The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 483
April [-], night.

In the capital, in the Qianqing Palace of the Imperial Palace, Zhu Youtang came from the direction of Kunning Palace with his slightly tired body and his eyes bloodshot.

At the same time, those who were called to Qianqing Palace were Xiao Jing, Li Rong and Wei Bin, the eunuchs who stayed on night duty.

"Your Majesty." Because Zhu Youtang has not been too concerned about official duties recently, Xiao Jing and the others still don't quite understand the purpose of the emperor summoning them.

Zhu Youtang said: "I couldn't sleep at night, so I came over to see if there was any military news in the northwest."

Xiao Jing said respectfully: "Your Majesty, although news has come back from the northwest in the past two days, there is no news about the movements of the Tatars. Maybe... we have to wait a little longer."

Now that everyone in the Supervisor of Ceremonies knows about Zhang Zhou's plan, they are now opening a net, waiting for the prey to be delivered by themselves. Not to mention that the emperor is anxious, even Xiao Jing and the others have expectations, but Xiao Jing also Sorry to say... Is this any different from waiting for the rabbit to come out?

"Ugh!"

Zhu Youtang sighed heavily and said, "Unfortunately, it's different from the past. This time Bingkuan didn't say when it was, but I think he... took the instructions Bingkuan gave to the governor of Ningxia and other places, Yang Yiqing, and showed them to me again. "

"Yes."

Xiao Jing responded.

But he was a little embarrassed, because he obviously had to go back to find this kind of thing. If the emperor wanted it temporarily, where could he find it?
But Li Rong calmly took out something from his arms, presented it to Xiao Jing, and gave Xiao Jing a wink.

Xiao Jing was taken aback.

He looked at Li Rong curiously and said to himself, Li Rong, you are quite powerful. Do you know the purpose of the emperor summoning us is this?Have you prepared in advance?Why didn't you tell me when you came?
"Your Majesty, here it is." Xiao Jing looked at it first, and after finding it was OK, he presented it to Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang nodded: "Yes."

Only this point made the emperor feel that the ceremonial supervisors were not all useless. He knew that I might mention this matter when I summoned you at night, so he was prepared in advance.

Xiao Jing felt ashamed when he saw the emperor looking at him seriously. If Li Rong hadn't had experience and taken precautions in advance, this...

"The lights are a little dim, please add two more." Zhu Youtang looked at it by candlelight, but found that it was a bit powerless. After all, reading something full of words at night was not a good thing for him, who had been slacking off on official duties this year. , a little bit lethargic.

Li Rongdao: "Returning to your majesty, Cai Guogong means that the Ningxia Governor Yang Yiqing should guard against several weak points on the Ningxia East Road, especially the Huamachi bordering the East Loop. Cai Guogong means that the Tatars are likely to attack Huamachi Koubian.”

Zhu Youtang stopped looking and looked up directly and asked: "Then if the Tatars come, how should they set up an ambush?"

Li Rong looked at Xiao Jing. Xiao Jing couldn't answer this time, so he simply nodded and let Li Rong continue.

Li Rong then said: "Use artillery and... mighty sky gunpowder."

"Oh. Yes." Zhu Youtang immediately wanted to understand this, "It is the sky gunpowder used in the Battle of Pianguan, because it can only be buried in the ground. In the following battles, except for the first time Xinjian Bo used it in Weininghai After that, it seems like no one has used it anymore, right?"

Li Rongdao: "Your Majesty, that's exactly what happened. The sky gunpowder is very powerful, but it needs to be preset in advance and must be set up on the road that the Tatars must pass, so the requirements are extremely high. This can only be done if the Tatar advance route is known in advance. , it works wonders.”

"Haha, if the Tatars really come from this way, that's good, that's good." Zhu Youtang seemed to have figured it out, and he felt much more relaxed.

Li Rong continued: "In the instructions given by Cai Guogong to Yang Yiqing, he also mentioned that artillery must be used well and that it must not be done too hastily. It must wait until the main force of the Tatars has passed Huamachi, and then use sky gunpowder and artillery to cut off their retreat."

Xiao Jing asked from the side: "Are you going to put the Tatars inside the Ming Dynasty to fight? Wouldn't it be like... beating the dogs behind closed doors?"

Li Rongdao: "That's not the case. The purpose of cutting off the retreat is to disturb the morale of the Tatar army. If the Tatar army enters the ambush circle and uses sky powder and artillery, then the Tatar army will definitely withdraw its troops, and most likely... they will also harass Elsewhere. It’s better to let them enter the Huama Pond..."

Zhu Youtang nodded and said: "Instead of letting them run around, it is better to fight at Huamachi. Be prepared in advance. The fortresses and fortresses around Huamachi will be equipped with more artillery and muskets. It will be even more difficult for the Tatars to achieve victory here. In addition, when they advance, they will encounter Huamachi to ambush their rear army, which will inevitably cause their food, grass and baggage supplies to be improperly supplied, and the Tatar soldiers will lose their love for war. .”

"Your Majesty is wise." Li Rong praised with a smile.

These words were very useful to Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang sighed: "Bingkuan is still thoughtful. If Wang Shouren were in Ningxia, he would have beaten the Tatars into a state of disarray. But this is Yang Yiqing... In the previous battle of Ningxia, he cooperated with Zhijie , but the result of the battle is somewhat... inappropriate."

To the emperor's ears, the tactics were good tactics, but the people who executed them were not good at it.

The main reason is last year's battle in Ningxia. Yang Yiqing and Zhu Feng defended Ningxia with one weapon and one weapon, but they were defeated by the little Tatar prince. Zhu Feng's troops suffered a lot of losses. Yang Yiqing went too far and directly asked Zhu Feng to lead the troops. The outside world was circling around, while he himself held on to some strong fortresses.

From then on, the emperor felt that Yang Yiqing was not a very capable person.

More importantly, Yang Yiqing was not from Zhang Zhou, which made the emperor lose trust in him.

Li Rongdao: "My servant once asked Cai Guogong. He said that although Governor Yang did not perform well last year, he was limited by conditions. After all, there were not many firearms stored in Ningxia at that time. After the end of last year, they were transported everywhere." Get more firearms and gunpowder. In addition, the Tatars may be scornful of him, which will make it easier for Governor Yang to realize his shame and then become brave."

"Yes." Zhu Youtang nodded, "That makes sense. Even I think he may not be able to succeed. After last year's battle, the Tatars will feel that he is not strong. They will regard the land of Ningxia in the Ming Dynasty as a soft persimmon. , just in time... give them lessons!"

Xiao Jing saw that the emperor's face turned rosy and he was obviously in high spirits.

He hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, it's getting late. You'd better go back and rest early. There will be an early morning meeting tomorrow morning."

Zhu Youtang smiled and said: "The only one who can encourage and cheer up my heart is Bingkuan. Now I am not sleepy anymore. You can accompany me for a walk later." Xiao Jing said: "Your Majesty, the night breeze is a bit cool. .”

"I don't feel anything bad at all." Zhu Youtang said, "Bingkuan has been taking care of my body recently. I feel that my body is much better. If I exercise more, I can actually lead the expedition myself."

Although the three eunuchs all knew that this was a dangerous sign, no one tried to persuade them.

It's because they know that the emperor is in high spirits, and if they let the emperor down, the emperor won't give them a good look.

"Tomorrow." Zhu Youtang added, "Let Bingkuan give a few more copies of the marching strategy. By the way, see if there is anything else in the palace and send some to Bingkuan. The rewards given to Bingkuan recently are a bit... If there is less... If there is anything suitable, give more. I can't use him in vain... Every time, I let him mine to fill the court... It's a pity that I can't become an in-law with him... Alas!"

……

……

April 21.

Zhu Hui had to turn back his troops and head southwest, although his plan of "five groups of troops to sweep the Loop" was still not completed.

He was "forced to do so".

Because more and more intelligence shows that the Tatars have indeed invaded Ningxia, and they are going to the west of the Hetao, and their five groups of people all came in from the east of the Hetao... If the Tatars invaded the Ming Dynasty under his nose, and he could not complete the necessary blocking actions, it was obvious that he would not be able to deal with the emperor after he returned.

"Are they still used to remind me of the Tatars' movements? Didn't I send people to obtain information about the Tatars? Where is Zhang Lun?"

Zhu Hui originally suppressed Zhang Lun's discovery of the Tatars' movements, and even tied the six heads he brought back to him, saying that they were the results of fighting with the Tatars.

But as urgent people on the border came to report to him quickly, he had to re-emphasize the tactical value of Zhang Lun's intelligence.

"Commander, the plan for now is to send troops quickly to block the Tatars' retreat."

At the military meeting, some generals were making suggestions.

Zhu Hui said angrily: "The Tatars enter from the Hetao, not necessarily from the Hetao. If they really send tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in, they want to knock on the pass and get out of the fortress. Apart from our way, is there anyone who can stop it? Listen! According to my commander's orders, we will march fifty miles every day and send out various scouts to detect the enemy's situation. Anyone who dares to advance will be punished as having missed the opportunity to fight!"

"Then if the Tatars run away..."

"Who dares to question my commander's military orders? Anyone who talks nonsense will be handed over to military law!"

Zhu Hui was embarrassed to say that he would kill without mercy, because he had not killed many Tatars himself. If he killed the generals in front of the battle line... this would be very lively. When he returned, he would definitely be drowned in the spit of those officials.

……

……

April 26.

Zhu Hui's troops traveled for more than 300 miles, and finally braved the strong wind and sand and approached the Ming Dynasty's frontier fortress again.

The place where they followed the intelligence report was the Huamachi of the Ming Dynasty's Ningxia defenders. When the army was sixty miles away from Huamachi, Zhu Hui's troops had already moved around and stopped taking a step forward.

In Zhu Hui’s words, this is called “being careful”.

That night, after the army was stationed, Zhu Hui even seemed to be afraid of the Tatar invasion.

Cui Yuan and Li Wei went to see Zhu Hui and informed him of the latest information.

"Mr. Bao Guo, according to the current investigation, the Tatars have passed through Huamachi." Li Nuo said.

"Oh? Huamachi seems to be only a dozen miles away from the Ming Dynasty's pass... Then they..." Zhu Hui wanted to ask how the Tatars fought their way in and what the ratio of losses between the two sides was.

Li Tao said: "I didn't receive the report one night, saying that the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars experienced a tragic battle in the south of Huama Pond. Then the Ming army retreated and all the fortresses around Huama Pond were lost."

"Just say you shouldn't rush forward..." Zhu Hui seemed to suddenly become hardened, feeling proud of his "foresight".

Cui Yuan added: "Although the Ming army has withdrawn, no trace of the Tatars has been found. According to the battlefield reports brought back by the sentries, it is said that it is full of devastation, all of which were blown up by Ming artillery and gunpowder. Many of them were destroyed by Ming artillery and gunpowder." The hills have all been blown up, and the remains of Tatar soldiers and horses can be seen everywhere, as well as a large number of abandoned military uniforms, military flags, supplies, etc. It seems... we should be... not at a disadvantage."

"what?"

Zhu Hui frowned and said, "What about the corpses of the Ming soldiers?"

"No." Cui Yuandao.

Zhu Hui said coldly: "It may be that they were taken away by the Tatars. That is all military merit. It may also be that the Tatars deliberately left a blindfold to lure my troops into the urn they set." How could I, the commander, fall into their scheme?"

(End of this chapter)