The Ming Dynasty's "Hetao Region" was located south of the Yellow River, north of Yulin Town in Shaanxi, east of Ningxia Town, and west of Pantouguan in Shanxi, and belonged to the present-day Ningxia Autonomous Region and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The "Hetao area" is surrounded by the Yellow River on the east, west and north sides, 2,000 miles from east to west, 800 to 900 miles from north to south, and 200 to 300 miles near, and the land is fertile and suitable for nongsang. It has always been a place where soldiers must fight. Originally, this place belonged to the Ming Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Ming Yingzong, with the strength of the Mongol tribes led by Ye Xian, they gradually marched south and occupied this area at a time of internal chaos in The Imperial Court of Emperor Yingzong. For nearly a hundred years, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming tried to retake it without success; Emperor Mingwuzong wanted to personally conquer this area, but was blocked by his courtiers and did not make the trip. Until the Jiajingjian River Loop was still in the hands of the Mongol tribes. In the twenty-fifth year of Jiajing (1546), Zeng Milling served as the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, and the proposal for re-establishment was revived.
Partial Map of the Hetao and Surrounding Areas of the Ming Dynasty (Historical Atlas of China)
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Zeng Milling, the character is heavy, and the south is directly subordinate to the Jiangdu people. When I am a student, I am often proud of my talents. In the eighth year of Jiajing (1529), he was appointed as the zhi county of Changle County. Soon after, he patrolled Liaodong with imperial history. Coinciding with the Liaoyang Mutiny, soldiers led by Zhao Jie'er and others rebelled. Zeng Milling secretly found out the name of the leader and secretly ordered the generals to arrest him. Then he said: Since the Datong Mutiny, the punishment of soldiers has been too light, and the phenomenon of bullying officials and organizing mutinies has often occurred, and it is requested that the chief evil be killed to straighten out military discipline. The Jiajing Emperor granted his request. This is something rare since the Datong Mutiny.
Later, Zeng Milling was promoted to Dali Temple, moved to the right capital Yushi, and patrolled Shandong. Yalda Khan often invaded the interior and built the outer city of Linqing. After completing his work, he was promoted to deputy capital envoy. Three years later, the Mongol army did not dare to attack Shanxi, and was promoted to the rank of soldier for meritorious service. Jiajing was promoted to the governor of Shaanxi for twenty-five years. The Mongol 100,000 iron horses were invaded by the Ningsai battalion and plundered in yan'an and Qingyang. Zeng Milling led thousands of troops to garrison Saimen, sent Senator Li Zhenzhi to pound Kou's nest at Maliang Mountain, beheaded more than a hundred ranks, and the Mongol army retreated. Later, he often responded to the attacks of the Mongolian army, and the fighting continued. It is precisely because of this that Zeng Qiao realized the importance of seizing the "Hetao region" to ensure the stability of the Central Plains. In the end, a proposal for a re-set was proposed.
Although Zeng Milling was a scholar, he was not at all inferior to a warrior who could fight a good battle. He was decisive in his killing, fierce in character, heroic in battle, and quite a strong general in iron blood.
Milling
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Zeng Milling has been an official since he entered the army, and he is very grateful to the Jiajing Emperor for his kindness, so he often thinks about how to repay it. When he was the governor of shaanxi on the three sides, the Mongol army used the "Hetao region" as the basis and often attacked all sides of Shaanxi. Sometimes large armies are on the spot, sometimes small armies are plundering. This puts the Shaanxi region under constant threat. And it all started in the Loop. Therefore, Zeng Milling requested that the discussion of the reset be restarted.
He believed in the Song Shu that when the Mongol army left hetao, it could attack Xuanfu, Datong, and the three passes in the north of the Beijing Division, shaking Qifu; if it entered the hetao, it could attack Yansui, Ningxia, and Guyuan and disturb Guanzhong; deep mountains and rivers, and the advantage of the terrain was not in the enemy's presence. He pointed out: The deep waters in winter are dry, the horses have no grass, the spring is cold and rainy, the soil is dry, the enemy is getting weaker, and our army will take advantage of its fatigue to attack and will surely win. He asked the Jiajing Emperor to allocate 60,000 elite soldiers and 2,000 Shandong gunmen, and at the turn of spring and summer, he personally led his army to directly attack the enemy's lair, and he would certainly be able to retake Hetao. This is the solution to the problem of Northern Mongolia once and for all. Then, Zeng Milling elaborated on his strategy and presented it to the military headquarters.
Great Wall
The ministers of the military department thought that Zeng Milling was a good and great achievement, and sent the song to the civil and military generals in zhuzhen for discussion. However, after the Jiajing Emperor finished reading his recital, he was very enthusiastic about it. He believed that the problems that even Emperor Xiaozong and Emperor Wuzong had not solved would be solved in his own hands. So he issued an edict: "The thieves occupy Hetao, and they will be a long-term trouble for me." But no minister can share the worries of yuan. Zeng Milling's proposal was very agreeable, and he ordered Zeng Milling to discuss specific strategies with the officials of various towns. 200,000 taels of money was sent as a fee for repairing the dredging border pass. ”
Although Zeng Qiao and the Jiajing Emperor were enthusiastic, many civilian and military generals did not agree. At that time, the three governors, such as Zhang Wenxing, the inspector of Yansui, Xie Lan, the inspector of Shaanxi, Wang Bangrui, the inspector of Ningxia, and the inspector of Yushi Shengtang, violated the will of the Jiajing Emperor. They did not discuss the matter with zeng milling as required by the edict. Zeng Milling was furious and directly complained to the Jiajing Emperor, who issued an edict condemning the inspectors. At this time, it just so happened that Zhang Qianxing was deposed, and Yang Shouqian succeeded him. He shares the same view as Zeng Milling. Thus the meeting of the governors and governors was counted as a trip. The crowd finally agreed on eighteen suggestions, and together with the eight figures of the battalion, they were presented to Jiajing.
Jiajing Emperor
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The Jiajing Emperor had been as Zeng Milling had said, and was full of confidence in collecting the Hetao. But suddenly one day I had some doubts in my heart, worried that there might be an accident. So he issued a handwritten edict and asked the cabinet and the Ninth Secretary of State: "Now attacking Hetao, is it really famous to be a master?" Is the army really enough? Will it be successful? At this time, if the cabinet assistants firmly support it, the reconsideration proposal will be truly decided. But the ministers had their own thoughts.
Xia Yan, the head of the cabinet, was a staunch supporter of Zeng's proposal, but he could not represent everyone. The second assistant Yan Song did not care about whether he could take back the river loop, he only cared about whether he could overthrow Xia Yan and sit in the position of the first assistant. Therefore, under Yan Song's deliberations, the question of whether to use troops against Hetao turned into a dispute over the first assistant, which became the flashpoint of the contradiction between Yan Song and Xia Yan.
Yan Song stills
Yan Song sensed that the emperor's mind was a little unstable, and knew that this was an opportunity to take advantage of this to overthrow Xia Yan, so he went to the Shuji River Loop and could not be recovered. Then he told the Jiajing Emperor that all the music that had been planned to praise Zeng Milling in the past was written by Xia Yan alone, and the ministers and others did not know it. This cleverly translated the original emperor's resolution into a resolution made by Xia Yan. The Jiajing Emperor was suspicious of his personality, and most taboo for his ministers to be good at government, which made him think that he was probably influenced by Xia Yanshu, and that the original decision to approve of the repossession of Hetao was not out of his own will.
Yan Song then joined forces with officials opposed to the repossession of hetao, such as Bingbu Shangshu Wang Yiqi, and so on, and together they played a song, accusing them of a series of drawbacks in the proposal to reclaim hetao. Yan Song also accused Zeng of deducting millions of grain and salaries from officers and soldiers in the song, covering up his defeat and failing to play, and many other illegal crimes.
Under the attack of the Qunchen, the Jiajing Emperor finally decided that the original decision was wrong and was deceived by Xia Yan and Zeng Qiao. Therefore, he ordered Zeng Milling to be arrested and ordered Xia Yan to be sent to Shi. The resolution to reclaim the Loop ended in stillbirth.
Great Wall Yulin Town North Terrace
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Originally, the Jiajing Emperor did not intend to kill Zeng Yan, but Yan Song, in order to completely get rid of Xia Yan, once again neglected to play: Zeng Qiang had secretly ordered his son Zeng Chun to contact Xia Yan's wife and brother Su Gang, and through him bought Xia Yan, the two conspired to promote the original proposal to take back Hetao. The collusion between the feudal officials and the important officials of the imperial court was a great taboo for the emperor. Without any corroboration, the Jiajing Emperor sent Zeng Chun and Su Gang to prison. Zeng Milling was eventually beheaded for intercourse with the internal servant law, and his wife was exiled for two thousand miles.
Since the unification of Mongolia, the invasion and persecution of the Ming Dynasty have become more and more serious, and he has even attacked the capital city. This is the "Northern Prisoner" in the so-called "Southern Wubei" threat of the Jiajing Dynasty. The Jiajing Emperor was actually a little frightened by the Khan of Gatham. This led him to develop an ambivalence. On the one hand, they wanted to destroy the Mongol tribes and raise their eyebrows; on the other hand, they were afraid in their hearts, fearing that if they did not succeed, they would trigger a greater counterattack by the Mongol army. This was the main reason why he initially firmly supported the recovery of the Loop, and then suddenly felt a stir and his heart was shaken.
Yan Song played a role of fueling the waves. Not to the good, but to the bad. He successfully shifted the nature of the problem, and the Jiajing Emperor fell into his thinking and completely forgot to take back the Loop. I have to say that Yan Song has already been fascinated in grasping people's psychology.
References: Ming history, Ming Dynasty, the end of the book.
This article was originally written by @Takeshi as a companion. Like the history of the Ming Dynasty, welcome attention and discussion.