Forced to leave Jimingyi City, all the civil and military officials followed the emperor in fear and continued to march.
On the twenty-fifth day of the seventh lunar month, Guimao went to Wanquan Valley.
On the twenty-sixth day of the seventh lunar month, Jiachen, Ci Huai'an. It was night with dark clouds all around.
At this time, everyone was frightened. If there was even the slightest movement, there would be a roar of wind and cranes, and the grass and trees would be in panic. That day, it was another cloudy night, and it was so dark that you could not see your fingers. There were many impostors, and the people who came here were coerced.
Fear, almost no camp roar.
On the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month, Yiji, the next day was in the west of Tiancheng.
On Bingwu, July 28th, the second yanghe.
Here in Yanghe, Yingzong saw a scene he would never forget in his life. He was born in a deep palace and grew up in the hands of women. He was raised as a prince since he was a child. He had seen real battlefields there.
More than 40,000 Ming troops died in Yanghe, and corpses littered the fields. July is the hottest month of the year, and July 15th is the Ghost Festival, which is also the Ghost Festival. The corpses of those who died in battle that day passed by
After thirteen days of fermentation, they were all severely rotten.
These fallen officers and soldiers were naked and naked, and their clothes, armor and weapons had been stripped off by the Ora people. Mongolia was short of iron, especially armor. In later generations, the power of Junggar depended on their requirement that every ten households must save a pair of iron armor a year.
.
At that time, it was the first time that Yingzong saw a dead body that was so terrifying.
I wonder if the more than 40,000 corpses have taught Yingzong a lesson. Let me know the cruelty of war. The battlefield is not a treat. If you don't kill him here, he will kill you. There is no reason to explain.
On the battlefield, either you die or I live.
Yang Fan could imagine that at that time, Yingzong would have vomited completely. He was patted on the back by Wang Zhen and vomited out all the food he had eaten the night before.
At this time, Yingzong felt fear and shaken for the first time.
On the twenty-ninth day of the seventh month, at the end of the twelfth lunar month, we settled in Yu for the first time.
Yang Fan marked the march route, put down his pencil, and asked with some disbelief: "During the Xuanzong period, there were still four Northern Expeditions, and the Beijing camp collapsed so quickly."
Zhang Shize smiled bitterly and said: "To do good is to climb up, to do evil is to collapse. Building an army is extremely difficult, but to destroy an army, just let it go, and ten years is enough."
Zhang Shize continued: "Previously, according to my investigation of the archives of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, there should have been 3,800 officers and soldiers in the 77 guard posts in the capital at that time. But in addition to the troops stationed in the fields and defending the city, there were actually some people who were perennially employed by the Ministry of Works.
Labor force call. These people have not been trained for more than 20 years. Only 6,000 people are still training in the camp as a standing army. The Beijing camp, which should have 180,000 combat troops at this time, has a shortage of two-thirds.
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"The number of soldiers in the Beijing camp, which was finally replenished, is in short supply again. According to Zhu Yong, the Duke of Cheng, who is in charge of the Beijing camp, the number of troops in the five military camps in the Beijing camp has reached more than 0,000 people due to redeployment and desertion."
Yang Fan asked: "Is the guard station finished at this time?"
"If the Beijing camp is like this, the guardsmen in other places are even more difficult to see. According to preliminary statistics made by the Fifth Army Governor's Office at that time, there were more than 100,000 deserters in various guard posts in the Ming Dynasty. And the speed of replenishment was far slower than those who fled.
The speed. The more people are replenished, the fewer people there are. When this situation developed before the Battle of Tumubao, the number of deserters had risen to more than 1.6 million, accounting for about half of the country's total number of troops."
Yang Fan said: "The Oara people are not Tatars. They are accustomed to the melees in Central Asia. At this time, the Ming Dynasty should not have had large-scale military conflicts with Mongolia in the desert. The combat effectiveness of the Oara people should not be
Very understanding."
Zhang Shize sighed and said: "There is a saying in the art of war. If you know yourself and the enemy, you will not be in danger in a hundred battles; if you don't know the enemy but know yourself, you will win and lose every time; if you don't know the enemy and don't know yourself, you will be in danger in every battle. This time, the Ming Dynasty is a blind man riding a blind horse, facing the abyss in the middle of the night. Now that
You don’t know the enemy’s situation and you don’t know your own situation. How can you not fail?”
Yang Fan asked: "After passing these places, we should reach Datong, right?"
Zhang Shize said: "On the first day of August, the Ming army arrived in Datong. On the second day of August, the Yingzong stationed in Datong. The rain became more severe, so we began to discuss the rotation of troops."
Datong originally had tens of thousands of soldiers. Later, the Beijing camp once again supported 30,000 people. They were those led by the Prince Consort. Then the four generals sent out troops in four groups to fight against Oala. In Yanghe, the entire army was wiped out. Shi Heng fled back. Datong was guarded by eunuchs.
Guo Jing is said to have escaped by hiding in the bushes.
There are doubts about how Guo Jing came back. Whether he was captured and released, or whether he really escaped and returned dead is unconfirmed. No one knows the truth, it all depends on what he said.
Guo Jing was a veteran eunuch in the four dynasties of the Ming Dynasty. He was born in Caozhang Town, Xixia County (today's Caozhang Village, Shuitou Town, Xia County, Shanxi Province). He followed Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, from the age of 18. At this time, he served as a military eunuch guarding Datong.
Guo Jing had a good relationship with Wala and accepted his bribes. Guo Jing also had a close friendship with Wang Zhen. Guo Jing's family regarded his uncle as a confidant of Ye Xian. Guo Jing made firearms and steel feathers for Wala in the next year.
That uncle was also a Mongolian, and was later executed by Jin Yiwei on charges of spying.
Guo Jing, a dead eunuch, is also very likely to be Yexian's spy.
He had done many traitorous things, but Wang Zhen protected him. Even though Shi Heng and others impeached him many times, they could not touch him.
In November of the 10th year of Zhengtong, Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty received a report that the Oara envoys who came to pay tribute carried a large number of armors, weapons, bows, arrows and cannons with them. After investigation, it was found that they were sold by smugglers in Datong, Xuanfu and other places.
Considering that the Ming Dynasty was still strictly controlling firearms manufacturing technology in the two capitals at this time, and there were very few border guards that could legally manufacture firearms, it was obvious that smugglers were closely related to the Ming army.
So Yingzong issued an order to the generals including Wu Jinbo and Zhu Mian, the commander-in-chief of Datong at that time, and the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, asking them to severely crack down on smuggling in the future, and punish them severely if it happened again.
In the Battle of Yanghe, Guo Jing overstepped his authority and interfered with the command of the troops. At that time, the terrain in front of the troops was dangerous and he suspected an ambush. They had already stopped advancing, but Guo Jing forced the army to advance. After being rejected, he led his troops into the valley. The prince-in-law was afraid of him.
Something happened because he was Wang Zhen's favorite.
The generals could not afford to offend Wang Zhen, so they had no choice but to follow him into the valley. As a result, they were ambushed by the Wala people and the entire army was wiped out.
When Yang Fan heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "Is this Guo Jing a spy from Ye Xian?"
Zhang Shize said: "God knows, no matter how I investigate these things now, I can't find out. Moreover, some files in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion have been destroyed by someone."