Ningyuan, which has the title of the first city outside the Guan, is now Xingcheng in Liaoning, and its official name is Ningyuan Weiwei, which was built in Xuande in the Ming Dynasty for three years. In the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Ningyuan Prefecture City. In later generations, it was renamed Xingcheng. In the third year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, there were ninety-six steps in the city. The wall is three zhang high, there are four doors, and Xuande is five years. and the outer city was added, and it was one hundred and twenty-four steps in the ninth week.

Liaodong war, Ningyuan City continues to repair, at this time the city wall is three feet high and two feet, and the pheasant is six feet high, each gate has an urn city, there is a city tower and a corner platform. There are bell and drum towers in the city, echoing with the four towers of the city wall, and the battle starts. Ascending to the top of the building, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the city walls and the city's interior.

Ningyuan city wall is quite distinctive, when it was built, in order to make the city wall firm, a large number of irregular city stones were used to build the inner wall, and then the wall surface was chiseled. Therefore, it is called "rough stone wall", because most of the stone is made of local materials, its color looks like tiger skin from afar, and it is also called "tiger skin rough stone wall".

Now Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, Zhang Dou, Yao Gong, Cai Maode, Zuo Guangxian, Li Fuming, the general soldier of Miyun, Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen, Ma Ke, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, Liu Zhaoji, the chief soldier of Liaodong, Meng Dao, the chief soldier of Liaozhen East Association, and Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Ningyuan regimental training, are stationed here.

At this time, Ningyuan was already a large military camp. Inside and outside the city, there were more than 100,000 troops, and the civilian houses and official houses in the city could not be piled up. Everywhere are the banners of general soldiers and deputy generals, and as for the generals and guerrillas, they are everywhere.

Most of the troops who arrived earlier, such as the troops in Jimi, were stationed outside the city, and the barracks were all sheltered from the wind and the sun, and it was convenient to get water and firewood. And it is easy to defend and difficult to attack on the open mountains, such as Sanshou Mountain in the east of the city, Luofeng Mountain in the northeast of the city, Ganchailing in the northeast of the city in the northeast of the city, Zaoer Mountain in the northwest of the city, Loess Mountain in the northwest of the city, Mahara Mountain and so on.

There are four main streets in Ningyuan City, which are known locally as East Street, South Street, West Street and North Street. The circumference of this city, the number of city gates, and the number of streets are all even, and it is also a strange thing.

Hong Chengchou's Jiliao Governor is located in the inner city, on the southwest side of the Drum Tower. Hundreds of people who followed him from Shaanxi to fight all the way out of the superintendent and his own soldiers, the armor and swords and guns of Nanzhong stood majestically in the Yuanmen. More than 100 people carried guns on their backs, and the guns were made of cloth to prevent dust and rain from entering. Hundreds of people stood in line from the gate to the front of the handsome hall like steel poured into iron.

Outside the gate, the muzzles of the two eight-pounder guns pointed diagonally into the air. The gunners, however, were not as disciplined as their own soldiers. Several gunners whispered and laughed behind gun emplacements made of earthen bags.

Suddenly. The gunners felt a faint tremor in the street beneath their feet, and when they felt something was wrong, they hurriedly got up from the powder keg and stood up.

In the blink of an eye. From a bend in the street came a group of men and horses, all cavalry. Not to mention that the cavalry is wearing iron armor, they are wearing black cloaks behind their backs, and their hands are sharp and strong. Iron armor, black cloak, this horse swooped down like a black whirlwind.

It is the family of Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of the Ningyuan regiment training!

"Your Excellency can be in the house?"

Under the service of the family general, Wu Sangui jumped off his horse and bowed to a guerrilla on duty at Yuanmen with a smile on his face.

Wu Sangui is of medium stature, but he is very strong, and he can be regarded as handsome, but there is a scar on the bridge of his nose because of the battle. The six-petal iron-tipped helmet on his head, a strand of vermilion helmet fluttering, wearing a jujube red open-chested wide robe, revealing the bright Nanzhong breastplate wiped inside, with a sword under the ribs, Gu Panzhong's eyes are like electricity, and there is a majestic and deep taste.

Although the guerrillas of the Supervisory Battalion on duty in Yuanmen were Hong Chengchou's confidants, they did not dare to make a mistake against this Ningyuan regimental training commander, but they were quite stammered.

There is no other reason, the word strength!

Wu Sangui, the fair-skinned marquis at the least, was born in the ancestral family and the Wu family in the Jiangmen Group in western Liaoning. His father Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou, the head of the ancestral family, are the closest relatives of Uncle Lang, speaking of which, Wu Sangui calls Zu Dashou his uncle.

In addition to his illustrious family background, Wu Sangui is also very good at public relations, and when he raised the rank of hidden supervisor of Liaodong, Wu Sangui recognized him as his father-in-law. When Fang Yizao patrolled Liaodong, Wu Sangui and his son Fang Guangchen became sworn brothers, and after Hong Chengchou passed through Liaodong, he quickly became close friends with Hong Chengchou's cronies Xie Sixin.

After Wu Sangui trained the general army in Ren Ningyuan's regiment, he vigorously trained the troops with the support of Hong Chengchou, and in two years, he trained 20,000 Liao soldiers, all of whom were quite daring to fight and capable of fighting. Together with his father Wu Xiang, he also trained a Wu family, which contained 2,000 fine cavalry, all of which were in a team of 50 cavalry, divided into 40 teams, and each team had a leading cavalry officer. Wu Sangui wrote the names of these cavalry leaders on bamboo sticks, and inserted them in his boots on weekdays.

These families, all of whom have acres of manors in western Liaoning, are like large and small landlords. Everyone has hundreds of acres of land, and those who have constant production have perseverance, plus defend their homeland, which is also the reason why they dare to fight.

And they are treated very well, Wu Xiang once said that he only eats coarse tea and light rice, while the three thousand soldiers eat fine wine and fat sheep. He wore coarse brown clothes, and the three thousand soldiers all wore silk clothes. Although the imperial court has not been able to pay food and salary for a long time, they still live very well. Together with their subordinates, they already had land and property. Life is worry-free, and in addition to training on weekdays, they don't have to worry about farming in the fields, because almost all the military households in western Liaoning. They are all their tenant farmers, who work hard for them.

The same is true of the ancestral family with a longer history and more intertwined power in the Jiangmen of Liaoxi, and thousands of families under the command of Zu Dashou are brave and brave. This practice has been formed as early as the last Ningyuan Bo Li Chengliang to guard Liaodong, Li Chengliang claimed to have 8,000 families, everyone wore double iron armor, straddled two horses, and was naturally invincible to deal with those tribes in Liaodong. This is why Nurhachi developed a large number of heavy cavalry after the rebellion, and he was exposed to it!

Same with Wu Jiajun. Thousands of family members of the Zu family. It is purely the private arm of the ancestral family. They relied on the power of the ancestral clan, and they were all rich. However, the people of the ancestral family relied on their families to gain a foothold, and they were also very worried about the loss of their forces, which were common problems of warlords of all generations, regardless of previous or future lives.

Wu Sangui was able to stand out in the Liaoxi Jiangmen group, in addition to his family background, he was also quite good at fighting, Chongzhen thirteen years, after the Qing soldiers besieged Jinzhou, regardless of the encounter in Jiama Mountain. Or a surprise attack on the blue flag camp of the Qing soldiers. Or the Wudaoling ambush, whose people have many outstanding performances.

In particular, in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, the Qing cavalry was full of brocade and pine, and the situation was rampant. Jinzhou is short of grain and grass. The grain transport officers were shocked and vigilant. Not daring to go, Wu Sangui volunteered to celebrate the New Year. By surprise, the grain and grass were transported.

On the second and third days of the first lunar month, Wu Sangui used 3,400 oxen, mules, and donkey carts, loaded with 15,000 stones of rice, and was escorted by more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under his subordinates to safely escape the surveillance of the Qing soldiers and transport grain to Jinzhou. Later, he returned to Ningyuan safely in an empty car, without encountering the police, and was more praised by Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, and Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong.

Family background, military exploits, and power constitute Wu Sangui's comprehensive strength, plus he is quite good at being a man, and he is in harmony with the people of the Inspector Yamen, and after a few words of greeting, he was led into Hong Chengchou's signing room by the Inspector Zhongjun.

Hong Chengchou is still so gentle and elegant, every move has an indescribably beautiful demeanor, the big red python suit on his body, and the three long beards are all decorated in a meticulous manner.

"Uncle is here? Have a seat! Serve tea! ”

Immediately, someone put the kung fu tea that had just been brewed in front of Wu Sangui, and along with the teacup in front of him, there were several Fujian-flavored dim sum, sweet fruit, orange red cake, Dili cake, swallow skin soup and other things.

"Uncle Chang, your ancestral home is Weiyang, and you are out of the door, so you naturally have a broad vision on weekdays, but this is the flavor of your hometown, please taste one or two of Uncle Chang."

How grace is it for the Overseer to invite yourself to a snack? Even if it's a bowl of rice field, you have to eat it with a smile. After tasting these snacks one by one, Wu Sangui had to praise them.

After the two exchanged polite words, they immediately got to the point.

Hong Chengchou's general strategy for the Jinzhou Campaign was the policy of "establishing a salary road, taking it step by step, advancing while fighting, and relieving the siege of Jinzhou" agreed with Zu Dashou. Hong Chengchou is cautious, in the past two years, he has saved Jinzhou from Ningyuan, and every time he has gathered troops in one place, forced to use the car battalion, not to say a light battle, one step forward, one step to consolidate.

And one more thing is, absolutely no division of troops!

In the first battle of Salhu that year, Yang Hao, a bastard who didn't understand the art of war, defeated the Ming family's belongings in North Korea, and ran to Salhu to lose. However, Salhu is no longer the Ming Dynasty during the Korean War, and it has been defeated by the righteous men and gentlemen of Donglin. I couldn't afford to lose so much of his money.

Under Nurhachi's concentrated forces, Ren Er's combat principle of coming a few ways, and I only going all the way, his strategy of dividing troops and attacking together was completely exposed.

Yin Jian is not far away, Hong Chengchou naturally will not follow Yang Hao's old path again, he has taken another path.

No division of troops!

But in this way, more than 100,000 hedgehogs gathered in Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan to Jinzhou, and the supply of grain and grass is the biggest problem.

Today, Wu Sangui was summoned by him to Xingyuan, in addition to commending him in person for his achievements in transporting grain and grass back and forth to Jinzhou twice, and to discuss with him how the war should be carried out.

Nowadays, the army consumes a huge amount of food every day, not counting the tens of thousands of mules, horses, camels and other forage and bean fodder needed by the army, in addition to the soldiers to eat, there are tens of thousands of people, these people even if they only eat food every day to at least two catties (no non-staple food, protein and fat nutrition can not keep up, can only be supplemented in starch. According to calculations, these 100,000 people consume at least two or three thousand stone of grain and rice every day.

Moreover, for the sake of the entire strategic concept, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, vigorously stockpiled grain in Xingshan, Tashan, Ningyuan and other places, and each place had at least half a year, or even a year's worth of grain and grass for the defenders, in order to fight a war of attrition with the Qing army on the opposite side.

The reason for the failure of the so-called Songshan Jinzhou Battle was that the Qing army conquered Bijia Mountain, which was only a secondary reason. Beacon Hill hangs lonely in the sea, just because of the convenience of shipping, the place is used as a transit station. Generally, as soon as the grain and grass arrive, it is transported into the nearby city, and there is not much grain and grass in Beacon Hill itself.

How much grain is there on Beacon Hill at most? Twelve piles! Twelve piles of grain and grass. How many days can you let hundreds of thousands of Ming soldiers eat?

Now Inspector Hong doesn't do anything else every day, that is, he exchanges letters with the bigwigs of the DPRK and China, and exchanges documents for nothing more than two things, one is soldiers, and the other is food.

"The princes of the DPRK and China have agreed to transfer Wu Biao's department, which is quite powerful in suppressing thieves under the command of Yang Ge, to the front line in Liaodong, and they will set off from Sichuan in the next few days. In this way, there will be two Wu generals in Liaodong. The twin stars shine brightly, and it is also a good story for a while. "Half encouragement. Half of it is agitated. Inspector Hong gave Wu Sangui a briefing on the new developments in the military situation in recent days.

Although Wu Sangui is young, he has quite a city government, and when he heard Hong Chengchou's words, he was overjoyed: "I heard that General Wu Biao's department is strictly disciplined. The whole army made good use of firearms to break the enemy. Nowadays, the slave thief's artillery firearms are also quite sharp. Now with the arrival of the army of fine firearms, it is the blessing of my great Ming! ”

Wu Sangui's words are also true.

Hong Chengchou has been on the front line since he arrived in Liaodong. It was found that the Qing army on the opposite side was far from being comparable to the peasant army that only knew how to move quickly and lightly.

Songshan guard general Fan Chenggong's Tang newspaper described: "The thieves carried many artillery fires, and attacked Songshan on the 25th and 26th, the situation was very critical, and more than 601 cannons were found in the city, all weighing more than ten catties, and there were 40 Hongyi cannons installed on the south wall at present, and 1 cannon with 12 oxen. ”

In order to change this unfavorable situation in which the enemy's firearms are far superior to ours, Hong Chengchou not only set up a gunpowder bureau in Jizhou to make guns and cannons, but also constantly played to the imperial court and asked the imperial court to supply guns and cannons. However, he asked the Ministry of Industry to send 50 cannons No. 2 and No. 3 and 10,000 bird guns for many days, but the Ministry of Industry only issued 50 cannons and 2,000 bird guns.

This is a far cry from what needs on the ground.

"My lord, isn't it the Imperial Court, ready to transfer the strong troops of the Nanyue Army to Liaodong to break the thieves?" For the Nanyue Army in Lingnan and Fujian, Wu Sangui, who was born in the Guanning Military System, has quite complicated feelings.

First, I admired the extremely powerful army from the bottom of my heart, and was quite fascinated, and was willing to be in the company of such a strong man. Second, he was extremely disgusted with the Nanyue Army. Why! It is nothing more than that thousands of officers and soldiers captured by the Guanning Army were killed by the Nanyue Army that day. Even Zu Kuan, the general soldier who came from his uncle's door, was also corrected by Li Shouhan's army. And this guy is ashamed to accept the knighthood of Uncle Ning Yuan of the imperial court, this is a knighthood! In today's Ming Dynasty, it is relatively easy for military generals to have the right governor and the left governor on their heads, and the official residence is superb, but how easy is it to say that they want to be crowned uncles? Even his uncle and ancestor Dashou are only the official titles of the young master of the Ming Dynasty, the governor of Zuodu, and the chief soldier of Jinzhou.

The shallow layer of membrane is like a moat, blocking the Ming Dynasty from the outside.

"His Majesty has sent an important role in the chief of ceremonies and supervisors to Nanzhong to send a messenger to urge the Nanyue army to go north as soon as possible, and transport all the food and salary offerings for this year and next year to Liaodong."

"Governor, if there are soldiers and horses of the Nanyue army coming to relieve the siege of Jinzhou, the last general is willing to go to Jinzhou to relieve the siege! One is loyal to the court, and the other is filial piety to the family! Hearing Hong Chengchou's words, Wu Sangui couldn't help but feel relieved. With the soldiers and horses of the Nanyue Army, the siege of Jinzhou is nothing, even if Huang Taiji personally leads the soldiers and horses to come, he can only return with a feather.

However, it is necessary to communicate the news with his uncle in advance, and not to let Huang Taiji lose too much, the mystery of this, my uncle naturally understands.

"Uncle, you went to Jinzhou with grain a few more ago, and brought back General Zu's food in Jinzhou City, which is enough to support half a year, and the salary is insufficient. If the Nanyue army comes, this battle will have another plan! ”

"The last general is dull, please teach the governor."

"Get the map!"

In the signing room, Hong Chengchou unfolded a map of Ningyuan, Songshan, Xingshan, and Jinzhou on the huge table, pointed out to Wu Sangui, and told him the strategy in his heart.

Wu Sangui is a general of the Liaodong Army, so he naturally knows the terrain of this area, and Hong Chengchou is also the commander of the long-term military machine, far from being comparable to scholars like Yang Hao and Yuan Chonghuan, and he also knows the terrain of this area.

Beacon Mountain, Juehua Island, Dayu Mountain and other important places on the sea were specially marked by Hong Chengchou with cinnabar on the map, these islands, as the Ming army in Liaodong maritime grain transportation transit place, the vigilance is extremely strict, there are sailors patrolling on the sea from time to time, and there are constantly to transport military grain to Liaodong fleet, there are many Nanzhong merchant ships for the Ming army to transport a large number of meat, wine, supplies and other things.

At the mouth of the Xiaoling River in Jinzhou Bay, where the locals call the East Sea Mouth, Inspector Hong even circled two circles here with a red pen to show its importance.

For this place, Wu Sangui is also very familiar, since the Song Dynasty, the sea area of Niangniang Palace is a prosperous port, to the Ming Dynasty, it is a thousand sails to cross, a large number of commercial goods, through the guò Xiaoling River directly transported to Jinzhou City.

At the end of autumn, patches of red Suaeda grass can be seen everywhere on both sides of the seaside river, scattered on both sides of the estuary of the Xiaoling River, as if the flame of the sea falls between the sea and the sky, and from time to time there are groups of seabirds rising and falling from the grass canopy. Walking down the mouth of the Xiaoling River, there are many salt pans on both sides of the river, which spread to the mouth of the Daling River. In the past, these salt pans were an important source of income for the Liaodong military generals, and became an important source for them to support their families and maintain a luxurious life. However, with the war in Jinzhou, these salt pans were all abandoned.

"It's a pity that the strength of the Longwu Naval Division stationed on Juehua Island has long been different from what it used to be, if it is as prosperous as when Sun Gong was first built, our army can directly transport the firewood, charcoal, grain, rice and baggage needed in the city to Jinzhou City along this Xiaoling River, so that the first step in discussing with General Zu is to open up the road is to do it lightly!"

It is not better than the Xiaoling River that has been silted up in later generations, and the Xiaoling River section at this time, below Jinzhou, can be navigated by boat, and the geographical advantage is very obvious.

"Therefore, this governor is looking forward to the arrival of Ning Yuanbo's army in Nanyue more than ever, with their firearms soldiers, our army will not be afraid of Jiannu's artillery fire, and with Ning Yuanbo's sailors who can regard the waves as thoroughfares, our army will be able to open up the grain road with Jinzhou lightly! Even if there are millions of strong soldiers in Hong Tai, why be afraid!? ”

Wu Sangui immediately stood up from his seat and knelt down in front of Hong Chengchou like pushing a mountain of gold and pouring a jade pillar, "The last general is willing to follow the superintendent and build this immortal achievement for the imperial court, so as to share the worries of the monarch's father!" ”

Outside Ningyuan City, there was a wind on the sea, and the fierce sea breeze made the sea surface become turbulent, and the violent waves continued to lap on the reef wave after wave, hitting the sky-high waves.

Wu Sangui rode his horse and stood on the seashore, letting the strong sea breeze blow his cloak like a sail, and the wind on his face was like a knife. But there were only a few words echoing in my ears.

"General Changbo, the military situation has been calm in the past few days, and this governor intends to invite you to the Beijing Division. First, he came to visit the old general Lingzun Wu for me, and second, he went to the imperial court to urge the matter of food and military weapons. (To be continued......)