Chapter 146 Disobedience

The cause of the Ningyuan City defense battle, which made Yuan Chonghuan pass on forever, was the Ming army's retreat. In the end, he was the only one who led more than 10,000 people to stand in the lonely city, and finally won the victory by injuring Nurhaci with artillery. This incident was very impressive to Tang Feng, who had read the history books. When he traveled to the end of the Ming Dynasty, he thought carefully, only remembered that shortly after Sun Chengzong was summoned by the court, the Ming army was ordered to retreat to Shanhaiguan by the successor's Liaodong Legislature. But Tang Feng was not a historical researcher after all, so of course it was impossible to remember the name of this successor. At that time, he could not know that he had such a day to come to Liaodong in the late Ming Dynasty.

So when Wang Huazhen came to Liaodong, Tang Feng was always careful, for fear that he would order his retreat as in history, which would be a disaster for the border of the Ming Dynasty. His concern made him reach the peak when he saw Wang Huazhen's memorial. In order to prevent problems, Tang Feng had to kill him, in addition to this threat. However, man's calculations were not as good as God's calculations. It was not until Gao Di's military order came that Tang Feng realized that he had made a wrong judgment. This timid and cowardly person only knew that the person guarding Shanhaiguan was Gao Di. In fact, when Gao Di made various arrangements before, Tang Feng should have seen a clue, but because he felt that the threat had been cleared, he gave Gao Di so many opportunities. Now everything has become a foregone conclusion, and the situation in Liaodong still happened as described in history books.

Yuan Chonghuan did not understand what Tang Feng said, but only thought that he was confused because he could not accept the military order. He hurriedly called him a few more times before pulling Tang Feng out of his thoughts. Seeing that Tang Feng recovered, Yuan Chonghuan asked, "Yizhi, do you think we should follow the order and retreat?"

Tang Feng looked at Yuan Chonghuan's eyes and said for a while: "It seems that you have the same idea as me, and you don't want to abandon Ningyuan City just now." Half of his words were to see Yuan Chonghuan's thoughts, and the other half was also guessing based on history.

Yuan Chonghuan smiled bitterly and said, "So what if I have this intention? Military orders are like mountains, and he also has a reasonable excuse. If we do not follow the orders and retreat, we may not only face the attack of Jianlu alone, but also be blamed by the court at that time. It is really difficult! Although in fact, there are only 50,000 Jin soldiers, the court will not take this matter too seriously."

Tang Feng sighed helplessly. Could it be that because of his intervention, not only could not save the situation in Liaodong, but he did not even have the final resistance? He felt very unwilling to give in. He must find a way to defend Ningyuan City. Just as he racked his brains to think of a way, Yuan Chonghuan looked at the military order again, and suddenly he raised his eyebrows and said, "I have a problem, which may delay the retreat for a while."

Tang Feng immediately looked at him and said, "Let me tell me? Do you want to use the soldiers in the army to mean it? Although this may clear your relationship with me, I am a little sorry for those soldiers."

"No, what I am talking about is not this method, but a better method." Yuan Chonghuan said, moving the military order to Tang Feng, pointing to one of them and said, "Yizhi, this military order has something to say that the people of each city will also withdraw to Shanhaiguan with the defenders. This is the excuse I am referring to." Seeing that Tang Feng was still a little puzzled, he patiently said: "It is easier for the people to leave their homes and move to other places than the soldiers. Some of them are unwilling to abandon their families, and the speed of movement is far faster than that of the army. We can use this as an excuse to ask Gao Di to cut off the queen. My Ningyuan City is the city in front of Jinzhou. In order to protect the people from leaving, it is also appropriate for us to stay in Ningyuan City. Do you think this method is feasible?"

"Yes, this is indeed a good excuse!" Tang Feng nodded repeatedly, "No need to delay, let's write a report together!" Tang Feng said, and then took the paper and pen from the side and started writing.

After all this was done, Tang Feng and his men walked out of the command post and went to the army to check to see how the soldiers guarding the city were in a state of disrespect and whether they were motivated by the loss of Jinzhou and the arrival of military orders for retreat. As soon as they stepped outside, they saw Zu Dashou, Wang Kai and other generals rushed over. After seeing them, Zu Dashou immediately asked: "Sir, is that the rumors that we asked us to withdraw from Shanhaiguan true?"

Seeing that the generals and even the guards beside him looked at them, everyone was full of concern, Yuan Chonghuan had to nod and said, "Yes, the military order of the Gao Master has been delivered to us."

"Sir, what are you planning to withdraw? But... but are you planning to withdraw your troops according to orders?" Wang Kai asked nervously. Although Zu Dashou and the others did not ask, they looked at the two of them, and these people had the same problem as Wang Kai. Yuan Chonghuan looked around and saw that there were no outsiders. He shook his head and said, "I have done this Ningyuan Road trusted by the court, and there will be no idea that the enemy will escape if they have never arrived. Even if I die, I will die in Ningyuan City."

Hearing what he said so resolutely, the generals were not as nervous as before. But then, someone asked: "But sir, the military orders are like mountains. Can we really disobey our orders?"

Yuan Chonghuan glanced at everyone and said, "I vowed to live and die with Ning Yuan. If you dare not disobey, I will not force you. I can only tell you that I have a way to deal with this matter."

Tang Feng, who was on the other side, also said, "Don't worry, as long as our Ningyuan City is united, it is not impossible to defend this city. As for the court's blame, Lord Yuan and I will deal with it!" Seeing that the two adults were talking like this, the generals who were nervous in their hearts calmed down and returned to the camp after Yuan Chonghuan's order.

Just as they convinced these people, a large number of people ran over. The leading old men saw Yuan Chonghuan and knelt down: "Mr. Yuan, we finally returned to our homeland, but we don't want to lose it anymore. I hope Master Yuan will make the decision for us!"

While supporting the people, Yuan Chonghuan said the previous words again, and then said: "Don't worry, most of the people in my Ningyuan City are Liaodong men, and there is no possibility of giving up my Liaodong city. I will say this here that even if I am Yuan Chonghuan, I will still swear to defend the city to the death!"

In this way, Yuan Chonghuan and Tang Feng checked the military situation in the city, while trying to appease the hearts of the army and the people. There was almost no rest for a few days. Lu An, who was with Tang Feng, saw all this in his heart. He looked at Tang Feng unconsciously with a little more respect, and at the same time he was a little confused and puzzled.

After receiving the letter from Tang Feng and others, Gao Di was silent for a long time. Although he felt that the two of them refused to retreat was a contempt for him, the commander of the three armies, he thought that what they said was not unreasonable. It would take some time for the people and the troops of each city to withdraw. It was a way to defend the defenders of Ningyuan City there, so he would follow him.

But a few days later, Gao Di also discovered something wrong, that is, he did not see a single person in Ningyuan City retreating. At this time, the defenders and people from other cities had already retreated most of them under his pressure. If it was as Yuan Chonghuan and others said in the letter, in order to withdraw their troops in time, they would arrange for the people in the city to return south first, but the current situation is that no one is seen. "Do they really want to disobey?" Gao Di began to doubt this.

After another day, Gao Di finally couldn't help it and ordered people to give the final order so that Ningyuan's defenders would no longer have to stay in the city. They quickly retreated to Shanhaiguan and guarded the pass with the people here. In order to allow them to obey orders, Gao Di threatened with military pay. If they did not obey this order, they would cut off the food and grass in Ningyuan's city.

In fact, during these days, Tang Feng and the others advised the people in Ningyuan City to leave the city and go south to Shanhaiguan, but these people refused to leave. They all said that this city was their home and refused to leave their hometown. Seeing that the people spontaneously strengthening the city wall, Tang Feng and the others felt that the burden on their shoulders was heavier.

So when the people sent by Gaodi sent the final military order, the two of them abandoned them without even frowning. Now they are not only guarding Ningyuan City for the court, but also for the people in the city.

Because the army in the city refused to retreat, some people around rushed in. For a time, there was a population of nearly 70,000 in the entire Ningyuan city, although the 20,000 Xu Mingjun was still able to fight.

As there were more people, the consumption of food and grass in the city became larger. Seeing that the grain stored in the granary became less and less, Yuan Chonghuan's face began to become more serious. It seemed that Gao Di really planned not to send food and grass to Ningyuan City. If this continued, there would be no need for Jin soldiers to attack the city. Just hunger would be enough to urge the city to collapse.

"Yizhi, we are in a dilemma now. If we retreat now, if Jianlu knows the news and chases these people, it will be difficult. But if we don't retreat, we will be afraid that we will not last a few days." Yuan Chonghuan looked at the granary in front of us with embarrassment and said.

Tang Feng was also very anxious and said after a while: "I think I can only collect food and grass from other places." Now he has no fantasy about Gao Di.

"It's not easy. No matter where you transport the food, you have to go through Shanhaiguan where Gaodi is. Once the Jin soldiers attacked the city, they may not be able to transport the food and grass." Yuan Chonghuan said dejectedly.
Chapter completed!