In southern Liaoning, Haizhou was recovered and troops overwhelmed Anshan Station; in eastern Liaoning, Aiyang Fort and Xin'an Fort were captured, and they continued to advance westward.
After the victory in Liaodong, the Dongjiang Army did not stop making progress. After the spring plowing, it resumed its offensive posture and posed a threat to Jianlu from two directions: southern Liaoning and eastern Liaoning.
Although there were not many actual gains, the desire and actions to take the initiative to attack still satisfied the court and the emperor.
"Mao Wenlong and Guo Dajing did not deceive me. They said they would level the Liao Dynasty in three years, but they worked hard to achieve it, unlike Yuan Manzi."
Chongzhen was in a good mood when he saw the memorial, but for a moment he thought of the guy who made him grit his teeth.
Wen Tiren, the first assistant, bowed and stood in silence before His Highness, waiting for the emperor's inquiry.
Probably due to being stimulated, Chongzhen lacked trust in his ministers more and more, and he basically made the final decisions in the court.
In particular, Chongzhen had a deep-rooted aversion to cliques. The most important reason why Wen Tiren became the first assistant was that he was appreciated by Chongzhen as a "lone minister".
As for national affairs, Wen Tiren basically kept silent and rarely proposed constructive strategies. It is better to be silent than to speak. With this belief, it would be good for him not to do anything.
"Mao Wenlong reported that in order to encourage the morale of the army and the people, and to make the soldiers and people of Dongjiang Town share the same hatred of the enemy, he hoped that after the Liaodong was pacified, he would be given a five-year grace period, continue to use the military household system, and continue his policy..."
Chongzhen's voice echoed in the hall, Wen Tiren lowered his head, blinked his eyes, thinking rapidly in his mind, and carefully weighed his words.
Liaodong was plagued by wars, and the soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town also suffered. After the Liao Dynasty was pacified, loose policies were implemented to relieve the people, which was conducive to the reconstruction of Liaodong and the recuperation of the soldiers and civilians.
It is understandable that Mao Wenlong made such an application.
Moreover, various policies in Dongjiang Town were approved by the imperial court and could not be immediately invalidated as soon as Liaodong was pacified.
Mao Wenlong was asking the court for formal endorsement. The policy remained unchanged for five years after the Ping Liao, which made the soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town feel at ease and support the Ping Liao cause more enthusiastically.
If there is no endorsement from the imperial court, I am afraid that the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town will think that there is nothing good about Pingliao, and that the policies to benefit the people are gone, and it is better to remain as it is now.
"Mao Wenlong also promised the court that after the Liao Dynasty was defeated, he would carry out a major disarmament and devote all his energy to the reconstruction of Liaodong. The salary could be reduced by half..."
In fact, Mao Wenlong, Guo Dajing, Chen Jisheng and others have already estimated that Dongjiang Town can be self-sufficient by relying on the vast land in Liaodong without any money from the court.
But Guo Dajing knew the emperor's temperament very well, so how could he dare to expose his trump card? This half of the salary was left for Chongzhen to bargain with.
After annexing Liao Town, no matter how many troops Dongjiang Town expands, the imperial court has fixed the salary at 1.2 million taels.
This was also an agreement reached between Dongjiang Town and the court, or it was a bait to achieve Dongjiang Town's purpose by leveraging Chongzhen's resentment towards Guan Ning's army and the court's financial embarrassment.
Now, Dongjiang Town has put forward conditions again. From the current point of view, the conditions are not harsh and can even reduce the burden on the court. And getting rid of Jianlu, a serious problem, is an unwavering goal.
"Wen Qing, what do you think?" Chongzhen finally turned to Wen Tiren and asked in a deep voice.
Wen Tiren bowed and played: "Long live the memorial. I think what Mao Wenlong played is reasonable and for the sake of the great cause of pacifying the Liao Dynasty. As for the food and salary after the pacification of the Liao Dynasty, I think it can be lowered."
Very good, this idea of saving money is the same as mine.
Chongzhen raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said slowly: "In the Ping-Liao War, if I can achieve success in one fell swoop, the reward money will probably not be a small amount. Well, the salary money can indeed be more generous."
After several great victories, tens of thousands of people were beheaded, and the imperial court spent millions of taels of silver just to reward him. Although the victory was inspiring, Chongzhen was also really heartbroken.
He was even guessing that Dongjiang Town was doing this on purpose, using reward money to make up for the reduction in salary.
However, the nature of reward money is different from that of salary. Chongzhen did not want to bear this infamy. Moreover, he could not dispel the Dongjiang Army's desire to fight.
In fact, in Mao Wenlong’s memorial
After the submission, Chongzhen had already made a decision. He called Wen Tiren to inquire, just to test and verify his wisdom and correctness.
Now that Liaodong is handed over to Dongjiang Town, Chongzhen can save a lot of worry. He no longer has to worry about alarms at the border. At least, there will no longer be worries about Jianlu taking a detour to enter the border.
When the Ming Dynasty was experiencing internal and external troubles, the decentralization of power to military generals had shown an inevitable trend.
This may be due to the stimulation of Chongzhen by his own changes, or it may be due to Chongzhen's own thinking, which regarded increasing the power of generals as a good way to fight chaos.
It may also be that the inherent trajectory of the end of the dynasty, the weakness of the imperial court, and the self-rescue of the imperial power provided suitable soil for the breeding of warlords.
"According to Fang Zhenghua's memorial, Jiannu also sent letters to Mao Wenlong and Guo Dajing, requesting for peace."
Chongzhen narrowed his eyes slightly and sneered a little, "He is trying to find fault with the relationship between Guo and Guo, and he also wants to arouse the suspicion of the imperial court. His intention is to be punished."
Wen Tiren blinked his eyes and immediately understood that this was just a conspiracy. He immediately bowed and said: "Long live the wise man. Jian Nu has done everything possible. It can be seen that he is at the end of his rope and is struggling to death."
Chongzhen nodded and said: "I am not suspicious of people. Since I have entrusted Dongjiang with Liao affairs, I will not be suspicious or suspicious. It is very gratifying that Mao and Guo can work together and take Ping Liao as their own responsibility."
After a pause, Chongzhen finally made up his mind and said in a deep voice: "I have made up my mind. I will give Guo Dajing the title of Taibao of Wenlong and give him the sword of Shangfang."
Wen Tiren knew that this was a disguised urging, asking Mao Wenlong and Guo Dajing to speed up the pace of Ping Liao. At the same time, it was also a reward to make up for the great victory in Liaodong.
"Long live the clear rewards and punishments, you are truly a wise king through the ages." Wen Tiren bowed and said: "Why worry about the soldiers not dying, why worry about the slaves being established and the Liaodong being difficult to pacify?"
Chongzhen smiled, feeling very relieved.
Yes, he must be a Mingjun. The three dynasties of Jiannu, which have not been destroyed for three dynasties, will end in his own hands. There is also the She'an Rebellion in the southwest. The Ming army has the upper hand, and the rebellion can be quelled soon.
Once the external troubles are eliminated, the internal troubles will become easier. How can a group of rioters armed with hoes and sticks be a match for well-trained officers and soldiers?
Until now, Chongzhen and the imperial court still have a contemptuous attitude towards the peasant uprising. They believe that the spread of the peasant uprising is just a mistake in previous strategies, and they blame Yang He's failure to pacify them.
But none of them realized that the peasant uprising was spreading from the northwest to the Central Plains. As the disaster deepened, a wave of civil unrest would also form in Shanxi and Henan.
At the same time, another significant change in the peasant rebel army was from decentralization to concentration, becoming more organized and destructive.
The reason why Guo Dajing was not eager to intervene in the civil unrest in the country was not because the Dongjiang Army was not strong in combat power, nor because he was not capable enough.
Combining suppression with appeasement is naturally a good strategy, but without money and grain relief, without land distribution, and major disasters becoming more and more severe, it is inevitable to appease followed by rebellion.
Blindly suppressing people will result in a lot of killings. Under the torture of crazy hunger, the rebellious people will still fight one after another.
Guo Dajing has overturned his previous prediction, which he told Chen Jisheng that there would be a rebel named Li who would lead the rebels to destroy the Ming Dynasty.
Since the defeat of Jianlu was imminent, the Ming army, without foreign aggression to contain them, was likely to suppress the rebels, including Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, one by one.
But if there is insufficient money and food, fiscal policies are not reformed, and the gap between the rich and the poor is not narrowed, Li Zicheng's second, third, or even fourth place will still appear.
If the root causes of civil unrest are not resolved, they are like weeds that "grow again in the spring breeze" and cannot be burned away with fire.
………………
No matter how the imperial court treated Mao Wenlong's memorial, Guo Dajing no longer cared much about it and devoted all his energy to training troops and preparing for war and accumulating grain and ammunition.
More than 10,000 newly recruited soldiers, as well as the screened and selected officers and soldiers of Liao Town, have finished their settling-in vacation and have gradually joined various departments of the Dongjiang Army.
There are about 15,000 people in southern Liaoning, and Liaodong, plus the first batch of troops from Liao Town, has also been supplemented by a total of 15,000.
The three major flying cavalry battalions also expanded to 6,000 each.
Three thousand more lances and cavalry were added, as well as one thousand heavy troops and light artillery, bringing the total to 10,000 cavalry.
After absorbing new recruits, the strength of the five major infantry Concorde special operations battalions has reached more than 14,000.
After the integration training, some of them will be transferred out to form the Sixth Association, which will be led by generals from western Liaoning. This is also a comfort to the officers and soldiers of the former Liao Town, and a reward for Zu Dashou's knowledge of current affairs.
Finally, the Dongjiang Army reached more than 100,000 troops, meeting the conditions scheduled by Guo Dajing for a decisive battle.
If North Korea may dispatch more than 10,000 elite troops, it will already have an overwhelming advantage over Jianlu in terms of military strength.
Of course, Guo Dajing required not only superiority in troops, but also strict training, complete weapons, and sufficient ammunition.
Any method that can reduce casualties is a good method, and Guo Dajing will do his best.
For example, the trebuchet has been re-manufactured. Under the guidance of a few craftsmen and the participation of a large number of soldiers, thousands of them will soon be manufactured.
This kind of trebuchet is a medium-sized, counterweight type, which can throw bombs weighing more than 20 kilograms to a distance of more than 200 meters. However, the ammunition it comes with is only about two kilograms, and it is the simplest fuse-ignited type.
In other words, one throw can throw out almost a dozen bombs, and it is the lowest cost and easiest to manufacture.
"The denser they are, the greater the chance of being thrown into a trench, and heavy bombs are less suitable. Pull-fire ignition bombs are more expensive and time-consuming to manufacture."
After listening to Guo Dajing's explanation, the artillery officer suddenly understood and nodded in agreement.
"Mortars, Hongyi artillery, rockets, field artillery, plus trebuchets, the requirements for your artillery are getting higher and higher."
Guo Dajing reached out and patted his arm, and said earnestly: "Actually, the trebuchet is the simplest and easiest to master."
"Don't worry Commander Guo, there are just a few types of artillery. If you can't operate them all skillfully, you are an unqualified artilleryman." The artillery officer assured Guo Dajing very confidently.
Guo Dajing originally wanted to make a suggestion, subdividing the artillery and mastering the operation of at least three types of artillery. But after hearing the officer's assurance, he swallowed his words.
It sounds like there are five types of artillery, but in fact, trebuchets are not included, and smarter infantry can also learn to operate them.
The ones with relatively high technical content are Hongyi artillery, field artillery, as well as mortars and rockets. However, the operation of front-loading artillery is more troublesome and not as complicated as over-the-horizon bombardment.
There are still about half a year left. If the artillery training cannot meet the requirements, it will not be too late to subdivide it.
Moreover, the artillery of each ministry is also different, so it is not easy to force uniformity.
For example, the light artillery that followed each flying cavalry battalion carried rockets and 300-pound Franco machine guns, which facilitated maneuverability.
The Infantry Association is mainly equipped with field artillery and mortars, and is also equipped with a lot of rockets.
As for the Hongyi cannon, there are not many cannons that can be pulled onto the battlefield. They are mainly used for sieges. They can be pulled up to bombard city walls or gates when tunnel blasting is inconvenient.
The main battlefield is in Liaoyang. Guo Dajing can completely concentrate the artillery and artillery of various associations and let Jianlu experience the overwhelming bombardment.
"The number of artillery pieces now is almost sufficient except for field guns. Producing sufficient ammunition is the main task of the arsenal."
While watching the soldiers' training, Guo Dajing estimated the production progress and what adjustments needed to be made.
The large influx of immigrants not only enriched the army, but also recruited a large number of craftsmen in the arsenal, and the production capacity was greatly improved.
Coupled with the strong support of Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, the ammunition and supplies for the Pingliao War should be guaranteed to start as scheduled.
However, in order to ensure sufficient raw materials, Guo Dajing spent hundreds of thousands of money on outsourcing nitrate, refined iron, copper materials, etc.
"When you earn money, you spend it." Guo Dajing didn't feel bad about this. If his ideal was to be a rich man, why would he risk his life and go to war?
An army of one hundred thousand is on the alert, fully prepared for a battle to decide the outcome.
.There are countless craftsmen and countless people who are contributing their own efforts to the end of this war.
It was the final sprint before the decisive battle. Even if Mao Wenlong wanted to regret it, it was too late.
How can we support these 100,000 troops without recovering more land? Do they have to be dismantled after they have worked so hard to train and equip them?
Moreover, even if it is abolished, the land currently occupied will not be enough to support the influx of immigrants and supply food for the soldiers and civilians of Liaodong.
And these problems can only be solved by completely defeating the Jianlu and recovering Liaodong, and the future will be bright.
A horseman galloped over. The cavalryman jumped off his horse, ran up to the high platform, bowed and presented a letter, "This is a letter from Commander Guo and Commander Mao."
Guo Dajing reached out to take it, unfolded it and looked at it. He couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth, smiled, and waved his hand to signal the cavalry to retreat.
The reward finally came belatedly, and Mao Wenlong was awarded the title of Taibao, one of the three princes, which was also ranked high in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
It seems that, in Chongzhen's view, a great victory in Liaodong is more valuable than his firm refusal to propose peace and the firm determination to pacify Liao and destroy the captives!
Well, he is also the one who has Shang Fang's sword! Chongzhen probably wanted to suppress Zu Dashou, he really held a grudge!