Chapter 171: We Shall Campaign in Person

Wanyan Hong, who had led his men back, was deeply unhappy, and the chieftains of the other tribes were not much happier either.

An army of twenty thousand had been pierced straight through by a cavalry force of two thousand — even if they had not been strung out in a single long line, it was still humiliating enough.

Even though not a single soul of the Durbet tribe had survived, Wanyan Hong and the chieftains of the other tribes still considered it a burning disgrace.

His father-in-law was unhappy, and as a good son-in-law, the Chongzhen Emperor was also very unhappy.

He had originally planned to join forces with Ligdan Khan, and then link up with his father-in-law's Sibe tribe in Liaodong to hit the Khorchin hard, but damn it all, that old bastard Ligdan Khan had come and hit him first.

His face so dark it seemed water could be wrung from it, Chongzhen stared at Cao Huachun and Xu Xianchun before him. The wordless pressure made both men's backs begin to heat up, and they wanted to reach back and scratch, but feared a breach of decorum before the sovereign.

Forcibly restraining themselves, both men began to break out in a faint, fine sweat on their foreheads.

Only after a long while did Chongzhen finally speak: "So, in other words, Ligdan Khan will be at the walls of Xuanfu in a matter of days?"

Chongzhen's voice broke the silent oppression. Cao Huachun shifted his shoulders and back almost imperceptibly, only to feel that his clothes were about to stick to his flesh. In just that short while, his entire back had already been soaked through with sweat.

Feeling his back grow increasingly uncomfortable, Cao Huachun heard Chongzhen's question and hurriedly replied in a low voice: "In answer to His Majesty, Ligdan Khan mobilized his troops the day before yesterday.

If one reckons the days, in about seven or eight days, he will be beneath the walls of Xuanfu."

Chongzhen grunted and asked, "Has it been thoroughly investigated — why does Ligdan Khan want to force the pass at Xuanfu?"

Cao Huachun's head drooped even lower: "In answer to His Majesty, according to word sent back by our agents on the steppe, it is because of last winter's white disaster; Ligdan Khan also suffered considerable losses.

When Ligdan Khan requested his annual subsidy some days ago, did Your Majesty not refuse? And so that dog-slave Ligdan Khan harbors resentment and has declared he will come to Xuanfu to take it himself."

Chongzhen, hearing this, gave a cold snort.

Subsidy my ass!

The previous emperors gave him money because they had use for him, needing him to keep the Jianzhou barbarians in check. To put it bluntly, it was like mercenaries in later ages — the Great Ming put up the money, and Ligdan Khan had to send men to fight the Jianzhou barbarians.

If that were the case, Chongzhen would not have minded continuing to give him a bit of money to go fight the Jianzhou barbarians. To an emperor, was something that could be solved with money even a problem?

But what did Ligdan Khan actually do?

During the Tianqi reign, Ligdan Khan was already not particularly obedient. Dragging his feet and refusing to fight the Jianzhou barbarians head-on was one thing, but he could at least have played a containing role, right?

But the bastard refused!

The five tribes of the Inner Khalkha were so devastated by this son of a bitch that only the Jarud and Barin tribes remained, forcing Neichi and Seben of the Jarud and Setel of the Barin to already contact Wang Zaiya about submitting to the Ming and settling within the borders.

That could be tolerated — it was all the barbarians' own business anyway, and if they all died off, that was their own business too.

As long as you, Ligdan, kept containing the Jianzhou barbarians for Us, allowing Us to free Our hands to solve the Great Ming's own internal problems, We could tolerate it.

But then Ligdan Khan, not knowing what was good for him, moved his base westward again — not only moving west, but also attacking the Shunyi Prince, Boshetu.

That could not be tolerated. Whether Boshetu was useful now or not could be set aside; at the very least, he was to be kept for great use later. And besides, since when was it your turn, Ligdan Khan, to strike and kick a dog that We raised?

So when Ligdan Khan sent men again some days ago to the Great Ming to demand the annual subsidy, hoping to recoup some of the losses for his disaster-stricken tribes, Chongzhen refused him outright, and made it very clear: if you want grain, cloth, or even ironware, no problem, We can give it all, but you must trade wool for it.

Other things, We do not hold in any regard.

Having sorted out the whole chain of cause and effect, the Chongzhen Emperor gave two cold, mirthless laughs and ordered: "Strike the Jingyang Bell. Summon all officials to the hall."

After Cao Huachun departed with the order, Chongzhen's face was full of dark ferocity. Damn it all, that idiot in history struck it too — the problem was, no one paid him any heed.

Today, We shall strike it as well, and see if there is any blind fool who dares not enter the palace to hear the summons.

By the time the hundred officials had rushed hurriedly to the palace and then hurried on to the Fengtian Hall, they were astonished to discover that Chongzhen had already arrived ahead of them.

Bored out of his mind, Chongzhen waited for the civil and military officials and the nobles to finish forming ranks and completing their obeisances, and then he uttered a single earth-shattering sentence: "We shall personally lead the imperial army on campaign against Ligdan Khan.

The Duke of Ying shall lead the Capital Camps and accompany Us on campaign as the vanguard. The New Army Regional Commander Liu Xingzuo shall lead the New Army as the rear army.

Upon reaching Xuanfu, the Tianxiong Army and the White Rod Army shall be summoned to form the center army. The Ministry of Revenue shall prepare provisions and fodder and conscript civilian laborers."

With a roar, the Fengtian Hall instantly exploded into an uproar. Immediately, a Censor stepped out of the ranks to object: "Your servant memorializes Your Majesty.

As the saying goes, a man worth a thousand pieces of gold does not sit beneath the eaves; Your Majesty's body is worth ten thousand pieces of gold — how can you personally lead a campaign? Does Your Majesty not recall the old affair of Emperor Yingzong?

Moreover, Ligdan Khan is an ally bound by treaty to our Great Ming. For Your Majesty to attack him, your servant deems it improper."

Then another stepped out of the ranks and memorialized: "Your servant seconds the motion. The Sage said: weapons are instruments of ill omen, used by the Sage only when he has no choice. The realm has long been at peace; why must Your Majesty lightly initiate hostilities?"

Chongzhen, however, turned a deaf ear and simply continued: "Our will is decided. Let it be decreed: the Empress shall act as regent. Our beloved ministers Wen and Shi of the Grand Secretariat shall remain behind to assist in governance."

The assembled officials, seeing Chongzhen resort to sheer obstinacy, all turned as one to look at Wen Tiren and Shi Fenglai. You two grandees have been named by that lord on the dragon throne to assist in governance — are you not going to come out and say a few words now?

At that moment, Wen Tiren and Shi Fenglai were also in a tight spot. This lord does whatever pops into his head, and he did not give us any advance warning.

In the entire Great Ming, it was not as if there had been no emperors who personally led campaigns.

The Grand Progenitor, the Hongwu Emperor, was an emperor on horseback; from the moment he raised his troops, he never did little else but take up a blade and hack at men — there is nothing much to say about that.

The second who liked to personally lead campaigns was the Chengzu Yongle Emperor.

This lord could also be considered an emperor on horseback; after all, he had been fighting ever since he launched the Jingnan Campaign, and later fought the Three Guards of Duoyan and also fought the Mongol miscreants — his combat power was also top-tier.

The third was Emperor Xuanzong, Zhu Zhanji. He was personally trained by the Yongle Emperor, and personally led a campaign to strike down the Prince of Han, Zhu Gaoxu.

The fourth was Emperor Yingzong, Zhu Qizhen. There is not much to say about this one; he was entrapped by a cabal of the Great Ming's civil officials at Tumu Fortress, took himself a free tour of the steppe, and ascended the throne twice — a remarkable man in his own right.

As for the last one, the Zhengde Emperor, Zhu Houzhao. This lord was also a ruthless character.

In the tenth month of the twelfth year of Zhengde, ignoring the freezing cold weather, he happily fought it out with the Mongol Prince's tribe at Yingzhou.

At a moment when the Ming army was once divided and surrounded by the Prince's tribe, this lord personally led a detachment to the rescue. Back and forth, he clashed with the Prince's tribe over a hundred times, and in the end, ground the Prince's tribe into the dirt.

Of course, such an awesome emperor was not a good emperor in the eyes of the Great Ming's righteous gentlemen, and so the final battle record of the Zhengde Emperor, who personally took up a blade to hack at men, was that in the war with the Prince, a total of two men were killed, one of whom was personally hacked to death by Zhengde...

It is just that the Great Ming's righteous gentlemen have always been too lazy to use their pitifully small brains to think: would the Prince have backed down just because two Mongol soldiers were killed? Is that not a damn joke?

They clashed over a hundred times and only two men died?

In that wretched weather, it would have been a good thing if only two hundred had frozen to death, and yet only two died — well, they were civil officials, after all; when they could not handle or settle something, they just applied a bit of the Spring and Autumn brush, right?

So in the end, Zhengde was also made into a joke, and after falling into the water, his kidneys failed and he died. An emperor who could personally take up a blade and hack at men in freezing weather was actually kidney-deficient — one has to say, the Spring and Autumn brush, formidable, formidable.

Counting up these several emperors of the Great Ming, one finds that not a single one was as shameless as the current lord, the Chongzhen Emperor.

Of the above, apart from the Grand Progenitor and Chengzu, the rest all resorted to trickery, tantrums, and did not hesitate to appoint themselves Generalissimo just to get a personal campaign.

This lord, on the other hand, with no second word, simply wants to campaign in person — what are Wen Tiren and Shi Fenglai supposed to say to that?

Wen Tiren sorted out his thoughts, and only then stepped out of the ranks and said: "I memorialize Your Majesty: if Your Majesty is to campaign in person, it must be deliberated at length."

(End of Chapter)