Chapter 915 1004 Repairing the Border Wall

Naturally, the first place to receive the transfer order from the Ministry of War was Jizhen, which was just around the corner.

While the military orders were still being sent to Huai'an via post roads and fast horses, Qi Jiguang had already seen the official documents from the Ministry of War at the Santunying General Military Mansion.

The content of the official document was very simple. It did not explain the situation in Liaodong, but only asked him to form a troop of 10,000 people as soon as possible and wait for the next order from the Ministry of War.

Thousands of soldiers and horses, this word is very sensitive, because he had mentioned it before when discussing with Wei Guangde and Tan Lun that it was intended to be used on the Liaodong battlefield.

However, what surprised Qi Jiguang was that the order from the Ministry of War seemed to be half a year ahead of schedule.

According to what was said at the time, preparations should not be made until May or June, so during this period he was still training the newly organized supply camp step by step.

Although he didn't know the details, Qi Jiguang still sensitively realized that something happened in Liaodong.

However, these seem to have little to do with him. What he has to do now is naturally to consider how to organize this team.

One horse camp and one foot camp must be brought with him, which accounts for about 6,000 people. He plans to bring all the remaining 4,000 with him to the car camp.

But according to the previous plan, it should be a vehicle camp plus a baggage camp, with a strength of just over 4,000 troops.

However, the baggage camp has just been established and the training has not ended. Even if there are veterans drawn from the car camp as the skeleton, it will take less than half a year to train them.

Therefore, after a brief consideration, Qi Jiguang decided to transfer all the veterans from the car camp and baggage camp to the north this time. After all, they had completed training, but they had just replaced the side cars with large cars.

As for the shortfall of the big car, we took the sidecar to make up for it.

Although the Ministry of War and Governor Ji Liao provided convenience, after all, building a large cart did not happen overnight. It also took time to purchase wood from various places and recruit craftsmen to build it carefully.

Qi Jiguang's soldiers would not go to the battlefield equipped with crudely made equipment.

The army in Santun Camp Ji Town began to nervously select and train, and the transfer order from the Ministry of War arrived in Huai'an and was in the hands of Wang Zongmu after several days of running around.

Originally, he planned to let Yu Dayou's navy carry the 300,000 shi of grain to Tianjin. However, after seeing the documents from the Ministry of War, Wang Zongmu knew that he still had to send the canal to sea this time.

Yu Dayou's naval fleet wanted to carry Qi Jiguang's Jizhen Army, which numbered 10,000 men, to the north of Liaodong, so he had to carefully calculate how many canals he would need to dispatch to follow.

With the carrying capacity of Yu Dayou's fleet plus the water ships, it was originally planned to transport 300,000 shi of grain by sea. Now it has to transport Gaizhou and the troops, so the number of sea ships required is extremely large.

Thinking of the thousands of troops and horses that needed to be transported, as well as so much grain, Wang Zongmu couldn't help but have a bolder idea.

Nowadays, a large number of water ships are crowded in the Huai'an area, waiting for the upper reaches of the Yellow River to pass through during the cold season. Selecting the best water ships to go to sea is not a big deal. The key is that he is still considering whether to increase the volume of seaborne grain transport.

Yes, he planned to collect 500,000 shi of grain at a time and transport it to Tianjin. After arriving at the port, he would unload 200,000 shi of grain and head to Gaizhou with 300,000 shi of grain and Jizhen's army and horses.

Of course, the warships required to transport 200,000 shi of grain are not enough to transport the 10,000-person army in Ji Town. All the troops and horses and part of the grain can be transported there first.

The remaining grain will be unloaded in Tianjin first, and the fleet will just make two trips to Tianjin and Gaizhou.

You know, it only takes three to five days to sail from Tianjin to Gaizhou. Even if you include the time for loading, it only takes an extra day or two.

It was only ten days before and after, Wang Zongmu believed that Qi Jiguang's troops and horses should be able to wait.

Yes, although there was no news about the battle in Liaodong in the official documents he received, Wang Zongmu still guessed that there was a war in Liaodong. Otherwise, it would be difficult to understand why he had to mobilize troops from Jizhen to the north.

Since the signing of the Datong Peace Agreement during the Longqing period, the Mongols, the greatest threat to the north of the Ming Dynasty, have been basically eliminated. In the past two years, the nine-border war in the north has eased slightly.

Although I heard that the Mongols had invaded Jizhen last year, they were defeated by Qi Jiguang's troops and fled without their helmets and armor. The leaders were also captured.

After that, the Mongolians outside Ji Town became completely honest and did not dare to stroke the tiger's beard anymore.

Nowadays, there are still wars in the Ming Dynasty. Apart from the occasional riots by the chieftains in the southwest, only Liaodong remains.

There are Jurchen tribes in the northeast of Liaodong and Mongolian tribes in the west.

The Tuman tribe only submitted to Anda Khan in name, but in reality they acted on their own terms and did not receive orders from Anda Khan at all.

"Liaodong, is the imperial court going to take action against the Jurchens?"

Wang Zongmu muttered something.

Scholars naturally know the allusion of the Liting Court in Chenghua. They know that the Jurchen tribe was dissatisfied with the king and rebelled. In the end, the court was furious and mobilized an army to annihilate them. After that, the Jurchens were stable for hundreds of years.

Think about it, a hundred years have passed, and the Jurchen tribe that was weakened at that time should have grown again. It is no wonder that Liaodong has lost several generals in the past two years.

Thinking of this, Wang Zongmu immediately decided not to rely on others to choose the ship this time. He would do it himself, and he would also explain to Cao Jun how powerful it was.

When it comes to the military and state affairs of the imperial court, anyone who dares to make a mistake is tantamount to treason and must be punished with death.

He was also worried that the same thing would happen again, so he warned him first to avoid being punished for not teaching him.

Thinking of this, Wang Zongmu immediately sent someone to urgently notify the water transportation commander to come to the Governor's Yamen to speak and explain his interests.

Qi Jiguang and Wang Zongmu both began to make preparations, but of course Yu Dayou, who was still floating on the sea, did not know that when he arrived in Huai'an, his original task of transporting grain would become more complicated, and he would soon take on the important task of transporting troops to Liaodong.

The governor's office in Liaodong, Zhang Xueyan, also received a document from the Ministry of War in the capital at this time, asking him to contact the leaders of the Jurchen tribes as soon as possible to express the court's attitude.

After reading the official document, Zhang Xueyan felt his hands and feet getting cold.

He knew that this document was actually a reaction to his previous memorial.

Because he was dissatisfied with Li Chengliang, he deliberately delayed the border wall.

But when he saw this document, he knew that the imperial court not only did not retreat because of this defeat, but also advanced the time to launch.

It can be seen that the main militant faction in North Korea and China clearly has the absolute upper hand.

Zhang Xueyan couldn't help but feel a little frightened. He thought that not many of the princes in the court would support the use of troops abroad.

Even if I knew at first that the chief minister was very interested in opening up new territories, I can still feel fear after seeing the thousands of casualties this time.

You know, most civil servants don't like trouble and are not willing to obtain so-called military merit.

They were still more concerned about their reputation, so he petitioned to postpone the construction of the Six Kuandian Forts because he wanted to get the support of the adults in the DPRK and it was best to give up the matter.

Naturally, Liaodong will be stable.

Putting down the official document in his hand, Zhang Xueyan thought for a moment and then called his master and asked him to draft several invitations in his own name. Naturally, he wanted to send them to the leaders of the Jurchen tribes and invite them to come to Liaoyang to discuss them.

"The invitation is sent to Wang Wutang of the Dong'e tribe, Wang Tai of the Haixi Jurchen Hada tribe, Qing Jia Niu and Yang Jiniu of the Ye He tribe."

Zhang Xueyan counted all the Jurchen tribe leaders around Wang Gao, and arranged for everyone to send invitations to Liaoyang to speak.

It's still the same thing. It's one thing what you think in your heart. The court has issued an order, so naturally you can only execute it and do it well.

"Dong Weng, there are many leaders of large and small villages in the Jurchen tribe, do you want them?"

The master had already read the official document issued by the Ministry of War, so he asked carefully.

At this time, the Jurchens basically divided their forces according to the city walls.

Generally speaking, a city is led by a leader.

For example, if Wang Gao's tribe will be red in the future, he will have a Hongli stronghold, which can be regarded as a leader of the Jurchen tribe.

However, he was dependent on Wang Gao, so his power was merged into Wang Gao's tribe.

The reason why Wang Gao became the most powerful among the Jurchens in Jianzhou was because he controlled more than one Gule City, as well as several large and small cities such as Hongli Village and Shaji City.

The situation of Wang Wutang is similar, except that the city and population in his charge are not as good as Wang Gao's.

"Forget about those leaders, I don't know if they have taken refuge with anyone, and there are so many of them."

Zhang Xueyan immediately shook his head after hearing what the master said.

Most of the good cottages choose to be under the wings of the most powerful leader in the tribe, otherwise they would have been attacked and annexed long ago.

The rest, if they can be counted as independent forces, are often either weak or remote, with little opportunity to develop and grow.

Naturally, Zhang Xueyan would not win over such a tribe.

When the Ming Dynasty accepted the surrender of the Jurchen tribe, it issued many official tokens.

It can be said that the tribal leaders of the Jurchens who went south were more or less granted by the Ming court.

After the Jurchen internal annexation, many small leaders were deprived of their power.

As for their escaped family members, as long as they bring the seals given by the Ming Dynasty and win over some scattered Jurchen people, they can choose a place to settle down and re-form a new Jurchen walled city.

These scattered Jurchens are also called wild Jurchens.

In fact, when the Jurchen tribe went south, there were still a large number of Jurchen people who were unwilling to leave their hometown and continue to live in the north.

The Jurchen tribe was in disarray. In fact, I was right. They were just a bunch of rabble, even more chaotic than the grassland.

Zhang Xueyan began to make diplomatic preparations for the encirclement and suppression of Wang Gao, but Li Chengliang felt somewhat unhappy after seeing the official document from the Ministry of War.

Yes, he originally wanted to attack Wang Gaobu, but he was still very supportive, but seeing that the imperial court actually wanted to mobilize the army from Jizhen to help in the battle, it was strange that he was in a good mood.

Originally, as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, he made the final decision on the war. He also reported the merit book, so he could write whatever he wanted.

Now Qi Jiguang is coming, let alone take the credit, he can't control the credit book.

Although he was dissatisfied, Li Chengliang also knew that this might be the court's decision, and he could not change anything.

"Someone's coming."

Li Chengliang silently read the official documents of the Ministry of War, then put them on the desk and called the military scribe to write the military orders.

"The three guards from Guangning and Guangning were stationed at Bei Zaihua and Daoyi in Shenyang, under the control of Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yang Teng.

He ordered guerrilla Wang Weiping and general Cao Yu to lead their troops to garrison Magendan and Dachong to guard against the Jurchen tribes' eastward advance and to support Wang Gao's tribe.

The Five Guards of Dingliao mobilized their elite troops to escort the baggage into Gushan Fort. "

After issuing the general order, he asked the army scribe to start writing the military order, while he silently thought about how to deal with the arrival of Jizhen Army.

In fact, Li Chengliang's wallet was very dry at this time.

Although the imperial court now gives priority to allocating military pay to the Liaodong army, after all, after many layers of dissipation, there is not much in his hands.

In addition to enjoying it for himself, he also had to support a team of three thousand servants, which cost a lot of money.

Building the six forts in Kuandian was a very important matter for Li Chengliang. In name, it was to expand the territory for the court and win merits, and at the same time, he could also benefit from it.

Only war could allow the court to allocate more money to Liaodong.

With more money, he would not have to be so short of money to support his family.

At the same time, with the six forts in Kuandian, the jurisdiction of Dingliao Youwei could rest assured, and the Liaohe Plain behind it would be as stable as Mount Tai.

In this way, his main focus could be on Shenyang. From here, he could directly attack the Jianzhou Jurchen territory to the east, and directly enter the Liaoxi grassland to the west, and face the Tuman tribe directly, without being pulled back and forth by the Mongols and the Jurchens.

Fighting consumed the court's silver, but what he gained was not only merit, but also countless spoils to fill his pockets.

Originally, in his calculations, there was no need to kill Wang Gao with one blow. He had so many forts under his command, and he could just sweep two or three of the richest forts a year.

As long as the court ordered him to destroy Wang Gao, there were many ways to slowly wear him down and get all the wealth of Wang Gao's tribe.

But with the arrival of the Jizhen Army, his previous plan obviously didn't work.

This year, it seems that Wang Gao may not survive, so he can only start to gradually target Wang Wutang and other Jurchen tribes.

In short, in Li Chengliang's mind, Liaodong must not be stable. After destroying Wang Gao's tribe, he must find a new power group from the Jurchen tribe to replace Wang Gao's role.

In this way, Liaodong can continuously obtain money and food from the capital.

It is necessary to take time to sweep the grassland. If the Jurchen Wang Gao's tribe is destroyed, the Jurchen tribe will be powerless in the next two years even if they are willing.

With Wang Gao's previous experience, no one should follow suit in the short term.

During this period, he can only go west to the grassland and use the Tuman tribe to gain merit.

Who would have thought that it seemed like a national war, but in the hearts of the generals involved in the interests, the attitudes were very different.

Wei Guangde, after a three-day rest, had already returned to the cabinet to do his work.

But today, he was frowning at a memorial in his hand.

This was a joint memorial from the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War, proposing to allocate more than 262,668 taels of silver to repair the Datong border wall, which would be paid in five years, with 50,000 taels per year and more than 62,668 taels in the last year.

If this memorial appeared a few years ago, Wei Guangde might have approved it without hesitation, but after the implementation of the Datong Peace Agreement, the border wall was still being repaired, and Wei Guangde felt that it was a bit wasteful.

He was considering asking the Ministry of War to reorganize the border troops and improve their combat effectiveness, and here a large amount of silver was invested in repairing the border wall. What was the purpose of repairing the wall?

Just so that future generations can see the majestic Ming Great Wall?

Why did the Ming Dynasty use the border wall and the Great Wall to refer to the "Great Wall" in the eyes of later generations? In fact, it was because the so-called "Ming Great Wall" at that time was a completely different image from that in the eyes of later generations.

The Great Wall that people in later generations saw was a wall covered with bricks, but at that time most of the Great Wall was rammed earth, without bricks on the outside. Only a few sections of the Great Wall, such as Jizhen, were built in this way. In fact, it was just a section of earth wall. (End of this chapter)