The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, more than 4,000 cavalrymen led by Zhu Feng had rushed to Datong from Piantou Pass.

The first thing Zhu Feng did after entering the city was to pay a visit to Wang Shouren, because the starting point of the emperor's tour this time was in Datong. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the emperor's tour, some generals from the three borders would also be ordered to mobilize troops in the direction of Datong.

However, in order to ensure that there would be no military mistakes in the three borders, the main personnel mobilized were the father and son of Chengguo Duke Zhu Fu. Since Zhu Fu started from Yansui, it was expected that he would arrive in Datong four to five days later than Zhu Feng.

This was much earlier than the emperor's arrival in Datong, so there was no need to worry about any major changes happening during this period.

Inside the Datong General Administration Office.

When Zhu Feng saw Wang Shouren, he bowed respectfully.

Wang Shouren also showed respect for Zhu Feng. After all, among the main generals in the northwest border, there is only one general like Zhu Feng who has both background and strength as well as a powerful backer. Even his father Zhu Fu had to stand aside.

"I heard that Duke Cai is going to lead his troops to attack the grasslands. Is this true? Where will he send his troops from? Does he need my assistance?"

This time, Zhu Feng sincerely hoped that Zhang Zhou could take him into the grassland.

He used to be the one who avoided war, but as the influence of the Chengguo Mansion began to weaken, Zhu Feng also hoped to gain something for the Zhu family through his relationship with Zhang Zhou.

Moreover, he had great expectations for Zhang Zhou's expedition, because Zhang Zhou had told him more than once that he would take him to achieve great things in the future.

Wang Shouren said, "I just learned that Minister Zhang will personally lead his troops to attack the grasslands. I heard that the troops he will bring are not many, only a few thousand. As for whether he will go out from Datong or from somewhere else, I don't know. Zhijie, you are new here, you should first familiarize yourself with the local defense."

What I mean is, you should stop worrying about your brother Zhang and focus on your own business.

"Did Your Majesty lead the army in person?" Zhu Feng asked again.

"Yes." Wang Shouren said, "It is expected to arrive in Datong in about 20 days. During this period, we must ensure that the Tatars will not interfere with the emperor's visit to Datong. After you rest for a few days, I will send you with tens of thousands of troops out of the pass and march to Weininghai first."

Zhu Feng asked: "Why not turn back to the direction of Juyong Pass?"

Wang Shouren shook his head and said, "The route behind us will be coordinated by the local troops from Xuanfu. We have made detailed arrangements. Now, from Datong to Maoerzhuang, and then to Weininghai, there are no continuous passes to block the passage. If the Tatars invade, it may pose a certain threat. This is where you need to garrison."

Zhu Feng nodded and said, "I understand. Your Majesty will not encounter war if he is inside the pass. But if he leaves the pass and goes to Weininghai, he will definitely get into trouble... I don't know when Duke Cai will come to Datong. If he sends troops from Weininghai... I want to go with him."

Wang Shouren said: "The court has not made such an arrangement. You should obey my orders and do what I tell you to do."

As a general, you really have no awareness at all.

Wang Shouren almost wanted to say, whose orders are you following?
You can't say that just because you have a powerful backer, you won't obey my orders, right?

Zhu Feng was sullen, but he seemed to understand that Wang Shouren was his immediate superior and he could only obey orders respectfully.

……

……

Zhang Zhou and his troop are elusive and will not go through Datong. Instead, he will go out of the pass through Zhangjiakou, enter the grassland, and march straight ahead.

Because Tang Yin had only sent back a rough coordinate before, and nearly a month had passed, Zhang Zhou himself didn't know where Tang Yin's troops were now. All he had to do was to figure it out on his own after leaving the city.

It would be better if he could make the troops get lost and make the Tatars think that their army was leading a group of fools. As long as the Tatars dared to send troops to fight him, he would let the Tatars feel the power of technology.

As for Zhu Youtang, his troops moved very slowly, and it took four days to reach Juyong Pass.

The army will have to rest for a day at Juyongguan before moving on.

Because the pass could not temporarily accommodate these 20,000 soldiers, some of them were stationed directly outside the pass. It’s not that there was no place in the city, but if the emperor wanted to enter the city, some proper arrangements had to be made. Half of the emperor’s 20,000 soldiers were not cavalry... This actually brought great inconvenience to the soldiers defending Juyong Pass.

Wherever the emperor went, he seemed to be a huge burden, making it very difficult for the local people to deal with him.

After Zhu Youtang entered the city, he immediately summoned the actual commander of the troops in Juyong Pass, the Wei Commander, Zhang Dahong, who was now temporarily transferred to be the deputy general of Xuanfu.

This man is considered to be a professional who successfully graduated from the Yanwu Hall and was transferred from the commander of Datong Guard to the garrison commander of Juyongguan. Although he has sufficient theoretical knowledge, he has no practical experience. He is the kind of person who is excluded by the practical faction in Datong, but he himself is eager to gain military merits.

But according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, those without practical experience can only be placed on the second line, so he could only be temporarily placed in Juyongguan.

The last time this place was invaded by the Tatars was after the Battle of Tumu.

"His Majesty……"

Zhang Dahong felt like smoke was coming out of his ancestral graves because he could see the emperor. After seeing Zhu Youtang, he knelt there with his head on the ground and refused to get up no matter what.

Zhu Youtang asked, "When did Zhang Qing's men arrive?"

Zhang Dahong spoke with a strong Shanxi accent and asked, "I don't know which Zhang Qing family you are from."

This made Yang Peng, who was accompanying the army, extremely anxious. He said, "It is the Duke of Cai."

"Duke Cai has been gone for four days." Zhang Dahong said.

Zhu Youtang asked, "How many days have we been walking here?"

"Your Majesty, it seems to be... four days." Yang Peng said.

Zhu Youtang frowned and said, "What do you mean by 'seemingly'? It was clearly four days. It took four days to walk more than a hundred miles, but for Bingkuan, it was over in less than a day! It was so fast."

Yang Peng said: "Your Majesty, Duke Cai is sending troops to the grasslands as a vanguard officer, so he is moving fast."

"So now he..." Zhu Youtang really wanted to ask, has he already left Beiguan and entered the grassland?
But then I thought again, this Zhang Dahong in front of me seems to have some ability, but he is a bit honest and straightforward. I immediately felt that I would not be able to get any information out of him.

Zhang Dahong said: "I have prepared a welcoming banquet for your majesty."

Zhu Youtang shook his head and said, "I don't like people who come to drink. Besides, how can I drink casually when I am on a campaign?"

Yang Peng said, "Your Majesty, the weather is cold. Generally speaking, it is not a bad idea for soldiers to prepare some wine to keep warm."

Zhu Youtang waved his hand and said, "I don't need it here. I need to rest first, so please don't disturb me."

"Yes." Yang Peng responded, and suddenly asked, "Then your Majesty, if the princess comes to pay her respects..."

"Oh, Princess, you can."

When Zhu Youtang thought of his daughter, a kind smile appeared on his face.

This time he did not forget to bring his daughter with him to see the world. Zhu Youtang really wanted to be a loving father. …

……

on the grassland.

A great war is still going on.

The actual area initially controlled by Tang Yin's troops was about fifty or sixty miles in depth. On this basis, the cavalry moved back and forth to deal with the main force of the Tatars.

Because most of the place is wilderness and along rivers, the Tatars have a very good control over the terrain.

As long as the Tatars found signs of an attack from the Ming army, whether during the day or at night, they would be able to respond according to the terrain and form a three-sided attack, forcing the Ming army to retreat after chasing for a while.

This is what Tang Yin meant.

This was to prevent the attacking troops from being surrounded by the Tatars on all sides. Even if there were muskets at that time, the lack of more lethal heavy artillery and long-range cannons would have caused the Ming army to be surrounded and unable to break out.

Although muskets have obvious advantages on the front battlefield, they are also limited by their range, which will give the Tatars a way to deal with them.

This happened for several days in a row.

Although there were victories every day, the Ming army also suffered losses every day, and the casualty ratio remained at around one to five.

After a few days, hundreds of Ming soldiers died and dozens were injured.

The Tatars suffered only a few thousand casualties, and the battle was fought with great restraint on both sides.

Finally, at dusk one day, the Ming army retreated, preparing to launch an attack on the Tatar's pre-set camp on the other side of the river downstream with the cooperation of several troops.

In the previous few days, the Tatars had set up camp overnight and advanced the camp nearly ten miles. At this time, the Tatar camp was only about ten miles away from the river valley where the Ming army was located, which had already threatened the stability of the Ming camp. In order to prevent the Tatars from hiding their soldiers and launching a night attack, Tang Yin prepared to clear out the Tatar camps overnight.

In this battle, Tang Yin personally went to the front line to command.

He left Ma Yi and Xu Jing to guard their own camp, while he led Zhang Rui's troops to attack the enemy's camp.

"boom!"

Just when the Ming vanguard troops were only one or two miles away from the Tatar camp, black smoke rose in the camp.

Tang Yin pointed in the direction of the camp and said to the messengers around: "Delay the attack. If there are traces of the Tatars, don't pursue them relentlessly. The purpose of this battle is only to destroy the camp."

Because Tang Yin had anticipated that the Tatars might bury gunpowder in the camp, his goal this time was not to annihilate a large number of Tatar soldiers, but simply to completely eliminate the camps that could house troops.

The other party used gunpowder to blow up the room, which meant that there were soldiers lying in ambush inside. He didn't know how many there were, and he was not afraid of the other party using gunpowder to blow up the room.

Anyway, it's all about pulling out the nails, and if the Tatar does it himself, it will save him a lot of effort.

……

……

Before sunset, the Ming Dynasty's vanguard troops had entered the camp.

The fierce resistance that Tang Yin expected did not occur.

Dozens of Tatars escaped from the southeast of the camp. Zhang Rui first sent troops to pursue them, but they turned back after chasing them for five or six miles. On the way back, they encountered an ambush by Tatars. The two sides engaged in a small-scale battle. The Ming cavalry used the advantage of muskets to repel the Tatars.

But more Tatar cavalry, about tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were approaching, so Zhang Rui had to call back his troops and withdraw towards the Tatar's first camp.

As a result, the Tatars officially began to station troops in the second camp, using fences and other means to form barriers, and even added wooden and iron defenses outside the fences to prevent the Ming army from using cavalry and muskets to launch an assault.

When Zhang Rui led his troops back to the first camp, Tang Yin had already led his men to destroy all the tents set up by the Tatars.

"We didn't find much gunpowder," the people below reported, "but we did find a lot of straw men blown up inside. They were wearing the uniforms of Ming Dynasty soldiers."

"Where did they get so many military uniforms?" Tang Yin asked.

The people below couldn't answer.

Obviously, these military uniforms were not lost by this group of people. Among the previous battles, the one with the heaviest casualties was the one in which Liu Jin lost at Huamachi, although that battle was ultimately won thanks to Ma Yi and Zhang Rui's assault troops.

But the Ming Dynasty also lost nearly two thousand soldiers in that battle.

In addition, the Tatars also raided the Ming territory at Huamachi and seized several Ming warehouses, so it was not surprising to find some military uniforms.

Tang Yin said: "This is a humiliation to me."

Zhang Rui also happened to come back at this time and said, "Sir, I have seen clearly that about fifteen miles away from here is the enemy's second line of defense. Their wooden fences have been put up. It has been almost this afternoon."

"Didn't you pay attention when you sent out the troops before?" Tang Yin frowned.

On this day, Zhang Rui was in charge of the assault.

It seemed that the Tatars also discovered that the Ming Dynasty was short of troops, and they also used some tactics to divert attention, attracting the Ming army to pursue them on the west bank of the river, making it easier for them to set up camp on the east bank. They even spent an entire afternoon setting up a wooden fence outside the second camp.

Zhang Rui said: "They seem to want to advance step by step. On the way back, we found a lot of wooden stakes and other things. They have secretly planted stakes. If they use them to set up camp, they may be able to advance a few more miles overnight."

Tang Yin frowned and said, "If we can't wipe them out in one go, they will push their front line to the river bank in less than half a month, less than four or five miles away from us."

Zhang Rui sighed, "It's a pity that we don't have heavy artillery. But we have gunpowder, although not much, but now is the time to blow a hole in the defense line they have built, and then use it to break in. It won't be difficult."

"A hole..."

Tang Yin didn't seem to agree with Zhang Rui's plan.

Zhang Rui asked, "Does your Excellency have any concerns?"

"It's just a gap. If the soldiers rush in, the gap will be blocked by them, and the soldiers who go in will be trapped. Although our soldiers have firearms, in such a close-range battle, bows and crossbows can also cause great damage. Our soldiers are less than one-tenth of theirs. How can we win this battle?"

Zhang Rui said anxiously: "But we can't let the Tartars advance step by step like this."

Tang Yin said: "What we can do now is to send troops day and night to harass their camping and advance, and try to slow down their advance. Only in this way can we collect more resources for our rear... Now we don't have enough food and grass. Dry food can still support for quite a while, but horses need fodder... This takes time to prepare." (End of this chapter)