Chapter 67

"Nowadays, all kinds of rumors are spreading inside the pass."

"The court intends to mobilize the entire nation to fight a decisive battle against our Great Jin."

"If we lose this battle, the sacred artifacts will be shrouded in dust, and all the righteous armies will become traitors to the Han."

"Even if Li Zicheng wants to act, Li Zicheng's troops no longer obey orders as they did before."

Apart from those few thousand elite cavalry, Li Zicheng's remaining troops were originally refugees.

Anyone with a mouthful of food would not rise up to rebel.

Now the court has delivered food right to their mouths.

Who would be idle enough to go and rebel against Li Zicheng?

Moreover.

Long after the Battle of Yashan, the national consciousness of the Han people across the land had actually been awakened.

Even peddlers and porters know.

They are Han people.

Becoming a traitor to the Han means being cursed for generations and being denied entry to the ancestral grave after death.

At this critical juncture.

The refugees in the northwest have almost without a doubt come to a halt.

Li Zicheng had no choice but to watch the northwest lie empty, turn around, and deal with his own internal problems.

Hearing this.

Huang Taiji's face immediately turned gloomy.

He slammed the table and shouted in anger,

"Did you not tell this Khan that the Great Ming was already at the end of its rope?"

"From where did Zhu Youjian conjure up this silver?"

Fan Wencheng looked at Huang Taiji, let out a long sigh, and advised,

"Great Khan, do not be anxious."

"This time, the Great Ming has actually already drained the entire court of civil and military officials."

Immediately, Fan Wencheng recounted Zhu Youjian's "capital scheme" operations to Huang Taiji.

All the sons of the Eight Banners in the entire hall were stunned where they stood.

They would never have imagined.

That lacking money could be played with like this?!

Soon, a sense of fear surged into Huang Taiji's heart in an instant.

Why did they dare to rebel?

Because they knew the Great Ming's national treasury was empty.

It had long been strong outside but weak within!

But now the Great Ming suddenly has such a huge sum of money.

Everyone immediately recalled the fear of being dominated by the Celestial Empire of old.

Fan Wencheng seemed to have seen through Huang Taiji's thoughts.

He stood up and spoke loudly,

"However, I believe the Great Ming is not to be feared!"

Hearing this, Huang Taiji immediately felt as if he had grabbed a lifeline.

"Mr., what is your plan?"

Fan Wencheng immediately sneered,

"What plan is needed?"

"Great Khan must know that the reason the entire court of civil and military officials in the Great Ming can now work together in collusion is because they believe that as long as they defeat our Great Jin, they can get their silver back!"

"Therefore, what is currently propping up the Great Ming is nothing but a spirit!"

"As long as Great Khan crushes this spirit of the Great Ming's entire court, the eight hundred prefectures of Han land will be as easy as picking something from a bag!"

"Even if the Great Ming has a million troops, it will crumble to pieces within a day or two!"

Fan Wencheng saw through Zhu Youjian's trick at a glance.

If this battle is lost.

What will happen to the Great Ming?

What will happen to the entire court of civil and military officials?

They will feel that their silver has been completely wasted!

And then they will embezzle the Great Ming's national treasury more insanely than ever before!

Even Zhu Youjian will not be able to punish the hundred officials as he did before!

Since it is a transaction.

There must be a stop-loss point.

And the result of this battle will be that point in the hearts of the Great Ming's ruler and ministers!

64, Fan Wencheng: Please, Great Khan, formally assume your imperial title soon!

Inside the Grand Administration Hall of the Shengjing Imperial City.

After hearing Fan Wencheng's words, a sharp glint suddenly appeared in Huang Taiji's eyes.

"Then Mr., where do you think this point should fall?"

Fan Wencheng looked at the map of all Liaodong hanging nearby and slowly raised his withered index finger.

"Report to the Great Khan: the site of the decisive battle must be here!"

Following the direction Fan Wencheng pointed, the beile in the hall glanced once and immediately knew the place Fan Wencheng referred to.

— Dalinghe!

Dalinghe, also known as Bai Lang Water, lies in western Liaoxi, east of Jinzhou, and rushes from north to south into the sea.

This single north-south river alone is enough to be called the shield of Liaodong.

What is even more fatal is that when Dalinghe flows through the Jinzhou area, it forms the famous Dalinghe Valley; the valley's terrain is gentle, easy to defend but hard to attack. Since ancient times, it has been the main thoroughfare between Liaodong and the Central Plains. During the Warring States period, Qi attacked the Shanrong; Cao Cao campaigned against the Wuhuan; Former Yan entered the Central Plains; the Sui and Tang campaigned against Goguryeo—all used Dalinghe as their main marching route.

Since Sun Chengzong supervised the defense of Liaodong, he had day and night repaired Dalinghe City.

Nurhaci and his son Huang Taiji regarded this place as a thorn in their eye and a splinter in their flesh.

From the seventh year of Tianqi to the fourth year of Chongzhen, the small Dalinghe City had already been demolished twice and rebuilt twice in the struggle between the Ming and Jin armies.

And in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji, taking advantage of the Ming army's western campaign against Gao Yingxiang, mobilized the entire nation's strength to attack Dalinghe, forcing Zu Dashou to surrender, and only then did he completely control Dalinghe.

Fan Wencheng clenched his teeth, staring intently at the map before him, and said sternly:

"Hong Chengchou will send a hundred thousand troops; he will surely take Dalinghe!"

"The Great Khan and the Ming army will hunt together at Dalinghe. If this battle is won, then riding on the momentum of a great victory, we can conquer Songshan and Ningyuan in one stroke. Then, in all of Liaodong, the Great Ming will have only Shanhai Pass left!"

Huang Taiji stared at Fan Wencheng and asked:

"Mr., do you have a strategy to defeat the enemy?"

Hearing this, Fan Wencheng was stunned. Finally, he could not help but let out a long sigh, then said mournfully:

"Great Khan, may your wisdom be clear: our Great Jin's conquest of the world has reached its most critical moment."

"At the beginning of founding a state, one might use cunning stratagems to defeat the enemy. But with the nation's strength now at this point, there is not even a shred of room for maneuver."

Those with bare feet fear not those wearing shoes.

In any dynasty, the very beginning of raising an army is often the most magical time, when the most legends are born.

Why?

Because at that time, the opponent simply did not take you seriously.

Nurhaci, with only thirteen sets of armor, defeated Hetu Ala in one battle and then founded Later Jin.

Had Li Chengliang known that Nurhaci could become such a great threat.

Forget about your thirteen sets of armor.

Even if you had thirty, three hundred, or three thousand sets, he would have beaten you into the dirt.

By now, Huang Taiji's national strength has reached a point where no amount of concealment can hide it.

The reason the Great Ming dares to risk everything is that it knows the only thing currently superior to Later Jin is its health bar.

Even as the situation worsens day by day, the Great Ming still possesses the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces.