The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The news that Anda's troops had entered the Kou Xuanfu had already spread in Beijing, and the people in the city were extremely nervous at first.

The scene where the Tatars came to the city only happened a few years ago, and it was so short that people cannot forget it.

In a short period of time, the prices of houses in the east and west gates of the capital plummeted, and a large number of people poured into the south city, making it even more crowded.

Fortunately, the southern city wall built in the Ming Dynasty occupies a very large area. The southern direction of the capital was only fully developed near the inner city. It seemed extremely lively. There was still a large open space near the city wall, which could allow those who fled into the city due to panic. The people can build a temporary shelter.

When the people in the capital gradually calmed down after several days of panic, as refugees from the Xuanfu entered Changping through Juyongguan and other passes, and some people even fled to the capital, the panic of the people in the city was once again raised.

During this period of time, the entire capital seemed to be in panic and chaos.

In response to such a situation, the imperial court and the Shuntian Prefecture could only send a large number of government officials and soldiers from the Beijing camp to patrol the streets every day to suppress lawlessness.

Although the people in the capital were really shocked by the influx of refugees from the Xuanfu government, they also brought more credible information, that is, the Anta Department had indeed invaded, but it seems that they have not yet attacked Juyongguan. Here in the capital Still safe.

The imperial court's hundreds of thousands of troops will go to encircle and suppress them.

This is the most common sentence spoken by the people in the capital after dinner during this period of time, although the speaker may not believe it himself.

The people near the capital finally settled down. At least until the Anda tribe failed to break through the Juyongguan Great Wall, the capital was still safe.

The people who originally flocked to Nancheng due to panic also returned home one after another, going to work where they should, and farming where they should.

The vegetable farmers around the capital still get up early every day to sell vegetables in the capital. Everything seems to have returned to its original point, except that there are many more Xuanfu refugees in the capital. They are looking for jobs that can feed them, or begging on the streets to make a living.

On this day, the sky was bright, and a large number of people outside the city were already waiting outside Fucheng Gate to enter the city.

Not long after, with a "creak" sound, the heavy city gate was opened inwards, but before they could squeeze in, they were blocked by a group of soldiers coming out of the city.

It is not surprising for these people. It is the same every day. The city gate has been opened and will be released soon. They just need to wait patiently for a while.

Soon, after setting up defenses inside and outside the city gate to prevent people from entering and exiting the city gate, the soldiers no longer held up their swords and guns to prevent the people from entering and exiting the city gate. They just asked them not to crowd and move forward in a queue.

The first ones to enter the city were naturally a few carriages outside the city gate. It was obvious at a glance that those gorgeously decorated carriages were not owned by ordinary people, so they naturally had priority to enter the city.

After the carriage entered the city, the people walked through the city gate in twos and threes, carrying burdens and bamboo baskets on their backs.

"Da da da"

The crisp sound of horse hooves trampling on the stone slabs came from far to near. This was a horse team of the Ming Army. The people on the horses were all wearing the red battle coats of the Ming Army.

This group of Ming army cavalry consisted of seven or eight people. Each of them was either carrying something on his back or holding a long pole in his hand. They just rode towards the city gate. As they approached, the leader stood guard at the city gate. The army shouted: "Xuanfu reports urgently, Xuanfu reports urgently"

When they heard that it was from the Xuan Mansion, the people in the city did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly hid aside to make way for them. At this time, the soldiers guarding the city had also begun to clear the way, driving the people inside the city gate to both sides.

"Da da da"

The sound of horse hooves passed through the city gate with a dull sound, and then they rushed into the inner city.

Although they had left and were no longer visible in the blink of an eye, the people below the city were really asking about the expressions of the soldiers just now, guessing whether they brought good news or bad news.

In the yamen of the Ministry of War in the capital, Nie Bao, the Minister of War, was sitting in the public room, looking through the official documents submitted by the various military offices, and handling daily official duties.

Serving an emperor who is not very fond of court is actually a kind of luck for the ministers. They can ask for leave in advance for various reasons and do not have to go to Fengtianmen before dawn to pay respects.

Of course, ministers couldn't stop going every day. They usually took two or three days off after going a few times, and then went back again. Anyway, they couldn't see the emperor. If they wanted to see him, they had to go to Xiyuan.

Even if you go to Xiyuan, if there is nothing important, you usually won't see it.

While he was flipping through the pages, footsteps sounded outside the door. It was very chaotic, and it seemed that the people who came in were in a hurry. Nie Bao put down the official document in his hand and looked up. An official was running from the yard to the office with an official document in his hand. Outside the door.

"What's up?"

As Minister of the Ministry of War, every word and deed has its own magnanimity.

"Master Nie, Master Weng of Xuanfu is urgently reporting."

The clerk quickly bowed and said, holding the official document with both hands.

Nie Bao took the official document and saw that the seal was intact, then nodded and said: "I understand."

After finishing speaking, he opened the official document and looked at it carefully, and then a look of ecstasy appeared on his face.

Xuanfu finally won the battle.

Since the 31st year of Jiajing, when Nie Bao was reinstated as Minister of the Ministry of War, he has been troubled by the Southern Japanese and the Northern captives. Especially this Northern captive, who is near the capital. The slightest move will cause uproar in the city. Naturally, their Ministry of War He was the first to be impeached by Qingliu such as the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which made him, the Minister of War, extremely annoyed.

Nie Bao, whose courtesy name was Wenwei and whose nickname was Shuangjiang, was from Yongfeng County, Jiangxi Province, and was considered one of Wei Guangde's fellow villagers.

Nie Bao was upright throughout his life. He impeached dozens of "filthy officials". He was as clean as water. He was so poor that he was unjustly imprisoned. When he was arrested, he didn't even get food money from the capital. After he was dismissed, he often walked to and from Ji'an in order to make a living. Teaching in academies such as Qingyuan Mountain.

It's just that Nie Bao is now over sixty, but he looks like he is seventy or eighty years old. This is also caused by his position in the Ministry of War. He has too many worries.

It is worth mentioning that Nie Bao can be regarded as the orthodox successor of Wang Shouren’s theory of mind. He believes that conscience is not ready-made, but can only be achieved through the cultivation of "moving and stillness without intention, and forgetting both internal and external". He advocates the cultivation of tranquility and the Gongfu Theory of practicing emptiness and keeping quiet. , also advocates caution and fear.

After reading the emergency report in his hand, Nie Bao stood up excitedly, staggering and almost falling because he moved too hard.

The clerk in the public office next to him hurriedly stepped forward to support him, and then heard him ask: "Where is the person who delivered the letter? And what other things are there?"

"Report to Master Nie, the postmen are all outside."

Before the clerk finished speaking, he felt a gust of wind blowing in front of him, and then heard Nie Bao's voice at the door, "I'll go take a look first."

At this time, in the center of the capital, outside the Xiyuan Gate on the west side of the palace, as the palace door opened, Lu Bing, who was wearing a python robe, had already walked in first.

He received a secret report from Jinyiwei Xuanfu last night, and he was very excited after reading it.

With the news of this victory, the capital city, which had been tense before, could finally feel more relaxed.

But at this time, the palace door was locked, and he was not allowed to enter the palace even without an edict. He could only wait until dawn to open the palace door before reporting the good news to Emperor Jiajing.

Yes, in Wei Guangde's view, it was an unwinnable battle. After forcing the Ada Khan tribe back, it was a great victory in the eyes of the Ming court.

What was the situation six years ago? Anda Khan led his troops to plunder near the capital. The troops of King Qin such as Jizhen and Xuanfu just gathered nearby and did not dare to go out to fight. They had to wait until everyone had eaten and looted before leaving.

This time it was different. The Tatars entered the Xuanfu. The Xuanfu army finally fought with the Tatars and won, so Anda Khan had to leave camp and return north.

It's a pity that this opportunity was missed. If the Xuanfu army had more cavalry, it might be possible to keep the thief chieftain Anda Khan. Once he is caught, Emperor Jiajing will definitely hold a grand prisoner sacrifice ceremony to the Ancestral Temple.

Pity.

Lu Bing, who arrived outside the palace gate early, was thinking about this at the moment, but after the palace gate opened, it did not affect his speed of entering the palace at all.

Soon he arrived outside Yongshou Palace and asked the young eunuch standing beside him if Emperor Jiajing had risen.

After learning that Emperor Jiajing had gotten up and was washing up inside, he quickly asked the young eunuch to go in and report. He asked to see His Majesty to report urgent military information.

Not long after, Lu Bing was allowed to enter the Yongshou Palace. After entering the main hall, he saw Emperor Jiajing dressed in an immortal style. Lu Bing smiled flatteringly and said: "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor. I received the announcement last night. There is a secret report from the government that Wei Guangde and Wei Chuanlu, who were appointed by the emperor, commanded the Xuanfu army to win a great victory in Baoan Prefecture this time, and Anda Khan was beaten away by him."

"Huh? Is that true?"

Emperor Jiajing thought he was very smart and naturally did not want to be deceived by his subordinates. In fact, what he hated most was those who dared to deceive him, especially those who successfully deceived him.

He trusted Lu Bing very much, but after hearing what Lu Bing said just now, he was a little doubtful.

Wei Guangde, a child of seventeen or eighteen can fight?

It might be more reliable to ask his uncle to come.

He had already learned clearly about the two battles against Japanese invaders that Jiujiang Guards had participated in through Dongchang and Jinyiwei, but there was one thing he didn't know, which was the actual combat power of the Japanese pirates.

This thing, whether it is the imperial court maintained by civilian officials or the intelligence agencies controlled by internal surveillance and cronies, are not willing to explain some things too clearly. It is better to be a little confused.

Therefore, Emperor Jiajing knew that the most outstanding battle in the two battles was actually commanded by Wu Zhankui, the commander of the Jiujiang Guards, and Wei Guangde's father also participated.

It was precisely because he obtained accurate information from the intelligence agency that he was convinced that Wei Guangde was really killing people on horseback, so he looked at him differently. Emperor Jiajing would not be stingy with those who were loyal to him.

If all the ministers under him were loyal to him and worked hard, he would not have to be distracted by government affairs and could devote himself wholeheartedly to practicing the art of immortality.

At this time, the eunuch Huang Jin had already received the urgent report from Lu Bing from the spies of Jinyiwei Xuanfu, and then forwarded it to Emperor Jiajing.

This was copied from an internal document of Jinyiwei. The original text was naturally not allowed to be read by the emperor. Those words were genuine and even the weakest eyesight would not be able to read them all.

Emperor Jiajing was not a confused person. After reading the above content, he stroked his beard and then said: "A victory is a victory. At least the thieves chieftain was defeated."

Jinyiwei will not modify or modify some things internally. They are very straightforward and even describe in detail the general battle process and the battle losses between the enemy and ourselves.

The Ming army's losses were roughly the same as those of Anda's troops, but Jinyiwei's spies didn't know Wei Guangde's true thoughts at the time. All he could find out were Wei Guangde's statements about other people.

Wei Guangde planned to retreat to Baoan Prefecture to defend with all his strength, but that was not what he said to the outside world. In his words, the purpose of quietly withdrawing from Anda Camp to Baoan Prefecture was to lure the snake out of the hole again, disperse Anda Khan's troops, and replicate the previous war.

Most of the Xuanfu generals believed this.

Why, there is a ready-made case, they really forced our department to retreat during the day, and the real results are there, they can't help but not believe it.

Wei Guangde deliberately sent Anda Khan back to his camp, hoping to induce him to choose to divide his troops again, and the Ming army would divide and attack together. Especially after knowing that Anda Khan had withdrawn, Wei Guangde felt very sorry for a while in front of the generals.

According to Wei Guangde, the next time he fights An Dahan, he will definitely not completely copy the previous tactics. In this battle, Wei Guangde will use a tactic of encircling the point and calling for reinforcements with An Da Khan.

The Ming army was often beaten like this by Anda Khan. The Tatars pretended to attack the Ming army's fort, attracting surrounding reinforcements to ambush them halfway.

Regarding Wei Guangde's performance at that time, he introduced his strategic concept for the next battle to the Xuanfu generals, which deceived some people.

All of this is reflected in the information from Emperor Jiajing.

After reading it completely, Emperor Jiajing was in a good mood. He wondered if it was time to send the Blue Immortal over, and he wanted to celebrate with a fast.

However, he suddenly thought of something mentioned in the intelligence that he had seen before, and he immediately became concerned about it.

After reading it again, he said with some unfinished thoughts: "What a pity for this opportunity, I almost caught the thief chief Anda Khan."

After hearing what Emperor Jiajing said, Lu Bing naturally knew what the emperor was talking about, and he also sighed sadly.

Thinking of the name of a certain person mentioned in it, Emperor Jiajing asked Lu Bing: "This Ma Fang, does your Jin Yiwei have a profile? Is he really as brave as mentioned above?"

After hearing the emperor's question, Lu Bing hurriedly bowed and replied: "Reporting to the emperor, Ma Fang is a native of Weizhou, Shanxi. His courtesy name is Dexin and his alias is Lanxi. When he was young, he was robbed by the Tatars and taken as a slave outside the customs. He later escaped back to China. He was appointed as a pawn in the Datong Army.

After that, he repeatedly made military exploits and was promoted by Zhou Shangwen, Taifu Zhou, then the commander-in-chief of Datong. He was promoted from a pawn to a thousand households. In the 29th year of Jiajing, he was promoted to a commander due to several battles with the Anda tribe, and he led an army as a guerrilla general. "

When Emperor Jiajing asked, he naturally wanted to know all the information about Ma Fang. Lu Bing had already checked these last night and naturally answered fluently.

“The process of this battle is clearly stated in the official documents, and it was confirmed by many parties before I dared to report it.

This time, Ma Fangma's guerrillas led their troops to raid Anda Khan's camp. It is a real fact. According to the remaining sergeants, they attacked twice near Anda Khan's military camp. They could see the military tent and representatives of me. It was a pity that Anda Khan left a large group of troops around him, so they completely lost the chance to capture Anda Khan alive.

It must be true that Ma Fang’s troops refused to retreat in this battle and severely damaged Anda Khan’s royal guards. It is true that Ma Fang led his troops to attack Anda Khan’s army and was seriously injured, but he still fought for his life.”

"No more brave than Ma Fang."

During Lu Bing's eloquent narration, his ears suddenly moved, as if he heard what Emperor Jiajing said.