Three major turning points before and after the Tumubao Incident in the Ming Dynasty

The Battle of Tumubao begins with the ridiculous pre-war preparations of the Ming army. On July 16, the 14th year of Zhengtong, Ming Yingzong led the Ming army of less than 160,000 people to formally march on the battlefield. On the road of personal conquest. Previously, from the time when Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty announced his personal expedition to when he set out on the road, the Ming army "miraculously" "completed" a series of preparations for mobilization, food, grass, and ordnance in only two days.

After that, the Ming army also had no discipline during the march. Even after two days of marching, Ming Yingzong had to issue an edict to the accompanying civil and military officials to enforce marching discipline.

Soon after, the Ming army arrived in Datong in such a hurry. As a result, Guo Jing, the eunuch guarding Datong, secretly told Wang Zhen that if the Ming army continued to move out, it would fall into Ye Xian's trick. This record shows that Ming Yingzong's original personal expedition plan was to use Datong as a way station and continue to go north to seek a decisive battle with the main force outside the borders of the Ming Empire.

1. The layout and contest of the Battle of Tumubao

After the pro-conquest army stationed in Datong, they dispatched the front army to attack from Datong. The Oara army proved it from another aspect. This plan of Ming Yingzong. But Guo Jing's secret report was not a bluff threat, because during the march of Ming Yingzong, the Oara army that had swept through the Ming border towns and defenders all withdrew outside the fortress. At the same time, the cavalry that had also arrived at Alazhiyuan's headquarters also began to harass Xuanda Road. Under this situation, combined with Guo Jing's secret report, it can only be shown that when Ming Yingzong's personal expedition army marched, corresponding preparations had been made outside the Great Wall, and they were only waiting for the invasion of the personal expedition army. In the end, the Ming army returned from Datong and the army returned eastward.

But at this time, the Ming army's command had disagreements over the issue of the route back to the division. At that time, the governor who was guarding Datong, Guo Deng, suggested to the scholar Cao Nai that the troops should return to the capital from Zijin Pass. After Cao Nai reported to the emperor, Ming Yingzong did not adopt it, but finally decided to march eastward and enter the pass from Juyong Pass. , this decision eventually led to the tragedy of the Battle of Tumu Fort. From Datong to Zijingguan, you must pass through Wang Zhen's hometown, Yuzhou. "Records of the Ming Dynasty" stated that the reason why the Ming army did not return from Zijingguan in the end was that Wang Zhen was afraid that the army would trample the crops in his hometown. However, this statement is actually a bit far-fetched. In the "History of Ming Dynasty" revised by the Qing Dynasty, this record was also considered to be inconsistent with historical facts, so it was not adopted. "History of the Ming Dynasty" further believes that Ming Yingzong himself did not adopt the suggestion of returning from Zijingguan and insisted on going to Juyongguan. Coincidentally, it is also recorded in the "Xuanfu Town Chronicle" that after Guo Deng's invitation, Wang Zhen also invited Ming Yingzong to return to his teacher, without mentioning the fear of damaging the crops in his hometown. Then the context of the whole thing will be very clear. After Guo Deng asked his troops to return from Zijingguan, Wang Zhen also asked Ming Yingzong to return from Zijingguan, but Ming Yingzong did not listen and insisted on returning from Juyongguan. "Ming Shilu", in order to avoid the venerable taboo, put the responsibility of not returning to the teacher from Zijingguan to Wang Zhen.

On the other hand, entering Zijingguan from Yuzhou and returning to the army is actually a very risky plan. Although after the Battle of Tumubao, most commentators attributed the defeat of the Ming Army to the Ming Army's wrong decision to return from Juyongguan. Because according to the maps of the Datong area during the Jiajing and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty, there were many castles on the way from Datong to Yuzhou City, such as Juluo City, Xujiazhuang Fort, Guangling City, Shunshengchuan East City, Lingqiu City, and Hunyuan City, which could serve as shelter.

But in fact, more than 70% of the castles in the Jiubian area of ??the Ming Dynasty were gradually built after the Zhengtong year. Before the Tianshun period of the Ming Dynasty, most of these castles did not exist. Fourteen years before Zhengtong, there were actually only two cities on the way from Datong to Yuzhou City: Hunyuan City and Guangling City. As mentioned before, the Jiubian area in the early Ming Dynasty was like a big sieve leaking water everywhere, and it was very empty. Moreover, most of Datong Town is a plain. Once the ill-prepared and marching Ming army encounters hundreds of thousands of Ora cavalry on a plain with almost no military facilities, the consequences will undoubtedly be devastating.

So is it feasible to stay in Datong? The answer is still no. Because not long after Ming Yingzong returned eastward, Datong suffered a devastating blow from Yexian, and the city of Datong was almost captured. It can be seen that the offensive and defensive battle in Datong was very fierce at that time. From June of the 14th year when he led the army to invade Datong Town, to August when Ming Yingzong returned to the army in two months, he never took the risk to attack the fortified Datong Town.

Why not long after the Ming Ying clan conscripted troops and stationed in Datong, and just after returning to the army, they attacked the town of Datong and almost destroyed the city? This revealed a very terrifying information: Ye Xian had completely figured out the deficiencies of the defense system of Datong Town, and even the entire northern border town, that is, once the town was beheaded, the Ming army would be unable to fight back. In the early Ming Dynasty, when there were no border walls, few piers, and few castles, once the town was crippled, the entire defense system would be paralyzed.

After that, Ye Xian can safely seek the best time to engage in a strategic decisive battle with the Ming army. It can be seen that disabling Datong City is the first step of the strategy, that is, making Datong Town unable to provide effective support to surrounding areas.

After first crippling the town of Datong, he also searched everywhere for the movements of the Ming army in order to fight for a decisive battle. If you stay in Datong City at this time, the personal expedition army can indeed strengthen Datong's defense. However, the terrain around Datong was not suitable for field battles with the Ora cavalry. The previous disastrous defeat of Datong Governor Song Ying served as a warning.

Therefore, it was precisely because the Ming army command discovered Ye Xian's intentions that they finally chose to abandon the Bauhinia route and take the Xuanfu route.

At that time, they also went out in all directions to desperately explore the route of this personal expedition. Once the Oara army gets the news, they will immediately gather their troops to attack. Therefore, not long after the pro-conquest army left Datong, Datong was crippled and could only barely defend itself without any support at all. This is Ye Xian's first killer move. In other words, no matter which route the pro-conquest army chooses to return to the army, Datong will definitely be attacked. This also proves from another aspect that the route from Datong to Yuzhou and then to Zijingguan is not feasible.

While the battle between Datong Town and the Ora Army was inseparable, the return process of the personal expedition army seemed to be smooth sailing, and there was no interception by the Ora Army along the way. When the pro-conscript army arrived at Leijia Station (today's Xinbaoan Town) on August 13, the death knell finally began to ring. The two armies of Wu Kezhong and Zhu Yong, with a total of 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, were defeated twice at Yaoerling and were completely wiped out.

On the previous July 15th, Yang Hong, the chief military officer of Xuanfu, reported that the Mongolian army had been besieging Ma Camp for three days and cut off the river, leaving the camp without water. In this memorial, there is actually a terrible news hidden, that is, at this time, Dushi City on the North Road of Xuanfu had fallen and became a "captive nest". However, the fall of Dushi and the siege of Maying in July were not the end, but a beginning. After the fall of Dushi City, the defenders of Maying City were too afraid to fight and abandoned the city to flee. Yunzhou garrison led troops to support, but was defeated and Yunzhou fell. Dushi, Maying, and Yunzhou, the three strongest military fortresses on the North Road in Xuanfu Town fell one after another, causing panic on the entire North Road in Xuanfu Town. Coupled with the lack of information and the lack of attention to the beacon fire, in the end The defenders in Huailai, Yongning and other places abandoned the city and fled. It can be said that the fall of these three cities directly led to the collapse of the entire Xuanfu Shangbei Road. Afterwards, there was news that the North Road and East Road in Xuanfu Town collapsed. Due to the lack of smoke piers and castles along the road, the Ming army had no idea about it on their way back to the army!

When nearly 200,000 Ming troops and a large number of followers arrived at Leijia Station on August 12, they had completely entered the Oala encirclement. So what was the final battle that took place in Tumubao like?

After the defeat of Cheng Guogong Zhu Yong and others on August 13, the Ming army moved to Tumubao and quickly built trenches capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of people in a very short period of time. and fortifications, and the confrontation with the Oara army, so that the Yexian army could not approach. Because the Ming army built trenches, the Mongols could not approach, and the Ming and Mongolian sides remained in a stalemate for nearly three days. On August 15, Wala suddenly sent an envoy to the Ming army camp to negotiate peace with a letter. Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered Cao Nai to agree to the peace proposal and sent two more people to return the Wala envoy. Ye Xian had no intention of negotiating peace with the Ming army, and was prepared to completely eat this Ming army from the beginning. Ye Xian pretended to negotiate peace and sent envoys to the Ming army camp to express goodwill, which led the Ming army commanders to make wrong decisions: they finally believed in Ye Xian's sincerity and began to walk out of the fortifications and enter a marching state.

But unexpectedly, the Ming army had just crossed the trench, and the army suddenly turned around and "attacked from all sides", catching the Ming army by surprise as they were crossing the trench and the camp was not in order. 130,000 infantrymen and a large number of accompanying non-combatants left the fortification cover, broke up into formation, and were attacked by 130,000 cavalry on the plains. The results can be imagined. At that time, the Mongolian army shouted: "Those who disarm and throw swords will not be killed!" Ye Xian's move became the last straw to crush the hungry and thirsty Ming army. The Ming army, which had lost its fortifications, gave up its last resistance. In the Battle of Tumubao, the Ming army was defeated and Ming Yingzong was captured.

2. Battle of Beijing: Who saved the Ming Empire?

Yu Qian's appointment as Minister of War was a turning point in the Tumubao Incident, and it was also the beginning of the Ming Empire taking the initiative in the war. In fact, if the Ming Empire had moved southward at that time, it would have fallen into Wala's scheme. Because Ye Xian did have the intention to capture Beijing. "Records of the Ming Dynasty" records that Guo Deng, the commander-in-chief of Datong's army and the commander-in-chief, sent Bai Boluo, who had returned from captivity, to the capital. Yan Ye first gathered the people to discuss the matter: "The emperor has been established in Beijing, and he wants to bring men and horses to fight. In the end, there is no explanation." The intention is to make peace. Now I will mobilize the troops and horses to fight each other again, so that they can move south and join us." After learning that the Ming Empire had no intention of making peace, he immediately mobilized the troops and horses to "fight each other again" and force them to do so. The Ming Empire moved south and restored its old Yuan capital.

When Ye Xian mobilized his troops and gathered his strength to attack Beijing, the only thing the Ming Empire had to do was to race against time with Ye Xian. Faced with the dilapidated military and political situation after the disastrous defeat, the Ming Empire had to make full preparations before it invaded the capital. At this critical moment, the soldiers on the border of the Ming Empire used their lives to interpret the word "loyalty and bravery" and bought enough time for Beijing to prepare for war.

After marching eastward from Datong first, they arrived at the open space north of Zijingguan Pass on October 4th. On the 5th, Xi Ning, the internal official who surrendered to Wala, led the Ye Xian outpost into the north entrance of Zijing Pass. The Ming army was well prepared and held a stalemate with the Mongolian army for four days. The Mongolian army was unable to break through the Ming army's frontal defense line. However, the Zijing Pass at that time was not complete, and there were still many small roads leading to the pass. In addition, since the Ming Empire was founded for decades, no Mongolian army has ever been able to invade here, so the armaments here are lax and the soldiers are incompetent.

After the Tumu Fort Incident, Emperor Jingtai issued an order to block the mountain pass. However, in such a short period of time, it was impossible for the Ming army to completely block the pass through which people and horses could pass. Zijin Pass was still leaking everywhere like a sieve. Defend.

Although Zijin Pass was guarded by more than 12,000 people dispatched by Yu Qian, due to the large number of passes that could lead to the passage of troops and horses, the defenders were scattered in defense, and it was too hasty. Therefore, when the main pass was attacked first, the defenders reached their own Less than one-tenth of the positions are occupied. Therefore, under Ye Xian's fierce offensive, the defenders fled one after another.

At this critical juncture, Shandong capital commander Han Qing waved his flag vigorously and recruited more than a hundred powerful cavalry. With loyalty, he led only more than a hundred cavalry to gallop and fight with Wala. The army fought in Sheng'er Bay and killed several Mongolian soldiers. Han Qing's bravery successfully attracted the enemy troops and attracted the Mongolian troops to fight. Han Qing was suddenly hit by a stray arrow in the chaos, but he stood firm with his sword. He actually fought for nearly four hours from noon to Shenshi. Not only did the Ming army not collapse, but it "turned to fight and gained strength." Later, the Mongolian army relied on their numerical superiority to encircle Han Qing and wanted to surrender. Unexpectedly, Han Qing became furious and cursed: "I betrayed my loyalty to you? Ruhu!" After that, he committed suicide with a knife.

After Han Qing's death, Sun Xiang, the right deputy governor and censor, led the remaining soldiers who had not fled to defend the pass for four days. In the end, the Mongolian army saw that they could not break through Zijingguan head-on, so they found other roads that were not blocked and went around behind the Ming army guarding the pass. Under attacks from both front and back, the Ming army gradually became exhausted and Zijin Pass was broken. After the pass was broken, Sun Xiang did not flee or surrender. Instead, he once again led the troops to fight in the streets with the enemy. In the end, he was outnumbered and died fighting for his country. Han Qing and Sun Xiang maintained their loyalty to the country from beginning to end, and exchanged their lives for four precious days for Beijing.

On the ninth day of October, his troops broke through Zijingguan first, and there were no more obstacles on the route to the capital. He also rode wildly, covering more than 200 kilometers in two days, and arrived at Marco Polo Bridge on October 11th. This was the beginning of the battle to defend Beijing. At this time, the Ming army was no longer the embarrassed army it had been before.

Starting from August 20th, within about fifty days, Yu Qianyi adjusted his generals to about sixty people. Yang Hong and Shi Heng, who were imprisoned for the defeat of Tumu Fort, were re-appointed. These two men were the souls of the defense of Beijing. Previously, Han Qing, a tough guy who fought to the death at Zijingguan, also rushed to Zijingguan under Yu Qian's appointment. This shows that Yu Qian's judgment of people is quite accurate.

Another measure Yu Qian took was to strengthen the city defenses and set up obstacles outside Beijing. The Ming army built more than 11,000 new gates and more than 5,100 feet of sand railings on the city, city walls and battlements to stop the Wala army.

Yu Qian’s most important measure was to mobilize troops. Within fifty days, Yu Qian rectified the remnant troops in Beijing, mobilized Japanese troops and Henan and Shandong troops to enter the defense, and prepared enough grain and grass from the granary in Tongzhou to supply military supplies. All this work was completed within fifty days, and it must be said that it was a massive mobilization campaign. Finally, on the eighth day of October, the eve of the breach of Zijin Pass, Yu Qian arranged everything properly. This shows how important Sun Xiang and Han Qing's perseverance is!

At that time, Yu Qian deployed an army of 220,000 troops in the first branch of Jiumen in the capital. Commander-in-Chief Wu Qing Bo Shi Heng guards at Desheng Gate, Commander-in-Chief Tao Jin guards at Anding Gate, Guangning Bo Liu An guards at Dongzhi Gate, Wu Jin's uncle Zhu Ying guards at Chaoyang Gate, Commander-in-Chief Liu Ju guards at Xizhi Gate, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Gu Xingzu guards at Fucheng Gate, and all command Li Rui. At Zhengyang Gate, the governor Liu Dexin guarded Chongwen Gate, and he commanded Tang Jie to guard Xuanwu Gate, all under the control of Shi Heng. As the supreme commander of the defense of Beijing, Yu Qian personally put on his armor and showed his loyalty, which made all the troops weep and their fighting power was high. Yu Qian then ordered the city gates of the capital to be closed to show his determination to fight to the death against the city.

After the Battle of Tumubao, I first believed that the Ming army had nothing to fear. I believed that the main force of the Ming army had been eliminated in Tumubao and that the capital of the Ming Empire could be defeated overnight, so I ignored the fact that the soldiers were tired after attacking Zijingguan and needed to rest. , actually traveled 200 kilometers in two days, which made the Wara iron cavalry tired and exhausted, and the morale of the army was greatly affected. The tired Ye first saw the Ming army waiting in full formation, and his morale became even lower. In response to this situation, the "rebellious eunuch" internal official Xi Ning started thinking again. He instigated the ministers of the Ming Dynasty to come to greet him first, asking for tens of millions of dollars in gold and silk. He also invited Yu Qian, Wang Zhi, Hu Hu and others to come to discuss the matter. However, the Ming Empire only sent Wang Fu and Zhao Rong, who had low official positions, to meet with Ming Yingzong to show that they would never compromise. The peace talks may completely collapse, and war will inevitably begin. They also first began to gather the main force towards Beijing through Zijin Pass.

On October 13, the battle to defend Beijing officially began. The battle first started outside Deshengmen. Ye Xianjun first used a small group of cavalry to spy on Desheng Gate, so Yu Qian set up an ambush in the empty rooms on both sides of Desheng Gate. He first sent several cavalry to fight, pretending to be defeated, and luring the enemy deeper. Ye Xian's army fell into the trap and sent more than 10,000 cavalry to pursue them. At this time, ambush troops suddenly appeared in the empty houses on both sides of the road and fired their divine artillery. Ye Xian's cavalry was unable to defeat them and had to withdraw from Deshengmen. Although the Ming army repelled the Yexian army in the Battle of Deshengmen, it obviously did not cause huge damage to Oara. After Wala withdrew from Deshengmen, he immediately went south to Xizhimen. Sun Bor went to resist and even killed several of Wala's forwards with his own hands. Afterwards, Ye Xianjun pretended to retreat north. Sun Boring fell into Ye Xianjun's plan and chased him out. Later, Wala increased his troops and surrounded Sun Boring. Sun Boring was unable to defeat him and retreated while fighting. He retreated to Xizhimen again and wanted to enter the city. However, the city guard Cheng Xin strictly abided by Yu Qian's order and refused to allow Sun Bor to enter the city. He only ordered the defenders at the top of the city to fire arrows and artillery to assist Sun Bor. Sun Boring had no choice but to fight to the death with the Oara army with the determination to succeed. As the saying goes, there is always a road ahead. In the end, Gao Li and Mao Fushou came to the rescue. Soon Shi Heng also divided his troops to come to the rescue, and Wala withdrew his troops.

On October 15th, Wang Jing and Wu Xing led their troops to form a formation to fight against Ye Xianjun at Zhangyi Gate. Wuxing lined up with magic muskets in front, followed by short soldiers with bows and arrows, and served the internal officers with hundreds of cavalry behind them. Even the eunuchs rode into battle, which shows the improvised nature of the Ming army. After the Ye Xian army arrived, the Ming army used magic guns to drive back the Ye Xian army. Unexpectedly, as soon as the enemy troops retreated, the internal officers and servants jumped out one after another in order to compete for the battle glory. Although the lack of military discipline among the temporarily recruited internal officials was expected, it caused fatal damage to the Ming army. In response to the chaotic charge of the imperial cavalry, the first army saw an opportunity and took advantage of the situation to fight back. The Ming army was defeated and was chased by the Olay army all the way to Tucheng. The commander-in-chief Wu Xing was shot to death by an arrow. At the critical moment, Wang He and Mao Fushou rushed to help. Seeing that the Xian army was unable to capture Beijing, the Ming army and Wang Qin's army gradually approached the capital, and they had no choice but to withdraw from the Beijing area.

3. The defeat of Wala: How many people did the Ming army kill in the field?

Ye Xianjun’s retreat route is worth explaining. According to the Records of the Ming Dynasty, on the same day that Ye first retreated, that is, October 15, Juyongguan was attacked by more than 30,000 Tatars who had not entered the pass (i.e., Alazhiyuan). As mentioned before, those who withdrew also joined the battle group attacking Juyongguan. Historical records record that "on the 15th, the captives left. Boyan Timur sent the emperor to leave Bauhinia, and he also first left Juyong to attack the enemy with more than 50,000 people." However, in this record, Boyan Timur first followed Ming Yingzong out of Zijingguan, which is a fallacy, because according to "Xiguan Zhi", he first "turned to Zijin" after the attack on Juyongguan failed. It can be seen that the Xianjun did not pass Zijingguan first. close. That is to say, at that time, Juyongguan was attacked by the main force of more than 80,000 people from the outside Alazhiyuan and the internal Yexian army. The battle was very tragic. At that time, the garrison guarding Juyong Pass was Luo Tong, the deputy capital envoy. Luo Tong held on to the city and regarded death as home. Under the fierce attack of the two Ora troops, the gate in the southwest of Juyong Pass suddenly collapsed. Luo Tong hurriedly ordered the old and the weak to water the city. The weather was cold at that time, and the dripping water turned into ice, and the ice city was built, which scared the Ora army and did not dare to approach.

After seven days of stalemate, Juyong Guards Pan Cheng and Zhao Wen believed that Juyong Pass had insufficient troops and the defenders were mainly composed of guest troops and recruited troops. If things go on like this, Juyong Pass will definitely fall. Rather than sit back and wait for death, it is better to use surprise troops to attack. , annihilate the enemy from unexpected events. So the Ming army chose to attack at night. The Ming army observed that when the Oara army was resting at night, the two men slept in a leather bag and slept on top of the two horses. In this way, once there is an alarm, as long as one person wakes up, the second person will be awakened and mounted quickly. When the Oara army camped at night, they used elite heavy cavalry to surround other armies as a barrier. In addition, every time a rider is accompanied by a dog, the barking of the dog will be used as a warning signal. With such careful military deployment, it would be difficult for the Ming army to attack the Wala camp at night with the existing strength of the Ming army. So Luo Tong cooked a lot of cooked mutton and then gave it medicine. In the second half of the night, Luo Tong ordered "Ye Bu Shu" to quietly approach the edge of the Oara army and feed the mutton to the vicious dogs. The dogs ate the drugged mutton and fell to the ground one after another. The Ming army threw stones at them, and the living dogs became dead dogs. So the Ming army tied the iron horse's feet with ropes to prevent it from running around. After everything was ready, the goddess of victory slowly moved to the side of the Ming army.

The main force of the well-prepared Ming army quietly opened the gate of Juyong City and poured into the Oala military camp. When the Oara army was unprepared, the Ming army surrounded the Ye Xianjun camp, suddenly raised fire and made noise, the sound of killing was loud, and they raised artillery to attack in all directions. The Oara army, who were confused and didn't know what was going on, were shocked and prepared to mount their horses to fight. However, the resting horses were frightened by the Ming army's torches, noise and cannons, and became manic and uncontrollable.

The war horses neighed, roared and jumped, trying to get away from here. However, the more they jumped and struggled, the tighter the Ming army's ropes on the horses' feet shrank, making the Oara people wrapped in the heavy cavalry even more Unable to break out. Seeing that the time was ripe, the Ming army launched artillery bombardments on the outer Oala cavalry. The Oala soldiers and horses trampled on each other in the cavalry circle. Thousands of people were killed and the Mongolian army was defeated. The Ming army pursued the victory and won three battles and three victories. They captured the commander of the Oara army, Naji Timur, and captured thousands of men, horses, armor, bows and arrows. They also recaptured the residents outside the capital that the Oara army had plundered. The main force inside Juyong Pass was defeated first and then went straight to Zijin Pass. Outside Juyong Pass, the Alazhi Academy Department also fled far away, and the siege of Juyong Pass was solved. But what he didn't expect was that his nightmare was not over yet.

Due to wasting too much time at Juyong Pass, Ming general Shi Heng's pursuers happened to catch up with him at Zijin Pass when they fled first. Ye Xian's army was newly defeated at that time, and the morale of the army was already unstable. Ye Xian was also afraid of Shi Heng's pursuit. Shi Henry used his mentality to send spies to Ye Xian's camp to pretend to surrender. He told Ye Xian that Shi Heng had not yet arrived in the formation, and the commander in the formation now was fake Shi Heng. This was to shock your military morale. . Because of his recent defeat, Ye Xian's judgment declined. He listened to the Ming army spies and led his army to attack Shi Heng. Shi Heng took advantage of the good opportunity to take Shi Biao lightly and led dozens of Shi Biao's cavalry. Suddenly he shouted loudly and penetrated directly into the formation, galloping left and right, as if he was in an uninhabited land.

Here I want to explain why Shi Heng can use a small group of troops to rush directly into the first camp. Because the two armies are facing each other, the formation has been set up. If a small group of enemy troops breaks in unexpectedly, the lower-level commanders will not dare to leave the army formation without orders from their superiors, while the senior commanders who command tens of thousands of people will not dare to leave the army formation without permission from their superiors. It is difficult to command an army of tens of thousands to respond in time to an attack by just a few dozen people.

Shi Heng led dozens of men with swords and axes, rushing left and right, greatly disrupting the Ye Xian army's formation. Seeing that they had an opportunity, the Ming army rushed forward with the main force and formed a large formation first, but the army was defeated first. The sheep, horses and property previously robbed by the Wala people were also seized by the Ming army. The record that Shi Heng's tribe did not rescue the captive people coincides with the record that Luo Tong rescued the captive people. After this battle, Shi Heng's reputation became known to Wala, so much so that the brave and capable Mongolian warriors called Shi Heng "Grandpa Shi Heng". From then on, the Oara army never dared to go deep into the interior of the Ming Dynasty.

Another field force, Yang Hong, also had a series of great victories. After Ye Xian retreated from Beijing, Yang Hong was ordered to lead troops with Sun Boring, Fan Guang and others to destroy the remnants of Ye Xian's army near the capital that had not yet retreated and were still looting. Yang Hong and others marched all the way to Zhuozhou first, met the "remnant captives" in Bazhou, defeated them, and recaptured more than 10,000 captive people, including countless horses, cattle and sheep. After that, Yang Hong won a great victory in Gu'an and captured the Wala general Agui and others alive.

Here I would like to specifically mention the casualties on the Oara side during the Battle of Beijing. According to records from the Ming Dynasty, Yexian's troops suffered heavy losses. "The plundered sheep, horses and goods were abandoned like hills. The captives ran and fell on their pillows, and only twenty-three out of ten were able to return." According to the previous article, as said by Ye Xian's spies who were tortured by the Jin Yiwei, Ye Xian's army was in Datong and Beijing. During the defense war, more than 10,000 people died of illness and disease, which is recorded by Ye Xian. Whether Ye Xian's battle losses are accurate can be compared with the relevant records of Ye Xian's troop losses during the defense of Beijing in the Ming Empire.

During the entire battle to defend Beijing, the Ming army that caused the greatest damage to Ye first was undoubtedly Shi Heng's tribe. This survivor of the Datong fiasco was taken to the capital for interrogation on charges of dereliction of duty after the Tumubao Incident. Soon, Ye Chang drove the capital. At this time, someone recommended Shi Heng, a brave warrior, to Emperor Jingtai. Emperor Jingtai ordered Shi Heng to be released from prison and perform meritorious service, so the entire defense of Beijing became a stage for Shi Heng.

When Shi Heng led his troops out of Andingmen, they encountered the Wala cavalry. Shi Heng rode in alone, with his horse galloping left and right, "killing dozens of people alone." His nephew Shi Biao then wielded an axe. The prancing horse jumped into the prison formation and galloped left and right. The bravery of Shi Heng and Shi Biao greatly boosted the morale of the Ming army, and the troops cheered loudly, shaking the world. Wala was defeated and retreated south, but Shi Heng refused to give up. He pursued from the north to the south of the city and fought with the Mongolian army again. The Mongolian army was unable to support its strength and retreated south. After that, Shi Heng pursued Wala for three days until they reached Zijingguan, and finally had a large-scale battle with the Mongolian army again. The brave Shi Heng and his men shouted loudly, rushed straight into the Mongolian army with axes in hand, and killed hundreds of enemy soldiers with their swords and axes. By virtue of this battle, Shi Heng became the most outstanding general in the battle to defend Beijing.

"Records of the Ming Dynasty" records: "Shi Heng, Marquis of Wuqing, paid his dues. In the book, 19,880 people in the lead were promoted to one level, and 3,118 people who died in the battle were promoted to one level. Level 2." This was the reward awarded to Shi Heng by the Ming Empire after the war. The reward standards during the Beijing Defense War were: "Be brave enough to take the lead, and you will be recognized as a thief, or beheaded one level, and the military and civilian officers will be promoted to the rank of small flag soldier." (This is also the order of Emperor Jingtai before the invasion of Beijing). That is to say, the condition for advancing to a level is to kill or capture a Mongolian soldier alive. According to this standard, Shi Heng's troops killed and captured more than 19,880 Oara troops.

In addition to Shi Heng's troops, the Ming army led by Yang Hong, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, also caused great damage to the Oara army. During the Battle of Beijing, Yang Hong led an army of 60,000 to pursue the retreating Oara Army. Yang Hong pursued them all the way to Naoyang Mountain, defeated them, beheaded hundreds of people, and captured the enemy chief Agui and others.

However, the number of beheadings by the Ming army was actually much lower than the actual number of enemy kills, because the Mongols always made their first contribution to the battlefield by dragging back the corpses of their companions. This is the tradition of nomadic peoples, such as the Huns. It is stipulated that whoever brings back the body of the deceased in battle can share all the property of the deceased. Therefore, if the Ming army beheaded hundreds of people in a battle, then Wala may have paid more than ten times or even more in casualties. It is estimated that the number of casualties Yang Hong inflicted on Wala along the way was between 10,000 and 20,000.

Based on the previous article, when we first attacked Beijing, there were about 100,000 people, but only more than 50,000 people remained when they fled to Juyongguan. As the main field teams of the Ming army, Shi Heng's tribe and Yang Hong's tribe had a combined record of about 30,000 to 40,000. Therefore, the loss of troops in Wala Fang corresponded exactly with the Ming army's record.

Generally speaking, according to military common sense, the results announced by the party that finally controls the battlefield are closer to the truth. It would be more convincing if this result could be matched with the opponent's troop losses. Therefore, it can be said that in the battle to defend Beijing, the number of Oala soldiers killed was more than 30,000.

So why did the front side only admit more than 10,000 of its own battle losses? This is actually easy to understand. This kind of coalition force that coerces the conquered often only counts the losses of its own core forces and ignores the losses of the servant forces or tribes. From this point of view, the more than 10,000 losses admitted by the front side are very likely to only refer to the losses of the Oara headquarters. As for the losses of the Tatars, Uliangha, Hami, Shazhou and even the Jurchen servant army, they were ignored.

In addition, there is an important discrepancy in the historical data, that is, the record of the last large-scale battle in the Beijing Defense War. At that time, Ye Xian was about to turn back. Yu Qian organized artillery bombardment on the city wall to kill the enemy. numerous. There have always been two opinions about how many Wala troops Yu Qian killed with cannons.

One is the biography written by Wang Shizhen for Yu Qian in "Guochao Xianzhenglu", which has a more detailed record of Yu Qian's defense of Beijing: "(Yu Qian) urgently promoted armor, unified the camp, and camped in Outside the Desheng Gate, there were 220,000 soldiers in all the gates. Seeing that our troops were strong and strong, they did not dare to attack me lightly, so Qian set up ambush in an empty house and used several horses to lure the prisoners. The captives came with thousands of horses, and I defeated them. Sun Boring and Mao Fushou were defeated at Xizhimen. Qian sent a spy to the emperor and sent them to attack the camp at night. Thousands of thieves retreated. "

The other is a Shinto stele written by Ni Yue for Yu Qian. It records that Yu Qian used artillery to kill more than 10,000 enemy troops in the last battle: "The enemy is very strict with our troops and dare not attack me. I also I dare not take a single shot at the enemy. Xi Ning and Esen invite ministers to negotiate peace, and they need tens of millions of money and silk. It is difficult to do so, so they will fight against each other for seven days. It is expected that the enemy will move in October. , Hu Zhi gradually moved away, and then launched an artillery attack on the enemy's camp. The enemy's artillery was killed by thousands of people. Esen was greatly defeated, and the capital was lifted at night.

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