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

Chapter 703
Jinzhou.

The trauma of the Daling River Battle seems to be gradually being healed. Hou Jin lost a lot of blood in the Daling River Battle and the Lushun Battle, losing nearly 4 horses. The control of the river area has shrunk to Panjin and Yingkou. The Guanning army took the opportunity to rejuvenate the army, reclaimed 10,000+ acres of military land, planted wheat and soybeans, and obtained good harvests year after year.Especially after the Battle of Lushun, the Guan Ning Army became even more energetic in garrisoning fields. Zu Dashou even ambitiously proposed to rebuild Dalinghe City and control the big and small Linghes. Fierce opposition——just kidding, what if there is another siege of the Daling River?Who can bear it?Besides, the high cost of building the city made Chongzhen yelled that he couldn't bear it, and called back his plan.So now Zu Dashou can only be very aggrieved to build some fortresses in the area of ​​Daling River and station troops. It is his idea to retreat to Jinzhou City as soon as Houjin comes.

Zu Dashou has been very depressed in the past few years, and the battle of Daling River was too miserable.The two sons surrendered to Houjin, and even he himself surrendered, which was a great blow to his prestige.Actually, it’s not a big deal. As long as the Ming Dynasty still has to rely on him and rely on his army to defend Jinzhou, a strategically important place, they can only turn a blind eye to his surrender. Easy ah, can not care so much.The problem is that with the rise of the Heluo New Army and the Tianxiong Army, Daming’s dependence on his ancestors and the Guan Ning Army is rapidly decreasing, especially after the Battle of Lushun, regardless of the strong protests of the Guan Ning Army, the The military pay of the Dongjiang Army was increased to 30 taels, and the two fierce generals Zu Dale and Zu Dabi and their [-] iron hoofs were transferred into the pass to be driven by the Tianxiong Army and the Heluo New Army. This was unimaginable before. Yes, it has always been only Liaoxi generals who show Ming Ting's face, when will it be Ming Ting's turn to shout at them?Zu Dashou could clearly feel that Ming court's trust in him and the limit of tolerance towards Guan Ning's army were rapidly decreasing, but he was helpless.The generals of the Guan Ning army were indignant, and threatened to create a mutiny to show the Ming court a little bit of color—they were very good at this, but they were stopped by Zu Dashou.Zu Dashou realized that the balance of power between the Ming Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty was quietly changing with the unstoppable rise of the two new armies, and as the Dongjiang Army regained control of North Korea and the Tianxiong Army beat Mongolia, this ebb and flow became more and more It became more and more obvious that the good days when Guan Ningjun's family was the dominant family were gone forever, and it would not benefit Guan Ningjun at all to offend Ming Ting to death at this juncture.

If a warlord group wants to survive, it is definitely not enough to be able to fight alone. It must also be able to look at the situation, make a decision before making a move, and know when to be arrogant and when to pretend to be a grandson.Now Guan Ningjun is transforming from a grandpa to a grandson. As long as the interests of the generals in western Liaoning can be preserved, so what if he pretends to be a grandson?

The Battle of Lushun really hurt Houjin, so that there was no attack on the Guanning Army for a whole year. There was a rare peace outside the pass. The soldiers and civilians in the Jinzhou area had a rare peaceful life. The decline in the status of the court has made the entire Guanning army very nervous, but that is something that the big men have to consider. Ordinary military households and soldiers don't care about these things. They only care about this year's harvest and whether the military salary can be paid on time.For example, right now, dozens of soldiers in Bajiao Fort are complaining, saying that military pay has not been paid yet:
"Damn it, this military salary has been delayed for three months and it hasn't been paid yet. Are you asking us to drink from the northwest wind?"

"Exactly! It's rare that there is no war this year, and I thought I could live a little more comfortably, but I didn't expect it to be even worse!"

"I don't know when it will be released!"

"Don't complain, it's not bad if you can send it out before the Chinese New Year!"

One of the chiefs sneered: "Don't you know? The imperial court allocated a large share of the salary that was supposed to be given to us to the Dongjiang Army this year! Do you still want to pay on time? It's good to have something to eat!"

A group of soldiers exploded immediately: "That's our money, why give it to those poor ghosts of the Dongjiang Army!"

Shi Chang said: "Seeing that Jiannu is weak, the imperial court thinks we are useless, and wants to kick us away! Hmph, I have already seen through this imperial court. They don't regard us as human beings at all. They need us. Use it to your death when you don’t need it, and throw it as far as you don’t need it!”

The soldiers yelled and cursed, and all of them exploded in anger.Since the Guanning Army became an army, for more than 20 years, the 700 million taels of Liao salary every year is unshakable. The tax collected every year is not enough to pay them. The emperor has to do everything possible to collect it, even if it is selling kidneys. Even if the refugees swept across the Northwest and Central Plains like a prairie fire, they would never dare to use this money to suppress bandits, so in the eyes of the Guan Ning Army, that money belongs to them, and no one is allowed to use it!Now that I heard that the imperial court actually gave their money to the Dongjiang Army, they all turned their noses up. If there were soldiers from the Dongjiang Army present, they would definitely copy them.

————The same beggar, if you slap him every day, and one day you suddenly don’t want to slap him, this is called kindness; if you give him a cake every day, but one day you suddenly don’t, that is called tragedy.Obviously, the Ming court has encountered such a tragedy now. Although the military salary was reduced by 30 taels, the Ming court still paid it on time, but the Liaodong general blocked it and deliberately delayed it.This is also an old tradition. Even if the imperial court pays the salary on time every month, the general will delay the payment for two or three months, and tell the soldiers that they have worked hard to get it, so that the soldiers are grateful to themselves. A means of leading troops.But now what the Liaoxi generals want is not the gratitude of the soldiers, but their dissatisfaction with the imperial court. It is best to organize another quarrel to let the imperial court know their anger!
Seeing that the soldiers were already angry, Na Shichang became more energetic and tried his best to fan the flames, making the soldiers' anger even stronger.He spoke even more eloquently, and suddenly there was a muffled sound like thunder from a distance. Everyone's hearts were beating wildly, they all stopped talking, and looked away, and after only one glance, their complexions changed!

cavalry!

Thousands of cavalry!
Thousands of cavalrymen galloped side by side on the great plain, people shouting and neighing, and they could not see the end at a glance. Battle flags of various colors were flying and flying in the cold wind, forming a colorful ocean!

It's the Houjin army, they're coming!
Extreme fear occupied the whole mind, Shi Chang's face was pale, his lips trembled, his legs trembled slightly, and he screamed wildly: "Light the beacon fire! Light the beacon fire!"

The hands of the soldiers who were in charge of lighting the beacon were trembling, and it took a lot of effort to throw the torch onto the dry woodpile. Immediately, a black column of smoke rose into the sky, rising higher and higher, and could be seen within twenty miles. .

However, this fortress that cost tens of thousands of silver to build could only play this role. Facing the overwhelming force of the Hou Jin army, they could not muster the slightest courage to hold on. Soon after lighting the beacon fire, Opening the gate, they lined up and surrendered to Houjin. 150 soldiers and hundreds of military households were all captured without firing an arrow.

The military fortresses in the Linghe River Basin were ignited one after another, and the news of the Jin army's suppression was transmitted to Jinzhou at high speed, and the entire Jinzhou area was shrouded in an atmosphere of fear.The post-gold iron cavalry galloped recklessly between the high smoke columns, wherever they went, all the fortresses were waiting for the wind to fall, and there were few resistances.The victory in the Battle of Lushun did not seem to make Guan Ning's army braver. They were still the same. After seeing Jin Dajun, it was like a mouse seeing a cat.Of course, this is also understandable. The troops stationed in these army stations are pitifully small, and they are simply unable to compete with the Houjin army. When they see the Houjin army coming in mighty force, what else can they do except surrender?This is also a major disadvantage of Sun Chengzong's fortress tactics. Without an army that dares to confront Hou Jin in the wild, what's the use of building a strong fortress?What's the use of doing a good job in farming?As soon as the Hou Jin army arrived, it became a buffet. The food and weapons stored in the fortress, and the military households in the military village became their trophies!
Of course, it's not useless, for example, you can wipe out all the bad debts that have been spent on empty pay and soldiers' blood... There is no proof!

"Hmph, Guan Ning Army, it really is that Guan Ning Army!"

Dorgon looked at groups of Ming soldiers and military households who walked out of the military camp dejectedly and surrendered to Hou Jin's army, and sneered disdainfully.The army he commanded was sweeping through the fortresses built by the Ming army with the force of the autumn wind. Wherever they went, the Ming army surrendered in anticipation of the wind, allowing Hou Jin to relive the invincible scenery at the beginning... The sulking pent-up from Lushun's disastrous defeat finally came out a little bit. Apart from his disdain for Guan Ning's army, he still disdains it.

Jierhalang also laughed: "It's also the Ming army, why is the Guanning army, which receives 700 million taels of Liao salary every year, so much worse than the new army that has to raise money for training? It's really strange."

Dorgon said: "The Guan Ning army has always been like this, what's so strange?" Stretching his waist, he said: "It doesn't take too many people to mop up the army. Two Jiala are enough! The main force Come with me, we are approaching Jinzhou City, I want to see if Zu Dashou has the courage to go out of the city and fight my big gold cavalry head-on!"

Jierhalang laughed loudly: "Where does he have such courage, I'm afraid he would like to hide in the mouse hole?"

Amid bursts of uncouth laughter, the Hou Jin army rushed towards Jinzhou City, their iron hooves smashed through the ice, and the entire western Liaoning trembled with the sound of rumbling hooves.

In mid-November of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Houjin, who had been lying in bed for more than a year, suddenly launched an attack, and 4000 cavalry swept across the Daling River Basin with lightning speed, and conquered the pass almost effortlessly. The Ning army spent a lot of effort to establish dozens of military settlements, more than [-] officers and soldiers of the Guanning Army, and nearly [-] military households in the military settlements became prisoners. Golden booty.Later Jin's army gained power and was relentless. After sweeping all the military settlements, they went straight to Jinzhou City, and in one fell swoop, Jinzhou, an important military town, was brought to an end.When the news came, the whole western Liaoning was shocked!

(End of this chapter)