The era of warlord melee has begun. The one who strikes first does not necessarily have the advantage. At this time, it is a competition to see who is more patient and who knows how to accumulate strength. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, various vassal states in the Central Plains were in fierce turmoil, and several overlords emerged. , but in the end they were destroyed one after another by the Qin State located in the west.
Wan Lei had a very clear understanding of the situation, so he did not put his main force on the Central Plains battlefield, but focused his main energy on conquering Liaodong. As long as he captured the land and resources of Liaodong, he would then draw hundreds of thousands of people to the Central Plains. With filling and development, the strength of the Peiping Army will be greatly enhanced. When the "princes" in the south of the Yangtze River in the Central Plains are defeated, they can advance by sea and land together and move south in a large scale. It will be easy to conquer the world.
On the ninth day of April, good news came from Shanhaiguan. Zhao Quanjie led more than 20,000 troops to break through Shanhaiguan and annihilated tens of thousands of Liao troops. Liao King Zhu Gaoxu hurriedly fled north with less than 10,000 remaining troops. Zhao Quanjie left 5,000 men to garrison Shanhaiguan and led them. The main force kept chasing and fighting, and in just one day, they captured Ningyuan and Jinzhou one after another.
While the army was advancing vigorously, the navy also returned from the coast of Shandong, entered the Bohai Sea, and seized large rivers such as the Yalu River and Dacha River. It implemented a naval blockade of Liaodong and cooperated with the army to conquer Liaodong. Whether it was the Liaodong Peninsula or the Liaohe Plain, Under the front of the Peiping Army, the few people who were originally there were all panic-stricken, and the few remaining troops fled one after another.
The most valuable land in Liaodong is also on the Liaohe Plain, which includes the Liaohe River, Taizi River, Hun River, Xiaoling River, etc. However, due to the small drop of the river, the slow flow of the river, and the large amount of sedimentation, this area has Many of them are unusable swamps and salt-alkali lands, known as the Great Southern Wilderness.
However, Wan Lei is confident that he can manage this area well and make it the most important grain production base in Northeast China. Moreover, this area has sufficient water resources, mineral resources and forest resources. There are even oil fields underground, which is rare. treasure land,
However, Liaodong is bordered by North Korea to the east and the Mongolian Duoyan Sanwei tribe to the west. There are also barbarian tribes in the forest sea in the north, and the security is not very good. Therefore, Wan Lei decided to focus on the Liaohe Plain and the Liaodong Peninsula first, using the land along the river. On the way up, the city was designated as a residence, and the northern territory was developed and engulfed bit by bit in a point-by-point manner.
In fact, the Central Plains Dynasty developed the Liaodong region very early. By the Ming Dynasty, there were many large cities in Liaodong, such as Liaoyang, Shenyang, Fushun, Tieling and Kaiyuan. These were the strongholds of the Ming army in Liaodong. Of course, most of these strongholds were military towns. , incomparable to the prosperous cities in the Central Plains,
If you want to develop in Liaodong, in addition to dealing with enemies on three sides, you also have to overcome the severe cold climate. In winter, it will turn into a world of ice and snow, and people will not go out less. If you come from the south, you will have to freeze to death. , To overcome this difficulty, we must not only improve the living environment, but also buy more clothes and quilts to keep out the cold. Of course, more importantly, we must have residents with strong bodies.
In order to attract enough people to fill the gap, Wan Lei issued an order early on that all residents who were willing to settle down in Liaodong would be upgraded to citizens, and each person would be allocated no less than twenty acres of cultivated land, and would be encouraged to open up wasteland. All wasteland will be privately owned and tax-free for twenty years.
As soon as this policy came out, there were very few people in Shuntian Prefecture, and not many people in Baoding and Hejian Prefectures. There were only a few thousand households. However, this was not what Wan Lei expected. After all, Beipingxing Province also has a large population. The land is sparse, and many people have endless land to farm, and no one is willing to move. Therefore, the immigrants to fill the land have to be drawn from the displaced refugees.
Wan Lei is planning the development of Liaodong, but the provinces south of the Yangtze River have turned into chaotic battlefields. From the outbreak of the "uprising" to the present, in just over ten days, the rebels' footprints have spread all over Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and the capital. Even in Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and other neighboring provinces, rebels have risen up one after another. The officers and soldiers in more provinces are either wavering and waiting, or they are marching towards the capital with large armies. They are called King Qin and are actually fighting for the world.
Jinling City had long been destroyed because the imperial palace was bombarded by artillery. Emperor Jianwen temporarily stationed himself in the original palace of King Wu, which was the Duke of Wei. The civil and military officials could only discuss matters in the small palace. At this time, the city of Jinling was also There was chaos. The guard headed by Xu Huizu had to organize the army to prepare for war and regulate the security in the city. He was so tired that he almost vomited blood.
"Report,"
"Said," Since his palace was occupied by the emperor, Xu Huizu had no choice but to live in Yingtianshun Yamen, and regarded it as the headquarters of the counter-rebellion army.
"The commander of Huguang City, Zhang Guangshou, and the prefect of Anqing Prefecture, Hu Nian, urgently reported that the rebels were advancing by land and water to attack Anqing. There are not enough defenders in the city, and we fear that the city will not be completed. Please send troops to rescue urgently. If it is too late, it will be in danger."
"Why did we arrive in Anqing so soon?" Xu Huizu's face suddenly changed. Anqing is the upstream gateway to Jinling. Once Anqing is captured, Jinling will be completely exposed to the rebels. If the army gathers its troops and goes down the river, Jinling City will be in great danger.
"Send orders to Ningguo Mansion and Luzhou Mansion to have the troops stationed in the two places rush to rescue," Xu Huizu said helplessly, because he did not have many troops at hand, only 150,000 soldiers from the capital, plus the temporarily recruited minzhuang. , which is only about 250,000, there is no way to send troops to rescue, we can only hope for local joint protection to save ourselves.
Of course, Xu Huizu had no hope for reinforcements from Ningguo and Luzhou. Under the current situation, it is worthy of praise that the garrison troops did not surrender to the enemy. It is difficult for others to force them to fight for their lives, and local governments at all levels The generals are just waiting on the sidelines and will not lead others to fight for their lives.
The local army cannot be counted on. The only thing that can be counted on now is the imperial guards of Shangzhiwei. Xu Huizu is already planning a decisive battle with the two groups of rebels in Jinling. He knows that the only way to defeat the main force of the invading rebels is to defeat them. Only by defeating it can it be possible to put down this rebellion.
Compared with the first-class civilian army from Jingxiang, the "pirate" army from Zhejiang gave Xu Huizu an even bigger headache. Although this army did not have many soldiers, it had many warships and marched on both land and water, attacking prefectures and counties along the river. They fell one after another, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas were originally the source of money and food for the imperial court. The fall of this area meant taking away the imperial court's jobs.
Occupying a land that is important for money and food, the "pirate" army has money in hand, recruiting soldiers and selling horses along the way, and it is developing very rapidly. Nearly 100,000 rebels arrived outside Yangzhou in hundreds of warships yesterday. As long as Yangzhou is captured, they can fight against the refugee army. Corresponding from a distance, they formed a pincer attack on Jinling.
"Qin'er, all the captured artillery pieces have been put on the warships," Xu Huizu asked his son. He knew that the focus of the Jinling defense battle was not to defend the city, but to defend the river. The most important battlefield was not on land, but on the river. It's on the river, so training the navy is the most important.
"Haier has been installed by the shipwrights, but the cannons are too heavy to be carried by a warship. Although the Dafu ship can be carried, the cannons are too powerful. Only one test shot cracked the ship's plank. It's really It's not fit for purpose," Xu Qin frowned. In fact, these artillery pieces were captured from the Purple Mountain. They are large artillery pieces left behind by the rebels.
These big gadgets have a long range and are powerful, and they were the ones that destroyed the palace. Unfortunately, the Ming army got these gadgets, but could not install them on the warships.
"Pirates can put artillery on the ship, why can't we? Let the shipwrights think of ways to put the cannon on the ship as much as possible. By the way, let the blacksmiths in the city think of ways to imitate this kind of cannon. Tell them that every time they make a cannon, , our government will use one hundred taels of silver to buy it," Xu Huizu said seriously,
In fact, Xu Huizu also loved and hated artillery. He knew that these big guys came from the ironworks in Beiping City. He also knew that the Peking Army had no longer used such big gadgets, but instead used lighter and more powerful ones. Larger steel cannons and large iron pipes are actually obsolete products after the Peking Army's armament upgrade.
Although they are just discarded products, these big iron pipes are still very scary. They weigh up to a thousand kilograms, and the muzzle is as thick as a bowl. They are powerful and have a long range. They are also equipped with iron hoops on the barrels and rarely explode. They are really strong and durable. But unfortunately, this kind of big thing was produced in Beiping City, but the Ming Dynasty could not produce it.
Xu Huizu also realized the equipment gap with the Ming Army and the Peking Army, and also planned to open an iron smelting plant like the one in Beiping City. Unfortunately, it never happened. On the one hand, there were civil servants in the court and the court could not afford the funds; On the one hand, he himself couldn't figure out how molten iron was made. He sent people to Beiping City to steal his masters, but they never came back.
If he couldn't do it himself, Xu Huizu also wanted to order artillery from Beiping City like a pirate. However, the Peking Army and the Ming Army were at odds with each other, and they would definitely not sell it. Even if they were willing to sell it, water from afar could not quench their thirst for nearness, so he could only We place our hopes on the humble blacksmiths, hoping that under the heavy reward, their intelligence will explode and they will overcome the difficult problem of making iron and casting cannons.
"Father, our army has captured very few artillery pieces, so the navy should be equipped with more copper cannons and muskets. The navy currently has insufficient firearms of all kinds and should rush to make them," Xu Qin suggested. He is also quite shrewd and knows how to cast. Artillery is in no hurry, so we can only rely on various small firearms to narrow the equipment gap with the pirate army.
"Okay, let the craftsmen start working overnight to make small muskets and rockets. In addition, naval training cannot stop for a moment. Our navy was defeated last year. Most of the existing navy officers are not accustomed to water warfare and are difficult to fight. ,," When Xu Huizu said this, his brows even furrowed into the character "Sichuan",
There is no other way. After several years of fighting in various places, especially the past three years of fighting against the Peking Army, the imperial court has almost lost all its little possessions. Now it can be described as being poor and in vain. However, the ministers in the court still cannot understand the situation clearly. They argue and scold each other all the time but no suggestions are made. Others put forward suggestions, but they are always restrained. It is true that the success is less than the success, and the failure is more than failure.