The thirteenth day of the winter lunar month, night.
Juyongguancheng.
It was a very cold day, with the temperature almost reaching subzero, but the soldiers in Guancheng were gearing up and their hearts were burning.
At noon that day, Tang Yin "rewarded the three armies" for the first time since taking office as the governor of Neisan Pass. He gave 20,000 taels of silver directly to the five garrison troops in the city and 3,000 soldiers from the capital camp. Counting the expenses of the generals,
Each soldier received almost two taels of silver.
In the northwest, where incomes cannot make ends meet and the treasury is empty, many soldiers have not received their salary for half a year or even a year. Now, regardless of military merit, they receive two taels of silver just before the war begins. For them, they can survive this winter.
Red and fiery.
After all, the lumi and luyin that many middle- and lower-class soldiers received from the imperial court amounted to only one or two taels of silver per year.
The main income of military households in the northwest is from farming, which means they are self-sufficient. Most of the money and grain allocated by the court is used for the construction and reinforcement of forts. Of course, corruption among upper-level officials is also very serious, and there are very few subsidies that can be given to soldiers.
.
Tang Yin made it clear that if he could win a battle, the reward from the imperial court would definitely not be less than 50,000 taels.
In the past...
No one will believe this nonsense!
How much is the annual expenditure in the northwest? In Juyongguan alone, 50,000 taels of silver are enough to support two years of operation, so only 50,000 taels are given to the soldiers?
But the promise was made by Tang Yin, which is another matter. All the officers and soldiers were filled with the desire for military success.
After nightfall, various military camps in the city were conducting final mobilization before the war.
Tang Yin's goal is very clear, which is to expand the results of the war. This is the strategy formulated by Zhu Hao for him.
If you want to win, win big!
If it is just a small fight, like the "Yingzhou Victory", killing the enemy is not painful or itchy, and the civil servants in the DPRK can use various methods to hide your military achievements. When Tang Yin returns to the capital, not only will you have no merit.
, there will also be the mistake of deploying troops without authorization, and you will have to bear the infamy.
The key is that the people still don't understand you, and in history books you will be defined as a female official by the civil servants who have the power to dominate public opinion.
But if your achievements are so great that the civil servants can't hide them even if they want to, then that's just feeling proud.
Whether you want to be a hero or a bear, you choose.
Zhu Si's original intention was to let Tang Yin decide according to the situation, but in fact Tang Yin had already made preparations before the war. As long as the night attack was successful, he would definitely attack to expand the results, regardless of the military orders from the capital. And that afternoon,
No less than four emergency orders from the Ministry of War have come in, ordering Tang Yin to strictly guard the city and not attack.
The group of people in the court did not see Zhu Si in person that day, so they could not ask the emperor to issue the order directly, so they had to give the order in the name of the Ministry of War.
But to Tang Yin, who is an outsider in supervising matters, it is like a "suggestion". I can choose to accept it or not. Don't expect me to obey your orders.
If I just spend money to withdraw my troops and defend the city without fighting, then I will be a sinner when I go back and just wait to be punished.
But luring the enemy deep has been my strategic intention. Now that it has been achieved, it prevents me from sending troops? Do you people in the Ministry of War just want to take advantage of it?
When the high-level mobilization meeting ends, it’s time for the next update.
In November, it was already dark when I went to watch. When I walked out of the command post, the cold wind outside was biting.
Different from the internal disputes that he was worried about before, Tang Yin originally thought that Zhang Yanling would jump out and cause trouble. Unexpectedly, when he heard that there was going to be a bloody battle with the Tatars, Zhang Yanling's eyes actually shone. Obviously, someone like him knew that he was now able to get along well with the government.
No, if I can take advantage of the opportunity to gain military merit...
Zhang Yong is actually very helpless.
When Tang Yin wanted to send troops, he was the most rational and wanted to oppose it. However, this was a move that Tang Yin took under the emperor's orders. Zhang Yong wanted to stop it but did not have the courage, so he had to acquiesce in the end.
If you want to die, let’s all die together!
Anyway, Zhang Yong has nothing to do with what happened this time. If he doesn't succeed, he will be benevolent.
"Both Duke Zhang and Marquis Jianchang think this strategy is good, but is it really feasible?"
There was another person in the army who opposed this matter, naturally the Juyongguan garrison Li Bor. In Li Bor's view, Zhang Yanling was a typical example of someone who didn't know how to fight.
Often this kind of person who doesn't know how to fight can serve as a "light".
It's similar to gambling. As long as this kind of person bets on which side he will win, even a layman on the battlefield will think it's a good thing. It's just an arm's length talk with no good results... But now Zhang Yanling is actually talking to Tang Yin, the supreme commander of this war.
A fellow traveler?
Zhang Yong looked up at the sky and said, "It's a pity that it's cloudy today and we can't see the moonlight... The moon is almost full, right?"
Li Boring was startled.
What does Zhang Yong mean?
Are we going to die tonight and never see the full moon again?
Can’t you even see the sun tomorrow?
At this moment, a man who looked like a young boy ran over and spoke something into Zhang Yong's ear. Zhang Yong's expression suddenly changed.
Li asked: "Mr. Zhang, what's the matter?"
"call…"
Zhang Yong exhaled, his breath thick, "What are you afraid of... Someone is coming from the capital. They are in front of the South Gate... Go and send someone to bring them in. Don't let Mr. Tang see them. Just come to our house to receive them."
!「
"yes!"
Li Bor didn't know who he was, but he felt that he was probably someone sent by the emperor's opposing camp.
Li Boring was right.
It was Yang Shen, Yang Tinghe's son, who came.
After learning the news early in the morning, Yang Shen received his father's instructions, took Yang Tinghe's letter, and rushed to Juyongguan without stopping. He walked more than a hundred miles in less than a day, and finally arrived after nightfall.
For a general or a messenger, riding a horse for a hundred miles a day is no big deal.
But for a literary man like Yang Shen, his bones would almost fall apart at the end of the day.
The purpose of Yang Shen coming to Juyongguan was naturally not to meet Tang Yin. Even Yang Tinghe knew that it was almost impossible for Tang Yin to stop this matter. The emperor avoided court that day, but his intention was very obvious, which was to wait for the war to end.
Later, let’s discuss merits and demerits.
But Yang Tinghe couldn't allow this situation to happen.
Once the battle breaks out, regardless of victory or defeat, there will be consequences that Yang Tinghe does not want to bear.
If Tang Yin loses, the Juyong Pass of the Ming Dynasty is likely to be in danger. Even if it can undermine the blind self-confidence of the young emperor, the price will be too high, which Yang Tinghe does not want to see.
If Tang Yin wins...
Yang Tinghe would not feel so honored. This would seriously reduce his reputation in the court... The new emperor and Tang Yin worked together to accomplish what you objected to. How can you, Yang Tinghe, have the face to give orders in the future?
Therefore, for Yang Tinghe, neither victory nor defeat is acceptable, and the best outcome is "no fight."
In other words, at this point, all strategies are declared complete, and Yang Tinghe has the highest profit.
We don’t admit what Tang Yin said before about “luring the enemy deep into the country”. We just say that you wanted to get involved in the military power of the Xuanfu and sent three thousand troops. However, they were attacked by Tatars on the road and lost their troops. You rashly sent troops to defeat the Ming soldiers. This is
It's a huge mistake. I will punish you directly. The little emperor's reputation will be in jeopardy...
If you don't fight, it will be difficult for the Tatars to capture Juyongguan City. If Juyongguan is defended, the capital will be very stable. Yang Tinghe is happy to accept this result.
After Yang Shen entered the city, the person he was looking for was naturally Zhang Yong.
His goal was very clear, to use Zhang Yong's reputation in the army to prevent Tang Yin from sending troops.
Although Tang Yin is nominally the commander, everyone knows that he is an old scholar with little experience in leading troops. If you say to send troops, you will send troops? If there is no support from the eunuchs who supervise the army and the honorable ministers who lead the troops, your order to send troops will be considered as given.
, the people below will not execute it either.
In fact, Yang Tinghe did not make a wrong choice. After Zhang Yong entered Juyongguan City, even the commander-in-chief Li Bor actually only listened to Zhang Yong and not to Tang Yin. This also shows that Zhang Yong did have this influence.
But whether Zhang Yong is willing to obey orders is another matter.
In Zhang Yong's temporary residence in the city, Yang Shen, wearing a heavy cloak, was sitting uneasily and pacing back and forth.
Zhang Yong opened the door and came in, saying hello with a smile: "Oh, isn't this Mr. Xiaoge? What brought you here? Didn't it mean that the road from Juyongguan to the capital has been closed? How did you... come here?
?「
Yang Shen said: "The students are here to prevent Juyongguan from sending troops."
"Ah……"
The smile on Zhang Yong's face froze.
This Yang Yongxiu is really straightforward in his speech.
Zhang Yong pretended to be confused and said: "The troops who attacked have returned, and now the Tatars have deployed troops at the gate of Juyongguan. They didn't say they were going to send troops. I wonder where Yang Hanlin heard the news? It's really ridiculous."
Yang Shen said: "Eunuch Zhang, there is no need to hide anything. My father has already learned from His Majesty that Tang Zitai sent troops to lure the enemy. Since the purpose of luring the enemy has been achieved, the next step must be to send troops to fight with them at Guancheng."
...Eunuch Zhang should be a man who knows how to fight. If there is such a battle, the Ming Dynasty's Guancheng may not be safe, and the capital will be in danger!"
Yang Shen came up and was still trying to reason.
"Oh, we don't know what Yang Hanlin is talking about."
Zhang Yong continued to pretend to be confused.
When you come, you come to our family and ask us to stop sending troops?
I never thought about what good would it do to our family if we stopped sending troops?
If the war stops like this, our family, like Tang Bohu, will have to bear the responsibility of recklessly sending troops. If we take a gamble, there may be a chance, but if we don't gamble... Will your father still be there after our family returns to the capital?
Can you trust our family anymore?
We are not from the same group!
Seeing that reasoning was useless, Yang Shen said, "This is a letter from my father to you. Please read it."
Yang Shen handed a letter from Yang Tinghe to Zhang Yong.
After seeing it, Zhang Yong didn't look very good.
In the letter, although Yang Tinghe did not directly promise benefits or threats, he did make some "hints", such as allowing Zhang Yong's two younger brothers, the former Tai'an Bo Zhang Fu and Anding Bo Zhang Rong, to be hereditary commanders of the Imperial Guard.
, and arranged for the two of them to be given the real vacancy, and have asked the Queen Mother Zhang for instructions.
"Eunuch Zhang, this is my father's sincerity. If you refuse, I'm afraid... something will happen, and no one will be able to bear it, right?"
Seeing Zhang Yong's expression changing, Yang Shen thought that the other party was attracted and was feeling relieved. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yong tore up the letter in his hand in front of Yang Shen and said with a smile: "Our family does not have the blessing of being awarded the title of General Hou.
He is just a little person who obeys orders. Let us pretend that what happened today has never happened... Yang Hanlin, please come back."