Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 345 Deception and Treachery: A New Way of Playing the Game
Just as Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong were preparing to surrender and then rebel again, Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao suddenly emerged from the Dongyang River Valley and headed straight for the grasslands where the Chahar tribe was grazing.

This truly caught the Chahar tribe off guard.

They were not unaware that the Ming army had already begun its counterattack on the grasslands beyond the Great Wall; they had known for a long time that the Ming army had recaptured the former territory of the Beiping Commandery.

The problem was that, because they knew the Ming army had recaptured the former territory of Beiping Commandery, the scouts responsible for guarding it were still stationed in the Baochang Prefecture area north of Zhangjiakou.

Who would have thought that the Ming army would not advance from the direction of Baochang Prefecture in the east at all, but would suddenly launch an attack from the Dongyang River Valley in the south!
This really dealt them a heavy blow; they hadn't defended the south at all.

To the south lies the territory of the three powerful clans and the eight imperial merchants of Puzhou. They had been doing business with the eight imperial merchants for a long time and were practically family. They never imagined that tens of thousands of cavalry would suddenly appear in their own territory.

It was right after the cold winter, and the cattle, sheep and horses had eaten dry grass all winter and needed to eat a lot of fresh pasture. The tribes to the south were all grazing their livestock in scattered locations.

When they were herding livestock in scattered locations, they still operated in family units. Even the largest family only had a few hundred people, while some families had dozens or even a dozen people.

How could they possibly withstand a surprise attack by tens of thousands of cavalry when they were so scattered?
The Ming cavalry moved as if they were in an empty field, advancing at least a hundred miles a day.

At this time, the Khan of the Chahar tribe had been driven to the brink of extinction by Huang Taiji, and their able-bodied men and warhorses had been almost entirely conscripted by Huang Taiji. Even if they could gather all their cavalry, they would only number in the tens of thousands, which was no match for the tens of thousands of Ming cavalry.

In this situation, they had no choice but to flee northwest while simultaneously seeking help from Huang Taiji.

When Huang Taiji received the news, he was truly heartbroken.

He's barely able to protect himself right now, so how could he possibly send troops to rescue the Chahar tribe?

He could only urge the Chahar tribe to flee as quickly as possible, hoping to avoid the Ming army's advance.

This time, Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao had a great time robbing, and they visited almost half of the Chahar tribe.

They were fighting under the banner of conquering the northern barbarians, but they never chased after the Taiji of the Chahar tribe, nor did they go to their Khan's camp. In fact, they didn't even have the intention of occupying the Chahar grasslands. They seemed to be just running around and fighting randomly!
This guy completely stunned the Chahar tribe.

After defeating those nomadic tribes, they didn't kill their able-bodied men or steal their cattle and sheep; it seems they only took away the horses that could run.

What kind of fighting style is this?
Not to mention the Taiji of the Chahar tribe, even Huang Taiji was a bit confused.

The Ming army had never used this tactic before.

They led away all the horses that could run, seemingly to prevent the nomadic tribes from fleeing quickly. But then what?
And then it seems like that was the end of it.

After they fought haphazardly for a while, they actually went back!
Who would have thought that they were just horses to pull the cart!

Cui Yingyuan was quite composed. He led his men to search for horses throughout the Chahar tribe's grazing areas. After each of the 40,000 cavalrymen had a horse capable of pulling a cart, he temporarily stopped and returned victorious.

It was already July, and the capital was sweltering in the summer heat. However, the Beiping Commandery was still relatively cool, especially the Laoha River Valley surrounded by mountains. During the day, you didn't need a fan, and at night you even needed a blanket.

This place is truly a rare summer resort, and Zhu Jue is even considering whether to build a real summer palace here.

He wasn't a pleasure-seeker, but his thoughts gradually changed after he had a wife and children.

Who doesn't want their wife and children to live a good life?

It's not that he lacks the ability; building a summer resort is just a piece of cake for him.

However, all of this will have to wait until the Beiping Regional Military Commission's defense line is secured, and even until the threat from the northern barbarians is eliminated.

At this moment, the Northern Pacification Command is essentially isolated in the northern frontier, and it's not very safe.

The reason he came here in person was to mobilize resources and quickly establish the defense system of the Beiping Commandery.

If it were just Lu Xiang-sheng's power, he would have to report to the emperor for many problems. Even with the 800-li express courier service, it would take at least two days to make a round trip from the Beiping Metropolitan Office to the capital, which was too time-consuming.

With all this delay, the defense system of the Northern Pacification Command may not be completed this year.

With him in charge, things are different. Any problem can be solved immediately. Even if there are no horses to pull the cart, he can mobilize cavalry to seize them!
The personnel are all in place now, and the materials for building the city have been prepared long ago. The key issue is transportation capacity.

The Beiping Commandery is essentially cut off from waterways, so they can only transport materials for city construction by land. They have already laid most of the land railway tracks, but what they lack now is horses to pull the carts.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., he led Lu Xiang-sheng, Yuan You, and others to the large station south of Daningwei City.

At this time, the circular tracks in the station, which spanned two or three miles, had been completed. The heated sheds for the horse-drawn railcars, which resembled a comb, were almost finished. Carriages from the capital and Liaodong were arriving in an endless stream, and materials such as bricks, cement, timber, and steel were being transported into the city in an orderly manner, or passing through the city and heading north.

However, the number of horse-drawn carriages traveling north and south is noticeably sparse, and the huge station is not even half full.

Zhu Jue led the group on a tour of the station, then climbed the gate tower of Zhuxia Gate and raised his binoculars to scan the north.

Construction has begun on more than ten citadels and four large cities to the north, but here the horse-drawn railcars transporting building materials are still sparse. When will these citadels and cities be completed?

He thought about it carefully, then asked, "Father-in-law, where are the tracks laid now?"

Yuan You explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the tracks between the five guards of Xingzhou, the five guards of Yingzhou, and the five guards of Huizhou have been laid. They are currently laying the tracks between Quanning Guard and Gaozhou Guard, Songzhou Guard, and Huanzhou Guard."

The tracks connecting these four major cities are expected to be completed by the middle of this month. Next, only the tracks leading to the Five Guards of Kaiping will remain, and the tracks to the Beiping Regional Military Command are estimated to be fully completed by early next month at the latest.

Now that the tracks are laid, it's time to transport supplies and focus on building the city.

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough horses to pull the carts, so in many citadels and cities, they could only have people dig the foundations first, and couldn't do anything else.

When will we be able to steal enough horses to pull this cart?
As he was pondering this, a fast rider suddenly galloped in from the south.

A moment later, Fang Zhenghua hurried forward with a memorial in his hand, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, General Cui has sent an urgent report from eight hundred li away."

Did they manage to snag a horse, or did they run into a problem?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue took the memorial and glanced at it, a look of surprise and delight appearing on his face.

Cui Yingyuan's report was quite unexpected. It seemed that the cavalry of the capital and the cavalry of Liaodong had only been out of the pass for less than ten days, and they had already seized 40,000 horses to pull carts!

Do they still need horses to pull their carts right now?

Actually, they don't lack much; around 30,000 horses would be enough.

He had originally thought that it would take at least one or two months to seize 30,000 horses to pull the carts.

After all, they had been preparing for nearly a year, mobilized nearly two million troops, and spent another month or two to surround all the troops of the Duoyan Three Guards and seize nearly 50,000 horses for pulling carts.

Cui Yingyuan and his men only had 40,000 cavalry, and they were operating far from home, venturing into the grasslands of the Chahar and even the Tumed tribes to raid. They would have been lucky to plunder 30,000 horses for carts in a month or two. Who would have thought they would plunder 40,000 horses in less than ten days!
Cui Yingyuan did analyze the reasons in his memorial.

The key point is that spring has just begun on the grasslands beyond the Great Wall, and the tribes of the Chahar tribe are busy letting their cattle, sheep and horses graze on fresh pasture. Moreover, because the climate gradually warms from south to north, the pasture in the south is almost fully grown, while the pasture in the north has only just sprouted. Therefore, the tribes of the Chahar tribe are still scattered on the grasslands near Xuanfu Town in the south for grazing.

If they suddenly rush in and start looting, they will naturally reap a great harvest.

However, it won't be so easy to plunder them from now on, because the tribes of Chahar and even Tumed have been scared away to the west and north. Going back to plunder them would take ten days to half a month just to make a round trip, and by the time they get there, the tribes will have already received the news. They might not even be able to find many nomadic tribes.

So, should they continue to rob?

The more horses they have to pull the carts, the better. Even if the Northern Pacification Command has enough, they can use them in the south. The grasslands beyond the Great Wall are so vast that they will need countless horses to pull the carts every time they conquer a new area. Furthermore, they will need to lay tracks from the capital to the northwest and even connect the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, which will require even more horses.

However, that is all for the future.

At this point, they had enough horses to pull the carts, which was sufficient.

It seems unnecessary for him to let Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao continue to plunder. If they chased too far into the grasslands beyond the Great Wall, Huang Taiji might seize the opportunity to make a move.

Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao's 40,000 cavalry could crush the Chahar and Tumed tribes, but they wouldn't be able to handle the Jurchen cavalry, which numbered 70,000 to 80,000. The Chahar and Tumed tribes could also muster at least 20,000 to 30,000, so it would be 40,000 against 100,000. Moreover, they were still far from the main force of the Beijing garrison, and the chariot troops wouldn't have time to come to their aid.

In this situation, Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao might not be able to hold out, and who knows how many cavalry they would lose.

For now, we'll have enough horses to pull the cart.

The most important thing now is to quickly build up the defense system of the Northern Pacification Command, rather than trying to seize more horses to pull carts.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Zhenghua, send someone to convey my imperial edict, ordering Yingyuan and Bianjiao to lead their troops back and not to take any more risks."

Upon hearing this, Fang Zhenghua quickly bowed and took his leave.

Unexpectedly, he quickly ran up again with two memorials in his hands, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this is an urgent report from Huang Daozhou, the Governor of Shanxi, and Hou Xun, the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions."

What are these two up to now?

Zhu Jue took the report and frowned slightly upon reading it.

Hou Xun and Huang Daozhou's memorials were similar. Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang both seemed willing to accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty, but they both seemed to be terrified of the Hanzhong army. These two seemed to be afraid that they would be dealt with by Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, after losing their troops.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang had similar ideas: they were both willing to accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty, but only on the condition that the Hanzhong army first accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty.

This doesn't seem to be a problem. After all, the Hanzhong army was always targeting Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong, so it's not surprising that Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong were afraid of being beaten.

When they had hundreds of thousands of troops under their command, they were still overwhelmed by the Hanzhong army. If they lost their troops and Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, sent troops to their hometown, they would be doomed.

After all, the purpose of this rebellion is to seize the world, and to seize the world, one must eliminate all opponents. At this moment, it seems a bit difficult for Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, to kill the emperor, but it seems not so difficult to kill Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong, especially after they have lost their troops.

If Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong had lost their troops after accepting the imperial pardon, the Hanzhong army could have easily wiped them out, as easily as killing chickens.

Therefore, it seemed reasonable for them to wait for Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, to accept the amnesty first.

However, Zhu Jue immediately saw the problem.

This was all because Lu Wenwei's secret report had arrived two days earlier, and Hou Xun and Li Zicheng had both gone to see Zhang Nian!
In other words, this was not the intention of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong, but rather the intention of the three powerful clans of Puzhou.

Why did the three powerful clans of Puzhou want Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, to accept the imperial amnesty first?

The reason seems simple: if Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, accepted the offer of amnesty, the Hanzhong army would have to withdraw from Shanxi and even the Central Plains.

If the Hanzhong army withdraws from Shanxi, then the three powerful clans and even the eight imperial merchants of Puzhou can run back and reclaim all their shops, workshops and land. At that time, these guys will be able to grow a lot of grain to support the Jurchens and even rebels.

As for Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong's plan to surrender and then rebel again, he had already anticipated that.

Historically, Zhang Xianzhong had a history of surrendering and then rebelling again, and Xiong Wencan, the then governor of five provinces, was even beheaded by Emperor Chongzhen for this.

If Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang were to surrender and then rebel again now, would he be able to behead Yang He, the governor of the three northwestern provinces?

He certainly wouldn't kill Yang He.

It seems that the three powerful clans of Puzhou, as well as Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong, still have their own ideas. It's impossible to make these guys surrender and wait for their deaths.

He needs to find a different way to play.

Originally, he planned to feign surrender to Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong and then take all their troops to the Americas. After all, there were 900,000 Hanzhong troops suppressing them there, so he wasn't afraid of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong's troops causing any trouble.

With Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong's forces gone, they wouldn't be able to cause any trouble. If he wanted to deal with those two, it would be a simple matter of a word.

It seems unlikely that Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong would hand over all their troops. The fact that these two said they were afraid of losing their troops and being dealt with by the Hanzhong army was foreshadowing their true fear. In reality, they were afraid that they would be dealt with by him if they lost their troops.

In other words, these two guys definitely want to retain some men.

It was unlikely that he could sweep the men under these two men to America in one fell swoop, nor was it likely that he could end the Northwest Rebellion once and for all.

As for the three powerful clans of Puzhou, they definitely still want to use the rebels and Jurchens to cause trouble and bring down the Ming Dynasty!
He needs to change his tactics; he needs to lure the enemy into a trap.

Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong wanted to retain a certain number of troops, right?

no problem!
The troops would need a place to be settled, and that place was naturally up to him, not Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong.

He could have easily chosen a location advantageous for encirclement and annihilation, leaving those two guys with no chance to escape.
The three powerful clans and even the eight imperial merchants of Puzhou want to return to their hometown to continue their tyranny, right?

Alright, I'll let you go back first, and then clean it all over again!
Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then beckoned Fang Zhenghua over and whispered in his ear, "Send someone to deliver my secret decree, instructing Yun Teng to carefully select his men and keep 100,000 elite troops."

Meanwhile, Xiu Ling was sent to Huang Daozhou and Hou Xun to say that the Hanzhong army had accepted the amnesty and that King Zhang Yun of Hanzhong had agreed to gradually relocate his troops to the Americas.

Zhang Yuan, the King of Hanzhong, wanted a fiefdom and to keep 100,000 troops for protection. He wanted to see what conditions Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong would offer, and then he would just have Huang Daozhou and Hou Xun promoted.

Furthermore, you should send someone to tell Wen Wei that the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou definitely want to return to the Pingyang, Fenzhou, and Taiyuan areas. Tell him to lay a trap beforehand and prepare to capture these traitors who have colluded with the enemy in one fell swoop.

Fang Zheng nodded solemnly, then bowed and took his leave.

(End of this chapter)