In April of the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, the entire North China was covered with clouds of war.
The Marshal's Mansion in the northwest gathered generals in Lanzhou. From Golmud in the depths of Qinghai to the bank of the Yellow River adjacent to Zhongwei in Ningxia, thousands of horses galloped everywhere, transporting grain, grass and weapons for the army eastward.
On the other side of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, and Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, gathered the generals in Qingyang and decided to shrink the defense line along the Liupan Mountain to prevent the battalions from being divided and annihilated. Then they went north and south, each in the town of Ningxia. He and the Xi'an government tried every means to mobilize food and grass.
Huang Taiji in the northeast was also gearing up, and once again ordered Horqin Batuluhan, Jinong Badali and Dorgon to prepare for the westward expedition to Monan. However, this time his goal was not Xuanda of the Ming Dynasty, but entrenched in the Ming Dynasty. Monan is in Yang Qi.
And Yang Qi from the Marshal's Monan Governor's Mansion... In this tense atmosphere of preparing for war everywhere, Yang Qi's painting style is different from others, and no one can find him.
In this paradise where there was nothing but happiness, Governor Yang was busy deceiving the emperor, going crazy for smuggling, imposing exorbitant taxes, and enfeoffing princes. Anyway, he did nothing serious about preparing for war. He led the Han army to build construction everywhere all day long. Water conservancy, intimidating and coercing Mongolians into farming on the grasslands, has been busy since last winter until now.
Even Guitu Taiji and He Huchen couldn't find Yang Qi. The communication between the two parties was completely one-way. Yang Qi wrote to them intermittently, telling them what to do next.
It's not that Yang Qi is stupid, he is as smart as a monkey and already knows the situation he is in. Given his situation, he has to laugh out loud every day when he opens his eyes: Hey fuck, I'm doing it again Live a day!
To his southwest is the murderous Ningxia Town; to the south is Yansui Town, a place of great suffering and hatred; to the southeast is the plague-ridden Shanxi and Xuanda Town; to the east is Ha Ha, who was beaten to a pulp by him last year. Assassinate Shenbu.
And in their own hinterland, there are still 100,000 Mobei Mongolian troops who are so hungry that their eyes are red.
What kind of war is he preparing for, and who is he preparing for it with? It's good to be alive, but everyone above, below, left, right and in the middle is the fucking enemy.
So he had to move, taking his governor's office with him on the grassland at irregular times and in no direction: As long as I don't know where I am, others can't find me, and if they can't find me, they can't kill me. ——As long as I live, the Monan Governor's Mansion will live.
The cruel reality did not allow him to consider the revenge of the Jin Army.
In order to fill his stomach, Yang Qi did everything possible. In the west, he sent Mongolian cavalry to the border of Ningxia to beg for food every day, and to ask Hong Chengchou for food; in the east, he wrote eighty-eighty letters to Yang Sichang, the governor of Xuanda, in four months. Many letters and good words were written, trying desperately to make Yang Sichang believe that their surname Yang was on the same side.
In those more than eighty letters, Yang Qi established himself as a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty who was defeated and captured. He dedicated himself to serving thieves and endured hardships until he finally got the chance to leave the town. He now broke up with Liu Chengzong and never returned from now on. Qinghai.
He analyzed a lot of specious information for Yang Sichang, such as Hou Jin's current strategic advantage over the Ming Dynasty, stated the reasons why the Monan Governor's Mansion could serve as a strong support for the Ming Dynasty outside the border, and made a promise, so that Hou Jin would take a detour if he wanted to If he attacks Xuanda, he will definitely defy all opinions and send troops to help Ming Dynasty.
After all, Yang Qi felt like a mirror in his heart. If Huang Taiji came to Monan again, he would definitely be the one to beat him, and maybe he would join forces with Daming to beat him.
Because Liu Chengzong told him that the most important thing for Hou Jin at the moment is to conquer Mongolia and collect the legacy of the demise of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. In terms of the legacy of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, which was founded by expelling the Tartars, is not a competitor at all. The only competitors are the Marshal's Mansion and the Hou Jin Dynasty. Bulling cattle on the Monan grassland.
On the surface, Yang Qi said that he would be Daming's strong support. In fact, what he wanted in his heart was to wait for Hou Jin to beat him and let Daming help him.
What does soft rice mean but hard food? It’s just that people don’t think you are eating soft rice.
Yang Sichang was almost annoyed by Yang Qi. He sent letters every day, as if he had endless things to say.
It would be fine if it were left to normal times. There was a plague in Shanxi this spring. The soldiers delivering letters to Yang Qi still took the letters to deliver to him and walked across the epidemic area with their eyes closed. Isn't this fucking harmful?
Still unable to stop him, Yang Qi was accompanied by the eunuch Fang Zhenghua, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, Bingbi, and the soldiers delivering the letter all had customs clearance documents stamped with the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. No one dared to stop him. Yang Sichang didn't have to read the letter anyway. , but Yang Qi will definitely guarantee that the letter can be delivered to him.
Yang Sichang now felt sick to his stomach when he saw the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. He thought that if he got sick and died suddenly one day, even if he delayed his reincarnation, he would have to take Yang Qi away first.
Yang Sichang didn't believe a word of Yang Qi's deceptive words.
Because those obedient words ultimately pointed to one goal - to get Ming to provide him with military rations.
But Yang Sichang really couldn't do anything about him, because this thing was out there, saying the same words and doing the same things as Lin Dan Khan, regardless of whether he was the Monan Governor of the Marshal's Mansion or a Ming Dynasty man who worked hard on his salary. Whether he is a loyal minister or not, it doesn't matter.
If anyone is thrown onto the Monan grassland in this era, the role he plays and what he can do are already determined. He is the Beibei, and the Beibei can only do two things, either to exchange his life for food, or to risk his life for robbery. grain.
As far as this environment is concerned, it’s the same for everyone.
Yang Sichang was really afraid that Yang Qi would be desperate, so he turned against him and led the Mongolian cavalry to break into the border wall. Xuanda border defense was already under great pressure from Houjin, and he really didn't want to provoke another beggar.
What's more, the geographical relationship is here. If Yang Qi wants to live, he must take refuge in one of the Ming Dynasty and Hou Jin Dynasty. No one in the court can trust Yang Qi's character as a thief. It is not surprising that this guy will defect to Donglu if he is impatient, but Fortunately, Yang Qi is not really a Northern prisoner.
When the north was hit by a disaster, there was a precedent for the Ming court selling grain. Until now, the Harashen tribe is still buying grain from the Ming court. This is a confusing account.
The Mongolian tribes are also human beings, and as long as they can survive, they will not seek death; but if they really have no food, they can only take risks.
In order to avoid this situation, the Ming court would choose to sell grain to various ministries. Although Emperor Chongzhen was full of sagacity, he was afraid that the grain would be transported to the enemy and would not allow Mongolia to be resold to Hou Jin. He thought it was another trick. They distribute food rations and find out how many people are hungry, but these methods are difficult to implement.
Because even if the number of people starving in Mongolia is 50,000, and the Ming court provides food for 50,000 people to survive starvation, part of it will still be sold to Houjin.
The reason is very simple. Mongolia cannot defeat Houjin. This is just a simple multiple-choice question: a few people will starve to death, or a whole group of people will be killed.
If it were Yang Qi, the matter would be much simpler. After Yang Sichang reported to the emperor, he clearly told him that the imperial court would not provide sufficient military rations. Since Yang Qi could allow the tribes to guard the border for the imperial court, he was allowed to use Tumote, In the name of the Khalkha tribes, they went to Zhangjiakou and Shahukou to trade with each other.
Anyway, no matter how many horses you transport, Zhangjiakou and Shahukou can only provide a maximum of 20,000 stone grain per month.
This was Chongzhen's idea.
Zhangjiakou is surrounded by mountains and is the north gate of Beijing. Hukou is the north gate of Xuanfu. Only by setting the location of the mutual trade in these two places can Yang Qi ensure that his troops are deployed in the hometown of Tumut and Chahar. , then when Hou Jin comes, beat him first, which will make the food spent more valuable.
The most important thing is that Yang Sichang inquired about it. Yang Qi's Mongolian tribes have more than 100,000 troops, and 20,000 stone grains per month are just a drop in the bucket. He has so many Mongolian nobles, and the initiative in mutual trade lies with the court. Whoever obeys will win. More; whoever is disobedient, less. If you control this Mongolian army with military rations, it is not impossible to ignore Yang Qi.
Of course, Yang Qi had already thought of this situation. It didn't matter to him, and he even wrote a special note to Chongzhen to express his gratitude.
Because he has more than 13,000 people in four towns. Even if he includes the Tumut and Ordos tribes, the number of soldiers is less than 20,000. In Monan, there is no need to worry about raising horses. 20,000 stone grain per month can He was dying.
As for the 100,000 troops from the Mobei tribes? What does that 100,000-strong army have to do with Yang Qi?
The three Khans of Mobei are planning to go home.
People went to the south to escape the drought and wind in the Mobei grassland. Although fighting in the south fertilized the land for thousands of people, it was better than starving to death in the north, not to mention that they also robbed a lot of things. Yang Qi had been tempting people with land, and Mobei Beisan Khan's army stayed in Monan.
But now that they have gone through a difficult winter, the Three Khans of Mobei dare not stay - all fools know that Hou Jin was beaten last year and will definitely be beaten back this year. Now they are running back to the north to give Huang Taiji a semblance of repayment. Can make do.
If they stay in Monan and fight with Hou Jin, Huang Taiji might go directly to their hometown next year. By then, no one taller than a stroller wheel can even hope to survive.
What's more, they can't make a living by staying here. The Ming court did give them market rewards in Ningxia, but people can't live by just cooking silk in an iron pot.
But Yang Qi did whatever he could to survive. He contacted the nobles of the Mobei tribes and used grain to buy silk from the three Mobei tribes at a low price.
Not even close to that, he also promised the Third Khan that Monan is a spoil of war for our joint operations and cannot be taken by our Marshal's Office alone. Besides, your city reward of Khalkha must be claimed by someone. If you leave 50,000 troops, I will go out. Pasture land, they sent out troops during wars, and at other times they were allowed to wander around the grasslands, each going his own way.
Yang Qi discussed this matter with the Three Khans of Mobei four times. By the second time, the three Khans were a little moved. The third time, Yang Qi had already started to be active in various armies, promising that as long as he stayed, the soldiers would be given a hereditary ten The heads of ten households are promoted to the heads of twenty households, twenty households are promoted to forty households, forty households are promoted to hundreds, and hundreds are promoted to thousand households.
The hereditary nobility of Otok in the Northern Yuan Dynasty was greatly devalued.
By this time, the large number of lower-level officers and nobles in Mobei could no longer hold back, and they were all rushing to stay. Shuolei and the three of them had no choice, so they said they would do the next best thing. They could each keep 6,000 troops, but Yang Qi De ensured that these 18,000 people could survive.
He only promised the title of a hereditary nobleman. In fact, there is nothing but land on the Monan grassland. Just one Ordos asked Yang Qi to seal out 60,000 households, and there were only 4,000 men in total. This man seemed crazy. Likewise, even Shuolei, who cares least about the military strength, is reluctant to leave the army to him.
Yang Qi said that this is easy to handle. It’s just the rations for 18,000 people. I will take care of half of it. The rest will be handled by nomadic hunting. I don’t want anything else. I want Khalkha to exchange market rewards for it from Ningxia. silk.
"Don't you think that stuff tastes bad? I'll replace it with grain for you. Rice, fried noodles, and dried noodles will all work."
This is easy to say. In exchange, Yang Qi's price is quite high. However, in the Monan grassland these days, rice and noodles are hard currency, which are more valuable than iron knives and iron pots. Mobei Sanhan took the market reward in exchange for it. Shanxi Lu'an poplin satin, pinching the nose to exchange fried noodles with Yang Qi.
Yang Qi turned around and asked Bai Wenxuan to rush into the defense area of Fu Renxi, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu: "Commander Fu, your soldiers, do you want silk or satin? Lu silk, the best Lu silk from Lu'an Mansion!"
The circle trade emerged in the seventeenth century.
The Ming court transported the silk from Lu'an Mansion to Ningxia to deal with the Mobei nobles who wanted to buy grain. Yang Qi exchanged the grain for the silk at a low price, then resold it to Shanxi at a low price through Fu Renxi's soldiers. Fu Renxi's frontier soldiers exchanged food.
The Shanxi border soldiers were all so hungry that their eyes glowed green, but the more they were like this, the more enthusiastic they became about the smuggling trade.
Although there was only a border wall between them, Lu silk and grain were already the same price. The grain was exchanged for silk outside the border, and you could buy more grain from merchants when you returned to the border.
Shanxi Bing frantically lowered the price, and Yang Qi earned half of it with tears. The Ming Dynasty's market reward of 490,000 taels of silver forced him to use circle trade to generate a GDP of 2 million taels.
Shuolei and others left with the large army. Governor Yang, who had made a lot of money, had already asked the four general military headquarters to find farmland on the grassland and began to clear the acres.
The Tumut tribe's Guihua City was originally Bansheng. It was originally the richest place on the grassland, but the years were unfavorable. The Tumut tribe lost successive battles year after year. There were not many people left, and the fields and water conservancy projects were left uncultivated. It was in disrepair. After Yang Qi broke into Guihua City, he was extremely jealous of the land in Fengzhoutan.
As early as the Chinese New Year, he put down his words: Even if I die tomorrow, I still have to plant this land today.
In order to lead this army to survive, Yang Qi was so desperate that he lost his face, but even if he tried all the methods he could think of, he still knew in his heart that whether this army could survive until autumn mainly depended on luck.
Unable to survive Hou Jin's offensive, no matter how much food he deceived and abducted from Ming Dynasty, it would be of no avail.
Because he was confident that he would use more than 13,000 of his men to fight against Hou Jin. He would have a greater chance of losing, but he was not without the strength to fight. But as soon as this battle started, he would definitely lose in the end, even if he was lucky enough to win against Hou Jin. Jin and Monan Governor's Mansion will also cease to exist after the war.
As for placing the hope of victory on the Xuan Daming Army, it obviously depends on luck.
However, in the spring of the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, the most desperate person on the Monan grassland was not Yang Qi, but another thirty-year-old Mongolian nobleman, Sa Nang Chechen Hong Taiji.
In the whirlpool of the times when Mongolia was falling apart, Sa Nang Chechen Hong Taiji was out of tune with this era. He took off his clothes and returned to the Eight White Room of Genghis Khan's mausoleum in his hometown of Ordos. With the strong hope born of despair, he wrote a pen for his A nation, a nation that was born in war and will soon perish in war, writes history books.
The name of the book is Hadun Wendusunu Erdenitobuch, also known as - Mongolian Origin. (End of chapter)
