Chapter 72 Jinzhou
Starting from mid-March, the monsoon blowing from the northwest gradually subsided, and the southerly wind began to rise. The earth shed its white cover and showed its truest side to the Liao people.

As the seasons changed, the temperature gradually rose, the sun became brighter day by day, and even the Tartars retreated to the east of the Liao River. For the people of Jinzhou who returned to their hometown, it seemed that a good period of life was about to begin.

All you need to do is divide the land, sow seeds, apply fertilizer, weed and tend to it for a few months, and you can harvest. After handing over the income from farming to the government, the remaining income is barely enough to feed the family.

But once the news of the Mongols' southward advance spread, such hard days became a luxury.

In the streets and alleys of Jinzhou City, many young boys were running back and forth, telling others what they had heard.

"It's the Tatars from the Five Camps."

"The Mongolian barbarians are heading south with their cattle and sheep. Folks, pack up your belongings and run."

"Just as the Jiannu left, the Tatars are coming again. When will this day end? Alas!"

The troops from the inland garrisons had not yet arrived, several sections of the Jinzhou city wall had been destroyed, and the imperial army had only three or four battalions, totaling less than 6,000 people.

The people were like frightened birds, hastily packing up their belongings and preparing to escape again.

If we keep running away, even the seeds and grain for the spring will be eaten up, and there will be no hope for the future.

Jinzhou General's Mansion, meeting hall.

"It's already this late, why hasn't Zhu Zhen returned to the city? How can I decide whether to abandon or defend Jinzhou City?"

The old eunuch Ji Yong paced back and forth anxiously, while his eunuch godsons ran in and out, reporting the situation inside and outside the city to the Jinzhou military supervisor.

All the news that had been spread before was bad, until a middle-aged eunuch walked in.

"Godfather, it's not the main force of the five camps that came. It's General Li who was on the northern expedition. He took the opportunity to pick up a few Tatars and took them outside the city as prisoners."

The Five Great Camps is a general term used by Liaodong to refer to the five Inner Khalkha tribes of Mongolia. From the Jiajing period to the end of the Wanli period, the Five Great Camps and the Chahar tribes were the number one enemy of the Liaodong border residents.

Ji Yong was surprised at first and then delighted when he heard this, and kept asking about the source of the information.

The middle-aged eunuch had no choice but to explain to him in detail: "Zhu Zhen led his army to attack. When the spies of both sides met, they realized that it was the flood that washed away the Dragon King Temple. They were all family members. General Li was now promoted to the commander-in-chief. Zhu Zhen couldn't go back to the city first, so he sent soldiers to deliver the message and sent people to appease the people in the city."

The old eunuch slumped in the chair, sighing for a long time, and his heart, which had been beating wildly for a long time, finally calmed down.

"Speaking of which, this Li Shuai is really a noble man. Liu Yingkun was promoted to the position of Chief Seal and was given a position to guard one side thanks to him. I haven't even met him yet, but I have already received such a great achievement."

The rewards for the victory in Ningyuan had already been announced. Among the imperial stables in the palace, Liu Yingkun was promoted the highest and was suddenly given the title of eunuch in charge of the seal. In name, he was the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, but in reality he was assigned to guard Shanhaiguan.

The old eunuch Ji Yong had little luck and was sent to Ningyuan outside the Great Wall to supervise the army.

The people of Jinzhou and Youtun Liao who fled to the south returned north to cultivate the land. In order to appease the people, Yuan Chonghuan, the newly appointed governor of Liaodong, sent him with two battalions to the north. He and Zhu Mei, who was temporarily in charge of the vanguard troops of Jinzhou, were stationed in Jinzhou city to show that the court had no determination to give up the land of Jinyou.

The middle-aged eunuchs echoed one after another. Liu Yingkun's promotion made Ji Yong and other eunuchs jealous. It was obvious that their godfather had the longest seniority in the Imperial Stables and had been supervising the army in the Nine Frontiers since the Wanli period. How come he was still supervising the army at the vanguard now?

"You can take fifty... no, one hundred taels of silver, and prepare the two rolls of red satin with gold all over it as my gift. You youngsters can also gather some silver, fifty taels, and find the gifts you prepared earlier. When General Li enters the city, have Qi people wait at the gate of the general's mansion."

Hearing this, the middle-aged eunuch's expression changed, and he forced a smile and said, "Godfather, a gift is enough. Isn't it too low to give silver? We have always received silver from civil officials and military commanders. How can we give silver away?"

If other eunuchs knew that they had to pay for their work, they would have no use staying in the palace.

Ji Yong glared at him, "Do you think these are the warriors you can control? Have you heard about the affairs of Yuan Futai's family? Even the dignified Futai has swallowed his anger, and you are still standing here with your neck stiff, do you want someone to carry you to the top of the city and throw you to the ground?"

When Ningyuan was defending the city, four servants from the Ningqian Dao Office fell under the city. Although Zhu Meijian, the deputy general in charge of the northern city wall, claimed that those people were hooked down by the Tartars with sickles, the soldiers in the camp and the people had already spread the word privately that it was the family of the soldier who demanded bribes in vain and was picked up and thrown to death under the city.

The Daoting Yamen investigated the matter, but the conclusion was the same as that of Deputy General Zhu Mei. Ningyuan had just won a great victory, and Yuan Bingxian was still hoping for a promotion. It would be embarrassing for everyone to expose the fact that his family members asked for bribes, so they simply pretended to be deaf and dumb and pretended that they didn't know. This incident alerted many civil servants and eunuchs, and Ji Yong reminded himself all the time not to extend his hand to General Li to ask for money.

The middle-aged eunuch sighed heavily. This was the most frustrating moment he had felt since he accepted his godfather.

But when you are under someone's eaves, you have to bow your head. This Li Shuai will be the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou City in the future, and his godfather doesn't want to offend him, so he can only do as he is told.

The north gate of Jinzhou town.

More than a thousand soldiers from Zhu Mei's battalion were lining up in a huge crowd, pushing ox carts into the city one by one.

Thirty or forty Mongolian herdsmen were waiting behind the Ming army convoy, driving hundreds of sheep.

Li Hao, who had just learned that he had been promoted to the general of Jinzhou, was riding a horse with Zhu Mei to review the chariot soldiers entering the city, and behind them were hundreds of cavalrymen.

"All these sheep were slaughtered and distributed to the brothers and people in Jinzhou to eat."

Li Hao waved his hand heroically. The troublemakers in these Mongolian tribes had been killed long ago, and the remaining ones were relatively soft in character, so the Ming army could easily control them with just a wave of their knives.

Zhu Mei was both worried and happy. He was worried about the revenge of Chao Hua, the leader of the five major camps, but he was happy because the Jiannu had been driven out once and the recovery of Guangning was just around the corner.

"I'm afraid Chaohua and his nephew Zhaisai will not give up. We can still mobilize the 20,000 soldiers from the five camps. We also need to be on guard against the Jiannu and Chahar tribes."

"Twenty thousand?" Li Hao's eyes lit up, "It just so happens that I am planning to build a group of archers, and I will use the Mongolian soldiers as target practice.

As for the Eight Banners, don't worry. A lot of their men died. At least half of the Tatars who can move this spring will go to the north to capture wild Jurchen soldiers, and the rest will go to the Five Camps and Chahar to capture able-bodied men. They have no time to compete with us west and south of the Liaohe River."

Although he also wanted to shoot the invading Mongolian cavalry to death by himself, the army still needed to be trained.

"General Li is right." Zhu Mei stroked his beard. "General Li's official documents, the emperor's reward, and the soldiers under his jurisdiction are all in Shanhaiguan. It seems that he has some free time during this period. General Li might as well go to Shanhaiguan first to deal with these mundane affairs."

Just killing Daishan in battle and the more than 150 soldiers on the city wall of Ningyuan were enough to bring Li Hao's military merit to the top.

"Reward in silver? How many taels?" He was quite interested in this.

Zhu Mei stretched out her right hand and raised three fingers, "A full thirty taels!"

Li Hao couldn't believe what he said and asked, "No, my head is worth more than thirty taels, and the palace gave me an extra thirty taels of silver? How much did Liu Yingkun's eunuchs and the civil servants in the court give?"

He knew that the Zhu family was stingy, but he didn't expect them to be so stingy.

"The one who received the most was the Prime Minister Gu Bingqian, who received fifty taels. The other cabinet ministers and Duke Wei each received forty taels. Liu Yingkun, Governor Yuan and the two town commanders all received thirty taels. Marshal Li was given the title of Vice Governor-General, and the two town commanders were both given the title of Vice Governor-General. They differed in rank by one level, but received the same amount of silver. This is very rare."

The two garrison commanders mentioned by Zhu Mei are naturally Zhao Lushio and Man Gui. The governor is the highest title given to a military general, and his official rank is the first grade.

The rank of the governor-general was a first-rank military officer.

After hearing this additional title, Li Hao understood that there was something else about his title as the general. He naturally did not have the royal flag or silver command arrow, and he should only have the authority to be the governor of Jinzhou, Youtun and other places.

He sneered, "This idiot has a good plan. He sent me away as a general with nothing. I will leave for Shanhaiguan tomorrow to see what price they can offer for the head this time."

Going to Shanhaiguan is not just about getting the reward, the most important thing is to recruit enough servants and take over the soldiers assigned to you.

Li Hao had a lot of Jurchen and Mongolian soldiers under his command. He planned to recruit at least three to five hundred soldiers. Five Han soldiers and five Yi soldiers would form a group, which would constitute the basic unit of his servant team.

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(End of this chapter)