Flowers on the other side [Comprehensive Red House]

Wang An followed Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun to the tower north of Shenyang in a hurry, and saw that the commander-in-chief He Shixian and You Shigong were already watching the battle on the tower.Amidst the rumble of cannons, the two of them looked solemn, unexpectedly they didn't notice the arrival of Xiong Tingbi and his group.

It was their guards who shouted "Master Jinglue is here, Lord Supervisor is here." Only then did they wake up the general soldiers who were concentrating on watching the enemy.

Xiong Tingbi waved his hands to the generals and generals, signaling that they don't need to salute, and shouted at the top of their voices.

"Are there any soldiers defending the city injured?"

He Shixian replied: "No. The first cannon fired by Jiannu, the soldiers left the battlements according to the usual training of Master Jinglue."

After more than a year of training by Xiong Tingbi, the soldiers in Liaodong can "follow the law and be cautious, follow orders and stop orders."

Xiong Tingbi nodded in satisfaction.Before attacking the city, Jiannu bombarded the city wall with artillery in an attempt to destroy the morale of the soldiers defending the city, and took advantage of Fushun, Tieling, and Kaiyuan.

There was also an exercise in Shenyang this summer.After that, he ordered his soldiers to thicken the city walls of Shenyang, Fengji, and Liaoyang by two layers each. That is, the military salaries sent by Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou were used to strengthen the city walls.

They are all solid blue stones, glued with glutinous rice juice and lime.He wants to see how strong Jiannu's firepower is and how many explosives/powders can blast away and blow up the city wall of Shenyang.

Especially now that the city wall was covered with a thick layer of ice armor, thinking of the ice armor, he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.That is to say, Xinjun has a child's heart, so he came up with this idea.Ordinary city walls are piled up with mud, watering them in winter to build ice armor, and when the ice melts in spring, wouldn't the city walls be softened and collapsed? !

Only his city wall built with bluestone is suitable for watering and building ice without fear of soaking it.

According to the rules, Wang An stood on Xiong Tingbi's left side.He deliberately stepped back half a step to show his respect for Xiong Tingbi.He remembered what the Son of Heaven said, "Eunuchs are my servants, and those ministers are the pillars of the court. Who dares to blackmail foreign ministers like you did before? If I don't know, let it be, otherwise I will definitely make those who violate the rules regret being reborn as human beings in this life."

Fortunately, Xiong Tingbi can yell and scold others, but he has never shown his face to him who is silent.

The Jiannu artillery could hit the city wall, but not the watchtower.But the whistling northwest wind blew towards his face, like a small knife cutting his face.As Wang An's head turned, a little gap would be exposed in his neck collar, and the cold wind would immediately get in, which instantly made goosebumps all over his body.Wang An wrapped himself tightly in the gray sable fur cloak with the ordinary fine blue-purple cloth surface specially given to him by the emperor before he left Beijing. Then he looked at the attire of the generals around him, and found that he was wearing this cloak, which really did not attract attention.

Jiannu's artillery bombarded for about half an hour before stopping.Before Xiong Tingbi could speak, the commander-in-chief He Shixian ordered General Pi to check the damage to the city wall.

The soldiers who escaped the shelling just now returned to their positions quickly, ready to meet the siege of the Jiannu infantry.

Everyone's hearts followed that guide and suspended their steps going downstairs.

Every minute and every second of waiting is worrying.He Shixian regretted a little bit, he shouldn't have allowed the Jiannu artillery to bombard him wantonly, he should have fought hard to be reprimanded by Jinglue in the previous combat meeting, and he should have fought hard to use artillery against artillery according to reason.

After a long wait, the sound of brisk footsteps finally came from the stairs.Without waiting for the general to speak, just look at the uncontrollable smile on his face, which is already telling the results of the inspection to the people present.

"Report to Mr. Jinglue, part of the ice on the city wall was smashed, exposing the bluestone, and the entire city wall is intact."

"Hahaha. Alright, that's great! Hurry up and get the auxiliary soldiers to carry the water up to the city tower, and repair the shattered ice armor first."

Xiong Tingbi laughed loudly, and in the midst of the laughter, he did not forget to order the ice armor that was missing from the city wall.For the rest of the city defense work, he doesn't need to follow here to watch.

"He Zongbing, you and You Zongbing take turns commanding and defending the city. Jiannu's ladders are not stable on the ice. As long as they dare to shoot the infantry to attack the city, we will send them back to their hometown with our artillery."

"Yes. The last general respects the order of Mr. Jinglue."

Xiong Tingbi turned and went down the tower, and Wang An followed him and Zhou Yongchun back to Jinglue Mansion.

Several people sat around the stove, holding thick boiled ginger soup in their hands, which was sent by Wang An under the banner of military supply.Xiong Tingbi gulped down the ginger soup, and finally touched the fine beads of sweat oozing from his forehead with a handkerchief, sighing contentedly.

"Wang Neixiang, the Son of Heaven thinks so carefully about everything, if I don't guard Shenyang and Liaoyang, I will be sorry for the trust of the Son of Heaven."

Wang An said with a smile: "The emperor trusts the two masters of economic strategy, and they have let go of their words at the court meeting. From now on, people who are not in the military department are not allowed to talk about how the military department should employ people and how the generals should use troops. It is said that the Ministry of Rites Take good care of the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Households to manage the budget of the whole country, the Ministry of Officials should carefully assess the ability of officials, and put them where they can do a good job. As for the Metropolitan Procuratorate, they must make sure before next year's spring plowing. Check the hidden fields in each province again."

The corners of Xiong Tingbi's eyes and brows were filled with unconcealable joy.

"The Son of Heaven is right. The officials of all ministries do their jobs well. Don't feel like you are a genius from heaven, and pretend to understand Liaodong affairs without knowing what to do. Wang Neixiang, let me tell you the truth. , the old man is not afraid of hard work, but he is afraid that he will put in all his efforts in the front, but there will be countless villains behind. If the old man has been serving as the inspector and censor in Liaodong, how can he grow up as a slave."

Wang An nodded repeatedly.

"Your Majesty Xiong has a good eye, what you said is too true. Our family has compiled all the papers related to Liaodong over the years in accordance with the order of the emperor. We also saw the papers written by Governor Zhou more than ten years ago."

Zhou Yongchun sighed and said: "It was Wanli 35 who was transferred to Ke Dao to do ritual affairs. He wrote more than ten times to remind the emperor of the crisis in Liaodong. At that time, Nu/Erhachi basically unified the Jurchen tribes in the north. It’s time to guard against him as soon as possible.”

His face was full of sadness, regret, and a lonely look. His eyes were on Wang An, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

"Brother Feibai, Wang Neixiang, it took only 11 years for my first book to be written, and Jiannu established the title of 'Dajin'. Unfortunately, since Jian Da became the governor of Jiliao, including Wang Xiangqian and Xue Sancai They didn’t take Jiannu seriously. Only when they knew about Wang Keshou did they realize they were afraid. Alas, it’s too late, it’s too late. It’s useless to take care of so many great men from Daming.”

Xiong Tingbi slapped the table, "What Meng Tai said is true. Those people will give some snacks. The Nu/Erhachi family will not appear in Liaodong to do big things, and Daming will not kill so many good sons in vain.

They cook vegetarian meals on the corpses of high-ranking officials in the imperial court, and after they die, they still have the posthumous title of "Gongmin" from the imperial court.

And Yang Hao, who was defeated in Ulsan in the 26th year of Wanli, concealed the news of the defeat and did not report it, and was dismissed for lying about his military achievements.This person is not only incompetent, but also a person with no morals. The imperial court dared to use him, and even entrusted Liaodong, one of the important towns on the nine borders, to such a person for management.snort.I don't think Saarhu was wronged at all. "

Zhou Yongchun was sent to Liaodong as the governor the year before last to take charge of military affairs.He also assisted Yang Hao in providing logistical support for the Battle of Sarhu. He had his own opinions on why Yang Hao lost so badly.He never accepted Xiong Tingbi's similar words of attacking others, nor did he discuss the reasons for Saarhu's defeat in depth with Xiong Tingbi.

Because there's no point in saying those things to Xiong Tingbi.In case Xiong Tingbi is upset, it will not be beneficial to the major events in Liaodong.Therefore, he insisted on always actively rectifying border defense and coastal defense, training soldiers and horses, and planning food and grass.It just so happened that Xiong Tingbi's strategy against Liao was consistent with his, and the two of them cooperated happily.

So he turned to ask Wang An.

"Wang Neixiang, when you came, you saw that we were strengthening the city wall. If there was no bluestone as the foundation, you would not dare to pour water to build the ice armor like this. Brother Feibai and I took the initiative to remove the military salaries of the Liaodong soldiers to repair the city wall. When will the emperor Will you make up the money?"

Wang An knew that Zhu Youxiao was not stingy, and he also knew that he was willing to invest money in Liaodong.Then he said with a smile, "according to our family, when half of these slaves are starved to death and the rest can't hold out under the city of Shenyang, the silver will be sent over."

Xiong Tingbi cupped his hands to Wang An and said, "When the time comes, we will have to rely on Prime Minister Lai to be comprehensive in the household department."

Wang An hurriedly replied, "It's not that our family will not help you, the emperor will not allow his ministers to participate in the affairs of the various ministries of the court if he has something to say. But about you and Governor Zhou, our family will report directly to the emperor when we go back. Don't worry, the emperor Willing to invest money in Liaodong."

Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun smiled at each other, and Wang Anken spoke directly in front of the emperor, which was better than negotiating with the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War.

"Wang Neixiang, there is one more thing I want to ask you. Two months ago, I wrote a letter to build a new defensive fort in Liaodong. Why wasn't it approved?"

Wang An muttered, "Our family heard that the plan would cost 200 million silver, and the imperial court's annual account does not have that much."

"Won't all cultivated land be taxed next year?"

"Our family doesn't understand this. I just heard that you can't increase taxes casually." The husband gives the salary and first comforts the people, so he can prosper the Han and destroy the Chu. Do not delay the urging of the department. However, if you love to support the people, you will only use up your fat, and you will be rich and poor, and there will be chaos, and you can't predict it?'”

Xiong Tingbi slapped his thigh, "That's another foolish thing to say! If there is a loss in Liaodong, how can the Jurchen be satisfied with the territory of Liaodong? Her wolfish ambition will definitely covet the rich land in the Daming Shanhaiguan."

While talking, there was another continuous rumble of shelling.

Zhou Yongchun said loudly during the shelling: "This is the artillery for the defense of the city. Could it be that the Jurchen infantry have begun to attack the city?"