Chapter 368 367 A Little Proud

The north gate of Bansheng City, defended by Datong Town guerrilla general Xu Qin, was finally opened by Li Zixin's surprise attack at any cost. Li Zixin led the cavalry to rush to the north gate and opened the north gate that had been closed by the Ming army.

He had also received orders from Yu Dayou before to set fire to the houses in the city. However, Xu Qin, who was greedy for the goods in the houses, only set fire to the houses near the city gate instead of continuing to burn the houses inside. To be honest, there were not many enemy troops here. , most of Bansheng's troops were sent to Nancheng to resist the enemy.

It was because of their greed for wealth that the Ming army in this northern expedition missed one of the most important military achievements, which was to capture or kill the important bandit leader of the White Lotus Sect.

Although the cavalry led by Li Zixin successfully escaped from Bansheng City, there were only about 20 cavalry left with him at this time, and the thing that worried him the most happened.

They broke through the city gate, but as the Ming troops from both sides of the city walls continued to come to support, the passage was quickly blocked again. The family members and other men behind them were unable to break out, and were all blocked in the city. .

At this time, there was still a fierce battle in Beimen City. As Yu Dayou led his troops to kill, the battle ended quickly.

Looking at Xu Qin who had committed a serious crime, Yu Dayou just shook his head and said, "Set fire and burn all these houses. You lead people to guard the north gate. If anyone comes out of the city, you will kill them yourself."

Although Liu Han had an explanation for the Ming generals who followed him here, as a prisoner, it was difficult for Yu Dayou to punish the generals in Datong Town at this time, let alone enforce battlefield discipline.

Perhaps, if this was Zhejiang when he was the commander-in-chief, he would not hesitate to kill Xu Qin on the spot for refusing to carry out military orders.

When Yu Dayou led his troops to kill them, many rebels fled into the houses on both sides. Naturally, the Ming army did not bother to clear them out, and simply and crudely set fire to them.

After making arrangements here, Yu Dayou immediately took people back to the palace and began to count and move the belongings in the palace.

The bulky things are naturally difficult to take away, and of course they will not be left intact. Only things that are easy to carry and can be carried by pack horses are the things they need to take away.

Finally, he set another fire and completely turned the entire Bansheng City into a sea of ​​flames.

The Ming army still patrolled the city's avenues and walls in small groups, and immediately set fire to unlit houses. In short, Yu Dayou did not intend to leave here with the remaining rockets and torches.

After moving supplies and counting the harvest all night long, they finally began to face the results of the raid on Bansheng City.

I was very disappointed that no White Lotus sect bandit leader was caught or killed.

The identity of the person who finally rushed out of the city was also confirmed. What could Yu Dayou do besides sigh with regret?

While Yu Dayou was fighting people to death in Bansheng City, in a restaurant thousands of miles away in the capital, Wei Guangde was having a great time drinking and talking with people.

"I thought the plan to sneak attack on the Hetao was missed by His Majesty. I didn't expect it. I didn't expect it."

Gao Gong raised his glass in toast to Wei Guangde, then drank the wine in one gulp, wiped the corners of his mouth with his hand, and said with unfinished meaning.

"hehe."

Wei Guangde sat aside and said with a smile: "There has been no news about the memorial. I thought the same thing as you."

"To say that this strategy of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao is ingenious, as the memorial said, as long as the Jizhen army firmly defends the Great Wall within the Juyongguan line, and the Xuanfu army clears the country and defends the city, the Tatars can completely overturn Xuanfu, as long as they can destroy the Hetao It would not be a loss if the area was wiped out by him.

You beat yours, and I'll beat mine. If you come to my Xuan Mansion to plunder, I'll clean up the river for you.

Our Ming Dynasty family has a great business, and we can still afford to lose a town in Xuanfu. The Tatars in the north have no cattle and sheep in the Hetao. Let’s see how they survive the winter this year, haha, okay. "

Yin Shizhen said with a smile, obviously appreciating Wei Guangde's strategy.

"The most important thing is that after this battle, if the Tatars want to be so aggressive in the future, they have to think about where to hide their sheep, haha."

Chen Yiqin also put his hands on his hands and said with a smile, Wei Guangde's strategy was good, and fortunately he found a counterattack strategy to deal with the Tatar army's surprise attack.

If you attack me on the east road, I will send the army on the west route to attack the grassland. If you want to attack me on the west road, I will use the east road. Whether it is Liaodong Town or Xuanda Town, you can enter the grassland to attack the opponent.

As for the small fights between hundreds or thousands of people on the border, it is nothing to the officials in the capital.

In their eyes, as long as the Tatars did not gather tens of thousands of troops to attack and were not enough to threaten the safety of the capital, they could actually not worry about it.

"Early this morning, when I was still on my way to the Yamen, I was stopped by someone from the cabinet. They took me to the cabinet to see Mr. Xu Ge. He said that the previous memorial had been sent to Xiyuan, and that His Majesty still attached great importance to it. He wanted to do it at that time. He called for Jiu Qing's court discussion, but was stopped by Mr. Yan Ge.

It is said that the reason he said was the same as what you and I said. Whenever military and state affairs are involved in the court, it is best to be cautious and avoid the news from spreading. "

Having said this, Gao Gong glanced at Wei Guangde and then continued: "So His Majesty just asked Da Sima to go to Xiyuan to learn in detail the length of the response strategy and his complementary method, and finally decided to follow this strategy. Come and do it.

The actual executor was Da Sima, and Mr. Yan Ge and him were asked to assist. "

"So, the only ones who knew about this before this were His Majesty, the two elders and Yang Shangshu?"

Chen Yiqin asked.

"That should be the case, but the effect is really good. At least the news came out this morning. Everyone was surprised, weren't they? Haha."

Gao Gong seemed to be laughing heartily, but Wei Guangde felt that it was a bit fake, and that he was smiling but not smiling.

"Haha. Indeed, I heard at noon that the gentlemen from the Ministry of War rushed to the Yamen last night and were so noisy when they saw the note handed back by Yang Shangshu. Some people were planning to go to Xiyuan to see His Majesty. Fortunately, it was suppressed and the quick text was sent out overnight."

Yin Shizhen said with a smile.

Just early this morning, the news that the Ministry of Defense had detained the customs three days ago began to spread in the capital. At the same time, there were multiple official documents issued by the Ministry of War last night and early this morning.

Different from the previous news uploaded to the court, the Ministry of War did not order the Jizhen army and Yansui and Ningxia towns to rush to the aid of Xuanfu. Instead, it ordered the Jizhen army to guard the Juyongguan line of the Great Wall and not to leave the pass to assist in the war.

At the same time, he spent 800 miles to rush to send orders to Yansui and Ningxia towns, and immediately mobilized troops to go north to sweep away the Tatar tribes in the Hetao area.

It should be said that the Ming Dynasty has not issued an order to border towns in the form of an imperial edict to enter the desert to recruit prisoners for many years. It seems that after Tumu Fort, after the Ming Dynasty shifted from offensive to defensive against the northern Tatars, there was almost no such order. issue.

Although there were generals who took the initiative to attack when they saw the opportunity, or went out to raid for goods, they all fought independently and were not under the command of the imperial court.

The last time someone proposed the Northern Expedition was Zeng Xian, the former governor of Xuanda.

At this time, it seems that everyone's instinctive idea in facing the Tatar attack is to hold on to the wall and clear the country, and just hold on to the city. They don't even think about whether they should also fight out, just like in the early Ming Dynasty.

After Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang determined the world, because the Northern Yuan Dynasty had been staying in the border areas, and in view of the lessons learned from the Yanyun Sixteen States gained and lost within two years during the Northern Song Dynasty, he decided to conquer the North to destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty, thus starting the second consecutive period of the Ming Dynasty. More than ten Northern Expeditions.

During Zhu Yuanzhang's reign alone, he launched thirteen consecutive Northern Expeditions in an attempt to completely eliminate the remaining forces of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. The most famous of them was the Seventh Northern Expedition.

In the 21st year of Hongwu's reign, the Ming army detected that Emperor Tuogu Si Timur of Tianyuan was fishing in the sea, so Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Lan Yu to lead an army of 150,000 people to take the opportunity to expedition to the north in an attempt to destroy Yuanting.

Lan Yu marched urgently towards the location of the Yuan Emperor, launched a surprise attack, and defeated the Yuan army. Tuogu Si Timur was killed by his subordinates while fleeing. Lan Yu captured more than 70,000 people under the Bei Yuan clan, including precious seals, books, gold and silver. There were countless seals and baggage, and the Northern Yuan Dynasty had basically collapsed. From then on, Mongolia began to fall into continuous internal strife.

After that, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, also made five expeditions to the north of Mongolia. Although the results were not great, he still had a very positive impact on the Ming Dynasty because he took the initiative to attack and defend the enemy from outside.

Once upon a time, the Ming Dynasty had not issued such an order for the Northern Expedition for so many years.

Although the decree this time was completely different from that of the past, it also caused a great sensation in the court.

Although civil servants had to discuss it privately, they felt that it was inappropriate to let the frontier troops go on the Northern Expedition, which would once again increase the arrogance of the nobles and generals, because the Northern Expedition meant military merit, and the court could not treat the city harshly.

After so many years, the emperor was unwilling to send troops to the north, and the civil servants collectively opposed the initiative to use troops against the north. Not only because the Ming army behind Tumubao was completely different from what it was before, and its combat power was really uneasy, but also because They are worried that the Wuxun Group will resurrect and take advantage of the situation.

But such voices were quickly suppressed.

Most of the officials in high positions in the capital now have experienced the incident where the Andu Department attacked their homes ten years ago. Thinking of the shock that shocked the entire capital, it still leaves a shadow in the hearts of these officials.

The Gengxu Revolution in the 29th year of Jiajing's reign shattered not only Emperor Jiajing's dream of a prosperous age, but also those of his courtiers.

In the following years, although Emperor Jiajing came up with the idea of ​​​​revenge on the Northern Expedition from time to time, the fearful courtiers always pushed back, so Emperor Jiajing had no choice but to give up his idea.

The courtiers had no desire for revenge, but reality was stronger than the people. The most important thing was that they could not find civilian officials who could command the troops.

Yes, if they want to lead the Northern Expedition, they must be led by civilian officials and command the generals on the expedition, but the reality is that they cannot find such a person.

Yang Bo could barely do it, but after checking his pockets again, he found that the court had no money, so he might as well forget it.

Endure the calm for a while, take a step back and the sky will be brighter.

Along with the news of dispatching troops from two towns to sweep the Loop, there was of course information about the initiator of this plan.

It was actually Wei Guangde.

In the past few years, Wei Guangde has become a rising official in the court. Although his official position and rank are not high, he seems to have gained unexpected favor from Emperor Jiajing. The emperor will always think of him in almost everything. .

This inevitably made other officials feel dissatisfied, but at this time everyone restrained themselves very well and did not show it.

They all passed the examination in Hanchuang ten years, why is it that you, Jian, are the only ones in the emperor's heart?

Since you, a stupid young man in his twenties, dare to think and act, let me let you shine.

If you win, you will be promoted to a higher position, but if you lose, your reputation will be ruined. Then we will help step in and teach you a few words for your father.

Perhaps because they are used to calling around military households, civil servants generally look down on those obedient soldiers. They are all bloodless soldiers who deserve to be ordered around by scholar-bureaucrats like them.

Therefore, the current military households of the Ming Dynasty are not only despised by the Mongols, but also by the civil officials.

Naturally, in their view, how can such soldiers defeat the vicious barbarians in the north.

As for Wei Guangde, he was drunk again tonight, lying on the carriage and letting Li San drive the carriage to his home.

At this time, Wei Guangde was still a little excited. Although the strategy was improved by Yang Bo, it was not changed in general.

As for the news heard during the day and the so-called loopholes heard from Gao Gong, Wei Guangde actually thought of it, but he still insisted on his judgment until now, that is, Altan Khan's tens of thousands of troops were not qualified to attack Beijing.

Just kidding, although history is a bit idiotic, Wei Guangde still knows that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Jiannu would block the pass as if it were commonplace. Every two or three years, they would break into the Great Wall and plunder around the capital, and even seemed to have fought as far as Shandong.

In Wei Guangde's impression, it seems that the guy named Dorgon in the Qing Dynasty captured a prince in Shandong, but there are three princes in Shandong now, namely Prince Lu, Prince De and Prince Heng. Wei Guangde couldn't tell who was so unlucky to be captured by the pigtail army.

Among them, Prince Lu was an important prince among the princes of the Ming Dynasty, because Prince Lu was the first batch of princes to be enfeoffed in the Ming Dynasty. The first generation of Prince Lu was Zhu Tan, the tenth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. When he was enfeoffed as Prince Lu, he was less than fifty days old and still in his infancy. His fiefdom was Yanzhou.

Prince De was slightly worse. He was the second son of Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen of the Ming Dynasty and the younger brother of Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen of the Ming Dynasty. He was enfeoffed as Prince De in the first year of Tianshun. His fiefdom was originally in Dezhou, Shandong, but Dezhou was relatively poor, so he was changed to Jinan, and his fiefdom title remained unchanged.

Prince Heng was the seventh son of Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen of the Ming Dynasty. He was enfeoffed as Prince Heng in the 23rd year of Chenghua and became a fiefdom in Qingzhou in the 13th year of Hongzhi.

Think about it, how powerful the Wild Boar Skin was at that time, and the troops that entered the pass every time should be equal to the total force of the Altan Khan, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

But in Wei Guangde's impression, the Jiannu never seemed to attack the capital.

It seemed that they really reached the wall of Beijing, not like Altan Khan, who retreated a few dozen miles away from the capital.

The Jiannu did not dare to attack Beijing, so would Altan Khan have a chance with his troops?

However, Wei Guangde could only think about these in his heart, but he dared not say them out loud.

Just like when Gao Gong talked to him about this matter that day, Wei Guangde only vaguely agreed to it.

How dare he talk about the future.