464 a large number of traitor troops

[Today's first chapter is presented, please collect and subscribe! ] There's one more chapter in the evening! 】

For these merchants, as long as they can make money, they don't care whether the Tartars can enter the customs or not.

In the final analysis, in this era, the national consciousness of these businessmen is still too weak.

In their eyes, the interests of the family are far greater than the interests of the country.

Because in their opinion, at this time, Daming is just the world of the Zhu family.

Even if they die, it is the business of the old Zhu family, what does it matter to them.

Besides, what's the bad about cooperating with the Tartars, even if the Tartars enter the customs and take over the world, what difference does it make to the Tartars.

What Han people in the world, how can they have the glory and wealth of their own family, it is important to come.

There were many Ming merchants with this kind of thinking at this time, and Shanxi was the most infiltrated by Tartars because of its geographical location.

This created that at this time, there were a lot of traitor businessmen secretly in Shanxi.

And there are also Shanxi businessmen who can really keep their sanity, keep the bottom line in their hearts, and do not trade with Tartars, but they are pitiful.

Even, these Shanxi merchants who keep the bottom line of Ming merchants will be retaliated against by the Tartars, as well as suppressed by their peers who collude with the Tartars on weekdays.

Gradually, there are fewer such businessmen in Shanxi.

In addition to transporting grain, iron, cloth and other materials to the Tartars, they exchanged them for gold, silver, pearls, ginseng, mink, etc.

Later, under the temptation of the Tartars' heavy money, they had another business, that is, they sold the Ming Dynasty's domestic intelligence to the Tartars.

According to the requirements of the Tartars, they will collect all kinds of information that the Tartars need in the Ming Dynasty.

Since Li Zixiao taught Tartar a lesson in the Battle of the Northern Expedition the year before last, Tartar began to pay attention to him.

As Li Zixiao's subordinates became stronger and stronger, the Tartars became more and more jealous of him, because they understood that Li Zixiao was not ordinary hostile to them.

Then, the Tartars began to ask many trading houses in Shanxi to collect information on the White Dragon Army, and offered a high price.

In the face of huge interests, many Jin merchants were moved, they sent many people to the south, and also set up several commercial houses in Jiangbei.

In addition to sending out his previous guesses, the note he got just now was the latest task sent to him by the firm.

It was for him to find a way to get the manufacturing process of those artillery pieces in the Xuzhou Arsenal of the White Dragon Army.

In addition, he was also asked to find a way to collect information on the flintlock pistols of the White Dragon Army, preferably to obtain one or two of these new firearms, secretly send them back to Shanxi, and then transfer them to the Tartars.

"What are you kidding, this task is too difficult, and General Zhenguo's defense against those artillery and muskets is terrifying.

Once discovered, my little life will be difficult to protect, who loves to do this task, anyway, Lao Tzu will not wade into this troubled water!

Although silver is a good thing, if you earn silver, you have to have a life to spend it! ”

Ma Yu is a smart man, he works for the Tartars, and he is also for the silver, but he is not completely dazed, and he does not plan to do such a high-risk task at all.

The information sent by Ma Yu was brought back to Shanxi by the Jin merchant firm, and then transferred to the Tartar in the hands of the Jin merchant, and half a month passed.

………………………………

At that time, Li Zixiao had already begun to prepare his battle plan on Tamna Island, and his first target of this operation was Lushun.

On December 23, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, just before Li Zicheng was about to capture Luoyang, Li Zixiao officially sent people to Lushun to prepare to attack Lushun.

Before the Liaohai Sea froze, a merchant ship rode the wind and waves to the mouth of Arthur.

At this time, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Liaohai Sea is normally frozen, which generally appears in mid-January and will last until the arrival of spring, which will be relatively long.

This is mainly affected by the cold climate caused by the Xiaoice River period at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, there is not much time left for Li Zixiao, he must knock down Lushunkou before the Liaohai Sea freezes.

Otherwise, once the Liaohai Sea freezes, Li Zixiao's channel from the sea to Lushun will be cut off, and it will be almost impossible for him to take Lushun at that time.

At this time, at the bow of the merchant ship, stood a young man dressed as a merchant, and behind him stood several men dressed as guards.

At this time, they were standing on the ship, and they were carefully surveying this excellent port in the north.

Lushunkou, an excellent port, even in the late Ming Dynasty, the winter is cold, but the Lushunkou freezing time is also very short.

It is even said that in the early years, when the weather was not so cold, the harbor of Lushunkou did not even freeze all year round.

In addition, it is a natural harbor due to its secluded and dangerous location.

Lushunkou and Miaodao Islands and Penglaijiao of Shandong Peninsula together choke the Bohai Strait, forming a natural barrier between Beijing, Tianjin and the Bohai Sea coast.

For the Ming Dynasty, which has the capital of Beijing, it has always been an extremely important place.

It's a pity that such an important place, Da Ming has been lost for several years and fell into the hands of the Tartars.

In the second year of Chongzhen, after Mao Wenlong, the chief soldier of Dongjiang, was killed by Yuan Chonghuan, the internal contradictions in Dongjiang Town became increasingly intensified, and its old troops successively made rebellion in Phidao and Dengzhou.

Although the imperial court successively pacified the rebellion of Dongjiang and Dengzhou, with some traitors such as Kong Youde took refuge in the Tartars, with the assistance of these traitors, the Tartars sent troops to attack Lushun in the sixth year of Chongzhen.

The Ming army stationed in Lushun, although bravely resisted, was finally outnumbered and defeated, and Lushun fell into the hands of the Tartars.

After the loss of Lushun, the Ming army also soon lost Guanglu, Changshan and other maritime islands.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, Shen Shikui, the last general soldier of Dongjiang Town, defeated Phi Island, defeated Shicheng Island, and was finally captured and died, and the Ming Dynasty completely lost control of Liaohai and the surrounding islands.

Fortunately, the Tatars did not have a navy, otherwise they could have gone to sea from Arthur, easily crossed the short Bohai Strait, and then landed on the northern coast of Shandong.

In this way, the Tartars can ignore the heavy defense lines laid by the Ming army in the area of Shanhaiguan, and can invade the hinterland of the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty at any time.

"Is this the Port of Arthur?" The young merchant standing at the bow of the ship asked aloud.

"Yes, we're going to arrive at Lushunkou soon." One of the guards behind him replied.

Port Arthur.

Sui and Tang Dynasty named the town of Li, the Yuan called the lion's mouth, the Ming Dynasty Hongwu four years, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang sent Ma Yun, Ye Wang two generals, led the army from Shandong Penglai to cross the sea by boat, here landed to recover Liaodong.

Because of the smooth sailing on the sea, they changed the name of the lion's mouth to Lushunkou in order to celebrate, and it has been used to this day.

It used to be a very prosperous port.

When the Ming Dynasty was still ruling Liaodong, the route from Liaodong to Guannai was not by land around Jinzhou Shanhaiguan, but by sea.

It is mainly from the Denglai Peninsula in Shandong Province by boat, through the Miaodao Islands, to the Lushun Port landing, you can easily reach the Guanwai.

Later, the rise of the Tartars outside the Guanwai, the imperial army went to Liaodong to discuss, and most of its food and baggage were transported to Lushun through Denglai.

It was also a prosperous commercial port, and the leather and medicinal materials of Liaodong were transported back to Shandong by sea, and the grain and cloth of Shandong were sold to Liaodong from here.

Even, it was once an important transit point on the road between Daming and North Korean traders.

From Penglai in Shandong to Lushun in Liaodong, the sea route is only more than 200 miles.

But now, under the rule of the Tartars, the mouth of Arthur has long since disappeared from prosperity.

"There are so few ships in the harbor?"

Li Sheng looked at the Port of Arthur at this time, such an excellent seaport with an important location, but there were only a few ships in it at this time.

And most of them were small boats, some sand boats, some small fortune boats, mostly sloops, and many smaller fishing boats, which did not even have masts.

The boats were small and dilapidated, and most of the boatmen and fishermen on board were ragged and thin-skinned, with some soldiers patrolling the harbor and some arrow tower guards.

"Well, this place used to be very prosperous, and there were hundreds of big ships moored in the harbor, but since the Tartars took this place, it has become like this."

The owner of this merchant ship, Liu Zhang, also looked at the bleak Port of Lushun at this time, and said with a sigh. 、

After the Tatars captured Lushun, the Ming court completely lost control of the Liaodong Peninsula and the islands in the Liaohai Sea.

Since the Ming army was unable to counterattack and recapture Lushun, the imperial court ordered that merchants and fishermen from Shandong and other places should be prohibited from going to the coast of the Liaohai Sea to do business and fish.

Although there are still some businessmen who will secretly come to smuggle and sell goods, this is a great risk, and the Shandong businessmen who dare to take this risk are still a minority after all.

So, in just a few years, it quickly fell into the cold.

"The shopkeeper knows that it is the Tartars who are stationed in Lushun at this time?" Li Sheng turned to the shopkeeper Liu and asked.

"There are not many Tartars stationed in Lushunkou, and the Tartars were sent to guard Lushunkou by the three traitors in Shandong before.

Before the big traitor Kong Youde was the commander of all the soldiers and horses in Lushunkou, after Kong Youde was Ling Chi the year before last, the Tartar asked Geng Zhongming to take Kong Youde's place.

Don't you know, these traitors grovel to the Tartars, but they are very fierce and tight to the people of Lushun, and they have made all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes in Lushun, making the people of Lushun miserable. ”

Shopkeeper Liu told Li Sheng what he knew without reservation, and his tone was full of anger.

That's right, at this time, there were not many Tartar troops stationed on the Liaodong Peninsula, and all the Tartar elites were concentrated in the Shengjing area.

At this time, instead of the Tartars guarding the Liaodong Peninsula, it was the team of the three traitors from Shandong, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi, who betrayed the Ming Dynasty and defected to the Tartars.

Kong Youde and the three of them were once under the command of Mao Wenlong, the chief soldier of the Dongjiang River, and became their righteous sons.

Later, Mao Wenlong was killed, Kong Youde and others defected to Shandong, and finally they all rebelled, and defected to Tartar after the defeat.

After they defected to the Tartars, Huang Taiji was very happy and named them the princes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, because the titles of the three of them all had a straight character, so they were also called 'Three Shun Kings'.

It's just that in the mouths of these businessmen like to call them the three traitors of Shandong.

Among them, Kong Youde was captured by Li Zixiao when he assisted the Tartars in the customs battle the year before last, and then was ordered to be executed by Ling Chi by Chongzhen.

At this time, Kong Youde's title of 'Gongshun King' had been inherited by his son Kong Tingxun, and Kong Youde's subordinates were also under the jurisdiction of Kong Tingxun.

"Don't worry, these dog traitors won't be around for long, and there is only one monk Geng Zhongming left, and they will end up like Kong Youde in the future."

Li Sheng said coldly.

As early as last year, Li Zixiao had already ordered Zhang Fugui's intelligence bureau to start sending secret agents into Liao to develop eyeliner and collect intelligence.

This time, Li Zixiao sent Li Sheng to Lushun to contact these intelligence officers, and he was responsible for receiving and transmitting information.

Li Sheng took a few guards and took the ship of this businessman Liu's shopkeeper.

"Hey, over the years, the imperial court has not fought effectively against the Tartars, and more and more Han people have taken refuge in the Tartars, creating a large number of traitor armies.

Like Li Yongfang and Tong Yangxing's Han Army Blue Flag, Kong Youde's Han Army is Red Flag, Geng Zhongming's Han Army is Yellow Flag, and Shang Keg's Han Army Blue Flag, etc., the number is really small.

In recent years, the Tartars have occupied more and more territory, so they have expanded these traitor soldiers into the Four Banners of the Han Army, and they will soon become the Eight Banners of the Han Army.

At this time, in the Tartars, the traitor soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty added up, and it was estimated that there were nearly 100,000 people.

I really can't understand why I want to be a slave for those barbarians outside the border if I don't do it! ”

Shopkeeper Liu's perennial run Lushun still knows very well about the situation of these traitors outside the border.

Moreover, at this time, because Li Zixiao let the Tartars enter the customs last time, the loss was not small compared to the history, which made Huang Taiji feel the shortage of troops in his hands more and more.

As a result, Huang Taiji accelerated the construction of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, and at this time the Tartars had already built the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, much earlier than in history. 、

After Li Sheng listened to Liu's shopkeeper's words, he snorted and said: "These traitors are grasshoppers after the autumn, and they can't grow." The imperial court is about to liquidate these traitors.

Shopkeeper Liu, it seems that this Port Arthur doesn't seem to have strong defenses? ”

"It turns out that it is still stronger, it seems that since last month, the Tartars have transferred a lot of traitor soldiers to Jinzhou from the three traitors in Lushun Shandong, and I heard that they are going to attack Jinzhou."

When Li Sheng heard this, he said in his heart: Sure enough, in order to attack Jinzhou, the Tartars will really mobilize the men and horses on Lushun's side.

Shopkeeper Liu's ship entered the port and docked, and a few Tartars dragging pigs' tails came over to inspect it.

Those who don't know, looking at the soldiers behind these heads, dragging a pig's tail, still think that these are real tartars.

But these guys speak fluent Chinese, and at first glance they are a group of traitors.

"Hmph, the main duty of these traitors in the port is to collect money from us merchant ships entering the port, and they don't care about anything else."

Shopkeeper Liu's eyes were disgusted, he looked at these traitor soldiers who were approaching them, and whispered to Li Sheng.

When these traitor soldiers came over, they saw Shopkeeper Liu and said, "Shopkeeper Liu is here again, let's still have the old rules?" ”

"Yes, yes, yes, old rules." Shopkeeper Liu forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, smiled with his face, and said.

Then, he took out a bag of silver and handed it to the traitors.

A traitor soldier took the money bag handed by the shopkeeper Liu, opened it, and saw that it was full of broken silver, and he checked it in his hand, and his fat face was about to laugh like a flower.

(End of chapter)