The autumn of the 20th year of Wanli was indeed an eventful year. The first war to destroy the Yuan Dynasty had just begun. Yang Yinglong in the southwest took advantage of the situation and raised troops to rebel. Immediately afterwards, there was a mutiny and riot by the Cao army in the tax-rich southeast.
And then, the battle situation in the three directions was far from ideal. First, Fa Yuan's several armies traveled a long way without finding the whereabouts of the Tumen army, and even the entire Chahar tribe of nearly 400,000 people were missing.
Originally, the large Chahar army could be found, and there could be no clues. However, the main task of the army's expedition was to find the main force of the Chahar army for a decisive battle, so all the troops could only continue fighting for this purpose.
However, this goal was not actually achieved. In such a large area of thousands of miles, the Chahar cavalry could rely on high mobility to come and go freely between the gaps between several armies. In the end, the Ming army still let the Chahar cavalry The golden cicada escaped from its shell and successfully escaped.
The only result of the war was probably to regain the lost territory and take over all the vast left-wing Mongolian grasslands including Chahar Khan Court and Chahanhot. If this achievement is considered solely in terms of "opening up territory and expanding territory", it can almost be called a masterpiece - the area of territory opening up and expanding territory is equivalent to the combined area of Beizhili and Shanxi. Considering that the opponent is Mongolia, Ming Dynasty's number one enemy since the founding of the country, it would be unreasonable not to give this credit to a prince.
However, the Ming court was not just a fool. The territory of the Mongols and the territory of the Ming Dynasty were two different things. They are not farmers. If they leave today, they can come back tomorrow, and the grassland will still be the same grassland. Fighting in the Central Plains can cut off each other's millet and wheat, but what can you do to the Mongols to cut off the prairie?
Don't be ridiculous, even if you burn the wasteland, it won't be completely burned. Haven't you heard that "wildfires never burn out, but spring breezes blow them again"? When people are away, if you come over and light a wildfire, it will make it difficult for their horses, cattle and sheep to gain weight this fall. But now it's clear that we won't be here to enjoy the autumn this year. After the fire is burned, the grass will grow better than before due to the moisture of inorganic nutrients.
And this truth is not difficult to understand. Although Mingren doesn’t know what inorganic nutrients are, any farmer knows similar truths. In the era without chemical fertilizers, many farmers would burn platycodon from rice and other crops to fertilize their fields. This is common sense. In the previous life, Gao Pragmatic was seen a lot in the countryside when he was a child. In this life, it is the same in Xinzheng and Guangxi. Countless.
Therefore, as long as Chahar's army is not annihilated, this battle will not be over. Even if the latest news obtained by the court now indicates that Tumen Khan may have fled to Tumote, and the original "Chahar Grassland" was fully occupied by the army, it would not be considered a real victory.
However, although the court understands this truth, it seems that many people do not. For example, many newspapers and periodicals in the capital published front pages or even extras, trumpeting that the army had completely occupied the left-wing Mongolian grassland and had forced Can Yuan into a corner. He had no choice but to go to the Ming Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom - which was the area under the jurisdiction of Tumut.
According to them, this wave, this wave is when Chahar has no choice but to fight to the death with Tumut. Although the Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state of Tumut, he can sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and the snipe and the clam compete for the fisherman's victory. profit.
Of course, these newspapers are not really that naive. They do this just because the capital group behind them is the Sea Trade Alliance, or even Jinghua itself. It is said that the butt determines the head. Of course, if you can blow, you must blow. If you cannot blow, you must create conditions.
As a result, ordinary people in the capital did not know the whole story and really thought that the situation in the north of the Great Wall was excellent. Especially when they heard that Xiao Ruxun of the Liaodong Army did not even need to participate in the pursuit, but returned to Chahanhot to garrison, it attracted many people in the capital to set off firecrackers in front of their homes to celebrate.
This situation was also reported to His Majesty the Emperor in the palace by Dongchang. After hearing this, Zhu Yijun was very calm. He thought about it without feeling happy or worried, and said: "Although it is not a complete victory, after all, the capture of Chahanhot is indeed a fact. It is reasonable for the people to celebrate, so I don’t need to interfere.”
It is not surprising that the emperor has such an attitude. After all, this battle is the product of his concept of reviving the Ming Dynasty. Although this battle is far from over, public support is much better than opposition. After all, this also adds to his prestige invisibly, and he has no reason to object to celebrating.
However, the Xin School was very nervous about this. Even with such a big event as the Cajun riot, the emperor did not stop supporting Gao Pragmatic in the war against Yuan Dynasty, let alone recall him. This was obviously not in the interests of the Xin School. Nowadays, the people in the capital have been deceived by newspapers and magazines into thinking that victory is in sight, which invisibly sets a thinking framework for everyone.
What frame of mind? This framework is: the Ming Dynasty is about to win a great victory against the Yuan Dynasty. Anyone who sings the opposite tune at this time must be a traitor.
This obviously made the Xin School officials a little embarrassed, because since the Cajun riot, almost all the officials in the court who advocated "reconciling foreign affairs must first settle the internal affairs" were from the Xin School. These people have always advocated that the attack on the Yuan should be put on hold for the time being, and the Cajun riot in the southeast and the Bozhou rebellion in the southwest should be calmed down first, and then it would not be too late to destroy the Yuan when there is nothing internal. This is the so-called "governing all nations from within China." It is also.
However, now that the people in the capital are doing this, the Xin School has become very passive. Originally, the reason why officials from the so-called "Moral Realism" school were able to gain a foothold in the imperial court was largely due to the support of a lot of public opinion - no matter how these public opinions came from, there was anyway.
But now, the people in the capital believe that the victory of the battle against Yuan is in sight. Whoever jumps out to oppose at this time and fails to destroy the residual Yuan will definitely become a sinner of the Ming Dynasty and a sinner of the world. He will be poked wherever he goes. Backbone, this is too bad.
As for whether the current war situation can be regarded as "victory is in sight", there are not many Gong Gong of the Xin School who understand military affairs, so there are some internal disputes.
Some officials believe that the victory of this battle is certain. Instead of jumping out now to oppose the continued attack, it is better to accept this reality and think about how to avoid being suppressed by the powerful real school in the next confrontation.
Another group of officials insisted that the current war situation was not considered a victory at all. Although Gaowu Shi seemed to occupy the entire Chahar grassland, as long as the Chahar people and the Chahar army did not suffer much losses, they would still be able to win. May come back at any time.
Some of these officials even believe that although the current situation seems to have forced the Chahar people to give up even their "ancestral land", the Chahar army's entry into Tumote may be a serious problem. It may not be as simple as the official army and the Tumut army joining forces to strangle him. There are still many variables.
Some people believe that although Tumote is known as powerful, as the core of King Shunyi's main force, Western Post not only lost a lot of troops last year, but this time most of them were mobilized to follow Ma Gui north to Transkalkha. This means that At this moment, the interior of Tumut was relatively empty.
Tumut claimed to have one hundred thousand cavalry under his command, but this statement was originally flawed. The one hundred thousand cavalry actually included the subordinates of ten thousand households in Ordos that they had been able to mobilize in the past.
Ordos Wanhu helped Kuaibai during the Northwest Rebellion, but was defeated by Gao Pangshi with lightning speed, and lost some men and horses. Now the overall strength is not as good as before, and the total number may be more than 30,000.
Tumut also suffered some losses last year, and the number of troops it can maintain is about 60,000, which is not much different from Chahar's own troops. This time, Gao Pragmatic mobilized them. Tumut sent 40,000 troops and Ordos sent 20,000 troops. This means that there are only about 20,000 troops in the vast Tumed headquarters territory, which can be described as extremely empty.
In this way, Chahar's headquarters entering Tumote can be seen to a certain extent as using a concentrated army of 60,000 to attack the relatively scattered 20,000 Tumute army. As long as a quick victory can be achieved, not only the so-called pincer attack Strangulation is simply impossible to achieve, and Tumut may face catastrophe.
Accordingly, these Xinxue school officials believe that the key now is whether Gao Pragmatic's westward advance is fast enough. If his army pursues him fast enough, Chahar's move to abandon Chahanhot and go straight to Tumote may have really cost him his wife and troops. Not only did he lose his ancestral land and horse farm, but he also failed to weaken Tumote. Special, I am afraid that they will really be strangled by the alliance soon.
On the other hand, if Gao Pragmatic's westward march is not fast enough and Chahar defeats the 20,000 people left behind by Tumote - especially if Guihua City can be breached, then Tumen's loss of Chahanhot will most likely be lost in the wealthy country. Tumut made up for it.
As for how the next battle will turn out, it's hard to say for the time being, but in any case, as long as Tumen can "have a good meal" in naturalization, there is still hope for how the next battle will turn out. At the same time, once Tumote suffers a huge loss such as losing his naturalization, not only Tumute may become alienated from the court, but it will also be a huge blow to the prestige of Gao Pragmatic, who is single-handedly in charge of this war, and may affect many things in the future. .
The Real School was able to hold the real power of the court for more than 20 years. The late emperor's trust in Gao Gong was only the foundation. The success of Anda's tribute and the victory of the Monan War were undoubtedly the two real pillars.
The success of Anda's tribute established the political status of Gao Gong, Guo Pu, and Zhang Siwei, the three chief assistants of the Real School. The victory in the Monan War was the prestige foundation for Gao Pragmatic to successfully take over the real power of the Real School.
Either of these two things is related to Tumut. Therefore, looking at it conversely, if there is a problem with Tumut, especially if his political stance changes, then the high pragmatic authority and reputation will be seriously shaken.
Gao Pragmatic does not unify the Real School. I believe that once such a prestige is shaken, Xu Guo and Shen Li will never let go of such a good opportunity. When their Real School is in civil strife, can't the Self-Heart School take advantage of the troubled waters to fish in troubled waters? Not to mention being able to bring down His Majesty the Emperor's classmate in one fell swoop, but tearing off a few pieces of flesh from his body shouldn't be a big problem, right?
After some debate, this school of thought gradually gained the upper hand, so the topic gradually turned to "how to slow down the march of high pragmatism."
Apart from the almost impossible method of asking the emperor to issue an order, the simplest way to slow down the march of the frontline troops or simply stop them is to use their hands and feet in terms of supplies.
Unfortunately, this matter is currently extremely difficult for the Heart School. After all, Gao Pragmatic himself is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and he knows much better than the officials of the Xin School who have no influence on whether there is a shortage of food in the rear, and there is no way he can fool him.
If it were in the past, the Xinxue School would have had another option, and that would be to find a solution through the Ministry of Works - the Ministry of Works was often responsible for assisting in the transportation of military rations. Although the Ministry of War is in charge of this matter, the Ministry of Works may be in charge of many civilians, so it can also play a role in it.
One of the simplest methods is to deliberately cause resentment among the people, or even stir up commotion, which will naturally lead to supply interruption.
However, Gao Pragmatic had already taken precautions and did not ask the Ministry of Industry to assist in transporting grain this time. The task of transporting military grain within the Great Wall was directly handed over to the Production and Construction Corps controlled by the nobles, and the Ministry of Industry could not get involved.
As for the outside of the Great Wall, I really don’t want to mention it, because this part was taken over by the Jinghua Trading Company - if the hands of the Heart School can reach into the Jinghua Trading Company, then the power under Gao Pragmatic’s hands will really become a colander, how can it be done? Is it worth all of you gentlemen to spend so much time and make your heads swell at every turn?
Things have reached this point, and everyone finally reached a consensus, but ended up getting stuck on how to implement it. Even if the Xinxue masters refused to admit it, they couldn't help but feel a little cold in their hearts: Gao pragmatism is a very guarded person.
However, no matter how tight Gao Pangshi's defenses are, he has to find a way out now. Otherwise, if Tumen's army catches up with Guihua before he captures it, then the entire battle against Yuan will surely be over - - Even the masters of Xinxue don't think Tumen can fight back - it will be too late to regret it by then.
The entire flower hall was silent, and you could hear the drop of a needle. Even the officials present at the meeting all pride themselves on their talents and wisdom, but faced with the high pragmatism of taking care of all related matters single-handedly, they are too clever to make a meal without straw, and they really can't think of any clever ideas.
Shen Shixing's strength has never been about ingenious ideas. Apart from reading and taking exams, his specialty lies mainly in his all-around skills. This is more about interpersonal skills. He is known for his outstanding coordination ability. At this time, he can only look around at everyone. , I hope everyone present can put forward any good suggestions.
However, he looked around again and again, but no one said anything. Everyone was either frowning or sighing. They were all like eggplants beaten by frost, with no energy at all.
In the end, it was Wang Xijue who stood up and said in a voice so low that it was almost hoarse: "As for the explanation, I can barely have one here in the Pavilion, but I don't know if you can afford to sacrifice one... to control the army."
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