Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 96 Smoke of War Rises as the Jurchens Attack (Part 2)

On the fifteenth day of the third month, the Bingzi day, the Emperor held a ceremony at the Huangji Hall to examine the candidates.

This is what is known as the palace examination.

However, unless it rains, the palace examination is generally not held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but in the square outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Zhu Jue did not sit inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony; he sat on the steps in front of it.

In principle, even the emperor should be present to witness the imperial examination.

However, if one is as lazy as Emperor Wanli, one may choose not to come.

Zhu Jue wasn't lazy; he just didn't want to meet with officials from the outer court. He still wanted to meet with these newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations).

He also needed to introduce all the newly appointed scholars to him, since many of them were his core group of officials to replace those in the outer court.

He will eventually wipe out all the cronies in the outer court, but he must seize the right moment to do so.

He cannot allow the country to descend into chaos in order to deal with the factions within the outer court.

The Ming Dynasty is already in chaos enough; it can't get any more chaotic. If it descends into complete chaos, then there will be no way to save it.

The Ming Dynasty had two capitals, thirteen provinces, more than one hundred prefectures, and more than one thousand counties. Even if he had three heads, six arms, and eight hands, he couldn't possibly manage them all.

Therefore, he must wait until these newly appointed scholars have gained experience in governing local areas before he can take action.

The problem is, one Jinshi degree doesn't seem to be enough, and two or three seem not to be enough either. What should we do?
As he sat there pondering, Lu Xiang-sheng suddenly strode over, bowed respectfully, and then whispered in his ear, "Your Majesty, smoke signals are rising from the direction of Jizhou Town. It is estimated that the Jurchens are attacking."

The Jurchens really knew how to pick their timing.

Are you rushing over at this moment to catch me off guard?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then stood up as if nothing had happened and walked towards Yu Xi Palace.

Lu Xiang-sheng, Wang Cheng-en, Fang Zheng-hua, and others quickly followed.

He, as the emperor, doesn't need to sit here all day. The diligent ones can sit longer, and the lazy ones can sit shorter.

Those candidates were being watched by examiners; he was just there to make an appearance.

He walked unhurriedly into the main hall of Yuxi Palace, and ordered Wang Chengen to take out a map of the capital region and spread it out on the table before asking, "How long does it take for the smoke signals to travel from Jizhou Town? Where is the Jurchen now?"

There's no fixed answer to this.

Lu Xiang-sheng explained in detail: "At normal speed, the smoke signal can only travel a little over 1,100 li but less than 1,200 li in a day and night, which is less than 100 li in an hour."

However, that's because the speed of lighting the smoke signal was too slow. In fact, from seeing the smoke signal to lighting it, it only takes a blink of an eye. If you want the smoke signal to be transmitted quickly, then you have to make the smoke signal light quickly.

Your humble servant has prepared oil and gunpowder for all the beacon towers along the line from Jizhou Town to the capital. The speed at which smoke signals are lit is more than twice as fast as normal, and the signal can travel more than 200 li in an hour without any problem.

Your Majesty, as you can see, Jizhou City is about 200 li away from the capital, Zunhua City is about 300 li away from the capital, and the breach in the border wall near Xifengkou, north of Zunhua City, is about 400 li away from the capital.

Judging from the speed at which the beacon fires were spread, the Jurchens must have entered the mountains from the northern grasslands around dawn and arrived at the Xifengkou area around 7:00 AM. Our border troops on guard duty there must have discovered the Jurchen army before 7:00 AM.

It's past 9 AM now, and the Jurchen cavalry have probably already reached the vicinity of Zunhua City. Whether they're besieging the city or setting up camp north of Zunhua City is unknown.

The Jurchen cavalry have all fled to the outskirts of Zunhua City!

Zhu Jue nodded slowly, then asked, "Have you sent reinforcements?"

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I have already ordered Yu Ji and De Gong to each lead 10,000 cavalry to Jizhou City and Santun Camp, and Yuan Hua has also led 30,000 chariot soldiers to Jizhou City."

Jizhou City is less than 200 li from our main camp, and Yuji should be able to arrive within two hours. Santun Camp is more than 300 li from our main camp, and Degong probably won't be able to arrive today. As for Yuanhua, he won't be able to arrive in Jizhou City until tomorrow. This support speed is already fast enough.

Zhu Jue stared at the map for a moment, then asked, "Jian Dou, the Jurchens won't use cavalry to attack the city, will they?"

Lu Xiang-sheng slowly shook his head and said, "That should be unlikely. The Jurchen cavalry are all their own troops, and the losses would be too great if they were used to attack cities."

They generally drove Mongol and even Han infantry to attack cities; their cavalry mostly helped the Mongol and Han armies build siege equipment.

That shouldn't be a big problem. Even if the Mongol and Han infantry under the Jurchens set off with the cavalry, they are still at least a hundred miles away from Zunhua City, and the route is mostly mountainous. It would be good if they could get there in three days.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "How is the defense of Zunhua City? Do you think it can be held?"

Lu Xiang-sheng explained in detail: "Zunhua City is an important border town. Its city walls are more than three zhang high and it has a moat. I have also organized a garrison of more than 5,600 men to guard the city. Moreover, Wang Yuan-ya, the military commissioner of Jizhou, is personally stationed in Zunhua City to oversee the city's defenses. If the Jurchens do not go all out, it should not be a big problem to hold it."

"If the Jurchens disregard casualties and launch a full-scale attack on the city, I will lead 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 chariot troops under Yuanhua out of Jizhou to provide support. If the Jurchens still insist on attacking the city at full speed despite their casualties, they will surely suffer a crushing defeat."

Are you preparing to fight the Jurchens to the death?
It's a pity that the artillery hasn't been developed yet.

If artillery were developed, the chariot soldiers could push 1,500 small cannons forward and bombard the Jurchens for several rounds, and they probably wouldn't be able to hold out and would have to retreat.

Zhu Jue looked at the map and asked, "Zunhua is an important town, so why did you only send a little over five thousand men to garrison it?"

There's nothing I can do about it.

Lu Xiang-sheng said with some helplessness, "Your Majesty, there are only more than 30,000 troops left in Jizhou Town, and there are still many cities and fortresses that need to be garrisoned. It is already good that more than 5,000 troops can be assigned to Zunhua City. The cities of Qian'an, Lulong, Luanzhou, Kaiping, Fengrun, Yutian and other cities are only garrisoned by one thousand and one hundred troops from a fully organized thousand-household unit."

It looks like we need to expand the Beijing garrison as soon as possible.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "What about Jizhou City and Santunying? How are their defenses?"

Lu Xiang-sheng explained in detail: "Jizhou City is also a city with high walls and deep moats. Therefore, I was also assigned to a well-organized garrison with more than 5,600 men, which was overseen by Wang Ying-zhi, the deputy military commissioner of Jizhou, to manage the city's defenses."

Because the walls of Santunying were newly built and only about ten feet high, and the moat had not yet been dug, I have dispatched two fully-equipped garrisons, totaling over 11,000 men, under the command of Zhu Guoyan, the General of Jizhou Garrison, to oversee the city's defenses.

Your considerations are quite thorough, but the key issue is that there are too few troops in Jizhou Town.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "How many troops do you estimate Huang Taiji will bring this time?"

Lu Xiang-sheng estimated: "In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, when Huang Taiji led his army to attack the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line, he claimed to have 130,000 troops, but in reality, he only mobilized 70,000 to 80,000 troops to participate in the attack."

Your humble servant estimates that his 130,000-strong army was not an exaggeration. At that time, he really did have 130,000 troops under his command. However, he still had to leave 50,000 to 60,000 troops to guard the rear and transport supplies.

Now that Huang Taiji has already conquered the Chahar tribe, if he were to conscript men at will, he could probably forcibly recruit around 20,000 able-bodied men to attack the city.

In other words, Huang Taiji currently has around 150,000 troops under his command. He would need to leave at least 50,000 troops behind to guard the rear and transport supplies. Therefore, I estimate that he can only bring a maximum of 100,000 troops with him.”

There's nothing to worry about with 100,000 troops. After all, they are the defenders of the city, and 50,000 troops are enough to hold them off. Moreover, they have more than 50,000 troops.

As the saying goes, "It is impolite not to reciprocate." Now that the defense is no longer a problem, it is time to consider causing some trouble for the Jurchens. Since Huang Taiji dared to lead his army to attack the capital region, I must also send people to harass his rear.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said, "Ruoyu, draft a secret decree, ordering Mao Wenlong to lead the Dongjiang Army to harass the Jurchen rear. There is no need to attack the city, just go and seize the grain, cattle, sheep and horses they have stockpiled outside the city."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruoyu quickly pulled out a blank imperial edict and began to write rapidly.

Seeing that he had finished writing, Zhu Jue continued, "Draft another secret edict, ordering Boya to quickly lead the army to the Shuangtaizi River line to build a defensive line. I will try my best to keep Huang Taiji in the Zunhua area. Moreover, Mao Wenlong is harassing the Jurchens from the rear. Even if Huang Taiji retreats, he will rush back to rescue his home base."

Such a round trip would take at least two or three months. If Huang Taiji still wants to lead his army to attack the Shuangtaizi River defense line, tell him not to rush. I will send Jiandou with cavalry and chariots to provide support.”

(End of this chapter)