Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 152 Xiong Tingbi's Methods
To put it in an analogy, the current situation in Liaodong is like this.
Daming is like a giant who is sturdy but old and suffering from multiple diseases.
This giant has two neighbors. One is very poor and not very strong, but he always wants to steal things from the giant's house. The key is that he doesn't just want to steal things, but also really wants to put them into action. Although the things he steals each time are not much, and he will be beaten up by the giant if he runs too slowly, but it happens too many times, making the giant very angry.
There is another one, although his family is also relatively poor, but the head of the family is very good at managing money, so the family is generally doing well, and their strength is also growing rapidly. However, this one always maintains a humble attitude towards the giant, rarely causing trouble for the giant, and even stands up to yell at the giant when the poor guy on the other side makes too much trouble.
Well, the poor and jumpy ones are the Mongolian tribes, and the poor and weak ones here are naturally the Jianzhou Jurchens.
In short, if you open the history books of this period, you can see records of Mongolian tribes entering the border wall to loot almost every year.
From the perspective of the elite class of the Ming Dynasty at that time, unless it was people like Xiong Tingbi and Mao Wenlong who approached the Jianzhou Jurchens for observation, no one would have thought that the Jianzhou Jurchens would become the Qing Dynasty that destroyed the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, no matter how much Wanli loved and trusted Zhu Youdong, Wanli would never agree to take the initiative to declare war on the Jianzhou Jurchens unless he could self-destruct.
Then the only way is to find a way to provoke.
However, the risk of this kind of thing is too great: to provoke a border conflict! This crime means that for the sake of their own merits and official positions, border officials take the initiative to provoke the other side when the neighboring country or local tribe is extremely submissive, thus triggering a war between the two countries! In order to gain military merit in the war, so that they can be promoted. This is a typical case of putting the country and the people in danger for personal gain. Once this crime is implemented, Xiong Tingbi will definitely lose his head!
However, after reading Zhu Youdong's secret letter, Xiong Tingbi accepted the mission without hesitation: After all, he had been a neighbor of Nurhaci for four years in Kuandian, and he knew how terrible this beast was. The longer he was allowed to accumulate strength, the greater the damage he would cause in the future. Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was ready to launch the attack, what else could he say?
Besides, judging from the way His Highness has treated his subjects over the years, he will not abandon his confidants.
So after seeing off Tian Ergeng, Xiong Tingbi quickly returned to Kuandian Fort and, in accordance with Zhu Youdong's instructions in the secret letter, called Xiao Bozhi, the commander of the Kuandian Guard.
Xiong Tingbi did not dislike this nominally supreme military commander of Kuandian Guard, but he was not close to him either, because his military attainments were far inferior to those of Mao Wenlong, Li Yongfang, and even Yang Ruda, who was originally below him.
However, this person has a good personality and is very friendly. He can get along with anyone. Moreover, he does not fight for merit or power. In his words, "Kuandian was a place that the old general (Li Chengliang) did not want to take. If it were not for Xiongxiong Guancha who supported this place at the request of the crown prince, we would probably be worse than beggars after moving back to the border wall. Even the officers would have to start all over again after returning." Therefore, people should be content. What is there to fight for?
In short, because of his seniority, good mass base, and unwillingness to fight for power, Xiong Tingbi didn't mind treating him as a mascot: if a war really breaks out, it will be Xiong Chouzui himself who will command it anyway.
However, as the commander of Kuandian, it was natural for His Highness to know Xiao Bozhi's name. But why did His Highness specifically send him to such an important mission?
"Xiong Guancha, what do you want me to do?"
"You are too polite, Commander. Well, this is what happened. In recent years, there have always been many disputes between Kuandian and Jianzhou Jurchens on their borders, so I have been thinking about making a thorough demarcation of territory with Jianzhou. Didn't Nurhaci survey the border with Fushun two years ago? So I want to do the same. This matter..."
"Okay, leave this matter to me."
"Well, don't worry, Commander. This time, I will definitely arrange a more impressive ceremony for you, so that you can do your work more easily."
"Hahaha~~ Thank you very much, Bear Observer! Don't worry, Bear Observer, we will not let the Jiannu have an easy time this time when we survey the border!"
After sending away Xiao Bozhi, who seemed completely out of touch, with a complicated expression, Xiong Tingbi couldn't help but mutter in his heart again: Is this guy any good?
However, actively provoking Jianzhou was a small move made by Zhu Youdong's side behind Wanli's back. If they were not his own people, they really couldn't say it clearly, so they could only look forward to Xiao Bozhi's performance on the spot.
Shaking his head, Xiong Tingbi called Mao Wenlong again.
"I went to Changdian a few days ago, and what I talked about that day can now be launched."
"observe!"
"Well, but this matter has not been approved by the court. It's up to you whether you want to do it or not."
"You must be joking. Even if no one supports this matter, I still want to do it."
"Well, come and look at the map. This is what I plan to do."
The Jurchens of this era were divided into three major parts: Jianzhou, Haixi, and Donghai. Geographically speaking, the main distribution area of the Jianzhou Jurchens was in the north-central part of today's Liaoning Province. The Haixi Jurchens were distributed in a long strip in the northwest of Liaoning Province and Jilin Province, close to today's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. As for the Donghai Jurchens, they were mainly distributed in northern Jilin and Heilongjiang, and were also distributed along the Ussuri River all way to North Korea. In terms of the progress of civilization, Jianzhou and Haixi had almost entered the feudal serf society, while many of the Donghai Jurchen tribes were still in the transition from primitive society to slave society.
Of course, these are just three major parts. Under each part, there are many small parts.
Needless to say, after years of fighting, Nurhaci had basically unified the entire Jianzhou Jurchens. Only the Dong'e and Wanyan tribes had a little remnant force, hiding behind the Kuandian Liubao, relying closely on the Sino-Korean border to survive.
In 1609, Nurhaci asked Li Chengliang to write a letter to the King of Korea, asking Korea to hand over the Jurchens in the country. His main goal was to completely annex the Dong'e and Wanyan tribes. Li Chengliang really did so, allowing Nurhaci to gain more than 10,000 people.
Of course, in this dimension, Nurhaci did not raise such a request at all: because it would be useless to raise it. Kuandian Liubao was stuck between Korea and Jianzhou, and he had no way of crossing Kuandian to ask for people from Korea.
There are four main tribes under the Haixi Jurchens: Hada, Ula, Huifa, and Yehe. In their respective heydays, they were able to gather 5,000 or even more than 10,000 able-bodied men.
But by 1610, Hada and Huifa had been destroyed by Nurhaci. The Ula tribe was still lingering on, and would soon become Nurhaci's next target. Among the entire Haixi Jurchens, only Yehe was protected by Liaodong Town because it was close to Zhenbeiguan, the location of the horse market. Therefore, before Liaodong Town was destroyed, Yehe was able to maintain a certain strength and was not annexed by Jianzhou.
As for the Donghai Jurchens, they were like leeks to Nurhaci at that time. He would launch an expedition after a period of time and capture local people to enrich the population of the Jianzhou Jurchens.
"Observation means that we should find a way to support the Ula tribe?"
"Well, what I'm thinking is that since the first batch of flintlock rifles have been trained many times, the rifling and other things are almost worn out, so we should give them to the Ula tribe."
"Uh... observe, isn't Ula's power a little weak now? Why don't we choose the Yehe tribe to cooperate with?"
"Hmph! Those stupid princes of Yehe are still immersed in the dream that they used to be the most powerful Jurchen tribe. In the end, when the fight really started, no one could defeat them, so they had to push Donggo out to marry this person or that person. Hmph! What a bunch of rubbish!"
"Observation: Yehe's current Beiles are of course trash, but how much better can Ula's Buzhantai be?"
"You're right. That Bujantai is nothing. But this guy is a young man. He thinks about how to fight Nurhaci all day long. He can fight again and again after repeated defeats. This makes him better than Yehe."
"Hmm." Mao Wenlong pulled his beard and said, "I understand. Let's support Wu La. But how to do it, please give me your instructions."
"The difficulty in supporting Wula is not in getting Wula to attack Jianzhou. The difficulty is that we must deliver the supplies to Wula quietly. Otherwise, we will be accused of provoking a border conflict, and neither you nor I can bear it... And now the entire Jianzhou is between Wula and our Kuandian. Therefore, the land route is not feasible, and we can only take the sea route. Your Highness, uh, no, I have asked the Japanese Kapitan to equip us with ten 150-ton speedboats equipped with four cannons, which are enough to sail across inland rivers like the Wussuri River."
"Observation, you mean that our goods should be loaded onto ships on the Wusuli River, then turn northward into the Songhua River, and then be delivered to the Wula tribe, right? But if we want to transport the materials from Kuandian to the vicinity of Vladivostok, we need to go around the entire Korean Peninsula, and this requires a sea vessel."
"Haha, you don't have to worry about the ships, Your Highness. Uh, no, I have recruited a brave man named Yan Siqi to take charge of this matter. He will be here in ten days at most."
"I understand. I am willing to take on this responsibility. If anything is leaked, no matter how big the crime is, I will bear it all!"
"Don't worry about this. It's September now. It won't be long before the Ussuri River freezes over. Wenlong, your current task is to contact Yan Siqi first, then go to Vladivostok together, then go ashore and survey the terrain along the route. The ten speedboats of the Kapitan must be dismantled before they can go ashore. You have to plan the route first, see where to hide these speedboats after they are dismantled, and prepare the materials for repair in advance, etc."
"Yes, I will obey your command!"
"Well, do it well. If Xiao Bozhi goes well, we will probably face Jianzhou's attack this year. If Jianzhou can endure it, we will support Wu La and let them attack Jianzhou next year..."
