Chapter 77 The imperial commander’s personal expedition
[In addition to intellectuals, many Jiaozhi people were captured and turned into eunuchs and sent to the capital.

These Jiaozhi people made significant contributions to the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention the construction of Beijing city, there were quite a few eunuchs from Annan in the Imperial Household Department, and they were all loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

As mentioned earlier, after the capture of Emperor Yingzong, that is, the Battle of Tumu, the news reached the capital. The eunuch Jin An from Jiaozhi was highly trusted at the time. He immediately took on the responsibility of communicating inside and outside, promoted Zhu Qiyu's ascension to the throne, and stabilized the court.

Another eunuch from Jiaozhi, Xing'an, stood up and sternly stopped the Hanlin lecturer Xu Yun (Xu Youzhen) from proposing to move south in the court, saying, "This guy deserves to die, how dare he say such nonsense! If we move south, the emperor will be outside the country, who will welcome him back? Who will guard the ancestral tombs and palaces?" He also demanded, "Anyone who dares to talk about moving will be beheaded," which to a certain extent curbed the plans of some people to move south.

At the same time, he was one of the people who recommended Yu Qian.

There were also many ministers from Jiaozhi, such as Hu Yuancheng, the eldest son of the Hu family, who was the left prime minister of Annan at the time. After arriving in the Ming Dynasty, he was appointed to supervise the production of guns, arrows and gunpowder for the Bingshi Bureau because of his skills in firearms manufacturing. He was eventually promoted to the Minister of Works and was praised by the Ming army as the "God of Firearms."

In addition, during the battle when Yu Qian defended Beijing, the soldiers from Jiaozhi also fought bravely.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at these loyal and decisive eunuchs, and his anger towards Zhu Di for employing eunuchs subsided a little.

Zhu Di sensed it keenly, so he hesitantly said: "Dad..."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly: "These are just a few. Employing eunuchs is not acceptable!"

He called another eunuch and said, "Go to the Honglu Temple again. If you find this person named Li Jizhen, spare his eldest son's life and bring him to the imperial court."

After saying this, he turned to his sons and ordered: "This Xu Yun, Xu Youzhen, remember this name, you cannot employ him in the future!"

Ming Dynasty, the 16th year of Yongle.

Looking at the deeds of the eunuchs from Jiaozhi in the sky curtain, Zhu Di couldn't help but change his mind greatly. He ordered the eunuchs to find the eunuchs mentioned in the sky curtain and bring them to him.

As for Hu Yuancheng, since he has a talent for firearms, he should not be left alone. He should be put to good use. It is his honor to contribute to our Ming Dynasty!

[Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not gain all good news during this expedition to Annan.

On the contrary, a piece of bad news came during this expedition.

In October of the fourth year of Yongle, Zhu Neng, who was appointed by Zhu Di as the General of Conquering the Barbarians and the commander-in-chief of the expedition to Annan, died of illness in the army when he arrived in Longzhou. He was only 37 years old, which can be said to be a sudden death in the prime of life.

This was undoubtedly bad news for Zhu Di, who already had a limited reserve of top generals.

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

Fu Youde calculated: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan's main generals must have followed him to the Jingnan Rebellion. Among them are Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu... Zhang Yu died in the Jingnan Rebellion, and Zhu Neng is dead now, so there is only Qiu Fu left?!"

He looked up and looked at Zhu Di with a complicated expression, which showed both pity and sympathy. Others' reactions were similar.

Tianmu said that the King of Yan would personally lead an expedition to Mobei in the future. They were originally wondering why and why no ministers stopped him. Now it seems that there was no one available. It is not to say that the Ming Dynasty has no generals, but firstly, the King of Yan must have only these few who he trusts the most, and secondly, some generals need to be stationed in places and cannot be transferred at will.

In this way, the only one left is the Prince of Yan! Anyway, his own military level is sufficient.

[At this time, the nomadic peoples in the north were in a state of constant change. Although they were currently maintaining a state of non-interference with the Ming Dynasty and were even willing to be its vassal, who knew how long this situation would last? ]

Han Dynasty, the first year of Yuanshuo.

Liu Che and his ministers all agreed with this. In order to maintain peace with the Xiongnu and gain domestic development opportunities, the Han Dynasty married off daughters and paid tribute every year, but these could not dispel the Xiongnu's intention to invade, and the Xiongnu was even more capricious and greedy.

This was also the reason why Liu Che insisted on attacking the Huns.

"The barbarians fear power but not virtue. If we don't use force to completely defeat them, they will never settle down." Liu Che was in his prime, and his words were full of murderous intent. "After the Emperor Gao and Empress Gao, Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, the Han Dynasty has been able to recover and avenge its previous humiliation!"

[Since Mongolia lost its rule over the Central Plains and fled to the north, it began the process of division.

In the first year of Jianwen, Mongolia split into the Oirat in the west and the Tatar in the east. The two sides were hostile to each other, but they also coveted the Central Plains.

In the second year of Jianwen, Zhu Di, who was still in the midst of the Jingnan Rebellion, wrote letters to Mengge Timur and Kun Timur, the leaders of the Oirat and Tatar, warning them not to violate the border.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, in the first year of Yongle, the leaders of the Oirat became Mahamu and his allies. In the seventh year of Yongle, Mahamu, who temporarily ended his fight with the Tatars, expressed his obedience to the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Di named him the King of Shunning, his ally Taiping the King of Xianyi, and Batuboluo the King of Anle.

In the same year, Zhu Di also sent envoys to Tatar to meet with Bayanchur, the new Tatar leader who had just taken office the previous year, to convey his intention of peace.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

The people were not very happy about the surrender of the Oirat, but they were satisfied. Although their loyalty could not be guaranteed to last, it was good to have peace for a while. At least, it was good for the Ming Dynasty to balance diplomacy and develop domestic people's livelihood.

Song.

From this passage, Zhao Kuangyin analyzed something extraordinary.

"Losing control over the Central Plains? Mongolia?" Zhao Kuangyin stood up suddenly, his face solemn. "Could it be that Mongolia was the one that destroyed our Song Dynasty?"

Zhao Guangyi tried hard to recall the various ethnic groups in the north: "It is very likely. But brother, I don't remember any force called Mongolia in the north now."

Zhao Guangmei also didn't remember the Mongolian ethnic group or force, but he thought of a close one: "Brother, second brother, it's not possible to be Mengwu Shiwei? It's mentioned in the Book of Tang, and it sounds very similar to Mongolia." (Before the New Book of Tang appeared, the Old Book of Tang was originally called the Book of Tang)
Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi nodded, it was very likely.

Tang Dynasty, the eighth year of Wude.

The people in the court did not care about issues such as Mongolia's rule over the Central Plains, but instead talked about Zhu Di's letters to the leaders of the Oirat and Tatar.

"It seems that the Oirat had completely split from the Tatars at that time." A minister commented that the fact that the enemy forces could write separate letters as a matter of course showed that they were of completely different natures.

"Indeed, but Zhu Di is too confident. He is still in the process of Jingnan, but he is already writing letters to warn others. Is he sure it will work?" Another minister sighed, obviously not agreeing with Zhu Di's behavior. Li Jiancheng was listening to the ministers chatting, and was accidentally stabbed by this second minister.

Of course Zhu Di dared, of course he was sure! After all, he had seen this incredible self-confidence in another person before. No, not once, but all along, he was always so confident! What on earth do you rely on, Li Shimin!
【However, something happened that no one expected.

Bayanchur killed the Ming envoy.

The Tatars had always been jumping around the Ming Dynasty, challenging Zhu Di's patience, and now they killed the Ming Dynasty envoys without saying a word. Generally speaking, when two armies are fighting, they don't kill envoys, and now is not the time for the two armies to fight!
Zhu Di decided to send troops.

But he now has few people he can send, and the only highest-ranking general left in the Jingnan Campaign is Qiu Fu.

On the third day of July, Zhu Di appointed Qiu Fu, Duke of Qi, as the general in charge of conquering the enemy, Wang Cong, Marquis of Wucheng, and Huo Zhen, Marquis of Tongan, as the left and right deputy generals, and Wang Zhong, Marquis of Jing'an, and Li Yuan, Marquis of Anping, as the left and right lieutenant generals, to lead 100,000 elite troops to attack Bunyashiri.

But just as Bayanchur's behavior was unexpected, the result of this northern expedition also surprised Zhu Di. 】

Ming Dynasty, the 16th year of Yongle.

When Zhu Di recalled the time when he learned of the defeat, he felt a headache and anger again.

One hundred thousand men! He led a full one hundred thousand men, but was defeated miserably. What was Qiu Fu doing? He had been through many battles, but he ignored the advice of his subordinates and insisted on listening to the enemy's words, falling into the trap, causing the entire army to be destroyed, damaging the prestige of the country, and deserved to die!

On August 15, the day of reunion, Qiu Fu led more than a thousand people to advance rashly, underestimated the enemy, and was defeated at Luqu River, where he was eventually killed. The Ming Dynasty lost more than a thousand soldiers, including dozens of middle and low-level generals, and all the one duke and four marquises who participated in the northern expedition died in the battle.

When the news came back, Zhu Di was furious. Because before the expedition, he repeatedly told Qiu Fu "be careful not to believe those who say that the enemy is easy to conquer", but Qiu Fu still rushed forward, obviously not taking his words to heart. At the same time, this great defeat was also a big blow to the prestige of the Ming Dynasty.

It is no wonder that Zhu Di abolished Qiu Fu's title and subsequently exiled his family to Hainan.

Zhu Di could no longer trust other generals, "thinking that none of the generals were trustworthy, so he decided to lead the army himself."

To this end, from September 7th to 13th, he appointed Zheng Heng, Marquis of Wu'an, and Guo Liang, Marquis of Cheng'an, to jointly prepare and guard the border in Kaiping.

On February 10, the eighth year of Yongle, Zhu Di led an army of 500,000 and set out from Beijing, while the Minister of Revenue Xia Yuanji assisted the Crown Prince Zhu Zhanji to stay in Beijing.

On the first day of May, the Ming army came to the Luqu River again. This time, Zhu Di renamed the river Yinma River.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the Ming army captured the Tatar cavalry and learned the location of Bayanchur, and then ordered the army to cross the Yinma River, implementing the principle of "steady and steady progress".

Next, it was time to send light cavalry to get the news. But Zhu Di still chose to go himself.

He asked Wang You to camp on the river, Jin Youzi to stay in the camp, and he himself took light cavalry and twenty days of dry food, followed Bayanchur's trail all the way to the Ono River, and intercepted Bayanchur who was fleeing.

Without waiting for reinforcements, he led his light cavalry to fight against Bayanchur, and eventually won. Bayanchur could only flee with seven cavalrymen, leaving behind all the baggage, weapons and other soldiers.

Interestingly, the Ono River is actually the place where Genghis Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, rose to power.

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

Oh, personally. I knew that a long time ago.

Hmm??? Go by yourself???
Everyone performed a sunflower-like gesture of turning back, and the sun they were pointing at was Zhu Di.

"Fourth brother, shouldn't you be in charge of the central army when you lead the army? Why did you take the risk and fight the enemy hand to hand with the light cavalry?" Zhu Biao couldn't accept it. You have already ascended the throne. You are no longer the King of Yan who can fight however you want! Even if there is a crown prince, if something goes wrong, the country will still be in turmoil.

Others couldn't accept it either. Although it was said that "there were no generals worthy of being appointed", he was a talented general, and there must be a few such generals. How come it was your turn to rush in directly?
Zhu Di was a little dissatisfied: "You should look at the bright side! This is the place where Yuan Taizu rose to power, and I defeated his descendants here, but it was a big defeat!"

The only response he got was a silent stare. Even if this was a really good thing and had a sense of retribution from God, it couldn't offset the fact that you, an emperor, charged with light cavalry.

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

"Personally lead the troops!" Li Shimin seemed to have found a confidant. He also wanted to lead the army in person, not the kind of personal expedition sitting in the middle tent, but a personal expedition like this leading the cavalry! But he couldn't even lead the army in the tent now...

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng and others all stared at him with gloomy eyes, expressing the same meaning: Your Majesty, you don't want to! Don't even think about it, there's no need for you to go on the expedition in person!

Li Shimin reluctantly withdrew his tentative little fist and comforted himself: It's okay, there are so many restless people around the Tang Dynasty, I will always find an opportunity.

Song.

"Eno River?" Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin murmured as he stared at the river which was said to be the place where Emperor Taizu of Yuan Dynasty rose to power.

In the end, he adhered to the mentality of rather killing someone by mistake than letting him go, and he would try his best to get what he wanted. He ordered people to guard the place and report back anything that happened.

【But Ben Ya Shi Li was not the only target.

In fact, he was originally, but since he knew that Zhu Di was personally leading the army, out of fear, he decided to flee westward with Grand Tutor Alutai, but Alutai disagreed. As a result, the Tatars split, Bayanchur fled westward with his troops, and Alutai moved eastward with his subordinates.

I don’t know if they want another person to draw fire for them, betting that they won’t be caught up.

But obviously, this idea did not succeed.

After learning about the situation, Zhu Di immediately returned to Yinmahe and set a new target for the Ming army: Alutai.

On the ninth day of the sixth lunar month, the Ming army found Alutai's trail. At this time, Alutai's tribe was divided on whether to surrender or fight, but they finally chose to attack the Ming army. The morale of the Ming army was high at this time, and Zhu Di personally led the elite troops to charge into the battle. Alutai was defeated and fled in panic.

The Ming army pursued the enemy with the main force being the Shenjiying. At this time, the firearms of the Shenjiying played a significant role, "shaking the enemy for dozens of miles" and "terrifying the enemy", which completely dispersed the fighting desire of Alutai and others.

The first northern expedition was a complete victory, and Zhu Di returned to Beijing on July 17.

By the way, regarding Bayanchur who fled westward, he fled all the way to Wala, and thought that his sister was Mahamu's wife and could temporarily take him in, but he didn't expect that Mahamu would kill him directly. 】

(End of this chapter)