Chapter 892: Let's Set Up Another Mongol Great Khan! (Please Subscribe)

The man who replaced Li Yan as Military Advisor of the Grand Marshal's Office and Director of the Adjutant Bureau was the Imperial Brother-in-law Wu Sanfu. His father, Wu Xiang, had been transferred to the post of Governor of Jiangbei before Wu Sanfu came to the capital to assume the military advisor post, while the man who replaced Wu Xiang at the Ministry of War was the former Governor of Shandong, Li Ruolian. Now Wu Sanfu and Zhu Chunchen were waiting to be summoned in the waiting chamber inside the Hall of Imperial Supremacy. Both men carried document bags slung over one shoulder like satchels, each heavy and bulging, clearly stuffed with confidential documents.

The two had already been there for a while. At first they had chatted warmly for a few moments, but now there was nothing left to say, and they simply sat there slowly savoring their tea.

At that moment the door to the waiting chamber was pushed open, and a young eunuch appeared in the doorway, calling to the two men: "Military Advisor Wu, Minister Li, His Majesty summons you both to the hall."

Wu Sanfu and Li Ruolian hastily set down their teacups, then rose together, straightened their robes, and one after the other followed the young eunuch toward the great hall.

The two men held offices of equal rank, both being Left Commissioners-in-Chief, but their noble titles differed slightly, so they entered the hall in order of precedence. Wu Sanfu, walking in front, was now the "Number One Duke" — he had just been enfeoffed as the Duke of Wei Who Overcomes Hardship.

The title Duke of Wei had originally belonged to Xu Da, and had passed down to Xu Hongji's generation before being lost due to the "Nanjing Eunuch Clique Rebellion." Now this foremost dukedom of the Great Ming had been dug up again by the Zhu Emperor and bestowed upon Wu Sanfu, placing him in the position of the number one meritorious official, above Shi Kefa and Li Yan. Shi Kefa had now been enfeoffed as the Duke of Yu Who Overcomes Hardship, while Li Yan had been enfeoffed as the Duke of Zheng Who Overcomes Hardship.

And Li Ruolian, who followed Wu Sanfu into the great hall, had been enfeoffed as the Duke of Ji Who Overcomes Hardship — also a meritorious official of the first rank!

When the two dukes entered the great hall, Zhu Cilang was not sitting idly on the throne. Instead, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back before a map of the southwestern theater hanging on the wall, lost in thought.

Wu Sanfu and Li Ruolian walked up behind the Zhu Emperor, then both knelt and performed the ritual salute.

"Your subject Wu Sanfu respectfully inquires after His Majesty's sacred well-being."

"Your subject Li Ruolian respectfully inquires after His Majesty the Emperor's sacred well-being."

"Rise." Zhu Cilang turned and smiled at the two men, then beckoned them forward to look at the map with him.

"Zhu Chunjie has memorialized that he has obtained reliable intelligence: the roving bandits have trained a fifty-thousand-man Northern Expedition army in Kunming, Yunnan, with Li Dingguo as its commander, preparing to launch a northern campaign while we move north to besiege Beijing. What do you two make of this?"

"If they set out from Kunming, they should take the route through Guizhou into Huguang," Wu Sanfu said. "It is also possible they might pass through Long'an Prefecture to invade Guangxi. But then it would not be a northern campaign, but an eastern expedition."

"This subject also believes it is more likely the roving bandits will invade Guangxi," Li Ruolian said. "On the Guizhou front there is a hundred-thousand-strong Sichuan-Guizhou army, and all the strategic passes along the way have already been fortified. However capable Li Dingguo may be in battle, with a mere fifty thousand troops he can hardly accomplish anything. And coming out via the Yangtze is even more hopeless — we have long maintained a division on permanent defense at Badong and Guizhou, and the Shizhou Guard area is likewise heavily fortified. The roving bandits would find it very difficult to break through.

Breaking out eastward through Yunyang is also impossible. Xiangyang is a strong fortress, and it has always been a key western-front stronghold with heavy garrison forces. It absolutely cannot be breached by a mere few tens of thousands of roving bandits.

As for emerging through Qishan or the Chencang Road into Guanzhong, that is even more impossible. In recent years the roving bandits' cavalry has declined terribly; it is no match at all for the Shuofang cavalry or the Pingxi cavalry. Moreover, judging from the roving bandits' current military organization, it is not designed to withstand cavalry. They are all hundred-man companies, with not many long spears issued, mostly saber-and-shield troops, best suited for fighting in mountain and forest terrain."

"So the roving bandits' true objective is the Two Guangs?" Zhu Cilang frowned. "Are we a bit weak in the Two Guangs direction?"

Wu Sanfu said: "Under Governor-General Cao of the Two Guangs (Cao Youyi) there is one infantry division and two regiments of governor's standard troops, plus Guangxi Governor Jin Shenghuan's eight regiments. In total there are fourteen infantry regiments, plus three field artillery battalions, three fort artillery battalions, one cavalry battalion, and many militia units. This subject recommends transferring six more regiments and two artillery battalions from the Dongning Army into Guangdong, and that should make it absolutely secure."

Zhu Cilang nodded: "That would be twenty regiments, five field artillery battalions, and one cavalry battalion — that should be enough! Also have Shi Rui'en bring a staff group into Guangdong to assist Cao Youyi."

Wu Sanfu smiled: "Your Majesty, this subject believes that if Li Dingguo really does risk sending troops into Guangxi, it would be an opportunity for us to annihilate the roving bandits' elite in one stroke!"

"Is that so?" Zhu Cilang asked. "What do you have in mind?"

"This subject believes we should lure the enemy deep into Guangdong, ideally letting the roving bandits advance to the vicinity of Guangzhou." Wu Sanfu said. "We would then secretly assemble one regiment of mule-mounted troops and send them into Guangdong. Guangdong already has one cavalry battalion; adding four more mule-mounted battalions would give us twenty-five hundred elite cavalry."

Twenty-five hundred cavalry was nothing much on the northern battlefields, but pulled down to Guangdong to deal with mountain troops coming out of Yunnan, it would be formidable indeed.

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Then it is settled! As long as Li Dingguo dares to come, Guangdong will be the place where his army is destroyed and his generals perish!"

Historically, Li Dingguo had already made one failed attempt on Guangdong, wasting six months beneath the walls of Xinhui. Although later generations all pinned the blame for the Battle of Xinhui on Zheng Sen, the very fact that taking Xinhui was so difficult revealed Li Dingguo's weakness in siege warfare.

And the Two Guangs contained many strong fortresses. The forces of Cao and Jin were not weak either, and with Zheng Sen's Dongning Army and the cavalry regiments transferred from the Central Plains, Li Dingguo's fifty-thousand-man Northern Expedition army would likely be broken in Guangdong.

"As long as the roving bandits suffer a crushing defeat in Guangdong, recovering Sichuan will be easy." Zhu Cilang looked at the map and murmured to himself.

"Your Majesty, is the court going to attack Sichuan?" Li Ruolian asked. "Approximately when will the troops be dispatched?"

Wu Sanfu said: "Surely we must first finish off the eastern barbarians? Right now the northwest is still at war with the Yarkent Khanate, and in the northeast there is still the Liaodong Pacification campaign to fight. If we attack Sichuan as well, our forces will likely be insufficient."

The Grand Marshal's Office of the Great Ming did not consider the roving bandits in Sichuan easy to deal with. In the view of the previous Military Advisor Li Yan, the Shun was a more difficult enemy than the Qing.

The old Manchu core of the Qing numbered only a few tens of thousands, so they were terribly afraid of casualties in war. Against weak enemies they were naturally arrogant beyond measure, but the moment they encountered an enemy with strong killing power, they would shrink back and not dare to fight with full force.

The roving bandits, by contrast, were numerous and could recruit soldiers from among the Sichuan people, so they did not much fear casualties. Although their total strength was at most forty percent of the Ming army's, by relying on the natural defenses of mountainous terrain they could still hold out.

Moreover, the roving bandits' garrison-farmer soldiers could be released from agricultural labor, so they could also sustain a long war. Therefore, attacking Sichuan required preparing for a prolonged and bitter struggle — unless the roving bandits' elite forces came out of Sichuan and Yunnan on their own.

As for fighting on multiple fronts, that was not really a problem for the Ming army at present.

After all, Fulin was already a turtle in a jar — destroying him no longer required an enormous force. Dodo, meanwhile, would be sending troops into Joseon, and for the time being posed no threat.

The only real trouble was actually the Mongols. If they repeatedly crossed the Yan Mountains southward to burn and kill, they would cause some difficulty for the Ming army besieging Beijing.

"What about the Mongols — how does the Grand Marshal's Office plan to deal with them?"

Hearing Zhu Cilang turn the topic back to the northern theater, Wu Sanfu immediately replied: "The Grand Marshal's Office wants the Prince of Dai to move out and garrison the Tumed Plain, and to convene an assembly of the Mongol chieftains of Southern and Northern Mongolia there."

"The Prince of Dai?" Zhu Cilang asked. "Is he up to it?"

Li Ruolian said: "The Prince of Dai commands no fewer than ten thousand elite cavalry, and he also has the Ordos Mongols as support. Moreover, in the previous Hetao campaign, the Dai army's musket cavalry performed outstandingly and gave the Mongols a thorough drubbing."

Wu Sanfu smiled: "Your Majesty, in fact we could also prop up a Mongol Great Khan to sing a rival opera against Fulin."

"Prop up whom?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"How about Jasag Erinchen of the Ordos?" Wu Sanfu said. "He is a descendant of Dayan Khan, a legitimate direct-line member of the Golden Family, fully qualified to be Great Khan."

"That..." Zhu Cilang hesitated somewhat. "Can this man unify the Mongols of Southern and Northern Mongolia?"

"Of course not." Wu Sanfu said. "If he had that kind of strength, we could not prop him up. This Erinchen's strength is just right."

(End of Chapter)