Short video spoiler history: The beginning of modern warfare

Chapter 105 The Change of Tumu Fort

[Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, due to his "legendary" experience, has a very high degree of discussion on the Internet. Netizens have given him many nicknames, such as: Tumubao War God, Gate-calling Emperor, Wala Student, Mingbaozong, etc.]

[Zhu Qizhen was born in the second year of Xuande and was made the crown prince when he was only a hundred days old. In the tenth year of Xuande, Zhu Zhanji passed away, and Zhu Qizhen, who was less than ten years old, inherited the throne. Although the emperor was young, the Ming Dynasty at that time had been recuperating for ten years during the "Renzong and Xuanzong Reign". It can be said that the world was peaceful and the family was rich, and there was already a sign of prosperity.]

[At that time, the imperial court had the Three Yangs Cabinet (Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu) that created the "Renxuan Reign", Duke Yingguo Zhang Fu, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong, and the six ministries were also full of talents. In addition, the cautious and sensible Empress Dowager Zhang was in charge of the harem.]

[Logically, there shouldn't be any problems, but Zhu Qizhen, who was in his rebellious teenage years, was courting death. For him, this overly cautious court was nothing new, and it was even harder to realize his childhood dream of personally commanding the Sixth Division and bringing peace to the world]

[One example is that in July of the tenth year of Xuande, the Three Yangs and other ministers suggested holding lectures on classics. When the young emperor heard that he wanted to learn, he immediately said that he would definitely do it next time. He frantically made excuses and turned around to go riding and shooting with the eunuch Wang Zhen.]

[If we want to find a force that completely obeys the emperor in the political landscape of the early Zhengtong period, it may only be the eunuchs. The typical example is Wang Zhen. After Wang Zhen entered the palace at the end of the Yongle period, he has always been cautious and abided by the rules. He was appointed by the previous two generations of emperors and ordered him to serve the prince and lecture.]

[According to "Shu Yu Zhou Zi Lu", Wang Zhen was from Datong, Shanxi. At the end of Yongle, the emperor ordered that those who passed the examination but did not have any achievements could enter the palace if they had children. In other words, Mr. Wang was still an ideal and ambitious scholar, but he did not pass the examination and chose to save the country in a roundabout way.]

[Just eight months after Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, Mr. Wang was promoted to the position of the Imperial Household Department. The Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department were the two highest administrative agencies in the Ming Dynasty. The cabinet's proposals had to be approved by the emperor before they could be implemented. However, except for "a few copies with the emperor's handwriting, all documents were approved by the eunuchs". It is easy to imagine how powerful the Imperial Household Department was.]

Ming, Jinling City.

From the information previously revealed by Tianmu, we know that this unworthy descendant is not only a truly incompetent emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but also the most outstanding incompetent emperor in all dynasties. He is as foolish and incompetent as Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong, and is a shame to the Ming Dynasty.

He even seemed much wiser than Huizong and Qinzong. At least Huizong and Qinzong did not ask the guards to open the city gates in order to survive.

As soon as he came to power, he heard the bad news that the eunuchs were interfering in government affairs. They were still in great power and reviewed imperial memorials on behalf of the emperor. Even though Zhu Yuanzhang had been prepared, he was still very angry at this moment.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath and analyzed the situation silently. It seemed that after the fourth brother usurped the throne, he established a cabinet with power divided into two parts. The cabinet was responsible for reviewing and issuing instructions for handling.

The emperor was responsible for approving the memorial, which meant that the plan for handling memorials was effective. However, his unfilial descendants became increasingly lazy and the approval of the memorial was handled by the Imperial Household Department.

Since the final outcome is that power will be returned to the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department, why should we go to the trouble of deposing the prime minister?

After analyzing this result, Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned extremely dark and his anger grew even more intense.

The ministers were all silent, listening to Tianmu's explanation. They all noticed the term "cabinet". What the hell is a cabinet? How did it become the highest government agency? What about the Secretariat? How did eunuchs interfere in government?
Especially when the eunuchs interfered in politics, Hu Weiyong, Wang Guangyang and the people from the six ministries all looked increasingly unfriendly.

But looking at His Majesty's expression, I knew he was really angry. I didn't dare to comment at this moment and could only speculate silently. Could it be that the establishment of the cabinet was related to the four major cases of Hongwu?
Zhu Biao frowned and said nothing. According to the original trajectory, he should have been dead for more than 40 years in the fourth year of Zhengtong. But he was still shocked to hear these bad things.

How come in just a few decades, the eunuchs' power has grown to such a level?
The clerks looked at His Majesty's expression and for a moment they didn't know whether they should record these "scandals". However, before they could have any ideas, shocking inside information was revealed in the sky.

[At the beginning of the Zhengtong period, the Empress Dowager relied heavily on the Three Yangs Cabinet, and all government orders were issued by the Cabinet. The Imperial Household Department was neglected, so Wang Zhen naturally wanted to find an opportunity to seize power, and soon the opportunity came.]

[In December of the first year of the Zhengtong reign, Wang Zhen started a rebellion. According to historical records, Wang Zhen met with the Minister of War Ji to discuss border affairs. After five days, he did not make a report. Zhen asked the emperor to summon Ji and reprimand him, saying: "Are you taking advantage of my youth?"]

[So he imprisoned the Minister of War Wang Ji and the Right Vice Minister Kuang Ye. Wang Ji, who was subjected to the emperor's iron fist, immediately became obedient and only followed the orders of Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen from then on.]

[This little incident made Wang Zhen taste the sweetness. The following year, he launched a test to the Three Yangs Cabinet and found faults to ridicule Yang Shiqi. "The Complete History of Ming Dynasty" records: Shiqi was upset and did not go out for three days. The Empress Dowager asked why, and Rong told the truth. The Empress Dowager whipped Zhen angrily and ordered him to apologize to Shiqi, saying: If you do it again, you will be killed without mercy.]

[In fact, when Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, Zhang wanted to kill Wang Zhen on the grounds that Wang Zhen "served the emperor without following the rules", but because Zhu Qizhen and the five ministers pleaded for him, he was spared and was forbidden to interfere in state affairs from then on.]

[In July of the third year of Zhengtong, Wang Zhen made a comeback. He found faults one after another and put the Minister of Rites Hu Yu, the Minister of Revenue Liu Zhongfu, the Vice Minister Wu Xi, the Minister of Punishment Wei Yuan, and the Vice Minister He Wenyuan in jail. Since then, the ministers had to choose to endure and remain silent in order to protect themselves.]

[Wang Zhen even fabricated evidence to accuse Yang Rong of corruption and Yang Shiqi of allowing his son to commit crimes. Under his repeated attacks, the power of the Three Yangs gradually declined.]

[In September of the sixth year of the Zhengtong reign, the Fengtian, Huagai, and Jinshen Palaces were completed. Emperor Yingzong held a grand banquet in the palace. As he did not see Wang Zhen, he sent someone to invite him. Wang Zhen had someone reply: "Duke Zhou assisted King Cheng, so why can't I sit with him?" Then Emperor Yingzong had the Donghua Middle Gate opened and personally led all officials to welcome Wang Zhen.]

[In October of the seventh year of Zhengtong, the Empress Dowager Zhang passed away. Wang Zhen became even more unscrupulous and smashed the iron tablet that Zhu Yuanzhang had erected at the palace gate that read "Forbidden Eunuchs from Interfering in Government Affairs". If his father Zhu Zhanji, his great-grandfather Zhu Di, and his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang knew about this, they would probably be pissed to death.]

[Among the Three Yangs, Yang Rong had passed away in the fifth year, Yang Shiqi was already eighty years old, Duke Yingguo Zhang Fu was not involved in state affairs, Yang Pu was old and isolated, Wang Zhen held the power, and the rest of the officials, regardless of their rank, all knelt before Wang Zhen, and the whole court addressed him as father]

In front of the Fengtian Hall, all the civil and military officials were in an uproar. Everyone felt insulted when they heard that these eunuchs treated the ministers and vice ministers of the six ministries in this way.

Especially the sentence "the whole court calls him father" is even more annoying. Moreover, this bastard was probably not even born at that time, so he couldn't be involved even if he wanted to. This undoubtedly made everyone hate him.

"It's really outrageous. How dare a eunuch compare himself to Duke Zhou?"

"It's simply an insult to civility!" The officials from the Ministry of Rites cursed the hardest, especially Wang Zhen's identity, which made people feel uncomfortable. The word "scholar" in the sky was even more offensive.

Most of the people in the Ministry of Science were selected from the Imperial College, and they were very upset that the Empress Dowager Zhang did not kill Wang Zhen at the beginning. As a result, the eunuch party would gain power overnight and cause great harm.

Everyone knows that if such a person gains power one day, if he is really like Zhang Juzheng and has some ability, it would be a blessing for the country. The only thing to be afraid of is that some mediocre people are stupid and unaware of it.

It is like the Ming Dynasty court and its people are children under the table, and on the table there is a pot full of boiling tea, which is about to fall over.

The painful thing is that everyone knows that the pot of boiling water will fall, otherwise there would not be nicknames such as "Emperor who Calls at the Door" and "Wala Student".

[Zhu Qizhen, who was full of martial virtue, did win several defensive counterattacks during the Zhengtong period, which also made Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen feel that they were capable]

[They soon set their sights on Luchuan in the south, a Tusi regime in western Yunnan that had long been pacified and controlled by the Ming Dynasty]

[In the third year of Zhengtong, Tusi leader Si Renfa invaded southern Xinjiang. Zhu Qizhen insisted on sending troops to attack him despite the dissuasion of the Three Yangs Cabinet. It should have been a successful battle in one go, but Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen, who were eager for success, drove the Ming army to attack Luchuan three times in nine years.]

[Just looking at the results, Si Renfa and his sons and grandsons were beaten to death or fled. Wang Ji also set up a monument in southern Xinjiang, which was very domineering, but he sent 50 troops and transferred half of the country's military pay. It was a waste of money and manpower, and most of the Ming army soldiers died. The military pay and rewards were incalculable.]

[A direct result was that starting from the 12th year of Zhengtong, peasant uprisings broke out in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places, indicating that the stable situation that had once been peaceful and prosperous had begun to destabilize.]

[The young emperor, who was only 20 years old, turned a blind eye to the heavy price of the war. He was ready to fight the Mongols. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols retreated to the grasslands and split into Tatar, Oirat and Uriankhai. Tatar and Uriankhai had already been defeated.]

[Here is a story about the Oirat tribe. In the early years of the Zhengtong period, the leader of the Oirat tribe, Toghan, had already annexed many territories of the Tatars and the Uriankhai tribes. Its sphere of influence extended to Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai in the west and to Liaodong in the east. It had long since become a behemoth.]

[Then Yesen took advantage of the tributary system and falsely reported the number of people in order to obtain rewards from the Ming Dynasty. In the 2th year of Zhengtong, Wang Zhen learned about this. Not only did he not reward Yesen according to the number of people he reported, but he also cut the price of Wala war horses.] [When the news reached Wala Yesen, he was furious and planned to march south. The Ming Dynasty was completely unprepared for this. The emperor and the eunuchs seemed to be fine, and missed the precious opportunity to prepare for war from February to June, until Wala assembled a large army and marched south in June.]

Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City.

The atmosphere in the palace was relatively harmonious. Li Shimin and others had indifferent expressions and only briefly commented that "his virtue is not worthy of his position", or in other words, "his talent is not worthy of his position".

The civil and military officials may have discussed it in a low voice, but overall they still maintained a watch-show mentality and watched Zhu Qizhen, Wang Zhen and others commit suicide.

For an emperor who has been raised in the deep palace since childhood, his understanding of the world, the people, the society, etc. all comes from the people around him. It would be fine if the imperial teachers were all respected people. Unfortunately, in Zhu Qizhen's eyes, only eunuchs like Wang Zhen who fawned on him were good.

Some of them are in their rebellious period and are eager to prove themselves, but they don't have any abilities, so they are gradually led astray by the fawning eunuchs, and are influenced by them, becoming unlearned and unskillful.

Li Shimin saw this clearly, but was somewhat helpless. Eunuchs served the emperor, obeyed his orders, and were close to the source of power, so it was natural for them to gain power. This had been the rule since ancient times.

Therefore, one of the key things that every dynasty has done is to prevent eunuchs from interfering in politics.

In addition to eunuchs' interference in politics, every dynasty also had a headache about training heirs. Not to mention whether the heirs had the skills or not, for the emperor who was raised in the deep palace and had never experienced hardship in his life, how could he understand the suffering of the people and the difficulties of life?

Since the whip couldn't hit him, he just rode his horse at full speed with great joy, not caring about the cost, especially since he was an ambitious emperor who was eager to go on expeditions to prove himself.

In addition, there is the problem of the Wala tribe in the north. From the beginning of the Zhengtong period to the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong period, for more than ten years, did the Ming court just sit there doing nothing? How could it be completely unaware of this?
Generals such as Cheng Yaojin had already known Zhu Qizhen's fate, so they naturally understood what would happen next. They could only say that it was all fate.

[In fact, long before this tribute, the Minister of War Kuang Ye and Xuanfu Governor Luo Hengxin had both submitted memorials requesting additional city guards to defend against the Oirat, but the emperor and Wang Zhen turned a blind eye. It was not until June 6 that he ordered Datong to defend, but Datong did not have enough troops.]

[It was not until more than ten days later that he suddenly realized what was going on. He quickly ordered Duke Cheng of Cheng, Zhu Yong, to select 45000 elite cavalry and infantry troops from the capital, of which 3 were sent to Datong and 1 were sent to Xuanfu to strengthen the defense.]

[On July 7, the Oirat invaded. They divided their troops into four groups and invaded the Central Plains from Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, Ganzhou and other places. The focus of the attack was of course Xuanfu and Datong. The Ming army, which was not fully prepared before the war, fought with the Oirat in Maoerzhuang. Wu Hao, the right lieutenant general of Datong, was defeated and killed.]

When the news of such a disastrous defeat reached the capital, Zhu Qizhen's reaction was not to listen to the advice of his old ministers and plan for defense, but to say: I will lead the army myself.

[It was not new for the emperor to lead the army in person since the early Ming Dynasty, but the problem with Zhu Qizhen was that he knew nothing about military affairs. Wang Zhen was eager to follow the emperor in person to gain military merit and even go down in history, so he kept instigating the plan.]

【The civil and military officials in the court had experienced Wang Zhen’s torture before, and they still tried their best to dissuade him. The Minister of Personnel Wang Zhi, the Minister of War Kuang Ye, and the Vice Minister Yu Qian and others jointly wrote a letter to dissuade him, but the emperor refused to accept any of them】

[On July 16, after less than five days of preparation, Zhu Qizhen led a force of more than 200,000 troops to set out on an expedition, claiming to have 500,000 troops. He used the 500,000 troops against the 50,000 troops of the Oirat Mongols to intimidate the enemy, but later it was more of a paralysis of Zhu Qizhen himself]

[Perhaps he really thought that there was no need for command, as he could win with just one attack, and then he handed over the command to the most loyal Wang Zhen. The Minister of War Kuang Ye and the Minister of Revenue Wang Zuo and others repeatedly submitted memorials and made suggestions, but Wang Zhen felt annoyed and "punished them to kneel in the grass until dusk"]

Ming, Jinling City.

Even if we know that this is something in the future and not yet a foregone conclusion, there is still a chance for things to turn around.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was still furious. They knew nothing about military affairs and dared to send troops without even gathering enough food and grass. With this level, they still expected him to command the army to fight? Was this what he meant by emulating his ancestors and personally leading the army? What was the difference between this and sending himself to die?
"Waste!" Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer bear it, and at this moment he roared, shocking all the civil and military officials into silence.

Generals like Xu Da felt their hearts bleed. They already knew the fate of these soldiers, but they did not expect it to happen in this way. At this moment, they could only grit their teeth and clench their fists.

All the eunuchs who were serving nearby were lying on the ground, their shoulders twitching constantly, and they wanted to cut Wang Zhen into pieces in their hearts: "You bastard, not only are you looking for death, but you're also trying to kill us!!".

Liu Ji lowered his head, listening to Wang Zhen's outrageous actions in the sky, and he didn't know what mood to take to deal with it.

They set out on July 16 and arrived in Datong on August 1. Not only were they short of food and clothing, they didn't see a single Oirat soldier. Instead, they saw the corpses of their comrades floating all over the ground. This was already a heavy blow to morale.

Not only that, the generals also had to face questioning from the eunuch Wang Zhen, who alienated the generals. Without any rest, he ordered the army to turn to Xuanfu and forced a march in a thunderstorm.

After that, the retreat route was changed every day, which led to the Oirat army catching up. Even the Duke of Chengguo was killed in the battle. Even so, the Duke of Chengguo Zhu Yong still bought time for the army, but it was all wasted.
"If anything, the mistake wouldn't have led to this."

"."

Zhu Biao's face turned pale, and he felt that all his strength had been drained away. If any of the generals present were to lead the army, this would not be the outcome.

In other words, at that time, even if any general or duke led the army, the outcome would not have been like this. Even if the army retreated into Huailai City instead of stationing in the water-scarce Tumu Fort, even if they held on to Tumu Fort and waited for rescue, the outcome would have been much better.

Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen, two idiots, perfectly avoided all the correct response strategies.

No. There was no rescue. At that time, all the elite troops in Beijing had been brought to Tumu Fort. Beijing was the most empty since the fourth emperor moved the capital.

Zhu Yuanzhang no longer felt that the words of later generations were harsh. He even wanted to slap Zhu Qizhen to death himself. It didn't matter if this idiot died. What was pitiful was the 250,000 elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the empty city of Beijing and the people.
"The Oirat has all the advantages, how can they possibly make peace?" Everyone in the Ministry of War wailed in despair, but history is so absurd that the two people in power believed it.

[Wang Zhen easily believed Yesen's peace talk and ordered the whole army to withdraw and move closer to the water source, and Zhu Qizhen agreed. In this way, after more than a month of hasty travel, comrades died in the rain, and trapped in despair, the Ming army finally collapsed on this Mid-Autumn Festival when they should have reunited with their families.]

[They abandoned the city defenses and rushed to the river without any discipline. As soon as they saw the water source, before they could get hopeful, despair set in.]

[The Oirat cavalry rushed in from all directions. The panicked Ming soldiers rushed forward and even trampled on each other. The Oirat people shouted "Those who throw away their armor and helmets will not be killed." In desperation, some soldiers actually took off their armor and lay naked on the battlefield. What greeted them was the Oirat people's hideous smiles and even more brutal killings.]

[On a full-moon night, blood flowed everywhere, Wang Zhen died in the chaos of the army. Killed with him were the 75-year-old Grand Tutor, Duke Ying Zhang Fu who was loyal to the Emperor of Ming, and more than 50 ministers including Minister of War Kuang Ye and Minister of Revenue Wang Zuo who repeatedly gave correct advice.]

[After Zhu Qizhen realized that he could not break out, he simply gave up, dismounted and sat cross-legged facing south. This battle was the turning point for the Ming Dynasty from prosperity to decline]

[We all know what happened later. Yesen led our Bao Zong to extort money everywhere to block the city gates. The ministers requested to welcome Zhu Qizhen's younger brother Zhu Qiyu to be the Jingtai Emperor. After that, Yu Qian fought hard to save Beijing.]

[After Yesen knew that the Ming Dynasty had appointed a new emperor, he realized that Zhu Qizhen was no longer useful, so he simply released him in order to make things difficult for the Ming Dynasty.]

[Of course, Zhu Qizhen's scumbag deeds were far more than that. After he seized power and restored the throne, he ordered Zhu Qiyu to be executed, stripped him of his title as emperor, smashed his mausoleum, gave him the posthumous title of "Li", forced all of Zhu Qiyu's concubines to be buried alive with him, and unjustly killed Yu Qian]

(End of this chapter)