A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 176: March into the Central Plains

12

After capturing the city of Hetuala, Lu Cheng not only gained a large amount of property and human resources, but also a large number of cattle, sheep and horses.

Especially on the previous battlefield, countless war horses followed the Later Jin cavalry and died under the guns and cannons, and the scene also needed to be cleaned up thoroughly.

The auxiliary troops and logistics personnel who followed were busy cleaning the battlefield, sorting out supplies, and transporting various things to Liaodong.

After eliminating the fleeing Later Jin nobles and capturing most of the defeated Later Jin soldiers, Ding Xiu led 3,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry and turned westward to attack the Khorchin tribe.

Over the years, the Khorchin tribe has always been a loyal brother of the Later Jin, and has helped the Later Jin attack Liaodong. Now that the Later Jin has been destroyed, it is natural to take the Khorchin tribe with them.

The Khalkha tribe also actively cooperated in the battle and attacked the Khorchin tribe from the west.

Lu Cheng did not participate in these battles, leaving everything to his generals.

Now, the Ming Dynasty is on the verge of crumbling, and Lu Cheng is about to embark on the road of conquering the world. By then, he will definitely have to send troops to many places, and it is impossible for Lu Cheng to take care of everything and go to the front line in person.

When Lu Cheng returned to Liaodong, battle reports came from the front line that Ding Xiu and Zasai of the Khalkha tribe had joined forces and completely conquered the Khorchin tribe.

Not only that, Ding Xiu also sent Dayuer and Hailanzhu from the Khorchin tribe to Lu Cheng.

Due to the repeated defeats of the Later Jin in the war against Liaodong and the blockade in Jianzhou, in the absence of resources, it also plundered a lot of supplies from the Khorchin tribe, which also affected the relationship between the Khorchin tribe and the Later Jin.

Especially after Nurhaci's defeat and death, the Khorchin tribe was no longer as loyal to the Later Jin as before.

It is precisely because of these reasons that Dayuer (Borjigit Bumbutai), who was supposed to marry Huang Taiji last year, is still staying in the Khorchin tribe.

When Ding Xiu and Zaisai led the army to sweep across the Khorchin grassland, the leader of the Khorchin tribe, Wu Keshan, surrendered directly and offered Dayuer and Hailanzhu, who were known as the two pearls of the Khorchin tribe, hoping to become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty and serve the Ming Dynasty again.

Ding Xiu didn't dare to make the decision on this matter and could only send the person to Haizhou Wei.

In fact, even if the Khorchin tribe did not offer women, Lu Cheng would not have massacred the Khorchin tribe.

After all, even the Later Jin was not massacred, let alone the Khorchin tribe, which was a fence-sitter.

Population resources are also very important resources. Lu Cheng still wants to conquer the entire grassland, and that is when he needs people.

As for Hailanzhu and Dayuer, one is 17 years old and the other is 13 years old, just two girls. Lu Cheng directly handed them over to Ding Baiying and asked her to take care of the arrangements.

Judging from Ding Baiying's expression, Ding Xiu would probably be scolded by his master when he returned.

Of course, Lu Cheng didn't care about that. Lu Cheng handed over all the affairs of the back house to Ding Baiying and Zhang Yan. However, Ding Baiying was usually too lazy to deal with those trivial matters, and Zhang Yan was the one who arranged most of them.

There are only a few women and three children in Lu Cheng's family, so there are not many troubles.

Afterwards, Lu Cheng sent a direct message to Ding Xiu, asking him and Zaisai to select a group of cavalry from the Khorchin tribe, incorporate them into the Liaodong army, sweep across the tribes north and south of the grassland, and bring the entire grassland under Lu Cheng's rule.

As for marching into the Central Plains, Lu Cheng had already made sufficient preparations.

At this moment, among the various uprising forces in the Central Plains, those that are developing most rapidly are basically supported by Lu Cheng behind the scenes.

There are some things that Lu Cheng may not be able to do when he conquers the world in the future. After all, if you want to be the king, you also have to pay attention to your reputation and influence.

But the rebels don’t have this concern, and they don’t have to care about their reputation at all. Since they are rebels anyway, why should they care about anything else?

Before the end of the sixth year of Tianqi, the war on the grassland was basically over. Ding Xiu and others used the lightning tactics very well, constantly launching surprise attacks on the grassland, and initially conquered the entire grassland.

As for Liaodong, after the three generals He Shixian, You Shigong and Tong Zhongkui secretly sided with Lu Cheng, the rest of the generals also came to Haizhou Wei to watch the shooting and artillery training of Lu Cheng's soldiers.

The result afterwards was very obvious. The generals from all the routes expressed their intention to serve Lu Cheng, either openly or secretly.

When the news of the defeat of the Later Jin Dynasty reached the capital, Emperor Tianqi was happy for a while, and then ordered Sun Chengzong to mobilize troops from Liaodong and go to the Central Plains to quell the rebellion.

After hesitating for a while, Sun Chengzong finally decided to write a letter of resignation and return home on the grounds of old age and frailty.

Although Zhu Youxiao was reluctant, he finally agreed to Sun Chengzong's request to resign, sent people to escort Sun Chengzong back home, rewarded Sun Chengzong with a python robe, and allowed Sun Chengzong's son to inherit the position of Zhongshu Sheren.

Afterwards, the imperial court sent Minister of War Gao Di as the new governor of Liaodong.

After Gao Di arrived in Liaodong, he immediately ordered Lu Cheng to cooperate in dispatching troops to the Central Plains to quell the rebellion.

He Shixian, You Shigong, Tong Zhongkui and other generals who had secretly defected to Lu Cheng gathered around Lu Cheng to discuss countermeasures.

"Lord Lu, are we really going to send troops into the Central Plains to quell the rebellion this time?"

"I don't really want to go. It's fine for us to kill the Tartars on the border, but if we raise our swords and guns and point them at the people who can't survive, I really can't bear it."

"If you ask me, we should just rebel. After all, the whole Liaodong belongs to us now, as well as Jianzhou, Korea, and the Mongolian grasslands."

Lu Cheng took in everyone's expressions, nodded with satisfaction, and then gave an order: "Since the court wants to transfer us to the Central Plains, we should go. We can take this opportunity to capture Shanhaiguan and march straight to the capital. General You, I heard that your two brothers are serving as lieutenant generals in Yulin, northern Shaanxi. If I let you lead your troops and add 5000 musketeers, do you have the confidence to capture the entire northern Shaanxi?"

"Since the governor trusts us, Old You, You Shigong can issue a military order to take over northern Shaanxi and Shanxi Province within a month."

Lu Cheng then looked at He Shixian and said, "General He, I will let you lead 3 troops from our headquarters, plus musketeers, and equip you with machine guns and artillery. Take Jinzhou, Ningyuan, seize Shanhaiguan, and march straight to the capital."

"I will definitely fulfill your mission!"

"General Tong, I will order you to lead 30,000 troops, cross the sea by boat, and land in Penglai. The rebels there will cooperate with you to occupy Dengzhou Prefecture, take Shandong, and march into the Central Plains."

"The last general takes command!"

……

As orders were issued one after another, the entire Liaodong was mobilized. Lu Cheng sent out four routes of troops, one marching into the northwest, one heading straight for the capital, one crossing the Bohai Sea, and one attacking Tianjin, first surrounding the capital city.

At the same time, Lu Cheng also issued orders to the southernmost expeditionary force, asking them to suspend their expansion in Southeast Asia, send troops to land in Fujian, Guangdong and other places, go north along the coast, and occupy the south.

After such a long preparation, the all-out war is finally about to begin.

The newly appointed governor of Liaodong was quite proud to see that the Liaodong generals were so cooperative. He thought that he was in control of the situation and could mobilize the Liaodong troops to pacify the Central Plains.

But when He Shixian's troops took over the defense of Jinzhou city, captured the fortresses along the way, and occupied Shanhaiguan, even if Gao Di was slow to react, he realized that something was wrong.

At the same time, the uprising forces in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas also began to enter the Jiangnan region, and according to the list, began to purge the Donglin Party and the wealthy businessmen who were affiliated with the Donglin Party.

At this time, Lu Cheng also personally led a group of elite troops to Jiangnan.

Today, the richest place in the entire Ming Dynasty is Jiangnan. The wealth of the Ming Dynasty and wealth from all over the world also flow into Jiangnan through various channels.

Hundreds of millions of taels of silver were hidden in places like Jiangnan.

Lu Cheng had to go and deal with it personally, lest someone be blinded by the overwhelming wealth, fail to see the situation clearly, and have inappropriate thoughts...