Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Who is responsible for the "Tumu Fort Tragedy"

In the Zhengtong Dynasty ruled by Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the "Tumu Fort Change" can be regarded as the most familiar event today.In July of the 14th year of Ming Yingzong's orthodoxy, the leader of Wala also divided his troops into three groups, brazenly launching a full-scale attack on the Ming Dynasty.After only 3 days of preparation, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen led an army of 500,000 to march north. He was surrounded by the Oirat army and was besieged in the civil fort.On August 15th, Oala launched a general attack, defeated the Ming army in one fell swoop, and captured Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, which became a great shame and humiliation since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.Throughout the ages, it has also been lamented by later generations.When it comes to guilt, it is often attributed to "Wang Zhen's arrogance of power" and "hasty departure", but if we carefully examine the political changes in the Ming Dynasty from the Xuande era to the Orthodox era over the past 20 years, we can see that the truth is not so simple.

Let’s look at the “big background” first: the first person to “pay” for the Tumu Fort change was Emperor Yongle Zhu Di.During Zhu Di's reign, he conquered Mongolia five times and dealt heavy blows to the Tatar and Oirat tribes.However, after the "Battle of Jingnan" in which he raised his troops the first time, in order to reward Wuliangha Sanwei for sending troops to help, he allocated all the Xingning area of ​​Inner Mongolia that originally belonged to King Ning to Wuliangha, which not only made Wuliangha Sanwei The strength increased greatly, and it gradually became a border problem of the Ming Dynasty, which made the "nine borders" in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty lose its barrier.Zhu Di’s three Northern Expeditions in his later years, although they dealt a heavy blow to the Mongolian Tatar tribe, made the Oara tribe who had been competing with the Tatar tribe stronger, and was pursued by the Ming Dynasty on the Mongolian grassland for a lifetime. Taiwan, did not die in the hands of the Ming army, but was eventually shot to death by Oirat, and Oirat also became the most powerful team on the Mongolian plateau. Its history of "making a fortune" is really thanks to Zhu Di.In addition, Zhu Di moved all the kings of Gu, Han, and Liaodong in Liaodong, and left the local Jurchen to "autonomously" in Liaodong. As a result, in the early years of Ming Yingzong's orthodox rule, all the tribes of Liaodong Jurchen were recovered by Oala and became their assistants for their southward aggression. strength.And the three guards of Wuliangha, who got the important land of Xingning, were unwilling to obey the orders of the Ming Dynasty, and instead colluded with Wala.At that time, people often regarded the eunuch Wang Zhen as the "culprit" of the failure of Tumubao, but the eunuch's participation in politics also began in Zhu Di's time.

Zhu Qizhen's father, Zhu Zhanji, also had unshirkable responsibility for the failure of Tumubao.Internally, Zhu Zhanji implemented "benevolent government" and tolerated many illegal activities of relatives and nobles, especially land annexation. Much devastated.In the fifth year of Xuande (1430 A.D.), Chen Zuo, the supervisory censor, once reported: "30% of the military fields in the borderlands of eastern Liaodong have been invaded." Good at mobilizing frontier troops as slaves".In the seventh year of Xuande, Li Changqi, the governor of Henan, also reported the tragic situation of the local army's land "mostly occupied by powerful families, and the soldiers have no land but suffer from taxes and labor".In the eighth year of Xuande, Wei Yuan, the right servant of the Ministry of Punishment, revealed that "Xuanfu Datong border areas, generals invaded and occupied the military camps day by day, and even soldiers and households scattered and fled."All kinds of things like this, Ming Xuanzong didn't care about it. There is no guarantee for the "army station", and the combat effectiveness of the army will of course be weakened.Ming Xuanzong's national defense policy was also very conservative. Not to mention the removal of Kaipingwei, he also wrote a poem to all the generals saying, "You only need to learn from Li Mu for prudence, and there is no need to learn from Chen Tang if you are greedy for merit."As a result, "Li Mu" didn't learn, but the defense line was severely retracted.Wala also killed the two leaders of Taiping and Polo first. His people were so angry that they went to the Ming court several times to cry and begged the Ming Dynasty to be the master.The Ming Dynasty finally stood by and watched the rise of Oala.The calamity of the southern invasion in the 14th year of the orthodox Oala was doomed from this time.As for Wang Zhen, the "culprit" of the Tumu Fort's defeat, the "Supervisor of Ceremony" where the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty held the power to review and review memorials was established during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty.

Now that the "issues left over from history" are finished, how much responsibility should Ming Yingzong, who is the "participant", and Grand Duke Wang Zhen, who is regarded as the "culprit", bear?Let us start with the court situation of the Orthodox Dynasty. The orthodox dynasty that reigned after Ming Yingzong ascended the throne at the age of 9 has always been underestimated, and some historians regard it as "the turning point of the Ming Dynasty from prosperity to decline".And because of all kinds of attacks on Wang Zhen by later generations, these 14 years are regarded by many people as the "dark age" when Wang Zhen covered the sky with one hand, killed Zhongliang, and corrupted the government.To understand the truth, one needs to look at Wang Zhen himself: Wang Zhen, a native of Yu County, Hebei Province, was originally an unwilling teacher. He was soon appointed as "East Palace Attendant" by Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty because of his talents and learning (most eunuchs in the palace were illiterate), and won the respect of Zhu Qizhen, who was still a child. gentlemen".After Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, Wang Zhen was appointed as the "eunuch in charge of the ceremony" and officially became the head of the eunuchs.But in the early days of the orthodox dynasty, he was far from "covering the sky with one hand".

Zhu Qizhen was only 9 years old when he came to the throne. Before his death, Zhu Zhanji left five ministers for him, namely the British Duke Zhang Fu, the Minister of Rites Hu Ying, and the bachelors Yang Rong, Yang Pu and Yang Shiqi.And the one who is really in charge of the "decision-making power" is Ming Yingzong's grandmother, Empress Dowager Zhang.Empress Dowager Zhang is known as "virtuous", and she trusts "Three Yang" and other civil servants for state affairs, and arranges "classical banquets" for Zhu Qizhen every day, that is, arranges civil servants to give lectures to Zhu Qizhen every day. Zhu Qizhen is young and playful , naturally can't stand it.At this time, on the one hand, Wang Zhen often organized drills and inspections of the inner palace guards, feasting Zhu Qizhen's eyes on various military performances; Yang Shiqi also sighed, "It's a blessing to have such a virtuous eunuch." But the "virtuous" Wang Zhen secretly rejected dissidents, and appointed his confidant Ji Guang as the governor of the Forbidden Army, and took control of the Forbidden Army.After hearing the news, Empress Dowager Zhang deeply felt that Wang Zhen had evil intentions, and she suddenly became murderous.In February of the first year of Zhengtong, the Empress Dowager Zhang summoned Wang Zhen in front of Zhu Qizhen and five "assistant ministers". Death" Wang Zhen was so frightened that Wang Zhen was immediately paralyzed.At the moment of life and death, Yang Shiqi, who once called Wang Zhen "virtuous", took the lead in interceding. Zhu Qizhen also knelt down and cried to his grandmother, begging repeatedly that the Empress Dowager Zhang relented and spared Wang Zhen's life, but warned all the ministers "in the future, you can't do it." Make him interfere with state affairs."After being frightened by this, Wang Zhen restrained himself in the next few years.

In the past few years, the Ming Dynasty also carried out various "good deeds".In the first year of Zhengtong (AD 1436), he began to check the "shortage" of soldiers on the nine frontiers in the north, and increased the military defense in Ningxia. As well as the case of military occupation and occupation, more than a dozen officers who violated discipline were beheaded, and the famous general Yang Hong was appointed to guard the Xuanfu. Thirteen granaries were set up in Tongzhou and other places to store military rations. The common people were responsible for dispatching 30,000 forbidden troops to garrison fields around the capital.All these are remedies for the many mistakes of the Yongle and Xuande dynasties, and also played an important role in the defense of Beijing after Yingzong was captured.In addition, in the three, five, and six years of Zhengtong, the Ming Dynasty also reduced or exempted taxes in Shandong, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi due to the famine. The "special funds" for administrative operations, "royal expenditure" and "government expenditure" are separated.This move was praised by Ross Murphy, an expert on Asian history in the United States, as "a pioneering move in royal political reform."At the same time, the "Shut Selection Law" established during Zhu Yuanzhang's period was also revised, stipulating that officials of the third rank and above in the capital should elect officials, and officials of the fourth rank and their attendants should elect county magistrates.The national power of the Ming Dynasty was still booming during this period.

Wang Zhen's power was also "prosperous" during this period. After he took his life from the Empress Dowager Zhang, Wang Zhen greatly restrained himself and behaved carefully for a while. The Empress Dowager Zhang was still quite vigilant towards him, and often sent people secretly I monitored his illegal behavior, but the information I got was that Wang Zhen was very "law-abiding", and I gradually liked him from then on.What really changed Empress Dowager Zhang's impression of Wang Zhen was the "Beating to Death of Yi Cheng" in the fourth year of Zhengtong (1439 A.D.).Liao Mo, the procuratorate of Fujian Province, beat Yicheng to death for trivial matters. The deceased was from the hometown of the cabinet minister Yang Pu, and Liao Mo was from the hometown of another cabinet minister, Yang Shiqi.The two auxiliary ministers turned against each other on the spot in the cabinet, and they made a noise at the Empress Dowager Zhang's place.Wang Zhen took the opportunity to suggest: Paying for life is too heavy to deal with. It is better to demote Liao Mo.This remark hit the empress dowager's heart, and the empress dowager Zhang, who was deeply impressed by Wang Zhen's "impartiality" in handling affairs, trusted Wang Zhen even more.Afterwards, Wang Zhen began to cultivate his party members, and successively placed Ma Shun, Guo Jing, Chen Guan, and Tang Tong in key departments such as Dongchang and Yumajian. His nephews Wang Shan and Wang Lin became the commanders of Jinyiwei. The "secret service" organizations are all in his hands.Wang Zhen's dictatorship also attracted the attention of Yang Rong, the most resourceful of the "Three Yangs". He discussed with Yang Shiqi and successively introduced Cao Ding, Ma Yu and other "students" into the cabinet to fight against Wang Zhen's forces.

In dealing with the Wenchen Group, Wang Zhen also played hard and soft.To the "Three Yangs", Wang Zhen was very respectful at first, and respectful in every situation, and the "Three Yangs" gradually relaxed their vigilance towards him.Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wang Zhen made extensive friends with the "middle-level cadres" among the civil servants, such as Wang Wen, the censor of Zuodu, Xu Xi, the servant of the Ministry of War, and others. "Illegal evidence" of court officials.He also made use of the civil servants' internal struggles to make friends with the censors of the imperial court and the six ministers and doctors, and finally "drawn the bottom line" from the civil servants group to form a network of his own.After that, Yang Rong died of illness, Yang Shiqi was impeached by Wang Zhen's cronies and officials for his son's crimes, and had to "take the blame and resign", Hu Ying was also imprisoned for "corruption", and the remaining Zhang Fu and Yang Pu were old , It's hard to sing alone.In the sixth year of Zhengtong (AD 1441), the three halls of Huagai, Jinshen and Fengtian were completed. Zhu Qizhen held a banquet to celebrate. According to the rules, Wang Zhen was not allowed to attend and complained in private. At the gate of Huamen, Wang Zhen was ordered to enter the palace for a banquet. When Wang Zhen arrived, all the officials "worshiped and congratulated", and so far the power was first seized.The following year, Empress Dowager Zhang died of illness, and Wang Zhen ordered someone to privately destroy Zhu Yuanzhang's iron sign that "eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics", and since then he has covered the sky with one hand.After that, Wang Zhen was so powerful that the ministers Yu Qian and Kuang Fen who had criticized him for authoritarianism were imprisoned for a time, and his attendant Liu Qiu was killed. A large shackle weighing hundreds of catties) was clamped in the street and displayed to the public, and almost died.In addition, he sold officials and nobles, placed cronies in the six ministries, accepted bribes from Oala in the "tributary trade", and extorted bribes from foreign envoys, which can be described as a lot of evil.

Having said many bad things, I also want to talk about some "good things" that Wang Zhen has done.First of all, he persuaded Zhu Qizhen to prohibit the eunuchs of the inner palace from going out to purchase, that is, to requisition items from the local area, and reduce or exempt "tributes" from Guangxi, Guangdong, Jiangxi and other places, which really "reduced the burden on the people".Secondly, while eliminating dissidents, Wang Zhen also engaged in "anti-corruption". Many cronies of Yang Rong and Yang Shiqi were investigated for corruption.Furthermore, he also checked the land in Shandong and Henan twice in the 10th and 12th years of Zhengtong, which not only increased the national tax revenue, but also allowed many farmers who lost their land to live and work in peace and contentment.On the issue of border defense, Wang Zhen once presided over the "amnesty", which pardoned the crimes of many officers and soldiers who fled due to land annexation, and allowed them to return to the "old army" to perform their crimes and meritorious deeds, so that tens of thousands of veterans were recalled from the border.In the ninth year of Zhengtong (AD 1444), Wang Zhen also ordered the Ministry of Households to allocate special funds to help the people in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces who sold their children due to disasters to redeem the sold children.As for the "Zhongliang" framed by Wang Zhen, although there are loyal and upright ministers such as Yu Qian, Chen Jingde, and Li Shiyi, there are also greedy and violent people like Wang Ji.Among the "confidantes" he installed, although there are ignorant and incompetent officials like Xu You, there are also capable ministers like Wang Wen who are good at rectifying corruption.In terms of character, although Wang Zhen is narrow-minded, he often retaliates wantonly because the other party treats him with a "bad attitude", but sometimes he is "ashamed".Li Shiyi was "punished" by Wang Zhen wearing a heavy shackle for offering wine to the Imperial College. His student Shi Dayong wrote to Wang Zhen after learning about it, expressing his willingness to be punished for his teacher.

On July 1, the 14th year of Ming Yingzong Zhengtong (AD 1449), the leader of the Oala tribe of Mongolia and the "Taishi" who was in charge of the three powers of Mongolia also led three armies to brazenly launch a war against the Ming Dynasty. It is not so much a "war between the Ming Dynasty and Oala", but a war between the Ming Dynasty and the "Mongol Tribal Alliance".Oala’s southern invasion army is divided into three parts, one is led by the Mongolian “puppet Khan” Tutuobuhua, mainly the Tatar soldiers and horses conquered by Oala, and attacked the Liaodong area of ​​the Ming Dynasty in the east; "Leaded by Asa, mainly including a part of the Oala Army and Wuliangha Army, they attacked Xuanfu, an important military town in the Ming Dynasty in the south; Datong, the military center of the DPRK.As soon as the war broke out, the "peace" of the Nine Borders Town for more than 20 years since Zhu Di's death was completely broken, and the flames of war continued along the Great Wall, and the sound of gunfire continued.

When it comes to the reason for this war, many historical materials say that it was because "the Ming Dynasty cut the price of Mongolian horses and refused to make peace with Mongolia."In fact, the problem is not so simple.Let me talk about the reason first. The leader of Oala was not from the "golden family" of Mongolia. He was able to conquer Tatar and control the three tribes of Mongolia. The endless "tributary trade" and "horse market" are all political "expediency measures".After conquering the Tatar tribe first and sending troops to Central Asia for "military training" all the year round, the war against the Ming Dynasty was already imminent. The so-called "cutting the price of horses" and "not marrying the princess" were just excuses for starting the war.The reason why they chose to start in the 14th year of Zhengtong is that according to the relevant historical records of Mongolia, for many years, they have paid a lot of money to bribe the "Tong Shi" who was in charge of the reception in the tribute trade of the Ming Dynasty to find out the reality of the Ming Dynasty. After the elite Duo Nan was transferred to Fujian and Yunnan, he finally made up his mind to mobilize troops.As for the reason for the failure, one of the things that later officials avoided mentioning was: after the outbreak of the war, important border officials of the Ming Dynasty, such as Yang Hong, the general who guarded the Xuanfu, Song Ying, the governor of Datong, and Zhuying, the Marquis of Xining, all suggested in the memorial. The Ming army should focus on "defense and counterattack". As Yang Hong said in the report, the Ming army should "rely on the strong city and rely on hard crossbow firearms to avoid the enemy's sharp edge, so as to reduce the effect of defeating the enemy."However, the court officials held the opposite view. Not only the "treacherous ministers" who were allied with Wang Zhen, but also Cao Ding and Zhang Ji in the cabinet, Wang Zhi, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Kuang Fen, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Yu Qian, all suggested taking the initiative to attack, such as In Kuang Fen's memorial, he suggested that the imperial court "send a large army to conquer and suppress."Afterwards, the Ming court also followed its proposal and sent concubine Jing Yuan to lead 40,000 Ming troops to reinforce Datong.The only difference between the civil servants and Wang Zhen is: Wang Zhen advocates the imperial conquest, while the civil servants advocate sending capable generals to attack. There is no disagreement on the tactical thinking of "active attack". But contrary to expectations, the Mongolian three-way army, Asazhiyuan, Liankemayingbao and Yanqing, approached the Xuanfu. Yang Hong, the general of the Xuanfu, was short of troops and had to rely on the city to hold on.Datong was even worse. First, the army was sent to stop Wala in Maoerzhuang (Chahar Banner, Inner Mongolia), and almost the entire army was wiped out. Ming general Wu Hao died in battle. Then Song Ying, the governor of Datong, led the army to fight against Wala in Yanggao, Shanxi, and was defeated again. , Song Ying died in battle.The reason why the Datong Army took the initiative to attack was firstly the imperial court's successive strict orders, and secondly the urging of Guo Jing, the eunuch who supervised the army.Only the Ming army in Liaodong was able to compete. Ming general Zhao Zhong led his army to set up an ambush in Montenegro, smashing the "Khan" Tatar army who was not flabbergasted, and stabilized the line of defense for the Ming army. The frequent reports of frontline defeats not only shocked the Ming court, but also brought up a problem that the Ming Dynasty monarchs and ministers were not aware of before the Tumubao Incident: it was difficult to defeat Oala with the military power of the Ming Dynasty at that time. The leader of Oala also has an impressive history of war. As mentioned above, he can be said to be an invincible opponent who fought all over the Mongolian Plateau and Central Asia.Another thing that has been overlooked is that the opponents facing the northern part of the Ming Dynasty were not just the Oala tribe, but the "Mongolian Tribal Alliance" formed by the three tribes of Oara, Tatar, and Wuliangha. In the era of Mongolian tribes, they only fought one by one against the Mongolian tribes. They fought Tatars or Oalas five times in the Northern Expedition, but never fought against the entire Mongolian tribe.At this time, Ming Yingzong's monarchs and ministers were facing the most powerful opponent since the fall of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.From the perspective of the Ming Dynasty, after decades of "peace in the world", the degradation of the army's combat effectiveness is inevitable, and the Ming Dynasty is carrying out battles against Deng Maoqi in Nanping and sweeping up the remaining rebel forces in Luchuan. Keeping is the wisest choice.But on July 14, Ming Yingzong suddenly announced the "personal conquest". After only three days, on July 17, he led an army of 500,000 to Datong.The whole court was shocked when the news came, and the Minister of the Ministry of Officials frankly blocked all the officials, and was reprimanded by Ming Yingzong. In the end, this "Northern Expedition Army" with hundreds of thousands of troops, the entire cabinet of the Ming Dynasty and most of the officials of the six ministries, went away. On the road of no return of the Northern Expedition. The reason why Wang Zhenxuan urged the Ming Ying clan to conscript himself was, of course, as generally stated in historical materials, that he wanted to "make meritorious service", but the more important reason was that although Wang Zhen had already "authorized power" at this time, there were still many "oppositionists" in the court. For example, Kuang Fen, Minister of the Ministry of War, Yu Qian, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Wang Zhi, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, these six important departments are not Wang Zhen's "insiders", and the main purpose is to consolidate his power with a victory in the Northern Expedition.The reason why Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen agreed to the Northern Expedition was that he was only 23 years old, young and energetic, and Wang Zhen had taken him to watch "Forbidden Army Drills" since he was a child. He had long been a military enthusiast.In addition, as an emperor who has just passed the weak crown, to subdue the veterans in the court, he naturally needs a victory in a foreign war, so he "coincides" with Wang Zhen.As for the attitude of all the officials, although they strongly opposed it, when Zhu Qizhen ordered "to punish those who oppose the expedition", most of them remained silent except Yu Qian, who was hard-hearted.After only 3 days to prepare for the expedition, no one stopped such a "military taboo".For example, Xu Youzhen once said after "watching the sky" that "the Northern Expedition will be defeated", which was ridiculed by many ministers. Yushi Wang Liyou once laughed at him as "alarmist". , most people do not doubt. On July 17th, the "Northern Expedition Army" personally commanded by Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen set off. Due to the hasty preparations before the departure, the army ran out of food only 5 days after departure, and it rained again. From Xuanfu to Datong, many Ming soldiers died of hunger and cold along the way. According to historical records, "the road is full of zombies".Under the tragic situation, the accompanying ministers kept asking for class teachers, and they were all severely punished by Wang Zhen. When the army arrived at the Xuanfu, it was already "people's feelings are raging, and their voices are getting more urgent."Morale was low, and the civil servants who accompanied the army came forward one after another, asking the army to return to the army. In a fit of anger, Wang Zhen ordered the Minister of the Ministry of War, Kuang Fen, and others to kneel in the grass as punishment.The cabinet minister Cao Ding led the ministers to persuade him again, Wang Zhen became even more angry, and even organized the ministers into the "Frontier Battalion", and let the civil servants be cannon fodder when he intended to fight.This is the historical record of the early stage of the march, which generally speaks of Wang Zhen's coquettish prestige, but there are a few doubts that have always been ignored: the army only prepared for three days to set off, and the required food and logistics were not prepared. Wang Zhen didn't know the soldiers, but Why did Zhang Fu, the British official who once conquered Annan four times, never see any remonstrance?According to relevant historical records, after Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, Zhang Fu was removed from power, and the post of "Great Governor" who was originally appointed in Zhu Zhanji's era was also removed, but it only attracted discussions when there was a war in the country.At this time, the nearly seventy-year-old veteran has long been "the only one in trouble".Before leaving, he entrusted his children to arrange the funeral, and even set up the mourning hall, which shows that he had expected it.The performance of another minister, Minister of the Ministry of War Kuang Fen, was not all "upright".In the Ming Dynasty, there were 7 large granaries along the way from Beijing to Xuanfu, which stored the "combat military rations" of the Ming Dynasty. These 7 large granaries were directly dispatched by the Ministry of War. However, during the Northern Expedition, there was no grain in the 7 granaries. Reinforcement of the "food-deficient" Northern Expeditionary Army, and in stark contrast, after the Tumu Fort tragedy, Yu Qian, acting Minister of the Ministry of War, transported all the grain in the seven granaries to the capital in only 6 days. The contrast in efficiency is intriguing.Moreover, the civil and military officials who went out with the army can be described as a collection of elites, but along the way, apart from repeatedly admonishing them to "return to the teacher", they did not make any "reasonable suggestions" in the battle itself. Second, it is also the "non-violent non-cooperation" of the angry officials. On August 1st, the Ming army finally arrived at the front line of Datong. At this time, the concubine Jingyuan’s troops sent earlier had been wiped out by Oala. Oala heard that the Ming army had arrived, and then retreated 20 miles, trying to lure the Ming army out of the fortress to pursue To wipe out.According to the relevant historical records of Mongolia, at this time, whether to fight or to withdraw, Oala's internal opinions are not unified. First, although Oirat has won successively before, they were all field battles, but they were repeatedly frustrated in the battle of fortifications.Secondly, the three armies of Wala have gained a lot, and the soldiers all have the heart to return home.What's more, nomads have harassed the border since ancient times, and they have implemented the strategy of "grab and run".At this time, not only the Wara generals, but also Yexian's two younger brothers, Polo Timur and Boyan Timur, also advocated withdrawing troops as soon as possible.The final decision is that if the Ming army did not leave the fortress after arriving in Datong, but deployed defenses on the spot, the Oala army would withdraw to the north. However, the Ming army was beyond Oala's expectations, neither pursuing nor defending, but returning the same way on the second day after arriving, August 2.It turns out that after Wang Zhen arrived in Datong, he saw the bones on the battlefield outside Datong with his own eyes, which can be described as horrible.Then he learned about the course of the battle from Guo Jing, the eunuch guarding Datong. The teacher, who had never experienced battle before, was completely terrified.Immediately, he persuaded Zhu Qizhen's class teacher, and the ministers who had been miserable for a long time naturally responded.After Wala learned about it, at first he suspected that the Ming army intended to lure Wala to go deep into the encirclement and annihilation.From Datong to Xuanfu, and then from Xuanfu to Beijing, there were originally hundreds of guards built in the Ming Dynasty from the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, but since Zhu Zhanji, these "buffer zones" have long been abolished, so that Wala can " come and go freely".Guo Deng, who was guarding Datong, had foresight. He first suggested that the Ming army return from Juyongguan to the north, and then sent cavalry to harass Oirat to play a diversionary role.Except for Datong, the other border towns of the Ming Dynasty all guarded the city gates tightly, and no one thought of sending troops to attack to contain Oara's chasing troops and cover the retreat of the Ming army. Eight days later, the Ming army arrived in Xuanfu, and the Oirat army followed immediately. Yang Hong, the general of Xuanfu, was "cautious" and did not send anyone to stop the Oirat army.Cheng Guogong Zhu Yong led his troops to stop the attack at Rabbit Maoling. Although the entire army was wiped out, it finally won 3 days of precious retreat time for the Ming army. Going to Weizhou, halfway there, I was worried that the Ming army would trample on the crops of my hometown when I arrived in Weizhou, so I quickly asked the troops to "turn back and run" back to Juyongguan.In this way, "circling around" all the way, the Ming army still traveled day and night, and arrived at the civil fortress north of Huailai at noon on August 14th. As long as they persisted for another hour (two hours), the Ming army could enter Huailai City safely. , This time the Northern Expedition, which came and went in a hurry, can retreat completely. But an accident happened again. Wang Zhen insisted on asking the troops to stop and wait for the whole afternoon because more than a dozen vehicles carrying his property did not arrive.As for Oala, Boyan Timur once again persuaded him to stop the pursuit, because once the Ming army withdrew into Huailai, Oirat would not only gain nothing, but would be more likely to be surrounded by the Ming army.At first, he also had the idea of ​​retreating, but the scouting cavalry reported that the Ming army had camped in Tumubao.In ecstasy, he ordered the troops to advance quickly, and finally arrived at Tumubao on the evening of August 14th. He first occupied the western river to cut off the water source, and completely surrounded the Ming army who were waiting for the prince's property.During this process, Kuang Fen, Minister of the Ministry of War, once suggested that the Ming army move forward quickly, but Cao Ding, a cabinet scholar, thought that the Oirat army was still far away, so he might as well sell his favor to the prince, and finally fell into the siege of Oirat. During the daytime on August 15th, the Oala army gathered heavy troops and launched a general attack on the Ming army that was short of water and food. To Oala’s surprise, the Ming army, which had been exhausted for many days, broke out a strong fighting force, and the Ming army formed an army. In the formation, several times repelled the attack of Wala.At this time, Zhang Fu finally spoke. He and Kuang Fen jointly suggested that the Ming army should concentrate their main force and rush out.Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen were also persuaded, and they were asking Zhang Fu to draw up a battle plan. Oala suddenly sent envoys to "negotiate peace". The army went to fetch water.The hungry and thirsty Ming soldiers left their positions to fetch water one after another. At this time, the Oala army suddenly arrived and launched a surprise attack. After a sudden attack, hundreds of thousands of Ming troops collapsed completely. Grand Duke Wang Zhen was trampled to death in the chaos. The civil and military ministers accompanying the army were killed and injured in the stampede, and Zhu Qizhen, who was out of ammunition and food, was captured by Oala.It is worth mentioning that after the collapse of the Ming army, on August 16, Yang Hong, the guard of Xuanfu, and Luo Tong, the guard of Juyongguan, who had been "cautious" before, finally sent troops to "clean up the battlefield" after Oala retreated, and wiped out the battlefield. All the weapons of the Ming army abandoned on the road were put into his pockets. When the news of the defeat came, the capital was in a panic, and the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs was heartbroken.First, there was a quarrel between "war" and "harmony", and finally under the auspices of Yu Qian, the acting minister of the Ministry of War, a decision was made to prepare the army for war.On August 18, Cheng Wang Zhu Qiyu, who supervised the country, held a "imperial meeting".At the meeting, all the ministers angrily denounced the eunuchs for disorderly government, and quarreled in front of Zhu Qiyu, and a group fight broke out in the quarrel, and Wang Zhen's trusted eunuch Ma Shun was beaten to death on the spot.Due to public outrage, Zhu Qiyu announced Wang Zhen's guilt on the spot and executed Wang Zhen's family.Yang Hong, the general of the Xuanfu, Luo Tong, the general of Juyongguan, and Shi Heng, the general of Datong, who had captured Zhu Qizhen because of "seriousness" were all pardoned.In September, Zhu Qiyu officially ascended the throne, and the next year he changed his title to "Jingtai". Zhu Qizhen, who was a prisoner in Mongolia, was revered as the Supreme Emperor.At the same time, a large-scale liquidation operation was launched, and many of Wang Zhen's cronies, eunuchs, and henchmen were sacked. Yu Qian, who was fully in charge of Beijing's defense, purges the interior, mobilizes heavy troops, and calms people's hearts. Finally, in November, he repelled Oirat in the defense of Beijing.Since then, the crime of paying for the "Tumu Fort tragedy" has only been borne by Wang Zhen and his followers.