Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 321 Northern Barbarian Invasion Raises Concerns on the Nine Border Regions (Part 2)

Around noon, it was lunchtime.

It's still the height of summer, and the sun outside is blazing hot; it's unbearably scorching.

The streets and alleys of the capital seemed to have been cleared out; it was rare to find even a single person.

The imperial city and palace seemed to be empty; the eunuchs and palace maids had all gone to eat.

At this moment, in the main hall of Yuxi Palace, Zhu Jue and Lu Xiangshan stood by the desk, frowning as they stared at the map on the table, remaining silent for a long time.

The Jurchens' sudden invasion of Xuanfu Town was something they hadn't expected at all.

The Horqin Grassland is located in northeastern Liaoning, more than 2,000 li away from Xuanfu Town. Who would have thought that the Jurchen cavalry would suddenly attack Xuanfu Town?

They all thought that since the Jurchens had just moved there and were not yet settled, even if Huang Taiji wanted to invade, he would choose Liaodong, which was nearby.

Therefore, most of their forces are still gathered in Liaodong, where cities are being built at a frantic pace.

Who would have thought that the Jurchen cavalry would silently cross more than two thousand miles and suddenly arrive at Xuanfu Town.

This is contrary to military strategy, and no one would go to such lengths, especially since the terrain of Xuanfu Town and Liaodong are different.

The northeast and even the west of Liaodong are flat plains with almost no obstacles except for the Liao River. Moreover, the Liao River becomes narrower as you go north, making it easy to build pontoon bridges.

Xuanfu Town is different. The area to the north of Xuanfu Town is almost entirely mountainous, and to the east of Xuanfu Town is the capital, while to the west is Datong Town. There is no need to defend it at all.

In other words, the troops in Xuanfu Town only need to guard the valley passages in the mountains to the north. There are only three valley passages to the north of Xuanfu Town: the Baihe River Valley, the Dongyang River Valley, and a relatively wide valley north of Zhangjiakou Fort.

Zhangjiakou Fort is only fifty or sixty li away from Xuanhua City, the seat of Xuanfu Town, making it relatively easy to send reinforcements. Therefore, the northern barbarians generally do not choose to invade from the valley north of Zhangjiakou Fort.

The Baihe River Valley, which is the valley passage where Dushikou Fort is located, was invaded by the Jurchens last time. Liu Shigan has also strengthened the defenses there, so it won't be so easy for the Jurchen cavalry to break in.

At this point, it seems that the Dongyang River Valley, northwest of Xuanfu Town, is the easiest place to break in. The Jurchen cavalry just happened to choose the Dongyang River Valley. Is this a coincidence?

That is of course impossible!

This was absolutely the route carefully chosen by the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou for the Jurchens to invade.

It's hard to guard against a thief within your own household, even if you guard against them day and night.

These traitors who collude with the enemy and betray their country are utterly shameless!

Zhu Jue stared at the map for a long time before he couldn't help but sigh slightly and said, "Jiandou, the situation on the nine borders is worrying. Nowadays, apart from Liaodong Town and Jizhou Town, the other border towns are like sieves."

The three powerful clans of Puzhou had been in control of the military since the Jiajing era. Yang Bo and Wang Chonggu had both served as Ministers of War for more than three years. They had planted countless spies in Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Pianguan Town, Yansui Town, Guyuan Town, Ningxia Town, and Gansu Town.

"Currently, the Northwest is suffering from a severe drought, and rebels are rampant. We are too far removed from the border towns there to effectively manage them, let alone govern them as well as the Liaodong and Jizhou garrisons."

This is indeed a big problem. At this time, apart from Liaodong Town and Jizhou Town, the other border towns are not under their control. It would be too easy for the Jurchens to invade. Those border towns are practically undefended.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng couldn't help but ask with a worried expression, "Your Majesty, what should we do about the other border towns?"

There's nothing we can do for now!
Zhu Jue slowly shook his head and said, "Let's put aside the other border towns for now and solve the problem of Xuanfu Town first."

At this moment, Xuanfu Town has less than 50,000 troops in total, and they are all infantry. They are no match for the Jurchen cavalry. We need to send reinforcements immediately.

The only way to counter the Jurchen cavalry is with chariot troops. The 100,000 soldiers in Jizhou are already equipped with chariots, right? How many men can you spare?"

How do you say this?

Lu Xiang-sheng thought carefully for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, although the 100,000 soldiers of the Jingying Garrison in Jizhou have been equipped with chariots, they don't have enough horses to pull them. Moreover, they are too scattered and haven't practiced chariot formations much. To deal with the Jurchen cavalry, I'm afraid all 100,000 soldiers will have to go together."

The problem is that there aren't many border troops left in Jizhou Town right now. If all 100,000 troops from the capital garrison were transferred to Xuanfu Town, the defense of Jizhou Town would probably be even worse than that of Xuanfu Town.

More importantly, Xuanfu Town is not accessible by ships. If the soldiers of Jizhou Town want to get there, they can only set off from the west of the capital and push their chariots, which would probably take at least ten days to arrive.

"If a traitor informs us, the Jurchens will most likely take advantage of the weakened defenses of Jizhou and invade. If their cavalry enters the capital region, our losses will be immense." These traitors, don't fall into my hands! If you do, I will exterminate your entire clan!
Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue gritted his teeth and said, "You mean the troops in Jizhou Town can't be mobilized yet, right?"

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded slowly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, it is too troublesome to mobilize the troops in Jizhou Town. Moreover, if we move the troops from Jizhou Town, it may cause the Jurchens to invade the capital region."

Your humble servant dares to say that now that the Jurchen cavalry have reached Xuanfu Town, there is no longer any threat to Liaodong Town. Moreover, the garrison cities there are almost finished, and in about another month, the city walls of the major cities there should also be completed.

At that time, even if the Jurchen cavalry charged in, they would not come out unscathed.

"Your Majesty, what do you think? Should we first transfer 100,000 troops from Liaodong Garrison and have Ying Yuan lead them to Xuanfu Garrison as reinforcements?"

There shouldn't be much of a problem transferring 100,000 troops from Liaodong Town at this point.

The problem is that Liaodong Town is too far from Xuanfu Town. Even if a naval ship is sent to deliver the imperial edict, it will take a day. It will take at least two days for the 100,000 troops to assemble on the ship and then arrive in the capital.

This is not over yet.

Since the waterways to Xuanfu Town are impassable, the 100,000 chariot troops can only travel by land from the capital. Even if the chariot troops in Liaodong have enough warhorses to pull their chariots, it will still take at least three or four days to arrive.

All in all, that's six or seven days.

Could he allow the Jurchens to wreak havoc in Xuanfu Town for six or seven days?
That certainly can't be the case.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "How many of the naval officers and soldiers of the Beijing Garrison are still in the capital?"

Uh, you want the Beijing naval forces to go?

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously said, "Your Majesty, the more than a thousand Zhenyuan warships at the Haihe Shipyard are almost completed, and each Zhenyuan warship needs to be equipped with at least two hundred naval officers and soldiers."

Therefore, I have mobilized over 200,000 officers and soldiers of the Beijing naval garrison for drills at the drill grounds of the eastern and northeastern outer cities. They are waiting for the Zhenyuan warship at the Haihe Shipyard to be completed so they can board it.”

These 200,000-plus soldiers of the Beijing naval garrison could easily be used to intimidate the Jurchens.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Are they all equipped with muskets?"

These muskets can't be made that quickly.

Lu Xiang-sheng estimated, "Your Majesty, they were originally supposed to be equipped with muskets, but they are still short of muskets. They haven't even been equipped with 200,000 muskets yet."

That's enough.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Immediately mobilize all the horse-drawn railcars in the capital to continuously pull the naval soldiers of the Beijing Garrison equipped with muskets to Xuanfu Town, day and night."

Don't rush to attack with these Jingying naval soldiers you've brought over. Let them assemble in Xuanhua City first. Once you've gathered 100,000 men, then let them form ranks and head out of the city to find the Jurchen cavalry.

Remember, once they spot the Jurchen cavalry, they should form ranks and prepare to fire. When the Jurchen cavalry are within a mile of the gun emplacement, they should begin firing, using a continuous three-volley firing pattern.

That seems to work too.

If the Jurchen cavalry were to charge the gun formation recklessly, the Jingying naval forces would likely suffer heavy casualties, but the Jurchen cavalry would certainly suffer heavy casualties as well.

Currently, the Beijing naval forces number 600,000. Even if they were to exchange 100,000 Beijing naval forces for 50,000 Jurchen cavalry, they would still be making a profit.

The saying goes, "A merciful general cannot command an army," meaning that at this time, one cannot be afraid of sacrifice.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I understand."

In fact, Zhu Jue did not want the soldiers of the Beijing naval garrison to fight to the death; he simply wanted them to intimidate the Jurchens.

If the Jurchens had an inside informant, they must have known that the Jing garrison soldiers carrying muskets were constantly converging on Xuanfu Town.

Huang Taiji was an exceptionally cautious man, and under such circumstances, he would not have dared to use his remaining tens of thousands of cavalry to fight against the Beijing garrison.

Sure enough, after they had only mobilized horses to pull the railcars for half a day, and the number of Jingying naval soldiers gathered in Xuanhua City was less than 100,000, the Jurchen cavalry began to retreat. By early the next morning, not a single Jurchen cavalry could be seen in the entire Xuanfu Town!
Huang Taiji was no fool. Apart from Liaodong and Jizhou, the other border towns were practically undefended to him. He had already taken enough of Xuanfu Town; there was no need for him to waste his precious cavalry fighting the Ming army here.

(End of this chapter)