I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 41: Northern Tartars Break the Border
May 29th, the 42nd year of the Jiajing reign.

An ordinary day.

Chaoyang Gate was bustling with traffic, with countless horse-drawn carriages, ox-drawn carts, and rickshaws lined up in long queues heading towards Chaoyang Gate.

The food and other supplies needed by the millions of soldiers and civilians in the capital were transported to government and civilian warehouses throughout the city by these vehicles.

The Tonghui River is crowded with boats, like fish floating on the surface of a pond before a rainstorm, with no end in sight.

At the other end of the Tonghui River is Tongzhou, the most important transit and warehousing site of the North Canal.

The grain ships came here along the canal, unloaded various supplies such as grain, cloth, spices, etc. from the south, and then transported them to the dock outside Chaoyangmen via small boats on the Tonghui River.

Finally, it was transported to the capital via vehicles that flowed like rivers.

Hundreds of thousands of people were busy on this lifeline like ants, continuously supplying blood to the capital, making it gradually come alive under the morning sun.

The sun rises higher and higher.

The mist was slowly dispelled in the sunlight, and the full picture of the heart of the Ming Dynasty, with its red walls and yellow tiles, carved beams and jade bricks, large and small courtyards, wide and narrow alleys, gradually appeared on the northern land.

Suddenly, several thick black smoke rose in the northeast, like a few black spears, piercing the blue sky.

Wolf smoke!

The smoke signals warning of the Northern Barbarians’ border invasion!
The defenders on the Chaoyang Gate Tower were the first to discover the situation and desperately sounded the alarm.

Dangdang——!
Amid the rapid ringing of bells, countless soldiers from the Beijing camp emerged from various barracks, wearing cotton-padded jackets, holding swords and guns, and rushing quickly to their respective posts.

Next, the alarm bells were sounded at the Tonghui River Wharf and Tongzhou City. Soldiers came out one after another and guarded the city gates.

The people fled in all directions. In less than two quarters of an hour, the Chaoyang Gate, which was bustling with traffic, was reduced to only a few hundred soldiers setting up wooden barriers.

The busy Tonghui River was empty after an hour, and the densely packed ships just now disappeared somewhere unknown.

The situation inside and outside Tongzhou City was extremely tense. Government warehouses and private warehouses hired thousands of laborers and worked hard to transport the supplies piled up at the Tongzhou Canal wharf back to the city.

Xiyuan also saw the rising smoke.

The sound of the warning bells at the city gates in the capital also reached the Western Garden.

Emperor Jiajing was shocked and urgently summoned cabinet ministers Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang and Minister of War Yang Bo to the Renshou Palace.

The four men, dressed in scarlet official robes, hurriedly entered the Western Garden from the Xi'an Gate.

Gao Gong, who was walking in the second place, did not see the chief minister Yan Song, so he stepped forward and asked Huang Jin who was leading the way.

"Mr. Huang, didn't you invite Lord Yan?"

Huang Jin turned his head and glanced at him. "Lord Yan is in poor health, and the emperor has allowed him to recuperate at home. And he has not been in charge of the military affairs of the Ministry of War for a long time. The emperor said that there is no need to invite him.

There is also a Yuan Ge Lao who, following the emperor's decree, went to Chaotian Temple to pray for blessings and get a bath."

We are still doing this at this time.

Gao Gong muttered to himself.

It was indeed a bit unexpected that Yan Song was not called.

Yan Shifan and his accomplices Luo Wenlong and others were arrested by the Jinyiwei from their hometown in Jiangxi and brought back to Beijing, and were detained in the imperial prison. The Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the three judicial departments jointly tried the case, and the trial is still ongoing.

However, Yan Song submitted a letter of apology some time ago, stating that he would never shield his evil son, and asked the emperor and the court to handle the matter according to the law and punish him severely.

Yan Shifan cannot escape the law.

Xu Jie and Yang Bo looked at each other, revealing a look of sadness.

The northern barbarians once again broke through the border, which was the first time since the Gengxu Incident in the 29th year of Jiajing. One can imagine how furious the emperor was.

The Minister of War Yang Bo and the elder Xu Jie, who was also in charge of the border defense of the Ministry of War, were both implicated. How to escape from the Emperor's ten thousand feet of red lotus fire was something they urgently needed to consider.

As for the rest, such as Gao Gong who ran ahead due to offside and Yan Song who was unexpectedly not summoned, they had no time to consider.

Li Chunfang is the most open-minded among the four.

His mission today was very clear, to just paddle the whole time.

Everyone followed Huang Jin with different mindsets and came to the door of the side hall of Renshou Palace.

The four of them stopped and Huang Jin went in to report.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of War Yang Bo, and the cabinet ministers Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Li Chunfang have been summoned to see you."

"Announce!" The voice of Emperor Jiajing, which was not angry but dignified, came from the hall.

"Yes!"

Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang and Yang Bo entered the side hall one after another, only to see a green curtain hanging in the hall, covering half of the space.

One can vaguely see Emperor Jiajing, dressed in a ochre-red Taoist robe, sitting behind a curtain, with a young man sitting next to him.

It must be His Royal Highness Prince Yu.

"Your servants Xu Jie, Yang Bo, Gao Gong and Li Chunfang pay their respects to His Majesty!" The four of them knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

"Get up, everyone get up!" Emperor Jiajing said impatiently. He stood up and walked anxiously behind the curtain.

"Did you see the signal smoke? Did you hear the alarm bells? Tell me, what happened! Yang Bo, you are from the Ministry of War, tell me!"

Yang Bo knew he couldn't avoid it, so he took half a step forward, bowed and said.

"Your Majesty, in the early years of the Jiajing reign, Altan Khan of the Tumed tribe rose to power. The Northern Mongolian leader, Chahar Khan, who had been nomadic outside Xuanfu and Datong, was bullied and had to lead his tribe to move eastward to the Liaohetao area, the land of Taining and Fuyu tribes of the original three Wuliangha guards.

Chahar Khan and his sons, Dalaisun and Tumen, also agreed with Altan Khan to join forces to invade Liaodong. Altan Khan agreed on the surface, but secretly informed the Ming Dynasty of the news. This has been going on for more than ten years.

At the end of last year, Yang Xuan, the governor of Ji and Liao, designed a plan to capture Tong Han, the chieftain of the Duoyan Guard, and to contain the eldest son of Altan Khan, Xin Ai Huang Taiji, the leader of the Right Tumed Tribe. Yang Xuan submitted a memorial with the details.

Emperor Jiajing snorted, "I have read it, continue."

"Yes, Your Majesty! At that time, Your Majesty also approved that Tong Han and Xin Ai had endured the humiliation and had no intention of committing a crime, and ordered the Ministry of War to keep an eye on Yang Xuan and keep an eye on the troops stationed in Jizhou."

"Yes, this is what the prince proposed to me after reading the memorial."

Emperor Jiajing answered calmly, but it stirred the hearts of the four people outside the curtain. Gao Gong couldn't help but glance at Li Chunfang next to him.

I'm afraid you might be the next me, no wonder you are so steady.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of War received the imperial edict and sent several letters to the Governor-General's Office of Ji and Liao. At the same time, it also sent instructions to all the guard posts and passes in Jizhou and Liaodong, asking them to be cautious and not to be careless.

In early April, the border towns of Jizhou reported to the Ministry of War that the northern barbarians had gathered tens of thousands of cavalry and were repeatedly spying on the border. The Ministry of War hurriedly sent a letter to the Governor-General's Office of Ji and Liao, and Yang Xuan quickly replied, saying that he had communicated with Tong Han and Xin Ai, saying that it was the Tumen Khan of the Chahar tribe who had agreed to send troops to Liaodong to plunder.

Yang Xuan said in the letter that he had obtained the detailed route of the Northern Tartars' raids on Liaodong, and was dispatching troops to join the Liaodong garrison troops to ambush the invading Northern Tartars. I immediately sent an urgent letter to tell him that the Northern Tartars were cunning and might be trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain and attack the west with a feint to the east, so he must be cautious.

But the day before yesterday, I received a letter from Yang Xuan saying that he had gathered 21,000 soldiers and horses from Jizhou Town, and left Shanhaiwei to go to Liaodong. I have failed in my duty! I have been negligent! Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Yang Bo's open and selfless voice echoed in the side hall.

Zhu Yijun, who was sitting next to him, looked up at the emperor.

He was pacing back and forth like a trapped beast, and the next moment, his raging rage was about to burn everything.

But Zhu Yijun knew what was going on. With what he had just said, Yang Bo had distanced himself from the matter, and Xu Jie behind him had also distanced himself from the matter. But all the blame was placed on Yang Xuan, the Governor-General of Ji and Liao.

In the emperor's rage, the first person to be burned to death would be the self-righteous or foolishly scapegoat Governor of Ji and Liao, Yang Xuan.

(End of this chapter)