"Those who suggest moving south should be killed!"

This is how Yu Qian reprimanded Xu Jue.

He continued:

"The capital is the foundation of the world. If the capital is moved here, the situation will be irreversible! Have you forgotten about the Song Dynasty's southern crossing (except for the Song Dynasty's southern crossing)?"

His roar awakened those who were hesitant. Wang Zhi, the most important figure in the court, stood up and publicly supported Yu Qian. Another person in the history of the Ming Dynasty who won three yuan in a row, and later Xianzong's important minister Shang Ren also

Standing on his side, under the influence of these people, the main militant faction finally moved Zhu Qiyu and strengthened his determination to resist to the end.

Since Yu Qian had already acted as the Minister of War and was a representative of the main war faction, Zhu Qiyu gave Yu Qian the important task of defending Beijing.

This is the highest honor and the heaviest burden in the world.

After the court ended, Yu Qian walked out of the hall and looked at the sky covered with dark clouds. Recalling this uneventful morning, he couldn't help but feel thrilling.

But at this time, Yu Qian had no time to think too much, because at this time, his thin body had already shouldered the heavy burden of the rise and fall of the country.

On the morning of August 18th, he made the most important choice in his life and completed the most important change in his life.

His immortal legend began on this day.

August 19th.

Yu Qian held his first military meeting. It must be noted that although the Minister of War was an official dealing with the military, he had never commanded an army before. He was considered a scholar going into battle.

Having said that, it is not necessarily impossible for scholars to go into battle. Yu Yunwen of the Southern Song Dynasty organized the war as a civil servant, and finally defeated Jin Wanyanliang's hundreds of thousands of troops in Caishi.

Although Yu Qian was a civil servant, he also studied the art of war and had a good way of arranging troops. I believe he laid the foundation by reading extracurricular books when he was a child. Therefore, extracurricular readings are really indispensable.

But when Yu Qian truly understood the current situation in the capital, he realized that what was in front of him was an out-and-out mess. Leaving aside those who escaped and surrendered, the military pressure was too much to bear. The defeat of Tumubao was almost

All the old capital was lost, and even a few decent horses could not be found in the capital. The number of soldiers was less than 100,000, and they were all old, weak, disabled soldiers and retirees.

That's fine, the key point is that morale is low. First-class troops are sent out to fight, but they end up being wiped out. Those who escape by chance will naturally describe the enemy as extremely powerful in order to cover up their incompetence.

When the second-rate troops in the city heard the discussions of these seniors, they were naturally frightened. In their eyes, Ye Xian and his Mongolian cavalry were simply alien monsters. Each of them had several heads and could not be killed no matter what.

But the most serious problem is that the emperor (agent), the supreme ruler of the Ming Empire, has no confidence himself. Zhu Qiyu is not a timid person, but in the face of such a powerful enemy, he has no idea. Although he is currently

Agree to resist, but if another defeat occurs, Zhu Qiyu is likely to change his mind.

Therefore, the most important task at present is to stabilize military morale.

After listening to the report from his subordinates, Yu Qian was silent in thought. After carefully studying the military defense map, he issued his first military order in a low and powerful voice:

"From now on, we have been ordered to mobilize the following troops to guard Beijing:

“1. Bei Cao Army, including Bei Cao Army in Beijing and Henan Bei Cao Army;

“2. Prepare Japanese troops, including preparing Japanese troops in Nanjing and preparing Japanese troops in Shandong;

"3. Grain transport army, including all grain transport armies in Jiangbei;

"4. The Zhejiang Army under the command of Ningyang Marquis Chen Mao (with strong combat effectiveness).

"After receiving the order, all armies set out immediately and arrived in the capital on time to set up defenses. If anyone disobeys the order, the military order will be executed!"

The above troops total more than 100,000 people. It can be seen that these troops are not the main force, and most of them are reserve or logistics troops.

Where did the main force go?

They are all buried in Tumu Fort.

This is also a no-brainer. The three most elite battalions in the capital and the main forces near the capital have been completely wiped out. There are very few left. Even those who have escaped have been frightened and their morale has been lost. If they want to

If you want to defend the capital, you can only rely on these reserve and logistics troops.

In addition to soldiers, one more important thing is needed to defend the capital - food.

The capital has a large population. To solve the problem of feeding these people, it is necessary to store and transport a large amount of food.

Although there is currently sufficient food in the capital, if it is besieged for a long time, this calculation will be difficult. In fact, there is a lot of food stored in Tongzhou, not far from the capital. How much is it? "There are hundreds of grains in the warehouse."

"Ten thousand", this amount of food was enough to feed the people of the capital for a year, and it was the largest granary at that time.

But the ministers did not seem to want to use the grain, and even advocated burning the Tongzhou granary. This is another strange thing. If the good grain is not used, why should it be burned?

You must know that the ministers are not out of their minds, but because the food is visible and cannot be used.

At that time, Tongzhou was not part of Beijing. In fact, it was quite far away from the capital. Although there was a lot of grain in Tongzhou's granary, it was difficult to transport it into the capital, because it would take a lot of manpower to arrange the transportation of migrant workers.

Said, it's still very dangerous.

At that time, Ye Xian's cavalry troops were already showing off their power near the Jingcheng Pass, but transportation took a long time. Maybe during the transportation process, the opponent's cavalry had already attacked. Once Ye Xian's troops broke through Zijin Pass, Tongzhou could be conquered soon.

That food naturally became Ye Xian's military ration, so to transport food, troops must be sent to protect it.

But in the current situation, the military strength to defend the capital is insufficient. How can there be extra people to protect the food?

This is a difficult problem, and it seems that there is no better solution than burning it with fire.

But Yu Qian solved this problem and used a very clever method.

This is his second order:

"When all the troops are called forward, they should enter the capital from Tongzhou, and the soldiers will collect their own grain and transport it to the capital."

The problem was solved, and more than 100,000 soldiers from Tongzhou would transport food to Beijing.

You see, this is the level.

The so-called level means being able to do things that others cannot do and come up with methods that others cannot think of.

Everyone has the courage of an ordinary man, but the problem is before us. Whether we can handle it well depends on our ability.

Yu Qian is a brave man, but he is also a capable man. In handling this matter, he very wisely linked the two problems of troop deployment and food transportation to solve the problem without delaying the march.

It can eliminate the cost of migrant workers and at the same time ensure the safety of the grain transport team, killing three birds with one stone.

The person who can turn the tide is definitely not an ordinary man, but a national scholar.

Only those who possess both wisdom and bravery can become a scholar of the country.

Reckoning

Yu Qian issued an order, and starting from August 19, all available troops in the Ming Empire were mobilized.

These troops came from different provinces such as Shandong, Henan, Nanjing, and Zhejiang. They marched day and night with only one goal - to reach the capital as soon as possible.

This is a race against time. They don't know when Ye Xian will come, but what they know is that Ye Xian will come sooner or later. As long as they can get to the capital before then, they will be more sure of victory.

The Ming Empire began its first general mobilization since its founding to deal with the coming powerful enemy.

Thanks to Yu Qian's efforts and deployment, by the beginning of September, people from all walks of life arrived one after another. The number of troops in the capital reached 220,000, with sufficient food, and people's hearts gradually stabilized.

Military preparations have begun and are proceeding in an orderly manner, but at the same time, a political storm is coming.

"Kill Wang Zhen into pieces with a thousand swords!"

This is the sentiment of many ministers, and the reason is very simple. Wang Zhen is an out-and-out villain. Since he came to power, he has made it his daily hobby to frame people with false accusations. He will deal with anyone who dares to disobey. Many ministers have been punished because of a disagreement.

He was thrown into jail. Moreover, he took the initiative to ask for bribes. Anyone who dared not give them would have a bad end. Such behavior simply treated all civil and military officials as nothing.

In addition, he colluded with Jin Yiwei and turned this secret service agency into his own organization for manipulating people. Countless officials have suffered from him.

More importantly, it was Wang Zhen's incompetence and stupidity that ultimately led to the failure of Tumubao. The imperial elite and years of accumulation were destroyed in the hands of a villain. Just over twenty years ago, the Ming Empire had

Sweeping the world, it was unstoppable. After the rule of Renxuan, the world was peaceful. Such a powerful empire was actually destroyed in the hands of a dead eunuch. Who can swallow this breath!

Of course, in the hearts of the scholar-bureaucrats, there is another reason to hate Wang Zhen, but this reason is not easy to express.

Since the scholar-bureaucrats are unwilling to say it, I will say it for them. The reason hidden in their hearts is family background.

The scholar-bureaucrats studied hard and spent ten years in poverty. After dozens of exams and three major exams (some only two), they eliminated countless talented colleagues before they got the black gauze on their heads and the seal of power in their hands.

It does not mean that you will have a bright future if you are lucky. If you are lucky, you can join the Imperial Academy. If you are unlucky, you can't even be a censor. You can only be sent down to work as a seventh or eighth grade official. After decades of qualifications,

I'll be thankful to God if I finally retire from the third level.

It's really not easy.

But Wang Zhen, a dead eunuch with limited knowledge (an ineffective academic officer), insufficient ability (as evidenced by the civil fortress), physical disability (professional restrictions), and moral corruption (corruption and bribery), was able to suddenly take over the power and command the world!

Damn eunuch, why do you do that?

Objectively speaking, the anger of the scholar-bureaucrats is justified. They work day and night to deal with government affairs, and are knowledgeable and experienced, but they have to obey the orders of this ceremonial supervisor. It is indeed unbearable to see him act recklessly.

And this stupid Chief of Ceremonies not only caused harm to the government, but now also caused the country to lose its generals, a storm broke out, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civil and military officials died because of him. The situation has reached an intolerable point.

It’s time to settle accounts!

But Yu Qian seemed to be unable to care about this at this time, because he had too many things to be busy with. On August 21, Yu Qian officially took over Kuang Ye's position, became the Minister of War, and officially took charge of the power of the Ministry of War.

Yu Qian, Minister of the Ministry of War, was not happy about being promoted, because once he was called, how long he would be able to serve as an official was still a question. The most important thing at the moment was to solve the many problems at hand and protect the security of the capital and the country. At this time, Yu Qian had actually already Became the actual controller of the government.

However, Master Yu Qian, who is busy with everything, has not yet realized that he is sitting on the crater of a volcano, which is still an active volcano.

On August 23, the volcano erupted.

In the early morning of this day, the ministers were preparing to go to court to discuss matters as usual, but no one expected that the most serious court fight in the 276-year history of the Ming Dynasty was about to begin.

This was also the most chaotic day for the entire Ming Dynasty court.
To be continued...