Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 139 Surprise Attack to Recapture Lost Territory (Part 1)

The Jurchen cavalry invaded the heart of Yanqing Prefecture.

Smoke signals rose from Juyongguan to Gubeikou.

The capital was shaken, and there was an uproar throughout the court and the public. Officials in the outer court seemed to have turned pale with fright, while ordinary people were even more terrified.

The heart of Yanqing Prefecture is only about a hundred miles from the capital!

At this time, it seemed that there were no more troops to be mobilized in the capital. The only 10,000 cavalrymen left in the capital had rushed to Juyong Pass yesterday. Now, the capital was left with only the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Imperial Guard guarding the imperial city and palace. Even the Embroidered Uniform Guard's elite cavalry had been mostly taken away by Wei Zhongxian.

Zhu Jue seemed to be in a hurry as well. He immediately sent an urgent imperial edict, ordering Sun Yingyuan to transfer the chariots and soldiers from Jizhou City and Santun Camp back to the capital.

The chariots and soldiers of Jizhou City rushed towards the capital without regard for the horses' speed. That very night, they arrived at the bridge under construction on the Chaobai River northeast of the capital and rebuilt the dismantled pontoon bridge overnight before hurriedly entering the capital.

The guards protecting the imperial mausoleum at Tianshou Mountain were so frightened that they all retreated back to their respective posts, frantically chiseling rocks and cutting down trees to block the mountain path leading to the mausoleum.

Changping Prefecture also hurriedly summoned civilians outside the city to enter the prefecture, then closed the city gates and conscripted able-bodied men to guard the city walls.

The capital of the Ming Dynasty seems to be in complete chaos.

After the Jurchen cavalry occupied the heart of Yanqing Prefecture, they seemed to be in no hurry.

These guys set up a large camp right there in the basin in the middle of Yanqing Prefecture, as if they were waiting for the infantry to arrive and join them.

Dushikou is more than 200 li away from the heart of Yanqing Prefecture, and the middle part is all valleys and rivers. It would take at least five days for infantry to get here.

The Jurchens seem to be saying, "Young Emperor, you must send troops to drive our cavalry out of Yanqing Prefecture! Otherwise, once the infantry arrives, there will be over 100,000 troops, and you might not be able to defend the capital!"

Yanqing Prefecture was clearly a trap, and Zhu Jue naturally wouldn't fall for it.

He had also set a trap in Changping Prefecture, waiting for the Jurchens to fall into it.

Now it seems like the two sides are locked in a stalemate, neither of them moving, waiting to see who will fall into the trap!

Huang Taiji remained calm and waited in Yanqing Prefecture.

The officials of the outer court of the Ming Dynasty seemed to be extremely anxious.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., Zhu Jue had just arrived at the main hall of Yu Xi Palace when he opened the first memorial and couldn't help but let out a cold snort.

Hou Xun, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, requested an imperial decree to summon troops from all directions to defend the emperor and drive the Jurchens out of Yanqing Prefecture.

The cabinet drafted a proposal stating that Yanqing Prefecture must be recaptured, otherwise the Jurchens would surely disturb the imperial tombs and even invade the capital region. It was suggested that troops from Jizhou and Liaodong garrisons be transferred to drive the Jurchens out of Yanqing Prefecture.

Do you think I would believe your lies?
Do you think I'm Emperor Chongzhen?
They also transferred personnel from Jizhou Town and Liaodong Town.

If I were to transfer all the troops from Jizhou and Liaodong to fill the trap in Yanqing Prefecture, the Jurchens would be able to easily invade the capital region from Xifengkou to Zunhua. Liaodong had finally managed to retreat its defenses to Shuangtaizi River, but now it would have to retreat even further.

These guys, ostensibly thinking of the Ming Dynasty, are actually plotting to help the Jurchens massacre the main forces of Jizhou and Liaodong garrisons!
I am not Emperor Chongzhen, so naturally I will not believe your nonsense.

However, I still need to put on an act. If I don't even pretend, Huang Taiji might realize what's going on.

Zhu Jue frowned and pondered for a while, then handed the memorial to Liu Ruoyu and said coldly, "Approval. It's too late to transfer troops from Jizhou and Liaodong. Have Fang Zhenghua send someone to mobilize 10,000 able-bodied men from the Jingying Garrison to assist in the defense of Changping Prefecture. The Jurchens can't just march directly to the capital if they can't take Changping Prefecture, can they?"

Uh, what kind of countermeasure is this?
Why are you acting like you're out of your mind?

Oh, His Majesty is trying to fool these guys.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruoyu was taken aback for a moment before quickly picking up his pen and writing.

Zhu Jue, however, called out loudly towards the door, "Zhenghua."

Fang Zhenghua entered in response, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "This servant is here." Zhu Jue instructed in detail, "Send a few capable men to gather ten thousand obedient young men from the Imperial Guards and have them lead these ten thousand young men to Changping Prefecture to assist in its defense."

Remember, patrol day and night to guard against spies and sabotage, especially when the Jurchens attack. Be extremely careful and absolutely do not allow them to capture Changping Prefecture in one night, just as they did with Zunhua.

Fang Zhenghua quickly cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "This servant understands."

Having said that, he strode away.

When Grand Secretary Han Kuang saw the red approval on the draft document, he was stunned.

Is this little emperor out of his mind or something?
Zunhua and Santunying are only three or four hundred li away from the capital, and Liaodong Town is only a little over a thousand li away. You can send cavalry from Liaodong Town over in five or six days at most. What do you mean it's too late?
This little emperor is just like someone with a screw loose, he won't listen to any tricks. What can we do?

Are we to allow the Jurchens to break through Huanghua Town and march on the capital region at this time?

If we do that, wouldn't the trap set in Yanqing Prefecture be for nothing?

Han Kuang was at a loss for what to do.

Huang Taiji, however, was not in a hurry at all. His 50,000 infantrymen had all arrived, and he seemed to be waiting calmly for the Ming army to take the bait.

He simply couldn't believe that the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty would sit idly by and watch his hundreds of thousands of troops threaten the imperial tombs and intimidate the capital of the Ming Dynasty in Yanqing Prefecture, which was only a hundred miles away from the capital.

Zhu Jue was not in a hurry, because the Jurchens had launched a long and arduous attack.

The Jurchen army of over 100,000 men had to travel two or three thousand miles from the heart of Liaodong to the heart of Yanqing Prefecture, and the cost of transporting their provisions was enormous.

Even if there were fodder on the Chahar grassland, people would still have to cut it and transport it there. Even if the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou provided them with grain, it would still take a huge amount of manpower and resources to transport it there. The amount of grain consumed by hundreds of thousands of people is not ordinary.

They were different. The capital already had a lot of grain stored up, and the grain transport ships were constantly going there, so they didn't have to worry about the grain problem at all.

As for fodder, there are currently only 10,000 cavalrymen from the Beijing Garrison at Juyong Pass, and their fodder consumption is only about 20% of that of the Jurchens, which is easy for them to handle.

The two sides remained locked in this stalemate for more than ten days.

If Huang Taiji doesn't get anxious, then he must be out of his mind.

Finally he couldn't bear it anymore.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., Zhu Jue had just arrived at the main hall of Yuxi Palace and hadn't even had time to review the memorials when Fang Zhenghua rushed in with a memorial in his hand, bowing and saying, "Your Majesty, Meng Jin has sent an urgent report from eight hundred li away."

Meng Jin?

What is this guy reporting?
He took the memorial, opened it, and couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

Meng Jin, the eunuch in charge of Tianshou Mountain, reported that the Jurchen army had already broken into Huanghua Town. Judging from their posture, it didn't seem like they were going to attack Changping Prefecture, but rather the imperial tombs!

Huang Taiji was forcing him to mobilize troops to guard the imperial tombs.

If he were to truly mobilize troops to guard the imperial tombs, Huang Taiji would surely retreat to Yanqing Prefecture.

When his troops arrive at the imperial mausoleum, wouldn't he take the opportunity to march on Yanqing Prefecture?
You dare to try and play these petty tricks with me?

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then handed the memorial to Liu Ruoyu and calmly said, "Order Meng Jin to strengthen the defense of the imperial tombs and make a show of fighting to the death to see if Huang Taiji will attack the imperial tombs."

Wow, you really know how to keep your composure.

Meng Jin must be scared out of his wits.

Liu Ruoyu sighed inwardly and quickly picked up his pen to write.

(End of this chapter)