The people outside Datong City have all entered the city through Shao Ren's proper arrangements. They are all just rushing into the city to save their lives. No one will pay attention to the bloody battle between the Ming army and the Mongolian army outside the city.
With a "pop", Zheng Yu's body fell.
Huge pain spread throughout Zheng Yu's body, and he could not move. A strong wind blew, and a roll of yellow sand blew on his face.
"General Zheng!"
"Quickly, cut off the head of this wise general and go back to claim credit!"
Zheng Yu heard Li Ren's roar and the roar of the Mongolian army. He murmured unwillingly: "Today, I, Zheng Yu, have been completely loyal..."
Sukhbal shot Zheng Yu to death with two arrows, and a proud smile appeared on his lips: "It is your honor to die under my arrows!"
A heartbreaking cry of "General Zheng" spread throughout the battlefield. The Ming army, which had lost its leader, was gradually losing ground and was being mercilessly surrounded by more and more Mongolians.
When Bolger saw Zheng Yu being shot dead by Sukhbal, he was worried, fearing that he would take Li Ren's head again and take away his military glory. He quickly galloped over and shouted: "Give me the head of this Han slave!" "
Facing Bolger who was rushing towards him on horseback, Li Ren was beheaded by Bolger before he raised his sword to resist. At this moment, the war with huge disparity in numbers basically came to an end. The Mongolian army won a great victory and the Ming army was basically wiped out. .
After the war, the Mongolian army cleaned up the battlefield. In order to show off their martial arts, they gathered all the Ming troops, sealed the soil and built a "Jingguan" similar to a pyramid. Batu Mengke cut off the heads of Zheng Yu and Li Ren and threw them under Datong City. He laughed and said: "This battle has dealt a severe blow to the Ming army. Pass on my military order. The rear army will become the front army and prepare to return." It’s grassland.”
…
"Provocation, this is a naked provocation, you are bullying me!" A few days later, the battle report from Datong finally reached the capital, and Zhu Youtang in the Qianqing Palace was furious when he found out.
From this Mongolian tribute incident and the previous incidents of Mongolian intrusions on the border, Zhu Youtang knew that sooner or later, the Ming Dynasty would have to have a decisive battle with this grassland nomad.
However, the Ming Dynasty is now simply unable to support a large-scale military expedition, and small-scale attacks are simply painless and insignificant to Mongolia. It will not play a substantial role and will only make Mongolia more and more rampant.
"Your Majesty, drink some jujube tea to calm down." The person speaking was Su Yin, who was redeemed by Zhu Youtang not long ago in Fengmingyuan. At this moment, she was arranged by Zhu Youtang to take care of her daily life in Qianqing Palace.
After hearing Su Yin's gentle and gentle voice, Zhu Youtang suddenly felt more comfortable and relaxed.
Zhu Youtang took the jujube tea from Su Yin and stared at Su Yin carefully. He thought he was really a fairy in the sky.
Zhu Youtang calmed down and shouted outside the house: "Come here!"
I heard a burst of small steps, and two young eunuchs were already kneeling on the ground and said in unison: "My slave is here."
"By decree, Zheng Yu, the commander of the Shanxi capital, was granted the title of Duke of Yong, with the posthumous title of Wu Lie. A statue was built in Datong for future generations to pay their respects and pay homage to. All soldiers who followed Zheng Yu and died in the battle were heavily compensated by the Ministry of Household Affairs.
"In addition, someone was sent to inform Wang Yue that he would not need to take a three-month vacation. He was appointed as the crown prince's Taibao, in charge of Gan and Liang border affairs and governor. In addition, he was also in charge of the two towns of Yan and Ning, and the governor of the northwest.
"In this battle of Datong, Shao Ren of Qianhu performed well and made great contributions to resettling the refugees. He was promoted to commander of the Shanxi capital."
Zhu Youtang issued three imperial edicts in a row, and he had to pay attention to Mongolia. With Wang Yue's military ability, Northwest itself can rest assured. As for the new troops in the Beijing camp, they had to hurry up and train. Thinking of this, Zhu Youtang asked: "Where has Ma Wen been promoted?"
Li Guang replied: "If nothing unexpected happens, we will be able to arrive in the capital in the afternoon.
"It is my word that Ma Wensheng will enter the palace directly after he reaches the capital!" Regarding the new army in the capital camp, Zhu Youtang had to have a good chat with Ma Wensheng, one of the three gentlemen of Hongzhi.
…
In Liaodong, in order to familiarize himself with military affairs as soon as possible, Xu Guan traveled from the Yalu River in Kuandian in the east to the unnamed entrance of Shanhaiguan in the west. He traveled nearly a thousand kilometers on horseback, and attacked the Great Wall fortress, military and civilian farming, pass defenses, and banditry. , the reality of the enemy and ourselves, etc. are all clearly understood. There are no small matters in the Liaodong border area, and the shortcomings of inspections and visits need to be solved urgently, such as the repair of the collapsed Great Wall in the border area, the inventory of the number of farmland, the enslavement of private soldiers, etc., these are more or less vaguely pointed to one person - - General Tong Yu.
Xu Guan knew that if he wanted to revitalize Liaodong, he had to get rid of the pest Tong Yu. As soon as he returned to Liaoyang, he immediately went to the residence of the commander-in-chief Li Gao.
The last time Xu Guan talked to Li Gao, it was obvious that he wanted to get rid of Tong Yu. During the days when Xu Guan left Liao, Tong Yu still went his own way, showing no signs of changing, and he didn't notice that the death knell had sounded.
During the absence of Xu Guan, the commander-in-chief Li Gao was responsible for many matters in Liao. During this period, the Haixi Jurchen Hada tribe came to visit, but at this juncture, Li Gao did not dare to summon the leader of the Hada tribe casually. He knew that the reason why the Haixi Jurchen came to Liaoyang was to report the murder of the Li Dynasty's envoys. This matter was related to the royal family's reputation, so this important task should be left to Xu Guan. Therefore, he temporarily stayed the leader of the Haixi Jurchen Hada tribe and waited for Xu Guan to return to Liao.
In the evening, when he learned that Xu Guan had returned to Liao, Li Gao guessed that Xu Guan would come to see him in the evening, so he had prepared a sumptuous meal in advance.
"Is your master at the house?" Xu Guan rode alone to the house of Commander-in-Chief Li Gao. When he saw two servants at the door, he dismounted and asked.
"Reply to the general, the master has prepared a banquet and is waiting for you in the hall."
Xu Guan threw the horse's reins to his servant and walked straight into the house.
"Li Yingyuan, Li Yingyuan!" When Xu Guan arrived at Li Gao's house, he was not polite and called him by his name.
When Li Gao heard Xu Guan's voice, he knew that Tai Sui was coming and hurried out to greet him.
"Hey, Brother Xu, Brother Xu has been gone for the past few days and I miss my brother so much."
"Hahaha, I miss you too."
"Brother Xu has been patrolling the Liao region for the past few days. It has been a hard work. How is it? Did the border defense find any problems? Are you familiar with military affairs?" Li Gao said.
As soon as Xu Guan's butt touched the stool, he immediately picked up the wine glass, took a sip and said, "I am familiar with military affairs, but there are too many problems with border defense."
In fact, Li Gao could guess without Xu Guan opening his mouth. As far as Liaodong's border defense was concerned, Xu Guan could find a lot of faults, but he still pretended to be surprised and asked: "Oh? Brother Xu, can you elaborate on it?"
Xu Guan sighed and said: "In the past few days, I have traveled nearly a thousand kilometers on horseback from the banks of the Yalu River in the east to the unnamed entrance of Shanhaiguan in the west. I have checked the Great Wall fortresses, military and civilian camps, pass defenses, bandits invading the border, and the true and false status of the enemy and ourselves. . The Great Wall Fortress has collapsed a lot and needs to be rebuilt. The number of military and civilian fields is in a mess, so we need to re-examine and register it. Moreover, most of the soldiers are hired as slaves, and they are not farming their own fields but other people's fields. "
Li Gao raised his glass and said, "These are all dereliction of duty on our part, and I would like to apologize to Brother Xu."
"You don't have to take all the responsibility. The imperial treasury is in a lot of deficit, and there has been no payment of wages for a while. By the way, has anything happened in Liaodong since I left? Has that Tong Yu been honest recently?" Xu Guan asked.
Li Gao hurriedly said: "Nothing happened in Liaodong, everything is fine. Tong Yu has been staying in the mansion recently and does not go to the barracks. I don't know what he is doing. However, Suheite, the leader of the Hada tribe of the Haixi Jurchen, asked to see him. I think what they are talking about is the murder of the Li Dynasty envoy. This matter is of great importance and we dare not take charge of it, so we arranged for them to wait in the post house to wait for Brother Xu to come back to summon him."
"That Tong Yu closed the door and proclaimed himself the king in his own house, and he was quite at ease! What does Ying Yuan think about the murder of the Li Dynasty envoys?" Xu Guan snorted coldly, this Tong Yu He has done many evil things, but a mere general is so powerful that even he, the governor of Liaodong, doesn't give him any face.
Li Gao said word by word: "For the murder of the Li Dynasty envoys, when the former Governor Ma was here, he convened a meeting with the generals. It was already speculated at the meeting that the Jurchens did it, because the Li Dynasty envoys had been killed beforehand. Only Liaodong and Li Dynasty know the tribute route, and they have sent people to Beijing to plead guilty. There were originally one hundred households in our Liaodong establishment, named Borta, who was a Jianzhou Jurchen and had followed us for many years. In this case Before the incident happened, he had asked General Cheliang about the tribute route of the Li Dynasty. At that time, Cheliang didn't care much and told him. This incident was probably done by Jianzhou Jurchen, but something strange If it was really Borta who tipped off Jianzhou Jurchen, then why did he come back at the risk of beheading?"
"Does that Borta have anything else to say when he comes back?"
"He insisted that it was the Haixi Jurchens who did it."
After hearing this, Xu Guan smiled and said: "It's already clear that the Jurchens from Jianzhou did it, and then they blamed it on the Haixi Jurchens. Because the Haixi Jurchens are very close to us on weekdays, and their tribes are in The Jurchens are also the most powerful among the forces. The Jianzhou Jurchens want to use the help of our Ming Dynasty to suppress the Haixi Jurchens. Since the leader of the Hada tribe of the Haixi Jurchens is here, let him confront this man named Borta tomorrow. . Regarding the conflict between the Jianzhou Jurchens and the Haixi Jurchens, we might as well take advantage of the situation."
When Li Gao heard this, he suddenly understood and toasted again: "Brother Xu is really a master of arithmetic. I admire him, I admire him!"
Xu Guan had had several drinks in a row and was a little tipsy at the moment. He waved his hand and refused: "Well, I can't drink anymore. I have important things to do tomorrow. Tomorrow, Ying Yuan can summon Tong Yu to Liaoyang to discuss matters in your name. This way he will not become suspicious, and we can take advantage of the situation to capture him."
When Li Gao heard that Xu Guan was about to attack General Tong Yu, he was stunned for a moment. Although he knew in advance that Xu Guan would get rid of Tong Yu sooner or later, he did not expect that he would come so quickly and in his own name. , what should we do if Tong Yu’s subordinates think that they have a share in killing Tong Yu in the future? "
Xu Guan saw Li Gao stunned and guessed his doubts, fearing that Li Gao would back down again and miss this opportunity. He quickly comforted him with kind words: "You are a minister of the Ming Dynasty, so you should fulfill your duties as a minister. That Tong Yu is lawless and disobedient. He has harmed Liaodong for a long time and must be eliminated."
Li Gao lowered his head and was silent for a while, then raised his head and said: "Although Tong Yu usually doesn't take me as the commander-in-chief seriously at all, after all, he has worked with me for many years. I really can't bear to see his family ruined. I beg Brother Xu not to implicate him." His wife and children.”
Xu Guan patted Li Gao on the shoulder and responded: "That's natural, it won't bring harm to the family!"
…
Late at night, Tong Yu suddenly received a letter from the commander-in-chief Li Gao. The letter said that he would be summoned to Liaoyang tomorrow to discuss matters. But he was a little suspicious, because Xu Guan had returned to Liao, and Tong Yu summoned two of his confidants to discuss it late at night.
"Li Gao summoned me to Liaoyang tomorrow to discuss matters. I'm a little flustered. The border has been peaceful recently. What does he mean by summoning me?" Tong Yu asked his two confidants.
"General, I may be discussing with you an attack on the Jurchens. This matter has been aroused recently, and everyone said that the murder of the Li Chao envoy was the work of the Jurchens." Just as one of the confidants finished speaking, the other nodded and agreed. :
"General, Li Gao has a weak temperament. He has a reputation but no power. I don't dare to do anything to the general! Even if Xu Guan returns to Liao, what will happen? Most of the entire Liaodong army is ours. Even Xu Guan If he wants to fight you, he has to consider whether he has the strength!"
"Yes, General, if you are really worried, we two brothers will accompany you tomorrow with thousands of soldiers and horses!"
When Tong Yu saw the two of them saying this, his heart that had been hanging for a long time finally relaxed. It is true that with his own strength, Xu Guan did not dare to do anything to him. Moreover, he had just arrived in Liaodong not long ago, and he was not fully familiar with military affairs, and his generals were not close to him. Who could he command to touch?
Thinking of this, Tong Yu no longer doubted, he laughed and said: "What you two said makes sense, then it is obvious that you two will go to Liaoyang with me. By the way, I will see what Xu Guan is like, with three heads and six arms. It is said that So amazing!"
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