I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 48 A Surprising Victory
The Minister of War received Qi Jiguang's victory report near Chaoyang Gate, and his first thought after reading it was disbelief.

"We captured 3,967 heads and 110 people, and our casualties did not exceed 100. How dare you make this up!"

But Yang Bo changed his mind and thought that Qi Jiguang had a good reputation and was not a reckless person.

He pondered for a while, then called several officers from the Ministry of War, selected a team of Xuanda cavalry as guards, mounted his horse, and rode out of Chaoyang Gate, galloping southward regardless of the danger of the Northern Tartar cavalry outside.

When Emperor Jiajing in Xiyuan received this good news, he was also confused.

I need the news of victory to save my face, but yours is too great.

I can't believe it!

"Grandpa Emperor, please send a few people to the battlefield to see what's going on. We won a great victory, and the northern barbarians fled in panic. They wouldn't have taken away their bodies with them, would they?"

"Yes, yes! Jun'er is right." Emperor Jiajing came to his senses immediately, "Huang Jin!"

"The slave is here!"

"Send the imperial edict to Duke Chengguo Zhu Xizhong, Duke Yingguo Zhang Rong, the head of the Jinyiwei Zhu Xixiao, as well as the cabinet members Gao Gong and Li Chunfang, and Yang Bo from the Ministry of War."

"Grandpa Emperor, a copy of the victory report must have been sent to the Ministry of War. Yang Gong probably doesn't believe it either. Given his personality, he has probably already left the city to investigate personally."

"Yes. Xianghe is not far away. According to Yang Bo's personality, he may have gone to the battlefield to investigate. Huang Jin, tell these five to leave the city immediately and go to the Xianghe battlefield to investigate the truth of Qi Jiguang's report of victory."

"According to the order!"

Zhu Yijun gave another instruction: "Mr. Huang, ask Feng Bao and Chen Hong to accompany them. Also tell them to send 500 Xuanda cavalrymen to escort them all the way. Be careful of the northern barbarian cavalry."

"Yes!"

Xianghe is only a hundred miles away from the capital, and it can be reached in half a day by riding at full speed.

When Yang Bo arrived, Qi Jiguang had just received the latest military intelligence.

The scouts who were in pursuit reported that the Duer tribe had joined forces with the 11,000 right-wing cavalry of the Tumed tribe led by Xin Ai. Xin Ai was frightened by the tragic situation of the Duoluo Tuman tribe, and hurriedly led his troops north to Pinggu.

It seemed there was no danger, so Qi Jiguang ordered the entire army to break camp and continue marching towards Tongzhou.

"Report! Yang Butang from the Ministry of War has arrived."

"Minister of War Yang Gong?"

"Yes!"

"Go and greet them!"

Qi Jiguang hurried to the dock to greet them.

Yang Bo and his party traveled south along the west coast, and when they arrived here they had to take a boat to the east coast.

"General Qi Jiguang pays homage to Yang Butang of the Ministry of War."

"Qi Jiguang, the general of Zhejiang, I met you a few years ago when you came to Beijing to report on your work."

"Yes, I had the honor to be questioned by Yang Butang himself."

Yang Bo nodded and went straight to the point: "Where is the seized goods?"

"Please follow me."

Yang Bo and his entourage followed Qi Jiguang, passed through the busy and orderly camp, and saw thousands of soldiers busy packing up. He asked.

"What is this for?"

"Reply to Lord Yang's words, send the scouts to report back, and have the remaining troops of Du'er and Xin Ai's troops reunite and flee north to Pinggu."

"Oh, then there is a possibility of escaping to the north."

"I dare not make any rash comments. However, the enemy situation is clear, so I order my troops to continue to move north and station in Tongzhou."

Yang Bo said nothing more.

When we arrived outside the camp, we saw thousands of villagers, holding kitchen knives and hatchets, carrying baskets, squatting on the ground and busy cutting the meat of the dead horse. They were so dense that they looked like a bunch of ants that had found food.

"So many dead horses?" Yang Bo was shocked. "Maybe three or four thousand."

"To reply to Mr. Yang, there are 3,162 horses."

An officer from the Ministry of War bravely stepped forward to investigate and said, "Yang Bu Tang, they are indeed Mongolian horses from outside the Great Wall, and they are all war horses."

Yang Bo immediately believed Qi Jiguang's good news.

No matter how rich the Southeast is, you can't find a place to buy so many Mongolian horses from outside the Great Wall as props to falsely report the results of the battle.

When Qi Jiguang led him to the place where corpses were piled, he could smell a strong smell of blood mixed with a faint stench of decay from afar.

As the weather got warmer, the corpse began to emit a foul smell of decay after being left for most of the day, but it was not serious yet. If it was left for another day or two, it would have suffocated people to death.

The bodies were stacked in four large pits and had not yet been covered with soil.

As I walked over, a bunch of flies were startled and flew up buzzing like a big black cloud.

The headless corpses were piled up layer upon layer.

They were tall, short, fat, and thin, but now they were just a pile of dead flesh, rotting and stinking in the gray soil.

The official in charge of investigation in the Ministry of War stepped forward, holding his nose, and randomly checked more than a dozen bodies. After coming back, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yang Butang, they are indeed the real Tartars from outside the Great Wall." Yang Bo nodded, "Let's go and take a look at the heads."

Not far away, more than 3,000 heads were piled up in more than 30 piles.

"One hundred heads are piled up. Please check them with Yang Gong and Shangguan."

These heads were all gray, some with eyes open, some half-open, some closed, with different expressions: some in pain, some angry, some begging for mercy, some sad, and some numb.

They were like black stones, piled together.

Piles of flies surrounded them, enjoying the feast that belonged to them.

The experienced military officials took a closer look and knew that it was undoubtedly the head of a genuine Tartar from the Northern Tartars.

"There are thirty-nine piles of one hundred heads each, and sixty-seven scattered heads. The total number is three thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven heads."

The military official reported excitedly.

The head of the real Tartar from the north, this is one of the greatest victories in the Jiajing Dynasty, no, in the entire Guo Dynasty!

Yang Bo looked at the piles of heads and the corpses in the big pit in the distance with a complicated expression.

The wilderness wind carried the smell of dirt and blood, blowing the corners of his scarlet official robe.

He knew that with such a great victory, the shame of the Guihai Rebellion and even the Gengxu Rebellion could be washed away.

But how could Qi Jiguang's 9,000 troops rush to the capital from thousands of miles in the southeast so quickly and appear in the capital area without anyone noticing?

How did the emperor come up with this move?

As a result, it became a killer move that turned the tide.

With a great victory, the situation in the court will become very delicate.

"General Qi, when will you set out?"

"Report!" Someone interrupted Yang Bo.

"what's up?"

"Duke Zhang of England, Duke Zhu of Chengguo, Commander Zhu of the Left Commander of the Rear Army, and Cabinet Elders Gao and Li have been ordered to come and inspect the results of the battle."

Yang Bo was stunned.

It comes so quickly!
The emperor reacted so quickly this time!

"Let's go, General Qi, let's go and welcome them!"

"Yes."

Qi Jiguang led the way, accompanied by Yang Bo, and invited Zhang Rong, Zhu Xizhong, Zhu Xixiao, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang, as well as Feng Bao and Chen Hong to check the corpses and heads again.

After listening to the excited narration of the military official next to him,

Zhang Rong and the other four remained silent.

After a while, Gao Gong, who was the most impatient, couldn't help but ask, "General Qi, did you receive a secret order from the emperor to rush here to help?"

"Yes." Qi Jiguang replied respectfully.

Yang Bo added: "The emperor informed me and sent a copy of the military order. But he specifically said that this matter is confidential and must not be leaked. At that time, I was thinking that the southeast is thousands of miles away, and I am afraid that sending elite troops to Beijing to defend the king will not be enough.

It was just that the situation at that time was mainly about comforting. "

Everyone understood.

Under the circumstances at the time, Yang Bo wanted to appease and stabilize the emperor, so he just let him do it.

It’s a journey of thousands of miles. By the time the troops from the southeast arrive to suppress the Japanese, the northern barbarians will have already returned to the outside of the Great Wall to divide the spoils. We can then send them back.

I never expected them to come so quickly.

The emperor's seemingly desperate move turned out to be his last resort!

"How did you get here so quickly?" Gao Gong asked everyone's question.

“Twenty days ago, Hu Butang received the Emperor’s secret decree in Ningbo, which was sent over a distance of 800 miles. It happened that I was with the Third Battalion of the Marine Corps in Dinghaiwei for rest and recuperation.

Hu Bu Tang immediately ordered the mobilization of Zhejiang Navy ships and the requisition of civilian and merchant ships to prepare military equipment and food. Five days later, our 9,000 Marines boarded the ships, escorted by the Zhejiang Navy, and following the southeast wind, we arrived in Tianjin in eleven days.

At that time, the section of the Northern Grand Canal from Tianjin to Tongzhou was cut off, and a large number of ships and carriages gathered in Tianjin. I took out the secret decree and the documents of the Ministry of War to recruit a large number of ships and pack horses. Three days ago, I set out from Tianjin and headed for Tongzhou along the Northern Grand Canal.

Zhang Rong, Zhu Xizhong, and Zhu Xixiao, three nobles who knew military affairs, looked at each other in surprise and asked, "Except for the secret decree and the Ministry of War's urgent order of 800 miles, you only spent five days preparing, and eleven days rushing from Ningbo to Tianjin?"

"Yes. This is how our Marine Battalion fights on a daily basis. We are always prepared. Once we receive news that the Japanese pirates are coming ashore to harass us, we will immediately board the ship and chase them.

It took us eleven days to get from Ningbo to Tianjin. We took risks and traveled day and night. Thanks to God, we had a smooth journey and only then did we make it."

"It's incredible!" Zhang Rong, Zhu Xizhong and Zhu Xixiao couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Gao Gong and Yang Bo looked at each other and felt worried.

After the great victory at Xianghe, the civil officials were put on the defensive and were once again controlled by the emperor.

What should I do!

(End of this chapter)