The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Huamachi.

The Tatar invasion has reached an imminent point. More than ten thousand Tatar soldiers have gathered in Huamachi and harassed the earthen cities around Huamachi. Although the two sides have not yet started a major war, Liu Jin is feeling unprecedented pressure.

Liu Jin held three military meetings in succession. Although he had no experience in leading troops directly, he seemed to be forced to do so this time and had to command the troops personally.

"Eunuch, I received a reply from Yansui saying that the defenses at the borders are very tight and they are unable to dispatch troops to help. Also... the 3,000 elite soldiers transferred from Datong and the troops of Pinglu Hou, it seems... for some reason... there is still no news."

Xu Shen and a group of generals looked at Liu Jin with slightly pessimistic expressions, and everyone seemed to understand one thing.

Without external support, they could only rely on the defenders in the city to deal with the main Tatar troops.

Although Liu Jin was so scared that his legs were weak, he still held on, and said with a tone of confidence: "What did we say? In war, you have to rely on yourself! If there is no one to help you, don't we still have you? How long can the food and grass in the city last?"

"I guess..." Xu Shen looked around and found that they were all his own people, so he said helplessly, "I can probably hold out for another half a month. If that doesn't work, we can rely on some means of filling our stomachs and hold out for 20 days."

"That's enough!" Liu Jin asked, "How many cannons are there?"

"Three heavy cannons, sixty-nine Shenwei long-range cannons, and three hundred and twenty light cannons, with tens of thousands of fire shells. There are also four thousand flintlock guns and tens of thousands of shells..."

When Xu Shen mentioned this, he was also very worried.

Liu Jin threw a book that looked like an account book onto the table and said sternly, "It clearly records that there are 30,000 shells. How come it's only just over 10,000? And most of them are shells for light artillery?"

Xu Shen said helplessly: "Most of the firearms in the army were transferred from Yansui, Ningxia and other places. After the Duke of Ying marched to Huamachi, the troops dispatched from Pianguan withdrew first, taking away a large number of artillery and ammunition. Later, the troops transferred from Ningxia also took away a large number of war horses and ammunition..."

Liu Jin said: "You mean, our army is just a ragtag group of troops?"

"You can't say that." Xu Shen said, "We are also elite troops."

"What an elite force! Now we are going to send a thousand cavalry out of the city to fight the Tatars. Can you do it?" Liu Jin asked loudly.

The generals present were all stunned.

Although they thought that this eunuch Liu was different and might be able to achieve a surprise victory, they did not expect that he would have to send out the former suicide squad to perform such a trick.

Xu Shen said: "Eunuch, charging into battle is our job. When Marquis Jingshan attacked the Tatar camp with only a few hundred soldiers, we were not afraid of fighting. But now... the Tatars are gathering outside the pass. If we want to transport artillery there, we will definitely be discovered on the way. If the Tatars attack with light cavalry, I'm afraid..."

Liu Jin sneered, "We are afraid that they will not come. With your artillery and muskets, wherever your soldiers are, the Tatars dare to attack easily? We just want you to push out the artillery and muskets to make the Tatars exhausted. If they dare not even fight our main force, how can they dare to wreak havoc in the territory of the Ming Dynasty?"

Xu Shen thought about it and felt that this tactic sounded familiar.

Xu Shen stepped forward and said, "Eunuch, when An Bian Hou was the commander-in-chief in Ningxia, he was ordered to deal with the Tatars. It seems that he used this tactic, but the effect was... very little."

This is telling Liu Jin that the tactics you are using have been used before.

Liu Jin asked, "Are you doubting the ability of our Yanwu Hall to defend it? Or do you think that we will be like Anbian Hou, unable to adapt to changes at all?"

"But……"

"I know what you want to say. Our artillery and firearms are deployed outside and are not easy to move. The Tatars will send scouts to find out the movements of our troops. We just need to avoid them. There is no need for a head-on battle. We can bypass them and plunder in the Ming Dynasty." Liu Jin said.

Xu Shen and others looked at Liu Jin eagerly.

That look seemed to be saying, so you know what choice the Tatars will make, so why are you still planning to use this tactic?
"We need to divide our forces!"

Liu Jin also directly stated his intention, "Divide into several groups and march in a cross-direction to make the Tatars unpredictable. If they dare to come, we will fight them. If there is trouble along the way, the other groups will rush to help. We will no longer rely on the city fortresses to garrison. If we encounter the Tatars, we will station there at any time. Any place is a pass fortress of our Ming Dynasty."

"what?"

The generals present also found this statement interesting.

The most common way for the border troops of the Ming Dynasty to fight was to concentrate their superior forces to go out of the city to engage in direct combat with the Tatars and drive them away.

After paying more taxes, they just stayed in the stable city, relying on artillery as a weapon of defense to prevent the Tatars from crossing the line.

But Liu Jin's approach of dispersing his troops and attacking from all directions without relying on the city walls, intending to use a mobile warfare method, seemed to the generals and soldiers like exposing the weaknesses of his back and waiting to be attacked by the Tatars.

Liu Jin said: "We also know that this tactic was used by Zhu Feng before, but he was just an instructor under us. We taught him the tactics."

After hearing this, Xu Shen and others were still somewhat impressed.

Because in terms of official position, they would think that the eunuch who supervises the Yanwu Hall must be higher in rank than the instructor of the Yanwu Hall.

But what they didn't know was that Liu Jin didn't care about anything in the Martial Arts Hall. He was just a scoundrel. Even when he went to sit in on lectures, he would be looked down upon... This was an information gap.

Others thought he was very awesome, but in fact he was just pretending to be awesome. No one knew how cowardly he was inside, but he wanted to achieve great things and win the appreciation of the emperor and the prince.

Zheng Sui said, "You are right, eunuch. When you were in the Martial Arts Hall, Marquis Anbian and his men showed you great respect. Your position as the admiral of the Martial Arts Hall was personally requested by Duke Cai, and approved by His Majesty. You are highly respected by the soldiers in the Martial Arts Hall."

This is bullying and no one present knows the details.

When everyone saw that Zheng Sui, a captain of the Jinyiwei, was supporting Liu Jin, they immediately stopped suspecting anything was wrong.

Liu Jin said: "The key to this tactic is to make the Tatars afraid of fighting! We don't need too many soldiers. We will first send out a central army of 1,000 elite soldiers, fully equipped with artillery and muskets. Since we have 4,000 flintlock muskets, we will divide them into four groups. These four groups will be dispatched by me personally. According to the route I mentioned, we will divide our troops and approach the Tatar camp. There is no need to hide, just charge forward openly. If the Tatars dare to come, we will fight them!"

Xu Shen reminded: "But sir, the Tatars have far more than four thousand soldiers and horses."

"General Xu, you are famous for your bravery. Do you want to back out now? I forgot to remind you that if Ma Yi, Zhang Rui and others come, you won't even be qualified to carry their shoes. Even if you have military merits, you won't even be qualified to drink their soup. Now there is an opportunity for you to be the head coach and make achievements with our family. Do you want to give up?"

Liu Jin looked aggressive.

This is very intimidating.

At least the generals present saw that this eunuch Liu's style of doing things was different from others, at least it was very different from Zhang Mao's. They already knew that Zhang Mao and Zhu Hui were similar, both were incompetent, and only those who dared to fight could achieve success. As for those who dared to fight, whether the tactics they used were correct or not, that needed to be verified on the battlefield.

Liu Jin asked, "Who will lead the first group of troops? General Xu, are you coming? At the beginning, Cui Yuan only led a few hundred soldiers, but he dared to fight against tens of thousands of Tatars. Now I give you a thousand soldiers, and there will be troops from all directions to support you at any time. Are you afraid?"

Xu Shen was being put on the spot. He said hastily, "I am not a coward. I dare to fight you."

"That's good." Liu Jin said, "Before sunset today, your troops must leave the city. Select a thousand soldiers. You can choose the men, but don't take any extra men. You must bring your own muskets and cannons."

Xu Shen asked, "Eunuch, isn't it too hasty to send troops at night?"

"We must send out troops at night," Liu Jin said. "Then the Tartars will know that we are fearless. If they have the guts, they can attack us at night. All of you troops who are going out to fight, keep your eyes open at all times. Even when you are sleeping, set up your muskets and aim your cannons in all directions. If the Tartars dare to come, we will use muskets and cannons to make sure they never return!"

Although the generals were stunned with a look of "is it possible?"

But Zheng Sui still took the lead, and everyone bowed and said, "Yes, sir!"

……

……

Liu Jin sent troops out of the city.

When the situation was extremely tense, a thousand soldiers from the earthen city of Huamachi set out and marched out of Huamachi overnight. At this time, they were about sixty or seventy miles away from the vanguard of the Tatars in Huamachi.

Just as the first group of troops was leaving the city, Liu Jin had already asked Zheng Sui to lead the second group of troops and prepare to leave the city after dawn.

Zheng Sui had been shouting slogans loudly before, but when it was his turn to send troops, he was a little hesitant.

Zheng Sui said, "Eunuch, I still want to stay by your side and obey your orders."

Liu Jin scolded him, "You are not making any progress! The next group of troops will be led by me personally. If you don't lead the troops, do you want me to lead all the troops? I don't trust the soldiers in the city. Don't you want to follow me anymore?"

When Zheng Sui heard this, he quickly said, "For the eunuch, I will die for him."

Liu Jin said, "Back then, Cui Yuan was able to chase the Tartars with only two or three hundred soldiers. We never understood why. Did the Tartars have no courage? Now they may have muskets and cannons. Although their number is smaller, they also feel that they have the strength to fight with us. That's why they dare to come. Let's show them who is better at using firearms."

"Eunuch, we don't have enough firearms now." Zheng Sui said.

Liu Jin sneered, "The Tartars don't know the details. They should have heard about our change of commander. They should also know that Zhang Mao, that old bastard, can only retreat in battle, but we have nothing to retreat from."

Zheng Sui thought about it and felt that this made a lot of sense.

"I am not a coward. Besides, we have nowhere to retreat. When the Tatars gather their forces, they will have 60,000 to 70,000 or even 100,000 soldiers. We will have no chance to attack!" Liu Jin said, "We can retreat, but will the court tolerate our retreat? We will die if we retreat, and we will die if we don't retreat. We might as well fight."

Zheng Sui wanted to say, it is you who is the one who lives or dies.

The court only held the commander-in-chief accountable and did not say that it would punish us for retreating in battle.

Liu Jin said, "When you lead the troops, just charge forward. I didn't learn anything else in the Martial Arts Academy, but I know that in this day and age, with cannons and muskets, it's right to charge forward. Whoever charges faster and more accurately will achieve great things, and whoever shrinks back will end up in disgrace."

Zheng Sui Xin said, your summary is really on point.

Zheng Sui asked, "But what if the Tartars attack us?"

"Then let's fight head-on. We can't lose!" Liu Jin said.

"What if the Tartars retreat and avoid fighting?"

"Do I even need to ask? You don't know how to chase them? You have to chase them even if you can't catch up. You have to chase them day and night. If they dare to come to Huamachi, even if you have 100,000 soldiers and only 100, you have to chase them. As long as you catch up with them, before you run out of shells, the Tartars will be afraid to fight, because whoever rushes to the front will die!"

Liu Jin might have wanted to use these words to encourage himself, so much so that he spoke with gritted teeth.

Zheng Sui thought about it and nodded, "Your Excellency's words make sense. This may be why the Duke of Baoguo failed to achieve any success with tens of thousands of troops, while the Marquis of Jingshan was able to achieve great success with hundreds of elite troops."

Liu Jin said, "What else do you have to say if you know this? The Tartars are too much of a bully. They dared to attack us when we just arrived. Do they think we are soft persimmons? We will let them know that when we get mad, we can even give up our own lives! We have walked through the gates of hell before. It's just one life. We won wealth and glory. If we die, the worst that can happen is that we will be reborn in a good way under the quilt."

Zheng Sui said with a flattering look on his face: "The eunuch is mighty."

Liu Jin pointed outside the city and said, "You lead your men and charge, and I will follow. We have been waiting for a good opportunity for several years, and today we finally have it! Let's encourage each other."

"Let's encourage each other." Zheng Sui seemed to be encouraged as well. He clenched his fists, looking as if he was ready to follow Liu Jin and fight to the death.

……

……

The city gate.

The soldiers and civilians were all watching the excitement, especially the generals who were not called upon, who watched teams of soldiers pushing carts and carrying muskets, and then staggering out of the city.

Because the garrison in Huamachi did not have enough horses, the troops had to be divided into four groups to attack, so except for the first group which was equipped with one thousand horses, the number of horses in the other groups was getting less and less.

"The Tartars run so fast, how can we catch up with them if we go this way? We should not be trapped by the Tartars and fall into a siege."

"Shut up, how dare you say such things?"

"What do you know? This is called losing the battle but not the battle. Without horses, who says two legs can't outrun four legs? The higher-ups said that even if we run our legs off, we must catch up with the Tartars and rub them in the horse pond."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but the general idea is to rub their heads in the pond to get their brains out." (End of this chapter)