The Northern Expedition is imminent, and all departments are making intensive preparations.
The Ministry of War was counting the troops, the Ministry of Works was distributing equipment, the Ministry of Revenue was allocating money and grain, the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of Justice also had corresponding officials cooperating, and even the Imperial Astronomical Observatory was observing celestial phenomena. The entire capital was busy.
According to Yu Qian's report, 85,000 men from the Five Army Camps, 5,000 men from the Shenji Camp, 3,000 men from the Three Thousand Camps, 800 imperial guards and Jinyiwei, and 1,500 accompanying military doctors were mobilized for this battle, for a total of about 100,000 men.
Fighting a war is not an easy matter. In such a large-scale war, it is not about numbers or tactics, but about supplies. Whoever has more food will be the one to hold out to the end.
In order to ensure the food, drink, defecation and urination of the 100,000 troops on the front line, it is necessary to recruit at least hundreds of thousands of civilian laborers and countless mules and horses, and these hundreds of thousands of civilian laborers require at least tens of thousands of logistics troops to manage them.
Logistical supply is crucial. If the food supply route is cut off by the enemy and the front-line combat troops have no food, there is no point in fighting and they will starve to death.
What's more, this war was an initiative of the Ming Dynasty to march north, which put great pressure on the grain transport team.
The deeper the grain team went, the easier it would be to be attacked by the enemy, so Zhu Qizhen would let the 3,000-strong battalion take the lead, occupy Yumuchuan first, and establish a base camp.
In this way, the logistics supply troops would first transport the food and grass from the Ming Dynasty to Yumuchuan, and then use Yumuchuan as a base to transport them to the front line.
If the enemy wanted to cut off the grain transport team, the only way was to bypass Yumuchuan and attack from the rear. Not only would this require a long detour, but it would also be easy to be attacked from both sides, making it very difficult to escape.
In the imperial study, Zhu Qizhen looked at the secret letter with label number 18 and slammed the table in anger.
"Fan Zhong, change your clothes and go!"
The moon is above the willows, and the Tingyu Pavilion is filled with singing and dancing of orioles and swallows.
Miss Gu Xi held the wine glass and said softly, "Your Majesty, why did you come here in person?"
"I won't drink anymore!"
Zhu Qizhen looked very unhappy and asked, "Did you really see it with your own eyes?"
"Even if I had two more guts, I would not dare to lie in front of the emperor!"
"Tell me in detail what happened at that time?"
Miss Gu Xi nodded gently and said, "The man surnamed Jia seems to be called Jia Gui, the steward of Pengcheng Bo. He often goes to Dingxianglou to eat donkey meat. My house is relatively close to Dingxianglou. Every time steward Jia has a meal, he will hang out here..."
Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but interrupt her: "Speak to the point!"
"Your Majesty, please don't be impatient!"
Miss Gu Xi continued, "Today a guest came. Judging from his attire, he must be a fur trader from Liaodong . He was very generous and said he wanted to treat the distinguished guest to a drink. I waited for a long time before I saw Steward Jia coming."
"Then what?"
"After Housekeeper Jia arrived, he immediately drove all the girls out. The two of them had a long conversation in the house, and then Housekeeper Jia left in a hurry. The fur trader stayed in Tingyu Pavilion and drank all night, and left at noon the next day."
Zhu Qizhen asked: "Just tell me what you found out?"
Miss Gu Xi smiled and said, "I felt something was fishy, ​​so I added some knockout drugs to his wine, sneaked into him at night when he was least prepared, and found a secret letter on him."
Zhu Qizhen suddenly became nervous, subconsciously looked at the quilt in front of him, and then asked: "What does it say?"
Miss Gu Xi came forward and whispered in his ear, "The Ming army has 100,000 soldiers and has new firearms with great power. The central army will go through Yumuchuan, one group will raid Hami, and another group will go to Liaodong."
Zhu Qizhen grabbed her shoulders and asked coldly, "Where is the secret letter?"
Miss Gu Xi seemed to be hurt by the grab. She frowned slightly and said, "If I take the secret letter, won't it be discovered? So, after reading it, I put it back."
Zhu Qizhen then realized that he had lost his composure and let go of her hand.
“You did the right thing.”
Miss Gu Xi rubbed her shoulders and said softly, "I think there is no need for the emperor to be angry with such a person. He will get sick for no reason."
At this time, Yuan Bin trotted upstairs and said with a heavy breath, "Your Majesty, the fur merchant has been caught!"
As he spoke, he handed over a piece of paper.
After Zhu Qizhen opened it, he closed his eyes slightly, looked stern, and asked, "Did you alarm anyone else?"
"Your Majesty, we followed your instructions and waited for him to leave the city. We found a deserted place and tied him up and brought him back secretly. Before we even got to Zhaoyu, he confessed that he was a fur trader from Liaodong, but in reality he was a spy from the Tatars. He confessed that he had bought a lot of intelligence from Jia Gui of the Pengcheng Earl's Mansion."
Zhu Qizhen stood up and said slowly: "Bring my order, arrest all the people in Pengcheng Marquis's Mansion and interrogate them on the spot!"
"Your Majesty!" Yuan Bin asked in confusion, "Does Earl Pengcheng need to be tried as well?"
"Nonsense, of course we have to try it!"
"Perhaps... this is just Jia Gui's personal behavior, and Pengcheng Bo is not aware of it..."
The Earl of Pengcheng is a noble relative of the emperor, so Yuan Bin dare not be careless.
The first Earl of Pengcheng, Zhang Qi, was the father of Empress Dowager Zhang and the father-in-law of Emperor Hongxi Zhu Gaochi. He died in the ninth year and was posthumously named Earl of Pengcheng. His son Zhang Chang inherited the title.
The current Earl of Pengcheng, Zhang Kejian, is the son of Zhang Chang. In terms of seniority, the emperor has to call him cousin when he meets him.
Yuan Bin also understood that the emperor was serious about this and would not show any mercy.
However, he is, after all, a relative of the Grand Empress Dowager Zhang. If it is later found out that it was all Jia Gui's personal behavior, wouldn't it have a bad impact if we made such a big fuss about it?
When the emperor was young, the government was basically controlled by Zhang and the Three Yangs. Although Zhang has passed away, his influence in the court cannot be underestimated.
"Your Majesty, I think... we should arrest Jia Gui first. As for Pengcheng Bo... it won't be too late to arrest him after we have solid evidence!"
Zhu Qizhen frowned and said, "Jinyiwei is doing routine work . If there is any suspicion, we will investigate. There is no need to save face for anyone!"
Yuan Bin was very confused and mustered up the courage to ask, "If it is later found out that Jia Gui was not instructed by Pengcheng Bo..."
"Even if he's not the mastermind, he can't escape responsibility if there's a thief in the house!"
Zhu Qizhen was very annoyed. He had just dealt with Zhou Shou not long ago, and now Zhang Kejian showed up again!
The Ming Dynasty's in-laws have always had a tradition of having a bad reputation.
Especially after the second generation, no one knows who learned it from, but they have been arrogant and domineering since they were young. When they grew up, they indulged in eating, drinking, gambling, fighting, and occupying people's land. Such things happened one after another.
I even did it to my own brother-in-law, so why are you so arrogant as a cousin?
It’s better that you don’t know about this matter. Otherwise, even if the Empress Dowager crawls out of her mausoleum and pleads for you in person, you will still be beheaded!