how so?!
Zhao Daying stood there in a daze, staring straight at the head in the water tank and the obvious traces of the net scarf on the head's hair, still unable to believe his eyes.
I can't figure it out.
Isn’t it clearly the Tatar head presented by the border troops
How did it become the head of ordinary people
At this moment, Zhao Daying was like a gambler who had lost all his money. His eyes were bloodshot, and he kept shaking his head, muttering "impossible, impossible..."
How is that impossible!
Zhu Ping'an looked at Zhao Daying and curled his lips. You, Zhao Daying, have killed innocent people and taken credit for your own achievements, and you have no conscience. Some of the border army generals are not good people either!
If it were any other year, Zhu Ping'an might not be clear, but last year was too special.
The Gengxu Incident!
Because it was less than a year ago and it was a scandal, the court was still blocking all kinds of information, and the people of the Ming Dynasty at that time were not very clear about the inside story. However, later history recorded it very clearly, and many historical books and texts described it. Zhu Ping'an had read a lot of information in modern times, so he would not have made a mistake.
Last June, the leader of the Mongolian Tumed tribe, Altan Khan of Tatar, launched a war because the Ming Dynasty closed the "tribute market" between the Ming Dynasty and Tatar.
The so-called tribute market means that the Tatars would pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and then send people with cattle, sheep, horses and other items to follow the tribute envoys to trade with the Ming Dynasty at the places designated by the Ming Dynasty in exchange for salt, iron, tea, grain and other supplies from the Ming Dynasty.
Because the Ming Dynasty closed the tribute market, the Tatars could no longer obtain salt, iron, tea, grain and other supplies from the Ming Dynasty.
However, at this time, Altan Khan urgently needed supplies in order to consolidate his rule over the Tatars and to defeat and conquer the Oirat tribe.
At the beginning, Altan Khan did not start a war, but sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to express his loyalty and tribute to the Ming Dynasty, hoping that the Ming Dynasty would open a tribute market and expand the scale of the tribute market.
The Tatar envoys' attitude was not very good and they demanded a very large scale of tribute market.
The Ming Dynasty was already worried about the recurrence of the Tumu Incident, and was further irritated by the attitude of the Tatar envoy. How could you be a vassal and pay tribute? You said you were a vassal and paid tribute, but you were so presumptuous. So the Ming Dynasty righteously rejected Altan Khan's request and beheaded the arrogant Tatar envoy.
Since formal means were unsuccessful, Altan Khan launched a war, aiming to force the Ming Dynasty to open up the tribute market. In some ways, it was a bit similar to the Opium War.
"The newborns in my captive lands have all grown into strong men, and the foals have grown into big horses, but the Chinese have unreasonably bullied my tribe, killed my envoys, cut off my trade, and made my children eat meat without tea and salt, and my girls marry without rouge. Now I swear to wash away this humiliation with my blood. My sons, feed your war horses, polish your scimitars, and sharpen your arrowheads. I will lead you to ride on the Central Plains and restore the glory of our ancestors with our war horses, scimitars, and arrowheads."
In June, Altan Khan completed his oath, burned paper and threw it into the sky, and led more than 100,000 soldiers from all Tatar tribes to attack Datong and Xuanfu with great momentum.
The general Qiu Luan was guarding Datong at that time. When he saw that Aldan Khan had a large number of troops and strong horses and was full of murderous intent, he thought that he could not defeat him anyway, so he used his best trick. He sent people with precious gifts such as gold, silver, and jewelry to bribe Aldan Khan, carrying forward the spirit of "It is better to die than to suffer the loss of a friend" and asked Aldan Khan to attack another place.
Altan Khan was also a man of integrity. After receiving the money, he actually changed his location and led his army eastward.
This caused great harm to the border towns in the east.
Originally, Altan Khan was heading for Datong and Xuanfu, and the border towns in the east, such as Gubeikou, were not prepared, but Altan Khan's army suddenly appeared. It was just as the saying of military strategists that one should attack the enemy by surprise, and the result was predictable. The Ming army in Gubeikou and other border towns collapsed at the first blow, and was defeated by Altan Khan, leaving their weapons and armors in the dust, and countless soldiers and civilians were killed and injured.
Then Altan Khan marched straight from Gubeikou, full of murderous intent, all the way to the capital.
In fact, if Altan Khan wanted to march to the capital, he had to pass through the three important military towns of Huairou, Shunyi and Tongzhou before he could reach the capital. However, the military defenses of the three important military towns of Huairou, Shunyi and Tongzhou were rotten to the core, and the military preparations were loose, even worse than Gubeikou. The three important military towns were like tofu, and Altan Khan easily punched through them.
Altan Khan encountered basically no decent resistance and marched towards the capital.
The capital was shaken.
At that time, the garrison troops in the capital were said to be 350,000, but in fact, there were only 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers. Emperor Jiajing urgently ordered the garrison troops from various places to rush to the capital to defend the city, and at the same time assembled militias and martial artists from various places who were participating in the military examination in the capital to defend the city. Yes, by the way, Qi Jiguang, who would have great future glory, was participating in the joint examination at that time, and he presented a defense strategy and was temporarily appointed as the general flag bearer, supervising the defense of the nine gates of the capital, and made his mark.
The person in charge of the defense of the capital was the former Minister of War Ding Rukui.
Ding Rukui remained calm in the face of danger and quickly deployed troops to resist Altan Khan's army. However, Ding Rukui was at odds with the Yan Party. The trusted generals of the Yan Party naturally would not cooperate with Ding Rukui. They either slacked off or gave Ding Rukui false information, and they were weak at the mention of going to the front line.
Yan Song also wanted to take this opportunity to get rid of Ding Rukui, the thorn in his side.
When Ding Rukui came to ask Yan Song for advice on how to fight and defend, Yan Song analyzed the enemy's and our own military situation, and then said to Ding Rukui very emotionally, "In this battle of life and death, I will fully support Lord Ding."
This touched Ding Rukui a little.
"However, I have to explain to Lord Ding the pros and cons of fighting and defending. If we fight outside the Great Wall, we can conceal our defeat, but if we fight outside the capital, we can't hide our defeat. Our army is strong in defending cities, not in field battles. So, Lord Ding, you have to think carefully." Yan Song put himself in Ding Rukui's shoes and analyzed the situation, suggesting that Ding Rukui should not go to war.
"The situation is urgent now. Altan Khan is burning, killing and looting outside the city. I, Ding, have received the emperor's grace for generations. I should repay my country with my life. I dare not just sit there and do nothing, so I request to go out of the city to fight the enemy. I, Ding, am not greedy for merit. If I join forces with the border troops to support the king, and attack from both sides, we should be able to repel the enemy." Ding Rukui shook his head and asked to go into battle.
"Sir Ding, the emperor is resting in the West Garden now. If you insist on sending troops, it will certainly alarm the emperor. Isn't this asking for trouble? What's more, we are on high alert, and with the loyal king watching closely, Altan Khan will not dare to attack the city rashly. If Sir Ding goes into battle rashly, it will be fine if he wins, but what if he loses? The capital will have no soldiers to defend it. What if the capital is broken? Is Sir Ding sure of victory? The capital is an important place, the lifeline of the country, Sir Ding must be cautious. When Altan Khan has robbed enough, he will naturally retreat. I will report the details to the emperor and ensure that Sir Ding is safe." Yan Song persuaded Ding Rukui with emotion and reason.
then
The Ming army watched Altan Khan burn, kill and loot.
The royal cemeteries and ministers' estates outside the city were burned and looted by Altan Khan.
This is a big mess.
Therefore, Ding Rukui, who was afraid to fight and did not guard the city strictly, became a scapegoat and was ordered to be executed by Emperor Jiajing.
In short.
Since Altan Khan launched his troops to invade the Ming Dynasty last year, Qiu Luan, the defender of Datong, bribed the Tatars, so naturally no Tatar heads were captured; the border troops in Beigukou, Huairou, Shunyi, Tongzhou and other places were defeated at the first touch, and it was lucky for them to be able to save their lives, let alone capture any Tatar heads.
Not to mention the capital city, which did not go to war and just watched Altan Khan burn, kill and loot and return, and certainly would not have captured any Tatar heads.
In other words, no Tatar heads were captured in the entire Ming Dynasty last year.
Therefore, even if Zhao Daying and his nephew swapped heads, Zhu Ping'an would not worry as long as he could confirm that the head was from last year. No matter how Zhao Daying and his nephew struggled, it was all in vain. Fake is fake after all.
The most serious case of killing innocent people and claiming credit was in the late Ming Dynasty.
The methods of identifying the killing of innocent people and taking credit for their crimes were also the most abundant and standardized in the late Ming Dynasty. Zhu Ping'an's methods today are based on the identification methods of the late Ming Dynasty. Of course, for those in the court, these methods are quite eye-opening.