Jia Yujing of Red Mansion

Chapter 43
Why Yang Zhenye and Jia Qiong were locked up in Zhenyuan has to be discussed five days ago.

At that time, Yang Zhenye led his troops to push all the way across the Hetao grassland and approached Zhenyuan Pass.

Originally, Yang Zhenye only had [-] cavalry and did not know the situation inside the pass, so he never thought of attacking Zhenyuan Pass.

It happened that Wei Wentong, who was blocked outside the pass, discovered them at this time, so he immediately came to find them.

Although he was not able to break through Zhenyuan Pass and return to deliver information, he had basically grasped the situation inside the pass because he often explored nearby areas.

According to Wei Wentong's investigation, there were not many soldiers and horses left behind in Zhenyuan Pass, definitely no more than 3000, and the defense was relatively loose.

After hearing this, Jia Qiong immediately came up with a plan to defraud the city, and Yang Zhenye immediately agreed.

He immediately gathered all the naturalized Mongolian soldiers in the army and asked them to dress up in herders' clothes and pretend to be Tatars whose homes were broken by the Chu army. They were led by the deputy general himself and fled into Zhenyuan Pass in batches to lurk.

The plan went very smoothly, because these soldiers escaped in groups of several people, and they were all Mongolians, so they easily sneaked into the pass.

After learning that the Chu army was killing people in the Hetao grassland, the commander of the ten thousand guards immediately sent people to notify Chahan and Tuokuo.

In the evening, flames suddenly burst into the sky more than ten miles away from Zhenyuan Pass. The soldiers at the pass thought it was the Chu army burning the Tatar camp. Many soldiers wanted to fight their way out of the pass, but were stopped by the captain of ten thousand men.

Not long after, a dozen Tatars were seen fleeing towards Guanxia on horseback. Not far behind were two to three hundred Han cavalry chasing them.

Of course, the dozen or so Tatars in front were all pretended to be Chu troops. They were composed of the bravest warriors selected by Yang Zhenye from the entire army, and were led by Xu Shan and Tian Li.

They rushed to the gate, and Tian Li shouted to the gate: "Open the door quickly, we are from the Luohuo tribe, and the Han people are chasing us!"

Seeing that there were only 300 Han people chasing them, the Ten Thousand Captain did not feel that there was much threat, so he directly ordered people to open the city gate and let these herdsmen enter.

But when he came to the pass and was about to ask the herdsmen about the situation outside, Xu Shan and others and more than 200 Chu troops who had been ambushing various parts of the pass suddenly broke out in an attack.

Captain Ten Thousand was caught off guard and was beheaded by Xu Shan. The more than 2000 Tatar soldiers guarding the pass were instantly leaderless and their morale was in chaos.

In the dark night, they couldn't tell whether the people around them were friends or foes, and began to kill each other regardless of whether they were friends or foes.

The North City Gate was opened again by Xu Shan and others. Hundreds of cavalry from outside the pass, led by Yang Zhenye, rushed in, followed by the army two miles away.

At this time, Xu Shan had already led his men to the south gate. He was guarding the gate, one man guarding the gate and no ten thousand men opening it.

A big gun shot out of the sea like a dragon, killing the Tatars who wanted to escape south.

This battle not only recaptured Zhenyuan Pass in one fell swoop, but the Chu army did not let any Tatar escape to report the news.

Later, Jia Qiong came up with another plan. They deployed a fire attack inside Zhenyuan Pass and set up an ambush outside the pass.

When the Tatar army retreated, it was already disheartened and anxious to return to Hetao.

Unexpectedly, he was actually caught in a fire attack in Zhenyuan Pass.

The Tatars fled out of the pass in a hurry, and were suddenly attacked by the Chu cavalry who had ambushed outside in advance.

Xu Shan showed his power again, and killed King Kuo Kuo of Youxian in formation, and injured Tatar King Chahan with an arrow.

The Tatars' morale was instantly depleted and they fled in panic. They were severely defeated by the Chu army, which was only one-tenth of their number.

After leaving behind [-] to [-] corpses, they finally escaped back to the Hetao Grassland.

Now the two groups of Mongolian soldiers and horses combined have only 8 people left, half less than when they came, which can be said to be a serious loss of vitality.

Moreover, they have been defeated by the Chu army. As Yang Zhenye said, I am afraid that within ten years, the Tatars will not dare to go south to invade the border again.

A few days later, Daming Palace, Fengtian Palace.

The morning court will be held today. Those who are eligible to participate in the court meeting are senior officials of the fourth rank or above in Beijing, clan relatives, nobles, and officials of science and education.

The content of the discussions in the past few days has basically been the post-war pacification and reconstruction work in the three towns of Shaanxi, and today is no exception.

Sima Xian, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, first went out to announce: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of War has just received a report from Hou Ying, the commander-in-chief of Yulin Town, that the Mongolian army that attacked Yulin had retreated a few days ago.

Because of preparations in advance, the losses in Yulin Town were not large, and the number of casualties was expected to be less than [-]. "

Emperor Longqing looked happy when he heard this. It seemed that the Mongols had really withdrawn their troops.

"This time, 15 Mongolian troops invaded the country. It was all thanks to your dear ministers' hard work and proper handling that the barbarians were able to return without success." "Your Majesty is wise and mighty, and is blessed by God..."

Just when the monarch and his ministers were complimenting each other, there was suddenly a faint noise outside, and all the ministers couldn't help but quiet down and listen.

At this time, in Chang'an City, a messenger was galloping on his horse.

He carried a command flag on his back and held a bamboo tube tied with red cloth in his hand.

He shouted excitedly with a hoarse voice: "Great victory at Zhenyuan Pass! Behead [-] people and seize countless more! Great victory at Zhenyuan Pass!"

When the people along the way heard the shouts, they all cheered excitedly. The haze of war that shrouded Chang'an City finally dissipated at this moment.

As the news spread, more and more people joined in, and the cheers gradually spread into the imperial city.

A quarter of an hour later, Emperor Longqing took the good news that Wei Wentong had sent day and night, his hands shaking with excitement.

A dozen days ago, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were still worried about the Mongols breaking through the Yellow River defense line and threatening Chang'an. A few days ago, he was still worried about the war in Fengyang Mansion.

I didn't expect to receive such good news suddenly today. Taiyuan Commander Yang Zhenye really won an exciting victory!
Emperor Longqing was so excited that he couldn't help himself. He laughed and said: "The Yang Qing family is indeed the backbone of our army. This victory can ensure that our northwest border will be war-free for ten years.

Jia Qiong and Xu Shan are also young heroes who will surely become pillars of talent in the future.

Dai Quan, pass on the decree and hold a court meeting tomorrow to announce the rewards for the meritorious soldiers. "

"The slave obeys the order."

The important ministers looked at each other in confusion after hearing Emperor Longqing's words. They didn't understand why Yang Zhenye went to Zhenyuan Pass, and why there was something about Jia Qiong and Xu Shan here?
After suddenly receiving this good news, Emperor Longqing needed to think carefully.

So he announced his resignation first and just called a few cabinet ministers to hold a small meeting.

The next day's imperial dynasty, as long as they were officials in Beijing, those with grades above seven were required to attend. They gathered in the square in front of Fengtian Hall.

Emperor Longqing sat in high spirits on the dragon chair before Lord Dan, and ordered Dai Quan to read aloud in public the detailed report sent by Yang Zhenye last night.

Although all the ministers already knew the news about the victory at Zhenyuan Pass, they were mentally prepared.

But after learning the details, I was still so excited that many veterans burst into tears.

In Yang Zhenye's merit list, Jia Qiong and Xu Shan tied for the top spot.

The two of them not only crossed the Loop, but also planned the battle.

Jia Qiong also first offered a plan to outwit Zhenyuan Pass, and used a fire plan to severely damage the retreating Tatar army.

Xu Shan first climbed to capture the city and made great contributions in the battle to capture Zhenyuan Pass.

In the ensuing ambush battle, he was able to challenge the enemy with spears and arrows, intimidating the enemy and defeating all three armies, causing the Mongolian army to be completely defeated.

Emperor Longqing rewarded them for their merits, and gave them the title of Captain of Qingchao, the title of "Qianhu" in brocade robes, and bullfighting uniforms.

In addition, each person was given ten horses, a hundred pieces of silk and satin, and a thousand taels of gold.

This was Da Chu's biggest victory against foreigners in more than 20 years, so Emperor Longqing naturally couldn't be stingy with rewards.

However, the two of them had not yet entered official positions, so Emperor Longqing directly gave them titles, uniforms and financial rewards. This was definitely a generous reward.

But compared with the achievements made by the two of them, it seems a little too light.

According to the importance of this battle, it is absolutely no problem to be granted the title of baron, not to mention the title of marquis or uncle, and it is also no problem to be granted the title of viscount.

The reason why they were only given the title of Captain of Qingche was firstly because Zhang Chunyang and his group strongly opposed the title of high nobility to the two of them, and secondly because Emperor Longqing was still wary of the Jia family.

So he just followed the trend and only awarded two people the ninth rank.

But then they blocked everyone's mouths with the title of thousands of households and the gifts of clothes and property. It was hard for the "royal party" and the four kings and eight public groups to say anything more.

Except for Jia Qiong and the other two, everyone else also received rewards, but I won't mention them here.

(End of this chapter)