Chapter 241: Unstoppable

Through Jin Yiwei, Ying Yi had an extremely detailed understanding of Guan Ning's defenders.

After Zu Dashou surrendered to the Tartars, the strength of Guan Ning's army was greatly reduced, and its control was transferred to the next generation of the remaining generals in Liaodong, headed by Wu Sangui.

And now the Ming Dynasty's northeastern defense line is built with Shanhaiguan as the core. Most of the core figures, such as Wu Sangui, are in Shanhaiguan.

If Ying Yi wants to capture Shanhaiguan, or even temporarily maintain this line of defense, Wu Sangui and others are indispensable.

Because Ying Yi's military strength is still too weak on a national scale. He personally led 6,000 soldiers and horses, confident that taking Shanhaiguan would not be a problem, but he could not hold the long defense line of several hundred miles with these 6,000 troops.

Of course, you can give up defense and use offense instead of defense. Just like the southern route strategy that has now been launched.

However, after careful consideration of the strategy of using offense to replace defense, Ying Yi found that it might be difficult to achieve success in Liaodong.

The enemy on the ground in Liaodong is the Tatars, and the Tatars mainly rely on cavalry. Moreover, Liaodong has become vast and sparsely populated after years of raging Tatars. No matter how elite the 6,000 soldiers and horses are, once they are dispersed across the land of Liaodong, their strength will be quickly diluted. Moreover, Ying Yi's troops were mainly infantry, and they had to deal with the Tatars in the open land of Liaodong, so their mobility was insufficient.

Of course, you can also completely ignore the Tatar troops and attack the Tatar lair with clenched fists. However, Ying Yi felt that the time had not come yet.

To kill the Tatars and eliminate all their troops is the most powerful method. Otherwise, even if the Tatar lair is destroyed, it will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.

It is better to focus on the inside first and calm the land of Hebei. The Tatars must now have thoughts of taking over the Central Plains. They will definitely not be able to sit still after seeing Ying Yi's methods. When the Tatars came in full force to attack, Ying Yi was fully prepared, so he fought with all his strength in one battle and strangled all the Tatars' effective forces.

In this way, the Tatar lair and so on, without the army, are they not allowed to be slaughtered?

In the early morning, Ying Yi stood on a low cliff at the mouth of Dongliang Haikou, looking at the red sun gradually rising from the sea level, and couldn't help but look north to the capital.

"What will Emperor Chongzhen do?"

...

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen felt that flint had fallen on his feet and he could not sit still.

In the half month since Ying Yi sent his troops into Denglai, Zhu Bingkun and Zheng Jiu's West Route Army and Zheng Wu and Qian Yue's East Route Army had become overwhelmingly powerful and were almost on the verge of reaching the capital.

Zhu Bingkun's troops crossed the river from Mengjin and defeated three cities in one day and seven cities in two days. It only took five days to defeat Weihui, Zhangde and Huaiqing in Henan north of the river.

With the goal of attacking the important town in the state capital, they headed north without any distraction. On the sixth day, they entered Daming Prefecture, defeated Guangping Prefecture and Shunde Prefecture on the tenth day, and on the twelfth day, they defeated Zhending Prefecture. Baoding Mansion!

Behind Baoding Mansion is Shuntian Mansion, where the capital is located.

Compared with Zhu Bingkun's group, Zheng Wu's soldiers and horses were slightly slower.

Because the troops on the East Road were reduced by one, and the area of ​​the prefectures visited by the East Road was larger.

After Zheng Wu and others accompanied Ying Yi to defeat Hou Xun, they sent their troops into Yanzhou Prefecture, and successively defeated Yanzhou Prefecture, Qingzhou Prefecture, Jinan Prefecture, and Dongchang Prefecture, and then went straight to Hejian Prefecture.

Compared with Zhu Bingkun, it is only half a step behind, but not too far behind.

On the land of Hebei, the organized troops of the Ming Dynasty were wiped out with Hou Xun. The government officials, police officers, militia organizations and other ragtag groups in various states were absolutely unable to make any ripples in the face of Ying Yi's elite soldiers and generals.

The two armies destroyed the state capital more than twice as many as two hands in half a month, and destroyed twenty or thirty county towns along the way. The militia training regiments often collapsed at the first touch, and could not organize any decent resistance.

However, if that was all, Emperor Chongzhen probably wouldn't be so panicked. After all, there are still nearly 200,000 troops on the front lines of Xuanda and Guan Ning. According to the usual way, Xuanda and Guan Ning troops and horses are allocated, and then the imperial edict is issued. In Emperor Chongzhen's mind, he may not be able to rely on the walls of the capital. Hold on.

What really made Chongzhen jump to his feet in anxiety was the document to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty's Proclamation directly vetoed the Ming Dynasty's right to rule the land of China, believing that its orthodox status had been lost, which was the biggest disaster.

Emperor Chongzhen was not unaware of the situation in the Ming Dynasty in recent years. It was precisely because he knew that the viciousness of this letter was clearly apparent.

With the people's support lost, if even the orthodox title is rejected, is it possible for the Ming Dynasty to still exist?

"When Chuan Tian Hong comes, come and see me!"

Chongzhen's face was green and black, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and his voice was a little hoarse.

Wang Chengen silently bowed and retreated, and not long after, Tian Hong met him.

Emperor Chongzhen grabbed a piece of jade seal and smashed it at it. Tian Hongyu instinctively moved away, making Emperor Chongzhen even more angry and shouted: "You dare to move away, dog!"

Tian Hongyu's face turned pale, and he knelt down with a thud: "Your Majesty, spare your life, Your Majesty, spare your life!"

Wang Chengen quickly bowed and walked over, whispering: "Your Majesty, don't be upset, now is the time to take advantage of the Jin Yiwei..."

Emperor Chongzhen suppressed his anger when he heard this, took a deep breath, grabbed a memorandum and threw it in front of Tian Hongyu: "Goucai, don't say you don't know!"

Tian Hongyu lay on the ground, glanced at the pulpy letter, and secretly breathed in. He banged his head and cried loudly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! I know this. Jin Yiwei received the news the day before yesterday. , I have sent out my cavalry to prevent the grassroots from causing chaos. I haven’t slept in the past few days..."

When Emperor Chongzhen saw the black circles under his eyes, he couldn't help but feel soft in his heart and said: "Then how do you behave like a dog?! You actually made the capital full of evil words?!"

Tian Hongyu knocked his head and said, "I don't dare to report to His Majesty!"

Chongzhen was startled and suddenly fell silent. Tian Hongyu did not report the matter in time, so he only found out today. However, in the civil and military dynasties, only one Tian Hong met?

Not even the ministers in the cabinet mentioned this matter in front of him.

For a moment, Chongzhen couldn't help but feel cold in his heart.

He waved his hand feebly: "Get out of here, I will clear this matter up within five days. If you can't do it, come and see me."

Tian Hongyu kowtowed hard and slowly withdrew.

After Tian Hongyu retreated, a young eunuch quickly wiped away the blood stains, and Chongzhen said to Wang Chengen at this time: "Tell me, my companion, was I wrong at the beginning?"

Wang Chengen was startled and couldn't help but raise his head.

Then he heard Emperor Chongzhen say: "I first ascended the throne, and with the help of other ministers, I punished Wei Zhongxian. Even Jin Yiwei and Dongchang...if...they wouldn't be so passive today."

Wang Cheng'en was silent after hearing the words, and said for a long time: "Wei Zhongxian deceived the emperor from above and oppressed the people from below. Your Majesty's punishments are in accordance with nature and people. What's wrong with him?"

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help laughing and mocking himself after hearing this: "That's all, you know how to comfort people."

Then he cheered up and said, "Where are the rebels now?"

Jinyiwei was in a state of disrepair, but Dongchang had recovered somewhat under Wang Chengen's leadership in the past few years. For many things, Emperor Chongzhen could not rely on Jin Yiwei and could only rely on Dongchang's informant.

Wang Chengen pursed his lips and said: "We have reached Baoding all the way, and we have reached Hejian all the way."

"It came so fast." Chongzhen sighed and sneered: "With the great righteousness of our ancestors, I would like to be the leader of the Xia clan. Hey, what a big spirit. No wonder I didn't take over the Huguang general army. It turned out to be a wolf's ambition."

He took a deep breath and said, "How's the troop deployment going?"