unclear

Chapter 659: The Unknown Road
In June of the twelfth year of Jingyang, the north was hit by another severe drought. Many rivers in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Henan dried up, and ponds dried up. In July, the drought still did not improve, and the autumn grain harvest was about to fail.

Fortunately, the imperial court had already set up granaries in the northern provinces a few years ago, and the stored grain could meet short-term needs. If the disaster lasted for a long time, a new disaster relief law would be implemented to transfer grain from the southern provinces and have grain merchants transport it north to solve the urgent problem.

The emperor even issued an imperial decree to transfer more than 80,000 border troops from Shaanxi to the sea along the Yellow River, and the maritime transport office sent ships to escort them to Guangdong for food. He also strictly ordered the border troops in Yulin to reduce their supplies by 50%, freeing up military rations and transferring them to the local government in Shaanxi to distribute to the victims, which barely managed to hold up the situation.

However, Shaanxi lost nearly 100,000 border troops, and its defense immediately became weak. If the Ordos tribe on the left wing of Mongolia took the opportunity to invade the south, the 100,000 border troops in Yulin Town and Ningxia Town alone would be a bit stretched.

Faced with this situation, Emperor Jingyang once again left the Forbidden City in the capital and rushed to Shaanxi with only the army vanguard and several hundred brave warriors from the Imperial Stables, intending to use his aura and reputation to calm the morale of the border troops and make a big gamble with the Mongolian tribes opposite.

Of course, most of the civil and military officials in the court were against this decision. Regardless of whether Emperor Jingyang monopolized power and broke many ancestral laws, which made some people dislike him, at least with him in power, there was no need to worry about border problems.

Moreover, apart from being a bit domineering, this emperor was also very good at making money and did not keep it all to himself, which made a group of newly emerging officials more supportive of him. Who would be willing to see the boy who brings money die too quickly?

It was a pity that the emperor's arrogance was fully revealed at this time. After appointing Yuan Keli, Yuan Yingtai, Ye Xianggao and Wang An as regents, he resolutely left the capital from Deshengmen and headed straight for Juyongguan.

"Your Majesty, I think the southern line is safer than the northern line. I hope you will think twice!" Accompanying the emperor on this tour were the Army Vanguard Commander Du Wenhuan and Chief of Staff Ding Shun. Li Ruzhang was ordered to lead most of the army to stay in the capital.

As the commander accompanying the emperor, Du Wenhuan did not learn the general route of the trip until the time of departure, and then he began to feel uneasy. He hesitated from Deshengmen until he was about to enter Changping Town, and then he mustered up the courage to bring it up.

"What? You also think it's unlucky to follow the same path as Emperor Yingzong Rui?" Hong Tao has heard similar topics countless times from Wang An, Zhang Ran, Ye Xianggao and others in recent days. Even Yuan Keli did not fully support it.

There are generally three routes to go from Beijing to Shaanxi, two in the south and one in the north. In the southernmost one, you can first board a ship at Dagukou, enter the Yellow River, transfer to an inland river boat, and be pulled west by boatmen to Xi'an.

This is a more comfortable way to go, since you spend most of your time on the boat and only get off the boat near Sanmenxia. The disadvantage is that it takes a long time and costs a lot of money.

After entering the Yellow River, the boats have to be pulled upstream by trackers. A small number of boats is ok, but nearly 6,000 troops would require nearly a hundred large inland ships, and at least several thousand trackers would be needed.

The middle route was more difficult to take, as it required crossing the Taihang Mountains to Taiyuan, and then crossing the Yellow River from Pingyang Prefecture to reach Yan'an Prefecture. Although there were eight passes in the Taihang Mountains, all of them were winding through the ravines, and there were no large towns along the way, making the journey very difficult.

The northern route should be the most suitable for the army to pass. It goes out of Deshengmen to the northwest, passes Juyongguan and goes to Yanqing Youwei, and arrives at Xuanfu Town via Bao'an Prefecture.

From Xuanfu Town, you will enter Datong Prefecture in Shanxi Province, turn south to Taiyuan Prefecture, and then go west from Wubao to cross the Yellow River to Suide in Shaanxi Province. From here, you can go to Yulin in the north and to Yan'an Prefecture in the south. The road from Beijing to Xuanfu Town is basically the Beijing section of the Sichuan-Tibet Expressway in later generations. Only the Juyongguan section along the way is relatively dangerous, but it is also accessible by post road, and there are also large and medium-sized towns for supply and rest.

Hong Tao happened to choose this path, which should be the safest one. Why did so many court officials, including Du Wenhuan, repeatedly oppose it?

In fact, they were not against it, but just felt uncomfortable. Zhu Qizhen, the Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, led the army in person along this route during the Battle of Tumu Fortress. However, he encountered the main force of the Oirat Yesen in Tumu Fortress just after crossing the Guihe River and leaving Yanqing.

But in Hong Tao's opinion, this change that affected the future of the Ming Dynasty was not due to geographical reasons, but man-made disasters. The Tumu Fortress Incident was probably a conspiracy between the civil officials and military generals in the Ming court to frame the emperor!
If you look at the map, you will find that Tumubao is not suitable for a large-scale ambush because it is too close to Xuanfu Town and Juyongguan Pass. These two places are the most important military towns in the north of the capital, and a large number of elite frontier troops are stationed there all year round.

As long as these Ming army generals were not pretending to be stupid, how could they allow so many Mongolian troops to roam around right under their noses, especially on the way back from the emperor's personal expedition?

Even if they were negligent at the beginning, when Emperor Yingzong of Ming's army encountered the enemy, the Ming troops in Xuanfu Town and Juyongguan should have quickly gone to rescue them, but they found many excuses saying that they didn't know.

If an event is too coincidental and many coincidences come together, then it is most likely not a coincidence, but a conspiracy. Hong Tao firmly does not believe that Emperor Yingzong of Ming told the local guards when he was leaving Juyongguan: As long as you don't see my head, no one is allowed to send troops out of the pass to rescue me.

On the contrary, the commander of Datong Town should send people to follow the emperor's army, at least to escort them to the jurisdiction of Xuanfu Town before returning. This is not only common sense for officials, but also the logic of normal people.

“……” Faced with the emperor’s frankness, Du Wenhuan could only express his opinion in silence.

"If I hadn't abolished the three major camps in the capital and incorporated the sons and nephews of the generals at the border into Sun Chengzong's army, I might have really become the second wise emperor. The greatest enemy of our dynasty is not the Mongols, the Jurchens, or the Japanese pirates, but the officials in the court. The ancients said that a fortress is most easily breached from the inside, and this is the truth."

Since he wanted to train Du Wenhuan as a future military general, Hong Tao was no longer stingy with words, and took this incident to start a course of reshaping his worldview. Other emperors tried every means to trick their subordinates into being loyal to them, but he did the opposite, trying every means to expose the ugliness of human nature and the filthiness of the power field.

Why do we have to do this? Because it is impossible not to do so. Generals trained by deception may be obedient, but they have lost the ability to think independently. When facing the cruel war, they are too petty and too little wisdom, and they always suffer losses.

If you want to win on the battlefield, you must have the basic quality of insight into human nature. Only by seeing through the evil in human nature, and preferably trying it all out, can you be able to respond and respond freely. If you still have a trace of fantasy that human nature is good, it will not only harm yourself, but also implicate the soldiers under your command. You must never lead an army alone.

(End of this chapter)