Be the emperor from the postman

Chapter 291 Evil Tiger Fights Evil Wolf

"Why is the Tiger Rabbit here again?"

Ma Cheng sat up anxiously from the bed. He had called once last year. Didn't Da Ming reopen the exchange at his request?
It didn't last long, what are you doing this time?
Ma Chengxi had a headache, even though Lin Danhan couldn't beat Huang Taiji, the Tartar of Liaodong, so he came to Datong, Shanxi.

The Horqin tribe fell into the arms of Houjin, and when the five tribes of Neikalkha were destroyed, Huang Taiji began to infiltrate Lin Danhan's Chahar tribe.

After Lin Danhan's eight Otoks surrendered to Jin, he left a tribe to stay in the old place and led tens of thousands of people to move westward here.

However, the frontier soldiers in Datong couldn't beat Lin Danhan's westward troops at all.

Originally, the Daming Frontier Army was matched with the Mongols in the Xuanhuafu area, and the combat effectiveness of the two sides was comparable.

But Lin Danhan, who was matched in the Liaodong region, suddenly joined this place, directly breaking the balance, and defeated the Mongolian and Ming troops here one after another.

So now when Ma Chengxi heard that Lin Danhan was coming, he had a headache.

"Beat the drum and discuss the matter."

Then the soldiers will wait to come.

Seeing that everyone was here, Ma Chengxi reported Lin Danhan's attack.

As for Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Datong, he did the work of the governor of Xuanda.

At present, he is not in Datong at all, because Fangqiu is in Xuanfu, and he has to face the Liaodong Tartars.

"Tell me, what should I do?"

Hearing that Lin Dan Khan was coming, many soldiers were terrified.

For so many years, everyone has relied on mutual market points to do business with Altan Khan's descendants.

If you can get a rich life without using a sword, who is willing to work hard?

Therefore, whether it is the Ming army or the descendants of Altan Khan, the combat effectiveness has declined extremely quickly.

Last year, Lin Dan Khan was almost breached in Datong City. Yu County was overwhelmed and suffered heavy losses.

So when they heard that the hammer bandit He Jinzhao had occupied the defense line of Shanxi Town, they were even more frightened.

Because of the culling of the Mongolian tiger just now, another hungry wolf came to the pillow.

However, this hungry wolf was extremely fierce and killed Tian Zhao, the deputy commander of Shanxi Town.

That Tian Zhao is the veteran deputy chief soldier of Shanxi Town, and no one knows that he is the next chief soldier.

As a result, he was abruptly decapitated by the hammer bandits. As a result, the guard of Datong ignored Taiyuan's call for help more and more.

Backhanded a distress letter sent directly to Xuanda.

Now Mongolia's Hudun Rabbit Khan is here again.

But it's obviously not autumn yet, what kind of horse does he run in summer?
"Master, we don't have many soldiers and pay, we can only guard the city.

Let's see what Huduntu is here for, and then choose an opportunity to deal with it. "

Participating General Jiang Xiang was originally from Yanchuan County, Shaanxi Province, but the Jiang family has guarded Shuozhou for generations.

His elder brother Jiang Rang is the commander-in-chief of Yulin, and his younger brothers also hold important positions.

The Shuozhou Great Wall guarded by Jiang Xiang borders on the territory of Hammer Bandit He Jinzhao.

He has been paying attention to He Jinzhao's actions recently, and never thought that the Mongols would join in the fun.

Ma Chengxi saw that Jiang Xiang was the only one who spoke, and many of them were scared by Lin Dan last year!

Although there are many guards in Datong, they are all illusions. What Jiang Xiang said is the truth.

Datong Town originally had 10 troops stationed all year round, but during the Jiajing period, frequent wars increased by 13 troops.

After the Longqing Peace Conference, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, and Shanxi Town achieved mutual market peace, and the military pressure was reduced.

In addition, during the Wanli period, with the war to aid Korea and the rise of Hou Jin, the military center of gravity of the Great Wall moved eastward.

The garrison in Liaodong Army Town increased sharply, and a large number of troops were dispatched to Liaodong.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, the guard system and the battalion system were paralleled.

To a certain extent, the Weisuo system is that all the people are soldiers. The population of Datong Town is between 80 and one million people.

Therefore, the total number of officers and guards in Datong Town is 30.

Tens of thousands of people were kidnapped by Lin Dan Khan last year.

Throwing away those who are paid for nothing, just like this, they still have nearly 20 soldiers on the books in Datong Town.

It's a pity that it's just on the books, they added together the guards who could afford swords, and it was thankful that they made up 5 people.

Among them, the elite servants raised hundreds of people at most.

The imperial court hadn't paid them enough money, so Wei Zhongxian misappropriated the military salary to repair the three halls in order to please Emperor Tianqi.

Then he kept arrears with the military salary, and Chongzhen couldn't afford it, so he had to choose "key payment".

Because Ming's military expenditure has been "constantly rising."

Military expenditures include the development of the recruitment system and the continuous increase in military pay.

The soldiers in the guards have become serfs, and the military households have to bear one-third of the money for key weapons and equipment.

But fighting a war has never been a matter of saving money. In the last battle, the knife might have been broken.

Coupled with the increasing poverty of military households, soldiers fled from war weary.

When Ming Wuzong went on tour, he found that there were a lot of weapons and equipment in the accounts.

When he got to the soldiers and took a look, there was nothing there.

As a last resort, he appropriated funds from the royal treasury and personally distributed equipment to the soldiers to fight with him.

Then one of the military expenditures is to build the Great Wall, which is huge.

Side walls, enemy towers, side piers, castles, roads, etc., the amount of work is huge.

The Great Wall must be built every year, which is equivalent to selling poor-quality iron pots to the Mongols.

In fact, there is another deeper meaning, that is, if the Great Wall is not damaged, how to prove to the court that the fighting here is fierce?
The Great Wall damaged by Lin Dan Khan last year has not yet been repaired firmly.

After all, the imperial court did not allocate much money, and most of them were used by Liaodong.

Except for one-third of the military households' own responsibility for weapons and equipment, the remaining two-thirds have to be paid by the imperial court.

Such as knives, guns, bows and arrows, armor is still a small amount of money, but the cost of manufacturing and keeping firearms is high.

There are many cannons installed on the Great Wall. There are [-] general cannons on the Great Wall in Datong Town.

Both the manufacture of firearms and the consumption of gunpowder required large sums of money.

Regardless of the real situation of firearms, civil servants of the Ming Dynasty are very good at fooling around.

What kind of bird guns and artillery often exploded because of cutting corners, so that the officers and soldiers could only use three-eyed guns with a shorter range.

Whether the quality is good or not is another matter, but this amount of money can be reported for a penny and written in military expenditures.

Then the big head came, the cost of military horses and chariots, the north is close to the grasslands, and they want to fight the Mongolian army who are good at riding and shooting.

The amount of horses stocked and their training directly affect the combat effectiveness.

There are 20 soldiers and more than 5 horses and mules left in the entire Datong Town.

Each horse has three liters of beans per day, salt is not counted, and a bunch of grass weighs fifteen catties.

It costs more to raise a mule than a soldier.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, when dealing with the Mongols, the chariots were promoted, the state promulgated the style, and each locality made them themselves. The work and materials for each chariot were dozens of taels of silver.

As for the military transportation during the war, the storage of military supplies, the treatment of the disabled, the compensation for the dead soldiers, the urban construction of the border towns, and the water conservancy projects, the annual military pay is one million taels.

This is not counting grain and grass money.

Now the officers and soldiers of Datong Town have not recovered from Lin Danhan's injury last year, and now he is here again.

Jiang Xiang also expressed the feelings of the generals, that is, we have no money, no one, no equipment, and even the Great Wall has not been repaired.

Brothers can't fight at all.

Ma Chengxi, the commander-in-chief of Datong, also felt powerless for a while: "Send someone to ask Lin Danhan what he means?"

All the generals in the hall were silent, who the hell went to negotiate peace with the Mongols, wouldn't that be courting death?
Last year, the butcher knife in Lin Danhan's hand made them see how powerful it was.

Even Jiang Xiang didn't speak a word this time.

Because it is easy to ask questions, but it is difficult to solve them.

Wait until the Mongols came out of the city in a crowd.

Ma Chengxi, the commander-in-chief of Datong Town, led the people to guard the Great Wall, and ordered the soldiers to prepare artillery in response.

Lin Danhan led a large group of Mongolian soldiers and looked contemptuously at the Ming army on the Great Wall.

A big victory last year was enough for him to look down on this group of Ming troops, all of whom were defeated.

"Go, tell him the purpose of our coming here."

Before Lin Danhan's men set off, Ma Chengxi sent someone to inquire first.

Is Lin Danhan coming from the exchange market?

Ma Chengxi didn't know why until the soldiers came back to report.

Lin Danhan asked for rewards from the three towns of Tumote, Mongolia, and asked for a total of 32 taels of horse price and silver from the three towns.

Ma Chengxi began to scold his mother in his heart, Lin Danhan is going to replace King Shunyi!

You don't even sell your war horses, you just ask for money!

Ma Chengxi sent people to move all the cannons of the general and aimed them outside the pass. He wanted to go out of the city to talk to Lin Danhan.

As long as you don't break through, asking for money is negotiable, anyway, the imperial court pays.

"Huduntu, you came to my Datong Town to ask for a market reward, do you need to mobilize so many people?"

Lin Danhan smiled after listening to the translator:
"Ben Dahan heard that the deputy commander-in-chief of Shanxi Town was killed by a group of lowly rats. I'm afraid you won't be able to hold on to the exchange point that belongs to Ben Dahan."

Because Lin Dan Khan was breached by Houjin Nurhachi in Guangning, the trading point in Liaodong, he couldn't hold it.

Now that Xuanda is here, he is also afraid that he will not be able to hold on to his trading point again.

When Ma Chengxi heard this, his eyes narrowed. Even if he lost the outer three passes, as long as the other two passes were in the hands of the Ming army, Datong Town would not fall.

But why tell Tiger Rabbit about this?

"Since it's about rewarding silver, Huduntu can send an envoy, and I will tell the emperor truthfully."

Ma Chengxi, who was riding on a horse, bowed his hands slightly to the side to show respect to the emperor.

The entire Ming Dynasty is the richest thing, who doesn't know.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be desperately trying to get the exchange point. There has been a severe drought within the Ming court these years.

Liaodong and Mongolia were not much better, and the relief food allocated by the imperial court to Shaanxi was also resold to Mongolia and Houjin.

Lin Danhan saw that he was sloppy. He had been in contact with Ming officials for so many years, and he had already understood their way of handling things, so he delayed for a while.

Thinking of this, Lin Dan Khan began to throw out the bait:
"As long as you, Emperor Ming, give Ben Dahan the silver reward from the Tumed tribe, then the hammer bandit in Shanxi Town He Jinchao, Ben Dahan can teach you a lesson."

Hearing this, Ma Chengxi immediately felt a wish in his heart, let them fight the evil tiger and the evil wolf.

"Thank you Huduntu for your kindness. I will report this matter to the emperor immediately."

Lin Danhan and the Ming Dynasty have a basis for cooperation, but they were all beaten by Hou Jin and have no ability to parry.

Lin Danhan knew that Ma Chengxi agreed, but he couldn't decide this kind of thing.

With the rising smoke on the Great Wall, Shanxi Town, which is next to Datong Town, also received the news.

This is the defense of the same spirit.

After hearing this, He Jinzhao nodded, "What did Lin Danhan go to Datong for?"

"My lord, this person stormed into Datong Town last year, kidnapped tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians and returned to the north, and then he was eligible for a city reward."

Military advisor Ji Gui pinched his beard and said, "Perhaps he also wants to continue taking advantage of the fire."

He Jinzhao was at the Piantouguan right now, and Shanxi Town was the second line of defense for Datong Town.

Even if the Mongols break through Datong Town, it is generally difficult to break through the defense line of Shanxi Town.

"That's right, Lin Dan Khan, who was beaten by Huang Taiji and fled to the right wing of Mongolia, saw Huang Taiji returning from plundering the capital, and felt unbalanced."

He Jinzhao looked at the grassland in the distance, paused for a while and said with a smile: "I'd rather watch the show, as long as you don't provoke me."

"My lord, keep your heart in your stomach, it's only us who go over the side wall to find trouble with the Mongols.

There's absolutely no way they're going to come over the Shanxi Town's side wall and come to our troubles. "

(End of this chapter)