The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 81: Premonition of Haibai's Rebellion

There was a huge vicious circle in the Wanli Dynasty.

During this period in history, the Ming Dynasty had no shortage of famous generals.

However, except for Qi Jiguang, the general of Jizhou, and Li Chengliang, the general of Liaodong, other famous generals did not come from the nine important border towns.

Qi Jiguang cannot even be considered a famous general from one of the nine important border towns, because he came from the Shandong Dusi.

Ma Gui doesn't even count, because in history, Ma Gui was dismissed and investigated before the Ningxia Campaign began, and he was not a border army general at all.

Others such as Liu Jing, Deng Zilong, Qin Liangyu, etc., were not from the Nine Border Cities, just as no one in the other seven important towns except Liaodong Town and Jizhou Town could fight.

The three major expeditions of the Wanli Emperor proved all this.

During the Battle of Ningxia, Gansu Town, Guyuan Town and Yansui Town were closest to Ningxia Town, followed by Pianguan Town, Datong Town and Xuanfu Town. Jizhou Town and Liaodong Town were thousands of miles away from Ningxia Town.

As a result, no one in the seven western border towns could defeat Haobai. Finally, the Ming court had to transfer Li Rusong from Liaodong Town and re-employ Ma Gui, who had been dismissed from office and investigated, to put down the Haobai Rebellion.

In the Korean War, the troops were led by Ma Gui, Li Rusong, Deng Zilong, and Liu Jing. In addition, the main force of the Ming army, except for the border troops of Liaodong Town and Jizhou Town, was the Qi Family Army, which was thousands of miles away. The other border towns only sent a thousand or even a few hundred people to make up the number.

The Battle of Bozhou was even more ridiculous, because the main forces of Liaodong Town and Jizhou Town were fighting fiercely with Japanese pirates in Korea at the time and could not come, and the other seven border towns did not send a single soldier!
Among the eight armies of the Ming Dynasty, four were from Sichuan, three were from Yunnan and Guizhou, and one was from Huguang. Moreover, 70% of them were young and strong men drawn from the chieftains. Among the 240,000 troops, not a single one was a border army officer.

This absurd incident also indirectly proves that the claim that there was no war in the northern border for decades after Longqing's agreement is nonsense.

Isn't there no war in the northern border? The battle of Bozhou requires hundreds of thousands of troops. The seven major border towns in the northwest should at least dispatch some of them.

Where are the people and horses?
Why are the seven border towns west of the capital so useless? Not only do they lack generals who can lead troops to fight, they don’t even have soldiers who can fight.

This may be related to the manipulation of the military examination, but the military examination will only affect the generals and will not affect the border troops.

We need to find out why the soldiers of the seven border towns were all useless.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said solemnly: "General Ma, you have fought in Xuanda and served in the Shaanxi Dusi. What do you think of the soldiers in the seven border towns of Xuanda, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu?"

what?
How do you say this?

Ma Gui hesitated for a moment, then asked carefully, "Your Majesty, do you want to hear the truth?"

Do you think I want to hear some high-sounding lies?

Wanli said without hesitation: "Of course I want to hear the truth, just tell me, don't be afraid."

I'm afraid you'll explode when you hear this truth!
Upon hearing this, Ma Gui hesitated for a moment, but still gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, I have a problem with the former Prime Minister, Mr. Zhang Siwei.

I have no choice. If I want to tell the truth, I have to mention the former Prime Minister, Lord Zhang Siwei.

Because before the governor and provincial governor were replaced, the governors, provincial governors, provincial inspectors, and generals in power in the seven major border towns of Shanxi and Shaanxi were all related to Lord Zhang.

Although the governors and governors-general in the northwest have almost all been replaced at this moment, the generals in power in the border army still have a great relationship with the former Prime Minister, Lord Zhang Siwei.

For example, Zhang Weizhong, the general commander of Ningxia Town, is rumored to be a distant relative of Mr. Zhang.

This person only knows how to do business and has no idea how to lead troops in battle. I don't know how he became the general.

Now those in power in the seven border towns of Shanxi and Shaanxi are all busy doing business with the northern barbarians. The business in Shanxi is led by the Zhang and Wang families, while the business in Shaanxi is led by Ma Zixiu, the younger brother of Ma Ziqiang, the former second assistant minister of the cabinet.

As for the border troops who were not qualified to participate in their business, they were the ones who were oppressed. These soldiers were the ones who went to war, and the rewards for military merit were taken by those in power.

This is nothing. These border troops are used to it because it has been like this since the Jiajing period.

The problem is that those people are now even more excessive. Not only do they often withhold food and wages, they also come up with exorbitant taxes such as Penghe silver, Pengtou silver, and meat offal silver, forcing the border troops to pay them.

Your Majesty, the border soldiers in Shanxi and Shaanxi are suffering now. If they die or are injured in the battlefield, it will be a serious matter because they will have to pay compensation for the damage of their uniforms and armor.

If their horses died in battle, that would be a disaster. They would suffer a huge loss, and their entire life's wages wouldn't be enough to cover the damage!"

When Wanli heard this, veins on his forehead bulged.

The three great families of Puzhou, are you still human?
You have lost all your humanity just to make dirty money!

The soldiers of the seven border towns have all been crippled by you. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and then continued to ask in a gentle tone, "Do you know Haibai?"

Ma Gui nodded without hesitation and said, "I'm honored to meet you."

Wanli asked again: "What do you think of him?"

How do you say this?

Ma Gui thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "I think he is a rare and powerful general. He can be a vanguard and charge into battle."

That's not what I'm asking.

Wanli simply asked, "Do you think he will rebel?"

Haibai rebelled?

This is unlikely, right?
However, it seems possible.

Ma Gui thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, this is just a rumor. Haibai didn't intend to rebel, but the inspector Dang Xin insisted that he was plotting a rebellion.

I think this has something to do with Haibai's background, because Haibai was originally the son of a small tribal leader of the Tumed tribe of Tatars.

His father offended Altan Khan, and was subsequently exterminated by him. Haibai escaped by jumping into the river during the chaos and hiding in the water plants.

Therefore, he hated Altan Khan very much. Every time Altan Khan led his army to invade the border, he would go forward regardless of his life. As a result, he accumulated military merits and was promoted to deputy general.

Now that Altan Khan has passed away, Xin'ai Huang Taiji, who inherited the throne, is bedridden due to a relapse of an old injury sustained during his earlier invasion of Xuanfu Town, and is unable to control the Tumed tribes at all.

As a result, the Tumed tribes, both large and small, invaded more and more frequently, and Haibai would lead his personal troops to kill them crazily every time.

Probably, the Tumed tribe, both large and small, was afraid of his killing, so Dang Xin accused him of wanting to rebel and wanted to use this as an excuse to dismiss him from his post and investigate him.

Dang Xin?

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but frown and asked, "Is this Dang Xin also related to Zhang Siwei?"

Ma Gui nodded slowly and said, "Yes, Dang Xin is Zhang Siwei's disciple. He seems to be deliberately trying to force Haibai to rebel."

It seems like Haibai was forced to rebel!

Upon hearing this, Wanli asked solemnly, "What did he do?"

Ma Gui sighed slightly and said, "Haibai has nearly three thousand capable and battle-hardened soldiers under his command, but Dang Xin deliberately withheld their food and wages.

That would have been fine, but Haibai thought this guy wanted to ask for a bribe, so he ordered his confidant to give money to Dang Xin.

Unexpectedly, Dang Xin said that Haobai was humiliating him and directly killed Haobai's confidants!
He even withheld food and wages, and imposed all kinds of harsh taxes, yet pretended to be an honest official.

Haibai didn't dare to offend him, and even didn't dare to say a word when his confidants were killed.

He went even further. When Haobai's son Hao Chengen got married, he actually accused Hao Chengen of robbing a woman and directly arrested the newlywed Hao Chengen and beat him with twenty military sticks.

If this pressure continues, Haibai will definitely rebel.”

Humph, killing two birds with one stone.

Zhang Siwei wanted to use the imperial court to get rid of the troublemaker Haobai and lure him away from the mountain.

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but snort coldly.

If Haibai rebelled at this time, the Liaodong border troops would be trapped by Tumen Khan and would be unable to suppress him. The seven border towns west of the capital were also unreliable. He had no choice but to transfer the Jizhou border troops and the Beijing camp to quell the rebellion.

Once he mobilizes the border troops of Jizhou Town and the Beijing Camp to quell the rebellion, Tumen Khan and the Tumed tribe’s army will probably attack Jizhou Town!

By then, Jizhou Town will not be able to hold on, the Gengxu Incident will happen again, and the wealthy areas of the capital will suffer another catastrophe.

(End of this chapter)