The black soil and fallen leaves were constantly thrown into the air, and the horses I saw along the way began to become thinner. After a few days of hard war, it was a severe test for the war horses, especially in the late winter and early spring when the war horses were the thinner, the armored men and flag cows I saw along the way were all walking with their horses. When they saw this team of people riding their horses forward, they quickly made way.

This time, more than half of the Eight Banners Dingkou and all the Han army were mobilized in the war against Yehe. The Jianzhou division and the Jurchens could see walking armored men and flags everywhere. From time to time, you could see the Niulu flag and the Jiala flag fluttering in the air. Every distance could see the Niulu flag fluttering on the mountain. This was a checkpoint set up in key places. They were responsible for guarding the key points. Once they found the alarm, they would stop at the moment, report or lead their troops to attack.

Several checkpoints have been punished this time, either forfeiting their property or being executed. Everyone knows that this war against Ye He is not fatal. The threat from the Ming Dynasty is close to you. Da Khan will punish everyone who is lazy, and there is no possibility of forgiveness.

Nuerhaci was camped less than 60 miles from Yehe City. This is a small valley surrounded by undeveloped forests. Zhang Han knew that in later generations, there must be townships and fields intersecting, and there may even be mines and large mining enterprises, roads or railways, and there will be trains whistling by. But at this time, there are only teams of soldiers wearing cotton armor leading horses, hundreds of tents of different sizes, and several wooden huts built by Yehe people who harvest ginseng or collect dried fruits. In addition, there are only quiet forests and the whistling sounds of the wind.

Nuerhaci sat upright in the tent, his personal soldiers stood around with bows and arrows, laying a map in front of him, and the people next to him were talking.

The Yehe tribe adopted the approach of this attack, which was virtual and real. In the war between the enemy and the weak, this tactic was very effective. The outer city walls were almost abandoned. Nuerhaci led tens of thousands of troops and horses to attack. So far, he has not fought a tough battle. More than 20 cities were destroyed. The Yehe tribe captured less than a thousand people, and there were very few cattle and sheep. Among them, many were the Mongols who came to grazed by Korqin. The Yehe tribe concentrated their troops in Yehe's city, and there were about 15,000 people. Of course, half of them were old and weak men, but as long as the Jurchens could walk and pull the bow and arrow, it was a threat. These people could rely on the walls of the camp to shoot arrows outward. It was not easy to pull out such a city that concentrated all the Yehe's strength.

Nuerhaci saw Li Yongfang and Zhang Han flying with a small team of people. He waited for everyone to get off the horse and walked closer and asked, "What's the urgent matter?"

Li Yongfang replied: "Just received the Tang Malay newspaper, the Beile Jintai Shi and Buyanggu from Yehe's troops reported to the Ming army in Kaiyuan. The Ming army had already left the city. When Tang Malay newspaper reported, it was expected that it had come out dozens of miles and approached the border police post between us and the Ming Kingdom."

Nuerhaci asked, "Do you see if the Ming Dynasty soldiers are really coming to fight?"

Li Yongfang replied in a very accurate and contemptuous tone: "There will not exceed 20,000 soldiers in Kaiyuan, and many of them are auxiliary soldiers. The soldiers are also mainly Liaodong soldiers. The military discipline is very bad, the training is poor, and the weapons are mostly corrupt. The generals are very clear about these situations. There may be some soldiers transferred from Xuandaji Town, but the rest of the military towns will not send the most elite troops to fight, unless the local garrison general goes to the battle personally. If only Kaiyuan sends troops, there is no movement in the Yafu Pass and there is no soldiers at Fushun Pass, it is not worth worrying!"

Nuerhaci nodded and said, "You are very saying, then how long does it take for the Ming Dynasty soldiers to be dispatched?"

Li Yongfang said: "If you can call military generals as the strategy, you will have to be discussed in at least another year to use troops, raise war horses, build weapons, and train military troops. The generals and generals should work together to fight together. However, the Ming Dynasty has always regarded civil officials as the strategy. They are easily constrained by the court. The center does not know the military, and the emperor attaches importance to money. The recent news has been that the expenses in the capital are too high, for fear that the teacher will be exhausted and consume only food and grass. Therefore, the chief assistant Fang Congzhe and his soldier Huang Jiashan are eager to use troops and will not delay. The slave predicts that at most two or three months, the Ming army will definitely attack our country."

"Yeah!" Nuerhaci showed a look of praise on his face. He ordered Li Yongfang: "You discuss with Erdeni and write a letter to Mingguo Zheng in my name, and generally speaking, I want to talk to them."

The so-called "peace talk" is of course a trick to confuse Yang Hao. Yang Hao has been in Chenyang for more than a month. He has been concerned about the transfer of food, grass and troops, and also asking for money from the center. Everything about the Jianzhou department is just a brief understanding of the past in Liaodong. Yang Hao also lacks understanding and respect for the Ming generals who have been transferred. According to Li Yongfang's spy system, Yang Hao relies on the most important thing is Li Rubai. Since Li Rusong's death, Li Rumei and Li Rubai are both senior military positions. Li Rubai is now the general. When Yang Hao was in Liaodong, he received the support of the Li family. Yang Hao also repaid his favor. Now the generals of Liaodong are unique, and he can be said to be a trustworthy person.

Li Rubai is a very unqualified general. His relationship with the Later Jin side led by Nuerhaci is also very ambiguous, and the two sides have been secretly maintaining contact.

Even in terms of ability, Li Rubai is cowardly and timid, lustful and greedy for money, and is definitely not a qualified general.

Yang Hao had great opinions about Liu Ying, and even had enemies with each other.

Yang Hao, the other generals, didn't know much about it. Generally speaking, Yang Hao is neither aware of the enemy nor aware of it at present.

Nuerhaci said in a wording, "It means that if the country can eliminate my seven hatreds and withdraw my troops to show sincerity, and give me three hundred taels of gold, three thousand taels of silver, and three thousand pieces of silk, then the two sides can reconcile and stop each other's troops."

Li Yongfang responded quickly, and Nuerhaci asked him to keep his attention to the top leaders of the Ming Dynasty as much as possible, especially the deeds and generals of the border towns, and must be copied regularly.

Zhang Han didn't expect that Lao Khan had the same hobby as him. He didn't know if Wang Faxiang, who was sent to the capital, had Li Yongfang's people so efficient and capable.

Nuerhaci glanced at Zhang Han and did not talk to him. Li Yongfang gently pulled Zhang Han's robe, and the two of them saluted each other, turned around and retreated.

...

It has been several months since Yang Hao arrived in Liaodong, and it was mid-February in the 47th year of Wanli.

The weather is getting warmer, and the sunny days are gradually increasing every day. The sunshine starts to grow longer and the snow almost melts. Only when the Shenyang city wall looks upwards, you can accidentally see some unswept snow on the roofs of people in the south of the city.

Chenyang has four city gates, and the names of the city gates are almost the same as the other Daming city gates. Compared with Liaoyang, Chenyang is a pure military fortress. The city gates are tall, with many corner towers and arrow towers, and the battlements have perforations. The city is more than nine miles long and two feet high. Each gate also has a urn city. Outside the city, there are moats and horse-blocking walls and other auxiliary facilities. There are nearly 50,000 troops stationed in the city. From a military perspective alone, Chenyang is a heroic city that the Later Jin Dynasty cannot conquer or siege.

Every day at noon, the roads will thaw, and the black and yellow soil on the official road is surging up. The original rammed earth layer has been destroyed due to disrepair and the crushing of horses and vehicles. The four gates of Chenyang City lead to several important directions, behind them are the Liaohe Hetao, to the north are Kaiyuan, Tieling and Qinghe Pass, to the east are Fushun Pass and Jurchen boundaries, to the south are Hupi Yibaitapu and Fengji Fort, and to the south are Liaoyang City. Each official road connects the core area of ​​the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, and blocking the Liaohe security Mongolia has always been the top priority of Chenyang. Compared with Liaoyang in Liaozhong, Chenyang has seen more wind and rain dozens of times. The Mongols invaded here many times, but none of them succeeded.

Yang Hao has lived near the Central Temple since he arrived in Chenyang. In the past few months, he has been busy urging the court to support the financial support. Last month, the chief assistant Fang Congzhe wrote a letter to send someone to Chenyang. In the letter, he clearly stated to Yang Hao that the court had no extra money and grain, and the national treasury was empty. The Minister of Revenue and the Hu Ke asked the emperor to send out the silver treasury. The emperor said something high-sounding, and then said that the inner treasury was empty, asking the ministers to find a way.

Nearly a year ago, when the Liao incident first started, the ministers asked the emperor for the treasury because of the empty treasury. After all, everyone knows that the emperor is rich. In the past few decades, Emperor Wanli has carefully managed his small treasury, and the treasury is definitely not a small amount of silver. The treasury has used all the money due to the three major expeditions. The nearly ten million yuan of households that Zhang Juzheng had saved up ten years ago in Wanli had long been ruined.

After ten years of hard work, the large amount of wealth accumulated was used up by three major wars and daily expenses, and the finances were overwhelmed. After Wanli ordered the removal of the Jianzhou Jurchens, the court began to mobilize troops, and at the same time, the silver was used like water. Fang Congzhe complained to Yang Hao in a private message, which was actually a disguised reminder that this war must be resolved quickly. Otherwise, not only the emperor was unhappy, but the colleagues at the center would not understand Yang Hao. They would only think that Yang Hao was constantly in trouble, which affected his reputation for Yang Hao and even caused severe attacks.

After receiving a private message from Fang Congzhe, Yang Hao knew that he could not delay it. In fact, he had no intention of advancing now... After all, he had been an official at the border for many years. Some of the most basic experiences told him that the advancement was not in line with the time. First of all, the weather was still cold, the soldiers were insufficient, the tents and cold-proof objects were insufficient, so the generals did not have to tell him that Yang Hao also knew that the army was dissatisfied and the morale was poor. The Later Jin Dynasty was able to defeat the Ming army in a row, which showed strong military strength. Some ministers in the court compared this war with the old story of sending 50,000 troops to sweep the Jurchen tribe in three years of Chenghua. Yang Hao also felt dissatisfied.
Chapter completed!