Chapter 1675: My Chongzhen Year Is Coming Again!

Zhu Youjian naturally would not forcibly withdraw troops from western Liaoning — the western Liaoning warlords had already grown too powerful. They could only be coaxed and deceived, not handled with brute force. Otherwise, if there were a mutiny, it would be very hard to clean up.

Besides, there was no real need to abandon Ningyuan. Yuan Chonghuan had held it twice already — the first time Nurhaci failed to take it, the second time Hong Taiji took over and still couldn't crack it. If Yuan Chonghuan were sent to hold Ningyuan again, there probably wouldn't be a third Battle of Ningyuan.

If Ningyuan could be held, then Shanhai Pass would be absolutely secure!

And to defend Ningyuan and Shanhai Pass, thirty thousand "effective troops" on the western Liaoning front would be enough — fifteen thousand at Ningyuan, ten thousand at Shanhai Pass, and five thousand in the small forts between Ningyuan and Shanhai Pass.

With fewer troops, the supply burden would be much lighter. Moreover, Ningyuan was close to Juehua Island, making it easier to supply than Jinzhou or Dalinghe Fort. They could casually store up three to five years' worth of rations, and then sieges would hold no fear.

And although Yuan Chonghuan loved to boast, among the civil officials he still counted as someone who could fight. Pointing to him for pacifying Liaodong in five years wouldn't work, but holding Ningyuan was no problem.

If Ningyuan and Shanhai Pass could be firmly held with thirty thousand men, then Zhu Youjian could pull at least thirty thousand solid, real troops from Liaodong. Ten thousand to Jizhou, ten thousand to Xuanfu, and another ten thousand to Datong. It didn't look like much, but it was far better than the situation in his previous life.

The reason Zhu Youjian had to have Yuan Chonghuan executed by slow slicing in his previous life was not, as that unfilial son claimed, because Yuan Chonghuan's boasting had deceived him — the boast Yuan Chonghuan made was pacifying Liaodong in five years, and when Zhu Youjian killed him, the five years were still far from up! How could he have known it was a lie?

The reason Zhu Youjian killed Yuan was that Yuan Chonghuan had failed to hold the Jizhou defense line. He was Supreme Commander of Ji and Liao, concurrently overseeing the military affairs of Deng, Lai, and Tianjin — Jizhou was his defense zone! And how had he defended it? He let Hong Taiji fight all the way to the outskirts of Beijing. Wasn't that utterly incompetent?

So in this life, Zhu Youjian would not again make Yuan Chonghuan Supreme Commander of Ji and Liao, concurrently overseeing the military affairs of Deng, Lai, and Tianjin — he didn't have the ability!

Moreover, the strategy Yuan Chonghuan had carried out of massing heavy troops in western Liaoning was fundamentally wrong, sheer reckless foolishness — in his previous life, when Zhu Youjian was the Retired Emperor, he had seen the battle-case analysis personally compiled by that unfilial son in the military academy textbooks!

The same mistake, Zhu Youjian naturally would not make again.

"Your Majesty."

Sun Chengzong had not yet realized his own error and still wanted to continue his remonstrance, but Zhu Youjian cut him off with a wave of his hand.

Zhu Youjian said: "We have taken note of Chief Censor Sun's admonition; there is no need to speak further. Compared with Jinzhou, Dalinghe Fort, Xiaolinghe Fort, and the like, Datong, Xuanfu, and Jizhou are far more critical! Moreover, We cannot allow the Khutugtu Khan to become a second Nurhaci — We cannot even allow him to become a second Li Yuanhao.

Therefore We must draw the elite troops of Guan-Ning for use on the western front. Only by first defeating the Khutugtu Khan can our dynasty possibly join hands with the Chakhar tribe to oppose the eastern barbarians!"

His face dark, he first glanced at Luo Yangxing and Liu Chao, then let his cold gaze sweep over the treacherous ministers filling the court. "What do you all think?"

"Your Majesty is sagacious! We subjects are in awe!"

"Your Majesty's planning is thorough; you will surely first subdue the Chakhar, then pacify and destroy the eastern barbarians."

The treacherous ministers were, of course, resolute in supporting their wise sovereign. The Embroidered Uniform Guard was back at work! And there was also Eunuch Liu, the specialist in confiscating households — who would still dare to oppose Zhu Youjian?

Zhu Youjian cast another meaningful look at Sun Chengzong — see that? The whole court is full of bootlicking treacherous ministers! You, a loyal and upright man, should devote yourself to impeaching them, and stay out of military matters — you don't understand them!

Sun Chengzong was at his wit's end!

Zhu Youjian now had the whole court of treacherous ministers by the throat; no one dared oppose him. And by putting up a heavy reward of one million taels of silver all at once, he was sure to lure over the elite troops of the Liao garrison.

Seeing that Sun Chengzong had nothing more to say, Zhu Youjian then smiled and said: "In three more days it will be the New Year, so We will not issue any edict today. Just keep it in mind. The matter of mobilizing the Liao garrison's elite troops can be handled after the New Year! By then Yuan Chonghuan should have nearly arrived, and We will also summon Man Gui, Zhao Shuaijiao, He Kegang, Zu Dashou, Zhu Mei, and the rest. We'll discuss it properly and see how to adjust the defensive dispositions."

What Zhu Youjian intended to pull out of western Liaoning was not ten thousand elite troops, but a full thirty thousand — on paper, it should be sixty thousand!

And he also planned to establish a mechanism for temporarily summoning the household retainers of the border commanders. He had estimated that the household retainers held by the border commanders of the nine frontier garrisons numbered no fewer than twenty thousand, and if he raised another ten thousand himself, the total would be considerable. Though it couldn't compare with the eastern barbarians' Eight Banners troops, it would be enough to work with infantry using the Spanish formation.

Having said this, Zhu Youjian smiled again and said: "That's all for today. We'll see each other again in the Chongzhen year!"

Tomorrow was already the Little New Year, and in three more days it would be the first day of the first month of the first year of Chongzhen!

By then, Zhu Youjian would once again be the Chongzhen Emperor of the Great Ming — truly something to look forward to!

What the Great Ming was about to welcome was the first year of Chongzhen. And over in the Great Jin Khanate, what was about to arrive was the second year of Tiancong.

The Great Jin Khanate was the "Later Jin," though "Later Jin" was the name used in history books, not the formal dynastic title. The formal dynastic title was Great Jin, or the Jin State. And this state was not a kingdom, nor an empire, but a khanate. Because the current head of Great Jin had not proclaimed himself emperor, but rather khan. Nurhaci had styled himself the Great Jin's Khan Who Nurtures All Nations, changed the era name to Tianming, and was therefore also called the Tianming Khan. His son Hong Taiji, after taking the throne, changed the era name to Tiancong, and was therefore called the Tiancong Khan.

The Tiancong Khan Hong Taiji had come to power one year earlier than the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, ascending the throne on the first day of the ninth month of last year. That year the Tianming era name was still in use; starting this year, the era was changed to Tiancong.

Therefore, according to the calendar of the Great Jin Khanate, today was the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month of the first year of Tiancong.

Just like over in the Great Ming, all the government offices in Shenyang had already sealed their seals, and everyone high and low was busy preparing for the New Year. Hong Taiji — who had a big ruddy face, regular enough features, looked the part of a ruler, and had been clever and quick-witted since childhood, greatly pleasing the old khan — did not hold court or hear government affairs today either. Instead, in his own Qingning Palace, he was listening to Fan Wencheng, a clerk of his literary bureau, report news that had come from the Ming side.

This Fan Wencheng and his elder brother Fan Wencai had originally been government students of the Shenyang county school. After Shenyang was occupied by the Great Jin troops, they had voluntarily sold themselves into service, seeking an audience with Nurhaci, wanting to serve Great Jin.

Of course, Nurhaci had no spare time to see the Fan brothers — and if he really had seen them, he wouldn't have made them booi bondservants of Šoto, Daishan's son.

But Fan Wencheng did not lose heart over becoming a booi bondservant; he continued to work hard at being a good slave. Fortunately, hard work never failed a good slave, and through his diligent currying of favor, Šoto finally recommended him to Hong Taiji as a clerk of the literary bureau. It couldn't really be called a major appointment — his status was still Šoto's booi bondservant, only he no longer had to do manual labor for Šoto's household.

And Fan Wencheng treasured this hard-won opportunity greatly. He worked extremely hard to perform well before Hong Taiji, and finally managed to secure the chance to read secret letters from inside the Pass to his master — these secret letters were mostly sent from Zhangjiakou, where several Shanxi merchant firms did business beyond the passes and had dealings with the Inner Khalkha tribes. Through the intermediary of Inner Khalkha chieftains who had gone over to Great Jin, they had also made contact with Great Jin. So they often sent bits of intelligence to Shenyang.

And the intelligence that had been sent to Shenyang recently all concerned that new Ming emperor who had chopped up Wei Zhongxian — Zhu Youjian!

This Zhu Youjian seemed a bit more formidable than his elder brother Zhu Youxiao. Not only could he chop people up, but he was also seriously building up a personal army — the still-forming Imperial Guard of the Tent made Hong Taiji extremely wary.

If the intelligence sent back from Zhangjiakou was correct, Zhu Youjian's Tent Army might well number ten thousand cavalry!

That didn't seem like much, but since the rise of Great Jin, they had never yet fought against a Ming force of that many household-retainer-grade troops. If ten thousand household retainers were truly brought up to standard, even if they couldn't defeat the main force of Great Jin's Eight Banners, they would still inflict enormous losses on the Great Jin state.

Moreover, the Eight Banners troops of Great Jin were not all under Hong Taiji's unified ownership, but were separately owned by a group of banner-lord Beiles and the Beiles and Beizis of the eight privileges — and not a single one of those banner-lord Beiles could produce ten thousand armored iron cavalry!

In other words, although this new Ming emperor's household retainers couldn't crush the Great Jin state, they could crush any single banner-lord Beile of Great Jin.

If the Ming emperor lost his household retainers, he probably wouldn't be done in by his subordinates. But if the Great Jin khan lost his two Yellow Banners... things would get a bit difficult!

(End of Chapter)