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

Chapter 766: The Impact of Crossing the Sea

The news of the Ming army's crossing the sea to fight was not concealed for too long. Not long after Zheng Hongkui and Li You crossed the sea, Zhu Shenzui announced the matter in front of everyone. At this time, the cabinet and the Ministry of War were still worrying about how to reinforce Jinzhou.

When Wen Tihen and Yang Sichang heard that Zhu Shenzui had sent troops to Liaodong, and that they went there by crossing the sea, they were shocked. When they learned that Zheng Hongkui and Li You first captured Dalan after crossing the sea, then attacked Fu County in the north, then attacked Fuzhou, and then bypassed Gaizhou, and annihilated part of the Eight Banners in a field battle, shocking Liaodong, the expressions on their faces were even more surprised.

None of them expected that Zhu Shenzhui would do this without telling the cabinet and the Ministry of War, and directly dispatch troops privately to attack Liaodong in this way. In shock, the two looked at each other subconsciously, and saw uneasiness in each other's eyes.

Although Wen Tihen and Yang Sichang were political enemies and had been fighting each other endlessly, they had the same idea in their minds when it came to rescuing Liaodong.

In their view, Liaodong had to be saved. After all, once Jinzhou fell, the loss to the Ming Dynasty due to Zu Dashou's defeat would be unimaginable. If Jinzhou fell into the hands of Huang Taiji, the city of Ningyuan alone would not be able to withstand Huang Taiji's subsequent attacks. If this happened, the entire Ningjin defense line would collapse completely. Once the Ningjin defense line was gone, the Liaoxi Corridor would fall into the hands of Huang Taiji, and the Ming Dynasty's many years of operation in Liaodong would be destroyed.

By that time, the Ming Dynasty only had Shanhaiguan and a few fortresses east of Shanhaiguan, and had completely lost the entire Liaodong. This situation was more serious than when Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen retreated to Shanhaiguan. If Shanhaiguan was also taken over by someone else, not only would the entire Liaodong be under the control of Huang Taiji, but Huang Taiji would no longer have to go around to attack the Ming Dynasty, and could directly attack the Ming Dynasty from Shanhaiguan.

From this point of view, Liaodong must be rescued, but there are different opinions on how to rescue it. After much discussion, everyone thinks that Chen Xinjia's plan is the safest. However, to use this tactic, a large number of troops must be mobilized, and who will command this huge army is even more debatable.

Both Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang believed that the army must be commanded by a civilian official, rather than a general from the imperial court. The bottom line of the Ming Dynasty was to control the military with civil officials, and this must not be changed. If Wang Jinwu or other generals were allowed to be the commander-in-chief, the military's strength would be further expanded, which they could not accept in any way.

Precisely for this reason, Wen Tihen and Yang Sichang temporarily joined forces and insisted on having civilians command the troops. Zhu Shenzui, however, never expressed his opinion on the matter. He only said that it was a critical moment for the suppression of bandits in various places and it was not appropriate to withdraw troops to Liaodong in the north. He also had some criticisms about the choice of commander-in-chief, so there has been no final conclusion until now.

But they never expected that Zhu Shencui would secretly move troops to Liaodong by crossing the sea without their knowledge. Since Zheng Hongkui commanded the Shandong Navy, Li Xin, the governor of Shandong, was a good friend of Xu Xiancheng, who was Zhu Shencui's brother-in-law, this matter was not disclosed at all under the pretext of Shandong's maritime trade. Before Zheng Hongkui went to Shandong to serve as the deputy general, everyone thought he went there for maritime trade.

Not to mention Li You. Li You's two thousand men were Wang Jinwu's new army and cavalry. This force was not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. In addition, the number of only two thousand people was too small. In everyone's opinion, at least one hundred thousand troops would be needed to rescue Liaodong. Otherwise, there would be no way to compete with Huang Taiji.

What use can a mere 2,000 troops have? In everyone's opinion, wouldn't it be a way for Huang Taiji to fill the gaps in his teeth if such a small number of troops went to Liaodong? In addition, the news of Li You's transfer of troops to Shandong was blocked very tightly, and Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang didn't hear any news until Zheng Hongkui and Li You did such a thing in Liaodong, and then they suddenly realized it.

After being shocked, they immediately understood Zhu Shenzhui's intention. It was clear that he wanted to imitate the tactic of Wei Wei Jiu Zhao to stir up trouble in Liaodong, so as to force Huang Taiji to withdraw his troops from Jinzhou. As long as Huang Taiji withdrew his troops from Jinzhou, the siege of Jinzhou would be lifted. From a tactical point of view, this was indeed much better than Chen Xinjia's method, but the key was whether the Ming army could do this? Since Mao Wenlong was killed by Yuan Chonghuan, the Ming army had no one to cooperate with Ji Liao in the rear, which led to the loss of the initiative in the entire Liaodong war and passive attacks everywhere, which led to the siege of Jinzhou today.

And now, Zhu Shenzhui used Zheng Hongkui and Li You and only dispatched more than 2,000 people to achieve this result. It cannot be said that Zhu Shenzhui had far-sighted vision and bold use of tactics. What was even more unexpected was that Zheng Hongkui and Li You actually did it. Now, because of their attacks everywhere in Liaodong, the whole Liaodong was instantly in flames. The Jiannu in Shenyang was terrified, and Huang Taiji was even more indecisive on the front line, not knowing whether he should lead his troops to rescue immediately or continue to besiege Jinzhou.

"The Regent is wise! The Regent made light of a heavy task and used this ingenious plan to cross the sea to the north to attack the Jiannu. How could I not think of such a great strategy? I am stupid, but I admire you so much!" After a brief moment of shock, Wen Tiren's face showed a look of joy, and he flattered him with an admiring look. Wen Tiren knew that Zhu Shenzhui told them this today not only because Zheng Hongkui and Li You were doing well in the Liaodong war, but also to criticize him. He had been asking Hong Chengchou to return to Beijing to fight in Liaodong because of the Liaodong war and Yang Sichang's suggestion that a civilian official lead the troops, but Zhu Shenzhui kept finding various reasons not to agree.

Originally, Wen Tiren thought that Zhu Shencui's decision was due to the bandits and the disagreement on whether to lead the army with military generals or civilian officials. Although Wen Tiren is now Zhu Shencui's man, he has always insisted on having civilian officials lead the army instead of military generals. This is his bottom line. In addition, Zhu Shencui has never explicitly opposed this matter, which gave Wen Tiren an illusion that he could eventually convince Zhu Shencui.

But he never expected that Zhu Shencui had already made arrangements in secret, and let Zheng Hongkui and Li You lead a mere 2,000 people to accomplish such a big thing without his knowledge. Wen Tihen came to his senses immediately after being surprised. He realized that his previous plan had failed, and he knew even more clearly that Zhu Shencui had never agreed to the plan of having civil officials lead the troops. The reason why he had been delaying and prevaricating was to hide it from everyone and secretly arrange to cross the sea to attack Liaodong in the north. And now this result further proves that Zhu Shencui's choice was correct.

Secretly frightened, Wen Tiren knew that if he insisted on leading the army with a civilian official and making comments on this matter, then he might lose his position as the Prime Minister. He was not one of Zhu Shenzhu's old team members. The reason why he was able to hold the position of Prime Minister was that not long after Zhu Shenzhu entered the capital, Wen Tiren took the initiative to join him and thus had his current position.

Zhu Shenzhui was not Emperor Chongzhen, nor was he the emperor of several generations before the Ming Dynasty. He was a ruthless man, a ruthless man who, like Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di, could lead his troops to capture the capital in the name of clearing the evil officials and pacifying the national crisis, and thus control the world.

Moreover, compared with Zhu Di, Zhu Shenzhui was just a member of the royal family, not even a vassal king. But now he could become the regent of the Ming Dynasty and was only one step away from the throne. How could such a person be a soft persimmon that could be bullied by anyone?
After realizing this, Wen Tihen changed his attitude instantly and never mentioned the idea of ​​civilian officials leading the troops again. Instead, he praised the move, intending to use this method to eliminate Zhu Shenzhu's opinion of him.

As Wen Tihen's old rival, Yang Sichang immediately understood why Wen Tihen's attitude changed so much. He cursed Wen Tihen in his heart for being shameless, saying that this fence-sitter was too quick to change. But even though he cursed in his heart, he was unwilling to be outdone and quickly admitted his mistake in front of Zhu Shenzhui, saying that Zhu Shenzhui's talent and strategic vision were far beyond his reach.

The two important officials of the court kept talking to each other and never mentioned the previous matter of using civil officials to command the troops. It was meaningless to talk about it now. Zhu Shenzhui's actions were obviously to express his dissatisfaction with their previous actions, otherwise how could he make such an arrangement without telling them?
Zhu Shencui was not surprised by the change in Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang's attitudes. He had expected this. Zhu Shencui had been planning to punish them, but he did not expect Zheng Hongkui and Li You to do so well. It can be said that their performance in Liaodong greatly exceeded Zhu Shencui's expectations.

Originally, Zhu Shenzui thought that Zheng Hongkui and Li You would be able to harass the enemy's rear, kill dozens of enemies, and destroy a few strongholds. However, he did not expect that they would achieve such a brilliant result in less than a month after they sent out their troops. Not only did they capture the entire Dalan, but they also made the Qing army from Dalan to Gaizhou suffer greatly. Even Fu County was burned down, destroying countless farmlands, and they also defeated the elite Eight Banners in Gaizhou in one fell swoop.

In the wars between the Ming army and the Jiannu, the Ming Dynasty had lost more than it won, and even if it won, it was by relying on the defense of the city. In the field battles, it was always suppressed by the Eight Banners. But this time, Zheng Hongkui and Li You really showed the power of the Ming Dynasty, broke the myth of the invincibility of the Jurchens, and opened a way out for the besieged Jinzhou.

After receiving the victory report from Shandong, Zhu Shenzhui was in a very good mood, but his mind was still clear. Although Zheng Hongkui and Li You had achieved brilliant results in crossing the sea, they were fighting in the enemy's hinterland after all, and the pressure on both manpower and logistics was enormous.

Zhu Shenzhui did not rashly issue orders to Zheng Hongkui and Li You to ask them to keep up the good work and expand their victory. Instead, he sent people to remind them to be careful of the enemy and to be cautious when fighting behind enemy lines. It is better to be safe than to be reckless. Don't think that the current victory will make you lose your head. Such guerrilla warfare is not a frontal battle. Especially the battle with the Eight Banners soldiers of Gaizhou. Although it was a happy victory, it was extremely risky. If the Eight Banners soldiers of Gaizhou had been prepared in advance, and if the nearby Eight Banners units had returned for support faster, how could it be so easy to defeat the enemy in one breath?

Although the victory was not small, it was just luck. Huang Taiji would definitely make some arrangements whether he came back to help or not. Then the real test for them would just begin. In this situation, they had to be more cautious. If they fell into a trap or were caught by the enemy, how could they possibly be a match for the large group of Eight Banners with such a small number of people?

(End of this chapter)