Chapter 518 517 Liaohe Great Wall

"crunch"

The wheels of the carriage rolled on the ground, making a screeching sound. A rather gorgeous carriage passed through the city gate and entered the capital.

The carriage was followed by a group of mighty knights, showing the extraordinary status of the owner of the carriage.

Entering the streets of the capital, the ground was a little smoother, and perhaps the people on the carriage felt it. Then the curtains were gently opened, and an old face appeared in the carriage window.

The old man's face was not good, and he didn't know whether it was due to the fatigue caused by riding in the carriage for a long time or something else.

After all, although the carriage is a very luxurious means of transportation in this era, the journey time is too long and the experience is not so pleasant.

After the old man could clearly see the street outside the car, the car curtain was lowered again.

The old man on the carriage was none other than Yang Bo, the Minister of War at the time. He had just returned to the capital from Miyun. From his startling glance just now, anyone with an eye could still detect the deep worry hidden in his eyes.

Yes, it can be said that his trip to Miyun to meet with Yang Xuan, the governor of Jiliao, achieved nothing.

In his eyes, Yang Xuan believed too much in his so-called intelligence channels.

This kind of trust made him blindly believe in the so-called top-secret information sent back. Anda Khan planned to completely control the land outside the Great Wall and completely confront each other across the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, during the meeting between the two, Yang Xuan not only failed to listen to his opinions, but instead planned to continue sending Jizhen troops and horses eastward. The forwards had even left the border and entered the castle in the Western Liaoning Corridor to stand by.

Yang Xuan even requested the Ministry of War to send orders to border towns such as Xuanda and Yansui, so that after the war in Liaodong broke out, they could send elite cavalry north to sweep away the Mongolian tribes that could be seen along the way, so that Anda Khan could not concentrate all his troops. Participated in the Liaodong War.

Yang Bo knew very well that Yang Xuan wanted to complete his victory in one battle and completely eliminate the hand that An Dahan wanted to extend to the east.

According to his idea, as long as 10,000 to 20,000 Mongolian troops are killed, the Mongolians will not dare to look at the Liaodong region within decades.

At the same time, through this battle, Anda Khan's thoughts of looking south will be completely eliminated, allowing the border areas to maintain peace for a period of time.

Yang Bo understood Yang Xuan's idea, but he didn't think it was feasible.

It's a pity that Yang Xuan couldn't listen, and Yang Bo had no right to command Yang Xuan. Even when he moved out of the cabinet, it didn't help.

Returning to the capital with disappointment, the only one who can stop Yang Xuan from gambling may be the one who lives in Xiyuan.

However, Yang Bo was not sure what that person was thinking.

Yang Xuan was a minister directly picked up by Emperor Jiajing.

Yang Xuan was promoted to Jinshi in the 23rd year of Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty. He was initially awarded the rank of official, then promoted to censor, and served as the deputy military envoy of Yizhou.

In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing, Anda surrounded the right guard of Datong. Zhu Ji, the governor of Datong, was convicted and arrested. He followed the minister Jiangdong and the chief military officer Zhang Chengxun and was ordered to relieve the siege of Datong. Later, Emperor Jiajing jumped over the rank and promoted Yang to the right capital. Censor, took over Zhu Ji's position.

Regarding Yang Xuan, Yang Bo could feel Emperor Jiajing's trust in him, otherwise he would not have given him the position of Governor of Ji Liao.

However, in Yang Bo's eyes, Yang Xuan is capable, but he just likes to be clever.

On the second day after Yang Bo returned to Beijing, he went to the cabinet to communicate with Xu Jie and Yuan Wei about Ji Liao affairs.

"Weiyue, your Majesty mentioned this matter when he summoned me two days ago."

After Yang Bo revealed the results of his trip and revealed his deep worries, Xu Jie said to him.

Xu Jie's words immediately made Yang Bo energetic and wanted to know more about the details here.

From this, we can also roughly know what the emperor's thoughts are.

"His Majesty is very conflicted. He wants to cut off An Dahan's arm and teach his opponent a lesson, but he is also worried about repeating the same mistakes as before."

Xu Jie looked at Yang Bo and knew what he was thinking. He didn't show off and directly told the answer he wanted to know.

Hearing this, Yang Bo's eyes darkened.

It seems that the emperor is also in a dilemma, but as long as he has this intention in his heart, it is difficult to prevent him from making a bet and taking a gamble.

"Haha, Weiyuan, don't worry about it."

Xu Jie knew what Yang Bo was thinking when he saw his expression, and comforted him with a smile.

"It's definitely not a good thing for Ji Town's troops to move eastward."

Yang Bo lamented.

"Since you don't want the Jizhen army to leave the border, and Yang Xuan is unwilling to listen to your warning, why not just ask his subordinates to withhold a batch of grain and fodder for Jizhen, so that he can't assign the army to move eastward."

Xu Jie expressed his thoughts.

Yang Xuan can indeed command the military and horse operations in Ji Town, and he can completely ignore the orders of the Ministry of War or even the cabinet. However, there is one thing that he has to be restrained by the court, that is, Ji Town is a border town, and he relies on the food and grass raised from his territory. There is no way to support military operations.

In fact, the imperial court also used this to contain the armies in various towns.

You must know that Jiubian soldiers and horses have been at war with the northern grassland peoples for a long time, and their soldiers are the strongest in the Ming army.

If someone with ulterior motives appears in the important town of Jiubian, with a large army in hand, it will also be a great threat to the court.

Fortunately, although these officials and generals had troops, they still lacked the food and fodder support for long-term operations.

Later generations only know that it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to ensure food for border soldiers, and their food and wages were often withheld. But who knew that this was also a means for the court to control the soldiers and horses in border towns.

Not to mention the shortage of food and grass, even if there is no shortage of food and grass, the imperial court will never transport too much food and grass to the border towns so that they can have enough food and clothing.

As for whether they are worried about the soldiers rebelling because of this, haha, in fact, if the officials of the nine borders cannot handle these things well, and really cause a mutiny, it can only show that they are incompetent to control their subordinates. At that time, they will naturally be thrown out as lambs to quell the people's grievances.

Moreover, since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, soldiers have been clamoring for pay and even mutinies because of this.

Xu Jie's suggestion is the best choice to clamp down on Yang Xuan at the moment.

Yang Bo nodded subconsciously, agreeing with Xu Jie's suggestion in his heart, and Yuan Wei on the other side also agreed and nodded with a smile.

In fact, the cabinet has already traced whether it is political or military affairs. As long as you read more relevant archival materials, you will know how to deal with things.

This is also the reason why the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty really do not need strong adaptability and local resumes.

They only need to have the ability to communicate with the six ministries. After all, more power in specific matters is still in the hands of the six ministries.

"Brother Cun Zhai's opinion is pertinent. I will arrange this matter when I return to the government office."

Yang Bo was not a fussy person. Since he had decided on this matter, he would not hesitate. He immediately planned to withhold the grain and grass of Jizhen, so that Yang Xuan could not send troops to the outside of the pass according to his own ideas.

When Yang Bo was about to leave the cabinet, Xu Jie stopped him and said, "It is better for the Ministry of War to send a document to Fujian, asking them to solve the Xinghua pirates as soon as possible. It has been delayed for a long time."

"I also know about this matter, but this time the Japanese pirates in Fujian and Guangdong are active frequently, and they are unable to withdraw troops to support Xinghua Prefecture. Governor Zhao of Zhejiang is also unwilling to transfer elite troops to Fujian to suppress the Japanese pirates, so it has been delayed until now."

Yang Bo answered a little depressed.

The local officials below have their own thoughts. Sometimes even if he, the Shangshu, knows the details, it is difficult to directly order what to do. It is really the unspoken rules of the officialdom. He dare not easily tear this layer of window paper.

"Hurry up."

Xu Jie could only say this.

He knew the situation Yang Bo was talking about.

It's one thing to know, and it's another to do it.

If he knew the decision of Zhao Bingran in Zhejiang before the New Year, he would have sent someone to send a letter to him immediately, asking him to put the overall situation first.

But time has been delayed until now, and sending a letter to Zhejiang to ask them to send an elite army south is no longer helpful.

So, what else can the court do?

Then it can only urge, and issue an official document to urge Fujian to start the war as soon as possible and eliminate the Japanese pirates entrenched near Xinghua Prefecture.

The higher the official, the more party members need to be cultivated, and what is the purpose?

Don't they know that if they do this, sooner or later, it will be because of the insatiable greed of some people, and finally bring disaster to themselves?

Cultivating party members is not just for their orders to be passed down, so that they can be faithfully executed by others, and will not be delayed for various reasons.

Only those who are promoted by themselves will truly obey their orders, and only in this way can they enjoy the happiness of power.

However, will these so-called people really do things according to their own wishes wholeheartedly when encountering things?

Of course not completely, they also have their own selfish motives, that is, the order does not affect their interests.

This is also what he, his predecessor Yan Song, the predecessor of the predecessor, and countless other cabinet ministers are doing, that is, cultivating party members, even if they may be labeled as forming a party for personal gain.

As for suppressing the Japanese, it only requires some manpower. Xu Jie is confident that Zhao Bingran can obey, because this order will not affect his interests.

While the two were talking, Xu Jie had already walked out of the house and stood in the yard with Yang Bo.

There was no one around, Xu Jie whispered again: "During this period, the Tartars have been harassing the border. Do you think there will be a war this year?"

Fujian is too far away, and the capital can't take care of it. It's out of reach. Xu Jie is actually most concerned about the safety of the nine important towns on the border. He is also a person who has experienced the Gengxu Change.

Yang Bo was somewhat surprised by Xu Jie's behavior, but after hearing his question, he thought about it and answered: "Since last year, the number of Tartar invasions of Liaodong has indeed increased, but this is definitely not evidence that Altan Khan has ambitions for Liaodong."

Until now, Yang Bo still does not think Liaodong has any value, at least there is no need to lose troops and fight the Ming Dynasty to the death in Liaodong, in his eyes this is really unwise.

"Altan Khan will never take Liaodong?"

Xu Jie was not very satisfied with Yang Bo's answer, and asked again.

This is forcing him to express his position, but Yang Bo did not have time to be angry at this time, but thought for a moment before nodding.

He did not think that Altan Khan would make this decision, Liaodong was really of no value.

For the grassland people, what they want is actually more to go south, cross the Great Wall and continue to expand their land to the south. They covet the warm land inside the pass, where they graze and avoid the cold in the north.

Although the pasture can be expanded by occupying Liaodong, the living conditions are difficult.

For the grassland people, they still cannot get much value from it, and it is still difficult to reproduce in large numbers.

Yes, no matter how big the land is, their population is so small, what's the point.

Only by crossing the Great Wall and seizing the warm land in the south can they provide guarantees for the expansion of their ethnic group.

Don't say that the Mongols have adapted to the cold in the north. Don't they know how to find a place with better conditions to live?

Think about Liaodong under the control of the Ming Dynasty. If the army had not blocked the way back, how many people who immigrated to Liaodong would be willing to stay there? Even if they fled back to the interior and thought they could only become refugees due to household registration reasons, they would still make this choice.

And once they have the opportunity to leave, they will find a way to leave even if they lose everything.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Xu Jie certainly knew what happened in Shandong.

It's just that the situation has not yet reached the point where it cannot be handled, so he said that it can be suppressed temporarily.

"Okay, I know what to say in front of His Majesty."

Xu Jie nodded and watched Yang Bo leave.

The upper reaches of the Liaohe River, such as the Laoha River, the Ulijimulun River, and the Xilamulun River, flow to the Liaohe Plain. Due to the flat and low-lying terrain, the flow rate slows down, the riverbed silts up, and the river water overflows, forming a large area of ​​protected swamps in this area, forming the Liaoze.

In the early years of the Zhengde reign, Li Chengxun, the governor of Liaodong, "proposed to build a border wall from the north of Sancha River in Liaoyang to Kaiyuan, extending over 500 miles."

After several constructions, the Liaohe-enclosed border wall went south from Baituchang Pass along the west bank of the Liaohe River, passing through the east moat of Heishan County, Dataizi and Liutaizi of Tai'an County, and crossed the Liaohe River to the northwest of Niuzhuang Town in Haicheng County, then turned northeast and followed the east bank of the Liaohe River to the borders of Kaiyuan and Changtu counties, ending at Zhenbeibao.

Because this Great Wall went south in a large V shape and was placed along the east and west banks of the Liaohe River, it was called the "Liaohe-enclosed Great Wall".

Since Li Chengxun, the Ming Dynasty built a border wall in Liaodong, intentionally bypassing the Liaoze and placing this area outside the border wall, naturally hoping to reduce the impact of the Liaoze on the construction of the border wall.

However, this strategy was later regarded as a major mistake by countless people.

Liaoze is only formed during the summer flood season, and it will gradually dry up and shrink in spring, autumn and winter. As a result, the Ming army has hundreds of kilometers of defense lines in this area, which requires huge manpower and material resources for defense.

The result is that in the spring and autumn seasons, the Mongolian Tatars will enter the Liaohetao area, looking for Ming army fortresses to attack, breaking through the border wall and looting the Ming Dynasty-controlled area south of the border wall.

Because of the V-shaped border wall, the Ming army's troops in Liaodong and Liaoxi can only move along the border wall. Therefore, the Baituchang Pass in the north of Guangning and Pingniu Fort in the west of Shenyang are hundreds of miles apart, but when the east and west troops are mobilized to reinforce, they have to take a detour of hundreds of miles to arrive.

In fact, it is because of this V-shaped border wall that the entire Liaodong area is divided into Liaodong and Liaoxi. This section of the wall is also called the Liaohetao Great Wall.

At this time, a long group of Tatar cavalry troops were taking advantage of the dry season of Liaoze to enter here, looking for loopholes in the defense of the Ming army's side wall, waiting for an opportunity to move.

"Taiji, the permanent fort is not far ahead, and the yellow mud pit is ahead."

"Speed ​​up and go there to see how thick the wall is."