On March 30 of the first year of Longqing, the native barbarians of Liaodong attacked Liaoyang, and the commander of Liaoyang was killed in battle.

When the news came, the imperial court was shaken, and Qi Jiguang led his troops to attack Liaodong to fight, defeated the barbarians in one fell swoop, and kept Liaoyang City.

Subsequently, warning signals came from the border gates, and the Tatar troops outside the fortress practiced military horses and military formations all day long, hoarded food and materials, and had the posture of attacking with all their might after the autumn.

After receiving this alarm, the imperial court paid more attention to it, and the Tatar Ministry had been recuperating for many years, fat and strong, and could not be idle. In recent years, the Tatar Ministry has been asking the imperial court to open a mutual market, but the imperial court has no faith because of the Tatar Ministry's words, and after purchasing enough strategic materials such as iron, grain, cloth, salt, and tea from the Central Plains, it often tears up the agreement, enters the fortress and loots, and burns and loots everywhere it goes, so it resolutely refuses to open the mutual market.

The nine border gates are now also stepping up training, stockpiling materials and ordnance, and people are arranged to keep an eye on the outside of the Great Wall day and night, and if there is a disturbance in the Tatar region, beacon fires will be lit.

Moreover, the action here is also intensified, swords, guns, bows and arrows, Zhuge crossbows, city defense crossbows, chain crossbows and other equipment and heavy weapons have been issued, armor and horses have also been issued.

In addition to these, there was also a firearms battalion of firearms, and the Sixth Guard did not set up this training subject, so he had to send people to the Shenji Battalion in the capital to receive training and learn to use various firearms and artillery. Firearms and artillery were strategic-level weapons at that time, equivalent to the later generations*, intercontinental ballistic*.

In the Ming Dynasty, only two capitals had a Shenji battalion, and there were some artillery pieces in each fortress at the border pass, but there was no formed Shenji battalion.

The most powerful firearms in the Ming Dynasty were during the Yongle period, and the Yongle Emperor was good at using artillery to conquer cities, and he swept away the outside of the fortress six times, which was directly related to the extensive use of firearms.

At the time of Emperor Xuanzong, powerful artillery was deployed everywhere in the border gates, as a deterrent to the outside of the fortress, and if a war really started, these artillery pieces did have irresistible power. For this reason, Xuanzong formulated a strict system, the artillery must have a special officer responsible for guarding and maintaining, each artillery is recorded, if the border pass is breached, the artillery must be blown up by a special person, and must not be allowed to the Tatars, so as not to be copied.

If the lost artillery falls into the hands of the Tatars, the responsible commander will be beheaded by all the people below.

In fact, the technology of artillery is not a new thing for the Mongols, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khan, stormed Xiangyang City for more than 50 years and failed to break through, and finally transported back and forth cannons, a cannon collapsed the city wall of Xiangyang City, the defenders of Xiangyang City had to go out of the city to surrender, and the Southern Song Dynasty lost the most critical fortress.

By the way, Byzantium also held out for many years, and finally it was destroyed by the powerful Huihui cannon, and the Eastern Roman Empire was destroyed. * Christianity flourished, and finally invaded Europe, establishing the powerful Ottoman Empire, which stood side by side with the Holy Roman Empire and the Chinese Empire.

The main reason for restricting the Mongols from making artillery was the lack of iron outside the fortress, and it was impossible to manufacture iron cannons without a large number of them, and the Mongols believed that they were invincible in the world in iron horses, and they were not willing to go to war with heavy and clumsy artillery when marching.

Moreover, in Zhang Juzheng's mansion, he saw Qi Jiguang who had returned from the battle.

Although Qi Jiguang was not wearing a military uniform, there was still a faint smell of blood on his body, and it seemed that he was killing people this time.

"Brother, I'm sorry, I couldn't go to you because of this incident." Qi Jiguang apologized when he met.

"It's okay, military affairs are important, I'm not in a hurry there." Besides.

"You're going to have to hurry up there, there's not much time left for us. Looking at it like this, the Tatar troops will definitely attack in the autumn, and this time the brutal attack on Liaoyang is just a practice of hands, and the battle is behind. Zhang Juzheng said.

"Then will our troops also go to the border to kill the enemy at that time?" Besides, he asked.

"No, although the Tatar Department is strong, the nine passes of my border city are not decorations, and the operation for a hundred years is not to mention that it is as solid as a rock, even if a certain border pass is breached, the Tatars coming in are just robbing and burning some areas, and it will not create a big disaster. And every time they attack, their own losses are not small, relatively speaking, as long as we are well prepared to attack and defend properly, the losses are not big. Zhang Juzheng said.

Besides, he sighed in his heart, the losses Zhang Juzheng mentioned meant that in terms of combat strength, the Tatar invasion lost all the sturdy soldiers and precious war horses, and the Central Plains lost a large number of civilians and some grain houses and other materials that did not have time to fortify the walls and clear the wilderness.

As far as the loss of personnel is concerned, the losses in the Central Plains are still much greater, but it is a fact that the losses of the regular officers and troops are small.

Zhang Juzheng is not vicious in saying this, and he treats the people like mustard, but the people in power and the higher positions look at the problem from the perspective of national interests, and they have put aside such things as morality and ethics, and they only have to consider pure national interests. The number of civilian casualties is only a general number.

If you don't have this mentality, you can't be in power, and the reason why you hate power has a lot to do with it.

Stalin famously said: "If a person dies in a traffic accident, that's a person, and a million people die in a war, but it's just a figure on paper."

The real rulers basically have this mentality, and the benevolence of women and scholars has nothing to do with them.

"The Tatar Ministry is not difficult to deal with, but it is the remnants of the White Lotus Sect, Zhao Quan, who are really the heart of the imperial court." Zhang Juzheng continued.

"They're outside the plug?" Besides, I know some, but I don't know it very much.

"Well, they built a Tucheng Bansheng City by themselves, and under the protection of the Tatars, they specially gave advice to the Tatars, trained the men and horses, and calculated the grain and grass, they are very familiar with the way our Central Plains officers and troops fight, and they are used to help the Tatars train their troops, which is a serious threat to us, if we get rid of Zhao Quan's rebellion, the Tatar Department is not worried." Zhang Juzheng said.

"It's basically impossible to get rid of them, so let's send many people to assassinate them, but they are all like stones in the sea, and they will never return." Qi Jiguang sighed.

At this time, the family brought a pot of wine and a plate of grapes.

Zhang Juzheng raised his wine glass and said with a smile: "Qi Shuai, this glass of wine will be for you." ”

Qi Jiguang was very moved, this glass of wine was more precious than the most luxurious banquet in the capital, and few people could drink it.

He bowed down and took the wine glass from Zhang Juzheng's family and drank it all.

Besides, he casually took the wine glass, and then drank it dry with Qi Jiguang.

"Thank you, sir." Qi Jiguang finished drinking, put the cup on the plate, and then sat down.

Zhang Juzheng also drank a glass of wine, and then ate the grapes one by one, the grapes nourished yin and rejuvenated, which could relieve the heat in his body, so he liked it very much.

The temperature control in this study is relatively low, and Zhang Juzheng is still only wearing a jacket.

He practiced the art in the room, and his body was often in a hot state, especially the steaming on his head, and he didn't dare to wear a mink hat in winter, just wearing a mink fur.

Besides, observing his face, he put his mind at ease, it seems that he has been too busy recently, Zhang Juzheng has also dropped out of the middle surgery, and the imbalance of yin and yang in the body is not very serious.

People who practice the art in the room will not cause yang deficiency, but a serious yin deficiency, on the surface, they look energetic and their body heat is also high, but in fact, it is a serious loss of yin qi in the body.

Men like to be called masculine, but only the yang that appears in the balance of yin and yang in the body is healthy, and the yin and yang are not born, and the yang is not long, and the balance of yin and yang is king.

As for the pure yang body, it is not the body of a child, but the body of a child is the most perfect balance of yin and yang, the real pure yang body is only available to immortals, this is of course a legend, it is said that only by cultivating a pure yang physique, can you fly to the gods, Lu Dongbin Dao called Lu Chunyang, pure yang is actually synonymous with immortals.

It's just a legend, after all, no one has ever seen anyone soar into the sky.

Of course, there may also be people who hide in the deep mountains and Daze to survive the catastrophe and fly to the fairy world, which is unknown.

Moreover, it turned out that Zhang Juzheng had prepared medicinal wine, which was not an aphrodisiac, but a nourishing yin and nourishing the marrow and strengthening the bones, Zhang Juzheng drank it very useful, and took some to give it to the emperor, and the emperor also felt good after drinking it, so he simply asked for the prescription to prepare it himself.

Zhang Juzheng found it and directly explained that the emperor wanted a prescription, and he wrote the prescription happily. This is just his own research, not an ancient recipe, a thousand gold recipes or anything, and it is not worth enjoying with a broomstick.

If the emperor asked him for the prescription of the Six Divine Pills, even if he had to pay it, he would have to bargain. Liushen Pill and Yangxin Pill, which are still the most profitable medicines of Zuoling, belong to the main fist products.

"In this way, Brother Yunming still wants to go to Fujian?" Qi Jiguang guessed and asked.

"I guess so. As soon as the north moves, the south will move, and the two echo each other, wanting the court to ignore each other. I am more at ease with the nine sides, it is estimated that even if the northern captives attack, it is mostly tentative, if they can't break through the border pass in a short time, they will not attack at any cost, and they may not all recover from the heavy damage they gave them last time. However, there is no good plan for Nankou for the time being. Zhang Juzheng frowned and pondered, his face full of worry.

"When Nankou came ashore, he pushed them into the sea. When the time comes, I will accompany Brother Yunming over, and I will not believe in killing or obeying those eight lambs. Qi Jiguang said.

"If it's just to defend or repel these Japanese robbers, you don't have to worry about it, Governor Tan is enough to lead the Fujian official army, but it will be difficult to gain a foothold there." Zhang Juzheng sighed.

"Stand?" Qi Jiguang was surprised.

"Yes, long-term stay." Zhang Juzheng said.

"What? Long-term residency is impossible. Qi Jiguang shouted.

Besides, he looked at the two of them in a daze, as if he didn't have anything to do, in fact, he was talking about him.

"My lord, it's not difficult to fight against pirates, but it's not a matter of staying in one area for a long time, it's impossible to do it." Qi Jiguang said.

"I also know that because of this, it has to be done." Zhang Juzheng sighed.

Besides, he was a little anxious, and interjected: "What is the specific difficulty?" Fujian also has officers and soldiers, aren't the officers and soldiers stationed for a long time? ”

Qi Jiguang said: "Brother, these are two different things, Fujian's official army is a local army, and they are inextricably linked with the local area. They have secret agreements with pirates and pirates, maintaining a balance. ”

Besides, he nodded, understood the general situation, and then shook his head again, he was really confused about the specifics.