Di Ming

Chapter 240 "I had already foreseen it, just as the enemy army had foreseen it."

After three months of campaigning, Zhu Yin finally saw the decisive battle against the rebel army.

Previously, because the army of the truth had already occupied Suzhou and Ganzhou, Zhu Yin could no longer enter Hexi along the Ruoshui River. He could only go south along the Great Wall and enter Lanzhou from Songshan Grassland, which took several more days.

At this time, he had an army of 70,000 men, all of whom were elite border troops.

It is no exaggeration to say that one-third of the elite troops of the Nine Border Regions were in his Lanzhou headquarters!
Meanwhile, the entire family of Prince Su, who was enfeoffed in Lanzhou, had been captured by Bahai, the chieftain of the Xiaosongshan Mongols, and taken to Liangzhou half a month earlier, where they were presented to the so-called Emperor of Heaven.

The grain and fodder stored in Lanzhou, as well as the gold and silver in the Prince Su's mansion, were all looted by Bahai. Even the people in the city were taken away by the Tartars.

Ning Caiwei's shops and buildings in Lanzhou were all looted.

The entire city of Lanzhou became a ghost town.

However, this was already the only major town that the Ming army could control in the entire Hexi region. Bahai abandoned Lanzhou simply because the Mongol army was not good at defending cities.

At this time, Lanzhou had become a huge military city, garrisoned by 70,000 Ming soldiers, 20,000 laborers, and 50,000 horses and mules. The daily consumption of food alone required at least 10,000 taels of silver.

Adding to the losses incurred during the transport of grain and fodder, the logistics alone put immense pressure on the Shaanxi governor in charge of delivering the grain and fodder.

The entire prosperous Guanzhong region was supplying provisions for Zhu Yin's army. It was fortunate that Guanzhong existed; otherwise, Zhu Yin's food supplies would have been unsustainable.

The northwestern Mongols and rebel armies occupied Hexi, but the Ming court did not punish Zhu Yin for it.

Firstly, there were people in the court speaking up for Zhu Yin. Secondly, everyone knew that the fall of Hexi was not Zhu Yin's responsibility.

Since learning that the Western Sea Mongols, the Greater and Lesser Songshan Mongols, and the Khoshut Mongols supported Bo Bai and Prince Qing, the Ming court knew very well that Hexi was doomed.

Because the Mongol forces of the Western Sea and the Greater and Lesser Songshan Mountains were very close to Hexi. The Ming army in Hexi was already sparsely populated, and the elite troops of Gansu Garrison had been taken to Lingzhou in Ningxia by the Gansu Governor Ye Mengxiong, and could not return to defend it in time. How could they possibly hold Hexi?
Now that Zhu Yin was able to arrive in Lanzhou in time to confront the rebel army and block their advance eastward into Longxi, the imperial court could find no fault with him.

Both the rebel army and the Ming court were well aware of the importance of the decisive battle in Hexi.

If the Ming army wins, the makeshift regime and emperor will immediately collapse. The imperial court will regain control of Hexi, and the Western Sea Mongols and the Greater and Lesser Songshan Mongols will no longer be able to threaten the northwest.

If the Ming army is defeated and loses its elite forces in the Northwest, not only will Hexi be lost, but the rebel army could also enter Longxi and even occupy Guanzhong!

Therefore, the Ming court made four preparations.

First, strengthen the supply of grain and military provisions in the Northwest, and strictly order Zhu Yin to take advantage of the unstable position of the false emperor and the false dynasty to seize the opportunity to launch an attack and annihilate the rebel army within a specified period and recover Hexi within three months.

Secondly, the emperor ordered local officials to strictly guard the princes of various vassal states. He decreed that all members of the imperial clan, including Generals of the State and Assistant Generals of the State, were forbidden from leaving the city. Generals of the State and above were temporarily forbidden from leaving their homes or receiving guests.

Third, send envoys to Qingcheng to meet with the Third Lady, and at the same time send envoys to the Chahar, Khorchin, and Khalkha tribes of the Left Wing Mongols to appease and win them over, and not to let them support the Western Sea Mongols.

Fourth, the Ministry of Revenue prepared four million taels of silver from the two capitals' treasury and the Changying treasury, and planned to draw 120,000 elite troops from eighteen locations including the capital, Xi'an, Taiyuan, Xuanfu, Datong, Jizhou, Tongzhou, Liaodong, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Jinan, Jingzhou, Xining, Fengxiang, Hanzhong, Fengyang, Chuzhou, and Xuzhou as the second batch of main forces to quell the rebellion after Zhu Yin's defeat.

In addition, 10,000 Tibetan soldiers, mainly from the four chieftains of Tubo (Tibetan) Mingzheng, Dege, Litang and Batang, 30,000 soldiers from chieftains in Yunnan, Guangxi and Huguang, and 20,000 soldiers from various Jurchen tribes in Liaodong, totaling 60,000 men, are to be deployed as the third batch of reserve troops.

These troops were almost all the elite forces that the Ming Dynasty could still muster while effectively defending against the Mongol invasion from the south.

The Ming court's worst-case scenario was that it could deal with the wars in the north and the west at the same time, and fight major battles on two fronts simultaneously!
Faced with a false emperor and a false dynasty, the emperor and the court adopted an extremely strict and resolute attitude: to suppress them at all costs!
……

On the tenth day of the sixth month, Zhu Yin and Qi Jiguang led 70,000 infantry and cavalry, leaving Lanzhou and slowly heading north.

At the same time, orders were given to continuously store grain and fodder at Jincheng Pass.

Lanzhou is a key city on the Yellow River, serving as a passage between Longxi and Hexi Corridors. It borders Hexi Corridor to the west and Longdong Corridor to the east, making its strategic location crucial. However, Lanzhou is advantageous for defense but disadvantageous for offense.

Zhu Yin needed to defeat the rebel army as soon as possible. Of course, he couldn't just sit in Lanzhou and wait for the rebels to attack. He had to take the initiative and head north!

Because with each day of delay, more Han Chinese in Hexi will be misled and join the false emperor's camp, thus increasing the false emperor's strength.

Time is on the enemy's side!
The Ming army, however, had to fight a quick battle to save on food and supplies, and also to prevent the rebels from taking in more Han Chinese from Hexi.

However, since we are going to take the initiative to march north and attack Liangzhou, we need to keep up with the transportation of grain and fodder, and we need the most suitable place to store the grain and fodder.

Jincheng Pass is a strategic pass north of Lanzhou City. It was established during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. It is bordered by the Zhuanglang River on one side, the Yellow River on the other, and the Great Wall on the third. Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions and Tang Sanzang's journey to the west both passed through Jincheng Pass.

Grain supplies from Guanzhong and Hedong were transported to Lanzhou via the Yellow River, and then to Jincheng Pass. From Jincheng Pass, the supplies could be transported to the Ming army advancing north via the Zhuanglang River and the Great Wall.

Given the current situation in Hexi, no place is more suitable as a vital supply depot for the Ming army than Jincheng Pass.

The fact that the Ming army stored grain and fodder at Jincheng Pass could not be kept secret from the rebel army.

Of course, Zhu Yin had no intention of keeping it a secret from the rebel army.

On June 12, Zhu Yin led the Ming army to the west of Hongshan Gorge and the east of Zhuanglang River Valley, more than a hundred miles from Liangzhou, and then stationed himself at the gorge entrance.

The Zhuanglang River Valley and Hongshan Gorge, together with Liangzhou Ruian Fort and Jincheng Pass, form a natural strategic foothold in the south of the Hexi Corridor, making it the most geographically advantageous location for the Ming army to attack Liangzhou.

Zhu Yin and Qi Jiguang had another reason for stationing their troops here.

……

June is scorching hot, and the weather is extremely hot.

The Ming army camp in Hongshan Canyon was able to alleviate the scorching heat of the northwest sun by taking advantage of the cool breeze from the river valley and canyon.

Tens of thousands of warhorses, mules, and camels drank water in the lower reaches of the Zhuanglang River. Several miles upstream, large groups of Ming soldiers bathed and rinsed themselves in the river.

Many soldiers were also enjoying the cool shade in the willow grove by the river, letting their hair down to pick lice. Armored suits hung densely on the trees.

The river water blows, and the entire valley smells of sweat.

Many people say that the military governor chose a good place to camp.

It's cool.

In the main camp tent at the gorge not far from the valley, Zhu Yin and others were holding a military meeting.

Zhu Yin sat to the left of the head of the table, and Qi Jiguang sat to the right of the head of the table. On either side, below them sat generals such as Ye Mengxiong, Zheng Guowang, Li Rusong, Hao Yunlai, Xiao Ruxun, Chen Lin, Li Rusong, Qin Liangyu, and Xiong Tingbi, a total of dozens of people gathered in the hall.

Zhu Yin was not wearing armor, but only a cool silk robe with a loose sash. He also did not wear a hat, only a light net.

The young man, dressed in light, had a youthful face that still seemed a bit immature, yet it was full of wisdom and composure, exuding the air of a noble scholar.

Holding a foot-long fossilized tiger tooth, he pointed at the map and said:
"Now, the area north of Lanzhou and Zhuanglang, west of the Great Wall, east of the Qilian Mountains, and south of Jiayuguan has been completely occupied by the various tribes of the Western Sea Mongols, the Great and Small Songshan Mongols, the Alashan Mongols, and the rebellious Ming border troops."

"In order to fight against the army that was suppressing the rebellion, they all supported the false emperor as their leader and intended to use the false emperor's banner to seize control of the Hexi region by taking a million Han people with them. At present, there are dozens of military officers in Gansu who have surrendered to the false emperor, including those with more than one hundred households and seven or eight with more than one thousand households. There are also commanders, deputy prefects, assistant generals, and guerrillas."

"As for ordinary soldiers and military households, even more, numbering in the tens of thousands, defected! In contrast, most of the civil officials and minor officials in a town in Gansu were killed by the rebels, and many hereditary military officers and powerful families were also killed, their entire families wiped out."

"The more than two million Han people in Hexi should have responded to the imperial court and resisted the rebel army. But many of them joined the rebels instead. Why is that?"

As Zhu Yin finished speaking, his tone became slightly resolute, and he glanced at Ye Mengxiong.

He wasn't actually criticizing Ye Mengxiong, but rather expressing his dissatisfaction with the Ming court. By the late Ming period, Gansu had a population of three million, with over two million being Han Chinese.

However, the Ming court never restored the prefecture-county system of the Han and Tang dynasties and continued to use the military town model.

This extensive management model, which differed from that in the interior, not only turned military households into serfs of military officers, but also made the officers oppressed by the supervisory officials dispatched by the imperial court. They were never properly governed, leading to sharp conflicts, social unrest, and a very complex situation.

During the Hongwu period, in order to develop the Hexi Corridor, a large number of people from the south were relocated to Gansu. The purpose was to restore the prefectures and counties when the time was right, consolidate the northwest border defense, and then develop the Western Regions.

However, two hundred years have passed, and the Ming court's governance of Hexi has regressed rather than progressed!

Qinghai (Xihai), separated from Hexi by a mountain, was originally under the control of the Ming Dynasty. Now, however, it has become a pasture for the Mongols, who have created a powerful Xihai Mongol force!

Governor Ye Mengxiong of Gansu sighed and said, "I have long considered the doubts of the General. The plight of the military households and horse households in Gansu is shocking. The people of Hexi are fierce and the Han and non-Han peoples are mixed together, which has led to constant small-scale disturbances and bandits. The so-called Northwest bandits are mostly from here."

"This time, Qing rebels established a false dynasty, and many Han Chinese in Hexi followed him. This shows that they had long harbored resentment towards the court. In my opinion, they should be severely punished. All the people who followed the rebels are bandits and should be suppressed with an iron fist and executed as a warning to others."

As the governor of Gansu, Ye Mengxiong was the second most important civil official in the supervising army after Zhu Yin, and his words carried great weight.

However, Zhu Yin disagreed with his opinion.

Zhu Yin shook his head and said, "General, you are mistaken. The people of Hexi are also the people of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's children. The so-called 'following the rebels' is just the rebel army's instigation. Officials have oppressed them to this extent. How could they really like to rebel? Have they not heard that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it?"

"There are three million Han and non-Han people in Hexi. If we use ruthless killing, the more we kill, the more bandits there will be, and Hexi will never have peace again. Even if it were effective, what would be the point of recovering Hexi if we killed all the people there?"

Qi Jiguang said: "Back then, when the Southeast was plagued by Japanese pirates, many people along the coast were killed for colluding with them. But the more we killed the pirates, the more numerous and powerful they became. The root cause was that, ostensibly they were colluding with the pirates, but in reality they were dissatisfied with the government. The more corrupt officials there were, the more thieves there were, and the more people would rebel. Killing them was useless; in the end, it all came down to governance."

"If life is more comfortable with the rebel army, do you think they would side with the court just because they are citizens of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Yin said, "This is the first point of today's military council. Many military households in Hexi support Qing's rebellion because their lives were too hard before. If our army wants to defeat the rebels as soon as possible, we must let them know that the court will not abandon them."

"I intend to petition the court to establish a prefecture in Gansu Town, change the military households and horse households to civilian households, and exempt them from taxes for five years. In addition, all people who no longer submit to the false dynasty will be pardoned. I hope you will all join me in petitioning."

"Otherwise, sooner or later there will be a rebellion in the Northwest, a major rebellion."

Zhu Yin knew that the main force behind the rebellions in Northwest China at the end of the Ming Dynasty was the military households in the various towns of the Northwest. The military households were the most miserable, suffering double oppression, and their personal freedom was even worse than that of the peasants.

Even if the officials were corrupt, the people were still subject to the laws of the state.

But military towns are different.

Qi Jiguang nodded and said, "It is time to set up prefectures and counties in Gansu. These military towns have long been under the jurisdiction of officers at all levels, which is really crude and simple. The life, death, honor and disgrace of military households are all in the hands of officers. Even if they are killed innocently, it is said that they have violated military law. They are called military households, but in reality they are no different from slaves."

Ye Mengxiong agreed with Zhu Yin's plan. Zheng Guowang and Hao Yunlai also seconded it.

Zhu Yin knew that the proposal to change military garrisons into prefectures and counties would be difficult for the court to approve because the interests involved were too great. However, if they could take advantage of the recent Hexi Rebellion and only change the garrison in Gansu, there was still hope.

After Zhu Yin finished speaking, he then began to talk about military affairs.

"A merchant fleeing south sent word that for the past half month, the rebel army has gathered the looted grain and fodder at Ruian Fort, piling it up like a mountain. It is enough for the rebel army to use for two months. The rebel army's plan is to annihilate our army within two months, then cross the Yellow River and seize our army's granaries and horse feed yards in Longxi. After replenishing their supplies, they will then attack Guanzhong."

"The rebel army has united. In addition to 40,000 cavalry, there are tens of thousands of border soldiers who have defected to the rebels and a large number of military households. Moreover, the number of defectors is increasing. How much food and fodder will they consume every day? But food and fodder in Hexi are limited. Food and fodder are the biggest weakness of the rebel army."

"If the grain supplies at Rui'an Fort are burned, the enemy army will surely be thrown into chaos!"

Qi Jiguang nodded and smiled, "General, you are right. The enemy's biggest weakness is indeed their food supply. Therefore, in this battle, our army is ostensibly attacking Liangzhou, but in reality, we are aiming for Ruian Fort. As long as the food supply in Ruian Fort is destroyed and they cannot gather food for a while, the false dynasty will be doomed."

This entire plan was actually something he had discussed with Zhu Yin, Li Rusong, Shang Yang, and others long ago; of course, it wouldn't be that simple.

Xiao Ruxun suddenly said, "General, what if the enemy army thinks the same way and also attacks our Jincheng Pass? Jincheng Pass is a large storage of our army's grain and fodder. If the enemy army also sets their sights on our grain and fodder and burns our grain and fodder, then our army's morale will be thrown into chaos."

Zhu Yin couldn't help but laugh.

"General Xiao is indeed a renowned general of the Northwest," Zhu Yin said confidently. "I had already predicted it, just as the enemy had predicted."

……

Liangzhou City is now the capital of Emperor Tianming.

The Liangzhou Guard Commandery was Emperor Tianming's temporary palace. It also served as the central headquarters of the rebel army.

The banners of the Ming Dynasty, along with the wolf-head flags and the Suluding banners of the Mongols, fluttered above the city walls of Liangzhou, creating a very eerie scene.

It was quite strange that the Tartars, who spoke Mongolian and Tuda languages, lived in the same city as the Han soldiers, who spoke Northwestern Mandarin and wore Ming Dynasty armor.

At this very moment, inside the main hall of the Commander's Office, Grand Tutor Bo Bai was presiding over a military meeting.

Emperor Tianming is a puppet, so of course he won't participate in military councils. He only drinks and makes merry with Prince Su in the backyard, leaving all military and political affairs to Grand Tutor Bo Bai.

They do have some self-awareness.

Using the name of the Ming Emperor, Bo Bai recruited tens of thousands of surrendered Ming soldiers and even more military households. The banner of the Ming prince was still very effective; when the Han people of Hexi heard that Prince Qing had declared himself emperor in Liangzhou, tens of thousands rose up in response.

Many mountain bandits, outlaws, and sand bandits came to join them.

Bo Bai, in the name of Grand Tutor, bestowed official titles and made promises. With his remaining two thousand servants as a base, he raised tens of thousands of Han soldiers in just half a month, and his momentum was restored.

With these tens of thousands of Han soldiers who had defected, Grand Tutor Bo Bai was able to have the confidence to face the Mongol nobles such as Zhenxiang, Hunertu, and Ayun who came to join him.

The Mongol nobles and Ming generals who had surrendered were sitting in the main hall, all looking at Bo Bai and Crown Prince Zhu Shuaixin, who were seated at the head of the table.

Bo Bai Nian was seventy years old, with white hair and beard, but his face was ruddy and he spoke eloquently with great spirit.

The disheveled and defeated state he had previously endured after being pursued by Zhu Yin for thousands of miles was now completely gone.

The fifteen-year-old Crown Prince Zhu Shuaixin sat respectfully to Bo Bai's right, displaying an air of "all important matters are handled by the Grand Tutor."

Below these two is the most powerful Taiji of the Western Sea Mongols, the truth.

Besides the truth, there were also Ayun, a remnant of the Ordos tribe, as well as Hun'ertu Taiji of Dasongshan, Bahai Taiji of Xiaosongshan, and seven or eight other Mongolian nobles.

Then there was a group of surrendered Ming generals from Gansu.

In the middle of the hall was a huge sand table, a tool commonly used by Mongolians, with simple depictions of mountains and rivers.

Bo Bai pointed his cane at the sand table and said disdainfully to everyone, "

"Zhu Yin's grain supplies are at Jincheng Pass! What if our cavalry goes out of the Great Wall first, then detours to attack Jincheng Pass, seize his grain supplies, and cut off his supply lines?"

"Then the Ming army in Hongshan Gorge is just a flock of weaned lambs!"

P.S.: I'll try to write a long chapter tomorrow! If it's a long chapter tomorrow, the final battle should be over, and the Ningxia battle should be over too. Thank you for your support, goodnight! Please leave a comment!

(End of this chapter)