The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 39: There's Something Fishy About the Longqing Collaboration

The sun sets in the west, and the setting sun is like blood.

At the front line of the Gubeikou Great Wall, the Tuman army finally retreated like a tide, and the fierce fighting of the day was over.

On the top floor of Wangjing Tower, Wanli had already ordered people to prepare a large table of food to reward the generals on the front line.

After a while, Dong Yiyuan and Zhang Yuangong, covered in blood, came quickly with a group of generals.

Dong Yiyuan always led the troops in battle. Even when defending a city, he would constantly patrol the city walls with his personal guards to check for any gaps.

The battle was not too intense, but Zhang Yuangong, who was participating in the battle for the first time, was extremely excited. His face was flushed at this moment.

Wanli personally stood up to greet them and said to them, "General Dong, Yuan Gong, and all the generals, you have worked hard. Come, sit down and have something to eat. You cannot drink alcohol in the army, but there is plenty of meat."

The generals thanked him repeatedly and then sat down in a circle.

Wanli offered everyone a large bowl of wine with water, and then invited everyone to eat a round of dishes. Then he solemnly asked: "General Dong, how many casualties did the soldiers of the Beijing camp suffer in this battle?"

Dong Yiyuan estimated, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid over a hundred soldiers from the Beijing camp have been killed in this battle, and over a thousand are seriously injured and need to rest. The others are minor injuries, which are nothing to worry about. They can be healed with some medicine."

It seems that most of the soldiers who fell were seriously injured.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked: "What about the enemy, how many casualties?"

Dong Yiyuan said without hesitation: "I have counted the bodies left at the foot of the city wall. As for the injured, almost all of the 20,000 barbarians who participated in the siege were injured, but the severity of the injuries varied, so we cannot estimate them."

The casualties between the attacking and defending sides were more than ten to one, which is already a very good record.

Dong Yiyuan is really good. Not only is he good at commanding battles, but he also leads by example and fights bravely.

After Qi Jiguang was transferred to the general of the Beijing camp, he never appointed a general of Jizhou Town. This was because he wanted to use Qi Jiguang's old subordinates to control the 30,000 elite border troops in Jizhou Town, and also because he had not yet found a famous general who could be used.

Unexpectedly, after arriving in Gubeikou, he had an unexpected gain and met the descendant of this generation of loyal and honest people.

This branch of the Dong family has been guarding the border in front of Xuanfu since the Yongle period. During this period of more than a hundred years, more than a dozen officers from the Dong family have sacrificed their lives for the country.

He also ordered people to inquire, and before Qi Jiguang led his troops to rescue, Dong Yiyuan gave a death order, requiring them to defend Gubeikou to the death and not to retreat a single step until the last soldier.

Such a loyal and honest person should naturally be valued.

After this battle, Dong Yiyuan was promoted to the general of Jizhou Town.

Seeing that Wanli didn't ask Dong Yiyuan any more questions, Qi Jiguang carefully reminded him, "Your Majesty, we have to transport this food quickly. We came here in a hurry, so we only brought three days' worth of rations. The food stored in Gubeikou is for more than 3,000 soldiers, and tens of thousands of soldiers won't be able to eat for more than a few days."

Before the troops move, the food and supplies must go first. I have naturally considered this issue.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Don't worry about that. I have already ordered 10,000 craftsmen to take their war horses and hundreds of grain carts from Gubeikou to return to the Summer Palace to collect grain.

Furthermore, I have already ordered all the guards in the Beijing camp to gather their grain carts and send them to the Mountain Resort. This way, four thousand war horses can pull at least 40,000 dan of grain a day, so there will definitely be no problem with this.”

The father-in-law also brought craftsmen?

Qi Jiguang thought that Yongnian Earl Wang Wei had come to take a look at the situation in accordance with the Queen's order. His attention was focused on the battlefield in front of him, but he did not notice how many craftsmen had come from behind.

He couldn't help but ask, "Father-in-law, how many craftsmen did you bring with you?"

Yongnianbo Wang Wei introduced in detail: "This time I brought 20,000 carpenters, and the other blacksmiths and stonemasons together totaled 10,000.

His Majesty has already sent 10,000 carpenters back to fetch food and fodder, and the remaining 20,000 craftsmen have spent half a day collecting boulders and logs in the surrounding mountains and forests, which will be delivered to the city wall ahead tomorrow morning.

Now you don't have to worry about running out of rolling stones and logs anytime soon. You can use them as much as you want while defending the city. I'll have the craftsmen keep bringing them to you."

Are the rolling stones and wooden sticks enough?

That was great, because the slope below the city wall in front was steep, and some of the rocks and logs would roll down to the bottom of the slope. If the rocks and logs kept coming, not only would the attackers suffer heavy casualties, but even the archers on the hillside would be thrown into disarray as they tried to avoid the rocks and logs.

Of course he knew that rolling stones and timber were useful, but the problem was that the rolling stones and timber near the front city wall had almost all been collected, and they were not professionals in felling trees and mining rocks. Going to other places to collect rolling stones and timber would not only be inefficient, but would also make the soldiers exhausted.

Therefore, he specifically reminded Dong Yiyuan to use rolling stones and wooden planks sparingly and not to waste them unless the enemy rushed up in a swarm.

Now they have carpenters, stonemasons, blacksmiths and others to collect and transport rolling stones and logs for them. That’s really great because they are professionals.

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Great! As long as we have enough rolling stones and wooden planks, defending the city wall ahead will definitely not be a problem. I'm afraid Tumen Khan will suffer heavy losses this time."

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but ask, "Yuan Jing, I heard that Tumen Khan is the Great Khan of Tatars, and Altan Khan is not at all. What's going on?"

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, the Tatars have long been divided into the left and right wings with 30,000 households. Altan Khan is only the leader of the Tumed tribe on the right wing. Tumen Khan is the authentic descendant of the Northern Yuan Dynasty royal family and the Tatar Khan. In name, the six major tribes of the left and right wings of the Tatars are all subject to Tumen Khan's orders.

It's just that Altan Khan was quite powerful before, so he didn't listen to Tumen Khan. Now that Altan Khan is dead, I guess the Tumed tribe will also listen to Tumen Khan."

Upon hearing this, Wanli frowned and said, "What's the point of the Longqing Collaboration? They've all been praising it to the skies, but Tumen Khan clearly doesn't recognize it."

Qi Jiguang nodded slowly and said, "Yes, the Prime Minister also said that the Longqing joint decision was only a temporary measure.

Because the northern barbarians and southern Japanese pirates had been wreaking havoc for more than 20 years during the Jiajing reign, the people's livelihood in the entire Ming Dynasty was in decline, and we needed to recuperate for a while.

At that time, among the six major Tatar tribes, Altan Khan was the most aggressive in border raiding, because Hetao was close to Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Pianguan Town, Yulin Town, Guyuan Town, and Ningxia Town. If we did not recover Hetao, the pressure on our defense would be too great.

Therefore, the Prime Minister agreed with Longqing's proposal. His intention was to allow the Ming Dynasty to recuperate for more than ten years, stock up on food and fodder, train the army, and then recapture the Hetao area in one fell swoop, completely eliminating the scourge of the northern barbarians.

The three major families in Puzhou obviously took advantage of this.

They didn't want to let the Ming Dynasty recuperate. Altan Khan was too old to move, so he seldom invaded. Tumen Khan and other Tatar tribes were always invading.

What these guys are bragging about is that the northern border has been peaceful for decades after the Longqing Conference. That's bullshit.

Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang, Ma Gui, Dong Yiyuan and other border generals have been resisting the invasion of the northern barbarians for many years.

Dong Yiyuan was promoted to the deputy general of Gubeikou because of his accumulated military merits in recent years. The achievements of Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang, Ma Gui and others can also be found.

After the Longqing Conference, the northern border has been in turmoil, with northern barbarians invading almost every year.

It seems that the three major families in Puzhou are deliberately falsifying history!

Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "Yuan Jing, I heard that after the Longqing agreement, Altan Khan paid tribute of over 30,000 war horses every year, and countless cattle and sheep. Where did Altan Khan's tribute of cattle, sheep and horses go? Why have I never seen them?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang shook his head and sighed, "Your Majesty, this is clearly a rumor. Let's not talk about cattle and sheep, just talk about war horses. How could Altan Khan have paid tribute of more than 30,000 horses every year?

War horses can start training at the age of two and a half, go to the battlefield at the age of five, and will gradually retire after the age of fifteen. In other words, the service life of a war horse is generally more than twelve years.

It has been exactly twelve years since the Longqing Agreement. If Altan Khan really paid tribute of more than 30,000 war horses every year, then the number of war horses paid tribute by Altan Khan alone would be nearly 400,000.

Our border troops also have horse ranches. The ratio of infantry to cavalry in the border troops is roughly eight to two, and there are more than 100,000 war horses in the nine major border towns.

If Altan Khan really paid tribute to so many war horses, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty's border cavalry exceed 500,000?

The truth is, there aren't any, not a single one. Of the nine border towns, only Liaodong has 20,000 cavalrymen mobilized separately, and they raise all those horses themselves."

Can this be deceptive?
It is even recorded in history books!

Zhang Siwei, the three great families of Puzhou, how shameless are you?

Wanli thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Yingzhen, send a fast horse to convey my oral order. Instruct Luo Sigong not to investigate other corrupt officials, but to focus on arresting Gao Gong, Zhang Siwei, and the three great families of Puzhou. Investigate them thoroughly for me. I want to see how shameless these people are."

(End of this chapter)