On August 15, 1449, a far-reaching war broke out in East Asia, which was the Battle of Tumu fort.
In this battle, the 500,000 elite troops of the Ming Dynasty were almost slaughtered by the Wallachian army, and the supreme commander of this army, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, was also captured alive.
Speaking of which, since Qin Shi Huang became emperor, he had the superior military strength but was captured, and Zhu Qizhen was absolutely unique.
Although his ancestors Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di launched several northern expeditions to massacre countless Mongols, he did not have to worry that the Wala people would pay tribute to him.
Because the leader of the Wallachians was also planning to make a big deal: zhu qizhen was taken as a hostage, one could take the Ming Dynasty passes without bloodshed, and the other could ask the Ming Dynasty for a large amount of gold and silver treasures at any time.
On August 16, the fourteenth year of the orthodox dynasty, the day after the Battle of Tumu fort, he also carried out his plan: he took Zhu Qizhen hostage and ran all the way to Xuanfu and Datong.
Wallachian cavalry
In the case of unsuccessful deception of the city, he also first asked the two cities for a large amount of property, and then returned to the grassland with Ming Yingzong.
But unexpectedly, when the news of the defeat of Tumu Fort reached the city of Beijing, ming officials quickly installed a new emperor, the Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu.
The failure of the "strange goods" makes the first to react quickly. In mid-September, he gathered his troops and sent troops south again under the guise of reclaiming the throne for Zhu Qizhen.
The Ming Dynasty estimated that it would also invade the territory first, so it stored millions of stones of grain and grass in advance and mobilized more than 200,000 soldiers to guard the city of Beijing.
After more than a month of fighting, the Wala army suffered serious losses and had to retreat to the steppe.
I also returned to the old camp in Mongolia on November 16, which is the mid-winter season of dripping water into ice.
Fortunately, he also knew the importance of Zhu QiZhen to the future Mingmeng peace talks, and in the end he did not anger Zhu Qizhen because of his defeat.
He first arranged Zhu Qizhen to the Suwu Temple next to the camp, and then gave him the minimum living guarantee, "an ox cart and a horse, for the purpose of moving the camp." ”
In addition, he also left zhu qizhen with three retinues to serve and live, one was Yuan Bin, a lieutenant of the Jinyi Guard School, one was Yang Ming, a general who knew Mongolian, and the other was a Wei Sha fox who was responsible for miscellaneous work.
Stills from "Daming Style"
The winter in the desert north was cold to the bone marrow, and the only tent room on which the four emperors of Emperor Yingzong relied to withstand the cold, so several people could only sleep together.
Although Yuan Bin liked to joke but was more careful, he was worried that Yingzong's feet were cold at night, so he put Yingzong's feet into his clothes.
It can be imagined that the space of the tent is so small, the four monarchs and courtiers naturally cannot avoid "rubbing shoulders and rubbing heels".
Once, Yang Ming, who had been tired for a day, slept very hard and accidentally pressed his hand on Yingzong's chest.
Yingzong couldn't bear to wake him up, so he waited for him to move his hand away.
The next morning, Yang Ming was frightened when he found out, but Emperor Yingzong made a joke, comparing him to Yan Guang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and promising to make him the commander of the capital after returning to the dynasty.
Stills of Zhu Qizhen
After nearly 40 days of stationing at the Suwu Temple, the time has come to the traditional Han festival Spring Festival.
Looking back at the glory of the past and the downfall of today, Zhu Qizhen not only wept.
In order to soothe his homesickness, Ye Xian's younger brother Boyan Timur not only often invited Zhu Qizhen to his home as a guest, but also took him on a tour of the saiwai landscape.
In addition, the attitude of the Wala nobles to Zhuqi Town was also good, and they often brought food and set up banquets to entertain the princes of Zhuqi Town.
"Every two days a sheep, every seven days a cow, and every five, seven, and ten days a feast is made. Feed cow's milk and horse's milk day by day. ”
"First, when each horse was slaughtered, a feast was set up, and wine was first offered, and then the tiger plucked si'er to drink the song, and all the tartars harmonized with it, and learned that the court and the king of Saihan knelt down to offer wine."
Interestingly, he also planned to marry his sister to Zhu Qizhen and form a relationship with him as a brother-in-law, but Zhu Qizhen politely refused.
Looking at the goodwill that he had repeatedly shown, Zhu Qizhen thought that there was hope for his return to China, but after waiting for a long time, he did not hear any substantive results of the Mingmeng negotiations, and Zhu Qizhen could not help but be depressed.
At this time, his old friend Boyan Timur came to comfort him and told him to wait patiently and return to the day.
Indeed, because of the long-term confrontation between Ming and Mongolia, the fragile steppe economy has become more and more sloppy.
It should be known that the materials needed by the Mongolian steppe basically depend on the mutual market with the inland, so we also want to achieve peace as soon as possible.
At the same time, the Ming Dynasty's civil and military officials also frequently went to Emperor Jingtai, hoping that the imperial court would send envoys to welcome back Zhu Qi Town.
However, Zhu Qiyu had the same idea as Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, lest Zhu Qizhen return and seize his throne.
In the end, Yu Qian broke Emperor Jingtai's heart and told him, "The heavenly throne has been determined, and Ning Fu has him." ”
The first hero of the defense of Beijing spoke, and Zhu Qiyu could not shirk it any longer, so he officially sent emissaries to Wallachia to show his attitude.
In August 1450, an agreement was reached between the two sides, and Wala released Emperor Yingzong from the town of Zhu Qi, who had been imprisoned for 13 months.