Ren Aijie
Wang Yue, zi Shichang. The history books say that he was tall and good at shooting. In the second year of Jingtai (1451), he entered the army. It is said that during the court examination, a whirlwind suddenly blew up, and his answer sheet was swept away by the wind. Seeing that he was about to fall off the list, he actually wrote another exam paper in the few required time. The cleverness of his people is evident.
Wang Yuezhong first went to Shaanxi to serve as a district prosecutor (Yushi). It was not until the early years of Tianshun that he became the director of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Shandong Province. In the seventh year of Tianshun (1463), the commander of the Datong Military Region (Inspector, Du Yushi, Adjutant Military Affairs) was vacant. On recommendation, Wang Yue took over the post and began his military career.
After the change of Tumu Fort, the Ming Dynasty shifted from a strategic offensive to a strategic defense against the Northern Yuan. Originally belonging to the second-line defensive bases of Datong, Xuanfu, and Yansui became the forefront of resistance to the invasion of the Northern Yuan, and were often attacked by the Northern Yuan, seriously damaging the local economy and people's lives. Immediately after Wang Yue arrived, he repaired weapons and armor, trained soldiers, repaired forts, encouraged agriculture and commerce, and rebuilt the Datong Defense Zone.
In the third year of Chenghua (1467), the Ming Dynasty launched a conquest of the Northern Yuan. Wang Yue became the military commander of the expedition. It is said that he once went out on a patrol with the commander-in-chief Yong Shuai and suddenly encountered the enemy army. Yong Yong wanted to escape. Wang Yue stopped him and told the soldiers to line up to protect themselves. The enemy suspected that there was an ambush and hesitated to attack. After the confrontation until dusk, Wang Yue ordered all the cavalry to dismount and march with their heads in full swing, while he himself led Xiao Yongdian to retreat to the Ming Army Castle fifty miles away under the cover of night. Afterwards, he said to Yong Yong, "As soon as our side moves, the enemy will pursue, so no one can survive, so we have to quietly confuse them." When retreating, dismount and walk, the sound of our actions is small, it is not easy to alarm the enemy, so that we can escape. ”
To be honest, in this story, Wang Yue appears to be superiorly intelligent, which actually reflects the low combat effectiveness of the Ming army at that time. The number of enemy troops encountered by the two is estimated not to exceed the number of Ming troops, otherwise they would have rushed to kill them long ago. However, the first reaction of Yong Yong, who was given the title of Marquis of Funing, was to flee. And Wang Yue's reaction was only how to escape to save his life.
The combat effectiveness of the Ming army was so, of course, this battle was fruitless, just when the Northern Yuan was busy with infighting, asking the Ming Dynasty for trade (tribute), so the matter of conquest was not over. Probably because Wang Yue had a meritorious relationship in preserving his strength, in the autumn of that year, he also served as the inspector of Xuanfu and the military governor.
With the experience of almost dying, it is estimated that Wang Yue fully realized that the low combat effectiveness of the army was a fatal wound, so he strengthened the training of soldiers in the two theaters under his direct control. Two years later, in the five years of Chenghua, Wang Yue finally had the opportunity to show his prominence.
At that time, the area around Hetao belonged to the border between the Ming and Northern Yuan. Hetao water and grass are abundant, but due to the active attack on Northern Yuan in the early Ming Dynasty, Northern Yuan did not dare to go south, and Hetao became a vacuum zone. Almost no one is inhabited. After the tumu fort, the Northern Yuan began to infiltrate the Hetao area. By the fifth year of Chenghua, Beiyuan began to enter the Hetao area on a large scale to graze cattle. Therefore, Yan Sui was in a hurry, and the imperial court ordered Wang Yue to reinforce.
Wang Yue led his headquarters to Yulin, dispatching the guerrilla general Xu Ning out of Longzhou and Zhenjing Fortresses on the West Road, Fan Jin out of shenmu and Zhenqiang forts on the east road, and qin gang as a supporter for himself and the lieutenant Qin Gang. Xu Ning at LiJiajian, Fan Jin at YayaoChuan and defeated the Northern Yuan army. The right general Shen Ying broke the enemy in Zhenqiang again. Beiyuan had to retreat.
Wang Yue thought he had won the victory and collected his troops in the first month of the following year. Unexpectedly, only to return to the side pass, The Northern Yuan went and came again, and Yan Sui was anxious again. The soldiers impeached the king of Yue and collected the troops without authorization. This is the crime of beheading. Fortunately, the emperor appreciated him, spared him of his sins, and ordered him to lead his troops to wait near Yansui. Northern Yuan separated the five roads into the blockade with more than 10,000 horses, and Wang Yue ordered Xu Ning and others to repel them.
In March of that year, the Ming Dynasty decided to completely solve the troublesome Northern Yuan Aluo ministry. This time, the leading general was Hou Yong of Funing. Wang Yue was his deputy. Judging from the previous story, I am afraid that it is Wang Yue who is actually in command, not Yong Yong, a disciple of the Poor. The two sides fought a decisive battle in Kairakawa, and Aro was defeated. The Ming army took advantage of the victory to pursue Niujiazhai, and Aro was wounded by a stray arrow. Wang Yue made a great contribution this time and was promoted to general (Right Capital Imperial History, literally translated as attorney general. But this position was actually an honorary position for the leading general in the Ming Dynasty. All civilian officers who lead the army are required to add the titles of military attendant and imperial history to indicate that they are only temporary leaders. This was also one of the measures taken by the Ming Dynasty to prevent the dictatorship of military generals by civilian officials. So I had to translate it as admiral. Otherwise, it is difficult for modern people to understand why they have been promoted to attorney general after military merit. ）。
Taking advantage of this great victory, the Ming Dynasty decided to attack the Northern Yuan on a large scale. Wang Yue was deeply respected and threatened the frontier, so the following year he was appointed commander of the Western Front (viceroy of military affairs, specializing in western affairs). ) to prepare for the Western Expedition. However, it is regrettable that although the central authorities verbally want to march west, they do not pay lip service to it. Wang Yue's available troops were only more than 10,000, and the defense was scattered. The Northern Yuan's army, on the other hand, numbered in tens of thousands. In this case, Wang Yue was unable to protect himself, and where there was still the power to march west.
Reading the history so far, some people may wonder where the troops who broke Aro's troops in the first year went. The Ming Dynasty practiced the Weishou system. Simply put, it is a hereditary military system. Soldiers' families have been soldiers for generations. Cultivate the fields in peacetime and conduct military training in their spare time. In wartime, they were temporarily organized and led by generals. This system looks good. In fact, after several generations of Chengping, soldiers often only know how to farm, but do not know how to fight. The ad hoc generals were often civilian officials and did not understand the military. With such an army, it is the blind man riding a blind horse, how can he not lose the battle? Wang Yuejiu was in the northwest, and his army was well-trained and well-known, so that he could achieve victory. However, his direct subordinate forces were still limited. In the event of a large-scale war, troops must be transferred from other guards. Most of the soldiers who broke Arrow's army in the first year were demobilized at this time. And without the emperor's orders, no one dared to send troops to him. In this way, the commander of his Western Front was only a light rod commander.
It is actually not accurate to say that the Central Committee of the Ming Dynasty did not transfer troops. In fact, the Central Committee of the Ming Dynasty mobilized nearly 80,000 people for the Western Expedition. But these 80,000 people were not under the command of Wang Yue. Wang Yue, however, was responsible for the safety of the entire defense zone. This caused a strange phenomenon in which the Ming army in the border area was gathered, but the Northern Yuan was like entering no man's land. Later, the Central Committee of the Ming Dynasty finally realized the problem of no unified command. Thus nominally centralizing the military power. However, the military power was not given to Wang Yue, but to Zhao Fu, the Marquis of Wujing, and Zhao Fu was made a general of Pingyu. Thus, two supreme commanders appeared in the same army. The Ming Dynasty, like the Song Dynasty, was afraid of the rebellion of the military generals, so it wanted to use the capable generals, but they were not at ease, so they developed this kind of command system of stacking beds and houses.
At the same time, the Northern Yuan adopted harassment tactics against the Ming Dynasty. Whenever the Ming Dynasty managed to straighten out the command relationship and the large army slowly moved, the Northern Yuan immediately retreated. Once the Ming army collected its troops, the Northern Yuan immediately went and returned. After several years of repetition, the nominal commander of the Ming army also changed three, not only did not suppress the attack of the Northern Yuan, but the attack of the Northern Yuan became more and more frequent, and the Hetao area was gradually completely occupied by the Northern Yuan. Because Wang Yue was familiar with border affairs, he had always been the commander of his Guangzhan Western Road Army. During this time, he was accused by the central ministers of cheating the king and concealing the strength of the Northern Yuan, so the two sides fought happily.
Just when the situation of political struggle was gradually unfavorable to Wang Yue, fate unexpectedly gave Wang Yue the opportunity to establish an immortal merit.
In September of the ninth year of Chenghua (1473), the Northern Yuan Khan Mandulu and Taishi Bigasilan, who had penetrated deep into the Loop, left the old and weak in the Hongyanchi Royal Court and went deep into Qinzhou and Anding Prefectures. Wang Yue found out the news and thought that the main force of the Northern Yuan dynasty was exhausted, and the rear was empty, which was a godsend opportunity to destroy the enemy. So he led his direct subordinate troops to battle. The generals Xu Ning and Zhou Yu led 5,000 cavalry into two roads, out of Yulin, over the Hong'er Mountain, wading into the white salt flats, and galloping eight hundred miles day and night to attack the court of the Northern Yuan King.
When they reached their destination, the storm rose, the sand and dust were blinding, and the armies were timid. Then a veteran said, "This is God help me." When going to the wind, the enemy is not easy to detect. If the main enemy force is encountered when the victorious army is collected, it is in the ascendant. Riding the wind, there is still a reason to win! ”
Wang Yue immediately dismounted and worshiped this veteran as the regimental commander (Thousand Households). Morale was boosted. Wang Yue divided his forces into ten wings, each wing with a thousand men. Personally led two wings to attack the Northern Yuan battalion. The Northern Yuan remaining troops were caught off guard, and the large camp was breached. Almost the entire army was wiped out. Manduru and others returned from plunder, and found that the root land had been destroyed, and his wife's livestock property had been wiped out, so they had to cry bitterly. As a result of this campaign, Beiyuan was no longer able to gain a foothold in Hetao and was forced to move far away. The Loop crisis has thus been lifted.
Wang Yue won such an unprecedented victory, but the ming historical record says that he only captured three hundred and fifty people, and that he had no means of obtaining camel and horse equipment, and burned his tent and returned it. This record is too small, and it is unbelievable that such a large battle only killed three hundred and fifty people on the other side. I believe that this is the Ming Dynasty historians who thought that he was Wang Zhi's party and deliberately reduced his credit.
This great victory was equivalent to weiqing in the early Han Dynasty, and Huo went ill to break the Xiongnu royal court. However, Wei Qing and Huo Were able to continue to attack the Xiongnu, but Wang Yue could not even pursue the remnants of the Northern Yuan Army. Wei Qing, Huo went to the sick and returned victoriously, and was immediately able to devote himself to formulating the next battle plan. Wang Yue returned victoriously but immediately faced a sinister political struggle.
Ostensibly, Wang Yue was promoted to an honorary position because of this great victory, and his honorary position was promoted to Prince Shaobao, while the actual position was promoted to commander of the Northwest Theater (trilateral general system). But in fact, his actual power has declined. However, Ji Gonglang Zhongzhang Jin and Bing Ke gave Guo Bo in the matter and impeached him for killing the former Pingyu general Liu Ju indiscriminately.
With great merit and poor rewards, and suspicion by the imperial court, Wang Yue had no choice but to claim to be ill, surrender his military power, and return to the central government as his chief procurator. Looking back, he finally realized the need for "someone in the court to be a good official." So he began to make friends with the powerful people in the dynasty. At that time, the biggest red man in front of the emperor was Wang Zhi, the chief eunuch of the secret service in charge of the West Factory.
The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty ruled by eunuchs. Since the Ming Dynasty emperor Zhu Di surrendered, he had great trust in eunuchs. And although there are guys like Liu Jian and Wei Zhongxian who have brought calamity to the country and the people among the eunuchs, there are also heroic figures like Zheng He.
Wang Zhi's evaluation of Wang Zhi has not been high in zhengshi, although he is not included in the category of castration together with Wei Zhongxian, but he is also considered to be a person who is chaotic in government. However, if we carefully read Wang Zhi's deeds, we will find that Wang Zhi is actually not as bad as the history books say.
Wang Zhi is a Yao ethnic group, born in Dayengxia, Guangxi. In 1456, Hou Dagou, the leader of the Yao people in Datengxia, led more than 10,000 people of the Yao and The Servant people to revolt, and the poor people of all ethnic groups in Xiuren, Lipu, Lishan, Pingle and other places responded one after another. Attack the counties and haunt the valleys. This uprising was not suppressed until the first year of Chenghua (1465) by the right deputy capital Yushi Hanyong. In 1466, the people of Datengxia Yao and The Servants revolted again again with more than 700 people of the Dayengxia Rebel Army, and under the leadership of Hou Zheng'ang, they attacked the capital city of Xunzhou and the counties of Luorong and Beiliu at night. The Ming court also ordered Han Yong to continue the suppression. The people of Si'en, Bazhou, Liuzhou, Pennsylvania and other places rose up and attacked the Ming army everywhere, and developed into Qinzhou and Huazhou in Guangdong. The revolt lasted until 1472, when it failed completely.
Wang Zhi was a Yao child captured in this uprising. The Ming army's consistent policy toward the captured ethnic minorities was to "capture the thieves, men, women, and children, and sell them to the old and the weak." "Whether it is raising a prince or selling it, it is actually turning a captive into a slave. One of the ways in which he was "raised" was to be castrated, sent to the court, and become a eunuch.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty ministers and historians, Wang Zhi was not only a traditional eunuch who would "chaotic government", but also a rebellious person with a problematic birth.
However, Ming Xianzong liked Wang Zhi very much. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were extremely distrustful of their ministers. The only thing they believed was the eunuch who was always by their side. Therefore, eunuchs were often sent to monitor the actions of the ministers. Because of Wang Zhi's cleverness, Ming Xianzong sent him to preside over the secret service agency Xichang and monitor the actions of the ministers. The first major thing Wang Zhi did was to overthrow Qin Lipeng, the superintendent of Nanjing Town.
The Ming Dynasty implemented the salt monopoly. Qin Lipeng relied on his power to return from tribute and fashion more than a hundred ships of private salt. Along the way, they harassed states and counties. The wucheng county anti-smuggling captain (dianshi) interrogated him, and Qin Lipeng beat dianshi, broke his teeth, and shot another person. After Wang Zhi investigated this matter, he immediately arrested Qin Lipeng and beheaded him. Qin Lipeng was later spared after unclogging the joints, and Emperor Mingxianzong believed that Wang Zhi could find the traitors and enforce the law impartially, so he favored him more.
Wang Zhi has since been imprisoned many times, but the people who killed him were all guilty people. However, since he was the head of the secret service, his main task was to monitor the hundred officials, and naturally he did not have the favor of the hundred officials. Soon, the cabinet scholar Shangrui and Wan An, Liu Jue, Liu Ji, and others played a role in disrupting the government and demanded that Wang Zhi be killed. Under the pressure of his courtiers, Emperor Mingxianzong had to suppress Wang Zhi's power slightly. However, it was soon restored to its full powers.
Wang Zhi has since been at odds with the Hundred Officials. He first started with Xiang Zhong, a soldier who had a grudge, and asked the officials Guo Bo (that is, the one who falsely accused Wang Yue earlier) and Feng Guan to report Xiang Zhong for violating the law. Xiang Zhong was dismissed from his post. Implicated, dozens of others, including Shang Ren, a university scholar who had previously denounced Wang Zhi, Zuo Du Yushi Libin, Shang Shu Dongfang, Xue Yuan, and Shilang Teng Zhao and Cheng Wanli, were deposed. Wang Yue, on the other hand, was friendly with him, so he was appointed Minister of National Defense (兵部尚書).
Wang Zhi was still young at the time, and he had a keen interest in the military. His close confidant Chen Yu persuaded him to go on a campaign against the Northern Yuan Dynasty to consolidate his position. Wang Zhi thought deeply. So under his auspices, the Ming Dynasty once again turned to the attack on the Northern Yuan. He repeatedly appointed himself as the overseer of the army, and together with Wang and Chen, he led a large army to attack.
For Wang Yue, although he was already the minister of defense and had the full support of the imperial court, the best time to eliminate the Northern Yuan had been lost. Several sorties failed to capture the main force of the Northern Yuan. Instead, it attracted a counterattack from the Northern Yuan. Fortunately, at this time, Beiyuan was also busy with internal unification. Mandu Haiktun was taking the young Dayan Khan on a crusade to the west, and had no time to deal with the challenge of the Ming Dynasty.
The time soon reached the sixteenth year of Chenghua, and Wang Yue was already 56 years old. Just when he thought he would never have another chance to build a feat, fate once again smiled at him.
In March of that year, Wang Yue led 20,000 people to Yulin to defend the Northern Yuan. Passing through Da qi, he heard that the Northern Yuan's wang court was in WeiningHai (present-day South Jining Yellow Flag Sea). Wang Yue immediately led his army out of the lonely shop at night, passed through Maoerzhuang first, and the soldiers divided into several roads and went straight to WeiningHai. When the wind and snow were great, the heavens and the earth were dim, and Wang Yue's troops covered up and killed once again, killing the Wang court of northern Yuan. And this time he almost got his target, the Khan of the Northern Yuan, Dayan Khan. (Ming history says that the attack was an attack on Sima Yintai's division, which is inaccurate in comparison with Mongolian historical sources.) It should be an attack on Dayan Khan. But fate always seemed to take what was delivered to him. This time, Dayan Khan escaped. The beautiful and warlike Mandu Haykordun of the Northern Yuan may have died in this attack.
For this war, the Ming history records it more briefly, saying only that Wang Yuesheng captured 171 young men and women, beheaded 437 levels, and obtained six horses, camels, cattle and sheep. There is no sign of a big victory at all.
The following year, Wang Zhi fell out of favor and was relegated to Nanjing. Wang Yue was counted as Wang Zhi's party, stripped of all honors and positions, and exiled to Anlu, Hubei Province. When chincha, who had proclaimed his will, arrived, Wang Yue was so distraught that he almost committed suicide. Later, when I saw that the fate had fallen from a light hair, this dispelled the idea.
For the next ten years, Wang Yue was placed under house arrest. His charges were pardoned when Emperor Ming ascended the throne. However, it was not until the seventh year of Koji (1494) that he was reinstated. During this period, the Northern Yuan was unified by Dayan Khan, and the Ming Dynasty never had the opportunity to defeat the Northern Yuan again.
Three years later, the Northern Yuan attacked Gansu again, and no one in the imperial court could resist it. At this time, At the age of 73, Wang Yue was again appointed commander of the Northwest Theater (trilateral general system). Wang Yue set out again as an old and sick man, and attacked the Northern Yuan base after Helan Mountain the following year. The Northern Yuan had to shrink northward again.
And so history repeats itself. Wang Yue's supporter in the dynasty, eunuch Li Guang (not the one of the Han Dynasty), fell. The officials who had not accomplished enough and had more than enough to lose had another chance to show their loyalty, and they wrote letters one after another to attack Wang Yue as Li Guang's party. Wang Yue's old and sick body could no longer withstand this blow and died of grief.
After Wang Yue's death, the Ming Dynasty no longer had the ability to take the initiative. Dayan Khan also no longer had a rival to match, so he went into the jam. The Ming Dynasty was thus caught in an endless battle with the Northern Yuan until both sides were exhausted and destroyed by the emerging Manchu Qing.
The Ming Dynasty was not without good generals, and from Wang Yue's story, we can see that even eunuchs who were born as traitors in traditional history bibliographies were not but not necessarily the elbow of good generals, but it was possible to support good generals to make meritorious achievements. However, the ming system no longer allowed good generals to make meritorious achievements. In contrast, Wang Yue was still a good death. The fate of other good generals who want to build meritorious achievements, such as Yuan Chonghuan, is not so wonderful.
Finally, an excerpt is a conversation between Wang Yue and the cabinet ministers about Wang Zhi.
When the cabinet discussed the dismissal of the West Factory, the more he met the university scholars Liu Ji and Liu Jue yu Chao, which was obviously said: "Wang Zhi also acts very fairly." If Huang Zhi has the exclusive right to accept bribes, he cannot go unless he is straight. Business, wan in the matter for a long time, is not much to be afraid of. Why did the second duke enter the cabinet for a few days? "What my generation said is not for personal gain." If all the people who act straight are fair, what is the court's appointment of the secretary of state? "The more you can't be right.
Liu Ji, Liu Jue, and the like said, "If all the people who act straight are fair, what is the imperial court's appointment to the gongqing doctor?" "It is really a portrayal of the Ming court. In order to let Gongqing Doctor have something to do, Wang Zhi naturally had to "act unfairly", and Wang Yue had to become the target of Gongqing Doctor's constant attack. And the state administration of the Ming Dynasty decayed in this kind of idle infighting.