The day after Geng Zhanghua arrived in the capital, he was summoned by the hot-tempered Emperor Chongzhen.
Chongzhen was a young man, two years younger than Geng Zhanghua, and very curious. After seeing Geng Zhanghua, he asked in detail about the fight with Jin Jun.
Fortunately, Geng Zhanghua was a personal participant, and during this period he often told stories about killing slaves, so the story of killing the enemy was so ups and downs that Emperor Chongzhen couldn't stop listening.
Finally, Emperor Chongzhen made a comment: If all the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were as loyal, brave and good at fighting as Geng Zhanghua, how could the slaves have harmed Liaodong and ravaged the capital!
Next, Geng Zhanghua, who was simply in the emperor's heart, became a model, simply a benchmark set by the Ming Dynasty.
Of course Emperor Chongzhen knew that the Ming Dynasty was noble in culture and military in power, so he originally wanted to grant Geng Zhanghua a civil service.
However, Geng Zhanghua made an impassioned speech and strongly requested to be a military attache. He stated that he would personally train a strong army and kill Liaodong and take revenge under the city of Shenyang one day.
The emperor was moved, and the benefits were great.
Geng Zhanghua was awarded the fictitious position of the third-grade guard commander, but his actual position was the guerrilla general of Xuanda Governor's Model Barracks.
Huang Yi, who did not go to meet the saint, also received a reward.
This is of course the benefit of Geng Zhanghua’s story being told vividly.
Outside the pass, the snow is vast, the mountains are high and the road is far away, and the wind is biting. A group of Ming soldiers and horses, a group of young people who are willing to sacrifice their lives and blood for the sake of honor, rush towards the Jiannu slaves who are several times the number of soldiers without hesitation...
The leader Huang Yi is as fierce as a tiger when killing the enemy, and he is calm and gentle when commanding. He always rushes to the front and retreats to the last one.
The reason why he failed to come to see the saint was because after the harassment outside the pass, the more than 2,000 Han people rescued by the Jin army slowly retreated and have not returned yet.
This scene was so powerful that it made the young emperor's blood boil with excitement.
Therefore, Huang Yi's actual position exceeded expectations. He was promoted from the third-grade guard commander to the department commander, and his actual position was the Qian Commander of Xuanda Governor's Model Camp.
According to the system, for appointments and removals from military positions above the fifth rank, the parties involved must go to the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War to report in person and receive documents and official seals.
However, special treatment is also possible under special circumstances.
Who among the officials of the Martial Arts Department would dare to make things difficult for a reward that the emperor personally dealt with?
In addition, he had the reputation of Governor Xuanda, so Geng Zhanghua received Huang Yi's official uniform, official seal, etc. on his behalf.
Geng Zhanghua was still a little uneasy at first, but after receiving Geng Zhangguang's letter, he was completely relieved.
Because Geng Zhangguang's letter clearly stated that he had already met Huang Yi and had drinks with Huang Yi twice.
Huang Yi not only lost no men or horses, but also killed Jiannu who had been following him.
Geng Zhangguang also told Geng Zhanghua in the letter that once his father takes office, he will receive another good news.
At this moment, Geng Zhanghua knew that Huang Yi would gain a lot by killing Jiannu who was following him.
But it doesn't matter anymore.
He and Huang Yi have already been promoted and appointed beyond the standard. If they get credit in a short period of time, they will only get praise.
Therefore, he did not interfere at all with Huang Yi's handling of the military merits he obtained.
Although the intelligence summary showed that the main force of the slave-building forces had withdrawn from the pass, the danger in the capital was lifted.
However, it is impossible for the officials of the feudal border to take up their posts in a light and fast manner.
It took more than half a month for Geng Ruqi, who had made a comeback, to come to Xuanfu after leaving the capital.
The model battalion of Governor Xuanda was not established, only the guerrilla general Geng Zhanghua led a guard of 200 people.
Although Geng Zhanghua wanted to see Huang Yi as soon as possible, his responsibility was that he had to show great patience to deal with the civilian and military generals who were coming and going along the way.
So it wasn't until the ice and snow began to melt that Geng Zhanghua was able to come to Zhangjiakou.
At this time, he already had two thousand men and horses under his command, of which 600 were cavalry and 300 were serious armored cavalry.
One thousand four hundred are infantry, but these infantry are different. They are all firearms troops, and one thousand use Rumi guns.
The remaining 400 people are artillerymen, with 20 squatting tiger cannons, 15 small furlong machine cannons, and five 1,000-pound furlong machine cannons.
Of course, these troops were elites drawn from the border troops stationed in Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan and other places.
Because Geng Ruchi figured it out and spared no effort to build an army that could fight the Tatars and slaves.
The general leading the army is his own son. Of course he is relieved and of course he will do his best.
Geng Zhanghua became a general, and Geng Da, Geng Qi, Yang Shihu, and Liu Chuanzong were the happiest. They all became officials, and each of them was a sentinel commanding a hundred people, equivalent to a hundred generals.
Their departmental ranks are all from the Weisuo Military Examination Thousand Households, and they all hold the fifth-grade military rank.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, a third-grade guerrilla general belonged to the lowest rank.
Generals, generals, and guerrilla generals and below, which are equivalent to military attaches with grades lower than the third rank, should be counted as school officers. Those above the third rank, starting from guerrilla generals, are the threshold for becoming a general.
It stands to reason that with such an official position, most civil servants and military generals will not buy it.
However, Geng Zhanghua had a special status. He was not only a popular figure in the emperor's heart, but also a model official set by the emperor. He was also the legitimate son of Governor Xuan, a feudal official.
Therefore, when he came to Zhangjiakou again, all the civil and military officers in the city came to greet him.
Times have changed, and even though Geng Zhanghua was unwilling to do so, he had to brace himself to deal with the bureaucrats and businessmen in Zhangjiakou, and attended the banquet for three consecutive days.
On the fourth day, I had time to go to the Li family store outside the city to meet Huang Yi, who had just arrived.
When Geng Zhanghua came to Zhangjiakou, he sent Geng Qi to contact Li Weida and set a date to meet Huang Yi.
Because he followed Geng Ruqi's order and tried his best to persuade Huang Yi to enter the pass and take up his post, and stated that if he had any military exploits, he would definitely be promoted to a guerrilla general and lead a single guerrilla battalion.
If Huang Yi refused to enter the pass, Geng Ruqi also considered arranging a station for Huang Yi's troops outside Zhangjiakou.
Zhangjiakou was originally a military fortress and was called "Xiabao" by the locals. In the 41st year of Wanli, a castle dedicated to the horse market was built on the side wall, called Laiyuan Fort.
Laiyuan Fort is called "Shangbao" by the locals, and the "Lower Fort" continues to expand toward the "Shangbao", making the Zhangjiakou city larger and larger and becoming a distribution center for many commercial ports.
In the Tianqi and Chongzhen years, major events occurred in the Liao Dynasty, and problems occurred frequently in side affairs.
In order to prevent Zhangjiakou from being infiltrated by spies, the border trade market was set up about ten miles away from the Great Wall during this period.
This made it inconvenient for merchants in Zhangjiakou to leave early and return late, but it improved the security of the city.
Due to the inaction of Zhangjiakou's civil and military officials, the market place was a simple and temporary building. It was not a castle with a circumference of more than two miles and a wall of three feet and five feet high and built on stone strips as when the exchange market began in the Wanli year.
The market place is like a rural market. There is a temporary military camp next to it, with a hundred people stationed there. The task is to maintain public order in the market and provide security for officials collecting taxes.
