Chapter 1457 Move back to Liaodong
Bai Kesi did not talk about the overall integration, but only talked about the separation of military and civilians. This may be a relatively easy arrangement for Dongjiang Town to accept. Although during this process, Dongjiang Town must hand over the command power of the army and the administrative and judicial power of the military garrison, at least in name, the establishment of Dongjiang Town can continue to be preserved. Of course, Shen Zhixiang also understood that the Haihan people did not do this out of charity, but to use the banner of Dongjiang Town to complete their plan to contact the high-level officials of the Ming Dynasty.
Because of this, Shen Zhixiang's anxious mood in the past few days finally calmed down. He was originally very worried whether Haihan would be dissatisfied because of the unsatisfactory performance of the Pidao Army on the battlefield, but since Haihan was willing to continue to push the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town to move back to Liaodong in accordance with the pre-agreed agreement, and also sent a team of A senior official at the executive committee level presided over this matter, which is enough to show the importance Haihan attaches to this cooperation. Given the opportunity to return to the Liaodong continent, Shen Zhixiang believes that most of the soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town will not care so much whether the General Military Mansion or the Haihan people have the final say in the future.
Regarding the relocation and resettlement plan proposed by Bai Kesi, Shen Zhixiang really didn't have much to say. Haihan had extremely rich experience in immigration and was far more thoughtful about the details than Dongjiang Town, which was under military rule. According to Haihan's arrangement, if the maritime transport capacity of both parties in the Yellow Sea is added together, it will be enough to complete this population migration task within one month. Before that, he probably had to go back to Pidao and inform Shen Shikui of the results of the discussion in detail. He would organize the preparation work locally, while Shen Zhixiang would be responsible for accepting the resettlement of immigrants in Liaodong.
Bai Kesi was very satisfied with Shen Zhixiang's 100% cooperative attitude. Since Shen Zhixiang raised no objections, the plan prepared by Haihan would serve as a blueprint for the next migration operation, which would save a lot of unnecessary trouble. The negotiation process, which I originally thought would have some twists and turns, went unexpectedly smoothly.
At Haihan's request, Shen Zhixiang temporarily handed over the command to his adjutant, and then rushed back to Pi Island with several soldiers to report the news. In order to allow him to go back quickly, Haihan also specially dispatched a fast sailing ship to serve as a mission-specific means of transportation and be responsible for the pick-up and drop-off task of Shen Zhixiang.
Almost at the same time, Sha Xi, who was in charge of Lushun, also received a notice from the front line, asking him to arrange manpower as soon as possible to conduct boundary survey in the area designated for Dongjiang Town in the northwest of Lushun. Because they were worried that Dongjiang Town would resist Haihan's plan, almost no local preparation work was done. Even the demarcation was not implemented until the negotiation and finalization of the plan.
Sha Xi didn't delay at all after getting the news and immediately sent someone over. He is so concerned about the immigration of people from Phi Island, mainly because he is thinking about the labor force. Since the other party was willing to accept Haihan's resettlement plan, Sha Xi would of course want to be on a first-come-first-served basis and try to recruit a group of military dependents from Dongjiang Town to work as cheap labor in Lushun to relieve the urgent need of a serious shortage of local labor force. Of course, as for things like setting up camps, we can only wait for the people from Dongjiang Town to come and do it themselves. Sha Xi does not have so many idle manpower to do the work for them.
During this period, on the northern battlefield, there were still sporadic battles between the Houjin Army and the Haihan Army. Both sides are testing each other's reaction through such means to see if there are any opportunities that can be exploited.
The Haihan Army doesn't mind pushing the control area further north if there is an opportunity. It would also be a good choice to capture Jinzhou City as well. However, the headquarters is not very interested in seizing Jinzhou City. After all, the local isolated city is not close to the sea, and there are several miles of plains between it and the Jinzhou Isthmus. It is difficult to ensure stability through logistic channels, and Haihan really cannot tell the difference at the moment. More troops were used to garrison this city, which had little strategic significance to Haihan.
According to the frontline command, the best situation is to seize the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the Houjin Army again, and take the elimination of the enemy's effective forces as the main purpose of the operation. As for attacking cities and plundering territory, Haihan now only has the ability to win battles, but does not have the ability to defend territory. Occupying this land in Liaodong is the limit of what Haihan can currently achieve. Unless a large number of Ming troops are introduced to Liaodong, they will not be able to defend a larger area, and the military obviously does not intend to allow Ming troops other than Dongjiang Town to enter Liaodong.
However, Hou Jin was not so clear about Haihan's true purpose. They only knew that Haihan continued to move north after occupying the Jinzhou Isthmus. This was a very dangerous signal. The Jinzhou Isthmus has been lost, and Hou Jin is in a position of no return. Even if he knows that his military strength is not as good as Haihan, he can only defend Jinzhou City. As for counterattacking the Jinzhou Isthmus to try to retake this natural moat defense line, Azig thought about it, but he no longer had the courage to gamble with the Jinzhou City garrison.
Based on this situation, the Hou Jin Army was unable to retreat and attack, and the countermeasures they could take were extremely limited. They could only slow down the next offensive that the Haihan Army might launch with constant harassment. Haihan is no stranger to this kind of fighting method. The two sides had a period of tug-of-war near Lushun last year. During this period, there were estimated to be nearly a hundred large and small battles, which was enough for Haihan to understand the tactics of the Hou Jin Army. Some special tricks.
In order to pursue the surprise effect, Hou Jin's sporadic offensives basically used cavalry as the main force. Although mobility was guaranteed, protection could not be taken into account. During the battle, they suffered a great loss in front of the Haihan army equipped with rifles. A group of thirty or fifty cavalrymen went into battle. If they encountered the Haihan Army during the operation, only about half of them would be able to return to Jinzhou City alive. After a few more attacks, the Hou Jin Army in the city inevitably became war-phobic. Even the cavalry teams assigned to fight would often intentionally march around Haihan's defense area after leaving the city, trying to avoid contact with the garrison as much as possible. There was a head-on conflict between the Haihan army in the field.
Battles involving more than a hundred people from both sides occurred almost once or twice a day, but Hou Jin always maintained a restrained attitude and had no intention of further expanding the scale of the battle. Even if Haihan sometimes took the initiative to provoke, Hou Jin would immediately withdraw his troops and return to the camp, shrinking the troops in the city, determined to fight a tug-of-war with Haihan for city defense.
Of course, Haihan did not want to spend a lot of ammunition on a meaningless siege battle, so the two sides maintained a strange tacit understanding during the exchanges, and never allowed the siege to occur in the area north of the Jinzhou Isthmus. The war expanded.
It was already the end of March 1636 when Shen Zhixiang returned to Pidao. Shen Shikui had already received reports from messengers and knew the progress of the coalition's war in Liaodong. However, it was not until Shen Zhixiang returned that he had the opportunity to ask in detail about the situation of the Pidao army. Performance on the battlefield.
Shen Zhixiang would not hide anything from his uncle, so he picked out the important points. He also told everything about his improper command and the incompetence of the troops. He was not worried that Shen Shikui would blame him for this, because Shen Shikui had no children and had long regarded him as a descendant of the Shen family. Sooner or later, these properties in Dongjiang Town would be handed over to him. Whether he performs well or not in this battle will not affect his status in Dongjiang Town.
After hearing this, Shen Shikui did not get angry. Instead, he calmed down and analyzed the mistakes in the process with Shen Zhixiang, as well as the areas worth learning from the Haihan Army's combat methods. Although Shen Zhixiang was transferred from a businessman to join the army, he did read a lot of military books in the army. In addition, after taking charge of Dongjiang Town, he led the army and fought with the Jin army for many years, so he had rich combat experience. From Shen Zhixiang's story, he had heard that There are many details that can be improved.
After the uncle and nephew met, they spent half a day reviewing the details of the Battle of Jinzhou and discussed in detail the gains and losses of the Pidao Army in the battle. Shen Zhixiang wanted to change the topic to immigration several times, but Shen Shikui brought him back to the original topic.
It was not until dinner that Shen Shikui took the initiative to ask: "Do you know why I want to ask about the performance of the Pidao Army on the battlefield first?" Shen Zhixiang also had some guesses in his mind, so he tentatively replied: "I must think that my uncle thinks that Haihan will treat Haihan badly in the future. Is Dongjiang Town’s attitude closely related to the performance of the Pidao Army on the battlefield? ”
Shen Shikui nodded and said: "Yes, but not entirely right. Have you ever thought about what the Haihan people would think if the Pidao Army performed amazingly on the battlefield?"
Shen Zhixiang said: "Then they will naturally pay more attention to our Dongjiang Town. In the future, there may be more Liaodong wars in which the Pidao Army will also participate. Maybe they can also hope to distribute more artillery pieces to them that have been unwilling to let go. Us.”
Shen Shikui smiled and said: "You think things are too simple. If the Pidao Army can really reach that level, I'm afraid that they will be afraid before Haihan's praise."
Shen Zhixiang raised his eyebrows when he heard this, as if he thought about why Shen Shikui had such an idea.
"Although Dongjiang Town has formed an alliance with Haihan in name, the Haihan people want an army that they can fully control. If the Pidao Army makes the Haihan people feel threatened, then they will probably interrupt the army. We need to support and integrate the Pidao Army, instead of letting the Pidao Army exist alone in Liaodong." Shen Shikui spoke his thoughts unhurriedly: "I have heard a word from Haihan before. , called the Xie Cong Army, there are many armies that play similar roles to ours, and they are not limited to the Ming Dynasty. What the Haihan people need is not an army that can fight like them, but partners who can play the role of auxiliary troops in the war. "
Shen Zhixiang thought for a while and said: "According to what my uncle said, even if our Pidao Army made no mistakes on the battlefield and performed perfectly, it is still very likely that they will be transferred to the auxiliary army after that battle?"
Shen Shikui nodded and said: "Although this may make you feel uncomfortable, it is probably the fact. Give you a fighting chance to show your strength, and then no matter what the outcome, they will try to arrange your troops to execute Some logistical tasks ”
Shen Zhixiang couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He originally thought that as long as the Pidao Army performed well enough on the battlefield, he might be able to win the favor of General Haihan and bring more benefits to Dongjiang Town. But at this time, listening to Shen Shikui's analysis of the inside story, it seemed that the situation was indeed what he said, which greatly dampened his enthusiasm.
Shen Shikui observed his words and could roughly guess what Shen Zhixiang was thinking, so he comforted him: "You don't have to be disappointed. If they want to use troops in Liaodong in the future, you will definitely be their general. After all, there are not many Ming generals who are familiar with Liaodong. There are even fewer people they can trust. There will be opportunities for performance in the future. As long as the Haihan people are not blind, they will naturally discover your talents.”
After hearing these words of comfort, Shen Zhixiang's expression improved slightly. After going to Zhoushan, Zhejiang and seeing Haihan's military strength the previous year, he wanted to switch to Haihan's tent. But it would be sad if General Haihan didn't look down on his ability at all. After the battle at the Jinzhou Isthmus, he had been brooding. He felt that his performance was not good enough and he had disappointed Qian Tiandun and other generals Haihan, which led to the subsequent deployment orders that caused the Pidao Army to slowly leave the battlefield.
Shen Shikui continued: "If I am not mistaken, the Haihan people should have decided to move Dongjiang Town back to Liaodong, but I don't know where they plan to place the more than 10,000 people on the island?"
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Shen Zhixiang said: "Uncle's guess is good. The Haihan people have allocated a piece of land thirty miles northwest of Lushun specifically for the resettlement of the people of Dongjiang Town. However, they have one request, which is to separate the military and civilians in Dongjiang Town and set aside This area can only accommodate the people, while the army needs to be allocated a separate location, presumably along the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line. ”
Shen Shikui said: "The people of Haihan are very smart. In this case, even if we in Dongjiang Town have any other thoughts, we have to take care of our relatives and family members. In this environment, we will definitely not dare to act rashly. Have you ever questioned this request?"
Shen Zhixiang shook his head and said: "The initiative in this matter is not in our hands, and even questioning it may not be useful. Moreover, this time Haihan has an executive committee member to come forward to handle the matter. If I refute his face, I will move back to Liaodong." I’m afraid there will be more twists and turns.”
"An executive committee member actually came? The people of Haihan really think highly of me in Dongjiang Town!" Shen Shikui also had a certain understanding of Haihan's political system, and he couldn't hide the surprise on his face when he heard this. His thoughts were similar to when Shen Zhixiang met Bai Kesi. Since Haihan attached great importance to this matter, he would not allow Dongjiang Town to raise too many questions about the relocation plan, especially the key point of separate resettlement of military and civilians. If Dongjiang Town If you don't agree, then all negotiations will probably have to be started from scratch. The Haihan people could afford to waste time, but Dongjiang Town couldn't afford it. Shen Shikui had the same idea as his nephew, hoping to promote this matter as soon as possible at any cost.
(End of chapter)