A knife in love

Chapter 327

At that time, it had been more than a hundred years since the "Battle of Jingnan", but Yao Guangxiao's name was still circulating in the world.It's just that there are many absurd legends in the villages and villages, and the stories are passed down from generation to generation.

Before Li Qiufeng joined Jinyiwei, he had heard of this person's name, and knew that Yao Guangxiao was a monk with the dharma name Daoyan.Although this person is in the sect of Buddhism, he has mastered the three religions of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. He is a remarkable eminent monk.After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu selected eminent monks to serve the kings.At that time, all the monks fled to the prince's mansion in the central plains one after another, in order to enjoy peace and enjoyment.Only Yao Guangxiao got acquainted with Zhu Di, the King of Yan, under the name of "the minister served the king with a white hat", presided over the Qingshou Temple, and became Zhu Di's great counselor.In the third year of the Jingnan War, Emperor Jianwen sent a large army to the north, and the vanguard approached Beiping.The Yan army is weak and the situation is critical.Yao Guangxiao stayed in Beiping and advised Zhu Di, advocating the use of light cavalry to bypass the main force of Emperor Jianwen's army and go straight to Nanjing.The king of Yan adopted his strategy, and the whole journey was like a broken bamboo, successfully captured Nanjing, and became emperor.Yao Guangxiao ranked first in terms of merit in defeating the entire army of the Ming Dynasty with a mere piece of land in Beiping, and finally won.

When Li Qiufeng was on duty in Jinyiwei, he was very interested in the secret files in Jinyiwei's archives, and he often went in to read them. He also deliberately inquired about Yao Guangxiao's records.It's just that there are very few records about this person, and the content is quite different from folklore, so I feel quite regretful.The legend about raising big geese to avoid people's eyes mentioned by Murong Danyan just now is one of the many folk legends about Yao Guangxiao.

When Li Qiufeng heard Zhu San's family mention Yao Guangxiao's name, he immediately took heart.But Zhu Sanjia said: "Since the death of the crown prince Zhu Biao, the king of Yan has the heart to seize the heir. It's just that the Taizu is still alive, so he dare not make any changes. There are plans. At that time, Yao Guangxiao made three strategies for the King of Yan. The best strategy was to gain military power under the guise of attacking Meng Yuan. After leading the troops out of the Great Wall, all the generals loyal to Emperor Jianwen were killed and replaced by the cronies of King Yan. General, and then command the army to go south to take Nanjing. This strategy is based on the story of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiao's mutiny. The middle strategy is to unite the northern kings and form an alliance in Beiping. Fight to Nanjing together, cut off the kings, and seize the throne. The worst strategy is to send martial arts masters to sneak into Nanjing, assassinate Emperor Jianwen and the ministers of the court, and inherit the great rule as the emperor's uncle.

"The king of Yan discussed secretly with a group of counselors for three days and three nights, and finally adopted Yao Guangxiao's best strategy. First, he sent hundreds of his own troops to sneak to the north of the Great Wall, pretending to be Tartar soldiers, and robbing the property of the border people. There was a sudden shock , There was a lot of war inside and outside the Great Wall. Secret reports of military intelligence from the Palace of King Yan and the Commander-in-Chief of the Beiping Garrison were sent to the imperial court of Emperor Jianwen in Nanjing one after another.

"Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Lanyu first marched northward, and defeated the main force of the Tatars in Moyuerhai, so that their troops dared not go south again. At that time, the commander of the Mongolian Yuan, Kuokuo Timur, had died of illness, and the Tatars were no longer outstanding. The general in charge of the army was fatally hit by Lan Yu, his vitality was severely injured, and he was no longer able to do anything. By the time Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, there had been no wars on the northern border for many years. Because of the beacon smoke, Emperor Jianwen panicked.

"At that time, most of the founding generals of the Ming Dynasty had withered, and it was impossible to find a famous general to lead the army in the Northern Expedition. Since Lan Yu was killed, the 'Three Kings of the North' were in charge of the northern war, especially Yan Wang Zhu Di As the main force. It’s just that Emperor Jianwen’s monarchs and ministers had deep suspicions about King Yan, so they naturally refused to grant military power to this person. After the secret discussion of Emperor Jianwen’s monarchs and ministers, Zhang Bing, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, was appointed as Beiping’s political envoy, commanding envoys Xie Gui and Zhang Xin was the commander of the Beiping capital. Then he ordered the governor Song Zhong to garrison troops in Kaiping, monitor Beiping, and transfer the troops under the jurisdiction of King Yan from Beiping."

Zhu Sanjia stopped for a while when he said this, and continued: "The guards sent by King Yan to pretend to be Tartar soldiers outside the Great Wall are naturally his confidants. The ancestors of the Sha family were the leaders of these hundreds of guards. , my ancestor of the Zhu family is one of his most powerful assistants. It is the most confidential matter for the Yan army to pretend to be Tartar soldiers. Before this team set off, King Yan hosted a banquet in the palace to send them off. At that time, he said to everyone, Once they step out of King Yan's mansion, they can no longer be recognized as the guards of King Yan's mansion. Even if the enemy's sword and ax are put on their necks, they must never betray King Yan. Therefore, after they left the fortress, they plundered the border people everywhere, and they have been with Yan. The palace lost contact. As soon as King Yan gained military power, he took off his Tartar military uniform and returned to King Yan. Unexpectedly, they wandered outside the Great Wall for two or three months, but they never saw the shadow of King Yan's army.

"Although this small army pretends to be Tartar soldiers and plunders the border people everywhere, it is after all an elite soldier under the command of King Yan, with strict military discipline. It is extremely difficult to let their swords and spears attack the people of Ming Dynasty. Yes. After rushing into the village, they often kicked in the door, and what they took away were pillows, quilts, rags, and some miscellaneous items. They seldom robbed property, let alone killed people. It’s just that they were alone, so The dry food I brought was limited, but I ate it up in a few days. Later, I lived on some steamed buns, pickles and wild animals that I shot, and finally the hares and wolves on this grassland were eaten up by them. Clean, even the mice escaped with their families.

"The ancestors of the Sha family saw that King Yan's army was nowhere to be seen, and the army had run out of food and grass. People can still endure hardships, but the mounts under their crotches can't bear it. But the house leaks and it rains all night. A team of thousands of people The Tartar cavalry suddenly appeared and surrounded the small army.

"It turned out that after this army left the fortress, it was immediately noticed by the Tartar soldiers. It's just that the Tartar soldiers were frightened by the Ming army. At first, they thought that the Ming army would march north again, so they fled far away to Mobei in fright. Those who stayed The spies reported that this army was wearing the armor of the Tazi soldiers, and even the mounts were Mongolian horses. They only wandered around the Great Wall every day, and from time to time they even went to the villages to plunder. The leader of the Tazi soldiers was very surprised. A large number of spies were sent to closely monitor the movement of this army. These spies disguised themselves as herdsmen and followed this small army of the Ming army from afar. After more than two months in a row, these hundreds of people were already hungry. The spies immediately reported secretly to the leader of the Tartar soldiers. The leader of the Tartar soldiers judged that this army was not a regular army of the Ming army, and it was probably a rebel army of the Ming army who fled outside the Great Wall. Immediately led the troops southward and surrounded this small army.

"At that time, these hundreds of people were starved to the point where only half their lives were left. Tartar soldiers suddenly appeared. First, there was a rain of arrows, and more than a hundred Ming soldiers were shot and killed immediately. It's just that these hundreds of people were the guards of the King of Yan. The elite of the army accompanied the king of Yan on many expeditions to the north, and they were extremely aggressive. Although they were all sallow and emaciated from hunger, their morale was greatly boosted when they saw the Tartar soldiers appear, and they even repelled seven attacks by the Tartar soldiers. More than a hundred people were killed in the battle, but five or six hundred Tartar soldiers were also killed.

"The leader of the Tartar soldiers didn't expect these hundreds of enemies to be so ferocious, and the more he fought, the more frightened he became. After the seventh charge was repulsed, he started to retreat. Unexpectedly, at this time, there was another enemy outside the battlefield. An army was a regular army of the Ming army. The leader of the Tazi soldiers turned pale with fright, thinking that the small army of hundreds of people was a bait thrown by the Ming army, and lured himself here in order to gather and annihilate him. He was about to lead When the army fled far away, it never expected that the regular army of the Ming army who rushed to the battlefield did not attack him, but instead killed the small army with only a few hundred people left between the two armies.

"But he didn't know that the Ming army that came was the Ming army commanded by Zhang Xin, the commander of Beiping. After Zhang Xin received the imperial decree from Emperor Jianwen, he first sent scouts out to investigate the movements of the Tartar soldiers. The soldiers dispatched generals, prepared troops, horses and equipment, and went out to attack the Tartar soldiers at any time. The horse report said that it was only a few hundred Tartar soldiers who looted the border people, and it was not the Tartar army that was marching south. Zhang Xin was worried that this small army was a Tartar army. The bait sent by Zibing was to lure the Ming army to go deep outside the Great Wall, and then gather a large army to gather and annihilate him. In the past, the commander of the Yuan army, Kuo Kuo Timur, was best at using this strategy. For example, in the first year of Hongwu, after the Ming army captured Dadu , marched westward in two routes, with the intention of dividing into a joint attack, encircling and annihilating the expansion of Timur in Shanxi. General Chang Yuchun's troops were the North Route Army, and went south to Baoding, Zhongshan, and Zhending. The Ming Army coach Xu Da personally led the main force as the South Route Army , stationed in the Zhangde area, sent his general Tang He as the vanguard, and took Zezhou from Huaiqing. Expansion Timur first met Tang He with a small group of troops, and lost consecutive battles, teasing Tang He's troops. Tang He didn't know what it was The Qing army rushed forward. When Tang He entered Handian, he was far away from the main force of the Ming army. The main force of the Yuan army led by Kuo Kuo Timur suddenly appeared and defeated the Ming army. The main general Tang He almost died in battle. Fortunately, the soldiers tried their best to rescue them before they escaped from Handian.

"The founding generals of the Ming Dynasty were very afraid of Kuokao Timur. After the first battle in Handian, Xu Da and others were even more frightened of him. It's just that Emperor Yuan Shun didn't get along with Kuokao Timur, and he often If Timur had a lot of strength, he could only use [-]% of his strength to deal with the Ming army, and the other [-]% of his strength should be reserved for defense against the Yuan army.

"Later, Koko Timur led his army to besiege Lanzhou, and Ming general Zhang Wen defended the city to death. Although Koko Timur clamored to attack the city every day, he never did his best. He wanted to use Lanzhou as a bait to general the Ming army. The reinforcements were lured to the pre-set encirclement outside Lanzhou City to destroy them, and then took Lanzhou. The Ming army really caught the trick and sent a reinforcement force under the command of General Guang. At that time, the Ming army came to help from afar and was exhausted. Kuo Kuo Timur waited for work, wiped out all the reinforcements of the Ming army, and the commander Yu Guang died in battle.

"At that time, the Ming Dynasty was just established, and the world was shaken by this defeat. Emperor Taizu was furious and mobilized the army for the Northern Expedition. However, when formulating the strategy for the Northern Expedition, all the generals, including Xu Da, all suggested with one voice that the army should go straight to Yingchang , forced Kuo Koo Timur to withdraw his troops from Lanzhou, and did not confront him head-on. It can be seen that Xu Da and other generals did not dare to directly confront Kuo Koo Timur's troops. These people are famous founding generals who have experienced many battles. I'm afraid that the word "timidity" has never been in my head. It's just that I was frightened by the expansion Timur's strategy of luring the enemy deep and gathering and annihilating him. I didn't want to confront him head-on. Emperor Taizu adopted Liu Bowen's suggestion and ordered The Ming army was divided into two groups. In the west, General Xu Da passed through Xi’an from Tongguan to save Lanzhou, and waited for an opportunity to annihilate the expansion of Timur. In the east, the left deputy general Li Wenzhong went straight to Yingchang, luring the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty to order expansion Timur to divide his troops. Rescue. This is the strategy that Liu Bowen formulated for Emperor Taizu to make the Yuan Dynasty "rescue each other and have no time to help". The emperor of the Yuan Dynasty really fell into the trap and forced the expansion of Timur to divide his troops. The Yuan army was insufficient and was defeated by the Ming army. "

When Zhu Sanjia said this, he sighed and said: "Since ancient times, famous generals are like beauties, and the world is not allowed to see gray heads. Kuo Kuo Timur set up his own army, and God gave a wonderful plan. If it wasn't for the civil strife in Mongolia and Yuan Dynasty, he would be fettered, and Ming would defeat him." Tartars, it may not be easy to restore the country of the Han people!"

(End of this chapter)