The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 311 What to do if the territory is too large

Huo Chiluo was beheaded.

Bingtu Taiji was scared away.

The territories of the Duolun Tumed and Weiwushen tribes were all occupied by the Beijing camp and border cavalry.

The Ming Dynasty now had two more territories with a radius of thousands of miles.

The question is, how to defend these two territories?
If we do the same as Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Yongle, conquering but not defending the place, then the war will be in vain, and the nomadic tribes will sooner or later come back to reproduce, thrive, and grow stronger.

This issue cannot be taken lightly.

After Wanli ordered his men to chop off Huo Chiluo, he summoned a group of generals to discuss the matter.

This is indeed a happy trouble.

In the large tent where maps were displayed, the generals' faces were obviously excited, but their brows were slightly furrowed.

Expanding territory is the greatest honor for a general.

The question is, what should we do if the territory is too large?

If we follow the previous method, we will recruit border troops to garrison and build city fortresses.

Such a large area of ​​territory would require at least 200,000 border troops to be stationed there to defend it, and hundreds of cities and fortresses would have to be built.

The problem is that all of this requires money, a lot of money. Five million taels of silver a year are not enough to provide food and wages for the 200,000 border troops stationed there. Hundreds of cities and fortresses would require an unknown amount of materials and manpower.

What's more important is that this place is a bit suffocating. When they first came here, they would feel weak in their hands and feet, their eyes would turn black, and they would be gasping for breath after just some casual training.

It took them a long time to get used to it. Can the elderly, the weak, women and children bear it?
The garrison guards all bring their families with them. What if the elderly, the weak, women and children can’t bear it?
Wanli frowned and pondered for a while, then asked, "Everyone, what do you think of using cavalry to guard the city?"

Uh, use cavalry to guard it?

Cavalry is generally used to charge into battle.

How does this cavalry defend?

Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

Qi Jiguang couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask, how can cavalry guard such a large territory?"

Yes, after the city fortress is built, there is no need to always line the city walls with infantry. It is even easier to deal with the Northern Tartars. A city with a radius of about a mile is enough to be guarded by a thousand households. A city with a radius of more than ten miles can be guarded by tens of thousands of infantrymen, and the Northern Tartars will have no way to stop it.

More importantly, city fortresses can be built at passes and important passages. Once these places are blocked, the northern barbarians cannot get in at all, and there will be no danger at all in the territory of thousands of miles.

How can we defend the pass with cavalry? How many cavalrymen are needed to deploy at one pass?
The Northern Tartar cavalry can easily number in the tens of thousands. If there are not enough platoons, they will be unstoppable. Do we have to deploy tens of thousands of cavalry at every pass?

That would require more cavalry than the garrison troops!

Wanli explained in detail: "This is actually very simple. We can divide these territories into blocks, each of which is about 500 miles in radius.

Then the earl or marquis would lead 10,000 cavalry to garrison in the middle, while the viscount and baron would take their personal guards and captured slaves to graze and guard around, and set off smoke signals if the enemy attacked.

This area is five hundred miles in radius, and the distance from the center to any point in the surrounding area is only two hundred miles. Cavalry can reach the destination in less than two hours at full speed. It's very fast."

Your method seems good, but it has many loopholes.

Qi Jiguang thought for a moment, then asked, "Your Majesty, what if the enemy has more than ten thousand?"

This problem is easy to solve.

Wanli pondered, "We can give each viscount and baron ten oil drums to light signal fires, so that we don't need to build beacon towers or anything like that.

If the enemy is around 10,000 or less, then light one barrel of wolf smoke. If the enemy is 20,000, then light two barrels of wolf smoke side by side, and so on.

If the earl or marquis discovered that the enemy force was more than 10,000, he would lead his army to support them, lighting signal fires to ask for help from the earls or marquises in other nearby areas.

This way, more and more reinforcements will arrive in the attacked areas, and together we will be able to repel the enemy."

This makes sense, but there is still a problem.

Xiao Ruxun asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, the soldiers will suffer heavy casualties if this happens. If the enemy reaches tens of thousands, not to mention the cavalry reinforcements, the barons and viscounts on guard outside will probably be killed along with their personal guards and families."

You are a little worried about gains and losses.

We need to consider the overall situation, not individual life and death. It is obvious that the old method will not work now. It is too expensive and the Ming Dynasty cannot afford it.

So, we have to consider new approaches.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "We can't give up this method that can save a lot of manpower just because of this little problem.

It’s not that we can’t solve this problem. We can definitely find a way to avoid their casualties.

For example, we distributed kerosene cans and bombs to them. I believe you have seen the effect of the kerosene cans this time. They couldn't be extinguished even when diving.

The grassland is not a river channel. Once the Northern Tartar cavalry gets stuck with the kerosene in the kerosene tank, they will either be burned to death or seriously injured and unable to participate in the battle.

When they set up camp, they could just dig a trench around the camp like the ones by the river. That kind of trench would be like the arrow slits on the city wall. If they were retracted inward, the enemy would not be able to shoot.

We can also give them a large number of wooden barriers and place them around the camp, forming a radius of ten feet or so, so that the Northern Tartar cavalry cannot cross. That way, they can just hide in the trenches and throw kerosene cans and bombs. They should be able to hold out for an hour or two."

This defense seems to be able to last for an hour or two.

Moreover, building a camp is much simpler than building a city or fortress. It is extremely easy to dig a trench half a person deep, and wooden barriers and other things can be pulled over by a horse-drawn carriage. It does not require much effort at all.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ruxun nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Qi Jiguang pondered again, "Your Majesty, we could actually give them some javelins. They're quick to make, and we could easily give each viscount or baron thousands or even tens of thousands of them. Furthermore, javelins can be thrown farther than kerosene cans and thunder bombs, creating a multi-strike attack and killing more enemies."

Well, javelins are indeed simple to make.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Throwing spears is no problem. Give each viscount and baron 10,000 of them. Do you have any other questions? Or do you have any good suggestions?"

Who can figure it out in such a short time?
Everyone was silent and thoughtful.

Seeing this, Wanli said solemnly: "Then it is settled. From now on, whenever we capture an area with vast grasslands like this, we will use cavalry to defend it, with each area of ​​about 500 miles being a defense zone.

We have already conquered enough grasslands, so breeding more war horses will be no problem. From now on, the border troops will focus on developing cavalry. As long as the number of cavalry increases, the northern barbarians will no longer be a threat."

Yes, even if all the existing border troops were transformed into cavalry, the Northern Tartars would only be able to flee at the sight of them.

When everyone heard this, they nodded in agreement.

If everyone has no objection, then let’s arrange it.

Wanli pointed at the map and said, "General Man, the territory northwest of Qinghai Lake is divided into two parts, and your 20,000 cavalry will be responsible for guarding them.

The grasslands south of the Ruxun River and southwest of Taozhouwei are also divided into two areas. You leave 20,000 cavalry to guard them, and take the remaining 10,000 cavalry back to Ningxia Town to garrison."

Upon hearing this, Man Gui and Xiao Ruxun hurriedly bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Yuan Jing, have you calculated the military merits this time?"

How can it be so fast?

This just finished.

Qi Jiguang said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid we'll have to wait a few days."

If there is no statistics, then forget it.

Wanli nodded slightly, then raised his hand and said, "Alright, everyone, quickly calculate the military merits. Yuan Jing, please take a moment to work on it. We will still hold the imperial examination and the palace examination together, and announce the gold medal list and the list of nobility and titles together."

Next came the military examination and the palace examination.

It seems that there are no famous generals who have left their names in history among the martial arts candidates this time. Moreover, there are only a few who have killed hundreds of enemies, and there is no one who has killed more than 200 enemies.

There is no way, as almost all the famous generals who have left their names in history have been picked by him in the first two rounds.

This time, it seemed that only Chen Ce had some impression on him.

This man has killed hundreds of enemies, is good at military tactics and formation theory, and is also among the best in other subjects.

Wanli simply selected him as the top scorer in the Jichou military examination and appointed him as the deputy general of Taomin, and ordered him to guard Taozhou Guard in place of Li Lianfang who had died in battle.

After the busy preparations for the military examinations and the palace examinations, it was almost November and snow was about to fall in the capital.

He could only make some hasty arrangements, and then summoned the navy warships, took the Shenwu Camp, the Imperial Guards, and the Jinyiwei light cavalry downstream, and went directly to the pier southeast of the Qiantao Plain and disembarked. Then he went straight to the capital along the main roads of Pianguan Town, Datong Town and Xuanfu Town.

(End of this chapter)