Chapter 19 Chapter 19: The End of the Invaders

Qi Jiguang finally became famous. Because of his outstanding performance in the Taizhou victory, he was promoted to the commander of the capital. From then on, he began to be known as a national hero and a famous anti-Japanese general.But behind all these brilliance, there is another Qi Jiguang - a person who is good at building relationships, catering to leaders, entertaining guests and giving gifts, and forming cliques. In countless history books, Qi Jiguang is the incarnation of bravery and fearlessness. He can make good decisions and be invincible. All these are facts, but he also has another side. After eating and drinking, and then agreeing with the clan to find the ancestors, everyone is considered brothers, but according to his salary, it is absolutely impossible to afford such a high expense.So the conclusion is: Qi Jiguang is a person who both accepts gifts and gives bribes.

In his youth, Qi Jiguang was surrounded by his father's teachings every day, teaching him to be upright and not to engage in crooked ways. Qi Jiguang once firmly believed and insisted on these teachings, and he believed that his father would not make mistakes. However, from the time he was 18 years old to take office in Shandong, he found that he was wrong. Although he was upright and upright, it was all useless. No one paid attention to him, and no one helped him. His ideals and Faith may be noble, but it is simply impossible to achieve. The one thing that had the greatest impact on him was undoubtedly Yu Dayou's forced departure.

For Yu Dayou, the Battle of Cengang was a very painful lesson. Like Qi Jiguang, he also began to train the new army, and soon forged an army with great combat effectiveness, which is the so-called "Yu Family Army". His formations are also very peculiar, they are called the triple formation and the dragon formation, so I won't introduce them in detail here, as long as you know that these two formations are awesome. With the army and the formation, Yu Dayou is ready to do a big job. However, he didn't wait for this opportunity, because as before, he encountered inexplicable things again, and this time the protagonist was Hu Zongxian.

In April of the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing (1559), Hu Zongxian received such a notification that a group of Japanese pirates were wandering along the coast of Zhejiang, and asked for instructions on how to deal with it. Hu Zongxian thought for a while, and issued such an order: "Leave them alone, just don't let these people dock." Two months later, he received news that Li Hu, the supervisory censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, had sued him for allowing the enemy to flee and beggar-thy-neighbor. This is really a bad time, Hu Zongxian did not expect that the gang of Japanese pirates came to rob, and they went to the west if they didn't go to the east. Governor Hu didn't accept them, so they ran to Fujian and robbed them.

The governor of Fujian was so angry that his nose was crooked, and he was furious. He must find Hu Zongxian to settle the score, so he brought the lawsuit to the emperor and demanded that Hu Zongxian be held accountable. But after all, Hu Zongxian was in a big wave and the water was deep. After several actions, he passed the test safely, and the incident was roughly like this. But this story seems to have nothing to do with Yu Dayou, so where did the trouble start? If there is a relationship, then this matter is not surprising. Yu Dayou's life is strange because of inexplicable. After the matter was over, Hu Zongxian began to think about it. The Fujian side insisted that he let it go. Could it be that someone here leaked the news and became a traitor?

So he began to look for clues, first checked Li Hu, Fujianese, and then checked himself, Fujianese, high-level, and able to access confidential information, so the answer finally appeared: Yu Dayou, Zhejiang General Soldier, Fujian Jinjiang. This is really hard work and you can't blame the government. Comrade Yu Dayou worked honestly and diligently, but because he was from Fujian, he turned out to be a spy.Governor Hu acted resolutely, and he immediately wrote a letter, shifting the responsibility to Yu Dayou. The emperor was angry again, and he immediately ordered that Yu Dayou be cut off from his official position and put in imperial prison.

Qi Jiguang witnessed all this with his own eyes. He clearly remembered how much Hu Zongxian valued Yu Dayou at the beginning and obeyed him. In an instant, he personally sent this person he had trusted so much to prison. , To the prisoners of Jinyiwei Prison, it only takes a few days. So he finally realized that it is extremely unreliable to pin his destiny and beliefs on one person, and his close comrade-in-arms Hu Zongxian is no exception. However, just when he felt sorry for Yu Dayou, another more surprising news came: Yu Dayou was released from prison and transferred to the northern border to perform crimes and meritorious deeds.According to well-informed sources, it was Yan Song who received the money and spoke in front of the emperor to receive such lenient treatment.

Qi Jiguang couldn't figure it out. In the officialdom, Yu Dayou's income was the minimum living standard. He knew how much money his family had. It would be good to support his wife and children. How could he have the money to pay bribes?But if there is no money, how can Lao Tan speak for him? So he began to suspect that there was some kind of secret relationship between Yu Dayou and Yan Song. Soon after, he finally got the news from the insider of the court that Yu Dayou did not send money to Yan Song, and he was definitely not Yan Song's cronies. He was able to get leniency because he had a good friend - Lu Bing.

No one knows how Yu Dayou got on Lu Bing's line, but what is certain is that Lu Bing not only came forward to intercede for him, but also gave Yan Song his own money as a fee for his work.Yan Song naturally wanted to give Master Lu face, so Yu Dayou was released from prison with honor. This answer shocked Qi Jiguang, he didn't expect that Yu Dayou, who was usually taciturn and honest, would have such a strong backer, and he had been with him for many years and had a very good relationship, yet he had never heard a word from him. Qi Jiguang felt terrified, he finally found himself so vulnerable.He understands that although he has the great ideal of sacrificing his life to protect the country, it doesn't matter if he doesn't have a backer. Yu Dayou's today is his tomorrow. Walk.

And at that time, he will be alone and helpless, and there will be no other Lu Bing to rescue him. So Qi Jiguang understood that in the face of the cruel reality, if he wanted to live up to his father's expectations, he could not follow his father's way of doing things, so he decided to change everything. Since then, Qi Jiguang has started to run around. The Ministry of War has a leader. He treats guests. After taking root, the superior leaders also attached great importance to him. But this is not his goal. Qi Jiguang knows that if he wants to be invincible, he must find his own Lu Bing and find a real backer.

In Qi Jiguang's search list, two people's names were crossed out first, and the first one was Yan Song, because he knew very well that Hu Zongxian was a member of the strict party, if he wanted to bypass Hu Zongxian and make friends with Yan Song, he would definitely die without a place to die. More importantly, Mr. Yan has a big appetite. If you want to invite him to dinner, you must first count how much money you have in your wallet. The second one is Xu Jie, and this person can't be considered either. Although Qi Jiguang has a good impression of him, he is at a disadvantage in the court after all. If he takes refuge in this person, it is tantamount to making an enemy of Yan Song, and he may die even worse than Lord Xu. morning. After the two eldest brothers were excluded, Qi Jiguang continued to search, and all signs showed that the then president of Central University (Guozijian Jijiu) was a very powerful person and would have a bright future, so he wrote down this on his list People - Gao Gong. His vision was indeed precise, but soon after, he discovered that this was an unrealizable dream, because although this Gao Gong was not a high official, he was a very arrogant and arrogant person, and this person had one of his biggest characteristics — No bribes. In other words, this person is impenetrable, impenetrable, neither money nor women. Of course, Comrade Gao Gong is definitely not a man without desires, he just puts all his desires on one thing - power , His ultimate goal is to seize the supremacy of the empire, and this is absolutely unsatisfactory for Qi Jiguang. But there is no such thing as a perfect road. Just when Qi Jiguang felt that his future was uncertain, he accidentally discovered another person. This person was Gao Gong's deputy. , very promising, so another name was added to Qi Jiguang's list, which is also the last name-Zhang Juzheng. This was the beginning of the later pair of golden partners. As for how Qi Jiguang and Zhang Juzheng became friends, it is really unknown, but what is certain is that Qi Jiguang is very capable, and in some respects, Zhang Juzheng is not upright. In this way, Qi Jiguang stabilized his position. Facts have proved that he was far-sighted, so that after Hu Zongxian died, he still stood for decades, all thanks to his communication work. Communication requires money, and with Qi Jiguang's level of treatment, even if he borrows usurious loans, he can guess with his eyes closed that he has sources of income other than salary. This is the other side of Qi Jiguang. It seems inappropriate, shameful, and should be condemned, but you should know that when he was guarding the southeast, "the common people were happy, and the Japanese pirates were frightened", and the lives of thousands of people were saved because of him. , when he left his post, "he had led the seal for more than 30 years, and his family had no land left, but only collected thousands of volumes of books." All his income, whether legitimate or not, was used for communication, and he himself was innocent. of. In the face of reality, Yang Jisheng, who never compromises, is great, because he has gone through hardships and insisted on his ideal: sacrifice his life for righteousness, and serve the country.But Qi Jiguang, who compromised, is also great because of an equally lofty ideal. In the 30th year of Jiajing (1551), Qi Jiguang was stationed in Jimen. At that time, he was 24 years old. As a young man, he was restless. Apart from reading books on duty, he also liked to wander around. What happened was that he was wandering around. when. One day, when he was out on a long trip, he passed a temple and saw the smog inside, so he got off his horse and went in to watch the excitement, and found that someone was talking about the way of longevity. During the Jiajing period, the way of longevity was very popular, because the emperor liked it, and the common people naturally followed suit, but they did not have the alchemy technology and raw materials like Comrade Jiajing, and wanted to follow the fashion, so they could only gather together to brag about it. Bragging, it's really boring. However, it was at this boring party that Qi Jiguang found his ideal. In view of the fact that it is impossible to practice and bragging that there is no need to pay taxes, everyone began to actively talk about their views on longevity, such as burning incense and worshiping Buddha, running in the morning, eating less and sleeping more, etc. Some enthusiasts took the opportunity to chat and persuade people to practice alchemy and Taoism. Qi Jiguang also became a Facing this smoky chaos, Qi Jiguang's patience finally reached its limit. He stood up and said loudly: "I also have some experience in the way of longevity, and I would like to share it with you." So the scene fell silent, and a loud voice resounded through the entire temple: "Dedicate yourself to the best of your ability, and die without regrets. This is the art of longevity!" Then he walked out of the temple gate and rode away in the eyes of everyone surprised. Everything originated from this, and all his actions after that were to realize this great ideal. While managing his official career, Qi Jiguang never relaxed his attack on the Japanese pirates for a moment, and wiped out the enemy army many times. The so-called "you can't live if you meet relatives" is really the unanimous aspiration of the Japanese pirates.It was precisely because he was so fierce that, except for a few stunned youths, the veteran Japanese pirates did not dare to go to Zhejiang, and even passed his defense zone, they had to go around a long way. But the Japanese pirates also had to eat, and Qi Jiguang cut off their way of life, so they had to find another place to rob, and the new starting place was Fujian. So from the 40th year of Jiajing (1561), the Japanese pirates invaded Fujian wantonly. Their expansion and combat effectiveness were astonishing. The local Ming army was not an opponent. So in just one year, they all fell into the enemy's hands as far as Fuqing in the north and Zhangzhou in the south. . The governor of Fujian couldn't bear it anymore, so he could only file a letter to the court again, but this time he didn't sue, but asked Hu Zongxian for support and gave himself a hand. Jiajing attached great importance to this, and he directly ordered Hu Zongxian to quickly send Qi Jiguang to help.This is the prelude to another battle. Everyone has seen its beginning, but no one expected its end, Hu Zongxian and Qi Jiguang are no exception. In Fujian, Qi Jiguang met Wang Daokun, the deputy envoy of the Fujian Supervision Army who came to greet him. Facing the sweaty local official who was burning with anxiety, Qi Jiguang calmly asked the first question: "Where is the enemy?" And the answer he got was: "Everywhere!" After reading the situation map, Qi Jiguang immediately realized that he was in serious trouble. Due to the lack of competent generals in the area, the Japanese invasion in Fujian was very serious. Dozens of people dared to rob, but the Ming army was helpless, and the situation was almost completely out of control. This mess is really difficult to clean up. Not only are there many enemies, but they are also scattered. If you lead your men to chase around, you will be exhausted if you can't beat them. Although the situation is extremely complicated, Qi Jiguang believes that the key to solving the problem must lie in this chaos. After a long time of thinking, he finally found it. The fundamental reason why Japanese pirates dare to be so arrogant is that they have no sense of fear. Past experience tells them that they can rob and kill as much as they want, and no one can stop them. Therefore, if they want to change the status quo, they must find the most powerful one among them. A force completely wiped it out, and told everyone with the hanging corpse that this place is not a paradise for looting, but a grave of death. The target chosen by Qi Jiguang is called Hengyu. Hengyu is a small island located in the northeast of Ningde, Fujian Province. There are more than a thousand Japanese pirates entrenched on the island, and the number of them is not large. However, Qi Jiguang chose this place because it has the most difficult and tenacious enemy to defeat. In fact, the Japanese pirates on the island are really unusual. Most of them come from the Kyushu area of ​​Japan, which is the poorest area in Japan. A beast group composed of people. They have been entrenched here for three years, burning, killing and looting on weekdays, leaving hundreds of miles of desolation around this place, and Ningde County City has become a ruin. Strong, and there is a very powerful helper. In fact, the distance between Hengyu Island and the mainland is very short, only a few miles at most. To put it bluntly, you can swim there with a lifebuoy. See, I can't get over my legs. The reason for such a strange thing is that Hengyu Island is so strange. The tide here ebbs in the morning and rises in the afternoon. When the tide rises, the sea water is very rough and will submerge the original land, increasing the distance between the island and the mainland by dozens inside.When the tide is low, the large amount of sand brought by the sea will make the road very muddy, making it impossible to walk at all. So now you should know the reason. The tide goes down during the day and rises in the afternoon and night, which means that night attack is very difficult, and crossing the attack in broad daylight is really an excellent opportunity to be used as a moving target to practice shooting, which is even more troublesome. Unfortunately, even if you run the risk of being shot as a hedgehog, there's a good chance you'll get stuck in the mud or fall flat before you make it to the island. Well, even if you are a fairy, you ride the clouds to the island, meet the enemy and start fighting, but there is one thing you must remember, you must hurry up and finish the game, and it is best to ensure that you win.Because in the afternoon, the tide will rise again, and this thing waits for no one, it rises at three o'clock, and you haven't finished at four o'clock, sorry, brother, you can only spend the night on the island, in case you are unlucky , There are not many people on the island, or if you don't win the battle, you must be prepared to be killed in the dark at night, because the other party should not be willing to spend this night with you peacefully. So for three full years, hundreds of thousands of troops and dozens of generals were helpless, so Qi Jiguang came, and he always had a way. After carefully studying the characteristics of this place and thinking twice, Qi Jiguang finally determined his strategy, but before fighting, he had to do one more thing. Qi Jiguang held a meeting, and the participants were all the generals and soldiers under him.At the meeting, he told everyone the truth in a heavy voice: There is a group of very fierce Japanese pirates entrenched on Hengyu Island. They may be more difficult to deal with than any enemy they have encountered before, and the tide here is complicated. The tide starts to ebb at 6:00 in the morning and rises at 2:00 in the afternoon. You only have four hours (eight hours) until the battle is over. The scene fell into a deathly silence, and everyone understood what this meant. So Qi Jiguang said the last words bluntly: "Once you go to the island, there is no way out. If you cannot defeat the enemy, when the tide rises again, you will die. If you don't have this determination, don't cross the sea. I will not blame you." After a brief silence, Qi Jiguang heard a thunderous answer: "How can I retreat after traveling thousands of miles away? If I don't kill the Japanese slaves, I swear I won't give up!" Take back the territory that originally belonged to you, and avenge the murdered compatriots, there is no need to hesitate, and there is no need to say more. In the early morning of the ninth day of August in the 41st year of Jiajing (1562), Qi's army launched an attack on Hengyu. At this moment, the tide has just receded, and the sky is still early, and the Japanese pirates are not on guard, so it is the best time to start. But just a few steps away, the first problem lay in front of us. Because the tide had just ebbed, the road was very muddy, and many places were completely impassable.But Qi Jiguang had already thought of a countermeasure, and he asked each soldier to bring a special item-straw.Every step forward, the soldiers spread grass to pave the road, and the troops began to march in an orderly manner. At this time, the Japanese pirates on the island had discovered the Qi family army, but they did not act, they just watched the scene in front of them with a sneer.Because they know very well that if they want to land on the island, relying on straw is far from enough. Sure enough, a more serious problem appeared. The soldiers finally discovered that the closer to the island, the worse the mud, but this is not the crux of the problem. The real fatality lies in physical strength. According to statistics by historians, when soldiers in the Ming Dynasty fought, they carried at least 15 kilograms of armor, plus weapons and equipment, while the Qi family army carrying a variety of weapons was only a lot more. This is a very frightening figure. Even the special US Navy SEALs carry only about ten kilograms during their daily drills.After the Qi family army crossed the silt, they had to wade through the sea water, which was a veritable armed swim. Things seemed to be just as the Japanese pirates had expected. The Ming army began to run out of strength and staggered. Qi Jiguang in the rear saw all this, and he knew very well that if he continued, he would lose this battle, so he asked someone to take out the things he had prepared in advance. The soldiers in front were miserable, and they could only rely on their tenacious will to support them, but at this moment, they heard a loud drumbeat. The soldiers turned their heads and saw such a scene. Qi Jiguang stood there alone, beating the drum vigorously.So far, there is no way, this is the only help he can offer. So in this dawn that is about to break, the lonely and clear drumbeat echoes between the heaven and the earth, and echoes in everyone's heart. After a moment of silence, accompanied by the sound of drums, the Ming army supported their tired bodies and continued to advance to the small island ahead, relying on their tenacious will and belief in victory. Because that is their land. The Japanese pirates finally panicked. They witnessed a miracle with their own eyes. The exhausted army suddenly rose up again, conquered the mud and sea water, and walked towards themselves step by step. Shrouded in great fear, the Japanese pirates immediately formed a team, gathered all their forces to line up by the sea, and prepared to play a "strike half crossing". However, they once again underestimated the opponent's strength and made a wrong judgment. The Ming army who landed did not launch an attack directly as the Japanese pirates had expected, but stood firm until the rest of their companions arrived and formed that special formation before continuing to advance.At this time, the Japanese pirates woke up like a dream, but it was too late.From the moment the mandarin duck formation took shape, their failure was doomed. So even though they came from Kyushu, which produces the most ferocious beasts, even though they were stubbornly resisting, they still screamed and charged with their knives when they were frustrated, but all this was of no avail. is their only ending. Soon the battle turned into a game, the Japanese pirates were defeated across the board, and the Ming army turned into a three-talent formation and a five-element formation, chasing the fleeing Japanese pirates everywhere and putting them to death.More than a thousand Japanese pirates on the island were either killed, committed suicide, drowned or captured, none of them survived. The Battle of Hengyu ended here. Within three hours, the Ming army wiped out the Japanese pirates on the island and rescued more than 800 captive women and children, with a total of 13 casualties on their own side. In this contest of will, Qi Jiguang and his army became the final victors, and they deserved it. The battle was won, and the Ming army, which had exhausted its last ounce of strength, could no longer hold on. They lay down on the ground one after another, unable to move, and silence enveloped Hengyu after the war. Qi Jiguang watched the scene in front of him silently, he knew that this was the tranquility of victory, a silent song of triumph.Then a high-pitched chant sounded: This is the "Song of Victory", which has been recited through the ages, and it has been left behind in history, with endless lingering sounds. The real significance of the Battle of Hengyu was to kill chickens for the monkeys to see. After this battle, Japanese pirates all over Fujian were terrified and never dared to be arrogant again. With more than 5,000 enemies, the situation is very good. But at this time, troubles came. Although Hu Zongxian was in charge of the southeast, Fujian was not his territory. Qi Jiguang was only temporarily borrowed, and he had to go back to report when the time came.With such good foreign aid, the governor of Fujian is naturally reluctant to let go, and this is the best time to fight Japanese pirates. If they withdraw to Zhejiang, all previous efforts will be wasted. So Qi Jiguang decided to write a letter to Hu Zongxian, requesting an extension of the lease period. He vowed to Wang Daokun, the Fujian supervisor, that Hu Zongxian was a reasonable person who took the overall situation into consideration. If there were no accidents, there would be no problem. But an accident happened, because Hu Zongxian didn't see his letter at all.In November of the 41st year of Jiajing (1562), Hu Zongxian was stripped of his official position and arrested in Beijing.