Chapter 151: Recapturing Danning Guard

Regarding Qi Jiguang's research into how to kill efficiently, Zhu Yijun's attitude was very clear: he regretted not being strong enough to accompany him.

The Great Ming Capital Battalion's first battle was a success, but this was not the end. This expedition beyond the frontier was not like the Gule Stockade; destroying one enemy camp was not the conclusion—it was merely a beginning.

This victory seemed very easy, even achieving a crushing posture, which was indeed a matter of course.

Qi Jiguang disliked military risks very much. In his view, any military risk was an act of irresponsibility toward himself, his soldiers, the imperial court, and the mission entrusted by the imperial decree. Throughout his life, all his victories were determined after careful planning, meticulous preparation, and earnest execution, ultimately leading to success.

He was just that kind of person, and he used that kind of strategy—a pillar capable of supporting the Great Ming's sky.

A commander of talent.

The Great Ming military camp arrived at the old site of Yingzhou Guard. The city walls built during the Hongwu reign had long since collapsed. This place had long become a gathering point for the Northern Hu's left wing. The terrain on all four sides was relatively high, sheltered from the northern winds, and with water nearby, it was indeed very suitable for camping.

The Capital Battalion brought out dozens of carts, measuring the distance for the infantry carts to determine the specific length of the Yingzhou Guard "winnowing basket" terrain. Afterward, they built a camp fortress, gradually moving the site of the war from Great Ming territory to the Northern Hu's lands, shifting from the defensive side to the offensive side.

Changing the form of offense and defense, pushing the front line into the enemy's ranks—this was the main purpose of the Capital Battalion's expedition beyond the frontier.

This was the first camp fortress Great Ming established beyond the frontier. Qi Jiguang's military task was to build twenty-four camp fortresses from Xifengkou to Danning Guard, and from Danning Guard to Guangning Guard, reducing the passivity in the northeast direction.

"We beheaded over 1,700 people. Li Rusong pursued them and beheaded another 200; the remaining hundred or so escaped. Our casualties..." Yang Wen looked at the battle report with a furrowed brow and said, "Our casualties are zero. Only one Frankish gunner from the Third Battalion, Second Division, Third Company, Fourth Bureau, Sixth Cart was slightly injured because a shell exploded in the barrel."

Four combat carts make one bureau, the commander of a bureau is a Company Commander; four bureaus make one company, the commander of a company is a Battalion Commander; four companies make one division, the commander of a division is a Regiment Commander; two divisions make one battalion, the commander of a battalion is a Mobile Corps Commander.

One cart has 20 men: 10 regular soldiers and 10 special forces.

Great Ming's casualties were truly too few—so few that if such a battle report were submitted, the censor officials would likely claim the commanders were concealing the true losses.

This was nothing strange. After all, the grain transported from the Southern Yamen to the capital always mysteriously caught fire or sank, so those court officials who did such things always assumed Qi Jiguang was also concealing his losses.

"Just report it this way." Qi Jiguang stamped the battle report. No one died meant no one died. Every soldier had a father and a mother; deaths could not be concealed. The censors were eager to use telescopes to find trouble with the Capital Battalion, but Qi Jiguang did not fear this trouble.

What is, is. Winning is winning, losing is losing. Qi Jiguang would not whitewash the peace. As for the court censors and public opinion, that was not the soldiers' battlefield; it was better left to His Majesty and the Grand Secretary to handle.

Yang Wen spread out a map and said, "Tuman Tian Kehan Tumen has five ten-thousand-man units: the Chahar unit under Naomao Da, the Khalkha unit under Subahai, the right-wing Ordos unit under Qijin Huang Taiji, the Yongshebu unit under Chibadu'er, and the Tumet unit under Chelike. Each unit has at least ten thousand cavalrymen available for dispatch."

"And the Yingzhou Guard we just broke belongs to Naomao Da of the Chahar unit. If Tumen receives news of our advance and gathers the five units to attack any of our routes with superior force, there may be danger."

"It is snowing. Their mutual support and defense might be difficult, but we must still be cautious."

"After all, we only have ten thousand men."

Yang Wen was not optimistic about this offensive because the enemy's strength remained extremely formidable. Tumen had at least sixty thousand men, while the Capital Battalion had only ten thousand.

Qi Jiguang nodded and said, "Your concern is very correct. The grassland people's way of fighting is completely different from Great Ming's. Great Ming's advance involves carrying sufficient supplies and grain, moving step by step. But the grassland people's way of fighting emphasizes coming and going like the wind. Although the timing is not with the Northern Hu, they still have the possibility of gathering superior force."

The Northern Yuan court was crushed by Great Ming General Lan Yu at Buyu Lake, and afterward, the Northern Yuan court became the Northern Yuan Khanate. As time passed, the Northern Hu split into three, dividing into the Oirat, Tatar, and Uriankhai tribes.

Yesian, who routed and captured the Ming Emperor Zhu Qizhen at Tumu Fortress, was the Grand Preceptor of the Oirat. At that time, the Tian Kehan of the grasslands was Tuotuo Buha. After Tuotuo Buha died, his third younger brother, Mandulu, inherited the position of Tian Kehan.

After Mandulu died, there was no heir, so Borjigin Batumongke inherited the Tian Kehan position, calling himself the Great Yuan Tian Kehan. Great Ming referred to him as Dayan Tian Kehan or the Little Prince.

The Little Prince gradually unified the various Mongol tribes of the Southern Desert, becoming the Tian Kehan in name and in fact.

The Little Prince divided the Southern Desert Mongols into 6 ten-thousand-man units, divided into left and right wings, and enfeoffed his sons to serve as shields for the Great Tian Kehan.

The left wing consisted of: the Chahar unit, the Uriankhai unit, and the Khalkha unit. The right wing consisted of: the Ordos unit, the Tumet unit, and the Yongshebu unit.

After the Little Prince died, the Tumet tribe's Altan Tian Kehan rose strongly, the left wing began to flee east, the various Uriankhai tribes were annexed, and finally, a situation of confrontation between the left and right wings was formed.

Tuman Tian Kehan Borjigin Tumen had always regarded Altan Tian Kehan as a traitor, but his strength was inferior, so he could only swallow his anger, stealing horses and feuding with Altan Tian Kehan.

Tuman Tian Kehan Tumen took pride in the golden lineage of Genghis Tian Kehan Temujin, and he controlled over sixty thousand archers.

Unlike Great Ming's way of fighting, which is one step at a time—vanguard, main force, supplies, attacking one place, occupying it, and continuing forward—the grassland people do not care about the gain or loss of a single place. They have no psychological burden regarding fleeing; their way of fighting is to come and go like the wind.

A distance of two hundred li might take the Great Ming army five or six days to reach, but the grassland tribes might gather in less than a day.

Even if the timing is not with Tuman Tian Kehan because the snow has frozen the ground, reducing the grassland gathering speed, one must absolutely not take it lightly.

Qi Jiguang made arrangements for the main army. After resting for one night at Yingzhou Guard, they began to continue their advance toward Danning Guard.

At this time, Borjigin Tumen, the suzerain Tian Kehan of the Mongols, also received news of Great Ming's advance, because the fleeing soldiers from Yingzhou Guard had already proven that the Great Ming army's strength in this expedition was formidable.

Moreover, Tumen quickly figured out who was attacking: Qi Jiguang.

Qi Jiguang's tooth-banner was easy to distinguish. Although the fleeing soldiers were terrified of every tree and bush, they still knew who had killed them.

Naomao Da said in extreme terror, "Should we retreat immediately? That is Qi Jiguang!"

Qi Jiguang's name was like a nightmare. Tumen had many times wanted to replicate Altan Tian Kehan's experience, defeating the Great Ming army in Jizhou from Xifengkou and Beigu Pass, plundering the capital region, and forcing the Great Ming court to grant tribute.

But Tumen, after countless attacks and probes, had suffered losses of troops and generals, always without success.

If you can't beat them, you can't beat them. Qi Jiguang's name stood like an impenetrable shield in the Great Ming capital region, making Tumen suffer bitterly.

The victim Dong Huli, whose request for reward had been completely annihilated and whose nephew had been captured, heard that Qi Jiguang had attacked. He thought earnestly and arrived at an answer he believed to be correct.

"Qi Jiguang's attack this time should just be to achieve a battle record like Li Chengliang's conquest of Gule Stockade in Liaodong: suddenly attacking beyond the frontier during heavy snow, annihilating a tribe, and then demanding rewards from the court," Dong Huli said with certainty.

"How do you see that?" Tumen looked at Dong Huli. Dong Huli was actually also a ten-thousand-man unit commander, a unit commander of the Uriankhai tribe, but the three Uriankhai tribes had already been annexed by the eastward-fleeing Mongol left wing, so Dong Huli had no substantive ten-thousand-man unit title, and his few remaining troops had also been completely annihilated by Qi Jiguang.

Dong Huli said with certainty, "Central Plains people like infighting. Li Chengliang of Liaodong went beyond the frontier and achieved results, while Qi Jiguang, who has been training troops in the capital for three years, has achieved nothing. Qi Jiguang must prove his existence, which is why he went beyond the frontier to fight."

Tumen looked at Dong Huli, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Central Plains people like infighting, just like us grassland people, right? Why are we here? Isn't it because Altan Tian Kehan drove us here?"

"Does Qi Jiguang need to prove his existence? Isn't he dazzling enough? We have suffered losses of troops and generals in his hands time and again. As long as he is in the north for one day, we cannot break through Xifengkou and fulfill our wishes."

Tumen did not speak politely at all. Regarding Dong Huli's defeat in the first year of Wanli, although Tumen did not punish him, he held a natural attitude of suspicion toward Dong Huli's words.

Dong Huli said Qi Jiguang went beyond the frontier to fight, even occupying Yingzhou Guard, just to find a sense of existence.

The problem was, does a person like Qi Jiguang need to find a sense of existence? Qi Jiguang's existence made some people feel like they had a fishbone in their throat.

Therefore, Tumen judged that the goal of Qi Jiguang's expedition beyond the frontier was absolutely not to train troops or find a sense of existence. After winning, he would immediately return within the Great Wall; Qi Jiguang would definitely continue to attack.

Tumen had fought Qi Jiguang for a full eight years. Although the last three years were against Qi Jiguang's subordinate Chen Dacheng, Tumen considered himself to have a fair understanding of Qi Jiguang.

Qi Jiguang would absolutely not be satisfied with having finally overcome all difficulties to go beyond the frontier just to take back one Yingzhou Guard.

"Report! Report! Tian Kehan, Fumin Post and Kuanhe City have been broken by the Great Ming army! The tooth-banner is Chen Dacheng, Jizhou troops!" A messenger ran in in a flurry. Tumen stood up abruptly.

It was just as he had anticipated. The Great Ming army's attack was absolutely not like the pacification of Gule Stockade before, but carried a powerful purpose. This purpose was naturally the land beneath Tumen's buttocks: Danning Guard.

"Great Tian Kehan, what should we do!" Naomao Da pulled hard at the few hairs on his head, extremely anxious.

The Great Ming army was coming aggressively, and the person coming was Qi Jiguang.

Tumen, when the northwest wind blew fiercely and it was freezing cold, felt a layer of cold sweat rise on his back. But he could not panic. As Tian Kehan, if he panicked, the trouble would be big. Unlike some muddled court officials in the capital, Tumen knew too well the terror of the three words "Qi Jiguang."

"Don't panic!" Tumen waved his hand and said with forced composure, "Let me think."

Tumen, in the cold wind, actually thought of a way, which was to attack where the enemy must save. This was also a path dependency formed by long-term warfare: when Great Ming attacks, the grassland tribes raid the places Great Ming must save, and Great Ming will inevitably withdraw its troops.

So, regarding the place that must be saved, Tumen thought and thought, and thought of the Liaodong Regional Military Commission, Liaoyang.

"Let Subahai of the Khalkha unit lead his own troops to press Liaodong immediately, and summon the other units to bring troops here immediately!" Tumen, in an emergency situation, made a decision.

The Tuman tribe, or Chahar tribe, did not have a very harmonious relationship with the five Khalkha tribes. The five Khalkha tribes were known as the Five Great Camps, with twenty thousand troops in their hands, strong and sturdy. Tuman Tian Kehan Tumen was also helpless against these five strong Khalkha tribes.

At this time, letting Subahai of the Khalkha unit lead his own troops to raid Liaodong, and then gathering his own troops, either to block or to flee.

Although this decision could not be called wise, it absolutely could not be called wrong.

Tumen looked at Dong Huli and said, "Dong Huli, you lead your own troops to Fushu to block Qi Jiguang's advance. You must drag him for one day to buy time for our army."

"Me?" Dong Huli asked blankly, "Can I block him?"

"You can." Tumen nodded with conviction and said.

Contradictions are everywhere, so struggles are everywhere. The relationship between Dong Huli and the five Khalkha tribes was extremely close. At this time, naturally, Dong Huli was sent to fill the line, or rather, to die.

Dong Huli left the Tian Kehan's Golden Tent at Danning Guard in a daze, standing in the snow, feeling somewhat lost for a time. Going to Fushu to block Qi Jiguang was to die. He knew deeply the terror of Qi Jiguang; after all, his nephew Buha was still in the hands of the Great Ming army.

But if he didn't go to Fushu, he would die immediately; Tumen would definitely kill him.

Dong Huli set off. From Yingzhou Guard to Danning Guard, there was a pass in the middle, which was Fushu (today's Jianping County).

When Dong Huli rushed to Fushu, he breathed a sigh of relief and didn't need to be troubled anymore. Qi Jiguang's vanguard had already occupied this place, and Dong Huli didn't need to defend here anymore.

Speed is precious in war. The Great Ming army's marching speed was much, much faster than Tumen had recognized.

Dong Huli naturally wanted to try to recapture this pass. This place was six parts mountain, three parts water, and one part field, a place easy to defend and hard to attack. If he could recapture it, he could naturally defend it for a while.

Dong Huli let two Company Commanders lead two hundred men to try to attack. The result of the battle was that if Dong Huli hadn't run fast, he would have been beheaded by Li Rusong directly.

Letting two Company Commanders probe was already worthy of Tuman Tian Kehan's golden bloodline.

Dong Huli didn't hesitate much and immediately began to head north. He could not return to Danning Guard, otherwise Tuman Tian Kehan would definitely kill him to sacrifice the flag. He simply headed north directly to join forces with Subahai of the Khalkha unit to attack Liaoyang, attacking where the enemy must save, so that even Tuman Tian Kehan couldn't do anything to him.

Qi Jiguang's main force arrived at Fushu. During the Liao Dynasty, this belonged to the Liao Kingdom's Dating Prefecture. The Jin followed the Liao system, still calling it Dating Prefecture Fushu County. During the Yuan Dynasty, it was renamed Danning Road. During the Hongwu reign, Fushu County was under the jurisdiction of Danning Guard.

Nearly two hundred years had passed, and the earth and stone city walls of that year had been deliberately destroyed. Because the water and grass were not lush enough, this place had become increasingly dilapidated, with only some broken walls and ruins still quietly telling of the past glory.

Li Rusong began to advance again. Since he had already been exposed, Li Rusong's vanguard did not cover up, bringing a large number of regular box-carts, rushing straight to Danning Guard, camping until twenty li away from Danning Guard, and then the scouts unfolded a fierce confrontation.

Naomao Da led five thousand men out of Danning Guard to attack Li Rusong's vanguard army.

Li Rusong's purpose was to establish a forward stronghold. He occupied favorable terrain, lined up the two hundred and fifty regular box-carts he carried to serve as an artillery position, and bombarded Naomao Da. Under the exploding shells, Naomao Da left behind more than two hundred corpses he couldn't drag away and fled back into the city.

The effective killing range of Li Rusong, the Martial Champion, with a bow and arrow in the field was sixty steps. Any further, he couldn't hit it, and he couldn't hit it accurately.

And the artillery's range was beyond eighty steps, which meant that even if every Northern Hu was stronger than Li Rusong, they would have to eat a round of artillery bombardment before entering the shooting range. And the sixty-step distance was the firing distance of Great Ming's firelocks, and the more accurate Pingyi firelocks were also the nightmare of the Northern Hu. The slightly sturdier Northern Hu would all be picked off one by one by the Pingyi firelocks.

The Pingyi firelock used four qian of gunpowder and three qian of lead pellets, specifically responsible for sniping armored soldiers within sixty steps.

After Naomao Da suffered a crushing defeat, he returned to the city and came to the Golden Tent to plead guilty. After Tumen heard Naomao Da's report, he had a clear understanding: this Great Ming army was actually an army based on firearms, and the use of artillery and firelocks was superb.

"You get up. It's not your fault; it's that your opponent is too powerful." The Mongol suzerain Tian Kehan Tuman Tian Kehan waved his hand powerlessly and said, "It's not your fault."

Tuman Tian Kehan Tumen had no firearms. The bows and arrows they relied on for their lives could not cause any damage to the opponent at all.

The sky had changed. This was the biggest feeling Tuman Tian Kehan Tumen had since engaging with the Great Ming army. The application of firearms and their formidable power made Tuman Tian Kehan Tumen feel that their backward way of fighting would inevitably be eliminated.

And Tumen was very certain that this was not an illusion.

Qi Jiguang's way of fighting was actually the way of Northwest Viceroy Weng Wanda at the beginning: artillery bombardment followed by firelock bombardment, using firearms to cause large-scale casualties to the enemy.

The Northern Hu's military discipline was not strict, or rather, there was no military discipline. If the losses were slightly large, exceeding ten percent, they would collapse, and the psychological deterrence caused by artillery was even more chilling.

"Great Tian Kehan, what should we do?" Naomao Da stood up from the ground. His legs were still shaking, and he couldn't even stand steadily. The blood lotuses exploded by the shells still made Naomao Da feel lingering fear, his soul still not settled.

Fighting with so many firearms really made Naomao Da have a headache, not knowing how to fight.

"It's too late to wait for Subahai's news. Gather the troops immediately and prepare to leave!" Tumen, after careful consideration, planned a strategic retreat.

The Great Ming army's firepower was too formidable. Tumen was not sure if he forced his soldiers to charge and trap, whether these grassland men's curved blades would slash at the Great Ming army or at him, the Tian Kehan.

"Qi Jiguang is so powerful, why doesn't he go to the northwest to fight Altan Tian Kehan, but come here to fight us!" Tumen said extremely angrily.

Naomao Da said in a low voice, "In the first year of Longqing, we broke through Xifengkou, entered Yongping, and plundered the Luanhe area. Qi Jiguang, in the second year of Longqing, went from south to north—wasn't it to guard against us? He stationed in Jizhou, Yongping, and Shanhai Pass, and he was fighting us."

The facts were indeed so. Qi Jiguang went from south to north just to guard the capital's northern gate, Jizhou.

Tumen heard this, couldn't catch his breath, coughed angrily, pointed at Naomao Da, and said extremely angrily, "What do you mean? It's my fault for fighting, right!"

"No, Great Tian Kehan, I don't have that meaning." Naomao Da immediately waved his hands repeatedly, shaking his head like a rattle-drum, and said hurriedly.

Tumen sighed heavily, shook his head, and said, "Let Danning Guard be given to them."

Grassland people's way of fighting is like this: it doesn't care about the gain or loss of a city or a place. If you can beat them, fight; if you can't, run. If you are strong, I will hibernate; if you are weak, I will bully you.

The next day, the Jizhou troops led by Chen Dacheng arrived under the city of Danning Guard. Along the way, Chen Dacheng, who occupied the advantage of firearms, was two days later than Qi Jiguang's Capital Battalion.

Chen Dacheng was responsible for support as the western route army, Qi Jiguang was responsible for the attack as the middle route army, and Li Chengliang was responsible for cutting off reinforcements as the eastern route army.

Tuman Tian Kehan's response was to shrink his forces, completely shrinking the forces along the western route army, and then sending Dong Huli to block Qi Jiguang in the middle, and sending the five Khalkha tribes to harass Liaoyang.

This response was not a problem, but the mistake was seriously underestimating the Great Ming army's strength. The Great Ming army was like fire in its aggression, and its marching speed was really too fast. The mistake was that the Tuman tribe's collapse speed was really too fast.

The confrontation lasted for two days. When Chen Dacheng's logistics supplies arrived, Qi Jiguang sent two cart battalions to probe the city.

Everyone looked toward the city of Danning Guard. Qi Jiguang observed the battlefield with a telescope.

The enemy's morale was very low. The Northern Hu soldiers Qi Jiguang saw had no fighting spirit at all. After all, the terrifying power of Great Ming's firearms in the contact battles of the past two days had already scared some people out of their wits. The enemy's military equipment was not fine, the armor-wearing rate was extremely low, one or two in a hundred had iron armor, more than ten had leather armor, and most importantly, there were no firearms.

On a snowy day, the Northern Hu lost their most important mobility, and the Northern Hu relied on the city walls for defense, occupying a certain geographical advantage. But the low earth city walls became insignificant in front of Great Ming's nearly one thousand artillery pieces, and the most important human factor was that the enemy's resistance will was not tenacious.

With timing, geography, and human factors, the enemy occupied none. On the battlefield, the scales of victory had already begun to tilt.

The general offensive began. Great Ming's artillery began to roar. Under the cover of artillery fire, Great Ming's cart battalions pushed the regular box-carts and side-carts with large shields close to the city walls.

The enemy's blocking force was weaker than imagined. The enemies on the city walls, under the suppression of artillery fire, couldn't lift their heads at all, let alone defend the city with arrows, rolling logs, and the like. The city gate was blown up; the Great Ming army placed gunpowder and blew up the city gate.

This move was learned from the methods of Great Ming's Luzon Viceroy, Minister of War, and Si Shui Earl Yin Zhengmao. Traditional siege carts were really too slow. Putting gunpowder in a coffin, pushing the coffin cart to the city gate, lighting the fuse, and waiting for the gunpowder to explode—the city gate was blown open amidst the powerful explosion.

The city gate was not filled with earth and wood, proving that the enemy didn't intend to resist to the end at all.

The scouts soon reported that Tumen had led his main force to flee from the north city gate. Tumen, who possessed a large number of horses, fled extremely fast. The key was that there were other units to meet him. Qi Jiguang did not order pursuit, but completely occupied Danning Guard.

The Capital Battalion and Jizhou troops attacking Danning Guard totaled thirty thousand men. These thirty thousand men could not complete the siege, so Tumen could still flee... strategic retreat.

There were two thousand Northern Hu in Danning Guard, led by Naomao Da to cover the retreat. Tumen could flee, but Naomao Da was not so lucky. He was captured in a dung pit in the city. Naomao Da hoped that the Great Ming army would not find him, and then escape when Danning Guard's defense was lax.

After capturing Danning Guard, Qi Jiguang led the Capital Battalion in a brief rest. He did not intend to stop his pace; instead, after the rest, he would lead his troops north again to continue the attack on Quanning Guard, using offense to replace defense, forcing the five Khalkha King tribes to withdraw their troops from the Liaoyang direction.

Standing on the city walls of the old city of Danning Guard, it was full of scars. The Ning Prince's Mansion, which was glorious for a time, had completely collapsed, replaced by the Golden Tent. Tumen left in a hurry, not even taking this tent away.

Danning Guard had a Ning Prince's Mansion. In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, in April, the Taizu Gao Emperor enfeoffed Zhu Quan as the Ning Prince. The Ning Prince went to his fief and built the Ning Prince's Mansion.

The Ning Prince's Mansion was built by reducing the scale of the Nanjing Imperial City. The mansion was magnificent, with carved beams and painted rafters.

Time passed, and with the relocation of Danning Guard and the Ning Prince's Mansion, now only the head gate remained. The two walls of the head gate were embedded with two large characters "Ping Han," eight feet high and six feet wide, carved from bluestone, not destroyed by the Northern Hu.

Qi Jiguang stood before the head gate of the Ning Prince's Mansion, lingering for a long time.

He could understand the decision of the Wen Emperor to abandon Danning Guard in those years. Qi Jiguang possessed excellent military talent; he could understand the strategic thinking of the Chengzu Wen Emperor.

"Zheng Xiao's 'Huang Ming Si Yi Kao' and Yan Congjian's 'Shu Yu Zhou Zi Lu' both say that the reason the Wen Emperor abandoned Danning Guard in those years was to reward the Uriankhai Three Guards, that is, the Doyan Three Guards, for helping the Wen Emperor in the Jingnan campaign. The Wen Emperor rewarded the Doyan Three Guards with the ninety cities of Danning Guard. What does the Qi Commander think?" Vice Mobile Corps Commander Ma Fang also stood before the head gate of the Ning Prince's Mansion, saying with great emotion.

Qi Jiguang sneered and shook his head, saying, "Nonsense. Did the Wen Emperor need the help of the Doyan Three Guards in the Jingnan campaign?"

"During the Jingtai reign, the Doyan Three Guards petitioned the Jingtai Emperor, asking to enter Danning Guard to graze, but were severely reprimanded by the Jingtai Emperor and were not allowed to operate in Danning Guard. How could it be that the Wen Emperor abandoned the land to reward the Doyan Three Guards?"

"Not reading national history, editing at will—these Confucian scholars really make one speechless."

Ma Fang asked suspiciously, "Then does the Qi Commander think the Wen Emperor's abandonment of the land was correct?"

Qi Jiguang nodded quite solemnly and said, "Hmm, the abandonment of Danning Guard, seen at that time, was extremely reasonable."

"Mainly it was expensive. Danning Guard consumed one million shi of grain and pay a year, but had no output. There were only soldiers, no civilians. How could it be self-sufficient? Abandonment was truly a helpless move. The Wen Emperor's thinking was actually very simple: use offense to replace defense. The consumption of war is far lower than the consumption of guarding the border."

"How could the Wen Emperor have thought that after the Yongle reign, the trend of promoting literature and suppressing martial arts would become increasingly intense."

The abandonment of Danning Guard in Qi Jiguang's view was extremely reasonable. It was just expensive. There were no civilians, only soldiers. The grain produced by farming was simply not enough for consumption.

Guarding the border? During the Yongle reign, there was basically no talk of the northern border. The Wen Emperor went on five northern expeditions. Wherever the Great Ming army fought, that was the border.

Using offense to replace defense was the thinking method of the Yongle reign, just like what Qi Jiguang is doing now.

Offense is cheaper than defense. The cost of defense is extremely expensive. The Yongle Emperor who made the decision to abandon Danning Guard at the beginning never thought that after the Yongle reign, the Great Ming army would actually lose the ability to attack. It is sigh-inducing. Requesting monthly tickets, Aowu!!!!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 152 =====