kvmb Chapter 160: Deputy General of Ping Liao
Chapter 160: Deputy General of Ping Liao
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Tong Yangzhen was originally from Liaodong, and later joined the Later Jin Dynasty under the persuasion of his younger brother. Later, the Tong family gradually grew and prospered in the Qing Dynasty, and successively produced 2 queens, 1 imperial concubine, and 2 imperial consorts. Therefore, the Tong family was also called "Tong Banchao".
Tong Yangzhen's granddaughter, Tong Jia, was later the concubine of the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the biological mother of Emperor Kangxi.
According to the original history, it was after being reused by Wang Huazhen that Mao Wenlong led a small group of troops to launch a surprise attack on Zhenjiang Fort, captured Tong Yangzhen alive, and became famous because of this battle.
However, due to the appearance of Lu Cheng, Shenyang and Liaoyang, which should have been lost at this time, are still under the control of the Ming Dynasty. Many generals in Liaodong who should have died in Liaoyang and Shenyang are also alive at this time.
Under such circumstances, Mao Wenlong naturally had no chance to succeed and is now still serving as a garrison officer in Shenyang.
After capturing Tong Yangzhen alive, Lu Cheng immediately sent someone to send him to Liaoyang and hand him over to Xiong Tingbi.
At the same time, Lu Cheng's troops did not stop harassing the Later Jin.
After the successful surprise attack on Zhenjiang Fort, Lu Cheng went to Liaoyang to meet with Xiong Tingbi and suggested that Xiong Tingbi order the generals of various routes to mobilize some troops and take this opportunity to recapture Zhenjiang, Changdian, Dadian and other places.
These places belong to the southeast corner of Liaodong and border the Joseon Dynasty. After the Later Jin Dynasty occupied these places, it cut off the connection between the Joseon Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty on land.
Whether or not these lost territories could be recovered and the connection between Ming Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty re-established would definitely give Nurhaci a headache.
After suffering a loss in Haizhou Wei, the Later Jin turned around and dealt with the Joseon Dynasty, forcing it to pay them a large amount of food and supplies. The Joseon Dynasty had always wanted to rebel, but it was too weak to do anything on its own.
Once it establishes contact with the Ming Dynasty, the Joseon Dynasty would certainly be unwilling to continue to be a younger brother of the Later Jin Dynasty and be oppressed by it.
Historically, after the Later Jin captured Liaoyang and Shenyang, Xiong Tingbi proposed a "three-way arrangement" to the court. The first was to deploy heavy troops in Dengzhou Prefecture, Shandong and Tianjin Wei, and build more boats to prepare for crossing the sea to attack Liaodong. The second was to contact the Liaodong people who supported Liaoyang, Shenyang and other places to resist the rule of the Later Jin. The third was to contact Korea to fight against the Later Jin together.
This "three-party arrangement" can be said to be very suitable for the situation in Liaodong at the time, but the court ultimately failed to implement Xiong Tingbi's suggestions.
At this time, after hearing Lu Cheng's suggestion, Xiong Tingbi also thought that this plan was feasible.
With the current military strength of Liaodong, although it is not enough to recover the lost territories in the north, it is still possible to recover some small castles.
Moreover, the areas around Dadian, Changdian and Zhenjiang were originally various castles built to guard against the Later Jin. If they could be recaptured, they would also be able to form a blockade against the Later Jin in the south.
Anyway, the Later Jin army is now busy conquering the Mongolian tribes and has not returned yet. Liaodong can send troops to recover some of the lost territory.
"Sir, this is a rare opportunity. If we wait for the Later Jin army to return and send more troops to Zhenjiang Fort, it will be difficult for us to regain these lost territories. Therefore, we must speed up."
"I will gather all the generals and send troops to help you attack the Zhenjiang Fort area."
"Then I will go and gather all the soldiers and generals."
In fact, the troops under Lu Cheng's command had already made preparations, and even if Xiong Tingbi disagreed, Lu Cheng was ready to march.
As long as the area around Zhenjiang Fort is taken, the land east of Haizhou Wei will also be under Lu Cheng's command. The entire jurisdiction will be further expanded, the arable land area will be greatly increased, and direct trade with the Lee Dynasty of Korea will be possible, which will definitely be of great benefit to Lu Cheng.
Soon, Xiong Tingbi summoned several generals near Liaoyang City and told them about Lu Cheng's plan.
In fact, as generals, who doesn't want to recapture the city and make achievements? They just don't want to fight a battle that is doomed to fail.
Now that the Later Jin army was outside and the cities in Liaodong were well defended, it was indeed a good place to recapture the Zhenjiang area. Naturally, everyone had no objection, and they went back to gather their troops and immediately marched towards the Zhenjiang area.
Lu Cheng's side was even more swift. After obtaining Xiong Tingbi's permission, the cavalry, which had been ready for action, immediately set out and approached Zhenjiang Fort.
At this time, the garrison commander of Zhenjiang Fort had been captured and the situation was chaotic.
The special forces members sneaked under the city gate at night, blew up the gate with explosives, quickly seized the top of the city wall, and lowered the drawbridge.
Ding Xiu led 1000 cavalrymen into the city, followed by 2000 infantrymen. In less than an hour, they captured the entire Zhenjiang Fort.
Immediately afterwards, one thousand infantrymen were left to garrison the castle, and the cavalry continued to follow the special forces and attacked Xianshan Fort north of Zhenjiang Fort, and successfully captured Xianshan Fort before dawn.
By daybreak, Lu Cheng's troops had arrived at Changdian and occupied several castles near the mouth of the Yalu River, facing the Lee Dynasty of Korea across the river.
At this time, the troops of several generals from Liaodong had also arrived near Xindian and formed a siege on the various fortresses in the Zhenjiang area.
The subsequent siege went quite smoothly. Lu Cheng directly asked the craftsmen to make some simple catapults, and threw explosive packs and earth bombs to the city gate, easily suppressing the defenders on the city wall.
Soon, the defenders of Changdian raised the white flag and surrendered.
Other generals also used catapults to throw explosive packs and successively broke through the castles along the Yalu River.
In just two or three days, they recaptured eight castles, annihilated more than 3,000 Later Jin Tartars, and captured many Ming soldiers who had previously surrendered to the Later Jin.
After capturing various castles, the troops were immediately stationed there to garrison and establish defense lines to prevent the Later Jin from sending troops to attack.
In order to block the attack route of the Later Jin cavalry, Lu Cheng dispatched two thousand soldiers, each carrying an engineering shovel and a Luoyang shovel, to dig horse traps in some key sections of the road.
This kind of horse trap is only the size of a bowl and about one foot deep. After it is dug, two small wooden sticks are placed on it and then touched with a leaf and covered with soil. After a period of time, it will be difficult to be discovered.
If the Later Jin cavalry passed here, the tens of thousands of horse traps would be enough to break countless horses' legs.
No matter how good a war horse is, once its legs are broken, there is no possibility of recovery and it can only be slaughtered.
When the other generals saw that Lu Cheng had such useful tools, they also took one or two and took them back to have their own craftsmen imitate them.
Within just a few days, a large area east of the Yalu River returned to the embrace of the Ming Dynasty.
When the news reached the grassland, Nurhaci no longer cared about conquering the Mongolian tribes, and hurriedly led most of his troops back, fearing that the Liaodong army would directly cut off his retreat and steal his hometown.
After the Later Jin army returned, Nurhaci sent troops to try to recapture the Zhenjiang area, but he was trapped by horse pits, explosive packs and other things along the way. In the end, he had to withdraw his troops and gave up the territory around Zhenjiang Fort.
When the news of the recovery of Zhenjiang area reached the capital, Emperor Tianqi was very happy. He immediately sent a eunuch to convey the imperial edict, rewarding the generals of Liaodong and commending Xiong Tingbi, encouraging him to continue his efforts.
At the same time, Lu Cheng's official position was further promoted. He was appointed by the court as the deputy general of Ping Liao, in charge of the entire southern Liaoning area from Sancha River in the west to Yalu River in the east.
The sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes planted on the land in the four guards of southern Liaoning have all been harvested, greatly enriching the grain reserves in southern Liaoning and providing sufficient grain seeds for next year.
It is conceivable that after all the grain is harvested next year, the entire southern Liaoning will be able to basically achieve self-sufficiency. In addition to the grain brought from Jiangnan through trade and the cattle and sheep brought from the grasslands, Lu Cheng can further expand his troops.
The combined number of soldiers and horses of the four guards in southern Liaoning was only over 20,000.
Lu Cheng planned to double the number of troops under his command within a year.
The total number of soldiers and horses in Liaodong is less than 200,000. If Lu Cheng can control 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses, his voice in Liaodong will be further enhanced.
The title of Deputy General of Ping Liao gave Lu Cheng greater autonomy...