When the Ming army launched a surprise attack, the main person in charge of the Taipei Military Department was Ren Dejing's nephew Ren Chunzhong.
Previously, he led 20,000 troops to the Jingsai Military Division to assist in the defense. In addition to the 30,000 troops that the Jingsai Military Division originally had, he felt that 50,000 troops were enough.
Fifty thousand troops guard the border. Even if your Ming army is really crazy and wants to launch a war regardless of the domestic economic situation, it may not succeed, right?
Ren Chunzhong felt that his safety was somewhat guaranteed in this way. Coming here might not be a funeral, it might just be a heartbeat trip.
But when he came to Jingsai Military Division, he discovered that the heartbeat journey turned out to be a process, and the funeral might be the result.
This kind of thing is not only done by the Han people, but also by the Dangxiang people.
The main person in charge of the Jingsai Military Division is a party member named E Gui.
Ren Chunzhong was only ordered to take stock of the number and preparedness of the troops in Jingsai Military Division in preparation for the Ming army's campaign. As a result, Egui obstructed him in every possible way and refused to cooperate. This made Ren Chunzhong angry, and he directly mobilized the army to use force against Egui and his gang. Take control and investigate in depth immediately.
You won’t know the results if you don’t check them, but you will be shocked if you check them.
He and his officers ate up the quota of 30,000 people in the Jingsai Military Division, leaving only more than 10,000 people. Among these 10,000 people, only about 4,000 were able to fight, and the remaining 6,000-odd were all in the form of handymen. It belongs to those who specialize in serving the military officers and working as cattle and horses.
Those who cook, do laundry, clean the house, and those who drive and carry sedan chairs for family outings.
Good guy, this skill of taking free money is simply self-taught.
Ren Chunzhong was furious and immediately ordered the arrest of E Gui and the group of officers he had roped in. Anyway, their total military strength was not as large as the number of people brought by Ren Chunzhong. There were more people and fewer people. This group of people was quickly captured by Ren Chunzhong. All arrested.
Afterwards, Ren Chunzhong escorted the group of people to Xingqing Mansion and handed them over to Ren Dejing for disposal, while he was anxious to deal with the border defense of Jingsai Military Division.
Then he discovered that the border defense was a complete mess.
If rectification is not carried out, when the Ming army really attacks, the Jingsai Army Department will almost open the door and warmly welcome everyone from the Ming army to come for guidance, and even welcome everyone from the Ming army to give valuable guidance on the level of Xixia border defense. Opinion.
Although Ren Chunzhong came here with the mentality of performing a funeral, there is still a difference between active funeral and passive funeral.
Ren Chunzhong felt that he could still save the life, so he decided to struggle a little, and he would not be too unwilling to be passively buried when the time came. So he bit the bullet and sent the message to Ren Dejing, asking for reinforcements, asking for help, and all kinds of requests.
Then he incorporated the more than 4,000 capable soldiers left in Egui under his command, and disbanded the more than 7,000 old and weak soldiers to save military expenses, and then prepared to strengthen the defense of important border towns such as Shangyikou, and put the original Some mediocre people were all dismissed.
He formulated a series of plans to reorganize border defense, but before they could be implemented, on December 27, the second year of Hongwu, the Ming army exceeded their expectations. Regardless of the severe cold in winter and the upcoming New Year's Eve, they directly Military action was launched.
The Xixia army on the border was caught off guard, and Ren Chunzhong was even more unprepared. The important checkpoint at the border was quickly lost.
Jiang Liangping, deputy general of the Tianxing Army under Su Haisheng, led an elite army to sneak attack on Shangyikou. He used thunder cannons to blow up the Xixia defenders at Shangyikou. Then the army quickly pressed forward and rushed into the pass to fight with the defenders at Shangyikou.
Under E Gui's wise leadership, there were less than a thousand defenders in an important border town like Shangyikou. Most of them were gambling masters who were incompetent in fighting. They didn't react at all and were led by Jiang Liangping in hand-to-hand combat. The troops quickly occupied the entire checkpoint, and the defenders at Shangyikou were completely annihilated.
Jiang Liangping continued to advance rapidly. On the morning of December 29, before all the troops were defeated, Jiang Liangping invaded Weizhou.
Ren Chunzhong, who had been sitting in Weizhou, had no idea when the Ming army launched an attack.
In the absence of any support, some of his subordinates actually suggested that Ren Chunzhong should close the city and defend the city.
Ren Chunzhong thought about the only soldiers he had that could fight, and then thought about the past achievements of the Ming army...
Um.
Ren Chunzhong suddenly felt that the gates on all sides of Weizhou were closed, which was a coffin tailor-made for him. The Ming army surrounded the city, and they were playing suonas, gongs, and firecrackers to bury him.
A funeral was held on the spot.
Either that or Ren Chunzhong is worthy of being Ren Dejing's nephew. He quickly calmed down and made a decisive decision quickly.
He immediately led his confidants and escorts, leaving everyone behind, and launched a large-scale turning movement before the Ming army conquered Weizhou.
He threw Weizhou to Jiang Liangping with lightning speed, leaving Jiang Liangping to expend a lot of energy attacking Weizhou. He took this opportunity to complete a strategic turn, leaving Jiang Liangping helpless against his move. .
Won!
Ren Chunzhong turned around quickly without looking back, his whole body was like the wind, so much so that Jiang Liangping couldn't catch up even though he was trying so hard to catch up, so he could only follow him and eat dust.
Jiang Liangping captured Mingsha while eating ashes, broke through the gorge, rushed into the Ningxia Plain, and directly threatened Shunzhou.
On the Ningxia Plain, there is almost no steep terrain that can be used for defense. Shunzhou is actually the south gate of Xingqing Mansion. If the Ming army breaks through Shunzhou, Xingqing Mansion's Ren Dejing will have no danger to defend and can only Face to face with the Ming army's big weapon.
When this force led by Su Haisheng personally opened up the situation and threatened Xingqing Mansion, it was actually the fourth day of the first lunar month of the third year of Hongwu, just a few days before the official start of the war.
It can only mean that the army moved too fast.
At the same time, another Ming army of 30,000 people, led by the marching secretary Han Wei, was also making good progress.
This way, the Ming army started from Baoan Prefecture and went all the way north to Hongzhou. The Xixia army in Hongzhou was unprepared and was caught off guard by the Ming army. Hongzhou fell quickly, and the Ming army continued to move north to threaten Youzhou, where the Jianing Military Division was located.
At this time, Ren Deren, who was previously appointed to supervise the Jianing Military Division, was in Youzhou.
However, compared to Ren Chunzhong, who has some military common sense and sense of responsibility, Ren Deren is a relatively simple-minded person.
In the previous court, many members of the Ren family were appointed as high-ranking military and political officials. Ren Deren was appointed as the envoy of Xuanhui Academy, and managed the internal affairs of the royal family. He monitored Li Renxiao by controlling the eunuchs and maids around him.
Perhaps it was because he was doing a good job in this job that Ren Dejing sent him to supervise the army. He felt that the supervisors were all supervisors, so this kid must be fine.
But supervising the army and monitoring are really not the same thing. Ren Deren did a good job in monitoring, but the superintendent's eyes darkened. When he arrived at the place, he was entertained by Jin Ge, the head of the Jianing Military Division, with wine and food, and was served by beauties. Soon I just lived my life in Youzhou.
He also figured out that if the Ming army was coming, he would most likely not be able to stop it. Since he couldn't stop it, why bother making preparations? It is better to live a down-to-earth life. Whether this battle can be fought is still open to question.
So of course Ren Deren has no intention of managing military affairs.
Of course, Brother Jin is more authentic than E Gui. Although this person is also a party member, he has taken refuge with Ren Dejing a long time ago. He once followed Ren Dejing to fight against rebellion, suppress the rebellion, and obtain military honors. Later, Ren Dejing Jing gained power and was appointed by him to manage the Jianing Military Division.
After that, Brother Jin found that he was more suitable for doing business than leading troops to fight. Guarding the border was a paradise for making money.
Taking advantage of the convenience of border defense, Brother Jin first benefited from trade with the Kingdom of Jin and received various kickbacks.
If the merchants here in Xixia don't give you a kickback, they will use various reasons to detain your goods and prevent you from leaving.
After completing the primitive accumulation of capital, he also began to form a caravan and trade with the Jin people, making a lot of money.
In this process, Brother Jin did not treat his troops badly. He knew that to expand the business situation, a large amount of free manpower was needed, so he did not take advantage of free money. Instead, he led everyone to do business together, transport goods, and make money.
Over time, 70% to 80% of the foreign trade business in this area was done by Brother Jin.
After making a lot of money, Brother Jin did not forget to give Ren Dejing many benefits and various filial piety. While not forgetting his old boss, he also did not forget to give some benefits to the people around him.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he repeated his old tricks and benefited from trade with the Ming Dynasty. He continued to lead all military officers to do business with Ming merchants. It was dilapidated and the transportation of materials was difficult, so that materials were in short supply. It was difficult for soldiers to obtain non-staple food and their nutrition was unbalanced.
Su Haisheng and Han Wei thought of many ways and coordinated with many states and counties, but they could not completely solve the problem.
It is really difficult to have enough military funds and not be able to buy enough supplies.
Su Haisheng and other senior officers at the command level of the Qilu Corps were having a headache. Brother Jin took the initiative to send someone to contact them - is there anything that Daming needs? If so, we can negotiate a business.
Talking about business?
Our two armies?
Su Haisheng held a meeting with Han Wei and others, and after some discussion, they finally decided to try to negotiate business with Brother Jin to see if the problem could be solved.
As a result, the problem was really solved.
Brother Jin likes copper coins, gold and silver are also fine. As long as you give him money, he can sell you anything.
Military rations are okay, meat is okay, and fruits and vegetables that are rare in the army are okay. Even important weapons such as war horses, armor, and divine arm bows can be sold to you, as long as you give money.
Not only that, they are also responsible for transshipment. They can provide people and efforts to transport the materials to the designated locations of the Ming army, which saves a lot of things.
Mainly, Jin Ge's transshipments are all soldiers. For the officers, it is almost zero cost to do business. The soldiers are supported by the imperial army anyway, so they don't have to spend money.
The person mainly responsible for trade with Jin Ge was Han Wei, secretary of the Qilu Corps. Han Wei cooperated with the Food and Rating Department in the army, which was responsible for the transportation and distribution management of military supplies. Through transactions with Jin Ge, he raised enough supplies for the border defense army to solve the problem. This solves the problem of having money but no place to buy supplies.
Han Wei was also very curious at the time and once asked the officer in charge of the transaction at Brother Jin's side, asking them what they would do if someone from above came to check and found that their military supplies were missing.
The officer chuckled and told Han Wei that there were many ways.
For example, when the weather is dry and many places are prone to fires, they set fire to a few empty warehouses and then put the blame on the scapegoat.
Sometimes there are not enough scapegoats, so they will take the path of managers who provide supplies and stuff them with money to give them more supplies. They themselves will also falsely report their needs, and the extra parts will be traded.
Of course, the most fundamental method is to withhold soldiers' rations and other military supplies.
As long as the big-headed soldier is given a mouthful of food, he will not die of hunger. If he is hungry, he will not die of hunger if he is full. How can he still want to be full?
As long as you don't starve to death, you can trade the remaining food and military supplies with the Ming army, and what you get in exchange are copper coins, gold and silver, good things!
The life of the officers and gentlemen is really good. Even if the big-headed soldiers starve to death, it is normal, and it doesn't matter.
Make money, not shabby.
Han Wei was speechless after hearing this. After he returned, he wrote the incident in a memorandum and gave it to Su Yonglin, so that Su Yonglin could know how those officers in the feudal army who did not do things in the world did things in the underworld.
Su Yonglin was quite speechless when he learned about it, so he sent a letter to the Privy Council, asking the Privy Council to pay special attention to these matters, and the Audit Department of the Privy Council to pay special attention to this matter.
Whenever there is an audit of military supplies, I will check it with all my might. If I find it, it is a great achievement.
There are not many operations that can make Su Yonglin speechless. Brother Jin has done it, so of course his army is also a sieve, and it will be destroyed at a glance.
When the Ming army threatened Youzhou, he picked up the drunk Ren Deren without saying a word and started to move in at a very fast speed.
Han Wei chased and chased, but couldn't catch up, so he had no choice but to give up. After sorting out the local seizures, he continued to march, with the goal of Xiping Mansion, an important town in Xixia.
The two Ming armies quickly penetrated the Xixia border defenses and began to march towards the core of Xixia in the Ningxia Plain. When all this reached Ren Dejing's ears, Ren Dejing even thought that the war had not begun yet, but was just a prelude.
At that time, Ren Dejing was still angry about Ren Chunzhong's investigation results and felt that the border army needed a major reorganization to restore its combat effectiveness. However, the war had indeed progressed to the middle stage.
Ren Dejing was so shocked that he didn't even have time to ask why the Ming Dynasty launched the attack so quickly. He also didn't bother to scold the two losers Ren Deren and Ren Chunzhong for why they failed to fulfill their duties and quickly mobilized their troops.
However, this battle has just begun, and Xixia is about to be beaten to the capital by the Ming army.
In fact, the Xia Kingdom was not that good at the beginning. In the early and middle stages of Li Yuanhao's reign, the Xia Army could even fight the two great kingdoms of Song and Liao at a 50-50 draw with its powerful force. However, after Li Yuanhao's death, the Xia Army no longer had a strong fighting capacity.
By the time of Shenzong Zhezong of the Song Dynasty, the Song army even had the feat of opening the Xihe River. The Xia army was suppressed and beaten by the Song army. They suffered successive defeats, lost important barriers, and suffered a lot of losses in the country.
If the Jin army had not succeeded in marching south, Xixia would have been crushed to death by the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the end, the country was small and the people were tired, and the country's bearing capacity was too low. It was no match for big countries like the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom.
So Su Yonglin once speculated, and finally believed that the reason why Xixia was able to dominate in that era, in addition to Li Yuanhao's relatively strong personal ability, was the result of the excellent matching mechanism of the East Asia region in the first half of the eleventh century...
Without this excellent matching mechanism, Xixia really has nothing left.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the Ming army was pushed into the core area of rule more than ten days after the war began, and even the capital was threatened.
