The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 304 Heavy casualties
Why did the Northern Tartars suddenly go crazy and attack Taozhou Wei?

In fact, they did not go crazy suddenly.

Historically, in the 18th year of the Wanli reign, the coalition forces of the Duolun Tumed and Weiwushen tribes also attacked Taozhou Wei and reached Lintao Prefecture.

At that time, two deputy generals were killed in the battle of Gansu Town, and several thousand soldiers were lost.

It can be said that it was a rare and severe defeat.

However, that great defeat was covered up by the three major powerful families of Puzhou using the Spring and Autumn style of writing, and the history books only mentioned it briefly with the four words "Taohe Incident".

As for why the three great families of Puzhou concealed the defeat, one reason was to brag about the Longqing consortium, and another reason was that the people responsible for the defeat were all from the three great families of Puzhou.

The Governor-General of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia at that time was Zheng Luo, and the General of Gansu Town was Liu Chengsi.

In order to cover up their mistakes, they actually suggested that Wanli appease the Duolun Tumed and Weiwushen tribes!

Wanli was so angry at the time that he almost tore up the Longqing agreement.

The Longqing Concordat was a huge scam planned by the three powerful families of Puzhou for their own selfish interests. There was no war in the northern border for decades after the Longqing Concordat. It was because the Ming border troops were unable to fight against the northern barbarians, and the northern barbarians could invade however they wanted.

At that time, Emperor Wanli's power was hollowed out, and he was so angry that he refused to attend court, review memorials, or meet with court officials. The three powerful families of Puzhou in power said they would not fight, so he could only be angry and had no way to deal with the Northern Tartars.

At this moment, Wanli's imperial power was not hollowed out. He had no way to deal with the Northern Tartars and could only be angry.

After receiving the news, he assembled the cavalry of the Shenwu Camp, set out from Bozhou Prefecture, and galloped all the way north.

Bozhou Prefecture is more than two thousand miles away from Lintao Prefecture. Moreover, they have to cross the Yangtze River, Jialing River, Daba Mountains, Han River, Qinling Mountains, etc. along the way. It can be said that they have to cross thousands of mountains and rivers.

However, Wanli still ignored it and insisted on leading the cavalry there himself.

He wanted to let the Northern Tartars know what the consequences would be if they dared to invade the Ming Dynasty at this time!
The three major families in Puzhou probably saw that he was going to pacify the southwest, so they quickly sent the Duolun Tumed and Weiwushen tribes, which were more than 2,000 miles away, to invade the weakly defended Taozhou Guard, in order to disperse his troops and give the southwestern chieftains a chance to breathe or the courage to disobey his orders.

This time, the three major families in Puzhou may have miscalculated.

The Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan Xingdusi now has a lot of troops. The troops under Yang Yinglong and Qin Liangyu have not yet started to be selected and reduced. They have about 100,000 troops, 120,000 soldiers from the Shenji Camp, tens of thousands of naval soldiers and thousands of naval warships.

Do the chieftains in the southwest still dare to disobey the imperial order?
Anyone who dares to disobey the order at this time would be seeking death. The Shenji Camp and the Navy would not even need to take action, as Yang Yinglong and Qin Liangyu could easily deal with them.

Therefore, he dared to take the cavalry of the Shenwu Camp and run to Lintao Prefecture regardless of anything.

However, crossing thousands of mountains and rivers is really not easy. Even if it is pure cavalry, they can only run more than 200 miles a day. If they run more, the war horses will not be able to bear it.

Fortunately, there are enough navy speedboats at this moment, and they are basically scattered throughout the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, so it is easy to mobilize them.

No matter which river they ran to, the navy's speedboats would immediately rush over to build a pontoon bridge.

They don't have to worry about food and supplies, the navy warships will naturally deliver them.

They just had to head towards Lintao Prefecture.

Lintao Prefecture is in chaos right now.

The Northern Tartars invaded and Taozhou Guard fell. Nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians of Taozhou Guard fled desperately to the north along the Tao River Valley. The Northern Tartar cavalry chased after them, killing and capturing them, and would not let go.

The two or three hundred miles long valley was filled with screams, cries, and cries, which continued day and night. It was like purgatory.

When Man Gui arrived with tens of thousands of cavalry, the soldiers and civilians of Taozhou Guard, who were close to Lintao Prefecture, had already fled to the outskirts of Didao, the city of Lintao Prefecture. The entire Didao city was filled with messy tents, shacks, and even straw huts. People were still pouring in from the Tao River Valley in the south.

In this situation, he had no choice but to ask the Lintao prefect to open the surrounding city gates, allowing the escaped Taozhou soldiers and civilians to enter the city quickly, and then select all the young and strong men to guard the city walls.

The Northern Tartar cavalry were unlikely to attack the city when they saw the city walls were full of young and strong men. It was also impossible for the Northern Tartar infantry to arrive within a few days. Even if the Taozhou guards and civilians who escaped squeezed into the city and lay on the streets, it would be better than scattering outside.

After he arranged everything in Lintao Prefecture, he went against the flow of fleeing people and ran straight to the south.

That afternoon, he encountered the vanguard of the Northern Tartar cavalry in a river valley more than a hundred miles south of Didao City.

Next, we will fight to the death!

In order to force the soldiers and civilians of Taozhou Wei to flee into Didao City, he fought a fierce battle with tens of thousands of Northern Tartar cavalry in the river valley south of Didao City for three days and three nights. At this time, the 800-li express message he sent had just reached Wanli.

Immediately afterwards, he led the remaining troops to retreat outside the city of Didao to deal with the Northern Tartar cavalry to prevent them from taking advantage of the situation to attack the city, or crossing the city of Didao to invade other counties in Lintao Prefecture.

The battle lasted another five or six days, and all his soldiers were killed or wounded. Except for the injured, all the others died in battle!

He himself was covered with more than ten wounds.

When Xiao Ruxun led his personal guards and Ningxia Town cavalry to rush over, he only had a few thousand wounded soldiers under his command!

At this time, Wanli had just led the Shenwu Camp cavalry out of Sichuan and rushed to the south bank of the Han River in Hanzhong Prefecture, preparing to cross the river and continue north.

The setting sun is blood-red, but the sound of horse hooves can still be heard in the vast Daba Mountains.

The cavalry of the Shenwu Camp was still more than a hundred miles away in the winding mountain road, but Wanli had already ridden his horse to the south bank of the Han River, staring blankly at the northwest.

What happened to Lintao Prefecture?
This time, the three powerful families in Puzhou obviously had a plan. These guys will definitely let the Northern Tartar cavalry rush in madly and advance as far as they can.

Can the more than 10,000 cavalrymen under Man Gui hold on?

Have Xiao Ruxun’s reinforcements arrived?

At this time, on the river surface, the navy warships were rapidly building a pontoon bridge, and there would definitely be no problem in completing it before dark.

However, the cavalry could not cross the river today. The pontoon bridge was not a fixed stone bridge and had no guardrails. If the cavalry crossed the river in the dark, many of them would fall into the river.

There was no choice but to camp on the south bank and rest for one night.

It has been almost ten days since the Northern Tartars invaded Taozhou Wei, and no one knows what the situation is in Lintao Prefecture. What if Xiao Ruxun's reinforcements do not arrive in time and Man Gui can't hold on?

He was just thinking about it when suddenly a rider came galloping towards him from the opposite side of the Han River, seemingly waving to the navy warships to come over quickly.

Not long after, the navy's express boat took the post station's postman across the river.

The postman asked the soldiers on the shore and then walked quickly towards him.

After a while, the postman came up to him quickly, knelt on one knee, held up an envelope in both hands, and said urgently: "Report, Your Majesty, an urgent report from the Ningxia General from 800 miles away."

Wanli took the envelope, tore it open, and his hands trembled involuntarily.

Xiao Ruxun urgently reported that he had led his cavalry to the outskirts of Lintao Prefecture.

Man Gui was sniping the Northern Tartar cavalry there. Because of the fierce fighting day and night, Man Gui had no time to write a report.

At this moment, most of the soldiers and civilians of Taozhou Guard had already crowded into Didao City, and only Man Gui led the cavalry to snipe outside the city.

More than half of Man Gui's personal guards and Gansu Town cavalry had been killed, and the rest were all wounded. Man Gui himself was wounded more than ten times, but he still led his troops in fierce battles with the Northern Tartar cavalry.

He is really ready to die as an atonement!

Fortunately, Xiao Ruxun arrived with reinforcements. If it had been a day or two later, Man Gui would probably have died in battle.

Wanli sighed deeply and then handed the urgent report to Qi Jiguang beside him.

Qi Jiguang took the urgent report and read it, and he couldn't help but sigh: "Your Majesty, the Gansu Border Guard Army has suffered heavy casualties this time.

It seems that the Duolun Tumed and Weiwushen tribes have really come out in full force this time, and Ruxun doesn't know if she can withstand it."

Yes, tens of thousands of soldiers were killed in the battle.

It will take them at least seven or eight days to get there, and it is unknown how many casualties the cavalry in Ningxia Town will suffer.

Wanli frowned and pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Pass on my order. Tell Ruxun to hold out at all costs. Don't let the Northern Tartar cavalry break into the heart of Lintao Prefecture."

Taozhou Wei is a border town with not many soldiers and civilians. Lintao Prefecture is the largest prefecture southwest of Shaanxi Province, with a huge number of soldiers and civilians. Once the northern cavalry breaks in, it is unknown how many soldiers and civilians on the border will be killed or injured.

There was no other way, he could only let Xiao Ruxun risk his life to delay the fight. As long as he could delay until the cavalry of the Shenwu Camp arrived, the Northern Tartars would definitely pay a heavy price!
(End of this chapter)