Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 50 Fan Wencheng: Dongjiang Town Must Be Taken
"how you said that?"

Huang Taiji's expression turned serious as he saw his generals blocking his way out.

"My lord, I have received reliable intelligence from the Ming Dynasty that their new emperor has killed hundreds of court officials just a few days after ascending the throne."

"Regardless of the emperor's purpose in doing this, it shows that he is no mediocre ruler."

Although these words were actually his subordinate praising the Ming emperor in front of him, Huang Taiji naturally did not feel any dissatisfaction.

He nodded and said, "Go on."

The general paused for a moment, then continued, "My lord, even if our Great Jin were to enter the pass through the Mongols, it would still take at least a year to accomplish that."

"And in such a long period of time, that Ming Dynasty emperor had enough time to do a lot of things."

"If he could use this time to train an army and reform the government."

“If we rashly enter the pass, the Ming emperor will most likely send troops to ambush us. At that time, under the command of the Ming emperor, the military generals supported by those aristocratic families will have to ambush us from the rear, even if they are unwilling.”

"In this way, if we find ourselves surrounded within Ming territory, our Great Jin will be in grave danger!"

As the general finished speaking, Huang Taiji turned his gaze to a Han Chinese man who was seated near the front of the room.

The latter nodded slightly to him, indicating that the analysis made sense.

This Han Chinese official, who ranked high in the list, was named Fan Wencheng and was one of the Han Chinese officials most trusted by Huang Taiji at the time.

Huang Taiji fell silent, while Fan Wencheng paused for a moment before looking at everyone and speaking:

"If it weren't for the unexpected turn of events with the Ming emperor, going through Mongolia to enter the pass and head south would indeed have been a good choice. I never expected that the Ming emperor, who was just a leisurely prince, would have such methods."

The Han Chinese who had just suggested taking a detour to enter the pass scoffed at this, saying, "The Ming emperors were nothing special."

Fan Wencheng didn't argue with this person, but instead looked at everyone in the room: "Although the situation in the Ming Dynasty is not optimistic, isn't our Great Jin Dynasty also facing difficulties?"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

Although Fan Wencheng was young, he was highly respected, and he was the one who devised many plans behind the scenes for the Great Khan Huang Taiji.

A general with a rat-tailed hairpin stood up, bowed to Fan Wencheng, and said, "Mr. Fan, do you already have a plan for the future of our Great Jin? Please enlighten us!"

Fan Wencheng stood up and faced Huang Taiji, saying, "Great Khan, I believe that what our Great Jin should do most is to strike while the iron is hot!"

"What does 'strike while the iron is hot' mean?!" Huang Taiji seemed to have guessed what Fan Wencheng was about to say.

"Let's take advantage of the heat in North Korea and forge this piece of iron in Dongjiang Town!"

Fan Wencheng's voice was filled with confident certainty, and the room fell silent as everyone waited for his next words.

Fan Wencheng took a deep breath and said, "Dongjiang Town is one of the important military towns of the Ming Dynasty that are used to contain our Great Jin."

"In recent years, Mao Wenlong, the garrison commander of Dongjiang Town, has repeatedly invaded the heartland of our Great Jin, taking advantage of the town's strategic location. This has forced the Great Khan to divide his forces to defend the area, making our Great Jin restless and unable to eat or sleep properly. It can be said to be a thorn in our side!"

The generals inside nodded in agreement.

Dongjiang Town and Mao Wenlong were like persistent flies to them.

It couldn't do much damage to Dajin, but Dajin had to focus on defending against it.

Moreover, Mao Wenlong was extremely cunning, and his tactic was to secretly land and conduct small-scale raids.

When Da Jinzhen mobilized his troops to attack him, he fled back to the sea in a flash.

After a pause, Fan Wencheng continued, "Moreover, Dongjiang Town connects Dengzhou in Shandong Province of the Ming Dynasty with Korea, making it an important maritime supply line for the Ming Dynasty."

"If the Great Jin can capture Dongjiang Town in one fell swoop, then we can use this geographical advantage to counter the Ming Dynasty." "In this way, it will no longer be the Ming Dynasty that occasionally harasses our Later Jin heartland, but our Great Jin will be able to attack the Ming Dynasty's Liaodong heartland at any time."

"Furthermore, with Dongjiang Town, we can use it to control Korea and bring Korea completely under the control of our Great Jin!"

Fan Wencheng's words stirred up a storm among the crowd, but no one expressed their support.

All the generals, strategists, and even Huang Taiji were waiting for him to continue.

Having explained the necessity of attacking Dongjiang Town, everyone agreed wholeheartedly.

Now let's discuss the feasibility of attacking Dongjiang Town.

War is no joke.

A wrong strategic decision can often cost tens of thousands of lives in a very short period of time.

Fan Wencheng naturally knew that everyone was waiting for him to continue. After taking a sip of water from his teacup to calm himself, he continued:

"After the Battle of Dingmao, Mao Wenlong failed to provide effective assistance to North Korea, which led to many complaints from some high-ranking North Korean officials."

“We can take advantage of this resentment and secretly station troops on the Korean border. When it gets cold, we can pass through Korea and march straight to Dongjiang Town. This is one of our methods.”

"Secondly: The maritime routes of the Ming Dynasty were all controlled by powerful families, and Mao Wenlong was not supported by these families."

"He himself didn't have many ways to make money, so he could only do some small-scale smuggling or robbing of merchant ships. This amount of money was just enough to keep Dongjiang Town running."

"Therefore, Dongjiang Town has never been able to obtain enough food and fodder. Every winter, many soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town starve to death, which is something you all know."

Everyone nodded.

Fan Junshi's analysis is indeed very reasonable.

"Thirdly, and this is what I consider the most important point."

"Whether our Great Jin focuses its strategic efforts on Ningjin and Jincheng or goes around Mongolia, it will take a lot of time to achieve any results."

"Now that there is the change of the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the longer the time drags on, the greater the possibility of something going wrong."

"But if we focus our efforts on capturing Dongjiang Town, the army can set off immediately in as little as three months when the weather turns freezing cold."

"Within three months, it is absolutely impossible for the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty to extend his reach to Dongjiang Town, which is thousands of miles away."

"Moreover, Mao Wenlong himself was also attacked and suspected by many people in the Ming court, so the Ming emperor would not easily use him."

After saying this, Fan Wencheng said no more and turned back to his seat.

The dozens of people inside remained silent, only frowning in thought.

After a while.

After careful consideration, Huang Taiji slowly nodded, which was considered as his approval of the military strategy proposed by Fan Wencheng.

If we analyze it from his perspective...

This is indeed the best option.

Huang Taiji gave his approval.

A Jurchen general named Borjigit Vunag stepped forward.

(End of this chapter)