On September 25, the 15th year of Chongzhen, in 1642 AD, the Battle of Liaodong officially began.

September 25th is a very special day. The 15th year of Chongzhen in history was also a very special year. At the beginning of this year, the Later Jin conquered Songshan in Liaodong. The 130,000 Ming army led by Hong Chengchou to fight against the Later Jin Taurus were almost wiped out. Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou were captured alive. Both of them surrendered to the Later Jin Taurus. The Ming Dynasty, who was in trouble with internal and external affairs, was ready to negotiate peace with the Later Jin, but the news leaked. Chen Xinjia, who was in charge of the peace talks, was beheaded. In the second half of the year, the Later Jin Taurus entered the pass again and entered Jizhou, and successively destroyed Jinan and Shandong counties, conquered 88 cities, and did not leave the pass until April of the following year. It was also this year that He Renlong was beheaded by Sun Chuanting, and Sun Chuanting was defeated and bandits.

It can be said that the fifteenth year of Chongzhen in history was a year of war and a critical year for the complete fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Interestingly, the attack of the Later Jin Tartars entering the pass this year was planned on September 25th.

Because of someone's time travel, all this has undergone earth-shaking changes.

The 140,000 army and 20,000 left behind the Guanning Jin defense line. The remaining 120,000 army, led by Su Tiancheng and Lu Xiangsheng, began to attack Guangning and Xiping Fort occupied by the Later Jin Tartars. This attack was decisive. Once the Later Jin Tartars lost Guangning and Xiping Fort, Shenyang would be under the direct threat of the Ming army. From Guangning to Shenyang, there would be no other barriers in the middle except for a Liao River.

For the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty, this is a life-and-death battle. The winner will take the absolute initiative, and the loser will be unsustainable. For the Ming Dynasty, if the battle in Liaodong was failed, all the efforts made before were almost in vain. The Later Jin Tartars would have the advantage in Liaodong, which would affect Fuzhou and Xuanzhou, and even directly threaten Dengzhou, Laizhou and Qingzhou. The Guanning Jin defense line would also be seriously threatened. If you are not careful, you may lose it, which means that the capital would be directly threatened. For the Later Jin Dynasty, if you lose Guangning and Xiping Fort in Liaodong, Shenyang would be directly threatened. The Later Jin army must retreat to the defense line and protect Shenyang, Haizhou, Yaozhou and even Liaoyang and other places must be transferred to the surrounding areas of Shenyang. It is only a matter of time to lose Haizhou and Yaozhou in this way.

Of course, the failure of the Battle of Liaodong does not mean the destruction of the dynasty. The Ming Dynasty still had enough troops to urgently transfer to Liaodong, defend the Guanningjin defense line, and continue to confront the Later Jin Tartars. At most, they would return to the previous situation. Fuzhou and Xuanzhou were all lost. North Korea no longer became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. The Later Jin could also adjust its strategy, even abandon Shenyang, retreat towards Fushun and Sarhu, or even withdraw to Tieling, Kaiyuan and other places, and stationed in Zhenbei Pass.

But there is one thing that Su Tiancheng and Huang Taiji understand. Once the Battle of Liaodong fails, they will definitely encounter a catastrophe next. If the Later Jin Tartars fail, the Jiangning Camp will seize the opportunity and continue to attack. The Later Jin Tartars, whose morale is frustrated, will find it difficult to organize a tenacious resistance. The Later Jin Tartars occupy little space and cannot be compared with the Ming Dynasty. The Later Jin Tartars have limited space for retreat, and they can only retreat into the Songhua River, or enter the Mongolian grassland and start their wandering career.

As for the failure of Jiangning Camp and Su Tiancheng would be directly liquidated, Zhu Youjian would not miss such a good opportunity. At that time, Su Tiancheng would have no support and become the target to be slaughtered. Those who depended on Su Tiancheng would have no good ending. Perhaps the journey of time travel would come to an abrupt end at this moment. After several years, the Ming Dynasty would still be destroyed by the Later Jin Tartars, and history would continue as before, but the Ming Dynasty had survived for decades.

Su Tiancheng attached great importance to the battle in Liaodong and would never allow failure.

In order to fight the Liaodong battle, Su Tiancheng tried his best to produce artillery and shells day and night, and transported them to Liaodong in large quantities. The artillery battalion's equipment was further strengthened. The cavalry was equipped with soft armor and armor. According to different needs, flintlock rifles were popularized in Jiangning Camp. Whether it was a cavalry or an infantryman, each had a flintlock rifle. The training subjects of the cavalry in Jiangning Camp changed many years ago. They no longer contacted to shoot arrows on horseback, but used flintlock rifle on horseback. As for infantry training, apart from fighting skills, flintlock rifle shooting is the most important training.

As for the Shenji Battalion and Artillery Battalion, it is the focus of strengthening. The artillery battalion is equipped with the most advanced artillery. With the deepening of research and development, artillery is constantly updated. The power of the general's artillery and the red-clothed cannon is incomparable to the past. Whether in terms of range or lethality, it has made great progress.

Cold weapons are in an era when hot weapons are over. With advanced hot weapons, they have an absolute advantage. Not to mention Su Tiancheng who traveled through time, even Huang Taiji is clear. However, from a deeper perspective, Huang Taiji is far from comparable to Su Tiancheng. The Later Jin Dynasty has always been proud of the outstanding qualities of the soldiers. What they show most is the charge and combat capabilities of the cavalry in the field. Even the previous historical process has been revealed. Manchus did not attach importance to the importance of hot weapons. Su Tiancheng has made him completely understand the importance of technology. Cavalry wielding a big knife and spear cannot confront the army holding submachine guns. Such a battle cannot be said to be dead, but can only be said to be stupid.

It is also because of this understanding that Su Tianhao has devoted a lot of effort to improve and develop firearms, but this kind of research and development work has also been influenced by the times. For example, seamless steel pipes cannot be possessed in this era. The so-called fine iron has many similarities with steel, but there are still essential differences between the two, not to mention the technology of smelting. Modern technology has not yet begun. The world's first steam water lifter appeared in the UK in 1698. The real steam engine was invented by the British Watt in 1765. These times are a bit far away now.

Su Tiancheng can completely promote technological progress, but unfortunately he needs to have a suitable environment. Under the current circumstances, it is definitely impossible to do it and it is impossible to do it.

The artillery owned by Jiangning Camp has reached its limit in terms of technology in this era. The effective range of the red-clothed cannon has reached five kilometers. In other words, the shells fired can form lethality from five kilometers away. This is an amazing progress. The emergence of flowering bullets is the most important advancement of artillery. If it were not for the invention of flowering bullets, there would be no big difference between cannons and catapults, but it would save a lot of manpower.

The most advanced artillery and flintlock rifles are only owned by Jiangning Camp, and they are absolutely not allowed to trade and cannot be disclosed. During the Battle of Gaizhou, artillery and flintlock rifles played a decisive role, but at that time, Su Tiancheng, who had some consideration, did not use artillery on a large scale, but the Battle of Liaodong was the time for artillery to take effect.

There were as many as thousands of artillery shipped to Liaodong, including red cannons, general cannons, tiger squat cannons and Fran machine cannons, among which red cannons and general cannons accounted for more than half.

What made Su Tiancheng most happy was that with the assistance of their companions, William and David improved the Franco cannon. These technologies were directly transmitted from the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. The newest Franco cannon is close to the light machine guns hundreds of years later. The close-range lethality is great. The only disadvantage is that they cannot be used for a long time, and the barrel needs to be continuously cooled down.

These are the capital that Su Tiancheng relies on and are also the guarantee for his ability to defeat the Later Jin Tartars.

With the guarantee of hot weapons, the next step is the combat effectiveness and morale of the soldiers. This is also a place that Su Tiancheng is proud of. The Ming Dynasty has a lot of troops. According to statistics from the Ministry of War, the total number of people exceeds two million. Excluding the water in it, it will be more than one million. However, there are not many who are truly combat-capable. Su Tiancheng once did statistics. The only army in the Ming Dynasty is Jiangning Camp. I am afraid that the world's first-class army is Jiangning Camp, followed by Liaodong Border Army and Datong Border Army, and the second step is Beijing Jingying, Nanjing Jingying, Fengyang Jingying, and the fourth step is the army led by Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, Zuo Liangyu and others. The worst step is the army of the garrisons in various places.

The morale and combat capabilities of Jiangning Camp are not comparable to other troops in the Ming Dynasty. This is an army that runs through the current combat philosophy. It has strict military rules and regulations, and the treatment of soldiers is sufficiently guaranteed, and the family can be properly placed. Moreover, the ideological education of soldiers is the most important. Officers must lead by example, be polite by subordinates, and be united in the top and bottom, so that the morale and combat capabilities of the army can be guaranteed.

As the saying goes, ten years of hard work, Su Tiancheng has founded Jiangning Camp for more than ten years. What he thought of was to rely on this army to revitalize the Ming Dynasty. Now the meaning has changed. It is not only to revitalize the Ming Dynasty, but also to help him seize the world and conquer the whole world.

On the eve of the war, Su Tiancheng made sufficient preparations. He firmly believed that the Battle of Liaodong could win the final victory. As for the length of the battle, there were many uncertain factors, and it prompted Su Tiancheng to make up his mind. Another thing was that Zhu Shenxuan, who was in the capital, had been under house arrest by the court. Zhu Shenxuan's safety must be absolutely guaranteed. After the victory of the Battle of Liaodong, Su Tiancheng would speak directly and ask Zhu Shenxuan to come to his side. I believe that at that time, the court could not refuse and dared not refuse. Otherwise, Su Tiancheng would lead a large army to enter the capital directly from Shanhaiguan, and no one could resist.
Chapter completed!