Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 878 Reinforcements
"Boom boom——"

The shells exploded violently upon landing, sending plumes of smoke and dust flying in all directions, with black smoke rising straight into the sky.

The Tartar formation was scattered, with dead and wounded warhorses lying everywhere, colorful flags askew, and crows circling low overhead—a scene of utter devastation.

Wang Shouren was shocked by what he saw, which strengthened his judgment. He turned to Zhu Hui and said, "The Tatars have been attacking relentlessly since yesterday morning. They must have discovered that our reinforcements have arrived... They had to seize the last moment, but unfortunately they didn't achieve their goal... The ones coming from over there should be our reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?"

Zhu Hui found Wang Shouren's assertion unbelievable. He observed carefully through his binoculars for a long time, and finally shook his head. "Impossible... That group of people looks like they came from the northeast, but the northeast is a mountainous area. Could they have come by going around the mountains? Shouldn't they have come from our diagonal rear?"

Wang Shouren said with emotion: "I had previously heard Wang Zhongcheng say that the court could not possibly send troops only from Yansui and Datong, but must send another army from some border town in the east. Now it seems that it is them."

"This……"

Zhu Hui asked in surprise, "Could it be that Xuanfu Town has also sent troops? Oh no, Xuanfu sending troops is not far from Datong, so it's impossible for them to take such a bizarre route."

"What if troops are sent from Jizhou or Liaodong?"

Wang Shouren asked.

"Impossible! The court has already criticized the dispatch of troops from Yansui. Didn't you hear what Commander Qin said... Even the governor of Datong, Xu Jin, doesn't support Zhang Guojiu's dispatch of troops from Datong. He will most likely impeach him in a memorial. Under such circumstances, how could the Ming border army be expected to go to such lengths as to send troops from Jizhou and Liaodong to provide support?"

Wang Shouren did not answer the question. He pointed to the Tatar camp to the east and said thoughtfully, "If I am not mistaken, that should be the troops of the Doyan Three Guards!"

"Well... I can't tell."

Zhu Hui shook his head.

Wang Shouren said, "The attire of the Doyan Three Guards is more rugged than that of the Chahar and other tribes because the wind and sand are stronger in places like Liaodong, so they have to wear square headscarves to protect themselves from the sand... Look at those cavalrymen, do they wear headscarves?"

"This……"

Zhu Hui couldn't answer for a moment.

He didn't know much about the differences between the grassland tribes and dared not speak casually.

Wang Shouren observed through his binoculars for a long time before finally nodding: "That's right. This friendly force should be coming from Liaodong or Jizhou. There are at least several thousand men, perhaps even more than Zhang Guojiu's entire force... Judging from their clothing and spirit, it is unlikely that they are Zhang Guojiu's central army, nor could they be troops from Xuanfu and Datong Town coming to their aid or to cooperate in the battle."

Zhu Hui asked, "Brother Wang, do you mean that the Tatars saw that the Ming Dynasty was sending reinforcements, which is why they are desperately trying to eliminate one or two of our forces in order to gain the upper hand in the upcoming battle? But judging from the appearance, the number of reinforcements is only a little over a thousand. How can it be that they are more than the other forces combined?"

"It's too far away to see the whole picture clearly. You'll know once we get closer... Judging from the height and density of the dust kicked up by the warhorses, this reinforcement force must number at least several thousand."

Wang Shouren was absolutely certain of the truth.

Zhu Hui exclaimed, "Brother Wang, your judgment is truly unparalleled. The Tartars launched a series of fierce attacks, and you said there were reinforcements, and they really did come... Now you say this force is coming from the direction of Jizhou and Liaodong, and that should be pretty much right. Now, I finally feel more at ease."

Wang Shouren nodded in agreement: "Indeed, it seems that His Majesty and Zhang Guojiu's arrangements were not to fight the Tartars alone deep in the territory. In this light, it is a great pity that Wang Zhongcheng was unable to bring the entire army here after setting out from Yansui."

Zhu Hui thought to himself, "Even now, you still have the mind to feel sorry for Wang Yue?"

It's clear that you genuinely admire and empathize with your idol.

Unfortunately, just as you said, giving him the opportunity was useless!
"Didn't Commander Wang also send Brother Wang... and myself, to lead troops to provide support?" Zhu Hui said. "We represent the troops of Yansui Town, and we also represent Commander Wang."

“Alright, that’s one way to put it… But who is commanding the reinforcements from Jizhou and Liaodong? Which high-ranking official in the court is close to the Zhang family and has the audacity to venture beyond the Great Wall?”

Wang Shouren seemed to have fallen into a state of obsessive thought again.

Zhu Hui also observed carefully through the binoculars and exclaimed, "Their firearms and tactics seem very similar to those of Zhang Guojiu's troops, and their weapons are... better than ours!"

Wang Shouren said, "They were the ones who came later, so their firearms were naturally better than ours, which is perfectly understandable."

"Send troops later? How much earlier could we have arrived? Could there be a difference of three months? Could there be such a big difference?" Zhu Hui said, "I think it was Zhang Guojiu who deliberately distributed the good firearms to that group of troops and not to General Wang, so our men could only use outdated firearms."

Wang Shouren put down his binoculars and sighed, "Actually, the firearms we have are much better than the old muskets. That alone is enough to make the Tatars suffer. Otherwise, how could we have forced the Tatars to avoid fighting?"

"Furthermore, most of the firearms used in Wang Zhongcheng's army were brought from the capital to Yansui, which is more than three months behind. It is completely understandable that they are inferior to the latter!"

……

……

The Ming "reinforcements" that came from the northeast were the troops of Jizhou Town personally led by Li Zisheng.

He led his troops through Jizhou Town but did not take up his post at the governor's office. However, the local officers and generals in Jizhou had long heard of his "prestige" and knew that he had powerful backers during the Chenghua and Hongzhi reigns. As a result, those who wanted to cause him trouble had to bow their heads for the sake of merit and took the initiative to come to see him, expressing their willingness to fully cooperate with his actions as governor.

Originally, the emperor only allocated more than 2,000 troops to Li Zi Province, most of whom were soldiers sent by Jizhou Town to train the new army. However, when he actually went beyond the Great Wall, he brought out more than 5,000 troops.

This was the result of fierce competition and rigorous selection by the various households in Jizhou Town.

Unlike the generals at various passes in the Northwest who were unwilling to send troops to attack, Li Zisheng led the troops as the governor of Jizhou. In addition, his position in the court was so high that his troops were a case of "I didn't want them, but they all wanted to fight with me. In the end, they rushed to join me, and I couldn't refuse their hospitality, so I casually pulled out three thousand elite troops," which was both laughable and absurd.

In addition to the more than two thousand soldiers he had previously led, all of whom were newly trained troops, proficient in firearms, their strength was basically the same as that of Wang Yue's elite troops.

This made the group from the east stand out among all the other groups.

After all, the troops under Li Zisheng's command possessed brand-new weapons prepared for him by Zhang Yanling. These were the most powerful equipment of the era, manufactured by military factories around the capital, relying on coal mines in Xishan and iron mines in Yongping Prefecture and other places.

Zhang Yanling took some with him, manufactured some more in Shanxi, and made the rest in the capital, then handed them over to Li Zi Province.

Even though Li Zisheng's troops were clearly lacking in training with the new firearms, the weapons were very easy to use. For the new army soldiers who had been training in the capital for a long time, even if they were only given a few hundred new firearms, they could quickly turn them into handy killing weapons. They followed Li Zisheng's high-ranking officials straight into the territory of Daningwei, the pre-determined destination, and turned northwest, fighting their way to Guanbei Guanshan and other places.

As the Tatars suffered a crushing defeat, Lizi Province finally managed to gain a foothold on this complex battlefield.

Just as Li Zisheng was setting up camp, Pang Qing brought him "good news." "Master, the three guards of Doyan have sent representatives to express their willingness to submit to the Ming Dynasty and no longer cooperate with the Tatar prince Batu Mongke in rebellion. They have agreed to place their respective troops under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty and await your command."

Although Pang Qing was just a scholar, he often engaged in shady and despicable activities.

But that doesn’t mean he’s incompetent.

What is even more commendable is that after entering the grasslands, he was able to give full play to all his strengths.

Because many veteran generals in the army at that time were single-mindedly trying to curry favor with their superiors in order to win the opportunity to fight... If it were someone who was not experienced in the world of fame and fortune, they would not be able to deal with those ruffians at all, but Pang Qing had been through thick and thin all these years and had seen all kinds of people.

I was able to handle a group of cabinet ministers like Yin Zhi, Peng Hua, and Wan An with ease back then. Dealing with you bunch of cowards would be a piece of cake for me.
It's a bit like a game-changer!
In addition, Li Zisheng had the honor of being the first person to achieve military merit during the Hongzhi era, which led to high morale among his soldiers. As Li Zisheng led his troops out of the pass, everyone was smiling and singing. They gritted their teeth and persevered until they arrived at this place. Not a single person complained along the way.

Furthermore, because of Pang Qing's presence, Li Zisheng was able to handle his group of generals and soldiers with even greater ease.

Pang Qing is now making efforts to persuade the Doyan Three Guards to surrender directly to Lizi Province.

Li Zisheng seemed somewhat dissatisfied upon hearing this, frowning slightly as he questioned, "We've only just arrived, and the battle hasn't even really begun. Why is the enemy already surrendering? If they were going to surrender, why didn't they do it sooner? Why did they only choose to surrender after I joined forces with my nephew? It's too late!"

Pang Qing asked in surprise, "Master Dao, from what you're saying, even if we could accept their surrender, you wouldn't accept it? You insist on fighting to the bitter end? After all, our goal is to conquer the grasslands and make this place a direct territory of the Ming Dynasty... We can't just kill everyone on this land, can we? Who will help with the herding and work after we've killed them all?"

Li Zisheng said, "Why not just kill them all? That would solve everything! At worst, we can just relocate Han people here to graze their livestock later..."

"Master Dao..."

Pang Qing rolled his eyes upon hearing this and said, "Have you been blinded by successive victories? How easy is it to win on the battlefield? If the goal is to annihilate the enemy, it is even more difficult... The grassland is so big, at worst they will scatter and flee. They can come back in a few years or a decade or so. By then, we won't even know where we are. How can we control them?"

"Is it that difficult? With my nephew Yanling here, with his meticulously crafted firearms, and with so many fearless soldiers, we can crush the Tartars no matter what... Haven't we already proven that? Since leaving the border, we have been invincible, haha!"

As Li Zisheng spoke, he raised his head high, almost as if he were on top of the world with pride.

Pang Qing said, "Master Dao, you must keep a calm mind... Is fighting a war as easy as you make it sound? By taking over the Three Guards of Duoyan, we can weaken the strength of the grassland tribes and undermine their fighting spirit. Then we can achieve a complete victory. It's much better than talking about killing them all."

“Bingkun, the older you get, the more timid you become, far less daring than my nephew Yanling…”

Li Zisheng remarked with emotion.

Pang Qingxin thought to himself, "You've been poisoned by your nephew."

I don't know why, Li Zisheng, you are considered one of the most important figures in the court since the Chenghua era, how could you be so deeply poisoned by the Zhang family?

You believe everything they say?
Aren't you a Taoist practitioner?
Don't you pride yourself on being very capable?

Why didn't they have any wariness towards the Zhang family father and son?

"Bingkun, speaking of myself, I'm not talking about others, but fighting is still very easy for me."

Li Zisheng said with a smug look on his face, “Perhaps it’s because I haven’t experienced failure, or perhaps it’s because I have the help of Lai Zhan and his son, so it’s impossible for me to fail!”

"Look at the mighty soldiers of my Great Ming Dynasty! Under these circumstances, my acceptance of their surrender is an honor for them... They should crawl over to receive the imperial decree, and I will reluctantly relocate them elsewhere!"

They've gotten carried away!
Pang Qing thought to himself, "Daoist Master is beyond redemption."

But who can blame them when the war is going so smoothly right now?

You've only been on the battlefield once, and this is only your second time leading troops. Just because the Zhang family father and son are backing you up, you now think you're incredibly capable.

You're the general who will be remembered for all time, aren't you?

"So, Daoist, will you accept or not?"

Pang Qing asked helplessly.

Li Zisheng said, "Is there even a need to ask that?"

"Shouldn't I... ask this? Is that... acceptance?"

Pang Qing was a little confused.

Or should we not have accepted it in the first place?

"Of course, we should ask my nephew Yanling's opinion... We've finally led our troops here, and you expect me to make the decisions on my own instead of following his orders? I'm only responsible for leading the troops and defeating the Tatars. As for the rest of the decisions, let my nephew Yanling make the choice."

Li Zisheng acted as if it were perfectly natural.

Pang Qing was completely speechless.

Thinking to myself, so when you said "Is there even a need to ask?" as if it were a matter of course, you meant you were going to ask your nephew Zhang Yanling for his opinion?

I thought you had finally come to your own mind!
So, your opinion is to listen to your nephew's opinion?
The poisoning is too deep!
"But Master Dao, how...how do we get in touch with the Second Young Master?"

Pang Qing said, "Although we know that the Second Young Master's troops are nearby, we have only been in contact with troops that were sent out from under the Second Young Master's command. It may not be so easy to find him in person."

Li Zisheng said, "If it's not easy, let's find it first... We'll fight and negotiate at the same time. I reckon the Tartars are even more anxious than we are right now!"
"Look at how demoralized they are now! Our Ming Dynasty only has this many troops to fight our way here, while they've mobilized all the tribal forces they can muster, and we're still crushing them!"

Pang Qing nodded and said, "That's true. Even if the current battle is over, our Great Ming will have a complete advantage over the Tatars in the future, and we won't have to go through a stalemate as often as before."

Li Zisheng suddenly laughed: "I heard that Tartar women can sing and dance. Although they are a bit rough, there is a good thing about being rough. I'll bring some back for Lai Zhan later... Heh, that's his taste!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)