Seeing that the generals were excited when talking about the decisive battle with the enemy, and seemed to have no fear of the Manchu Tatar army entrenched on the front line of Zhenjiang Fort, Yang Zhen was actually very pleased.

This was a scene he had long expected to see.

He had long expected that the soldiers under his command would have high morale and confidence when facing the Tatar army, and would no longer be timid or fearful.

However, the excitement of the generals could not change Yang Zhen's established strategy.

For him, before Jinhaizhen's strength can completely crush the Manchu Tatars, he will never easily adopt a head-to-head style of fighting with the main force.

Even if the main force's style of play has hope of victory, he will not try it easily or take risks easily.

Because the power he can rely on and rely on is really hard-won. Once he suffers a serious loss, he will have to start all over again, and he will miss the most important opportunity in the next few years. He no longer has such time.

"Okay, okay. I can't say that there is anything wrong with Li Lu's idea. Of course, An Duzhi's idea also has some truth. The governor also hopes that one day we will have a decisive battle with the main force of the Manchu Tatars and complete our achievements in one battle.

.”

Yang Zhen didn't want to directly pour cold water on the excited generals, but at the moment he had other considerations, so he could only use a relatively gentle and tactful way to first promote and then suppress, affirming first and then denying.

Some generals who had been following Yang Zhen for a long time knew that their joy was in vain as soon as they heard the tone of Yang Zhen's words.

For example, Zhang Chen, Yang Shen, and Yan Shengsan, the generals who had not spoken much, looked at each other and quickly calmed down.

The eyes of all the generals present immediately focused on Yang Zhen as Yang Zhen began to speak.

As expected, Yang Zhen first affirmed Li Lu that An Yingchang's idea was reasonable and correct, then paused for a moment and gave the generals some time to think and understand, and then continued:

"However, now is still not the time. Compared with the past, our own strength has certainly made great progress. The city's soldiers, horses, food, wages and weapons are completely different from what they used to be. But how do we compare with the Tatars?"

Yang Zhen did not want to boost the enemy's morale and destroy his own prestige, so he first mentioned the current growth in Jinhaizhen's strength after the large-scale immigration, so as to prevent the generals of his own army from becoming frustrated.

However, the questions he then asked clearly told the generals that although Jinhaizhen is not what it used to be and its strength is much stronger than before, it is still far behind the Manchu Tatars.

After Yang Zhen finished speaking, Li Lu and An Yingchang, who had just proposed that the main force should go north by land to fight the Xianglan Banner Army head-on, were thoughtful at first, then hesitated to speak, and finally lowered their heads.

squeak.

However, the hesitant behavior of the two of them naturally did not escape Yang Zhen's eyes, and Yang Zhen did not mind elaborating on his thoughts with these confidant generals.

"You may think that we are only in front of the Eastern Route Army, and there are only Tatar troops with blue banners in front of us. Since our strength may have an advantage, why can't we eat the Tatar troops with blue banners first?"

As soon as Yang Zhen said this, Li Lu and An Yingchang nodded immediately. Obviously, this was what they were about to say but stopped talking.

When Yang Zhen saw this, he immediately laughed and continued: "First, eat as much of the effective forces of the Manchu Tatar Xianglan Banner as possible, especially the effective forces of the Han soldiers and horses of the Xianglan Banner. This is the goal of this governor's army to go north this time.

one.

"However, when eating them, we must pay attention to how we eat them. Because our eating methods are different, the final results may be very different. And the most important thing is that we must win every battle."

After saying these words, Yang Zhen looked at the generals one by one and saw that some of them were nodding with understanding, while others were still confused and seemed to have no idea what was being said.

"In the final analysis, we can't afford to lose. Nowadays, our Jinhai Town can be considered a big business. If the men and horses of one sentry or several sentries lose, it will be defeated and it will not affect the overall situation. But if we conquer the east

If the main force of the army is defeated, even if there is only one defeat, the consequences will be disastrous."

When he said this, Yang Zhen looked at the surprised people, and then simply stopped avoiding An Yingchang's identity as a court official and said directly:

"If we lose a decisive battle with the Manchu Tatar soldiers and horses with blue flags, let alone other losses, just talk about the Li Dynasty monarchs and ministers east of the Yalu River, will they still maintain the current situation with us? I'm afraid they will immediately

It will tear up the agreement we made with you!"

Yang Zhen did not explicitly say in the past how important the Li Dynasty on the east bank of the Yalu River was to the survival and development of Jinhai Town, but the generals present, except An Yingchang, have actually gradually realized it.

The reason why the Manchu Tatars were able to rely on the mere territory of Liaodong to defeat the Ming Dynasty that they could only parry but had no power to fight back was because they had first conquered Korea in the east, and then Dongmeng in the west.

After they secured the two wings and rear, they would have no worries before attacking the Ming Dynasty, and could confidently and boldly mobilize the main army southward.

In view of this, Yang Zhen's strategy in dealing with the Manchu Tatars after he moved to Jinhai Town was to treat them in their own way, starting with taking away the Li Dynasty.

In June, the conclusion of the secret agreement on Ganghwa Island was Yang Zhen's first step in prying Li Chao away.

Next, as long as he can make full use of the pro-Ming ministers in the Li Dynasty, such as Shen Qiyuan and Lin Qingye, he can win a good battle and defeat the Tatars with a blue flag.

With mutual trust between him and Li Chao, it would not be far before he could actually pry Li Chao away.

In this process, the really important thing was not Yang Zhen's victory over the Manchu Tatar troops with blue flags, but the use of this victory to completely destroy the Manchu Tatar pseudo-emperor's trust in the Li Dynasty.

The best way to achieve this is to allow the Korean soldiers and horses to play a key role in the upcoming war.

For example, let the Korean troops who came to help the Manchu Tatars to suppress their own troops act as their internal agents, or ask them to directly stab the Manchu Tatars in the back.

As long as something like this happens, no matter what the final outcome is, the Manchu Tatars will inevitably reconsider their attitude towards the Li Dynasty.

If these Korean soldiers who came to reinforce the war under the banner of helping the suzerain country became internal agents or allies of Jinhai Town in the Ming Dynasty, what would Huang Taiji, Dorgon, Jierhalang and others think?

In particular, what would Li Zhu think once the troops he sent to reinforce the Qing Dynasty turned against him and suddenly sided with Yang Zhen on the battlefield?

Under the influence of these two factors and the power of these two evils, I am afraid that the monarchs and ministers of the Li Dynasty would have no choice but to defect to the Manchu and Qing side and return to the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, the Manchu Tatars will inevitably raise troops to retaliate against the Li Dynasty's monarchs and ministers, and the survival of the Li Dynasty's monarchs and ministers will ultimately depend on Yang Zhen's Jinhai Town troops.

Of course, all of this is just Yang Zhen's personal good wish, and it is a goal that Yang Zhen hopes to achieve as soon as possible.

For Yang Zhen, this goal is very important to him, because only by achieving this goal first can there be hope for overthrowing the Qing Dynasty.

"Then, what the governor means is that we follow the Songshan story and instead of attacking Zhenjiang Fort, we attract the Manchu Tatars to raise troops to attack Zhuanghe Fort, and then rely on the fortifications of Zhuanghe Fort that are beneficial to me to have a battle.

Defend and counterattack, killing as many Tatar bannermen and armored soldiers as possible? Then kill the monkeys and chickens to intimidate the Li Dynasty?"

Since An Yingchang, a general with a royal background, was present, Yang Zhen could not completely ignore his feelings and directly stated his true thoughts of using his own tactics to kill people and then diverting the disaster to the east.

However, Zhang Chen, who had been following Yang Zhen for a long time, still keenly understood some of Yang Zhen's intentions, and believed that Yang Zhen still wanted to wait for work, and did not want to work northward or take the initiative to attack Zhenjiang Fort.

So he saw that everyone was silent after listening to Yang Zhen's words, so he spoke out his thoughts and asked Yang Zhen if that was what he meant.

As a result, as soon as Zhang Chen finished speaking, all the generals present seemed to be suddenly enlightened, and they all thought they had grasped Yang Zhen's train of thought.

However, at this time Yang Zhen smiled and said: "Haha, last year there was a precedent in Songshan City, and this spring there was a precedent in Fuzhou City, Xiping Mountain, and Jierhalang is not a fool, and I want to lure him to

Zhuanghe Fort is here, and it’s not as easy as before to induce him to storm Zhuanghe Fort at all costs!"

As early as when he entered the city, Yang Zhen had already seen the fortifications of Zhuanghe Fort.

It took Zu Keyong more than half a year to complete the defense of Zhuanghe Fort. It was certainly extraordinary. Yang Zhen was very happy to see Jierhalang raise troops to attack Zhuanghe Fort.

For Yang Zhen, given that Zhuanghe Fort had enough troops, food, grass, weapons and ammunition, the best way to kill the enemy was to lure Jierhalang to attack Zhuanghe Fort.

But with the previous battle examples, how could Jierhalang easily abandon his own retreat and lead an army to storm the strong city of Zhuanghe Fort?

Taking into account the fact that the Manchu Tatars had recruited Korean warships, I am afraid that not only would Jierhalang not raise troops to attack Zhuanghe Fort, on the contrary, Prince Zheng might also be taking a boat to take a detour behind him.

What’s your plan for your future?

With this in mind, Yang Zhen thought about it and then said to everyone: "Besides, that Zhenjiang Fort still needs to be fought. The status of Zhenjiang Fort, sealing the river and controlling the sea, is very important. Sooner or later, we have to fight.

.

"Without capturing Zhenjiang Fort, it is impossible to truly sever the vassal relationship between the Li Dynasty and the Manchu Tatars. In fact, only by capturing Zhenjiang Fort can the Li family in the east of the Yalu River be determined to return to the Chinese Empire, that is, under the

Determined to stand with us."

"That--"

"this--"

As soon as Yang Zhen said those last words, even Zhang Chen and Li Lu, who thought they understood Yang Zhen's thinking best, were a little confused.

As for the others, they looked at each other in confusion for a while, wondering what Governor Yang was thinking and what kind of medicine was being sold in the gourd.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him in confusion, Yang Zhen stopped trying to make excuses and said bluntly: "I came here just for the Zhenjiang Fort. But how to take the Zhenjiang Fort, we have to wait until Yuan Commander-in-Chief, Deputy General Yu
Chapter completed!