's Corps.

He had fought side by side with the Black Flag Battalion. The Beiwei Army was, after all, a branch of the Black Flag Battalion. How could he allow others to slander it?

Chen Shiyou roared, "The Beiwei Army has fought desperately to reclaim their homeland in Liaodong. Countless men have died in battle, and countless have been captured and tortured by the Tartars. They fought for Your Majesty, and for you. Even now, they might be surrounded by the Tartars in Shenyang, unable to move an inch, just to preserve an inch of Ming territory. How dare you humiliate them like this! Do you still have a conscience?"

"The Beiwei Army is loyal..." Another civil official, upon hearing someone speak up, followed suit, "The over 40,000 heads taken in the Xiongyueyi victory were witnessed by the civil and military officials of Liaonan. At least 40% of them are genuine Tartars!"

"Where are those heads now? Only 3,000 heads were sent to Ningyuan for examination. Where did the other 40,000 heads go?"

"The Beiwei Army claimed to have their own military tactics, claiming that capturing a city or stronghold was inferior to conquering its heart. They used human heads to build a Jingguan to intimidate the Tartars into abandoning their city, thus defeating the enemy without a fight."

"Instead of learning the benevolence and righteousness of the sages, you are imitating the cruelty and tyranny of the Tartars. What kind of military strategy is this?"

"The Tartars slaughtered more than a million people in Liaodong. Piling their heads into a rockery is tit-for-tat! Does Governor Fang think war is like treating people to a meal? Will the Tartars hand over Liaodong just by reasoning with them?"

Chen Shiyou was so angry that his face turned red and his neck became thick. If the emperor had not been sitting high up in the throne, he really wanted to rush up and give that bastard civil servant a few punches.

"Since Governor Fang values ​​benevolence and righteousness, why don't you be the envoy to the Nu chieftain's camp and persuade the Tartars to withdraw their troops?" A civil servant said sarcastically.

"Humph!"

Although Governor Fang was angry, he would not spit like a soldier. After all, he wanted to leave a good impression of moral superiority in front of the emperor, so he retorted:

"Since the Beiwei Army is not a traitor colluding with the Tartars, then they must be perfect people who are even more saintly than saints.

Instead of using tens of thousands of heads to count for military merit and promotion, you use them to intimidate the Tartars for a momentary gratification. If you were to acquire mountains of gold and silver, would you use them to enrich your descendants or throw them into a lake to enjoy the ripples?"

Fang Futai stood up and saluted the emperor. "I think the Beiwei army is either a saint or a traitor pretending to be loyal!"

Of course, if there really is a saint in this world, he would wear a yellow robe and rule the world.

Wang Chengen saw the emperor's face becoming increasingly gloomy, so he quickly corrected him, "How can you make such a fuss in front of His Majesty!"

Zhu Youjian was slightly startled, wondering if the loyal minister of the Beiwei Army really had any intention of "plotting something evil"?
Was this surprise attack by the Nu chief really the result of collusion among the Beiwei army?
With the enemy at the door, the civil and military officials were still arguing about "internal strife", and Zhu Youjian felt exhausted both physically and mentally.

He did not dare to be sure of this conclusion, but he was troubled by the arguments among the civil and military officials. His deep faith in the Beiwei Army gradually began to crack, as if a suspicious demon was about to break out.

Zhu Youjian suddenly thought of something and said, "Since you all don't trust the Beiwei Army, we still have Li Qing's troops in the south. As long as Li Qing comes to rescue us, everything will be fine."

"Forgive me for speaking frankly, but if the Beiwei Army harbors ill intentions and intends to monopolize Liaodong, they will surely eliminate the Southern Route Army as a stumbling block. If the two powerful armies then fight each other, it will be disastrous."

"Have you sent out a fast horse for help?"

"We have dispatched troops from western Liaoning, southern Liaoning, and Shenyang, but we don't know if they can arrive safely. If they arrive a few days late, we will..."

The minister did not dare to say the second half of the sentence, fearing that it would come true.

Zhu Youjian deeply regretted that he should not have led the army in person, putting his own safety and the foundation of his ancestors in extreme danger.

Zu Dashou from Jinzhou would not come, but he believed, or could only believe, that the Black Flag Battalion and the Beiwei Army would come.

If the Black Flag Camp and the Beiwei Army were both loyal ministers and rushed to the rescue at all costs, but were ambushed by the Tatars on the way, he would have lost two pillars of the country.

Not to mention Liaodong being lost again, even the foundation within the Great Wall would be destroyed. Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youjian, you really deserve to die. Why not just sit back in the capital and wait for two loyal ministers to hand over Liaodong to you? Instead, you had to lead the army in person to boost your own reputation.

Can't you temporarily suppress your inherent suspicion and give the Black Flag Camp and the Beiwei Army a little more trust?

Now they were surrounded by the main force of the Tartars in Dujiatun and could only wait for the arrival of two reinforcements.

The cold wind whistled in his ears. Zhu Youjian climbed up the tower of the garrison at night. He couldn't help but look at the Tatar camps around him that were illuminated by bonfires, and a fear of death surged in his heart.

He looked towards the south and murmured, Li Qing will definitely come.

……

Li Mu had just woken up from the Weicheng Yamen in Gaizhou. After breakfast, the guards helped him put on his armor.

The situation in Liaodong gradually stabilized, and he was not at all worried as he had a "deposit" of 120,000 life points.

He walked out of the yamen with his left hand on his sword, followed by hundreds of elite standard-bearers drawn from the Black Flag Battalion.

He stepped on the stirrup and mounted the horse, and the guards behind him also climbed on the horse.

He was like a doctor doing his daily rounds, patrolling several laps in and around Gaizhou City with hundreds of elite soldiers.

Thousands of horse hooves trotted on the stone pavement, and the soldiers' greetings could be heard along the way.

They shouted "Marshal", "Marshal Li", "General Li"... Li Mu also waved to them politely, or nodded with a smile.

The "righteous cause" of destroying the Qing Dynasty prompted government offices at all levels in the Ming Dynasty to start operating. Although it was an "old government machine", it could still make use of some of its residual heat.

Li Mu also took this opportunity to explore the remaining mobilization potential of the Ming Dynasty - the person hidden under the curtain was not a strong old man, but an old man with drool on his lips.

Li Mu's ambition grew, and the time he had planned for "that" was greatly advanced.

Food, fodder, and military equipment were transported from Zhili, Shandong, and Nanzhi.

Military supplies such as food, ammunition, etc. were stored in Lianyun Island in advance, and then transported to Gaizhou City by boat through Qinghe River.

At this time, Gaizhou had become a huge military station, with tents stretching for miles outside the city, and even several new training grounds for new recruits had been built.

Hu Dawei, Yang Guozhu, Wang Chengdong, and Li Fuming were all under Li Mu's command, and some other series of government troops also gathered to obey the orders of him, the general who suppressed the bandits.

Every quarter, Li Mu sent people to secretly provide some silver to his "old friends" in the Tongxin Society, ranging from one or two thousand to three or four thousand. A general would receive about ten thousand taels of silver a year, which was considered to make up for the shortfall of "lost military pay".

As the saying goes, one should be grateful for what one has received from others, and be soft-hearted when one takes something from others.

After experiencing the taste of full silver and full wages, the old friends realized that their soldiers could exert their true combat power and did not want to return to the state of lack of wages or arrears of wages.

A group of middle-aged and elderly veterans who could almost be uncles were more "loyal" to this young marshal in his early twenties, and called him "Marshal" very enthusiastically.

Putting aside the garrison players, militia, auxiliary troops, and new recruits, Li Mu can now directly command 35,000 direct and collateral combat troops.

Originally, Li Mu planned to gather the southern army and then quickly head north to meet up with the Beiwei Army.

Who knew that it took some time to wait for the "old friend", and the player led the team so quickly that they soon reached Shenyang and captured the entire city.

Previously, the destiny points gained from capturing cities and achieving military victories were basically divided into 30% and 70%, with 30% used to purchase resurrection reserves and 70% used to summon players.

At the moment, he has not figured out how to spend the destiny points for capturing Shenyang - he is eager to think about the problems after regaining Liaodong.

As for Liaodong, he would definitely use the Beiwei Army to hold it in his hands.

Most of the prime land in Liaodong was basically recovered, leaving only some mountain ravines and forts in Liaobei and the east to be recaptured, and Huang Taiji still had a weakened main force.

As a result, Li Mu's next opponents will be two.

One was the remaining main force of Huang Taiji, and the other was the civil and military officials who took over Liaodong from the Ming Dynasty.

The former is not a big deal to worry about. Li Mu received information from the players:

The Tartars briefly stopped on the south bank of the Hun River before abandoning all their garrisons and retreating northward. The black smoke from the burning garrisons could be seen even without a telescope.

The players judged that the Tartars were scared.

The Tatars did not want to repeat the mistake of the "Yu Bi" incident, so they retreated to the bitter cold Jilin in disgrace, intending to engage in a protracted war with the Beiwei Army.

The player is not afraid of a protracted war, and wants to go into the deep forest and play guerrilla warfare with the Tatars, exchanging life for life to see who will be killed first.

Li Mu could only sigh that it was a pity that he missed the decisive battle with the Tartars, but it was also a good thing that he could avoid a decisive battle and sacrifice fewer elite troops.

The Tartar issue came to an end, but the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty remained a thorny problem.

Li Mu did not want to rebel directly here, nor did he plan to rebel in the near future.

His base camp was in southern Henan, where all his weapons, military equipment, elite soldiers and generals were located. The "loyalists" and "corrupt factions" of the three armies in Liaodong were not completely distinguished.

When Zhu Youjian leads the army in person, tens of thousands of wavering neutrals will temporarily become loyalists.

The civil war between the two sides will only allow the Tatars, whose main forces still exist, to reap the benefits.

Therefore, the best case scenario is that Liaodong is successfully recovered, Zhu Youjian personally rewards the meritorious officials, and then returns to the capital with the loyalists.

The remaining Beiwei Army in Liaodong was equipped with more spies, more government troops dissatisfied with the court were won over, more garrison militias were trained to defend the city, and preparations were made for Huang Taiji's interference in Liaodong.

This plan to seize Liaodong had been discussed countless times on the forum, and Li Mu was now filling in a piece of the puzzle, quickly seizing the grassroots before the civil servants took over.

Cadre players settle refugees and build farmlands and houses. Officer players go to various cities and garrisons to train new soldiers.

Every day, the propaganda team went deep into the people's camps and the training grounds for new recruits to continuously spread the heroic deeds of the Beiwei Army.

It further reinforced the idea among the Liaodong people who had just regained their freedom that "the Beiwei Army is the great hero who restored Liaodong."

Once the Beiwei Army starts an uprising, we must ensure that Liaodong becomes the Beiwei Army's "rebellion base" in a short period of time, and neither the Ming Dynasty nor the Qing Dynasty can hold it!

Li Mu thought to himself that this plan to seize Liao was a good one, and things were actually developing in the direction he expected.

However, the reality changes rapidly. Huang Taiji did lead the main force and even many bannermen from the garrisons to Liaobei, but they slightly changed their direction and rushed directly towards Liaoxi.

A hundred scouts who were reporting the news were ambushed on the way, and only thirteen night warriors managed to escape and arrived in Gaizhou.

They were all injured, and the leader rushed into Gaizhou City without rest, determined to meet Marshal Li of the Southern Army.

All the weapons of the Yebushou leader were confiscated. As soon as they met, they pounced on him and knelt at Marshal Li's feet. "General Li, please save His Majesty! The Western Route Army is surrounded by bandits in Dujiatun. His Majesty and all the soldiers are in danger!"

In fact, when Ye Bushou ran out, he didn't know whether the enemy soldiers were Mongolian tribes or Manchu Tartars, but one thing was certain -

The enemy ambushed the cavalry on the road they had to pass.

This shows that the enemy was prepared for a surprise attack and did not want anyone to escape and report the information.

If Hong Chengchou had been a little slower, causing them to set out a little later and giving the enemy ambushes more time to prepare, the Western Route Army would have been completely destroyed and they would not have been able to escape.

By then it will really be the Battle of Sarhu, and we will defeat the three Ming armies one by one!
Li Mu suppressed his surprise and patiently asked the scout for all the information he knew.

It was finally confirmed that the enemy soldiers who suddenly appeared were none other than Huang Taiji's army that had taken a detour.

You are so good, Huang Taiji. Everyone thought you were desperate and doomed, but unexpectedly you still found a way to survive.

"Notify military officers of the third rank and above, and civil officials of the fifth rank and above, to convene a military meeting here! All auxiliary troops immediately enter combat readiness!"

Li Mu also issued an order to the Beiwei Army far away in Shenyang, immediately organizing elite troops to rush south.

(End of this chapter)