Chapter 1003

Li Rusong led the Great Ming army to Juyong Pass. He had been here in the first year of Wanli, the ninth year of Wanli, and the twelfth year of Wanli, and had witnessed the changes here with his own eyes.

After the imperial road was repaired, Juyong Pass did not change much, except for an extra tax-splitting bureau and several imperial roads.

The biggest changes were still Nankou Village and Beikou Village. These North and South Kou villages were the entrances to the mountain road in and out of Juyong Pass, and countless civilian houses appeared in the villages surrounding the imperial road.

On the 15th of the 8th month of the 14th year of Zhengtong, Emperor Yingzong was captured at Tumu Fortress. On the 1st of the 10th month, Yexian divided his troops into three routes: one route of 20,000 attacked Gubeikou, one route of 50,000 attacked Juyong Pass from Beikou, and one route of 100,000 approached Zijing Pass.

On the 9th of the 10th month, Yingzong's eunuch Xi Ning informed Yexian that the small path at Zijing Pass could be bypassed. Xi Ning himself went to Zijing Pass to trick the gate open. Zijing Pass was broken, and Yexian led his army into the capital region.

On the 11th, Yexian stationed his troops outside Xizhimen of the capital and divided 20,000 troops to attack from Nankou.

After the Tumu Fortress disaster in the 14th year of Zhengtong, Emperor Yingzong knocked on the gates three times in total, demanding in the name of the Emperor that Xuanfu and Datong open their city gates. The first time was at Xuanfu, the second time at Datong, and the third time at the capital. Xi Ning's knocking on the Zijing Pass gate as Yingzong's eunuch does not count as these three times.

The capital was in danger, and the Great Ming was in danger.

In Li Rusong's view, Yexian made the same mistake as Yingzong, which was being greedy for merit and advancing rashly.

After the Great Ming army was defeated at Tumu Fortress, the capital reorganized its defenses. There was no strong army to expel Yexian. A total of 70,000 troops attacked the North and South Kou of Juyong Pass. Juyong Pass, such a natural barrier, could not stop such a large army's siege; even if they swarmed like ants, they could take it.

Yexian only needed to wait quietly for a few days, wait for the 70,000 troops to take Juyong Pass, and then go from Zijing Pass to outside Xizhimen to plot against the capital.

But Yexian did not; he was anxious.

Without taking Juyong Pass, Yexian began to attack the capital. He was thwarted by Shi Heng at Deshengmen and thwarted by Sun Tang at Xizhimen. Morale collapsed, and the army's heart was unstable.

Juyong Pass could not be taken for a long time, so Yexian had to retreat, and was then caught in a pincer attack by Shi Heng, who was lying in ambush at Qingfeng Store, and Yang Hong, the Xuanfu garrison general who entered the capital from Juyong Pass, suffering heavy losses.

Even as strong as Yuan Taizu Genghis Khan, in the 23-year Mongol-Jin War, he never once launched a fierce attack on the Jin capital without taking Juyong Pass.

Most of the time, Genghis Khan sent troops to plunder everywhere, consuming the Jin Kingdom's foundation, and finally turned the area around the Jin capital into an uninhabited land.

Juyong Pass and Jizhou are the gateways to the capital. If these two places are there, the capital is there. If these two places fall into enemy hands, one must prepare to move south.

This time it is a defeat drill, simulating the Northern Tatars breaking through Xuanfu. The Juyong Pass garrison's main tent was directly hit by a meteorite from the sky. Without the commander's command, the 6,000 capital camp troops had to retreat from Juyong Pass to the North Camp and reorganize.

The content of the drill was not notified in advance.

At the third quarter of the noon hour on the 4th of the 6th month, outside the Juyong Pass, there were continuous roaring explosions, firelight soared into the sky, smoke filled the air, and the sharp neighing of horns resounded throughout the military camp.

"Enemy attack!"

The moment the horn sounded, the originally quiet noon camp immediately came to life. Soldiers ran and shouted. All the soldiers who heard the horn changed color. It took only three minutes to come to the drill ground fully armed. The counting of numbers followed one after another, the number of people was quickly counted, and the soldiers looked serious, lining up to wait for the military order to be conveyed.

"Very good." Ma Lin stood on the drill ground, listening to the reports from each camp. All 6,000 troops were present and assembled.

This is the result of twenty years of strict training and the constant accumulation of three generations of capital camp elite soldiers, finally presented by strict military discipline.

The Datong cavalry led by Ma Lin's father, Ma Fang, was already a rare elite, but when attacked by the enemy, it took a full quarter of an hour to assemble, and many times, people would be missing—many people.

Fleeing in the face of battle to become deserters is very, very common. In the Great Ming army, where peace has lasted for a long time, military readiness is not flourishing, there is no blood righteousness or supreme grace, generals treat soldiers as slaves, and soldiers treat generals as enemies, fleeing in the face of battle is not uncommon.

This is the first item of the drill: assembly. Within five minutes, any team that failed to complete the emergency assembly would be collectively punished.

According to the drill department's plot, at this time, Li Rusong had been killed by a meteorite from the sky, the Juyong Pass city wall had been blown up, the Northern Tatars had already threatened the city, and Juyong Pass could no longer be defended.

"Juyong Pass has fallen. All soldiers listen to the order: abandon all equipment, carry only one flintlock musket, three taels of gunpowder, each team carry one wounded person, each person carry one day's rations, and rush back to the North Camp. After a quarter of an hour, the enemy will start pursuing. Do not delay." Ma Lin gave the order. This 142-li long-distance raid in one day and night was light equipment, not full equipment.

For fully armed heavy infantry to run 142 li in one day, that would be the level of the "Xianzhen Deng" (vanguard) camp, and even whether the vanguard camp could do it depends on the road conditions.

At that time, Ma Lin raised in the drill department that this was very unreasonable.

The 6,000 capital camp elite soldiers' armor, long and short weapons, firearms, gunpowder, horses, etc., were all left to the "enemy." Isn't this providing aid to the enemy?

How many enemies are there? Even if 100,000 Northern Tatars came, with the strength of these two camps of 6,000 people, fully armed, it would be enough to push the enemy out of Beikou, hold the position, and wait for the capital's reinforcements to arrive. That is the optimal solution.

The reason why Juyong Pass is a majestic pass in the world is that the formation cannot be spread out on the mountain road, which gives the defenders room to play.

Even if a meteorite from the sky really leveled Li Rusong's main tent, the Great Ming capital camp elite soldiers would still not lose their combat effectiveness. According to the regulations, without an Assistant Regional Commander, the Company Commander with the longest service time in each bureau would immediately become the Assistant Regional Commander, leading the soldiers to continue fighting.

Ma Lin believes that the capital camp collapse drill is fundamentally untenable. This is also why when Zhu Zaiyu heard about the defeat drill, his face was full of question marks. Zhu Zaiyu does not ask about world affairs, but he is not living in seclusion. Because of firearm research, he has been to the capital camp many times.

The capital camp would choose to die in battle rather than collapse and flee.

But Zhu Zaiyu knew that when there were two cavalry camps and three camps of pursuers surrounding and intercepting the 6,000 collapsed soldiers, Zhu Zaiyu could only say that the drill department really didn't want its face!

When the dummy was carried up, everyone knew it was a drill, but the 142-li assessment was not easy at all.

A short quarter of an hour later, the 6,000-strong army began to flee, abandoning their armor and weapons, and could only flee in units of teams. Teams could not cooperate halfway.

Shen Weian, from the Jiaozhou Garrison Company of Laizhou Prefecture, Shandong, was selected to join the capital camp in the 9th year of Wanli. In the 13th year of Wanli, he passed the selection and became a team leader after meritorious service in the war in Korea. When the horn sounded, he was already prepared to die on the battlefield. No matter what, Juyong Pass could not be lost.

When the dummy was carried up, Shen Weian knew it was a drill, so he followed the order of camp, department, bureau, flag, and team, and led his eleven subordinates to set off. His ranking was very far back, and he was almost the last one to leave Juyong Pass.

Although 142 li is very far, he had already planned the journey: 20 li in one hour, leaving a quarter of an hour for rest. It would only take seven hours to return to the North Camp, and there would be five hours of rest in between.

"Swish!" Arrows suddenly shot out from behind, falling behind Shen Weian's team.

Shen Weian immediately had a headache. Pursuers behind and blockades in front—this was the most difficult part of this collapse drill!

Obviously, the drill department was treating them like Japanese pirates!

After confirming that everyone had set off, Ma Lin set off with his three teams. He was the vanguard, different from other selected elite soldiers. Each person in these three teams had to carry 80 jin of equipment, one jin of water (596 ml), one jin of parched flour, and the three teams carried three wounded dummies.

In addition to arriving at the North Camp on time, Ma Lin also had to lead the 36 people to block the enemy's pursuit and buy time for all the teams.

Under such arduous combat tasks, Ma Lin's team naturally had extra preferential treatment, which was a full three single-wheeled carts!

Shen Weian looked back and saw Ma Lin and the others. Arrows were whistling, and Ma Lin was blocking the pursuit of the cavalry camp. Whether they would be caught depended entirely on whether General Ma Lin's blocking was effective.

"Ma Lin! Today is your death day!" Li Rusong stood in front of the south gate of Juyong Pass, looked at the time, and could start the pursuit.

He turned the nine-foot wooden spear weighing three jin in his hand, drove the horse under him, and chased forward.

Seeing that Li Rusong had a spare horse, Ma Lin cursed and fled with his men!

It would be fine if the pursuers were cavalry, but he actually prepared an extra horse!

The pursuing cavalry could use bows, arrows, and long and short weapons, but could not use firearms. But Ma Lin looked at the flintlock musket in his hand and knew he couldn't block them for long, so he could only fight while retreating, relying on the rugged mountain road and forest cover to block the enemy.

Ma Lin had to block for enough time, at least for an hour.

On the 12-li Nankou mountain road, Ma Lin spent a full hour with his team and Li Rusong, before leading the team into the forest and starting to execute his retreat mission.

Walking along the imperial road is the fastest, only about 120 li, but walking along the imperial road, one will definitely be caught by the pursuers. But changing to another road will greatly increase the distance, and I'm afraid there won't be enough time to return to the camp.

Shen Weian's team was blocked. When passing through Changping County, they were discovered by the Police Inspectorate. The Police Inspectorate took twelve archers to hunt wild boars and happened to run into Shen Weian's collapsed troops. The Police Inspectorate thought they were deserters and surrounded them. Only after seeing the dummy did the Police Inspectorate let them go.

Shen Weian continued to set off. He dared not walk on the main road; the encirclement and interception were all arranged on the main road. He walked on small paths and encountered farmland. According to military regulations, he could not step on farmland, but if he didn't step on farmland, he would have to take a long detour.

He looked left and right, and decisively ordered to pass through the farmland and pass quickly.

When Shen Weian's team passed through the farmland and left, the grass by the side of the road suddenly stood up!

A beacon tower scout stood by the side of the road and recorded the fact that Shen Weian's team had violated military regulations.

After returning to the camp, their team had to compensate this village, including but not limited to repairing pigsties and chicken coops, dredging ditches, repairing bridges and roads, digging wells, etc., and had to explain that they were punished because they stepped on the farmland while the villagers kept thanking them.

If Shen Weian had known that a beacon tower scout was lying in ambush here, specifically recording whether they stepped on the farmland, Shen Weian swore that he would definitely take a detour, even if taking a detour would take an extra quarter of an hour!

It's not that he was afraid of corporal punishment, but it was too shameful to say that he had made a mistake while the villagers were thanking him!

At the third quarter of the Yin hour in the afternoon, Shen Weian's team arrived at Shijiatun Village in Changping County. When they were resting under the tree at the entrance of the village, the village head and the grain chief found Shen Weian and asked for their help. A wild boar had run into the village and was running around. Many of the strong men in the village had gone to the capital to work, and they couldn't deal with this wild boar.

After weighing the pros and cons, Shen Weian used the rakes, hoes, and drills in the village and led the soldiers to kill the wild boar at the entrance of the village. But Shen Weian's team spent a full two quarters of an hour catching the wild boar.

The team continued to set off, heading toward the North Camp.

And Ma Lin also encountered trouble. Li Rusong stuck to Ma Lin like a dog-skin plaster and refused to give up until he caught him. During the entanglement, the single-wheeled carts of Ma Lin's three teams were lost, and the rations were on the carts. Ma Lin and the others had to rush on the road on empty stomachs.

By the evening, Ma Lin's three teams were already very embarrassed. They hid in the Baihujian, drooling at the orchard in Baihujian Village. Fully armed and carrying wounded, and without food, Ma Lin looked at the orchard and ordered to pick apples that were not yet ripe.

Ma Lin specifically wrote an IOU and would come to pay the money himself after the drill.

The apples were sour and astringent because they were not ripe. They squatted by the river in Baihujian and scolded the drill department together, and the resentment in their hearts was finally relieved.

The village head and grain chief of Baihujian Village, with three or five people, brought a basket of pancakes and two pots of cool boiled water and found Ma Lin.

From the time Ma Lin's three teams arrived at the entrance of the village, someone saw them. When they saw these thirty-odd strong men picking fruit to eat, they knew they had lost their rations. Otherwise, these elite soldiers would definitely not do the thing of stealing fruit, and those raw fruits were too hard to eat.

Ma Lin gave the IOU to the village head and grain chief. The village head accepted the IOU and kept saying that there was no need to pay it back. This was the calligraphy of the Marquis of Yangcheng!

After Ma Lin was full, he set off again. These three teams had no rest time. Li Rusong was deceived by the tracks they set, but he could only be deceived for a while, and Li Rusong would definitely catch up.

Ma Lin already knew that he was afraid he wouldn't be able to escape this time and would be brushed as military merit by Li Rusong.

Only a quarter of an hour later, Li Rusong arrived at Baihujian Village with cavalry, asking about the whereabouts of Ma Lin and the others.

The village head and grain chief pointed to the Qipan Mountain in the west, saying that Ma Lin and these 36 people were afraid of being caught by the cavalry, so they went to Qipan Mountain. Li Rusong did not doubt it and chased out for almost half an hour before realizing he had been deceived!

Ma Lin and the others each carried 80 jin of equipment, and even had no rations. Drilling into the mountain forest, the physical exertion was unbearable. Li Rusong did not expect the village head and grain chief to lie to them. Turning the horse's head, this delay allowed Ma Lin and the others to completely escape.

At noon on the 5th of the 6th month, Shen Weian's team finally arrived at the North Camp. The whole team was dizzy with fatigue, and three people were caught by the pursuers to cover for the team.

The Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun was serving cool tea to the guest soldiers returning to the camp. This bowl of cool tea made from rock sugar and tea leaves replenished water and sugar. More clearly, the Great Ming Emperor was buying people's hearts.

"Isn't this Shen Weian? Tired from running? Drink a bowl of tea." Zhu Yijun saw Shen Weian, who was receiving the tea soup, and said with a smile, "Shen Siping, who joined the army with you, is now a Company Commander, right?"

Zhu Yijun knew Shen Weian because he was relatively unlucky.

He went to the Korean battlefield. Just after the battle of Kaicheng, when he was transporting firearms and other items, the donkey was frightened, and his leg was hit by the donkey cart. After injuring his muscles and bones for a hundred days, Shen Weian returned to the rear to recuperate. Later, the camp he was in was rotated down.

Shen Siping and Shen Weian were cousins. Shen Siping fought the entire war against the Japanese in Korea, was promoted to Company Commander, and entered the Lecture Martial Academy to become a junior officer.

"Your Majesty? See Your Majesty." Shen Weian was surprised and hurriedly bowed to pay his respects, then said, "Shen Siping is already a Battalion Commander."

"Oh? Is he already a Battalion Commander? Did he make another contribution?" Zhu Yijun said with slight surprise.

Shen Weian hurriedly brought over a large bowl of tea soup and replied, "Siping followed General Li to Rongcheng last year."

"Then you have to work hard. You are both cousins and joined the capital camp together. He is already a Battalion Commander." Zhu Yijun served a bowl of tea soup to the soldiers behind.

Zhu Yijun said while serving the soup, "This collapse drill has a purpose, mainly to select 3,000 people to go to Edo, Japan. A silver mine was discovered there. The Edo daimyo, the Later Hojo clan, couldn't hold up against the attacks of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu and begged the Nagasaki Governor's Office."

"Edo (today's Tokyo area) is relatively important and can be used as a supply port for going to the Jinshan Kingdom. Moreover, there are silver mines, copper mines, etc., so troops need to be stationed there."

Zhu Yijun explained why there was this collapse drill. It was to select elite soldiers to be stationed in Edo for a long time. With few troops and insufficient supplies, collapse and flight were compulsory courses.

In the Edo area at this time, Mount Fuji was still erupting violently, and volcanic ash covered the sky and the sun. It was not a good place. In recent years, the eruption of Mount Fuji has gradually slowed down. The Edo area, with its plains, abundant water resources, and fertile land, has become a piece of fat that everyone wants to fight for.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi used Jurakudai as the shogunate and ordered all daimyo in the world to attend his inauguration ceremony as shogun. The Later Hojo clan didn't make it, so Toyotomi Hideyoshi used this as an excuse to launch an attack on the Edo area. The main force of the attack was Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Later Hojo clan knew they couldn't stop it. They had farmers in their hands, while Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu had samurai who were separated from farming. The Later Hojo clan simply decided to defect to the Great Ming.

The family head, Ujimasa, sent his son, Ujinao, to Nagasaki as a hostage, hoping that the Great Ming would send troops.

Based on the results of this drill, 3,000 people will be selected to be stationed in Edo for a long time. If they are unable to do so, they will withdraw immediately.

The samurai in the hands of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were pieced together to gather 150,000 samurai to attack Edo City, while the Later Hojo clan only had 50,000 people. Even if 3,000 Great Ming capital camp elite soldiers were used as ten, they were still at a disadvantage in numbers.

If it weren't for the Extreme Joy Sect making Toyotomi Hideyoshi miserable, Edo City would have long fallen into the hands of the old turtle.

After hearing what His Majesty said, Shen Weian immediately heard two words: merit—the time to make contributions had arrived!

Waiting until the third quarter of the noon hour, only 4,300 soldiers returned to the North Camp. The rest either didn't complete the drill or were caught by the pursuers led by Li Rusong. There were five camps of pursuers in total, but there were restrictions, mainly to drive them, not to catch them. Otherwise, these 4,300 people wouldn't have been able to arrive.

The beacon tower scouts also began to return to the camp, and the situations of violating military discipline during the collapse process were all presented to the Imperial Presence.

Zhu Yijun and Qi Jiguang organized the contents of these violations in the Wu Ying Tower. On the whole, all the violations were not serious, and there were not even any training punishments; they were all small mistakes like stepping on farmland.

Qi Jiguang asked the logistics people to settle all the accounts first.

Ma Lin owed money for apples and pancakes, and there were also teams that owed money for meals. The villagers didn't accept the IOUs, so they had to record them and report them to the Company Commander and Battalion Commander, and the capital camp would pay the money.

There were also those who were honest and straightforward. There was one team that lost its rations when it set off, so it walked for a day and a night like this, walked back to the North Camp, and was so hungry that its eyes were shining.

Qi Jiguang and the Assistant Regional Commanders, Battalion Commanders, and Company Commanders confirmed the roster of troops to be stationed in Edo this time one by one, and this collapse drill was finally completely over.

"On the whole, the difficulty was a bit too high. For similar drills next time, the number of pursuers must be reduced. Five camps are still a bit too much."

"Also, give the soldiers enough rations. This time they owed money for meals. I'm afraid the villagers will say that I, the Emperor, am not a human ruler, and actually didn't let the soldiers eat their fill."

"And those who played the pursuers but were captured must be trained. They played the pursuers but were captured instead. This is absolutely not allowed. Obviously, it was to compete for merit, and they were found opportunities by others. Being greedy for merit and advancing rashly is not allowed."

"Each camp, department, bureau, flag, and team must do a summary after the event, be clear about where the problems are, and don't make them again next time. If they can achieve 'collapse without scattering,' that would be even better. This time, it still looks a bit scattered." Zhu Yijun summarized this drill.

The first collapse drill had too much force and was forced too hard, and many people fought with real fire.

Twelve teams were anxious by the pursuers, so they simply set up an ambush, beat the pursuers up, and even captured a few prisoners, completing this collapse drill together.

There was also a team that passed by Baigezhuang and saw the local ruffians bullying people in the village. They captured the three ruffians and brought them to the North Camp. These ruffians were so scared that their legs went soft.

It is worth mentioning that all 36 people led by Ma Lin returned to the North Camp. Carrying 80 jin of equipment, 142 li in one day and night, and even because of the detour, they walked more, but Ma Lin and these vanguards did it.

After Li Rusong and Ma Lin returned to the camp, they went to the drill ground to wrestle, insisting on deciding who was better.

Li Rusong lost this time because of underestimating the enemy. He originally felt that he had a great advantage and did not shoot arrows on the Juyong Pass mountain road, but always wanted to catch them alive. In this way, Ma Lin would be brought back as a prisoner, and Li Rusong would have won completely. As a result, Ma Lin used this mentality to set up layers of traps.

Of course, it was more of a coincidence. If the village head and grain chief of Baihujian Village hadn't deliberately pointed the wrong way, Li Rusong would have been able to catch Ma Lin no matter what.

The capital camp elite soldiers are indeed powerful, but this set of capital camp organization, strict military discipline, and even strict inspection established by Qi Jiguang based on the training method made this army powerful.

Most importantly, in these twenty years, a military soul of reporting to the Son of Heaven and saving the common people has been formed.

The people near the capital are not afraid of the capital camp elite soldiers, but support them, are willing to cover their tracks, and are willing to provide them with food, without worrying that these elite soldiers will rob them of their money and grain.

Mutual trust between the army and the people is the root of all strength.

Only under the influence of military discipline, collective honor, people's trust, and loyalty to the country can all kinds of people—noble, cowardly, timid, etc. —be refined into a strong army like steel.

"General Qi, do you think it is possible for Toyotomi Hideyoshi to make a desperate move and plot against Korea again?" Zhu Yijun asked Qi Jiguang this question after the generals in the Wu Ying Tower went to summarize the results of this drill.

Whenever a country enters a dangerous moment, it becomes exceptionally tough, extremely aggressive, and more radical. The weaker it is, the more it will show its fangs.

"I always feel that Toyotomi Hideyoshi will provoke a war regardless of everything. Winning or losing is not even important. The most important thing is to twist everyone into a rope through war and extend the ruling life of the ruling class." Zhu Yijun explained his reasons again.

The Great Ming Emperor has always believed that the war between the Great Ming and Japan did not stop with the signing of the Kyoto Treaty.

War is usually not a pure external strategy, but more of an internal means.

Maintaining rationality in adversity, pursuing order in chaos, and yearning for light in absolute darkness—this is really too difficult.

Obviously, the shogunate established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi is far less stable than the shogunate established by Oda Nobunaga. He needs to extend his ruling life through war.

"So we must station troops in Edo, station troops in Iwami Silver Mine, and station troops on Tsushima Island to prevent Toyotomi Hideyoshi from jumping over the wall in a hurry. If he wants to use troops against Korea again, he must first suppress those who oppose him. Once the Great Ming is forced to withdraw from Edo, it will be the time when the horn sounds."

"I don't think Toyotomi Hideyoshi can take Edo City." Qi Jiguang talked about his views. Toyotomi Hideyoshi must defeat other daimyo before he can challenge the Great Ming again.

The ownership of the Edo area is a standard that intuitively reflects whether Toyotomi Hideyoshi has the ability to launch a full-scale war.

Qi Jiguang still insisted on his view. He did not think Toyotomi Hideyoshi had the ability to launch a full-scale war because the hearts of the Japanese people had already scattered. The rampant Extreme Joy Sect caused many consensuses in Japan to disintegrate, and its harm was greater than anyone imagined.

Qi Jiguang continued: "As long as the Later Hojo clan successfully defects to the Great Ming and holds Edo City with the help of the Great Ming navy and elite soldiers, more Japanese daimyo who are unable to resist will abandon darkness for light. Now these daimyo have a new choice."

This is the terrible thing about the disintegration of consensus.

Under Xiong Tingbi's management, Iwami Silver Mine is as stable as heaven, while Japan itself is like living in hell. For these defecting daimyo, it is not even a shame in Japan, but a wiser choice.