Chapter 23 Chapter 23 Attack and Defense

For more than ten consecutive days, he ran non-stop, crossing mountains and ridges, wading across rivers, walking all over the waterways, and seeing all the passes; Xiong Tingbi seemed to want to imprint every inch of land in Liaodong, and probed deeply. Clearly; in order to achieve this goal, not to mention fatigue, he ignored the danger of encountering the enemy, carefully surveyed the terrain and took notes, and did not rest after nightfall. Urging his subordinates to draw diagrams - in this way, he felt that he gained a lot after walking down the road; but the feelings of the people accompanying him were quite the opposite. Although they dared not say anything, they all complained bitterly in their hearts, and secretly complained: "You come to do this blatant 'Jinglue'. If you want to sell your life to the emperor Lao Tzu, you just sell it yourself. Why bother to mess with us and tell us to go up mountains and seas with you? You have never seen this before. suffering?"

A little bit of resentment, even cursed: "What kind of strategy, what kind of governor, are replaced every three days - we have eaten military rations for more than ten years, and we have seen countless civil servants! With you No matter how hard you work, as long as the dignitaries in the court and the eunuchs in the palace are not properly managed, they will not stay for long-the more decent people are, the less they can be officials in Liaodong! Humph, look at you, a serious, 2.58 million, two rankings You were born as a Jinshi, and you are full of words for the country and the people, so you think the emperor really loves you? Bah! How long did you go home to eat old rice after only doing the Liaodong inspection last time? This time, let’s see how long you can do it !"

And these words, of course, no one would reach his ears, so he neglected to pay attention to this point: since Li Chengliang got old and left his post, the sergeants in Liaodong have become more and more sluggish and rarely practiced, so they have long since died. He is so lazy that he can't bear the slightest bit of pain, and he hates him to the core for his strategy of forcing everyone to become diligent and courageous immediately after taking office! There is only one thing in his mind, and that is how to protect Liaodong and how to block Nurhachi's offensive. However, just as soon as he returned to Liaoyang, he stepped into the official office, and there was a thick stack of documents piled up on the table, and what he conveyed was another piece of news that was not conducive to the Ming Dynasty.

"My lord, you are back..." The master who greeted him immediately made a key summary of the contents of the stack of documents, explaining concisely: "Houjin Khan personally led the army and wiped out Yehe and Yehebeile. One surrendered and the other set himself on fire; Yehe's tribe disappeared in smoke— ——The same as Hada, Huifa, and Wula disappeared! The four Hu Lun all no longer exist!" He had just entered the door, the dust all over his body, the wind and sand on his face hadn't been washed away, he had just sat down, and he hadn't drank half a sip of water to moisten his thirsty throat, what he heard was such things, Xiong Tingbi couldn't help but Raising his eyebrows, subconsciously let out a hoarse roar from his dry and parched throat: "What..."

Then, he punched heavily on the wooden table, shaking the teacup that had just been brought up: "This slave chief just came down to me to count the cities, and then went to swallow Yehe—it's becoming more and more rampant Already!" He is a tall and strong man, with a dignified appearance, phoenix eyes and long beard. He usually has a mighty aura, but when he is emotional, his expression is extremely fearsome. Fortunately, this master has followed him for many years. Unlike the others, who were frightened immediately, dumbfounded, and at a loss - when his anger subsides, continue to ask him for instructions: "My lord, should you go to the court?"

This request for instructions is of course a formality-how can we not report such a major event? Although, after the report, it may not be possible to get the attention of Emperor Wanli, but he still tried his best. "Well..." He told the master: "Explain the whole situation in detail, the more detailed the better - the tone should be more serious, this matter is of great importance, and it must be brought to the attention of Long Live Lord!" The master went to draft, but his heart became more and more mixed; he sat for a long time in silence, lost his mind, and forgot to drink a sip of tea; after a long time, he let out a long breath: "this slave Chieftain, he is indeed a powerful character who is difficult to deal with!"

I can't help but think of the past in my heart: It was eleven years ago in the thirty-sixth year of Wanli. He was ordered to patrol Liaodong, and it was the first time in his life that he set foot on the land of Liaodong. Although he was unfamiliar, he immediately felt an unusual atmosphere in surprise. "There is a new force growing..." After observing and thinking for a period of time, he clearly told himself that this unusual weather contained vigor and exuberance, like weeds sprouting and spreading everywhere in spring, sweeping across the field in an instant, without any power can block.

And this conclusion made him uneasy, worried, and even unable to sleep all night; because the owner of this vigorous vitality is not the Ming Dynasty, which has a history of more than two hundred years, but the seemingly insignificant Ming Dynasty. The humble Jurchen Ministry, Jianzhou headed by Nurhachi! Therefore, while doing his best to do his job of patrolling Liaodong, rectifying the administration of officials, military discipline, and promoting culture and military affairs, he was distracted to pay attention to Nurhachi's movements, deeds, and the development of the entire Jianzhou. A similar suggestion: "The biggest trouble is now, and I am only building slaves..."

As for his duties, he must remind the court to pay attention and take precautions early; however, no one will take his words into his heart, let alone think carefully, and formulate countermeasures as he suggested. —— Ten years later, he came to Liaodong again, and the situation he faced was already more difficult to deal with, and the severity was many times greater than what he had estimated ten years ago. "Found the country and proclaim the emperor, defeat our army, unify the various ministries, and grow stronger day by day—isn't the next step to compete in the Central Plains?"

He thought deeply and sighed: "Even ten years ago, I saw his troubles, but I still underestimated him--in just ten years, he has created such a situation!" He is not an ignorant person like Yang Gao. Facing such an extraordinary person, he did not dare to underestimate or ignore him; Being strong has far surpassed our own side, the previous mentality and Liaodong policy need to be adjusted, and the strategy of recovering Kaiyuan planned before leaving Beijing has to be abandoned. "He has long since 'looked at Bian Xiaoyi', and it is not appropriate to hastily use troops to conquer, otherwise, he will repeat the mistakes of Saarhu's great defeat..."

And after this trip to the various passes in person to measure the terrain and inspect the situation, the thoughts in his mind began to become clear after thinking about it day by day, and also overturned his original plan: "It seems that after recovering Kaiyuan, The strategy of protecting the Liao Dynasty is absolutely impossible, and the strategy of advancing and suppressing and using troops is no longer a good strategy..." Together with him on the way out of Beijing to Liao, he had to give up the Liaodong policy that he had been thinking all the way; after a visit, he responded to the reality and Nurhachi's unified Hulun four and his strong strength. At the moment, we should use 'defense' as the standard - first stick to Liaoyang, and then Xu Tu regains it!" During this trip, he also found four dangerous places suitable for deploying troops, which could prevent Nurhachi's cavalry from invading Liao and Shen; The road is between Chaihe and Sanchaer - he estimated that after the defeat of Sarhu, the Liaodong army was greatly damaged, and there were insufficient soldiers, horses, weapons, food and grass, and it was impossible to conduct a comprehensive and widespread defense. These four dangerous places are stationed with elite soldiers; if Nurhachi leads an army to invade, it can still play a role, otherwise, the fall of the entire Liaodong is imminent. "This is the only feasible way..." He frowned tightly, and sighed from time to time in his heart: "It is my duty, I must defend the remaining half of Liaodong, otherwise, if the whole Liao falls, the Eight Banners cavalry will enter Shanhaiguan, and then go to Beijing, the consequences will be unimaginable-but If Liao and Shen are able to hold on, after a few years, the situation may change—ah! In the future, we can only rely on God's will, and the immediate defense and defense strategies are the top priority..." Therefore, I changed my mind again: "It's useless to think too much, I'd better draw up a defensive strategy first, and play it to the court!" However, despite thinking like this rationally, the emotions still cannot be repressed, so he still sighed repeatedly; even, when he was about to concentrate on thinking about the complete plan for keeping the policy, he couldn't help thinking: "The imperial court will allow me to change it. Is offense to defense? Long live God has always been "unpredictable in the heart of the dragon". Few of the elders in the court are familiar with the affairs of Liaodong. Allow me to play?" Thinking about it this way, of course, my mood became more restless and uncertain, and the more I thought about it, the more worried I became: "The imperial court ordered me to patrol Liaodong. I'm afraid it will be difficult to allow me to adopt the strategy of 'defending'—ah! At that time, I am afraid that not only will I not be allowed to play, but I will be urged to use troops..." After thinking about it, his sighs continued all night long—he was originally a strong, resolute and capable person, but because of his poor family, he honed his personality and will far better than ordinary people. Sighing is rare, and repeated sighs like this, repeated thinking, are simply the only things I have seen in my life; his original heroism and the habit of going forward have been covered up by hidden worries in his heart. Even, his eyes dimmed, his brows frowned even tighter, and his face was full of defeat—— And Nurhachi's look is of course very different from him—— When he returned from Ye He's class, although he was in a complicated mood, he was in good spirits, with a burst of red light on his face, even when he was lost in thought, he was not at a loss like a lost soul. He repeatedly thought about the past decades of entanglement with the Yehe tribe, and couldn't help but think of his sister Mongolia several times; he even wanted to call Huang Taiji over several times—this move, although He was strongly held back by himself, but the trance in his heart was hard to get rid of. Until the team entered the city of Hetuala, his mood was still ups and downs with Yehe's, and it took three days to get out of this atmosphere. On this day, as if he had made up his mind, he sent someone to call Huang Taiji; but when Huang Taiji came to him, he never mentioned Ye He's matter, but told him: " Go and try to draw up a plan to attack Shenyang!" After finishing speaking, he didn't even look at Huang Taiji's excited and joyful eyes, and made a gesture to signal Huang Taiji to leave. And this delivery task, he is not pretentious, or playing tricks - attacking Shenyang has long been an established strategy, and sooner or later he will win; letting Huang Taiji draw up a strategy, of course, is to give Huang Taiji a chance - spirit After getting rid of Ye He's troubles, he became more energetic and said to himself clearly: "There is no 'Ye He tribe' in the world, so there is no need to think about it from now on—what you want to think about now is the Ming Dynasty— —To defeat the Ming Dynasty, make the Ming Dynasty no longer exist like the Yehe tribe—the Ming Dynasty is in Liaodong, and only a few big cities such as Liao and Shen are left, so it is not difficult to win..." He still doesn't know Xiong Tingbi's defensive plan, but he is full of energy and confidence.