The cicadas in the courtyard keep chirping, which is annoying, but it heralds the arrival of summer.
Liu Tingjie, shirtless and with a line of soldiers, came back in a swaggering manner and said angrily: "It's still very cold in the morning, and by daytime it's as if life-threatening. Who can withstand this?"
"Dong Weng, Datong is a little different from Shaanxi. It's cold in the morning and sunny, so you'll get used to it."
On the side, the master who was invited with an annual salary of 500 silver yuan, a thin man with a goatee, shaking a feather fan and holding a parasol, followed closely, smiling and enlightening.
As Duke Cheng, Liu Tingjie had an annual salary of five thousand dan. In addition to his meritorious services and rewards from the emperor, his net worth was already over one hundred thousand. This little money was just scratching his itch.
Liu Tingjie grinned and said, "You are quite happy. The military camp is like a steam oven. If I hadn't collected some rice wine and stayed with him for most of the day, he would have made trouble long ago."
Thinking of this, Liu Tingjie became quite angry: "This military household from Datong doesn't have much ability, but he has quite a temper. Isn't it just a matter of two days? He dares to make a noise. I will chop him up directly next time."
After You Shiwei assumed control of Gansu and Shaanxi, Liu Tingjie followed closely as his deputy, but only received the title of Commander-in-Chief of Datong.
They are both Dukes, why should he be the commander and I be the commander-in-chief?
Although he also has the title of Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Shanxi Province, it is not as satisfying as being in charge.
Therefore, as soon as he arrived in Datong, Liu Tingjie trained those Datong military households vigorously, not hoping to reach the level of the Beijing camp, but if he got 70% or 80%, he would secretly smile.
"Dong Weng, there is news from the grassland."
Liu Tingjie came to the well and poured a bucket of water over his throat. Then he picked up the cold watermelon, put it to his mouth and started to chew it, like a pig eating.
At this time, the staff dismissed the servants, sat aside, picked up the watermelon and started eating it.
"Grassland?" Liu Tingjie paused, immediately put down the watermelon in his hand, raised his head, and stared like bells: "How is the situation?"
This ferocious look made the staff stunned. It took him a while to recover, and he stuttered slightly: "The people from the caravan came back and also drew a map."
As he spoke, he took out a stack of words and a slightly rough map with marks, rivers, etc. from his arms.
Thanks to the formalization of the military academy, there are many more technical units such as drawing, which can be put to use.
But the text records: "There are more than ten tents along the way, the most are two to three thousand tents, the few are more than a hundred tents. As long as there are guides to guide the way and five thousand cavalry, it is enough to sweep across half of Monan."
"Five thousand cavalry?"
Liu Tingjie squinted his eyes and started thinking.
When Jiang Quan went to Shaanxi, the soldiers of Datong were ordered to take three thousand cavalry with them. Among the ten thousand people left behind, there were three thousand cavalry, as well as many capable horseless infantry.
Although he has poor discipline, he is a good one-on-one fighter. He cannot defeat the Eight Banners soldiers of the Jiannu, but he can defeat the Mongolian soldiers very easily.
"How are the provisions prepared?"
"There are letters sent from Taiyuan, but now they are not being received. There are only 5,000 shi of grain in the treasury."
The staff couldn't help but raised their eyebrows and said: "But Dong Weng, without the imperial court's written order, not only are we unable to mobilize soldiers, but Taiyuan is also unable to supply food and grass."
"I understand!" Liu Tingjie rolled his eyes at him and curled his lips and said, "No matter how great your credit is, you can't resist disobeying military orders."
"As early as last month, I sent a letter from the Holy Spirit, expressing the importance of Chahar Mongolia in Monan and requesting orders to sweep Monan. The order will arrive in a few days."
Speaking of this, Liu Tingjie said in high spirits: "In addition, I have also applied to the imperial court for a thousand short muskets, two thousand flintlock guns, and ten French cannons weighing three hundred kilograms."
"With these, three thousand people are enough."
"Three thousand?" The staff was shocked and hurriedly advised: "Tatars are fierce and treacherous, don't be reckless, don't you?"
"Huh, it's just because we have firearms to fight the Tartars. Give them some fresh food. Three thousand people are enough."
He successively won the three major battles of Luoyang, Huai'an and Beijing, and the Beijing camp became famous all over the world.
Liu Tingjie believes that the greatest contribution of the Beijing camp, apart from its easy time and extremely strict military discipline, lies in firearms.
He raised his gun, then fired his gun and artillery, all of which made the Qing Dynasty frightened by the news. No matter how strong the armor was, it could not withstand a blow from the gun.
Of course, the high-quality armor also provided a lot of assistance.
"Although I don't understand Tatars, but since Dong Weng has confidence, it will be fine."
Liu Tingjie smiled slightly when he heard this.
In fact, he hid part of it.
In the private message, he did not reserve his criticism of You Shiwei, and even vaguely revealed his offensive against Hetao and Monan.
To put it bluntly, he also wants a controlling position.
The purpose of criticizing You Shiwei was to convince the emperor that the soldiers and generals in Yulin Town were not one body, and to eliminate the emperor's fear.
The waiting time was excruciating. By the end of May, the emperor's edict and the imperial decree also arrived.
Guns and artillery were already on the way, and for Liu Tingjie's appointment, in addition to Datong Commander-in-Chief, he was also given the title of Left Governor of the Rear Army Governor's Mansion.
This made him overjoyed, because whenever a person takes control of a town, he will definitely be given the title of governor. This is to enhance his official rank.
In other words, the only difference between him and You Shiwei is the difference in dispatch, but their official ranks are the same.
In addition, the emperor's secret decree also required him to pass through Hetao and Monan, surrender the Mongols there, and cut off the arm of Jiannu.
After receiving the accurate holy will, Liu Tingjie was very happy. While quietly preparing gunpowder and other items, he also deployed soldiers who were good at firecrackers to prepare for the upcoming grassland campaign.
The place where he tried his best was in the Monan Mongolian tribes near Datong, that is, the Xitumut tribe near Guihua City.
On the tenth day of the sixth month in the second year of Shaowu, Liu Tingjie personally led three thousand troops, one man and three horses, carrying a large amount of gunpowder, and marched towards Guihua City under the guidance of a guide and a map.
Guihua City, later known as Hohhot in Inner Mongolia,
It is a grassland city built by Anda Khan who was active in the early years of Wanli in Jiajing. It is located in the shadow of Daqing Mountain and on the bank of the Yellow River.
After the city was completed, the Ming Dynasty named it "Guihua City".
Below it is the land of the Chile River. The land is fertile. It is not only a good place for farming and herding sheep, but also the center of southern Mongolia.
Later, Lin Dan Khan moved westward, expelled Shunyi King Bu Shitu (the grandson of Tumote Ada Khan), and settled in Guihua City.
As a result, his methods were arrogant, and the Mongolian tribes became disloyal and their hearts lost their hearts. After Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, because Lin Dan Khan was too far away from Hou Jin, he could no longer use his leave and cut off the market tribute.
As a result, Lin Dan Khan was so angry that he attacked Datong angrily and harassed the border, so much so that he committed crimes against the Jin Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. He also suffered from constant internal worries due to his tyrannical unification. Under internal and external troubles, he was pursued by the Jin Dynasty and was forced to flee to Gansu to die.
(Lin Dan Khan, like Chongzhen, has extremely low political emotional intelligence, and is really the second...)
Even though it was burned down by Hou Jin, Chilechuan is still there.
The Tumote Tribe and the Lin Dan Khan Tribe were recuperated here, and were organized by the Manchus into two banners, the left and right banners, with a scale of tens of thousands of tents, but there were officials such as Dutong, Deputy Dutong, Shenling, and Assistant Ling to govern the banners.
Since there was no Zasak (king, consul) to lead the country, everything was in disarray.
"The Tumote Tribe and the Chahar Tribe had an enmity, but now they don't have a king, only a governor. The Manchus are still worried about Lin Dan Khan's old tribe!"
Liu Tingjie said proudly: "This is really an advantage for me."
With their vitality severely damaged, coupled with internal hostilities and a complete mess, Monan Mongolia is really meat on the chopping block!
Lin Danhan is really a bad guy. He and Chongzhen are the typical sleeping dragons and phoenixes in the late Ming Dynasty. They are terrible at playing good cards.