You can't only love the Qing Dynasty when you're eating the fruits of others' labor.

Chapter 368 Imitating Mao Wenlong's Old Story
In full view.

The knight holding the white flag reined in his horse and shouted, "Your servant has come to negotiate peace on the orders of General Sony of Shengjing. Liaodong is willing to follow the old ways of the Song and Liao dynasties, respect our uncle country, offer annual tribute, and send away barbarians."

He shouted it three times.

At least tens of thousands of people heard it.

The "Prime Minister" suddenly drew his sword and severed the knight's neck in one stroke.

The headless corpse swayed a few times before crashing to the ground.

There was dead silence.

Immediately, the army erupted in thunderous cheers.

The Zhili Green Standard Army, in particular, under Jiang Zhongcheng's instigation, actually shouted collectively, "Long live! Long live!"

……

Jiang Qingyun sighed inwardly, then ordered: "Proclaim to the three armies that the siege will continue today, with Green Standard Army troops from each province taking turns to fight! Spare no effort to cover the earthwork operations."

"As ordered."

The generals were in awe.

A counterintuitive rule:
In an era of great strife, morality has declined.

If the lord is indecisive and soft-hearted, the subordinates will think that their camp has a bleak future and will defect to another lord.

If the lord is shrewd and ruthless, his subordinates will believe that their side has a bright future and will be willing to follow him.

After continuous sieges, the army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties.

The flag guards, who served as the supervising team, executed more than 200 deserters and over 1000 deserters on the battlefield.

Regarding this~
Jiang Qingyun appeared nonchalant, which was indeed intentional. He deliberately used one war after another to rationally wear down these incorrigible Green Standard Army soldiers.

Adults cannot be educated, only screened.

Even if other adults harbor resentment, they can't stir up much trouble.

But if these soldiers, who had lived through the Ming-Qing transition, became dissatisfied, they would either become bandits in the mountains or launch a violent mutiny. Since they couldn't be reused or dismissed, the only option was to send them to their deaths!
The nascent united empire~
……

Jiang Qingyun continued to urge the army to attack Shanhaiguan every day, but the scale of the attack was significantly reduced. They couldn't afford to suffer more than half of their troops killed, or they would suffer a major defeat.

The cluster attack has been changed to—earthwork operations!
Chiang Kai-shek's military thought shines brightly.
First, two straight moats were dug leading to the city wall.

When they were less than a mile from the city wall, the moat began to extend to both sides, and then continued to be dug forward.

The excavated soil was piled up into small hills.

Day after day, the same repetitive tasks.

The garrison at Shanhaiguan attempted to stop them with artillery, but to little effect; the shells failed to cause any real damage to the busy crowd inside the trenches.

They dared not leave the city.

A large number of cavalrymen were watching from the rear, and once the defenders left the city, they could not return. The defenders could only watch helplessly as the trenches got closer and closer to their own city walls.

The defenders began digging holes inside the city walls and burying large urns.

They sent people to listen to the sounds every day.

……

Although earthwork is tiring, it's still better than a siege by ants.

Green Standard Army soldiers took turns digging.

As time passed, the trench was finally dug to within 20 zhang of the city wall.

The two sides exchanged fire with guns, cannons, and bows.

Everyone was looking forward to the day of the explosion.

It was the first day of the fifth lunar month, in the evening.

Li Dingguo took the initiative to request an audience.

"Prime Minister, I request to lead a detachment out of Xifengkou, cross the Yanshan Mountains, and then cut off the Qing army's rear by flanking them."

"Are you afraid the Qing army at Shanhaiguan will escape?"

"Yes."

"Brother Dingguo, it will be difficult for the army to cross mountains and valleys."

"Your Excellency, I am not being presumptuous, but have evidence to back it up. The Qing army first entered the pass via the Xifengkou-Longjingguan route. The second time, they entered via the Qingshankou-Lengkou route. The third time, they entered via the Dushikou-Zhangjiakou route. I dare to speculate that due to years of logging, the trees deep in the Yanshan Mountains are sparse and have lost their original defensive function. If the enemy can go there, so can we. I request permission to fight."

At this moment, Li Dingguo's eyes shone brightly.

Jiang Qingyun seemed to be deep in thought.

"Brother Dingguo, I'm begging you."

"Thank you for your kindness, Grand Secretary!"

Day three.
Li Dingguo led 2000 cavalry and 2000 infantrymen, intending to open a third front for his army, block the Liaoxi Corridor, and massacre the Qing troops at Shanhaiguan.

10 days ago.

Liu Guoxuan's fleet arrived in the waters near Pi Island. The lookouts on the masts used binoculars to observe the island and shouted loudly.

"General, there are soldiers on the island, but they are not Qing soldiers."

"Which army is it?"

"They look like Goryeo soldiers."

Liu Guoxuan was shocked.

The subordinate asked:

"General, shall we attack?"

"Nonsense, we'll fight anyway. Pass down the order: whoever lands on Pi Island first will be rewarded with 50 taels of silver, plus two Korean women."

Everyone laughed.

The messenger scrambled up the mast and relayed the order using flag signals.

Meanwhile, the Goryeo garrison on the island also spotted the fleet at sea, and the sentries fired three-barreled guns as a warning.

Three gunshots rang out.

The entire island was in chaos.

Liu Guoxuan's fleet, with two galleons as the vanguard, quickly sailed into a favorable position.

"fire!"

The shirtless sailors pushed the cannons out of the portholes, lit the fuses, and the cannon carriages retreated rapidly, sending cannonballs whistling towards the land.

A column of water rose from the sea.

Only a very small number of shells landed on the shore.

The Koreans, not to be outdone, opened fire in retaliation from their shore-based artillery positions.

In an instant, cannons roared and the sea boiled.

After observing for a while, Liu Guoxuan ordered his warships to lower the sampans and land on the beach.

More than 20 sampans, fully loaded with infantry, rowed vigorously toward Pi Island, avoiding the gun emplacements and approaching from the blind spots of the cannons' fire.

As we approached the shore~
Suddenly a squad of Goryeo musketeers arrived.

"Fire! Kill these pirates!" shouted a battalion commander surnamed Cui.
Immediately, smoke rose up.

People kept being shot and falling into the sea from the sampans.

"Don't stop, row hard, charge forward. Lift the shields, everyone drop down."

After enduring two volleys of musket fire, the first sampan finally reached the shore, its bow settling onto the beach, where it remained motionless.

The swordsmen immediately jumped onto the beach and charged at the enemy soldiers who were still busy reloading.

"kill!"

When the two sides were about 10 feet apart, the Goryeo musketeers' will collapsed. They abandoned their matchlock guns, turned around and ran away. They hadn't run far before they were caught up by a group of Jeong's sailors, who beheaded them one after another.

Half an hour later, Liu Guoxuan's troops successfully captured Pi Island, taking more than a hundred Goryeo soldiers prisoner, and raised a black dragon flag on the island's highest point.

……

During his inspection of Pi Island, Liu Guoxuan came across a collapsed grave.

A crude wooden plaque stands in front of the tomb, with the words written crookedly in charcoal: "Tomb of the late Left Commander-in-Chief and General Who Pacifies Liaodong, Mao Wenlong."

He thought for a moment and then added a mound of soil to the collapsed grave.

"Pass the order."

"Starting tomorrow, divide the men and ships into three groups and take turns attacking. Haunt the land relentlessly, burn what you can, kill what you can, and loot what you can. Make the area within a 200-mile radius ablaze with smoke and ensure that there is no place of peace around Shengjing."

"As ordered."

a few days later.

Zheng Tai divided his forces and stationed them at Zhangzidao.

Zheng Tai and Liu Guoxuan discussed and concluded that in this battle, they should not refrain from exerting their full strength, but they also should not use all their resources.

If they don't contribute anything, then Chief Minister Chiang will hold them accountable later. At that time, not only will the two of them be unable to bear it, but the Prince of Yanping will also be unable to bear it.

Juehua Island is too close to the battlefield, making it relatively dangerous.

Pi Island is far from the Liaoxi Corridor and is relatively safe.

Soon~
Smoke was rising from Tieshan, Yizhou, Zhenjiang and other places.

The King of Goryeo was shocked!
The capital city of Shengjing was shocked!
(End of this chapter)