I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 102 There is no coincidence in the world

The sun rose again, shining on the five cities of the capital.

This huge city lying at the foot of Yanshan Mountain slowly woke up.

Breakfast stalls of all sizes were set up in the streets and alleys, steaming hot. Young and old men from all over the city came out of their houses, sat down in front of the stalls, and chatted about everything under the sun while eating.

A clerk-looking man asked mysteriously, "Have you heard?"

A familiar neighbor nearby, while eating breakfast, casually replied: "What did you hear?"

"I heard that the border troops won another victory!"

"What! The northern barbarians have invaded again? Didn't you see any signal smoke?"

The old man's shout attracted six or seven people nearby.

"Breaking the border and invading? My goodness, that's unacceptable!"

"Is the capital going to be hit by another catastrophe? I must quickly inform my relatives and ask them to hide in the city."

"Breaking the border and invading, it's all over. During the last Guihai Rebellion, a distant relative of mine was looted and his family was destroyed. It was so tragic."

The old man glared at the crowd who were going off topic. "Nonsense, what's the matter with the invaders breaking through the border? There's no smoke of war in the north!"

"Maybe they'll break through the border and invade from other places. I heard that over in Datong, there's a huge uproar over the struggle for power. Maybe Altan Khan saw a gap and rushed in."

"Or maybe Liaodong."

"No matter where it is, as long as the border of Jizhou Town is not breached and invaded, causing chaos in our capital, we don't care where the border is breached and invaded."

The clerk was speechless about these people.

"My fellow lords, I am talking about the victory of the border troops. What are you talking about? The invasion of the border troops!"

The old man glared and retorted, "How can the border troops win a victory if the northern barbarians don't break through the border and invade? How dare they go out of the border to fight the northern barbarians with their chicken courage?"

What he said made so much sense that the clerk was speechless for a moment.

He took a big bite of the bread and said unwillingly, "Why don't the border troops dare to leave the border? They left the border to fight the northern barbarians!"

The old man couldn't believe it. "How is it possible? Which border army is so brave?"

"The new army camp. The new army led by Qi Jiguang, the general commander of Jizhou Town."

Someone nearby asked curiously, "A new military camp? Aren't they all new recruits? They are really fearless."

The clerk asked back, "Who said that all the soldiers in the new military camp are rookies?"

"Isn't it a new army? New, isn't it new soldiers?"

"Haha, the Shenji Camp, they must be divine soldiers descended from the earth!" The clerk said disdainfully, "The New Army Camp is just a name, the soldiers inside are not new recruits, they are all brave men recruited from various guards and places.

I just heard that they use new training methods, so it’s called the New Barracks.”

The old man got impatient and interrupted the two people's argument, asking directly: "How did the new army camp go out to fight the northern barbarians and win a great victory?"

"Some time ago, the leader of the Khara-Usu tribe, Dong Huli, submitted a petition to submit to the imperial court. The court discussed it carefully and agreed. They also granted him a lot of money and appointed him as a commander.

General Qi led two battalions of the new army camp, escorting the imperial reward and the imperial edict, and went out of Malanyu Pass to the north to the Halawusu tribe pasture to give it to Dong Huli. Unexpectedly, he was ambushed by Xin Ai Huang Taiji and his troops near Liuhe.

The clerk's words attracted the people nearby, who gathered around involuntarily and listened quietly.

"General Qi led two new army camps to form a defensive formation and put up a desperate resistance. It just so happened that the Military Affairs Supervisory Office of the Beijing Camp had selected more than 20,000 cavalrymen from Xuanda Town and Liaodong Town to gather in Jizhou Town to conduct exercises and patrol the border.

After receiving the report, the Governor-General of Ji and Liao, Tan Shilang, immediately ordered the cavalry of the two towns to go out to rescue, and then attacked Xin Ai Huang Taiji's camp at night, captured numerous people, and captured Xin Ai Huang Taiji alive. "

"What! Xin Ai Huang Taiji was captured alive?" the old man asked in shock.

"Yesterday evening, our Ministry of War received an urgent report from Minister Tan, the Governor of Ji and Liao. We argued all night and I just came out of the government office."

The clerk's words immediately caused an uproar among those around him.

"Are you really going out to fight the Northern Tartars?"

"Captured Xin Ai Huang Taiji alive? This is too absurd, isn't it? Did he lie about the military intelligence?"

"It's possible to falsely report that you beheaded dozens or even hundreds of northern barbarians. But who would dare to falsely report that you captured tens of thousands of people and captured Xin Ai Huang Taiji alive? If this matter is investigated and exposed, you will be beheaded!"

The old man thought for a while and asked, "What a coincidence! The Supervisory Office has ordered the cavalry from Xuanda and Liaodong to be in Jizhou Town, waiting for drills?"

"Hey, what a coincidence. People in our military department are all talking about how lucky General Qi is. If the cavalry from these towns hadn't been selected by the Supervisory Office, they would have probably died outside the Great Wall."

The old man asked, "Do you know who the generals in charge of the troops in Xuanda and Liaodong are?" "The general in charge of Xuanda is Ma Fang, and the generals in charge of Liaodong are Li Chengliang and Zhou Guotai."

"One is a seasoned veteran, and the other two are new and brave. What a coincidence, it's such a coincidence."

The old man shook his head, finished his breakfast, took out a dozen copper coins and laid them out on the table.

"Shopkeeper, here is the money, take it."

"Okay, take care, old man!"

The old man walked along the alley for many times and finally turned into the back door of a mansion.

The two attendants saw him at the door and immediately stepped forward to take it.

"Master, you're done eating."

"After you finish eating, come in."

"Yes."

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, the old man, wearing a scarlet official robe and a black gauze hat, got into an ordinary sedan chair outside the side door.

The sedan chair passed through the streets and alleys until it arrived in front of the Meridian Gate.

The old man got off the sedan chair and walked to the side door next to the Meridian Gate. After checking his badge, the military officer on duty bowed and said, "Lord Yan, please come in!"

The old man entered the Meridian Gate, walked for a while, turned into a row of houses, went into one of them, sat down leisurely, and four clerks hurried forward and bowed to greet him.

"The young ones are here to see Lord Yan."

The old man was none other than the cabinet minister Yan Ne.

"Is Lord Xu here?"

"In reply to Lord Yan, Lord Xu arrived more than half an hour ago."

"So early!"

Yan Ne was stunned for a moment, then he thought that Xu Jie might be well-informed and had heard about it last night, so he came early today.

"Is there anyone visiting Lord Xu?"

"No."

"Well, go and inform him that I have something to ask Xu Yuanfu."

"Yes."

Half a quarter of an hour later, Yan Ne walked into the duty room of Prime Minister Xu Jie.

After some polite words, Yan Ne went straight to the point: "Xu Yuanfu, there was a big commotion in the Ministry of War last night. It was a mess all night. Do you know what happened?"

"As soon as I came in this morning, I received news that there was a great victory outside the Great Wall. More than 10,000 people were beheaded and more than 7,000 were captured. Altan Khan's eldest son, Xin Ai Huang Taiji, was captured.

Since the Yongle reign, there has never been such a great victory. To be honest with you, Lord Yan, I have not recovered from my shock yet and am still questioning whether this victory report is true or false. "

"Tan Zili will not lie about military intelligence. I still trust him. Besides, even if he lied about military intelligence, he wouldn't dare to tell such a big lie. He might end up going to the Meridian Gate. Who would have the guts to do that?"

Xu Jie nodded: "I know."

"Qi Yuanjing was ambushed by Xin Ai Huang Taiji when he was escorting gifts and imperial edicts with the new military camp. I can understand this. Xin Ai Huang Taiji has always been brooding over this and intends to wash away the shame of Gui Hai. I can understand why he did such a despicable thing.

However, just when Xin Ai ambushed Qi Yuanjing's new army camp of 6,000 troops, elite cavalry from Xuanda and Liaodong happened to be stationed in Jizhou Town. Tan Ziri then acted decisively and sent cavalry out of the pass to rescue and support them, and then defeated Xin Ai's troops.

Lord Shaohu, isn't this too much of a coincidence?"

"It's a coincidence, so coincidental that it's perfect."

"Shao Hu Gong, there are so many coincidences in the world! The first victory of my Jiajing Dynasty was achieved by piecing together these coincidences. Haha."

"Mr. Yang Zhai, I understand what you mean. There are not so many coincidences in the world. They are all carefully planned by people with intentions. The more incredible the coincidence is, the more it shows that the planning is flawless."

"Shao Hu Gong, aren't you worried?"

"I was worried, but before we knew it, the tree had grown from a small sapling to a full-grown tree."

Xu Jie sighed and looked out the window.

There is a tree in the yard. I don’t know when it was planted, but it has lush branches and leaves, supporting the sky.

(End of this chapter)