Ningyuan.

After months of intense construction, the city's reconstruction was complete. Over twenty red-haired cannons were deployed, their muzzles pointed outward.

But this is not the end. The trench and breastwork fortifications outside the city are almost completed, and all the rainproof facilities have been built. The periphery is densely covered with trenches, stakes, and deer forts.

Xiong Tingbi held up the imperially gifted telescope and peered around from the tower. After a long while, he lowered the telescope and sighed, "If Guangning City were arranged like this, the Eastern Tartars would be shed like a river of blood."

The weather was hot, but He Kegang was wearing his armor neatly and showed no sign of slacking off.

Hearing the governor's sigh, he bowed and replied, "Your Excellency is absolutely right. If the Eastern Tartars attack again, they will surely suffer heavy casualties and return in defeat."

Zu Dashou wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "The Eastern Tartars have already suffered a defeat in Guangning. I'm afraid they won't dare to attack the fortified city again."

Xiong Tingbi shook his head slightly and said, "According to my prediction, the Eastern Tartars will definitely invade again by winter at the latest."

After a pause, Xiong Tingbi glanced at the generals and staff around him and said in a deep voice, "The Eastern Tartars gained very little in the battle of Guangning, and I'm afraid they can't sustain it. Are they not coming to attack and plunder, but waiting to starve?"

Historically, after the fall of Guangning, the Later Jin Dynasty remained quiet for several years.

This was due to the fact that the Ming court replaced the Liaodong governor and strengthened its military, that they had looted enough in the battle of Guangning and that they would not be short of food and clothing for the time being, and that they needed to straighten out internal relations.

But now, according to Zhu Youxiao, the Later Jin Dynasty, which had suffered a defeat in Guangning, would fall into an economic crisis if it did not seize the opportunity.

It’s just like the nomadic people in the north, when they encounter natural disasters, they usually go south to plunder in order to survive.

"Sir," He Kegang asked, bowing, "If it's looting, the Eastern Tartars' target should be Juehua Island, right?"

Zu Dashou blinked and shook his head, saying, "The Eastern Tartars have no ships, how can they attack the islands?"

Xiong Tingbi also had such an idea, but the defense facilities of Juehua Island were very complete and solid, and the emperor also reminded him of the possibility of sea water freezing in a secret letter, so he did not dare to take it lightly.

"I'm going to deploy another 2,000 musketeers to reinforce the defense of Juehua Island." Xiong Tingbi glanced at He Kegang and said, "General He, are you willing to guard Juehua?"

"I am willing to go." He Kegang bowed and accepted the order without hesitation.

Xiong Tingbi nodded, stroked his beard, and smiled. "General He will continue to train troops on Juehua Island, and so will General Zu. After four months, it shouldn't be a problem to train another 6,000 musketeers, right?"

He Kegang and Zu Dashou looked at each other and bowed to accept the order.

The two returned to Ningyuan with 500 new soldiers. By now, the army had expanded to 2,000 with the new soldiers as the backbone. As the court gradually increased the number of muskets it supplied, training was no longer a big problem.

Xiong Tingbi was very satisfied. With five thousand musketeers guarding Ningyuan and three thousand guarding Juehua, supplemented by various artillery pieces, it should be foolproof.

After seeing the city defense arrangements of Ningyuan, the martial arts "Infantry Drill Manual", and the drills of the new army, Xiong Tingbi was shocked.

These days, he has also conducted research and analysis with the generals to formulate the most suitable tactical play.

Some of the original strategic ideas also underwent significant changes in Xiong Tingbi's mind.

For example, Jinzhou, where only a small number of troops were stationed, was originally only used for warning and alerting the enemy, but now he wanted to send out 3,000 to 5,000 troops to attract the Eastern Tartars to attack.

According to Xiong Tingbi's idea, the trench breastwork was combined with the spiked trench, and the position was defended by musketeers, supplemented by artillery on the city wall. The Eastern Tartars would never be able to capture the city without paying more than one or two times the price.

That’s right, Xiong Tingbi was not planning to send reinforcements. He wanted the defenders to defend the city to the death and use the city and fortifications to consume the Eastern Tartar’s manpower.

In other words, the 3,000 to 5,000 troops stationed in Jinzhou were either abandoned or willing to die. They were either isolated and desperate, or they were death squads determined to fight to the bitter end, their mission being to wipe out at least an equal number of Eastern Tartar troops.

Given the population size of the Eastern Tartars, if they fought two or three such battles, tens of thousands of people would die, and their mobile forces would be almost completely lost.

Dalinghhe, Jinzhou, and Ningyuan, with the consumption of these three sieges, plus the three-way deployment of Liaodong and Liaonan, the Eastern Tartars could only retreat and lost the power to take the initiative to fight.

Of course, this idea is idealistic and cruel.

Allowing friendly forces to be surrounded and attacked, knowing that the final result may be annihilation of the entire army, but only hoping to fight man to man, exchange life for life, to achieve the goal of depleting the enemy, this is really hard to say.

However, Xiong Tingbi had already secretly reported his idea to the emperor. As long as the emperor agreed, he was willing to bear the blame.

Moreover, this tactic also requires the cooperation of the Eastern Tartars. If the Eastern Tartars adopt a long-term siege, it will test the city's storage of food and supplies, as well as the strong will of the defenders.

However, Xiong Tingbi still believed that the price paid by the Eastern Tartars for besieging an isolated city would be far higher than that of the defenders, and the burden of material consumption and transportation would be greater, so it could not be implemented in the long run.

Therefore, Xiong Tingbi insisted on his idea and believed that this was the best way to weaken the Eastern Tartar.

At this point, no one knew what Xiong Tingbi was thinking. Ningyuan's strong defenses gave everyone ample confidence, and they were just waiting to see the Eastern Tartars come and wreck them.

Accompanied by everyone, Xiong Tingbi went down the city wall and went outside the city to inspect the defensive fortifications.

Behind the breastwork trench, there are many wooden racks. A closer look reveals that these are relatively simple and miniaturized counterweight catapults.

Don’t underestimate its size; it requires few operators and can throw rocks weighing about ten kilograms one hundred and fifty to sixty meters!

Of course, this type of catapult now has a more impressive name: a grenade carrier. It has wooden wheels underneath, allowing it to be pushed and moved. When in use, it is secured to the ground with sharp stakes.

Since it is called a grenade carrier, it certainly does not throw stones, but mines loaded with new granular gunpowder, or called "sky mines".

Ming Dynasty bombs were often made of coarse sand pottery and were about the size of a soccer ball. However, their surface was not round but had many pointed protrusions, like an enlarged caltrop.

After the bomb was replaced with granular gunpowder, its power was greatly increased. Not only could it be used to defend the city, but it could also be thrown from a grenade cart and used as a shrapnel bomb to bomb the enemy.

You know, the long-barreled artillery at that time could not fire shrapnel shells.

To be precise, it is not impossible, but it is too dangerous to fire a fuse-equipped shell without a reliable fuse.

The short-barreled mortar could fire shrapnel shells, but based on the manufacturing level at the time, casting hollow shells was not easy and the cost was too high.

Therefore, after listening to the introductions of experts such as Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua, Zhu Youxiao decided to promote the use of this seemingly primitive weapon in the army.