Chapter 533 532 Bait

After confirming that there was indeed fire in the distance to the north, Emperor Jiajing didn't say anything, but just got off the high platform with his sleeves rolled up.

On the way to Yongshou Palace, Emperor Jiajing suddenly stopped and told Huang Jin, who was following behind him: "Quickly announce Xu Jie to enter the palace to see me."

Although it was already late at night, if the emperor wanted to see the chief minister of the cabinet, the locked palace door had to be opened.

After returning to the Yongshou Palace, Huang Jin hurriedly took out the gold medal, called the eunuch outside the door and said: "Go to the house of the Chief Assistant quickly and ask him to meet you in Xiyuan."

With this gold medal, the eunuch had a chance to get out of the palace. Naturally, the eunuch knew the power of it, so he hurriedly took the gold medal and hurried out.

By the time Xu Jie entered the gate of Xiyuan, nearly an hour had passed.

It’s not that Xu Jie’s residence is far away from Xiyuan. It’s because the eunuch came out of the palace with a gold medal. There were quite a few eunuchs and palace guards who needed to be alerted. Without the approval of one person, the eunuch couldn’t leave the palace even half a step under the order. .

Xu Jie was walking in Xiyuan. To be honest, he was in a complicated mood.

It wasn't him who entered Xiyuan today, it was Yuan Wei, but for some reason the emperor admitted him.

Moreover, so much time has passed, and I don’t know if His Majesty still has leisure waiting for me.

The two young chamberlains in front were walking quickly with lanterns in their hands, and Xu Jie had no choice but to step forward and follow them.

When he stepped into the gate of Yongshou Palace, Xu Jie was panting and sweating profusely.

While waiting for His Majesty's summons at the palace gate, a chamberlain next to him brought a hot towel to wipe him, and he drank some warm tea, which made him feel a little better.

As I got older, I was woken up from bed and traveled such a long way. The most important thing was that I didn't know why the emperor summoned me, so I couldn't help but feel extremely uneasy.

When everything came together, Xu Jie really felt tired of being in front of an official.

However, this idea only occurs when he feels uncomfortable. If he really wants to abdicate in favor of others, I'm afraid it will be a different story.

After all, that is a right.

Whether it is to enjoy the happiness brought by his own rights or to bring some good news to the family, he will not give up his position as chief assistant easily.

Not long after, the little chamberlain who had informed him came out and ushered him into the main hall.

When he entered the hall, he found that the atmosphere inside the hall was solemn. Even though the hall was brightly lit by candles, the depressing atmosphere still lingered.

Xu Jie was slightly shocked. There was no one else in the hall except the emperor and Huang Jin. Wasn't Yuan Wei summoned?

He entered Zhiwuyi Hall today. What happened?

"I have met your Majesty."

Xu Jie barely suppressed his fear and bowed to Emperor Jiajing on the throne.

"I love your life."

Emperor Jiajing watched Xu Jie finish his salute and then said, "In calling your beloved into the palace so late, I just want to know where are the Tatars? How far are they from the capital?"

Xu Jie felt slightly relieved when he heard Emperor Jiajing ask about the war in the north.

It's not that he isn't worried about this, but because he has the Minister of War to support him, even if he has any responsibilities, the responsibility is not as big as that of Yang Bo.

After thinking for a while, Xu Jie said: "In the afternoon, the Ministry of War sent battle reports from all parties and news from the Beijing camp. At present, the Mongolian Tatars, led by the bandit chief Huang Taiji, should still be harassing the area near Shunyi."

"Is it just Shunyi?"

Emperor Jiajing asked with a slight frown.

"It is reported that most of the Tatars are around Shunyi and Pinggu, and a small number of them have traveled to and from Huairou, Sanhe and other places."

Xu Jie replied, then remembered the documents he saw two days ago, and hurriedly added: "A few days ago, a small group of Tatars appeared near Tongzhou, but they were unable to advance because of the river obstruction."

These were sent to the palace as soon as possible after the cabinet received the official letter from the Ministry of War. At this time, Emperor Jiajing's questions made Xu Jie very puzzled.

"Is there something wrong with the official document from the Ministry of War?"

A terrible thought appeared in his mind, but then he thought that Yang Bo was still cautious, and he should not make any mistakes.

"I will go up to the high platform tonight and see the light of the fire. This thief is not far from Beijing."

Compared with the information obtained by Yang Xuan, the governor of Jiliao in Sanhe County, and Sun Bin, the commander-in-chief of Jizhen, the Ministry of War had obviously discovered that the leader of the Tatar army this time was not Anda Khan, but his son Xin Aitaiji.

In fact, the official document has been delivered to all parties, but Mikawa has not yet received it at this time.

When Xu Jie heard what Emperor Jiajing said, his expression changed drastically.

Looking out from the high platform of Xiyuan, how far can you see with your eyes?

I can actually see the firelight, this

At this time, Xu Jie came to the conclusion in his mind that someone from the Tatars should have crossed the Wenyu River and was approaching the capital.

Damn it, he didn't get this information from the Ministry of War when he left office this afternoon.

Xu Jie then panicked and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know about this, so I'll go to the Ministry of War to find out."

"Go ahead and order the Ministry of War to instruct all armies to attack them together. If anyone allows the enemy to fight and is too timid, he will be severely punished."

Emperor Jiajing then spoke.

Seeing Xu Jie walking out of the palace door quickly, he stood up, walked slowly to the palace door and looked out.

To be honest, he was very confident in Yang Bo at first, but the fire he saw tonight made him feel a little worried about the current court.

After returning to Yongshou Palace from Gaotai, he asked Huang Jin to find the war reports of the past few days. After reading them in detail, he confirmed that there was no mention of the Tatars crossing the Wenyu River or the Baichao River. Where did the fire come from.

It can only be said that the Ministry of War failed in its duty, and the cabinet is also responsible.

Today, I have gone to great lengths to call Xu Jie here to remind him, hoping that he can figure it out.

Xu Jie had already left Yongshou Palace, and under the guidance of the eunuchs in front of the door, he hurried out of the palace. He wanted to go to the Ministry of War to find out the situation immediately.

He had already figured out why Emperor Jiajing had called him here, and he was afraid that he wanted to give him a hard time and let him know that now was not the time to enjoy himself.

Xu Jie made up his mind to find a room in the Ministry of War to rest tonight, so that he could grasp the enemy situation and the movements of the Jizhen army as soon as possible.

However, what if the Tartars really found a ferry to cross the Wenyu River?

That would be facing the capital directly.

Xu Jie couldn't help but feel more and more irritated when he thought of this. He knew what the soldiers in the Beijing camp were like, and there were not many who could fight.

It's not that the Beijing camp only raised a group of waste. In fact, there were tens of thousands of capable warriors in the Beijing camp, but most of these people went to the homes of the powerful in the capital to guard the house, and there were also farms outside the city.

What they didn't want was naturally a bunch of old and weak soldiers.

No, they had to ask Sun Bin to station a troop outside Dongzhimen to guard against the Tatars' surprise attack.

When the sun came out the next day, Xu Jie had rested for a night in the Ministry of War and returned to Xiyuan to handle official business.

At this time, because of the war, the cabinet had moved to Xiyuan, and all official documents were sent to Wuyi Hall for processing.

The Ming army's Jizhen cavalry, led by Sun Bin, was also galloping towards Tongzhou.

After the Tatars went south from Miyun, the harassment was mainly in the east of Huairou and the west of Pinggu, as well as around Shunyi. Tongzhou did not have a large group of Tatar cavalry at all, so it was of course very safe.

Sun Bin was willing to accept Yang Xuan's order.

As for leading troops to attack from south to north, it must be carried out, but how to do it is another matter.

Sun Bin had already made up his mind to rest in Tongzhou for two days, and then talk about the northward advance after letting the soldiers rest. He just hoped that the Tartars would go back in these two days. The vanguard army of Xuanfu should have passed Juyongguan.

The cavalry moved very fast, and Sanhe was not far from Tongzhou. It took only half a day for the army to reach Tongzhou.

However, the city of Tongzhou was under martial law at this time, and Sun Bin could only lead his troops to wait outside the city until Lu Yi, the deputy envoy of Tongzhou Military Preparation, went up to the tower and opened the city gate for them to enter.

But before he could rest in the city, Sun Bin soon received an order from the Ministry of War.

"Send a group of people to station at Dongzhimen."

At this time, Sun Bin was dissatisfied.

He didn't need 8,000 people, and the Ministry of War asked for 2,000 cavalry to strengthen the defense of the capital.

Late yesterday afternoon, the news that a small group of Tartars crossed the Wenyu River and looted several surrounding villages had already reached the capital last night. Xu Jie could only sleep peacefully after seeing this urgent report.

The war report had already said that there were only more than a hundred Tartars who crossed the river. After looting, they had returned to the north bank of the river. They only had one boat, which was not enough to meet the needs of the army crossing the river.

With the reply to the emperor, Xu Jie naturally felt relieved.

However, Xu Jie still reminded Yang Bo about the unexpected crossing of the river by the Tartars.

Regarding tonight's incident, Emperor Jiajing summoned him to the Western Garden in the middle of the night instead of asking the Ministry of War for news, which actually explained the problem.

The emperor wanted him to supervise the various departments, and he should be more diligent in his work during this national crisis.

At the same time, in order to prevent similar incidents from happening, a group of people and horses needed to be on standby outside the capital city, and once the Tartars were found crossing the river, they would immediately attack and eliminate the enemy.

So, the Ministry of War issued this order overnight.

At this moment, the army closest to the capital was naturally the Jizhen army led by Sun Bin, so it was not surprising that the order was issued here.

There are still 6,000 troops, so let's wait until the Xuanfu army arrives.

Sun Bin naturally did not dare to delay the order from the Ministry of War. He immediately selected 2,000 people and ordered them to set off again after lunch and rush to Dongzhimen in the capital overnight.

When they arrived there, the Ministry of War and the Beijing Camp would naturally allocate supplies to them.

Everything seemed to be in his hands, and Sun Bin was not worried about the transfer of 2,000 troops.

Such a mood disappeared on the second day.

When he received an official document from Yang Xuan, asking him to lead his troops to Zhengguantun on the border of Sanhe County immediately to rescue Fu Jin, the Sanhe lieutenant general who was besieged by the Tartars, he did not know what language to use to express his feelings at the moment.

He had just arrived in Tongzhou from Sanhe and had only rested for one day, and not only were 2,000 troops taken away, but now there was still a part surrounded by the Tartars.

Immediately, Sun Bin summoned his generals Feng Zhao, Zhao Zhen, Hu Can, and guerrilla Yan Zhan to discuss the matter.

In Yang Xuan's official document, he was ordered to lead 3,000 troops to rescue Fu Jin, and the previous order was still valid, and the remaining 5,000 troops were to attack Shunyi.

He took 3,000 people with him, and where did the remaining 5,000 troops come from? Now Sun Bin was really being roasted on the fire.

He wanted to ignore this order, but the biggest official in Tongzhou City was not him, the general of Jizhen. Although he had the highest rank, the one who really had the final say was Lu Yi, the deputy envoy of Bingbei Dao.

Did he dare to disobey?

He didn't dare.

In the current Ming Dynasty, military generals really didn't dare to contradict civil officials. The most important thing was that he had no foundation in the court, and he couldn't find anyone to speak up when something happened.

Originally thought that the mission was foolproof, but he didn't expect to encounter a series of changes. At this time, Sun Bin's depression can be imagined.

However, fortunately, according to the official document, Hu Zhen, the deputy general of Miyun, will also lead his troops to come. He will lead 2,000 cavalry to attack the Tartars from the side. According to the official document, the Tartar cavalry in Zhengguantun is only more than 2,000 people, which is already the largest force nearby.

Speaking of which, according to Yang Xuan's plan, the Ming army will deploy nearly 7,000 troops in Zhengguantun, including 5,000 cavalry and more than 2,000 infantry. It is indeed capable of fighting a battle with more than 2,000 Mongolian Tartars.

After letting the generals read Yang Xuan's handwritten order, Sun Bin began to select the generals.

"Feng Zhao and Zhao Zhen will lead their troops to follow me to Zhengguantun to rescue Fu Cangjiang, and Hu Can will lead the remaining troops to the north and move closer to Shunyi."

Relatively speaking, after this order was issued, the most dissatisfied person was actually Hu Can. He only had 3,000 people, but he had to go to Shunyi, that is, to eliminate the Tartars he saw along the way.

Although they were all scattered soldiers, he only had less than 3,000 men. If the Tartars reacted quickly and quickly contacted several scattered soldiers, he would be in danger.

The soldiers led by Sun Bin would expand to 7,000 people after arriving at Zhengguantun, so they would be safe.

However, Lu Yi, the deputy envoy of Tongzhou Bingbei Dao, was watching him closely, so he dared not disobey the military order.

"I have sent people to prepare food and grass for you. According to the order of Governor Yang, you should unite sincerely and fight to the death to kill the enemy."

Seeing that everyone had received the order, Lu Yi smiled and said.

However, in his heart, he still despised these warriors.

They were very active in making money, but when it came to fighting, there were few warriors.

He also had another order from Yang Xuan, which was that when Yang Xuan was worried that Sun Bin and others were afraid of the enemy, he could directly take down Sun Bin in the name of Bingbei Dao.

He had no right to deal with Sun Bin, a second-rank general, but he could be ordered to detain him first.

Soon, the hall was empty, leaving only Sun Bin and Lu Yi.

Other generals had returned to their respective barracks to prepare. At this time, of course, reinforcements were needed like putting out a fire, and there was no time to waste.

Although, in their hearts, they might still be thinking about delaying time, but Lu Yi obviously would not give them this opportunity.

When Sun Bin led his troops out of the city again, he was in a very complicated mood.

After a series of changes, he unconsciously had an ominous premonition.

At this time in Zhengguantun, the more than 2,000 people led by Fu Jin had suffered heavy losses, and there were only more than 1,000 soldiers who could fight.

He and Sun Bin left Sanhe one after the other. Their original intention was just to patrol the border of Sanhe and drive out the harassing Tartars, but they encountered a large group of Tartar cavalry raids and had to retreat to Zhengguantun to defend.

How could he know that when Sun Bin led his troops into Sanhe County, the whereabouts of the Ming army had been discovered by Huang Taiji's scouts.

Using cavalry to raid infantry was the favorite way of the Mongols, and naturally Fu Jin suffered heavy losses.

And letting them retreat to Zhengguantun was actually a bait that Huang Taiji wanted to put on the Ming army.

Although he did not plan to attack the capital, he had to teach the Ming court a lesson without annihilating a Ming army.

At this time, Huang Taiji was recalling the scattered soldiers from various routes, asking them to stop looting and prepare a pocket to hold the Ming cavalry in Jizhen.