Chapter 1457 Return 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. Although during this process, Dongjiang Town must hand over the command power of the army and the administrative justice of the military garrison.

power, but 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.

That's all.

Because of this, Shen Zhixiang's uneasy mood in the past few days finally calmed down. He was originally worried about whether Haihan would be dissatisfied because of the unsatisfactory performance of the Pidao Army on the battlefield, but since Haihan

He is willing to continue to promote the relocation of Dongjiang Town soldiers and civilians to Liaodong in accordance with the pre-agreed agreement, and has also sent a senior official at the executive committee level to preside over the matter, which is enough to show how much Haihan attaches importance to this cooperation. Being able to have the opportunity to return to Liaodong mainland, Shen Zhixiang

I believe 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, then it will be enough to complete the population migration task within a month. Before that, he probably has to go back to Pidao and inform Shen Shikui of the results of the discussion in detail.

He will organize the preparation work locally, while Shen Zhixiang will be responsible for accepting resettlement in Liaodong.

Bai Kesi was very satisfied with Shen Zhixiang's 100% cooperative attitude. Since Shen Zhixiang did not raise any objections, the plan prepared by Haihan would be used as a blueprint for the next migration operation, which would save a lot of unnecessary trouble. I originally thought it would be

The negotiation process, which had some twists and turns, went surprisingly 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 dispatched a special ship

The fast sailing ship serves as a mission-specific means of transportation and is responsible for picking up and dropping off Shen Zhixiang.

Almost at the same time, Sha Xi, who was in 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 he was previously worried that Dongjiang Town would react to Haihan's plan

There was some resistance, so almost no preparation work was done on the ground. Even the demarcation was not implemented until the negotiation plan was finalized.

After Sha Xi got the news, he didn't delay at all and immediately sent someone there. He was so concerned about the immigration of people from Pi Island because he was mainly concerned about the labor force. Since the other party was willing to accept Haihan's resettlement plan, Sha Xi would

Of course, we have to go first-come-first-served, and try to recruit a group of people from the military families in Dongjiang Town to come to Lushun to serve as cheap labor to solve the urgent need of local labor shortage. Of course, as for things like setting up camps, we can only

When the people from Dongjiang Town come over and take matters into their own hands, Sha Xi won't have so many idle manpower to do the work for them.

During this period, on the battlefield in the north, there were still sporadic battles between the Houjin Army and the Haihan Army. Both sides were using such methods to test each other's reaction to see if there were any opportunities that could be exploited.

The Haihan Army does not mind pushing the control area further north if there is an opportunity. Taking down Jinzhou City is also a good choice. However, the headquarters is not very interested in capturing 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. Logistics channels are difficult to ensure stability, and Haihan really cannot allocate too many troops to garrison this city, which has little strategic significance for Haihan.

's city.

According to the opinion of the frontline command, the best situation is to seize the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the Hou Jin 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

Without the remaining strength to defend the territory, occupying this land in Liaodong is the limit of what Haihan can do at present. 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

There is no intention to allow the Ming army except 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 had been lost, and it was already lost to Hou Jin.

They are in a situation where they can no longer retreat. Even if they know that their military strength is not as good as Haihan's, they can only defend Jinzhou City. As for counterattacking the Jinzhou Isthmus to try to retake this natural defense line, Azig has thought about it, but he no longer has the courage to use it.

The garrison of Jinzhou City came to take a gamble.

Based on this situation, the Hou Jin Army was unable to retreat and attack, so 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 Jin army's tactics.

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 team of three

If the cavalry of fifty cavalry goes out to fight and encounters the Haihan Army during the operation, only about half of them will be able to return to Jinzhou City alive. After a few more cavalry, the Houjin Army will inevitably appear in the city.

Due to the fear of war, even the cavalry units assigned to fight would often intentionally march around Haihan's defense area after leaving the city, trying to avoid direct conflicts with Haihan troops stationed in the wild.

Fights involving hundreds of people from both sides occurred almost once or twice every 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 not

Hui immediately withdrew his troops and returned to camp, shrinking his troops inside the city, determined to fight a tug-of-war with Haihan to defend the city.

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 attack 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 forces' 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, and also told all about his improper command and incompetence of the troops. He was not worried that Shen Shikui would blame him for this, because Shen Shikui had no children.

, he has long been regarded as a descendant of the Shen family, and these properties in Dongjiang Town will be handed over to him sooner or later. Whether his performance in this battle is good or bad will not affect his status in Dongjiang Town.

status.

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 read in the army

There are indeed many military records. In addition, after taking charge of Dongjiang Town, he led the army and fought with the Jin army for many years, so he has rich combat experience. From Shen Zhixiang's account, he can already hear 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 was ignored.

It brought back 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 in the first place?"

Shen Zhixiang also had some guesses in his mind, so he responded tentatively: "I guess my uncle thinks that Haihan's attitude towards Dongjiang Town in the future is 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 the artillery they have been unwilling to let go of can be distributed to some more."

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 can appreciate it."

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 provide reinforcements and integrate the Pidao Army, instead of letting the Pidao Army exist alone in Liaodong." Shen Shikui expressed his thoughts calmly: "I have heard a word from Haihan before.

, is called the Xie Cong Army, and 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 did not make any 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, Shen Shikui heard that

After analyzing the internal situation, it seems that the situation is 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 choice. 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. Ever since he went to Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province and witnessed Haihan's military strength the previous year, he wanted to switch to Haihan's camp, but if General Haihan simply couldn't

It's very sad to look down on his ability. He has always been worried about it after the battle on the Jinzhou Isthmus, because he felt that his performance was not good enough and he disappointed Qian Tiandun and other generals Haihan, which later led to

The deployment order received allowed 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?"

Shen Zhixiang said: "My 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 a separate area."

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. He couldn't hide the surprise on his face after hearing this. His thoughts were the same as when Shen Zhixiang met Bai Kesi.

Similarly, since Haihan takes this matter so seriously, Dongjiang Town will definitely not allow Dongjiang Town to raise too many questions about the resettlement plan, especially the key point of separate resettlement of military and civilians. If Dongjiang Town does not agree, then all negotiations will probably be in vain.

We have to start from scratch. Haihan people can afford to waste time, but Dongjiang Town cannot afford it. Shen Shikui also has the same idea as his nephew, hoping to promote this matter as soon as possible at any cost.
Chapter completed!