Chapter 530 529 Response

On October 11, the 42nd year of Jiajing, Xin Ai, Baduer and others broke through the walls of Qiangziling and Modaoyu and invaded the capital, breaking through the pass and fleeing to the capital, plundering Shunyi, Tongxian, Sanhe and other places.

Beacon towers in the direction of Miyun and Shunyi were lit one after another, conveying the arrival of the enemy to the distance.

When the beacon fire reached the earthen city dozens of miles outside Deshengmen in the capital, which was actually the closest tower to the capital, one of the soldiers guarding the tower quickly ran out of the tower and rushed to the capital on horseback.

The news of the enemy in the direction of Miyun reached the capital in half a day, causing turmoil in the court again.

The court officials who were still passionate about impeaching Yang Xuan, Wang Zhigao and others were surprisingly quiet at this time, because they needed to wait for the delivery of the military's written war report.

How many Tartars came, where did they enter the pass, and where were their movements?

Although the beacon tower can quickly transmit urgent enemy information, it is limited by the single means and naturally cannot provide detailed information. Therefore, it can only warn the court to make preparations early, but it cannot transmit all the information.

All eyes in the capital are on the Ministry of War, which is the first government office to receive news of the enemy. The people in the express delivery shop are probably on the way at this time.

The Tartars really came, and Prince Yu once again summoned Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng and others to Prince Yu's Mansion to discuss the matter.

In the past, they mostly discussed information from the Japanese pirates in the south, but this time they were going to talk about the enemy situation in Miyun, not far to the north.

However, Wei Guangde's face was very serious this time, revealing that he was in a very bad mood at the moment.

Miyun is too close to the capital.

If the Tartars rush, they can reach the city of Beijing in three days. What can the capital do in such a short time?

The soldiers of the Beijing camp went up the city wall, and then there was nothing.

In such a short time, the imperial edict sent by the capital to various towns could not be delivered to the military commanders in various places. This was only after the detailed war report was delivered, the Ministry of War thought that the momentum was not right, and asked Emperor Jiajing to issue such an order.

"Before, Yang Xuan ordered Sun Bin to mobilize the elite troops of the Santun Camp to go out of Shanhaiguan to reinforce Liaodong, but now the Tartars have appeared in Jizhen, and I don’t know whether the order from the Ministry of War has been issued."

Yin Shizhen now introduced the situation received by Prince Yu's Mansion with worry.

Although Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde did not report back to Prince Yu's Mansion about Yang Xuan sending troops to Liaodong, the informants arranged by Prince Yu's Mansion in various government offices still knew about it and sent the news to the palace.

Therefore, in the capital, there is really nothing that can be kept secret in various government offices, unless it is personally responsible for by the hall officials, it is possible to keep it secret.

This is only possible, so the Ming Dynasty court basically has no sense of confidentiality, and everyone treats national affairs as a street story to laugh.

Of course, having said that, it also shows from one side that people of this era really have the temperament of looking down on the world, and they all have a condescending attitude towards the surrounding forces.

Hiding is the style of a small country with few people, which is not suitable for the Ming Empire.

Although the Tartars in the north are making a lot of trouble, the court also pays attention to it, worrying that the Mongolian cavalry will go south again and rule the Han people again like they destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty.

But who are the people in the court? Even if there are such concerns before entering the officialdom, after entering the officialdom, they have heard and seen more, and they roughly understand that the strength of the Mongols has actually declined greatly.

Harassing the border of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty really has no way to deal with them.

But if everyone really concentrates their elite troops to fight a big battle, the Ming Dynasty can also kill them with human lives.

In the final analysis, the Mongols have such a small population, and it is already very powerful to be able to gather 20,000 or 30,000 troops at a time.

If Altan Khan really wants to gather more than 100,000 people to fight a decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty, saying that the Ming Dynasty has a large territory and it is not convenient to withdraw troops, then the area of ​​the Mongolian Tartars is small?

Each tribe had to mobilize troops and horses, and those far away had to travel thousands of miles. It was difficult for everyone, and they could not easily launch a large-scale legion war.

National war is really not that easy to fight.

As for other countries and forces around, including the barbarians who came from afar, their firearms are indeed sharp, but the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty are not bad. They can also make them by copying them after taking a few glances.

In the eyes of Ming officials, the barbarians actually rely on matchlock guns and Portuguese guns, which we also have.

But they don’t know that at this time, Western firearms have already appeared in front-loading cannons, that is, red barbarian cannons, but the technology is not mature at this time and there is no large-scale production.

Those who have a small amount of equipment are naturally hidden and dare not let the Ming people see it.

As for why it is a cannon instead of a howitzer, the current technology is like that, and the range and power of firearms are limited.

Equipment determines tactics. With the current development of weapons, the tricks of later generations cannot be played.

The Ming Dynasty of this era left a deep impression on those who were familiar with it, that is, it had many soldiers and generals and was strong.

Perhaps, in their view, any force, as long as the Ming Dynasty took it seriously, would be swept away, and there would be absolutely no other way.

The officials had this attitude, and the people were actually similar, looking down on foreigners and thinking they were all barbarians.

This point of the Ming Dynasty officials was similar to the practice of the United States in later generations, and they liked to show off any good things.

You can say that he was showing off or arrogant, anyway, he dared to show it, and others could only envy and be jealous, and then wag their tails obediently.

In the eyes of everyone, the United States was the world's big boss, the well-deserved boss.

But now, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was in danger.

The information Yin Shizhen collected was limited to the Ministry of War asking Jizhen to transfer troops back, but the actual progress was still unknown.

"I'm afraid the troops from Shanhaiguan can't be counted on in the short term."

Wei Guangde said.

He only made a judgment based on the marching speed of the Ming army and the distance between the two places. If the Jizhen army set out from Santunying, the vanguard could reach the outskirts of the capital in two or three days, and at least there would be no problem reaching Sanhe.

According to the currently known information, the Tartars had only one way to go south after breaking through the Great Wall from Miyun, passing Shunyi and continuing south, with the capital and Tongzhou on the left and right.

However, whether coming to the capital or going to Tongzhou, the Tartars must first be able to cross the river, the Wenyu River and the Chaobai River.

Everyone in the room knew that when Altan Khan's tens of thousands of troops approached the capital, they were unable to cross the river and had to retreat from the border wall after reinforcements from all over the country arrived in the capital.

"At this moment, Xiyuan should also be discussing this matter."

Zhang Juzheng said.

In his eyes, the current situation is actually very simple, just copy the one more than ten years ago.

The soldiers of the Beijing camp were ready to go to the city to prepare for defense. The capital was under martial law, and idle people were prohibited from entering and leaving. Then, the guards were drawn from Xuanda, Yansui, Shandong, Henan and other places to enter the capital for defense.

It should be noted that at this time, the number of Tatars who entered the pass in the capital was more than 10,000, but the exact number was unknown.

Because when the Tatars broke through the Qiangziling Great Wall, the Ming army only roughly estimated that there were about 10,000 people based on the scale. In order to avoid making mistakes, they directly reported more than 10,000 people and set off alarm beacons.

At this time, the enemy situation known to the capital was actually similar to that when Altan Khan led the army in person.

Tens of thousands of vicious Tatars entered the pass, and the court could not help but be nervous.

Zhang Juzheng said everything he wanted to say. These measures were actually what he saw when he was in the capital that year, but he only thought of them recently while recalling and looking through the records of that year.

If nothing unexpected happens, Xiyuan will soon issue a martial law order for the capital and order the surrounding military towns to dispatch troops for rescue.

However, while discussing this matter in the capital, Sun Bin, the general of Jizhen, was also on pins and needles in the general's mansion in the east.

He received a handwritten order from Yang Xuan, the governor of Ji and Liao, a few days ago, to dispatch elite troops to the east to assist Liaodong.

Now the troops have gone out, but the Tartars have appeared in Miyun.

Now the remaining troops in Santunying are mainly infantry, and most of the highly mobile cavalry have been sent out. He can barely put together about 2,000 people.

What can such a small number of troops do?

Moreover, this time the Tartars broke through the area he was responsible for defending. Even if it was due to Yang Xuan, his responsibility was not small.

He had already cursed Yang Xuan's ancestors for eighteen generations as soon as he received the beacon fire news.

Sun Bin, the general of Jizhen, was not the one who wrote "The Art of War". According to later generations, he was a foolish man who was promoted by connections and resume.

Because he was rigid in doing things, Yang Xuan could not mobilize troops just by speaking, so he had to give him a hand order to execute.

However, what he had to consider now was not to shirk responsibility with the hand order, but to think about how to deal with the Tartars who entered the pass.

Staring at the map on the table, he was still thinking about what to do, and he was also waiting for further news.

Where did the Tartars break through the wall, and are places like Gubeikou and Miyun still there.

The remaining troops of Santunying have begun to gather and prepare to set off, collecting cavalry around. He will take them to Zunhua first, then Jizhou, and go straight to Sanhe, at least to station in the outer area of ​​the capital.

As for the remaining soldiers, they will follow behind. Two legs can never outrun four legs, and Sun Bin dare not move with them.

It is safer to stay with the Tartar cavalry when facing them.

"Bang."

A sound was heard, and the door was pushed open. A general wearing a thousand-household armor walked in quickly, holding a bamboo tube in his hand.

"General, there is news from the city wall."

The thousand-household handed the bamboo tube to Sun Bin, who quickly took it and opened it, and took out the letter inside to read it.

"Enter the pass from Modaoyu Qiangziling."

While reading, he muttered to himself, then put down the letter and looked at the map to confirm the location.

"Send people to the city wall, and I will take people to Zunhua first after the cavalry gathers. If there is news from Gubeikou, Miyun and other cities, intercept it and send it to me directly."

Sun Bin ordered.

He has been waiting for the information sent from the city wall to confirm the Tartar breakthrough. Now that he knows, the cavalry will follow him.

Tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry are not something he can resist with his two thousand men.

However, no matter what, he must lead his troops to Sanhe first. As for whether to go to Tongzhou, it depends on the situation.

The remaining cavalry of the Ming army in Santunying set out with the general after receiving supplies, and the infantry still needs to be prepared, but the dry food should be fully prepared at night, and they can also set out overnight and march towards Zunhua.

At least there is no danger along the way, even if it is smeared, there is no need to worry.

The generals of Jizhen are naturally very familiar with the terrain here.

As long as the Tartars do not break through the General Pass, Malanyu and other places, the places east of Jizhou are relatively safe, and there is no fear of being attacked by the Tartars.

It’s just that Huairou and Shunyi south of Miyun will be more dangerous, because there is a flat land. As for Pinggu and Sanhe counties, the Tartars may have them, but they are definitely not the main attack direction of the Tartars, and they are also relatively safe.

When the Jizhen general set off with the remaining cavalry of the Santun Camp, the imperial meeting in Xiyuan had also ended.

The Jiajing Emperor's style this time was also very capable, just copying the response strategy of the Gengxu Incident, the capital was under martial law, and the emperor summoned troops from all towns to defend the king.

Although it was calm on the surface, the Jiajing Emperor did not want the Tartars to really come to Beijing. He had lost people once, and he did not want to lose them a second time.

In the Prince Yu's mansion, after the Xiyuan meeting ended, the news naturally spread quickly in the court and the country after the six ministries and nine ministers left.

"The Beijing camp went up the city wall to prepare for defense, and supplemented the troops of the towers around the capital to convey the enemy situation."

At this time, Li Fang was reading the news from the Ministry of War. These were the current military deployments.

The current Prince Yu may have passed the time of fear, and now he seems to be very calm about the next change.

"The Ministry of War has issued a joint order with the Cabinet to transfer troops from Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan and Ningxia to the four towns, as well as the Henan and Shandong garrisons, totaling 100,000 troops to defend the king."

That night, the palace was still locked on time, but no one dared to leave their posts in the government offices, even the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Justice.

On the towers of the inner and outer cities, there were many more Ming army soldiers than in the past, and the lights were bright on the city. The officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp and the government officials had already gone out to patrol the streets, and the city was full of people who had fled to the capital.

The quality of the people around the capital of the Ming Dynasty was still very high. More than ten miles north of the city, you could see the beacon smoke in the distance. In broad daylight, the news naturally spread throughout the city quickly, and even if the court wanted to block the news, it would be impossible.

With the beacon smoke, the people naturally knew what to do, of course, to quickly pack up their belongings and flee to the city for refuge.

After all, the capital is under the feet of the emperor. In the eyes of the people, as long as they enter the city, they will be safe.

At night, Wei Guangde did not rest. Although he was not in Prince Yu's mansion, he was still worried about such a big commotion.

Looking at the time, thinking about the messenger sent by the Ministry of War, he should have passed Changping by now and should have arrived in Yanqing in the early morning. The news should be delivered to Xuanfu later tomorrow. It will take another day to Datong. As for Taiyuan and Yansui, it will be known in three or four days.

The messenger from the Ministry of War brought the imperial edict to mobilize troops, and naturally went to the post station to change horses, which was the so-called 800-li express delivery to the four towns to mobilize troops. This was the fastest transmission speed in this era.

However, what Wei Guangde was most worried about at this time was the safety of Shunyi.

He had been to several cities north of the capital before, so he was naturally very familiar with the terrain there.

Now Wei Guangde wished that the Tartars were still besieging Miyun, or even ran to Huairou, so that the Ming army could grab time to mobilize troops.

With Shunyi City blocking the north, the capital would be much safer, right?

However, when he heard the news the next morning that Shunyi was besieged and the surrounding villages and towns were looted by the Tartars, he had a different mentality.