I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 476 Gaining Achievements

The biggest problem for the Han people in attacking Mobei is that they can't find anyone there after arriving, which results in a waste of food treasury. If they attack a few more times, their economy will be ruined.

Like Zhu Houzhao's northern expedition this time, after leaving the transportation range of the railway, the supply line to the north was still more than a thousand miles long. Such a long transportation distance required the mobilization of a large number of civilian laborers to carry out the transportation, and a large number of troops to protect the logistics transportation line.

Just like Zhu Di's northern expedition more than a hundred years ago, he had to mobilize 500,000 to 600,000 soldiers and civilians to maintain logistics and send 40,000 to 50,000 cavalry to the northern desert.

Today, Zhu Houzhao once again launched a war of the same scale as Zhu Di's Northern Expedition, but the required logistical personnel had been greatly reduced.

Because of the Ming Dynasty's current naturalization policy, the possibility of the logistics line being attacked has become very low. All Mongols have been registered as citizens. The generous naturalization policy and vigorous publicity have made the naturalized Mongols loyal to the Ming Dynasty. There will be no problem of naturalizing in the Ming Dynasty while secretly destroying the Ming Dynasty's supply lines.

A large number of naturalized citizens were recruited and spread out across the grassland as scouts. Their familiarity with the grassland terrain and the Mongolian scouting style made it impossible for the last Tatars who wanted to raid the south to escape.

In this way, the number of troops needed to protect the Ming Dynasty's logistics line was greatly reduced.
Therefore, the cost of this northern expedition to Mobei was much lower than Zhu Di's five northern expeditions.

Finally, there was no situation where Zhu Houzhao could not find anyone when he arrived in Mobei, because there were too many guides. The Mongolians who had just been naturalized were willing to lead the way, and there were people who were in the Tatar tribes in Mobei but were loyal to the Ming Dynasty and took the initiative to ask to lead the way. In addition, the naturalized Mongolians served as scouts to block information on the battlefield.

This allowed the Ming army to achieve one-way transparency of battlefield information after arriving in Mobei.

The 40,000 Imperial Guards cavalry and 5,000 Planning Army cavalry led by Zhu Houzhao seemed to be holding a grand spring armed parade.

The new Khan, Borjigin Arsubord, felt that the Ming army had come to his door without any reason. He barely gathered a part of the army, but they were all defeated in one battle. He immediately fled with his trusted men. He had not yet decided whether to go further north or west to join the Oirat tribes. As a result, his eyes went dark. When he woke up, he had become a prisoner of the Ming army. His trusted men betrayed him.
When he was escorted to Zhu Houzhao, he was still confused. He didn't understand why he was defeated so quickly. He put on a tough look in front of Zhu Houzhao, but Zhu Houzhao had lost interest in him. It didn't matter to Zhu Houzhao whether he was tough or weak.
Zhu Houzhao has more important things to do now
This was the first time since Zhu Di's fifth northern expedition that the Ming Dynasty deployed its military forces to such a northern location.

On the second day of March in the sixteenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shou, the governor-general of military affairs, the mighty general, the commander-in-chief, the grand tutor, and the duke of Zhenguo, arrived at Yanran Mountain.

The Mongolians nearby took the initiative to report that there were Chinese characters carved on a huge red stone cliff in Yanran Mountain. Zhu Shou was overjoyed when he heard this and went to observe it in person. He preliminarily confirmed that this stone inscription was the famous "Inscription on the Yanran Mountain" written by Ban Gu.

In the first year of the Yongyuan reign of the Eastern Han Dynasty (89 AD), Dou Xian, the general of the chariot and cavalry, led a northern expedition against the Xiongnu and fought all the way to the Yanran Mountains, where he won a great victory and almost annihilated the main force of the Northern Chanyu. In this battle, he killed enemies, more than surrendered, and captured more than one million horses, cattle, sheep, and camels.

At that time, Ban Gu, who was with the army, wrote the "Inscription on Mount Yanran" and carved it on the cliff. This is clearly recorded in the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Dou Xian". However, there was no longitude and latitude in ancient times, and the original Mount Yanran was also a large mountain range. Therefore, no one knows the specific location of the stone carving of the "Inscription on Mount Yanran".

After that, the source of all the stories about the Yanran Mountain inscription in China was Ban Gu's "Inscription on the Yanran Mountain".

The Battle of Yanran Mountain is an important battle recorded in history, which ended the centuries-long war between the Central Plains Dynasty and the Xiongnu. It has a significant impact on ancient Chinese history and literature. "Inscription on Yanran Mountain" has become an important allusion and the pinnacle of achievement that later heroes and generals yearn for. This made Zhu Houzhao extremely happy, and he personally ordered the entire army to observe the stone carvings that have been left for more than 1,400 years, and to make countless rubbings.

Finally, he wrote a poem and carved it on the cliff to show off his martial arts achievements.

Finally, he ordered the surrounding Mongolian tribes to protect the stone carvings, and then led his troops north.

On March 16, the 16th year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shou, the governor-general of military affairs, the mighty general, the commander-in-chief, the grand tutor, and the duke of Zhenguo, arrived at the Hanhai (Lake Baikal).

Along the way, Zhu Shou constantly met with the leaders of various tribes and showed them his military prowess. The nomadic tribes in Mobei were not only the Mongols. It was very rare for the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to personally reach such a northern place, so he naturally wanted to maximize the value of this trip.
The tribes around Hanhai also expressed their submission to the Ming Dynasty, and General Zhu Shou also rewarded the leaders of these tribes.
With current technological conditions, it is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to actually control these places, or it would cost a lot to do so, so these means must be used to declare the existence of the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, after the mighty general Zhu Shou arrived at the Hanhai Lake, he looked at the endless lake and was filled with pride. He wrote another poem and engraved it on a stone beside the Hanhai Lake. He then ordered all the troops to dismount and let their horses drink water from the Hanhai Lake!

On March 28th of the 16th year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shou, the governor-general of military affairs, the mighty general, the commander-in-chief, the grand tutor, and the duke of Zhenguo, led his troops back south and arrived at the Langjuxu Mountain.

Langjuxu Mountain is located to the north of Ulaanbaatar, the current capital of Mongolia, and Yanran Mountain is to the west of Langjuxu Mountain. Zhu Houzhao led 20,000 cavalrymen from the west to the north of the Mongolian Plateau, and then returned to the middle of the Mongolian Plateau.

Ever since Huo Qubing of the Western Han Dynasty built an altar in Langjuxu to offer sacrifices to heaven, being conferred the title of Langjuxu has become the highest honor for ancient military generals and has been inspiring military generals of all dynasties.

However, there were only a few people in the Han, Tang and Ming dynasties who had the ability and achievements to seal the Wolf's Lair. The value is still very high, because if you can't beat this place, he can't beat it.
Unlike Emperor Zhenzong of Song who had no achievements but still had the audacity to perform Fengshan at Mount Tai, which caused the value of Fengshan at Mount Tai to plummet, resulting in the emperors after Emperor Zhenzong of Song having basically no interest in performing Fengshan at Mount Tai.

In this battle in Mobei, Zhu Houzhao completely defeated the Tatars, captured the Mongol Khan, wiped out their army, and captured all of their followers.

This marked the complete demise of the Northern Yuan orthodoxy that had fled to the Mongolian grasslands after the founding of the Ming Dynasty and had been entangled with the Ming Dynasty for 150 years...

Such an achievement naturally required an altar to be built to offer sacrifices to heaven, so General Zhu Shou ordered the army to build an altar on Langjuxu Mountain to offer sacrifices to heaven and personally inform heaven of the achievement of conquering the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

At this point, Zhu Houzhao had three major achievements: "carving a stone on Yanran Mountain", "drinking from the vast sea", and "sealing the wolf's lair".
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