Viewed from a distance, the city wall of Shanhaiguan is tall and solid, like a natural barrier separating the northern grasslands from the Central Plains.
The towers and observation towers on the city wall stand tall, showing the majesty of the pass. The rolling mountains in the distance, shrouded in clouds and mist, complement each other with the flat valley nearby, showing a kind of natural beauty.
The terrain here is dangerous, and the city wall extends directly to the sea. It is worthy of the name of mountains and seas.
At the same time, this is also the last barrier in Liaodong against foreigners. Once this place is broken through by foreigners, the entire Central Plains will be opened.
Ma Shilong, the deputy general of the Xuanfu, said: "This place is heavily guarded and it is an insurmountable pass. Why does Mr. Sun Ge still look so depressed?"
At this time, Sun Chengzong's deeply furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and he said, "Vice General Ma, do you think this place is any different from other towns on the nine sides?"
Ma Shilong said: "It's not that different. It's just that it's winter now. There aren't many pedestrians on the roads in other border towns, but on this road, we find many people dragging their families towards the outside of the pass."
Nowadays, there is a severe drought in the north, and the military fields near the towns and villages have almost no harvest.
Especially in Shaanxi, the towns of Yulin and Guyuan have almost no harvest, and Liaodong also suffered from severe drought, but this bitter cold place can continue to attract people.
When Li Xianzhong went to Shandong to suppress the rebellion last year, he moved more than 200,000 rebels to Liaodong in one fell swoop.
Originally, the cabinet had been worried that the Li family in Liaodong would not be defeated. If it was only militarily strong, the court could also control Li Xianzhong, the Liaodong manager, by controlling wages and military supplies.
But now the population in Liaodong is constantly increasing, which shows that Li Xianzhong not only does not lack food, but also has enough food to attract these refugees to come to Liaodong.
This is by no means good news.
As a general, Ma Shilong naturally could not understand Sun Chengzong's worries. At this time, he could only say: "It seems that the Duke of Liao is very good at governing Liao!"
Soon Li Huaizhong, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan Pass, personally welcomed Sun Chengzong and his party into Guancheng.
Li Huaizhong said: "Shanhaiguan starts from Laolongtou in the south and ends at Jiumen in the north, with a total length of nearly 60 miles. There are 9 castles, 10 passes, 43 enemy towers, 51 wall towers, 26 beacon towers, and 12 piers along the line. tower."
"Currently, there are a total of 3,000 elite cavalrymen and 9,000 infantry troops along the Shanhaiguan Road, for a total of 12,000 people."
Sun Chengzong said: "I remember that in the forty-eighth year of Wanli, there were 25,000 people in Shanhaiguan. Now it is less than half of the original number. Are these troops still enough?"
Li Huaizhong said: "In fact, there are only 5,000 infantrymen responsible for guarding Shanhaiguan on weekdays, and 3,000 cavalry are used as mobile troops to be ready for reinforcements at any time. In addition, from here all the way north to the Zhongqiansuo, Qiantunwei, Zhonghousuo, and Zhonghousuo Each of the right stations has 500 troops, and Ningyuan Guard has 2,000 troops."
Sun Chengzong then remembered that last year Li Xianzhong revoked Ningyuan Road and divided it into two parts. The south of Ningyuanwei was assigned to Shanhaiguan and the north to Guangning.
In fact, the defense area in Shanhaiguan has been greatly increased than before.
Li Huaizhong continued: "Now that Jianlu has been fairly judged by the Liao Kingdom, Lin Dan Khan of Monan Mongolia is busy competing with the newly-emerged Tai'er Khan Zasai for the hegemony of Monan Mongolia. The two sides have been fighting for several years. They are unable to invade our Ming Dynasty. Now these soldiers and horses are enough to guard this place, and the general can still hold three thousand mobile troops.
Sun Chengzong nodded with satisfaction.
Only Liaodong Town's troops and horses under Li Xianzhong's rule were real.
At present, the border army generally only has 70% of its troops and horses, which must be considered insufficient by their standards.
In fact, the monthly salary of one or two and a half is still a bit low. The cabinet has also discussed removing the empty pay in each town and increasing the monthly salary of soldiers.
However, in this case, there is a high probability that expenditures will increase and empty wages will continue, which will eventually lead to giving up.
With the current financial situation of the Ming Dynasty, it is inevitable to adopt the route of elite soldiers, but it is not easy to find out the empty pay of each town?
Sometimes he admired Li Xianzhong's methods. It is said that he strictly checked wages as soon as he took office in Kaiyuan, and took this opportunity to replace all those who were not of the same mind as him.
The water in Jingying is really too deep. It is already a big risk for them to take the initiative to remove the 30,000 empty-pay quota this time.
Sun Chengzong pointed to the mandarin duck war coats of the Shanhaiguan officers and soldiers and said: "I inspected the towns on the nine sides and found that most of the officers and men's war coats were dilapidated. Why do the Shanhaiguan officers and men's war coats look so brand new?"
He really stumped Li Huaizhong when he asked. Now all the soldiers under Liaodong Town are actually equipped with heavy cloth cotton armor. These mandarin duck war jackets are almost never worn at ordinary times. How can they not be new?
In order to avoid arousing the jealousy of the court, Li Huaizhong asked some soldiers to wear these mandarin duck war jackets.
He said: "When the Duke of Liao took office, he ordered the soldiers of Liaodong to strictly implement the rule of issuing a set of war jackets every three years. The soldiers of Shanhaiguan just changed into new uniforms before winter, so naturally they cherish them very much!"
This is another privilege exclusive to Liaodong. All the towns on the nine sides are fawning over officials from the Arsenal Department in order to beg for some equipment and supplies.
Only Liaodong Town was the other way around, and the Arsenal Department simply did not dare to deduct Liaodong's military resources.
Unless the doctor from the Arsenal Department no longer wants to do it, who would dare to offend Li Xianzhong, the god of death?
At the beginning, the arsenal doctor Zhongwu Daqi had his house confiscated directly because he offended Li Xianzhong.
In addition, Xiong Tingbi of the Ministry of War was a member of Li Xianzhong, so no one dared to make a fuss about Liaodong's military resources.
Sun Chengzong could only say: "The Duke of Liao's strict military management is really a model for all towns."
After leaving Shanhaiguan, they set foot on the official road.
War horses are not affected by weather and terrain on this cement road. It can be said that there is no obstruction, and the marching speed has also been greatly improved.
After galloping all day and night, they actually arrived at Ningyuan, 200 miles away. If it is one person with two horses or three horses, it may advance faster.
Of course, Sun Chengzong and others were able to achieve this speed of advancement thanks to their ability to change horses in time at the stations along the way.
Sun Chengzong passed through Guangning, Liaoyang, Shenyang, and Tieling along the way, and finally arrived at Kaiyuan City.
Although the governor's office of Liaodong and the governor of Jiliao are both located in Liaoyang, Li Xianzhong still likes to stay in Kaiyuan.
Therefore, the current headquarters of Liaodong Economic Strategy is in Kaiyuan, and of course his Liao Duke's mansion is also in Kaiyuan.
At this time, Sun Chengzong had arrived at Kaiyuan City, accompanied by Yan Mingtai, governor of Jiliao, and Zhang Wenbing, governor of Liaodong.
The original Kaiyuan City in Sanshili this week could no longer meet the needs of Kaiyuan. Due to the large number of merchants gathering, the land in Kaiyuan City was tight, so Kaiyuan built a new outer city.
The outer city of Kaiyuan was three feet high (about 10 meters), slightly lower than the inner city's 3.5 feet, but its circumference reached an astonishing 32 miles.
Even if you look at the Ming Dynasty, it is considered a big city, even more than Liaoyang, the capital of Liaodong (24 miles away).
Looking at this large-scale city, Sun Chengzong said: "I didn't expect that Kaiyuan was so large in scale?"
Zhang Wenbing, the governor of Liaodong, was originally the magistrate of Kaiyuan, so the city wall of Kaiyuan is naturally his masterpiece.
Zhang Wenbing said: "Old Sun Ge forgot that Kaiyuan was upgraded from a road city to a town last year. Now there are three towns in the entire Liaodong region, namely Guangning in western Liaoning, Liaoyang in eastern Liaoning and Kaiyuan in northern Liaoning. Original."
At this time, Li Xianzhong had also personally greeted Sun Chengzong outside Kaiyuan City.
He said: "It is really hard for Mr. Sun Ge to inspect the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty. Liaodong is a bitter cold place. It is windy outside the city. Please tell me inside the city."
After entering the city, Sun Chengzong was even more amazed by the prosperity of Kaiyuan. Not only were there many shops in the city, they were filled with all kinds of goods from all over the world. Even the brothels and wine shops were very lively.
At this moment, he didn't feel like he was in the middle of nowhere at all, as if he had come to Jiangnan.
Sun Chengzong said: "There are probably 200,000 people in Kaiyuan at this scale, right?"
Zhang Wenbing said: "There are currently about 150,000 residents and permanent merchants in Kaiyuan City, but it is no problem to accommodate 200,000 people on the scale of Kaiyuan City."
Sun Chengzong asked again: "I saw a large number of refugees pouring into Liaodong along the way. I wonder how many people there are in Liaodong now?"
Zhang Wenbing said: "Pinglu County has just been established in Liaodong, and the Kuandian area has been re-incorporated under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, there is a large amount of land that needs to be developed. The current population of the entire Liaodong, not including the Jurchen Sanwei, is more than 2.7 million!"
This number still surprised Sun Chengzong, because it had exceeded the 2.5 million people during the prosperous period of Liaodong in the early years of Wanli.
He said: "It seems that Liaodong's development momentum is good. Governor Zhang has managed it well. Now he should be able to increase taxes a lot, right?"
Yan Mingtai and Li Xianzhong on the side kept hinting with their eyes that Zhang Wenbing should stop saying a few words.
As a result, this guy seemed to be addicted to showing off his merits. Under the guidance of Sun Chengzong, he kept revealing the truth and falsehoods of Liaodong.
How many achievements in Liaodong were made by him, the governor of Liaodong? Didn't he himself count them?
So Yan Mingtai said directly: "The population in Liaodong has increased a bit, but these newly acquired areas are all land reclamation, so they are tax-free in the first year, and will be halved in the subsequent years. Therefore, we can't see much effect yet. , but I believe that taxes will increase significantly in a few years.”
Li Xianzhong also said: "Liaodong now provides copper mines to the imperial court. Together with the income from horse markets in Kaiyuan, Guangning and Ningxia, as well as commercial taxes and land taxes from various places, it can now turn over more than one million taels of silver to the imperial court a year!"
Sun Chengzong said with satisfaction: "Liaodong does have unlimited potential. I believe it will be able to independently bear the wages of Liao Town in a few years, right?"
This Sun Chengzong really came with bad intentions!
Li Xianzhong said: "This is natural. At present, the imperial court's expenditure in Liaodong is decreasing year by year, but the income is increasing every year. This will happen sooner or later!"
"The land in Liaodong is still rich enough to accept some refugees from the pass, which can be regarded as solving a big problem for the imperial court!"
Sun Chengzong said: "The remnants of the White Lotus Sect in Shandong last year were relatively safe, right?"
Li Xianzhong said: "They now have their own land in Pinglu County and live a peaceful life. Naturally, they will no longer think about rebellion. Pinglu County Magistrate Lu Xiangsheng has done a good job, and I want to commend him!"
Sun Chengzong said: "I am also planning to go to Pinglu County to see what the former capital of the Tatars looks like now under my rule, the Ming Dynasty."
Sun Chengzong soon discovered that there were not many defenders in Kaiyuan City.
Under normal circumstances, a large city like Kaiyuan located on the frontier would need at least 10,000 to 20,000 people to be garrisoned. When the situation was critical, it was normal for even 30,000 to 50,000 to be garrisoned.
He asked: "I saw in the report sent to the court by the Duke of Liao that there were only 12,000 men stationed on the entire Kaiyuan Road. Isn't it difficult for these soldiers and horses to defend Kaiyuan City?"
Li Xianzhong said: "Nanguan among the three passes in Kaiyuan is no longer a border pass, so Beiguan and Xiguan each have two thousand troops stationed, and Nanguan only has one thousand troops stationed."
"Kaiyuan City actually only has three thousand defenders, but outside the city is the camp of the 'Liaodong Iron Cavalry', so Kaiyuan City is absolutely safe."
Sun Chengzong has now traveled through most of Liaodong's territory, and he found that Li Xianzhong actually didn't have many defenders left in various places.
Even his base camp, Kaiyuan City, only has this few defenders.
It seems that this disarmament has indeed made things difficult for him.
Soon they arrived at Songhe Tower in Kaiyuan City, where Li Xianzhong held a banquet to welcome Sun Chengzong and others.
Although Li Xianzhong did not bring heaven and earth here.
However, Songhe Tower is also a stronghold under the Intelligence Department.
The cabinets here are also trained from heaven and earth.
Therefore, you can find all kinds of delicious food.
Not only are there famous dishes such as Beggar's Chicken, Longjing Shrimp, Yangzhou Lion's Head, and Sea Bass with Pine Nuts from the south of the Yangtze River, but there are also boiled cabbage, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and Babao Chicken from the capital, as well as Liaodong's chicken stewed with mushrooms, smoked camphor meat, fried Deer tendon, roasted whole lamb, etc.
The variety of dishes was an eye-opener for Ma Shilong and others who had been following Sun Chengzong for several months.
Even the well-informed Sun Chengzong enjoyed eating it!
After eating and drinking, it was natural to talk about business.
Soon everyone retreated in recognition, leaving only Sun Chengzong and Li Xianzhong drinking.
Sun Chengzong said: "This time my cabinet came to Liaodong not to reduce the number of troops in Liaodong."
"The officers and soldiers under the command of the Duke of Liao are all fully staffed. The 90,000 troops stationed from Shanhaiguan to the distant Nurgan Dusi are already stretched."
Sun Chengzong's words surprised Li Xianzhong. Didn't this old man spend several months traveling all over the nine sides just for him?
Li Xianzhong didn’t believe it anyway.
He said: "I am very pleased that Mr. Sun Ge can understand the difficulties in Liaodong! In fact, the military strength in Liaodong is no longer enough, but since His Majesty intends to reduce the strength of the Nine Sides, I will naturally take the lead in setting an example for the Nine Sides!"
Sun Chengzong said: "Actually, what your Majesty wants to reduce is the amount of empty pay in each town, not the actual reduction of troops and horses under the command of Duke Liao."
Now that the Ming Dynasty's finances could no longer support it, Zhu Youxiao wanted to reduce the salary of Thaksin.
But if you say they are not targeting you, that is like burning paper on your grave - you are fooling the devil!
When he proposed to reduce the number of people by 5,000, he didn't see Zhu Youxiao stopping him, and now he came here to make sarcastic remarks.
Although he couldn't figure out for a while what kind of medicine Sun Chengzong was selling in the gourd. But he still said with a smile: "Sen Ge Lao asked the Beijing camp to reduce the number of 30,000 people this time, which saved the court a lot of expenses. It is really a great achievement for your hard work!"
Sun Chengzong smiled bitterly and said: "Others don't know the situation in the capital camp. Doesn't the Duke of Liao also know it?"
"The three major battalions of the capital have 170,000 troops. The actual strength is probably only 60,000. Cutting off 30,000 is just a fraction of that!"
Li Xianzhong naturally knew everything about the situation in the Beijing camp.
However, he still pretended to be surprised and said: "I have also heard about the shortage of soldiers in the Beijing camp, but I didn't expect it to be so serious?"
Sun Chengzong continued: "The capital camp is related to the safety of the capital, and it cannot be delegated unless it is an honorable minister. In this world, I am afraid that the only one in the world who can solve your majesty's problems is the Duke of Liao?"
Damn, you are waiting for me here!
Taking over the Beijing Camp, are you kidding me?
Not to mention that after taking over the capital camp, he would return to the prison of the capital.
Almost half of the imperial court ate the nearly 2 million taels of free salary in Beijing every year.
Who among the senior officials of the Ministry of War, Ministry of Personnel, and Ministry of Household Affairs was not involved?
There are also generals from the entire Beijing camp and related eunuchs. Even Wei Zhongxian and the cabinet ministers did not benefit less from the British Duke Tongcheng, right?
Li Xianzhong even suspected that Wanli had taken advantage of them.
Otherwise, with Wanli's character of plucking out feathers, he would never tolerate them eating so much free money.
But now Zhu Youxiao is pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger, and ordinary people really can't see through his mind.
I guess my two older brothers, Duke Cheng and Duke Ying, regard him as a "carpenter emperor" who ignores government affairs, and it is reasonable to not respect him.
Destroying someone's wealth is like killing one's parents.
If he rectifies the capital camp and almost goes against the entire imperial court, he will be in doom.
It really pissed off these people. They might not dare to kill Zhu Youxiao, but they would definitely kill himself.
Even if you are very skilled in martial arts, there are times when you are unable to defend yourself.
What's more, he still has a wife and children. Now Haqia and Hai Lanzhu are pregnant, and his third and fourth children are about to be born.
Asking himself to offend so many people, Li Xianzhong definitely can't do this!
He said: "Old Gao Sunge is sorry, the water in the capital camp is too deep. You are the emperor's master, and you carry the Shangfang Sword. They just sold off your majesty's face and cut off 30,000 people."
"If it were Li, I'm afraid it would be good to reduce the number by 10,000!"
At this time, Sun Chengzong's face looked a little ugly, and he said: "Liao Guogong, this is not Sun's intention, but His Majesty's intention! Are you really unwilling to solve His Majesty's problems?"
Li Xianzhong said: "It's not that Xianzhong is unwilling, it's actually that this matter is beyond Xianzhong's ability."
"If Your Majesty forces Xianzhong to rectify the capital camp, I'm afraid it will be counterproductive and cause turmoil in the court and even the world! Your Majesty, please think twice!"
"I, the Li family, have received favor from the emperor and cannot allow the Ming Dynasty to fall into chaos because of this!"
Sun Chengzong sighed and said: "Your Majesty has high hopes for the Duke of Liao. Can't you turn the tide like Yu Shaobao did?"
Li Xianzhong said: "Presumably Mr. Sun Ge is also very aware of Yu Shaobao's final outcome. Moreover, Xianzhong's talents are far inferior to Yu Shaobao. I am afraid that even if he loses his life, it will still delay His Majesty's important event."
"I, the Li family, will be satisfied if I can take care of Liaodong for the Ming Dynasty like the Mu family, Duke of Guizhou."
"Xianzhong is just a military commander. If someone rebels against the Ming Dynasty, loyalty will be offered to your majesty to quell the rebellion. Or maybe your majesty needs to offer loyalty to open up territory for the Ming Dynasty. I will not hesitate to offer my loyalty."
"I can't help you with my loyalty to the capital camp!"
Li Xianzhong's reaction was actually within Sun Chengzong's expectation. He was originally just hunting rabbits.
According to the result of his discussion with Zhu Youxiao, it was to test Li Xianzhong's reaction. It would be best if he was willing to take over the management of this hot potato.
If he really didn't want to, Zhu Youxiao wouldn't dare to force him to rebel.
No matter how naive Zhu Youxiao was, he would not think that Li Xianzhong, the Duke of Liao, who had 100,000 elite troops in Liaodong, would obey just because of his imperial edict.
So he was ready to trick the Duke of Liao again.
Sun Chengzong said in great embarrassment: "If the empty salary in the Beijing camp is not solved, the imperial court is really unable to pay the full salary now."
"The Duke of Liao must also know that all the towns in the Nine Borders, except Liaodong, have long been in arrears with wages. If the Duke of Liao is really unwilling to rectify the capital camp, then only half of Liaodong's wages will be paid first this year."
"But please rest assured, Lord Liao, as soon as Ming Dynasty's finances improve, your Majesty will give priority to reissue it."
Li Xianzhong cursed angrily in his heart: Damn, Zhu Youxiao, this little bastard, turned out to be waiting for me here!
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(End of chapter)
