prosperous age

"Then let's wait for the news from Datong. However, I will send this memorial to the palace by Su Qing, so that His Majesty will also know about my colleague."

Li Chunfang said.

"Didn't the imperial court give orders to Datong?"

Wang Lin asked at this time.

"We'll wait for their memorial to come out.

There is no specific situation now. Xuanda has ordered martial law, which is enough. "

Gao Gong said.

"However, we can give a message to Wang Zhigao, the governor of the three sides, and ask him to cooperate with Wang Chonggu's actions."

Wei Guangde suddenly interjected: "Governor Wang used to be the governor of the three sides. Yansui Town may be able to listen to him, but after all, Governor Wang Zhigao is now in charge. In order to avoid causing discord between the generals in the border towns, it is better for the court to tone down the situation."

"Shan Lian said this is a great good deed. The Ministry of War sent a message to Wang Zhigao, asking them to fully cooperate with the Xuan Da campaign."

Gao Gong said directly, without waiting for Li Chunfang's decision to be finalized.

Wang Lin and Wei Xuezeng just looked at each other quietly. Seeing that the others had nothing to say, they said goodbye and left the cabinet.

Wei Xuezeng had long heard that there were many factions in the cabinet, and they were not very good at dealing with each other. This was also why Chen Yiqin became an official.

It was an eye-opener in the cabinet today. If it was as rumored, Gao Gong was so strong that he didn't give the chief assistant Li Chunfang any face. He could decide Li Chunfang's ideas in person.

After the people from the Ministry of War left, Li Chunfang still sat in her seat with a calm expression, with the official document on the coffee table next to her.

Gao Gong walked over at this time, picked up the official document on the table and said, "Then I will go to Qianqing Palace and report the news to Your Majesty."

"Qing Su, we were still talking about the Beijing police investigation earlier."

Li Chunfang reminded him that Gao Gong had just criticized the previous capital, accusing the former capital police of being perfunctory and intervening in this matter before the matter was finished.

Worried that Gao Gong would forget, Li Chunfang kindly reminded him that he hadn't finished what he said before.

But at this time, Gao Gong shook his head and said: "The Beijing investigation has been going on for a long time, and it is not the most important thing now. It is better to report it to Your Majesty first.

I can discuss this matter with you in detail at another time. At that time, I will write a memorial and give it to you to read. If there is anything wrong, I will give you some pointers. "

Gao Gong did not intend to continue talking about the Jingcha matter, but he made it clear in his words that he still had to submit a memorial on this matter, and the emperor would make the final decision. He just had to wait for him to write the memorial.

The so-called deliberation is actually just to let other people take a look and correct them if they find something wrong, rather than to discuss whether it is feasible or not.

By forcefully promoting this matter, Gao Gong had obviously made up his mind.

Gao Gong took the memorial and left. The others stayed here for a while, chatted for a few words, and then dispersed.

Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen were still talking quietly on the way back, "What do you think of a decisive battle with Ada Khan in Datong?"

"Uncle's idea, do you think it's feasible?"

Wei Guangde did not answer directly, but asked rhetorically.

"If I didn't know that the war would break out next year, I might still be worried, but since Ananda Khan is currently marching westward to conquer Turpan, and waiting for him to start his army, we should be well prepared."

Yin Shizhen said: "I think we can give it a try and let the Ministry of War select the best soldiers and generals from all over the world to secretly mobilize and hide them around Datong. As long as Anda Khan dares to come, he will never come back."

After hearing that Yin Shizhen said that he would use this time to secretly mobilize elite soldiers and horses to prepare for an encirclement, Wei Guangde looked at Yin Shizhen with admiration.

If the war is urgent, a decisive battle with the Mongols is definitely not the best plan.

Not to mention the uneven mobilization of troops, even if the plan goes smoothly, the army has no combat power and cannot stick to the enemy. It is futile to break out before the friendly forces arrive to form a siege.

An encirclement naturally requires the gathering of superior forces, but because it is defended on all sides, the superior forces are also dispersed. Therefore, if there is no powerful army, the encirclement will be broken at once, and the encirclement will be meaningless.

Although there are many mountains around Datong, most of them are the last branches of the mountains. The terrain has changed from mountains to hills. It is extremely difficult to block the Mongolian route with such terrain.

Another big obstacle was the order to form an encirclement. The encircling soldiers and horses should not be too close to Datong, otherwise they would be easily discovered by the Mongols, but they should not be too far away.

In ancient times, without modern communication methods, it was actually very difficult for people from all walks of life to appear near Datong at almost the same time.

However, since it is in the realm of the Ming Dynasty, it is not bad to complete such a transfer, and it should be possible to achieve it.

In fact, in the Han Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, several armies entered the grassland to surround the enemy, so the risk was great.

Without communication means to know the situation of friendly forces, we can only act according to the original plan. If any problem occurs in the army, it may be a disaster for other troops.

Most such large-scale military operations end in failure due to reasons such as getting lost, weather, etc., but as long as they succeed, they must be a great victory.

Wei Guangde repeatedly considered the possibility of fighting in Datong in his mind, but in the end he still felt that it was a bit difficult.

The main reason is that from Hongwu to Yongle, the Ming army made several Northern Expeditions, and the Mongols had their courage broken.

Despite the Battle of Tumubao that followed, the Mongols' power was never able to recover.

The leaders after the Mongols knew this very well, so they had always deliberately avoided a decisive battle with the Ming army.

What they are better at now is raiding, taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Ming army to launch a sudden attack. Even if they break through the border wall, they usually start looting after going south for a while, and return to the prairie before the Ming army reinforcements arrive.

So, Wei Guangde stood down and analyzed the situation with Yin Shizhen, "In fact, it is not that the Ming army was timid, but the Mongols were actually more timid and worried about launching a decisive battle with the Ming army.

If we lose once, we can mobilize other troops to fight again, but the Mongols can only win. If we lose once, their vitality will be severely damaged, and it will take at least decades to recover.

Therefore, if we want to have a decisive battle with Anda Khan in Datong, it is not whether we want to, but whether Anda Khan will do such a thing. "

"Then what do you mean, Ananda Khan will probably not send a large army to threaten Datong and ask us to send people back?"

Yin Shizhen frowned.

"Maybe it will create a situation where soldiers are pressing down on the border, but it won't actually lead to a fight."

Wei Guangde thought about it and then said, "If the war becomes serious, it will be detrimental to the Mongols.

What's more, as Han Naji has said, there are actually signs of instability among all the forces on the grassland. There are conflicts between the sons of Anda Khan, the White Lotus cultists who fled to the north, and among the tribes. There are many contradictions.

The purpose of this western expedition to Turpan was firstly to obtain resources and plunder, and secondly to divert the conflicts between tribes and let them look outside. "

At this point, Wei Guangde suddenly stopped and looked around. Seeing no one around, he approached Yin Shizhen and whispered in his ear: "I have seen a letter from His Majesty before. It was from an ambush Bansheng." The city's Jin Yiwei spies brought it back.

His identity was exposed in Bansheng and he was arrested, but he was not executed by Zhao Quan and Li Zixin. Instead, he was asked to bring back a letter. "

Upon hearing this, Yin Shizhen's eyes suddenly widened, looking in disbelief. "As you can imagine, he made a condition to the court. As long as His Majesty pardons their crimes and guarantees that they will not be held accountable, they are willing to leave the grassland and are even willing to act as internal agents."

Immediately afterwards, Wei Guangde's words rang in his ears, and it was exactly what he thought.

In recent years, the decline of the Mongols has been obvious, and smart people can see that the Mongols can only show off their power on the Ming Dynasty border fortress.

As for competing with the Ming Dynasty for hegemony, that was just a joke.

When Ma Fang was stationed in Xuanfu, the Mongols almost did not dare to touch Xuanfu.

After the second year of Longqing, Ma Fang transferred Datong, and several border provocations did not go well.

Because after Ma Fang became the chief military officer of Datong, he adopted a similar strategy as in Xuanfu and gathered a fairly large cavalry force.

No matter where the Mongols appeared, Ma Fang's cavalry could arrive nearby to contain the enemy within a day or two.

Therefore, as long as the border castle can withstand a day or two waiting for reinforcements from Ma Fang, the border will be fine.

After other Ming army reinforcements arrived, the Mongols had no choice but to retreat.

This was the case in the previous attacks on the Datong and Shanxi forts. After testing several forts in succession and finding that they were too heavily guarded to break through, they immediately moved to attack other castles, and finally reached Pinglu City. Ma Fang's troops still quickly arrived to contain them and waited for other Ming troops. Reinforcements arrived, but they had to return in vain.

Zhao Quan and others also saw that the Mongols they had placed high hopes on were obviously in trouble, so they also began to consider their options.

This is in line with Han Naji's words, that is, there is mutual distrust between the Mongols and the defecting Akito.

Obviously, Anda Khan was not unaware of the little actions of Zhao Quan, Li Zixin and others.

"Then how did His Majesty make the decision?"

Yin Shizhen asked in a low voice.

"The annihilation of the White Lotus cultists was decided by Taizu, and of course it cannot be changed."

Wei Guangde whispered, "At that time, His Majesty just asked me if I could take this opportunity to eradicate the White Lotus cultists and Anda Khan in one fell swoop.

But this is actually a double-edged sword. If they really do this, it is of course an opportunity, but if they harbor evil intentions, you know the consequences.

Although Your Majesty had this intention, you really failed. The fault lies not with Your Majesty but with your Majesty. "

Wei Guangde said, obviously he rejected the emperor's idea mainly for his own sake and did not want to bear the consequences of failure.

Of course, at that time, none of the ministers in the Manchu Dynasty knew that the situation in the grassland was so complicated, so he and the emperor were more willing to believe that this was a trick set up by Zhao Quan and Li Zixin to deceive the court.

Anda Khan, who was still on the way to the Western Expedition, had received the news that his beloved grandson had actually come to Datong to show off, and he suddenly felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

After he calmed down a little, he immediately ordered the cancellation of the original plan to conquer Turpan westward and the entire army returned to the division.

At the same time, he ordered his eldest son Xin Ai Huang Taiji to lead his troops to go first and rush to the vicinity of Datong, looking for opportunities to lure out the Ming generals and set up an ambush to capture them in exchange for the hostage of his beloved grandson Han Naji.

It had been nearly 30 years since the war with the Ming Dynasty. Of course, he and Ming Dynasty were extremely distrustful.

Although he knew that it was his grandson who took the initiative to come to the Ming Dynasty, he was more worried that the people of the Ming Dynasty would be angry with him, punish him, or even execute him.

After all, he once led troops to the city walls of Beijing and caused many massacres. If the people of the Ming Dynasty couldn't catch him, they might vent their anger on his stupid grandson.

At the same time, he was also regretting that he should not have accepted Na Yanchu in the first place, otherwise this scandal would not have happened.

The woman whose grandfather took away his grandson is a subject of criticism even in Mongolia.

Although he found out later and arranged another woman for his grandson, his grandson still defected because of this, and he felt that the blame was on himself.

In the next few days, the army hurried back, and Anda Khan also had nightmares all night long. In the dream, he saw his grandson being tortured and beaten by Ming people, and his life was worse than death.

It is human nature for Anda Khan to be concerned about his grandson's safety, but on the way back, Zhao Quan, Li Zixin and others also approached Anda Khan countless times to state the pros and cons.

In their mouths, Han Naji "has surrendered now, and he will be used to pacify the captives, and his power will become even greater." In their mouths, Han Naji has been regarded as a traitor to the Mongols, and they think that the Ming Dynasty will use him as a traitor. The article encouraged more Mongols to rebel against Ada Khan.

Therefore, it is imperative to rescue Han Naji. To this end, heavy troops should be mobilized to threaten the Ming Dynasty, forcing the Ming Dynasty to submit and return Han Naji. This will make others understand that there is no way out from surrendering to the Ming Dynasty.

As for what to do with the people when they came back, they didn't say, but it was enough to name Han Naji as a Mongolian traitor who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

Although Anda Khan is old, he is not stupid. He knows that what Zhao Quan and others are thinking is nothing more than worrying that Xin Ai and Huang Taiji will succeed in the prisoner exchange after catching Ming General.

They hoped that a war would break out between the Mongols and the Ming people, weakening the strength of both sides, and then their help would become extremely valuable.

Even if Anda Khan fails miserably and loses too much strength, they may still have a chance to replace him.

Therefore, when it came to dealing with Han Naji, although Anda Khan promised to carefully consider the suggestions of Zhao Quan and others, in fact he had completely abandoned them and no longer trusted them.

At this time, Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda, had rushed back to Datong overnight and met with the governor at the right time to understand the situation.

In the past few days, Fang Fengshi placed Han Naji in Datong City, entertaining him with delicious food and drinks, and constantly asking for information on the grassland.

These are precisely the information that Ming Dynasty needs most, but in the past, such high-level secrets were also the most difficult to detect.

But it's different now. With Han Naji, the person who lives beside Ada Khan all the time, they can naturally get more detailed information.

"You're saying that he and Xin Ai Huang Taiji are not at odds with each other because Xin Ai Huang Taiji thinks that he has taken over too many tribes?"

Wang Chonggu asked after listening to what Fang Fengshi had learned in the past two days.

"Anda Khan entrusted most of his tribes to his sons, and he still left some tribes behind.

There have been rumors there that these tribes were handed over to him by Ada Khan after his death, which aroused Xin Ai Huang Taiji's dissatisfaction with him.

However, he also said that he had never heard his grandfather Amada Khan say this, so it was probably a rumor spread by Zhao Quan and others with the purpose of causing discord among their family members. "

Fang Fengshi explained.

"It seems that the relationship between Zhao Quan and others and Anda Khan's relatives is not good, but they can be taken advantage of."

Wang Chonggu said.

"Your Excellency, I feel that there is much to be done at this time, but it still depends on the intention of the court."

Fang meets the time.

Wang Chonggu thought about it and said: 'I have three strategies.' (End of this chapter)