No one knew the content of this imperial edict, but not long after, the British Duke Zhang Mao hosted a banquet for all the nobles in Beijing in the name of his wife's birthday.
The alliance between nobles and civil servants that Zhu Youxiao had always been worried about did not appear on the surface, but he was always uneasy in his heart.
He specially summoned Sun Yunhe and asked him to select good people from Beizhen Fusi to conduct in-depth investigations and monitor the officials and nobles in the court.
In terms of intelligence, Sun Yunhe is the most outstanding among the five people including Xu Xianchun.
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Xiong Tingbi of Liaodong did not sit in Shenyang, waiting eagerly for the court's decision and the emperor's imperial edict like others.
While Lao Nu was negotiating for peace, he sent out heavy troops to attack the Ming army in Fushun. It did not exceed his expectations. Even if he was beaten to death, he would not believe that Lao Nu would be willing to bow his head and negotiate for peace.
He knew Lao Nu very well. He was an extremely arrogant and arrogant guy. Before the Jurchens were unified, he dared to challenge the Ming Dynasty.
Although he has suffered several defeats and lost many troops, given his temperament, he will never give in willingly, not to mention that he is not facing a dead end.
But the old slave's duplicitous behavior still angered Xiong Tingbi, a man with an extremely violent temper.
During this period, he ordered three generals, Zhao Lijiao, Zu Dashou and Li Huaixin, to lead the cavalry and cavalry in frequent attacks.
Each time the troops went out to the fortress, no less than 5,000 men were deployed, starting from Huabaochong Fort, Sanchaer Fort and other places, and entered Jianzhou Guard along the rivers and mountain roads.
All villages, tribes, and cottages that are encountered will be swept away. No matter who they are, as long as they live in the local area, they will be killed without leaving any men, women, old or young behind.
Xiong Tingbi even issued a special military order for this purpose. Anyone with a braided head would be credited with military merit and be rewarded with silver.
Of course, it cannot be compared with killing enemies on the battlefield. Xiong Tingbi's reward system is that the head of a woman is ten to one, the head of an old man is five to one, and the head of a child is fifteen to one.
But this still boosted the morale of the Ming army officers and soldiers who went out to the fortress. As long as they had military merit and reward, they didn't care who the other party was.
After all, it was commonplace for them to kill good people and take credit for their merits in the past, and there was no mercy in front of money.
But even so, the Ming army still had little effect, because it was really rare to encounter the residence of Jiannu.
Lao Nu moved most of the population to the surrounding area of Lao Village. Except for a few scattered areas, it can be described as deserted.
He even went to Mao Wenlong and asked him to send troops to distract the old slave's attention and strength, and cooperate with the harassment tactics on the flanks.
Mao Wenlong naturally agreed. After all, this is what he is best at. He likes sneak attacks and destruction the most.
It just so happened that his Zhenjiang Army also needed to be taken out to practice in actual combat. After all, most of them were newly recruited and had limited combat effectiveness, so they had to practice well on the battlefield.
He appointed his two adopted grandsons, Mao Yongshi (Kong Youde) and Mao Youjie (Geng Zhongming), as generals to lead the army, and led more than a thousand troops to attack on the initiative.
The two men won the trust and guidance of Mao Wenlong. They fought vigorously in guerrilla warfare, leaving the slave soldiers stationed in the field confused and unable to figure out the beginning and end.
As for Mao Yongxi (Shang Kexi), who was still young, he took him with him and taught him personally. As a member of a hundred households, he was awarded the position of officer in the Zhenjiang Army, which gave him a very high status.
But even so, Xiong Tingbi and Mao Wenlong's two-sided attack still did not have much effect.
The old slave was extremely cunning. He used the military guards and military forts built by the Ming army as strongholds and sent garrison troops to defend them to the death. It was impossible to go deep into the hinterland as before.
It lasted less than half a month before they had no choice but to give up and withdraw their troops in unison.
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Shenyang city
"Taitai, this kind of petty fight has no effect at all. From the perspective of the general, if we have to fight, we might as well submit a memorial to Your Majesty and send out a large army to fight a big one."
"At the end of the day, I will be willing to be the vanguard and charge into the battle. I will definitely defeat the old slave."
Zu Dashou was once a general in Liaodong, and he had considerable strength and status among the generals.
Because he was on the right side, he was not liquidated by Zhu Youxiao and was promoted to the position of general. It can be said that he has gained great benefits. The current family can be described as being very proud.
He is young and energetic, and now he only thinks about how to kill enemies and gain military merit. Compared with the original investment master and warlord, he is very different.
However, Xiong Tingbi had always advocated defense, so he rejected Zu Dashou's suggestions and requests without even thinking about it.
Although the current Liao army has a certain degree of combat effectiveness, Xiong Tingbi still does not have enough confidence to defeat the brave Jiannu in a field battle.
Especially their heavy armored infantry has always been his biggest headache. The inferior and rough firearms equipped by the Liao army have really limited lethality.
However, it is extremely difficult for artillery with sufficient power to be effective in this ice and snow, especially in the deep mountains and old forests with dense jungles. It is difficult to transport them.
"Okay, you don't have to ask for a fight. Even if I agree, His Majesty will not allow it."
"Shrink all the troops on the periphery. Without the food and population for them to plunder, the old slaves will not waste their troops and enter the Liao land in vain."
The top priority is to implement the blockade and encirclement, as well as the repair and defense reinforcement of Shenyang City.
There is also the issue of military training and organization, which is also a top priority, and Xiong Tingbi has been working hard to build it.
In order to avoid the problem of private soldiers such as the Jia Ding team, Zhu Youxiao and Xiong Tingbi communicated through letters and made drastic changes.
The first is the issue of military pay. From now on, it is strictly forbidden for generals to receive and distribute it, and generals are not allowed to interfere with the soldiers' pay.
He imitated the system of the Habayashi Army and established the Logistics Department Yamen, which distributed the rewards to individuals in order according to their positions and military merits.
Most of the personnel in the Logistics Department Yamen are recruited from relatives of soldiers and are under the direct control of the Jinglue Yamen.
It took a lot of effort to find such a group of people. Most of the relatives of these low-level soldiers were illiterate.
Xiong Tingbi had no choice but to select some people among his staff to be responsible for calculation and coordination.
The personnel of the Jinyiwei serve as officials inside, responsible for supervision and verification, and completely eliminate problems such as theft and misappropriation of military pay and rewards, which is exactly the separation of the three levels.
This system caused thousands of waves in the army, and the soldiers at the bottom all clapped their hands and applauded, but the leading generals, as well as the generals and other officers, were so angry that they gritted their teeth.
One by one, they wanted to cut Xiong Tingbi alive. They even took a page from scholars and signed a petition to create pressure to force Xiong Tingbi to abolish this system.