Ming Empire

Chapter 34
Datong is located in the center of the Datong Basin in the north of Shanxi and on the northeast edge of the Loess Plateau. It is the barrier of the whole Jin Dynasty, the gateway to the north, and the throat of Jin and Beijing.

Because Zhu Ming won the world by driving the Mongols out of the pass, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, in order to resist the possible counter-invasion of the Mongols, he built many important border defense towns along the Great Wall.After Yongle Emperor Zhu Di moved his capital to Beijing, he set up nine towns of Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, Jizhou, Yansui, Ningxia, Gansu, Shanxi, and Guyuan, known as the "nine border towns" in history.

Nine Sides was an important front for the Ming Dynasty to defend against the remnants of Mongolia, and Datong was one of the most important military towns.

Datong Town Chulingwei 26, its jurisdiction extends from Juyongguan in Beijing in the east to Pianguan at the turn of the Yellow River in the west, stretching for more than a thousand kilometers from east to west, and hundreds of kilometers from north to south. Its scope is the largest among the nine borders.There are fourteen leading guards in the rear, including Datong Vanguard, Backguard, Zuowei, Yanghe, Tiancheng, Weiyuan, Pinglu, Yunchuan, Yulin, Zhenlu, Gaoshan, Xuande, and Dongsheng.

When Datong Town was established in the seventh year of Yongle, the chief guard of the town was set up as the supreme commander of the town.In the seventh year of Chenghua, a governor was established, and in the eighth year of Zhengde, a general system was established, with jurisdiction over 820 guards, [-] Sanbao villages, [-] piers, and more than [-] garrisons at most.

In the last years of Wanli, Liaodong built slaves and rebelled against Ming Dynasty.Shortly thereafter, the people in Shanshan and Shanxi rebelled, thieves sprang up, and the Central Plains were in turmoil. The Ming court had to mobilize troops from the towns on the nine borders to fight against the peaceful rebellion by foreign captives. Not much.In the Battle of Songshan not long ago, most of the only elite frontier troops in the Ming Dynasty were lost, and the Datong Township was almost completely lost.

People with discerning eyes like Hong Chengchou know that the situation in Liaodong has not been greatly improved because of Cao Yue's surprise attack on Shengjing, and Jiannu's strength has not suffered a major loss. In a few years, they will definitely make a comeback.On the Shanshan side, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other rogue armies are getting stronger and stronger.The crisis in Ming Dynasty shows no sign of lifting, and the situation is still not optimistic.Adequate preparations must be made, especially in terms of armaments.

The main reason why Cao Yue was able to serve as the commander-in-chief of Datong was his heroic performance in the surprise attack on Shengjing and Hong Chengchou's strong recommendation.

Hong Chengchou can be said to be one of the most foresighted people in the Ming court today. He knows that the situation is critical. The frontier army of the Ming Dynasty has been completely lost. , the imperial court will have no soldiers to use.After the Battle of Songshan, training a group of capable soldiers as soon as possible is the top priority. Hong Chengchou has already ordered Cao Bianjiao to do this in Liaodong.

When Cao Yue returned to Songshan triumphantly with his army, Hong Chengchou talked with him a lot.After Cao Yue escorted Chuanguo Yuxi back to Beijing, Hong Chengchou talked with Cao Bianjiao a lot about the military expansion, recognized the abilities of Cao Bianjiao and Cao Yue, and felt that it would be a very good choice for Cao Yue to go to Datong.Cao Yue is capable, and Cao Wenzhao has guarded Datong for many years, and finally strongly recommends Cao Yue to be the general soldier of Datong.

Emperor Chongzhen, who had received several secret reports from Hong Chengchou, also knew the current crisis in Ming Dynasty, and approved Hong Chengchou's recommendation. Power, I hope to have an elite soldier trained.

Cao Yue's father was a good general of the Ming Dynasty. Cao Yue's cousin Cao Bianjiao was brave and resourceful. Cao Yue's performance in this surprise attack on Shengjing was remarkable. So he made up his mind to hand over Datong to Cao Yue to guard it.

Emperor Chongzhen hoped that Cao Yue could rely on his bravery and ability to defend Datong when slaves or thieves invaded, and at the same time train elite soldiers.Before the Caoyue people arrived in Datong, he issued a secret decree to Shanxi governor Wang Qiaonian, Shanxi governor Chen Chunde, and Datong magistrate Wei Daben, asking them to give Cao Yue convenience and not make things difficult.

But Emperor Chongzhen was a suspicious person. He didn't trust any ministers, especially generals with heavy troops. He was afraid that they would support their troops and be self-respecting. Therefore, he also ordered Wang Qiaonian, Chen Chunde and others many things in the secret decree, and asked them to restrain Cao Cao. cross.

Of course, Cao Yue knew nothing about all this.When he rushed to Datong, he was full of pride.

At a young age, he was alone in the town and became the hottest general of the town, and Emperor Chongzhen gave him special powers, allowing him to act cheaply in many cases.Cao Yue felt that this was an excellent opportunity to show his talents. If he could seize this opportunity well, he might be able to step onto the stage of history and become a powerful figure, and he might be able to completely change history by taking this opportunity.

However, on the way to Datong, after Cao Yue received the information from Cao Jie who arrived in Datong earlier, his enthusiasm was extinguished a lot.

During the reign of Chongzhen, the towns on the nine borders not only had to resist the raids of Jiannu and Mongolian cavalry, but also had to wipe out large and small thieves, bandits, and bandits, and even deal with rogues. , the military strength of the border towns has been stretched.Datong Town is even more, because Wang Pu left the army and fled alone, and the original Datong Town soldiers who were transferred to Liaodong are almost gone.In today's Datong, there are only less than [-] people in the establishment, and most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled.What's more terrible is that there are less than [-] troops, the military discipline is corrupt, and things often happen to plunder the people, which can be said to be even more hateful than bandits.

What Cao Yue is going to take over is a mess, and there is another very important point, that is, Datong City is very dilapidated and needs to be repaired urgently.

Datong's geographical location determines that this is a Guancheng that often has to experience the baptism of war.When the Mongols and Jiannu went south to attack Guannei, they often invaded from Datong, and when the thieves wanted to attack Beijing, Datong was almost the only way to go.Datong is sandwiched between the Mongolian army, the slaves, and the rebel army, and because it is not far from Beijing, it is always constrained by the imperial court. It is a very challenging thing to suppress the army here.

Now the forces of Jiannu and Mongolia have not been greatly damaged, but the two rebel armies of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the Central Plains have become a climate, and the enemy may be killed at any time.It's almost winter, if these things are not resolved before the cold weather, there may be disasters this winter, and Cao Yue will not have enough time at all.

After receiving Cao Jie's letter, Cao Yue was hit a bit, but soon his confidence was rekindled.

Young people are not afraid of setbacks and difficulties. As long as they have determination and confidence, they can solve even the greatest difficulties.A mess is nothing, as long as you clean it up with your heart, you will definitely be able to remove the rotten things and restore a clear world.

One thing that pleased Cao Yue was that when he set off from Beijing, he had three thousand soldiers with him.The combat effectiveness of these 3000 troops is far stronger than that of the general Ming army, and most of them are former Cao Wenzhao's subordinates. As long as they are trained more, their loyalty will not be a problem.

With 3000 people around, even if there is a civil uprising, or the establishment of slaves, or the invasion of the Mongols, it will definitely be no problem to withstand it for a while.Of course, after arriving in Datong, the most important thing is to immediately reorganize the army, recruit new soldiers, and intensify training.

(End of this chapter)