Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian was the first to receive the news of Man Gui's victory.

He received this news just after he finished paying tribute to Wen Tianxiang.

Seeing the battle report sent back by carrier pigeon that Man Gui had killed more than 4,000 enemies, Zhu Youjian could not hide his joy and asked:

"Is the war report true?"

"What do the observation group and the guard say?"

Chief of Staff Yang Sichang, who came to report, also said with joy:

"General Man's guard signed the battle report, and General Hu's guard Ai Wannian also sent a battle report."

"The observation team has confirmed that the Earl of Dongping has achieved a great victory, and the victory is still expanding. The head is still being inspected."

When Zhu Youjian heard that two parties had testified for Man Gui, he shouted "good" and said to Yang Sichang and other officials:
"Spread this news immediately so that the people of the capital can rejoice together."

"General Man achieved such a great victory on the Martyrs' Day. It must be the heroic spirits of the martyrs who are blessing us in heaven."

The ministers were very happy, and Yang Sichang even said:
"I think the emperor's personal sacrifice moved the heroic spirits of Wen Zhongliegong and others."

"So we have this great victory to comfort those who were killed by the Jianlu."

There was an endless stream of congratulations, and they linked Man Gui's battle with the emperor's sacrifice today.

Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction:

"Publish the news of the Duke of Dongping's victory together with my sacrifice to the heroes."

"Also, is it confirmed that the number of heads of Duke Dongping this time is more than 5,000?"

"Can I be promoted to a noble rank?"

The ministers were speechless, knowing that the emperor intended to promote Man Gui to a higher rank.

But this victory was so easy that some people were hesitant. Qin Shiwen, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, said:

"The military merit coefficient of the two white flags is 1.2. We have confirmed more than heads so far, and the total number of heads we have taken should be more than ."

"But General Man's merit this time is as the commander-in-chief, so he should share one to two credits according to the difficulty of the command."

"Even if we calculate it at the maximum 20%, there are only a thousand households that can be granted the title of baron."

This is the adjustment made by the Privy Council to military merit after the Ji Si War last year.

When calculating military merits last year, the Privy Council discovered that after killing an enemy, a soldier would receive a reward, and then his superior, and his superior's superior... would all receive rewards.

By repeating this calculation, one head-level function is rewarded seven or eight times.

Of course, the imperial court could not afford such a reward, so it differentiated between military merits, distinguishing between the merits of directly killing the enemy and the merits of command.

In addition to the credits for soldiers who directly killed the enemy, squadron-level officers will receive three to five credits for their subordinates’ achievements according to their participation. Officers at the division, brigade, and battalion levels will receive two to three credits for their subordinates’ achievements.

The main general and the command group who directly command will achieve one to two successes.

The total of these command merits is equivalent to the merits of killing the enemies by the soldiers.

That is to say, for one merit of headhunting, two rewards will be given out.

Although it was still a lot, the court was able to afford it.

In this battle, Man Gui made great contributions as the main general and was able to obtain double the achievements of all the soldiers under his command.

Zhu Youjian approved of this method of rewarding military merit, but he strongly disagreed with the idea of ​​only conferring the title of baron on Man Gui.

Because he needed to set Man Gui as an example to encourage the border army generals to continue fighting bravely.

So after thinking about it, he gave the order:

"Rewards should be given immediately to all soldiers who have killed the enemy."

"But the rewards for the generals' command merits will all go to Man Gui this time."

"The generals of Dongpingwei are now all family generals of Man Gui. Let Man Gui reward them with the land of Dongpinghou State."

"So Man Gui has made five thousand merits this time, so he should be promoted from earl to marquis."

"The Lifanyuan immediately drafted an order to allow Man Gui to select the land of the Dongping Marquisate."

The reward was so generous that all the ministers who heard about it were surprised and tried to dissuade the emperor.

Qi Jiguang fought in battles for decades before being posthumously conferred the title of marquis by the emperor. Man Gui only won one battle. How could he be qualified to be awarded the title of marquis?
In this way, there will be many marquises in the Ming Dynasty, and it is possible that more than ten marquises will be conferred when the Jianlu are eliminated.

The ministers did not think that Jianlu was worth the court's investment, but Zhu Youjian was determined to promote Man Gui, because he understood the significance of Man Gui's battle better than anyone else.

To be honest, Zhu Youjian had expected to achieve such a great result with the single-shot musket, because the shock cavalry of later generations was eliminated after the single-shot musket was equipped.

However, the current situation of the Ming army made him lack the confidence to fully exert the power of single-shot muskets. Therefore, he was in a hurry to train new troops and promote the development of continuous-fire muskets and revolving muskets, hoping to defeat the Jianlu with more powerful weapons.

Now, Man Gui's battle made him realize that the weapons of the Ming army were sufficient. They could win in a field battle with just a single-shot musket.

Man Gui's army was mainly composed of his household servants. Only after being equipped with new muskets did they imitate the training of the imperial camp's mounted infantry. It was not a completely new army.

Even so, he was able to use the new musket to win in the field and defeat an enemy that was nearly twice his size. This means that the 10,000 troops in the imperial camp are now capable of countering the 20,000 Jianlu.

If we add the 10,000 troops of the Yingyang Army and the 30,000 troops of the Shenji Camp who are currently undergoing training, Zhu Youjian can be sure that the Ming Dynasty will soon gain a military force that can overwhelm the Jianlu and completely defeat this formidable enemy.

The imperial court no longer needs to increase its military spending, and can shift more of its energy to domestic affairs.

For him, the most severe test is always natural disasters. In history, the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by internal strife, not by the external enemy Jianlu.

Not to mention that after the victory of this battle, Zhu Youjian's long-standing worries about the Jianlu had completely dissipated.

Just because Man Gui helped him relieve stress, he thought Man Gui deserved the title of Marquis.

So, he said through this incident:

"From now on, when a vassal state sends troops, the credit for the command will go to the vassal state's monarch."

"The lord of a vassal state can reward his soldiers and confer titles on them as hereditary soldiers. If they have made great contributions, they can also ask the court to confer hereditary titles and divide the territory of the vassal state among them."

"Man Gui will set a precedent this time and ask him to report the names of the meritorious soldiers."

This obviously strengthened the power of the vassal monarchs, and the ministers with titles would certainly not object.

However, some people, out of public interest, reminded:
"The feudal monarchs have too much power in military merit. If they distribute military merit unfairly, it will lead to instability in the feudal army."

"If the war continues, it will be a hidden danger. I think the vassal monarch should not be given such great power."

Zhu Youjian looked over and saw that it was Yuan Keli who said this. He knew that this old minister was acting out of public interest. So after thinking about it, he said:

"The rewards for soldiers who kill the enemy in battles involving the imperial court are granted entirely by the imperial court."

"Only for meritorious service in command can the feudal monarch decide to reward the feudal state with property and land, and this must be approved by the imperial court."

"At the same time, soldiers who have made meritorious service for more than three years are allowed to apply for naturalization and transfer to the Ming army while retaining their ranks."

"This way, the vassal monarchs will be more or less cautious and will not dare to wantonly embezzle merits and disrupt the morale of the army."

This would not only strengthen control over the vassal states, but also allow the talents of the vassal states to be absorbed into the Ming Dynasty.

Although this would allow the vassal monarchs to influence the Ming army through these generals, that is another matter.

Yuan Keli hadn't thought that far at the moment. He just felt that the emperor had many tricks up his sleeve and there was no need to continue advising him.

After convincing him, Zhu Youjian no longer cared much about the opposition of other ministers.

Because Yuan Keli had the most say in military affairs, not to mention the power to confer titles, Zhu Youjian had already seized it by using the Lifanyuan. He could directly issue orders to the Lifanyuan without the need for a cabinet vote.

Using this power, Zhu Youjian directly asked Huang Liji to draft an edict to promote Man Gui to the rank of marquis, and immediately sent it to the front line.

The first official marquis was born during the Chongzhen period, namely, Man Gui, Marquis of Dongping.
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This news was soon published in newspapers and spread to the front line.

Not to mention the reaction from the capital, Man Gui's entire army was extremely happy.

The soldiers' merits of killing the enemy were guaranteed by the court, and no matter what happened, it would not affect them. In fact, because they were Man Gui's private soldiers, Man Gui would reward them again after the court rewarded them.

The generals under Man Gui also trusted their commander-in-chief. They were Man Gui's servants before, so of course they would trust Man Gui.

This time, Man Gui was promoted from earl to marquis, and his fiefdom was increased from 300 square li to 400 square li. That was 70,000 square li of land, and Man Gui would never treat them unfairly.

Not to mention that after becoming a marquis, the Dongping Marquisate can have two guards and 10,000 troops. The positions of the generals participating in the war will be promoted and they will command more troops.

The only pity is that the vassal state guards can only enfeoff hereditary sergeants, not hereditary officers. Otherwise, the generals who made great contributions in this battle will become hereditary commanders, equivalent to the title of viscount.

Now that Man Gui had become a marquis, he could only apply to the court for the title of hereditary knight. Some generals were no longer satisfied. They began to wonder whether they should return to the court and become court officials. At most, they could retain their vassal status and be loyal to the court and Man Gui at the same time.

Man Gui was aware of this, because some generals had already asked him about the title of nobility. He knew that a hereditary title of nobility could not satisfy these meritorious generals, so he had a higher ambition in his heart:

"A marquis can only be knighted, but a duke can be a baron."

"Only a title like this can give meritorious generals peace of mind."

"I want to kill more Jianlu and be promoted to the title of Duke."

"If someone else takes the credit for destroying the Jianlu, it will be difficult for the Duke!"

He clearly knew that this promotion was the result of the emperor's insistence, and he even changed the military merit rewards for the vassal states. Man Gui knew that it would be difficult for him to be promoted again, and what he got now would be returned in the future.

In fact, the reason why some ministers opposed his promotion to the title this time was because he was somewhat reluctantly conferred the title of earl last year.

Many ministers did not think that he should continue to be promoted to a higher position, and the resistance he encountered this time was to repay the debt he had owed last time.

After being promoted to Duke twice, the resistance to his promotion would be very great. He would have to show undisputed merit to obtain the title of Duke.

As the highest title that a non-official official could be granted, the meaning of a duke was completely different from that of a marquis. A prince could be called a duke, and a vassal king was treated the same as a duke in many ways.

This is not something that can be promoted just by getting 5,000 heads. Man Gui must make the first contribution in pacifying the Jianlu to have a chance of getting this opportunity.

So he didn't care about being immersed in joy and immediately gave the order:

"The whole army will attack and chase after the Jianlu."

"This time, we want to keep Huang Taiji here."

He ordered the soldiers to mount their horses and follow the trail of the Jianlu.

When Ai Wannian learned of this order, he hurried over to dissuade him:

"Marshal Man, the Dongping army is exhausted and should not continue fighting."

"Besides, the heads you cut off are still here. We have to wait for the court to send someone to inspect them."

Man Gui disagreed and said:
"We are all riding horses and firing guns. What's so tiring about that?"

"As for the head, there is no need to worry. With Guard Ai watching over it, I can rest assured."

"Besides, aren't there people from the observation group? They will welcome people from the imperial court."

He entrusted these people to Ai Wannian and said to him:
"General Ai, how many bullets do you have now? I need them."

"However much money it costs, I will send someone to pay you."

Directly requisition the bullets from Ai Wannian's troops and ask him to hand over the bullets he is carrying immediately.

Although these words were somewhat impolite and would weaken the combat effectiveness of Ai Wannian's troops, Ai Wannian did not dare to refute them because Man Gui had the power to do so as the commander-in-chief.

If he tried to stop it, Man Gui might draw his sword and remove him from his position on the spot.

So he could only persuade Man Gui to spare some bullets and let him carry them forward.

Man Gui had no intention of arguing with him, so he led the Dongping Army, which had just experienced a great battle, and chased after the Jianlu.

His purpose in this battle was not to kill the Jianlu, but specifically to target Huang Taiji.

He hoped that by virtue of killing the captive Jianlu chieftain, he could be promoted to a higher rank.

However, although his idea was good, Huang Taiji was not slow to see the opportunity.

After learning that the vanguard led by Ajige, Abatai and others was easily slaughtered by Mangui's firearms army, Huang Taiji quickly realized that Mangui's army was completely different from Xuanda's army, and he was now in danger.

Ajige and his men led more than 7,000 people, nearly twice the number of Mangui who participated in the battle. Even so, more than 4,000 people were slaughtered, and less than 2,000 returned.

This means that if Man Gui ignores casualties, he may be able to defeat the more than 10,000 people he currently has with just 5,000 cavalry.

So Huang Taiji immediately decided to pack up his valuables and flee. Some of the other captured items were burned, while others were distributed to Mongolian dignitaries and herdsmen, who drove their cattle and sheep around to stop Man Gui from pursuing them.

When Man Gui led his cavalry to chase after them, they saw cattle and sheep all over the mountains. They were running around everywhere and could not be restrained at all.

As for the Jianlu, they had already fled in the chaos. The remaining Jianlu soldiers and horses for the Western Expedition were only more than 10,000, and it was easy for them to hide their tracks on the grassland.

In addition, they did not continue to carry the disloyal Mongols with them, and no one communicated with the Ming army anymore.

Even though Man Gui had been on the grassland for a long time in recent years, he was unable to find any trace of Huang Taiji for a while.

Therefore, he could only give up in resentment and count the spoils and herdsmen left behind by the Jianlu. (End of this chapter)