I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1012 The Purpose of the Large-Scale Collapse Drill
Li Rusong led the Ming army to Juyong Pass. He visited the pass in the first, ninth, and twelfth years of the Wanli reign and witnessed its changes firsthand.

After the imperial road was completed, Juyongguan did not change much; there was just one more branch office and several more imperial roads.

The biggest changes are in Nankou Village and Beikou Village. These two villages are the entrances to the mountain road leading to and from Juyongguan Pass, and countless houses have appeared in the villages around the road.

On August 15th of the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong reign, Emperor Yingzong was captured at Tumu Fortress. On October 1st, Esen divided his troops into three routes: one with 20,000 troops attacked Gubeikou, another with 50,000 troops attacked Juyongguan from the north, and the third with 100,000 troops approached Zijingguan.

On the ninth day of the tenth month, Emperor Yingzong's eunuch Xi Ning informed Esen that a shortcut through Zijing Pass could be used to bypass it. Xi Ning himself went to Zijing Pass and tricked the gates into opening. Zijing Pass fell, and Esen led his army into the capital region.

On the 11th, Esen stationed his troops outside Xizhimen in Beijing, and then divided his forces into 20,000 to attack from Nankou.

After the Tumu Crisis in the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong reign, Emperor Yingzong knocked on the gates of Xuanfu and Datong three times in his capacity as emperor, demanding that the city gates be opened. The first time was in Xuanfu, the second time in Datong, and the third time in the capital. The incident of Xi Ning knocking on the gates of Zijing Pass as Emperor Yingzong's eunuch is not counted among these three times.

The capital is in grave danger, and the Ming Dynasty is in grave danger.

In Li Rusong's view, Esen made the same mistake as Emperor Yingzong: he was greedy for merit and acted rashly.

After the Ming army's defeat at Tumu Fortress, the capital city was busy with defenses and had no strong army to drive out Esen. A total of 70,000 troops attacked from both the north and south gates of Juyong Pass. Even such a natural stronghold as Juyong Pass could not withstand such a large army's siege. Even if it was just an ant's swarm, it could be taken.

Esen only needed to wait a few days until his 70,000 troops captured Juyong Pass, then proceed from Zijing Pass to Xizhimen to plot against the capital.

But he didn't get it yet; he was getting anxious.

Before Esen could capture Juyong Pass, he launched an attack on the capital. He was defeated by Shi Heng at Desheng Gate and by Sun Tang at Xizhi Gate. His morale collapsed and his army became unstable.

Unable to capture Juyong Pass after a prolonged siege, Esen was forced to retreat. He was then ambushed from both sides by Shi Heng, who was lying in ambush at Qingfengdian, and Yang Hong, the Xuanfu garrison commander who entered the capital from Juyong Pass, resulting in heavy losses.

Even a powerful figure like Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, never launched a fierce attack on the Jin capital without capturing Juyong Pass during the twenty-three-year Mongol-Jin War.

Most of the time, Genghis Khan sent his troops to plunder and deplete the Jin dynasty's resources, eventually turning the area around the Jin capital into a no-man's land.

Juyong Pass and Jizhou are the gateways to the capital. As long as these two places exist, the capital will exist. If these two places fall into enemy hands, we will have to prepare to move south.

This was a training exercise to simulate the Northern Barbarians' attack on Xuanfu. The central command tent of the Juyong Pass garrison was directly hit by a meteorite. Without a commander, the 6,000-strong Beijing garrison had no choice but to withdraw from Juyong Pass to the North Camp and reorganize.

The content of the exercise was not disclosed in advance.

At noon on the fourth day of the sixth lunar month, a series of loud explosions rang out outside Juyong Pass, flames soared into the sky, smoke filled the air, and the sharp whistling of bugles echoed throughout the entire military camp.

"Enemy attack!"

The moment the bugle sounded, the once quiet midday rest camp came alive. Soldiers ran around shouting, and all the soldiers who heard the bugle changed their expressions. In just three minutes, they were fully armed and on the drill ground. The counts were quickly completed, and the soldiers stood in formation with serious expressions, waiting for the military orders to be given.

“Very good.” Marin stood on the drill ground, listening to the reports from each battalion. All six thousand soldiers were assembled.

This is the result of rigorous military discipline honed through twenty years of unwavering training and the continuous refinement of three generations of elite soldiers in the Beijing Garrison.

Ma Lin's father, Ma Fang, led the Datong cavalry, which was already a rare elite force. However, when attacked by the enemy, it took them a full fifteen minutes to assemble, and often they were short of men, many men at that.

In the Ming Dynasty army, which had enjoyed long periods of peace but lacked military preparedness, where there was no bloodshed or loyalty, and where generals treated soldiers as servants and soldiers regarded generals as enemies, desertion was not uncommon.

This is the first training exercise: assembly. If the entire team fails to assemble within five minutes, they will be punished collectively.

According to the training scenario of the training department, at this time, Li Rusong had been killed by a meteorite, the Juyongguan city wall had been destroyed, the northern barbarians had already threatened the city, and Juyongguan was no longer defensible.

"Juyong Pass has fallen. All soldiers, listen to my command: abandon all weapons, carry only one flintlock musket and three ounces of gunpowder, one wounded soldier per squad, and one day's rations per person. Return to the North Camp immediately. The enemy will begin their pursuit in a quarter of an hour. There must be no delay." Marin gave the order. This 142-mile long-distance raid, which took one day and one night, was carried out with light weapons, not full weapons.

A fully armed heavy infantryman can run 142 li in a day. That would require the level of a vanguard battalion, and even that depends on the road conditions.

At the time, Marin was in the training department and pointed out that this was very unreasonable.

The armor, weapons, firearms, gunpowder, and horses of the six thousand elite soldiers of the Beijing garrison were all left to the "enemy." Isn't this aiding the enemy?

How many enemies are there? Even if the northern barbarians come with 100,000 men, the two battalions of 6,000 men, fully armed, are enough to push the enemy out of the northern pass, hold the position, and wait for reinforcements from the capital. That is the optimal solution.

The reason why Juyong Pass is considered a formidable pass is that the mountain roads make it impossible to deploy troops in formation, which gives the defenders room to maneuver.

Even if the meteorite really razed Li Rusong's central command tent to the ground, the elite troops of the Ming capital garrison still did not lose their fighting power. According to the regulations, without a deputy commander, the longest-serving captain in each bureau would immediately become a deputy commander and lead the troops to continue fighting.

Marin believed that the Beijing garrison's collapse drill was completely unfounded. This is why Zhu Zaiyu's face was full of question marks when he heard about the collapse drill. Zhu Zaiyu was not a recluse, but someone who did not concern himself with worldly affairs. He had visited the Beijing garrison many times because of his work on firearms research and development.

The Beijing garrison would choose to die in battle rather than scatter and flee.

But Zhu Zaiyu knew that there were still two or three cavalry battalions and three battalions of pursuers chasing and intercepting the six thousand scattered soldiers. All Zhu Zaiyu could say was that the Training Department had really no shame!

When the dummy was brought in, everyone knew it was a training exercise, but the assessment in 142 was anything but easy.

A mere quarter of an hour later, the 6,000-strong army began to flee, abandoning their armor and weapons, and could only escape in squads, with no possibility of cooperation between squads along the way.

Shen Weian was born into the Jiaozhou Garrison Command in Laizhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. He was selected to join the Beijing Garrison in the ninth year of the Wanli reign and passed the selection process in the thirteenth year of the Wanli reign. He served in the Korean War and became a captain. When the bugle sounded, he was prepared to die on the battlefield. In any case, Juyong Pass could not be lost.

After the dummy was brought up, Shen Wei'an knew it was a training exercise. He then led his eleven men out in the order of battalion, headquarters, and flag teams. His ranking was very low, and he was almost the last to leave Juyongguan.

Although 142 li is a long distance, he had already planned the route. It was 20 li per hour, with a quarter of an hour for rest. It would only take seven hours to get back to Beidaying, with five hours in between for rest.

"Whoosh!" Arrows suddenly shot out from behind and landed behind Shen Wei'an's team.

Shen Wei'an immediately felt a headache coming on. With pursuers behind and blockades in front, this was the most difficult part of this dispersal exercise!

It's obvious that the training department is treating them like Japanese!
After confirming that everyone was ready to depart, Marin set off with his three squads. These three squads were the vanguard, unlike the other elite troops. Each member of these three vanguard squads had to carry 80 pounds of weight, 1 pound of water (596 ml), and 1 pound of fried noodles. The three squads also carried three dummy soldiers.

In addition to arriving at the North Camp on time, Marin also had to lead thirty-six men to hold off the enemy's pursuit and buy time for all the squads.

Given the arduous nature of the mission, Marin's squad naturally received special treatment, namely, three wheelbarrows!
Shen Wei'an looked back and saw the figures of Ma Lin and others. Arrows were whistling, and Ma Lin was blocking the cavalry's pursuit. Whether he would be captured depended entirely on how effectively General Ma Lin could hold them off.

"Marin! Today is your death day!" Li Rusong stood in front of the south gate of Juyong Pass, checked the time, and knew it was time to begin the pursuit.

He twirled the three-pound, nine-foot-long wooden spear in his hand, urging his horse forward in pursuit.

Seeing that Li Rusong still had a spare warhorse, Marin cursed and led his men in a desperate escape!
Not only were they pursuing cavalrymen, but they even had a horse with them!

The pursuing cavalry could use bows and arrows, as well as long and short weapons, but not firearms. However, Marin looked at the flintlock musket in his hand and knew that he couldn't hold them off for long. He could only fight and retreat, relying on the rugged mountain paths and forests for cover to block the enemy.

Marin must hold out for a sufficient amount of time, at least an hour.

After a full hour of maneuvering with Li Rusong along the twelve-mile-long mountain path at Nankou, Ma Lin led his team into the forest to begin their retreat.

The fastest route is along the imperial road, which is only about 120 li. However, if we follow the imperial road, we will definitely be caught by the pursuers. But if we take another route, the distance will be greatly increased, and we may not have enough time to return to camp.

Shen Wei'an's squad was blocked. When he passed through Changping County, he was discovered by the Changping County Patrol Office. The Patrol Office was hunting wild boars with twelve archers and happened to run into Shen Wei'an's defeated soldiers. The Patrol Office thought they were deserters and surrounded them. Only after seeing the dummy did the Patrol Office release them.

Shen Wei'an continued on his way. He dared not take the main road, as the encirclement and interception were all arranged on the main road. He took the side road and came across farmland. According to military regulations, he could not step on farmland, but if he did not step on farmland, he would have to take a long detour.

He looked around and decisively gave the order to cross the farmland quickly.

As Shen Wei'an's team walked through the farmland and left, the roadside bushes suddenly stood up!

A guard on a watchtower stood by the roadside and noted down the fact that Shen Wei'an's squad had violated military regulations.

Back at the camp, their team had to compensate the village, including but not limited to repairing pigsties and chicken coops, dredging ditches, repairing bridges and roads, and digging wells. They also had to explain to the villagers, amidst their constant expressions of gratitude, that they had been punished for trampling on farmland.

If Shen Wei'an had known that a distant marquis was lying in ambush here, specifically to record whether anyone was trampling on the farmland, Shen Wei'an swore he would have taken a detour, even though it would have added a quarter of an hour to his journey!

It wasn't that I was afraid of corporal punishment, but rather that it was too shameful to admit I had done something wrong amidst the people's gratitude!

At 3:45 PM, Shen Weian arrived at Shijiatun Village in Changping County. While resting under a tree at the village entrance, the village head and the grain chief approached Shen Weian for help. A wild boar had run into the village and was rampaging around. Many able-bodied men from the village had gone to work in the capital, and they couldn't handle the wild boar.

After weighing the options, Shen Wei'an led his soldiers to kill the wild boar at the village entrance using rakes, hoes, and picks from the village. However, it took Shen Wei'an's squad a full quarter of an hour to catch the wild boar.

The team continued their journey, heading towards Beidaying.

Meanwhile, Ma Lin also encountered trouble. Li Rusong clung to Ma Lin like a leech, determined to capture him. During the struggle, Ma Lin's three teams lost their wheelbarrows, which contained their rations. Ma Lin and his men would have to continue their journey on an empty stomach.

By evening, Marin's three squads were in a very sorry state. They had taken refuge in Baihujian, drooling over the orchards in Baihujian Village. They were fully armed, carrying wounded soldiers, and had no food. Marin looked at the orchard and ordered the picking of the unripe apples.

Marin wrote an IOU, promising to repay the money personally after the training exercise. The apples weren't ripe yet, sour and astringent, so they squatted by the riverbank in Baihujian and gave the training department a good scolding, which finally eased their resentment.

The village head and grain manager of Baihujian Village, along with three or five other people, carrying a basket of steamed buns and two jugs of cold boiled water, found Ma Lin.

When the three squads from Malin arrived at the village entrance, someone spotted them. When they saw the thirty-odd strong men picking and eating fruit, they knew that they had lost their rations. Otherwise, these elite soldiers would never have stolen fruit, and the raw fruit was too unpalatable.

Ma Lin gave the IOU to the village head and the grain chief. The village head accepted the IOU and repeatedly said that it didn't need to be repaid, as it was the calligraphy of the Marquis of Yangcheng!
After Marin finished eating, he set off again. The three teams had no time to rest. Li Rusong was fooled by the tracks they had set up, but he could only fool them for a while. Li Rusong would definitely catch up.

Marin already knew that this time he probably wouldn't be able to leave again and would be used by Li Rusong to gain military merit.

Just a quarter of an hour later, Li Rusong arrived at Baihujian Village with his cavalry and inquired about the whereabouts of Ma Lin and the others.

The village head and the grain chief pointed to Qipan Mountain in the west, saying that Ma Lin and his thirty-six men were heading towards Qipan Mountain because they were afraid that the cavalry would catch up. Li Rusong did not suspect anything and chased after them for almost half an hour before realizing that he had been tricked!

Each of Ma Lin and his men carried 80 pounds of equipment and had no food left. As they ventured into the mountains, their physical strength was depleted. Li Rusong hadn't expected the village head and grain chief to lie to them. They turned their horses around, and this delay allowed Ma Lin and his men to escape completely.

At noon on the fifth day of the sixth lunar month, Shen Wei'an's team finally arrived at the North Camp. The entire team was exhausted and dizzy. Three of them were captured by the pursuers while covering the rear of the squad.

Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty is serving herbal tea to returning soldiers. This large bowl of herbal tea, made with rock sugar and tea leaves, is both hydrating and sugary. More specifically, the Ming emperor is trying to win over the hearts of the people.

"Isn't this Shen Wei'an? You must be tired from running, have a bowl of tea." Zhu Yijun saw Shen Wei'an getting tea and said with a smile, "Shen Siping, who enlisted with you, is he a battalion commander now?"

Zhu Yijun knew Shen Wei'an because he was rather unlucky.

He went to the Korean battlefield. After the battle of Kaesong, while escorting firearms and other supplies, the donkey got frightened and his leg was hit by the donkey cart. It would take a hundred days to recover from the injury. After being injured, Shen Wei'an could only return to the rear to recuperate. Later, his battalion was rotated out.

Shen Siping and Shen Weian were cousins. After Shen Siping fought the entire war against the Japanese pirates in Korea, he was promoted to captain and entered the military academy as a junior officer.

"Your Majesty? Greetings, Your Majesty." Shen Wei'an was surprised and quickly bowed his head in greeting before saying, "Shen Siping is already a captain."

"Oh? He's already a commander? He's made another contribution?" Zhu Yijun said, slightly surprised.

Shen Wei'an quickly brought over a large bowl of tea and replied, "Siping went to Rongcheng with Commander Li last year."

"Then you'd better work hard. We're cousins, we joined the Beijing Garrison together, and he's already a captain." Zhu Yijun served another bowl of tea to the soldiers behind him.

While serving soup, Zhu Yijun said, "This training exercise for defeated soldiers has a purpose. The main purpose is to select three thousand people to go to Edo Castle in Japan. A silver mine has been discovered there. The Hojo clan, the daimyo of Edo, could not withstand the attacks of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, so they sought help from the Nagasaki Governor's Office."

“Edo (today’s Tokyo area) is quite important. It can serve as a supply port for those heading to the Gold Mountain Kingdom. Moreover, there are also silver mountains and copper mountains there, so it is necessary to station troops there.”

Zhu Yijun explained why this scattering drill was conducted: it was to select elite soldiers to go to Edo. With limited troops and insufficient supplies, scattering and fleeing were essential lessons.

At that time, Mount Fuji was still erupting violently in the Edo region, with volcanic ash obscuring the sky and not exactly a desirable place. In recent years, the eruption of Mount Fuji has gradually slowed down, and the Edo region, with its plains, abundant water resources, and fertile land, has become a piece of meat that everyone wants to fight over.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi established Jurakudai as his shogunate and ordered all the daimyo in the land to attend his inauguration ceremony as shogun. However, the Hojo clan failed to attend, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi used this as a pretext to launch an attack on the Edo region. The main force of the attack was Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Knowing they couldn't stop the tide, the Later Hojo clan, whose forces consisted mainly of peasants, while Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu had only samurai who were separated from the farmers, decided to go all the way and directly surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

The head of the clan, Ujimasa, sent his son, Ujinao, to Nagasaki as a hostage, hoping that the Ming Dynasty would send troops to garrison there.

Based on the results of this exercise, select 3,000 men to be stationed in Edo for an extended period. If the task is not completed, withdraw immediately.

The samurai under Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, pieced together from various sources, managed to muster 150,000 to launch an attack on Edo Castle. In contrast, the Hojo clan only had 50,000 men, while the Ming Dynasty's elite garrison had 3,000. Even if each of them fought against ten, they were still outnumbered.

If it weren't for the Paradise Cult causing Toyotomi Hideyoshi so much trouble, Edo Castle would have fallen into the hands of the old turtle long ago.

Upon hearing His Majesty's words, Shen Wei'an immediately heard two words: merit and achievement. The time to make contributions had come!
It wasn't until noon that 4,300 of the routed soldiers returned to the North Camp. The rest had either failed to complete their training or had been captured by the pursuers led by Li Rusong. There were five battalions of pursuers, but their purpose was limited to driving them away rather than capturing them; otherwise, the 4,300 soldiers would not have been able to reach the camp.

Duntai Yuanhou also began to return to camp, and presented all the violations of military discipline that occurred during the retreat to the Emperor.

Zhu Yijun and Qi Jiguang sorted out the violations together at Wuying Tower. Overall, none of the violations were serious, and none of them even involved punishment during military training. They were all minor offenses, such as stepping on farmland.

Qi Jiguang instructed the logistics personnel to settle all the accounts first.

Ma Lin owed money for apples and steamed buns, and several teams owed money for meals. The people wouldn't accept the IOUs he wrote, so he had to write them down and report them to the battalion commander and the centurion, who would then pay the money.

There were also some honest and straightforward people. There was a team that lost their rations when they set off. They walked for a day and a night and finally returned to Beidaying. They were so hungry that their eyes were shining.

Qi Jiguang and his officers, including the lieutenant general, captain, and battalion commander, finalized the roster of troops to be stationed in Edo, thus concluding the training exercise.

"Overall, it was a bit too difficult. Next time we conduct similar exercises, we need to reduce the number of pursuing troops. Five battalions was a bit too much."

"We also need to provide enough rations for the soldiers. If we are in debt for food this time, the people will probably say that I am not a good emperor and that I am not feeding the soldiers properly."

"And those few who played the pursuers but were captured. They were supposed to be doing a training exercise, but they were captured instead of playing the pursuers. This is absolutely unacceptable. It's obvious that they were trying to gain credit, and someone found an opportunity for them. Being greedy for credit and reckless is not acceptable."

"Each battalion, department, bureau, flag, and team should conduct a post-exercise debriefing, identify the problems, and avoid repeating them next time. It would be even better if we could achieve a disorganized yet cohesive performance. This time, it seems that we were still somewhat scattered," Zhu Yijun summarized the exercise.

The first collapse drill was a bit too intense and the pressure was too great, causing many people to fight each other to the point of real anger.

There were twelve teams, all desperate to escape the pursuit, so they set up an ambush, gave the pursuers a good beating, and even captured a few prisoners, thus completing this disorganization drill together.

Another team, when passing through Baigezhuang, saw the village thugs bullying people. They captured the three thugs and brought them to Beidaying. The thugs were so scared that their legs went weak.

It is worth mentioning that all 36 men led by Marin returned to Beidaying, carrying 80 jin of weight and traveling 142 li in a day and night. They even traveled more due to taking a detour, but Marin and his men, who were the vanguard, managed to do it.

After Li Rusong and Ma Lin returned to camp, they went to the training ground to wrestle, determined to determine who was superior.

Li Rusong lost this time because he underestimated his opponent and was careless. He originally thought he had a great advantage, so he didn't shoot any arrows on the Juyongguan mountain road. Instead, he wanted to capture Marin alive so that he could bring him back as a prisoner. In that case, Li Rusong would have won completely. However, Marin took advantage of this mentality and set up a series of traps.

Of course, it was mostly a coincidence. If the village head and grain manager of Baihujian Village hadn't deliberately given the wrong directions, Li Rusong would have been able to catch Ma Lin.

While the elite troops of the Beijing Garrison were indeed powerful, the organizational structure of the Beijing Garrison established by Qi Jiguang based on military training methods, its strict military discipline, and its rigorous inspections made this army even stronger.

Most importantly, over these twenty years, a military spirit of reporting to the emperor and saving the common people was formed.

The people near the capital did not fear the elite soldiers of the Beijing garrison, but rather supported them. They were willing to cover their movements and provide them with food, without worrying that these soldiers would rob them of their money and provisions.

Mutual trust between the military and the people is the source of all strength.

Only through military discipline, collective honor, the trust of the people, and loyalty to the emperor and the country can people of all kinds—noble, cowardly, timid, and so on—be forged into a strong army as solid as steel.

"General Qi, do you think it's possible that Toyotomi Hideyoshi might make a desperate gamble and try to seize Korea again?" Zhu Yijun asked Qi Jiguang this question only after the generals in Wuying Tower had finished summarizing the results of the training exercise.

Whenever a country enters a dangerous period, it becomes exceptionally tough, highly aggressive, and more radical; the weaker it is, the more it will bare its fangs.

"I always felt that Toyotomi Hideyoshi would recklessly provoke a war. Winning or losing is not even important. The most important thing is to use the war to unite everyone as one and prolong the ruling class's reign," Zhu Yijun reiterated his reasoning.

The Ming emperor always believed that the war between the Ming Dynasty and Japan did not end with the signing of the Treaty of Kyoto.

War is usually not a purely external strategy, but more of an internal tactic.

To remain rational in adversity, to pursue order amidst chaos, and to yearn for light even in absolute darkness—that is truly incredibly difficult.

Clearly, the shogunate established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi was far less stable than that established by Oda Nobunaga, and he needed to prolong his reign through war.

"Therefore, we need to station troops in Edo, Iwami Silver Mine, and Tsushima Island to prevent Toyotomi Hideyoshi from resorting to desperate measures. If he wants to wage war against Korea again, he must first suppress those who oppose him. Once the Ming Dynasty's troops stationed in Edo are forced to withdraw, that will be the time for the bugle to sound."

"I don't think Toyotomi Hideyoshi can take Edo Castle," Qi Jiguang said, expressing his opinion that Toyotomi Hideyoshi would have to defeat the other daimyo before he could challenge the Ming Dynasty again.

The ownership of the Edo region directly reflects whether Toyotomi Hideyoshi had the ability to launch a full-scale war.

Qi Jiguang still insisted on his own opinion. He did not believe that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was still capable of launching a full-scale war because the hearts and minds of the Japanese people had been scattered. The rampant spread of the Bliss Sect had shattered many of the consensuses in Japan, and its harm was greater than anyone imagined.

Qi Jiguang continued, "As long as the Later Hojo clan successfully defected to the Ming Dynasty and defended Edo Castle with the help of the Ming navy and elite troops, more Japanese daimyo who were unable to resist would abandon their allegiance to the Ming. Now these daimyo have a new choice."

This is the terrifying aspect of the breakdown of consensus.

Under Xiong Tingbi's management, the Iwami Silver Mine was as stable as paradise, while Japan itself was like living in hell. For these daimyo who sought refuge there, it was not a disgrace even in Japan, but a wiser choice.

(End of this chapter)