When it comes to Qi Jiguang, everyone knows that he has made meritorious contributions to defending the southeast and is a national hero.
But there is also a meritorious man on the southeast battlefield, who is not well-known and has a higher position. Jinshi was born, but he was a powerful man on the battlefield and made great achievements, and he was the secretary of the Ming Dynasty.
He is Tan Lun, a military strategist and dramatist of the Ming Dynasty, who has led the army for 30 years, and is also called "Tan Qi" with Qi Jiguang.
Why does he have these two titles?
Tan Lun and his people
Tan Lun, born in Fuzhou, Jiangxi, was a Jinshi in the twenty-third year of Jiajing (1544), and his ranking was not ideal, but he was only in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and he was a six-grade master.
After his mother died, he went home for three years and was reappointed to the Ministry of War. He was familiar with the actual situation of armaments in the Ming Dynasty, which laid the foundation for his future actual combat.
At that time, the southeast had been unstable, and there were often military incidents. Tan Lun usually likes to read military books and write about his experiences, and often connects everything with the military.
It was this love that made him selected through the process and became a Confucian general.
In May of the twenty-seventh year of Jiajing (1548), the pirates actually broke through the defense line and killed the city of Nanjing, and the city was in a panic.
Tan Lun saw this as an opportunity, temporarily recruited 500 people, briefly trained martial arts and tactics, and brought them to the battlefield.
No one expected success, Tan Lun had his own set of methods, mobilized before the war, and then seized the good opportunity to attack, he took the lead and actually defeated the enemy.
Tan Lun became famous all of a sudden, and the imperial court transferred him to Taizhou, the front line, as the prefect.
During his tenure, Tan Lun trained a troop of more than 1,000 people, "the scores are clear, the progress and the end are one, and it will become an elite in a short time."
The pirates invaded Zhapu, and Tan Lun led this army to meet it, winning three battles and three victories.
After Tan Lun galloped across the southeast battlefield, Taizhou was attacked many times, was repelled under the command of Tan Lun, and then turned to Xianju and Linhai, and was "captured and killed" by Tan Lun.
Tan Lun is a civilian official, he is clearly aware of his weaknesses, managing the army is his strength, and training the army is his weakness.
In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing (1555), the imperial court sent the general Qi Jiguang to the southeast, and the two learned from each other's strengths and laid the foundation for Zhejiang's victory.
Tan Lun fought for Qi Jiguang in the southeast for three years, allowing him to recruit a team, training and fighting at the same time, and only then did he train the famous Qi family army.
Tan Lun's military career
In the fortieth year of Jiajing (1561), Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang cooperated, Qi Jiguang met the enemy in the front, Tan Lun was outflanked on the side, and won nine consecutive battles. Zhejiang can no longer see the shadow of pirates.
After that, Tan Lun was transferred to Fujian to participate in politics, and soon his father died and he went home to worry.
Zhejiang Shuangjie was dismantled, and the pirates did not dare to go to Zhejiang, so they plagued Fujian.
In the forty-second year of Jiajing (1563), the war in Fujian became more intense. The pirates actually captured Xinghua, Fujian.
The imperial court had to send three generals: Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and Liu Xian. Tan Lun commanded the three as the governor of Fujian.
I have to say that Tan Lun is very good at employing people, good at coordinating relationships, using the right three people, and quickly recovering the lost ground.
After that, Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang cooperated to destroy 20,000 enemies in Xianyou, and Fujian was no longer in trouble.
Tan Lun gave strong support to Qi Jiajun, and he had a good personal relationship with Yu Dayou.
He strongly supported Yu Dayou and especially supported his invention, the wheelbarrow. A few years later, it became the main firearm of the Ming Dynasty and played a huge role on the battlefield.
After that, Tan Lun moved to Ji and Liao as governors. During his tenure, he cooperated with Qi Jiguang to build the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty for more than 2,000 miles.
After Wanli ascended the throne, he was recalled to the capital and served as the secretary of the military department.
Tan Lun is a clean official, who cleaned up the land of the military camp during his tenure and offended a large number of people. Fortunately, his old boss, Shoufu Zhang Juzheng admired him, and he escaped the guns and arrows safely
In the fifth year of Wanli, a generation of famous generals Tan Lun died in office, and was posthumously presented to the crown prince.
A side hustle in life
Tan Lun is a literati after all, and his "main job" is not ideal, but his "side job" makes him famous. Literati like to study lyrics and music cards, and he is no exception, usually fond of the art of opera.
When Tan Lun was fighting in Zhejiang, the Haiyan cavity was prevalent in the local area, and he immediately liked it, so he set up a troupe in the army, and every time he won a battle, he had to organize a performance.
Tan Lun has made many meritorious contributions in the southeast battlefield, and the Haiyan opera troupe has also become popular in the southeast region with the transfer of the army.
Later, Tan Lun returned to his hometown to worry about his father, and he found that there was no good opera in his hometown. Naturally, there could be no cultural and entertainment activities during Ding Wei's period, and then Tan Lun was enabled by the imperial court to suppress bandits in Jiangxi.
After the victory, there will naturally be celebrations, and Tan Lun was transferred from the army to the opera troupe to perform the sea salt cavity. As a drama lover, he improved the Haiyan cavity in his hometown, added the Yiyang cavity of the ground, and gave birth to a new singing cavity, Yihuang cavity.
It was Tan Lun's efforts that made Yihuang the center of opera at that time.
Tang Xianzu, a famous dramatist in the Ming Dynasty, and Tan Lun are fellow villagers, although they have never met, they are old friends.
In the sixth year of Longqing, Tan Lun was promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Tang Xianzu also specially wrote a poem "Send Tan Shangshu to the side".
He not only made great achievements in military affairs, but also left a valuable legacy to future generations in cultural undertakings.
The Ming and Qing historians Tan Qian summarized Tan Lun's exploits as "thirty years of military success, with 21,500 strange achievements, and he was also a dry city for a while." (Guoyi).Qi Jiguang