prosperous age

Just when the Ming court was busy executing Zhang Juzheng's order to ban academies, a war report from Liaodong suddenly appeared in the lobby of the Ministry of War.

Tan Lun quickly read through the Liaodong battle report and frowned slightly, then ordered: "Go and ask Minister Zeng to come over quickly."

After receiving the order, the subordinate clasped his fists and turned to leave.

After everyone left, Tan Lun fell into deep thought.

Tan Lun knew very well that Wei Guangde had been plotting against Mongolia, but he did not expect that there seemed to be people in Mongolia who were still harboring evil intentions.

Qi Jiguang's battle report was about the news that the Ming army in Liaodong had just discovered that there were cavalrymen from the Tumed tribe invading the border of Liaodong.

In the fifth year of the Longqing reign, the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia reached the "Longqing Peace Agreement", and the hostile relations between the two sides eased. It had been several years since a large army had invaded the border, let alone in Liaodong.

Altan Khan, who signed the peace agreement, was still in Qinghai at that time. Tan Lun could naturally guess that it must be Altan Khan's son who was behind this matter.

"Altan Khan is old after all and can no longer take care of his sons."

Soon, Tan Lun had some guesses in his mind.

This matter should not have been ordered by Altan Khan, otherwise the two places are thousands of miles apart, and it would have been difficult for him to give remote commands even if he wanted to.

Moreover, Altan Khan is now determined to enhance the bloodline status of the Altan family, which requires the approval of the Ming court. Only in this way can his family and his children rule the Mongolian tribes for a long time.

Under such circumstances, he should not become an enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, although there have been occasional conflicts between the two sides in recent years, the scale of the conflicts has been limited to a few hundred people, and the number of combatants on both sides is mostly around dozens. It would be more appropriate to say that it is a fight between two tribes rather than a war.

However, the situation in Qi Jiguang's battle report was different. It was estimated that there were as many as 40,000 Mongolian cavalrymen invading the border.

Who is qualified to lead so many people to fight?

Tan Lun quickly filtered through Altan Khan's sons in his mind and soon thought of two possible candidates.

In fact, Altan Khan was old, and most of his sons had grown up. Many of them had also established their own tribes and were capable of harassing the Ming Dynasty's border defenses.

Tan Lun thought that the most likely person was Huang Taiji, the eldest son of Altan Khan. In his early years, he followed Altan Khan in his campaigns. In the late Jiajing period, he stayed in Chahar for a long time and often harassed the Ming territory.

According to news from Mongolia, he had been at odds with his father, Altan Khan, since around the 40th year of the Jiajing reign.

Altan Khan still hoped to resolve the war relationship between the two sides through peace talks with the Ming Dynasty, but Xinai Huang Taiji's attitude was just the opposite. He always hoped to lead the Mongols back to the Central Plains and restore the Yuan Dynasty's rule.

As for another possible candidate, it is naturally Bingtu, the fourth son of Altan Khan and also the leader of Wushen, a subordinate tribe of the Tumed of the right wing of Mongolia. He also often led his troops to harass the Great Wall passes in Xuanhua and other places.

Compared with Altan Khan's other sons, they were the more warlike ones and hoped to continue maintaining the war relationship with the Ming Dynasty.

"Could it be that Xin Ai Huang Taiji is directing it?"

Qi Jiguang only discovered that the Mongolian army was approaching, but he did not find out who was leading the army, and it was not stated in the battle report.

The only person who could possibly command tens of thousands of people was probably Xin Aihuang Taiji, the eldest son of Altan Khan.

Because Bingtu should still be in Qinghai at this time, following Aldan Khan.

In fact, Bingtu was sent to Qinghai by Altan Khan a few years ago to build Yanghua Temple, which was a deliberate transfer.

Because this guy was so troublesome, the Ming army in Xuanhua area had more than ten conflicts with the Mongols within a year, all of which were planned by this guy.

He hoped to change his father's attitude towards the Ming Dynasty in this way, thus achieving the goal of abolishing the "Longqing Peace Agreement."

Therefore, Altan Khan sent Bingtu directly to Qinghai to build a temple and transferred him away from the old pasture in Chahar.

In fact, we can see from this that Altan Khan really did not want to have a conflict with the Ming Dynasty anymore, but his sons seemed to be dissatisfied.

"Mr. Minister, are you looking for me?"

While Tan Lun was thinking, Zeng Shengwu had already walked quickly into the main room.

"Emergency military information from Liaodong, please take a look first."

Tan Lun did not delay and directly handed the battle report sent by Qi Jiguang to Zhang Siwei and asked him to take a look first.

Zeng Shengwu was still in a daze when he heard the news from Liaodong, but that did not stop him from taking the document and reading it quickly.

Immediately, Zeng Xingwu looked up at him in disbelief, and said in astonishment: "Before, Altan Khan was extremely submissive to the court. How could such a thing happen in the blink of an eye? Did Liaodong make a mistake?"

"For such a big matter, do you think Qi Jiguang can't tell the difference between the important and the minor?"

Tan Lun's expression remained unchanged, and he said seriously, "Besides, whether Liaodong made a mistake or not, we must treat it as the truth.

Otherwise, the military situation is urgent and any delay will lead to disaster."

"Yes, I have learned your lesson."

Zeng Shengwu hurriedly bowed his head and admitted his mistake.

"It's okay. You have been in the capital for a short time and you are acting strangely. I just thought about it. If this is true, the one who led the cavalry to invade the border is most likely Xin Ai Huang Taiji.

Moreover, Altan Khan probably doesn’t know about this yet, as he is still at Yanghua Temple in Qinghai.”

Tan Lun continued.

"Sir, do you want to contact Qinghai right away? Tell Altan Khan about the situation in Liaodong?"

Zeng Shengwu immediately thought of a way to avoid war, which was naturally to let the Mongolian Khan Altan Khan stop it.

Unexpectedly, Tan Lun shook his head slightly and whispered, "There is no rush for this matter."

Zeng Shengwu was shocked when he heard this. How could he not be anxious when there were 40,000 Tartars in Liaodong invading the border?

If Altan Khan had known about this a day later, a border war might have broken out.

"You should immediately bring this military intelligence to the palace and give it to Lord Wei to hear his opinion."

Tan Lun ordered.

At this time, Tan Lun was not thinking about stopping the war, but wanted to fight one to kill the evil spirit of Xin Ai Huang Taiji.

Otherwise, as Altan Khan grows older, his control over Mongolia will become weaker and weaker, and similar things will happen sooner or later.

You can avoid the first day, but you can’t avoid the fifteenth.

It would be better to take advantage of the fact that Liaodong is strong and powerful now to teach the Mongols a lesson, let Qi Jiguang's firearms troops open the eyes of the Mongols, and completely make Xin Ai Huang Taiji give up.

However, this matter is of great importance. Although Tan Lun is the Minister of War, he does not dare to propose this idea rashly, so he wants to see Wei Guangde's opinion.

He didn't say what he thought, just to see if Wei Guangde had the same idea as him.

Zeng Shengwu quickly left the Ministry of War with Qi Jiguang's battle report and went directly to the cabinet.

After he left, Tan Lun sat at his desk and fell into deep thought, gradually outlining the prospects of this battle in his mind.

Yes, in the eyes of many people in later generations, the Six Ministries of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be a rigid government office that could not do anything and basically did nothing serious except making money.

In reality, this is certainly not the case. The six ministries have made indispensable contributions to maintaining the operation of such a huge empire.

It gives people the feeling that they are useless, perhaps because they are more influenced by other factors.

At this time, Zeng Shengwu had already arrived at the palace gate. He was the Minister of War, so the Jinyiwei and the Imperial Guards guarding the gate naturally did not dare to stop him. With a eunuch leading the way, he quickly walked into the cabinet and found Wei Guangde's duty room with ease.

At the door, he saw Lu Bu leaning against a pillar at the door, looking around boredly.

"Is Lord Wei in the room?"

Zeng Shengwu walked over quickly and asked directly.

"Master Zeng, the master is in the room dealing with memorials."

Zeng Shengwu was a frequent visitor here, so Lu Bu was naturally very familiar with him and answered immediately when he asked questions.

"Go and report it quickly. One hundred thousand. Never mind. I'll go in directly."

When they all reached the door, Zeng Shengwu did not let Lu Bu inform them and just pushed the door open and walked in.

Zeng Xingwu walked in and saw Wei Guangde looking up at him. The door was not far from Wei Guangde, just a few meters away, so the people inside could hear the noise outside clearly.

The reason why Lu Bu had to wait at the door and report was actually just to show off his status as a cabinet minister.

After all, not everyone can see the elders of the Ming Dynasty cabinet.

"Brother Sanxing, what brings you here?"

Wei Guangde stood up and said happily while bowing.

"Big news, something big happened in Liaodong."

Zeng Shengwu spoke directly, without returning the greeting, he took out the memorial and walked over quickly to hand it to Wei Guangde.

"No matter how big the matter is, there is no rush. Sit down first and talk slowly."

Wei Guangde walked around the desk, took the document with one hand, and pulled Zeng Shengwu over to sit down with the other hand.

"Lubu, serve the tea. There are no rules."

After Wei Guangde finished shouting, Lu Bu had already walked to the door with tea.

He didn't dare to respond to the master's words. He came in with his head down, put the tea down, then immediately lowered his head and walked out quickly to stand guard.

"Have some tea. I'll see what major events can happen in Liaodong with Marshal Qi in there."

The border town that Wei Guangde felt most at ease in was actually Liaodong.

A person's reputation is like the shadow of a tree. I'm afraid that anyone who has traveled through time would be 120% confident in Qi Jiguang.

Soon, after reading the military situation reported by Qi Jiguang, Wei Guangde frowned slightly, then put down the document in his hand and looked up at the sky.

"What did Brother Zili say?"

After a moment, Wei Guangde suddenly looked down at Zeng Shengwu and asked.

"Lord Tan only said to report to you as soon as possible to see what the attitude is. The Ministry of War can also arrange for the Military Affairs Department to make early plans."

Zeng Shengwu said hurriedly.

"What's your opinion?"

Wei Guangde looked at Zeng Xingwu and suddenly asked again.

Zeng Shengwu was a little embarrassed and said, "At first I wanted to inform Altan Khan about this as soon as possible and ask him to organize the cavalry to invade the border.

It just seems that Master Tan has other ideas."

Wei Guangde looked at Zeng Xingwu, and said with a half-smile on his face: "I have roughly guessed what Brother Zili is thinking."

"What does Master Tan mean?"

Now it was Zeng Shengwu's turn to be puzzled. In fact, he had been thinking about Tan Lun's plan. There was no such thing as urgent military and national affairs.

Given the current relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, the right thing to do was to notify Altan Khan and put an end to this war.

But it was obvious that Tan Lun had other ideas.

"This border raid was most likely Huang Taiji's idea. Altan Khan is old and can no longer take care of his descendants."

Wei Guangde said calmly.

"Ok?"

When Wei Guangde said that the person who provoked the border conflict this time was most likely Xin Ai Huang Taiji, it seemed that Tan Lun was thinking the same thing.

At this time, Zeng Shengwu was somewhat convinced that these two people should have other ideas.

"Even though Altan Khan is old, we should have informed him earlier."

Zeng Xingwu continued, "Once the war breaks out, the people living on the border will suffer again. Only by getting Altan Khan to stop the war as soon as possible can the people be saved from the devastation of war."

"This matter is over, what about the future?

Or when Altan Khan dies, who will we find to stop the war?"

Wei Guangde looked at Zeng Shengwu and asked seriously.

"Shandai, do you mean to fight? Does Lord Tan mean the same thing?"

Zeng Shengwu finally understood what Tan Lun meant. In fact, he could figure it out, but when civil officials encounter war, the first thing they think of is to eliminate it as much as possible and they don't consider anything else.

Fighting war is the job of military generals.

The duty of civil servants is to prevent war, and the first priority is to ensure that the people under their rule live and work in peace and contentment.

The starting points of the two are actually completely different.

"The military situation is too brief, which means Qi Yuanjing has not yet fully understood the purpose of the Tumed tribe's movement, and even the commander-in-chief does not know.

However, if this war really starts, it must be won in one go, and the Mongols must be beaten so hard that they cannot recover for three to five years."

Wei Guangde suddenly wanted to start a massacre as he had realized that the elderly Altan Khan's control over the grassland was weakening.

If Huang Taiji was not taught a profound lesson, by the time Altan Khan died a few years later, the results of the "Longqing Peace Agreement" would have been completely abandoned.

The Ming Dynasty and Mongolia were once again plunged into war, and the previous plan against Mongolia completely failed.

Yes, so what if the Ming Dynasty could defeat Mongolia.

The best strategy is to attack the enemy's strategy. Wei Guangde hoped to defeat the enemy without fighting.

After planning for so long and putting in so much effort, it would be a shame if all the previous efforts were to be wasted because of Huang Taiji.

Wei Guangde quickly calculated in his mind that since Huang Taiji was heading for Liaodong, Qi Jiguang could rest assured and it would be no problem to hurt him in one go.

and then?

There are still Taining and Tuman tribes in Liaodong. Will they fight against the Ming army in Liaodong? They don’t obey the orders of Altan Khan.

"The Liao army held on to the border town and first hurt Huang Taiji, forcing him to contact the Taining, Tuman and other Mongolian tribes.

When they gathered their troops and prepared to expand the war against Liaodong, he ordered Dong Yiyuan to lead the Jizhen army north to outflank the Mongolian army.

Even if we cannot annihilate them all, we must kill most of them. It would be best to completely annihilate Taining and Tuman in one battle.

The Ming army in the Xuanda and Yansui military garrisons was mobilized, and all units were ordered to be on full alert and ready to fight the Mongols at any time.

Wei Guangde suddenly stood up and talked to himself as he walked.

When Zeng Shengwu heard Wei Guangde's words, he was immediately shocked.

Isn't this a sign of a complete break or something? All Ming troops in the nine borders are mobilized. Are they going to completely destroy Mongolia?

"In this case, it is better to lead the Northwest Army to attack Qinghai and capture Altan Khan."

Zeng Shengwu suddenly suggested.

Wei Guangde just looked at Zeng Shengwu in surprise, knowing that Zeng Shengwu did not understand what he and Tan Lun meant, and then he directly made a negative judgment in his mind about Zeng Shengwu taking over the Ministry of War.

Zeng Shengwu might be suitable to be a governor-general or provincial governor, but he is not capable of governing the country, so the Ministry of War cannot be handed over to him.

Although, he is the best candidate to take over the Ministry of War.

"Leave this military intelligence with me. I will talk about this with my uncle later.

You should take back what I said just now to Brother Zili exactly as it is. He should understand what I meant.

Mobilizing the Ming army in the nine frontiers was just to put pressure on Mongolia, not to really start a full-scale war. "

Wei Guangde still told Zeng Xingwu what he was thinking, so as to avoid being unable to express himself clearly.

"I understand. I will take my leave now."

Zeng Shengwu stood up, bowed to Wei Guangde, and left the duty room. (End of this chapter)