Who is Zhu Di? He has always been the only one who bullies others, how can he allow others to bully him like this!
After the news that the Tatars beheaded the Ming envoys reached Jinling, the Ming court responded as quickly as possible and in the strongest possible way.
Zhu Di did not comment on the Tatar atrocities. His answer was straightforward: send troops!
The imperial edict was conveyed to Beijing Xingzai at a speed of eight hundred miles, and Qiu Fu was appointed as the general to conquer the captives and the commander-in-chief of the armies in the north of the Great Wall. He also appointed the Marquis of Wucheng, Wang Cong, and the Marquis of Tongan, Huozhen, as the left and right deputy generals, and the Marquis of Jing'an, Wang Zhong, and
Anping Marquis Li Yuan was on the left, and on the right were the generals, a duke, and four marquises. They led one hundred thousand cavalry out to attack the Tatars.
Qiu Fu is a veteran of the imperial dynasty, and now Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng have passed away one after another. In terms of qualifications and ability, Qiu Fu has to do his part to sweep the desert north. No one objects to this decree.
The second son of the emperor, Zhu Gaoxu, was overjoyed when he heard the news. He immediately sent his trusted aide to deliver a secret letter to Qiu Fu. In fact, Qiu Fu still needed to make some preparations after receiving the imperial edict, and he also had to explain the defense of Peking. He would not do it so quickly.
Zhu Gaoxu, who left the fortress, was a talented general in the army. Naturally, he knew this with common sense, so there was no need to rush his trusted followers in such a hurry.
It's just that such an opportunity is too rare. Zhu Gaoxu keenly felt that this was the best opportunity for his faction to re-emerge, so he immediately wrote a letter telling Qiu Fu that this battle must be fought beautifully and that he must fight immediately.
With great military exploits, not only could Qiu Fun return to the center of the imperial court and control the power in the army with his military exploits, but he could also use this military exploit to attract many of his relatives, including Wang Cong, Huo Zhen, Wang Zhong, and Li Yuan.
's camp.
But Zhu Di was furious and thunderous. After making the decree, he looked back and felt a little uneasy. Among his three princes of Jingnan, Zhang Yu was more resourceful, Zhu Neng was good at fighting, and Zhang Yu was more resourceful and brave.
Zhu Neng is good at fighting and stable, but Qiu Fu is worse than both of them in this aspect. He is also good at fighting fierce battles, but he is far less calm than Zhu Neng. Qiu Fu's strength lies in controlling generals and troops.
Every time he won a battle, all the generals would rush to offer their prisoners, but Qiu Fu always fell behind. He was very kind to his subordinates and did not compete with his subordinates for their merits. Moreover, when he achieved great achievements, he would not forget his subordinates and would always take them with him.
He helped me a lot, so I gained military morale.
This time, the Tatars took advantage of the Ming Dynasty's two-sided enemy to provoke them. They must have estimated Ming Dynasty's possible response in advance. From the Tatar's perspective, although the possibility that the Ming Dynasty could still send troops to it at this time was small, it must have been considered.
Yes, in this way the Tatars must be more fully prepared. Moreover, the Tatars were oppressed by Oara and were cannibalized by Liaodong. Their strength was much inferior to that of previous years, so the possibility of taking risks through conspiracy must be very high. And these, Qiu Fu
He may not be able to consider it, if he is eager to vent his anger on himself...
Thinking of this, Zhu Di immediately issued another secret order to Qiu Fu. The secret order said: "You must be cautious in military affairs. Since the north of Kaiping, Tartar bandits are not common. You should be cautious at all times, advance and retreat at the right time, and do not be stubborn. If the Tartars
If the bandit is defeated easily, it may be a ploy, so don’t trust it easily..."
Zhu Di's secret order left Jinling almost at the same time as Zhu Gaoxu's secret letter to Qiu Fu and was quickly sent to Beijing.
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At this time, Xia Xun was still unaware of what happened in the Central Plains. Accompanied by Song Ying, the third son of the Song family who was welcoming his bride, Xia Xun had already rushed to Zhangye.
Gansu Town, the residence of Pingqiang Marquis Song Sheng.
Song Sheng got up early in the morning, and his son Song Hu, who was about to be the consort, rushed to his father's room to say hello to his father. When he saw Song Sheng putting on his military uniform under the service of the maid, he couldn't help but said: "Father, the escorting procession is today.
When we are about to reach the city, our son can just go and greet her. Although Princess Ancheng is a member of the royal family, now that she has married into our family, she is our daughter-in-law. Her father is her father-in-law. How can she lower her status and go out to welcome her in person?"
The old general of Song Dynasty smiled faintly and said: "The person you are welcoming to your husband is not the princess, but the auxiliary prince. Don't be nagging. Go and prepare yourself. I will leave the city with my father in a while!"
Song Hu respectfully responded: "Yes!"
The weather today is not very good, the wind is a bit strong, and the already cold weather is blown to the core by the wind.
Outside the town of Gansu, thousands of miles of fertile fields are covered with white snow. On the vast white snowfield, the wind blows the snow foam flying into the sky and escapes from the ground. No matter how tightly you wear it, the snow foam can slip through any gaps.
Into your neck, ankles, and sleeves.
Horses whistled in the wind, the sky was cold and snowy like knives, horns whined suddenly, war horses neighed, soldiers' armor clanged, and flags flew. Groups of soldiers galloped out of the city gate of Gansu Town and quickly formed neat ranks on the snowy fields. Quickly,
Neat and orderly.
The Ming army in the Central Plains had long since changed into mandarin duck war jackets, and the soldiers here still wore the early fat jackets, but their majestic aura was still better than that of the elite in the Central Plains. The gleaming swords and guns, the high-waving flags, and the erect
Horses and soldiers sitting firmly form a majestic and powerful picture.
The cold wind was biting. In order to move quickly, the soldiers could not wear too bulky clothes and cling to the reins of their horses. The hands with the weapons had to be exposed to the wind and snow. In a short time, the weapons became as cold as ice cubes.
But their hands, which were red from the cold, were holding the gun shaft and the handle of the knife tightly without any slack. The snow foam swirled and floated into their sleeves and necks. They remained motionless, as if they were made of fine steel, and they were completely unaware of it.
This is a Ganliang iron cavalry built by the elites of Mongolian, Tibetan, Hui and Han ethnic groups over more than 20 years in the Song Dynasty.
On the battlefield, a large number of troops does not necessarily mean victory. An elite army can definitely defeat a large number with less. Historically, hundreds of elite cavalry defeated thousands of enemy troops, and thousands of elite cavalry defeated tens of thousands of enemy troops.
The example of the battle is not that the tactics are better than the opponent's, but that the quality of the army is far better than the opponent's. Ganliang Jingqi is such a team.
The generals of the guards and the officials at all levels who were under the supervision of Song Sheng also came out one after another and stood on the left and right to greet the carriage of Duke Fu and Princess Ancheng. The officials did not need to pay attention to military discipline like the soldiers. They shrank.
Neck, sleeves with hands, stamping feet from time to time, snow foam penetrated everywhere, so many people complained that it was too early to come out because of the cold weather.
At this time, two rows of soldiers wearing red half-armed war robes, holding long lacquered guns with red tassels, and riding high horses suddenly came out of the city gate, followed closely by an old general with a gray beard wearing a helmet and armor.
Accompanied by Song Hu, who was about to become the Prince Consort, he slowly galloped out of the city gate. Officials at all levels were shocked when they saw him, and they all lowered their hands and stood solemnly.
The Marquis actually went out to welcome him in person!
The Marquis has not been in good health in the past two years and has rarely attended public events. Many generals have no chance to see him. They never thought that in such bad weather today, the Marquis of Xining would actually go out of the city to greet him.
In the distance, a team appeared on the snow-capped fields. The generals who were bathed in the cold wind were immediately cheered up. Song Hu waved his hand and waved the flag. The nearly 10,000 cavalry slowly changed into a formation with an inclined angle.
He moved forward and made a welcoming gesture.
The team was getting closer and closer. Song Sheng, who was more than seventy years old and had gray hair and beard, shook the reins of his horse and rode forward. Song Hu followed closely behind, and the generals immediately followed him like stars holding the moon.
Song Sheng was focusing on the front, riding slowly, when a pair of old but still sharp eyes suddenly looked forward with some doubts. He saw the honor guard on the road ahead separated, the flags fluttering in the strong wind, and unexpectedly a large horse galloped out of the middle.
Immediately sitting on the BMW was a man wearing a unicorn robe and the crown and sash of a first-class duke. When Song Sheng was confused, the man turned over again, jumped off the horse, led the horse forward, and walked towards him, but the guard of honor behind the man had already
Stop at the right time.
As soon as Song Sheng raised his hand, the generals on the left and right reined in their horses and stopped. Song Sheng continued to gallop forward alone for more than ten steps. The horse's speed became slower and slower, and finally stopped.
Song Sheng's beard under his chin was fluttering in the wind, and his face was full of surprise and uncertainty. He was a little confused about the identity of the person opposite him and the meaning of his actions. Hearing that Duke Nafu had made an appointment in his thirties, he was confused by the person opposite him.
It's similar. It's just..., the Duke of the country is above him, and he has not yet met the person who is waiting for him, so he has no reason to take the initiative. Especially... He also leads the horse to show his respect. At least the Marquis of Ming Dynasty also has
Sixty or seventy people, only a handful of them can reach the rank of Duke. How can they treat him with such courtesy when they serve the Duke of the country?
However, the man leading the horse and walking opposite was really Xia Xun.
Xia Xun's move was by no means artificial, but due to his sincere admiration for a true hero.
Along the way, he tried his best to collect all the information about Timur, and naturally he would not let go of his understanding of Song Sheng, the general who guarded the Western Regions for more than 20 years. The more he learned, the more he admired Song Sheng.
Song Sheng joined the army at the age of eleven and became a vanguard general at the age of thirteen. He proposed a plan to capture the Yuan Dynasty's important town of Huizhou, which the rebels had been unable to defeat for a long time. After that, he made many military exploits and became the governor and magistrate at the age of twenty. From that time on,
From then on, he was mainly responsible for "remedial work". He was often responsible for guarding the newly conquered areas and wiping out the remnants of hostile forces. This once brilliant young general entered a period of obscurity.
In the twelfth year of Hongwu, during the Lantern Festival, some of the heroes' sons pooled their money to build a warship, and invited many friends to board the ship for a leisurely stroll on the upper reaches of the Qinhuai River. Zhu Yuanzhang, who had always been extremely strict with officials and advocated frugality, was furious when he heard the news. Everyone on the ship that day
All officials were severely punished. Song Sheng, who was a guest invited aboard the ship, was demoted and demoted to Liangzhou, Gansu Province, where he became a guard commander.
Thus, the Western Region that belonged to Song Sheng and the legend that belonged to Song Sheng began.
At that time, Liangzhou suffered from internal and external troubles, which were extremely bad. To the northwest and north, the Northern Yuan armed forces came to attack from time to time. To the south, the Tubo tribe rebelled and surrendered, and often came to plunder. Sometimes, the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and the Tubo and Tufan tribes came at the same time.
During the attack, we were surrounded by enemies on all sides, and everything was in disarray. But what about the interior of Liangzhou? It was even more chaotic.
There were a large number of Mongolian tribes in Liangzhou who had surrendered. They had constant conflicts with the Han people, and the conflicts were deep. They often colluded secretly with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and jointly attacked Liangzhou. Before Song Sheng came to take office, Liangzhou had already had nine commanders, including
Four died in battle, three were dismissed from their posts and investigated, and two died in mutiny. When Song Sheng was demoted to Liangzhou, all his relatives and colleagues believed that his life was over.
However, after Song Sheng took over this mess, he made good friends with the various tribes in Liangzhou, planted trees to resist the wind and sand, dug canals for irrigation, made clear the law, and strictly enforced military discipline. In just three years, when the supervisory envoy Jiang Xing inspected Liangzhou, it was already a land of fertile land.
With thousands of hectares of land, people of all ethnic groups lived in harmony, and the guards' officers and soldiers were capable and brave. Liangzhou was completely changed.
In the fourth year, the time came to test Song Sheng's martial arts. After more than ten years of recuperation, the Ming Dynasty decided to solve the northwest frontier troubles. The first blow was on Yijinai Road, an important town in the northwest of the Yuan Dynasty. The guardian here was "Wu Guogong" of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.
He was known as the "Black General" by the Mongols because he was able to conquer and fight well. He sent troops to attack Liangzhou. Song Sheng avoided his advantage and used 30,000 elite cavalry to attack his heart. He forcibly pulled out Yiji Nailu and captured him.
He captured "Wu Guogong" and more than 20,000 Mongolian soldiers.
Song Sheng did not kill prisoners. These Mongolian soldiers either became farmers or were absorbed into his army, and eventually became members of the "Ganliang Jingqi", his elite force proud of the Western Regions.
After this battle, Song Sheng was reinstated by Zhu Yuanzhang and promoted to the governor of the right army. He returned to Liangzhou as a feudal official and guarded the northwest gate of the Ming Dynasty. In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, Song Sheng took action again. This time, he
The goal was Hami, the throat of the Silk Road in the Western Regions that the Ming Dynasty opened up. Hami was the fiefdom of Wu Nashili, the vassal king of the Yuan Dynasty.
Song Sheng marched thousands of miles in a hurry, took small roads and passed through the numerous defensive lines on the outer perimeter of the Mongolian army, and suddenly reached the gates of Hami City. At this time, he should have fought quickly, otherwise once the outer Mongolian army retreated, not only would he not be able to defeat Hami, but he would also be in danger of annihilation of the entire army.
.Song Sheng detected in advance the discord among the generals in Wu Na Shi Li, and boldly used offensive tactics, forcing the defenders in the city to fight internally. Meng tied himself up, tied up the prince, the princess, and dozens of officials loyal to Wu Na Shi Li and surrendered to the city. Song Sheng
Sheng's army conquered Hami without any bloodshed, and Hami, which had blocked the Ming Dynasty's westward advance for more than ten years, was finally pacified.
It is under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province, starting from Jingtai in the east, diagonally to the northwest, passing through Minqin, Yongchang, Shandan, Zhangye, Gaotai, and Jiuquan counties, bypassing Jiayuguan and going south to the northern foot of the Qilian Mountains, which is more than 1,600 miles long.
Among them, the main border pass to resist the enemies coming from the west is Jiayuguan, and the important town to resist the Hulu from the north is Gansu Town. If the Hu cavalry from the north and the troops from the west break through Jiayuguan and capture Gansu Town, the gate in the pass will be opened, and tigers and wolves will march straight in.
However, there is the tiger general Song Sheng here, so from the founding of Hongwu to the present, border troubles in the Western Regions have never become a problem for the Ming Dynasty. For more than 20 years, those captured or killed by Song Sheng include Hulu princes, princes, and chiefs...
..., not only did not a single enemy stand a chance against him, he also managed Ganliang like a rock.
Song Sheng was not only a military general, he was also excellent in civil affairs. Many of his concepts and methods of internal governance and external warfare were quite similar to Xia Xun's methods of managing Liaodong. However, what he faced at that time was
The environment was a hundred times more dangerous than Xia Xun's military campaign in Liaodong. His power and prestige at the time, and the support from the court he was able to obtain, were far less than Xia Xun's, but he created a miracle in the Western Regions!
After Xia Xun read Song Sheng's information, he thought that if he were replaced as the commander of the Liangzhou Guards in the twelfth year of Hongwu's reign, the outcome would be to die in battle, be dismissed from his post for investigation, or die in a mutiny in the army, which would definitely not be as good as Song Sheng's.
Achievement.
But the flying generals of Dragon City are here, and Huma is not taught to cross the Yin Mountains!
This is what Song Sheng was able to do when guarding the Western Regions.
Xia Xun was convinced of Song Sheng. Looking at the current dynasty, the only person he admired sincerely was Song Sheng. How could he not respect him!