Mandarin Palace.

The sutra feast on the second day of the first month of November was the last sutra feast of the year, and the emperor feasted the Hanlin sutra officials after the end.

After the Hanlin banquet officials left, the emperor summoned Zhang Zhou, who did not participate in the banquet that day, and left Zhu Houzhao behind, put the sand table and maps in place, and Zhang Zhou explained the battle situation in Liaodong for Zhu Youji's father and son.

The only person who was qualified to observe was Xiao Jing, who was about to take over as the eunuch of the master of ceremonies.

“…… From Daning to the north, all the way across the Luanhe River, and then to the two branches of Huangshui, this area used to be the area where Duoyan and Taining two guards went south in winter, and after the little prince of Tatar moved eastward this year, Duoyan Sanwei did not show signs of southward activities, all because in the past few months, the soldiers and horses of the two towns of Liaodong and Jizhou have become the norm to patrol the soldiers and horses, and the Duoyan Sanwei do not dare to go south casually even in winter. ”

"The location of the ambush is in the upper reaches of the north branch of Huangshui, here in the north of Daning two hundred and sixty miles, where the right wing of the Keshdan Department is located, there are mostly deserts and Gobi around here, but because of the Huangshui, the road is relatively flat, it is difficult to form an ambush according to common sense, but the terrain is narrow, the Ming soldiers and horses can Chen soldiers on both sides of the strait, no matter which part of the Duoyan Sanwei passes by, it will have to retreat to the north road."

"At that time, the governor of Liaodong will personally lead the troops and horses, and will wrap the siege from both sides, forcing the three guards to abandon the people and break through with cavalry, and then they can catch turtles in the urn. This is a game of driving dogs into the poor alleys. ”

Zhang Zhou explained the points that could be marked on the sand table and the map.

Zhu Youzhi had known about this plan for a long time, and he only nodded slightly, as long as it was a plan formulated by Zhang Zhou, he almost raised his hands and feet in approval.

Zhu Houzhao blinked a pair of innocent eyes next to him and asked, "They have no other way to go?" ”

Zhu Youzhu said with a smile: "Prince, this is going to talk about your Mr. Zhang's trick with troops, he sent troops from Liaodong with great fanfare, and did not go to Ningyuan, Yizhou and other places, but specially selected the Shenyang Zhongwei southeast of Duoyan Sanwei to send troops, so that if Duoyan Sanwei retreats north, the Ming soldiers and horses only need to go north, and they can recover all the land previously occupied by Tatar Batu Munk." ”

Zhu Houzhao frowned when he heard this, listening to what his father said, which made him both anxious and unnutritious, he said: "Father, this means that there are Batu Munk's men and horses in the north of Duoyan Sanwei, and they dare not go north, so they can only go west, and we are ambushed on the road he must pass, right?" ”

"That's right." Zhu Youzhu disagreed, he felt that he had explained very clearly.

Zhu Houzhao said: "What Erchen is asking is, is there no other way to go?" ”

Zhu Youzhu looked at Zhang Zhou, meaning that you should explain to this kid.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "There are roads, but in eastern Mongolia, there are many deserts and Gobi deserts, and the roads to the west are either occupied by some small tribes of the Tatar Chahar tribe, or the roads are more dangerous, often passing through hundreds of miles of Gobi desert, and after winter, they are covered by snow, and the roads are difficult to distinguish, and walking along the rivers is often the easiest to distinguish the roads." ”

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "You already have a hunch that the grassland is going to snow, right?" ”

Zhang Zhou shook his head: "No, it's the same whether it snows or not, and because the soldiers and horses of Duoyan Sanwei are now disabled, they can't withstand the losses, and they can't trust each other." In such a situation, it must have been a separate route to take the north shore of the water, which I have speculated on the route of their possible march. ”

"Not sure?" Zhu Houzhao has some hope.

Zhu Houzhao complained: "Prince, it is impossible to be completely sure every time when marching to war, and you must judge the situation according to the situation. ”

Zhu Houzhao compared the map and said: "Sending troops from Jizhou to the place of Keshdan, the road is so far, can the Tartars not notice it at all?" If they are discovered by the Tartars along the way, if they warn in advance, not only will the ambush be easy to fall short, but it is likely that they will also be ambushed. ”

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the Prince, don't you say it, after the little prince of Tatar marched eastward, within a radius of two hundred miles around Daning, there was actually no movement of the activities of various tribes. This area, for now, is within the deterrent range of the Ming cavalry. ”

Zhu Youzhu was a little displeased and said: "Prince, I let you listen, don't interrupt casually." Do you think that after the Ming Dynasty had long artillery and heavy artillery, the Tatar tribes would still dare to move closer to the Ming border? In the past, after the winter of Duoyan Sanwei, but they were grazing within dozens of miles outside of my pass, how could there be no one in their eyes, and now they are called, do they dare to come? ”

"Oh."

Zhu Houzhao wrinkled his nose and said no more.

Xiao Jing, who was on the side, stepped forward and asked timidly like a big girl: "Dare to ask Mr. Zhang, who led the soldiers and horses in ambush on this road?" ”

Zhang Zhoudao: "The new military department Langzhong Wang Xianzhi army, the commander of the army is Peng Quan, the former commander of Jianchangwei, and the lieutenant is Ma Yongcheng, who is also from the East Palace. ”

Xiao Jing was speechless for an instant.

These three people, except for Peng Quan, he knows a lot, and even Ma Yongcheng is not familiar with him, let alone Wang Xian, he has never heard of them.

was actually arranged by Zhang Zhou to lead the troops to attack?

Zhu Youzhu smiled: "Xiao Jing, what, don't you think you're surprised?" In fact, Bingkuan's use of troops in Liaodong is more to deter the grassland, and the way to use troops is to win by surprise, if everything goes according to plan, I am afraid that in the next few years, the Tatar tribes will not fight head-on with the Ming Dynasty. It's not easy to succeed in a surprise attack every time. ”

"Yes, yes." Of course, Xiao Jing understands this truth.

Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty already has new firearms, even if they don't, the Tatars know that the Ming Dynasty sent the main force to attack, and it is impossible to fight head-on.

The main purpose of the Tatar Koubian is to plunder, not to play with the Ming Dynasty, no matter how many soldiers the Ming side loses, they can replenish it, and one of them counts as one...... The living environment of the grassland is so bad, once there is a bloody battle with Daming, even if the loss of personnel is smaller than that of Daming, they will suffer a big loss.

Zhu Youzhu looked at the sand table and said with emotion: "If you want to achieve results, either you can advance and slowly build the city to the hinterland of the grassland, or just like Youbingkuan, you can design a good strategy and achieve results by surprise." ”

Xiao Jing said: "The slave maid also thinks that this plan is very good, but I don't know the movements of the little prince of Tatar. ”

He's reminding.

No matter how good the plan is, I am afraid that Dayan Khan will suddenly kill and catch the soldiers and horses in ambush by surprise, no matter how many soldiers and horses you take, you will encounter the main force of 120,000 Tatars, and most of the results will be a fiasco on the side of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhu smiled and said, "Bingkuan, you tell him." It's not that I'm talking about you, Xiao Jing, you are becoming more and more like those ministers of the DPRK and China, worrying about this and that, just don't fight this battle. ”

Xiao Jing suddenly felt as if someone had knocked on the door of his head with a hammer.

After all, he had discussed with Wei Bin before, and secretly made some trouble for Zhang Zhou, so that Lu Wan, Zhang Heling and Zhang Yong's combination of troops would not go well.

Now Lu Wan did not set foot on the grassland until nearly 20 days later, in fact, there was also a reason why Wei Bin secretly instructed the soldiers to slack off, and tried to make Lu Wan give up the plan to send troops to the grassland and retreat to Liaodong.

The Emperor's words were more like a knock on him.

Let you have nothing to do with Wenchen, like to question Zhang Zhou's plan, that's because you have no foresight.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Gonggong Xiao, that's the case, the little prince of Tatar didn't take much advantage in the battle with Duoyan Sanwei in the eastward advance, that is to say, both sides were defeated. ”

"Huh?"

Xiao Jing was surprised, he didn't know this news until now.

He didn't know if this was from Zhang Zhou's summary of the intelligence, or from Zhang Zhou's "Heavenly Will", which he calculated by his own ability.

"Otherwise, why do you think he is in a hurry to send troops in Ningxia? He is in a hurry to establish his prestige, and after this battle, Duoyan Sanwei is actually unable to confront the little Tatar prince head-on, this is the window period for my Ming Dynasty to send troops, and it can be said that the opportunity will not come again. Zhang Zhou said very easily.

Xiao Jing listened, and his heart turned upside down.

Zhu Youzhu said: "Bingkuan, what you said before was right, now even if the Tatars really have the ability to find out your plan to send troops, most of them will stand by and watch, and even I don't believe it, he Batu Munk dares to face the enemy of Da Ming at this time." ”

Xiao Jing felt even more incredible when he heard it.

The little prince of Tatar has sent troops to attack Ningxia West Road in Ningxia, saying that Batu Munch does not dare to fight with the Ming Dynasty head-on?

Or did Batu Munch hate Duoyan Sanwei for fighting, so he allowed Duoyan Sanwei to be annexed by the Ming Dynasty?

He was also thinking that His Majesty's belief in this Mr. Zhang in his heart was a bit unreasonable, right?

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "Actually, this is a time difference, the little prince of Tatar is in the west, the Ming Dynasty is in the east, our purpose is to be a three-guard, and his purpose is to establish prestige." If the little prince of Tatar wants to establish himself on the steppe, it will be much easier to clean up the fire sieve than to engage our Ming on the frontal battlefield. ”

"Their invasion in Ningxia is more of a loot, and so far a decent war has not been fought, which also shows the weakness in their bones. So far, the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses invaded by the little prince of Tatar have not even dared to approach the fortress of the Ming Dynasty, which is enough to show that they are afraid of the artillery and heavenly gunpowder of our Ming Dynasty. Each other is just cooperating with each other, each taking what he needs. ”

……

……

What Dayan Khan needs is the prestige of the grassland, and what the Ming needs is the encroachment of the grassland.

Xiao Jing understood this, and he still couldn't understand how Zhang Zhou determined that Batu Munch's main force was in Ningxia and not in Liaodong...... Xiao Jing didn't dare to think about the things he couldn't understand, mainly because the emperor's previous slap in the face to him made him realize that the result of his heart being inclined to Wenchen might lead him to a catastrophe.

Make trouble for Zhang Zhou...... As a result, after looking for a long time, the trouble came to me.

Xiao Jing understood Zhang Zhou's intention to send troops, but the ministers of the DPRK did not understand.

When the government and the opposition, and even some middle- and lower-level Beijing officials who had never participated in the dispatch of troops to Liaodong before going to the court, they knew that this matter was actually not a secret.

At this time, Zhu Youzhu announced something in public in the court, which really surprised the ministers of civil and military affairs in the court.

“…… I have decided to give Bingkuan as the 'Duke of Lai', and tin to give the coupons. His official position in the court remained unchanged. ”

When the emperor finished talking about the matter, before the civil and military ministers in the court could react, he asked Xiao Jing to read out the edict of the knight in public.

Waiting for Xiao Jing to finish reading it, Liu Jian looked at the empty position of the British Duke Zhang Mao on the side, and then walked out and said: "Your Majesty, why is the edict not reviewed by the cabinet department and the six sections, but announced by the public?" The old minister believes that since he is already a civil minister, Wuxun can be exempted...... or already have a title, when avoiding suspicion, do not take the position of civil servant. ”

Zhu Youzhu said: "Elder Liu Ge, I think that Bingkuan's merits should not be avoided anymore, and giving him the title at this time can be regarded as a summary of the various battles at the border this year." If you think it's wrong...... I can only say that you have not understood my deep meaning. ”

Still meaningful?

A close man, even if he has some military merits, but most of them are not obtained in person, even if we really agree with his title, should we consider releasing him from his civilian position?

On the one hand, he wants to be the prince of the country, and on the other hand, he also wants to be the head of the civil ministers, and he is a bachelor and a soldier in the army, so he is sent to take care of everything alone.

Seeing that Liu Jian refused to go back, Zhu Youzhu asked: "I also want to ask you a question, after he was promoted to the left squire of the military department, did he interfere with the daily actions of the military department?" Or did he break the order of the court? Ladies and gentlemen, if any of you have an opinion, I don't mind if you come up to oppose it, and I will refute them one by one, and there is no need to oppose it here. ”

"Of course, the Lord of the Kingdom is only the result of the meritorious service that must be rewarded, and the Duke has always lived up to the merits of the Chinese military minister, especially in the border war. No more talking. ”

Zhu Youzhu also felt very tired.

Every time he wanted to add an official to Zhang Zhou, he would encounter opposition from the ministers of the court.

He himself knew that the reward for Zhang Zhou was a little more, a little faster, but he couldn't help but want to give Zhang Zhou a little more reward...... In addition, there are some special "purposes" for this reward, and he will not listen to any advice.

……

……

Zhang Zhouren sat at home, and the title was lowered to his head.

However, this time, it was Zhu Youzhi who greeted Zhang Zhou, not Zhang Zhou himself, and Zhu Youzhi had a good reason.

Xiao Jing personally brought Xu Qiong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to Zhang Zhou's mansion to announce the decree, and at the same time, there was also a coupon, that is, the legendary Danshu iron coupon, with this thing, Zhang Zhou's title can be hereditary, and Zhang Zhou became the famous prince of the Ming Dynasty, although it is not as good as those heroes during the founding of the country and the martyrdom, but if you look at the present, no nobleman can compare with him.

"Grandpa, congratulations."

Xiao Jing's face was piled up like a flower, and he seemed to be extremely stuttering, but he vaguely revealed some loss, which was a kind of loneliness and sadness that he clearly wanted to compete, but his rank was not enough.

seems to be rejoicing for Zhang Zhou, but in fact, he is envious and jealous.

Zhang Zhou greeted Xu Qiong and the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and after sending them away, he and Xiao Jing opened the plaque of "Laiguo Mansion" inscribed by Zhu Youji's imperial pen, Zhang Zhou thought that the emperor would give some high-sounding words of encouragement, such as loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, etc., but he didn't expect the emperor to be so direct.

Probably Zhu Youzhu felt that it was better to say anything at this time than to give a knighthood directly.

"Grandpa, what Your Majesty means, I think you also understand very well, this knighthood is a reward for your achievements in various wars in the Ming Dynasty over the past year, and it is also to show Your Majesty's grace and let the soldiers in all border towns see it."

"At the same time, this is also to paralyze the Tatars, so that they will think that all the wars of my Ming Dynasty this year have been stopped here, but they don't know that there will be a good show next."

Xiao Jing seemed to be able to comprehend the emperor's intentions.

But Zhang Zhou knew.

The so-called paralysis of the enemy, this reason is a bit far-fetched, and when will it reach the ears of Duoyan Sanwei and Dayan Khan, it is still a problem.

I'm afraid that the news has not yet arrived, and the war has ended.

It was originally an ambush war...... Didn't ambush to ...... Then withdraw? There are no big losses anyway.

Zhang Zhou smiled: "Then should I go to the palace with Gonggong Xiao to thank you?" ”

"Your Majesty said, you are busy with affairs, and when you go to the hearing office, you can take the opportunity to go over, and the so-called gratitude is also superficial, so you don't have to take it too seriously." Xiao Jing said with a smile.

Zhang Zhou knew that Xiao Jing was not deliberately spreading nonsense.

The minister got the knighthood, he should have entered the palace to thank him, no matter how bold Xiao Jing was, he didn't dare to make up this kind of thing.

Xiao Jing said that the emperor didn't need him to thank him for his special gratitude, that is, he really didn't need to.

Zhang Zhou sighed: "To be honest, I suddenly got a knighthood, and I was a little uncomfortable, I always felt like I was in a dream. Originally, I thought that I would have to wait until the grassland was pacified before I had the opportunity to be crowned a marquis, who would have thought about it...... This hasn't even started yet, it's already ...... Famous? ”

"Haha." Xiao Jing smiled, "That can only say that you are capable." But Guogong, let's not slack off, Your Majesty is worried about leveling the grassland, and you must help Your Majesty realize it. Giving you a knighthood is not only a compliment, but also an expectation for you. ”

"Understood, understood." Zhang Zhoudao.

Xiao Jing saw that a lot of things were brought in from the courtyard, and gave a special explanation, and then said: "You have a knight, if you want to come to the mansion, it will be lively." Let's not bother much, and say goodbye. ”

"Congratulations."

Zhang Zhou personally sent Xiao Jing and Jin Yiwei out.

……

……

Lai Guogong.

As Zhu Youzhi promised, the knighthood was only more than two months late.

Zhang Zhou also understands Zhu Youji's routine.

When he Zhang Zhou just returned to the court, Zhu Youzhu wanted to help him stabilize his civil official position in the court first, and instead of giving him a knighthood, the minister would have no way to object...... After he established his civil official positions, he gave the title of Wuxun, which was probably also to avoid "long nights and dreams".

In case there is any accident in the Huangshui ambush, Wenchen will definitely be entangled in what merits and demerits will be offset, and if he wants to give Zhang Zhou a knight at that time, it seems that his name is not right.

And even if Peng Quan succeeded in their ambush in Huangshui, it would be just icing on the cake for Zhang Zhou's military exploits.

Simply......

The title was given before the war.

Zhu Youzhu instantly felt that he had completed a major event in his life, at least in the twelfth year of Hongzhi, no matter whether the Huangshui ambush was successful or not, he could also have no regrets and wait for the arrival of the thirteenth year of Hongzhi with peace of mind.

(End of chapter)