Chapter 96: No Meeting Without Acquaintance

The western section of the Ming-Liao Great Wall, which starts from Shanhaiguan and ends near Kaiyuan, generally runs in a southwest-northeast direction, except for a part that sinks in the Liaohetao area.

The sunken section of the Great Wall is V-shaped, and the Hunhe River channel overlaps with the Liao Great Wall on the east side of Jianjianjiao.

Therefore, throughout the day on the 14th, Li Hao and others only needed to bypass several key villages and forts on the east bank, such as Changding Fort and Changning Fort, which could be seen across the river, to march safely.

The night was relatively peaceful. After traveling for two hours, the rest of the group finally couldn't hold on any longer and found a forest to eat some dry food and rest.

Li Hao, who was biting the dried meat with great effort, kept watch for them. Whoever woke up first in the second half of the night would replace the commander-in-chief, allowing the energetic Jinzhou general to take a nap.

The daytime march on the 15th was more troublesome. Although everyone in the team wore plain yellow banner cloth armor, the Later Jin Dynasty had already issued a death order that no less than ten people should be required to patrol the villages and forts in the countryside.

As long as they appeared in the field of vision of the Later Jin patrol soldiers, the patrolling Tatars would ride up to them and ask questions.

Fortunately, Li Hao brought a Jurchen soldier with him, who was able to fool the enemy during the approach. Once they were about to enter the attack distance, the Jinzhou general and others quickly shot arrows, preventing a single patrolling Tartar from escaping.

It was impossible to fire a gun as the noise would be too loud. Only a very few Niulu in the Later Jin Dynasty were equipped with firearms, and the Tatars in these special Niulu did not participate in rural patrols at all.

Because they encountered three teams of Tatar patrols in a row, the advancement speed of Li Hao's flanking team was greatly reduced. When they ran upstream and the water in the river became shallow, he simply led his men across the river, disguised as messengers from Liaoyang, and swaggered towards Shenyang City.

Of course, Li Hao hid all his whip and mace weapons and only carried a longbow and a sword. He also changed his horse to a shorter and stronger one, making him look not that tall.

By evening, they had covered 220 miles in two days and two nights and were only about 30 miles away from Shenyang City.

"Godfather, there is a convoy two miles ahead. There seem to be several wounded soldiers lying there. They won't move. Should we go around them?"

Wu Sangui brought military intelligence from the front.

Li Hao, who was chewing a steamed bun, asked, "How many people are there?"

If there are not many, just chase them and kill them.

"There are about 17 or 18 of them, and there must be quite a few wounded soldiers. There should be 15 Tartars who can fight."

The Jinzhou general became excited. "Ma Ze, don't do anything. Just watch over the packhorses. I can take care of the other four one by one. I can fight ten of them. It doesn't matter if a few of them escape. We can reach the city of Shenyang tonight. We don't have to worry about our whereabouts being exposed."

Like the Ming Dynasty, the city gates of the Later Jin Dynasty were closed at night.

After a brief reorganization, the team headed towards the Tatar camp where a bonfire was lit in front.

The camp ahead was inhabited by the White Banner Tatars. They were very alert and when they saw six flagmen coming from the south, they immediately drew their bows and ordered them to stop.

Li Hao couldn't understand the bird language they were speaking, so he just took the bow and shot while rushing forward.

The young Xiao Wu finally had the opportunity to charge with his godfather. Although he also brought a Jiannu bow, he couldn't use it, so he had to draw his sword and follow his godfather.

In just a few breaths, the Jinzhou general rushed into the Bordered White Banner camp, and the Tartars finally understood who the newcomers were.

What surprised Li Hao was that even though they recognized him, they had no intention of running away. They just stayed beside a carriage and drove it forward quickly.

After being hit by seven arrows, Li Hao chopped down the last Tatar who was willing to resist, and stopped the carriage and the eight surviving Tatars of the Bordered White Banner.

"General Lee, we surrender."

A very familiar voice came from the carriage, but the Jinzhou general couldn't remember when he had any acquaintances in the Later Jin.

It was not until he forced the people in the car to get out and kneel down in surrender that he realized that this was indeed an acquaintance.

Du Du, who had originally escaped from Haizhou City, was the son of Chu Ying, who was more fond of Ming Dynasty culture.

Upon questioning, we learned that this man felt that Liaoyang City was most likely not going to be able to be defended. His leg was injured and he could not withstand the hardships, so he planned to head north to Shenyang City. On the way to escape, he found a horse-drawn carriage to transport him north.

It was still dark when the escape from Haizhou City took place. The members of the Bordered White Banner did not know the intention of their former leader, and most of them fled directly to the South Camp where the Bordered White Banner members gathered, thus missing Du Du.

"The general is so powerful that Dudu dares not resist anymore. He will submit to the Ming Dynasty and never rebel again."

This young prince of the Later Jin Dynasty had a splint on his leg, and his kneeling posture was so deformed that only his good leg was touching the ground, which was similar to the prostrate kneeling posture of Thai people in later generations when they kneeled to the King of Thailand.

Li Hao looked back and saw that among his soldiers, there was a Han soldier who was hit by three arrows and died for his country. Wu Sangui was also hit by an arrow and injured his left arm. The remaining two were not injured.

Seeing his godfather looking over, Xiao Wu immediately said, "I'm fine. My right hand is fine and I can still kill the Tartars."

Godfather could be shot by seven arrows without changing his expression. Although he was sweating from the pain, he pretended to be relaxed.

At least I could win praise for remaining calm in front of my godfather.

Unfortunately, Li Hao didn't think there was anything to praise about this and just dealt with the matters on the field.

"Then come and watch this group of Tartars. Make them take off their armor. You pack up all your weapons and gather together. Look for hoes, shovels, etc. I will bury Zhu Yue." Zhu Yue was the name of the Han soldier who died in the battle. His ancestors' original surname was Zhu and they had nothing to do with the royal family. They lived in Daming Prefecture in northern Zhili for generations. His lineage was adopted by a clan member who entered the palace as a eunuch.

According to the rules of the imperial Zhu family, eunuchs with the surname Zhu had to have their surnames changed to homophonic surnames such as Zhu and Zhu, so this branch became named Zhu.

This is what Li Hao learned during a casual chat last night. He therefore suspected that his original servant Zhu Yingtai also changed his surname in this way.

After all, there are many descendants of eunuchs near Northern Zhili, and it is not impossible that some of them ended up in Liao.

Wu Sangui broke out in a cold sweat and led his men to quickly confiscate the armor of the surrendered soldiers and ensured that all weapons were put into an ox cart.

"Godfather, let's let the surrendered soldiers dig the pit. It's all the same. Godfather can save some energy."

After finding an iron pickaxe for digging the stakes to fix the tents, Wu Sangui proposed this.

"He was a hero who followed me into battle. How could I let the Tartars dig his grave? When we went north to fight before, the Han soldiers all worked together to bury the dead."

During the Northern Expedition, the Liao area had not yet thawed, making digging graves extremely difficult and time-consuming. In order to ensure the safety of the march, Li Hao's troops simply placed the bodies of the dead soldiers into the well, then demolished the brick walls of the houses and roughly buried the well to make a grave.

The atmosphere was a bit depressing. Xiao Wu sighed and used his only remaining right hand to hold a torch for his godfather, illuminating the area around the grave site selected by the Jinzhou general.

"Go back and rest. If you can bear it, find a way to get the arrow out. Let Ma Ze come over to light a torch. He is not good at using bows and arrows, swords and guns, so he can't help if the Tartars make any unusual moves."

That being said, the place where he dug the grave was only a dozen steps away from the tied surrendered soldiers, and no surrendered soldier dared to resist at this distance.

"I have now regained the grace of heaven and have no intention of betraying you. Please rest assured, General Li."

Du Du was taught Chinese by his father's teacher Gong Zhengdu, who was the younger brother of Gong Zhenglu, the first intellectual of the Later Jin Dynasty. Both Gongs were failed students in Zhejiang Province and did not even pass the examination to become a scholar, which shows how low their cultural level was.

But this young prince was quite clever, and he managed to learn how to speak complete sentences.

Wu Sangui originally wanted to hold a torch to show his filial piety to his godfather, but after being persuaded to go back, his anger was vented on Du Du's legs.

"Let me check to see if your leg is really broken."

He walked up to Dudu, who was crawling on the ground, and stomped hard on the splint on the Tartar's leg several times.

"Ah~"

Du Du felt so much pain that he almost fainted.

The surrendered soldier beside him was quite loyal. He leaned towards his master and spoke in Manchu.

"You still dare to curse? You thought this was just before!"

Wu Sangui also became angry. He found a whip and started whipping the surrendered soldiers.

The Jurchen soldier in the team knew a little bit of all three languages ​​and helped to persuade them:

“General Wu, they are talking about letting the general beat himself, not torturing the master Dudu.”

Knowing that the surrendered soldiers had no intention of insulting him, Wu Sangui slowed down his actions slightly, "It's the same, it's still them who are being beaten."

Li Hao was working with all his might when he heard some noise behind him. He turned around to check the situation, found a stone and smashed it on Wu Sangui's head.

When Xiao Wu, who was hit, turned around and found out that it was his godfather, he lost his temper and even praised his godfather for hitting him well.

"Don't torture these surrendered soldiers. I am still useful."

Li Hao glared at him and went back to dig Zhu Yue's grave.

With his physical strength, he worked until midnight before he finally made a grave.

Everyone in the camp was extremely sleepy and the fire was almost going out, but luckily no one was passing by.

Li Hao woke everyone up and first ordered Ma Ze to untie the ropes of the surrendered soldiers. Then he ordered the surrendered soldiers to clean up the camp neatly. The two useless ox carts were pushed into the woods nearby and the oxen were driven away.

After it became clear that a small-scale pursuit had taken place here, he drove the surrendered soldiers into the woods, dealt with them in a few moves, and then returned to the carriage alone.

Now the whole team has become six people.

"Let's all put on our white armor. Let's hurry a little further and enter Shenyang City openly tomorrow."

The defense of Shenyang City is not at the same level as Haizhou City. Ma Ze's defense is not very reliable and safe. Now that he has Dudu, the little prince, Li Hao wants to play more.

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(End of this chapter)