I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 278 Tumen Khan, how to deal with him?

Ziguang Pavilion and Qinzheng Hall in Xiyuan.

Zhu Yijun looked at the nobles and his trusted generals and continued to ask: "Well, how should we deal with Tumen Khan? Let's speak freely."

Xu Wei spoke first: "Your Highness is wise. He has long laid a net against the Chahar tribe and Tumen Khan. He destroyed Xin'ai and occupied Luanhe River. Then he wiped out Jianzhou and marched into Haixi. In fact, the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty have spread their wings and surrounded the Chahar tribe from the northeast and southwest."

Xu Wei waved his hand, signaling the eunuch from the Imperial Household Department to bring out the map.

Today we are discussing Liaodong's military affairs. The maps of Liaodong, Chahar, Haixi and Jianzhou areas have been prepared long ago.

The young eunuch hung the map on the screen, showing it in its entirety, and then placed it in front of everyone.

Xu Wei walked up to the map and pointed to the upper reaches of the Luan River and said, "Xinghua, Fengning, and Chengde are here."

He pointed to the area east of the Black Mountain (Daxing'anling) and south of the Heilongjiang River and said: "This is Haixi, and Liaodong is here. Everyone can see it clearly. Haixi and Luanhe River surround the two flanks of Chahar from the northeast and southwest, while Chahar and Liaodong are separated by the Liaohe Hetao area."

The map made it clear at a glance. Zhang Rong, Gu Yuan and other nobles were surprised and delighted. It was true. The Luan River and Haixi were like a pair of pliers, opening their mouths wide and clamping Chahar invisibly.

Nobles such as Zhang Rong and Gu Yuan had inherited military strategies from their families. It was obvious that this situation was very favorable to the Ming Dynasty.

According to the art of war, if Chahar attacks from the east, the Ming Dynasty can attack from the west; if Chahar attacks from the west, the Ming Dynasty can attack from the east; if Chahar insists on passing through the Liaohe River and attacking Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty can attack from both the east and the west.

It is obvious that this situation was planned by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince several years ago and then realized step by step.

Incredible!
Qi Jiguang and Ma Fang also walked up to the map. They had no idea how many times they had discussed in front of the map how to send troops to defeat the Chahar tribe.

Qi Jiguang pointed at the map and said, "The biggest problem now is how to determine where Tumen Khan's main force will attack our Ming Dynasty? Luanhe River, Guangning, Shenyang in Liaodong, or go around Haixi and go straight to Tieling Fushun?"

Ma Fang agreed and said, "Yes. Tumen Khan has 50,000 cavalrymen, who are erratic and immovable. According to our army, they are highly mobile and can appear at any time at any point along the 3,000-mile border of Ming Dynasty from Luanhe River to Tieling."

Hu Zongxian turned to Xu Wei and asked, "Mr. Wen, does the Border Investigation Division have any information?"

Under the leadership of Xu Wei, the Border Investigation Section planted countless spies inside the Chahar tribe and around Tumen Khan, and collected a large amount of intelligence.

"According to the intelligence we have obtained so far, there is a 50% chance that Tumen Khan will go straight to Guangning, cut off the connection between Liaodong, Liaoxi and the capital, and then wait for an opportunity to act. He may ambush our reinforcements from Liaoxi and the capital, or go straight into the heart of Liaoyang to plunder.

There is a 40% chance that they would cross the Liao River between Shenyang Wei and Dongning Wei and directly penetrate into the heart of Liaoyang to plunder.

There is a 30% chance that they will bypass Chengde City and wait for an opportunity to go south to the heart of the capital along the line of Zunhua and Jizhou."

After Xu Wei finished speaking, he pointed at the map and stood aside.

The atmosphere was very lively. Zhang Rong, Gu Yuan, Xue Han and Tang Shilong all joined in involuntarily and stood in front of the map unknowingly.

Tang Shilong asked, "Minister Xu, previously the northern barbarians invaded the border and most likely headed straight for the capital area. Now there is only a 30% chance of that happening?"

Xu Wei smiled and replied, "After the Battle of Liuhe and the campaign to destroy Xinai, the northern barbarians all knew that the Ming Dynasty had rebuilt its military, especially in Jizhou and Xuanda. The military had been greatly strengthened, and it had become a tough nut to crack. They would not gnaw on this bone unless it was absolutely necessary."

Gu Yuan stared at the map for a while, then slowly said, "Everyone, I heard Minister Xu talk about three possibilities, and I found that they have one thing in common."

Everyone asked curiously: "What do they have in common?"

"Whether Tumen Khan was attacking Guangning, entering Liaoyang, or bypassing Chengde, he led his troops to operate in the Liaohe Hetao area."

Everyone stared at the map for a while, and Xue Han frowned and said, "That's true. But the Liaohe River and Hetao area is too vast. From the Luanhe River in the west to the Liaohe River in the east, it's about 1,500 miles. From the Huanghe River and Tuhe River in the north to the coast in the south, it's a thousand miles away.

The area is tens of thousands of miles in radius, and 50,000 soldiers and horses here are like a handful of pepper powder sprinkled into Shichahai. It is not easy to find. "

"Yes, the Liaohe Hetao area is too vast, almost occupying half of the Chahar tribe's territory. If we really want to deal with it, the Chahars are more familiar with the terrain and routes than our army, and in the end it will be our army that suffers."

Everyone gathered around the map to discuss, but they couldn't come up with a solution. Slowly, everyone turned their attention to Zhu Yijun. Zhu Yijun stood by, staring at the map. He was completely immersed in it. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly came to his senses and turned around to see that everyone was looking at him.

"Then tell me something!"

Everyone immediately gathered around and looked at Zhu Yijun intently, waiting for his solution.
-
Ge Shouli hurried into the inner courtyard of the Ministry of Revenue and went straight to the Shangshu's duty room.

"Lord Xinzheng!" Ge Shouli called out impatiently when he was still a dozen feet away from the door.

"Mr. Yuchuan." Gao Gong recognized Ge Shouli's voice, stood up, twisted his sore neck, waved his stiff shoulders, and walked forward.

"Mr. Yuchuan, what brings you here?"

Ge Shouli laughed loudly, "Lord Xinzheng, I won't come to your temple for no reason. Liaodong is going to build four cities, Tonghua, Liaoyuan, Jilin, and Hunchun, on the old site of Jianzhou. The Surveying and Mapping Bureau of the Construction Draft Supervision Office has already drawn them up, and the construction budget has also been approved, waiting for your Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds.

Hurry up, I am waiting for the money and grain from your Ministry of Revenue so that I can send a work team to supervise the construction of these four cities."

Gao Gong glanced at him and said helplessly: "Mr. Yuchuan, the money and grain are directly transferred to the account of the Liaodong Governor. Why are you in such a hurry? Besides, the specific construction is also in charge of the Liaodong Governor's Office. Your Ministry of Works is only supervising the construction and acceptance. Why are you more anxious than them?"

Ge Shouli laughed loudly: "I am just so impatient. Now the Ministry of Works is no longer busy building palaces and pavilions, but is fully focused on river management, bridge building and city construction. I am working very hard as the Minister of Works."

After talking about government affairs for a while, Ge Shouli changed the subject and said, "Duke Xinzheng, I heard that Xu Yuanfu surrendered and handed over 300,000 acres of land?"

"Haha, does Lord Shaohu dare not give in? Hai Gangfeng has been waiting in Songjiang for nearly a month. If he still doesn't know what's good for him, once he submits the impeachment petition, what do you think the person in Xiyuan will do when he receives it?"

"Haha, the Xu Mansion is in danger of collapse. Xu Shaohu is a glass bead, and he is really very smart."

"My Lord Yuchuan, Hai Gangfeng is standing at the gate of his old house, and there is another person sitting in the West Garden. Does Xu Shaohu dare to be stubborn?"

Ge Shouli smiled and said, "It's a pity for me. If Xu Shaohu had a bit more backbone..."

"Mr. Yuchuan, don't be so careless. At this moment, anyone who dares to show his integrity will lose his family.

I don't think it's a pity. This happened suddenly, and I was caught off guard. Cai Chuntai sent me a secret letter, and I learned the whole story, but it was too late. Xiyuan had already been arranged. Xu Shaohu was also in a hurry to clean up his mess, so it was useless to do anything. "

Ge Shouli smiled and asked, "Lord Xinzheng, even though you have let it go, there are still people who can't let it go."

"Are you talking about Wang Jijin?"

"Yes, Wang Lin is still instructing the censors and the upright officials to keep submitting petitions, accusing the Xu family of humiliating Cai Chuntai. This matter is indeed infuriating. Cai Chuntai is a Jinshi who passed the imperial examinations twice, and a fourth-rank prefect who came from a legitimate background. He was forced to kneel on the ground by the Xu family. How many Jinshi and upright officials are upset!"

Gao Gong waved his hand. "It's useless. The major events in the court happen one after another. I believe that another major event will happen soon, and then everyone will gradually forget about Cai Chuntai's incident.

After a year or so, everything disappeared, and the Prime Minister's residence was still bustling with people. "

As he was speaking, Xu Yangzheng came over in a hurry.

"Takabuto, Lord Yokawa is here too. Something big has happened."

"what happened?"

"I just heard that Uncle Zhang has submitted a petition to impeach the Liao King who is now in Jiangling!"

"what!"

Gao Gong and Ge Shouli both stood up involuntarily.

(End of this chapter)