"Report, no." Huang Ande replied, "Xie Sanbin didn't say anything. Zhu Dadian gave me one hundred and fifty taels of silver, fifty taels to me, and one hundred taels to the soldiers of the cavalry company. I have handed them all over."
"That's right." Lu Wenyuan nodded, "We are fighting for the Senate and the people of the world, not just for a few dollars." He already knew this. It seemed that the discipline education in the past few years was not in vain.
"Serve the Senate and the people!" Huang Ande stood at attention.
"You have worked hard this time, go back and have a good rest." Lu Wenyuan said, "The Senate has sent us frozen mutton, radishes and Chinese cabbage. I have taken care of the kitchen and will cook you a mutton hot pot tonight."
"Thank you, chief." Huang Ande saluted and left.
"It seems that my family is quite sensible." Zhu Mingxia, who had been silent all this time, said with a smile.
"Now Lao Zhu's biggest problem is how to explain to the emperor." Lu Wenyuan said, "Now his arrogance is not so arrogant. Now the troops in the Shandong camp have to be reorganized, and he has to rely more on Sun Yuanhua." He was a little happy.
, "This was originally his credit, but I didn't expect to share it with Lao Sun. Our existence in Shandong is also guaranteed."
Zhu Mingxia said: "The following is how to deal with Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde."
The strategic situation of the rebels has not been broken. This is what Zhu Mingxia has long estimated. Under such climate conditions, the rebels who lack winter clothes can pursue dozens of miles in the snow because they have the advantage of cavalry.
. Even so, the rebels' losses during the pursuit were staggering: the scout cavalry following the reconnaissance reported that there were corpses of frozen soldiers and horses of the rebels everywhere along the way.
The rebels could neither attack Laizhou nor dare to fight in Pingdu, Qixia and other places while the main force of officers and soldiers was still alive - this meant giving up Dengzhou, the only port where they could receive reinforcements and escape.
"I think they will definitely go out to sea and flee to the Dongjiang River by boat as they did in history after the beginning of spring." Lu Wenyuan said, "Dengzhou is already a dead end. Unless we take action, they will not be able to break the situation."
Of course, there is no need for them to take action. The "vitality" of the rebels has gradually declined, and there is no need to collect people through the rebels. And through a series of operations, they have also created a "fait accompli" in Dengzhou. The next step is how to get rid of the rebels.
To extract the maximum benefit from the destruction of the army.
There are more than 100,000 rebels and soldiers and civilians in Dengzhou City. A considerable part of these people are local people. According to historical data, Dengzhou City has begun to "starve". By the end of the year, it has even reached the point of "killing people".
According to recent reports from intelligence personnel, although a large amount of food and supplies for the army have been seized, the rebels have also begun to slaughter cattle, horses and livestock for food.
Moreover, in history, when Kong Youde escaped, he carried out a comprehensive massacre and looting of the entire city. "Killing, robbing, committing adultery, and being extremely cruel." So the three of them discussed and put the recapture of Dengzhou on the agenda in order to avoid excessive losses of people and livestock in the city.
schedule.
It is not difficult to regain Dengzhou and eliminate the rebels militarily. The main considerations are political factors and the impact on the future development of the situation.
The most critical issue is whether to let Kong Youde go and defect to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Historically, after Kong Youde and others escaped from Dengzhou, they have been in exile on various islands in the Bohai Bay for several months. Obviously, they had great hesitation about whether to defect to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
During this period, he also made several requests for recruitment, hoping to continue to maintain a small situation between the Ming and Qing Dynasties and North Korea. The final surrender to the Manchu and Qing Dynasties was "forced".
However, Kong Youde's surrender caused a great change in the strategic balance of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Ming troops who accompanied Kong Youde to the Qing Dynasty were all well-trained firearms hands and craftsmen who forged cannons. From then on, the manufacturing and use of Manchu and Qing firearms
Their capabilities have reached a great level. In the course of the subsequent war, the advantage of using artillery gradually shifted to the Qing Dynasty.
The Standing Committee of the Senate held several discussions on this issue, during which they also convened hearings with elders from the Great Library and the Foreign Intelligence Service. In the end, it was decided not to allow Kong Youde's troops to surrender to the Manchus and to directly eliminate them.
Although the imperial and Han factions cheered for this, the enthusiasm was second only to the large-scale use of Southeast Asian slaves to mine. But as far as the executive committee is concerned, this decision was entirely based on comprehensive interests.
If Kong Youde was allowed to flee, he would have drifted on the Bohai Bay islands for several months to find a way out, just like in history. There were almost all Dongjiang people on these islands, and they either fought against the rebels, or joined the rebels and fought against them.
The official army and the Korean army fought. A large number of people died. When Kong Youde fled from Dengzhou, he took away 12,000 soldiers and civilians, and when he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, less than 10,000 people were left. Not only his headquarters, but also Dongjiang Town in Liaodong
The power of each island was greatly reduced, which eventually led to the fall of Port Arthur and the death of Huanglong in the battle, which meant that the hundreds of thousands of people in Dongjiang were all advantaged by the Manchus. This was very uneconomical for the Senate.
A secondary reason: After Kong Youde defected to the Manchus, the Senate's monopoly as an arms dealer would be threatened, and the Senate's influence on the Manchus would also decline.
"We need to move faster and let the Ming army capture Dengzhou before the 30th of the lunar year." Lu Wenyuan said confidently, "At the beginning of the new year, letting Chongzhen get some good news will make him feel a lot better."
"It's a bit difficult to help the Ming army capture Dengzhou." Zhu Mingxia said with a smile, "It's enough for me to command the northward detachment alone."
The Ming army is now freshly defeated and is taking a breather. I am afraid that they will not have much interest in besieging Dengzhou again. Moreover, if they are really coming, the northbound detachment with completely different training, tactics and equipment will not be able to cooperate with them. When the time comes,
Which troops competed for credit, but disrupted the rhythm of the offensive; in the end, the Ming army's military discipline was extremely bad. Historically, after the Sichuan army invaded Shuicheng, they robbed women's property while fighting, but were driven out by the rebel counterattack. Dengzhou City was destroyed
After that, various officers and soldiers carried out a comprehensive looting of Dengzhou. The population in the city was massacred and plundered, leaving Dengzhou in ruins. It was not until the ninth year of Chongzhen that the city was gradually restored.
"We will do it alone, and after we are done, we will hand it over to Sun Yuanhua, Zhu Dadian - it's a pity that Sun Yuanhua can't take all the credit." Lu Wenyuan now has a lot of affection for the governor, "The city's wealth and population are naturally all
The rebels killed and looted..."
While discussing how to attack Dengzhou, someone suddenly came to report that Kong Youde had sent an envoy to ask for an interview with the owner of the village.
"Just in time, it's delivered to my door." The owner of Luzhuang said with a smile, "Okay, let's hear what they want to do first - Lao Chen, it's up to you to come forward."
Chen Sigen and Kong Youde held a second secret conversation on Dazhushan Island. Kong Youde proposed that he was willing to exchange the people in the city for food.
There are still more than 100,000 people in the city, and a large number of them have been kidnapped and robbed. Kong Youde and others discussed that keeping these people in the city will not only consume food, but also cause many unstable factors. It is better to hand them all to Luzhuang.
Lord - anyway, what he likes most is the population.
With enough food stored, it will not be difficult to hold on until the spring of next year. Otherwise, if they cannot survive the winter, they will be reduced to cannibalism. Although the Qiuba people in troubled times have long become hard-hearted, cannibalism is not an issue, but there is food.
If so, everyone would rather eat food.
After discussion, the three people agreed that they could agree to Kong Youde - since they have set the goal of capturing the population of Dengzhou, it is their obligation to feed these people, and it is better to start supplying now than to starve to death and eat many people later.
Can save more manpower.
The currently agreed population-for-food plan will still be implemented at the previous exchange price for refugees. However, the food used in exchange for refugees this time is all potatoes from Jeju Island. Because fresh potatoes cannot be stored well, in addition to being used to supply local Jeju,
A large amount of it was also transported to Qimu Island to feed the refugees.
The two sides agreed to exchange the population by ships of the rebel navy to Changshan Island, which is currently guarded by the rebels and serves as an important stronghold to ensure sea routes. Then Qimu Island will send ships to transport the population away.
Potatoes for exchange of population are also delivered here.
Based on this agreement, Zhu Mingxia proposed a combat plan.
"Let's exchange the population first and reduce the population in the city to a lower number," Zhu Mingxia said. "They must leave the core troops behind. I estimate that there should be 30,000 to 40,000 people together with their dependents and craftsmen. These people are
They will not give it to us. Once they stop exchanging people for food, we will jointly launch an amphibious attack with the navy to directly occupy Changshan Island and control the Miaodao Islands."
The Miaodao Islands are very close to Dengzhou and are the sea gate of Dengzhou. The rebels have already deployed garrison here. Historically, Zhu Dadian specifically sent troops to attack Changshan Island when he besieged Dengzhou, but was defeated by Kong Youde.
Frustrated, they ultimately failed to block the rebels in Dengzhou.
"As soon as we capture the Miaodao Islands, the door for the rebels to escape at sea will be closed. Kong Youde and the others know that they are no match for us at sea, and they will definitely come to us to negotiate terms. At that time, we will demand that he hand over the landing board.
In exchange for the state's capital and treasures, he was allowed to board a ship and leave Dengzhou with his direct troops and all firearms."
"Then why don't we simply occupy Changshan Island? This will save us the trouble of having to change the population." Chen Sigen was puzzled, "Besides, isn't it said that the rebels cannot be let go?"
Lu Wenyuan understood Zhu Mingxia's plan: "When they get out of the sea, they will have no choice."
"Exactly. In this way we can reduce the loss of population to the minimum." Zhu Mingxia said, "We have to consider that they may refuse this condition and stick to Dengzhou. By then, won't all the population be lost in it?"