The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 116 True and False Rebellion
It seemed that Wanli was really preparing to quell the rebellion.

After he and Sanniang reached an agreement, he moved all 40,000 soldiers of the Shenjiying Camp stationed on the south bank of the Qingshui River to Baode Prefecture in Pianguan Town, leaving only a few thousand border infantrymen from Datong Town to guard the fortress on the hillside.

Immediately afterwards, he personally led 40,000 cavalrymen from the Shenwu Camp and 20,000 Jinyiwei and imperial guards light cavalry to Baode Prefecture.

The name of the state of Paukut State sounds very big, but it is actually not that big at all.

At the beginning of Hongwu, Baode Prefecture still governed Hequ County. Later, Hequ County was divided out, and Baode Prefecture was left alone.

Moreover, this place is located at the intersection of the Loess Plateau and the Luliang Mountains. There are dense mountains on the east and gullies on the west. Land transportation is very inconvenient. There is only one mountain path leading to Datong Wei Shuozhou. Cavalry, food carts, and artillery carts can only pass in single files.

However, it is quite convenient to cross the river here. There is a large mudflat along the Yellow River opposite Fugu County. The main trunk of the Yellow River becomes extremely narrow here. The narrowest part is less than 30 meters, which is less than 100 meters wide.

If you take a ferry across the river from here, it won't take more than a quarter of an hour.

Perhaps, Wanli was attracted by this point, who knows.

He likes to do things in a reckless manner, completely ignoring the inconvenient land transportation in Baode Prefecture.

On the 23rd day of the 7th month, at about 3 p.m., the vanguard of the Shenwu Camp had already arrived near the city of Baodezhou.

However, the imperial guards' light cavalry at the end had just set out from Shuozhou, four hundred miles away.

There is no other way. The mountain path is too narrow. Two horses cannot ride side by side. I can only ride alone.

Moreover, there must be some distance between each horse to prevent collisions. One horse must occupy at least ten feet of road. More than 60,000 horses means more than 60,000 feet. One hundred and fifty feet is one li, so more than 60,000 feet is more than 400 li!

That thing, a dragon that is over 400 miles long, it is really a long dragon. Standing on the highest mountain in the middle, you can't see the ends of the two ends.

The people in Shuozhou and Baodezhou were really enlightened. The cavalry on the road took half a day to pass.

At this time, Wanli had actually arrived in Baode Prefecture, and was less than ten miles away from the ferry terminal of Baode Prefecture.

This time he changed his outfit again, wearing the fish-scale armor of a border army general and a helmet made of tempered steel. That guy really looked like a Confucian general.

However, at this time he was sweating profusely, with sweat all over his head and face.

There was no way. It was too hot that day, and there were hardly any trees on the Loess Plateau. It rarely rained, and it was so dry and hot that people's throats were smoking. The fish scales were sunburned and as hot as branding irons.

Finally, a small river appeared on the roadside, with a small forest growing beside the river. He immediately rode over with the imperial concubine Qin Lan and a group of generals. Then he raised his hand to take the telescope and scanned to the west.

Fortunately, Baodezhou City was already in sight, and they were less than ten miles away from the east bank of the Yellow River.

He was almost unable to bear the scorching sun.

He simply dismounted, found a shady spot to sit down, asked for a paper fan and fanned himself vigorously for a while before panting, "Why is it so hot here? It's much hotter than the capital."

It's not easy for His Majesty to still have the strength to speak.

Seeing this, all the generals couldn't help but show a hint of admiration.

It was a really hot day and they were almost unable to bear the heat.

Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan dismounted and pulled out a round embroidered fan from the bag on her horse's back. She sat beside him and fanned him vigorously for a while, then asked with concern, "Your Majesty, are you all right?"

Wanli wiped the sweat off his face, shook his head slightly, and then raised his hand and said, "I'm fine. Everyone, please sit down and rest for a while. Don't be so rigid about etiquette when marching and fighting."

Upon hearing this, the generals quickly dismounted and found a shady spot around him to sit down.

Wanli looked at the sun-dried and cracked yellow soil around him, and suddenly remembered the severe droughts in the northwest during the Tianqi and Chongzhen reigns.

In another twenty or thirty years, this place will be a barren wasteland, and the people will be so hungry that they will rebel. It seems that the first person to declare himself king in the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty was Wang Jiayin, the King of Fugu. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were just minor generals under Wang Jiayin at the beginning.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "General Du, this place is less than a hundred miles away from Yulinwei. You should be familiar with this place, right?"

Du Song nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, we all pass through here when we leave Yulinwei and head east. I am quite familiar with this place."

Wanli continued to ask: "Are the people here living a hard life?"

That's not the case.

Du Song sighed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, the land here is barren and it rarely rains. Whether you can harvest crops depends on the weather.

So, there’s a folk song circulating here: Fugu protects Dezhou, and the harvest is poor nine out of ten years. Men go abroad, and women dig bitter vegetables. “Bitter vegetables?

Wanli couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is bitter vegetable?"

Du Song looked around, then stood up and pulled up a palm-sized weed nearby, introducing it in detail: "Your Majesty, this is bitter vegetable. Although it tastes bitter, it is still good to eat.

This thing can clear away heat and detoxify, cool the blood and stop diarrhea. If we have diarrhea while marching or fighting outside, we can just pick some of this bitter herb and eat it. "

Wanli took it and looked at it carefully.

This is just grass, what kind of bitter herb is this?
The leaves of dandelion are only as wide as a finger and are serrated. There is not much to eat from a palm-sized plant.

The people here are so hungry that they have to eat bitter vegetables. They are really not far from rebellion.

Civilians generally do not rebel unless they are extremely hungry. Now they have started eating grass. If there is no grass to eat, they will eat grass roots and tree bark. When all the grass roots and tree bark are eaten up, they will have no choice but to rebel.

I must quickly recover Hetao and then find a way to solve the livelihood problems of the people in the northwest. Otherwise, if millions of civilians rebel, it will be a huge trouble.

Wanli pulled the bitter herb root, brushed the dirt off the leaves, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a few times, swallowed it, and then stood up and said, "Let's go, let's go to the ferry head and take a look."

When the generals saw this, they were all stunned.

Your Majesty, are you having a stomachache?
In fact, Wanli just wanted to taste how bitter this bitter vegetable was.

Fortunately, it’s not very bitter, at least not as bitter as the medicinal soup.

We are already near Baodezhou City, and there are more flat areas on both sides of the road.

He took the Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan and a group of generals and galloped for less than a quarter of an hour. In front of them was the huge camp of the Shenji Camp.

No one knew he was coming yet.

However, at least they were all generals wearing chain mail. Upon hearing the news, Wang Rulong, Chen Dacheng, Lou Nan, Hu Shouren and others came out to greet them.

When they came out and saw this, they were all stunned.

His Majesty and the Imperial Concubine were both wearing fish-scale armor and mingling among a group of generals!
Is this to hide your identity?

They didn't know whether they should greet each other or not.

This greeting exposed the identity of the Emperor.

Seeing this, Wanli waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about those customs when marching and fighting. Take me to the ferry to have a look."

This time they are really fighting a war, so it’s a bit dangerous here. It’s better not to reveal the identity of the Emperor.

Upon hearing this, Wang Rulong and Chen Dacheng hurriedly rode their horses and took the lead, leading them through the camp to the ferry on the east bank of the Yellow River.

This section of the river is really narrow, and you can see Fugu County across the street without binoculars.

However, a large army certainly cannot cross the river relying on a few ferries.

Wanli looked at the river with fast current and couldn't help frowning slightly.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Yuan Jing, can we build a floating bridge in such a turbulent current?"

Qi Jiguang nodded slowly and said, "Building a floating bridge shouldn't be a problem. However, we need to prepare a few more chains to hold the boats that serve as bridge piles. Otherwise, the wooden planks and planks above alone will most likely not hold it steady."

Chains?
This thing is not difficult to make, so Deng Zilong asked Yongnianbo Wang Wei to make iron chains for building a floating bridge, but he only made two chains each time.

Now that the molds for making iron chains are available, the workshops at the Summer Resort can easily make several iron chains that are more than 30 meters long.

The key is that this floating bridge cannot block the river. He also wants to use the centipede boat to transport food and even launch a sneak attack.

The Hetao Plain is not in the south but in the north. There are iron chains across the river. How can the centipede boat get across?

Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned and fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)