Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 751 Suitable candidate

"Slings?"

"It's a sling!"

After hearing what Zhu Shencui said, Xu Xiancheng was very surprised. He originally thought that he entered the palace because of the Supervisory Office, but he did not expect Zhu Shencui to directly ask him about the situation of the saddle bag. After figuring out why, Xu Xiancheng suddenly realized it.

Since there is a question, there must be an answer. Xu Xiancheng's position as Governor of Shandong was not in vain. Moreover, he was the Governor of Leiden before. The post of Governor of Leiden was originally set up for the Liaodong war. It was not until Xu Xiancheng took over as Governor of Shandong that the position of Governor of Leiden was merged again with that of Governor of Shandong.

"It's hard to say exactly how many Jiannu there are in Dalan, but there are probably several thousand of them. However, there shouldn't be many real Eight Banners among them, at most a few hundred, and the rest are local Liao people, Baoyi and Han troops."

"So, there aren't that many Jiannu soldiers in the army?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a little surprise.

Xu Xiancheng nodded and said, "I am the governor of Laiden in Shandong. Laiden is responsible for Pi Island affairs. We need to cross the sea to travel back and forth. Although the route does not go through Dalan, the navy has some understanding of the situation in Dalan. However, the navy has never landed in Dalan, so I cannot guarantee the true information."

After a pause, Xu Xiancheng could not help but ask, "Has the Regent asked the Imperial Guards about this matter? What did the Imperial Guards say?"

Zhu Shenzhui slapped his forehead. If Xu Xiancheng hadn't reminded him, he would have almost forgotten that the Jinyiwei, as a special organization, has always been responsible for intelligence work. Especially after Zhu Shenzhui came to Beijing, he carried out a major reorganization of the Jinyiwei and appointed Zhou Anmin as the commander-in-chief.

Now the Jinyiwei's external intelligence work has been fully restored and is no longer half-dead as it was during the reign of Chongzhen.

Zhu Shenzhui immediately sent someone to call Zhou Anmin, and soon Zhou Anmin arrived in a hurry.

As soon as Zhou Anmin arrived, Zhu Shenzui asked him about the saddle bag without waiting for him to salute. Zhou Anmin was stunned for a moment, and after a little thought, he answered Zhu Shenzui's question.

Zhou Anmin told Zhu Shenzhui that there were originally many Liao people living in Dalan, but after the fall of Liaodong, Dalan fell into the hands of the Jiannu.

During the Nurhaci period, the Liao people in Dalan were massacred several times, and a large part of them were moved to the north, leaving not many. But after Huang Taiji ascended the throne, his policy towards the Liao people changed, and he appeased them in a series of ways, so the population of Liao people in Dalan has recovered in recent years.

During Nurhaci's reign, the Eight Banners were divided into two parts, with Shenyang (Shenyang) as the center. The Plain Yellow Banner was stationed in the east of the city, the Bordered Yellow Banner was stationed in the north of the city, the Plain Red Banner was stationed in the southeast of the city, and the Bordered Red Banner was stationed in the northwest of the city. This is also called the inner circle.

The southern part of the outer circle, namely the coastal areas of the Liaodong Peninsula and the areas adjacent to North Korea, are the two blue flag defense zones; the western side of the outer circle, namely the areas along the Liaohe River and adjacent to the Guanjin Defense Line, are the two white flag defense zones.

After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he readjusted Nurhaci's arrangements at the time. In order to consolidate his rule and strengthen his power, Huang Taiji "changed the flags" and replaced his original two white flags with two yellow flags, that is, swapped four flags to strengthen control.

In addition, Huang Taiji also disrupted Nurhaci's original Eight Banners garrison areas, changing the original single Eight Banners responsible for an area to a mixed and rotating garrison.

The advantage of doing this is that it prevents a certain flag from staying in a certain place for too long, causing slackness and having too much influence on the local area, which would be detrimental to government affairs, military affairs, including flag management.

According to the rules set by Nurhaci, the coastal areas from Gaizhou to Dalan and then to Zhenjiangbao were all under the responsibility of the two blue banners. After Huang Taiji's reorganization and rotation, the Niulu currently stationed in Dalan is from the Zhenglan Banner, led by Niulu Ezhen (now known as Niulu Zhangjing) Wuerte, and stationed in Jinzhou Wei, under the jurisdiction of the Liao people, baoyi and part of the Han army here.

"So, the Jiannu army now only has one Niulu?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with some joy.

"Yes!" Zhou Anmin said, "There are more than 300 Niulu of Wuerte, plus their Han army, a total of 1,000 people. Most of them are stationed in Jinzhouwei, and some are in Jinzhou Zuowei. If our army wants to cross the sea and land in Dalan, the first place we have to capture is Jinzhou Zuowei."

"What kind of person is Wuerte?" Zhu Shenzhui continued to ask.

Zhou Anmin immediately explained the man's situation. Wuerte was a Zhangjing of the Niulu of Zhenglan Banner. The original leader of the Zhenglan Banner was Manggurtai. Not long ago, news came that Manggurtai had angered Huang Taiji and was deprived of his position as leader. Not long after, he suddenly died. Now the Zhenglan Banner belongs to Manggurtai's younger brother Dergelei.

Although Degelei and Manggurtai were brothers, they did not have a good relationship. Moreover, Degelei always obeyed Huang Taiji's orders. After becoming the leader of the banner, he did whatever Huang Taiji asked him to do. The entire Zhenglan Banner had become a vassal of the two yellow banners.

Wuerte was a brave and good fighter. He was a close confidant of Manggurtai. He followed Manggurtai to fight during the establishment of the Eight Banners and was deeply trusted by him. Originally, Wuerte's garrison was not in Dalan. He was transferred from other places after Manggurtai's death. The reason for this was obvious. It was because Degelei didn't like Wuerte, so he was exiled to Dalan, a place that was both close to the sea and desolate. Hearing this, Zhu Shenzhui was thoughtful. If Zhou Anmin's intelligence was correct, this Wuerte would be easy to deal with. First, he had not been in Dalan for a long time and did not know the situation in Dalan as well as the previous garrisons. Secondly, although Wuerte was a Niulu Zhangjing, he was transferred to Dalan because he was a close confidant of Manggurtai and because of the death of Manggurtai and the disagreement with the current banner owner Degelei.

From this we can see that Wuerte definitely had complaints about the Dergelei. In addition, he was marginalized and his status in the Zhenglan Banner also declined. If such a person was stationed in Dalan and the Ming army landed in Dalan, it would be hard to say whether he would put his efforts to resist.

Perhaps this is a good opportunity for the Ming army. Looking up at the hanging map, Zhu Shenzui became more determined to launch a cross-sea landing operation. If this tactic is successful, the siege of Jinzhou will be easily lifted. As long as the Ming army occupies Dalan, Huang Taiji who learns the news will definitely not stand idly by and will definitely lead troops to rescue. Thus, Zu Dashou in Jinzhou will have a chance.

"Does the Regent want to cross the sea to attack Dalan and use the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao to break the siege of Jinzhou?" Zhou Anmin couldn't help but ask.

"You guessed right. I do have this plan, so I came to you to ask about the saddle bag." Zhou Anmin had nothing to hide from this matter, and the two people present were his brother-in-law and his nephew, both of them were family members.

"This plan seems feasible..." Zhou Anmin first expressed his approval, then frowned and said: "But Regent, fighting across the sea is different from ordinary land battles. Regent, you are planning to use the Shandong Navy, right? I wonder who will lead the army? If the leader is not good at naval warfare, I am afraid..."

The concerns raised by Zhou Anmin are true. The Ming Dynasty has many capable generals, whether it is Wang Jinwu, He Renlong, Cao Wenzhao and his nephew, or Hei Yunlong, Zuo Liangyu, Qin Liangyu, Wu Sangui, Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji and so on, they are all powerful generals.

There were even many civil servants who were capable of fighting. Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiuyu, Lu Xiangsheng, Li Xin and others were all civil servants who commanded the three armies. The Ming Dynasty had no shortage of generals who could command troops. If we add some ordinary generals and deputy generals who were not very famous but had good combat records, there would be even more.

But these people are not good at naval warfare, which is completely different from land warfare. This time, Zhu Shenzhui is not going to reinforce Liaodong from land, but to lead the navy to fight across the sea. If the leader is not proficient in naval warfare, it will be absolutely impossible.

There were generals in the Ming Dynasty who were good at fighting across the sea, and Mao Wenlong was one of the best. Mao Wenlong had been in Pi Island for many years, and many of his subordinates were proficient in naval warfare. Unfortunately, Dongjiang Town had experienced several civil strife since Mao Wenlong's death. Moreover, due to the Shandong mutiny, several famous generals in Dongjiang Town, such as Mao Wenlong's adopted son Mao Chenglu, died after the mutiny failed, Shang Kexi surrendered to Huang Taiji, Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng, father and son, were executed after the Shandong mutiny. Only Geng Zhongming was not involved in the mutiny because of Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin's decisiveness. However, because of Geng Zhongming's relationship with Kong Youde and others, he was transferred from Shandong and sent directly to the Central Plains battlefield, serving under Chen Qiuyu and suppressing bandits.

Although Shen Shikui, Jin Riguan, Chu Jigong and other former generals of Dongjiang Town were also subordinates of Mao Wenlong, they were not good at naval warfare. Moreover, after the Battle of the Great Wall, these three were promoted for their merits. Afterwards, the court abolished the organization of Dongjiang Town, and the three were resettled by Zhu Shenzui and transferred from Shandong to other places. It would be inappropriate to transfer them back now.

"Is there any capable general on Leiden's side?" Zhu Shenzhui thought for a while and asked Xu Xiancheng.

Xu Xiancheng shook his head slightly: "There is no problem for the Shandong Navy to cross the sea, but there is no good candidate to lead the navy in combat. If they only cooperate with the landing and are responsible for transportation and logistics, there is no problem, but they are insufficient for crossing the sea."

Hearing his answer, Zhu Shenzui frowned and couldn't think of a candidate for a moment. Just as Zhu Shenzui was about to discuss with Xu Xiancheng to see if he could select a general from the original Dongjiang Town. It would be fine if he had a lower military rank, as long as he was proficient in naval warfare. Then he could select a suitable commander to cooperate with him and see if it was feasible.

"I think there may be someone else who is suitable." At this time, Xu Xiancheng spoke.

"Do you have the right person?"

"I think it's suitable, but whether it can be used still needs to be determined by the regent."

"It doesn't matter. Who is this person?" Zhu Shenzhu asked.

"This person is Zheng Zhilong's younger brother, Zheng Hongkui!"

"Zheng Hongkui?"

"Exactly!"

Zhu Shenzhui's eyes lit up immediately. Yes! How could he have forgotten this person? If we were to ask who was the best at naval warfare in the entire Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong would be the best. This guy was a pirate who traveled all over the world. He was well-known in the South China Sea. He had countless warships and merchant ships under his command. When he was at his peak, the entire South China Sea had to look to Zheng Zhilong for his favor.

In terms of naval combat capabilities and experience, no one can compare to Zheng Zhilong. Even if Mao Wenlong had not died, if Mao Wenlong and several of his subordinates were tied together to fight at sea, their ability would not be half as good as Zheng Zhilong's.

Zheng Hongkui is Zheng Zhilong's younger brother. He has been following Zheng Zhilong in the sea business since he was a child. Even if his naval combat ability is not as good as Zheng Zhilong, he is still a leader among the generals who understand naval warfare in the Ming Dynasty. If Zheng Hongkui is allowed to command the navy, then the chances of crossing the sea will be much greater. More importantly, Zheng Hongkui is now in the capital.

(End of this chapter)