After a day of military discussions, Wu Shigong felt physically and mentally exhausted. At today's military conference, the amount of information Wu Shigong obtained was simply too great, so that he could not fully digest it for a while, and even felt at a loss.

Wu Shigong finally learned from the military discussion how many Qing troops were besieging Jinzhou. But the information of the Ming army is quite vague, and there are three places where the information comes to help, one is the messenger sent by Jinzhou Zu Dashou at the risk of death; One was inquired about from the Mongol tribes and caravans; The front of Ningyuan, Xingshan, Songshan and other front-line military forts is known.

But Wu Shigong was surprised to find that among these intelligences, there was no news of detective investigation at all. According to reason, in order to ensure the reliability of the information, it is necessary to send several reconnaissance cavalry detachments and even large units to conduct fire reconnaissance of the Qing army, and obtain information on the number of Qing troops, troop deployment, and operational characteristics, but the Ming army has no such information at all, and the Ming army, from the governor Hong Chengchou and the supervising army to the major general soldiers, are all veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time, and it is impossible to ignore this kind of reconnaissance, which shows that the Ming army has no courage to send fire reconnaissance troops and has lost the means to grasp first-hand information.

Therefore, the information about the Qing army is quite confusing and vague. The number of people ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, and it was unclear how to deploy them. The tactics of the Qing army were also calculated according to the deployment of the Qing army in the previous battle of Dalinghe City, and this kind of intelligence gathering work completely left Wu Shigong speechless.

Wu Shigong was surprised to find that until now, the Qing army had besieged Jinzhou for more than three months, and his own Runing army stationed in Henan had already rushed to Shanhaiguan, while many troops of the Ming army had not yet arrived.

And this kind of troop transfer efficiency makes Wu Shigong speechless and speechless. I wonder if the independence of the Ming army is too strong? Or was it too careless about the assembled Qing army?

And now the commander of Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, has moved to Ningyuan before leaving the customs, and the three armies of Zuo Guangxian, the general soldier of Shanhai, Ma Ke, and Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan, have also accompanied Hong Chengchou there. In today's military discussion. Hong Chengchou ordered Wu Shigong, the general soldier of Runing, and Liu Zhaoji, the general soldier of Liaodong, who were already in Shanhaiguan, to extract supplies, and let them also move forward to Ningyuan before July, and first assemble the army of 90,000 men and horses on these five routes.

As for the other Ming armies, either they have their own garrisons and are difficult to mobilize, or they are still far away, so they can't catch up for a while.

And the situation between the enemy and us made Wu Shigong very unconfident in the prospect of the battle. This confidant does not know the other, plus 90,000 against at least 100,000, which makes Wu Shigong have no hope of defeating the Qing army.

The only thing that surprised Wu Shigong was. The deployment of the Ming army informed by Chang Qiu was surprisingly similar to the actual deployment of the Ming army informed in the military discussion, and while admiring Chang Qiu's energy, Wu Shigong was speechless again about the secret work of the Ming army.

Obviously, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, also clearly saw these shortcomings. Therefore, in the military discussion, he clearly put forward the primary campaign goal of the Ming army. It is to rely on these 90,000 troops. In the interception and encirclement of the Qing army, he fought a bloody way, transported a large amount of grain, grass and supplies for Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City at any cost, dragged the Qing army into a protracted war, and made the Manchus retreat because of the lack of logistics supply.

Therefore, the goal of this campaign has been completely given up on defeating the Qing army in battle, and Hong Chengchou only wants to keep Jinzhou City. Maintain the integrity of the Ningjin defense line and prevent the situation in Liaodong from further deteriorating.

Although this campaign goal is quite conservative and discouraged, Wu Shigong calculated it from the perspective of a bystander, but found that this campaign goal was the most feasible. If we keep the current situation. The annihilation of the Qing army is completely a fool's dream, so risking to push the fully transparent Ming army into the decisive battle is an extremely risky act.

Maintaining the integrity of the Ningjin defensive line, preventing the collapse of the Ming army in the Liaodong battlefield, and using protracted warfare and the use of sufficient logistics of the Ming Dynasty to drag down the Qing army is a wise choice to win in stability.

However, also in this military discussion, Wu Shigong found dissonance. Gao Qiqian, the superintendent, proposed to let Hong Chengchou see the opportunity to fight a decisive battle, wanting to attack the ancestor Dashou Department in Jinzhou City, and strive to win a big victory.

And the reasons for the prison army to rise and fall are equally sufficient, and his views also represent the views of the imperial court, mainly Emperor Chongzhen. Among them, the most important thing is: the Manchu Qing can't afford to delay, and the Ming Dynasty can't afford to drag it either. Therefore, Hong Chengchou's belief that "Daming's sufficient logistics" is already difficult to achieve.

But fortunately, Gao Qiqian still respects Hong Chengchou's choice. Because he is also very sober, if the Ming army goes to aid Jinzhou City, then the Qing army can at least send 40,000 or 50,000 horses to intercept the Ming army, in addition to the necessary forces to besiege Jinzhou City.

Even if Hong Chengchou's 90,000-strong army is the most elite of the Ming army, but the commanders of the Ming army who were frightened by the Qing army, they still think that in terms of combat effectiveness, the comparison between the Qing army and the Ming army is at least one to four, so the combat effectiveness of the Qing army is equivalent to the 200,000 horses of the Ming army, and the Ming army still has an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength.

If in such a situation, the Ming army can still rush through the interception of the Qing army and transport grain, grass and supplies to Jinzhou City, in fact, this is also a big victory. Therefore, Gao Qiqian, who knew the military affairs, did not ask Hong Chengchou to do things beyond his ability.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou finally determined the general strategy of the Ming army's actions in the military discussion, that is, one word - stability! Never divide the troops, never rush forward, is to take one step at a time, relying on the military forts in front of it as a cover, and gradually approach Jinzhou City.

"Mr. Wu!" Wu Shigong suddenly heard someone shouting behind him, he turned around and saw that it was Liu Zhaoji, the chief soldier of Liaodong who also came out of the governor's yamen, "Will General Wu be free later?" How many words do you want to say to the cold house? I have prepared a thin wine, and I want to get acquainted with you, the hero of the great victory in the river. ”

"You're welcome! Polite! Wu Shigong hurriedly bowed to Liu Zhaoji, "Today, I have to take advantage of the time to get food and pay from the military quartermaster, and I may not have time." Mr. Liu! What about tomorrow? ”

Before the end of today's military meeting, Hong Chengchou gave Wu Shigong and Liu Zhaoji warrants to go to the quartermaster department in Shanhaiguan to receive grain, grass, and supplies. And Wu Shigong was afraid that there would be something wrong with the military quartermaster, so he wanted to strike while the iron was hot and bring these grains, grasses, and supplies back to the camp. But after receiving it, it was always time to entertain the military quarters, so Wu Shigong could only temporarily decline Liu Zhaoji's kindness.

"Why rush to receive food? I just saw that the superintendent cared for General Wu very much, and the military quartermaster would never make it difficult for this, what if General Wu waited for a day? "Liu Zhaoji is still quite enthusiastic. Because this time he and Ru Ningjun went to Ningyuan together, Liu Zhaoji also wanted to deepen his relationship with Wu Shigong.

"That's not good! It's always quick to do this, slow to do it! Wu Shigong said with a smile.

"Hand fast? Slow hands? Liu Zhaoji was a little unaccustomed to Wu Shigong's modern words for a while, but he quickly understood Wu Shigong's statement literally. So Liu Zhaoji immediately said happily: "Haha-! Mr. Wu is really witty! It doesn't matter, there has never been any shortage of food and salary in Liaodong! ”

"Really?" Wu Shigong was a little incredulous. It has been so many years since he traveled to the Ming Dynasty, and he has not met the imperial court to pay his salaries quickly, so he is a little skeptical of Liu Zhaoji's statement.

"Absolutely! Liaodong has always been a place where the army gathers, although there is some restraint on the garrison and the guard, but it will never dare to slack off the soldiers who want to fight. Otherwise, who would die for the court? Liu Zhaoji replied.

What Liu Zhaoji said is the truth. Because of the war with the elite Qing army, the supply of food and salary to Liaodong has always been a priority. Although the military generals and military households of the Liaodong Guard Station like Ma Wenlong may not be fully supplied in the past, they have always been open to the supply of soldiers. Especially after the Governor of Jiliao was captured and committed suicide by mutinous soldiers due to lack of food and salary, the imperial court did not dare to embarrass these troops who were going to fight against the Qing army.

Since this is the case, Wu Shigong is also interested in chatting with Liu Zhaoji more, so he asked again: "Then General Liu Bing, there is still a place where I want to ask for advice." There were too many auxiliaries and horses brought by him this time, and the grain and grass received by the quartermaster department were always insufficient. Liu Zongbing is a local, do you know where to buy some grain and grass? ”

This time, in the imperial court order, 7,000 men and horses of the Runing army were requisitioned, and the horses were also calculated in 1,000. According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, no matter how many troops go out, they will be supplied with grain and grass based on the number of men and horses on the order. If you bring too many people, then the generals who lead the troops will have to find a way to solve it themselves.

The Runing army dispatched 17,000 men this time, and more than 10,000 horses. Especially for the forage for horses, the amount of forage needed for that horse was enough for three to five people, so the supply of grain and grass for the Runing army was quite tight.

Although Hong Chengchou did take good care of Wu Shigong, in his warrant, he gave the Runing army 10,000 people half a year's salary, and another 10,000 people with a month's grain and 2,000 horses a month's fodder, but these were less than half of the Runing army's needs.

Therefore, Wu Shigong wanted to use the silver taels he carried to buy the last batch to supplement the supply of grain and grass, and then increase the storage in the army. But this person is unfamiliar with the land and doesn't know where to buy so much grain and grass, so he took this opportunity to ask Liu Zhaoji, who is resident in the local area.

"Then how much does General Wu need? If it is small, some can be evenly distributed in the lower army. Liu Zhaoji said politely.

"5,000 stone of grain and 500,000 bundles of forage." (To be continued......)