The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

A large number of Tatar herdsmen, including men, women, young and old, were put in shackles and were being escorted to the camp.

Zhu Fu was riding on a horse, standing in a relatively high place. Seeing this scene, he was very excited, although he probably knew in his heart...what they captured this time were just a group of herdsmen whose fighting ability was very average, and it could not even be considered a victory on the battlefield.

But for the border troops of the Ming Dynasty, as long as they could capture Tatar men, women, young and old, regardless of whether they were combatants or not, it would be a credit.

"Sir, the count is complete. There are 764 Tartars in total." The generals below were also very excited when they mentioned this. "So far, there are more than 3,000 large animals counted, and some small animals are estimated to be over 10,000... We can return to the capital now."

When this was mentioned, not only Zhu Fu, but also many generals nearby showed excitement in their eyes.

This is like meeting a noble person when you go out, or a pie falling from the sky, and it hits you right in the face. You have no choice but to accept it, and you actually get the military merit right away.

There are so many good things happening in this world, and today it is finally our turn to get some goodies.

Zhu Fu said: "If we report this battle to the court, what will it say? Bravely killing the enemy, and then capturing more than 700 herdsmen behind them? Have you... thought about it?"

When this question was raised, the generals around him all looked a little ashamed.

It was very lively last night, but the battle did not start at all. Instead, the Tatars attacked their camp. After the so-called battle, there were no casualties on both sides. Then after a few hours, they just got such an advantage for free.

As for how the incident happened, no one understood. They didn't even know where these herdsmen came from, why they were there, and why they just surrendered.
"Find someone who can speak their language and ask them what's going on."

"Also, we can't delay our march north. The plan remains unchanged. We should rest until noon and then march north again after noon. If we don't fight a decent battle, we'll be worried about what we can do when we return."

……

……

Zhu Fu was still very cautious.

It's not that he was such a person, but he was very afraid of following in the footsteps of Zhu Hui and Zhang Mao. He also felt that if he returned like this, he would probably not be able to give an explanation to the court and might not be able to keep his official position. If he wanted to gain a foothold in the court, he still had to lead his troops to fight a decent war instead of waiting for pie to fall from the sky.

After sending someone to communicate, the report given to Zhu Fu still made him feel confident and even boosted his spirits.

"…There was a mutiny among the Tatars. Some right-wing Tatars were unwilling to join forces with the young Tatar prince Batu Mongke. They had decided to move south and seek the protection of the Ming Dynasty. This group of people was one of them. There were also many young and strong men among them. However, after discovering our team, they did not hide, but waited to be captured."

"According to what they said, there are at least a dozen tribes like them traveling south. In times of war, they would have been conscripted, especially the young and strong men among them, who would have taken up arms. But this time, many of them are unwilling to do so."

The meeting in the central army tent and the summary of information also let the generals present know what was going on in the war.

Someone asked, "Who set the fire yesterday? Could it be these bastards? If it was them, they were just pretending. Kill them."

"General, please calm down. I have asked about this matter, and these people said they don't know what is going on either."

"It seems that the little prince of Tartar knows where we are marching, so he sent a lot of people to harass us. They will not reveal their whereabouts, and will not engage in direct battle with us. The purpose of setting fire is to prevent those wandering tribes from going south, to create some trouble between us, and to prevent us from accepting them."

After hearing this, some people at the scene expressed their opinions: "So, it's not us who won the battle, but they took the initiative to surrender to me? If I were them, I would also talk nonsense to them if I was captured by the Ming soldiers!"

"Yes, they were trapped by us and couldn't escape. Then they made up stories here. No one would believe them."

"My Lord, give me some advice. How about we just kill them all? It will be troublesome to leave them alive in this grassland. We can just take their heads back. There are precedents anyway. Even if it was Marquis Weining, so what? Even the recent Earl of Xinjian, he also killed herdsmen on the grassland and brought their heads back, isn't it the same?"

When Zhu Fu heard this, he immediately became unhappy.

It seems that in your eyes, Marquis Weining and Earl Xinjian are awesome people, and I'm just a rookie, right?
And they killed the prisoners...

If I do this, the people in the court will definitely report me to death. Don't disbelieve me. They will say that this battle was not won by head-on confrontation. This alone is enough to make me suffer.

Zhu Fu pretended to be serious and said, "I understand your feelings, but have you ever thought about what those tribes who migrated south would think if we killed people? Now is the time when the tribes on the grassland are under our high pressure and are wavering. Many of them want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. If we kill these people, how can they be loyal to our dynasty in the future?"

After this was said, although no one present questioned it directly, many people still criticized it in their hearts.

Are you talking about principles with the Tatars?

The key is that they don’t tell you that this group of people are fickle. Today they will surrender to you and say they will be your subjects and even pay tribute to you, but tomorrow they may take up arms and plunder the border towns and villages of the Ming Dynasty again... What can't they do to survive?
Even if you want to win people's hearts, the key is that no one is willing to buy them.

Zhu Fu said: "Take these people with you. The army is short of people to do odd jobs. Separate them, men, women, old and young, and let them do the work of building stoves and making fires in the army."

"Sir, where are the animals?"

"Take what you can. They are their property. If they succeed in surrendering, we will return it to them. Of course, we can't return everything. If there are any inconveniences along the way, we will kill them! Leave the people behind, but we will deal with the animals and the like ourselves!"

……

……

Zhu Fu's troops had achieved a "victory at the start", and Zhu Fu could not wait to report the victory to the court.

In his opinion, what about Huo Qubing?

When we went to the battlefield, weren't we just there to make a comeback and be praised lavishly and set as an example?
I, Zhu, can be compared with Huo Qubing. At least I can lead troops into the grassland, capture the grassland herdsmen, and let others know that I am the god of war... After all, I will be a man who walks sideways in the Ming army in the future.

Who dares to look down on me?

Zhu Fu sent a document of victory to the Ming Dynasty with a fast horse, and at the same time, he did not forget to contact Zhu Feng and Tang Yin's troops. It seemed that he was showing off his merits, but in fact, he was guilty and was afraid that he would be trapped in a situation where he was alone and deep in the enemy's territory, and then arouse the hatred of the Tatars and be attacked by the Tatars.

That is two days later.

Tang Yin's group received the news of Zhu Fu's victory, and a fast horse delivered the victory document to him... After reading it, Tang Yin had a wry smile on his face.

After hearing the news, Xu Jing also rushed into the central army camp and asked immediately, "Victory? Is it so fast?"

Tang Yin then showed Xu Jing Zhu Fu's exaggerated victory report.

After Xu Jing looked at it, he said, "It doesn't look like it has experienced a bloody battle, but how could it be..."

Tang Yin walked to the map and pointed, "According to the report of victory, his current location should be in this direction, more than a hundred miles away from us. He is not walking very fast. He just crossed the Yellow River."

"Yes." Xu Jing compared the contents of the letter and looked at the map again, "Are there any Tartars here? We are further north than them, how come we don't see them?"

Tang Yin said: "It is obvious that some tribes among the Tartars have begun to migrate southward. They want to enter the Hetao area and try to gain the support of the court to let them graze in the Hetao area. Because they also know that there are many places in the Hetao area with fertile grass and water, and in recent years, the little prince of Tartar has not dared to invade the Hetao area in the south. Whoever can seize the opportunity first will be able to survive here."

Xu Jing shook his head and said, "If they say they want to surrender, we have to give them the Hetao area to graze. If they rebel later, won't we suffer a great loss?"

"uncertain."

Tang Yin said, "The Hetao area is still too empty now. The people of the Ming Dynasty are unwilling to move north to this area, and the Tatars want to come in but cannot. The court has always wanted to build more fortresses in the Hetao area, and to build new city gates here to move the defense line against the Tatars northward, but there are too many civilians to be mobilized, and there are too few people stationed in this area, so this matter is progressing very slowly."

Xu Jing asked: "Does that mean the imperial court will accept the Tatars' surrender?"

"Yes." Tang Yin said, "At least it seems so at present. It is precisely because the imperial court has this intention, and some Tatar tribes can see this clearly, when they mutinied, many of them would think of migrating south. After all, the Hetao area is the pure land that the Tatars dream of. If they want to survive and develop, they must rely on the Ming Dynasty."

Xu Jing said: "Should we go over there? This credit cannot be monopolized by Duke Cheng!"

"No." Tang Yin shook his head. "The northern part of the Hetao area is not the main area of ​​this battle, and this is also the result of Duke Cheng's insistence. He went north because he saw that the Tatars might want to move south to the Hetao area. This is the credit he fought for, and we can't take it away."

Xu Jing laughed and said, "I think he just has a bad brain. He knew there would be no war over there, but he still insisted on going through the Hetao area. As a result, he went north to the Hetao area and then crossed the Yellow River. He didn't have any chance to achieve anything along the way. He just got really lucky after crossing the Yellow River."

Tang Yin asked: "Who knows if there is a master behind this who can give him advice?"

"This……"

Xu Jing was speechless for a moment.

Zhu Fu led his troops northward from Hetao, and judging from the results, he got a great bargain.

But at first no one thought it was a wise move for him to go to Hetao, instead they thought he was stupid.

Until now... he has gotten a bargain for free, so some people will wonder if Zhang Zhou is giving him advice from behind?
In general, it was because Zhang Zhou was a man of great wisdom that when others lost a battle, it must have been because of his own incompetence.

And when they won the battle, they all felt that it was the result of Zhang Zhou's planning thousands of miles away. Otherwise... with Zhu Fu's ability, how could he get such a great credit for nothing?
This is also a "common problem" among the Northwest Army. That is, if one has made a contribution, they must think that it was the Shangshu Zhang and Duke Cai in the court who were directing them behind the scenes. Even Zhu Fu, who had made the contribution, and his subordinates thought so.

This will also give them confidence to win the next game...

The affairs of the court were so bizarre that even Zhang Zhou himself often did not realize how important he was now, and that the soldiers in the northwest would miss him all the time, and even remember to give him the biggest share of any credit.

Xu Jing said: "Why didn't Duke Cai give us any advice? Bo Hu, if this achievement falls on us, then your position as the commander-in-chief of the three frontiers should be secure, right? I can also get more military merits. Speaking of which... I don't ask for anything else, at least let me get a position first, not a petty official who is not worth mentioning, but a place that can help me gain a foothold in the northwest..."

Tang Yin sighed, "There will be a chance. As it stands now, we have divided our forces into the grasslands, and the Tatars are no longer able to resist us. Their main forces can only evade and hide, and many of their tribes have also realized that they can no longer engage in direct combat with us. The next step is to... nibble away at them step by step. In the end, we will devour them..."

Xu Jing smiled and said, "Well, it is my honor to witness all of this. Three years ago, I would never have thought that the imperial examination would change us. It is my honor to be born in such a prosperous era."

……

……

Some are happy and some are sad.

Zhu Fu was alone on his journey, but because he was heading towards Hetao, he had Zhu Feng to his east, Zhang Rui, Tang Yin and other troops to his west, and even Ma Zhongxi's troops in Ningxia.

Coupled with his slow march, he was essentially... pushed forward by various groups of people.

When he achieved results on the battlefield and was about to report to the court, the scouts he had sent out to deliver the message passed the news to several other camps without bias.

And when Ma Yi learned that Zhu Fu had gotten such a great bargain, the jealousy in his heart... obviously made him extremely unwilling.

Because at this time, Ma Yi and Zhang Rui's troops were actually about 140 miles due north of Zhu Fu's troops, which meant that they were moving faster and had a geographical advantage. They were ready to reach Guanshan at any time and win the victory on the front line.

As a result, news came from the rear that Zhu Fu had gotten the upper hand.

How can they feel good inside?
"Young Master, what is this? We are charging in the front, but he set out two days earlier than us, and his journey is not as fast as ours. Yet, with such a large group of people, he is actually waiting behind us to take advantage of us?" Ma Yi ran to Zhang Rui to complain.

Zhang Rui said, "We didn't see any trace of the Tatars along the way. Duke Chengguo got so lucky right after crossing the Yellow River... It seems..."

Ma Yi sighed, "I also heard that Duke Cheng is very close to Minister Zhang, and he spent a lot of money on gifts, and that Marquis Anbian is mediating. This... I am afraid that no matter how hard we try, we will not be as good as him who has a backer!" (End of this chapter)