I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 44: The Guihai Incident
Xiajiadian, located in the northwest of Sanhe County, is a small town in the capital.

Fu Jin, deputy general of Changping Military Preparations, led his troops to station outside the town.

At night, Fu Jin was sleeping soundly in the big tent when he was suddenly woken up.

"what's up?"

"Commander-in-Chief Ding Yue has something urgent to discuss with you."

Fu Jin lifted the quilt and said, "Turn on the light quickly, please come in."

The candles in the big tent were lit. Fu Jin put on an outer robe and sat on the bed. Lieutenant General Ding Yue was brought in.

"I greet the general."

"Old Ding, what's going on so late?"

"They ran away!"

"Who are they?" Fu Jin was stunned.

Ding Yue waved his hand, signaling his guards to retreat, and walked up to Fu Jin, saying softly, "They are the sixty-five herdsmen and horse slaves who escaped from outside the pass."

Fu Jin was shocked, "They all ran away?"

"They all ran away, as if they had made an appointment. General, someone tipped them off, and someone else facilitated their escape."

Ding Yue paused and asked, "General, do you want to check it out?"

Fu Jin was silent for a while: "Investigate? What's there to investigate? When they entered the camp and ate the emperor's food, there were 217 of them. They followed us through life and death, and now there are only these 65 people left.

They are all comrades who crawled out of the pile of dead bodies with us. You and I have the heart to do it, but some people don’t. Moreover, with a war on the horizon, a random investigation would shake the morale of the army.”

Ding Yue was anxious: "General, they ran away. The more than 60 heads of the real captives that Governor Yang used to report his achievements are gone. He is narrow-minded and will not let you go."

Fu Jin closed his eyes and said sadly, "Those 65 people, although they are northern barbarians, are our comrades. Forcing us to sell out our comrades for credit is already a crime of heart. Let them run away if they want.

In this chaotic situation with a powerful enemy at our doorstep, how can I have the time to chase them?"

Ding Yue was helpless, "Okay. This time the northern barbarians broke into the border and I heard that the emperor was furious. It's not easy for us, and Yang Xuan is probably not easy either. I hope he won't have time to care about us afterwards.

General, we have basically found out that the cavalry we discovered before was not the main force of the Northern Tartars, but just their scout team.

What should we do? Yang Xuan asked us to pursue the enemy while they are victorious. How should we pursue them? Should we pursue them to the enemy's nest in Pinggu? There are more than 10,000 enemy cavalry there. How can we defeat them?"

Fu Jin, on the other hand, didn't care. "At daybreak, prepare a military report saying that the enemy cavalry is erratic and we have lost them. We are searching everywhere. Report to Miyun. Too many lice won't cause any itchiness."

Ding Yue sighed, "Alas, this is the only way. All right, General, you take a rest first, and I will continue to patrol. You have been traveling for three days and two nights, and you must have worked hard."

Fu Jin smiled bitterly and said, "Everyone is tired, let's take turns to rest."

"Yes."

Fu Jin lay down to sleep again, and after an unknown amount of time, he was woken up again.

"what happened?"

Ding Yue rushed in with red eyes.

"General, it's bad. A team did not report back at night. They said that two cavalry units from the north are coming to encircle us. There are at least tens of thousands of cavalry."

"What? The main force of the Northern Tartars? How do they know we are here?" Fu Jin asked in panic. After a moment of silence, he suddenly reacted and slapped the edge of the bed.

"Bad news! Some of the 65 people who escaped held a grudge and fled to Pinggu overnight, attracting the main force of the Northern Tartars."

"General, what should we do?"

"Go into the town immediately, and build fortifications urgently using the houses and walls of the town. Immediately report to Miyun for help, and at the same time send a letter to the Ministry of War in the capital, saying that our Changping Guards' 5,000 soldiers are surrounded by tens of thousands of northern barbarians in Xiajiadian, northwest of Sanhe."

Ding Yue understood Fu Jin's words which were full of desire to survive.

If Yang Xuan, the governor of Ji and Liao in Miyun, had sat idly by, the capital would not have watched 5,000 officers and soldiers from Jizhou Town being surrounded and annihilated by the northern barbarians right under the emperor's feet.

The Ministry of War will definitely urge Yang Xuan to send troops to rescue.

"Yes!"

At daybreak, tens of thousands of Northern Tartar cavalry came roaring in and rushed to the outside of Xiajiadian Town. They circled the small town, fired several rounds of arrows into it, and then surrounded it.

At noon, urgent news was transmitted to the capital and Miyun one after another.

In addition to receiving the news that the officers and soldiers of Changping Guard were surrounded, Yang Xuan also learned that the main force of the Northern Tartars did not flee eastward, but went south and plundered Sanhe and Shunyi.

"Asshole! Fu Jin lied about military intelligence and deceived this governor! He made a huge mistake. Let's see how he apologizes to the emperor!" Yang Xuan was furious and scolded Fu Jin for two quarters of an hour.

Xu Shen's face darkened, he suppressed his anger and advised: "Governor Yang, you should quickly send troops to rescue Fu Jin and his men. Changping Guard has 5,000 soldiers. If they are annihilated by the northern barbarians in the capital, you and I cannot bear the blame."

Yang Xuan certainly knew that he was not up to the task.

First, he fell into Xin'ai Huang Taiji's trick of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, and transferred the elite troops of Jizhou Town to Liaodong, resulting in a lack of troops at the border, which gave Xin'ai Huang Taiji an opportunity to take advantage of. After the Gengxu Incident in the 29th year of Jiajing, the northern barbarians once again broke through the border and penetrated deep into the capital, disturbing the emperor.

This sin is huge.

If Fu Jin's Changping Guards were to be completely wiped out in Xiajiadian, even if he had three heads, they would not be enough for Emperor Jiajing to chop off!

"Sun Bin, the general commander of Jizhou Town, Hu Zhen, the deputy general, and Zhao Zhen, the guerrilla commander!" Yang Xuan called out their names.

"The general is here!"

"You three will lead 15,000 soldiers to rush to Xiajiadian and rescue Fu Jin's troops."

"Yes!"

"Colonel Feng Zhao, Hu Can, and guerrilla commander Yan Zhan!"

"The general is here!"

"I will lead your troops to the south immediately and station them in the east of the capital. We will defend the capital to the death and keep the emperor safe."

Yang Xuan waved his fists, his voice hoarse, and shouted hysterically.

No one responded.

Everyone knew that he was just struggling to survive.

At this point, when disaster strikes, everyone should just take care of themselves.

Over the next ten days, bad news spread into the capital and the Western Garden one after another.

"Yang Xuan sent General Sun Bin, his deputy general Hu Zhen, and guerrilla Zhao Zhen to lead an army to rescue Xiajiadian. On the way, they were ambushed by Xin Ai and Baduer's troops. Sun Bin and Zhao Zhen died in the battle, and Hu Zhen managed to escape after a hard fight.

The remaining troops fled westwards, and the Baduer tribe led their troops in pursuit, crossing the Lu River and attacking villages and towns such as Zhengcun and Xiahe. Four days ago, the vanguard of the Baduer tribe, several hundred cavalrymen, fled to the outside of Anding Gate, and martial law was imposed on all nine gates of the capital.

"Fu Jin's troops were besieged in Xiajiadian for five days and were finally annihilated by Xin Ai Huang Taiji. Deputy General Fu Jin and Lieutenant General Ding Yue died in the battle. Yang Xuan and Xu Shen led more than 12,000 officers and soldiers from Jizhou Town and stationed west of Luhe River, facing each other across the river, but they did not fire a single arrow."

"Xin Ai Huang Taiji sent his vanguard to attack Tongzhou, but was repelled. He then sent his troops across the Lu River to attack the capital, but was severely defeated by the Malu troops led by the Governor of Xuanda Jiangdong in the Zhengcun area and retreated to the east of the Lu River."

"The day before yesterday, Baduer led his troops to see that there was no chance for them to attack the capital, so he crossed the Lu River to the east and joined forces with Xin Ai and Huang Taiji's troops. They marched south and plundered Xianghe and Baodi counties, killing and wounding thousands of civilians."

"Li Yu, the Imperial Censor, submitted a memorial impeaching Yang Xuan, the Governor-General of Ji and Liao, Xu Shen, the Governor of Shuntian, Lu Yi, the Deputy Commissioner of Shuntian Border Patrol, Feng Zhao, Hu Can, the Lieutenant General, Yan Zhan and others for being afraid of the enemy and delaying the battle, allowing the enemy to wreak havoc. The Cabinet has drafted a resolution to remove them from office, arrest them, and put them in prison, and hand them over to the Censorate for trial and trial."

Huang Jin read the memorial with his voice trembling slightly.

Emperor Jiajing stood at the entrance of the palace with his hands in his sleeves, looking at the sky outside which was so dark that it seemed like it was about to drip with water. His face was as gloomy as the sky.

Zhu Yijun stood beside him and looked at him with a complicated expression.

The Governor of Ji and Liao was actually fooled by the leader of the Northern Barbarians and transferred his most elite troops to Liaodong. Then 20,000 Hu cavalry took advantage of the situation and invaded, wreaking havoc in the capital for more than a month.

Northern barbarian scouts appeared outside Anding Gate, and Sanhe, Shunyi, Xianghe, Baodi and other counties were looted. Thousands of houses were burned, thousands of civilians were killed, and thousands were abducted.

The officers and soldiers of Jizhou Town suffered more than 15,000 casualties, including 6,000 killed in action. More than a dozen generals, deputy generals, lieutenant generals, guerrillas, and garrisons were killed. The backbone of Jizhou Town was broken.

This was the biggest defeat after the Gengxu Rebellion in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign. Both the government and the public began to call this defeat the Guihai Rebellion.

The Emperor was so angry that he had no energy to vent.

After a while, Emperor Jiajing turned to look at Zhu Yijun, his eyes dim but with a hint of hope, and asked: "My grandson, I wonder if your trump card can help me gain some face!"

Zhu Yijun secretly clenched his fists.

He also didn't expect that the Ming border troops were so vulnerable.

Is it that the officers and soldiers as a whole are rotten, or is it that the military system controlled by civilians is corrupt?

It is not clear about Zhu Yijun yet.

Suddenly, the Emperor placed his hopes on his previous suggestions.

For me, it is indeed a great opportunity.

If you catch it, you can turn into a dragon!
(End of this chapter)