Chapter 2822
Now that the psychological barrier has been broken, it seems that there is nothing to be afraid of when discussing in-depth cooperation and cooperating with Haihan.
Cutting down the vassal vassal is just a means for the Ming court to attack Prince De's Palace. But since Haihan will not buy it and will continue to support Prince De's Palace, the possibility of this method being effective will be greatly reduced, and the impact on Haihan will also be reduced. It will be very limited. Therefore, what Haihan is most concerned about now is not the reduction of vassal status, but another matter.
Chen Yixin said: "According to the news we have received, many places in Shandong are preparing for war, and there are signs of preparations for war. Did the prince find anything in Jinan?"
Zhu Youli said: "I haven't seen anything unusual in Jinan City, but I have indeed heard recently that there are arrangements for the transfer of soldiers, horses, food and grass to other places. I wonder if it is related to what Mr. Chen said."
Chen Yixin said: "The prince's caravan is out and about, so it will probably receive some news, right?"
Zhu Youli said: "The news brought back by the caravan is often hearsay, and I cannot verify it, so I dare not tell nonsense to you two adults."
Bai Kesi said: "It doesn't matter, just tell me and listen. As for the truth and falsehood, we will naturally distinguish."
The scope of activities of the vassal king was generally limited to his own fief. King De was granted the title of Jinan. If he wanted to leave Jinan, he had to apply to the court first, otherwise he would be suspected of causing rebellion. And his information channels outside Prince De's Palace benefited from the caravan that was established with the support of Haihan in recent years.
These caravans operate outside in the name of Prince De's Palace and enjoy more privileges than ordinary caravans. Therefore, the Haihan Intelligence Department also used this special channel to collect information in Shandong in the past.
However, King De was worried that his caravan would eventually become Haihan's reconnaissance team, and he had always been resistant to cooperation in this area. Therefore, the two parties later agreed that Haihan would only ask King De when there was a major military situation in Shandong. Use caravans as cover to conduct military intelligence operations.
Since Chen Yixin was obsessed with this topic, Zhu Youli did not dare to hide it, so he gave a rough description of what he knew to the two of them.
As far as he knew, the Shandong Capital Command had made a series of adjustments to the armed forces within its jurisdiction starting a few months ago. However, the scale of these transfers was small and did not attract outside attention. It happened that the caravan of Prince De's Palace happened to be involved in such transactions, so they came into contact with relevant information.
The current trading activities of Prince De's Palace are mainly daily necessities, including grain, cloth, salt and other materials. Due to the stable supply and sufficient supply, even the Ming army troops in some areas have become regular customers of Prince De's Palace.
Even though the cooperation between Prince De's Palace and Haihan gradually came to light, these Ming army troops still had no taboos and continued to maintain trade relations with the caravan of Prince De's Palace. After all, the bulk purchase rebates given by the German Prince's Mansion Caravan have always been generous, and it is difficult to find a second merchant in Shandong who has such a stable supply capacity but has nothing to do with Haihan.
But starting from a certain time, these troops began to modify the orders, requiring the German palace caravan to send the undelivered goods to a new station somewhere. As for the reason, of course it is because these troops have been mobilized.
From the change in the delivery location of the goods, it is not difficult to infer that the locations of these troops are being mobilized from east to west. Most of the guard troops originally stationed in Shouguang, Changle, Anqiu, Zhucheng, Rizhao and other places in Qingzhou have been transferred to the east, west and north of Shandong in batches.
The troops from Lijin, Zouping, Laiwu, Xintai and other places in Jinan Prefecture also moved to the direction of Leling in northern Shandong. The two battalions of troops stationed outside Jinan City were moved to Dezhou. Chen Yixin and Bai Kesi looked at each other. The information provided by Zhu Youli confirmed the intelligence previously obtained through other channels. The Ming court seemed to be redeploying the armed forces in Shandong and gathering them to the border area between Shandong and the interior. .
Chen Yixin continued to ask: "Then, has the prince heard that there is a large-scale construction of city defense fortifications in these new stations?"
Zhu Youli responded: "If these mobilizations are long-term, facilities such as barracks will definitely be built in areas where troops are concentrated. As for city defense fortifications, if they are constructed by local governments in the name of maintenance, it is difficult to determine what their nature is. To be honest, I don’t quite understand why the Commander-in-Chief made such a transfer arrangement, but I don’t have any reliable acquaintances in the yamen over there, so I don’t dare to take the initiative to inquire about the truth.”
Chen Yixin has already gotten a taste of this information: "If the news is true, I think Mingting is planning to gradually abandon Shandong and shrink its defense line."
Bai Kesi asked: "Does the mobilization of the army mean to build a new line of defense on the Shandong border?"
Chen Yixin said: "It's more than that. I think the main purpose of the mobilization is to prevent these armed forces from being wasted in vain or falling into our hands during the regional handover."
Bai Kesi suddenly said: "They are responding in advance, so as not to be unable to command the local garrison when the incident comes."
According to the armistice agreement signed between Haihan and Ming Dynasty, Ming Dynasty will gradually transfer local governance power to Haihan. However, the handover of armed forces is relatively vague, and it only states that Ming Dynasty shall not use force to resist the handover process.
Armed force is the Ming Dynasty's last chance to achieve a comeback. Of course, the Ming court will not be happy to hand over the command of the Ming army directly to Haihan, so it evacuates the defense area during the handover and does not directly engage Haihan in order to retain its effective strength. , is probably the wisest approach.
However, during the previous handover of Denglai and Denglai states, there were some situations that the Ming court did not want to see. Some of the garrison troops were unwilling to evacuate the area, and the officers leading the troops were ready to join Haihan as an official in exchange for a good future.
In desperation, the Ming court had no choice but to let the Ministry of War and the Capital Command Commander speak out and unilaterally announce the disbandment of these troops who refused to obey orders. Although face seems to have been saved, Haihan will still feel hurt after having obtained these armed forces without firing a shot.
As for the idea of disbanding the troops, it has no practical significance for Haihan. Even if the Ming court does not make such a statement, Haihan will also screen these surrendered troops first, break them up and then conduct training. , there is a high probability that those who can eventually stay in the army will be sent to serve in other areas. It is simply impossible to retain the original structure of the Ming Army under the system of the Haihan Army.
Therefore, the safest approach in this situation is to transfer the troops in advance and deploy them to other places. This will at least make it difficult for the local garrison to actively defect to Haihan.
(End of chapter)