The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 257: Placing Secret Guards
On the first day of the sixth month, Wanli led the Beijing troops to go to war again.

He seemed to enjoy fighting the northern barbarians on hot days.

However, this time he only brought 180,000 soldiers from the Beijing camp, 10,000 imperial cavalry and 10,000 Jinyiwei light cavalry, totaling 200,000 troops.

He left the remaining half of the troops in the Beijing camp to garrison in the capital.

Early in the morning at about 1 a.m., when the sky was just getting light, an army of 200,000 set out from the North Square of the Mountain Resort and headed straight for Xuanfu Town.

When the northern barbarian tribes received the news, they were all in a state of panic and tension.

Wanli seemed to be a bit extravagant and specially ordered people to build a large carriage pulled by eight horses.

This carriage is made entirely of nanmu wood, some of which even have gold threads on them, making it look very luxurious.

Moreover, the carriage was quite large, about two zhang wide and four zhang long, with a space of about eighty to ninety square meters inside, which was even larger than the sedan chair Zhang Juzheng had ridden in. There were eight horses pulling the carriage.

Inside there is a study, living room, bedroom, and gatehouse.

However, there were only four people in the carriage. Shan Sinan and Li Xuancheng were guarding the gatehouse, while Wanli and Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan could rest in the bedroom at the back, or sit in the study and living room.

He was indeed afraid of the heat, and now that the conditions were right, he naturally would not let himself and Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan suffer.

Now ice cubes are available for purchase everywhere in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. He simply ordered the Shenjiying to wrap ice cubes in quilts and pull several carts of them.

The carriage they were riding in had ice troughs on both sides of the study, living room, bedroom, and gatehouse, and there were water pipes leading to the outside. The ice could be replaced as soon as it melted, so the carriage was very cool.

In fact, he was not just doing it for enjoyment. The reason why he was so ostentatious was that he wanted to let the traitors know that he was really leading the army to war.

As for who he is going to hit, let the insiders guess. He has no target this year and is just going to beat people randomly!
If he goes on an expedition like this again next year, the Northern Tartars will definitely not be as nervous as they were this year. When he really fights again, he should be able to easily capture a large area north of Xuanfu Town.

This is his purpose. He wants to make sure that both the internal traitors and the northern barbarians don’t know what he is trying to do.

He paraded through the city so blatantly that not only did the traitors know his whereabouts, but the generals of each town also knew it clearly.

At about 5 p.m. that afternoon, they had just arrived at the river valley where Huailai Wei was located and had not had time to set up camp when Dong Yikui, the general of Xuanfu Town, came running over with a large group of grain carts.

Wanli directly invited him to the living room of the carriage and sat him down at the large table. He then looked out the window and asked curiously, "Yikui, what are you pulling? So many grain carts."

Dong Yikui quickly explained, "Your Majesty, it's just some ice cubes and mutton. Your Majesty likes barbecue, so I specially picked some lamb raised on the riverbank. The meat is very tender. The ice cubes are newly produced in Xuanfu Town. They have dried flower petals thrown in beforehand, which gives them a fragrant aroma."

Not bad, promising.

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but smile and said, "Yikui, you've also learned to flatter others. You even added dried flower petals into the ice cubes. I'm surprised you came up with that."

Uh.

Dong Yikui said somewhat embarrassedly, "Your Majesty, this was not my idea, and I don't know which of my officers came up with it.

Our Xuanfu Town has many mountains and wild flowers. They collect them and dry them at this time, and then throw them into the wells by the river when it is almost frozen. It is not very troublesome.

However, this kind of ice can be bought for two cents a piece. Every household digs a big well by the river and can get a lot of this ice without leaving the house, which also makes it convenient to use water in winter.

These border troops are quite smart.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Stay here tonight. I've brought the big tent with me, but I don't need it now. I'll have them make one for you. It's just right, I also want to talk to you about the expansion of Xuanfu Town."

Dong Yikui had sent ice cubes and mutton. Ma Gui and Du Song naturally did not dare to neglect them along the way. They did not need to buy ice along the way, and the mutton was enough to make soup for the imperial guards.

Of course, these things are nothing to a town general. A cart of ice cubes doesn't even cost one or two taels of silver, and the sheep are their own, so there is no need to spend money at all.

Wanli saw that what they gave him were not valuable things, so he gladly accepted them.

This time his goal seemed to be to conquer the Tumed tribe.

He actually led his army all the way through the Qingshui River Valley of Xuanfu Town, Datong Town and Pianguan Town, and arrived at the Qiantao Plain.

Sanniangzi and Chelike were really frightened when they heard the news.

If the main force of the Ming army went out of the mountain pass between Yinshan Mountain and Daqingshan Mountain, they would have entered the core area of ​​their grazing land, and they would not know where to hide.

Of course, Wanli would not lead the main force of the Ming army out of the border at this time. He had no money to expand the border army, and he did not have enough troops to guard the conquered territory.

After he arrived at the north bank of the Yellow River in the southeast corner of the Qiantao Plain, he ordered his army to set up camp and stay there.

Immediately afterwards, he ordered the soldiers of the Beijing camp to build a dock on the river bank.

This is not surprising, because the grain carts of the Shenjiying can't carry much food.

If he really wanted to lead a large army out of the border, it would definitely take more than a month or two, and the food he would need would be quite a bit. The navy warships docked near the Summer Resort seemed to have already been bringing in food in batches, so it was normal for him to stop here and wait until he had enough food before going out.

The navy's warships did arrive soon after, bringing with them a lot of food.

However, a person who was not very normal was also brought in.

This so-called abnormality does not mean that the person is mentally abnormal, but that the person has a special identity.

This person is Luo Sigong, the commander of the secret guards.

It seems like this guy hasn't appeared in the capital for a long time, and no one knows what he is busy with in secret.

The reason why Wanli stationed the army here was actually to wait for Luo Sigong to come.

At about 5 p.m. that afternoon, as it was getting dark, Luo Sigong finally arrived on a navy warship.

Wanli quickly called Qi Jiguang and then ordered someone to invite Luo Sigong to the living room of the carriage.

When Luo Sigong walked into the living room and took a look, he was stunned.

It's dark now, but the hall is brightly lit, just like daytime.

The lamps on the wall were glass lamps that he had never seen before. Each one was fixed with a copper frame and had a trumpet-shaped copper cover on it. The cover seemed to extend directly out of the car through a copper tube.

Seeing this, Wanli couldn't help but say proudly: "Sigong, what do you think, this lamp is nice, isn't it?"

Luo Sigong finally reacted after hearing what he said, and hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, this lamp is very good. I have never seen such a good lamp before."

This is not an ordinary kerosene lamp, but an improved palace lantern. The shape is quite exquisite, and it burns colorless and odorless lamp oil.

Wanli raised his hand to let him sit down, then smiled slightly and said, "This kind of lamp will be sold on the market in the future. Even the lamp oil will be sold. This high-end lamp oil has no odor. Tell me, how much would you buy a set of these lamps?"

This, glass and copper are quite valuable.

Luo Sigong thought about it carefully, then estimated: "If we calculate it based on the price of the mirror, I will buy this set of lamps for twenty taels of silver."

Well, let’s make a killing from the rich first.

Anyway, the oil refining business cannot be developed overnight.

Before the scale of oil refining was increased, these kinds of exquisite lamps that looked valuable were sold.

Once the scale of oil refining is increased, every household in the Beijing garrison, border troops, and navy will be given an ordinary oil lamp. The sales of lamp oil and kerosene will surely soar immediately, and the business will grow bigger and bigger in the future.

However, he did not invite Luo Sigong to discuss business.

Wanli nodded slightly, then said solemnly: "How is the training of the secret guards recruited by the Three Guards of Doyan going?"

Luo Sigong nodded repeatedly and said, "They are almost done with training. I have equipped them with purebred war horses from the Northern Tartars, and their weapons and equipment were also captured from the Northern Tartars. As for their clothing, it will be based on their original clothing outside the Great Wall."

Yes, Not Bad.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Have their identities been forged?"

Luo Sigong nodded repeatedly and said, "They are all forged. There are forgeries of the Tumed tribe, the Kharchin tribe, and the Chahar tribe."

Very good, there are also people from the Chahar tribe.

Wanli nodded, then asked, "Then how do they transmit the intelligence they gather?"

Luo Sigong explained in detail: "Your Majesty, I plan to divide them into two groups. One group will infiltrate the tribes of the Northern Tartars, and the other group will disguise themselves as herdsmen from scattered tribes and graze within a hundred miles of our border.

Those who have infiltrated the Northern Barbarian tribes and gathered intelligence can simply hand it over to the scattered herders outside. They will naturally arrange for someone to send it back. I will arrange for their five thousand households and fifty hundred households to wait at the various border checkpoints."

This method is also feasible.

Wanli nodded, then said to Qi Jiguang: "Yuan Jing, the reason why I ordered the border cavalry to raid the Northern Tartars this year is actually to send these secret guards into the Northern Tartar tribes.

You come and help Sigong complete this. I have already told Yikui that you go and convey my oral instructions to General Ma, Rulan, Dusong and Dutong, asking them to take these secret guards with them when they lead the cavalry to raid the border. They don't need to care about what these secret guards do, just pretend they didn't see anything.

Oh, and make sure they all recognize the Secret Guards' special identification marks, so they don't mistake their own Secret Guards for Northerners and kill them off."

Oh, so the purpose of the raids was to plant secret guards inside the Northern Tartars.

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

(End of this chapter)