Chapter 362 361 Vulnerability

Xuanfu Town is one of the Jiubian Towns established in the early Ming Dynasty. It was named after the town’s general troops were stationed in Xuanhua Prefecture, and some people call it “Xuanzhen” for short.

The border wall under its jurisdiction extends from Yongguan to the west to the Xiyang River in present-day Yuyang Gao County in northeastern Shanxi Province, with a total length of nearly a thousand miles.

Xuanfu Town has always been a battleground for military strategists, and its strategic position is very important. Especially after the Ming Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, Xuanfu Town was a place to defend Kyoto and defend the throat of the Mongolian people from southward.

During the Longqing period of later generations, Cheng Daosheng said in "Nine Side Maps": "Xuanfu has mountain and river disputes, and the land is dangerous and narrow. The generals built in divided villages are twice as many as other towns. Therefore, they are known as easy to defend because of their strong momentum. However, it takes only four hundred to get to the capital."

Here, the lock and key are sent, and the key points can be known."

The status of Datong, which is adjacent to it, is also the same. This is why the Ming Dynasty established the position of Governor of Xuanda, and also incorporated Shanxi in the rear of Xuanda into the scope of the administration of Governor Xuanda.

It is actually easy to understand why it became the choke point for Mongolia to move south.

On weekdays, the place where Anda Khan stayed for a long time was Bansheng City, which was later known as Hohhot.

Draw a straight line between Hohhot and Beijing, and the line will pass through Xuanfu and Datong.

Well, the shortest distance.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang specially appointed the acting king Zhu Gui and the valley king Zhu Su to guard Datong and Xuanfu respectively. The Yan king Zhu Di was based in Beijing. The purpose was also to ensure the security of the "Yuan Dadu".

In the fifth year of Xuande's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Tan Guang, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Town, "asked for the establishment of a capital commanding and envoys department and assigned it to the guards of Zhili and Shanxi provinces." This was approved by the imperial court.

The commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Town, where the administration was located, was named Wanquan, borrowing the name Wanquanwei, but its scale was much larger.

When the Wanquan Command and Envoy Department was established, it had jurisdiction over Xuanfu front, left and right guards, Wanquan left and right guards, Huai'an guard, Baoan guard, Yuzhou guard, Yongning guard, Huailai guard and Kaiping guard, a total of 11 guards.

There are 7 thousand-household offices including the Shouyu Qianhu Station, the Meiyu Qianhu Station, the Guangchang Qianhu Station, the Sihaiye Qianhu Station, the Chang'anling Qianhu Station, the Yunzhou Qianhu Station, and the Longmen Qianhu Station.

The Wandu Division was the last provincial-level military organization established in the Ming Dynasty. It only established the Capital Command Division and did not set up the corresponding Administrative Commission Division and the Punishment Commission Division. There was only one such case in Liaodong Town before.

At this time, on the winding mountain road of Dasong Mountain, dozens of knights in armor suddenly appeared from the previous bend. They struggled to urge their horses to run forward as if they were followed by some wild beast.

Not long after they passed by, the ground began to tremble slightly, accompanied by a gradually amplifying roar, like the ground making a noise when an earth dragon turned over.

Just as a dense crowd of knights wearing various leather armors emerged from the corner, including a small number of knights wearing iron armor, who were obviously high-ranking people in this team of cavalry, the ground trembled and roared.

The sound came from a source. It was a large group of cavalry advancing.

The non-uniform military uniform is the standard equipment of the prairie cavalry.

Different from the Ming Dynasty army in the pass, although the Mongols also have military uniforms, they mostly make them according to their own strength. The rich will consider using expensive iron armor, while ordinary Mongolians with average family backgrounds will

Use leather armor as protection.

Uniformly equipped, perhaps only the guards around the Great Khan and nobles have the same treatment.

Although the clothes were messy and the weapons were various, the morale of the entire team was very high. As they ran along, many people had relaxed smiles on their faces, and they were talking and laughing with their comrades beside them. It seemed that they were just gathering together.

Hunting in general.

In the distance, you can faintly see the stone fortress at the end of the mountain road, with various flags flying on the wall.

When many people saw this, they were already laughing and pointing something to their companions around them, speaking loudly in Mongolian.

The previous cavalry team had already rushed into Guancheng in front, and the suspension bridge of Guancheng had been raised, the city gates were closed, and many red figures appeared on the city walls.

A general in full armor in front of the group of cavalry suddenly pointed at the stone fortress in front and shouted to the soldiers behind him: "Take Longmen Pass, and the contents inside will be yours."

"Huru, Huru"

After he finished speaking, a dozen knights behind him raised their weapons and started shouting loudly. As they shouted, the cavalry behind them also raised their weapons and joined in the shouting, while urging their horses to speed up.

.

Behind them, the mighty Mongolian cavalry kept waving their weapons, and their deafening shouts resounded throughout the fields, making the Ming army on the distant Shiguan wall tremble.

Five piles of fireworks have been set off on the beacon tower on the right side of the city gate, and five huge plumes of smoke are rising, conveying the message of enemy attack to the distance.

On the hillside further away, there were also bursts of thick smoke.

Beacon fire, also called beacon fire, is an ancient military intelligence measure. When the enemy attacks, smoke is burned during the day and lit at night to alert all parties and superiors with visible smoke and light.

The beacon tower is usually built on a high hill that is easy to look at each other. On the platform are equipment for watching houses and burning smoke and setting fires. Below the platform are houses for soldiers to live and guard, as well as sheep and horse pens, warehouses and other buildings.

The distance between beacon towers is generally about ten miles. They usually choose high hills that are easy to look at each other and build them on mounds. When the soldiers guarding the towers find that the enemy is invading, they immediately light beacon fires on the towers. When the neighboring towers see it, they will do the same.

Subsequently, enemy information can be quickly transmitted to the central military department.

The news of the attack on Longmen Pass was quickly transmitted to all directions through the beacon tower, and Pubing also quickly passed more detailed information to the Xuanfu. However, they relied on two legs, and of course they could not catch up with the distant beacon smoke.

Came quickly.

"Ada Khan chose to attack Longmen Pass?"

At this time in Xuan Mansion, the Governor of Xuan Da, Ge Jin, who was sitting here, heard his subordinates report that there was an attack in the direction of Longmen Pass. The enemy situation was unknown at present, but the five beacon fireworks were lit, and he suddenly felt incredible.

Xuanfu, topographically speaking, is more like a twin peak and is divided into two parts: east and west.

To the east is the Yanshan Mountains, and the main pass is Dushikou. If you break through Dushikou, you can go south along the river valley, reach Yanqing, and then attack Juyong Pass.

During the invasion in the 35th year of Jiajing's reign, although the Anda tribe did not attack Dushikou, they chose Wafang Valley to break the Longmen Station, which was the side wall broken in the river valley, and then followed the river valley to the vicinity of Yanqing.

This place has always been the focus of Xuanfu's defense.

In the west, on the two wings of Yehu Ridge, Wanquan City is now where Ma Fang is stationed. This is also the path often taken by prairie cavalry heading south.

This place is famous for the crucial battle between Mongolia and the Jin Kingdom. It was here that the Mongolian army led by Genghis Khan annihilated the Jin army led by Wanyan Chengyu, clearing the biggest obstacle on the road to attacking the Jin Kingdom.

The Jin Kingdom's defeat in the Battle of Yehuling left Zhongdu open and threatened, so that the Jin Kingdom had to abandon Zhongdu and move its capital to Bianliang four years later.

Because of the importance of this place, Xuanfu sent its most capable general Ma Fang to garrison here, commanding Wanquan's left guard, right guard and Huai'an guard, which was also one of the key defense points of Xuanfu town.

However, this time Anda's attack unexpectedly did not attack the west or the east. Instead, it attacked the joint position between the east and west. By attacking here, Anda's army was very close to Xuanhua City. Obviously, it was

The attack was aimed at the three guards of Xuanfu.

Ge Jin, the governor of Xuan Dynasty, also saw that something was wrong at this time, and immediately ordered: "Notify the chief military officer of Xuanfu to come here to discuss the matter, send a military order to General Ma, and assemble the three guards and horses at Wanquan Left Guard to rescue Xuanhua City at any time.

.

Issue military orders to Datong Liu Han and quickly lead the Datong army eastward along the Sanggan River Valley to support Xuanfu. Shanxi soldiers and horses gathered in Yuzhou, ready to send reinforcements at any time.

It is extremely urgent to send military reports to the capital."

Without enough time to wait for Pu Bing to send more accurate and detailed information, Ge Jin issued an order to his subordinates.

These military orders and battle reports will be drafted by the masters and others he hired. After they are written and reviewed, they can be printed and issued.

Soon, everyone in the room took action, and several people had already started writing official documents.

In the Wenyuan Pavilion in the capital, Yan Song, the cabinet minister of the Ming Dynasty, and Xu Jie were sitting in the upper seat of the hall, and below were the Minister of War, Yang Bo, and the Minister of Taichang Temple, Gao Gong.

Although Wei Guangde said it very simply in front of Gao Gong, when he actually started writing, he was entangled, and the main reason was calculation.

He needs to calculate the time required for message transmission, the speed of the Ming army and the speed of the Andu cavalry. This is not calculated in a relatively small battlefield space of Baoan, Huailai and Yanqing. This is a two-dimensional calculation.

A huge battlefield thousands of miles away.

A slight mistake in the calculation might lead to the Yansui and Ningxia Ming armies being annihilated, so Wei Guangde spent several days going back and forth to the Ministry of War to find someone to get relevant information.

After Gao Gong learned in detail what Wei Guangde was doing, he didn't urge him. He just had to run to Wei Guangde's check-in room in the Hanlin Academy every day. His silent actions made Wei Guangde feel even more stressed.

Finally, today's data has been calculated. Although it may still be wrong, it is obvious that the error should be within an acceptable range, and Wei Guangde can submit the paper to Gao Gong.

After Gao Gong received Wei Guangde's memorial, he rushed to the cabinet to meet Mr. Yan Song.

After Yan Song learned from Gao Gongkou that Wei Guangde had made a plan for a possible war in Xuanfu, he was a little surprised at first. When he learned that Wei Guangde actually had the idea of ​​​​a Loop, there was an unknown emotion in his eyes.

It's a pity that although Wei Guangde wanted to go there, he only sent troops from two towns to carry out a robbery, rather than intending to stay there for a long time and return the Hetao to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Although he was a little disappointed in his heart, Yan Song did a good job of concealing it and was not discovered by Gao Gong.

"There are still six more films including Mr. Xu Ge"

Yan Song did not reject it directly, but opened his mouth to speak, but before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Gao Gong's deep bow.

"Mr. Ge, this battle is of great importance. I think we should be cautious. We only need to summon Mr. Xu Ge and the Minister of War to participate."

Seeing Yan Song frown slightly, Gao Gong hurriedly added: "According to Guangde's plan, our army's consumption is much less than the previous plan. The most important thing is that nowadays the courtiers are scattered in various quarters of the capital, and there are often cases where the government's mistakes are known to the whole city.

Condition.

The Jin Yiwei have captured the White Lotus cultists before, and they specialize in collecting information about the capital, and there are many cult bandits wanted by the imperial court around Anda Khan, so we have to guard against them."

After hearing Gao Gong's concerns, Yan Song's eyes flickered and he couldn't understand the meaning, but he quickly nodded, "Then we will first summon Cunzhai and Weiyue to discuss. If they have no objections, we will go to Xiyuan to see His Majesty."

The first one to arrive was naturally Xu Jie. In fact, he already knew it when Gao Gong walked into Wenyuan Pavilion. Although he was surprised why he would go directly to Mr. Yan Ge, he had not heard of any major events happening in the Imperial College recently.

After the scribe came over and asked Xu Jie to check in with Yan Song, Xu Jie put down his work and came over. He also wanted to know what Gao Gong was doing here.

Soon, Wei Guangde's memorial was handed over to him by Yan Song. Xu Jie sat aside and began to read it carefully. The more he looked at it, the more frightened he became, but in his heart he complained to Gao Gong that such an important thing had not been given to him before.

He gave some wind.

When Wei Guangde went up to this memorial, he could not predict the good or the bad. He didn't even understand what Gao Gong was thinking.

If Gao Gong had gone to find him as soon as he arrived at the cabinet, he would definitely have stopped this matter. Now that it was in Yan Song's hands first, there was nothing he could do to help.

It should be said that Wei Guangde's strategy made some sense, but what he was worried about was not whether the strategy was good or not, but the attitude of the person in Xiyuan.

Not long after, Yang Bo, Minister of the Ministry of War, walked into Yan Song's duty room. Xu Jie handed the memorial in his hand to Yang Bo and said, "Wei Yuan, let's take a look. This is Wei Guangde's proposal from Zuo Chunfang, Zuo Chunfang, Zhan Shi Mansion."
To be continued...