Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Capital city, Wuying Palace.

For the first time, the officials of the Ming Dynasty's Privy Council experienced the feeling of winning a battle from thousands of miles away.

With the help of carrier pigeons and arm board communications, news of the Battle of Dalingh River will be transmitted within three days at the latest.

This allowed the Privy Council officials to have a clear understanding of the battle situation on the front lines, and even a better grasp of the overall situation than the front lines.

At this time, Yang Sichang, the chief of the General Staff, explained to the emperor and others based on the news from the front:
"The Jianlu went south to Dalinghe, not to attack Jinzhou."

"They have suffered two setbacks on the Ningjin defense line before, and they will not rush in rashly again."

"According to the information from Dalinghe No. 2 Fort and the surrounding beacon towers, the Jianlu cavalry appeared in the Dalinghe Valley and seemed to be planning to move westward and enter the Halashen area."

"We don't need so many troops to attack Harashen. Their purpose is obviously to bypass the grassland and break through the Great Wall pass outside Shanhaiguan."

(In the historical Jisi War, the Jianlu took a detour through the grassland and broke through the Longjing Pass, Hongshan Pass, and Da'an Pass)

This is what the emperor has always been worried about, and all the arrangements made in Liaodong since he ascended the throne were also intended to prevent this.

The Privy Council officials were well aware of this, and at this time they confirmed that the emperor was indeed far-sighted.

If the emperor had not arranged for people to repair the Great Wall long ago, how could they sit here and discuss the defense of the Great Wall calmly.

Amidst the praises for the emperor, Yuan Keli, the Privy Councilor, asked Zhu Xieyuan, the commander of the Great Wall:

"Has the Great Wall that Jizhen is responsible for been repaired?"

"Are you sure you can stop the Jianlu from breaking through the pass?"

There are too many passes in the Great Wall, and it is impossible for every pass to have the same defense as Shanhaiguan.

Zhu Xieyuan thought of the 50,000 troops dispatched by the Jianlu, and was not sure that the passes could stop the invasion of the Jianlu. But in the court, he could only say with confidence:

"The Great Wall has not experienced war for many years, and many parts have fallen into disrepair. Fortunately, the cement produced by the Ministry of Industry has filled most of the gaps."

"Signal towers have also been built at various beacon towers. As long as the Jianlu invade, they will report it immediately."

"I will do my best to stop the Jianlu from breaking through the pass."

The officials praised this and they still had confidence in Zhu Xieyuan, who defended Chengdu during the She'an Rebellion.

However, Zhu Xieyuan knew that defending Chengdu was much less difficult than defending the passes along the Great Wall, so he requested:

"During the defense of Chengdu, there were only 2,000 soldiers in the city at first. I summoned troops from Shiqu and other places to come to the rescue, and then fortified the city and cleared the fields near Chengdu, and only then was the rebels stopped."

"I think that since the Jianlu are planning to move south, we should mobilize nearby troops to come to our aid and declare martial law in Shuntian Prefecture."

This caused an uproar among the ministers, and many people disagreed with Zhu Xieyuan's suggestion.

One reason is that during the martial law period, the emperor held all the power, which most of the officials did not want to see.

Second, although the Jianlu showed signs of invading via the grassland, they did not attack us in the end.

If the Jianlu's goal was not to attack from the grasslands, but to be held back by the Ningjin Line of Defense and the Dalinghe Line of Defense, then they hurriedly declared martial law and sent troops from all directions to defend the king. Isn't that making a fuss over nothing and appearing too incompetent?
Xiong Mingyu, the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War, was the first to stand up and object:
"Shuntian Prefecture was already under martial law last year, and it is being imposed again this year. I am afraid that the world will be in turmoil."

"Besides, the Jianlu are still in Daling River. Whether they will go south is still a matter of debate."

"I think we should keep calm and be on high alert."

The ministers responded one after another, and Zhu Youjian frowned and said:

"Can the Jianlu be subdued by calming them down?"

"Could Xiong Qing go to the Daling River front to stabilize the situation?"

Xiong Mingyu was suddenly speechless and didn't dare to respond at all.

If he dared to talk big and speak in a high-profile manner, the current emperor would really dare to send him to the front line.

In his opinion, it was impossible for a castle with only 3,000 people to defend against the 50,000-strong Jianlu army.

What if I go there and get caught by the Jianlu?
The same was true for other officials. Most of them fell silent when the emperor glanced at them.

After all, they worked in the Privy Council and knew the dangers of war. They would not speak nonsense casually like officials in the Ministry of Rites and other government offices.

After suppressing this voice, Zhu Youjian also knew that it would not be easy to forcibly order martial law, so he asked again:
"What else can you do? Prevent the Jianlu from bypassing the grassland."

"If they succeed once, they may attack again in the future."

"At that time, the imperial court had to defend not just Shanhaiguan, but the entire Great Wall."

"All the cities within the Great Wall also need to be defended by troops everywhere, just like Ningyuan and Jinzhou."

Thinking of the danger involved and the cost of the Ningjin Defense Line, the ministers also understood why the emperor attached so much importance to this.

This made them pay more attention to this war.

Yuan Keli, the co-director of the Privy Council, then asked Zhu Xieyuan, the commander-in-chief of the Great Wall:
“How is the reform of the battalion system along the Great Wall going?”

"Is it finished now?"

"How many troops are there to fight?"

This was a task that was arranged at the beginning of the year. When the Shuntianfu garrison was reorganized, the troops in Shuntianfu were completely changed to a battalion system. Soldiers who could fight were selected to be responsible for the defense of the Great Wall.

Zhu Xieyuan was extremely concerned about this matter, because after he took office, he knew that the emperor transferred him from the southwest in order to defend the Great Wall.

He spent a lot of effort on this and implemented the effective experience he gained in defending Chengdu on the Great Wall.

As for the disobedient generals, they were transferred to the garrison areas converted from the guards during the reform of the battalion system.

Now that initial results have been achieved, the military forces along the Great Wall have become well organized.

According to the Privy Council's organization, the troops along the Great Wall were reorganized into the Second Front Army, which was second only to the First Front Army of the Beijing Camp Imperial Guards and before the Third Front Army of Liaodong.

The subordinate troops were reorganized into six divisions from Shanhaiguan from east to west, from 21 to 26, corresponding to the original Jizhen East Association, Jizhen Central Association, Jizhen West Association, Changping Town, Xuanfu Town, and Datong Town.

Among them, the 21st Division was the original Jizhen East Association, responsible for the Shanhai, Shimen, Yanhe and Jianchang routes.

Shanhaiguan was organized into the 31st Division because it belonged to the Liaodong Front Army. Therefore, the 21st Division was only responsible for the three routes of Shimen, Yanhe and Jianchang.

To the west of the 21st Division is the 22nd Division's defense zone, which is responsible for the four routes of Taiping, Xifeng, Songpeng and Malan that were originally under the Jizhen Zhongxie.

The 23rd Division, further west, was responsible for the four routes of Qiangzi, Caojia, Gubei and Shitang, which were originally under the jurisdiction of the Jizhen West Association.

These three divisions were originally under the command of the deputy general of Jizhen, but now they have been promoted to the command of the division general.

Each division has four to five brigades, one of which is directly under the command of the brigade responsible for mobile support.

Each of the original roads was reorganized into a brigade, with two to four battalions set up according to the passes to be guarded, and each battalion was responsible for defending a pass. The reform of the battalions, squadrons, and squads below has not yet been carried out, and the original forces are still responsible for guarding the Great Wall.

However, the distinction between main troops and guest troops was eliminated, and all troops were placed under the command of the brigade. Then, according to the combat effectiveness, the regular troops, auxiliary troops, and first-class and second-class battalions were determined, and they enjoyed different treatments.

The person in charge of the original 11th Route, now the 11th Brigade, was promoted from lieutenant general and guerrilla to brigade general.

Those who were unqualified were naturally transferred to serve in the garrison areas that were converted from guards.

Generals who had made contributions and dared to fight were promoted. The meritorious soldiers from the southwest brought by Zhu Xieyuan, the generals who had made contributions in Liaodong before, and the brave soldiers in the army who participated in the martial arts conference were all promoted in this reorganization.

This change alone made the Great Wall well organized, and the garrisons in various places no longer had room to shirk their responsibilities.

When Zhu Xieyuan was asked by Yuan Keli, he replied:

"Jizhen originally had 80726 main soldiers, 64954 guest soldiers, and 2548 miscellaneous soldiers. Now, after reorganization, they are divided into the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd divisions, each with to people."

"Changping Town originally had 17860 main soldiers, 15990 guest soldiers, and 568 miscellaneous soldiers. After being reorganized into the 24th Division and joined by the Southwest Soldiers, there were nearly troops."

"Xuanfu Town and Datong Town are outside Shuntian Prefecture and have not yet completed the reform of the battalion system. They still have the original strength of more than 90,000 and more than 80,000 troops."

"There are also 9,000 white-pole soldiers under General Qin Liangyu, who are now stationed in Miyun."

These were troops transferred by Zhu Youjian from the Shiqu Tusi. He was worried about Jizhen, which had not experienced war for a long time, so he asked Qin Liangyu to transfer more troops.

Qin Liangyu and the Ma family of Shiqu also wanted to be valued by the new emperor and wanted to convert their hereditary chieftain positions into titles of nobility, so they naturally hit it off and transferred Shiqu's elite troops over.

They are now stationed in Miyun as the direct subordinate of the Great Wall Commander.

Qin Liangyu also had a part-time job, that is, the commander of the 23rd Division, who was in charge of training the original Jizhen West Association.

The commander of the 22nd Division is Ma Dengyun, the former general of Jizhen, who is still in charge of the Jizhen Central Association, which has the heaviest defense mission.

The commander of the 21st Division was Du Wenhuan, who was recommended by Wang Zhichen. Du Wenhuan was the nephew of Du Song. When Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, he was the garrison commander of Shanhaiguan. Later, he resigned due to illness and returned to his hometown in Yan'an.

He might have set his sights on the position of General of Yansui, but Zhu Youjian arranged for You Shiwei to be the General of Yansui because his son Du Hongyu was the General of Ningxia.

Du Wenhuan rested at home for a year, and through his old superior Wang Zhichen, who was in charge of the defense of Yongping area, he took advantage of the reorganization of Jizhen to be reinstated as the commander of the 21st Division, still at the rank of general.

As for the commander of the 24th Division, it was Xu Chengming, the general of Changping Town, who was a meritorious general in the southwest and was transferred here together with Zhu Xieyuan and Qin Liangyu.

The commander of the 25th Division was Hei Yunlong, the general of Xuanfu Town.

The commander of the 26th Division was Yang Maochun, the general of Datong Town.

The two also have a superior, formerly the Great Wall Admiral Man Gui, and now the acting admiral Zhu Mei.

These are the main forces and generals along the Great Wall. On paper alone, they are considered to be a strong force.

With an army of 360,000 to 370,000, there is no need to worry about the 50,000 Jianlu.

But Zhu Youjian knew that these were not true. Otherwise, the 110,000 troops in Liaodong would have pacified the Jianlu long ago.

Especially the Jizhen, which had not experienced war for a long time, made him most worried. Even if the generals were replaced, the war still depended on the soldiers.

In addition, most of these troops were stationary at the Great Wall pass and few were mobile. Zhu Youjian thought about the militia that he had asked Lu Xiangsheng to train and gave the order:

"The local militia trained by Baoding Governor Lu Xiangsheng was to serve as a reserve force to guard the Great Wall."

"Now that the Great Wall may be attacked, let's have Lu Xiangsheng lead this army here in the name of an exercise."

"If you perform well, you will be awarded the number of the 27th Division and incorporated into the Great Wall Front Army."

Under the pretext of holding exercises in western Beijing, the Tianxiong Army was transferred to guard the city.

At the same time, he issued orders to Baoding General Cao Minglei, Shanxi General Zhang Honggong, and Shandong General Yang Guodong, asking them to gather their troops and be ready to enter the defense at any time.

As for those further away, don't alarm them. If a war really breaks out, they won't have time to get here.

It can be said that although Zhu Youjian did not declare martial law, it was almost the same in reality. The troops in these places were all put on second-level combat readiness and could attack at any time.

This made the ministers realize even more the importance of the Dalingh River defense line. They must build more fortresses there to prevent the Jianlu from bypassing the grassland to break through.

Otherwise, any random movement of the Jianlu would cause a shock to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and all the military forces in the north would have to follow it.

Zhu Xieyuan, the commander of the Great Wall, proposed:

"I think the Great Wall Commander should not be appointed just one, but should be appointed for both the east and west."

"The Western Great Wall Admiral is responsible for Xuanda, and the Eastern Great Wall Admiral is responsible for the original Jizhen Sanxie and Changping Town."

"The grassland coalition led by General Mangui should not be disbanded. They should be sent to Halashen to prevent the Jianlu from bypassing the grassland."

This is another mobile army. Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement after hearing this:
"Let Man Gui lead his army to Chengde. I will send an envoy to reward them."

"They have all made contributions by rescuing King Shunli this time. The Ming Dynasty will not mistreat those who work for the Ming Dynasty."

"The weapons they lost will be given back by the imperial court."

The Battle of Khorchin was characterized and it was determined that Man Gui and others had made contributions and were all meritorious officials.

As for the responsibility for the defeat, of course it lay with Ligdan Khan. Apart from him as the leader, everyone else had a role to play.

Then, in response to Zhu Xieyuan's proposal to appoint two governors of the east and west routes, Zhu Youjian said:
"Zhu Mei's acting Great Wall Commander was renamed Xuan Da Commander, and he still belongs to the Great Wall Front Army."

"After Man Gui returned, he continued to serve as the Great Wall Commander and was stationed in the Miyun area."

"In the future, let him form alliances with more tribes on the grassland to prevent the Jianlu from sneaking in."

The originally abolished Governor-General of Xuanda was actually restored after the establishment of the Xuanda Admiral and the Xuanda Military Protector.

But there is still a Great Wall Commander above him, who belongs to the Great Wall Front Army.

No emperor would be able to rest assured that such a large army was under the command of one person. The temporary position of the Great Wall Commander should also be abolished.

However, after the establishment of the pigeon and arm communication system, Zhu Xieyuan, the commander of the Great Wall, actually worked mainly in the capital. He had to go to the front line, so it was inconvenient for him to receive messages.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian actually regarded the Great Wall Front Army as an extension of the Beijing Camp. When it was inconvenient to mobilize the Beijing Camp's imperial guards, the court would mainly mobilize this force in the future.

As a result, it was given the designation of the Second Front Army, just below the Beijing Camp.

In the future, the Great Wall Commander will become a permanent position like the Governor-General of the Beijing Camp.

The military preparation roads and garrison areas within northern Zhili will also be directly managed by the Border Defense Department.

It can be said that the Great Wall Commander, or the Great Wall Governor, is actually a substitute for the Frontier Defense Commander, or the Army Commander.

The Army Commander-in-Chief is in charge of 300,000 or 400,000 troops, which is actually a little less. (End of this chapter)