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Chapter 768 Fighting between left and right
"Tsk tsk tsk... hehehe... my luck is getting better and better. Just when I was about to fall asleep, someone handed me a pillow. Wang Chengen, pass the order down and summon the chief military council to the palace to discuss matters!"

But when Emperor Jingyang opened the wax seal and saw the contents inside, he did not look sad, but smiled, as if he had encountered something good. However, judging from Wei Zhongxian's experience, whenever the emperor smiled so insidiously, it was likely that someone would be in trouble.

The three grand secretaries, nine ministers, the minister of public administration, the left censor-in-chief, the minister of the Supreme Court, the chief of the general staff, the admiral of the navy, the admiral of the army, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and several staff officers soon gathered in the Yangxin Palace, leaving only the seal-holder of the Imperial Household Wang An, who had left the palace to deliver the imperial edict and had not returned.

In order, everyone began to pass around the battle report they had just received. The content was very simple. The day before yesterday, the Great Taiji Baihong of the Kharchin tribe sent his confidant to Xuanfu to warn the public that the Mongolian Left Wing Khan Lindan Khan personally led an army of 60,000 to the west, and the troops were heading straight for the Kharchin tribe.

In addition to alerting the three tribes of the Mongolian right wing and asking for help, Da Taiji Baihong also hoped that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would lend a helping hand at the critical moment, sending troops across the border or north to jointly resist the enemy with the right wing, or east to attack them from behind, in order to resolve the urgent problem.

"Has Grand Taiji Baihong confirmed that the attackers are from the army of Ligdan Khan?" Ye Xianggao, who sat in the first position of the civil servants on the left, was the first to finish reading the battle report. He did not dare to hesitate and immediately raised the question.

"It shouldn't be false. Although the Mongolian tribes are divided into different regions, the boundaries are not clear. There are also many intermarriages. It is impossible for anyone to hide any big moves for too long. However, whether what Bai Hong Taiji said is sincere or not, you colleagues need to carefully consider it and don't believe it easily."

The person answering the question was very close to him, sitting right next to him, the cabinet minister Fang Congzhe. Normally, one should first listen to the military's opinions before speaking, but he refused to do so. Not only did he speak, he also spoke with confidence, not afraid of being caught in loopholes and ridiculed or even attacked.

The reason why this behavior completely violates the unspoken rules of officialdom is not because Fang Congzhe lacks experience or wants to achieve a surprise victory, but because the rules of officialdom have changed.

To be precise, the emperor's preferences had changed. He did not like ministers who were submissive and self-protective. He encouraged people to speak their mind and would not punish them for what they said. As the saying goes, if the superior likes something, the subordinates will also like it even more. The officials naturally did what the emperor liked.

"Grand Scholar Fang is right! Based on the intelligence collected by the General Staff over the past year, what Grand Taiji Baihong said is true. Lin Danhan has been colluding with the Jin Dynasty and the Kingdom of Korea for a long time, and his wolfish ambitions are obvious. It's just that it's a bit unexpected that he didn't go directly south to seize the pass, but instead went west to attack the right wing of the Kharchin tribe."

Following Fang Congzhe's words, Yuan Keli also spoke. On behalf of the General Staff, he made a professional evaluation of the content of the battle report. At the same time, he also indirectly admitted that the work of the General Staff was not up to standard and that they had not thought of this step in advance.

This attitude is also very different from the previous court atmosphere, when everyone blamed each other. Even if one's own department was wrong, one could not admit it too quickly, and had to rack one's brains to find others' faults. First, muddy the waters, confuse the emperor, and smooth things over, so that big mistakes could be reduced to small ones and small mistakes could be eliminated.

However, Emperor Jingyang held imperial meetings for several years, where the emperor and his ministers sat at the same table and discussed things face to face. They were not considered finished until the discussion was clear, and they were not allowed to use the incident as an excuse to attack their political enemies. Gradually, they stopped talking in roundabout ways.

"Right now, Huang Taiji has deployed tens of thousands of troops outside Shanhaiguan, pretending to be marching westward. I'm afraid this is related to Lin Danhan's westward attack on the Kalachin tribe. But I don't know which side is real and which is fake. It's best to keep the troops stationed and watch the fire from the other side, so as not to fall into the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain."

There was a war at the northern border, and as the commander-in-chief of the army, he had to speak up, and he couldn't drag the empress dowager down. Li Ruzhang was quite straightforward. If he knew, he knew, and if he didn't know, he wouldn't guess. His attitude was relatively conservative, and he didn't want the Ming army to be injured or killed in the civil war between the Mongols.

"What the governor said is absolutely right! I also think that we should not act rashly. Even if we want to send troops to help, we should wait until both sides have fought for a long time and are exhausted before providing assistance. This will not only strike a blow to the arrogance of the Mongolian left wing, but also weaken the strength of the Mongolian right wing. It will be a hundred benefits to the Ming Dynasty!"

Seeing that the two military leaders had expressed their attitudes, the Minister of War Wang Zaijin had to say a few words. The Navy Commander Wang Sheng had not spoken yet? Forget it. This matter has nothing to do with the navy. If you insist on waiting, you will definitely be ridiculed by the emperor in the end.

"..."The remaining military secretaries of the General Staff just read the battle report silently, and then paid attention to the emperor's expression with their peripheral vision. No one wanted to express their opinions. The main reason was that their professions were too irrelevant, and the emperor did not like to hear clichés. Silence was the most appropriate at this time. "...All the ministers have reasons, but they are also slightly biased. Come, look here. Liaodong, the left and right wings of Mongolia, stretching thousands of miles from Shanhaiguan all the way to the west, are all their territories.

Although these tribes have a small population, they are good at riding and shooting, and they come and go like the wind. If the Ming Dynasty only focuses on defense, it will have to deal with thousands of miles of border walls and hundreds of checkpoints all the time. The military force required will be more than ten times the current one, and the annual cost will also be extremely high.

The reason why I disregarded my own safety and used the bait of leading the army in person to wipe out the Tumed and Ordos rebellions in one fell swoop was not because I really wanted to be on good terms with the King of Shunyi and the Great Taiji Baihong for generations, but to minimize the defensive pressure from Xuanfu to Lanzhou.

This will not only significantly reduce the number of border troops and save a lot of food and wages, but also free up time for the training of new troops. When I have another 100,000 new troops, the troubles on the northern border can be completely solved.

It’s a pity that plans can never keep up with changes. My calculations obviously did not escape the attention of Lin Danhan and Huang Taiji. They knew that the longer they dragged on, the more unfavorable the situation would become, so they had to find ways to disrupt my deployment.

Directly attacking Shanhaiguan is obviously not a good choice. The army can easily keep the enemy out by relying on the high walls and strong cities. It would be a good choice to make a detour to Xifengkou and Gubeikou for a surprise attack, which would make the few troops in my hands exhausted.

But at the beginning of the year, I thought of a way to fill this big loophole. With the completion of Fuyu City, it is no longer possible to suddenly appear near the border wall by crossing the mountains, whether from the east or the north. And if you want to destroy Fuyu City, the price you pay is probably about the same as attacking Shanhaiguan.

Unable to move westward or southward, Lin Danhan and Huang Taiji could only place their hopes further west, such as Xuanfu and Datong. The terrain here was not as rugged as that east of Gubeikou, and there were many passes that could be raided at any time, which was very suitable for large-scale cavalry mobile supply.

But there is still one problem that must be solved, that is, the Kharchin tribe is in front of us. I guess Lin Danhan must have sent people to persuade Baihong Taiji more than once, but to no avail. Since the words failed, he had to resort to force.

If the Ming Dynasty did not offer assistance at this time, with the strength of the Kharchin and Tumed tribes, it would be difficult to withstand the full-force attack of the entire Mongolian left wing.

In addition, everyone should not forget that the Mongolian right wing is not a monolithic entity. Ever since the Ordos tribe sent troops to assist the Sunang rebellion, they have become mortal enemies with Shunyi King Bushitu.

I think that if the left and right wings of Mongolia go to war, the Ordos tribe will not only not send troops to help the Tumed and Kharchin tribes, but will probably stab them in the back. The reason why Lin Danhan dared to send troops westward was probably because he had received the promise of the Ordos tribe.

The battles between nomadic tribes were often decided by a single move, with little room for maneuver. Once the Tumed and Kharchin tribes were at a disadvantage, the Ming would not only have little effect if they sent troops to help, but the difficulty would also be greatly increased.

Don't forget, there is a hungry wolf lying in the east. As long as the Ming army goes deep into the grassland and fails to win a quick victory, the Jin Kingdom will also wait for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack or a strong attack from the east, making it difficult for the army to take care of both ends and very passive. "

Seeing that all the ministers who were capable of expressing their opinions had finished speaking, Hong Tao stood up, walked to the wall, pointed to the huge map and began his summary speech.

(End of this chapter)