Chapter 157 Complexity

Since Zhu Di moved the capital to the north and set the capital Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, the political and cultural center of the Ming Dynasty as a whole began to move north, and a large number of people also moved north. In this way, on the one hand, the population in the north grew rapidly, and at the same time, a large number of land in the north was developed. Another advantage is to make the defense of the north. It was more convenient for the ancients to go south.

However, the problem is that the north needs a large number of people from the south to transfer all kinds of grain to the north every year to meet the problem of insufficient grain production in the north. Therefore, since the relocation of Zhu Di, the Ming Dynasty has attached great importance to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, specially set up officials to transport officials, and after a period of time, the canal will be sparse. Dredging, always maintain the capacity of the canal.

Although maritime transportation can also replace Caoyun, for a long time, Daming has returned to the policy of sealing the sea since Zheng He. Maritime transportation has never been as prosperous as in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. What's more, Caoyun has also involved the livelihood of almost millions of people, and the interests of many officials and merchants who rely on Maoyun to make a fortune. Therefore, Daming has always attached great importance to transportation. Once there is something wrong with transportation, Beiyi will soon fall into a situation of food shortage.

After the end of the Ming Dynasty, this situation became particularly prominent. With the arrival of the small ice age, the grain production in the north at the end of the Ming Dynasty decreased year by year. The grain production in the north could not meet the needs of the north at all. It was more necessary to rely on the south to transport grain to the north to meet the needs of the north, especially in the construction of slaves in Liaodong. After that, this situation became more serious. Daming's defense focus has basically been in the area of Liaodong for more than ten years. The continuous defense and construction of slaves in Liaodong not only consumes a large amount of Daming's fiscal revenue every year, but also needs more food to be transferred from the south to the north to meet the food needs of heavy soldiers in the north. Please.

Therefore, once there is a problem with the canal, the blow to the Ming Dynasty may be devastating. The whole north will not only be trapped in the grain shortage, but also outside the north. Therefore, after the Xingtian Army began to attack Nanzhili and Shandong, the whole court was worried about it. Many times, orders have been issued that the government in various places along the canal should strengthen its defense and not let any section of the canal be occupied by the Xingtian army. He really knows the importance of the canal to his capital at present.

This is also the reason why Li Xin once again proposed to attack Jining Prefecture, which is exactly an important capital city on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Once Jining Prefecture is captured by the Xingtian Army, it is equivalent to the Xingtian Army completely cutting off the lifeline of the whole north.

Once the canal is cut off by the Xing Tianjun, it is not that the court can't use sea boats to transport grain from the sea to the north, but it will take a long time to remobilize it. Ordinary canal boats can't go north by sea.

At the beginning of February, before the imperial court had raised enough food, it received news from Jining Prefecture. After the contraction of more than 10,000 years ago, the Xing Tianjun suddenly launched a fierce attack in the direction of Jining Prefecture, and in two days, the soldiers pointed straight to Jining Prefecture.

As soon as the news reached the capital, Chongzhen couldn't sit still, so he immediately issued an order to order Ma Ke, the general soldier of Shanhaiguan, Wu Sangui, the general of Liaodong, and the hundreds of officers to go south immediately. At the same time, he ordered them to obey the dispatch of Governor Sun Chuanting and immediately rescue Jining Prefecture.

And Chongzhen personally issued a decree to Sun Chuanting. No matter what he thought, he would save Jiningzhou. He could not throw away Jiningzhou, so that the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was stopped by Xing Tianjun. At the same time, he gave Sun Chuanting a sword and asked him to hold this Shangfang sword. If someone does not obey the order, no matter how high his official position is, he can hold this sword first and then play.

As soon as such an imperial edict comes to Sun Chuanting, Sun Chuanting can know that the emperor of the capital is already in a burning hurry. He also knows that if he can't save Runing Mansion this time, what will happen to him? Maybe the emperor will not kill those military generals, but he will definitely kill him. A governor!

Although Sun Chuanting is the governor of Baoding, at the same time, Chongzhen also ordered him to supervise the military affairs of Jingfu and Shandong, so Jining Prefecture is naturally within his jurisdiction, and he can't even find a reason to shirk.

Therefore, Sun Chuanting, who was sitting in Shunde Prefecture, did not dare to neglect after receiving the imperial edict. He immediately ordered the soldiers and horses from Dengzhou, Shandong Province, and immediately went south to Jiningzhou to receive aid. At the same time, he ordered Liu Zeqing to immediately rush to Jiningzhou to personally sit in Jiningzhou City to prevent the attack of the Xingtian Army. In the imperial order given to Liu Zeqing, Sun Chuan Ting said his words very harshly and told Liu Zeqing that once Jiningzhou was defeated by Xing Tianjun, he could not escape the blame, and he would definitely invite Shang Fang's sword to kill him! Even if there is no one left under his command, he will stay in Jining Prefecture to block the Xing Tianjun.

In this way, there is no way out for Liu Ze's liquidation. He knows more or less about Sun Chuanting's temper. This man has a violent personality. When he was in Shaanxi, those Shaanxi soldiers were afraid of him. This person is a little skillful, and he is also a cruel person. Now he is ordered to defend Jiningzhou. Speaking of this, In fact, he has been warned that if he dares to escape again, he will never be able to live.

Therefore, Liu Zeqing was usually afraid of fighting like a tiger, but after being forced to this, he was forced to the end of the road. He had to take the order quickly and led thousands of people from Jinan Prefecture to the south to Jining Prefecture.

But Sun Chuanting is not a stupid person. He always feels that it is a little abnormal for Xing Tianjun to send troops to Jiningzhou this time. If Xing Tianjun really wants to capture Jiningzhou, then with the strength of Xing Tianjun, it is easy to gather 30,000 to 50,000 troops. In that case, it can be able to take down Jiningzhou very quickly, and even Don't give the court a chance to react.

And this time, the Xingtian army sent troops to Jiningzhou, which made a lot of momentum. It was well known that they quarreled many days in advance. However, the real army was sent to Jiningzhou, but it was several days late, so that the Shandong side learned the news in advance, and it was an emergency to the capital, and it was urgent to his Sun Chuanting, which made The Chaozhong earthquake ordered him to go to Jining Prefecture immediately.

At the same time, Sun Chuanting, on the side of Shunde Mansion, also kept sending details to the lost Zhangde Mansion, Daming Mansion, Weihui Mansion and other Xingtianjun's control areas on the north bank of the Yellow River to inquire about the news. However, these players came back that they found that there were a large number of signs of Xing Tianjun's mobilization, but they were not being transferred, but being transferred from the south bank of the Yellow River. Entering the north of the Yellow River, various materials are constantly transferred to the north of the Yellow River.

In this way, Sun Chuanting was a little suspicious of the real purpose of Xing Tianjun's attack on Jining Prefecture this time!

Sun Chuanting did not immediately rush to Jiningzhou to sit in town as soon as he received the imperial edict. Instead, he first waited for the Guanning army to go south in Shunde Mansion. After meeting them, he talked about the direction of the army. Judging from the information collected, there are several possibilities for the Xingtian Army to attack Jining Prefecture. First, the Xing Tianjun really wanted to attack Jining Prefecture. Cut off the Beijing-Hangzhou canal, cut off the Beijing division and the north's support for receiving food supplies and silver salaries from the south, and doing so will be of great benefit to the Xing Tianjun. It can give the capital to the bottom of the capital, forcing the north to completely fall into the dilemma of food shortage and silver salary shortage.

The second is that the real purpose of Xing Tianjun this time is not to take Jiningzhou and cut off the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, but to seek to go directly north, cooperate with the offensive of the Xingtian Army on the side of Shanxi, directly attack the capital, and induce him and the Guanning Army to go to Shandong, so that the troops in the south are empty and create conditions. Let them go straight to the capital city.

The third is that the first two purposes of Xing Tianjun may not be, but to control the initiative, secretly mobilize the main force, seek a decisive battle with him and the Guanning army going south this time, and defeat them in one fell swoop.

In these three situations, the first two possibilities are not small, and the third possibility is slightly lower, but we can't help but guard against it. At present, the strength of the officers and soldiers in the south is not enough. If he takes the risk of mobilizing his troops to Jiningzhou, if he accidentally is accidentally hit by the Xing Tianjun's plan to transfer the tiger away from the mountain, then Beijing Fu may be There is no force to stop the Xingtian army from going north.

Now Sun Chuanding has understood the power of Xing Tianjun. Xing Tianjun is not only fierce and extremely good at fighting, but also cunning. During this period, he can be said to have suffered a lot of losses from Xing Tianjun. Since he became the governor of Baoding, he has not been able to recover half of the lost land, but also lost Zhangde Mansion and Daming Mansion. Therefore, Sun Chuanting has long been contemptuous of Xing Tianjun and has become cautious. He often does not dare to judge Xing Tianjun's idea only from the surface. Especially this time, he has also learned that the thief chief Xiao Tianjian has suspended the use of soldiers against Nan Zhili and led a group of elites to return to Henan. Now he is dealing with it. It is no longer the part of the Xingtian Army in Henan, but to face this Xiao Xingtian, so he is even more careless.

So he sent a detailed account to sneak into the jurisdiction of the Xingtian Army to explore all kinds of information and investigate the deployment of the Xing Tianjun's troops in the north of the Yellow River. At the same time, he wrote his idea as a tate and sent people to the capital. Chen explained to Chongzhen why he did not go to Jining for the time being, and also said many of his worries. So he told Chongzhen that he should be careful.

After Chongzhen got Sun Chuanting's report, he also suddenly felt a little numb. He was the emperor, not a general who personally led the army, so he couldn't tell about this kind of thing. Is Sun Chuanting's words right? After all, Sun Chuanting's worry is reasonable. If the officers and soldiers going south this time are all taken by Sun Chuanting. If you go to Jiningzhou, once the thief chief Xiao Xingtian uses a trick to transfer the tiger away from the mountain, then the gate of Jingji will be opened. With the sharpness of Xing Tianjun, once he takes advantage of this opportunity, he will let a man and horse drag Sun Chuanting and a large number of officers and soldiers in Shandong, while mobilizing the main force to attack the capital from Shanxi and Funan at the same time. By the way, he really can't take any troops to stop them, so that the capital will be in danger.

After thinking about it, he did not dare to make a decision to let Sun Chuanting go to Jining, nor did he dare to conclude that it was the conspiracy of Xing Tianjun. He immediately fell into a dilemma, so he quickly declared Chen Xinjia into the palace and asked Chen Xinjia to discuss what to do.