Chapter 110 How dare you owe me money

July 15th, Zhongwei City, Shenyang.

In the direction of the Hunhe River in the east, countless Later Jin prisoners were tied together with long ropes and formed into two long snakes, winding towards the city of Shenyang.

At the front of the team, many generals of the Later Jin Fushun Pass were being held in prison carts, with disheveled and dirty hair, waiting for the Ming court to behead them.

"Hurry up and stop wasting time!"

The Ming soldiers on horseback used whips to whip the people with pigtails who were not active in their march.

At the east gate of Shenyang City, Li Hao, guarding the guillotine, was waiting for the prisoners of war from Fushun.

Over the past month, the scale of the Mingjin War has been greatly reduced.

The remaining leaders of the Eight Banners finally realized that they could not fight against Li Hao, who could not be killed even with hundreds of arrows, in a large-scale field battle. They could not defend the city either, because not only were there terrifying catapults, but also various Han people in the city were waiting for an opportunity to rebel.

So the Eight Banners were clearly divided into two major waves.

The mountain-guarding generals, led by Ajige and Jirgalang, led their troops back to Fushun Pass and relied on the mountainous areas near Sarhu, Jiefan, Hetuala and other places.

Large mountain cities such as Phoenix City and Benxi City are also in their hands.

The second group was naturally the Beitui faction headed by Huang Taiji and Yue Tuo.

After Liaoyang returned to the Ming Dynasty, they sent out small and scattered cavalry units in the Shenyang area to harass the Ming army that was heading north to attack various villages and forts. They also gradually gathered the flag soldiers and their families from each flag, and retreated northward with the remaining food and supplies, trying to manage Kaiyuan, Tieling and other territories further north.

The city of Shenyang had been ravaged once by Li Hao. There were not many strong men in the city, and not much food stored. The Eight Banners Army could not defend it. Huang Taiji simply sent people to destroy the city gates and several sections of the city wall, and burned all the things that could not be taken away.

The Han Chinese Nikans in the nearby villages were killed until only a few were left, which not only reduced food consumption but also left no able-bodied men for the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Li Hao, who led the surrendered soldiers and Ming army camp soldiers to the city of Shenyang, had to face the choice of marching north or east into the mountains.

After two months of stability, the Ming Dynasty's logistics finally encountered problems as usual. The front-line military pay transported from Denglai and other places was only enough to support the operation of 20,000 troops.

Including the newly surrendered soldiers and several thousand Dongjiang soldiers, the number of soldiers under Li Hao's command has exceeded 30,000.

This does not even include the surrendered civilians whose rations were taken away.

In view of the predicament at that time, the general of the Liaodong Vanguard Town took ruthless action and led hundreds of elite soldiers to launch a surprise attack on Fushun Pass guarded by Li Yongfang and others of the Later Jin Han Dynasty. They seized a batch of grain, and then summoned troops to the east to escort the surrendered people and grain to Shenyang City.

"Reporting to godfather, there are 374 soldiers surrendering from Fushun, and more than 1,530 civilians. The old man who can't work has been killed."

Wu Sangui, dressed in military uniform, rode to the east gate on horseback, dismounted sideways, and reported the number of surrendered civilians to the commander-in-chief.

"When doing official business, we call them by their official titles!"

Li Hao first corrected his title, then scolded: "In the future, if you do something like being an old man, you must report it to me first."

Wu Sangui nodded his head and said yes.

His injuries had not fully healed, and still had some impact on his movements, but he had no problem commanding soldiers on the march, so Li Hao often assigned him the task of escorting prisoners and surrendered civilians.

"It's still the same old rule. Keep the head but not the braid, keep the braid but not the head. Explain it clearly to the captives."

The general of Qianfeng Town sent Xiao Wu to work again.

Since the occupation of Liaoyang, and after Ajige and others outside Haizhou City retreated eastward to the mountainous area, the Ming Dynasty's advantage in Liaodong began to emerge, and Li Hao also began to implement the policy of shaving the queue.

Whether they were Mongolian soldiers or Jurchens, all of them had to shave their hair into three braids or a rat-tail braid, and then grow their hair long like the Han people, otherwise they would only have their braids and no head left.

Of course, all Jurchen surnames had to be changed back, such as the Fuca clan changed back to the Han surname Feng, the Yirgen Jueluo clan changed back to the surname Zhao, the Guwalgiya clan changed back to the surname Guan, and the Majia clan changed back to the surname Ma, etc.

The Jurchens with these surnames were originally Han people who fled to the mountainous areas from Shandong, Liaodong and other places to escape famine. After being influenced by the indigenous people, they became barbarians in less than ten generations. This is really unreasonable.

In a word, the newly recovered land in Liaodong was actively restoring the farming order and restoring sinicization.

While the Ming soldiers were promoting the policy of shaving their queues to the captives, important figures such as Li Yongfang were also brought before the general.

Upon hearing that the big traitor was taken to Shenyang City, many people gathered near the East Gate, and many of them pointed at Li Yongfang and cursed him. If it weren't for Marshal Li, they would have rushed up to tear the traitors to pieces alive and then eat them.

"Marshal, I am still useful. I can go to Hetuala and Tieling to trick the city gates into opening..."

When death was imminent, his desire to survive suddenly burst out, and he hurriedly shouted out various strategies to help the Ming army capture the Later Jin city, in order to show his usefulness.

Unfortunately, no one listened to him.

Four soldiers from the battalion carried him directly to the general's guillotine, and Li Hao pressed the guillotine down quickly and efficiently.

With almost no effort, Li Yongfang's head rolled onto the mud below the stage.

Some brave onlookers ran forward to pick up the head and presented it to Marshal Li on the stage. Li Hao laughed, bent down and threw Li Yongfang's body to the stage, "I will use the head to exchange for reward silver, and I will use the reward silver to buy food and distribute it to you. You can deal with this body while it's hot."

Normally, a prisoner of Li Yongfang's level should be escorted to Shanhaiguan, and the Ji-Liao General should supervise the bringing of the prisoners to Beijing, where a prisoner surrender ceremony should be held.

But last time, Amin didn't even reach Shanhaiguan. As soon as he entered Jinzhou, he had an arm and a leg robbed by angry refugees. Fortunately, the Ming army protected him, otherwise Amin would have died in Jinzhou.

When they reached Ningyuan, the people who heard the news became even more fanatical. They dispersed the escorting soldiers outside the city and hacked Amin to death with hundreds of knives. Afterwards, the leading people set up a hot pan and cut Amin into slices, wrapped him in batter and fried him, then distributed them to the villagers one by one.

Li Yongfang probably did not receive the same treatment as Amin. There was no shortage of pots in Shenyang, but there was a severe shortage of oil, pepper and flour. There were also few people, so they could not share such a large piece of meat.

After dealing with the important prisoners, the ordinary prisoners, who were tied with ropes, began to obediently allow the barber to cut their braids.

Those who were brave enough to fight had died on the battlefield long ago, and those who were at least not brave enough had followed the flag owners and escaped. Those who stayed in Fushun Pass were basically cowards who just had their hair cut into braids.

They don't have the concept that their bodies and hair are given by their parents.

"General, the high officials from Jinzhou City have arrived. They ask you to move into the city to discuss the issue of food and wages."

A messenger ran out from the city and reported the news that the civil official was coming.

These civil servants were also getting anxious. There had been several major battles in the Liaoshen and Haigai areas. The smoke of war was everywhere, and the land was being taken away by the Ming army and the Tartar soldiers. There was really no food left.

Nearly 200,000 people from Dongjiang and more than 100,000 refugees from western Liaoning rushed to this area one after another, fearing that they would not be able to get any land if they arrived too late, greatly increasing the pressure on food.

The Ming Dynasty was not a tribal alliance like the Later Jin Dynasty. Relief was still needed when there was a disaster. Even if it was just a show, porridge stalls would be opened.

Li Hao washed the blood off his hands, then strode down the stage and walked into the city with his servants amid the admiring gazes of the people around him.

But he didn't expect to be blocked by a young woman.

"Marshal Li, it is appalling that the people are eating human flesh. The Liao people are also the people of the Ming Dynasty. How can they be so uncivilized? Marshal, please order this to stop."

The woman was wearing linen clothes and had a bun on her head like the man, wrapped in a net cloth. She had pretty facial features, bright eyes, a tall body, and a strong southern accent.

Either they are from Wenzhou or they are from Fujian.

Li Hao on the horse looked down at her and said, "You are Dong Yingju's granddaughter, right?"

After the Liao Rebellion, southern merchants almost disappeared in Liaodong. Only southern officials could still operate in such a northern place. The only official from Wenzhou and Fujian that Li Hao knew was Dong Yingju.

"It doesn't matter who the common people are. What matters is educating the people. Even if people's livelihood is difficult, we should not let the people eat human corpses."

The woman was neither humble nor arrogant, and she firmly demanded that Marshal Li order the nearby people to stop venting their anger.

"Old Dong is a wealthy man. If your family pays for a porridge place, I will order people to take away those headless bodies."

"Opening a porridge shop is the duty of the gentry. My grandfather also ate the imperial rice subsidy, so he should share the worries of the imperial court. Even if this matter did not happen, I would still provide porridge outside Shenyang to relieve the disaster and help the people."

The granddaughter of the Dong family did not deny her identity. Li Hao had a good impression of her when they first met.

The general of Qianfeng Town sent his servants to snatch the bodies back from the people before heading towards the city center.

A relatively complete three-story residential house served as the temporary general's residence. The civil servants from Jinzhou gathered in the first hall of the house.

"Oh, Governor Yuan dared to run out of Ningyuan City! Did Old Man Dong bring his granddaughter here for a blind date? Deputy Envoy Bi, why didn't you get the rations I asked you to get? And these guys, you came to Shenyang City empty-handed?"

The war was going well and Li Hao was in a good mood. After entering, he teased these civil servants one by one.

Compared with six months ago, Yuan Chonghuan's complexion was obviously much better, his face was rosy and he looked very energetic.

He ignored the general's jokes and got straight to the point.

"I, the governor, am here to reorganize the number of soldiers in the vanguard garrison and to arrange for the nine guards in Liaodong to cultivate the land. General Li has fought hard, so we will share the worry of the money and salaries. The tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers must be dispersed within two months, either to be sent to the various camps in Liaozhen, or to be converted into militia and directly cultivate the land."

Bi Zisu then added: "The court has already agreed that the Liao tribute will only be collected from a few rich provinces next year, and these Liao tributes will be distributed to the nine border military garrisons to make up for the arrears. The number of soldiers in the Liao garrisons must be reduced, and Ningqian and Guancheng have already begun to eliminate redundant soldiers.

Although the war in Qianfeng Town is tight, with General Li here, it is not appropriate to support 30,000 soldiers. Denglai and other places have to transport food and wages to supply the Dongjiang army and civilians, so they cannot support them. This is Wang Tingshi, the prefect of Dengzhou Prefecture, who will report the grain prices in Shandong and other places to General Li. "

A middle-aged civil servant who came with him talked about the rapidly rising prices of grain. Even in the hinterland of Shandong, the price of grain had increased from five or six cents of silver per stone to more than one tael.

"We are already working on transporting grain from Huguang to stabilize grain prices. There is really no other way for the past one or two months, and the soldiers on the frontline have suffered."

When Li Hao heard this, he realized that not only would his soldiers not be able to get their wages, they wouldn't even be able to get their rations.

How dare you owe me wages!
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(End of this chapter)