Wanli 1592

Chapter 491
Zhao Zhigao was horrified by the fact that one hundred thousand Mongolian cavalrymen went south to invade the border.

He stretched out his hand to take the Datong emergency military newspaper, tore off the outer seal with trembling hands, and opened it to read.

On November 25th, the [-]th year of Wanli, the leader of the Tumed tribe, Shunyi King Lalike, betrayed Ming Dynasty, and led [-] iron cavalry from the Tumed tribe and [-] cavalry from other tribes to invade the border. , the military uniform was poor, cold and hungry, even the weapons were too cold to hold, it was difficult to resist, and the army was defeated like a mountain.

More than half of Datong 72 Castle fell in just one day.

The governor of Datong, Mei Guozhen, urgently dispatched the Cangtou Army of Magui to support the castles that were still resisting. However, most of the castles had no more than three hundred soldiers and ten horses. Back into Datong town.

Magui fought hard for a day. Because of the large number of Mongolian cavalry, the Cangtou army lost more than half and had to retreat into the town of Datong. Except for the town and a few castles with more soldiers and horses that were still resisting, most of Datong Town had completely fallen. .

As of the time when Mei Guozhen sent someone to deliver the letter, the Mongolian cavalry was divided into three groups. One continued to besiege Datong Town, one assaulted Yanmen Pass, and the other assaulted Pingxingling Pass. The situation was extremely critical.

Fortunately, Mei Guozhen heard the news in advance, so he saved his hand and sent people to Taiyuan Town and Xuanfu Town to send letters respectively, telling them to be alert to the sudden attack of the Mongols. At present, Yanmen Pass and Pingxingling Pass should not have fallen yet.

But the remaining castles in Datong Town that are still resisting have become isolated cities one after another, and they cannot be connected with each other. Only the guard of Yanghe City sent people to break out of the encirclement to report for help, saying that Yanghe City is still in the hands of the Ming army.

As for whether the rest of the cities are still resisting, it is not known. The only thing we know is that Datong has been devastated.

The defense line of Datong has been completely broken, and the broken ones are like a sieve and cannot be broken any more. The only thing that can go now is that the castle with a small number of guards has definitely fallen. Only the castle with a large number of people can hold on for a while, but it can't last long.

The reason is very simple, there is no food, no food, the soldiers are too hungry to fight, there are not enough winter clothes, and they are too cold to hold weapons.

Once the Mongols captured one or two of the castles, they would be able to get siege equipment and even firearms. After fighting all the way down, the castles of the Ming army were as fragile as a piece of paper, and they could be pierced with a single stab.

If the Tumed tribe hadn't defended the Ming Dynasty's border for more than ten years, I'm afraid the tragedy of the Alta border would have happened many times.

This time there is no Tumed to stop the disaster, and Tumed has no food to eat. He has already betrayed and went south to join forces with other ministries. The old situation of Kou Bian.

Because the Mongols still had a Chaoping Pass to kill.

The only place behind Pingxingguan that has the ability to resist is Zijingguan. Once Zijingguan falls, there will be no more lines of defense in the entire Hebei province. Point to the capital!

At that time, it will not only be Datong who will be charcoaled.

Zhao Zhigao shook his hand, and the urgent report fell to the ground. The memory of I Da Kou Bian 40 years ago reappeared in his mind.

Zhang Wei hurriedly rushed over and picked up the military newspaper in front of everyone, looked at it carefully, and his eyes widened at the first glance, which was very shocking.

Afterwards, Shen Yiguan, Shen Li and the others read the emergency reports one after another, and the cabinet leaders had already fully understood the emergency that happened in Datong.

All eyes were on Zhang Wei and Zhao Zhigao.

Previously, Mei Guozhen wrote a letter requesting the imperial court to allocate more food to support the Tumed Department to fight the disaster, so as to appease them and make them continue to guard the border for Daming, and proposed that once the Tumed people were extremely hungry, they would not continue to suffer from hunger Hungry and waiting to die, but will go south to invade the border for survival.

This is not betrayal in the general sense, but survival.

Mei Guozhen repeatedly emphasized that it is almost certain for the northern captives to go south during the severe cold season. Under the leadership of San Niangzi, the Tumed people defended the border for the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years, and fought no less than [-] times, which reduced the military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty.

There is hard work without credit, and it must not be viewed by ordinary Mongolian tribes. Don't lose this extremely important strategic and tactical ally just because of a little food.

Zhao Zhigao supported the opinion and advocated that the supply of food transported by water should be given priority to Datong and Tumed, so as to appease the hearts of the Tumed people, so that they can continue to guard the border for Daming, reduce the pressure on Datong and Xuanfu towns, and ensure the freedom of northern captives going south during the severe cold season. At that time, Tumed stood by Daming and fought for him.

But Zhang Wei tried his best not to allow it, and must give priority to the supply of grain transported by water to the people of Gyeonggi, and there are very good reasons.

There are a lot of hungry people in Gyeonggi. Now, if you go outside the city of Beijing to have a look, there are starving people everywhere. If you don’t distribute food to appease you, I’m afraid that if the Mongols don’t come in, the people here will make trouble. This is the capital of the empire and the face of the country.

Once a civil uprising occurs, what will be the face of Daming?

Zhao Zhigao was furious at the time—it’s fine if you don’t give food to the Tumed people, not even the soldiers on the nine borders. If the Mongols go south and the soldiers don’t have enough food and clothing, how can they defend against the enemy?

Zhang Wei also argued hard-no food to eat, no one else!Once the people of Gyeonggi cause a civil uprising, they will directly threaten the imperial capital, His Majesty the Emperor, and the lives of you and me. Is it important for Gyeonggi or Nine Borders?

The two couldn't stop arguing, so they went to fight in front of the emperor. Zhu Yijun was so dizzy from the quarrel with them that he couldn't come up with an idea for a while. , The two sides are divided into two factions to quarrel, the sky is dark, the sun and the moon are dark.

Shi Xing was so angry that he almost brought people to the household department to grab food.

The Ming government carried out the fine tradition of quarreling over big and small matters, finding trouble and continuing to quarrel. Some people made a big fuss about their language problems, setting off the next round of court battles.

There is no way, next year is the year of Jingcha, and Zhao Zhigao is about to retire. The position of chief assistant and the results of Jingcha are related to the life and death of certain factions.

Like Yan Song's era, Jingcha has become an important means of political struggle, and some positions of real power in the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Officials have become important fortress positions for everyone to fight for.

So on the surface, everyone is arguing for Datong, but actually they are arguing for Shoufu and Jingcha. Everyone knows that whoever represents the force that wins the Jingcha will be the next Shoufu.

It is a matter of family life and future power status, who dares to neglect?

As for Datong and Tumed...go cool off!

So they were cooling down, and they rebelled, and big things happened.

(End of this chapter)