With the big boss leading the charge, the danger level of the lackeys at the back would be greatly reduced. Most people would just follow along when they saw this.
In any case, when the time comes, the responsibility would not be borne by the subordinates.
Their thinking was also very clear.
Even if they followed behind the big boss to burn, kill, and loot, all the loot would belong to them. No matter how they looked at it, this was not a loss. Even if the imperial court investigated, what could they do? There were more than 50,000 soldiers here, could they all investigate together? Did the imperial court have the guts to do so?
After weighing the pros and cons, all the generals expressed their support for Xiao Ruxun's northern expedition. Xiao Ruxun finally unified the internal thinking and confirmed the strategic intention of using Guihua City as the target of the northern expedition.
As for asking for instructions.
Xiao Ruxun decided to ask for instructions after recovering Datong. He would act first and report later. By the time the imperial court's orders arrived, he might have already taken Guihua City and would be celebrating his victory inside!
However, he still needed to explain to the Emperor. Currently, Xiao Ruxun was relying on the Emperor to face the officials. In any case, he would not stand with the officials, so he had to rely on the Emperor's support to gain a foothold. Naturally, he needed to explain some things to the Emperor. It just so happened that he could also offer the most valuable treasures to the Emperor.
He secretly wrote a secret note and had his bodyguard enter his tent. Then, he whispered a few words into his ear. The bodyguard nodded and turned to leave.
On the 28th day of the first month, Xiao Ruxun led his troops to Taiyuan City. He made some arrangements in Taiyuan City, replenishing the army with rations. He took out the mountains of rations from the grain caves and took care of the logistics of the army. After reorganizing the army for a day, he set off for Yanmen Pass in the north.
According to the analysis of the current military intelligence, the Northern Barbarians initially divided their troops into two groups. One group was Pingxing Pass, and the other was Yanmen Pass. Pingxing Pass had long been breached. Yanmen Pass had been guarded by Shanxi Inspector Wei Yunzhen for two months, but the Northern Barbarians had not broken through.
Later on, the Northern Barbarians realized that this was not feasible. When they learned that Pingxing Pass had been breached, they sent a portion of their troops to Pingxing Pass.
In the end, they just happened to run into Chai Guozhu who was leading his troops to reclaim Pingxing Pass. After Chai Guozhu used the Red Barbarian Cannons to teach them a lesson, they discovered that they couldn't take Pingxing Pass either. Only after a period of tug-of-war did they withdraw from Pingxing Pass.
After the retreat, according to the report from Yanmen Pass, the Northern Barbarians did not return. It was unknown where in Datong they went. In any case, Pingxing Pass had been secured by Chai Guozhu.
At the gate of Yanmen Pass, there were still Northern Barbarians trying to attack. There were about thirty thousand of them. After Nurhaci arrived with the Liaodong Cavalry, Wei Yunzhen switched from passive defense to active defense. He repeatedly ordered Nurhaci to lead the Liaodong Han Cavalry to attack the Northern Barbarians outside the pass.
The Northern Barbarians outside the pass were continuously attacked by Nurhaci. They were only able to hold on because of their large numbers. Nurhaci's small army was not enough to defeat them. Even so, Nurhaci killed three of their generals and beheaded more than three hundred of them. They could no longer directly threaten Yanmen Pass.
Wei Yunzhen used his perseverance and perseverance to defend Yanmen Pass to the death. He did not allow another group of Northern Barbarians to come south from Yanmen Pass. It could be said that Xiao Ruxun could calmly deploy his troops to attack the Lalik army and finally annihilate them. Wei Yunzhen had made a great contribution.
If Wei Yunzhen had not stubbornly defended Yanmen Pass to contain the enemy, the situation in Shanxi would have worsened. In comparison, Dong Yikui's death at Pingxing Pass was a little sad.
Xiao Ruxun still remembered when he was working with Dong Yikui in Ningxia. When he heard that Dong Yikui had died at Pingxing Pass, Xiao Ruxun was a little sad. When Chai Guozhu sent a battle report saying that only Dong Yikui's head was found, but not his body, Xiao Ruxun felt even more sad.
General died in battle.
It was easy to raise a thousand troops, but it was hard to find a good general, especially during the Wanli period when the Daming's family of generals was generally declining. Although there were rumors of the Five Tiger Generals led by Xiao Ruxun, everyone could see that the current situation was just a temporary prosperity. The temporary prosperity of the Daming was very difficult, and the emergence of these generals was also very difficult.
Except for Xiao Ruxun, who could take charge of an area alone and win victories in all aspects of the battlefield, the rest of the generals were only generals. They could lead a small division, but they could not control the overall situation. They could fight against the enemy troops that were a small division, but when faced with the enemy's all-out attack in a national war, they could not resist alone.
This was not because of their own lack of ability, but because the environment they were in limited their performance. They could not become a commander because only scholars could be a commander, and martial artists could only be generals.
They did not have the unique conditions like Xiao Ruxun, who could control hundreds of thousands of troops. At most, they could only lead ten or twenty thousand people as a small division.
And among the few who had the potential to become a commander, Dong Yikui was one of them. Unfortunately, he died in battle.
Among the remaining few, some were too regional and had a bad reputation. They no longer had a future as a commander, such as Li Rusong. Some had an unknown future, and it was unknown whether they were dead or alive, which worried Xiao Ruxun a lot, such as Ma Gui.
Therefore, in summary, the generals of the Daming's army fought on their own. They could defeat the enemies they faced on their own battlefields, and at the very least, they could hold them back.
But when faced with a national war where both sides gave their all, no one could resist the powerful Northern Barbarians going south alone, and people who could control the overall situation could not be allowed to exist.
The civil officials were more afraid of the civil commanders than the generals. Once they had meritorious service, they would be transferred away from the frontlines and suppressed. This was even more effective than dealing with the generals. Therefore, the root of the Daming's problem was the overly powerful civil government and their pursuit of saving money. If these could not be changed, then everything else would be useless.
Xiao Ruxun thought about Dong Yikui for a while, then continued to lead the army north. However, when the army passed by Fen Province and camped at night to rest, Xiao Ruxun was asked to see a General of the Imperial Bodyguard.
"You said you were sent by Commander Luo?"
Xiao Ruxun sat in the commander's tent, writing military orders while looking at the General of the Imperial Bodyguard.
"That's right, Governor Xiao. I'm here on the orders of Commander Luo, and Commander Luo is here on the orders of His Majesty. We're here to tell Governor Xiao about the grain storage locations of the Jin merchants in Shanxi and Datong. Governor Xiao, please command us to seize all the grain storage caves."
Xiao Ruxun stopped writing, looked at the General, and laughed mockingly.
"I really thought that the Imperial Bodyguard feared nothing, and that the officials would run for their lives when they see you. But in the end, you are also afraid? It's true that everything has its vanquisher! "
The General said without changing his expression, "Governor-General Xiao is right. This matter is the fault of the Imperial Bodyguard, but under those circumstances, when we found out about the grain storage caves, we had already lost more than a hundred of our brothers. We just thought that the other party was too powerful, and we couldn't do anything about it."
"It seems like Commander Luo is having a hard time!"
Xiao Ruxun finished writing a military order, picked it up, blew on it, and put it aside.
"We are just working for His Majesty."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
