Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 171 The quagmire of war
"mother--"

Accompanied by the shrill screams in the northwest, northern Shaanxi encountered a sudden invasion and inhuman looting.

A group of Mongols on horseback led the front with swords, a group of Mongols drove out behind, and a group of Mongols took care of the left and right sides of the team to prevent escape.

In the Huanghuayu Fort on the high loess slope, three teams of Mongolians drove away dozens of people like dogs and sheep. If they didn't move forward, they would beat them or kill them immediately.

The women were tied around their necks with long ropes, dragged by the ropes, and the women kept falling, covered in mud.

The streets in the castle are full of abandoned babies, trampled by horses' hooves or human feet.

The Mongols set fire to the Huanghuayu Fort, and the fire spread. Those who were still alive because they were hiding in the house or in the basement were either engulfed by the ruthless fire, or they ran out.

But when they escaped, they were divided into groups of fifty or sixty, and tied up with ropes under the supervision of three or four soldiers.

Before they could respond, the Mongols stabbed them with spears and killed them on the spot, even those who fell to the ground would not be spared.

Huanghuayu Fortress became a slaughterhouse, filled with the stench of blood, mutilated corpses everywhere, and all principles ceased to exist.

In the ditch and pond passing by, I saw corpses piled up inside, brothers and feet pillowed each other, blood flowing into the water, turning into colorful, the pond was filled up with corpses...

In the street, corpses were lying all over each other, and it was so dark that it was impossible to tell who the dead were.

Those who jumped from the walls and tried to escape either broke their thighs or fell into the hands of the Mongols, who captured them and tortured them, or tied them to ropes and dragged them to death on horses.

At the foot of the city wall of Huanghuayu, the corpses of Han people were piled up like fish scales, the bloody stench filled the air, and there were mutilated corpses everywhere.

Some people hid in the pile of corpses and covered their bodies with blood and dirt, hoping to avoid the attention of the Mongols, but the passing Mongols stabbed the garbage pile with spears from time to time until the people inside writhed like animals. , blood flowed out from the wound before leaving.

When the soldiers and horses from Yansui Town arrived, the Nineteenth Fort in a county in the north of Yan'an Prefecture had already been breached, and the Mongolian coalition forces in the Hetao Department abducted tens of thousands of craftsmen and women, and left calmly...

"What are these trash doing? I pay Yansui a military salary, is this how they repay me?!"

On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, when the news of the Hetao tribe's invasion and slaughter of Yan'an was made public in Xu Guangqi's memorial, Zhu Youxiao, who was in charge of the Chang Dynasty, looked at the ministers and workers bowing their heads in the palace, and his anger could not be diminished.

"Long live! Your Excellency, please punish Governor Zhang Zhihou for not being able to conceal the crime!"

"Long live, ministers, please punish Zhang Zhihou for not being able to conceal the crime!"

Seeing that the emperor was angry, a group of officials bowed and impeached loudly.

It's just that amidst the sound of impeachment and bowing, one person stood up straight.

Zhu Youxiao looked at this person, put his temper back a bit, and said kindly as much as possible: "What do you think about Yan'an, brother?"

When Zhu Youxiao spoke, the one who asked was Zhu Youjian who was standing upright.

It seems that he wants to train Zhu Youjian. In short, since the last time he supervised the country, Zhu Youxiao asked Zhu Youjian to come to participate in every Chang Dynasty as long as he is in the capital.

Not only that, but he was basically asked about some side affairs in the court.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian was very helpless. He was reluctant to stay in the capital, but he had no reason to leave for a while, so he could only endure the devastation of being impeached by hundreds of officials in the Chang Dynasty.

Seeing his royal brother asking himself now, what can Zhu Youjian say?
Zhang Zhihou of the Qi Party did not play, and was impeached by Donglin Xu Guangqi recommended by himself. This shows that Zhang Zhihou will not survive.

But here came the embarrassing point. My royal brother asked himself, obviously not for Zhang Zhihou's punishment, but for talking about the issue of Yansui Town.

Since Alta paid tribute, the Hetao Department, the Tumed Department, and the Ordos Department have been honestly trading with the Ming Dynasty in the frontier, and the two sides have not fought.

But after the death of Altan Khan, the Huoluochi tribe of the Ordos tribe provoked troubles and harassed Daming Taohe and other places.

Although San Niangzi, the wife of An Dahan, immediately sent an envoy to ask for Talik to return to the east, so that the Taohe rebellion gradually subsided.

But because of this incident, the estrangement between Daming and San Niangzi reappeared.

Afterwards, San Niangzi wrote a letter expressing her apology, and arrested Shi Er, the son-in-law of Lali Ke who was causing trouble on the border, and sent him to the frontier fortress. Only then did the Ming Dynasty restore the mutual market.

By this time, the Ming Dynasty and the three Mongolian tribes in the west of Monan were still within controllable relations.

However, with the death of San Niangzi in the [-]st year of Wanli, among the three Mongolian tribes, except for the honest Tumed tribe who was named King Shunyi of the Ming Dynasty, the Ordos tribe in Ningxia and the Ordos tribe in Hetao began to plunder the frontiers of Daming.

In previous years, the scale of this kind of looting was relatively small, but this year, due to the transfer of Du Wenhuan to the south, this led to a large-scale invasion of the Hetao Mongols.

This is not to say that Zhu Youxiao, Ye Xianggao, and Zhu Youjian made a mistake in transferring Du Wenhuan, on the contrary, this move was right.

But why the Yansui soldiers and horses did not block the invasion of the Hetao Department is fundamentally a question of the governor Zhang Zhihou.

The military pay is paid according to the full number of soldiers and horses. According to the military book, Yansui Town, which has a population of more than [-] people, even if it cannot stop the entry of more than [-] Mongols for a while, at least some of them must be rescued. People?

But according to Xu Guangqi's memorials, Zhang Zhihou didn't send troops at all, but waited until the Mongols had left before he took his time to clean up the mess.

Such a move shows the local problems in Yansui.

If even the governor's problem is that big, then did the salary of the escort last year reach the hands of the soldiers in Yansui Town, or was it embezzled?Could it be that even northern Shaanxi can't keep the empty quota?

This series of questions is what Zhu Youxiao wants to ask, and Zhu Youjian can only bow in response to this:
"Your brother thinks that Zhang Zhihou should be punished, and another able minister and governor, military officer and general soldier should be sent."

"What about the people who were taken into captivity?" Zhu Youxiao was a little unconvinced. After all, the old slaves were beaten and retreated by the Ming army. How can a small Hetao tribe not be punished for jumping like this?

What's more, he remembered that his younger brother said that he wanted to wipe out the Hetao tribe, so why is it so peaceful now?
It's normal for Zhu Youxiao not to understand. After all, he is still a little weak in side affairs, but Zhu Youjian can't just say to send troops at will.

Right now, the southwest looks like it is about to fight a protracted tug of war, and Nurhachi in the northeast has also formed an alliance with the Horqin tribe.

At this time, it would be unreasonable for Zhu Youjian to insist on regaining Hetao.

What he needs to do is to recover Tieling, Kaiyuan, Fushun and the lost Great Wall in Liaodong first.

After taking back the Great Wall, it is much better to garrison troops on passes and mountain passes than to garrison troops on plains.

That's why he didn't say lightly that he wanted to take down the Hetao, but focused on defense.

It's just that his words are a bit weak in the eyes of the officials.

So at the moment, officials headed by Yao Zongwen and others began to beat around the bush and impeach Zhu Youjian.

However, they also knew that too much impeachment would cause counterproductive effects, so they did not impeach him directly, but impeached Datong and Taiyuan towns among the three towns in Shanxi.

Although it is obviously not the turn of the three towns of Shanxi to take care of this matter, they are impeachment.

"Long live, I believe that it is a big mistake to abolish the border towns in Shanxi. The border towns should be re-established, and the two towns of Ningxia and Guyuan should be combined to search for tao."

Soutao, that is, to use troops against Hetao, and it was Zou Yuanbiao, the censor of Zuoqian capital, who made this proposal.

In his opinion, anyone who provokes Ming Dynasty should be punished.

It's just that his words made both Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao frown.

They finally abolished the three towns in Shanxi, what does it mean to restore the town now?
In this regard, Zhu Youjian was very helpless, and could only take a step forward:

"Right now, my Ming Dynasty should first recover the lost land in Liaodong, and then seek to sweep the set."

Looking at the posture of the civil servant, it is estimated that Zhu Youjian will not let go of this opportunity of "weakness". He has no choice but to step forward and say that he wants to regain the lost land in Liaodong.

Sure enough, as soon as he said this, all the officials in the court shut up instantly, and Zhu Youxiao also brightened up and said:

"Brother, tell me in detail."

"Yes..." Sighing in his heart, Zhu Youjian could only pretend to mobilize troops, but in his heart he was digging a hole for Wen Chen:

"Qi Yuanbi has recruited [-] soldiers from Zhejiang, and they have already gone north to Liaoyang."

"At present, our dynasty has [-] troops in Daning, [-] in Liaoyang, Zhejiang in Liaoyang, [-] in Shenyang, [-] in Liao, [-] in Ji, and [-] in Jinzhou. , [-] Ji soldiers from Kuandian, [-] Liao soldiers, and [-] Shanxi guest troops, totaling [-] troops."

"If you add the auxiliary soldiers, the total will be [-] troops."

According to Zhu Youjian's words, all the officials straightened their backs. It seems that the good situation in Liaodong was created by them.

It was Zhu Youjian himself, who knew very well that in the so-called [-] army, the Zhejiang soldiers, Sichuan soldiers, and a small number of Liao soldiers, Ji soldiers, and Shanxi soldiers were the ones who could really fight.

If it is really put together, plus the soldiers and horses that will be left to defend the city, it will only send [-] troops at most.

But Zhu Youjian was not worried, because he knew that as long as he said that he wanted to regain the lost ground, the group of civil servants who were still clamoring would immediately shut up.

Therefore, full of confidence, he continued to Baiguan and Zhu Youxiao:
"The minister thought that eight hundred artillery pieces could be transferred from Yanshan to support the three cities of Liaoshen and Kuandian, and the three guards of Daning. He ordered Liaodong Economic Strategy Xiong Tingbi to command nearly [-] troops in the cities of Liao, Shen, and Kuandian to recover the Great Wall of Liaodong. Lost ground within."

"Long live!"

As soon as Zhu Youjian finished speaking, someone shouted loudly not to stand up.

Zhu Youjian took a look, and sure enough, it was Wang Yingjiao, Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, who stood up.

With a worried face, he bowed and said:
"Long live, the country's funds are empty right now. There are [-] troops east of the Liaohe River. If you want to send troops, you need at least [-] auxiliary troops, a total of [-]."

"The starting silver for the [-] troops is [-] taels of silver."

"This is not counting gunpowder, military rations, mules and horses, etc. If the lost land cannot be regained in a short period of time, the monthly consumption of food and money will be tens of thousands of taels, and the national funds will not be able to afford it..."

"Long live, please think twice..."

Sure enough, as Zhu Youjian expected, this group of guys who were clamoring before heard Wang Yingjiao's calculation, and immediately changed their aggressive attitude, making the emperor think twice.

Zhu Youjian looked at this scene and sneered, and then said:
"You know that it takes so much money and food to recover Liaodong, don't you know that the money and food needed to sweep the set is almost the same?"

Zhu Youjian was really speechless to this group of people who only knew how to talk and didn't know how to understand their opponents, so he said directly:

"There are more than [-] tribes in Hetao. Although they are divided into forty-two tribes, they have the vast sandy land as their geographical advantage."

"Once word gets out that I'm going after the army, they'll unite."

"The Hetao is a thousand miles from east to west and six hundred miles from north to south. If you want to clear the Hetao, you need at least [-] cavalry, [-] civilian men, and [-] horses."

"Every month, more than [-] taels of food will be consumed. How can the national treasury afford it?"

"How to manage the Hetao after it is conquered? Do you want to relocate the people? Do you need money and food to relocate the people? Do you need to garrison troops if you have the people?"

Zhu Youjian's five soul questions directly left Baiguan's questions speechless.

This is not to say that all officials are trash, but people like Zhu Tongmeng, Yang Lian, Ye Xianggao, Liu Yixiu, Zhu Guozuo and others know that money and food are what are fought in wars, and it just so happens that the money and food of Ming Dynasty are not enough to sustain a big war .

The war in the southwest is still raging, and the war will start again in Hetao without authorization. If Nurhachi invades Liaodong again at that time, then Ming will have to deal with a three-way war.

Each of these wars is a monthly expenditure of more than two hundred thousand taels of silver, and the sum of the three places is hundreds of thousands of taels of money.

How long can Daming's treasury last?

This problem is very fatal to those officials and censors who are only good at hearing and acting.

Therefore, everyone stopped clamoring and sweeping up the tricks, and Zhu Youxiao in the palace lost his temper when he heard the words.

He knew better than Baiguan the situation of internal funds and the Sixth Ministry, so he naturally knew that it was impossible for Daming to maintain a three-sided battle right now.

Previously, the hot blood was on his head, but when the hot blood calmed down, he would naturally be able to make rational arrangements.

"The military department was promoted to Zhu Tongmeng, the governor of Yansui, and Wang Chengen, the general of Danshen, was transferred to the chief soldier of Yansui Town."

"Order Li Rubai, the commander-in-chief of Guyuan, and Li Ruzhen, the deputy commander-in-chief, to raise troops and set off."

"Long live Shengming..." Hearing Zhu Youxiao's rational arrangement, the officials began to brag again.

On the contrary, when Zhu Youjian heard about this arrangement, he was quite rational.

Shandan Guard General Wang Cheng'en from Gansu, although he shares the same name as his big companion, is indeed talented.

In the first year of Tianqi last year, under the command of Mei Zhihuan, he defeated the invading Ningxia Ordos Division in Shandanwei Mashan Lake, Gansu.

Now that he is transferred to Yansui, I dare not say that he is better than Du Wenhuan, but at least with the cooperation of Zhu Tongmeng, such things should not happen again.

Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart was extremely depressed.

After the dynasty was over, he returned to Xuqin Palace, but he was a little unhappy.

Regarding Hetao's daring to plunder and kill tens of thousands of people in the Ming Dynasty, if he had just come to the Ming Dynasty, his reaction would have been the same as that of many civil servants, clamoring to plow the court and sweep the caves.

But it's different now, he knows the background of the imperial court.

When Nurhaci was forming an alliance with the Horqin tribe and the southwest was in a tug-of-war, he had already given up the idea of ​​sending troops to Hetao this year.

But even so, when he thought of the tragic situation in Yan'an mentioned in the memorial, he felt a sigh of relief in his heart, and he couldn't spit it out or swallow it.

Worried, he got up and walked to the study, grabbed the Yanling Saber and a round shield that were on the shelf.

"Come and practice with me."

He threw the shield to Lu Xiu, a thousand householder of Jin Yiwei at the door, and it seemed that it was not the first time that Lu Xiu had done this, so he and Zhu Youjian walked to the courtyard of Xuqin Palace immediately.

After all, it is the era of alternating hot and cold weapons, and it is still necessary to practice weapons and fists. Zhu Youjian has been practicing since the first year of Taichang, and it has been more than a year now.

He held an unsharp Yanling Saber specially used for practice in his hand, and Lu Xiu opposite him held an unsharpened iron saber in one hand and a shield in the other.

While turning left and right in the courtyard, the two changed their knife skills such as chopping, stabbing, lifting, chopping, wiping, belting, spreading, pulling, and cutting.

Between the collision of the weapon and the shield, the anger in Zhu Youjian's heart that could not be spit out or swallowed was released.

After a quarter of an hour of hand-to-hand practice, Zhu Youjian, who was sweating profusely, felt relieved a lot, so he put away the Yanling Saber, and said to Lu Xiu:
"You should also take a day off tomorrow, and ask Hua Chun to give you two taels of silver, so you can go home and have a good rest with your family."

"Thank you, Your Highness, but I haven't married a wife and had children yet." Lu Xiu grinned. Every time he practiced with Zhu Youjian, he could get two taels of silver.

Although most of the money was used by him to buy wine and drink, it is not bad to get two taels of silver for a sparring session.

Thinking about it, Lu Xiu twisted his shoulders, and then said: "I haven't practiced for a month, Your Highness seems to be stronger again."

"Don't say compliments, you go and call Lu Wenzhao and Hua Chun." Zhu Youjian wiped his sweat with a towel, and after giving orders, he walked back to the study.

Seeing this, Lu Xiu also asked people to put away the sword and shield, and then went to find Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun.

Zhu Youjian asked someone to put water on for him to take a bath, but a [-]-year-old court lady and a ignorant four- or five-year-old court lady caught his attention.

"Are you two new here?"

Sitting in the barrel, Zhu Youjian asked with his hair loose, leaning against the edge of the barrel, looking at the two maids who were mixing water for the barrel.

"Returning to Your Highness, my father was taught by Yanshan to learn Yang Lu, and I heard Admiral Cao said that Xuqin Palace needs people, so my father sent the two of us into the palace."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youjian was not surprised to hear that Yang Lu actually sent his two daughters into the palace.

In the imperial palace, the maids of the palace can receive a salary of [-] Wen for cleaning and serving people every day, which is a great job in the eyes of outsiders.

In addition, Yang Lu knew that Zhu Youjian had a good temper, so he dared to send them to Xuqin Palace to be on duty.

When Zhu Youjian was thinking this way, Qianrou put his hand on his left arm, and the maid scrubbed his body for him, and Zhu Youjian also asked after seeing this:
"What are your and your sister's names?"

"My servant's name is Yang Yuan'ai, and my younger sister's name is Yang Ai..."

Yang Yuanai carefully scrubbed Zhu Youjian's body, but when Zhu Youjian heard the word "Yang Ai", he immediately looked at Yang Ai who was holding a towel beside him.

Yang Ai was only four or five years old, and she was still very ignorant. Seeing Zhu Youjian looking at her, she immediately lowered her head.

"How old are you?" Zhu Youjian felt a little bad in his heart.

"My servant is fourteen years old, and my sister is five years old." As soon as Yang Yuanai spoke, Zhu Youjian felt guilty.

If he remembers correctly, Liu Rushi's real name seems to be Yang Ai, and at this time she should be four years old, five years old...

Unlucky at a young age, her life experience is unclear, and she entered the home of Xu Fo, a famous prostitute in Shengze Town, Wujiang, as a maidservant.

"From Huai'an to Wujiang...it shouldn't be..."

Thinking of the place where Liu Rushi made his debut, Zhu Youjian temporarily let go of this conjecture, and then stood up.

Yang Yuanai scrubbed Zhu Youjian's body. After scrubbing was almost done, she changed the towel to wipe his body clean, and called other court ladies to change his clothes and wipe his hair.

Sitting on the chair, Zhu Youjian closed his eyes and asked the maids to help him wipe his hair. Then he tied up his dry hair and changed into a blue uniform.

"Your Highness..."

At this time, Cao Huachun's voice came from the door of the bedroom, Zhu Youjian also stood up after hearing that he had cleaned up, and walked out of the bedroom.

The moment he opened the door, he saw Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun standing at the door. He passed them, walked to the main seat in the main hall and sat down. He waved his sleeves and leaned on the armrest of the chair, signaling them to take their seats.

Seeing this, the two sat down, and Lu Wenzhao also took out a military report:

"Your Highness, this is the latest military report from the Southwest."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youjian asked someone to pick it up, and after delivering it to him, he unhurriedly opened the military newspaper.

This military report is the continuation of Zhu Xieyuan's capture of Yongning Acropolis on the [-]th of the twelfth lunar month.

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Xieyuan led his troops eastward, joined forces with Hong Chengchou on the second day, and broke through Linzhou City on the seventh day of the first lunar month. Fan Hu killed himself.

In this way, the rebellion of She Chongming, Xuanfu Secretary of Yongning, ended in the failure of She Chongming after [-] days.

Such a failure directly led to the fact that the northern part of the Ming army could free up nearly [-] main and auxiliary troops to encircle and suppress the chieftains in Guizhou.

On the first day of the first lunar month, when all the people in Ming Dynasty were still happily celebrating Zhengdan New Year, Zhu Xieyuan ordered all the ministries to send troops.

Sun Chuanting, Yang Wenyue, Wu Aheng, and Cao Wenzhao commanded [-] troops from the headquarters after the war, and went south with [-] soldiers from Yongning to Guiyang to break the siege of Guiyang.

At the same time, Zhu Xieyuan, Du Wenhuan, and Hong Chengchou led [-] headquarters and [-] auxiliary troops to the east to Zhenyuan Mansion to make peace with Qin Liangyu.

Kaiyaoyi Muzeng's department received orders to march eastward and march towards Zhijin, An Bangyan's lair.

For a time, as She Chongming was wiped out, the strength of the Ming army and the rebel army underwent earth-shaking changes.

Throughout Guizhou, the number of the Ming army reached a terrifying [-] people, but the rebels still had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses left.

Fortunately, the Guizhou chieftain who invaded Guangxi and other places was also defeated by Hu Yingtai and fled back to Guizhou, and the lost two prefectures in Guangxi were recovered.

At the same time, Sun Yingyuan led the two guards of Tengxiang and Wuxiang to attack Liping Mansion, and recovered the whole territory of Liping Mansion on the ninth day of the first lunar month, while Zhu Xieyuan led the army to make peace with Qin Liangyu and others.

For a while, the rebels fell into the situation of being trapped in Guizhou again, and such good news made Zhu Youjian feel a lot more comfortable.

Looking at this posture, it is impossible for An Bangyan to get out of trouble. The only way to start a tug-of-war with the Ming army is in Guinan and Guinan.

Although there are still more than [-] rebels in number, they lack firearms. The only [-] or so cannons are just captured general guns and Francois cannons, weighing between six and two pounds. Wait.

Now as long as the [-] artillery pieces that he transferred to the southwest arrive, the rebels will have only one way to fail.

However, Guizhou's karst landform is doomed that artillery can only play a decisive role in the siege of the city.

In mountain warfare, it still depends on the ability of short soldiers.

Thinking so, Zhu Youjian handed the military newspaper in his hand to the eunuch next to him, and said:
"Show it to Brother Huang, and make him happy too."

"In addition, please ask the emperor to allocate [-] taels of internal funds to reward the army, and then allocate [-] taels from the Imperial Horse Supervisor to Zhu Xieyuan."

"If possible, send Songpan officials to contact Duogan and Uszang Tusi, and order them to transfer [-] men to supplement Cao Wenzhao's Duogan camp."

"The maidservant takes orders..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's arrangement, the eunuch bowed in response, and then left Xuqin Palace with the military report.

As for Zhu Youjian, he set his sights on Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun, and was about to say something else...

　Four o'clock and one more

　　
　
(End of this chapter)