"Just to prevent the wind, you can build more windbreaks like you did in Weijiazhuang, right?" Wu Sanfu seemed to see through Wei Bao's thoughts, "You are trying to isolate Weijiazhuang from the outside world, in order to cut the land and become dominant!" With such a tall and solid wall, an army of 100,000 could not penetrate it. ”

Wei Bao Khan, although he knew that building the city wall by himself would definitely give people this feeling, which was not a mentality that could be concealed, but Wu Sanfu was the first person to say this in front of him, outside of Weijiazhuang.

Wu Sanfu and Wu Xuexia looked at Wei Bao with interest, waiting for Wei Bao's answer, wanting to see what excuses Wei Bao, who was clever and good at debating, would say.

Wei Bao only said: "It's true to be separated from the outside world, but there is no way to cut the land and become a hero." If you want to cut the land and become dominant, Liaoxi is by no means a good place, the desert, North Korea, are better than Liaoxi, otherwise, it is okay to go outside the Guan. There are heavy troops of the Ming Dynasty stationed in the pass, what am I called such a small person? Brother Sanfu, what you said is too heavy, I can't afford it. ”

"What's this? Which big family in Liaoxi and Liaodong doesn't want to dominate one side? Dominance is not rebellion. Wu Sanfu smiled disappreciatively: "It's just that no one will spend such a lot of financial, material and manpower to build a city." Either you don't have such a lot of financial resources, or you don't have the patience, how high are you going to build this wall? ”

"Within three feet." Wei Bao replied.

"Then you're afraid you'll have to build it for another five or six years, right? Don't wait for your city wall to be repaired, make a wedding dress for others first. Wu Sanfu smiled: "However, you don't have to worry now, with my Wu family here, no one dares to beat your idea of Weijiazhuang again." ”

"Then thank you Brother Sanfu." Wei Bao said indifferently.

"You should thank Xuexia for that." Wu Sanfu smiled.

Wei Bao looked at Wu Xuexia, Wu Xuexia was looking at the scenery outside the car, and when she heard Wu Sanfu mention herself, her face turned red, and she said angrily: "Brother, just talk, what do you do when you talk about me?" What does Wei Gongzi thank me? ”

"If Xiaobao becomes our family's son-in-law, who else dares to fight the idea of Weijiazhuang? Isn't that a credit to you? Wu Sanfu said with a smile.

Wu Sanfu's words, Wei Bao and Wu Xuexia were hot at the same time.

Wei Bao thought that Wu Xuexia would refute, but Wu Xuexia did not.

This made Wei Bao secretly happy in his heart, women are not afraid of many, men are probably like this, especially beautiful women.

A girl like Wu Xuexia, who is captivating the country and the city, and is peerless in beauty, can be killed in seconds by men of any age, and Wei Bao is no exception.

When Wei Bao and his party were about to arrive at Shanhaiguan, the bigwigs in Shanhaiguan were also busy.

In the past few days, they have held several military meetings, mainly because of the lack of unity of thought.

It is still an old problem, the main battle and the main defense, it seems that it has been rampant since Jiannu more than ten years ago, and since the Battle of Salhu, this problem has been plaguing the Ming army and the border army.

In recent years, the main battles between the Ming Dynasty and Jiannu have mainly concentrated in two battles, one is the battle of Salhu, and the other is Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi.

The bane of the collapse of the Ming Dynasty was planted from the middle and late Wanli period, and the fiasco of these two battles directly dragged the northeast military affairs of the Ming Dynasty into an even worse situation.

In the first month of 1618 (the forty-sixth year of Wanli and the third year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), Houjin Nurhachi took advantage of the fierce party competition and lax defense of the Ming Dynasty to decide to use troops against the Ming. In the second lunar month, Nurhachi convened his ministers to discuss the strategy of using troops, and decided to fight the Ming army in Liaodong first, then merge with the Yehe department, and finally capture Liaodong. During the third month of the lunar calendar, Houjin stepped up his army, expanded the army, repaired equipment, sent spies, bribed Ming generals, and spying on the reality of the Ming army. After careful preparation and careful planning, Nurhachi swore against the Ming Dynasty on the 13th day of the fourth lunar month with the "Seven Great Hatreds", counted the seven major crimes of the Ming Dynasty against the Later Jin State (Jianzhou Jurchen), and led 20,000 cavalry to attack the Ming Dynasty.

Most of the forts east of Fushun City were captured by the Houjin army. After the Later Jin army attacked and occupied Fushun and Qinghe, it planned to attack Shenyang and Liaoyang, but due to insufficient strength, the flank was threatened by the Yehe Department, and at the same time, it was discovered that the Ming Dynasty had decided to reinforce Liaodong, so it was convenient to retreat on its own initiative in September.

Fushun and other places fell one after another, so that Mingshenzong felt that the situation was serious, and sent Yang Hao, the left attendant of the military department, to serve as the economic strategy of Liaodong and preside over the defense of Liaodong. And decided to send troops to Liaodong and attack Houjin in a big way.

However, due to the lack of troops and salaries, he could not act immediately, so he sent an additional 2 million taels of silver, and transferred troops from Sichuan, Gansu, Zhejiang, Fujian and other provinces to reinforce Liaodong, and notified Korea and Yehe to send troops to respond.

After more than half a year of preparation, although most of the reinforcements arrived in the Shenyang area, the food and salary were not prepared, the soldiers fled, and the generals and commanders restrained each other.

In the first month of 1619 (the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and the fourth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), Nurhachi personally led a large army to attack Yehebu and obtained more than 20 villages. I heard that the army of the Ming Dynasty was coming, so I went back.

Yang Ho of the Ming Dynasty sent an envoy to Houjin to discuss the dismissal of the army, but Nurhachi replied with a letter refusing.

In February 1619 (the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and the fourth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), more than 87,000 reinforcements arrived in Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, plus a division of Yehe soldiers and 13,000 Korean troops, totaling about 110,000, known as 200,000.

Due to the financial constraints of the Ming Dynasty and its inability to support Liaodong for a long time to assemble the Ming army's combat troops, Mingshenzong repeatedly urged Yang Hao to launch an attack. So Yang Hao sat in Shenyang and ordered his troops to encircle and suppress Houjin in four ways.

The total army of Ma Lin led 15,000 men, out of Kaiyuan, through Sancha'er Fort, into the upper reaches of the Hunhe River, and attacked from the north; The main force of about 30,000 troops led by the general army of Du Song served as the main attack, from Shenyang to Fushun Pass into the Suzi River Valley, and attacked from the west; Li Rubai, the commander-in-chief, led 25,000 troops to attack from the southwest; The general soldier Liu Wei led more than 10,000 troops, joined the Korean army, totaled more than 20,000 people, and went north along the Dongjia River through Kuandian to attack from the south.

In addition, the general Qi Bingzhong, the Liaodong generals Zhang Chengji, Chai Guozhu and other troops were stationed in Liaoyang as mobile reinforcements; General Li Guangrong led a unit to Quang Ninh to ensure rear transportation. Dou Chengwu, deputy commander-in-chief, was stationed in Qiantun to monitor the Mongolian ministries; Wang Shaoxun, who is in charge of the Tundu Division, is in charge of transporting grain and grass.

Yang Ho himself sat in Shenyang and commanded in the center.

When Yang Ho played the "Capture Slave Reward" by the Ministry of War Shangshu Huang Jiashan replayed, Mingshenzong approved, issued the world.

The reward stipulation: 10,000 taels of silver for capturing Nurhachi, and the commander of the capital will be promoted; Those who capture and behead their eight great Baylors will be rewarded with 2,000 taels of silver, and will be promoted to commander; Li Yongfang, Tong Yangxing and other rebel generals, if they can capture Nurhachi, they can avoid death. He also ordered Yehebel Jintaishi and Buyangu to capture Nurhachi, and they would be given the edict of Jianzhou and the dragon and tiger generals, and the second rank of the scattered ranks. If the remaining 12 relatives, uncles, uncles and nephews of Nurhachi are captured, as well as the big leaders of the Chinese army, the forwards, the leading troops, and the small leaders of the cronies who lead the troops at home and abroad, they will all be rewarded and conferred the title of hereditary.

It was originally planned to attack on the 21st day of the second lunar month in 1619 (the 47th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and the 4th year of the Later Jin Mandate), but due to heavy snowfall, it was changed to the 25th of the same month. At the same time, the Ming army was ordered to attack Hetuala on the second day of the third lunar month.

After the Later Jin side Nurhachi broke through Fushun and Qinghe, in view of the long distance of the battle with the Ming army, it was necessary to set up an advance base at the junction with the Ming Liaodong Dusi to prepare for the herding of horses, so he built a city in Jilin Cliff to garrison troops, strengthen defense facilities, and send troops to guard the way to the west of the Ming army.

Before the dispatch of the Four-Way Ming Army, the combat attempt was detected by the Houjin.

After Nurhachi learned about the Ming army's movements, he believed that the Ming army's north-south roads were dangerous, the road was far away, and it was not possible to reach it immediately, so it was advisable to defeat the soldiers on the middle road first, so he decided to adopt the operational policy of "depending on how many roads you come, I will only go all the way", and gathered 60,000 troops near the capital to prepare for the battle.

In 1619 (the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the fourth year of the Later Jin Heavenly Mandate) on the 29th day of the second lunar month, the Later Jin army found that the vanguard of Liu Ling's army in the Ming Dynasty was heading north from Kuandian, and the main force of the Ming army led by Jun Song had marched out of Fushun Guandong, but the progress was too rapid and the isolation was prominent.

After Nurhachi received the report, he decided to use the 500 soldiers and horses originally stationed in Hetualanan to delay Liu Wei, and take advantage of the slow progress of the other Ming armies to concentrate the troops of the Eight Banners to meet the Juniper army.

Nurhachi said: "The Ming army has indeed come to attack us, we have 500 troops stationed in the south, so use these troops to resist the enemy army in the south." This is the tactic of the Ming army to attack the west from the east, and they deliberately let the army in the south let us know first, this is to lure our army to the south, and their main army will definitely attack from the direction of Fushun Pass in the west. We will fight his army from the west first. ”

Nurhachi ordered the kings Belle and his ministers to lead the soldiers of the city to the west to meet the enemy.

While the army was marching, the sentry came again and reported to Nurhachi: "There are Ming soldiers coming from the road from Qinghe City to the southeast. ”

Nurhachi said: "Although there are troops on this road in the direction of Qinghe City, the terrain on this road is narrow and steep, and it is impossible for them to arrive quickly, so let them come by themselves, and we will first go to Fushun Pass to meet the enemy army in the west." ”

On the first day of March in 1619 (the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the fourth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), the Juniper army marched forward and advanced to Salhu, divided the troops into two, and stationed near Salhu with the main force, and led 10,000 people to attack Jilin Cliff.

Nurhachi saw that the Juniper Army was alone and scattered, so he sent troops to reinforce Jilin Ya on the one hand, and personally led 45,000 soldiers of the Six Banners to attack the Juniper Army in Salhu.

The next day, the two armies fought, after noon, the sky was overcast, it was difficult to distinguish at hand, the Juniper army lit the torch for the artillery bombardment, and the Jin army used the torch lit by the Juniper army, from the dark to the light, the arrows were shot, and the casualties were very many.

At this time, Nurhachi took advantage of the heavy fog, crossed the trenches, pulled out the fence, and captured the Du army camp, and the main force of the Du army was defeated with many casualties.

The defenders of Houjin stationed in Jilin Cliff also defeated the attacking enemy with the cooperation of reinforcements, and the chief soldier of the Ming Army's West Route Army, Du Song, the chief soldier of Baoding, Wang Xuan, the chief soldier of Baoding, and Zhao Menglin, the former chief soldier, were all killed in the battle. The Ming West Route Army was completely annihilated.

After the main force of the Ming army was annihilated, the Ming army in the north and south was lonely and in a disadvantageous position.

On the night of the first day of March in 1619 (the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and the fourth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), the Northern Route Army of the Ming Dynasty was led by Ma Lin to Shangjian Cliff (in the northeast of Salhu), and learned that the Juniper Army was defeated and did not dare to advance, so the army was stationed in three places for local defense.

In order to preserve his strength, Marin dug a three-layer trench around the camp, and lined up the firearms troops outside the trenches, followed by cavalry. He also ordered Pan Zongyan and Gong Niansui to lead 10,000 people, divide the camp a few miles away, form a horn, and line up chariots to block the enemy's cavalry.

After annihilating the Juniper Army, Nurhachi turned the main force of the Eight Banners to the north and went to the direction of Shangjian Cliff to meet the Marin Army.

In 1619 (the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the fourth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven) on the morning of the second day of the first month of March, the Marin army was just about to set up the encampment utensils and prepare to march south, and found that the army led by Nurhachi arrived, so he led the army back to the camp and set up camp again, the array was square, there were three trenches dug on all sides of the camp last night, the cannons were arranged outside the trenches, the soldiers who fired the cannons were all standing on foot, the outer layer of the cannons, and a layer of cavalry was densely arranged, and the musket team was arranged in front of the cavalry, and the rest of the soldiers dismounted and entered the camp in the three-layer trench.

Later, the Jin army first sent a cavalry to storm the camp of the Ming general Gong Niansui, and then attacked the Ming army head-on with infantry, breaking through the Ming army's vehicle formation and defeating the Gong army. By 12 noon, Nurhachi had arrived at the place where Marin had set up camp.

There is a hill to the east of the Marin camp.

Nurhachi said: "Our soldiers should first occupy the high ground on the eastern hill, and from the high ground they will storm the barracks of the Marin army under the west mountain, and we will be able to defeat the Marin army."

So Nurhachi led his personal guards and all the soldiers of the Second Banner to leave the camp and go east, and came to the foot of the southern slope of Dongshan, preparing to climb the mountain from the southern slope.

At this time, after a morning of confrontation between Ma Lin and the Houjin army, seeing that the reinforcements of the Houjin had arrived, and the soldiers gathered under the banner of Shuai added up to only four or five thousand people in the two banners, he thought that the total number of soldiers in the Houjin was all that, and the Houjin soldiers left the camp and moved to the east, and the team was not in a column, so Ma Lin decided to take the initiative to attack the decisive battle, he ordered the soldiers in the camp to go out of the camp and join the cavalry and musket teams outside the camp, and the army took the initiative to attack the Houjin army located in the east of the Ming camp.

Nurhachi looked west on the mountain, and saw the soldiers in the Ming camp and the soldiers outside the trench outside the camp, so Nurhachi said: "In this way, the Ming army is coming to attack us on its own initiative, and there is no need to climb the mountain, you can dismount and fight with them on foot." ”

Dai Shan descended from the left side of the mountain, that is, the southern slope, to the foot of the mountain, and ordered his soldiers of the Second Banner to dismount and prepare for foot battle. There were forty or fifty people who dismounted, and the Ming army came to attack from the west.

Daishan said to Nurhachi, "I should lead the army forward." Then he rode his horse to meet the enemy and fought straight into the ranks of the Ming army. Subsequently, Zhu Beile and Taiji, who led the troops, respectively invested in killing the Ming soldiers, and the two armies fought, the Ming army was defeated and retreated, and most of the attacking Ming troops were killed.

At this time, the battle of the Six Banners who chased and killed the deserters of Gong Niansui was over, and they hurriedly came, seeing that the two armies were fighting, the Six Banners arrived first and did not wait for the arrival of the rear army, nor did they rush to reorganize the team, and directly attacked the camp of the Ming army Marin. Soldiers in the Marin barracks engaged in battle with guns. Manchurian soldiers archery impact, under the east and south two ways of attack, the Ming army could not resist the offensive momentum, defeated and fled, the Manchurian soldiers took advantage of the situation to chase and kill, broke Pan Zongyan's department, and most of the Ming army on the north road was annihilated. The deputy general of the Ming army, Ma Yan and others, were killed, and the chief soldier Ma Lin only led a few people to escape.

The Eastern Route Army led by Liu Wei of the Ming Dynasty failed to advance to Hetuara on schedule due to the rugged mountain roads and difficult movements.

Because he didn't know that the west and north roads had failed, he still drove north according to the original plan. After Nurhachi defeated the Marin army, he immediately moved his troops to meet Liu's army.

On the third day of March in 1619 (the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and the fourth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), in order to completely annihilate Liu's army, Nurhachi adopted the method of luring it to advance quickly and setting up an ambush to gather and annihilate.

Liu Wei believed it and immediately ordered to travel lightly.

On the fourth day of the first month of March, when Liu Lingjun on the east road of the Ming army set out from Kuandian, the people in the east of Houjin all took refuge in the deep mountains and old forests.

Liu Ling led the army to capture the cottage along the way, killed the lame, blind and other people who could not move, and marched all the way forward. When Liu Wei's vanguard troops entered the Abu Dali Gang, they were ambushed and were defeated and died. Nurhachi took advantage of the victory to defeat his follow-up troops.

Yang Hao sat in Shenyang, controlled a mobile force, and did not make any response to the Ming army of the Third Route.

It was not until after the defeat of the Juniper and Marin armies that on the fifth day of the first month of March, Li Rubai's army was hurriedly ordered to return to the division.

Li Rubai's army was slow to move, and only went to the tiger to stop the post.

When he received the order to retreat, he was discovered by the Houjin sentinel, who sounded a snail on the mountain and sent out an impact signal and shouted loudly.

Li Rubai's army thought that the main force of Houjin launched an attack, and fled in panic, trampling on each other, killing and wounding more than 1,000 people.

Jiang Hongli, the marshal of the Korean army, led the remaining 5,000 soldiers down the mountain to surrender, and after Houjin entertained them, he released them and returned to China, and sent a book to the Korean lord Gwanghae-kun.

The Battle of Salhu ended with the defeat of the Ming army and the victory of the Later Jin army.

After this battle, the Houjin army took advantage of the situation to capture Kaiyuan and Tieling, conquered the Yehe department, the chieftains Jintaiji and Buyangu were killed, and the rest of the troops surrendered to Jianzhou.

In 1619, the Gwanghaejun of the Joseon Dynasty sent an envoy to the Later Jin to express his gratitude in the fifth lunar month of the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, and from then on adopted a neutral policy towards the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty until Injo was anyway.

The news of the defeat in the battles of Salhu, Shangjianya and Niumaozhai reached the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Shuntianfu (now Beijing), and the price of rice in Shuntianfu immediately rose sharply.

Yang Hao, the commander of the Ming army, immediately resigned after the defeat, and was later detained and executed in the second year of Chongzhen (1629).

Jun Song and Liu Wei have died on the battlefield, Ma Lin was also killed in Kaiyuan three months later, the four main generals of the Ming army have lost three of them, only Li Rubai has never encountered the enemy, but a few days after the battle, he was impeached.

A year and a half later, the Liao affair was even worse, and the matter was mentioned again, and Li Rubai committed suicide to clarify his ambition.

In the Battle of Salhu, in addition to the withdrawal of Li Rubai's army without heavy losses, the Ming army lost a total of more than 45,800 troops, more than 300 generals were killed, more than 28,000 mules and horses were lost, and more than 20,000 guns and guns were lost.

The Ming army suffered this crushing defeat and began to fall into passivity, and in the year of the Apocalypse, Liaoyang, Shenyang, Guangning and other important towns were lost one after another, and the Ming Dynasty retreated to Liaoxi, completely falling into passivity, and the situation was extremely critical.

Since then, the Ming Dynasty has switched from offensive to defensive, and the Later Jin side has shifted from defensive to offensive.

Since then, the battle between offense and defense has become the main theme of the Ming Dynasty talking about the war in Liaodong.

The more famous one is the offensive and defensive dispute between Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen, and Wei Bao also knows a little about it.

Wang Huazhen usually does not study military affairs, despises the great enemy, and is good at talking big. The civil and military generals did not listen to the advice at all, and they were especially resistant to Xiong Tingbi. He delusionally hoped that Li Yongfang of Jin would be his internal response after surrendering, and believed the words of the Mongols, saying that Hudun Rabbit would send 400,000 reinforcements, so he wanted to win a complete victory without a fight. All affairs, such as soldiers and horses, armor battles, grain and grass, and barracks, were put aside without asking any questions, and they were bent on talking big to deceive the court.

Shangshu Zhang Heming believed in him very much, and he agreed to all his requests, so Xiong Tingbi couldn't realize his stubborn wish.

Guangning has 140,000 troops, but Xiong Tingbi's Shanhai Pass does not have a single soldier, but there is just a false name.

The troops transferred from Yansui could not fight, Xiong Tingbi asked the coach Du Wenhuan to punish him, but Zhang Heming let him forgive.

Xiong Tingbi asked for the appointment of Tong Bunian, and Zhang Heming handed over a piece of opposition to it. Xiong Tingbi asked Liang Zhiyuan to be sent to North Korea, and Zhang Heming deliberately withheld his salary. So the two resented each other and quarreled over everything.

Xiong Tingbi is also a small person, stubborn and self-serving, and his anger is about to erupt, and he is domineering, and most of the courtiers dislike him.

Mao Wenlong Zhenjiang Jie, Wang Huazhen thought that he had made a miraculous achievement.

Xiong Tingbi said: "The forces of the three sides have not yet been assembled, and Wenlong launched it too early, causing the enemy to hate the people of Liaodi, slaughtering the soldiers and civilians of the surrounding four guards, discouraged the soldiers and people of Dongshan, making the Korean monarchs and ministers frightened, discouraged the Hexi army, disrupting the plan of the tripartite advance, delaying the plan to contact Korea, and regarded it as a miracle, but in fact it was a miracle." "Send a letter to the capital and try his best to criticize Huazhen.

The courtiers were seeing the battle of Zhenjiang as a great victory, and when they heard his words, they were unconvinced.

Xiong Tingbi obviously attacked Zhang Heming again, saying: "Since I am in charge of the strategy, the reinforcements from all directions should be at my disposal, and Heming will start on his own and not let me know." In July, I asked the Ministry of War about the number of troops, but it has been two months now, and there has been no answer. I have the name of Jingluo, but in fact, the war in Liaozuo was all done by Zhang Shumi and Wang Fuchen. Zhang Heming hated him even more now.

By September, Wang Huazhen also said that Huduntu's 400,000 troops were coming soon, so please send troops quickly. Xiong Tingbi said: "Fuchen relied on the Mongols, and wanted to reap the war exploits without worry. I dare not despise the enemy, I dare not say that I can win without a fight. ”

Later, the Mongol army finally did not come, and Wang Huazhen did not dare to enter the army.

Xiong Tingbi advocated defense, believing that the Liaodi people could not be trusted, the Mongols could not rely on the battle, Li Yongfang and others could not be trusted, and there were many spies in Guangning that made people worry.

Wang Huazhen did the opposite, never mentioning defense, saying that as soon as we cross the river, the people of Hedong will be the internal response. And Feishu reported to the imperial court, saying that you can sleep soundly in August, and receive my good news. Knowledgeable people know that he must be bad, because the situation is very important, and no one dares to say that he is bad. By October, the river was frozen, and the people of Quang Ninh thought that Houjin must have crossed the river and wanted to escape from Quang Ninh.

Wang Huazhen then discussed with Fang Zhenru and divided his troops to guard Zhenwu, Xiping, Luyang, Zhenning and other castles, and stationed Guangning with the main force. Zhang Heming also thought that Guangning was worth worrying, and asked Ming Xizong to order Xiong Tingbi to leave the customs.

Xiong Tingbi then went out of Shanhaiguan again, arrived at Youtun, considered using heavy troops to protect Guangning inside, and strangled Zhenwu and Luyang outside, so he sent Liu Qu to garrison Zhenwu with 20,000 people, and Qi Bingzhong to garrison Luyang with 10,000 people. He also sent Luo to guard Xiping with 3,000 men. He also reiterated his order, saying: "When the enemy comes, whoever takes a step out of the town will be killed." The same is true for the enemy who arrives in Quang Ninh and does not send troops to attack Zhenwu and Luyang, and if the enemy robs the right tun road and does not rescue the soldiers and horses of the three routes. ”

Xiong Tingbi had just finished deploying, and Wang Huazhen believed the words of the spy again, so he suddenly sent troops to attack Haizhou, and soon retreated.

Tingbi then wrote and said: "Fuchen has entered the army five times now. The troops advanced and retreated repeatedly, and the enemy had already seen through our plan, and my false name was also damaged by the ease with which I sent troops. I hope that His Majesty will clearly instruct his ministers to be cautious about their actions and not to ridicule the enemy. ”

Wang Huazhen was very unhappy when he saw his letter, and he played a chapter to defend himself, and said: "I ask to give me 60,000 soldiers, and I promise to wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop." Even if it is unsatisfactory, it will definitely be able to achieve equal casualties, so that the enemy will be slumped, and it will no longer be a worry in Hexi! "And allow him to do it cheaply.

At that time, Ye Xianggao was in charge, and he was the chief examiner when Wang Huazhen became a jinshi, and he was very biased towards Wang Huazhen. When Wang Huazhen asked to sweep the Houjin army in one fell swoop, Xiong Tingbi wrote and said: "Please do what the ministers agreed, and I should dismiss my official as soon as possible in order to boost morale." ”

At this time, both Chinese and foreign countries knew that the discord between the two was bound to ruin the major affairs of the frontier, and the ministers discussed this matter every day. And Zhang Heming believed in Wang Huazhen, so he wanted to take Xiong Tingbi out.

In the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), Xu Dahua, a member of the foreign court, accepted his intention to impeach Xiong Tingbi for deceiving the world, jealous of his merits, and if he was not dismissed, it would be harmful to the war in Liaodi.

Their recitals were sent to the ministries, and Zhang Heming summoned the ministers to discuss them. There are a few people who say that Xiong Tingbi will be dismissed, and most of the rest advocate letting the two of them do their jobs and conspire to succeed.

Just as the Houjin army approached Xiping at this time, they stopped the controversy, still used both of them, and ordered them to work together to achieve one merit and crime.

It didn't take long for the siege of Xiping to tighten. Wang Huazhen believed in the strategy of Sun Degong of the Chinese army, mobilized all the forces of Guangning, and asked Sun Degong and Zu Dashou to go to meet Qi Bingzhong, and then go forward to fight.

Xiong Tingbi also ordered Liu Qu to pull out the camp to help.

On the 22nd of the first month, the Houjin army encountered the Houjin army at the Pingyang Bridge, just after the confrontation, Sun Degong and the general Bao Chengxian and other leaders fled, and the forces of Zhenwu and Luyang were also defeated, Liu Qu and Qi Bingzhong were killed in the battle of Shaling, and Zu Dashou fled to Juehua Island. Xiping guard general Luo has always been unable to wait for help, and he and the general Hei Yunhe also died in battle.

Xiong Tingbi had already left Youtun at that time and garrisoned Luyang. Senator Xing Shenyan persuaded him to rescue Guangning urgently, but was blocked by Han Chu's order, so Xiong Tingbi retreated. At that time, the Houjin army stopped at Shaling and stopped coming forward.

Wang Huazhen usually regarded Sun Degong as a confidant, and Sun Degong had secretly surrendered to Houjin, and he wanted to capture Wang Huazhen alive as his own credit, so he falsely claimed that the Houjin army had arrived at the edge of the city.

There was a great chaos in the city, and people fled, and Gao Bangzuo, who participated in politics, couldn't stop it. Wang Huazhen was handling the military documents behind closed doors, and she didn't know anything.

The general Jiang Chaodong pushed the door and broke in, and Wang Huazhen reprimanded him loudly.

Jiang Chaodong shouted loudly: "Things are dangerous, please leave quickly!" Wang Huazhen didn't know what was going on, so Chao Dong helped him out and fled on horseback, and the two servants behind him followed on foot, so he lost Guangning City and fled in panic.

When he met Xiong Tingbi in the Daling River, Xiong Tingbi smiled and said, "60,000 troops can wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop, what will happen in the end?" ”

Wang Huazhen felt ashamed and suggested that Ningyuan and Qiantun be stationed.

Xiong Tingbi said: "It's too late. Now there is only one way to protect the people from entering the customs! So he handed over the 5,000 men he had received to Wang Huazhen to the palace, and set fire to all his savings.

On the 26th day of the first month, Xiong Tingbi and Han Chuming escorted the refugees into the customs together, Wang Huazhen, Gao Chu, and Hu Jiadong also entered the customs one after another, and only Gao Bangzuo committed suicide and died.

When Sun Dequan led the rebel generals of Guangning City to welcome the Houjin army into Guangning, Wang Huazhen had fled for two days.

The Houjin army chased them for 200 miles, but they went back because they had no food to eat on the way. When the news of the defeat reached the imperial court, the capital was shocked.

The Battle of Salhu and Wang Huazhen can be said to be failures caused by poor command.

At present, Sun Chengzong is in charge of the overall situation, and there is no such problem.

Because Sun Chengzong is not only clear-headed, he is a well-deserved handsome talent in the late Ming Dynasty, and his status is lofty. In the forty-eighth year of Wanli (1620), Zhu Youxiao of Ming Xizong ascended the throne, and Sun Chengzong served as a Japanese lecturer with Zuo Shuzi.

Sun Chengzong is the teacher of Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Apocalypse, this kind of person is a commander, at least he is not afraid of slander, and he has military talents, which is even more difficult.

It seems that the heavens are going to bless the Ming.

In the first year of the Apocalypse (1621), Sun Chengzong was promoted to Shao Zhan. In the same year, Houjin attacked Liaodong, Shenyang and Liaoyang were captured successively, and Yuan Yingtai, the governor of Liaodong, committed suicide. The ministers of the court also thought that Sun Chengzong knew about the military affairs, and recommended Sun Chengzong to add a squire to the military department to preside over the defense of Liaodong.

After Xiong Tingbi was deposed, the imperial court took Wang Zaijin as the strategy of Liaodong. After Wang Zaijin took office, he planned to attack Quang Ninh, but the governor Wang Xiangqian thought that even if he could capture Quang Ninh, it would not be easy to defend, and it was better to defend Kyoto by defending Shanhaiguan.

So Wang Zaijin built a heavy pass in Bali outside Shanhaiguan, leaving 40,000 horses to guard.

Yuan Chonghuan thought that Wang Zaijin's move was not a good strategy, and after arguing with Wang Zaijin to no avail, he wrote to Shoufu Ye Xianggao.

Ye Xianggao thought that it could not be based on subjective guesses, so Sun Chengzong asked to go to Liaodong in person to make a decision.

Zhu Youxiao was very happy, crowned Sun Chengzong as the crown prince, and rewarded python robes, jade belts, silver coins, etc.

After Sun Chengzong arrived at Shanhaiguan, he patrolled the border fortress, and Yuan Chonghuan asked Sun Chengzong for instructions: "Garrison 5,000 troops in Ningyuan to strengthen the momentum of the Thirteen Mountains, and then send generals to lead troops to rescue the Thirteen Mountains." Ningyuan is only two hundred miles away from the Thirteen Mountains, and can easily occupy Jinzhou, if you can't retreat to Ningyuan, how can you give up 100,000 refugees? ”

Sun Chengzong then consulted with the governor Wang Xiangqian, Wang Xiangqian thought that the army stationed at the pass had just lost the battle, and the morale was depressed, so it was better to mobilize the army of 3,000 people to protect the pass to Ningyuan, Sun Chengzong agreed to transfer troops to Ningyuan on the one hand, and on the other hand to rescue the refugees, the rescue failed, and only 6,000 people were rescued from the 100,000 refugees.

Sun Chengzong asked Wang Zaijin about this: "After the new city is built, will the soldiers and horses of the old city be moved to 40,000 to garrison?" ”

Wang Zaijin said: "Another army of 40,000 men should be set up. In this way, there are 80,000 soldiers in Balipu, but don't you send troops to garrison it in the northwest of Shixi? Build a heavy pass in Balipu, behind the new city is the old city, are the mines buried in front of the old city used to deal with the enemy, or are they used to deal with their own recruits? If the new city can be defended, can the old city still be used? If the new city cannot be defended and the 40,000 defenders defect, do you plan to open and let the enemy in, or do you want to surrender to the enemy in retreat? ”

"If that's the case, if the enemy is coming to the city, and the soldiers are fleeing like before, where is the need for heavy passes?" Sun Chengzong said: "We are going to build three camps on the mountain to prevent the soldiers from escaping. ”

Wang Zaijin said: "The soldiers built a camp and waited for them without a rout, are you teaching the soldiers to escape?" Moreover, the fleeing soldiers could enter, and the enemy could follow them. You don't plan for recovery now, but you are in retreat here, withdrawing all the outer defense lines, and fighting at the imperial court every day, is there still a day of peace east of Kyoto? ”

Sun Chengzong had nothing to say, so Sun Chengzong summoned the generals to discuss the issue of defense outside the pass.

Yuan Chonghuan advocated guarding Ningyuan, Yan Mingtai advocated guarding Juehua Island, and Wang Zaijin advocated guarding the front of Zhongzhong.

Sun Chengzong adopted Yuan Chonghuan's suggestion and personally guarded the gate.

Later, at the suggestion of Sun Chengzong, Ming Xizong dismissed Wang Zaijin from his post as the Liaodong Governor.

In August of the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), Sun Chengzong invited himself to be the supervisor, and also let the original generals such as Ji and Liao supervise everywhere, so that they did not have to be restricted by others when they saw the opportunity.

Sun Chengzong used Yan Mingtai as the governor of Liaodong, and Lu Shanji and Wang Zegu as praise paintings, and asked to take 800,000 yuan from the treasury.

After Emperor Zhu Youxiao agreed, he personally sent Sun Chengzong out of the palace gate, and gave Sun Chengzong Shangfang sword, python, etc., and the cabinet ministers sent Sun Chengzong directly outside the Chongwen Gate.

After Sun Chengzong took office, he asked Jiang Yingzhao to formulate a military establishment, Yuan Chonghuan to build barracks, Li Bingcheng to train firearms and equipment, Lu Shanji and Wang Zegu to deal with military supplies, Shen Di and Du Yingfang to repair armor, Sun Yuanhua to build forts, Song Xian and Cheng Lun to buy military horses, Wan Youfu to cut down trees, Zu Dashou to assist Jinguan to guard Juehua Island, Chen Zhizhu to help Zhao lead the teaching to guard Qiantun, Lu Zhijia to save refugees, and Yang Yingqian to recruit Liao people to form an army.

Sun Chengzong found that the soldiers who had been closed before were undisciplined, and there were a large number of unqualified people who risked their military salaries, so after Sun Chengzong's military parade, he sent back all the unqualified soldiers in Henan, Zhending and other places. The refugees rescued by Lu Zhijia were recruited 7,000 people to go out to garrison Qiantun, and the Liao army recruited by Yang Yingqian went to defend Ningyuan, asking North Korea to support Liaodong, and rewarded Mao Wenlong in Dongjiang Town, so that he could defend on all sides. and ordered Shen Yourong to enter Guanglu Island.

Later, Jiang Yingzhao was impeached, and Sun Chengzong asked to let Ma Shilong replace him, and let You Shilu and Wang Shiqin be the commanders of the north and south, and listen to Ma Shilong's dispatch.

Zhu Youxiao listened to Sun Chengzong's advice and gave Ma Shilong the sword of Shang Fang.

Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, and Sun Chengzong were both examiners of the palace examination in the second year of the Apocalypse, and they were full of people crouching during the Liao period.

Sun Chengzong relied on Yuan Keli for the Liaohai Defense Commission. He said: "After reading, the sun and the moon are revealed, and the sky and the bottom are penetrating, which is very tasteful, and the four bodies can be spread and the country is rewarded." ”

Emperor Zhu Youxiao liked to inspect the border passes, and often sent people from Dongchang to the gates, and then reported the affairs of the border passes to the imperial court.

After Wei Zhongxian took power, he sent his henchmen Liu Chao, Hu Liangfu, Ji Yong and other 45 people to Guanmen with tens of thousands of weapons and equipment to supply the border troops, and rewarded the soldiers with 100,000 platinum, pythons, unicorns, lions, tigers, leopards and other silver coins, and gave Sun Chengzong python clothes, platinum, etc., ostensibly to comfort the army, but in fact to spy on the military situation.

Sun Chengzong went out to inspect Ningyuan, and when he heard the news, he immediately wrote to Zhu Youxiao, saying that he could not let the eunuchs supervise the army, but Zhu Youxiao replied that it was nothing.

After the envoy arrived at the border pass, Sun Chengzong only entertained him with tea.

In the third year of the Apocalypse (1623), Sun Chengzong recommended Yan Mingtai as the governor of Liaodong, thinking that he had no practical talent, so many military matters were not discussed with him, Yan Mingtai was unhappy, and after the court discussed, Yan Mingtai was dismissed and replaced by Zhang Fengyi, but Zhang Fengyi was timid and advocated retreating to Shanhaiguan.

Sun Chengzong was not happy about this, went out to inspect Ningyuan, convened a meeting of the generals, most of the generals wanted to retreat to Shanhaiguan, Ma Shilong suggested guarding the Zhonghou Station, Yuan Chonghuan and others advocated guarding Ningyuan. Sun Chengzong adopted Yuan Chonghuan's proposal, so he asked Zu Dashou to build fortifications, and ordered Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui to garrison Ningyuan.

Sun Chengzong, fearing that his rights would be restricted, wrote to Zhu Youxiao that the governor and the governor could not be established at the same time, and asked to remove him.

Zhu Youxiao then terminated the election of the governor and ordered the governor of Liaodong to move to Ningyuan.

Zhang Fengyi felt that this was putting himself to death, and slandered Ma Shilong with Wan Youfu and others.

Not long after, Wan Youfu was impeached by Yue Hesheng, the governor of Jizhou, and Zhang Fengyi claimed that Ma Shilong and Yuan Chonghuan had framed him, fabricated lies to deceive the imperial court, and tried to thwart the plan to leave the customs.

Sun Chengzong was very angry, and wrote to Zhu Youxiao about the defensive strategy of the border pass, saying that Ning Yuan and Juehua could not give up, and defended Ma Shilong, and exposed the crime of collusion between Wan Youfu and Zhang Fengyi.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624), Ningyuan City was almost repaired, and the garrison equipment outside the pass had been built, Sun Chengzong wrote to Zhu Youxiao to request a military salary of 240,000, so that he could attack on a large scale, but the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry obstructed it, and could not give money to Zhu Youxiao, Sun Chengzong's letter to urge was fruitless, so Sun Chengzong's army did not go out.

Sun Chengzong sat in Liaodong and echoed with Li Banghua, the governor of Tianjin, and Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, "Close the door and stop the police, China and the DPRK will have a banquet, and no longer worry about side affairs." ”

In such a relatively stable background, measured by his military exploits, it seems that Sun Chengzong is a little inactive.

Wang Yongguang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, made a very pertinent evaluation of Sun Chengzong's active defense: "There are clouds in soldiers, and those who are good at fighting have no outstanding achievements!" "The reason why Sun Ge Lao fought small battles was because Jiannu knew that he could fight, and coupled with the containment of Yuan Junmen's naval army in Denglai and Yuan Junmen, Houjin refused to rashly touch his bad head, so in the past two years, Sun Ge Lao and Yuan Junmen have not had the opportunity to launch a big battle, and the opportunity to launch a strategic general counteroffensive to drive Houjin out is not ripe. But on the other hand, Sun Ge Lao invisibly saved a lot of military expenses for the imperial court, ensured that Shanhaiguan was safe and sound, and gave the Ming court more opportunities to recuperate, fully demonstrating the power of the Celestial Empire without war. ”

The first assistant Kong Zhenyun commented on Sun Chengzong: "Gong has been on the sea for a long time, where the terrain is dangerous and easy, the military reserves are shrinking, whether the generals can be, and the captivity is like a candle in the back, so the end of Denglai (Yuan Keli) is the pinfeng drum." ”

On the other hand, this also affirmed the active defense of Sun Chengzong and Yuan Keli.

It is a pity that just as Sun and Yuan Ergong were preparing for several years to organize a major counteroffensive, the eunuch party had fully controlled the situation, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse no longer directly participated in political and military affairs.

Compared with two years ago, Sun Chengzong is even more lonely, and his political card has plummeted.

Whether you are an official or a commander, you all rely on someone to support you, and you need the support of power.

This is especially true for the position of the most important position of the Ming Dynasty, which is the Jiliao Governor, and it must be supported by the emperor to the greatest extent.

Originally, the situation of the Ming army against Jiannu was very bad, even if the emperor fully supported it, the generals were very appropriate, and they all used their lives, it was difficult to have a few chances of winning.

Now there is another thing that makes Sun Chengzong a headache, that is, with the rise of Mao Wenlong's Dongjiang Army, the local families in Liaodong led by Zu Dashou and others are not happy.