A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 309 Drawing dice and preparing for war

"...I specially order your state to recruit two thousand warriors to join the conquest army to defeat the enemy invaders together. I appreciate this!"

The messenger in gorgeous robes held a yellow silk cloth in his hand and announced loudly.

He was currently standing in a hall, with a person kneeling in front of him. Bows, animal heads, and calligraphy and paintings are hung in this hall. The chairs are covered with thick animal skins, but the chairs are covered with fine silk, which looks a bit nondescript.

This was the residence of a governor of Jisi Prefecture, and at this time, the governor was kneeling in front of the envoy, listening to the imperial edict of Emperor Wuxing.

When he heard the words "Two Thousand Warriors", he raised his head in surprise, but he still waited patiently for the messenger to finish reading, then raised his head and asked:

"Sir, are two thousand cavalry too many?"

This is not a very big mansion. With more than two thousand young men, his subordinates have almost been defeated. He has never seen such a drawing method.

However, the response he waited for was cold words:

"Anyone who disobeys the order will be deprived of all positions and beheaded! The governor can try it."

"I'm just asking." The governor's face twitched violently, obviously feeling aggrieved by these unkind words. He didn't expect that he just asked a question and received such a reply. After all, he was the governor of one side. If you really want to put it into perspective, he was also a fourth-rank official. How could he bear such humiliation?

"This is your Majesty's intention." The messenger's face was still as cold as ever, and he didn't take it seriously.

The governor's breathing became slightly heavier, and his face was embarrassed for a while, but in the end, he lowered his body and said with a slightly trembling voice:

"According to the Holy Will."

What could he do? The battle nine years ago is still vivid in my mind! That Yan Shizhao was still in his prime!

There is no other way, even if you are reluctant, you can only obey.

The entire government was mobilized.

"Is there going to be a war?"

The prefecture of Jisi Prefecture is a large gathering place where many young and strong people are rarely concentrated.

Unexpectedly, when they heard that they had been selected to accompany the Ming army on the expedition, they showed excitement.

Many of them had heard about the disastrous defeat of the Tatar army nine years ago, and regarded Yan Shizhao as a famous general who was difficult to defeat. Some of them even witnessed the Tatar army's hasty escape that year and beat the fallen dog hard.

They naturally felt that it was an extremely honorable thing to follow this general across the battlefield.

It would be a great joy to be able to get an official position and work in the colorful world of the Celestial Empire.

And their relatives and friends were also smiling:

"My son, I must fight to the death to repay Your Majesty!"

"We must serve the Celestial Empire wholeheartedly and eliminate the enemies!"

"If you haven't made any contribution to the Celestial Empire, don't come back to see me!"

……

Amid the joyful singing, the Jisu cavalry set off on their journey with enthusiasm and excitement.

……

"My lord, the cavalry from all Jisu prefectures have arrived."

The envoy from the imperial court came to Yan Shizhao and reported to him that he had been ordered to deliver the imperial edict to all the prefectures in Jisu, and then led the army to return to Yan Shizhao.

Yan Shizhao was riding on his horse, but when he heard this, he looked back at the Ming army behind him and sighed slightly.

This army consists of the Beijing Army and the Zhili Ming Army, with a total strength of 50,000.

This time it’s a real number.

After all, facing the aggressive Yan Chenhao, those generals would be lying if they said they were not afraid. Yan Chenhao's rectification of the Ming Dynasty actually focused on people's livelihood. He adhered to the "people-oriented" concept and gave priority to improving the quality of life of the people. Although there was also some rectification of the army, in comparison, it was Much worse.

In particular, he also knew that the commanders of the guard posts in those places all had military power. If they were really anxious and teamed up with the landlords and gentry, they might cause a lot of trouble.

Therefore, although there has been some rectification of the military system, the intensity is not large. This is another reason why Yan Chenhao opposes sending troops - large-scale rectification of the army is still behind water conservancy.

But after all, Yan Chenhao's methods were quite harsh, so the noble generals have restrained themselves a lot in recent years, resulting in the Beijing Army and other armies finally improving their appearance.

However, even so, Yan Shizhao also saw that these soldiers had not fought for a long time and their combat effectiveness had seriously declined. Moreover, there were only 5,000 cavalry among the 50,000 soldiers. Facing the most powerful Junggar tribe in Navarre, they seemed too few. .

Therefore, the key to determining victory or defeat lies in the restrained Mongolian army.

Now they are ordered to come and join together.

"How many people are there?" he asked.

"Your Majesty, twenty-six thousand people." The court official replied respectfully. How could he still have half of the majesty he had when facing the governors?

"Twenty-six thousand?"

Yan Shizhao was stunned. He thought he heard wrongly and asked again.

"My lord, there are twenty-six thousand people, to be precise, there are twenty-six thousand eight hundred and forty-three."

The court official said it again, this time the figures were more detailed and accurate.

But when Yan Shizhao heard this, he was a little dazed.

This number far exceeded his imagination. He originally thought that the vassal army would only have seven or eight thousand people at most. In this way, although it would be a bit difficult, it could still be fought.

But I didn't expect that there were so many.

You must know that the grassland is not a farming area, and the population it can accommodate is not large. When Temujin unified the grassland, he only had ninety-five thousand households. These thousand households may not be full. Although it was after the war, the number of people in the grassland was small. It can also be seen. Although Ji Sui has developed to a certain extent in recent years relying on the food and grass of the Ming Dynasty, the number of people is not much. After all, not many years have passed since the great war.

According to previous statistics, there are only more than 40,000 men in the entire Jisu.

Moreover, in recent years, tens of thousands of young men have been recruited into the Three Thousand Battalion, leaving even fewer young men.

Yan Shizhao did some rough mental calculations and was shocked to find that, except for a few prefectures in the outer circle that directly bordered the Olay tribes, the rest of the Jidu had already sent most of the remaining men.

At this time, the imperial envoy came over again and whispered:

"Your Majesty's intention is to use them as the vanguard to minimize the casualties of our army..."

Yan Shizhao glanced at him and instantly understood what the emperor meant.

It seems that the large number of independence and rebellions in Jisu Prefecture in the last years of Wanli have made the emperor no longer trust Jisu. This means that he does not regard them as the people of the Ming Dynasty at all!

Just doing it this way...will there really be no problems?

Yan Shizhao opened his mouth, but in the end he just cupped his fists and said:

"Shi Zhao takes the order."

After all, his uncle had just had a big quarrel with the emperor. If he had any rebuttal now, it would inevitably displease the emperor. To be honest, if he hadn't supported Zhu Changxun's decision enough before, the emperor might not have allowed him to continue to command this army.

What he has to do now is to win this battle and try to dispel the emperor's suspicion, so that it can also be helpful to his uncle.

But now, with this group of Jisi cavalry, he is more confident.

Yan Shizhao's eyes were filled with light, filled with excitement and fighting spirit.

In November of the ninth year of Wuxing, Chen Guogong Yan Shizhao led a large army and went north to crusade in the name of the Oara Junggar tribe's repeated border violations.

(End of this chapter)