The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Liu Jin gathered the four groups of troops together and prepared to fight a decisive battle with the Tatars.

But when he assembled these more than 3,000 soldiers and horses, the Tatars did not engage in direct battle with them. Instead, the Tatars unscrupulously sent out cavalry to bypass Huamachi and began to harass the defense area of ​​Ningxia Weifang, robbing several villages in succession and causing losses of population, livestock, property, etc.

Liu Jin encountered the same situation as Zhu Feng did when he was dealing with the Dayan tribe in Ningxia, that is, the horse's hooves were not fast enough and could not keep up with the pace of the Tatars.

Fortunately, the situation became relatively stable. After the Tatars discovered that the Ming Dynasty had more than 3,000 elite soldiers gathered together, with artillery and muskets, they no longer engaged in a head-on battle with Liu Jin's troops. They only needed to send troops to harass them and then treat Liu Jin's troops as kites.

After a few days, Liu Jin couldn't take it anymore.

Zheng Sui and Xu Shen, his two most important generals, were also at a loss at the moment.

"Eunuch, as you said, we have lost hundreds of soldiers' lives now. Even though we have killed many enemies, we have not yet recovered the heads of the Tartars." Zheng Sui and Xu Shen also wanted to follow Liu Jin to fight a big battle at first.

But after the first wave of failures, their goals became simpler.

That is to take back the heads of the Tatars who had been killed before. This can be regarded as "offsetting the merits and demerits". It is better than suffering a military defeat and watching the Tatars wreak havoc without doing anything, and finally being convicted by the court.

Liu Jin angrily said, "It's been three days, and you can't get it back by yourselves. Do you blame us?"

Liu Jin's more than 3,000 men no longer tried to stop the Tatars from entering the Ming Dynasty to rob. Their target was only the 100 Tatar corpses that might exist in front of them. They sent troops to rob several times, but were killed back by the Tatars' ambushes with bows and crossbows.

Although Liu Jin also sent out artillery teams to prepare to bomb the area, he was hesitant...mainly because he was afraid that the bodies of the Tatars would be blown to pieces and he would not be able to bring back their heads. In the end, the two sides could only fight back and forth around a valley within a radius of three or four miles.

Today I went up to attack and take back the bodies, but was ambushed by you. You can charge again tomorrow and we will deal with you.

Zheng Sui said with a worried look on his face, "The Tartars also sent people to carry away the bodies, but we drove them away with cannons. Dozens more Tartars died, and they never came again! But they are also very vicious. They buried gunpowder around the bodies. When we went over, they set fire to them with rockets from a distance. They couldn't carry them away, and we couldn't take them back either."

Liu Jin asked, "Then there is no other way?"

Xu Shen said: "Eunuch, the Tartars have already reached our rear, and the defense line of Huamachi is useless. Should we send troops back now, or is there still a glimmer of hope?"

Now Xu Shen no longer cares about winning the battle, but how to save his life in the court after this battle.

Liu Jin cursed, "You are blind. Is it still meaningful to worry about where the Tartars enter the Ming Dynasty? We will fight them. Aren't there troops from three sides to deal with the aftermath? Let's find a way to get these bodies back first! Even if it doesn't work, we can send a team to cut off the ears."

Zheng Sui said: "We sent people there last night, but before we could do anything, the Tartars fired arrows, all of which were flaming. Many of our brothers were killed or wounded."

"Damn it, is this a trap? Are we just going to watch it and fail to get it back? How many troops have been dispatched from Tucheng?" Liu Jin cursed.

He didn't dare to withdraw his troops now and could only transfer them from the rear.

Xu Shen said: "Eunuch, our retreat has been cut off by the Tatars. The Tatars came with great force this time and used a lot of gunpowder cans. They used a very powerful catapult. As long as the cans were lit, they would throw them at us. We are not afraid here, but the defenders in the city have no muskets, only a few cannons, and the range is not far. They can't kill us. No help can come."

Zheng Sui on the side also said: "If we grab those Tartar heads now and retreat immediately, it will be quite troublesome on the way, but we will be stable after we return. Otherwise... the reinforcements in the city will not be able to arrive in time, and in a few days, we will be out of food."

Liu Jin was so angry that he was shaking all over.

But there seems to be no solution at all.

"Steal more!" Liu Jin said, "We can't control the war situation. If we can get back the heads of more than one hundred Tartars, we can report to the court. Whether it is a credit or a fault depends on the brothers."

Zheng Sui said: "If it doesn't work, let's use cannons to blow it up. At worst, it will catch fire. We can see how the situation develops and cut off as many ears as possible."

"No." Liu Jin said, "There aren't many Tartar corpses left. If they are blown up, we won't be able to explain ourselves when we return. Don't go that far unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Eunuch, we understand. We will send people to rob again tonight. However, the Tatars have often come to attack at night in the past two days, so you should be careful."

"Why should we be careful? You don't work, and you want us to be careful? Aren't you the backbone of the Ming Dynasty? Is your backbone broken? If you don't do your job well, we will kill you first!"

Liu Jin was also extremely angry. After a burst of impotent rage, Zheng Sui and Xu Shen also obediently went out to quickly gather the troops.

Prepare for the next body snatching battle at night.

……

……

At this point in the battle, the area around Huamachi has become a complete sieve.

Liu Jin's troops did not guard against the invasion of the Tatars. Although the Tatars also lost some troops, their strategic intention had been achieved, which was to rob around Ningxia. Moreover, more than 10,000 "elite soldiers" of the Ming Dynasty were stationed in Huamachi, so they could still come and go freely. Several groups of troops entered Ningxia, and the number of troops invading the Ming Dynasty border exceeded 30,000.

It is even still increasing.

The battle report soon reached Yansui, and Wang Qiong felt quite overwhelmed after hearing it.

Shen Ying said, "Sir, judging from the situation, the Tartars are coming with such force this time that I'm afraid we can't stop them. Their vanguard alone has more than 20,000 troops, and they have several more thousand troops heading towards Huamachi. It's simply impossible to stop them with just the Ming troops stationed at Huamachi."

Wang Qiong asked sternly, "Are you trying to make amends for Liu Jin?"

Now even Wang Qiong knew that the person who had such fun and fought so fiercely in Huamachi was Liu Jin.

Shen Ying said quickly, "I just think that the situation forced the troops stationed in Huamachi to do nothing. The Tatars mobilized a large number of artillery and old-style muskets, as well as a large amount of gunpowder. They even set up an ambush on the official road between the Daming fortresses and used gunpowder to fill the battle formation, making it difficult for our Daming cavalry to break through." Wang Qiong said, "This is not a reason for defeat. What is Liu Jin doing? He mobilized thousands of troops, but he was still outside Huamachi, not returning to garrison the fortress, and not engaging the Tatars head-on? What is he waiting for?"

Because Wang Qiong did not know that Liu Jin's strategic intention was to rob the 100 corpses of the Tatars, he naturally could not understand Liu Jin's purpose of stationing troops outside the city.

All we know is that Liu Jin divided his troops into four groups, each with about a thousand soldiers. After they went out, they suffered a defeat and then gathered together. The Tatars ignored these groups and went straight into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Liu Jin neither pursued them or engaged them head-on, nor did he withdraw to the city or even dispatch reinforcements. He just stayed outside the city, as if he didn't want to come back.

Shen Ying said, "Sir, do you think that since the troops suffered a defeat and allowed the Tatars to enter the Ming territory, they felt guilty and were afraid of being held accountable by the court, so they planned to... surrender to the enemy? I was wrong."

"You didn't say anything wrong." Wang Qiong said, "It's possible."

Shen Ying said: "Right now, the most important thing is to quickly curb the Tatar invasion. Although the troops from all directions have been assembled, the number of troops we can mobilize may still be less than 10,000."

Wang Qiong was also quite helpless.

The Ming border troops had to ensure the defense of the city fortresses, and on this basis, they deployed and assembled troops from various routes, so the number of troops that could be mobilized was naturally much smaller.

Moreover, Wang Qiong was not as "daring" as Liu Jin, who could not move all the artillery out of the city. In Wang Qiong's view, if the artillery remained in the city gate, it would be an absolute deterrent to the Tatars. However, if the artillery was moved out of the city, the artillery would not be very effective because its speed was too slow and it could not catch up with the Tatar cavalry.

"Although the artillery is powerful, its travel speed is too slow. The Tatars come and go like the wind. How should we fight this battle?" Wang Qiong was also quite embarrassed.

Shen Ying pointed at the map and said, "The best way now is to do as we did in the battle of Ningxia. All troops should gather and drive the Tatars out of the pass. Even if we can't move fast enough, as long as our artillery is advancing, the Tatars can only retreat."

This is to tell Wang Qiong that we should use a large army to encircle the Tatars.

Wang Qiong said: "In that battle, the imperial court used the troops of Xuanda and Sanbian as the main force, and even transferred troops from the Beijing camp, with the Duke of Baoguo as the commander. The Ming garrison in Ningxia almost came out in full force, while the Tatars only had 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and there were also fearless people like Jingshan Marquis who fought desperately, which was why they had such an effect. Now the Tatars are coming with great momentum. Even if all my troops gather immediately, it will be difficult to form a siege within a month. How can we fight this?"

Shen Ying said: "The vanguard troops are approaching Ningxia."

Wang Qiong said sternly, "Order the Ningxia governor to lead the Ningxia Central Guard troops from the north to the Ningxia Rear Guard. As for the Yansui local troops, they will advance diagonally from the south... Within ten days, all troops must reach Huamachi."

"My lord, this may be difficult. Even if we can get there under normal circumstances, the Tatars are wreaking havoc everywhere right now, so we won't be able to get there in ten days." Shen Ying said.

Wang Qiong threw a letter of appointment from the imperial court in front of Shen Ying and said, "Your Majesty has issued an order that I will be in charge of the battle of Huamachi. We must send troops now, even if we don't have to. The time limit must be met to the letter. Anyone who fails to meet the deadline will be beheaded!"

Shen Ying said: "Sir, even if the troops from all directions can reach Huamachi within ten days, and the Tatars can loot for another ten days, the losses of the Ming army and civilians will be very great, and we can only..."

"You don't have to tell me, I know everything." Wang Qiong said, "Now is not the time to worry about gains and losses. The right thing to do is to drive the Tatars away first. Even if it takes time and effort, as long as the Tatars are driven away, I will bear the responsibility. The losses today can be made up by sending troops to the grassland in the future. Just follow the order!"

……

……

Ningxia, Yansui and other places were in chaos because of the invasion of Tatars.

The news soon spread to the capital.

In the cabinet, Liu Jian was also bored that day and was about to finish his official duties early and go home to rest when Li Dongyang appeared in the duty room with an urgent battle report.

"It was reported to the higher authorities, but I stopped it." Li Dongyang took out the battle report and handed it to Liu Jian.

According to the rules set by Zhu Youtang, the authority to discuss the war situation during wartime must be assigned to the Shangting Office, and the cabinet is generally only responsible for internal affairs. It is difficult for it to interfere in military and political affairs. Even the authority to draft resolutions on military matters has been revoked.

But because Zhu Youtang is not in the capital at the moment, many things still have to be adjusted. For example, many affairs involving the northwest must be managed by Zhu Youtang personally. The capital is hundreds of miles away from Binhai City, so the transmission of information is not so smooth. Li Dongyang can also suppress some battle reports from the higher authorities.

After reading it, Liu Jian frowned and said, "There are over 10,000 soldiers stationed in Huamachi, how could it be so unbearable?"

Li Dongyang sighed, "Hua Ma Chi doesn't even have a chief censor to command the troops, nor even a meritorious general. After Liu Jin was transferred, this battle was planned by him. He has no experience in leading troops in actual combat, so how could it be effective?"

"Liu Jin...you deserve this retribution!" Liu Jian's expression was grim.

Li Dongyang said: "Liu Jin is so self-righteous. After he dispatched his troops to attack, he was defeated by the Tatars and dared not withdraw to the pass. He could only stay outside the city and did not return. In my opinion, he was trying to cut off the Tatars' retreat in order to make up for his mistakes. However, the Tatars ignored the fact that he led his troops to march straight into our territory to plunder. How could they take him seriously when they were withdrawing their troops?"

"Where is Wang Dehua? Doesn't Your Majesty appoint him as the commander? Where are his men?" Liu Jian asked.

Li Dongyang shook his head and said, "There is no news of him sending troops yet. I guess he wanted to watch the fire from the other side at first. By the time he received the emperor's order and sent troops, it was too late."

"Yes." Liu Jian nodded. "Wang Dehua is stationed in Yansui, which is only a step away from Ningxia. Even if he sends troops, it seems that the battle in Huamachi is already decided. Is there any movement from Wang Boan?"

"No." Li Dongyang answered straightforwardly.

"Well." Liu Jian said, "In that case, we should rely on the troops from Ningxia and Yansui to drive the Tatars away first, and then use the local inspectors to impeach the defeated generals and others."

Li Dongyang said: "This time, Liu Jin, the eunuch guarding the city, must bear full responsibility."

Liu Jian sighed, "In recent decades, there have been defeats at the border. Even if the case is handed over to the Three Departments for final decision, the eunuchs are less responsible. Liu Jin was personally sent to Ningxia by His Majesty, so I'm afraid he won't be sentenced to death when the crime is decided."

Li Dongyang nodded and said, "Everything depends on human effort. Even Wang Dehua is responsible for not taking the lead in this battle. After this battle, we must push the generals who can be used to manage the military affairs of the three borders. It is time to replace the Northwest with a group of clean officials and let them manage the overall situation!" (End of this chapter)