Chapter 1449 Battle Report and International Relations
The soldiers accompanying Liu Shang were very considerate and promptly handed over some refreshing medicine, asking him to rub some on his body to avoid being dizzy by the bloody smell that hit his nose. Although Liu Shang didn't really like the smell of this medicine, it was better than smelling the nauseating smell of blood all the time, so he could only endure it for the time being.
This was the first time in Liu Shang's life that he saw this kind of mass grave where corpses were buried, and the visual impact was quite strong. However, he did not have any sympathy for these dead Hou Jin soldiers. Whether from the standpoint of the Ming Dynasty or Haihan, Hou Jin could be regarded as a mortal enemy with no possibility of compromise, and the Hou Jin army was more defeated. The greater the tragic casualties, the more benefits it will have to Liu Shang's homeland and the new master he currently serves. If possible, Liu Shang would even hope that the plain would be filled with corpse pits and all the Houjin wild boar skins would be buried underground.
When Liu Shang came to visit, one of the corpse pits had been excavated. Several people were standing by the pit, in groups of two, throwing the corpses of Hou Jinbing that had been transported on carts into the pit. Most of these corpses had no heads. It was Chen Yixin who gave the special order to cut off all the heads of the gangsters. He did not want to use the heads to scare people in Beijing, but to leave them to Shen Zhixiang's troops so that they could use these heads with distinctive features to petition the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of War and the imperial court for credit.
At present, there are more than two hundred headless corpses thrown into the bottom of the pit, and a small hill has been built up on top of each other at the bottom of the pit. Upon seeing this, Liu Shang had a strange thought in his mind. If Haihan followed suit and established such a base near the capital in the Bohai Bay, would he be able to directly threaten the safety of the capital.
This idea naturally makes no sense, and cannot even be said to be an inference. The level of military alert near the capital is by no means as fragile as Haihan thinks. The military conflicts between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty often required tens of thousands of troops to be invested, but Haihan's ability to use two to three thousand men in a single military operation was already unprecedented. And from Haihan's perspective, he does not intend to intensify the relationship with the Ming Dynasty at this stage. For this reason, even the puppet troops from Dongjiang Town were recruited to attack Liaodong. The Haihan fleet rarely went deep into the Bohai Bay. These measures were taken to prevent the Ming Dynasty from being too wary of Haihan's presence in the waters close to the Gyeonggi Province, so as not to affect the prospects of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries in the future.
Liu Shang is in a sensitive department and is somewhat familiar with Haihan's policies, but he still subconsciously opposes Haihan and Ming Dynasty, believing that the conflict between the two countries will be the main theme of future relations. This is actually contrary to the views of the Executive Committee. The senior management headed by Tao Donglai actually hopes to establish formal diplomatic relations and in-depth cooperation with Ming Dynasty. For this reason, it does not matter if Haihan suffers a little loss. As long as the Ming Dynasty can open the door to commerce and immigration in the future, no matter how much upfront investment it is, it will be worth it.
Liu Shang believes that the Ming court will not compromise with Haihan on the ownership of territory and population. After all, at least 60 to 70% of the so-called Haihan Kingdom's existing territory originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, and the citizens also have a high level of The proportions are all immigrants introduced from the Ming Dynasty over the years. To put it bluntly, this so-called country is completely a parasitic attachment on the Ming Dynasty, relying on the nutrients of the Ming Dynasty to strengthen itself. It is not that there are discerning people in the Ming Dynasty who can clearly see the interests involved. They are currently busy dealing with more difficult internal and external troubles and cannot spare any time to deal with Haihan. How can they turn a blind eye to Haihan's past actions? Act like nothing happened.
This difference of opinion is actually caused by their different statuses. The information that Liu Shang and the top executives of the executive committee can control are completely different, and they naturally have different visions. The level that Liu Shang focuses on is still more specific interests and grievances, but the people in charge of Haihan have hundreds of years of experience, and they naturally know that politics is not an unchanging rigid dogma, but can be taken from anything. Come out and haggle for a special deal. No matter how proud the Ming royal family and court were, it was just a kind of political capital. When faced with an opponent like Haihan who had already taken advantage of him, Ming could not do so easily if he wanted to show off as a heavenly dynasty.
Liu Shang couldn't imagine some of the top secrets that the Executive Committee knew and even things that hadn't happened yet. Naturally, he couldn't view the relationship between the two countries from the same height, and there was no way he could come to completely opposite conclusions. According to the conclusion he drew, the military's belligerence will further widen the rift between the Han Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, and may even arouse the Ming Dynasty's excessive fear, which may be counterproductive to the wishes of the Executive Committee.
However, since the superiors gave him the task of compiling the battle report, he could only conceive it according to the military's wishes. In fact, Liu Shang still doesn't quite understand whether he wants this Haihan to go to war with Ming Dynasty or continue to coexist peacefully.
If there is a war, even if the Ming Dynasty has superior territory and military strength, it will be difficult to destroy the Haihan army that moves freely on the sea. If it wants to overestimate its capabilities and fight a naval battle with Haihan, it will be like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth. No matter how you look at it, It is difficult to have a chance of completely defeating Haihan. And if we follow the thinking of the Haihan Executive Committee, and the two sides establish diplomatic relations and then Haihan enters the Ming Dynasty to engage in business and immigration activities, then the speed at which the Ming Dynasty will be poached will probably be several times faster than it is now. At that time, the invisible losses Haihan will cause to Ming through various blood-sucking methods may not be much less than direct war.
Of course, Liu Shang soon realized that these two possibilities actually lead to the same goal by different routes. In any case, Ming Dynasty would be the one who suffered the loss. Meeting such a formidable opponent as Haihan, it was indeed difficult for Ming Dynasty to gain the upper hand. For Ming Dynasty, the only good thing was that Haihan did not intend to use war to plunder Ming Dynasty. The method adopted by the Executive Committee was more covert and made it more difficult for Ming Dynasty to resist.
"Director Liu, there is indeed a bit of blood here. Do you want to walk around?" The accompanying soldiers saw that Liu Shang's face was not very good, so they thought he felt uncomfortable seeing such a bloody scene, so they kindly proposed suggestion.
Liu Shang finally came back from his thoughts, forced a smile on his face and said: "It's okay, let's see again."
Part of the reason why he looked bad was because he thought about the gloomy future of the Ming Dynasty, and the other part was because he saw the bloody scene in front of him. Looking at the corpses of these Hou Jin soldiers, they looked like slaughtered animals. Several masked butchers cut off their heads with their knives, and then the migrant workers lifted the headless corpses and threw them into the burial pit. It was indeed... There is an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach. And the hill of human heads gradually piling up next to it is definitely a terrifying sight that people will never forget after seeing it.
Liu Shang calmed down a little and said to the soldiers leading the way: "Besides here, where else can we see?"
The soldier responded: "The corpses of senior enemy officers killed in the battle and the captured flags and weapons are all stored in another place. Do you want Officer Liu to take a look?"
"Okay, I'll help you, little brother, to lead the way." Liu Shang really couldn't bear to stay next to this corpse pit for a long time. He didn't want to make trouble for himself. It was enough to understand the general situation.
A moment later, Liu Shang saw another scene in a tent somewhere in the Haihan camp. The corpses of several Houjin officers who were killed in the battle were stored in thin-skinned coffins. There were no ordinary people for dozens of miles around Lushun, let alone a coffin shop. It was not known where the logistics department obtained the coffins. Liu Shang couldn't help but marveled after seeing it. Liu Shang glanced at several corpses and couldn't help but asked curiously: "I heard that the enemy's general Yang Guli also died on the battlefield this time. This man seems to be the brother-in-law of the thief Chief Taiji." , which corpse here is him?”
The soldier explained: "We searched carefully after the war and did not find Yanguli's body. He must have been taken away by his soldiers after being shot. The leaders also felt very sorry for this."
Liu Shang responded regretfully: "If we can take this old man's body back and hand it over to the Pidao Army, maybe Shen Shikui can be promoted to the third level and directly join the Ministry of War as a minister, and it is not impossible to become a marquis. ”
For a person with such a prominent status as Yangu Li, the Jin Army would naturally not abandon his body on the battlefield. Therefore, although Morgan was almost certain to kill him, they still failed to snatch his body. Although this matter could allow the Pidao Army to report merit in the name of Dongjiang Town, there was ultimately a lack of evidence and they could only receive the reward after Hou Jin broke the news on his own. However, given Jin's position, how could they admit that their general was killed by the enemy on the battlefield? They had to find ways to make excuses such as being seriously ill and dying to save their face.
But without Yangu Li, the corpses of the other unlucky ghosts are not ordinary people. They include the corpse of Jia La E Zhen E Tengyi, plus Er He and Mu who were killed by Haihan before. Tebu, since last winter, Haihan has killed three Jia La E Zhen in Liaodong. As for the lower-level Niu Lu Ezhen, at least a dozen of them have died. This record has surpassed Ming Dynasty's record of killing enemies in recent years. When Dongjiang Town hands over this record to the Ministry of War, it will also shock the court.
As for the banners, weapons and other items of the Later Jin Army, in Liu Shang's opinion, there is nothing outstanding. These things are far worse than those of the Ming Dynasty, let alone compared with Haihan. After all, Hou Jin used to be a tribal civilization that existed in the name of Jianzhou Jurchen, and there was still a big gap between it and the farming civilization of Middle-earth. These trophies can also serve as physical evidence, used by Dongjiang Town to prove to the Ming Dynasty the authenticity of the victory over the Jin Army in Liaodong.
Haihan had carefully discussed with Dongjiang Town what to do and paved the way step by step. Now all he has to do is submit the physical evidence to the Ming Dynasty. After Liu Shang saw these things, he applied to Chen Yixin and wanted to meet the commander of the Pidao Army to understand the next process of reporting merit and rewards to the Ming Dynasty.
The reason why Liu Shang wants to learn about these things is because the battle report submitted to Sanya Victory Fort will also mention the impact of this battle on Dongjiang Town and the Ming Dynasty, and this is one of the focuses of the Executive Committee. Haihan's support and sponsorship for Dongjiang Town for two consecutive years may be rewarded by this Liaodong battle report.
After listening to Liu Shang's report, Chen Yixin immediately granted him the authority to decide on his own work methods and to have unrestricted contact with necessary personnel in the Liaodong occupied area, so that he could collect the information needed to write a battle report. For this reason, Chen Yixin also specially assigned a war horse to Liu Shang to facilitate his travel between various places in the occupied areas.
Liu Shang was also a man in charge. After receiving the horse, he walked twice outside the racecourse to get familiar with the horse's temperament. Then he immediately rode the horse to Jijiabao where the Pidao Army was stationed to find Shen Zhixiang.
Although Shen Zhixiang had met Liu Shang, he didn't actually have a clear understanding of Liu Shang's official position. But since he saw that the other party came with Chen Yixin's warrant, he was naturally very polite and knew all the questions Liu Shang raised. , the words are endless. He knew that for Haihan, there were no secrets worth keeping in Dongjiang Town, and the best way to hold onto Haihan's thigh was to try his best to satisfy Haihan's needs.
Whether it was the Haihan Army using the name of Dongjiang Town to send troops to Liaodong to start a war with Hou Jin, or whether it was asking Dongjiang Town to report merits to the court to facilitate things in Liaodong, as long as it was something Haihan wanted to do, Shen Zhixiang would try his best to complete it. As for Official Haihan who wanted to know about the merit reporting process, he would of course explain it without reservation.
"After Mao Shuai died, most people in Dongjiang Town took the route of Shandong Dusi to report their merits to the Ministry of War. However, there was chaos in Shandong a few years ago, so they didn't care about Dongjiang Town at all. Even supplies and military pay were cut off, so they no longer counted on that. What can Bian do to help us?" Shen Zhixiang sighed: "Fortunately, your army helped us after coming to Liaodong. Otherwise, with the situation of starvation on the island, I am afraid that we may not be able to survive until now."
Liu Shang heard that what he said was a little off topic, so he coughed dryly and said: "General Shen, let's talk about repaying merit first."
Shen Zhixiang nodded and thought to himself, didn't I take this opportunity to express my loyalty to Haihan? Why was he impatient yet, but said calmly: "Director Liu reminded me. After I cooperated with Haihan in Dongjiang Town, So I tried to find someone in Gyeonggi and spent money to clear the way. Now I can send the documents directly to the Ministry of War, without having to go through a big detour from the local area."
Liu Shang asked curiously: "Is it General Shen's own intention to do this, or is it our arrangement?"
Shen Zhixiang did not dare to hide it and responded honestly: "The leader of your army made a verbal suggestion. After discussing it with my uncle, I thought it was feasible, so I did it."
(End of chapter)