Gansu in the Ming Dynasty was a simple yet complex place. It was not an administrative provincial division or an independent geographical unit, but a military concept and a town.
This is an important town controlled by the Central Plains Dynasty in the Western Regions. Everything in Hexi revolves around military activities. Since Zhang Qian of the Han Dynasty emptied the Western Regions, generations of descendants of Central Plains soldiers have taken root here. They came for the war under the emperor's orders, and they will eventually Die for war.
In the Ming Dynasty, people's most important mission was not war, but reproduction, regardless of the cost.
From fifty thousand to one hundred thousand, from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand, from two hundred thousand to five hundred thousand, from five hundred thousand to one million.
Fifteen hundred years after the fall of the Western Han Empire, the population of Hexi finally returned to the prosperity of the farming era of Zhao Chongguo.
After the land was fragmented and the population was depleted in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the lost and recovered Hexi hometown and the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures finally renewed their relationship with the Central Plains Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, redevelopment of the uninhabited North China and targeting Liaodong, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hexi. Exploration was the greatest achievement of the Ming Dynasty on the territory.
But everything has its own gains and losses. No matter how talented and sage the monarch is, he cannot estimate the changes that will happen in a hundred years. In the early Ming Dynasty, there was no one in Hexi. In order to resettle the immigrants, in the first year of Hongwu, an edict was issued to recruit people to work in the fields. Each person was given fifteen acres of grain fields and vegetables. Two acres of land will be exempted from taxation for three years, and those with spare capacity are not limited to one acre.
In Hexi, a sparsely populated area like Hexi in the early Ming Dynasty where Han and Han people were inhabited, if you wanted to colonize the land, the clan's armed development was indispensable. This created a large number of military landowners from powerful clans in Gansu who shared a common stake with the country.
The most far-reaching mutiny in the Ming Dynasty, the Ganzhou Mutiny during the Jiajing period, came into being.
Before the Ganzhou Mutiny, the harsh natural environment and constant military pressure in the north led to non-payment, pay turmoil, and mutiny as objective problems, but mutiny was just a way for soldiers to seek solutions to problems.
Before the Zhengde Dynasty, there were not many mutinies, and there were only three mutinies in the entire Zhengde Dynasty.
Until the emergence of the Ganzhou Mutiny, it was the first time that Li Long, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Province, took the lead. Due to the dissatisfaction of the soldiers, Xu Ming, the governor of Gansu, was reduced to ashes. The court mishandled the situation, which led to the killing of the governor and the plundering of the people, which became the basis for the later mutiny. common practice.
After that, from Jiajing, Wanli, Tianqi until now, the number of mutinies has increased sharply, with more than a hundred mutinies of various types.
In the Gansu General Military Mansion in Zhangye City, General Yang Jiamo was sitting in the hall, with his back against the map of Hexi hanging on the entire wall, frowning and silent for a long time.
In his hand, there was an urgent report from the front line. The news of Bai Guangen's defeat was already known to him.
The Yang family has been a general in Gansu for generations. In the deserted Gansu, wars are based on intelligence. Therefore, Yang Jiamo has his own rules for controlling the army outside of military law.
Within a radius of 150 miles centered on the place where his camp is stationed, all troops who move to their destination or encounter enemy situations must deliver news to the headquarters of the general army as soon as possible. They must change horses without changing people within two hours. It was sent to the general garrison and sent to the front line within six hours.
The reason why the radius is one hundred and fifty miles is because the longest distance from the Qilian Mountains to the Alxa Desert is three hundred miles.
The information was sent back one after another, from the encounter with the enemy on the front line, Li Yun's defeat, Bai Guangen's first victory to the arrival of reinforcements from the Marshal's Mansion, until they were finally defeated and returned. Liu Can's surrendered troops were still on their way back to Ganzhou. The entire battle process was under Yang Jiamo's control.
But he had no choice, because Yang Jiamo had no soldiers, his standard camp was in Zhuanglang River, and the garrison camp was also sent away by Bai Guangen.
There are soldiers in Gansu, Zhangye is the Pearl of the Gobi Desert in Hexi, and there are soldiers everywhere in the Ganzhou Five Guards around it, but Yang Jiamo has no way to mobilize the army because it is spring.
There should be no war in spring, especially in this drought year when the drought in Hexi has shown signs of drought.
Farming work has tied up many garrison households in Gansu. Yang Jiamo took an urgent letter from Liu Can, the commander-in-chief who had defeated the battle on the front line. He was thinking about Zhang Tianlin's words that we will meet in Liangzhou next time. He thought hard for a long time on the topographic map of Hexi behind him, which was a little bit... Undecided.
Yang Jiamo did not take any action. In addition to the lack of troops, there was another reason, which was related to the geography of Gansu.
The narrow Hexi Corridor is sandwiched between deserts and mountains. From the west to Jiuquan in Suzhou, Gaotai Camel City, Zhangye City in Ganzhou, Shandan Acropolis, Yongchang Acropolis, Wuwei City in Liangzhou, and Gulang Qianhusuo, there is a long and narrow Hexi Corridor. It can be said that the road is a battleground for military strategists everywhere.
It doesn't matter which city is lost, but on the other hand, except for Wuwei and Zhangye, it doesn't matter if any city is lost.
After all, with the advent of the Ming Dynasty, Jiuquan and Gaotai have gradually lost their ability to be self-sufficient due to the encroaching desert. The only real Gobi oases left are Wuwei, Liangzhou and Zhangye, Ganzhou.
These are the two most densely populated places in Gansu.
In the empty general military office, Yang Jiamo was holding a pile of puzzle pieces, piecing together Liu Chengzong's strategic intentions and Zhang Tianlin's tactical purposes one by one, but could not find a reason for Zhang Tianlin to lie.
If viewed as a regular army, this rebel army, with a total strength of 5,000 people, although they seized official and military equipment, they also captured light artillery that was used as field equipment of the Ming army.
What's more, the troops were insufficient. Although the large iron-barrel arrows that fired thousands of arrows in the battle report left a deep impression on Yang Jiamo, they had no supply line. It would be difficult to gain an advantage in the siege with one less weapon of this kind.
All that is waiting for them is to break into pieces and mutiny on the spot.
But Zhang Tianlin is the leader of the Peasant Army, and the Peasant Army's combat characteristics are running, grabbing, and coercing. Therefore, Yang Jiamo judged that only Zhangye and Wuwei in Gansu could meet his needs at this time.
By robbing and coercing in the suburbs, they quickly expanded to 20,000 to 30,000 people, and then besieged the city and attacked Zhangye or Wuwei.
Among these two options, attacking Zhangye is of little significance, because Zhangye has a large garrison, and it will not help the entire battlefield of the Marshal's Mansion. Indeed, Wuwei City in Liangzhou is the better choice.
Taking Wuwei will allow the Marshal's Mansion to directly threaten the rear of the Zhuang Langhe battlefield.
As for the desertification of Gaotai Camel City further west of Ganzhou or the Jiuquan with only a small oasis left, Yang Jiamo didn't think about it. He thought about it and couldn't figure out the meaning of running further west.
Which way to go, you can only go outside the pass. There is really no supply outside the pass. To the north of Jiayuguan is the Black River and desert, and to the south is the Qilian Mountains. The road out of the pass leads directly to Turpan.
From this point of view, Zhang Tianlin is telling the truth.
However, after thirty years of military service, Yang Jiamo did not believe the veteran's keen intuition, and suspected that the so-called Liangzhou was just a superficial attack on the east and the west.
Where would a true general reveal his true intentions to his enemy?
Except for the peasant army who have no brains, no one would fight like this... But according to Zhang Tianlin's self-reported family name, this bird-man bandit has the name of Tianxing, and it seems that he is really a peasant army.
Yang Jiamo stared at the map and thought about the intentions of the Marshal's Mansion. He first threw a bunch of Mongolian Tatars and Duokang Fanzi to block the Zhuanglang River, and then separated a very capable peasant army leader and his soldiers from across the Qilian Mountains. Throwing over alone.
The Marshal of Gansu was thinking in his mind, there must be civil strife in the Marshal's Mansion. Is Liu Chengzong here using the help of the border troops to eradicate dissidents?
Of course, this was just a momentary thought. Yang Jiamo shook his head when this possibility came to his mind.
If Liu Chengzong did not have the absolute power of the Marshal's Mansion, no fool would cross the Qilian Mountains to fight.
Yang Jiamo believes that the most likely reason is that Hong Chengchou guessed wrong. The Art of War says that preparation for the Zhou Dynasty means negligence, but if it is common, there is no doubt. Yin is within Yang, not the opposite of Yang.
The army that crossed the Qilian Mountains was still a tentative attack. Liu Chengzong's real main force was still on the other side of the Qilian Mountains, and it was very likely that they would come over the mountains again after the Gansu border troops were disrupted by Zhang Tianlin and withdrew from the Qilian Mountains.
In this way, it makes sense that Zhang Tianlin said that Liangzhou was attacking in the east and attacking in the west.
Probably having an idea about this matter made Yang Jiamo feel much better. He had to start solving the first problem, which was the problem of not having soldiers in hand.
He sent his servants to invite a pair of brothers in Zhangye City. The brothers were named Zhao Zongli and Zhao Zongzhu.
The Zhao brothers are highly respected gentry in Zhangye City. The elder brother Zhao Zongli, who is 72 years old, was a guerrilla general of the Flood Camp. The younger brother Zhao Zongzhu, who is 71 years old, was the commander of the Ganzhou Guard during the Wanli period.
When two old men from Gansu entered the general military office, Yang Jiamo, who was in his fifties, had to salute and call him uncle.
After the three old men discussed it at the General Army Yamen, the news of the defeat on the front line spread among the guards in Ganzhou. When the defeated soldiers returned and entered the city, Yang Jiamo sent people to wander around the Gobi and desert for three days, but still could not find the battlefield at that time. , not a single body of the dead soldiers was transported back.
They said that the wind blew the gravel and buried everything, and no one could find the bloodstains under the yellow sand.
Yang Jiamo knew very well that there were many military landlords from powerful families in Gansu. After all, the Yang family was one of them, and even he could not mobilize other people's generals.
But people's anger and shame can be artificially mobilized.
In the following days, the whole city of Ganzhou was filled with cries and anger. More than 600 households were in plain clothes. Paper money was everywhere in and around the city. People put clothes and used utensils worn by fallen soldiers into coffins. If there was no coffin, they rolled up straw mats. , parked in rows outside Zhangye City.
Ganzhou people have not experienced war for many years. People are content with their livelihood in the Gobi oasis. But it seems that in an instant, all the men living in the desert oasis were ignited by the coffins and straw mats at the city gate, and the place turned into a desert oasis. The city of Zhangye, surrounded by Zhang Guo's arms, was in flames of war.
The old, weak, women and children at the city gate said they wanted revenge.
The gentry of Ganzhou gathered at the Chenghuang Temple at the invitation of the chief military officer Yang Jiamo, and transferred the Gansu general military standard battalion to the battlefield of Zhuanglanghe. He informed everyone that he had no soldiers available, and he took off his black gauze and bowed to the people. Worship again.
The gentry of Ganzhou sat on the Grand Master's chair with livid faces, and calmly accepted the salute of the commander-in-chief, because they were about to send out troops, and even ancient emperors and generals had to salute like this when they went on an expedition.
This is the reason why Yang Jiamo deliberately prevented the soldiers from finding the body of Paoze who died in battle. The upper class's personal dependence on the lower class prevented him from directly asking the Ganzhou gentry to send troops. One more person to send troops would mean one less person to farm the land. Who can be so selfish? Woolen cloth?
But when the lower levels regard sending troops for revenge as justice and expectation, the upper levels can gain people's hearts and reputation by following the trend, and they can't refuse it.
The seventy-two-year-old veteran general Zhao Zongli stood up and wrote a letter to the governor of Ganzhou. The notice called on the officials and the people to donate their own food, grass, armor and weapons to the army. Actively donate food and money to encourage families to join the army.
Then one after another Ganzhou gentry stood up and saluted Ji Xin, the city emperor.
The commander Ge Yong has only one arm, the commander Zhao Cai, the son of Zhao Zongli, the commander Gao Guoen who is recovering from illness on the job with his face pockmarked by smallpox, the soon-to-be deputy commander-in-chief Ouyang Gun of Lintao, and the commander Wang Jiaguan who has been lacking a lot in his life.
There are also the two sons of Luo Yigui, the deputy commander-in-chief of Xipingbao who committed suicide in the Battle of Guangning, the governor Luo Junjie, the commander Luo Junshi, and others. A series of Ganzhou generals signed the war record and swore to the city emperor, Donate money, food, and send troops to fight.
In one day, Zhang Zhiheng, Bao Xianshu, Zhang Shengyi, Jiang Mingli, Kang Guoxin and other Ganzhou Gongsheng students and other students knocked on the General Army Yamen together to offer strategies to quell the invaders.
Many gentry in silk hats and mink fur donated money and food to the court, and sent their generals to join the army, which encouraged more Ganzhou officials and people to donate food, grass, armor and weapons to the army.
Chief Military Officer Yang Jiamo ordered Tangqi to go to Liangzhou to explore the enemy's situation. In just two days, more than 5,000 soldiers were registered in Ganzhou. The Ordnance Bureau of the Fifth Guards in Ganzhou also handed over last year's manufacturing tasks to the weapons depot. There are three thousand two hundred sets of helmets, armor, swords, bows, arrows, shields, spears, and cannons.
This is almost all the military households and generals that Ganzhou's five guards and generals in the city can afford without affecting spring plowing.
At this moment, an unexpected military information was delivered to Yang Jiamo's head. Several Mongolian soldiers from the Chijin tribe who were grazing outside Jiayu Pass fled back to the pass. They said that the Mongol Khan was back.
The leader of the Red Gold Division, the Governor, was sent directly to Zhangye by Suzhou General Zhao Zhirui to meet with Yang Jiamo.
Governor Chijin said that all this is absolutely true. When Lin Dan Khan went south to Qinghai, they took in some nobles who were unwilling to follow the Khan southward. People know the Chahar tribe very well.
They said that everyone had heard that Lin Dan Khan was dead.
However, a group of more than 700 Mongolian elite cavalry appeared at the Yumen outside Jiayuguan. Their military appearance was strict and their armor was bright. They held high the white cloth symbolizing the Chahar Khan Court and appeared in the endless yellow sand, shining like gods. trace.
Their leader was Lin Dan Khan's younger brother and pioneer officer Guitu Taiji. In the name of the Great Khan of All Mongolia, they took away 200 horses and 300 sheep from the local Chijin tribe, leaving behind twelve iron pots rewarded by the Great Khan.
Then he was led by Tai Ji and headed towards the Heihe River in the north of Jiayuguan until he disappeared on the edge of the desert.
Yang Jiamo looked at the leader of the Red Gold Tribe, filled with so many doubts that he didn't know what to say.
The first is that he is very convinced that Lin Dan Khan is dead, and there is no Great Khan in Mongolia now.
The second is the Chijin tribe, which is the tribe of Talini, the son of Prime Minister Kushu at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. In the second year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty surrendered to the barbarians. At that time, they were called Chijin guards, one of the eight guards in Guanxi. Later, the Ming Dynasty The army shrank outside the pass, and the Chijin guards moved inside to Sunan, where they intermarried with the Han and Fan people. Now there are only one or two thousand people left, and the local generals are confused whether they should count against the Fan or the Yi.
Any thousand households can recruit their soldiers, but even if the Mongol Khan survives, he will not be able to recruit their soldiers!
Yang Jiamo said in his heart that his grandma's and the gang of Tatars that Liu Chengzong threw into the Zhuanglang River to fight were much more pure in Mongolian attributes than the Red Gold Division.
Just thinking of this, Yang Jiamo's heart skipped a beat.
He widened his eyes and asked the Chijin leader: "Have they told you who the Great Khan of Mongolia is?"
Governor Chijin was confused about this issue. The Great Khan of All Mongolia is the Great Khan of All Mongolia. This title does not exist for anyone.
Yang Jiamo did not expect his answer at all. He just leaned on the Taishi chair and gritted his teeth. He thought that people will not resurrect from the dead. This Khan of all Mongolia is probably the Grand Marshal of Qinghai Marshal's Mansion, Liu Chengzong.
At the same time, the war horses trampled across Zhangye Long Street, and the bell and drum towers in the middle of the city suddenly tolled. The bells echoed in the neighing of the war horses. The servants who were supposed to be on duty at the head of the city ran across the long corridor and prostrated loudly in the main hall of the government office. I forgot to take off my helmet.
He turned back to the west and pointed: "Commander, the beacon burning in the west is not a safe fire. If something goes wrong, please report to Beijing."
Yang Jiamo closed his eyes and sighed: "How many beacons and how many cannons?"
According to the regulations on border beacons, beacon cannons should be set off along with the smoke. Two or more beacons should be set off at the same time to report to the capital.
Before the servant had time to answer, this was no longer a question that needed to be answered.
Because the general's cannon at the top of Zhangye City fired, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, five cannons in a row, each one hit Yang Jiamo's chest hard.
Zhangye City outside was already in chaos due to the sound of beacon cannons, the sound of horse hooves and the screams, making the noise loud and clear.
And he knew that Wuwei City would soon be in chaos. This chaos would be followed by beacons, wolf smoke, and cannons, sweeping across half of the world at a speed of seven thousand miles day and night, and reaching the capital.
The sound of cannons made Yang Jiamo feel dizzy, and he suddenly seemed to return to the days when he patrolled the border with his father when he was young.
At that time, he memorized the rules for setting off beacons by heart. Even now, in his fifties, he still knows: when there are 100 or 200 enemies, fire one beacon and one cannon; if there are more than 1,000 people, use three beacons and three cannons; if there are more than 5,000 people, use four beacons and four cannons. Cannons, five beacons and five cannons for more than 10,000 people.
My father said that five beacons burning together and five beacon cannons firing together does not mean that there are ten thousand enemy troops. It is just that the pier is built with five beacons, and the French cannon of the pier army can only fire continuously. Just play it five times.
In his memories, his father's face in his prime had already faded, but the strange thing was that he still clearly remembered that on the day of his wedding, his father drank too much, and his serious face showed rare pride and determination, saying that they were attacking Hu in the north, Japanese in the east, and Japanese in the west. Mie Kuai and Nanping Bo, the Ming Dynasty's martial arts was at its peak in this era.
It is said that from now on outside Jiayuguan, there will be no Mongolian and Tatar people who can let the Dun army set off five beacons at the same time, so their children and grandchildren will have no worries.
Yang Jiamo's arm placed on the armrest of the Grand Master's chair trembled slightly. He raised his arm violently. His father did not lie. There were indeed no Mongolian Tatars outside Jiayu Pass who could make Dunjun burn five beacons.
But a father who lived in Wanli years would not know that every generation has its own war to fight, and this time, their opponent is themselves.
"Liu Chengzong..." Yang Jiamo gently put his arm on the tea tree: "Liu Chengzong is about to enter the customs."
