Long live the Lord, you must not underestimate the enemy. In the past few years, the slave thieves have been preparing for war. They have recovered from the defeat of Lok Ma River. Moreover, there is a Japanese country who has become an accomplice of the slave thieves. From the war in Korea

Look, the Japanese spear soldiers and fire gun soldiers are very difficult to deal with, and their strength is not inferior to our phalanx soldiers!"

Veteran general Mao Wenlong fought with the Qing army here in the Liaodong Peninsula for many years, and during this period he was also responsible for supporting the Korean battlefield. Although he himself did not go to Korea to fight against Japanese soldiers, many of his generals once crossed the sea to aid Korea.

Therefore, Mao Wenlong not only knew the true and false nature of the slave thieves, but also knew the capabilities of the Japanese pirates. In his opinion, after the slave thieves and Japanese pirates joined forces, their combat effectiveness was no less than that of the armies in front of the tent created by Zhu Youjian.

Shi Kefa, who served as Minister of War for a period of time, also agreed with Mao Wenlong's view. He said to Zhu Youjian: "Your Majesty, our army's strength in Jin and Fuzhou is too thin after all. If the slave thieves send 30,000 to 40,000 troops, they will be able to quell the Liao army."

With your Majesty's personal soldiers, you can still win in a field battle. But if the slave bandits send 50,000 or 60,000 troops, the Pingliao army and your Majesty's personal soldiers will only have a total of 30,000, which is only half of the enemy's. I'm afraid it won't be enough to win!

"

"Hahaha," Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "Shi Kefa, you are looking down on me too much. If Taisong only brings 56,000 troops, then I can definitely capture her alive!

And where does Taisong have such courage? Without an army of 100,000, she would not dare to come and fight me to the death!"

"One hundred thousand?"

"Are there really that many?"

Shi Kefa and Mao Wenlong both took a deep breath. They originally estimated that Taisong would lead up to 50,000 to 60,000 troops to fight, but they never thought there would be as many as 100,000.

Zhu Youjian nodded and said: "Tai Song's brother Hutu Dunhan and her husband Huang Taiji were both defeated by me. Her sister Wu Liangha was not only captured alive by me, but also trained by me to become a general. Now she can take charge of her own role. So

Taisong must be very afraid of me, but he also mistakenly thought that I would launch a massive attack, so he had to strike preemptively.

Therefore, she will definitely mobilize as many troops as possible to embolden herself. Without a hundred thousand people, she would not dare to fight in any case."

Mao Wenlong said: "Yes, but we only have 30,000 people, how can we defeat an enemy of 100,000 people?"

Shi Kefa suggested: "Perhaps we can transport some troops and horses from Ningjin Sea. Now that the entire Beiyang Navy is here and there are 66 large sailing ships, transporting 10,000 troops at a time is not a problem."

"Forty thousand to one hundred thousand!" Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "This makes it even more secure that the envoy sent by Taisong is still there, right?"

"He's still here," Shi Kefa said. "He's a little guy. His name is Zhang Xiaoqi. He's not worth mentioning."

He was afraid that Zhu Youjian, like Nizi, would play the trick of beheading the envoy.

Zhu Youjian smiled: "Then I'll write a reply to Taisong! Ask Zhang Xiaoqi to take it back. In addition, I have some gifts for Taisong."

"Send a gift?" Shi Kefa was stunned, "Isn't this inappropriate, Your Majesty?"

"What's wrong?" Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "Although Taisong and I are enemies, we are also relatives. If we didn't have different positions, we might have a better relationship. What's wrong with giving some gifts?"

Shenyang Imperial City, Phoenix Tower.

Empress Dowager Taisong, who had issued a letter of challenge to Zhu Youjian, was still in the Phoenix Tower at this moment.

This is not because Tai Song chickened out and did not dare to fight Zhu Youjian. This is not a question of dare or not, but a question of survival in the face of death.

Although the Qing Dynasty was large enough, its population was not large enough. Even if you include the farm workers of the Five Koreas and the savage Jurchens scattered in the mountains and forests, there were four to five million people. Among them were the Eight Banners of Manchuria, the Eight Banners of Mongolia, and the Eight Banners of the Han Army.

, the nation of the Eight Banners of Korea has a population of more than one million.

It is simply a fool's errand to rely on this small population to fight against the Ming Dynasty, which has a population of 200 million and has been effectively managed by Zhu Youjian.

Moreover, during the sixteen years since Zhu Youjian was in the imperial court, he had been fighting basically non-stop, and he was invincible. His military capabilities were obvious to all.

If Zhu Youjian is allowed to complete his deployment and launch a three-pronged attack, the Empress Dowager Taisong and the young Emperor Funing may really end up beheading them in public.

The Queen Mother Taisong shuddered a little at the thought of being beheaded in public. But what good outcome could a Queen Mother who had subjugated her country have if she didn't die? Was she locked up as a slave by Zhu Youjian? It would be better to behead her!

Therefore, the Empress Dowager Taisong and the royal armies of Funing have all made up their minds to fight tooth and nail to the end!

Just when Empress Dowager Taisong's letter of war was sent to Port Arthur, the mobilization of Eight Banners Manchuria, Eight Banners Mongolia, Eight Banners Han Army and Eight Banners North Korea had already begun.

At the same time, Sony also took Empress Dowager Taisong's letter of request for help across the sea to Japan to ask for help from the Tokugawa Shogunate.

It's just that the scale of mobilization for this war is a bit large, and the final number of troops gathered is likely to be more than 100,000, so it will take a while to gather troops and transport food.

The journey from Shenyang to the front line of the Liaodong Peninsula is only 500 miles, and the Eight Banners cavalry can complete it in five or six days by walking.

Therefore, Queen Mother Taisong does not need to set off so early.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this is Zhu Youjian's letter to you. Inside this box is his gift to you!"

The one who is talking is Zhang Xiaoqi, who has returned to Shenyang. He has now taken a step further and has been transferred to the Zhenghuang Banner Mongolian Flag and Drum Coating, which is directly under the Queen Mother Taisong. This is because the Ming Dynasty had a bad precedent of killing envoys.

, so this time there is no one with enough weight who is willing to declare a challenge, so Zhang Xiaoqi is "cheap".

Zhang Xiaoqi, who came back alive, didn't know whether he was frightened or not, and his voice was still a little trembling when he spoke.

"Bring the letter!" Queen Mother Taisong ordered, and Hai Fugui, who was beside her, immediately stepped forward, took an envelope from Zhang Xiaoqi's hand, then took out the letter paper inside and handed it to Queen Mother Taisong with both hands.

Zhu Youjian's letter was also written in vernacular. The Empress Dowager Taisong was a Mongolian woman. She had never studied Chinese well. It would be good if she could understand vernacular. If she really used classical Chinese, Taisong would not understand it at all.

Taisong unfolded the letter and read it in front of Funing and several Amma. The words he read were still in Manchurian: "Sister Taisong, I am sure about your appointment. In fact, I didn't want to kill you so early."

and Funing, but since you can’t wait to be beaten, how can I refuse? But after all, you are Wu Liangha’s sister and my sister-in-law, and I don’t want you to die in the chaos of others.

Hand, so I give you a roll of rope and a lowered flag. When you are defeated and have no way out, you will tie yourself up, and then let someone raise and lower the flag. Come to me, I want to kill with my own hands."

"Asshole! Bastard!" Daishan jumped up before Wu Liangha could finish his belief. "The battle has not even started yet, and there is nothing better than this for a proud soldier from ancient times to think he will win!" He turned to look at Taisong.

, "Queen Mother, don't be afraid. As long as I am here, I will never let the person named Zhu arrest you!"

Tai Song gritted his silver teeth and his face was ashen, "Zhu Youjian is really arrogant. It seems he has won too many victories!" She glanced around the room with burning eyes and said coldly, "He has already lost his head. This time

This is our chance to defeat him! Let’s send troops immediately!”

Dorgon, who had just arrived, seemed to be calmer than Tai Song, "Queen Mother, let's wait for Sony to come back from Japan. Although Zhu Youjian is arrogant, his fighting ability is real! We cannot take it lightly, we must join forces with the Japanese soldiers.

, only then can you have a better chance of winning.”

Taisong was so angry that he was shaking a little, "When will the Japanese soldiers arrive?"

Dorgon said: "Soon Japan will have 20,000 elite soldiers in Korea, and their generals are now stationed in Kyushu. They will soon mobilize their troops to join us. We will send 100,000 soldiers ourselves, plus two more

Ten thousand Japanese soldiers, a total of 120,000 troops, may not be enough to attack the city, but there is no need to fear Zhu Youjian in field battles."

Empress Dowager Taisong gritted her teeth and said: "Okay, we will send out troops in ten days. We will first go to Gaizhou City to garrison and wait for the Japanese soldiers to arrive before the decisive battle!"
Chapter completed!