Ever since he was a child, Nurhachi had never dared to disobey Li Rusong's orders, not when he was a child, and not now.
Standing next to Li Rusong, who was as strong as a bull, Nurhachi couldn't even bring out the aura of Daming the Dragon-Tiger General and the leader of the Jianzhou Jurchen Tribe.
Li Rusong's order was like an imperial edict to him, more effective than the Ming Dynasty's emperor's edict. If Li Rusong came to take people away, he didn't dare to disobey.
Fortunately, he was protected by Li Rusong this time. The Haixi Jurchen Tribe would never dare to invade the Jianzhou Jurchen Tribe when he entered the pass to fight. He believed this.
After all, in the past few years, Li Rusong had been fighting everywhere, and the Jurchen tribes and Mongolian tribes near Liaodong had almost become numb because of him.
The 20,000 cavalrymen were ready with food and equipment. They roared out and rushed all the way as fast as lightning. From the arrival of the order to the arrival of Beijing, it only took him half a month. On the afternoon of the 23rd, they arrived in Beijing. After dinner, the Ministry of War ordered Li Rusong's troops to go to Zijing Pass for emergency reinforcements overnight.
Because Zijing Pass had asked for help twice in a row.
As a result, that night, just a quarter of an hour after the Ministry of War issued the order, before all the generals under Li Rusong's command arrived for the meeting, an order from the Emperor suddenly came from the palace —
The order ordered Li Rusong's cavalrymen to set up camp on the spot, strictly guard the camp, and not to leave without permission. All food and supplies would be provided by the imperial court, and Li Rusong was allowed to enter the city to visit his family.
This imperial order, which was contrary to the order of the Ministry of War, made Li Rusong very confused. According to the past rules, the orders of the Ministry of War were the most formal, and the generals had to obey the orders of the Ministry of War when they were outside.
However, the Emperor was nominally the supreme commander of the whole army. From the perspective of righteousness, the whole army must obey the Emperor's order and take the Emperor's order as the highest order. Even the Ministry of War issued orders in the name of the Emperor.
But now, the Ministry of War and the Emperor had issued two completely opposite orders one after the other. How should Li Rusong respond?
He quickly wrote a letter to the Ministry of War to inquire about this matter. Early the next morning, he rushed to the Ministry of War to inquire about the situation. He could not wait to rescue his father.
However, at this moment, the Ministry of War was rather puzzled. Although the Emperor had his own views on the war and had issued orders before, those orders were only communicated to the Ministry of War. They did not interfere with the situation at the frontlines or were warnings given before the war began. There were no actual orders to command.
This time, after Li Rusong arrived in the capital, the order to immediately send troops to support Zijing Pass was also informed by the Ministry of War and was approved by the emperor.
In the current situation, military operations were still based on the Emperor's will. The imperial censors all shut their mouths, worried that the Mongols would attack the capital and take their lives.
However, a quarter of an hour after the Ministry of War sent the letter, the Emperor issued an urgent order, ordering Li Rusong not to advance and to set up camp on the spot. He did not give any other explanation, nor did he discuss it with anyone. This made the officials who were busy with the war very puzzled.
The current situation should not be unknown to the Emperor. Datong had basically fallen, Pingxing Pass had been breached, Zijing Pass was in danger, Daming had suffered heavy losses, and even Wutai in Shanxi had fallen. Taiyuan seemed to have become the target of the Mongols.
The general guarding Yanmen Pass had died in battle, the general guarding Pingxing Pass had died in battle, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Dong Yikui had died in battle, and several high-ranking military officers had died in battle. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses had been slaughtered, and the people were even more miserable. The Mongols had played a big game this time, and Daming was very dangerous!
Zhao Zhigao and the Minister of War, Shi Xing, rushed to the palace overnight and tried to ask for the Emperor's opinion. The news they received was that the Emperor had already fallen asleep, and if there was anything else, they would talk about it the next day.
Zhao Zhigao and Shi Xing were extremely puzzled. At this critical juncture, why did the Emperor order Li Rusong's elite cavalry not to go and reinforce Zijing Pass, which was in imminent danger?
However, the Emperor did not say anything.
With dark circles under his eyes, Li Rusong did not sleep for the whole night. The next morning, he rushed to Beijing at dawn to ask for an explanation from the Ministry of War. Shi Xing also did not sleep for the whole night. With dark circles under his eyes, he planned to wait for the Emperor to wake up and ask for an explanation from the Emperor.
At this time, the news that the Emperor did not allow Li Rusong to advance had also spread. It reached the ears of many civil officials and imperial censors, and these people immediately became restless.
This time, the Mongolians had also threatened their lives, and they were very concerned about this. They wished that Li Rusong could immediately send troops to chase the Mongolians away. Only then could they continue the political struggle with peace of mind. But now, Li Rusong's troops were in the capital, but they did not advance. Was the Emperor going to fight a battle to protect the capital?
There were all kinds of guesses, and all kinds of rumors were flying. Zhao Zhigao and Shi Xing brought Li Rusong to the palace again the next morning to ask for information. Zhu Yijun received the three of them and comforted the anxious Li Rusong with kind words. Then, he said that Li Rusong did not need to send troops for the time being. Zijing Pass was not that dangerous, and he had his own arrangements.
The Emperor was not in a hurry. His heart was as calm as still water, as if victory was within his grasp. This appearance made Zhao Zhigao and Shi Xing very confused, and it also made Li Rusong scratching his head in confusion. However, the Emperor was not in a hurry. Even if they wanted to be in a hurry, it was useless. Without the Emperor's order, would he, Li Rusong, dare to defy the imperial edict and attack?
Then he would be taken down and killed in minutes.
The central government of the Ming Dynasty was still very authoritative, not to mention the generals who did not follow orders.
The officials did not dare to go against the Emperor because the Emperor was also in danger. There was no reason for him to give an idiotic order. It could only be said that the Emperor really had other arrangements, but as for what the Emperor's arrangements were, they really did not know, and did not dare to imagine.
The Emperor would not collude with the Mongolians to harm him, right?
If Zijing Pass was really destroyed, the Emperor would have to take responsibility.
Li Rusong could only spend four difficult days in torment. Early in the morning on the 30th, he could not bear it anymore and went into the city again to ask the Ministry of War when he could send out his troops. At the same time, the Ministry of War was also very anxious. In the past few days, there was a continuous flow of civil officials to ask the Emperor when to send out his troops. Later, there were even a lot of military officials who came to ask when to send out the troops.
This was really the version of the Emperor not anxious, but the eunuchs were anxious … But were these people eunuchs?
Shi Xing and Zhao Zhigao were tired of dealing with them, but the Emperor was always perfunctory. Li Rusong drank seven bowls of tea in the Ministry of War and went to the toilet three times, but he still did not get a definite answer. He was so anxious that he was about to explode. Then, there was a sudden uproar in the Ministry of War. Before Li Rusong knew what was going on, he suddenly heard someone shout —
"Xiao Zhennan has arrived in the capital! He even brought troops with him, but he was summoned to the palace by His Majesty! "
Li Rusong furrowed his brows.
Xiao Zhennan? Who?
Surnamed Xiao? Zhennan?
Oh! It seemed that Xiao Ruxun was Marquis Zhennan, who was guarding the southern border of Daming in Burma …
Wasn't Xiao Zhennan him?
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