Since the Song Dynasty, the general trend of governance in the Central Plains dynasties has been to emphasize culture over military affairs, and the Ming Dynasty is no exception. However, the current situation is not as serious as it was later. The heroes and generals who came from the Jingnan Campaign and their descendants still have a high status and voice.
Especially for Zhu Yong, who has such a noble status, local officials still dare not neglect him. When Zhu Yong came to Changde Mansion, he was warmly received by many officials from the prefect Zhao Ming on down.
Because Cao Shan, the eunuch of the Supervisory Army, and Ma Bao, the eunuch of Dongchang, knew each other, and Cao Shan's status in the palace was much higher than Ma Bao, so Zhu Yong was introduced by Cao Supervisor, and it was easy for Zhu Yong to see him and come down to collect information and investigate the case.
eunuch; and obtained information about the anti-evil cult from him.
The location of the main altar of the anti-evil sect and some of its sub-altars are at the junction of Yongshun and other places. With the help of Changde officials, Zhu Yong learned that this area is within the Wuling Mountains, with complex terrain, rugged roads, high mountains and dense forests.
And sparsely populated is not a good place. There are very few Han people in this area. Zhu Yong can't imagine what material sources the rebels use to support their troops. Could it be that they rely on robbing the people's money and food? How is that different from mountain bandits?
Before Zhu Yong arrived in Huguang, he learned that the rebels had occupied territory near Shimen County; the eunuch Cao Shan from Xuzhou brought a reputation as a priority in encircling and suppressing the bandits in Shimen County, and assisted the Jinyi Guards and the local government in destroying
The den of gangsters.
Now that we have arrived at the place, we find that the "rebellious party" has fled back to the mountainous area, and the mission of encircling Shimen County no longer exists. The home base of the anti-evil cult is in the mountains, which is not conducive to the march of the army; in Zhu Yong's judgment, this group of people is actually a form of
He believed that there was no need to send troops to suppress the ragtag group of armed refugees and wandering bandits who were deceived and kidnapped. Instead, he should send out spies and scouts to find out the situation first.
As a military general, the situation that most attracts his attention is the Miao rebel army approaching Chenzhou Prefecture. According to reports from Tang Dynasty, the Miao people have gathered more than 10,000 troops, and the momentum is huge to frighten the prefectures and counties. This is where Zhu Yong believes that he can be useful.
In this place, the battle with the Miao people will definitely yield a lot of gains. There are more than 10,000 Miao soldiers fighting on the outside; hundreds of rebels are huddled in the mountainous areas. The comparison between the two sides, the commander-in-chief Zhu, has already made a calculation in his mind.
He established a military center in Shengzhang, Changde. On the one hand, he urged the Wuchang Dusi to gather troops and hand them over to him as soon as possible. The deployment of troops was divided into two stages: in the first stage, no less than five people were gathered as soon as possible from the Kinzuo Guards Station and the state capital.
The first batch of thousands of troops; in the second stage, the military households stationed in the garrison and the reserve military households in the prefectures and counties were recruited to form a large army of more than 20,000 people.
On the other hand, Zhu Yong and his staff formulated a combat plan and reported it to the Xuzhou Jingying Central Army. Of course, because of the long distance, it was not necessary to wait for a response from the center before taking action. Since the Ministry of War has handed over the military power, the chief military officer has greater
autonomous power.
The operational strategy was mainly aimed at the Miao people. In the early stage, the existing troops stationed in various places that were quickly mobilized in the first phase were used to seize the opportunity for the main Miao force to advance into Chenzhou. The official army went south to cross the Yuanshui tributary and quickly occupied Luxi to cut off the Miao soldiers.
The retreat route for large stocks as a whole; based on the judgment that Chenzhou is an important town in the southwest and cannot be conquered in a short period of time, the Miao soldiers will surely rob and plunder food in the countryside after entering Chenzhou Prefecture, and there is no danger to defend. At this time, the main force of the official army in the west
They formed a horn-like situation with the official army in Chenzhou City, defeated the main force of the Miao soldiers in two flanking attacks, and then divided and chased them to weaken the Miao soldiers' strength and morale.
In the later stage, the conscripted army gathered together. When the Miao people were severely damaged in Chenzhou, the official army split up their superior forces and attacked together within the area of La'er Mountain, quelling the rebellion in one fell swoop.
After the Miao rebellion was put down, Zhu Yong described the situation against the "rebellious parties": the Yongshun Division and the Xuanwei Division of Baojing Prefecture were used as barriers in the west, there were many guard posts and chieftain armed forces in the north, and after the official army put down the rebellion in the south,
Controlling the Wuling Mountains in the Miao territory, Changde in the east, and the Dongting Lake Plain in Yuezhou, it was the territory under the stable and effective rule of the imperial government. It directly surrounded the scope of activities of the "rebellious party" in the middle, making it impossible for them to fly. By then
Then use mobile troops to divide routes into the mountains to suppress, and the main forces of the rebellious party will surely be wiped out.
The idea is good, but the reality is not so good. The mobilization ability of the guards in the southwest region is very low, the speed is slow, and the dispatch is not effective. The people sent by the capital to mobilize the troops also understand that the situation of desertion in military households is getting more and more serious.
Under the situation, there are more than 5,000 local guards per place, and it is very difficult to mobilize half of the number. Moreover, with the generals pushing and arguing with each other, there is no secret in military mobilization. "Where to go" and "what to do" are almost
Everyone on the street knows it.
In Zhu Yong's plan, the idea of "suddenly crossing the river and occupying Luxi" was not easy to realize suddenly. The soldiers dispatched from various guard posts were completely insufficient for horses and food, and the restrictions were not strict, so the armies "requisitioned" horses and food along the road.
If the people are unwilling to pay, just scare them, saying that the elders are going to suppress the rebellion, and that you are colluding with the rebels by obstructing them. Most honest people do not dare to compete with the sergeants, and they can only consider themselves unlucky.
Seeing such a situation, Zhu Yong was angry and disappointed. He could only hope that the Miao people had always been active in isolated mountainous areas and knew nothing about the outside world. In fact, this seemed to be the case, because according to the Chenzhou official report
The Miao people who came from the east showed no signs of retreating.
The so-called urgent troop deployment of "quickly gathering not less than 5,000 troops in the first stage" took more than half a month to prepare and the number of troops was not enough. Every day outside Zhu Yong's Chinese army tent, there were "crackling" whips and screams begging for mercy.
Zhu Yong didn't even accomplish anything. News from the imperial court went back and forth, and the reply letter came into his hands. Officials from the "Xingzai" Ministry of War approved his military plan. Who knew what the situation was like here in Huguang?
As a last resort, Zhu Yong began to consider the Yongding Guard, which he had not originally planned to deploy troops...
When the military document was formulated previously, the order given to the Yongding Guards was only to increase vigilance and stick to the pass. Because Zhu Yong's staff and generals held discussions and argued that although the anti-evil cult rebels had withdrawn from Shimen and Cili counties, their military strength was not lost.
, size is a threat and needs to be prepared in advance; Yongdingwei, therefore, has received the attention of several talented counselors in Zhu Yong's circle.
Several counselors first believed that the anti-evil sect's anti-thief troops were able to bypass the Yongding Guards from the west and then capture Shimen Cili in a leap, which was a dereliction of duty by the Yongding commander; then the "thief troops" calmly withdrew from the east, and even allowed
People doubted whether the Yongding Guard generals had colluded with the traitors.
But later everyone discovered that these problems were not just Yongding Guard problems. The war was imminent and there was no time to hold the commander accountable. Then the counselors began to discuss the pros and cons of transferring troops from Yongding Guards to replenish recent troops.