In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 202 The Tumuts blocking the road

Lin Rui came here with [-] cavalry this time. In addition to picking up Shang Kexi and others, he also came to cause damage.

After all, he hadn't even arrived in the Loop yet, and Jiannu was thinking about resuming production and farming. He was afraid it was a ghost.

In addition, it is not easy to set fires in winter. At that time, he was hesitating whether to stay in Liaodong. Therefore, although the entire Liaodong was looted, the houses and estates were still intact. Now that he was leaving, Marshal Lin naturally wanted to come over again. , make up for the unfinished business in winter.

After all, murder and arson have been linked since ancient times, and Jiannu has always done this in the Ming Dynasty.

Fighting all the way to Liaoyang City, they saw that Jiannu was hiding in the city and did not dare to come out to fight. Lin Rui just led his army to provoke them outside the city.

Then they began to lead the cavalry and horses to trample the farmland, ravaging the wheat fields that had just been planted by more than 2 traitor soldiers and ravaging them into a complete mess.

Finally, he started to divide his troops and set fire everywhere, burning all the manor houses within a hundred miles of Liaoyang, and then left with the cavalry.

If he hadn't been worried about Shang Kexi being attacked by surprise, Lin Rui would have really planned to go deeper into the Liaodong Peninsula and burn down all the houses and cities.

Although Huang Taiji and Dorgon were so angry that the Lin family army came to cause destruction after they left, they were more worried that the Lin family army would unite with the Ming army.

Therefore, both Huang Taiji of Yizhou in Guangning and Dorgon of Liaoyang were very restrained and chose to stand still and let the Lin Family Army set fires everywhere. They were worried that if they conflicted with the Lin Family Army, Lin Rui would become angry and angry. All come to Yiju to attack.

It can be said that Huang Taiji now hopes that the Lin family army will leave as soon as possible. He can't afford to offend him at all, and he doesn't want to cause any further trouble.

After all, Liaodong is already like this. How much more can the Lin family army ruin it?
Is it possible that the land can be turned over?
When Lu Xiangsheng of Jinzhou learned that Lin Rui had led his cavalry deep into Liaodong, but instead of coming to Guangning, Yizhou, he committed such a shameless thing as arson, he was furious to death, and he hated that iron cannot be made into steel. mean.

If he knew that Lin Rui was doing even more disgraceful things with the Liaodong generals, he would probably vomit blood in anger.

Obviously, in Lu Xiangsheng's view, arson and destruction are just a small path. Only by bringing troops over, encircling Jiannu in Guangning Yizhou in an upright manner, and completely opening up the Liaodong Corridor can the military road to avoid future troubles.

However, at this time, Lu Xiangsheng no longer had much thought about managing the Lin family army, because after the eunuchs who had been recruited returned to the capital, Emperor Chongzhen became furious. Sichang also added fuel to the fire, causing Emperor Chongzhen to immediately vent his anger on the governor, Lu Xiangsheng.

Originally last winter, Emperor Chongzhen had already been dissatisfied with Lu Xiangsheng. After Liu Yuliang, the chief minister of the cabinet, expressed his willingness to go to the front line to supervise the army, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to directly remove Lu Xiangsheng. However, under the advice of Yang Sichang, he was allowed to take charge of the crime and perform meritorious service. He was only deprived of his post. He took the title of Minister of the Ministry of War and became Shang Fang Baojian.

Of course, the reason why Yang Sichang persuaded Chongzhen and kept Lu Xiangsheng was because he knew that Liu Yuliang had a lot of tricks. It would be a joke to let him go to supervise the army. It would be better for him to do it himself. Therefore, for the sake of the overall situation, he had to temporarily put aside his relationship with Lu Xiangsheng. Personal grudges.

After all, at that time, more than [-] slaves were invaded by infantry. That situation naturally made Governor Lu Xiangsheng safer.

Obviously, although Yang Sichang had political disagreements with Lu Xiangsheng and had personal grudges, he still recognized Lu Xiangsheng's abilities.

This is also the saddest part of the Ming Dynasty. All the civil servants knew that Lu Xiangsheng was good at fighting, upright, and daring to fight. But even Emperor Chongzhen couldn't see it. And because the civil servants were jealous, they naturally would not tell Emperor Chongzhen about Lu Xiangsheng. Good words.

This made Lu Xiangsheng's impression on Emperor Chongzhen worse and worse, so much so that in history, he did not receive the honor he deserved even if he died in battle. It was not until Yang Sichang's death that Emperor Chongzhen posthumously named Lu Xiangsheng.

Compared with other ministers of the Ministry of War in the Chongzhen Dynasty, Yang Sichang was pretty good. He knew how to take care of the overall situation at critical moments, but he still couldn't escape from neglecting public affairs for personal reasons.

The situation was critical last year, but now the Jiannu have not only withdrawn, but were also attacked by the Lin family army and suffered heavy losses. Naturally, Yang Sichang did not want Lu Xiangsheng to continue to supervise the army in Liaodong, regain Liaodong, achieve unparalleled achievements, and threaten his position as Minister of War.

Therefore, in the face of Emperor Chongzhen's further inquiry, Yang Sichang not only did not choose to serve as Lu Xiangsheng, but instead suggested that his confidant Chen Xinjia should take over Lu Xiangsheng's position to oversee the Liaodong army.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen directly ordered Lu Xiangsheng to return home to observe filial piety. Chen Xinjia, who was temporarily acting as the governor of Xuanda, was appointed as the Liaodong Economic Strategy and responsible for presiding over the military affairs of Liaodong. Hong Chengchou was appointed as the governor of Xuanda.

After receiving the imperial edict, Lu Xiangsheng was straightforward. Not only did he not have any resentment in his heart, he actually planned to hand over all his Tianxiong troops to Chen Xinjia's hands. He also told Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei to obey Chen Xinjia's military orders in Liaodong and kill the enemy bravely. , serve the imperial court, and then drive back to his hometown to observe filial piety.

After Lu Xiangsheng left, Zu Dashou and others took advantage of the fact that Chen Xinjia had just arrived and was not familiar with the situation. They immediately moved 25 shi of military rations and secretly came to the entrance of Xiaoling River on the northern border wall to meet with Lin Rui, who had been waiting for several days. transaction.

As for Gao Qiqian and Fang Yizao, after each received the tribute of 10 taels of silver, they naturally pretended to be blind, knowing nothing and seeing nothing.

After receiving 25 shi of military rations, Lin Rui asked Shang Kexi to escort [-] traitor soldiers directly westward along the northern part of the Great Wall to Hetao. He led [-] cavalry back to the northern part of Liaohe River and picked up [-] young children. , then followed the footsteps of the large army and chased them.

Zu Dashou and others, who had obtained the head and the youngest son of Huang Taiji's wife, invited war to attack Guangning Yizhou.

Chen Xinjia, who had just arrived, originally wanted to learn more about the situation and familiarize himself with the strength and combat power of each general. However, with the persistence of Governor Fang Yizao and Supervisor Gao Qiqian, and with all the generals requesting a fight, in the end He also agreed to attack in confusion.

Needless to say, the result was that 15 Ming troops fought against Jiannu for three days near Guangning Yizhou. Not only did they defeat Jiannu and eliminate the tiger, they also suffered heavy losses and no gains were made by Yang Guozhu, while the remaining generals all gained a lot. , especially Zu Dashou, the chief military officer of Jinzhou, not only beheaded more than [-] enemy cavalry, but also accidentally captured Huang Taiji's wife and youngest son.However, due to lack of food and grass, the army had to retreat to Jinzhou. Although the Ming army won a great victory, it failed to capture Guangning, Yizhou in one fell swoop.

When the good news reached the capital at eight hundred miles, the government and the public were in an uproar. Emperor Chongzhen was even more delighted, which cleared away the gloom after the failure to recruit the Lin family army a while ago.

Knowing that this was due to lack of food and grass, Emperor Chongzhen was very sorry and immediately dismissed the Minister of the Ministry of Finance who had just taken office.

Then he took out all the family wealth in the inner treasury and asked the newly appointed Minister of Household Affairs to quickly raise military rations and transport them to Liaodong.

Obviously, under the temptation of annihilating the Jiannu, Emperor Chongzhen finally became generous. Not to mention emptying the inner treasury, even if he smashed the dragon chair under his butt and sold it, he would probably smash it with a hammer without hesitation. .

After hearing that this time it was due to lack of food and grass, they were unable to invade Liaodong and wipe out the Jiannu slaves. Knowing that the treasury was empty, the two empresses Zhou and Zhang also sold off their gold and silver jewelry and exchanged them for silver. Chongzhen, who had already escaped from the inner treasury.

Lin Rui no longer cared about the war in Liaodong. It only took five days to lead the cavalry to catch up with the large army that had been walking for a month.

It was April, the most beautiful season on the grassland. Looking around, countless war horses were grazing on the open grassland with their heads down. There were tents one after another, and there was no end in sight.

Countless heads were flowing between the tents, and more of them were men and women, sitting in groups on the grass, laughing and playing.

Wherever it passed, it left behind a mess on the ground.

The arrival of Lin Rui and the addition of [-] cavalry made Zhang Xiuying, Niu Sao, Huang Ben and Chatu relieved.

"Rui Lang, you are finally here. If you don't come again, we won't dare to go any further. We plan to stay here for a while and wait for you."

As soon as Lin Rui got off his horse and was about to introduce Zhang Han to everyone, Mrs. Niu stepped forward and said eagerly.

"Oh, what happened? I think everyone is quite relaxed?" Lin Rui looked at the laughing and playing crowd in the distance, and looked at Mrs. Niu, Zhang Xiuying and others in confusion.

"Commander, this is the Tumut tribe. They have assembled no less than [-] cavalry and stationed themselves on the river bank a hundred miles away to the west. They also sent someone to inform us that we are not allowed to move westward."

Huang Ben hurried forward and explained solemnly.

The reason why ordinary people are so relaxed is because they don't dare to tell everyone the news to avoid causing panic.

Zhang Xiuying and others also looked at Lin Rui with worried faces. After all, fifty thousand cavalry sounded scary.

The key is that if the Tumut people don’t let them go to the Hetao, where else can they go?Is it possible to return to Liaodong or go south to Daming?
"Don't worry, everyone. Where did the Tumuts get their [-] cavalry? They only have [-] at most. They are here just for show. They don't dare to fight with us, otherwise they would have come directly to kill us."

Lin Rui could only wave his hands and comfort him with a smile.

More than 50 people migrated on the vast grassland, and they were protected by tens of thousands of infantry. For the cavalry, it was not much different from being undefended. If the Tumut people were really courageous, they would not hesitate to start a war to prevent them from entering the Hetao. They came to kill people and steal food.

Since they could resist such a big temptation and did not come over to take advantage of the opportunity to rob, they were obviously very restrained, fearing the retaliation of Lin Jun's cavalry.

Lin Rui was very lucky that he had directly slaughtered three Tumut tribes to kill chickens and monkeys. Otherwise, facing so many material women, one tribe might get hot-headed and do stupid things.

Although he could eradicate the tribe afterwards, the damage suffered was irreparable.

"But they're blocking us there, how can we get there?"

"Are there any Jurchen cavalry among them?" Lin Rui asked without answering.

"Back to the commander, the Jurchen cavalry has not noticed it yet."

"Well, it seems that the Tumut tribes also know who is the biggest on the grassland now, and have drawn a clear line with the Jurchens in Guihua City. This will be easier to handle!"

Lin Rui nodded, pondered, and then looked at Chatu aside and said: "Father-in-law, I would like to trouble you to go and invite the leaders of the Tumut tribes for me. In two days, I will be fifty miles to the west. Build a high platform to meet with them and discuss the future of the Loop!"

"Okay, I'll go right away. Don't worry, virtuous son-in-law, I will definitely invite them all and I won't dare not to come without them." Chatu responded quickly, his old face burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)