Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 271 Pointing East to Attack West, the Jurchens Fall into the Trap (Part 1)

While Zhu Jue was considering the issue of building ships, Huang Taiji was considering whether or not to send troops to support the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants in Puzhou.

At this moment, the three major clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou have all agreed to provide him with enough grain and pig iron. If he sends troops to reinforce them, he will definitely make a fortune.

The problem is, Sun Chuanting is watching them closely.

Now they only have a few million acres of farmland left on both sides of the Hun River. If Sun Chuanting seizes all of this farmland, they will run out of food!

However, even if they managed to save the millions of acres of farmland along the Hun River, they still wouldn't have enough food.

This was because the land cultivated by those slaves yielded too little, while the population they needed to supply was too large.

In this situation, they could only rely on the grain sent by the eight imperial merchants to ensure they wouldn't go hungry. The grain from the eight imperial merchants didn't come out of thin air; they relied on the land they had annexed in Shanxi, including the land annexed by the Shanxi princes, to produce grain.

The eight imperial merchants had acquired a lot of land in Pingyang Prefecture and Taiyuan Prefecture, which were also their main grain-producing areas.

In other words, if the strongholds of the eight major imperial merchants were destroyed, they would not run out of food, but they would not have enough food to sustain their current population.

This seems to be a contradiction. He has to protect hundreds of acres of farmland on both sides of the Hun River, and at the same time, he has to ensure that the strongholds of the eight imperial merchants are not destroyed. Is that possible?
Sometimes, some people react negatively to problems and think the worst, while others react positively and think the best.

Huang Taiji wasn't entirely pessimistic; he naturally tried to think positively.

On the bright side, the Hun River is different from the Taizi River. The biggest difference between the Hun River and the Taizi River is the location of the city.

Liaoyang was located on the south bank of the Taizi River, while Shenyang was located on the north bank of the Hun River.

In other words, Shenyang was not as easy to besiege as Liaoyang. Even if the Ming navy occupied the Hun River waterway, it could not cut off the support from the east, west and north sides of Shenyang.

In this situation, Shenyang is not as easy to besiege as Liaoyang, as they can provide support from three sides.

How did the Ming army defend against this?
Would the Ming army dare to build a city on the plains surrounding Shenyang on three sides?

If that's the case, their chance to defeat them one by one will come.

This is because when the Ming army besieged Liaoyang, they only had about 200,000 chariots and soldiers in total.

Because of the Taizi River, the Ming army's chariots and navy cooperated to defend the south bank of the Taizi River, which was equivalent to cutting off their reinforcements. Therefore, about 200,000 chariots were enough to besiege Liaoyang City.

The situation in Shenyang was different. Even if the Ming army's chariots and navy cooperated to defend the south bank of the Hun River, they could not stop their reinforcements. They could still reinforce Shenyang from the east, west, and north.

In this situation, the Ming army had to divide its forces to guard the south bank of the Hun River and to guard the east, west and north sides of Shenyang City, which meant that its forces were scattered and exposed to the enemy.

They could easily defeat them one by one!
Perhaps this is an opportunity, a chance to turn defeat into victory.

Since the cavalry couldn't possibly be trapped in Shenyang, it didn't seem like a big deal for them to go and rescue the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants in Puzhou.

After much thought, Huang Taiji came up with this self-comforting excuse.

Having found a self-comforting excuse, he prepared to send troops to reinforce the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou. After all, he could obtain a large amount of grain and pig iron simply by sending troops to reinforce them, which were exactly what he needed at the moment.

At the end of May, he ordered the Yong'an Bridge south of Shenyang to be demolished, and then sent all his cavalry to Taiyuan.

Upon hearing the news, Sun Chuanting immediately mobilized naval vessels and cavalry to prepare to advance towards the south bank of the Hun River.

The main channel of the Liao River was immediately filled with ships, and the long line of naval vessels stretched for hundreds of miles, creating a magnificent scene.

As luck would have it, ships were also gathering on the main channel of the Haihe River at that time.

The first batch of Weiyuan warships has finally been built this year.

Around 9 a.m. that day, Zhu Jue, having just finished processing the memorials, couldn't wait any longer and headed straight for the Haihe Shipyard with Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others.

At this time, Lu Xiang-sheng had already begun accepting the Weiyuan warship with the newly recruited soldiers of the Beijing garrison.

This time, they built a total of 1,250 Weiyuan warships. If they were lined up in a long row, the more than 100-mile-long main channel of the Haihe River wouldn't be able to accommodate them all, so they had to arrange them in two rows. Even the Dutch, the maritime superpowers, would probably be terrified by such a large number of warships.

The Netherlands may also have that many warships, but the problem is that Dutch warships are all over the world, so it's almost impossible to assemble thousands of them at once.

Zhu Jue couldn't help but be excited when he saw so many warships.

With this, the Ming Dynasty's navy finally developed, and while it might not dominate the seas, it was more than capable of self-defense.

Given their current shipbuilding speed, as long as they can protect themselves, dominating the seas is only a matter of time.

He was scanning the endless Weiyuan warships on the river with his binoculars when their fleet turned into the dock waterway where Wang Zheng, Lu Xiangshan, and others were.

When everyone saw that the Emperor had arrived, they quickly stepped forward, cupped their hands, and bowed in greeting.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Jian Dou, how many Jingying soldiers are assigned to these small Weiyuan warships?"

This guy has way too many warships; even the soldiers of the Beijing garrison can't keep up with this.

Lu Xiang-sheng explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the standard configuration for a small Weiyuan warship is two hundred soldiers from the Beijing Garrison. One thousand two hundred and fifty ships would require two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers from the Beijing Garrison."

"If we continue building ships at this pace, by the time these medium-sized Weiyuan warships are completed by the end of the year, all the newly recruited soldiers from the Beijing Garrison this year will have been equipped, and next year we won't have enough Beijing Garrison soldiers to operate the warships."

There was actually no need to equip the warships with so many soldiers from the Beijing Garrison.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly, then solemnly said, "Jian Dou, the Weiyuan warship, like the Zhiyuan merchant ship, needs to have its crew reduced and its personnel streamlined."

Just like the Zhiyuan merchant ships, once the number of Weiyuan warships increased, there was no need to equip each warship with so many Jingying soldiers.

For example, right now our 1,250 small Weiyuan warships are equipped with 250,000 soldiers, which is enough to deter any colonial invaders.

If the second batch of Weiyuan warships is built this year, that will be 2,500 ships. Even if each Weiyuan warship is only equipped with 100 soldiers from the Beijing Garrison, that will add up to 250,000, which is enough to deter any colonial invaders.

Therefore, there is absolutely no need for us to equip the Weiyuan warships with two hundred naval officers and soldiers. You should first gradually reduce the number of Beijing garrison officers and soldiers on each Weiyuan warship to one hundred. Once we have more than five thousand Weiyuan warships, then we can consider expanding the number of Beijing garrison officers and soldiers.”

If it's streamlined like this, then 500,000 soldiers of the Beijing Garrison would be enough to control 5,000 Weiyuan warships.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I understand."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then instructed in detail: "Have all these newly built warships sail to the inland sea for proper training. Hong Kui and his men will be returning in a little over two months. At that time, we will equip Hong Kui's fleet with a thousand Weiyuan warships."

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

As they were discussing, Lü Zhi suddenly rushed over with a memorial in his hand, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Sun has sent an urgent report."

Sun Chuanting reported that it must be the Jurchen cavalry launching an attack.

Zhu Jue took the memorial and saw that, as expected, Huang Taiji had ordered the destruction of the Yong'an Bridge over the Hun River, and the Jurchen cavalry had already fled westward.

Huang Taiji finally fell for it!

He thought about it carefully, then beckoned Fang Zhenghua over and whispered in his ear, "Have someone tell Yun Teng to be careful and prepare to retreat."

The Jurchen cavalry is already heading his way and should arrive in about two weeks. Once they spot the Jurchen cavalry, they must retreat immediately and avoid prolonged battle.

At this moment, Pan Yunteng's men were indeed no match for the Jurchen cavalry.

This was because the Hanzhong army was equipped with only cold weapons and had no chariots, and even had very little armor.

If these infantrymen, armed only with cold weapons, encountered Jurchen cavalry, they would have no chance of winning.

They just wanted to provoke the Jurchen cavalry to run around aimlessly; naturally, there was no need to fight them to the death.

(End of this chapter)