The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 279 Caught a Thief
More than 500 miles north of Zhangjiakou, near the source of the Luan River, is the former site of Yuan Shangdu.

This was originally the seat of Kaiping Wei.

Unfortunately, Kaiping Wei began to move south during the Yongle Dynasty, and it was completely abandoned during the Xuande Dynasty.

It is backed by a large mountainous area to the north, with the Luan River flowing through it to the south, and there are several lakes nearby.

Moreover, the Luan River Valley in the west connects to the hinterland of the Beijing Xingdusi and even the capital, making its location quite important.

Therefore, one of the first defensive cities selected by Dong Yiyuan, the general of Jizhou Town, was built here.

However, they did not completely borrow the original wall foundation of Yuanshangdu.

Because the wall foundation did not conform to the established regulations, and Yuanshangdu was much larger than the city wall of the Guarding Thousand Households, they did not bring so many materials.

They borrowed a section of the wall foundation on the north side and dug the rest themselves.

It is almost October now, and the grass on the grasslands outside the Great Wall is already withered and yellow, and there are gusts of cold wind.

If you are on an open grassland, it would be difficult to bear without cotton clothes.

It's not so bad here. There are mountains blocking the way to the north, so the cold wind turns into a cool breeze, which makes people feel cool, quite cool.

The craftsmen and border troops felt very cool while working, and the construction of the Acropolis progressed very quickly.

Only about half a month had passed, and the city walls that were several miles long on all four sides had been built, and various buildings in the city were rising from the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Wanli stood on the south gate tower, looked at the surrounding scenery, raised his hand to feel the cool breeze, and couldn't help but sigh: "This is a great place, cooler than the Summer Palace, and the scenery is also nice."

Uh, does His Majesty want to come here to escape the summer heat?

The generals behind him were a little confused when they heard this.

It seems that what they should be thinking about right now is not to escape the summer heat. They have just taken over this territory of thousands of miles, and what they should be thinking about is how to defend it.

Upon hearing this, Jizhou Town General Dong Yiyuan hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, how about I order someone to build a temporary palace for you here?"

You have also learned to flatter.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "No need, I just said it casually. There is no need to waste so much money and manpower. Let's think about how to defend this huge territory.

Yikui, have you explored the vast sea to the north? Are there any nomadic tribes or remnants of the Chahar tribe there?

Dong Yikui nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I have sent people to investigate. A scout, one man and two horses, went two or three hundred miles into the vast sea, and all they saw was desert and Gobi, with no trace of human beings."

Well, it looks like there’s no need to defend the north for the time being. If the enemy wants to come around from there, they’ll definitely be exhausted.

Moreover, their defense system is mainly based on cities and fortresses, so they are not afraid of sudden attacks by the Northern Tartar cavalry.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Yuan Jing, how is it going? Have you finished counting the captives, men, women, young and old, as well as the cattle, sheep and horses?"

Qi Jiguang said cautiously, "The exact number has not been counted yet, but according to the reports, the Chahar tribe has less than 200,000 people left here, and there are probably less than 20,000 young and strong people.

They do have quite a few cattle, sheep, and horses, estimated to be three to four million, but unfortunately, they are mainly sheep, with very few cattle and horses."

The grassland here is different from the grassland in the Beijing Xingdusi.

The area around the Beijing Xingdusi is almost half mountainous and half grassland. Mountains are mountains, and grasslands are grasslands. The grasslands there are relatively flat.

There seems to be no big boundary between the mountains and grasslands here. Except for the higher mountains, most of the low mountains are covered with grass. Therefore, the grassland here is undulating and it is unknown how many acres it is.

In terms of area, this place is larger than the Beijing Xingdusi, and there are not many high mountains here. In other words, the grassland here may be two or three times that of the Beijing Xingdusi!
Unfortunately, time is running out, otherwise we could build a greenhouse in the middle of the mountains here.

These cattle, sheep and horses are one of the sources of wealth for the Beijing Army and the border troops. They must not be frozen to death.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively, "Yuan Jing, send orders to all the places. Tell them to quickly escort the captives to cut grass. When the Shenshu Camp's chariots and the Shenji Camp's grain carts go back to collect food and materials, they should go around the valley around Yuanxinghe. Take all the captives, men, women, young and old, as well as the cattle, sheep, and horses with them."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang quickly bowed and said, "I understand."

Wanli asked again, "Father-in-law, how is the material for the eighty Acropolis buildings being transported?"

They had enough materials, enough to build a hundred garrison walls. However, they didn't have enough horse-drawn carriages. Building one acropolis would require over a thousand, and they had only built over ten thousand this year. In other words, one trip with their horse-drawn carriages could only carry enough materials for ten acropolises.

Fortunately, there were chariots from the Shenshu Camp and grain carts from the Shenji Camp to help. If the chariots and grain carts from the Shenshu Camp had not needed to transport the grain, they could have transported more than 40 materials for the Acropolis in one trip.

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei estimated, "With the help of the Shenshu Camp's chariots and the Shenji Camp's grain carts, the transportation will be very fast this time. They should be able to bring all the materials back with just one trip back."

How long will this trip take?
It's more than a thousand miles, almost two thousand miles, from Datong Town to the northern edge of the vast sea.

The food carts of the Shenji Camp had to travel for more than ten days, plus the time to return, it would take at least half a month.

Wanli silently estimated for a moment, then decisively said: "Yikui, don't bring the families of the Xuanfu Border Guards here this year. Let them spend the winter in their hometowns. The shelters they bring here may not be ready, and we'll have to bring in more food.

This year, the eighty acropolises here should build their walls as quickly as possible. As for the inner city, first build courtyards large enough for over a thousand garrison guards to live in. If the rest cannot be completed, then build them next year."

Dong Yikui quickly bowed and said, "I understand."

Wanli thought about it and couldn't help but sighed: "Unfortunately, there are not many war horses this year. I can only equip your Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town and Datong Town with 30,000 cavalry.

It might be dangerous for you to face the Tumen Khan or the combined forces of the Tumed and Kharchin tribes alone, so you must maintain contact. No matter whose defense zone is invaded, the one closest to you should rush to support them. As long as you two families work together, you should be able to hold on."

When brothers Dong Yikui and Dong Yiyuan heard this, they couldn't help but look surprised.

Now they will have 30,000 cavalrymen under their command, and, according to His Majesty, they will be equipped with more cavalrymen in the future.

The two brothers quickly bowed and said, "I understand."

While they were discussing, suddenly thousands of cavalrymen came galloping towards them from the west.

Wanli raised the telescope and looked, his face filled with solemnity.

This is Liu Jing and his personal guards. Could it be that something went wrong in the area that Shenwu Zuoying is responsible for?
Not long after, Liu Jingbian came up quickly, clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "This humble general pays homage to His Majesty."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Shengwu, what's wrong? What happened?"

Liu Jing said excitedly, "Your Majesty, I have captured the remnants of the three great families in Puzhou."

This guy, has his luck changed?
This guy was extremely unlucky in history. Despite his outstanding military achievements, he was always dealt with by civil officials. In the end, he was even sent to his death by Yang Hao.

Unexpectedly, this guy is so lucky at this moment that he can encounter all kinds of good things.

Wanli asked excitedly, "Where did you catch him? Which of the three great families in Puzhou did he belong to?"

Liu Jing explained in detail, "I caught him in a mountainous area about four or five hundred miles north of Xuanfu Town.

Originally, I saw that the mountain there was quite high and there was not much grass growing on it, and I guessed that no one was grazing there, so I led my troops around it.

Who would have known that the scouts I sent to investigate were almost shot to death by bows and arrows. Upon hearing the news, I immediately led my troops in to charge.

After they fought their way in, they discovered that there was a large basin and a small lake. There were even people there growing crops and making weapons.

Moreover, the people inside were not dressed like northern barbarians, but looked like the people from our border town.

I found something wrong and immediately arrested hundreds of people inside for interrogation. At first, they said that they were captured soldiers and civilians from the border.

I naturally don't believe such words. There is not a single Northern Barbarian in that valley. They are farming and making weapons by themselves.

I ordered my men to beat them hard, and finally pried them open. It turned out that they were all hired by the Wang family, and the leader was Wang Zhicai, the grandson of Wang Chonggu.

Great, finally caught a big fish.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "I will give you ten times the military merit for these hundreds of prisoners. Send someone to escort them to the capital, put them in the imperial prison, and let Lu Yi interrogate them thoroughly."

Oh, now I’m getting closer and closer to being promoted to Duke.

Liu Jing bowed repeatedly and said, "I understand. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

(End of this chapter)