Volume 1: The Wind Rises in Tumubao Chapter 25 Taking the Initiative
"Let me answer it!"
Zhu Qizhen took two steps forward and came to the side of Luo Tong and others, his face full of solemnity.
"The so-called country and people refer to . At the same time, it also refers to the millions of people of Ming Dynasty, and the more than 40,000 soldiers who followed me and fought bloody battles. Without them, how can there be a country and people?"
"Mencius once said that the people are the most important, the country is second, and the emperor is the least important. If I only think about saving my own life, then I will really disregard the country!"
"I have said more than once that since I am now the commander-in-chief, I must be responsible for the soldiers to the end. Duke Ying, I will leave the evacuation to you. I will be the last one to leave. This matter is settled. There is no need for you to say anything more!"
"Luo Qingjia, divide your people into several groups and lead the way. You go first with the first group and return to Juyong Pass to prepare for the arrival of the army."
Seeing the emperor's determined look, Luo Tong was finally convinced.
So he no longer insisted, but just bowed and said, "I obey your order!"
In fact, when the generals met to discuss the evacuation list, the meritorious generals led by the Duke of England did not mention the emperor.
At that time, Luo Tong thought these people were crazy. How could they ask the emperor to cover their retreat?
Now, he finally understood.
At this moment, he felt fortunate that he could assist a wise king.
The generals returned to their tents and began to prepare for evacuation.
Before dawn, the first batch of Ming army evacuees, totaling more than 5,000 people, led by Luo Tong, headed towards Juyongguan.
The rest of the people continued to work busily, preparing to meet the attack of the Oirat people.
Nowadays, those who fire kilns, cut wood, and make catapults have become more and more skilled , and have made great progress compared to a few days ago.
Sure enough, just after the hour of Chen, the gate of the Wala camp opened and teams of cavalry marched out in formation.
What was different from yesterday was that this time, the Wala people's formation was more dispersed, and they seemed to be very afraid of the Ming army's lime bombs.
However, they did not know that the Ming army had already placed catapults in various locations in the camp. No matter how scattered they were, as long as they got close, lime bombs would fall from the sky, covering every corner.
The result was obvious. The Oirat people returned empty-handed once again.
For three consecutive days, they were repelled by lime bullets every time. Yesen was about to collapse, so he simply wrote a letter of war and sent it over.
Zhu Qizhen took the letter of challenge, opened it and took a look at it, and couldn't help but burst into laughter.
The entire letter of challenge cursed the Ming army for having no martial ethics and using anti-human weapons. After the curse, it was a challenge to a fight. The general meaning was: "Do you dare to walk out of the camp? Let's gather our troops and have a good fight."
Zhu Qizhen laughed enough and said to the Oirat envoy: "Yesen still has the nerve to say that to me? When you Mongols were conquering all over the world, you created plagues in every city you visited. How can I say that?"
Since the rise of Genghis Khan, the Mongols' goal was no longer the grasslands, but the stars and the sea.
Only Kublai Khan's branch went south to the Central Plains. The other three Khanates went on expeditions to Central Asia, West Asia, and Europe. Moreover, the Mongols never followed martial ethics when fighting. They would smear fresh feces on the arrows. After hitting the enemy, the wound would be infected by bacteria. In ancient times with poor sanitary conditions, the mortality rate was very high.
When attacking a city, the most common method was to use catapults to throw various corpses into the city, including those killed in battle and various livestock, causing the Black Death to spread in the city. No matter how strong the city walls were, they would eventually collapse and fall.
Facing Zhu Qizhen's questioning, the Wala envoy seemed a little overwhelmed, so he had to bite the bullet and said: "Master Yesen said that if His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Ming has the courage, he can go out of the camp and fight. If he doesn't have the courage, then he should quickly return to the capital with his tail between his legs!"
"presumptuous!"
Fan Zhong widened his eyes and yelled, then walked up to the man, grabbed him by the collar and walked out.
“Wait!”
Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "Don't embarrass him."
"Your Majesty!" Fan Zhong obviously couldn't swallow this insult. "This man is too arrogant. If we don't teach him a lesson, he will think we are vegetarians!"
"When two countries are at war, they don't kill envoys. Everything he said represents Yesen. If you want to vent your anger, you should find Yesen."
"But……"
"Okay, let him go!"
" As you wish !"
The Wala envoy dusted himself off and said, "Your Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is very broad-minded. I admire you!"
After Zhu Qizhen finished laughing, he said seriously: "Go back and tell Yesen that I have just made three thousand kilograms of lime powder. Let him attack as he pleases. I am not going anywhere. I will wait here!"
The Wala envoy snorted coldly and turned away.
Fan Zhong was puzzled and asked, "Your Majesty, are you just going to let him go like this?"
"What else? Do you want to keep him for dinner?"
"No, that..."
Zhu Qizhen waved his hands and said, "Yesen can no longer sit still. He is the one who is anxious now, not us."
Fan Zhong thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, most of the Fifth Army camps have already evacuated. Why not take this opportunity to evacuate as well?"
"Do you think Yesen will really watch me withdraw to the capital?"
Zhu Qizhen shook his head and said, "He knows that I will not leave the camp for a decisive battle, so he deliberately said some sarcastic words to make me think that he has no way out and I can evacuate without worry. I bet that as long as I leave the camp, Yesen will chase me immediately!"
After listening to this, Fan Zhong scratched his head and said, "So, our army can only defend?"
"Hold on?" Zhu Qizhen shook his head again and said, "Pass the order to move the catapults out of the camp. This time, we have to take the initiative to attack!"
On the west bank of the Guishui River, the Wala camp.
"Report to the Grand Master, the Ming army has made some moves."
Yesen raised his eyelids and asked happily, "What's the noise?"
"They're moving the trebuchets out!"
"What?" Yesen asked in confusion, "Where did it move to?"
"Moving towards our position!"
Yesen couldn't help but shudder and said angrily: "The little southern emperor is going too far!"
"Brother, give me another 5,000 cavalrymen. This time I will definitely take the little emperor's head!"
Boyan’s injured left eye was wrapped with a cloth and his expression was extremely ferocious.
Yesen was hesitant at this time. If you fight, they will throw lime bullets at your face.
If you don't fight, they're going to come to your doorstep and throw lime bullets in your face.
In fact, Boyan is even more miserable. These past few nights he has been dreaming about someone throwing lime on his face.
Lime powder was sprinkled into my eyes, causing piercing pain. After washing it with water, one of my eyes was burned blind. The feeling in the dream was very real.
After waking up, I found out... Oh, one of my eyes was really blind!
Who can bear this kind of anger?
"Brother, let me go!"
Yesen thought about it and finally nodded and said, "Well, remember, don't be reckless, and try every means to destroy the Ming army's catapults!"
Bayan took the order, selected 5,000 cavalrymen, and fought his way out of the camp.
