Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 565

"Curb your bellicosity?"

Inside the palace, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled, thinking that this guy's lines were quite familiar.

"I'm afraid I don't need you to teach me how to fight a war."

Zhu Gaoxu seldom used "朕" to refer to himself. As a minister, especially one who had served in the Censorate, Yu Qian naturally knew that the emperor was somewhat unhappy.

But in the face of the emperor's displeasure, he still bowed and said: "Your Majesty's use of troops, I have no doubt, but I am worried about your Majesty's safety, this is my duty."

After hearing Yu Qian's respectful explanation, Zhu Gaoxu did not suppress him, but instead examined him carefully.

Zhu Gaoxu did not think that Yu Qian was a purely loyal and upright minister, nor did he think that his military ability was anything outstanding.

If he were a loyal minister, he would not have prepared to execute Mao Zhong's family based on rumors, nor would he have been impeached for years for his autocracy.

If he had been good at military affairs, he would not have urged Shi Heng to pursue the Mongols during the Battle of Beijing.

His main contribution was to cooperate with the generals in the Battle of Beijing and provide logistics for the army.

It is naturally impossible to judge whether such a controversial person is loyal or treacherous based on his historical image.

Just like when Mao Zhong was convicted and exiled, the entire court believed that he was a traitor who colluded with the Mongols.

As a result, after Zhu Qizhen restored the throne, Mao Zhong fought for the country with the lives of his own family and died on the battlefield to prove his loyalty.

If Zhu Qiyu had not dissuaded him, Mao Zhong would probably have been sentenced to death by Yu Qian.

Judging from the fact that all memorials from the cabinet had to be read by Yu Qian and that he influenced the cabinet through his status as the Shangshu, it is true that he was autocratic. In the entire Ming Dynasty, there were few people who used their Shangshu status to influence and suppress the cabinet.

With such power, it is no wonder that Zhu Qiyu subconsciously asked whether Yu Qian was rebelling.

In his opinion, it seemed that Yu Qian was the only one who had the strength to rebel at that time.

However, Zhu Qiyu probably could not have imagined that even though Zhu Qizhen was imprisoned in Nangong, he was able to unite a group of people including Wang Ji, Shi Heng, Sun Jizong, Zhang Wei and others to rebel.

In terms of the means of being an emperor, Zhu Qiyu is far inferior to Zhu Qizhen, and his character is far from that...

"Go back to your government office and do your work. I will make the decision."

Zhu Gaoxu signaled Yu Qian to withdraw, but Yu Qian continued to bow and said, "I beg Your Majesty not to put yourself in danger."

"Get out." Zhu Gaoxu shouted at him to leave again. This time Yu Qian did not stay stubbornly, but bowed in return and left.

If he had his previous personality, he might have continued to advise the emperor until he accepted the advice.

But now, after seeing how the emperor governs the world, he does feel that he only has a narrow perspective and is not as comprehensive as the emperor.

I have fulfilled my duties as a subject. If the emperor continues to do so, I can only say that my vision is not as far-sighted as the emperor's.

"It's a bit less pedantic..."

Zhu Gaoxu calmed down and stopped paying attention to him.

He turned his gaze to Xia Yuanji, sighed and said, "I have my own control over this matter. Besides, the emperor has his own thoughts, which I cannot control. So I will just let the emperor do what he wants."

"The Emperor..." Xia Yuanji became sad to Zhu Di again. Zhu Di was helpless:
"I would rather die on horseback than on a sickbed. Just stay in Hami."

“Back off…”

Zhu Di had said so, Xia Yuanji could only stand up helplessly and said: "If Your Majesty wants to go to the battlefield, I will go with you."

"Ridiculous!" Zhu Di scolded, "How can you ride a horse in your condition?"

"Your Majesty is seventy-four, and I am only sixty-seven. Why can't I..."

Xia Yuanji responded in a low voice, which made Zhu Di very angry. He ordered his men to take him away and find a room to lock him up.

"Yes!"

The Yanshan Guard was submissive in front of the emperor, but he didn't have so many concerns when facing Xia Yuanji. He just stepped forward and said sorry, and then carried Xia Yuanji out.

"Your Majesty! The Emperor! Your Majesty..."

In just a few breaths, Xia Yuanji's voice gradually became smaller and disappeared.

"call……"

Finally, no more dissuasion was heard, which made Zhu Di very happy. He looked directly at Zhu Gaoxu and said:

"Second brother, it's been more than 30 years since my father and I fought together. This needs to be written down in detail."

Zhu Di rarely said the word "I". Since he became emperor, or perhaps after the death of Empress Xu, he seldom used this self-proclaimed name.

It was rare to hear that, and Zhu Gaoxu could also feel his happiness, but Zhu Gaoxu still spoke:

"You can't go to the battlefield, but you can follow the army to Turpan."

"Okay, okay, I got it..."

Zhu Di hummed a tune and walked back and forth in front of the sand table with his hands behind his back. As Zhu Gaoxu watched, time passed quietly.

"Wow—"

On the eighth day of April, more than half a month had passed since the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and the Ming army officially opened fire, and seven days had passed since the Ming army set out to raid the Mohecheng Gorge.

Ever since the Eastern Chagatai Khanate sent 3,000 cavalrymen to test the enemy but failed last time, they seemed to have lost their movement. On the contrary, the Ming army was making steady progress on the front battlefield and the railway construction was constantly advancing.

In just half a month, the Ming army's railway advanced fifteen miles, almost one mile a day.

After Zhu Gaoxu arrived in Hami, more than 100,000 laborers in Hami were basically transferred to the front line, and the railway construction reached a speed of two miles per day.

Such speed frightened Yesenbuhua and Yunusi who were in Turpan City, but they did not know that the emperor had already arrived in Hami.

They were also formulating guerrilla tactics against the Ming army, and at the same time transferred a large number of herdsmen to Lou Zengmu.

Yesenbuhua was also making preparations to send herders from Kashgar, Khotan and other places to Asu so that they could retreat to North Central Asia at any time.

It was during such intensive preparations that a goshawk in the sky flew through the clouds, sweeping the Tianshan Mountains with its sharp eyes, and finally landed on a long black and red dragon.

It lowered its altitude and saw that in the rolling dust, in addition to tens of thousands of horses of various types, there were also thousands of elite soldiers riding on horseback.

It gained altitude, soared, and then headed toward the grassland in search of prey.

At the same time, the horses and soldiers under it were also moving forward towards their own goals.

As Zhu Gaoxu expected, there was indeed a road that could be crossed in the section of the Eastern Tianshan Mountains between Hami and Turpan, and they lived up to everyone's expectations and crossed the Eastern Tianshan Mountains and arrived in the northern Xinjiang north of the Tianshan Mountains.

At this moment, they had already passed the Pule County of the Tang Dynasty, where there were no traces of the Tang Dynasty except for some mounds.

Just by looking at the mound, it is difficult to tell whether it was the Pulei County of the Tang Dynasty.

Now they are about to go to present-day Lou Zengmu, Luntai County under the jurisdiction of Tingzhou, the seat of Beiting Protectorate in the Tang Dynasty.

"map!"

In the team, Chen Mao led the dusty Jilin guards to stop their horses and raised their hands to ask for a map.

Zhu Qiyue rode forward and, wearing a mandarin duck-patterned battle jacket, handed over the map.

Chen Mao unfolded the map, measured it with his hands, and said, "It's only 150 miles to Lou Zengmu. All the troops should dismount and rest for two hours. We will continue on our way after dusk. When we are 50 miles away from Lou Zengmu, we will put on our armor, bypass Lou Zengmu, and head south to the Mohecheng Gorge!"

"Yes!" Zhu Qiyue bowed and responded, and the thousand soldiers of the army also responded one after another.

Everyone dismounted and fed their military horses, draft horses and riding horses with beans and fresh water.

Since it is early April, the snow on the Tianshan Mountains is not melting quickly, but at least there is water available.

For this raid, each soldier carried one dou of rations, half a jin of chopped vegetables, one jin of salt, vinegar and sauce, and ten jin of coal.

Among these, carrying coal is for boiling water to avoid drinking raw water in the wild.

Ten kilograms of coal are enough to boil hundreds of kilograms of raw water, enough for a small flag to drink for three days.

They had been marching for seven days and had consumed nearly 30% of the coal they carried.

Zhu Qiyue calculated that the coal they carried was enough to last for twenty days, and the army would only need fifteen days to completely wipe out the Western Tartar Army.

Thinking of this, he felt relieved.

"How is it, has your butt been able to bear it these days?"

Chen Mao rode over and asked Zhu Qiyue who was sitting on the ground. Zhu Qiyue grinned and said, "It's okay. I have been hunting with my great grandfather for many years. Sometimes it is normal to ride for two or three days."

"Although this march will be long, I can still endure it."

Although Zhu Qiyue responded in this way, his butt was indeed rubbed hard.

When Chen Mao heard him say this, he looked around.

Although he was only fourteen years old, Zhu Qiyue managed his one thousand cavalrymen in an orderly manner.

Just with this ability, he is stronger than his father when he was his age.

Of course, Chen Maoke didn't dare to say it directly, but he looked at Zhu Qiyue with a little more respect.

If Zhu Qiyue is given enough time, he may be able to lead 10,000 soldiers in due course.

As for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Chen Mao did not think about it carefully, because there was no enemy in the Ming Dynasty that needed to dispatch an army of hundreds of thousands.

The current Ming army can run rampant in Indochina and the grasslands with just a few thousand men, and can chase down a single force with tens of thousands of men.

Even now that Yilibali has been destroyed, the number of regular troops dispatched is only 30,000. This is a good example.

If the Ming Dynasty dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops, even Timur's Shah Rukh would probably have to send people to ask whether the Ming Dynasty was ready to emulate the Mongol Empire's westward expedition.

Chen Mao took a sip of water, then turned his horse around and returned to his own camp to rest.

The soldiers of Jilin Guard all knew Zhu Qiyue, so there was no need to hide his identity.

After resting for a quarter of an hour, Chen Mao continued to order the army to march.

Perhaps it was because Yunusi and Yesenbuhua had made preparations to escape, so they did not encounter a single herdsman in the hundreds of miles from crossing the Eastern Tianshan Mountains to now.

However, as they gradually approached Lou Zengmu, news of the discovery of herdsmen appeared ahead.

"Captain Zhu, lead your cavalry as the vanguard. If you find any herdsmen, kill them all!"

Chen Mao showed his iron-blooded side. Zhu Qiyue was stunned for a moment. He obviously didn't expect to attack the herdsmen, but he quickly reacted and bowed: "Yes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he shook the reins of his horse and took more than a thousand of his men to replace the vanguard thousand households and become the vanguard scouts of the army.

The thousand people were divided into ten groups and headed in different directions, but generally they were heading west.

The sky gradually darkened, and the fire was particularly conspicuous at this time.

Soon, the hundred households led by Zhu Qiyue saw a fire.

He led the cavalry forward and saw a nervous family standing outside a simple animal skin tent, holding bows and arrows.

They look very different from the people in the Central Plains, nor like the Mongols, but more like Semites.

"Your Highness?" A young officer sitting next to Zhu Qiyue on horseback asked Zhu Qiyue.

He was originally the chief officer of this thousand households, and is now under the command of Zhu Qiyue.

He did not feel aggrieved about this, but felt extremely honored. He thought that the emperor's entrusting the crown prince to him for protection was the greatest trust in him.

"boom--"

When the gunshots were heard, even the young captain did not notice it. Only then did he see that Zhu Qiyue had shot and killed the shepherd man who was holding a bow.

His wife and daughter started crying after they realized what was happening, and his son immediately tried to pick up the bow and arrow on the ground to fight back, but he was noticed by the young captain, who raised his gun and shot him dead.

"Just kill him, give him a quick death!"

Zhu Qiyue did not indulge in the guilt of his first murder. Perhaps he had prepared himself on the way here.

He gave the order decisively, and seeing this, the two young captains drew their guns and sent the herdsman's wife and daughter to accompany him.

"Go, keep going!"

Turning his horse's head and shaking the reins, Zhu Qiyue led the army to continue marching at night with a stern face.

Due to proper nutrition, there are very few people with night blindness in the Ming army today. Anyone with night blindness who serves in the army for more than three months and cannot be cured will be sent back to his hometown to make a living.

Because of this, the army was able to continue advancing under the cover of night.

Time passed little by little, and suddenly a bright firework appeared behind.

Due to the distance being too far, the fireworks appeared blurry even to Zhu Qiyue and the others. If they were farther away, they would probably not be able to see them at all.

"Pull back the horses and set up camp, and rest on the spot!"

The moment Zhu Qiyue saw the fireworks, he looked around. With the faint light of the torch in his hand, he could see the surrounding terrain clearly.

Finding himself still on the plain, he decisively ordered his troops to dismount and rest.

Under his military order, more than a hundred men dismounted to rest, and the remaining nine centurions did the same.

The fireworks were the signal for the central army to rest, but they were at least ten miles away from the fireworks, so they could not see them clearly.

This kind of fireworks is difficult to see beyond fifteen miles even on the plains, so under normal circumstances, messages are sent by sentry horses.

Sure enough, less than a quarter of an hour after Zhu Qiyue and his men reined in their horses, a scout came to search for them, and then informed them of the time to set out the next day.

"We will set out at 4:45 tomorrow morning. Please pay attention to the time, officers!"

"I understand. Thank you for your trouble."

Zhu Qiyue bowed in return, then took out his pocket watch and looked at it.

After arriving in the Western Regions, he had already gotten used to the time difference here.

Since pocket watches are mainly adjusted to Beijing time, when it gets dark in the Western Regions during this season, it is almost 22: p.m.

If another month or two passes, it may even get dark at 6:15 pm.

He looked at his pocket watch. It was now 23:30. If he wanted to set out at : a.m., he would have to be ready at least at : a.m.

In other words, they only have about three hours to rest.

"How far are we from Lou Zengmu?"

Zhu Qiyue asked the young captain, who bowed and replied, "About a hundred miles."

From the afternoon till now, they have walked a total of fifty miles. Including the morning, their total march has reached a hundred miles.

This marching speed was already quite fast, and of course it was not the limit of the Ming army, but they stipulated that they would reach Lou Zengmu in ten days, so there was no need to rush.

"As before, the brothers of the two small flags took turns to stand guard. During the day, they tied themselves to the horses, and the other brothers led the horses and took them away."

"Yes!"

Zhu Qiyue issued the military order, and the young captain bowed and responded decisively.

Soon, everyone took off the saddle of the horse, the saddle of the draft horse, and the armor, food, water bags and coal on his back.

After feeding the horses, everyone set up ten tents.

Using saddles as pillows and quilts to cover their bodies, everyone slept in this simple way on the plain Gobi Desert.

The Western Region is dry, so there is no need to worry about developing rheumatism from sleeping like this.

Three hours was undoubtedly not enough to make Zhu Qiyue and others full of energy after they had been running around all day.

But even so, they had to get up at the appointed time, start packing up the tents, and put saddles and water bags, coal and food on the draft horses.

As they mounted their horses, a team of small flags went back to inform the central army that they had set out, while Zhu Qiyue led the rest of the men to continue heading west.

Time passed little by little. In early April, grass had not yet grown in the northern border. After running for more than thirty miles, it was already noon.

During this period, they discovered many herdsmen, but still dealt with them according to military orders.

Zhu Qiyue ordered his men to cook. After the scouts were sent out for more than ten miles, they ate the tasteless rations and continued on their way.

From noon to afternoon, time passed slowly, and they were getting closer and closer to Lou Zeng's mother.

"Beep--"

A shrill whistle sounded, and when the army was tired, the cavalry on sentry duty saw more than a dozen cavalrymen appearing in front of them.

At this moment, the army was already in armor, and everyone drew their guns and was on guard.

As soon as the whistle sounded, the dozen or so Western Tartar cavalrymen instantly fled westward.

"Don't chase us. Our mission is to protect the central army's detour to the south. Lou Zengmu's army only has a few thousand people. They can't stop us at all!"

Zhu Qiyue stopped the people who wanted to pursue him, and said to the young captain, "Guo Deng, send a message to the central army. It seems that we are already near Lou Zengmu."

"Yes!" Guo Deng bowed in response, and then sent someone to pass the message to Chen Mao.

As the message was being passed on, they seemed to have walked out of the Gobi Desert, and green gradually appeared ahead.

"We're almost there, now turn south!"

Zhu Qiyue remembered the appearance of the sand table. Lou Zengmu was between the Eastern Tianshan Mountains and the Tianshan Mountains. Now if they walked south, they should be able to reach Lou Zengmu.

"Captain, do you want to wait for the instructions from Earl Ningyang?"

Guo Deng asked Zhu Qiyue, and Zhu Qiyue thought about it and decided to wait. Anyway, even if Lou Zengmu passed the message to Turpan, they would be able to block the entrance of Mohecheng Gorge before the Western Tartar army in Turpan returned.

"The army dismounts and awaits instructions from Earl Ningyang!"

Zhu Qiyue was the first to dismount, followed by Guo Deng.

As the great-grandson of Guo Ying, Guo Deng is actually of the same generation as Zhu Zhanhe, and is a distant cousin of Zhu Qiyue.

However, the age difference between the two is not that big. Guo Deng is now eighteen years old and Zhu Qiyue is fourteen years old.

Guo Deng inherited Guo Ying's genes. He was five feet six inches tall and had strong arms. At a young age, he was appointed as a thousand-household official in Jilin Guard.

After this expedition to the Western Regions is over, I'm afraid he will be able to accumulate merit and become the deputy commander of the Guards, or even the commander-in-chief of the Guards.

"Guo Deng, how many people are there in your generation?"

While waiting for Chen Mao, Zhu Qiyue suddenly asked about the number of people in Guo Deng's generation.

Guo Deng was slightly stunned by this, and then he said: "I estimate there are about 100 to 200 people. My father's generation had 28 people."

"Twenty-eight?" Zhu Qiyue couldn't help but be amazed. He didn't expect that his uncle-in-law actually had so many grandchildren.

But when he thought of the jade disc he had looked through, he suddenly felt that it was very normal.

Compared with Guo Ying, the Zhu family's reproduction speed is also not slow.

Old Zhu himself had 26 sons. Although many of them died or had no descendants, there are still many who survived.

Because only three of Zhu Di's sons survived to adulthood, the number of Zhu family's jade discs has only grown to more than 600 people.

Of course, this speed is already very fast. After all, the Ming Dynasty was only established for 66 years, and the population has grown from two people to more than 600 people.

Fortunately, my grandfather formulated the policy of eliminating jade plates for those who were out of the five mourning levels, otherwise, in another 66 years, the Ming Dynasty would probably have developed to a scale of over 10,000 people.

"When I ascend the throne, I will definitely eliminate those distant relatives whom I do not know."

"Sorry..."

Before Zhu Qiyue had time to think about it, he heard the sound of horse hooves behind him.

"Send the order from the Earl of Ningyang. Gather the vanguard. Don't worry about the central army. Rush southward. We must reach the entrance of Mohe City before dusk tomorrow!"

"Before dusk?!"

After receiving the military order, Zhu Qiyue's face looked a little ugly. It was at least one hundred and sixty miles from here to the entrance of Mohe City Gorge.

From now until tomorrow evening, that is about fourteen hours.

One hundred and sixty miles in fourteen hours?

Zhu Qiyue looked at Guo Deng, who also subconsciously looked at him and bowed at the same time, saying, "Captain, our army must set out immediately."

"The army is on the move. Send a message to each of the hundred households and assemble at the entrance of the Mohe City Gorge. There is no need to do anything else with the Tangqi!"

Zhu Qiyue made the decision when necessary, and Guo Deng also sent someone to pass on the order.

Soon, the army ignored the Tangqi sent by the Eastern Chagatai Khanate from Lou Zengmu, and began to gather together.

As they approached, Lou Zengmu's troops also moved closer, and hundreds of cavalry followed and monitored their flanks from about two miles away.

"It seems that this general of Lou Zengmu is a mediocre person, and he doesn't even know our army's intentions."

Zhu Qiyue's judgment was obvious, and Guo Deng advised: "Captain, it is better not to underestimate it."

"It's not that I look down on it, but it's the truth!"

Zhu Qiyue pointed the reins in his hand to the west, and Guo Deng looked over, but couldn't see clearly.

"Can't see?" Zhu Qiyue was surprised. Guo Deng nodded and said, "It's true that I can't see clearly. I don't have such eyesight."

"I have only seen such eyesight in Your Majesty."

“That’s…” Zhu Qiyue became proud when he heard that his eyesight could be compared with his grandfather’s.

At the same time, Guo Deng also picked up the telescope and looked in the direction Zhu Qiyue pointed.

Only then did he see the scene clearly, which had been a little blurry before. It turned out that they had passed Lou Zengmu, and outside Lou Zengmu was a large number of herdsmen.

"They are migrating herdsmen. It seems that their confrontation with our army in Turpan during this period is just to cover the herdsmen's retreat." Guo Deng noticed and analyzed.

"Haha! But it's too late now!" Zhu Qiyue grinned:
"I will block the 40,000 Western Tartars at the entrance of the Mohe City Gorge and bring back a great achievement to show my father!"

(End of this chapter)