Chapter 127 It's Time to Repay Tat

Tongzhou City.

The soldiers from Yongping, Shanhaiguan and other places were gathered together by Marshal Sun. Outside Tongzhou City, military tents were connected to each other, and chariots were connected to chariots, stretching for several miles. Regardless of their combat effectiveness, the momentum of this army was strong enough.

"I have the will to kill the thief, but I am powerless to save him!"

In the central military tent, Sun Chengzong was slumped in a chair with a deathly pale face, holding the news from the Governor of Jizhen.

Yuan Chonghuan, the Liaodong governor who was sitting next to him, took the newspaper handed over by the imperial teacher and began to read it. His face changed drastically after reading only a few lines.

The generals in Shanhaiguan and Yongping were secretly glad that, judging from the situation, Marshal Li had already captured Beijing, and the reinforcements would most likely not have to engage in a head-on confrontation with the Liao soldiers for the time being.

Man Gui, who had been promoted to the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, said sarcastically: "Governor Yuan, do you understand the rules? The report should be put on the table for everyone to see."

He and Yuan Chonghuan had fallen out and both sides disliked each other.

The other generals did not dare to get involved in the feud between the two. Sun Chengzong looked at them coldly and shouted:

"The traitor has secretly taken up residence in the imperial city. You two should put aside your past entanglements and work for the country with one heart. If you continue to seek personal revenge or hinder each other, you will be punished without mercy."

Old man Sun single-handedly built the defense system of Shanhaiguan and Liaoxi Corridor, and he held a very high status among the soldiers in Guancheng Camp.

Yuan Chonghuan's old subordinates were all in Ningyuan City. They either died in battle or surrendered to the Liao soldiers who were demanding pay. At this time, they could not even stand up straight and dared not respond to Man Gui's sarcasm, let alone the highly respected imperial teacher Sun Chengzong. They could only agree meekly.

Man Gui is careless and doesn't care. His gout attacks every once in a while and he is not very motivated to fight. Now it is Marshal Li who controls Beijing and he has a good relationship with him. His servants don't want to confront Marshal Li and they just want to live one day at a time.

After the Liaodong governor put the report in his hand on the table, the generals huddled together and finally understood the situation in the capital.

The governor of Jizhen, Yan Mingtai, led the soldiers of the two camps of Jizhen Central and Western Alliance to retreat to the south city, and several main city gates were in the hands of the Liao soldiers.

It is not appropriate to call them Liao soldiers. Those soldiers in the Beijing camp who were able to fight were killed by Li Ni, and most of the rest of the soldiers in the Beijing camp who were temporarily recruited to serve as conscripts surrendered to the Liao soldiers. Now there are more soldiers in the Beijing camp fighting back than Liao soldiers.

"The malpractice of the Beijing camp occupation should have been properly rectified in the beginning, so that it would not have come to this point today."

Sun Chengzong was quite regretful. Most of the time, the soldiers from the Beijing camp who turned against their allies in the middle of a battle were servants of the powerful in the capital. They were treated like beasts of burden by princes and nobles, and a lot of their pay was withheld by the military leaders.

These soldiers from the Beijing camp were even more miserable than the border soldiers from Gansu who were owed wages for dozens of months.

"Fortunately, the traitor Li dared not attack the emperor. However, the people in the city suffered from the harm caused by this evil villain!" Governor Yuan still had the leisure to worry about the people in the capital.

It was clearly written in the Tangbao that Emperor Tianqi was alive and well and even appeared in the imperial city. He ordered the Governor of Jizhen to lead his troops to retreat outside the city.

According to Yan Mingtai, he was not sure whether these imperial edicts came from the emperor or were fabricated by Li the traitor. He could only follow the previous military order of the Ministry of War and station troops in the south city. The Liao soldiers occupied the Chongwen Gate, and the Jizhen soldiers occupied the Zhengyang Gate and Xuanwu Gate. The two sides maintained a standoff.

The six ministries and the cabinet were all gone. A lot of reinforcements came from outside the city, such as Wang Guoliang's Xuanfu troops and Yang Zhaoji's Datong troops, but the ministers were leaderless and didn't know what to do.

"The only solution now is for me to lead the reinforcements and trap Li Ni and the rebels to death. During this time, I will persuade them with emotion and reason and order them to leave with their troops. He just wants silver and the title of king."

Sun Chengzong had never met Marshal Li, but he had read the Liaodongtang newspaper every day and thought he knew Marshal Li a little.

This man was extremely reckless. If you say he was cruel, he also knew how to care for the people. If you say he was kind, killing people was as easy as cutting grass.

"What should we do if Li Ni hurts His Majesty? We should invite Wang Xiangqian, Wang Zaijin and other senior officials to take slow action."

Yuan Chonghuan was cautious and advocated recalling Wang Xianggan, who was in mourning, and Wang Zaijin, who had retired.

"Wang Xiangqian? He is a money man. If he is called here, he will probably embezzle the military pay of the nine frontiers to appease the Liao soldiers, and end up owing money to the loyal soldiers and generals. Wang is still useful in Jin, so it would be better to send him to Nanjing to take charge of the Ministry of War."

Sun Chengzong gave the order.

He moved between various forces and was naturally aware of the factions of officials. The former governor of Jizhen, Wang Xianggan, had a very good relationship with the governor of Liaodong and was a well-known official in favor of money.

Although Wang Zai Jin did not mention the terms of surrender, his views were similar to those of Wang Xiangqian. Both kings insisted on defending Shanhaiguan and were quite opposed to Sun Chengzong's strategy of operating the Liaoxi Corridor.

The six ministries in Nanjing are different from those in Beijing. The Minister of War is the most respected. The Minister of War in Nanjing, the eunuch who stayed in power, and the Duke of Wei are the most powerful people in Nanzhili.

Wang Zai Jin has always been known for his integrity, so it would be best to send him to Nanjing to appease the people at this time.

The old officials who followed Sun Chengzong have taken note of this matter. They don't have the seal in their hands, so now they can only rely on Sun Chengzong's prestige and the Shangfang sword to act.

"Also, Li's rebellion is too great for the generals to resist. We have to reinstate border generals like Ma Shilong and military officers like Yu Anxing..."

Most of the six ministries fell into the hands of the Liao soldiers, and those who escaped could not be found for a while. Sun Chengzong believed that he should take on this responsibility, so he recruited capable officials from all over the country to come to the vicinity of Northern Zhili to take his orders.

Without the constraints of the eunuch party cabinet and the delays of the six ministries and six departments, this team in Tongzhou City actually burst out with unprecedented efficiency, which was unimaginable in the Ming Dynasty officialdom.

...While all the forces of the Ming army were mourning and sad, half of Beijing under the control of the Liao soldiers was overjoyed, as if it were New Year's Day.

It was already December 26th, and the Chinese New Year was indeed not far away.

Xicheng District, Beijing, Xiaoshiyongfang, Linhuaihou Mansion.

The location of Xiaoshiyongfang is quite unique. It is connected to Anfufang in the north, Dashiyongfang in the south, and Imperial City West Garden in the east.

There is a large lake called Taiye Lake in Xiyuan. The northern part is the Beihai Park in later generations. The word "Hai" is derived from the Manchu word for big lake. The middle and southern parts of Taiye Lake are mysterious places that cannot be described.

This shows how wealthy Yongfang was when it was young.

"Brothers, search carefully. Go through the boxes and cabinets yourself. Knock on the walls and floor tiles. Pay attention to the mezzanines and dark rooms."

The Liao soldiers in charge of commanding the search and looting of the marquis's mansion led their troops on patrols back and forth, repeatedly mentioning matters that needed attention.

Hundreds of Liao soldiers participated in the search, and the militiamen from Northern Zhili who joined in were in the courtyard, responsible for carrying the gold, silver, jewelry, silks, and other valuables that were found.

Most of the civilians were Tongzhou boatmen, grain transport soldiers, and able-bodied men from farms. They had no discipline at all. After a brief search yesterday, Marshal Li called a halt to the search.

There are many reasons. The main reason is that the work was done roughly, the secondary reason is that too many good things were kept for personal use, and other minor problems include murder, adultery, looting, and smashing.

The tradition of this army is to hand over the big fish and keep the small fish. For example, if you collect a pile of copper coins, you can hand them over if you can collect enough to make a rope, and whoever collects the rest can keep it.

The civilians were too selfish. They kept all the small silver ingots on themselves and handed over the copper coins that could not be hidden to the Liao soldiers. This was really outrageous.

The elite Liao soldiers who had served in the military were much more meticulous in their extortion. In the same mansion, the money and treasures extorted by the Liao soldiers, excluding the small portion they kept for themselves, could be worth hundreds of thousands of taels. If the civilians were asked to extort silver ingots, they would definitely not get many, and the items they handed over were all large items that they could not hide.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Marshal Li only allowed the Liao soldiers to enter the house to search, and the militiamen only carried away the valuables.

The living room of the second courtyard of Linhuai Marquis Mansion.

Li Hao sat leisurely on the main seat, sipping the Mingqian tea scraped from the mansion. The owner of the mansion, Li Hongji, lay at his feet, serving as a footstool.

"This Mingqian tea is really good, with a mellow taste. Where else can you find such good stuff in Liaodong?"

According to Li Hongji, this kind of tea is picked before the Qingming Festival, hence the name Mingqian tea. It is characterized by tender buds and leaves, emerald green color, and fresh taste.

"Grandpa Marshal is right. From now on, I will give Grandpa Marshal several dozen taels of this Mingqian tea and Yuqian tea as a gift every year."

Li Hongji wiped the sweat from his face while trying to curry favor with Marshal Li on his back.

"I heard that your ancestor is Li Jinglong, is that true?"

Before taking advantage of the situation, Li Hao also sent people to carefully investigate the background of each family to prevent this group of cunning and powerful people from secretly sending valuables to other families for temporary storage.

This is reflected in Dream of the Red Chamber, when the Zhen family in Jiangnan was raided, they urgently stored their property in Jia Mansion. Most of the upper-class dignitaries were related to each other, so it was a common practice for them to help hide their property.

However, this trick did not have much effect on the Liao soldiers. Now the gates in the upper part of the convex shape had been taken by the Liao soldiers and the surrendered soldiers. The things in the city could only hide here and there and could not get out of the city.

"Yes, yes, what Grandpa Marshal said is true. I am the ninth generation grandson of Li Jinglong."

Li Hongji just proposed to acknowledge Marshal Li as his godfather in the name of sharing the same surname, but the Marshal on his back has not agreed yet.

"Li Jinglong privately opened the gates of Nanjing, allowing the Yan rebels to enter the city. The Yan vassal usurped the great territory of our Emperor Taizu for 229 years. He deserves to be killed, he deserves to be killed!"

Li Hao shouted angrily and ordered the Liao soldiers: "In the Linhuai Marquis's mansion, all servants will be sent to the army. The nine clans of Li Hongji will keep the girls but not the boys. All the adult girls will be locked up in the Five Military Commander's Office, waiting to be distributed to the Liao soldiers. The minors will be sent to the laundry department. The evil deeds done by Yan Ni in the past should be paid back."

Although this was how he handled it before, every time he arrived at a prefecture, Li Hao would find various problems and repeat the order again and again.

The surrendered Shang Zhouzuo followed Marshal Li to plunder the land of various powerful people. Li Hao mainly relied on him to understand the lineage of the powerful people.

"The Marshal is kindhearted, and the heavens can bear witness to that! In our Ming Dynasty, only when Yan Ni usurped the throne did we send the families of the criminals to the Jiaofangsi. The rest of the time they were locked up in the laundry department. The Marshal is much more kindhearted than Yan Ni."

Shang Zhouzuo immediately flattered Marshal Li.

This is indeed the truth. The laundry bureau only washed clothes, but its reputation remained. However, those who were arrested by the Jiaofangsi were later pardoned, and their reputation for chastity was gone.

Li Hongji and his relatives in the courtyard begged for mercy again and again, but the Liao soldiers acted much faster than them, and they pressed the relatives of Linhuai Hou towards the prepared guillotine.

Naturally, the job of beheading was done by Marshal Li.

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(End of this chapter)