unclear

Chapter 839 Inner Mongolia 3
I was not only lucky enough to be a witness, but also an executor. When people mention Inner Mongolia in a few years, they will probably remember that there was a cabinet minister named Fang Congzhe who was the first governor of Inner Mongolia. As for how they will evaluate him, it depends on my ability.

The emperor did not lie, and indeed gave him a chance to surpass the cabinet chief, and at the same time won the loyalty of a minister. He had not much time left in his life, and he did not ask for high office and high salary, but only hoped to make some achievements in his tenure, not to disappoint the reputation of the first term, and not to waste his life.

"General Du, where are these herdsmen going?" After walking westward for several days on the vast plateau with a vast sky and boundless wilderness, Fang Congzhe became increasingly uneasy as they were about to reach Guihua City.

From dawn onwards, from time to time, groups of shepherds could be seen passing by the camp heading eastward. The pack horses they accompanied were not only wearing full sets of armor, but also bundles of arrows.

They traveled westward for more than two hours and encountered more horse groups along the way. Almost all of them had three horses per person and were also carrying weapons. Even people who had rarely been to the border could tell something was amiss.

"Bagua City... These should be the Tumed cavalry. The ones we saw in the early morning were the Kharchin cavalry. Together they number almost 30,000." Du Song certainly also saw these hurried herdsmen, but the light in his eyes was different from Fang Congzhe's. It was more of hope.

"Bagua City? Are they going to break the agreement and you want to rebel against the Ming Dynasty too?" Fang Congzhe was shocked when he heard this and pointed at Du Song with disbelief on his face.

"Governor Fang, please don't be anxious. I have followed Your Majesty in battle for many years. My whole family has been blessed by Your Majesty. Why would I rebel? Who knows more about the military than Your Majesty?"

Du Song was surprised by Fang Congzhe's reaction, but also a little amused. A civil servant who had just accepted the commission and could not even be said to be fully trusted was actually accusing him of being disloyal to the emperor. How could he be justified?

"Then...what are these shepherds trying to do in Bagua City?" After Du Song's explanation, Fang Congzhe calmed down.

That's right, the Du family should have benefited the most from the military reform. If Emperor Jingyang hadn't used them, their family wouldn't have been ranked among the noble generals of the Ming Dynasty. But this couldn't explain the unusual behavior of the Tumed and Kharchin tribes, and there was also the suspicion of knowing the truth but not reporting it.

"This is your majesty's arrangement. The Tumed, Kharchin, and Horchin tribes will send 50,000 troops, and North Korea will send 20,000 troops to cooperate with the army to besiege Hetuala from the west, south, and north.

When the Jurchens saw the Ming army coming south from Jinzhou and relying on strong cities along the way, they would definitely place their main forces in the west, preparing to fight in the mountains and woods. But it wouldn't be long before they discovered that the Korean army was penetrating the mountains from the south and heading north, so they would have to withdraw more troops to block it.

Unfortunately, the army and the Korean army were just empty moves, and the real killer move came from the north. The Khorchin tribe and the Great Jin Kingdom were relatives by marriage, and Huang Taiji could never have dreamed that so many Mongolian cavalry would suddenly move south from his father-in-law's territory.

The tribesmen, food, supplies, and cities that they had settled in Hetuala could no longer be saved. If the news reached the front line, it would inevitably cause riots. Even if they could suppress the riots in time, they would have nowhere to go.

Your Majesty is truly a military god, with the fleets and oars reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye. Compared to him, even Li Chengliang can hardly compare. It is a pity that Du is too old to lead troops to fight again. If I could see the capital of Jianlu being destroyed with my own eyes, I would have no regrets in my life! "

Du Song had been feeling quite depressed these days. He knew that a war was about to start, but as a general he could not participate and had to pretend that nothing had happened. Now that he was asked about it, he could finally let it all out.

"... This, this... So that's how it is... It seems that there are many people in the court who are just sitting there doing nothing, and Fang is one of them!" This news was even more explosive for Fang Congzhe. If he hadn't heard it from Du Song, a lower-ranking general would not have believed it. But the first thing he thought of was not how to fight, but the means of the designer. The emperor had started planning many years ago, but no one in the court could see the clues.

The battle of Xinghe City was thought to be accidental; the surprise attack on Guihua City was feared to be greedy for merit and reckless; building a city outside the border wall was considered a bad move by many court officials; and planning a coup in the Korean court was criticized by all the civil and military officials.

It was not until they used the strong city to advance step by step to the north to attack the White City of Vajra, forcing Ligdan Khan to lead his troops to move north, and then besieged the Jianzhou Jurchens on three sides, that the intention of each step could be seen.

The emperor first used interests to divide the left and right wings of Mongolia, which increased their conflicts and made it impossible for them to unite, and then defeated Ligdan Khan; then he cut off the root of the problem and changed Korea's position. Although the means were despicable, the effect was immediate.

They seemed to be in the north and east, thousands of miles apart and unrelated, but in fact, they were both killer moves, and the ultimate goal was not Mongolia or Korea, but Liaodong. Now they suddenly launched a major counterattack, forcing the three Mongolian tribes and Korea to send troops, and surrounded the Liaodong Jurchens from three sides to completely eliminate them.

Thinking back to the performance of the court officials, there was a huge difference between the two. It was like a child who had just learned to play chess, playing against an old chess player without knowing the extent of the world. Every move was calculated clearly, but he was still unaware of it, thinking that the strength was similar and he still had a chance to fight.

At the same time, he was also thankful that he was chosen as the Governor of Inner Mongolia, away from the trouble. If he continued to jump around in the court, he might get in the way one day and be suddenly uprooted from the chessboard.

"General Du, is there anyone in the army who is fluent in Mongolian and can read and write?" Thinking of this, Fang Congzhe no longer pondered whether he would be exiled by the emperor, but began to seriously consider what to do after taking office.

The emperor entrusted Inner Mongolia to himself and seemed to trust him, but the emperor was not a good guy. Instead, he was a smiling tiger who never cared about what his subjects said, but only about what they did and the results.

If I do nothing after taking office and continue to muddle through my life, seeking no merit but only avoiding mistakes, I guess the emperor will not trust me when I meet him again, and I may not even be able to see him.

But after serving in the imperial court for many years, would he be able to govern the local areas? To be honest, Fang Congzhe really had no confidence. It was one thing to watch others do things and point fingers at them, but it was another thing to actually do it yourself.

However, after all, he was a veteran with real talents and experience in officialdom. He soon found a way that was very suitable for him and in line with the emperor's consistent proposition: running a school!

In Guihua City, a new school was established to teach the children of herdsmen Chinese culture. In a small sense, this was to please the emperor; in a big sense, this was to spread enlightenment, and it was close to the side of the saints. As long as there were no major mistakes, there would only be merits and no faults.

But if you want to run a new school, you can't do it by yourself, and you can't find a few helpers from home. You must have a teacher who understands the new school to help you. At this time, you should look back. In addition to yourself and Du Song, there are seven or eight army officers, or staff officers, on this trip.

Others may not know the background of these young people, but as a cabinet minister, he must know what the Haihu Division is. If he wants to find new teachers, no one is more suitable than them.

(End of this chapter)