"Teacher Sun, let's stop here for today's class!" Before Sun Chengzong could speak, the young emperor announced the end of the get out of class and asked the palace servants to bring a sand table and invited Sun Chengzong to watch it with him.
Sun Chengzong was quite surprised when he saw the sand table for the first time. After a closer look, he found that it was a topography of Liaodong. Mountains, rivers, cities and so on were clearly visible, and he could also see the situation of both sides.
"I had this made by the Military Affairs Department," Zhu Youxiao said as he approached. "Due to time constraints, it's not completely detailed, but you can still get a general idea."
Sun Chengzong nodded in praise, saying, "Your Majesty is wise and intelligent. You are emulating the Eastern Han general Ma Yuan, who 'gathered rice to form valleys and mapped out the terrain', making the enemy visible to the eye!"
Zhu Youxiao smiled, then his face turned serious. He took the wooden whip beside the sand table, pointed and said, "Master Sun, please look, this is Guangning, this is Dalinghe, this is Jinzhou, this is Ningyuan, and this is Shanhaiguan..."
Putting Guangning aside, what Zhu Youxiao was referring to was the famous Guanningjin Defense Line in history, which is from Shanhaiguan through Ningyuan to Jinzhou.
Historically, the Guanningjin Defense Line was divided into two sections, the southern section was the Guanning Defense Line, which was about 100 kilometers long, from Shanhaiguan to Ningyuan; the northern section was the Ningjin Defense Line, which was also about 100 kilometers long, from Ningyuan through Lianshan, Tashan, Songshan, Jinzhou, to Dalinghhe.
A defensive line, as the name suggests, is a horizontal line that blocks the enemy's attack to protect the cities and people behind it, such as the Maginot Line and the Hindenburg Line.
But the Guanningjin Line of Defense is a vertical line, a string of fortresses extending from Shanhaiguan to Jinzhou, a total of more than 400 miles. Now, we have to add Guangning, where fierce fighting is taking place.
Well, the purpose of the Ming Dynasty in establishing this line of defense was not purely for defense, but to push forward using fortress tactics.
If Ningyuan is stable, we will push to Jinzhou; if Jinzhou is stable, we will push to Guangning; if Guangning is stable, we will go to Shenyang.
at his doorstep, and then wipe out the Eastern Tartars.
This idea has the possibility of being realized, but the Eastern Tartars are all dead, so they will not make you continue to practice.
Therefore, in history, the Guanningjin Defense Line played a very limited role except for swallowing up gold like water and dragging down the Ming Dynasty's economy.
It's a long snake formation. What should we do if we are cut off by the enemy? What should we do if the enemy surrounds us and attacks our reinforcements?
Historically, the Eastern Tartars occupied Jinzhou three times and retreated voluntarily three times, without wasting any military forces here.
On the contrary, the Ming Dynasty increased taxes and levies in order to maintain the Guanningjin Defense Line, and civil unrest broke out.
Or because of the Guanningjin Line, the Battle of Dalinghe killed all the elite Ming troops outside the pass; the Battle of Songjin killed all the elite troops in the nine border areas...
There is a serious imbalance between investment and returns, or even an inverted one. Only a fool would do such a losing business.
Since we have no ability to fight the Eastern Tartars in the field, we can only close the city and defend it when the enemy attacks, allowing the enemy to wreak havoc and plunder around the city. How can we talk about it as an offensive fortress?
As for recruiting Liao people to cultivate land and farm to supplement the food and fodder for the Ming army stationed in Guanningjin, it was even more taken for granted.
When the enemy comes, you retreat into the city. The people who farm there may be able to hide in the city, but won’t the crops they have worked so hard to grow be given to the enemy for nothing?
For example, in the Battle of Ningyuan, Ningyuan City was defended, but more than 7,000 soldiers and generals died on Juehua Island, and 7,000 to 8,000 merchants and civilians were killed, and countless food and supplies were looted.
In short, Zhu Youxiao had already planned to abandon Guangning and Jinzhou and retreat directly to Ningyuan.
Since the Eastern Tartars didn't care about the Ningjin area, it meant it wasn't that important. To put it bluntly, the so-called recovery of lost territory was nothing more than taking over the no-man's-land between the two armies.
From a historical perspective, Zhu Youxiao suspected that this was done intentionally by the Eastern Tartars, leaving such a large area in reserve, waiting for the Ming army to arrive.
You're building a city, right? Go ahead! You're stationing troops and storing supplies, right? Fine, fine!
When the Ming army was almost done, the Eastern Tartars also came out, either besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements, or looting, killing, and destroying the city, and then patting their butts and leaving.
Instead of sending lives and supplies, destroying and rebuilding, and then destroying again, only to occupy a worthless uninhabited area, and spending money to build a city and station troops, it is better to retreat directly to Ningyuan.
This plan is similar to Xiong Tingbi's "abandon Liaodong and withdraw all troops outside the Great Wall", except that Ningyuan is added as a barrier to Shanhaiguan, which is equivalent to double insurance.
Although it was a step forward from Xiong Tingbi's strategy, Zhu Youxiao knew that it would not be easy to implement.
Strategic contraction should be a good move, but on the other hand, it can also be said to be "losing territory and retreating without fighting."
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had to take into account public opinion, the morale of the army and the people, and the reactions of the court officials.
The theory of quick victory and urgent war was still very popular in the Ming Dynasty, and it could even be said to be the mainstream of public opinion.
This was even more true for the officials in the court. Some of them were motivated by patriotism, while others simply did not understand the actual situation in Liaodong. They kept clamoring to "destroy the bandits" every day. How could they accept the "treasonous" act of retreating without a fight?
Apart from others, Sun Chengzong, whom Zhu Youxiao wanted to entrust with an important task, was an active supporter of the offensive. At the same time, Sun Chengzong was also the advocate and practitioner of the fortress advancement and the founder of the Guanningjin Defense Line.
Because of this, Zhu Youxiao wanted to hint at it indirectly, hoping to make Sun Chengzong change his mind and become his real helper.
However, at this time, Guangning was still engaged in a battle and the outcome was unpredictable. Zhu Youxiao was not in a position to say too much, and Sun Chengzong could not have a God's perspective like a time traveler.
"Your Majesty, are you going to implement Xiong Tingbi's three-party deployment strategy?" Sun Chengzong asked with some confusion when he heard the young emperor mention paying less attention to western Liaoning and more attention to the coastal areas.
Xiong Tingbi's three-pronged deployment was as follows: Guangning would use cavalry and infantry to set up a fortification on the river, taking advantage of the terrain to strike the enemy and tie down all the enemy's forces;
Establish naval fleets in Tianjin, Deng, and Lai, and take advantage of the opportunity to attack the enemy's southern base and shake their morale. This will inevitably make the enemy worry about internal affairs, and the recovery of Liaoyang will be expected.
However, Zhu Youxiao's strategy of focusing on the coastal areas rather than western Liaoning was somewhat different from the three-party arrangement.
The most important point was that he had to abandon Guangning and the hundreds of miles of area between Guangning and Ningyuan, and station heavy troops in Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan, and adopt a completely defensive posture.
The purpose of defense is to buy time, save money, train elite troops, and promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages in domestic affairs in order to counterattack. This period will be relatively long, and Zhu Youxiao tentatively set it at five years.
The emphasis on the coastal areas was similar to that of Xiong Tingbi, for example, he established naval forces in Tianjin and Denglai, harassing and attacking the Later Jin in the vast coastal areas, making them exhausted.
There is one point that Zhu Youxiao did not mention, that is, to open a town in Dongjiang and provide Dongjiang Town with as much food, wages, weapons and armor as possible, so that it can more effectively restrain the Eastern Tartars and allow Captain Mao the Great Guerrilla to add to his achievements.
Some people may express concern about Zhu Youxiao's strategic contraction.
Even with the Ningjin Line, it couldn't stop the Eastern Tartars from bypassing the Great Wall and wreaking havoc in the capital. Wouldn't it be easier for the Eastern Tartars to attack from around if they retreated to Ningyuan or Shanhaiguan?
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