Chapter 907 996 Observing the Military Camp

The Yellow River Ice Flood is a phenomenon in which ice dams block the flow of water in the hydrological characteristics of the Yellow River.

In winter and spring, the downstream areas with higher latitudes freeze first and thaw later, and the water flow in the low latitudes continues to flow with ice blocks, blocking the water flow to the ice dams, causing the river to flood.

Ice floods mainly occur in the upper reaches of the Hetao section and the lower reaches of Shandong Province, and they occur almost every year, with only the difference in the size of the disaster.

This time, it was urgently reported to the capital, and it was naturally more serious than in previous years, which made the local government feel uneasy.

The Yellow River does not only burst its dikes in the rainy season. During the ice flood period every year, because a large number of ice dams block the river channel, and the Yellow River water rushes in, it puts great pressure on the Yellow River dike.

At this time, the Yellow River dike has to withstand huge squeezing force, which can easily lead to the collapse of the dike and cause flooding.

The ice piles up like a mountain and the water is surging. When such a flood occurs, anyone who is swept away has almost no chance of survival.

Even if they were not drowned, they would be frozen to death by the cold river water.

The Grand Canal, which ran from north to south in the Ming Dynasty, was the main artery to ensure the stability of the capital, but the Grand Canal had to rely on the Yellow River for transportation. The situation in the lower reaches of the Yellow River determined whether the Grand Canal was unobstructed and whether the grain could be transported to the capital.

The place where the most ice floods occurred was precisely the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Zhu Heng thought of using the early spring to arrange for the grain ships to go north to avoid the rainy season of the Yellow River, thereby solving the risk of navigation interruption due to the Yellow River floods, but what he had to face was the ice floods in early spring.

The scale of the ice floods was not large, so it would naturally not affect the navigation, and the ice flood disaster was too great, so the canal naturally did not dare to open navigation at this time.

The grain ships could only wait until the ice floods were over before entering the Yellow River transportation section, and then entering the canal to continue northward.

In fact, in later generations, it was because the water volume of the Yellow River decreased due to various reasons that the ice flood disaster in the lower reaches of the Yellow River every spring became weak and almost inaudible.

But in the upper reaches, because the Yellow River has abundant water, the annual ice flood is still a period that the water conservancy department needs to focus on monitoring.

For ice floods that may endanger the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the army will generally mobilize artillery to bombard the dams at the beginning, using the destructive power of artillery to break up large floating blocks and alleviate the dangers brought by ice floods.

In the event of artillery bombardment failure, fighters and even large bombers will be dispatched to drop heavy aerial bombs to destroy floating ice and resolve the threat of ice floods.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, there was no way to deal with ice floods. Except for begging for God's blessing, these tricks in later generations were not useful.

In the early years, although the Yellow River also had ice floods every year, the movement was not as big as this year.

Perhaps it was because of the sudden order from the court at the end of last year that the prefectures and counties along the Yellow River became more alert. In short, urgent reports were constantly sent to the capital and placed on the tables of the cabinet ministers.

"Brother Uncle, have you made any arrangements after seeing the report?"

Wei Guangde asked.

Ice flood is a natural disaster, and there is no way to avoid it. Wei Guangde could only ask Zhang Juzheng what arrangements he had made.

"I asked someone to send a copy to the Ministry of Revenue, so that they can prepare early. In addition, Zhu Shinan happened to be there, preparing to report to the palace. Zhu Shangshu has full authority over all matters concerning the Yellow River."

Zhang Juzheng said.

Hearing this, Wei Guangde just frowned slightly, and then returned to normal.

"I just hope that God will bless us. Last year's ice flood was very small, but I didn't expect it to be this year."

Lv Diaoyang sighed at this time.

"I hope that the local inspection of river works will not be opportunistic, but will actually inspect along the river and take measures for the river sections that have been neglected. As long as we get through this time, I plan to send imperial censors to inspect the river embankments at the end of each year in the future, and make this a permanent rule."

After Zhang Juzheng said this, he looked at Wei Guangde and Lv Diaoyang, waiting for their attitude.

"Yes."

Wei Guangde didn't think much about it. In the past few years, the threat of the Yellow River ice flood was not great, and the local authorities didn't report it much.

But this year, seeing Shandong and Nanzhili report ice flood alarms almost at the same time, it was too scary.

It would be better to arrange for people from the Censorate to go down and take a look, so as not to make people tremble with fear.

"I agree, it's better to let more people from the Censorate go down and take a look, so that we can feel at ease."

Lv Diaoyang said a few more words.

"Today I received a document from Governor Wang of the Canal Transport. The original annual quota of 120,000 shi of grain was due to the damage of the grain ship at Fushan Island last year. So this year he asked the Nanyang Navy for more ships when he ordered them to transfer ships. He originally planned to load each ship with a certain amount, so that the risk of ships sailing on the sea would be much smaller.

But after reading this document, I thought, since Huai'an has extra transportation capacity, why not transport the grain directly to Liaodong as soon as possible.

Instead of waiting to transfer grain from Tianjin or Deqing later, it is better to let the Nanyang Navy directly send 300,000 shi of grain to Liaodong this time."

Wei Guangde handed Wang Zongmu's memorial to Zhang Juzheng and asked him to take a look.

"How many ships did the Nanyang Navy send? They can actually carry 300,000 shi of grain at a time?"

Although Zhang Juzheng took the memorial handed over by Wei Guangde, he still asked in surprise.

"Hundreds of ships, probably. Yu Dayou brought all the ships from Zhejiang.

The navy's warships alone can't transport so much grain at once. I considered using some of the grain ships for the 300,000 dan."

Wei Guangde said.

"Grain ships."

Zhang Juzheng was obviously a little sensitive about using canals to travel by sea. When Wei Guangde said this, his expression immediately changed.

However, it took only a short time for him to change his face and return to normal. He even reached out and stroked his beard again to cover up his previous gaffe.

"If something goes wrong again when using the canal this time, I plan to ask Mr. Ge to investigate the matter thoroughly.

The last incident on Fukuyama Island, I heard that some of it seemed hard to understand. It was not like a natural disaster, but some of it was a man-made disaster. "

Wei Guangde said.

He believed that what he said here should reach the ears of some people.

With his warning, there should be no trouble in this year's shipping.

In any case, the matter in Liaodong is not a trivial matter. There is a big war going on there. It is not an exaggeration to hold back at this time, and if it is found out, the house will be confiscated and beheaded.

Carrying Ge Shouli out was just to scare them.

"Although it's a little earlier than scheduled, it still has to be sent sooner or later, so it doesn't matter. I agree with Shandai. The water diversion warship will send 300,000 shi of grain to Liaodong."

Zhang Juzheng just lowered his head and thought for a moment before expressing his position. He only casually browsed the memorial in his hand and handed it to Lu Tiaoyang.

Just as the capital was discussing the advance reserve of military rations for the Liaodong military, Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong, also received a document from Xianshanbao at the governor's yamen.

"This Li Chengliang sent troops without informing him in advance. What did he want to do?

Do you think that by following the path of Wang Daokun, the Minister of War, you will have a foundation in the capital? "

Zhang Xueyan's dissatisfaction with Li Chengliang is well-founded. Last time, he did not communicate with him in advance about the construction of Kuandian Six Forts. Instead, he directly communicated it to Wang Daokun who came to inspect Liaodong. He only found out about it after the fact.

Although it was also Li Chengliang who reported it, it was an afterthought after all.

First obtain Wang Daokun's approval, and then tell himself that he obviously intends to force the palace, forcing himself to accept his proposal.

Unexpectedly, Li Chengliang would do this again at this time, because he did not take him as the leader of Liaodong into his eyes.

You should know that although military control was implemented in Liaodong, the governor had Shang Fang's sword to control military affairs in Liaodong. It was only because of the position of governor of Ji Liao that Liaodong had a governor instead of a governor.

Dissatisfaction was dissatisfaction, but Zhang Xueyan still knew what was appropriate. At this juncture, he could not start a dispute with the Liaodong Commander-in-Chief.

The war is approaching, and if rumors of discord between the generals break out at this time, even if the court will not pursue it, changing generals before the battle will be a blow to one's reputation.

"well"

Thinking of this, Zhang Xueyan just sighed in his heart, and then he still didn't plan to do anything. He put national affairs first and waited until he won the battle.

However, in Zhang Xueyan's heart, there was still a trace of dissatisfaction.

It's just that he didn't bother to let him take action, and he just thought about it and came up with a solution.

Immediately, he wrote an official document and sent someone to deliver it to Liu Tai, the censor of Liaodong, asking him to go to Xianshan Fort to supervise the division.

The censors were extremely lethal to the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, because their memorials could be heard directly. They were originally the people sent by the emperor to monitor the officials.

Li Chengliang neglected the civil servants of Liaodong, so he just asked Liu Tai to touch him. When Li Chengliang offended Liu Tai, he just asked Liu Tai to impeach Li Chengliang, and he could stay out of the matter.

Of course, Zhang Xueyan had a deeper consideration in sending Liu Tai, that is, the people behind Liu Tai were also very powerful in the court, and they could not be shaken by Li Chengliang.

If a conflict breaks out between Liu Tai and Li Chengliang, it will obviously be Li Chengliang who will be unlucky, and it will definitely not be Liu Tai.

Zhang Xueyan's plan was to make Li Chengliang uncomfortable and make him feel uncomfortable, so as to vent the bad anger in his chest.

But he himself didn't expect that what he did would almost ruin the Liaodong strategy.

The official documents from the governor's yamen were quickly delivered to Liu Tai, the censor of the governor, and he was also able to pack up his luggage and set off quickly, rushing to the dangerous mountain fort.

This time it involves the imperial court's expansion of territory, and the censor Liu Tai naturally wants to share the credit. When he has made achievements with his teacher, can he be transferred back to the capital or promoted to other places?

After all, Liaodong is a place that hates cold, and he is extremely unaccustomed to living here.

At this time, the Ming army starting from Xianshan Fort and Gushan Fort had arrived in various places in Kuandian and began to set up camp.

Because they had to stay in the wild for almost a year, the Ming army generals seemed very concerned about the defense of the camp.

Because Pei Chengzu, the guerrilla leader, led the garrison at Changdian Fort and Yongdian Fort alone, he was naturally even more cautious. He not only erected a strong fence for the camp, but also dug three trenches outside the fence. He also laid traps widely to prevent illegal encampments. .

Within the camp, preparations were also carried out in accordance with the Ming army's camping standards, striving to be foolproof.

But after all, the military strength was limited. He led more than a thousand soldiers and thousands of civilians and craftsmen to live in the camp. There was also a large amount of materials piled up, so the military camp inevitably occupied a huge area.

Under such circumstances, his perfect defense was not only not strong due to insufficient troops, but also had problems of varying degrees on all sides.

However, guerrilla general Pei Chengzu was not aware of this problem.

After arriving in Changdian, he did not arrange for the civilians to prepare for the construction of the fort, but only asked the craftsmen to make preliminary preparations for building the fort. He also asked the civilians to participate in the construction of the camp.

In fact, his arrangement was not wrong. At least it seemed that the entire Ming army camp had a solid defense, which frightened the Jurchen scouts who had been spying outside, so they urgently passed the news back to Wang Gao in Gule City.

"Come here, send someone to Hongli Village quickly and order Lai Lihong to bring the assembled troops to me. Let him come directly first, and let others bring the troops."

Wang Gao instructed the guards who came in.

Wang Gao's strength is not only the strongest among the Jianzhou Jurchens, but also the strongest among the entire Jurchen tribe. In addition to Gule City, it also owns Shaji City, Hongli Village and other fortresses, and can easily summon thousands of Jurchen people to fight.

Although it takes some time, Wang Gao can actually mobilize more soldiers, but he knows in his heart that even if all the tribesmen who can hold swords and guns in the tribe are armed, they are no match for the Ming Dynasty.

For the organized Ming Dynasty, the scattered Jurchen tribes seemed too small. Apart from taking advantage of the geographical advantages to fight against the Ming army, the Jurchen tribes had no chance of winning.

This was only possible with the support of other Jurchen tribes, which could provide him with continuous support, including food, weapons, and even soldiers.

The Ming Dynasty used the mountainous advantages to delay the war, making the Ming Dynasty exhausted and eventually retreating.

If he fought the Ming Dynasty with real swords and guns, it would definitely end in death.

Therefore, in the past few years, he had vigorously built the fortresses under his command and strengthened the defense of the city. For this reason, he had crossed the border wall many times and robbed the Han people to work for him.

Knowing that the Ming army had come out and began to set up camps in various places in Kuandian to prepare to build castles, he would naturally not sit and wait for death.

Losing the fertile hunting grounds was a small matter, but being held to the throat by the Ming people with a dagger would make him feel uneasy.

One day later, when General Lihong arrived at Gule City, Wang Gao took him and rushed to the vicinity of the Changdian Ming Army camp under the escort of the guards and began to observe.

In order to avoid being discovered by the Ming Army scouts, the guards were arranged to hide in the woods a little further away. He only took Lai Lihong and De Kele to sneak past the Ming Army camp.

De Kele gave them a detailed report on the construction of the Ming Army camp a few days ago.

Not to mention, although Pei Chengzu's arrangement actually had serious omissions, it was a completely different effect in De Kele's eyes.

In his story, the Ming Army camp had been arranged as solid as an iron barrel, and it was difficult for them to break through the Ming Army camp.

Hearing De Kele's story, Wang Gao's face also darkened.

He prepared thousands of warriors for this battle. Did he have to give up because the Ming Army's defense was perfect?

"Lai Lihong, do you have any ideas for the Ming army camp?"

Wang Gao looked at his generals. Lai Lihong was one of the few tribesmen under him who was both wise and brave, and he was also loyal to him, so Wang Gao let him lead a city alone, showing his full trust in him.

Lai Lihong observed the Ming army camp for a while, and thought about the layout of the Ming army camp as described by Kohler, and he also felt a headache. (End of this chapter)