War started in Ningxia.
For five or six days in a row, there was a large-scale deployment of troops and horses. People from all walks of life in Ningxia seemed to be actively mobilized. Yang Yiqing initially showed an extraordinary level of mobilization ability.
But after the war started, as time progressed, the results of the battles everywhere were a bit "unsatisfactory."
"Anbianhou's men encountered the main Tatar force sixty miles west of the Ningxia Guard Station. The two sides briefly fought. Anbianhou's troops lost more than 60 people. The artillery did not penetrate into the Tatar camp, and there was no first success. .”
"Anbianhou withdrew to Bianqiang Fort. The Tatars were afraid that this would be a ploy to lure the enemy deeper, so they withdrew eighty miles to the north. Anbianhou then led his troops to the south."
…
In general.
Zhu Feng lost the battle.
It's not that he is incompetent, it's that the Ming Dynasty's army is not strong enough. The total number of troops can only be dispatched by four thousand people, and the Tatars are dispatched in units of ten thousand.
Moreover, the other party does not want to fight in a group with you. They know that your artillery is powerful and that you can lay "mine arrays" of yellow gunpowder. However, this yellow gunpowder must be ignited. The Tatars just won't sneak into your ambush. , you didn’t do anything either.
So that Zhu Feng was defeated and retreated to the fortress in the border town, almost falling into a tight siege. Fortunately, the Tatars felt that this was "luring the enemy deeper", or they felt that Zhu Feng was not so bad and might have some powerful back-ups. When withdrawing troops, they did not just withdraw three to five miles to prepare for fighting again, but directly withdraw eighty miles north...
Only then did Zhu Feng's main troops turn the corner.
After Zhu Feng escaped from danger, he did not come to Ningxia Town, but went south...
This also shows that Zhu Feng is not very confident in fighting the main Tatar force. Now it is Zhu Feng, the famous "God of War", who avoids the battle.
Even Zhu Feng avoided fighting, let alone the soldiers elsewhere.
…
The residence of Yansui Town is also the residence of the trilateral general system.
The news of Zhu Feng's defeat, although suppressed by Yang Yiqing, still reached Qin Hong.
After Qin Hong saw the battle report, all he thought was...this battle was impossible to fight.
"I will report immediately and request your Majesty to dispatch troops and horses from Datong, Pianguan and other places to rush to the three sides to prevent the Tatars from going deep." What Qin Hong is thinking about now is not whether Yang Yiqing can take advantage of the initiative. .
What he was thinking about was that there wouldn't be any big surprises on the three sides.
In other words, even if Emperor Yanling wanted to take the initiative to fight, Qin Hong judged the situation and believed that this battle must be held.
…
…
The news reached Piantou Pass.
As the governor of Pianguan, Wang Qiong was responsible for controlling military affairs from Pianguan to Taiyuan and other places. When he learned that Zhu Feng had suffered a setback in Ningxia, he also realized that Yang Yiqing was a bit "paper talk".
"Lord Zhongcheng, if this continues, Anbian Hou will have no choice but to hide in Tibet. The Tatars may find that he is unable to fight at any time and besiege him."
Even Wang Qiong's general, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yao Shun, also noticed that there was a big problem with Yang Yiqing's tactics.
Wang Qiong shook his head and said: "If anyone else had gone there, this battle would not have been fought according to His Majesty's wishes. The little Tatar prince attacked with all his strength this time and only attacked Ningxia, because he saw that the terrain of Ningxia was difficult to attack. We can only hold on. And there are defects everywhere in the pass... The most terrible thing... the Tatars have obtained six or seven artillery pieces from our Daming border town..."
What worried Wang Qiong happened.
The Ming Dynasty repeatedly used artillery to frighten the grassland tribes. Although the little Tatar prince Batu Meng had not imitated it, he captured the Ming Dynasty's artillery in several previous confrontations.
Together with the captured artillery shells, local firearms suppression has been achieved.
The Tatars even used the captured artillery to attack fortresses. This was easier to find targets than using cannons in the wild. With a specific attack direction, the effectiveness of the artillery could be maximized.
"Your Majesty, Pianguan is willing to mobilize troops to assist Ningxia." Wang Qiong felt that he could not ignore this little brother Zhu Feng.
Moreover, Wang Qiong has "lofty ideals". Regardless of whether he can get specific official positions as minister or minister in the court, he must at least establish his own prestige in the northwest. The governor of Pianguan is always too marginalized and cannot get the mainstream of the court. With the approval of civil servants, he hoped that he could become a trilateral general and take over Qin Hong's place in charge of major military affairs in the northwest.
If you don't want to be the governor of the general system, you are not a good military man.
…
…
The war situation in the northwest is tense, and news is constantly reaching the capital.
But most of the battle situations have been hidden by various places in the northwest.
When various parties in Ningxia encountered setbacks, they did not report to Yang Yiqing, the governor of Ningxia Town; when Yang Yiqing found out that he had failed, he tried his best not to report to the Tripartite General System; in order to ensure the stability of the northwest, Qin Hong did not make people feel distracted. , even if you have a failure, you will not report it to the capital...
Then the news that Zhu Youtang knew was only what the generals guarding the area below thought they could report to the court.
But even so, Zhu Youtang could feel that the situation in the northwest had not improved because Zhu Feng and Yang Yiqing arrived in Ningxia, but had even worsened a lot.
Xiao Jing said: "Your Majesty, judging from the known military situation in Ningxia, it is indeed difficult to achieve results by attacking. The Tatars also know the power of Ming artillery and will no longer charge the camp of the Ming army with heavy cavalry. The two sides are at odds. , the Ming soldiers will fall into passivity."
Zhu Youtang frowned and said: "Then there hasn't been a formal battle until now? Why did Zhijie and the main force of the little Tartar prince talk about it in just a few words?"
Xiao Jing wondered: "Maybe the two sides retreated without direct contact."
"Since the Tatars retreated, why didn't Zhijie pursue them? With the power of artillery, are we still afraid of the Tatars coming back? Isn't this what Bingkuan said before, that we must eliminate all evil?" Zhu Youtang was a little angry.
The Tatars retreat, and you, Zhu Feng, retreat too. What does this mean?
Deliberately not having direct contact?
What the emperor didn't know was that Zhu Feng withdrew his troops because the Ming side suffered a heavy loss in this battle, while the Tatars suffered little loss.
When Yang Yiqing reported the report, his words were very "tactful" like those of the generals who used troops in the northwest, that is, he only wrote the beginning and the result, not the process. At the same time, he did not report the losses of both sides, but just brushed it off.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty's past achievements in the northwest, especially its first achievements, were often achieved at a cost many times greater than the Tatars.
Even Wang Yue's victory at Helan Mountain was the same.
It was not until Wang Yue's battle at Pianguan that this situation was reversed, and the Ming Dynasty's losses were much lower than those of the Tatars.
Zhu Feng just brought out the normal state of foreign war in the northwest, that is to say...if you can't defeat, you will die. After the death of the people, morale will be low, and you will have to retreat. This is also to prevent the Tatars from taking advantage of the victory to pursue them.
From the emperor's point of view, it seemed that Zhu Feng was deliberately avoiding the battle.
"Without Bingkuan, what would have happened?" Seeing that Xiao Jing couldn't explain why, Zhu Youtang angrily pushed down a pile of memorials.
Wei Bin on the other side could only silently pick up the scattered memorials and rearrange them.
Zhu Youtang asked: "Is there any news from Liaodong?"
Xiao Jing said: "Your Majesty, I don't know, slave, but the news from Liaodong is that Uncle Xin Xin wants to use slaves to attack the grassland with Dusi's troops and horses?"
"Yes." Zhu Youtang answered directly.
Only then did Xiao Jing get the news, and he didn't even know how many people in the court knew about it. He also didn't know whether the emperor had an issue with Zhou Jing when he asked Zhou Jing, the Minister of Revenue, about the allocation of money and food from the Ministry of Revenue.
Xiao Jing said: "Uncle Xin Xin has not made any report recently, and Liaodong has not mentioned anything about the mobilization of soldiers and horses from Nuer Gandu Division."
"Sending troops in secret is naturally not suitable for outsiders to know." Zhu Youtang said, "I previously issued a secret decree to inform Uncle Xin Xin that he would only ask me if he encounters trouble. It seems that he dispatched troops smoothly, even with food, grass and The baggage has also been replenished, so there is no trouble with me."
When Xiao Jing heard this, he was thinking about it.
If there is no news, is it considered good news?
Is it too far-fetched?
If there is really no news, then why are you asking those of us who don’t know what we are doing?
Zhu Youtang stood up and said: "Once Xinjian Bo makes any progress in the east, the soldiers and horses of each town in the Ming Dynasty should cooperate to march into the grassland. This time we do not seek a big victory, but we seek to force the Tatars back. It has prevented them from invading the Ming Pass in recent years."
Xiao Jing said: "Ningxia's autumn harvest will end within the last half month."
Zhu Youtang turned back and glared at him and said: "Losing a place's money and food is a trivial matter. We must ensure that there are no major losses in the northwest in the next few years. In fact, what I want most is for Bingkuan to improve the military affairs of the three sides, and let him sit in charge and release the Tatars." No matter how brave the little prince is, he won’t dare to come.”
Xiao Jing thought to himself, Zhang Zhou is not that mysterious, right?
Can one person intimidate the Tatars?
Your Majesty, you are too idealistic!
"I also ordered Yansui and Pianguan to stop standing still and think about changes. Let them assess the situation and send out troops on their own according to the specific situation." Zhu Youtang said.
Xiao Jing said: "Your Majesty, in the Hetao area, there is still the Menggoljin tribe of Huoshan. If he... has evil intentions, I am afraid that sending troops will bring negative consequences."
Zhu Youtang said sternly: "I have long distrusted a man as ambitious as Huo Si. He has submitted to the Ming Dynasty in name. In the past two years, has he defended the border town against even a single Tatar soldier? Since he is a foreigner, People’s hearts will definitely not be on the side of the Ming Dynasty, so we can take the opportunity to destroy him, that’s fine!”
Xiao Jing was very anxious.
The emperor is too eager.
It was discovered that Huo Si did not help Daming at the critical moment. In such troubled times, he still wanted to exterminate Huo Si together?
Fire Sieve is a serious problem for the Ming Dynasty. If Huo Sieve and Batu Munch are allowed to unite, then the border areas of the Ming Dynasty will be really unlucky.
…
…
cabinet.
Liu Jian and the others compiled the battle reports of the past few days and came to the same conclusion as Qin Hong, Wang Qiong and others. That is, the further the battle in Ningxia goes, the greater the Ming Dynasty's losses will be.
"It's time to ask Your Majesty to stop this battle." Liu Jian said.
Li Dongyang reminded: "Your Majesty will not listen to such persuasion. Judging from the current dispatch of the Beijing camp, your Majesty may have a tendency to use troops in Jizhou."
His judgment was based on the reason why Zhu Youtang dispatched 10,000 troops from the capital camp to approach Jizhou.
Jizhou Town is located between the capital and Shanhaiguan, which is regarded as the defense line of the East Road of the Ming Dynasty. In the past, it was mainly used to defend against the Three Guards of Duoyan. This time, the Three Guards of Duoyan cooperated with the little Tatar prince to use troops against the Ming Dynasty. It seemed to be "revenge" for the family that was expropriated last year. ", but was quickly beaten back by the troops led by Jizhou Governor Wang Xian.
Now Duoyan Sanwei doesn't even dare to stay where Daning and others once lived.
Xie Qian said: "Binzhi, do you think that His Majesty wants to fight out of Jizhou to divert attention from the battle in Ningxia?"
Ningxia can't beat it, and neither can Batumengk, so let's close the door and hunt down the three guards of Duoyan again.
It’s almost like spanking a child at home on a rainy day.
After falling behind in Batu Mengke and losing face, he regained his face from Duoyan Sanwei.
Li Dongyang said: "According to Wang Xian's report, the three guards of Duoyan have not been close to the border of the Ming Dynasty in the past six months, even in the beginning of spring and into summer. At this time, the purpose of Jizhou's troops is unknown."
Liu Jian asked: "You don't know, and the Ministry of War doesn't know either?"
"Yeah." Li Dongyang nodded.
When the emperor used troops, it seemed that he skipped the Ministry of War and did not explain clearly to his officials why he sent 10,000 troops to Jizhou.
Xie Qian sighed: "Needless to say, it was Zhang Bingkuan who was behind the plan again. It seems to be Zhang Bingkuan's idea."
"I don't think so." Li Dongyang also denied this statement, "Zhang Bingkuan is in Nanjing. If His Majesty is of any use to him in the northern battle, he should be transferred back to Beijing in a hurry, and he will be there in six or seven days at most. It can be reached. Your Majesty has never mentioned this. Could it be that Zhang Bingkuan has more important things in Nanjing than using troops in the north?"
Liu Jian thought for a while and said with a gloomy expression: "What you said makes me feel a little strange. His Majesty does not seem to want to rely on Zhang Bingkuan in this battle, but his shadow seems to be everywhere in this battle."
Xie Qian said: "You two are really free. Tomorrow, I will ask His Majesty to dispatch troops and horses from all three sides. Even if it is just a show, we should not stand idly by."
…
…
Civil servants had no decision-making qualifications for the Ningxia War, and knew nothing about the deployment of troops in Liaodong and other places.
Ma Wensheng, who was vaguely aware of some trends and rumors, kept it secret, leaving it to the three cabinet members to guess. They would never have imagined that the emperor was going to ask Wang Shouren to mobilize troops from northern Liaoning into the grasslands to "encircle Wei and rescue Zhao" thousands of miles away. ".
No matter how you look at it, there is no timeliness.
But in Liaodong, the governor Lu Wan provided a lot of support for Wang Shouren's invasion of the grasslands.
Wang Shouren led his troops through Liaodong, and Lu Wan even went to express his condolences in person, bringing enough grain, grass and meat to Wang Shouren.
"Bo'an, if you enter the grassland like this, you may have to walk two to three thousand miles. Let me tell you from my experience that the road to the grassland is very difficult."
Lu Wan went to remind Wang Shouren as a person who had been through it.
Last year I led troops into the grassland and almost couldn't come back.
Wang Shouren said: "It was already the cold winter when we deployed troops against Wu Liangha last year, and encountering extreme weather would indeed slow down the march. It is only September now, and no matter how bad the grassland climate is, it will not be to the point where we will never return. "
Lu Wan smiled and said: "It seems that you are very confident, but you don't know how to prepare?"
Wang Shouren pointed to the military camp outside the tent and said: "Six thousand cavalry, a total of 600 light cannons, and 10,000 rounds of artillery shells. Four thousand flint muskets, 100,000 rounds of projectiles, no crossbows, only bows and arrows and short soldiers." Blade to reduce the burden of marching."
When Lu Wan heard this, he immediately felt that Wang Shouren's way of fighting was different from other people.
"Bo'an, let me ask you, when you were fighting the Jurchens, did you also use this configuration? If you gave up the heavy armor, I'm afraid..."
What Lu Wan fears most is that Wang Shouren's excessive pursuit of light soldiers will have the consequences of making a bold advance and being unable to retreat.
No matter how powerful your guns are, if the Tatars use crossbows, bows and arrows, won't your soldiers still rush into the streets?
Wang Shouren said: "When the troops in northern Liaoning were deployed, they used heavy artillery to attack fortresses, and less light artillery. But most of the ones cast by Lai Guo Gong in Yongping Mansion were light artillery. According to his opinion, in the future, If we want to march into the grasslands, light artillery is more mobile, has more uses, and is more valuable than heavy artillery. As for the flint gun... it is also used for the confrontation between the two sides on the grassland."
Only then did Lu Wan know.
It turned out that what he was interested in, or the "multi-child cannon" and "heavy artillery" that Lu Wan admired, in Zhang Zhouna's view, were just flashy "big toys".
The Tatars cannot stand there and let you fight.
When the two sides are fighting on the grassland, the most important thing is to maintain mobility. Because the long-range artillery and heavy artillery are heavy, weighing at least three to four hundred kilograms or even close to a thousand kilograms, they can only be carried in wheeled chariots and pulled by horses. , the transfer speed is very slow and is greatly affected by terrain.
On the other hand, light artillery.
The heaviest one weighs less than 100 kilograms and less than 200 kilograms. It can be carried by horses. It can be unloaded and can be directly mounted on the base and fired.
If the Tatars run away, they can also directly mount their horses and chase them.
Lu Wandao: "It seems that in this battle, you are going to use surprise and light troops to win victory over the Tatars."
"Yes." Wang Shouren did not hide this point, "After entering the grassland, fight when you encounter it. Entering the grassland from here, you do not necessarily need to leave from here. You can return your troops to any place on the nine sides and go south. If the Tatars If you dare to come, even if it means fighting to the death and annihilating the entire army, there is nothing to be afraid of. Even if he captures these cannons, he will not be able to capture our Ming Dynasty pass."
"yes."
Lu Wan couldn't help but sigh.
No matter how powerful the light artillery was, it could never directly break through the Ming Dynasty's earthen city walls and Guancheng.
Light artillery is used to fight cavalry in the field, and the effect of shotguns...
"Six hundred gates... Duke Lai Guo has already made preparations. If the little Tatar prince does not attack Ningxia, he will arrange for you to send troops to the grassland at the appropriate time." Lu Wan realized that this battle was definitely not a hasty one. rise.
If it was a passive counterattack, it would be impossible for Zhang Zhou to prepare 600 light cannons, thousands of shells, and thousands of flint muskets for Wang Shouren in a short period of time.
Wang Shouren cupped his hands and said, "I have to worry about Lu Zhongcheng for the defense of Nuergandusi and the naturalization and resettlement of the Jurchens."
"Easy to say, easy to say."
Lu Wan smiled and said, "Sometimes I really envy you young people for having the courage to fight at such a young age."
Wang Shouren naturally knew that Lu Wan envied him for being able to win Zhang Zhou's trust and get the title at such a young age.
"I also hope to have the opportunity to fight alongside Lu Zhongcheng." Wang Shouren also showed his respect for Lu Wan.
After all, Lu Wan did not make any mistakes in Liaodong, and he also helped him a lot when he collaborated with the Jurchen soldiers.
(End of chapter)
