The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 235 Counterattack
Wanli told everyone about ways to make money, which even confused Luo Sigong.

This one.

Is His Majesty planning to let him do business?

Everyone had left, but he was still standing there in a daze.

Seeing this, Wanli said solemnly, "Sigong, have you ever considered how to gather intelligence on the Northern Tartars?"

I have certainly considered this, but the problem is that it is difficult to gather intelligence from the Northern Tartars.

Luo Sigong explained carefully, "Your Majesty, when the Tumed tribe was still in Hetao, I was able to contact the remaining members of the Maitreya sect and get some information from them.

However, after the Tumed tribe was driven out of the Hetao area, they never took those people with them. Now I really can't get any information about the Northern Tartars. The key is that our people can't get into the Northern Tartars' tribes."

They look a little different from the Northern Lu people. It is indeed difficult for the secret guards to sneak into the Northern Lu tribe, unless they are the remnants of the three major families in Puzhou.

The problem is that the remnants of the three major families in Puzhou are very cautious at the moment and it is impossible to find anyone. It is almost impossible to sneak into the Beilu tribe by using the identities of the remnants of the three major families in Puzhou.

They have to find another way.

Wanli reminded: “You should know that this time we captured many young and strong men from the Three Guards of Duoyan.

The Three Doyan Guards have been bouncing back and forth between the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Tartars for over a hundred years. They are familiar with both the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Tartars. You can easily pick out a group of ambitious individuals from among them and infiltrate the Northern Tartars' tribes."

Uh, recruit the young and strong men from the three guards of Doyan to serve as secret guards?

Upon hearing this, Luo Sigong asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, will they help us spy on the Northern Tartars?"

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "They will definitely do it. As long as they can be given enough benefits, they will do anything.

During the Hongwu reign, they launched several northern expeditions, fighting even the Northern Yuan imperial army. During the Yongle reign, weren't they also able to fight the Southern Army to the death? "

This is true. These guys seem to be profit-driven. As long as they are given enough benefits, they will really do anything.

The problem is this benefit.

Luo Sigong thought for a moment, then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask you, what benefits can we give them?"

This is too much.

Wanli counted on his fingers and gave examples, "Aren't they captured? What they want most now should be freedom.

This is very simple for us. Whoever is willing to help us gather intelligence about the Northern Tartars, we will send them and their families to Hetao, give them grassland, some cattle and sheep, and let them graze freely in the designated area.

Furthermore, we can give them even greater rewards every time they go out to gather information. As long as they can gather useful information, they can choose from cattle, sheep, horses, gold, silver, daily necessities, or even captured beauties from the Northern Tartars."

With such a reward, they would probably scramble to get there.

Luo Sigong pondered for a while and then asked, "Your Majesty, how do we recruit these secret guards? We can't just go and tell all the young and strong men in the three guards of Duoyan that we want to recruit secret guards to spy on the Northern Tartars, right?"

Well, I really can't say this out loud, because if I say it out loud it will be exposed.

If this gets to the ears of the three major wealthy families in Puzhou, these secret guards will be sent to their deaths.

Wanli pondered, "Just tell them you're recruiting a group of young men to serve the Ming Dynasty. Don't tell them what they're going to do. Those with ideas will definitely step forward, and you can then carefully select them. Anyway, we haven't told them what they're going to do, so the rest can be used to dig coal and build canals."

I am afraid that many people will stand up when I say this. After all, they are used to pursuing profit.

Luo Sigong thought for a moment and then asked, "Your Majesty, how many troops should we recruit this time?"

If you want to play, then play it big. I want to infiltrate the Northern Tartars like a sieve!

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "This time I will recruit 5,000 young men. I will arrange a grassland for you in Xitao. You can tell Ruxun to arrange for the border troops of Ningxia Town to garrison and guard it.

We will first give each of their families two cows and ten sheep, and give them some food rations every month so that they can have enough to eat first. As for the rest, it depends on their own efforts.

Select five thousand-household and fifty hundred-household officers from the Secret Guards, train them thoroughly for a few months, and then arrange for them to mingle with the Tumed captives to learn about their situation. They can forge some false Tumed identities, and then have them infiltrate the Northern Lu tribe to investigate the situation."

How did this get in?

Luo Sigong pondered for a while, then asked carefully, "Your Majesty, how do we let them infiltrate the Northern Lu tribe? Should we just let them disguise themselves as Tumed people and escape to Tumed territory?"

This is too obvious, people will definitely be suspicious, and I want to infiltrate more than just the Tumed tribe. Wanli shook his head slowly and said, "No, we can't let them escape directly to the Tumed tribe.

We will not launch a large-scale northern expedition this year. When the time comes, I will order the cavalry from the border towns to launch a surprise attack. They will follow the cavalry. The cavalry will scatter the tribes, and they will just follow the fleeing herdsmen and run around everywhere. They will belong to whichever tribe they run to.

"When the time comes, they can flee to the Tumed, the Kharchin, or even the Chahar. They're young and strong, and they can ride warhorses. Those tribesmen shouldn't refuse to take them in, right?"

At this moment, the young and strong men and war horses of the Northern Tartars have suffered heavy losses. If the young and strong men ride over on their war horses, no one will refuse to take them in.

Luo Sigong thought for a moment and then asked, "Then how do we get them to pass on the intelligence they gathered?"

This question needs to be carefully considered.

They discussed for a long time and finally worked out all the details.

Immediately afterwards, Luo Sigong went to recruit people.

The people of the Three Guards of Doyan were indeed profit-driven. Anyway, they had once pledged allegiance to the Ming Dynasty, so serving the Ming Dynasty seemed to be no big deal to them.

Luo Sigong shouted, and almost all the young and strong men from the three guards of Doyan who were digging coal in the Wanping coal mine wanted to serve the Ming Dynasty.

This is a recruitment for intelligence gathering, not for fighting, so naturally we can't recruit just any young and strong person.

Luo Sigong was not in a hurry. After all, the remaining group of people who dug the canal had not arrived yet, so he could still screen them carefully.

Wanli gave the order for this counter-espionage plot and left it alone.

He also had to arrange the rotation of guards between the Beijing Camp and the Jizhou Border Army.

After receiving the imperial edict, Dong Yiyuan rode his horse as fast as he could and arrived at the palace at around 3 p.m. the next day.

Wanli immediately called Qi Jiguang over to discuss the matter.

Still in the side hall where maps were displayed, the three of them stared at the maps of Jizhou Town and the Beijing Xingdusi for a while before Wanli said solemnly, "How about it, Yiyuan? I'll give you 100,000 troops. Can you hold the Beijing Xingdusi?"

I can't brag about this.

Dong Yiyuan thought about it carefully, then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, the Beijing Xingdusi is so large, I am afraid that only 5,000 cavalrymen are not enough."

Well, it wouldn't work without cavalry.

Wanli asked directly, "Yuan Jing, how is it going? Have the war horses of the Beijing Camp been replenished? How many war horses are left in Hetao?"

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, the war horses of the Beijing camp have been replenished, and the Hetao region can probably provide another 50,000 war horses this year."

It is definitely not possible to give all these 50,000 war horses to Jizhou Town, and some must also be given to other border towns.

Now Xuanfu Town and Datong Town have tens of thousands of cavalry, Liaodong Town has 20,000 cavalry, and the other six border towns have only a few thousand cavalry.

Wanli pondered and said, "Then first fill up Pianguan Town, Yansui Town, Guyuan Town, Ningxia Town, and Gansu Town with 10,000 cavalry. There should be more than 10,000 to 20,000 war horses left. All these war horses are given to you. You can train 20,000 cavalry first."

Although 20,000 cavalrymen are not enough, they can barely resist.

Dong Yiyuan looked at the map of the Beijing Xingdusi and said carefully, "Your Majesty, I think the Beijing Xingdusi should build more cities and fortresses. This will make the northern barbarians afraid to act rashly."

Cities and fortresses are powerful weapons to restrain the Northern Tartar cavalry.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "You and Yuan Jing will take care of the arrangements. All the nobles who have been granted titles of nobility for their military merits can choose to stay in the Beijing Xingdusi. Those who choose to stay there will be granted fiefs there. Let them serve as officers in Jizhou Town and lead the garrison to build the city fortress and garrison there.

If you want to stay in the Beijing camp and serve, then you will be gradually transferred back to the capital and exchange military farms with the garrison troops of Jizhou Town as your fiefdom. You can exchange them while building the city and fortresses. There are many rivers over there, and the military farms opened up by the rivers should be enough for the 100,000 border troops and garrisons of Jizhou Town.

The Shenwu Battalion cavalry will remain there for now as a deterrent. This year, you will strive to complete the replacement of the defense zone."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Dong Yiyuan also bowed repeatedly and said, "I will obey your order."

However, they were all a little puzzled. What was His Majesty going to do? He didn't care about the affairs of Jizhou Town and the Beijing Xingdusi anymore.

(End of this chapter)