Chapter 1 This game is too real
On the 19th day of the first month of the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, Ningyuan Guard in western Liaoning, Shahe North Fort.

A ray of sunlight squeezed in from the narrow window, illuminating the entire room.

The room was extremely simply furnished. On the west side stood a bed made of tattered wooden boards with half-worn bedding piled on it. Facing the door were three or four stools surrounding a square table. On the east side, against the wall, there were two cross-shaped clothes hangers with red leopard-patched uniforms and red split cloth armor hanging on them.

Li Hao, wearing a coarse cotton robe, was squatting in front of the window, sharpening the machete in his hand.

Suddenly, a madman appeared and was sharpening his knife, while the imperial star was swaying and Mars was high in the sky.

The whistling sound of the cold wind outside the house and the hissing sound of sharpening knives intertwined together, setting a chilly and depressing tone for the upcoming battle.

"Master Baizai, Yuan Bingxian has sent someone to ask us to retreat to Ningyuan City!"

A voice broke the solemn atmosphere in the room, and then a sturdy young man of about eighteen or nineteen pushed the door open and explained the situation in detail to his boss.

"Ningyuan sent over a captain named Zuo, who said that Yuan Bingxian and Manzhen had issued an order to collect all soldiers and households from all places and bring them into the city. Those who fled to Shanhaiguan would be dealt with by General Gao."

Li Erniu spoke for a while, and seeing that his boss was still calm, he quickened his speech and advised:

"I heard that the Jiannu people set out on the 15th day of the first lunar month before the New Year was over. This time, the Tartars only dared to come after Marshal Sun left. I'm afraid they will have to take Ningyuan City even if they have to bite their teeth. I can't make any mistakes at this critical moment. Should we escape to the northwest, retreat to Shanhaiguan, or go to Ningyuan City and join forces with Yuan Bingxian and Manzhen to defend the city? You have to come up with a plan."

Two years ago, the chieftain Nurhaci went insane and began to massacre the Han people in Liaodong who had no food. Two months ago, this old man even ordered that the Han people under the rule of the Later Jin Dynasty "send them in different directions, and dismount and kill them when they come across a village or fort."

The Han people in Liaodong and southern Liaoning thus faced a new wave of exodus, and the Han people in western Liaoning under the rule of the Ming Dynasty also felt sympathetic. It happened that Gao Di, the governor of Liaodong, ordered the withdrawal of Jinzhou and Youtun, and some of the Ming Dynasty settlers in the Liaoxi Corridor also fled.

A few days ago, there was a rumor that the Jiannu were about to launch a large-scale invasion of western Liaoning, which frightened the nearby residents so much that they gave up their newly acquired land and fled to Shanhaiguan in a panic with their families, carrying only their food and bedding.

If you run away, you might starve; if you stay where you are, you will definitely die, and you might even become food for the Tartars.

Li Hao still didn't say anything. He sharpened his machete by himself and flicked the blade hard with his hand.

hum~
"It's so realistic." Li Hao exclaimed, the feel of the knife is exactly the same as the real one.

[Sharpen a Pudao, and gain 3 more experience]

Light blue text appeared, and he opened the panel.

[Role: Li Hao; Affiliation: Ming Dynasty; Position: Team Leader]

[Clearance rate: 0.0000%]

[HP27.8|30]

[Level: 1; Experience value: 23|100]

【Vigor: 4】

【单手武器12；双手武器9；长杆武器16；专精：2；3；2】

[Control: 3]

【弓8；弩5；投掷3；专精：0；0；0】

[Endurance: 3]

【骑术17；跑动9；锻造6；专精：2；0；0】

【Learning: 2】

【医术4；工程3；养殖0；专精：0；0；0】

When he opened his eyes this morning, he arrived in this strange world. It seemed to be the [East Asian Dynasties - Late Ming and Early Qing] mod of Mount & Blade II, but it didn't match the point allocation panel. Compared with the panel of Mount & Blade II, Li Hao's panel lacked a lot of things. Tasks, items, and troops were all gone, and there were some very interesting things such as completion degree, mod options, etc.

The interesting thing is that according to the mod options, every time you kill five people, you can increase your health limit by one point. Every time you kill forty people, you can increase at least one attribute point. Every time you kill twenty people, you can increase at least one specialization point.

What's more important is that every time you kill someone, you can restore a point of health.

According to the strange rules of this world, even if you sit still, one point of life value will be deducted every hour. When sharpening a knife, walking, etc., the life value deduction per hour is 1.2. And so on. During strenuous exercise, the life value will be deducted faster.

Li Hao’s current health value is [27.8|30], and the upper limit of health value is thirty.

So he reasonably guessed that if he could not eat or sleep and just kill people all day long, he could maintain his health at a high level.

According to his previous personality, he would definitely jump on his horse and go out to find someone to beat up to verify his guess, but this late Ming Dynasty world, which was not sure whether it was a game mod or a gamification, was too real. There was not even any option to fast forward or skip the plot, so Li Hao could only digest the plot in an orderly manner.

His current identity is Li Hao, the officer in charge of Shandong Province, Liaodong Province, Ningyuan Guard, and Shahebei Fort in the Ming Dynasty. His courtesy name is Tianqiong, and his military officer rank is a centurion of the sixth rank. He is currently 27 years old. Although military officers in the Ming Dynasty were not worth much, a centurion in his twenties was still a ceiling that many military households and soldiers could never reach in their lifetime.

The sixth-rank leopard captain was punished for his father's death!
According to the plot, Li Hao's father followed Li Rubai to fight against the rebellious General Nurhaci of the Left Guard of Jianzhou in the Battle of Sarhu seven years ago.

Fortunately, Li Rubai had none of the military talent of his father Li Chengliang and his elder brother Li Rusong. Instead, he was timid and did not dare to fight with the Jiannu. He managed to save this ragtag army composed of Liaodong military households and Beijing camp soldiers. Only forty people died in the battle, and more than a thousand people were lost due to trampling, falling, illness, and injuries.

Li Hao's father died on the way for unknown reasons. Because he was on equal terms with Li Rubai and other generals of the Li family, he died in a timely manner and earned his son a position as a centurion.

When Sun Chengzong was managing the Liaoxi Corridor, Yuan Chonghuan led the restoration of military settlements of 20,000 to 30,000 people in Ningyuan and Qiantun areas, so Li Hao was transferred to become the commander of the area.

Nominally he was in charge of five small forts, but due to insufficient manpower, the troops drawn from the garrisons in Shandong and other places only had time to build and reinforce the various citadels and large forts, and small-scale forts had not been built in time, so he and the ethics officer of Shahe North Fort and four other team officers were squeezed into this large fort.

"Yuan Bingxian should be the governor Yuan Chonghuan, and Man Zhen is undoubtedly the general Man Gui. As for this captain with the surname Zuo, could he be Zuo Liangyu?" Li Hao asked.

These people were all old acquaintances from the late Ming Dynasty. Li Hao was familiar with the history of the turbulent times and knew the origins and deeds of the main generals.

There is no need to mention Yuan Chonghuan, the Ningqian Military Governor, and Man Gui, the General. Zuo Liangyu came from the Guanning Army. Later, when Bi Zisu was the governor of Liaodong, he was removed from his post as the commander because of the Ningyuan mutiny. At this time, he was the low-ranking officer with the surname Zuo in the Ningyuan Wei City.

Li Erniu quickly replied: "Master Baizai is right. The Zuo Bazong seems to be this person. Master, this Zuo Bazong is always easy to talk to. Let's ask him to allow the households under your command to take their families away first, and we can deal with it after they are far away."

Li Erniu was a smart soldier who was kept by Li Hao because of his efficiency. He now thought that going to Ningyuan would mean death, and going to Shanhaiguan would probably not end in good fortune, so it would be better to persuade his own team to take the food and hide in the Kalaqin area until they get through this time.

Li Hao's idea was far different from the young man's. "I set out before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, so I should have crossed the Sancha River by now, roughly between Guangningwei and Jinzhou."

"I have thought it through carefully. It only took two or three days for all the Tartars to arrive." Li Erniu didn't understand why his captain said this.

"What do you mean by heading northwest? Did you go along the road from Shahebao to Kalaqin Ulianghai?"

Li Hao is now at Shahebeibao in the middle of the Liaoxi Corridor. About ten miles to the south, there is a small fortress called Shahebao, which leads directly to Eastern Mongolia, which is the large grassland in the northwest of the Liaoxi Corridor.

At this time, the Mongolian Khan is the Han Emperor of the Steppes, Borjigin Lindan Batur, also known as Lindan Khan in later generations. He is still staying in Eastern Mongolia. In the ranking of humanoid creatures in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, he can also be ranked among the top.

The sixth year of Tianqi was a very special year. In that year, the Inner Khalkha tribe of Eastern Mongolia suffered a double blow from Ligdan Khan and Lao Nu. Around the end of the year, the main tribes of Inner Khalkha actually surrendered to the Later Jin.

In the middle of the year, the Inner Khalkha tribe was still fighting a desperate battle with the Later Jin, but at the end of the year, they were forced to surrender to the Jianzhou Jurchens by their nominal Khan. This shows how cruel Ligdan Khan was.

Li Hao was thinking about whether to kill Lin Dan Khan when he had time. Of course, he did not do it to seek justice for the Inner Khalkha tribe, nor for Lin Dan Khan's beautiful wives and concubines. The main reason for killing Lin Dan Khan was that when Wang Huazhen was the governor of Liaodong, he gave most of the rewards given by the court to the Mongolian tribes to Lin Dan Khan. The total value of the silver given before and after and the goods that were in short supply in Mongolia exceeded one million taels of silver.

Of course, there is no rush for this. Let's wait until Li Hao's men can organize a convoy, otherwise if Lidan Khan is killed, there will be no one to transport the looted items.

"I don't know that road, but I have a soldier under my command named Ma Pingkang who is very familiar with that place." Li Erniu replied.

Ma Zi Ping Kangxi, this name has a good meaning, Li Hao secretly praised it in his heart.

He planned the days, "Keep an eye on Ma Pingkang, don't let him get away, he will be of great use in the future. Go out and call Tianyang and the pigs, dogs, cattle and sheep, and gather the Dunjun living in the fort. I have something important to tell them. Then tell the kitchen staff to start cooking, cook all the meat and vegetables that can be cooked, and prepare some dry food and steamed bread for the horses, feed the horses, pack some bean fodder and fodder, and prepare the horse's cotton armor."

Tianyang was his cousin Li Tianyang, and the pigs, dogs, cows and sheep were Zhu Yingtai, Gou Quanzhong, Liu Maocai and Yang Shigong respectively. These five people were his servants, and each of them received one tael and four qian of silver and one dou of rice from the court every month.

In comparison, ordinary soldiers stationed outside Ningyuan City only received a monthly salary of seven cents of silver and one dou of rice.

Li Erniu agreed and retreated. When Li Hao changed into his red cloth armor, five servants arrived one after another.

The cloth armor worn by these five people is exactly the same as Li Hao's armor, all of which are split cloth armor. The thickness of the main armor plate is 1.5 mm, fixed to the cotton armor with rivets.

It is very convenient for one person to wear the skirt armor and upper armor, but the iron arm guard, heart guard, throat guard and armpit guard require the help of others. Li Tianyang and others surrounded their own centurion and helped Li Hao to dress up.

Compared with the straight cloth armor, this split cloth armor is much lighter and is very convenient for fighting on horseback or on foot. The weight of a whole set of armor is about 30 kilograms. The straight cloth armor weighs at least 40 kilograms. If it is a straight lamellar armor, it can be even heavier.

The cost is also very cheap. Excluding the boots, the whole set of armor costs about three to four taels of silver. Because cloth armor only needs three or four holes to be fixed, while the armor plates of lamellar armor need to be drilled with at least seven holes, and there are armor plates with more than ten holes, which greatly increases the production time. In terms of quickly arranging armor for soldiers, cloth armor has many advantages over lamellar armor.

The cloth armor of the Eight Banners of the Later Jin Dynasty was also modified according to the standard of the Ming army's servants' armor. The main differences between the two sides lie in the color of the cloth, the shape of the armpit guard, the iron arm, etc.

Because of the lack of manpower, Jiannu could not equip each armored person with a ring-shaped arm armor, so they could only use a looser shoulder guard instead. This made the Ming cloth armor look much more capable than the Later Jin cloth armor.

As for color, the Eight Banners soldiers wore cloth armor of corresponding colors according to their respective banners, while the Ming army wore different colors according to their status, and the armor was generally matched with contrasting colors. For example, Li Hao's servants wore blue upper armor and khaki battle skirts that hem to mid-calf.

Li Hao, the centurion, has a red upper armor and a blue battle skirt.

Basically, under the same armor styles, the Ming army wearing khaki armor had the lowest status, the blue armor was slightly higher, and the red armor had the highest status. The reason was very simple. The Ming Dynasty claimed to be the fire virtue, so naturally the color red was respected.

PS: New author, new book, please collect, recommend and vote for me.

(End of this chapter)