prosperous age

Chapter 549 548 Choices
Wei Guangde didn't wait long, the servant came to report, and King Yu invited him over.

King Yu's life is becoming more and more prosperous now, so he seldom goes to the front yard unless there is a big event in the court.

Following the servants to the inner courtyard of the palace, the left and right sides have been emptied at this time, except for some servants left behind, all the people in the palace have left.

"Meet His Royal Highness King Yu."

Wei Guangde saw that King Yu Zhu Zaiku had got up and was about to come to greet him, so he hurriedly saluted first.

King Yu showed kindness, but he couldn't be proud of favors, and he still had to have the courtesy he should have.

For such an occasion, of course, there is no need to bow down, Wei Guangde just bowed deeply to King Yu.

However, this is what King Yu can do when he is still in hiding. In the future, when King Yu ascends the throne as the empress, it will be troublesome to see King Yu report the matter.

The Ming Dynasty followed the Yuan Dynasty's system of courtiers bowing to the emperor. All officials, regardless of their rank, had to kneel to the emperor to perform political affairs. After the performance, the emperor ordered them to stand up before they could stand up.

When the emperor issued an edict, all the officials had to kneel and listen.

The emperor rewarded the ministers, and the ministers had to kneel in front of the emperor to receive the gifts, and then kowtow five times.

In the Ming Dynasty, when the emperor and ministers were discussing affairs, only those who reported to the emperor had to kneel down, and the others stood, and the kneeling player had finished playing, and the emperor could order him to stand up.

Think about it, at that time, if there was something to say to King Yu, he had to kneel, and Wei Guangde felt that his knees might not be able to bear it.

Fortunately, Wei Guangde had not been summoned several times by Emperor Jiajing, and each time he had nothing to report, most of them were questions from the emperor.

Later history books criticized Emperor Jiajing for not going to court for 20 years, but Wei Guangde actually liked this kind of emperor from his own experience. Chen was sent to Xiyuan for everyone's convenience.

Of course, it is a common problem of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty to behave well when they get cheap.

Since everyone has got what Emperor Jiajing did, but in private, they still have to show their concern for the country and the people, and complain about Emperor Jiajing's practice of not going to court.

After Wei Guang Deping was behind him, King Yu smiled and said, "Shan Loan, you and I are both teachers and friends, so you don't have to be so particular about it in private."

"Don't dare. Although His Highness hasn't rectified his name, he is actually the crown prince. You and I are really monarchs and ministers."

Although he really didn't want to say these words, Wei Guangde still wanted to say them on this occasion.

Anyway, apart from the servants around King Yu, there was no one else present.

"Hehe, it's very polite to be a good loan."

King Yu just smiled, and then asked seriously: "I don't know what is the important thing for Shandai to come here?"

Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment, organized his words, and told King Yu again what he said to Zhang Juzheng earlier.

"You said that Ma Fang plans to lead his troops to attack the desert in the near future? Sneak attack on the camp of Aldakhan?"

King Yu asked with a look of disbelief.

He had just escaped from the plight of captive cavalry attacking and harassing Gyeonggi, and within a few days, King Yu heard that Ma Fang planned to retaliate with an eye for an eye. Naturally, he was pleasantly surprised.

Over the years, Ma Fang's record was enough to reassure King Yu, so he was not worried about Ma Fang's risky move immediately.

In fact, Ma Fang has won and lost in recent years, but in Wei Guangde's words, of course, he only talks about victories and does not mention those defeats. Even if it is mentioned, it becomes a tragic victory after a bloody battle in Wei Guangde's mouth .

Seeing King Yu's expression, Wei Guangde didn't know how to express his feelings at this moment.

Maybe he was too sensitive.

But after discussing with Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde became more and more worried about Ma Fang's battle this time.

He made it very clear how stupid he was for not answering King Yu's question directly.

Next, Wei Guangde revealed all his worries about the war, even including the several possibilities he mentioned in the discussion with Zhang Juzheng, and explained the victory and defeat in detail.

"Although this battle is a bit risky, but the Tartars have just ravaged the capital, I think it is appropriate to take revenge this time."

Like Emperor Jiajing, the emperor and the prince of the Ming Dynasty had the same attitude towards foreign enemies, that is, to fight back.

After the "Gengxu Incident" that year, Emperor Jiajing was determined to prepare troops for the Northern Expedition to retaliate, but due to various reasons, he failed in the end.

And this time the Tatars repeated the situation of the past, which naturally made King Yu's blood boil, and he wanted to take revenge, the most ruthless revenge back.

"However, Shan Loan, you and Uncle's worries are justified."

King Yu said in a deep voice, "How do you plan to perfect this strategy for Ma Fang?"

Ma Fang is only the chief soldier of the Xuan Mansion, and he can only govern the Xuan Mansion.

The dispatch of troops this time will inevitably take away most of the mobile forces of the Xuan Mansion, which will greatly weaken the defensive power of the Xuan Mansion. At this time, it is really necessary to supplement the troops of the Xuan Mansion.

In fact, the most important function of the Great Wall is not to keep the enemy out with a wall, just like siege warfare.

Thousands of miles of city walls, even if Da Ming filled in millions of troops for this purpose, it is actually impossible to fill up the walls of the Great Wall.

The Great Wall is a defense system, relying on a complete defense engineering system composed of various fortifications such as city walls, enemy towers, gates, piers, camps, guards, towns, and beacon towers.

Many people in later generations think that the Great Wall is useless, and foreign enemies can open a gap in the Great Wall to drive straight in. Only those who have no common sense of strategy think so.

The garrison on the Great Wall, in fact, has a more important role as early warning, and of course it is also a combat soldier.

When the enemy's traces are found, the early warning is started, and at the same time, of course, resistance is required. In fact, it is just to buy some time for the people in the inland to step up their preparations for the battle and create a little time to fortify the walls and clear the fields.

It takes time to open a gap, and it is necessary to guard against the attack of the defenders. The strategic advantage of the sudden attack of the nomads is lost. The beacon tower quickly transmits military information to a distant place, and it can also allow the regime in the Central Plains to have sufficient time to prepare and resist the attack.

Most of the nomads came to the Central Plains to plunder, and attacking cities was not their strong point. Once they fortified the walls and cleared the wilderness after warning, the property and manpower they could grab would be greatly reduced.

Moreover, they generally dare not go deep into the hinterland to plunder, for fear of being cut off by the defenders at both ends of the gap.

The Ming Dynasty built a large number of towns and forts along the Great Wall, which were actually the main fortifications to defend against the attack of the barbarians.

These towns and forts are as small and difficult to attack as small towns, and they are densely distributed within tens of miles behind the Great Wall.

If the Tartars broke the side walls, they would either attack and plunder these towns, or skip them directly and continue to attack other inland cities of the Ming Dynasty. The troops in these towns were to regain the city walls and block The main force for its smooth retreat.

Because of this city wall, when the nomads attacked the Ming Dynasty, they could not choose places to enter at will, but they had to try to break through the gates along the Great Wall and grab a gate.

In this way, their huge troops can pass through the Great Wall smoothly, and the looted supplies and people can also pass through the customs smoothly.

The purpose of supplementing Xuanfu's troops is naturally that when the Tartars attack Xuanfu, there will be sufficient reserve troops to go up and expel the intruding Tartar army.

"My idea is to mobilize the soldiers and horses from Shanxi Town to support the Xuan Mansion, so as to make up for Ma Fang's vacancy in Xuan Mansion's defense after he left."

Wei Guangde said.

"Why Shanxi Town instead of Datong? This time, Datong's commander-in-chief Jiang Yingxiong and his subordinates performed extremely well, and their combat power is also impressive."

King Yu wondered.

"Governor Jiang Dong of Xuanda has always chosen to sit in Datong, not without reason."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to say.

"Ma Fang and Jiang Dong are at odds?"

Hearing this, King Yu frowned slightly.

Thinking of lobbying King Yu to come forward and help Xu Jie suppress Yang Bo, Wei Guangde explained to King Yu that Jiang Dong wanted to transfer the elite from the Xuanfuzheng Barracks.

When it comes to power struggles, King Yu can't say anything at first.

Rights are rights only in the hands.

Once you hand it over to others, it is no longer within your control.

King Yu could understand Ma Fang's reason for rejecting Jiangdong.

"Now the chief military officer of Shanxi Town is Dong Yikui, he was also recommended by the Ministry of War for his meritorious service, and he has just been transferred from the Xuanfu.

He has been in the Xuan Mansion for many years and is very familiar with it. At this time, it is just for him to rectify Shanxi's troops and horses to help, so he can rest easy. "

Wei Guangde continued to speak, but he was worried that King Yu didn't know the urgency of the matter, and added: "This matter is also urgent. From what I know about Ma Fang, he may already be at the frontier at this time, and he may go out at any time."

"However, what should I do? I have to go to Yang Shangshu of the Ministry of War for this matter, and it is only reasonable for the Ministry of War to write down the matter."

King Yu is not Xiaobai, he is a prince, how can he have the right to use the army.

Moreover, this is also inviting disaster. Beware that if the emperor knows about it, it is possible to abolish him on the grounds of his ulterior motives.

"Your Highness doesn't need to do anything. Naturally, I will go to see Yang Shangshu and tell you about Ma Fang's plan to raid Beihetan in the near future. However, I feel that something is wrong, so I discuss with him how to make up for some of the mistakes."

Wei Guangde said that he told King Yu these things, of course he couldn't give him any problems.

This does not match his image in King Yu's heart, and it will give people the impression of being troublesome.

In fact, in order to clarify this battle, Ma Fang just mentioned it casually in the letter.

However, he thought it was a one-shot, but pointed out the target, so Wei Guangde was alerted. Ma Fang should have planned this long ago.

He would not be nervous if the raid time was advanced or postponed, but at this point in time, he thought it was extremely inappropriate.

Now, this feeling has become stronger and stronger.

"Since you already have this idea, why don't you come to see Gu, you might as well talk to Yang Shangshu directly."

At this time, King Yu also realized that this was a troublesome matter. As a prince, he actually had nothing to do with it, even though Emperor Jiajing didn't seem to put an end to his contact with military generals from other places.

"As long as it's because of Jiangdong."

Only at this time did Wei Guangde continue: "Your Highness should know that Jiang Dong and Liu Tao are competing for the position of governor of Jiliao."

King Yu nodded and said, "I heard about it."

"Yang Shangshu is also in his 60s. He has privately expressed his lack of energy many times before. I guess his plan seems to be to let Jiang Dong take his place."

Wei Guangde said.

"You want to prevent Jiang Dong from becoming the governor of Jiliao and preventing him from entering the Ministry of War."

King Yu understood a little bit, "It's just that, after all, he was recommended by Yang Shangshu, so it's not good for Gu to intervene in this matter."

"But there is a gap between Jiangdong and Ma Fang. If Jiangdong is in charge of the military department, it will be disadvantageous to Ma Fang."

Wei Guangde replied directly.

"You want to express your support for Liu Tao alone?"

King Yu was a little hesitant, Xu Jie stood behind Liu Tao, and Yang Bo stood behind Jiang Dong, both of whom were important officials in the court.

Originally, with his personality, he would naturally keep a respectful distance from the competition for the position of governor of Jiliao, and it would be better not to participate in it.

But now they know the relationship between Jiang Dong and Ma Fang, and the official position of Governor Ji Liao is extremely sensitive.

Indeed, if Jiangdong came out to town Jiliao, he would almost be a sure candidate for the next Minister of the Ministry of War, as long as he didn't do anything else.

You know, he has already gone through all the transitions that he should have gone through as the Minister of the Ministry of War. From the Minister of the Ministry of War to the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, he is now close to the door, that is, to take over the post of Governor of Jiliao.

Wei Guangde didn't know what King Yu was thinking at this time, but saw him bowing his head and thinking for a while.

Wei Guangde was not in a hurry, he just waited quietly on the side.

King Yu was also weighing the pros and cons at this time, and if he got involved in this matter, he might offend Yang Bo.

As Wei Guangde said, Yang Bo is indeed considering his successor.

In fact, Xu Jie is older than Yang Bo, but in King Yu's memory, it seems that Xu Jie has never heard of Xu Jie's intention to become an official, and from the eyes of outsiders, it seems that Xu Jie is still very old and strong.

Thinking of this, and thinking of Ma Fang who was involved in it, King Yu finally made the final decision.

At this time in Zhangjiakou, Ma Fang had already led his elite cavalry to station in the castle for repairs, but the news he had been waiting for was still not coming.

Of course, the surprise attack on Beisha Beach was not a decision made by Ma Fang on the spur of the moment. He had actually been preparing for it for more than a year.

Not only did they send Yebushou to collect terrain information along the route, but they also continuously tracked Altan Khan's whereabouts, striving to succeed with one blow.

Altan Khan is now surrounded by large armies all year round. The older a person is, the more he cherishes his life. The ambitions and ambitions he once had are gone, and the fearless courage has also dissipated. Unrivaled deterrence.

Ma Fang has always pinned his target on Altan Khan, so naturally he must take into account all the influences, even the route of the army and the location of the camp, so as not to leave any flaws.

But sometimes, if you act recklessly and show off your courage, you will often achieve unexpected results, and the appearance of the word "a wise man will make a mistake if he thinks about it" also shows that adequate preparation is often the root of failure.

Now, Ma Fang has assembled the mobile forces he can mobilize in the Xuan Mansion in the name of patrolling the border, and has once again assembled in Zhangjiakou Fort. He can act only after confirming Al Da Khan's location.

Ready, enough.

During his intentional or unintentional drills, the Xuanfu army has unknowingly carried out relevant simulation drills many times.

Although there are many people involved, not many people know the complete details, which is also for the sake of confidentiality.

While he was waiting bitterly, outside Zhangjiakou, which was more than ten miles away from Zhangjiakou Fort, a fast horse was galloping towards the Chengguan.

(End of this chapter)