Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 208 The general trend of the world
Let's let Yang Menglong, who thinks he is very reliable, but is actually super unreliable, continue to attack Nanyang and develop slowly. Let's take a look at the general trend of the world first.

In the third year of Chongzhen, the slaves invaded Gyeonggi and besieged the capital. After raging in the heart of the empire for several months, they finally retreated triumphantly outside the pass with a large number of people and property.This bold surprise attack shocked the Ming Dynasty, and all civil and military officials pointed their finger at Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Ji Liao: Didn't you say that Liao will be restored in five years?How come back to the capital, it is simply unreasonable!The memorials demanding Yuan Chonghuan's death flew to Chongzhen like snowflakes, almost burying him alive.After several months of procrastination, Chongzhen finally couldn't hold it anymore, and ordered Yuan Chonghuan to be executed Lingchi to express the anger of the people.

In the autumn of the third year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan was executed by Ling Chi at Caishikou in Beijing.During the execution, countless people came to watch and scrambled to buy his raw meat, until only a bloody skeleton was left, and he died in a terrible state.

Yuan Chonghuan is a very controversial figure.He made great achievements in defeating the Hou Jin Dynasty twice in Ningyuan, and even fired artillery to injure Nurhachi. He greatly boosted the morale of the people of the Ming Dynasty, which had lost troops and territory one after another. He made a great contribution.However, when he was defending Liao, he also sold a large amount of grain and grass to Hou Jin and negotiated peace with Hou Jin. How many generals in western Liao made a lot of money by selling military rations - these grains were squeezed out of the mouths of sallow and skinny farmers. of!The peasants themselves ate chaffy vegetables and endured extremely heavy taxes. Even the emperor scrimped on food and clothing, squeezing out millions of taels of pay every year to support Guan Ning's army. It can be said that every tael of silver and every grain of grain was stained. Filled with the blood and tears of the peasants, they sold it to Hou Jin. They made the bandits fat and full of strength. They intensified the massacre and robbery. As the governor of Jiliao, Yuan Chonghuan could not escape the blame.He also killed Mao Wenlong, the commander-in-chief of Pi Island. This mistake was even more fatal. If the Guanning Defense Line was a thick wall blocking the Houjin bandits, then Mao Wenlong, who was entrenched on Pi Island, was a strong wall. The needle behind Hou Jin, he poked it hard when he had the opportunity. Although it would not cause too much damage to Hou Jin, it hurt so badly.Every time Hou Jin launched a large-scale offensive against Jinzhou or against opponents on the Mongolian grasslands, Mao Wenlong would inevitably lead him to land in Dongjiang Town and go to Hou Jin's territory to burn, kill and loot, often causing Hou Jin to have a mole attack before the offensive was fully launched. Withdrew the troops.Mao Wenlong was killed, the armies of Dongjiang Town and Guan Ning were on the same level, and there was no longer any cooperation. Hou Jin's hemorrhoids healed without medicine. The Liaodong battlefield was deteriorating, and Yuan Chonghuan was also to blame.

Why did you want to kill Mao Wenlong?
There are a lot of reasons, but the real reason is probably that Mao Wenlong is unwilling to cooperate with the Guan Ning Army and has taken away part of the Liao's salary.For so many years, the Liaoxi generals have formed a huge interest group through marriage and other means. The interests of the Liaoxi generals are higher than the interests of the empire. Those who may harm their interests will be excluded, suppressed, or even killed. I don't know why.A generation of famous general Jin Guofeng from the official to the commander-in-chief commanded tens of thousands of Guan Ning troops, but he couldn't even command a single soldier when he was in battle. In the end, he could only bring dozens of clan children to fight with Hou Jin, and was killed by Hou Jin in front of Guan Ning. The army's face was beheaded and killed.Cao Wenzhao, the brave champion of the three armies, was also excluded by them, kicked into the pass to participate in the extermination of the bandits, and finally died on the battlefield... The reason why Mao Wenlong was killed was as simple as that.Mao Wenlong is dead, and it is a great thing for Guan Ningjun to lose someone who pays Liao's salary and doesn't listen to him. As for Hou Jin, who got rid of the restraint of Dongjiang Town and has no worries, it has nothing to do with Guan Ningjun—— ——They just need to hold the Guanning line of defense. As for Hou Jin's bold strategic detour against the Ming Dynasty, bypassing the Guanning line of defense and breaking the border to enter the pass, turning Beizhili into a sea of ​​blood, what does it matter to them?It's not from their side!

Yuan Chonghuan tasted the consequences of killing Mao Wenlong while he was still alive, and he paid an extremely painful price for it.He didn't know that this evil result would continue to ferment until the empire fell.

Whether it is merit or demerit, it is meaningless to a person who has been executed, but the mess left by the dead has to be taken care of by the living.After slaughtering Yuan Chonghuan, Chongzhen found that the situation did not improve a little because of this, on the contrary, it became worse: after the Jisi incident robbed a large number of people and property, the strength of Houjin further expanded and became more aggressive; , Zu Dashou became the number one figure in the Guan Ning Army, and the Guan Ning Army, who was not very obedient, became more and more rebellious. If Liao's salary was less than a penny, they would make a big mess for you.It's not that Chongzhen didn't know that Liao's salary, which was getting heavier and heavier but didn't play much positive role, was like a vampire, sucking up Daming's blood little by little, but he had no choice but to try his best to search for the people's fat and people's cream to support the gang of warlords. There was simply no other way.

As for the situation inside the pass, it is not worrying.The provinces of Shaanxi, Ningxia, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, and Hebei have experienced severe droughts and poor harvests. More and more farmers have gone bankrupt due to natural disasters and the pressure of the imperial court. .It doesn't matter if they are just begging for food. The problem is that, a long time ago, the refugees discovered that robbery is easier to fill their stomachs than begging. A large group of bandits came into being. As more refugees joined, the bandits became The rogues swarmed through the hinterland of the empire like locusts, attacking cities and plundering land, laying down and devouring land, causing smoke and flames everywhere in Daming.The losses caused by the bandits are even worse than those caused by the establishment of slaves and the bandits!

Due to external troubles and internal troubles, Daming Co., Ltd. has suffered serious losses and is insolvent, but President Zhu Youjian has to bite the bullet and keep the company going, and can't let it just close down.If Daming Company were to close down, how would he explain to the founder of the company, Zhu Yuanzhang?Let's get through it, a year counts as a year!
President Zhu still understands the truth that the outside must be settled inside. If he doesn't get rid of the locusts that are rolling inside, he won't be able to concentrate on fighting against the increasingly ferocious Jiannu outside the pass.In order to deal with the refugees, he sent his minister Yang He.It's not because Yang He is so good at fighting, this guy doesn't know how to fight at all, but because of his eloquent mouth, it's perfect to send him to appease the refugees.Right now the treasury can already starve the rats to death, and it is really not possible to spend so much money to wipe out the bandits, so it is more cost-effective to recruit them. Didn’t Yang He always insist on recruiting them?OK, it's up to you, let's go!Of course, Yang He didn't let Yang He go empty-handed. President Zhu squeezed out 10 taels of silver from his private treasury, and bought some food for Yang He to bring. Come on, the motherland needs your tongue!
Yang He, a master of mouth cannon, was speechless and tearful. While smoking his mouth, he got on his horse and went straight to Shaanxi, where the trouble was the most violent.Judging from the current situation, this talkative master has done a good job. Several gangsters have accepted his consolation, and more and more gangster leaders have expressed their willingness to accept consolation. President Zhu is finally relieved. In one breath, it seems that Yang Zuipao is quite capable!That's enough, I'll leave the affairs of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia to you, and concentrate on dealing with Jiannu first.

Last year, the establishment of slaves and the invasion of the bandits shook the world. Every time Chongzhen thought about it, he still had lingering fears in his heart. He ordered the Guanning Army to strengthen the defense line of Guanning. Come and go if you want.Sun Chengzong also still has a fresh memory of the earth-shattering changes last year. Although he had already retired at that time, the Guanning line of defense he managed so painstakingly allowed Houjin to bypass it easily, which made this outstanding strategist in the late Ming Dynasty deeply ashamed , he was determined to pay back.

Sun Chengzong's strategy was fortress tactics. Starting from Jinzhou, he built fortresses based on the dangerous terrain and advanced slowly. Every time he advanced to a place, he was nailed there as firmly as a steel nail until he managed it into an unstoppable state. The fortress is fortified, and then continue to move forward.To put it bluntly, he just bullied Hou Jin for his poor attack ability. Hou Jin conquered Guangning, Tieling, and Shenyang Zhucheng with the help of spies. If the spies were eliminated, they would have no choice but to suffer a bloody blow.Sun Chengzong understood Hou Jin's situation accurately and adopted this method of fortifying the stronghold to fight a dull war. He used the fortress group to squeeze Hou Jin's living space little by little, forcing Hou Jin to take the initiative to attack the solid fortress - from now on Jin's poor performance in previous battles, even if he can be defeated, a lot of people will have to die. How many people does Jin have?Where can withstand such consumption?There was no other way. The Ming army was discouraged by Hou Jin, and they had long since lost the courage to fight with Hou Jin in the field. No matter how much they trained or how much money they paid, it was useless.It's okay to let them defend the city, and go out to fight in the field?Believe it or not they tied you up first?I can only use this stupid method.This time was no exception. He still planned to use fortress tactics to push forward step by step and take the initiative back from Hou Jin. It would be best to force Hou Jin to fight a tough battle that they were least good at and teach them a lesson. It's also good to have an explanation to the little emperor in Beijing.

Where to start?

The sharp eyes of the old man patrolled the wooden map back and forth, just like an eagle overlooking the ground from a high altitude.There are not many forces at his disposal. This power point must be chosen well. It must be close enough to Jinzhou to facilitate the rescue of the Ming army. At the same time, it can also pose a strong enough threat to Houjin. A city, but Hou Jin doesn't take it seriously, it's ridiculous!

His eyes fell on a small city that was built twice and destroyed twice. A complete plan gradually took shape in this wise and calm mind.

The name of this small town is "Daling River".

(End of this chapter)