In the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong Town had a Great Wall that was thousands of miles long.
The Great Wall in the Liaohe Hetao area is in a V shape.
It is called the Liaohe Hetao Great Wall.
The black line is the Great Wall, the red star is Zhenjing Fort, and the blue circle is Liaoze
The reason for this shape is that the Liaohe Hetao area was full of swamps at that time.
This swamp is also called Liaoze. It is so muddy that people and horses cannot pass through.
Due to terrain factors, the Ming Dynasty could only build border walls along the east and west banks of the Liaohe River for defense.
Before that, the scope of Liaoze was even larger.
If you want to send troops to Liaodong from the interior, there are only two ways to go.
One is the sea route, crossing the sea from Dengzhou to southern Liaoning for landing and fighting.
The other is the land route south of Liaoze, but there is a city called Liaodong here which is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
During the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, the country launched three expeditions to Goguryeo (not Korea), exhausting the country's national strength but only able to capture the cities west of the Liao River, and failed to cross the Liao River.
Not only did they lose hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, but they also sent to Goguryeo a large amount of armor and weapons that they desperately needed.
It caused great trouble to those who came later.
After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty took up the banner of conquest.
In the 19th year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, divided his troops into two groups and marched eastward to attack Goguryeo.
One group landed in southern Liaoning from the sea, while the other group, led by the famous general Li Ji, arrived at Liaoze.
Li Ji built a pontoon bridge on the west bank of the Liaohe River with great fanfare, giving the illusion that he was going to cross the river and attack Liaodong City.
In fact, they sent troops north to Liaoze to fill roads and build bridges, and appeared in the hinterland of Liaodong.
In Goguryeo's eyes, Liaoze was a natural barrier, so there was no ambush at all.
The sudden appearance of the Tang army surprised them, and they closed the city gates and dared not fight.
The Tang army began to attack the city, thus marking the beginning of the conquest of Goguryeo.
Since the Goguryeo soldiers had obtained a large number of weapons and armor from the Sui army, the Tang army had a very difficult time fighting.
As a result, Emperor Taizong of Tang was unable to pacify Liaodong.
Fortunately, relying on its strong national strength, the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo during the reign of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi.
Over the next few hundred years, the area of Liaoze continued to shrink.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the area of Liaoze was only half or even one-third of that during the Sui and Tang dynasties.
However, the hinterland was still impassable, especially unable to accommodate the passage of heavy materials such as artillery.
Li Dingguo first found the location of Liaoze on the map, and then discovered the location of Zhenjing Fort along the Great Wall.
In the entire Guangning area, there are dozens of fortresses of various sizes and four passes.
(A pass can be understood as a natural gap.)
No matter where the main force of the Jiannu army went, these fortresses and passes should have been recaptured in a timely manner.
"Everyone," Wang Yongji stood up, "Since the main force of the Jiannu has retreated to Zhenjing Fort, how about we take advantage of the situation to send troops to recapture the border Great Wall and the nearby fortresses and passes?"
"It's all up to the Governor-General."
"I will have no problem."
"There is indeed no problem in retaking these places, but the question is who will guard them after they are retaken? We can't let these soldiers guard the city, right?" Amidst the voices of agreement, Wu Sangui stood up and raised the question in his mind.
In the Ming Dynasty, not only were the military salaries of combat soldiers and garrison soldiers different, their training subjects and combat effectiveness were also different.
In terms of overall combat power, the combat soldiers are definitely stronger, but when it comes to defending a city, the combat soldiers are not as good as the defending soldiers.
Wang Yongji smiled slightly: "Don't worry, there are plenty of people!"
"A few days ago, the imperial court sent an official document saying that the uprising in Yuyuan had been completely quelled. They have now ordered soldiers from Yuyuan to come to Liaodong to defend the city. In addition, General Li Dingguo's 10,000 infantrymen are also on their way to Liaodong."
"I'm fine." Wu Sangui sat back down.
The next step is to arrange everyone’s combat tasks and material supplies.
Wang Yongji led Wu Sangui, Li Xingzhong, Liu Zhaoji, Gao Di, Ma Shiyao, Liu Tichun and all the troops of the central army north to pursue the main force of the Jiannu.
Li Dingguo joined forces with Li Guo and Li Laiheng.
Capture the Zhenning Fort, Longwan City, Zhenwu Fort, Xixing Fort and other fortresses and cities in the southeast of Guangning.
After receiving their missions, the generals left one after another, and the number of people in the military tent became fewer and fewer.
In the end, only Wang Yongji, Wu Sangui and Li Dingguo were left.
Wang Yongji stood up and walked between the two of them, placing his left and right hands on the other's shoulders. "You two, can we discuss the credit for retaking Guangning?"
"No room for negotiation," Wu Sangui flatly refused. "This is my contribution. What is there to negotiate?"
Wang Yongji was helpless and turned to look at Li Dingguo.
"I'm really sorry," Li Dingguo also shook his head, "I can compromise on other things, but not on this one."
"My brothers are counting on their military achievements to get promoted. If we give away the credit that should have gone to them, who will help us in the next war? Winning the battle is even more of a luxury!"
"Is there really nothing to discuss?" Wang Yongji looked around and asked for the last time.
"No." Wu Sangui shook his head.
"No discussion." Li Dingguo also shook his head.
"How about this," Wang Yongji took his hands off their shoulders and said, "Someone wants to see you. Let's talk after they meet."
Without waiting for the two to agree, Wang Yongji clapped his hands.
Immediately afterwards, the curtain of the military tent was lifted, and a young man in military uniform walked in.
After seeing each other's appearance, Li Dingguo and Wu Sangui hurriedly saluted: "Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Ding."
"No need to be polite, no need to be polite!" Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong came up to the two of them with a smile and said leisurely, "You all said that the credit for retaking Guangning was yours. May I ask who was the first to plant the flag on the top of the city wall?"
Wu Sangui blinked and said nothing.
At that time, he was only concerned with competing for credit with Li Dingguo, and Wang Yongji personally arrived at the scene to mediate, so he forgot about this matter.
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