Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 160: The Imperial Court Moves South

The grassland army was approaching, and Emperor Longqing was in a panic.

At this time, Datong had been broken and the grassland troops had reached Huailai. Emperor Longqing could only temporarily change the order and let Gao Zhi lead the Zhili troops to rescue Huailai.

However, cabinet member Zhao Shihong advised Emperor Longqing that Huailai Guard had weak defenses and insufficient manpower, and it would be difficult to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Now Gao Zhi only has 30,000 Zhili soldiers and horses. The enemy is much larger than us. Once we meet the grassland soldiers and horses in the wild, we will inevitably be defeated. It is better to give up Huailai and defend Badaling and Juyongguan instead, so that we can better resist the foreign troops.

Emperor Longqing was somewhat hesitant after hearing this.

What Zhao Shihong said seemed to make some sense.

But if we give up Huailai, then the people of Huailai...

Deep down, Emperor Longqing was reluctant to give up his people.

While they were struggling, Yu Lian arrived and recommended the grandson of the Duke of Zhenguo, the first-class baron Niu Jizong, as the commander-in-chief, and General Weiyuan Ma Shang as the deputy commander-in-chief, to lead the troops from the capital to rescue Huailai.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Longqing informed Yu Lian that he had sent Gao Zhi to rescue them.

After hearing this, Yu Lian tried to dissuade him, saying that Gao Zhi was too young, had experienced too few battles, and had never defended a city, so he was not suitable to be a general.

When Emperor Longqing heard this, he felt that what Yu Lian said seemed to make some sense.

However, although Niu Jizon and Ma Shang have fought on the battlefield for a long time and are experienced, they were once subordinates of Duke Shanguo and had previously joined forces to put pressure on him. He has not had enough time to punish them, so how can he reuse them casually?

Moreover, there are very few soldiers in the capital now. Previously, in order to suppress the Jin bandits, the capital's soldiers had been exhausted. Later, after the Jin bandits were suppressed, although some soldiers were recruited again, their elite level was far less than before. If all these remaining soldiers were handed over to Niu Jizong, the capital would be empty!

Emperor Longqing was thinking about it but could not make up his mind. At this time, the Minister of Rites came again and advocated peace. He said that envoys should be sent to give gold, silver and beautiful women to the grassland to ease the war. Even if it could not be successful, delaying some time would be good.

Emperor Longqing thought it made sense.

At this time, Cheng Fan and Cui Shu came and asked Emperor Longqing to make preparations early, pack up the luggage and carriages, and move the capital to Luoyang as soon as possible if things became impossible.

Emperor Longqing nodded in agreement.

As early as the beginning of the founding of the country, Taizu of Daxi was moved by the past events of Emperor Chongzhen of the previous dynasty, and specially established ancestral precepts that if one day things could not be done, future generations would be allowed to migrate south and build the country again.

Therefore, Emperor Longqing was not averse to the migration to the south, but he did not expect that in less than two hundred years, this ancestral precept would come true in him!

Everyone says that one can understand the rise and fall of nations by studying history.

But looking at the kings who had lost their countries in all dynasties, Emperor Longqing was all foolish and incompetent, stubborn and self-righteous, levied heavy taxes, squandered money without restraint, ignored the people, lost the support of the people, was close to villains and distant from wise ministers, which led to the disaster of the country's destruction.

He was wise and far-sighted, good at accepting advice, governing the country with diligence and frugality, never slacking off, caring for his people, reforming the tax law, reducing taxes and levies, being close to virtuous officials, such as Cheng Fan, Cui Shu and Guo Bai, and staying away from villains, such as Yu Lian, Dong Chen, Shi Guangzhu and others.

It has been nearly twenty years since he ascended the throne, and he has never gone on a lavish tour to the south of the Yangtze River like the retired emperor. Instead, he has stayed in the palace wholeheartedly, handling state affairs day and night without sleep or food. How could he be so wise!

After sighing, Emperor Longqing sent envoys to seek peace and ordered people to prepare for the migration to the south.

At the same time, he ordered Gao Zhi to lead troops to support, but he could not make up his mind whether to support Huailai or abandon Huailai and defend Badaling instead, so he ordered Gao Zhi to act on the spot.

The general acted on the spot, so even if Huailai was given up, it would not be blamed on him.

Emperor Longqing thought so.

At the same time, Emperor Longqing urged Wang Ziteng to travel light and come to the rescue as soon as possible.

In addition to Wang Ziteng, Emperor Longqing also sent people to summon Niu Jizon and Ma Shang to assess their situation.

Soon, Niu Jizong and Ma Shang arrived.

Niu Jizong looks tall and majestic, probably because of the genes of the Niu family.

Ma Shang was relatively short, with small eyes and slightly dark skin. Emperor Longqing asked the two men what strategies they had for defending against the enemy.

Niu Jizong said no.

Ma Shang also said no.

Emperor Longqing was furious when he saw this and said, "As a general, you have no strategy to deal with the enemy. Isn't this a dereliction of duty?"

Niu Jizong was a straightforward person and was afraid that his words would offend Emperor Longqing, so he kept silent.

Ma Shang was relatively smooth, and explained to Emperor Longqing: "Your Majesty, what is the enemy situation? How many troops are there? How is the equipment? How is the logistics? Who is the general leading the troops? How many soldiers do we have? I don't know any of this, so how dare I talk about strategies to resist the enemy?"

Emperor Longqing was stunned by what Ma Shang said. He was somewhat dissatisfied with Ma Shang's direct speech, but at the same time, he also felt that what Ma Shang said made some sense.

After thinking about it, Emperor Longqing circulated the urgent military situation on the front line to the two of them for their review.

After the two of them looked at it, they had a general assessment of the grassland's situation, discussed it for a moment, and responded:
"Your Majesty, if I and two of you have 50,000 soldiers and horses, we can defend Juyong Pass and resist the troops from the grasslands!"

After hearing this, Emperor Longqing's expression turned extremely ugly. After a moment of silence, he said:
"There are only 20,000 soldiers left in the capital, and they are all newly recruited soldiers..."

In fact, there were more than 4600, there were also imperial guards, who were the last defense force of the palace. However, Emperor Longqing did not reveal this news to the two.

After hearing that there were only 20,000 soldiers and all of them were new recruits, Niu Jizong and Ma Shang fell silent.

They themselves were not good generals, but they had fought many battles with Duke Shanguo during the Kangning period and were therefore experienced.

If the military strength was equal, they were confident that they could defend the city, but now the difference in military strength was so huge...

Judging from the urgent message we just saw, the number of grassland troops is about 200,000, and they are all extremely brave. It is really too difficult for them to defend the city with only these 20,000 new recruits.

Emperor Longqing looked at the two people's silent expressions, and became anxious, and asked:

"Since ancient times, there have been countless battles where a small force defeated a large force. You two hold important positions. Don't you have any strategies to defeat the enemy?"

When Niu Jizong heard this, he cursed in his heart.

He only has 20,000 new recruits to fight against 200,000 grassland cavalry. What strategy does he have to defeat the enemy?
In real combat, how many times can a smaller force defeat a larger one?

As a general, if you can judge the situation, defeat the minority with the majority of troops, defeat the disadvantageous terrain with the advantageous terrain, and defeat the ordinary soldiers with the elite soldiers, you can be called a good general if you can always do these things.

As for those cases where the few defeated the many, they all required the right time, right place and right people. It is not that easy to do.

Of course, these words cannot be said to Emperor Longqing.

Niu Jizong could only helplessly clasp his fists and apologize to Emperor Longqing, saying:
"I am incompetent, I am not proficient in military tactics, I have no strategy, I only know how to defend myself."

The same is true for Ma Shang.

Upon seeing this, Emperor Longqing became extremely angry and waved his hand to ask the two to leave.

In fact, if all the troops led by Gao Zhi were handed over to Niu Jizong and the other two, they would be able to gather a total of 50,000 troops.

However, Emperor Longqing was still a little worried about handing over all the troops to these two people.

You know, the families they both belong to are all related to the Shanguo family...

Moreover, in the eyes of Emperor Longqing, the military level of these two people was not very good. They only knew how to defend the city, but had no strategy to defeat the enemy. I am afraid they were not as good as Gao Zhi!

Yu Lian is indeed a treacherous minister. Those he recommends are either corrupt officials like Dong Chen, traitors like Duke Shan, or mediocre people like Niu Jizon and Ma Shang.

(End of this chapter)