Chapter 370: Duke Cheng wants to take advantage of the situation, but there is no way to get a bargain
"Sister, this large fleet put together by the Shanxi merchants is too bad."
"Our army only fired two volleys to quickly defeat them, and then used the military killing formation to charge and easily deal with this large fleet."
Little Stone Liang Dingming was watching the battle that had just ended, where the soldiers of the First Marine Battalion were carrying out the final cleanup work.
He felt unsatisfied with the naval battle and told his sister Liang Liping who had just come to his side.
"Xiao Shitou, this large fleet of Jin merchants has a large number of treasure ships, but they don't have even one top-quality treasure ship. There are only two top-quality treasure ships equipped with psychic cannons. How can they be a match for our professional navy?"
"Thanks to this peak level 5 goshawk, we were able to intercept the enemy with ease. It swooped down from the sky before the enemy ship had time to activate its protective formation, and killed the two peak level 4 enemy leaders in one blow."
"This made the Shanxi merchant fleet with more than a hundred treasure ships like a headless fly, and we took it down in one fell swoop."
"This time we not only killed all the enemies, but also seized all the treasure ships. Not a single one was damaged."
"With these great treasure ships, General Wan'er can complete a new round of naval expansion plans."
"The commander-in-chief has agreed to General Wan'er's request to double the size of our navy after this war and to formally form a marine corps of 300,000 men."
"Once the expansion is complete, we will immediately begin our offensive against Qi and Lu, and complete the first round of our plan to capture Deng and Lai states within half a year."
Liang Liping has been very busy recently and has made preparations for the major expansion of the Lingshan Island navy.
In the past two years, she, Wei Ying, He Lijing, He Liping, Xiao Shitou and others, in cooperation with Wan'er, have successfully occupied all the islands of all sizes in the vast sea area surrounding Jiaozhou Bay.
After such a long period of population collection and transfer operations, the number of soldiers and civilians in their Restoration Army has now exceeded 10 million.
Among the five major recruit camps, there are already 600,000 soldiers who have passed the warrior recruit selection, so there will be no difficulty in the subsequent expansion of the army.
It is a pity that the commander-in-chief Li Dingguo has not been in Jiaozhou Bay for more than a year, otherwise he would have completed the large-scale military expansion operation long ago.
In that case, even if facing the Tatar army led by Yuetuo, we would have the ability to fight head-on.
Now with Wan'er, the top level five commander, Liang Liping, Xiao Shitou, and He Lijing, after each taking a high-quality acquired spiritual peach, have all broken through to the initial level five.
There are now more than 400 Qi Refining Realm generals in the army, and the number of grassroots officers at the peak of the Body Refining Realm has reached thousands.
The current 300,000 soldiers have trained various military formations, including military killing formations, to a high level of perfection, and are capable of fighting head-on with a Tatar army of the same size.
Although the soldiers of the Restoration Army on Lingshan Island had not experienced a large-scale war, they had experienced many small and medium-sized battles, and had wiped out all the pirate forces, large and small, within their sphere of influence.
I heard that a very powerful pirate force has recently emerged on Tianheng Island in Laoshan Bay. Liang Liping originally wanted to lead her troops to wipe them out, but unfortunately the Tartar army entered the pass and attacked, so her plan was temporarily delayed.
At present, the Military Intelligence Department of Lingshan Island, led by Mo Xiaoyong, is still conducting further investigation into the specific situation of the mysterious pirate force. It is estimated that detailed intelligence will be transmitted back soon.
"I don't know how the war is going on over there, the commander-in-chief."
Little Stone said in the interface, "General Wan'er said that he would arrive in time after he finished the battle with Huang Taiji."
"The commander-in-chief and the big golden eagle have both broken through to the sixth level. This is too amazing. It is no problem for them to defeat the million-strong army led by Huang Taiji!"
If we were to ask who in the Fuxing Army admired Li Dingguo the most, it would be none other than the little stone Liang Dingming.
In his heart, he did not think that the millions of soldiers led by Huang Taiji would be a match for the commander-in-chief, and it was inevitable that they would be defeated soon.
"Well, I hope the commander-in-chief can get here soon."
Liang Liping nodded and said, "If the commander-in-chief arrives in time, it will be no problem for our army to defeat the Tatar Eastern Route Army led by Yue Tuo."
"The commander-in-chief personally led 300,000 soldiers to form a military battle formation, which is enough to defeat the Tartar army led by Yuetuo and Manggurtai head-on."
"Now is a good opportunity for us to expand greatly, but unfortunately we cannot start immediately before defeating the Tartar army."
"Otherwise, our army trapped on land will not be able to withstand the attack of the remaining 600,000 or 700,000 Tartar troops, and the guerrilla tactics we are currently using will fail."
Liang Liping's tone was extremely helpless.
She had just received a message from Wan'er who had the Golden Eagle deliver it in time, saying that she had led the main fleet to successfully raid Yuetuo's army and successfully wiped out at least 20% of the Tartar soldiers.
Now, Yuetuo led the army and left Lingshanwei City, heading south quickly towards Langye Mountain.
Originally, this was a good opportunity to occupy the Lingshan Weicheng and Jiaozhou Bay area, but because the 600,000 to 700,000 Tartar troops were watching covetously, they were unable to carry out a large-scale expansion operation, which made people feel very frustrated.
It is a fact that our current strength is not as good as that of the Tatar army led by Yuetuo.
Once they occupied the Lingshan Fortress, they would be easily besieged by the Tatar army, thus losing their flexible combat advantage. Under the siege of the Tatar army, a defeat was inevitable.
Even if you have any ideas now, you have to hold them back for the time being and wait until the Tartar army withdraws or defeats them.
"Sister, the soldiers have cleaned up the captured treasure ships and incorporated them into our first battalion's large fleet."
Little Stone saw that the soldiers had finished the aftermath work, so he quickly said to his sister Liang Liping, "Let's go and meet up with the main force led by General Wan'er to discuss how to deal with the Yuetuo army next."
"Da Qing!"
He looked at the level 5 peak goshawk standing beside him and said, "I'd like to trouble you to catch up with the Tartar army heading towards the southern coast and find out what they want to do."
"Once you get the results, come back and report to Commander Wan'er as soon as possible so that we can make targeted preparations and try to launch another surprise attack on them."
After two years of growth, Xiao Shitou has become a qualified general. He is able to make arrangements very well, which makes Liang Liping nod in approval as she watches from the side.
Xiao Shitou is the commander of the first battalion of the navy, and Liang Liping is the deputy commander of the entire navy, assisting Wan'er in managing all military and political affairs of the Fuxing Army.
"Chirp!"
The big goshawk nodded its big head, let out a hissing, and immediately flapped its wings and flew high. After reaching a height of thousands of feet, it flew rapidly towards the southwest and disappeared in an instant.
The soldiers of the First Navy Battalion, whose fleet was twice as large as theirs, sped towards the rendezvous point agreed upon with Wan'er at Liang Dingming's command.
In the first battle with the enemy today, the navy of the Fuxing Army won a great victory, and dealt a heavy blow to the arrogant Later Jin Tartars, probably almost knocking them unconscious.
Once there is a chance, there will be a second one. The next surprise attack is already in the works, waiting for the enemy to reveal a flaw again.
……
"Duke Chengguo, Lu Xiangsheng has just led his Tianxiong Army and the various government troops of Datong Prefecture back to the capital to support the Qin Army led by Hong Chengchou to deal with the Later Jin Tartar Army. We are leading the remaining 150,000 soldiers to attack the Fuxing Army from behind. Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
Liu Zeqing looked at Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen in front of him and said hesitantly.
What outsiders don’t know is that the backer behind Shandong General Liu Zeqing is actually Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen.
Last year, because of his contribution in suppressing the rebellion in Shandong and with the support of Zhu Chunchen behind the scenes, Liu Zeqing was successfully promoted to the general of Shandong and was given the title of left general.
Liu Zeqing, who rose to prominence by colluding with the Wen Xiang Sect, was promoted faster than most of the military families. The fundamental reason was that he secretly defected to Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo.
Unfortunately, the trading agreement he reached with the Shanxi merchant Fan family for spiritual beasts and war horses on behalf of Duke Cheng was destroyed by Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army.
Otherwise, Liu Zeqing would now have more than just 5,000 elite cavalry under his command.
In order to avenge his old lover Jiang Jufang, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen took the opportunity to lead his troops to encircle and suppress the Fuxing Army and transferred Liu Zeqing from Shandong.
"What are you afraid of?"
Zhu Chunchen shouted to Liu Zeqing, "I received reliable intelligence yesterday. Huang Taiji personally led a million troops to enter the Yellow River from Laoniuwan, a pass in the north, a few days ago, and is heading deep into the territory of the Fuxing Army."
"Li Dingguo is already overwhelmed and cannot cope with everything. Where will he get the troops to deal with us?"
"We should seize Shangping Pass and Wubao Fortress at this great opportunity to create trouble for Li Dingguo. This will inevitably make the Fuxing Army unable to advance or retreat, and thus be easily defeated by the army led by Huang Taiji." "For this plan, I specifically asked your Majesty to have Lu Xiangsheng lead the 130,000 Tianxiong Army and the troops of Datong Prefecture to return to the capital to support them, and work together with Hong Chengchou to deal with the 600,000 Tartar army led by Duoduo and Dorgon brothers."
"We will take advantage of Li Dingguo's lack of attention to attack the Fuxing Army from behind and capture their two fortresses on the east bank of the Yellow River in one fell swoop. We will try our best to disrupt the morale of the Fuxing Army soldiers so that they will be beaten more severely by Huang Taiji."
This guy never had any sense of national justice in his heart. He just did whatever he wanted to his mortal enemy Li Dingguo.
Even if he could not personally destroy Li Dingguo for the time being, he could still easily cause trouble for the enemy and disrupt the enemy's morale.
Even though Liu Zeqing was shameless enough, he was still shocked by Zhu Chunchen's ideas and actions.
Now is the time of national war. How dare you, the Duke of Chengguo, help the Later Jin Tartars to fight against the Fuxing Army?
If this gets out, what will the soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty think?
It is estimated that among all the civil and military officials in the court, only Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen could do such a thing.
Although Li Dingguo was the biggest bandit in the world, he was indeed resisting the invasion of the Tartar army. As an official army of the Ming Dynasty, he now had to join the Tartars in attacking the Fuxing Army?
Once this kind of thing gets out, it will inevitably make many people feel ashamed.
"Liu Zeqing, don't forget that your consistent actions as a general of the Ming Dynasty have also made you a person that Li Dingguo must kill, and your entire clan must be exterminated."
Seeing Liu Zeqing's hesitation, Zhu Chunchen shouted in dissatisfaction, "If we don't take this opportunity to let Huang Taiji destroy Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army, once the Fuxing Army leads the army eastward in the future, neither of our two families will be able to escape!"
"Now that we have the full support of the aristocratic families and wealthy merchants in the three northwestern provinces, we have sufficient money, materials, weapons and treasure ships. We only need to capture the two fortress towns on the east bank of the Yellow River. We will definitely win."
"As long as Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army can be eliminated by Huang Taiji, most of the civil and military officials in the court will speak for us, and it will not affect our reputation at all."
"If we can disrupt the morale of the Renaissance Army and hasten their demise, with the great merit we have achieved, you, Liu Zeqing, may be promoted to governor-general. This position will be much better than your current position of general!"
Zhu Chunchen still relies heavily on this powerful lackey.
In particular, Liu Zeqing was very good at making money, and brought huge profits to his Chengguo Mansion every year.
Zhu Chunchen knew his own worth. It was ok for him to brag sometimes, but if he really had to command an army to fight, it would undoubtedly be a joke and not be worthy of being shown on stage.
When it comes to fighting a war, we still need professional generals like Liu Zeqing.
Although Liu Zeqing is far from being called a famous general, he is much stronger than a layman like himself.
"That's right."
After Zhu Chunchen finished speaking, Liu Zeqing's eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly said, "Duke Chengguo, I didn't understand it before, but now that I hear you say this, it's really the case."
"The actions of Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army have already angered the heavens and the people. We certainly cannot talk about morality with such bandits. Adding insult to injury is the best tactic."
"I will take your military order and go to the West City Camp to mobilize the troops. Tomorrow morning at 3:45, our army will march out on time!"
"Humph!"
He snorted coldly and said, "This time we must do a good job behind Li Dingguo's army and completely disrupt their morale."
"Li Dingguo and this Fuxing Army are far inferior to Huang Taiji's million-strong army. With our cooperation, they are doomed to be destroyed."
Liu Zeqing was certainly not stupid. He knew very well that this expedition was not very dangerous, but would yield huge results.
In order to deal with the invasion of Huang Taiji's army, the main forces of the Fuxing Army in Qin have all moved north along the Yellow River and gathered in the border areas.
The soldiers who stayed behind in the towns in the current territories of the Restoration Army were nothing more than some new recruits responsible for garrison duty.
Although according to intelligence, there are 10,000-strong teams of new recruits from the Fusion Army stationed in Wubao and Shangpingguan, how can they possibly stop their own 150,000 elite troops?
In particular, among these 150,000 troops, there are also 50,000 black guards from Duke Chengguo’s Mansion.
This is a team of death squads that Duke Chengguo spent a huge amount of money to build. They are an elite force armed to the teeth.
Although there are only 50,000 black-clad guards in the mansion of Duke Chengguo, there are more than a hundred generals in the Qi Refining Realm among them.
Once they formed a military killing formation and launched a charge, they could easily capture Shangping Pass and Wubao Fortress on the east bank of the Yellow River.
After the main force of the Fuxing Army led by Li Dingguo was defeated by Huang Taiji, he and the army led by Duke Chengguo could quickly capture cities and territories. After Huang Taiji's army left the pass and returned to Liaodong, they would recover all the territories occupied by the Fuxing Army in Qin in one fell swoop.
At that time, not only could he make a fortune, but he could also accomplish great achievements.
Just as Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen said, Liu Zeqing might ascend to the throne of governor in charge of the military and political affairs of a region, thus becoming famous throughout the world and bringing honor to his family.
……
Near the big dock of Wubao Fortress, Huang Zhanglong was leading the soldiers of the Xuanwu 1st Battalion to practice water battle formations seriously when he suddenly saw a big black eagle flying from the east.
The big black eagle circled half a circle in the air and landed on the deck in front of it.
"Whoosh!"
A figure jumped down from the back of the big black eagle in the middle stage of level five and flashed in front of Huang Zhanglong.
"He Guang, you came here in person this time. Is there any good news?"
When Huang Zhanglong saw that the visitor was He Guang, the Deputy Minister of the Military Intelligence Department, he immediately greeted him with great joy.
He has been very depressed for the past two months.
Two months ago, the Military Intelligence Department received the latest military intelligence that Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen personally led an army of 100,000 and arrived at Yongning Prefecture City, preparing to take action against the Fuxing Army.
In order to prevent Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen from causing trouble during the war between the Fuxing Army and the army led by Huang Taiji, Li Dingguo ordered the soldiers of the Xuanwu Battalion to move south and block the entrance to the Lishi River near the downstream of Wubao.
Prevent Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen from leading the government army westward along the Lishi River and attacking the Yellow River coastal area of the Fuxing Army.
This was extremely helpless for the soldiers of the Xuanwu First Battalion.
He had no part in the war against the million-strong army led by Huang Taiji!
However, for the safety of their own retreat, they had no choice but to do so.
This made the soldiers of the Xuanwu First Battalion full of resentment towards Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, and they vowed that if he dared to lead his troops to cause trouble, they would definitely deal with him.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to relieve the hatred in the hearts of the soldiers of the Xuanwu First Battalion!
Huang Zhanglong and the soldiers of the Xiuxuanwu 1st Battalion have been stationed in Wubao for more than a month. Every day, they are training hard while waiting for news from the Military Intelligence Department.
Now seeing the Deputy Commander of the Military Intelligence Department, He Guang, coming in person, Huang Zhanglong naturally guessed some of the circumstances and was immediately overjoyed.
"Huang Zhanglong, the news that you, the soldiers of the Xuanwu First Battalion, have been waiting for has arrived."
"The Duke of Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, really couldn't hold back. At 3:30 yesterday, he led 100,000 troops from the capital and 50,000 soldiers under Shandong General Liu Zeqing. He left Yongning Prefecture on 30 large treasure ships, sailed down the Lishi River, and headed straight for the entrance of the Yellow River in the west."
"At their speed, they will be able to reach the entrance of the Yellow River by tomorrow noon at the latest along the Lishi River."
"The military has issued a death order. Even if you cannot annihilate them, you must block their fleet firmly at the entrance of the Yellow River!"
"No matter what, we cannot allow the army led by Zhu Chunchen to enter the Yellow River Basin and threaten the people in our Fuxing Army."
"Because time is tight, I came here in person to inform you, the Xuanwu First Battalion, just to avoid delaying military operations."
"You must set out within one hour and reach the entrance of the Yellow River in Lishi River in time!"
After Huang Taiji's army officially entered the pass, He Guang and the Xuanwu Third Battalion boarded a large fleet and caught up with the enemy's fleet.
He immediately received the latest armament order and rode the Big Black Hawk to Yongning Prefecture City, where he promptly learned about the military situation.
In order to prevent any accidents from happening in this urgent intelligence, he simply rode the Big Black Eagle to personally notify the Xuanwu First Battalion, so as to avoid delaying military intelligence and allowing the conspiracy of Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen to succeed.
(End of this chapter)
