The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

It is very likely that Tang Yin will never come back.

This news spread quickly in the capital. No one knew where the source of the news came from, but it seemed as if everyone was talking about this topic overnight.

No one says that Tang Yin was a traitor, but some say that Tang Yin, fearing being held accountable by the imperial court, led his troops straight into the country, where he was surrounded by the Tatars. Due to the harsh winter climate on the grassland, he lost his way and was besieged by Tatar troops that outnumbered his own by several times.

Even though Tang Yin and his men have not been destroyed yet, it is estimated that they will be destroyed soon. It is very likely that Tang Yin will not see the arrival of the Spring Festival of the 16th year of Hongzhi.

"How did the news spread? Who is spreading this news? No matter how many Tatars there are, they can only mobilize a few hundred thousand soldiers. Is that enough to swallow up the Ming army?"

Wang Qiong was dismissive of this.

Now serving as the Left Censor-in-Chief, Wang Qiong has great confidence in Tang Yin.

He took the opportunity to send the memorial about the impeachment of Tang Yin by the local authorities a few years ago to the Minister of Personnel Lin Han, and to discuss with Lin Han the treatment of Tang Yin. He also mentioned his trust in Tang Yin to Lin Han.

Lin Han asked, "How many people in the Northwest impeached him?"

Wang Qiong said: "Excluding the local officials, there are six or seven censors. In addition, there are also impeachments in the court, but previously they were all impeachments for his sending troops without any progress. After this time, there has been no movement."

Lin Han said: "Everyone is waiting and watching."

"Yes." Wang Qiong nodded. "If the rumors in Beijing are true, it means that Bo Hu's two expeditions were unsuccessful, and this time he might even get himself killed. But I don't believe that with Bo Hu's ability, he can do something that leaves him no way out after entering the grassland."

Lin Han waved his hand and said, "I don't know much about military and political affairs. If you have any questions, you'd better talk to Bingkuan."

Wang Qiong said: "Minister Zhang is like a dragon that can only be seen from the head but not the tail."

"Then you have to go see him too." Lin Han said, "You have to go see the chief censor of the Censorate. If you insist on not seeing him, then what's the matter? It's the end of the year, and the affairs of various government offices should have been resolved. Only the military affairs in the northwest have not been resolved yet. If you don't go see Bingkuan, who can help you resolve the matter?"

As one of the three judicial departments, the Censorate was mainly responsible for impeaching local officials who violated laws and disciplines.

A supervisory department for officials.

The most troublesome case Wang Qiong is currently handling is naturally the one concerning Tang Yin.

The traditional civil officials targeted Tang Yin, but the "backer" behind Tang Yin, or the nominal backer, Zhang Zhou, did not say anything about Tang Yin's impeachment. Even though the Supreme Court had received a lot of inside information about the details of Tang Yin's second expedition, it was still unknown how Tang Yin had the courage to make such a desperate move.

Wang Qiong said, "It seems that we can only go to Zhang's house."

Lin Han asked: "The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue can't see him?"

"No." Wang Qiong answered directly, "I heard that he has never been to these two government offices since he returned to Beijing."

"Being the Minister of Revenue, he doesn't go to the Ministry of Revenue... It's really..." Lin Han didn't know whether what Wang Qiong said was true or not, but when he thought of Zhang Zhou's usual "careless" appearance, he felt helpless.

Fortunately, I can go and see Zhang Zhou, there is a way.

But he couldn't introduce Wang Qiong because he, Lin Han, didn't want to get involved.

Lin Han said: "If you really can't find him, come back and look for him. I will help you arrange it."

Wang Qiong bowed his hands and thanked him, saying, "We still have to try now. If the matter concerning Tang Yin is not properly resolved, many people in the court may criticize it. It would be best if the Ministry of War sent troops from Datong and other places to the grassland to help, so that the Tatars would be exhausted and it would be more convenient for Tang Bohu to lead his troops to withdraw."

"Yes." Lin Han nodded and said, "If you have any insights, you can mention them to His Majesty. You are on duty in the Supreme Court, so you don't even need to tell me about these things."

Lin Han didn't want to get involved in the military and political affairs of the Ming Dynasty.

He was not good at it to begin with. Although he was the Minister of Personnel, unlike the previous Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng, Lin Han was promoted from the Ministry of Rites, rather than being transferred from the Ministry of War or the Ministry of Revenue.

Not professional.

Wang Qiong bowed again and said, "Minister Lin must know about this. If we report this to the court, they will be able to take care of it."

"I understand." Lin Han said, "I expect that he will come to court again before the end of the year, and there will definitely be great controversy in the court. At that time... I may also speak out. Whether it is fair or not, then... people have different opinions, let them judge for themselves."

……

……

In the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youtang also saw the part about rumors in the six departments that mentioned Tang Yin. He then closed the memorial, coughed twice, and seemed not to want to pay any attention to it.

Chen Kuan took the opportunity to say, "Your Majesty, there is a lot of discussion among the people in the capital about the use of troops in the northwest. According to the discussion among the people, Tang Yin was too reckless in sending out the troops this time, and he did not even leave a way out for retreat. He also did not bring heavy artillery, hoping to travel light. However, if he encounters a siege by the Tatars, I am afraid there will be no way to escape."

"Oh."

Zhu Youtang responded but didn't take it seriously.

Chen Kuan said: "Now someone has made a petition, please send an order to Datong Town, and have Xinjianbo lead the troops to attack the grassland from Weininghai diagonally, making it difficult for the Tatars to take care of both ends. This way, we can attack from both sides, forcing the Tatars to give up the siege on Tang Yin's troops."

Zhu Youtang asked in a cold voice: "Are they sure now that Tang Yin is surrounded?"

"This one……"

Chen Kuan thought about it for a while, then said, "Of course not."

Zhu Youtang said: "Even I haven't received such news, how dare they be so sure? Or is there someone taking the opportunity to fan the flames behind the scenes? Even if we suffer a defeat, so what? Can't this battle show the momentum of the Ming Dynasty?"

Chen Kuan was even a little speechless.

There was nothing wrong with sacrificing Tang Yin, but the key point was that Tang Yin still had seven or eight thousand soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty under his command. In addition to the five or six thousand led by Ma Yi and Zhang Rui, about two thousand elite soldiers from Yansui were also transferred.

If all of these troops were lost... we would even lose all the advantages we had gained over the Tatars in the past few years.

Zhu Youtang then said, "Didn't Bingkuan say that? If we really need to send troops to help, we can do so in the way he proposed in his memorial. Pass down an order that no troops from the three borders and Xuanda line are allowed to leave."

"what?"

Chen Kuan was shocked.

Why is the emperor so confident in Tang Yin?

Or was the emperor really angry with Tang Yin? He didn't even send troops to help Tang Yin when he was alone deep in the grassland?
It would be fine if the emperor didn't directly order troops to be dispatched from the border, but now he is also strictly ordering that troops not to be dispatched from the border?

What is this picture?
Just to let Tang Yin feel the excitement of fighting one against ten, or even fifty or sixty against one?

Zhu Youtang said: "There is no need to explain the specific details to you, just do as I tell you. Before the beginning of next spring, the battle on the grassland will be handed over to Tang Yin... After the beginning of spring, someone will come to clean up the mess."

"..."

Chen Kuan almost thought he had heard it wrong.

Not only will they not send troops now, they will not send troops before the beginning of spring, which means...

If you, Tang Yin, have the ability, you can lead your troops back to fight. If you don't, you can just wait to die on the grassland. Anyway, this is your own choice. No one will support you, and no one will send any troops to support you in this battle. This Tang Yin...

Chen Kuan was wondering, is he favored or not?

No matter how you look at the emperor, he just wants him to die and won't give him a chance to live! ?

……

……

Chen Kuan naturally couldn't understand the reason behind it.

When he went back to discuss the drafting of the edict with Wei Bin, Wei Bin was also stunned after listening to it.

"Are you...giving up?" Wei Bin asked after a long while.

Chen Kuan said, "Perhaps Your Majesty believes that Tang Yin is capable of leading the troops back? Even if there are casualties, like Liu Jin's last expedition, didn't he win in the end?"

Wei Bin sighed, "Those are the absolute elite of the Ming Dynasty! They are sent out from Datong. The Marquis of Pinglu and the young master of the Duke of Yingguo's mansion are already veterans of many battles. Add to that Tang Yin and many other soldiers. Are you just... at ease? Or are you giving up?"

Chen Kuan shook his head and said, "Or is there any long-term consideration?"

Wei Bin said, "No matter how much trust we have, why not send troops to coordinate with them from afar, and then send troops to cut off the Tatars' retreat and achieve some results? Moreover, the Weininghai front has long been controlled by Datong's troops. It would be easy for Xinjianbo to send troops to inspect Weininghai. It has come to this point, but Your Majesty won't allow us to... send troops?"

Chen Kuan also looked distressed and asked, "Do you think His Majesty intends to use this group of people as bait?"

"Bait?" Wei Bin asked, "Eunuch Chen, do you think this is all... a conspiracy?"

"do not know."

Chen Kuan said, "It may be that your majesty feels that Tang Yin should be held responsible for his actions. He was the one who started this war, and it was your majesty who asked him to bravely lead the troops in the northwest. Tang Yin may have such a personality, and your majesty has known it for a long time... Now that things are out of control, your majesty no longer wants to care about it?"

"This……"

Wei Bin was also speechless.

Chen Kuan, your insights are truly unique.

Have you ever thought about the meaning of the emperor being angry with Tang Yin? You also don't think about it. If Tang Yin died, the Ming Dynasty would lose thousands of soldiers. It may not seem like much, but it would make hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the northwest fall into self-doubt.

After finally destroying the Tatars' morale, now we have to help them in this battle and help them regain their prestige?
Looking for trouble?
Chen Kuan said impatiently: "We know what you want to say. Even if Your Majesty is concerned about his reputation and does not want to send troops to help Tang Yin, or even if Your Majesty trusts Tang Yin immensely. But in the end, there is still Duke Cai for military and political affairs... Duke Cai is cautious, so he will definitely remind Your Majesty and ask Your Majesty to take some precautions."

"That's it..." Wei Bin seemed to have thought of something, and asked with wide eyes, "Then, eunuch, are you trying to say that, in fact, all of this... was calculated by Duke Cai? He had already calculated that Tang Yin would win in the northwest and would not need reinforcements? Are you deliberately trying to make fun of the court?"

"Isn't there such a possibility?" Chen Kuan asked back.

"Yes, yes." Wei Bin said, "In the wars involving the north in the past few years, which one was not favored by the people in the court, but ended up with unexpected victory on the battlefield? With the foresight of Duke Cai, nothing he can calculate is surprising... You know, he can even calculate where the Tatars come from. He has calculated everything, including the secrets of heaven and the human heart."

"That's good to know." Chen Kuan said, "All we have to do is follow His Majesty's orders. The rest... the responsibility will not fall on us."

Wei Bin smiled.

Just thinking about it can make you secretly happy.

Who cares what happens in the northwest? What if Tang Yin is defeated and killed in battle?
So what if the Northwest is devastated by the Tatars?
Anyway, that was Zhang Zhou's plan, so all of us... just follow orders and watch the fun from behind.

……

……

Through complicated relationships, Wang Qiong finally met Zhang Zhou in an arms workshop outside the city.

Because Zhang Zhou's military equipment research had far exceeded the city's capacity, government offices such as Wang Gongchang also began to move to different places.

Originally, the capital city had a relatively large amount of gunpowder stored, but now gunpowder was mainly used for the production of military equipment, and most of the military equipment was directly shipped to the border areas. It seemed that the capital city did not need so much military equipment for defense.

"Mr. Zhang, let me be frank. Tang Yin is sending troops to the north. Are you going to do nothing about it? If you send troops like this, without leaving any way for retreat, I'm afraid... it's more likely to be disastrous than good."

Wang Qiong came back from Sanbian.

At the beginning, he definitely didn't dare to send troops like Tang Yin.

So when he came to find Zhang Zhou, he even felt a little ashamed when facing Zhang Zhou.

No wonder you asked Tang Yin to replace me. It turns out this idiot does things differently. When the emperor wanted to send troops, he didn't even leave a way out and led his troops directly to attack.

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "The troops have already been dispatched, so what? It has been nearly a month since they were dispatched. There has been almost no news since they set out to the grasslands, and it seems that he has no intention of sending any news back."

"What... does he want?" Wang Qiong asked.

"Ah! Maybe it's just a breath." Zhang Zhou picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Wang Qiong. "Tang Yin is such a person. He is not good at playing in favorable situations, but he can always perform well in unfavorable situations."

Although Wang Qiong still needed to understand Zhang Zhou's words before he could roughly understand what he meant.

But when I think about it carefully, it seems to make sense.

From the time Tang Yin started leading troops, there had never been a smooth journey. The most successful time was when he led five armies to the grassland... but it ended in failure, and in the end, nothing was gained.

Zhang Zhou said: "It's not that I don't want to send troops to help him, but... does anyone know where he is now?"

"This……"

Wang Qiong was also speechless.

It has been a month since Tang Yin sent out his troops. If we follow his route to provide support, how can we ever find them?
If we look for them based on the Tatars' troop movements...

In the end, no matter how hard they looked, it would be difficult to find where Tang Yin's troops were now. Instead, the dispatch of troops would cause the Ming border army to fall into civil strife.

It would be better not to send troops and let Tang Yin deal with it on his own. We won’t have to go through the trouble of looking for you.

The northwest is now covered with ice and snow. We have neither the right time, place, nor people, just like the Ming Dynasty. How can we help you?

Wang Qiong asked, "What if we know his whereabouts?"

"Then we can consider rushing to help." Zhang Zhou said with a smile, "When the time comes, I will probably lead the troops myself."

"what?"

Wang Qiong was very surprised.

Either you don't come to help, or you go there yourself?
This is... Are you planning to be the second Tang Yin, and not leave yourself any way out? (End of this chapter)