Chapter 10: Weapons Are Not Suitable

If Yuan Chonghuan could have grown into a well-known important official during the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, most of the subsequent civil officials who wanted to follow the path of governing the military with both civil and military power would have referred to Yuan Dudu's experience.

But this was the late Ming Dynasty, and seeking truth from facts and respecting facts no longer worked. What was the fate of Xiong Tingbi, who summarized the "three-party arrangement" based on the ideas of his predecessors and wanted to use the huge size of the Ming Dynasty to drag down the Later Jin?
He was imprisoned and beheaded, and his head was sent to the nine borders!
"Yuan Bingxian is also a capable official." Li Hao became more determined to kill Yuan Chonghuan before Chongzhen.

……

At the artillery position in the northwest corner of Ningyuan City.

Yuan Chonghuan, the provincial councilor of Shandong and the military governor of Ningyuan, Man Gui, the deputy governor-general, Zuo Fu, Zhu Mei, the lieutenant general Zu Dashou, He Kegang, the garrison commander of the central army, as well as Wang Lama, Li Lama and other prominent generals and staff officers in Ningyuan City gathered together to discuss how to distribute the eleven Western cannons in the city.

Ningyuan City was not built along the north-south and east-west directions. Instead, the southern city wall was first built along the crooked Ningyuan River in the south, which flows from northwest to southeast, and the other three sides extended out in a square.

This means that the northwest corner of Ningyuan City is actually slightly biased to the east. In addition, there is a small hill to the northeast of the Acropolis, and most people pass through the flat area west of the hills, resulting in the northwest artillery actually facing the post road.

Wang Lama, who was in charge of the Western cannons, proposed placing four in the northwest corner, two in the southeast and northeast corners, and three in the southwest corner.

But local generals such as Zu Dashou and Zhu Mei disagreed.

The local generals, with Zu Dashou as their main source of opinion, believed that the Jiannu’s camp would most likely be set up near the hills northeast of Ningyuan City. The north was the most likely main attack direction of the Jiannu, so they hoped to place three Western cannons in the northeast corner.

Lama Wang insisted on his own opinion. Yuan Chonghuan, the military governor, relied heavily on these two lamas, so the generals fell into quarrel.

"Reporting to Yuan Bingxian and all the generals, Li Hao, the officer in charge of Shahebei Fort, led his servants to kill a team of Jiannu scouts near Tashan Fort yesterday and captured four slave heads."

An officer from the provincial government office came with a few servants and said these words in front of everyone, temporarily ending the quarrel among the generals.

"Is it true?" Yuan Chonghuan, who was wearing a scarlet round-necked uniform and a piece of armor with mountain patterns on it, was immediately overjoyed and spoke out to confirm.

The victory was achieved before the enemy arrived, which had a huge impact on morale.

"I dare not hide it from the military. This is what the brothers sent by Captain Zhang said. Captain Zhang is accompanying Captain Li into the city."

Although the yamen runner wanted to take the credit for reporting the merit, he did not say the full word and let Zhang Bazong's servant explain the source of the information himself.

"That's my captain. Captain Li is right next to him. The soldiers can see him if they move over."

It happened that one of Zhang Bazong's servants caught a glimpse of his superior riding a horse outside the city, so he pointed him out to the Bingxiandaotai and the generals.

Then Li Hao, riding a horse, appeared in front of everyone.

Compared with ordinary Ming army servants and generals, Captain Li was a little stronger in build, and the horse he rode was extremely fat. The strong captains beside him looked like weak soldiers riding donkeys.

The five fierce and ferocious servants behind him were much more ferocious than ordinary soldiers.

Yuan Bingxian saw the problem at a glance, "The horse that Captain Li is riding should have been captured from the Jiannu. Even the good Mongolian horses are not this fat and strong."

Four Tartar heads were hung on the horses' necks, connected to the reins by their rat tail braids. The half-blue and half-white features of the Jiannu's scalp were visible from afar.

Man Gui, who had a round face and a beard, also praised, "Those soldiers who can both behead and seize war horses are all really capable."

As a general who had led troops in Liaodong for a long time, he also knew the difficulty of beheading. Jiannu and Mongolians both had the custom of taking back corpses, and horses were important assets of Jiannu Tatars, and generally they would not give them up. Therefore, unless the Ming army gained a great advantage on the battlefield, it would be difficult to both behead and get horses.

"The placement of the Red Barbarian Cannon will be carried out according to the proposal of Wang Lama. I will go to the North Gate with the other generals and run into Captain Li. Then we will go to the Daoting Yamen to report Captain Li's merits."

After giving his instructions to the Ming army commanders, Yuan Bingxian turned around and ordered the yamen runners, "Wang Shouyi, take your men to find Tongzhi Cheng Weimo, Tongpan Jin Qizhuo, and the elders from all over the country to come and bear witness. This afternoon, I will have the elders from all over the country parade through the streets with these four heads to boost the morale of our army and civilians."

The elders are elderly people. In the military farming system, the elders are responsible for explaining the government's policies to the people and gathering the people's support for the military's ethics and garrison officials, acting as a lubricant.

After the order was issued, Yuan Bingxian led his generals to the north gate in a hurry.

……

What Li Hao didn't expect was that Yuan Dudu actually brought people to the north gate to welcome him. In other words, he met Yuan Dudu and his subordinates at the north gate of Ningyuan City.

Different from the historical portrait of Yuan Dudu wearing a five-beam crown and a scarlet round-necked robe, the Yuan Dudu in front of him had a gloomy face, his brows were furrowed into three characters, and he had the high cheekbones of people from Guangdong and Guangxi. He didn't have much fat on his cheeks, and looked extremely bad.

His outfit was very distinctive, though. The scarlet robe and black gauze hat were only the most basic look for a civil servant, but he chose to wear a body armor with mountain patterns, which added a bit of Confucian-style demeanor.

To Li Hao, it looked like the kind of outfit where one wears armor first and then a robe with sleeves.

Behind Yuan Dudu were naturally Man Gui, Zu Dashou and other Ming army generals. They were easy to identify. The one with a full beard was naturally Man Gui, because his ancestors were Mongolians living in Shandong. The one with gray hair was Zu Dashou. Although he was very old, his qualifications were not as good as those of Zhu Mei, Zuo Fu and other deputy generals.

"How dare you to answer in front of Yuan Bingxian and the generals!"

Before the protagonist could say anything, someone came out to play the good guy.

Yuan Bingxian expressed his magnanimity at the right time, "It doesn't matter. Captain Li is wearing dozens of kilograms of iron armor, and it is inconvenient for him to get on and off the horse. He will go to the Daoting Yamen to discuss his merits later, so let him ride away for the first merit in defending the city."

His blushing face came so timely that it made people wonder if he had discussed it with the person just now.

After Yuan Bingxian finished speaking, he raised his hand, and soldiers from the camp came forward to take away the four heads and handed them to him and the generals for inspection.

The head is big and the teeth are rotten. It has not been cooked. It is a rare Yi Ding head.

"What happened to this person whose face was smashed?" asked a general.

Li Hao was too lazy to talk to this group of people. He waved his hand and the servant Yang Shigong came out from the crowd and explained to the officials and the increasing number of people who gathered around:
"This was caused by a close fight between my team leader and the Tartar. We were not good at weapons and could not use our swords, so we had to kill the beast with our elbows. Yesterday, there was also a Jiannu Bayala with the four beasts. Because we were not as good at archery and horsemanship as others, and we were not good at swords, Bayala escaped."

The generals no longer had any doubts, and the people were very curious. They stretched their necks and squeezed over to see the Tartar's head, forcing the soldiers from nearby camps to gather around and protect the officials.

The people's enthusiasm subsided a little after the government officials announced that the Tartar's head would be paraded through the streets in the afternoon.

But they turned and crowded towards Li Hao and others, praising them as strong men, brave men and heroes continuously. Hundreds of people surrounded the hero who killed the Tartars and headed towards the post office, garrison office and provincial government office in the center of the city. More people rushed to the city after hearing the news. The grief of the people inside and outside the city, who had been suppressed for several days by the impending war, finally had an outlet to vent.

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(End of this chapter)