Chapter 966 Ji Zijuan brings disaster to Xiao Qiang
The fair-skinned man interrupted the other party angrily: "There are so many? Nurhachi plays tricks one after another. If you can see through them, he won't let you watch them at will. It's nothing more than the east door and the west door." Another trick has come in, who are you trying to fool?"
The strong man also grinned and said: "If the Donglu armored cavalry could exceed 15,000, our governor would have been restless for a long time. Shuerhaqi would have been wiped out by Nurhaci long ago. There’s no way Ulabu can survive.”
The young man was a little anxious, "But I heard that they recruited many savages from the Jurchens in the East China Sea. Although those people are not very good at riding horses, they are all wild and fierce and good at archery. It is said that at least they are coming one after another. Five or six thousand,…”
The face of the fair-skinned man changed slightly, "The Ula tribe is still here, how can the Jianzhou Jurchens recruit savages like the Donghai Jurchens?"
"I heard that Bu Zhantai is scared out of his wits and has been unable to get out. The Yehe tribe has repeatedly urged him, but he has not moved. Sir, do you still remember Zemuthei of the Warkha tribe?" The young man said proudly. asked.
"You mean that Tsemuthei brought all the people from their Valka tribe here?" The fair-skinned man was surprised, "But it's impossible for the Varkha tribe to have so many elites. Even Tsemuthei is The leader of the Warka Tribe, he has no control over the scattered tribes under his command, so how can he recruit so many warriors?"
Zemuthei is the leader of the Warka tribe among the three Jurchen tribes in the East China Sea. However, the three Jurchen tribes in the East China Sea, the Warka tribe, the Woji tribe, and the Hurha tribe, are basically very scattered and widely distributed in Kuwu from the east. To the west is the northern area of the Songhua River Basin.
They do not have a unified structure and leaders. The most powerful tribe can be called the leader of a certain tribe, but in fact it does not have much control over other small tribes.
At the beginning, Cemuthei had taken refuge with Buzhantai of the Ula tribe. As a result, Buzhantai was beaten to a pulp by Nurhachi. Zemuthei then became disloyal and wanted to seek refuge with the Jianzhou Jurchens. However, at that time, the Ula tribe got With the support of the Yehe tribe and even the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Jianzhou Jurchens were forced to retreat, but Zemuthei no longer looked down on the Ula tribe.
"It is said that Nurhaci offered a very high price and brought out a large amount of armor, arrows, and iron materials to buy these savages. Zemuthei not only collected the people from his own tribe for him, but also many Huerha tribesmen and The warriors from the Woji Department were also attracted."
It took the young man a lot of effort to find out this information, or the other party deliberately revealed this information to him.
But in any case, such a news would change the situation even more.
Although the Jianzhou Jurchen armored cavalry are elite, their number has always been the biggest bottleneck restricting them.
According to Li Yongfang's estimation, there are at most 12,000 armored cavalry, which is the limit, and there should be about 20,000 other armored infantry.
If we fully mobilize, it is estimated that we will be able to gather 50,000 strong soldiers who can go into battle.
If Nurhaci can bypass the Ula tribe and obtain a steady stream of military assistance from the Jurchens in the East China Sea, the situation in Liaodong Town will be worrying.
Li Yongfang is very familiar with the situation of his Zhou army. Although Feng Tang has been trying to change the original pattern since he came to Liaodong, the town of Liaodong has long been in decay in the past twenty years. Is it because you are short of one or two? Can it be changed in a year?
In the late Li Chengliang era, when Wen Tian was fighting, everyone had long ago not wanted to fight, and had a tacit understanding with the Donglu over there. As long as it was not excessive, everyone would turn a blind eye. In addition, merchants were selling furs, ginseng antler, and gold sand. In connection with the smuggling of silk, tea, salt, porcelain and even iron materials from the Zhou side, many generals in Liaodong Town had many connections with the Donglu side, including Li Yongfang himself.
“Yongfang, Nurhaci is spending so much money. It seems that he really has a plan. We, Liaodong Town, can’t bear it now.”
Although the strong man was usually unreliable in his words, these words touched Li Yongfang's heart.
As a guerrilla general, of the 7,000 men under his command, no more than 2,000 can really be fought. The remaining 4,000 or 5,000 will only have 1,000 or 2,000 in free pay. The remaining 3,000 are basically old, weak, and sick. They are disabled, or they are soldiers who have been lazy for a long time and cannot go to the battlefield at all.
Li Yongfang still has some understanding of the situation of the entire Liaodong Army.
Feng Tang made great moves after he arrived, and also brought some of his confidants from Datong and Yulin. So what, it was only eight thousand people. With the new army he formed, the full number would not exceed twenty thousand people. Moreover, it is hard to say what the combat effectiveness of the three battalions of new troops is. They are all raw melons and eggs, and Li Yongfang himself is not optimistic about them.
out out out out of consideration, the remaining Du Song Department and Zhao Led Education Department, although these two men have some combat effectiveness, most of them are still worrying.
Li Yongfang estimated that the two main forces combined could not fight more than 15,000 people. In addition, it turned out that Li Chengliang's remaining troops also had one or two people who could fight. The Liaodong Army's current number of people who could go into battle was only about 40,000 people. They no longer have an advantage when facing the Jianzhou Jurchens.
In addition, in terms of combat effectiveness, the Jianzhou Jurchens can dominate the Liaodong Army in terms of morale and actual combat. With the same strength, it is estimated that the elites of Cao Wenzhao and You Shiwei in the Liaodong Army can compete with the Jianzhou Jurchens. For example, if the main force of the headquarters led by Du Song and Zhao wants to fight Jianzhou's armored cavalry or infantry with equal strength, the result will not be good.
"What should we do now, sir?" The young man was Li Yongfang's son-in-law Wu Changchun, and Wu Changchun took his most capable subordinate, the concubine of the strong man Zhao Yihe, as his concubine.
"Yihe, what do you think?" Li Yongfang had already made a plan, but he still had to look at the attitude of his subordinates.
Zhao Yihe hesitated for a moment, "Yongfang, the Governor has made great efforts since he came to Liaodong, and he has vigorously formed a new army. In just one year, he has formed a new army of nearly 10,000 gunmen. Its combat effectiveness is far beyond that of the old soldiers who were eliminated. The weak, sick and disabled are comparable. Although Nurhachi's strength has increased, if it continues like this, it may not be easy to say."
Li Yongfang nodded. It was not easy for anyone to take this step, and it was the same for him. However, he felt that wealth was in danger. He was not a direct descendant of Feng Tang. As Feng Tang's position in Liaodong became increasingly stable, he, a Fushun guerrilla general, It's hard to say how long I can sit still.
Moreover, Li Yongfang also knew very well that if someone succeeded him as the Fushun guerrilla general, the various private affairs between himself and the Jianzhou Jurchens over the years would be exposed sooner or later, and someone would definitely betray him to the new general or even the governor. , I will definitely not end up with a good ending in the end.
Now that Nurhachi has offered such good conditions, this risk is worth taking.
"Yihe, if the Governor had come to our Liaodong three to five years ago, there might be a chance in Liaodong, but Yihe, I'm afraid there is no chance in Liaodong now." Li Yongfang sneered: "He is now vigorously building a new army, all using firecrackers. To equip them, do you know how much money it cost for these ten thousand fire gun soldiers? Let me tell you, it cost no less than 400,000 taels of silver! This does not include the medicine that will be spent on training later. One hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver a year is a small amount!"
What Li Yongfang said is not a lie. If an army of 10,000 muskets is to be trained as an army according to normal drills, the training will not be less. After firing hundreds of rounds of these muskets, the barrel of the gun will be choked. With the gunpowder, the gun will , the food and pay for the soldiers cost too much.
"Last year, the governor was new. The court must support him. If you don't believe it, the money allocated by the court in the second half of the year has obviously slowed down. It is said that the Denglai Army is about to leave for Huguang and needs money. Those **** in the Beijing Camp We are also arguing about pay, and I want to see how Governor Feng gets through this at the end of the year."
Li Yongfang's words made Zhao Yihe a little surprised, "Didn't the Denglai Army say that it is the reserve force of our Liaodong Army? Why are they going to Huguang?"
"Huh, the chieftains in the southwest are going to rebel. There is no other army in the Zhou Dynasty. Isn't it the only way to use the Denglai army?" Li Yongfang was also thinking in his mind. Without the Denglai army, the Liaodong army would have to rely on itself. , "And Yihe, you should know that the Chahar people have now united the internal and external Khalkha tribes and assembled more than 100,000 troops to prepare for the southern invasion. It is said that the number of troops is still growing..."
Zhao Yihe glanced at Li Yongfang suspiciously, "Yongfang, who told you this?"
"Yes, Nurhaci told me in his letter that Nurhaci must have made an agreement with the Southwest Chieftains, and Lin Dan Batur must have been instigated by Nurhaci. This does not include the Horqin people. Nurhaci is going to marry the daughter of the Horqin family. ." Li Yongfang did not evade, and responded calmly: "With the Chahar people and the inner and outer Khalkha going south, it is estimated that the entire Shuntian Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture will be messed up. I don't think Lin Dan Batur has that ability. The capital city was captured, but Shuntian Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture, and even Hejian Prefecture farther south were destroyed, and water transportation was cut off. Even if the Liaoxi Corridor is not handled well, it will be affected. How will the Great Zhou survive next year? Liaodong How long can it last?”
The young man's eyes lit up, "If, as my father-in-law said, the Southwest chieftain is also connected with the Jianzhou Jurchen, then the Zhou Dynasty will probably be stretched in the Southwest, and Liaodong will not be able to take care of it, right?"
Li Yongfang nodded, "I see it that way too. Looking at all these years, since Li Chengliang took office for the second time in Liaodong, he has seen Jianzhou becoming increasingly prosperous, but what about our side? I think Liaodong will belong to Nurhachi sooner or later. We The foundation is all in Liaodong, and the Zhou Dynasty is like this, so of course we have to find a way to wealth."
(End of this chapter)