frightfiction Chapter 172: Promotion Again
Chapter 172: Promotion Again
(Thanks to the book friends for providing the pictures)
The death of Chen Ce did not cause the other generals in Liaodong to retreat. Instead, they united against the common enemy and marched to the city of Fushun.
Among them were Lu Cheng's 5000 troops and the troops of several other generals, totaling troops, ready to completely capture Fushun.
The 1000 cavalrymen of the Later Jin Dynasty had a head-on collision with the -strong army of the Ming Dynasty. They were repelled by the Ming Dynasty's archery phalanx and musket phalanx. After losing more than soldiers, they retreated in time.
Afterwards, the 100,000-strong army dug countless small horse-trapping pits on all the roads around Fushun, and dug a number of criss-crossing trenches outside Fushun, surrounding the entire Fushun on three sides and leaving one side intact.
Immediately afterwards, He Shixian led the musketeers under Lu Cheng, and relying on the range advantage of their muskets, they suppressed the archers on the top of Fushun City, and used catapults to throw bombs, grenades and the like onto the top of the city.
The siege lasted a whole day. At three o'clock in the morning, the defenders in the city opened the east gate and fled.
It is obvious that after Weining Fort and Qinghe Fort were successively recovered, Fushun was isolated and no longer worth defending, so the Later Jin Dynasty took the initiative to give it up.
At this point, Liaodong had completely recovered Liaozhong and Liaonan, leaving only some places in Liaobei unrecovered, and the living space of the Later Jin was further compressed.
At the same time, the Emperor Tianqi in Kyoto also received the news that Nurhaci was defeated and died. After confirming the authenticity of the news through various channels, the Emperor Tianqi was overjoyed: "I never thought that Nurhaci, the chieftain of slavery, would also be defeated and die. This really makes me happy. My dear friend, how do you think I should reward Lu Cheng?"
At this time, Wei Zhongxian had already received the generous gift from Lu Cheng, so he naturally spoke well of Lu Cheng: "Your Majesty, since Lu Cheng arrived in Liaodong, he has repeatedly made military achievements, rising from a small commander to a deputy general step by step, and has never disappointed Your Majesty. For such a loyal and capable general, we must reward him well to show our grace. It will also encourage the Liaodong generals to work harder and make contributions to our Ming Dynasty."
"What Otomo said makes sense, but Lu Cheng is already a deputy general, and the next rank up is a general. However, with his contribution this time, it is enough to make him a marquis. But since Emperor Sejong, our dynasty has not had a marquisate for a hundred years."
Seeing the Emperor Tianqi's dilemma, Wei Zhongxian only thought for a moment before proposing, "Your Majesty, you can actually appoint Lu Cheng as the General of Ping Liao, and give him the title of Left General of the Five Military Commandery, and give him the hereditary title of Jinyi Assistant. Moreover, since Lu Cheng is already married, you can also confer the title of First-Rank Lady on his wife. As for whether to confer a title, it depends on what Your Majesty thinks."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Tianqi immediately nodded and praised: "This is a good idea, and it will surely reassure him. I will be generous again and confer the title of Pingdong Bo on Lu Cheng."
"Your Majesty is so wise and decisive. Lu Cheng will definitely be grateful for the grace from Heaven and devote himself to the cause."
"Then let's do so."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
At this time, Lu Cheng did not know how much return he had received for the silver he gave to Wei Zhongxian.
When the news of Liaodong's recovery of Weining Fort, Qinghe Fort, Fushun and other places reached the capital, the imperial court's decree to reward Lu Cheng also reached Liaodong.
When Lu Cheng heard the series of rewards in the imperial edict, he couldn't help but be a little surprised. He didn't expect the court to be so generous this time. It seems that giving gifts to Wei Zhongxian was a good decision, and the return rate was quite good.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng gave a big red envelope to the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict, and prepared another generous gift, and had someone send it to the capital to give to Wei Zhongxian.
Logically speaking, with such a huge reward this time, Lu Cheng should have gone to the capital in person to meet Emperor Tianqi to express his gratitude, but Emperor Tianqi was busy with carpentry work every day and was too lazy to meet him.
What's more, a new war may break out in Liaodong at any time, so it is not advisable for Lu Cheng to leave Liaodong.
After sending away the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict, Ding Baiying and Zhang Yan looked at the series of rewards on the imperial edict with some curiosity and asked Lu Cheng to explain it to them.
In fact, among this series of rewards, what Lu Cheng valued most were the General-in-Chief of Ping Liao and the Left General-in-Chief.
If he is just a general, he is equivalent to a army commander. There are many generals in Liaodong, not just Lu Cheng.
But adding "Ping Liao" in front of it makes Lu Cheng one level higher in priority than other generals.
As for the Left General, it was the end point of the struggle of the military generals of the Ming Dynasty, equivalent to a five-star general in the United States.
As the General-in-Chief of Ping Liao and the Left General-in-Chief, Lu Cheng has already taken the top position in the entire Liaodong military circle.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty ruled with both civil and military power, so Lu Cheng’s priority was still below that of Sun Chengzong.
As for the other titles, the hereditary title of Jinyi Jianshi could be passed on to his son, the first-rank lady was given to Ding Baiying, and the title of Dongping Bo could also be passed on to future generations.
After hearing this, Ding Baiying didn't take it too seriously. Zhang Yan was still somewhat envious in her heart. She was the legendary first-rank lady of imperial decree, who could wear imperial decree clothes and be summoned by the queen.
But Zhang Yan also knew that Ding Baiying had been a great help to Lu Cheng, and several of his disciples were working under Lu Cheng, so it was only natural that she deserved the title of Lady.
Ding Baiying seemed to see through Zhang Yan's thoughts, and she took Zhang Yan's hand with a smile: "What's the big deal about whether you are a lady or not? If you want it, I'll give it to you."
"What are you saying, sister? You deserve all this. I am only happy for you."
Ding Baiying took Zhang Yan's hand and handed it to Lu Cheng: "Husband, my sister is getting old and has wanted a child for a long time. It's time for you to take action."
When Zhang Yan heard this, her pretty face immediately blushed: "Sister~" Then she looked at Lu Cheng, her eyes full of anticipation.
"No problem, let's go inside..."
"My dear, it's still broad daylight..."
"Who cares whether it's day or night? I'm free anyway, come on, you come too..."
As he spoke, Lu Cheng hugged them one in each hand, enjoying the blessing of having two women at once.
The first snow of the year finally fell. Some people sat quietly by the window, watching the snowflakes flying all over the sky. Some people went outside, letting the snowflakes fall into their palms.
Some people close their doors and walk in the snow to look for plum blossoms...
In the winter of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, the entire Liaodong region was peaceful. The Jiannu did not launch another war, and Huang Taiji, who had just ascended to the throne, was also stabilizing the imperial power.
Lu Cheng suddenly had some rare free time. Apart from handling necessary work every day, he stayed at home to accompany his wife and children.
However, not long after, Ding Baiying and Zhang Yan both became pregnant, and Lu Cheng lost an important entertainment activity.
Not long after, a group of people who had been sent to the capital returned and successfully brought back various shipbuilding technologies of the Ming Dynasty and even some craftsmen.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng ordered people to copy all the information several times, one of which was sent to the south, so that the expeditionary force could choose suitable ports in the Philippines and other places to build shipyards.
At the same time, Lu Cheng also selected a suitable location on the Korean Peninsula, sent some craftsmen, recruited local people, and built ships.
Of course, a shipyard was also built between Jinzhouwei and Changhai County, specializing in building large ships for ocean voyages.
Lu Cheng also moved several steam engines over to prepare for the construction of the steamship.
Southern Liaoning is thriving now. We have some talented people under our command, and young people who have been trained in welfare institutions are working in various positions. We are no longer short of talent for the time being.
Lu Cheng also had a lot more free time. He only needed to do a good job of coordination and grasp the general direction, and then leave everything to his subordinates.
After he had some free time, Lu Cheng ordered the special operations brigade to cooperate with the reconnaissance brigade to take advantage of the winter to launch a surprise attack on the Later Jin tribes on the grassland, killing adult men, capturing women and children as slaves, and sending them to various workshops and factories in Liaodong to do hard labor.
With new rifles and revolvers, the special operations brigade can move more conveniently and can create great achievements with a small team.
Not only that, Lu Cheng also asked Ding Xiu to lead the cavalry troops north to the grassland, cooperate with the Khalkha tribe, and jointly launch a surprise attack on the Khorchin and Chahar tribes that had defected to the Later Jin Dynasty, and completely block the Jurchens in Jianzhou.
All the troops adopted flexible and changeable guerrilla warfare. Relying on their equipment advantages, they constantly harassed the Later Jin army, killed and wounded the Later Jin's manpower, and compressed the Later Jin's living space.
After a winter, Huang Taiji was fed up with the troubles, and his position as Khan, which was already unstable, was facing a major crisis.
Finally, Huang Taiji had to order the tribes to unite and form a defense to deal with the harassment and sneak attacks of the Liaodong troops. But this would increase the consumption of resources, and the Jiannu were destined to have a hard winter...