Chapter 1695: His Majesty's Army Has Arrived!

The city of Datong in the Ming dynasty was very likely the most impregnable, most easily defended, and hardest-to-attack city in all of China — bar none!

This city was originally expanded and rebuilt in the fifth year of Hongwu by the great general Xu Da, who directed soldiers and civilians to build upon the foundations of the old Datong earthen city left behind by the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties.

The fortress expanded and rebuilt by Xu Da was the core bastion of what would later become the phoenix-shaped Datong fortress complex, roughly three li long from east to west, three and a half li from north to south, and thirteen li in circumference. The walls were built tall and imposing, solid and precipitous, fully equipped with every kind of defensive installation, forming a complete defensive system of its own. The walls were uniformly founded upon regularly cut stone blocks, slabs, squares, and pillars, the body of the wall rammed section by section and layer by layer with "triple-mixed earth," and the exterior faced with grey bricks. The grey bricks used for the walls were specially made — large and heavy, several times heavier than ordinary city bricks. The Datong walls were also built high and wide, standing over four zhang tall and reaching five zhang five chi at their widest. Along the four sides of the walls were more than 580 crenellations, 62 gate towers, watchtowers, and corner towers, and 96 guard shelters — a magnificent sight, as secure as a moat of molten metal.

A city of such scale was still only the initial form of Ming-dynasty Datong. After the Tumu Crisis, Datong underwent several more rounds of expansion. Outside the north, east, and south gates, three outer fortified towns were built — in truth, three small fortresses no less sturdy than the main city, arrayed around three sides of Datong in mutually supporting positions. Seen from high above, they resembled a phoenix spreading only its left wing, which gave rise to the name "Phoenix City."

Even after building the three outer towns, the Ming court and ministers still felt uneasy. Citing the concern that "a lone garrison city has no supporting defenses," they built the two forts of Jule and Gaoshan to the east and west of the city, making them the two wings of Datong.

Thus Datong came to have "one city, three outer towns, and two wings" — six extraordinarily sturdy fortresses in all.

If one were to give this city of Datong a fair assessment, it would be that it was fortified to excess. For the Mongols beyond the Datong border wall, or for the Later Jin army that was about to appear near Datong Garrison, there was no third method of taking it apart from starving it out or persuading it to surrender.

Perhaps it was precisely because of the city's impregnability that the soldiers, civilians, and officials of Datong Garrison came to rely too heavily on its defenses and neglected training and war readiness. In particular, after the military power of the Mongol Tumed Tumen beyond the Datong border wall gradually declined and they abandoned raiding altogether, Datong — once the foremost of the Nine Border Garrisons — fell increasingly into neglect. In the eyes of the Ming dynasty's young Son of Heaven, Zhu Youjian, the soldiers, civilians, and officials of Datong Garrison — the descendants of those heroes who had once followed the founding meritorious officials of the Great Ming to sweep the north, secure the border, and restore the Han realm — had now lost the courage to fight a single battle for the Ming dynasty. This was no good thing for the Great Ming, nor for the soldiers, civilians, and officials of Datong themselves.

That was why Zhu Youjian had ordered the fierce Liaodong general Man Gui to lead 15,000 Liaodong troops into Datong — the aim being to use these outside Liaodong troops as the backbone for a comprehensive overhaul of Datong's defenses.

He did not expect Man Gui to produce 130,000 or 140,000 battle-ready troops, but forty or fifty thousand crack soldiers still had to be trained.

Otherwise Datong would become a weak point in the tri-garrison defense system of Xuan, Da, and Ji, and in the future it might be broken through by the invading eastern barbarian bandits.

But beyond Man Gui's expectations, the Datong Garrison under his command had not yet encountered the westward-advancing eastern barbarian Jurchens when it was suddenly broken through by troops led by the "Running Khan" of the Chakhar tribe!

Had this happened in western Liaoning, the Running Khan of the Chakhar tribe, Ligdan Batur, would very likely already have been beaten to a pulp by the crack troops of the Liaodong Garrison.

But this was Datong. Man Gui had only 15,000 reliable Liaodong troops, and of those, the most combat-effective household retainers numbered only a little over 1,000.

Nor could these 15,000 Liaodong troops all be stationed in Datong city itself, because concentrating them all there would leave the thousand-li border wall of Datong Garrison virtually undefended. Recently the region beyond the Datong border wall had fallen into chaos, with the Uriankhai Mongol tribes scattered by the Hutuktu Khan rampaging everywhere. If the Datong border wall were left unguarded, they would surely burst in and plunder first before anything else.

So Man Gui had no choice but to detach more than 10,000 men to garrison Zhenlu Guard, Yanghe Guard, Datong Right Guard, Yulin Guard, Weiyuan Guard, Pinglu Guard, Yunchuan Guard, Juluo Battalion, and Gaoshan Battalion, among other places. These dispersed Liaodong troops were enough to deal with small bands of Mongol tribes, but they could not stop the great army of the Hutuktu Khan.

To stop the Hutuktu Khan's great army, the local military forces of Datong would have to be properly reorganized.

But how could the local military families, garrison troops, and military households of Datong Garrison be so easily reorganized? They were organizations more than two hundred years old, long since deeply entangled and long since a world unto themselves. These groups either coalesced around the local military families of Datong Garrison — such as the Ma Family Generals and the Ma Family Generals — or dozens of military guard lineages passed down for over two hundred years banded together for mutual protection; and on top of it all, a Princely Establishment of Dai that should have been guarding the region had long since carved up and divided the very foundation of Datong's military strength — the guard and battalion lands — until nothing was left!

Without land, the military household system naturally could not be maintained. The lives of Datong Garrison's soldiers were unbearably miserable, and they were no longer willing to serve on campaign. During the Jiajing era, because garrison troops refused to be stationed far away in the forts, a large-scale Jiashen mutiny actually broke out and nearly captured Datong city itself.

And the mercenary recruitment system introduced after the collapse of the military household system achieved very little, because the Ming dynasty's financial resources were extremely limited and because of the deeply entrenched interest groups within the Nine Border Garrisons.

During the Tianqi era, Datong Garrison's authorized military pay (including grain) totaled over a million taels. Although it was never possible to pay it out in full, the amount actually disbursed to Datong Garrison each year was always around a million. At an average of thirty taels to support one soldier, Datong Garrison ought to have had around 30,000 combat troops. Add to that the 15,000 Liaodong troops Man Gui brought with him (their pay was for the time being drawn from the additional Liaodong levy and did not come out of Datong's local pay), and there should have been 45,000 combat-ready troops, right?

But what was the reality?

Not counting the Liaodong troops Man Gui brought, no one even knew whether Datong's local combat-capable troops numbered 5,000. And these combat-capable troops were almost all household retainers and private soldiers belonging to Vice Regional Commanders, Assistant Regional Commanders, Mobile Corps Commanders, and other officers. The regular garrison troops only appeared at roll call and inspection.

After Man Gui took office, he held several roll calls. Every time, a great crowd would swarm in, and counting them up there were indeed over a hundred thousand (Datong's authorized troop strength was over 130,000). But once the count was done, everyone went back to their own homes and their own livelihoods. Reorganization? Training? Don't even talk about a door — there wasn't even a window! Even Man Gui had no place to start. Because Man Gui was merely a Regional Commander, and Datong also had a Governor! The Governor was a civil official, more powerful than a Regional Commander! Above the Governor there was the Governor-General of Xuan and Da! And above that there was a whole group of court officials who shared in Datong Garrison's military pay — none of whom wanted Man Gui to get serious.

And Man Gui himself was an old hand at this. He himself came from a military household in Xuanfu — did he not know the rules?

If he dared to get serious, at the very least there would be a mutiny to send him to the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Imperial Prison, and he might well pay with his life.

So after taking office, he did not dare undertake sweeping reforms. He could only reorganize the garrison headquarters battalion directly under the Regional Commander, and recruit 500 barbarian soldiers from among the Mongols scattered by the Hutuktu Khan beyond the border wall, incorporating them into his own household retainers. Together with the 5,000 Liaodong troops stationed in Datong, Man Gui finally had a little over 10,000 combat troops at his disposal.

With these ten-thousand-odd combat troops, dealing with twenty or thirty thousand Chakhar nomadic cavalry was enough. But beyond Man Gui's expectations, the Hutuktu Khan actually came out in full force, broke through the Datong border wall in one strike, set up a great camp at Mount Baideng thirty li north of Datong, and sent out detachments in all directions to plunder.

And Man Gui, with only ten-thousand-odd combat-capable troops at hand, half of them infantry, did not dare leave the city at all.

He could only mope inside Datong city, sighing in despair. On the sixth day of the sixth month, just as on any other day, he was preparing to make his rounds of the city walls when his garrison headquarters Assistant Regional Commander, Fang Zikun, came flying into his command hall, his face full of disbelief.

Man Gui looked at this local Datong Garrison fierce general, a little baffled himself. What had happened? Had the Hutuktu Khan withdrawn, or was he coming to assault Datong?

"Commander," Fang Zikun's voice sounded strange even to himself, "H-His Majesty has arrived."

"His Majesty?" Man Gui did not understand. "Who is he — what does he do?"

Fang Zikun stamped his foot. "His Majesty! The Emperor! Don't you know?"

Man Gui's mouth hung open as he stared blankly at Fang Zikun. "Assistant Regional Commander Fang, are you joking with me?"

"I'm not joking!" Fang Zikun shook his head. "The night patrol scouts south of the city have already encountered the great army led by His Majesty — over ten thousand iron cavalry, two horses per man. And — they've also brought back a eunuch, who calls himself Ji Yong, the Superintendent Eunuch of the Directorate of the Imperial Horses!"

"Ji Yong?" Man Gui knew Ji Yong — they had fought together at Jinzhou. "Where is the old gentleman?"

"This servant is right here!" Ji Yong's voice already carried in from outside. "Regional Commander Man, prepare to receive the imperial procession at once — His Majesty is on a personal campaign and has almost reached the southern outer town of Datong!"

(End of Chapter)