Chapter 74: Request for Internal Treasury

As a major garrison city in the Ji-Liao system, Shanhaiguan had a smaller Dongluo City in addition to the pass city. The rest of the Xiluo City and two wing cities were built during the Chongzhen period and were nowhere to be seen at this time.

Among the fifty-three battalions under the jurisdiction of the Ji-Liao General, about seventeen or eighteen battalions recruited soldiers and stationed here. There were more than thirty thousand combat soldiers and guards in the entire Shanhaiguan area. Of course, there were also about forty to fifty thousand refugees from Liao.

On the road from Jinzhou to Ningyuan and Qiantun, Li Hao and his servants did not receive any extra attention. However, once they approached the jurisdiction of Shanhaiguan, countless farmers came to kowtow to them.

Upon inquiry, it was discovered that the ministers of the newly appointed King Jinglüe paraded Daishan's head around the streets in order to boost the morale of the people.

Most of the troops stationed in the military farms near Shanhaiguan were Liao people who had fled from Liaodong. They had hatred for the Later Jin Dynasty for killing their relatives and for seizing their land. So the Liao people decided to build a shrine for Li Shuai, who had killed the great Tartar beile, near the first express delivery station north of the city.

How come I have a shrine just like Wei Yan?
After arriving at Weiyuan Gate, the north gate of the city, General Li received an even warmer welcome. The captain on duty at the gate even went out half a mile to greet him and then escorted him all the way to the Ji-Liao Jinglüe Mansion.

If they hadn't been riding fast, the surrounding people would have blocked General Li halfway.

In front of the Jinglüe Mansion, Wang Zhichen had not yet appeared, but Zhao Luejiao from the Shanhaiguan General's Mansion next door ran out to greet him first.

"I've heard so much about Li Shuai in the past two months that my ears are covered with calluses. Now that I've met him in person, I can see that his reputation is well-deserved."

This is a fifty-year-old veteran with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He has scary big bags under his eyes and a beard about two inches long on his chin. He walks briskly and is more energetic than young people.

After the two sides bowed to each other, Li Hao ordered his servants to bring him the heads of two Tartars.

"Congratulations to General Zhao on his promotion. These two heads of the real Tartars will serve as a gift."

This is an old general who died in battle in the second year of Chongzhen. Li Hao has a good impression of him.

Zhao Lujiao's eyes widened, and the big bags under his eyes instantly became smaller, "How can this be so embarrassing!"

He had heard that Li Hao was generous, but he didn't expect him to be so generous.

After accepting it with a few polite words, he also returned the gift.

"A horse that is over 5 feet 2 inches tall, which is extremely rare. There is also a pair of whip maces, which are modeled after the two whips used by Marshal He Shixian. They are given to Marshal Li for his use."

In the Nine Frontier Military Town, the standard for a horse to be considered a Piaodama is five feet, with a shoulder height of about one meter and sixty centimeters, making it the highest grade of war horse.

The black horse that Zhao Lujiao gave to Li Hao was about 1.65 meters tall at the shoulder, with a small head and smooth fur. It was obviously a good horse at first glance.

After accepting it with a smile, Li Hao and the old general walked into the meeting hall of the Jinglüe Mansion together.

Wang Zhichen was also an old man in his fifties. He was born in a military household in Tongguan, Shaanxi. Although he also had a beard, its length was far less than those of the generals. His old face was full of fatigue, as if he had worked very hard in the past few days.

"Marshal Li has arrived at the right time. Yesterday, the Ministry of Revenue sent a doctor and Li Chunye, the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household Department, to deliver the reward money for the Ningyuan Battle and this year's horse price money to the city gate. They are also planning to go to Ningyuan. I will send someone to call them over right now."

While ordering the servants to serve tea and snacks, he chatted with the two visiting generals.

"That's a coincidence indeed."

Li Hao also felt that it was time. He turned around and said to Wu Sangui who had followed him in, "Go and bring all those heads in. Let Wang Jinglüe check them and see if we can get the reward silver in the next two days."

They left in a hurry and did not have time to boil and paint the head in Jinzhou, so the head already had a corpse stench.

Hearing that there were more gains, Wang Zhichen said with a smile: "Marshal Li has won another great victory in this northern expedition, but I wonder how many heads he has? I estimate that there must be at least a hundred."

The civil officials tended to be more friendly towards such capable generals, because as long as the generals achieved success, they would be given credit for dispatching and commanding.

Zhao Lujiao had seen the scale of Li Hao's packhorses and shook his head, saying, "Wang Jinglie underestimated. General Li has stumbled into the Tartar's lair. One or two hundred is not enough for General Li to kill."

Even though Wang Zhichen was already at an age of knowing his destiny, he was still a little excited when he heard this.

He sat up straight, stretched out five fingers of his right hand towards Li Hao, and asked, "Could it be this number?"

Among the several battles between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, the one with the most enemy casualties was the Shenyang-Hunhe battle, but the Ming field army was completely defeated in that battle, and no heads were captured. Apart from that, the battle of Ningyuan in the first month of this year had the most casualties, with more than 300 heads of the real Tatars.

Therefore, the limit of Wang Zhichen's imagination was five hundred heads, and he dared not even think of more than that.

"A little more." Li Hao said modestly.

The governor of Ji and Liao was surprised and delighted. "He is truly a pillar of the country. The country is lucky and the people of Liao are blessed to have such a brave general like Li Shuai."

As the servants of the Jinzhou general carried in bags of heads and dumped them in the courtyard outside the hall, Wang Zhichen no longer cared about his dignity. He stood up and walked towards the pile of heads, not caring about the blood and the stench of corpses. He counted them with his fingers.

Later, the garrison eunuch Liu Yingkun, the Ministry of Revenue Langzhong Cheng Rihua, the Imperial Household Department Shaoqing Li Chunye and others arrived one after another.

Eunuch Liu's performance this time was much more decent. He first showed off in front of the two Beijing officials that he had seen such a scene before. Then he ran to Jinzhou General Li Hao, sat down on the chair next to him, took Li Hao's hand and started chatting.

Of course, his eunuch attendants also presented the prepared gifts.

"It's a set of armor with mountain patterns, two tiger heads on the chest, and iron arms instead of shoulder pads. It's just for show, and looks intimidating. There's also a set of bright red armor with golden dragon embroidery. The armor pieces are custom-made and quite practical. General Li can wear it when killing enemies."

The gifts he prepared were all ceremonial in nature, but the second set of embroidered python cloth armor could still be worn on the battlefield.

But when Li Hao looked at the four-clawed python on the armor, he always felt that it was a bit weird.

"I don't have any robes bestowed upon me. Wouldn't it be too conspicuous to wear a python?"

Although he had rebellious intentions at the moment, he did not want his rebellion to be exposed in advance, lest the Ming Dynasty cut off their food and supplies before his troops were trained.

"Hey~" Liu Yingkun didn't care at all, "It's just a four-clawed dragon, General Li can wear it casually. A first-rank general doesn't wear a round dragon armor, do you want me, a fourth-rank eunuch, to wear a dragon?"

As the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Stables, his official rank was fourth rank.

The spirit of usurpation arose very early in the Ming Dynasty. During the Wanli and Tianqi periods, not only did military generals wear armor with dragon patterns, but many of them even had the word "dragon" in their names.

The only duty of Li Chunye, the Shaoqing of Taipu Temple, was not to check the heads, so after accompanying Wang Zhichen to count briefly, he walked into the lobby and took out a red gift list directly from his sleeve.

"This is a private gift from Duke Wei and our Imperial Household Department to Marshal Li. Duke Wei has long wanted to get close to a great hero like Marshal Li, but unfortunately he is too busy with palace affairs to spare the time, so he asked me to convey his condolences."

The formal speeches of civil servants are much more complicated.

Li Hao glanced at the gift list and it seemed that there were ten fine war horses. This gift was given sincerely and cost a lot of money, so he also said a few polite words in return.

After the count was completed, the general, his subordinates, Cheng Rihua, the doctor of the Ministry of Revenue, and others returned to the lobby.

"Nine hundred and forty-seven!"

Wang Zhichen and the officials of the Jinglüe Mansion were delighted. The Ji-Liao Jinglüe even hummed a little tune with joy, while the doctor of the Ministry of Revenue had a bitter face and said nothing.

"What's bothering you, sir? Tell us and we'll help you solve your problems."

Li Hao was quite polite to the doctor from the Ministry of Revenue who delivered the reward money to him. He asked him about his troubles in order to cheer up the others in the hall.

Cheng Rihua's brows were so dark that they could not be dispelled. "My worries are all because of General Li. The Taicang warehouse has no money to pay for the bounties of more than 900 heads. The bounties for the Ningyuan battle in the first month of the year were all embezzled from the Imperial Household Department. It's been less than two months, and General Li has killed so many more heads. I really don't know how to do my job."

He had heard that the Jinzhou general was a brave and courageous general, so he was very worried.

If this continues, the Ministry of Revenue will have to ask the palace for funds to pay the Liao army's rewards.

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(End of this chapter)