unclear

Chapter 525 Slow response
"Your Majesty, I think we should not rush to send troops yet. The battle report sent back by the navy is unclear. Whether Nurhachi proclaimed himself emperor and established a country cannot be based on one word. Even if we really want to send troops to quell the rebellion, we should not rush to send troops for a day or two. We should inquire about the actual strength of the troops from various sources. Wait for It’s safe to plan carefully after the queen’s birthday.”

Seeing that both ministers advocated sending troops immediately, Yuan Yingtai, the newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, could not sit still. He was also called out of bed and came to attend an emergency imperial meeting in the middle of the night. Although he read the same naval battle report, he did not think it was necessary to send troops immediately.

Several years as governor of Liaodong made him understand the situation better than anyone here. The place was sparsely populated, full of rivers, swamps and forests, and lacked ready-made roads. If troops were sent blindly without a thorough plan, it would be difficult to escape once they were passive.

But as a very qualified minister, his speech was more artistic. He did not mention specific strategies and tactics, but brought up the queen's birthday as a reason. The emperor has made such a big move, so he can't give up halfway.

"I think Yuan Shangshu's words are reasonable. After tomorrow, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan should also submit a report. At that time, it will not be too late to call Yuan Keli and Li Ruzhang to make detailed plans."

The chief minister of the cabinet, Ye Xianggao, has always paid great attention to his personal image. Even when he was summoned in the middle of the night and rushed over in a hurry, he still washed and dressed up, and looked more energetic than others.

"Yes, that's what I mean. The celebration is coming soon, so it's not appropriate to start a big fight for the time being. But we can't just turn a blind eye... Wang Shangshu, the Ministry of War has sent General Ma to the capital. How about making preparations in advance?"

Seeing that the ministers had different opinions, the emperor began to get into trouble again. But Hong Tao's method of mixing mud is different. In addition to mud, he also likes to mix some lime and stones into it. It does look like mud, but its effects are often unexpected.

"General Ma... what your majesty said is very true. I immediately wrote a letter and sent six hundred miles to Xuanfu, Datong, and Ningxia." Wang Xiangqian was not aware of the emperor's true intention. After thinking about it for a while, he felt that this method It was very feasible, so I agreed immediately.

"Your Majesty, I think that by first deploying troops from various places to strengthen the defense of the border wall from Shanhaiguan to Xuanfu, we will prevent the sudden incident from delaying the war opportunity."

But Wang Xiangqian felt that it was not enough to mobilize capable generals back to the capital. Since the three major battalions were abolished, the military strength in the capital has been empty. According to past experience, the emperor does not have hundreds of thousands of troops accompanying him, and it seems to be particularly unreliable.

"Don't act rashly for the time being. Since the Jianlu dare to rebel, it's hard to say whether the Beibei will rebel, so let's take a look first. The capital is guarded by the army and everything is safe, so don't worry. My dear friends, please go back to your house and rest first. I need to get up early tomorrow, and I also need to take a nap. a while."

In fact, this imperial meeting was of no use, and no results could be reached. As Yuan Yingtai said, a battle report of a few hundred words is a bit low in credibility and contains too little information.

But Hong Tao insisted on convening it even though he knew it was useless. The purpose was not so much that everyone would add fuel to the flames, but to use the mouths of some people to spread the matter, at least to let some people in the court know about it.

In the eyes of most officials, it was a big bad thing for the Jurchens to proclaim themselves emperors and establish their country, but for a small group of officials, it might be a great event. For this reason, they not only high-five each other, but also become overly excited and let down their guard.

In addition, Hong Tao also wanted to see the reaction of the six ministers and nine ministers after hearing the bad news, and further judge whether there were any deeply hidden opponents. Although this goal was not achieved, another big gain was unexpectedly achieved. The Ma family generals were a famous group of generals in the late Ming Dynasty. They were called Dongli and Xima in the history of the Ming Dynasty. This means that the defense line in the north of the Ming Dynasty was guarded by the Li family in the east and impregnable by the Ma family in the west. The Li family is the Liaodong generals represented by Li Chengliang, and the Ma family is the Shanxi military group represented by Ma Gui.

The Ma family's fortune is somewhat similar to that of the Li family. They both have a short history, and none of them are Han Chinese. Li Chengliang's great ancestor was a Korean from within, while the Ma family were standard Semu people. These two military groups all emerged in the Jiajing Dynasty and became famous in the Wanli Dynasty.

The Ma family's ancestral home is Qishan, Gansu Province, and they are good at raising horses. During the Zhengtong period, due to the intrusion of grassland nomads, the border was in urgent need of war horses, so the Ma family was recruited by the imperial court to the Youwei area of ​​Datong, Shanxi Province to be responsible for raising war horses.

In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing's reign, the Mongolian Tatars provoked a border dispute with the Ming court on the pretext of family disputes. They mobilized troops to break through the killing tiger's mouth and surrounded Youweicheng. At that time, the right guard was far away from the interior, isolated on the border, with few soldiers and food, and was in danger. Under repeated sieges by the Tatar army, the soldiers and civilians of Right Acropolis fought bloody battles and suffered serious casualties.

Ma Lu, who was a general at the time, led his sons Ma Gui, Ma Fu, Ma Jin and others to the city tower and led the soldiers and people in the city to fight bloody battles for eight months. When they ran out of food, they killed the horses, and when the horsemeat was gone, they ate the horsehide. When they ran out of horsehide, they simply caught sparrows and mice to satisfy their hunger, thus blocking the siege of the Tatar army.

From then on, the Ma family became famous in one battle, Ma Lu was promoted to the commander of the right guard, and his brothers and others were also awarded titles one by one. Since then, Mahjong has officially entered the stage of history. Mahjong can be seen almost wherever there is a war.

The most famous among them is Ma Gui, the son of Ma Lu. He and Li Rusong, the son of Li Chengliang, defeated Japanese pirates in Korea, and participated in the battle to pacify Bozhou, making many military exploits. If Liaodong Town is not abandoned, the Ma family will be the best candidate to replace Li Chengliang.

At this time, Ma Gui was nearly eighty years old and had retired to his hometown long ago. His brothers Ma Fu and Ma Jin also died young. However, the Ma family will have successors, and it has not declined because of this.

Nephews Ma Chengxun and Ma Chengen are the commander-in-chief of Gansu Town and deputy commander-in-chief of Datong Town respectively. Their sons, Ma Chengzhao and Ningxia Commander-in-Chief, Ma Chengxun, deputy commander-in-chief of Ji Town, Ma Chengxuan and deputy commander-in-chief Taomin, and Ma Chengzong He served as Shanhaiguan Commander-in-Chief under Jun Jun.

In addition, the third generation of the Ma family has also grown up. Ma Kun, Ma Ke, Malan, Malun and others, the highest have already served as guards, and the lowest are also serving as guards at Killing Tiger Fort.

As long as their fathers and uncles do not fall, and their lives are a little tougher, in a few years, there will be another group of generals named Ma among the senior officers in the towns.

Now that the Liaodong Jurchens have proclaimed themselves emperor and founded their country, they are openly opposing the Ming Dynasty. The east, which has been stable for several years, will soon be shrouded in the clouds of war. If it is verified that this is true, relying solely on Shanhaiguan's independent support is obviously a bit weak, and more generals must be dispatched to support.

At this moment, apart from the army that has not yet officially formed an army, it seems that there are only a few generals from the Ma family who can be said to be accustomed to fighting, have rich combat experience and have a prominent reputation in the heart of the emperor.

(End of this chapter)